Belarusian and Ukrainian Charms Against Perelogi: Inter-genre Rollcalls

Abstract

The word perelogi (Ukrainian перелоги, Belarusian пералогi, перэлогi) ‘livestock and horses disease’ is mentioned in the folk veterinary medicine of some regions of Eastern Slavia. The article is devoted to the analysis of this phenomenon in folklore and traditional culture of Belarusians and Ukrainians. It is considered from the point of view of its terminology, accompanying beliefs, magical practices and numerous charms used to treat animals. The charms that are commonly read against perelogi are based on the plot “Three (two) characters share what they find among themselves; the devil gets the perelogi.” The article explores the possible folklore origins of this plot, as well as the circumstances of the devil’s appearance in it, which is extremely atypical for East Slavic healing charms. The author comes to a conclusion that the main role in this was played by tales about the fooled devil and especially by ATU/СУС 1030 “Harvest Division.” In addition, the plot was most likely influenced by such circumstances as the somatic “parallelism” of devil and animal and the secondary mythologization of the term perelogi. These two circumstances supported the figure of devil which is key for this plot, using elements of folklore imagery, rhyme, cultural semantics of the keyword and other factors.

Keywords

• folklore of the eastern slavs
• charms
• tales
• livestock diseases.