CALENDAR POETRY

CALENDAR POETRY is folklore works which are a part of natural­seasonal rituals (see Rituals). Peoples have universal ideological and functional bases of C.p.: deification and personification of living nature, belief in magical power of words (see Magic), personification of the highest celestials (Tengri, stars, celestial deities, etc.), respect for the spirits of ancestors, for Earth-Water, etc. Themes of C.p. genres are connected with the 4 seasons and solstice periods. The spring cycle of Bashkortostan peoples is connected with raven’s porridge, cuckoo’s tea, maslenitsa, nauruz, sabantuy, coming of the green grass and other celebrations; the summer period (“Summon rain”) – with Ivan Kupala’s celebration, yiyin, summer nardugan, etc.; autumn – with “Indian summer”, goose holiday, sumbulya, dozhinok, new harvest and other celebrations; winter period – with winter nardugan, slaughter of cattle and preparation of meat for winter, kolyadovaniye, surkhuri, etc. C.p. includes benevolences, songs, riddles, beliefs, etc. Holding seasonal celebrations and ceremonies were considered to bring success, prosperity and help to reach goals, recitative poetical appeals, vesnyankas, zaklichkas strengthen creative power of nature (see Folklore poetics). C.p. works reflect mythological ideas of peoples.