Dmitrieva V. Maternity and christening rites of the Greeks of the Sea of Azov coast in the second half of the 19th and the 20th century.

The dissertation is the first in the Ukraine complex investigation of the ethnographical peculiarities of the maternity and christening rites of the Greeks of the Sea of Azov coast in the second half of the 19th and the 20th century. The people's rites, customs and rituals of the assistance to the child-bearing, means of popular medicine and magic for the healing from the barrenness, the system of interdictions for the expectant mothers are considered on the basis of the wide range of the field and written sources. The role of the midwife in the maternity and christening rites of the Greeks of Azov coast has been determined, its main functions have been investigated, the characteristic of the methods and means for the relief of delivery which were used by the midwife has been presented. The main traditional methods of taking care of the new-born child and the woman recently confined have been described; the methods of socialization of the children by means of the rites of the post-natal period have been analyzed. The common and specific phenomena in the maternity and christening rites of the Greeks of the Sea of Azov coast and people who lived by their side on the territory of the Crimea and North coast of the Black Sea.