Cherevchenko V. Verbal Signs of Ethnic Culture in Ukrainian Children's Folklore

Ukrainian children's folklore shows a specific approach to the sphere of influence on a child by language means. According to this a special attention is paid to such important factors as the first language, mother tongue, folk traditions, cognitive activity, when the word becomes an educational means. Involving a child into the spiritual world begins with the help of lyrical songs - lullabies. Observation of their content and forms shows that lullabies have many common features with traditional chants, the phenomenon created by specific worldview of our ancestors, which means that words denoting objects acquire symbolic meaning. They include many names of dwellings, clothes, food, jewelry and others. Calendar ritual songs occupy one of the most important places in the system of children's folklore. They include Christmas carols, epiphany songs, freckles, hayivky which belong to ancient folk genres. These songs are performed in honor of decisive forces - the sun, the moon, stars, water.