Pozhodzhuk D. Traditional cattle breeding in the calendar and household rituals of the people of Volyn (all Ukrainian features and local features)

On the basis of ethnological materials collected by the author personally during the field ethnographic expeditions and scientific research trips, for the first time in Ukrainian ethnological science the phenomena of traditional cattle breeding in the folk calendar of the Volhynians were analyzed comprehensively. For this purpose, during 2013-2019, the settlements of Zhytomyr, Vinnytsia, Rivne, Volyn, Lviv and Khmelnitsky regions were visited. The study also involved a large number of sources, including from the R-119 fund of the Archives of the Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. The need of subdividing the cattle-breeding calendar of Volhynians into two periods – cattle stay outdoor in summer and stabling in winter – was determined. It was found out that the day of the first cattle driving off to the pasture was the richest in terms of the cattle-breeding rituals in the calendar year. The results of the proposed study shed light on the ritual and customary aspects of traditional cattle breeding of the Volhynians and significantly expand the data on the role and place of domestic animals in the daily life of peasants and the process of caring for them in calendar and household rituals, demonology, thanatology, etc. Materials and conclusions of this thesis will be useful for the researchers during the comprehensive and consecutive ethnological studies of the traditional cattle breeding of Ukrainians.