The cycle of birth rites among the Albanians under cross-cultural contacts in Southern Ukraine

Abstract

The article examines ritual practices related to the birth cycle among the Southern-Ukrainian Albanians. The focus is given to cross-cultural contacts of the Albanians with other ethno-linguistic groups settled in Southern Ukraine (Budzhak and theSea of Azovregion) such as Ukrainians, Russians, Moldavians and Balkan migrants – Bulgarians and Gagauzians  who inhabited the area more recently. Close neighborhood and long-lasting interactions set conditions for the occurrence and strengthening of common features such as way of life, language and traditional culture. In particular, birth rites as a part of spiritual culture demonstrate commonness of ritual acts and believes beliefs related to childbearing that could be interpreted as consequences of convergence of genetically different ethnic traditions existing in the analyzed regions. Thereby special attention is paid to some aspects of birth culture which show typological parallels and common features: the institute of midwifery, mythological ideas about fate’s predictors, sacral salting of a baby and ritual denial of a child. Such examples are the signs of archaic cultural integration formed during the Balkan past among Bulgarians, Albanians and Gagauzians as well as the result of recent innovations borrowed from East Slavic neighbors.