From Ritual Communication to Convivial Entertainment: Reflections of Old Drinking Rituals in Folk Songs

The article considers changes in drinking rituals and how they are reflected in folklore. Belarusian and Lithuanian songs sharing several similarities are selected for a more detailed discussion. The song motifs analysed in the article show clear links between drinking rituals and folklore (wedding songs and betrothal drinking customs), along with a certain implicit cultural link between the old ritual attitudes and festivities in subsequent times (motifs of feast songs paraphrased in drinking traditions). The theoretical framework of the paper is supported by research from the fields of folklore, ritual communication, and the history of traditional beverages that examines the cultural continuity of community life phenomena. The experiences of ritual attitudes passed down from generation to generation may encourage the existence of archaic cultural forms, even when specific ritual practices have long died out and become irrelevant as people’s life circumstances have changed significantly.Članek obravnava spremembe v obredih pitja in kako se odražajo v folklori. Za podrobnejšo razpravo so izbrane beloruske in litovske pesmi, ki si delijo več podobnosti. Pesemski motivi, analizirani v članku, kažejo jasne povezave med obredi pitja in folkloro (poročne pesmi in šege zaročnega pitja) ter določeno implicitno kulturno povezavo med starimi obrednimi odnosi in praznovanji v poznejših časih (motivi prazničnih pesmi, parafrazirani v pitnih tradicijah). Teoretični okvir prispevka izhaja iz raziskav s področja folklore, obrednega komuniciranja in zgodovine tradicionalnih pijač, ki preučujejo kulturno kontinuiteto življenjskih pojavov skupnosti. Izkušnje obrednih odnosov, ki se prenašajo iz roda v rod, lahko spodbudijo obstoj arhaičnih kulturnih oblik, tudi če so specifične obredne prakse že davno zamrle in so postale nepomembne, saj so se življenjske okoliščine ljudi bistveno spremenile