The Paths of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Natalie Kononenko

Sacrificing Snegurochka

The Paths of Folklore: Essays in Honor of Natalie Kononenko. Svitlana Kukharenko and Peter Holloway, eds. Bloomington, IN: Slavica Publishers, 2012, 85–94.       Sacrificing Snegurochka   Philippa Rappoport The  Snegurochka  story,  one  of  the  most  popular  folktales  in  Russia  today,  has   the  simple  grace  and  stark  development  characteristic  of  most  folktales,  yet   beneath  a  snowy  blanket  of  time  and  Christianization,  also  offers  a  remark-­‐‑ ably   detailed   view   of   Russian   traditional   culture.   The   Snegurochka   story   reflects  an  underlying  belief  system  also  found  in  agrarian  rituals  tradition-­‐‑ ally   performed   in   the   period   between   the   winter   and   summer   solstices,   in   which  a  personification  of  the  season  was  erected,  paraded  through  the  town,   and  eventually  destroyed.  In  effect,  the  story  is  a  narrative  about  the  change   of   the   seasons;   it   describes   how   a   personification   of   winter   is   “killed,”   es-­‐‑ corted   out,   really,   in   order   to   welcome   spring   rebirth.   The   performance   of   these  rituals  was  essentially  an  affirmation  of  life,  requiring  active  participa-­‐‑ tion  in  the  natural  progression  of  the  seasons.   Perhaps  because  of  its  close  relation  to  these  rituals,  the  story  retains  an   emotional  vibrancy  in  Russia.  Today,  although  the  traditional  rituals  are  per-­‐‑ formed   only   in   remote   villages   if   at   all,   Snegurochka   is   an   established   and   cherished   component   of   contemporary   New   Year   celebrations.   She   and   her   grandfather,  Ded  Moroz  (Grandfather  Frost),  are  greeted  on  New  Year’s  Eve   with  delight  and  awe  by  children  offering  her  songs  and  dances  in  exchange   for  gifts.     Several  ethnographers  have  linked  ritual  narrative  and  oral  lore.  Vladimir   Propp  (1946),  in  particular,  writes  about  repeated  patterns  across  rituals  and   other  folkloric  genres  and  describes  the  connection  between  folktales  and  rit-­‐‑ ual,   called   the   Myth-­‐‑Ritual   Theory,   in   his   Historical   Roots   of   the   Wonder   Tale.   While  Propp  is  not  the  originator  of  this  theory,  his  reflections  on  it  in  relation   to   initiation   and   funerary   rituals   are   among   his   most   interesting.   He   main-­‐‑ tains   that   at   a   time   in   history   when   rituals   are   still   considered   sacred,   the   ritual  and  its  narrative  are  connected  so  that  the  narrative  is  told  as  part  of  the   ritual  celebration.  As  the  ritual  loses  its  sacral  character,  the  act  and  the  nar-­‐‑ rative  split  and  both  devolve  separately:  the  act  becomes  a  children’s  game,   and  the  narrative  degenerates  to  become  a  wonder  tale.  Thus  the  wonder  tale   appears  as  the  descendent  of  myth  and  legend  “when  the  hero  loses  his  name   and  the  story  loses  its  sacral  character”  (Propp  1984,  79).  Ethnographer  Na-­‐‑ taliia   Veletskaia   (1992)   also   makes   the   connection.   She   uses   oral-­‐‑poetic   and   written  sources  to  reconstruct  a  Proto-­‐‑Slavic  ritual  called  “leading/dispatch-­‐‑ ing  to  the  other  world.”  While  the  theories  can  be  debated,  it  is  nevertheless   86 PHILIPPA RAPPOPORT almost   impossible   to   overlook   the   similarities   between   ritual   narrative   and   oral  lore.   One  Snegurochka  tale  variant  that  echoes  the  agrarian  rituals  very  clearly   comes   from   the   collection   Russkie   narodnye   skazki   (Nechaev   and   Rybakova   1952),  taken  from  an  earlier  collection  by  Irina  Karnaukhova  (1934),  and  re-­‐‑ printed  verbatim  in  a  paperback  children’s  book,  illustrated  by  A.  P.  Klopo-­‐‑ tovskii   (Semenova   1993).   In   the   story,   an   old   man   and   woman   wish   for   a   child.   One   day   in   winter,   as   they   watch   the   village   children   making   snow   women,  they  make  their  own  snow  girl.  To  their  surprise,  the  girl  comes  to   life.  She  trembles  from  her  snowy  grounding,  her  mouth  forms  a  smile,  her   hair  begins  to  curl,  and  she  runs  toward  the  hut  where  they  begin  to  live  to-­‐‑ gether.   The   old   couple   loves   Snegurochka   as   if   she   had   been   with   them   always.  It  appears  that  Snegurochka  is  happy  and  beautiful,  except  that  she   has  no  color  in  her  cheeks,  and  her  lips  are  deathly  pale.  Soon  spring  comes— trees   bloom,   skylarks   sing.   Then   summer   rushes   in.   Snegurochka   hides   in   dark  shadows,  watching  from  the  window  as  people  enjoy  the  sunshine.  One   day  Snegurochka’s  friends  invite  her  to  go  blueberry  picking  with  them  in  the   woods.  She  does  not  want  to  go,  but  her  parents  persuade  her.  There  the  girls   braid  wreaths  for  their  hair,  dance  circle  dances,  and  sing  songs.  Only  Snegu-­‐‑ rochka  hides  in  the  shade  by  a  cool  creek,  playing  with  the  drops  of  water  as   if   with   pearls.   When   evening   falls,   the   girls   make   a   fire.   They   don   their   wreaths  and  jump  over  the  fire.  They  persuade  Snegurochka  to  jump.  She  ap-­‐‑ proaches   the   fire   and   shivers   from   fear.   Her   braid   unravels.   When   Snegu-­‐‑ rochka  leaps  over  the  fire,  she  turns  into  a  white  steam  cloud  that  stretches...