Functions and Artistic Specificity of Folk Earthenware in Customs and Rituals of the Calendar Cycle of the Ukrainians

Information about certain types of Ukrainian ritual earthenware can be found in the works by Ye. Spaska [Spaska 1929, 39], L. Shulhyna [Shulhyna 1929, 124, 152], N. Heppener [Heppener 1928, 10, 19], Yu. Samarin [Samarin 1929, 20–21, 37], К. Mateyko [Mateyko 1959, 43, 46–47, 54], L. Danchenko [Danchenko 1974, 70–71], H. Ivashkiv [Ivashkiv 2007, 67, 176–177, 198–199, 204, 254, 413], О. Klymenko [Ivashkiv, Klymenko 2018, 14–16] and foreign scholars [Kalesný 1956; Plicková 1959; Polonec, Turzova 1962; Georgieva, Ivanchev, Peneva 1980; Tomuh 1983; Vondruškowá, Vondruška 1987; Fryś-Pietraszkowa, Kunczyńska-Tracka, Pokropek 1988]. However, functional and artistic specificity of all known ceramic items in the context of holidays and events in the calendar cycle have not been a matter of a separate research so far.

Throughout centuries the use of earthenware crockery has been connected with at least three vital functions, i.e. household, aesthetics and rituals. Each of these functions proves to be important and necessary in the everyday life and certain rituals. Thus, earthenware items performed ritual functions back in the Aeneolithic age, in particular in the period of Trypillya-Cucuteni (6th– 4th millenia BC). We know about ceramic works that were meant for ritual use dating back to the 9th– 12th cc., there are some intact items from the 16th– 18th cc., but the majority of such works date back to the 19th–early 20th cc. Of course, in order to determine functions of the abovementioned ceramic items one should analyze them in the context of folklore, ethnographical and art critical materials, particularly those that have been recorded during expeditions to various regions of Ukraine. It is well-known that the earthenware which was used in Ukrainian customs and rituals was often characterized by a specific shape and decoration. Moreover, such works were lavishly decorated with geometrical or vegetative ornament both inside and outside; sometimes there occurred images with scenes and relief images. Such earthenware was specially ordered from the potters or bought during fairs.

The earthenware crockery, particularly pots were an integral part of everyday life and interior of the house. In addition, they were widely used in rituals, customs and traditions which accompanied a person from birth till death. We have to mention the fact that ceramic items were also used in various types of fortune-telling, the main point of which was the hope for the better. For instance, on December 7, i.e. St. Catherine’s Day, girls filled pots with borshch (i.e. beetroot soup) and varenyky (i.e. filled dumplings), climbed the fence and carefully watched those men who tasted their food. The girl’s future husband was most likely to look like the first man who tasted the food. With a pot of porridge the girls tried to tell their future on the night before St. Andrew’s Day (December 13). At midnight they went outside with that pot and treated young men to the porridge.

Burying pots (mostly with porridge) was rather archaic and more typical of rituals of Western and Eastern Slavonic people [Toporkov 1995, 528]. A similar ritual was performed when spring came – in such a way people expressed hope for a good harvest throughout the year. Crockery with holy water was buried on the third week of the Great Lent in order to avert drought. At the same time girls buried a pot of porridge with poppy seeds hoping that “bad luck would go away” [Voropay 1993, 243]. In Romania on the day before St. George’s holiday people collected dew from leaves and grass into a pot and used it to wash their eyes [Sveshnikova, Tsyvyan 1979, 160]. In spring, in the region of Opillya on the day when storks came (March 19 or 22 – these dates are related to the holidays of 40 and 42 mortars) they made little “strings» from dough, cut them into small pieces and boiled. Finally, these pieces of dough were mixed with ground poppy seeds.

Ukrainian potters had much more work before Christmas and Easter. Analyzing peculiarities of these holidays and the use of earthenware (e.g. pots, makitras, jugs, etc.) while celebrating them we should mention that in many regions of Ukraine people bought new ceramic items for these purposes. For instance, people needed earthenware crockery in order to cook kutya (i.e. a ceremonial grain dish with sweet gravy traditionally served with ground poppy seeds and honey) and uzvar (i.e. a beverage made of dried fruit, such as apples, pears, plums, cherries or apricots). Of course, there were cases when people did not have enough money, so they used their old earthenware which was usually kept in the attic.

From the late 19th c. till about the middle of the 20th c. people used lots of earthenware items while celebrating Christmas and Epiphany. In particular, the following ceramic works were meant for holy water: round pots, jugs, O-shaped flat jars (they were called so in Hutsulshchyna, Pokuttya and Western Podillya), pumpkin-shaped items, jars (these names are characteristic of Left-bank Ukraine, i.e. a part of Ukraine on the left bank of the Dnieper River), or pumpkin-shaped earthenware (a typical name in Eastern Podillya). People not only took the holy water from church in those earthenware items, but also kept the blessed water in them at home.

Another interesting sample of such crockery is terracotta round pots with ochre diagonal-bar crosses on the handle (Polissya region) and smoked round pots with the same motives on the shoulders and corpus (Bukovyna). The décor of painted items could have been based on the string-like type of composition with the combination of motives of crosses on the shoulders (F. Polyvyanyy, Zherdenivka) [Heppener 1928, 10, 19], vines and “spirals” (Berezhany), (Il. 1)

Fig. 1. A round pot for holy water. Late 19th– early 20th cc. The city of Berezhany in Ternopil region. MEC.

bunches (Il. 2) of grapes and rosettes (Opishne), “garlands” (Kosiv) or structures with mirror schemes, for example bunches of grapes (Zakarpattya, Bukovyna) or the “flower pot” motive (Opishne). Such a type of earthenware was often complemented with two handles, and the décor consisted of complex vertical crosses of various types (Kosiv, NML). In the decoration of round pots we can sometimes come across images of one or two (Sokal, MEC) or even four (Bar; MFARLL) birds among tree branches.

Fig. 2. A vessel for holy water. Early 20th c., the township of Opishne in Poltava region. MEC.

In various countries of the world, particularly Poland [Fryś-Pietraszkowa, Kunczyńska-Tracka, Pokropek 1988, 98], the Czech Republic [Vondruškowá, Vondruška 1987, 116], Slovakia [Polonec, Turzova 1962, 16–17; Plicková 1959, 51, 55], Serbia [Tomuh 1983, 330–333] and Bulgaria [Georgieva, Ivanchev, Peneva 1980, 131, 273] such painted items, which were decorated only with geometrical or vegetative motives or had no decorations at all, were either smoked, terracotta or glazed. The given earthenware was used for taking water into the field, as it stayed cold for a long time, or these items served for keeping oil and petrol.

“A jar for holy water” was a one-to-three-litre vessel of a typical shape with a nose, while the outer surface was fully covered with glazing (Komyshnya) [Khanko 2001, 276]. Most likely, the same function was performed by the early 20th c. terracotta jars with straight ocher crosses on the neck (Opishne; NMRUP), jugs with diagonal-bar crosses on the rims (middle of the 20th c.; Honcharivka, NMFARL) or with “bunches of grapes” and branches (Ya. Herasymenko, Bubnivka; NCFC “IHM”). In some villages in Opillya, Polissya, Volyn and Middle Dnieper Ukraine water was also blessed in terracotta or glazed round pots and jars, decorated with green branches, fresh or dry flowers. A rich décor, especially with motives of crosses in various modifications, flower pots and images of churches was typical of majolica jugs from ceramic centres in Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya, namely Kosiv and Pistyn (MEC). In the décor of the 1830-ies jars for holy water, which were made by the potters in Stupava (Slovakia), we can come across a religious scene of Adam and Eve in a round frame with vegetative motives on the sides [Kalesný 1956, 74].

In Hutsulshchyna little majolica jugs (the so-called “water jugs”) also served for blessed water, in particular we mean works by an outstanding potter from Kosiv Oleksa Bakhmatyuk. In the basis of their ornamentation these items predominantly have Christian motives, especially crosses, flower pots and branches. In order to carry blessed water from the church the Hutsuls (mostly residents of mountain areas) used ring-like vessels, particularly O-shaped flat jars and flat jars, which were attached by the handle to the belt. The “holiness» of these vessels was emphasized by their décor, since they were ornamented with scratched or painted crosses on both sides of the neck or the shoulders of the earthenware (O. Bakhmatyuk, Kosiv; MEC). A triple Greek cross which was inscribed into a circle and an image of a Hutsul man sitting on a chair with a pipe dominate in the décor of a flat jar (Kosiv; Ya. Motyka’s collection). (Il. 3) A combination of a diagonal-bar cross and a cross with straight lines as well as crosses of the Greek type can be seen on the flat jar by P. Koshak (Pistyn, MEC). In the 19th–20th cc. a vessel for holy water in Bulgaria had a shape of a small cylinder on a leg, decorated with cuts and holes [Georgieva, Ivanchev, Peneva, 1980, 230].

Fig. 3. A flat jar for holy water. Late 19th– early 20th cc. The city of Kosiv in Ivano-Frankivsk region. Ya. Motyka’s collection (Lviv).

Kutya and uzvar have a ritual meaning during Christmas and Epiphany. In many regions of Ukraine before the Holy Supper kutya and uzvar were kept in hay-wrapped pots in the most honorable corner of the house, i.e. under the icons [S. a. 1858, ІІІ, 43]. Kutya was cooked in unglazed pots (four to seven litres, as their volume depended on the number of people in the family). The given dish was served in middle-size makitras (i.e. big cone-shaped earthenware bowls with widely open sides and thickened rims that are slightly bent on the outside) which were used for grinding poppy seeds or in big decorated bowls, obviously taken from the “bowl rack”. Throughout the year a makitra could be used for varenyky, different pies etc. Besides Christmas, painted bowls were taken from the bowl rack for weddings, baptizing a child, Easter and some other events. Lavishly decorated bowls can be found on bowl racks in Poland [Fryś-Pietraszkowa, Kunczyńska-Tracka, Pokropek 1988, 99] and Bulgaria [Georgieva, Ivanchev, Peneva, 1980, 136], while they also decorated walls in the houses in Romania and Hungary.

For people from Eastern Podillya postavtsi for kutya (i.e. large high-sided bowls) were a type of special Christmas crockery. They were made only in two ceramic centres of Ukraine – Bubnivka and Zherdenivka. Thus, such earthenware items, the shape of which resembles a big, deep bowl with straight sides and ornament on both sides, were used only once a year during Christmas holidays. Postavtsi were amply decorated on the outer side (motives of branches and fir trees), inside we can sometimes find a motive of a cross. The majority of such items had an orange or sometimes white background [Ivashkiv, Klymenko 2018, 14–16].

As it has already been mentioned, during the biggest religious holidays (i.e. Christmas and Easter) an important function was performed by makitras. Their size depended on the purpose: the smallest ones were meant for grinding cannabis seeds or garlic, middle-sized ones were used for grinding poppy seeds, keeping varenyky or buckwheat-filled buns and serving kutya, while in the biggest makitras people kept water and grain, bleached clothes, or made dough for Christmas and Easter bread.

Bowls also performed a certain role in Christmas rituals, as they were used for serving holiday dishes. Besides that, before Epiphany, having returned from the church the master of the household or the eldest son poured blessed water into them and sprinkled it all around the house and the household [Chubynskyy 1995, 6]. Of course, here we mean beautiful glazed bowls from the shelf (the so-called bowl rack) which were used only on “great holidays”.

One cannot fail mentioning doughnut bowls, i.e. a special type of crockery that was handy while celebrating Christmas, one of the features of which is the doughnut. Such bowls had three (Vinnytsya), four (Kolomyya), five (Lahodiv), six (Stara Ropa, Komarno), or seven (Sokal, Uzhhorod, Shpykolosy) holes, in order to make every doughnut fry separately. In different regions of Ukraine doughnut bowls looked like flat bowls (terracotta, smoked or covered with white or orange glazing ones) of various sizes and shape – triangular, quadrangular, oval, flowerpot-shaped, with one or two handles and one long handle. (Il. 4)

Fig. 4. Petro Muts. A doughnut bowl. 1966. The village of Shpykolosy in Lviv region. MEC.

In Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya the holiday of Epiphany is also associated with unique triple candlesticks. After the ritual of blessing water on the river the priest dipped them into water. At first, these candlesticks used to be wooden, but in the late 19th c. such earthenware items appeared. They mostly resembled a horseshoe whose body was joined by a thin plank, three noses on the top and a round bottom part. They were decorated with various techniques, namely cutting, scratching, stamping, painting with multi-coloured engobes and reliefs. As a rule, in the centre of composition on such candlesticks we can see a Latin-type cross with little crosses, “cross-hatching”, “a star”, tulips, bells, a scratched crucifix, an inscription “INRI”, an image of a Cherub with two men, St. Nicholas, Holy Trinity (i.e. the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit), the crucifix etc. (P. Koshak, Pistyn, MEC, NML, NMHPFA, NFAMK). The corpus of some triple candlesticks by P. Koshak was sometimes based on the shape of a flat jar with three noses and small ledges for wax. One surface of a flat jar could have been decorated with a life-size image of St. Nicholas and the motive of branches next to him, while another surface had a motive of three crosses, the ends of which were ornamented with smaller crosses and leaves (MEC). (Il. 5) Triple candlesticks of mid-20th c. were mostly decorated with the technique of “rizhkuvannya” («horning») in combination with the motives of dots, lines, arcs, rhombuses, rosettes, tulips, bells and stars (P. Tsvilyk, Kosiv; NMHPFA, MEC).

Fig. 5. Petro Koshak. A triple candlestick. Late 19th c. The village of Pistyn in Ivano-Frankivsk region. MEC.

Easter, i.e. the holiday of Christ’s resurrection, has always been solemnly celebrated in Ukraine. Since before the celebration people baked Easter bread, fried fish, lambs, piglets and geese, painted pysanky (i.e. Easter eggs), they needed earthenware for these purposes. Thus, the Ukrainians used earthenware Easter bread moulds, goose, piglet and fish roasters as well as bowls, plates, sometimes earthenware Easter eggs and baskets. Interestingly, the bride was given earthenware crockery as an Easter present for the new household [Spaska 1929, 41].

Plates and bowls which were used for Easter were decorated with Christian symbols, particularly motives of a cross, images of Jesus Christ, one or two fish with the inscription “Jesus Christ” [Samarin 1929, 39]. In Hutsulshchyna we sometimes come across painted jugs for blessed water with a scratched inscription “Christ has risen” (P. Koshak, Pistyn, a private collection). Potters from Poltava region made big «winged bowls» (33 cm high) “for blessed Easter food”. One of them dates back to 1925 and is ornamented with motives of leaves in the stamping technique^[1]. In Poland, particularly in Sokoły, not far from Białystok, they produced large bowls with an image of a popular religious symbol, i.e. a lamb. Such works that were called «święconki» served for carrying Easter dishes to be blessed in church [Fryś-Pietraszkowa, Kunczyńska-Tracka, Pokropek 1988, 100].

Easter bread is the main symbol of this holiday. In many ceramic centres of Ukraine potters produced special baking moulds for this bread. Technologically, they are classified into terracotta, smoked and partially or fully glazed ones. Since they were put into the furnace, these earthenware pieces were poorly decorated (for instance, with a group of scratched lines or curves on the upper outside part of the mould) or had no décor at all. According to the shape these items can fall into pot- and bowl-shaped ones; cone- and cylinder-shaped ones; the ones with smooth sides or vertical incisions; moulds with straight or wavy rims; the ones with a bar in the middle or without it; with one, two or no handles.

Such earthenware works had many specific names in Ukrainian, and their volume could reach from one to six litres. Potters mostly made them before Easter or at any time during the year when somebody ordered them. A mould for a cottage cheese variation of Easter bread seems to be a rather rare type of ritual earthenware (it had four six-end crosses on the surface). As prototypes these moulds obviously had corresponding ancient wooden and metal moulds (S. Semenchenko, Mezhyrich; NMRUP).

Earthenware baskets for blessing Easter bread belong to unique ritual items. Some of them have a handle on the top ornamented with relief earthenware balls (“buttons”), while the others have relief handles on the sides. In particular, we know about four majolica cylinder-shaped items of the late 20th c. by O. Bakhmatyuk. They are decorated with a geometrical and vegetative ornament with motives of vertical lines, rhombuses, triangles, “wreaths” or “garlands” with leaves and rosettes and arc-like interlace. On the bottom of two works we can see the motive of a star (NML), the third one – the motive of “a flower pot” (LCM), and the fourth one – an image of a two-headed eagle and the date “1881” (NML). (Il. 6)

Fig. 6. Oleksa Bakhmatyuk. An Easter basket. Early 1880-ies. The city of Kosiv in Ivano-Frankivsk region. ŁCM.

One more big earthenware basket from the early 20th c. originates from Poltava region. It is decorated with the motives of a cross, branches, a jar, images of two roosters and a human bust on the white background. The bottom of the given items is covered with round holes. A smaller cone-shaped basket is decorated with the motive of a cross inside it, branches and a double engobe inscription “God is Easter” (NMFARL).

It seems interesting that in the late 19th c. – early 20th c. potters from Vinnytsya region produced a special type of Easter crockery, the so-called “postavchyky”, i.e. special earthenware bowls in which people carried cheese and other Easter dishes to be blessed in the church. Such crockery was used only once or twice a year and then was kept in the attic or on the bowl rack throughout the year.

It appears important to pay attention to a number of earthenware in which people roasted meat not only for Easter, but for other celebrations as well. Thus, roasted chicken or goose meat was mentioned in one of the wedding records back in 1805 [S. a. 1970, 215]. Since pre-Christian times the Ukrainians have roasted a piglet, it is usually associated with the celebration in honour of the Sun that came from Europe [Voropay 1993, 254]. To roast a piglet in the furnace people used large bowls with a lid and a handle that were often called “piglet roasters” in many areas. Such bowls were somewhat flattened on the sides and resembled an oval. The potters made this shape by pressing a freshly produced work to the inside. In the centre of one of such smoked items we can see a double (straight and diagonal-bar) cross in the technique of “smoothening”, while the sides are decorated with lines (Selyska). (Il. 7) Such vessels sometimes had the shape of prolonged makitras and were called “lokhani” (Pidhaytsi [Hyrman, Kozacha 1996, 178], Velykyy Kunynets^[2], Huta Sklyana). Besides that, there are large terracotta bowls with one handle and a nose on one side – they served for melting fat and roasting meat (15.3х45.6х26.3 cm; Mykilska Sloboda, NMHU). Similar earthenware items were made by Serbian potters back in the mid-20th c. [Tomuh 1983, 325, 1880].

Fig. 7. A meat roaster. Late 19th – early 20th c. The village of Selyska in Lviv region. MEC.

According to L. Shulhyna, piglet roasters that were produced by the potters from Bubnivka “were big, deep and somewhat flat on both sides where they were cut without rims [...]; at first sight it seems that the roaster is broken […] with one or two handles attached to rounded sides” [Shulhyna 1929, 152]. These types of earthenware were used not only for roasting a piglet, but also for taking it to be blessed in the church. Similar items were produced by Polish potters (for example, we can mention an oval smoked vessel with even short sides or a two-handle bowl; MEC, LHM). Apart from that, piglets could be roasted on large unglazed lids (terracotta or smoked ones), which were otherwise called “pokrivtsi” [Poshyvaylo 1993, 142]. Similar terracotta items were made in Potelych, Selyska and Hlynsk, while smoked ones originate from Strusiv (MEC).

The Ukrainians roasted small pieces of meat in unglazed bowls or bowls with a round lid (the so-called “lokhani”, Ustechko)^[3]. Potters also often produced chicken roasters called “kuryatnyky” (Miski Mlyny). Potters of the late 19th– early 20th cc. from Valky in Kharkiv region were famous for their goose roasters, i.e. large bowls with a handle and flattened sides like the piglet roasters, used for roasting geese [Metka 2004, 106]. As we have mentioned before, the upper parts in such works were turned inside, which allowed the dish to receive more heat; we can see that on the example of an item from Mistechko (Lemkivshchyna, now the territory of Poland). In fact, that was a prolonged bowl (10.5х37х19.7 cm), which had an orange and green glazing inside and was terracotta outside (MEC). The potters from Izyum^[4], Khomutets and Mali Budyshcha also turned the sides of the bowls inside [Mishchanyn 2005, 240]. It seems interesting that for the Jewish people the potters produced wide bowls, named “bekly” (Ustechko)^[5]. Ukrainian potters also made fish roasters for cooking fish (they looked similar to the above-mentioned bowls) [Danchenko 1974, 71].

Apart from Easter bread, pysanky (i.e. Easter eggs) are a special attribute of Easter in Ukraine. With the help of a special device with a metal tip, wax, colourful paints and artists’ talent an egg turned into a real masterpiece of Ukrainian folk art. Being artistic in their nature, potters reconsidered that process and produced ceramic Easter eggs. Such works appeared back in the art of the 9th– 12th cc. Here we mean small earthenware items in the shape of an egg, painted with multi-coloured enamel.

In the 19th– 20th cc. ceramic kaolin Easter eggs were manufactured particularly on the Kyevo-Mizhhirska porcelain factory. The décor combines Christian motives (“The Crucifixion”, “The Resurrection”, “St. Nicholas”, “The Eye of the Omniscence”, and “The Chalice”) and the factory abbreviation (NMHU). Nowadays there are a few Easter eggs of 1902, painted by the apprentices of Hlynska ceramic school. These items are decorated with engobe paints in green, dark blue and pink colours, have the inscription “Christ has risen» and an image of an angel (NMRUP, NMFARL). We also know about four stone Easter eggs that were manufactured in the early 20th c. on Ivan Levynskyy ceramic factory in Lviv. These earthenware eggs have a geometrical ornament which is arranged either vertically or horizontally in the shape of branches with small leaves or whirlwind rosettes in modest dark red or green colours on the brown background (MEC). (Il. 8)

Fig. 8. Easter eggs. Early 20th c. Ivan Levynskyy Ceramic Factory. The city of Lviv. MEC.

Among folk artists who painted Easter eggs (they made them from pottery clay) we can mention Pavlyna Tsvilyk (Kosiv, NMHPFA) and Yefrosyniya Mishchenko (Bubnivka; NMFARL). They ornamented and painted Easter eggs in a traditional way for their ceramic centres and signed them with their own signatures.

Therefore, the given article explores major types of earthenware that the Ukrainians used in their calendar customs and rituals in the 19th– first half of the 20th cc. A specific shape of such items often signaled about their function, as did their décor with Christian motives, especially crosses, vegetative motives (“a spiral” or “a bunch of grapes”), images of fish, birds, inscriptions, etc. Triple candlesticks associated with Epiphany and baskets for Easter bread can be considered as real masterpieces of Ukrainian folk ceramics. The Ukrainian people had special Christmas crockery for blessing water, frying doughnuts, cooking kutya and uzvar. Easter holidays are also associated with a number of originally shaped and specially decorated earthenware items (namely, Easter bread moulds, chicken, goose and piglet roasters, etc.). We also consider that ceramic Easter eggs made from kaolin or pottery clay by professional and amateur potters are unique.

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Abbreviations

AEI ASU – Archive of the Ethnology Institute at the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine

NFAMK – Hutsulshchyna FolkArt Museum in Kosiv

MEC – Museum of Ethnography and Crafts at the Ethnology Institute of the Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (Lviv)

ŁCM – Łańcut Castle Musem (Poland)

LHM – Lublin History Museum (Poland)

MFARLL – K. Sheptytskyy Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life in Lviv

NMRUP – National Museum and Reserve of Ukrainian Pottery in Opishne

NMHU – National History Museum (Kyiv)

NML – A. Sheptytskyy National Museum in Lviv

NMFARL – National Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life (Kyiv)

NMHPFA – Y. Bobrynskyy National Museum of Hutsulshchyna and Pokuttya Folk Art (Kolomyya)

NCFC “IHM” – National Centre for Folk Culture “Ivan Honchar Museum” (Kyiv)