WAR METAPHORS IN THE SONG HISTORICAL FOLKLORE OF THE DON COSSACKS

Abstract

The article deals with the images of the war – one of the key concepts of the Don Cossacks’ world picture – in the historical song folklore. Military themes permeate most of the Cossacks historical songs. Along with the direct depiction of military actions and related phenomena and concepts, the songs contain allegorical, metaphorical descriptions of war – stable images associated with armed clashes. The author’s attention is focused on the last, as they show the deep interconnections of war with other basic concepts of the Cossack, and Russian in general, worldview. The representations of war, reflected in the songs, are closely related to the understanding of life and death, one’s own and others’ and the main occupations of the Cossacks. War is described allegorically through images of natural disasters, social relations, and labor activities, and appears as a phenomenon beyond human control, characterized as an alien, otherworldly space, and thereby partially intersects with the people’s understanding of death. Many of the described metaphors (army – cloud; battle – harvest, feast; enemies – guests) were characteristic of all-Russian folk art from the earliest period, which shows the continuity of the Cossack folklore tradition with the Russian one