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Paper short abstract

The paper explores nature-related clothing in Slavic variants of ATU 510B, where heroine wear fur garments as well as cosmic or metallic dresses. The motif is read through ritual parallels, questioning human–nature boundaries and the appropriation or reverence of nature.

Paper long abstract

Clothing correlated with nature is a common motif in folk magic tales. It appears in particularly intriguing ways in variants of tale type ATU 510B, especially in Slavic traditions. On the one hand, the heroine wears, in everyday life, garments made from the furs of all animals or of a single one (a donkey, a mouse, a pig). On the other hand, during festive occasions, she dons dresses inspired by the properties of celestial bodies and/or precious metals. This raises the question of the nature of this motif and how it should be understood: as an expression of the marvellous, a defining generic feature of the magic tale; as a form of human identification with nature and recognition of its superiority; or as an act of appropriating nature for one’s own purposes and subordinating it to particular interests. To shed light on this issue, and to determine the functions of nature-related clothing in magic tales, it may be useful to turn to ritual realizations of the motif of wondrous dressing—including folk charms and wedding rituals, with their elaborate protective practices and rich fertility symbolism. This paper forms part of a broader inquiry that encourages reflection on the need to move beyond the binary distinction between what is natural and unnatural, on the permeability of the boundaries between human beings and nature, and on the ways in which we live with and through nature.