Paper short abstract:

The paper deals with the universal motif of a building sacrifice and its realization in different folklore genres and in fiction. The motif is analysed through Slavic folk beliefs, lexical fond and rituals during bricklaying ceremony which is interpreted in tradition as an act of creation.

Paper long abstract:

The international (Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian, Macedonian, Bulgarian, Georgian, Lithuanian, Mordvinian, Hungarian, Rumanian, Albanian, etc.) motif of a building sacrifice - the sacrifice during stone-laying ceremony to foundation of church, bridge, town, fortress, mill, etc. with the aim to stop the destruction of the building, - found the realization in the system of different folklore genres (legends, epic songs, ballads) as well as in fiction (I. Andrich). Widely presented in the culture, this motif is based on the universality of the notion of human creation as a code or archetype-symbol and is valid both for synchronous and diachronous analysis of each ethnofolklore tradition. In this paper we intend not only to show its parallels in folklore and literature tradition but to discuss the meaning associated with numerous beliefs and ritua lpractice during bricklaying ceremony that symbolically forms the reality and is interpreted in tradition as an act of creation.