KAZHIMOTKA, A CHARACTER IN THE SPRING CALENDAR OF COSSACK SETTLEMENTS IN THE SOUTH URAL: DESCRIPTION AND ISSUES OF A CULTURAL TRADITION

The spring calendar of Cossack settlements in the Orenburg province (currently the territory of the southern part of the Chelyabinsk region) records the custom of dressing up in kazhimotka. A scary costumed character appeared on the Zhavoronki (Larks) holiday to conduct a viewing of the results of winter spinning. The ritual conduct of the kazhimotka (questioning, evaluating, approval/ rewarding/ punishment) is endowed with status meanings regarding the initiation in female society. There is no such character in other settlements of the Southern Urals that preserve the equally rich tradition of the bird-calling holiday. The author’s study of the spring complex of other regional traditions has unearthed a similar type of mummery in several villages located along the Unzha river in the Kostroma region. The similarity can be observed in the semantics of the objects that were used for dressing up and in the actions of the character that aimed at encouraging spinning girls to work. A comparative analysis of materials from Kostroma and the Southern Urals opens up the prospect for further field research.