iii 
 

Editor’s Note-Folklorica 2013 

Folklorica returns after a year-long hiatus during the transition 
from the former editor, Natalie Konenenko at the University of 
Alberta to its new home at the University of Kentucky. We had 
hoped to complete the shift between editors and publish an issue 
last year, but there were complications beyond our control with the 
material in the pipeline. We hope that the offerings in this volume 
help to compensate for the delay. This edition features articles 
drawing on a range of folk traditions from material culture 
(Franklin Sciacca’s analysis of Ukrainian embroidery from the 19th 
century to the present and its connection to identity in many social, 
temporal, regional and national contexts) to vernacular religion 
(Tatiana Filosofova’s study of conceptions of the apocalypse as 
reflected among Old Believers in Latvia), from personal narrative 
(Adrienne Harris’ examination of the folk elements within the oral 
histories of women fighter pilots in World War II) to neo-folk 
ritual (Ana Stefanova’s fascinating treatment of the invented 
tradition of nestinarstvo in one Bulgarian village). The various 
approaches and topics of these articles demonstrate the scope of 
our discipline and also its relevance in the contemporary societies 
of the regions to which SEEFA is dedicated.  

While this claim seems obvious to those of us who are specialists 
in folklore and ethnography, we release this issue during a time in 
which continued research in the field is in jeopardy within the 
countries our membership studies. The Academies of Science 
across the region have been facing severe budget cuts throughout 
the post-socialist period. The most recent and most well-publicized 
development in this unfortunate trend has occurred in Russia over 
the last year. While I was in Russia and Belarus this summer, it 
was the major topic of conversation among my folklore colleagues 
at the Institute of Philology in Novosobirsk as well as among 
specialists at the International Congress of Slavists in Minsk. 
While each of North American who has a connection to the 
venerable scholarly tradition of folklore in the Slavic, East 



iv 
 

European and Eurasian countries has a similar story to tell about 
our concerns over the threat to the excellent work done by our 
colleagues there, I want to take this opportunity to address one 
particular instance of particular concern to SEEFA.  

The Folklore Sector of the Institute of Philology in Novosibirsk 
has been awarded the State Prize for Science and Technology of 
the Russian Federation (2002) for its series Pamiatniki fol’klora 
narodov Sibiri i Dal’nego Vostoka (Monuments of the Folklore of 
the Peoples of Siberia and the Far East). This 60-volume series 
(31 have been released, 3 are in press) represents one of the finest 
collections of folk material (including poetic genres, prose genres 
and ritual) in the much neglected region of Asian portion of 
Russia. In addition, the folklore collective has been dedicated to 
gathering material from native peoples across the region, a rarity in 
and of itself in much of the country, material which is being lost 
due to the rapid process of language death in these communities. 
This dedicated folklore collective (like many others in Russian 
now) is faced with the potential loss of its institute (and certainly 
of the series) because the humanities are said out of place within 
the scientific-technological tradition of Akademgorodok according 
to the head of the Siberian Division of the Russian Academy of 
Sciences. This institute, of course, is not an exception; for instance, 
the distinguished State Institute for the History of Art in Saint 
Petersburg with its excellent ethnomusicology department has 
already been dissolved. The discipline of folklore and ethnography 
faces an uncertain future. The articles in this volume are evidence 
of how SEEFA has managed to connect a broader range of 
specialists from North America and the countries of Eurasia since 
its inception. These authors, two North Americans, relying on the 
research by and connections with Eurasian specialists, and two 
Europeans, trained in the system under threat, share a common 
concern. We are beholden to the Eurasian tradition of folklore 
studies in fundamental ways and should provide support as we are 
able if the ties and exchange of ideas SEEFA has achieved are to 
be sustained. 



v 
 

Since the last issue of Folklorica was released, the organization 
has changed its name to the Slavic, East European and Eurasian 
Folklore Society. This shift was prompted by a desire to clarify 
what has long been confusion over the range of articles suitable for 
publication in the journal. In addition, it reflects a parallel change 
in the American Association for Slavic, East European and 
Eurasian Studies, with which we have been affiliated since our 
inception. I am pleased to say that this shift has indeed resulted in 
submissions from specialists studying Central Asia. Although none 
of those submissions was ready for this issue of the journal, we 
hope that some will be published in the next volume. We are still 
waiting for submissions from those studying the folk life of the 
Caucasus and we will attempt to get the word out on our interest in 
material on that region. 

In closing, allow me also to express our deepest gratitude to 
Natalie Kononenko, a founding member of SEEFA, who fostered 
the development of Folklorica in her role as editor. She did 
yeoman’s work to publicize the journal in the countries of Eurasia 
and is greatly responsible for its reputation as an international peer-
reviewed journal. Thanks also go to the authors for their patience 
during the transition and in their willingness to respond to the 
reviewers’ comments with great care. The reviewers also deserve 
credit for their thoughtful readings of the submissions; without the 
SEEFA membership’s willingness to take on much of the 
reviewing, the quality of the journal would suffer immeasurably. 
Finally, thanks to my editorial assistants, Jason Grant, Melinda 
Kelley and Benjamin Vogelpohl for all their support. 
 
Jeanmarie Rouhier-Willoughby, Folklorica Editor