Ni chair ni poisson : tryphon-le-coupé

L’étude de ce mythe ou « légende » étiologique est associée au rite vernal de la taille des vignes en Bulgarie. Tryphon se coupe le nez en voulant montrer son habileté technique. Ce geste inversé, s’il est fécondant pour les ceps, apparaît aussi comme punition d'un désir incestueux pour sa sœur, la Vierge. L’analyse du texte se place dans le contexte du calendrier des diverses fêtes de printemps, en s’appuyant sur de nombreuses références à la Grèce antique. L'auteur met en valeur quelques découvertes, en apparence paradoxales, mais recouvrant une logique inversée : la Vierge patronne des loups et protectrice des louves en couches, le rôti peut être bouilli, les rites de Carnaval sont muets, l’acte de fécondité agraire est mené par un castrat : le bœuf qui renvoie à Tryphon, l’autre castrat. Enfin, est mise en relief l’importance du geste symbolique, orchestrant les divers aspects du jeûne pascal, à la fois alimentaire, verbal et sexuel.This myth or etiological “legend” is associated with the Spring rite surrounding the pruning of vines in Bulgaria. Tryphon cuts his nose as he tries to demonstrate his technical know-how. This inverted gesture, which seems to be fecund for the vine stock, can also be seen as a form of punishment for his incestuous desire for his sister, the Virgin. This analysis places the text within the context of various Spring-time festivities based on numerous references to Greek antiquity. The author foregrounds several discoveries that seem paradoxical but that correspond to an inverted logic: the Virgin is the patron of the wolves and protects birth-giving female wolves, the roast can be boiled, the rites of Carnival are silent, the act of agrarian fertility is led by a castrated being: the ox refers to Tryphon, the other castrated being. Symbolic gesture is highlighted, orchestrating different facets of the Easter fast, be they verbal, sexual, or food-related

Étranger de tout poil ou comment on désigne l’autre

Ethnic identities, as it is conceived by the relativist anthropological approach, is a symetric structure whose two constituent elements, the Same and the Other, are equivalent ontological identities. For traditional societies, the relation between constituent elements of this bipolar structure is by definition hierarchised : one is always superior or inferior to the other, the foreigner is far away of a neighbour. This asymetrical relation presupposes the existence of a precarious equilibrum of the relations between the autonomous ethnics groups engaged in mutually profitable relations. The text presented here analyses the identitary paradigm of several Sout- East European societies through two series of myths. The first serie is composed of exogenous etiologie myths, that is to say accounts on the origins of foreign ethnic groups : « hairy », or in other terms « uneducated » and « wild ». The second serie is composed of endogenous accounts, obviously apologetic

L’offrande céréalière dans les rituels funéraires du sud-est européen

L’article tente de procéder à une mise en contexte des préparations céréalières contemporaines destinées aux offrandes mortuaires dans l’aire culturelle de l’orthodoxie balkanique. En effet, les rites dans lesquels prennent place ces offrandes font référence à une conception de la mort qui diffère de notre conception occidentale moderne : la mort est pensée ici comme un long processus dont l’aboutissement est marqué par la transformation du mort en ancêtre. Dès lors, on distinguera deux types de cycles rituels. Le premier concerne la mort individuelle. Cette période s’étale sur un an, de l’enterrement à la cérémonie de clôture du deuil. L’autre cycle correspond aux commémorations des ancêtres et se déroule au rythme des saisons. Les préparations liées à ces cérémonies comprennent la bouillie de blé (kollyva) et différentes sortes de pains dont la forme, l’ornementation et /ou l’appellation indiquent leur destination spécifique.The article makes an attempt to understand the context of contemporaneous cereal preparations for the dead in the orthodox cultural area of the Balkans. The rituals in which these offerings occur refer to a perception of death that differs from the western modern perception : death is thought of as a long process that ends with the transformation of the dead into an ancestor. Two types of ritual will thus be distinguished. The first one concerns individual death. This period covers one year, from the burial until the ceremony of grief. The other cycle is concerned with the commemoration of the ancestors and takes place according to a seasonal rhythm. The preparations related to these ceremonies include a porridge made of corn (kollyva) and different sorts of bread whose form, ornamentation and/or name are indicative o

Isolo, jeu royal des Sukuma.

A. Popova—'Isolo', the Royal Game of the Sukuma. A description of the simpler rules of the Sukuma variant of solo, with some considérations on its social meaning. [pp. 111-123]Popova Assia. Isolo, jeu royal des Sukuma.. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 19, n°73-76, 1979. Gens et paroles d'Afrique. Écrits pour Denise Paulme. pp. 111-123

Les mankala africains

A. Popova—African Mankala. 'Mankala' designates a class of mathematical game which is most popular in Africa, with its two main subtypes, viz. the one-cycle wari, found chiefly in the north, and the two-cycle solo of the Bantu. Despite a number of differences in operating rules between these two types, they retain a deep conceptual unity which allows to consider them, anthropologically speaking, as mere variants of a single game. The 'general rule' set forth here aims at providing a global vision of these games, illustrated by a detailed description of four wari, one solo and one mixed game. Finally a correspondence is established between mankala and joking-relation-ship, the latter being designated by the Swahili word utani, derived from a root with the double meaning 'insuit, abuse' and 'contract an alliance', which expresses well enough the ambiguous character of the game both per se and as an institution.Popova Assia. Les mankala africains. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 16, n°63-64, 1976. pp. 433-458

Sois belette et tais-toi ! ou la mégère répudiée

Mesnil, Marianne et Assia Popova — « Be Beastly and shut up, or the repudiation of the Shrew. The weaving weasel. ». Etiological European narratives lend the weasel of human ancestry: a rebellious young woman falls victim to a curse that transforms her into an animal. In the Balkans, the human ancestor of the weasel is a young wife who is a bad weaver. Narratives and rituals surround an object, the distaff, pivot of the textile-textual metaphor by which the symbols of marriage and weaving intert-wine. The character of the weasel is opposed to Sainte-Vendredi, patron of marriage and weaving. In Western Europe (see the Bestiaries), the weasel's human ancestoris a young, mendacious woman. Turned into an animal, she is doomed to conceive through the mouth and give birth through the ear. The Western counterpart of Sainte- Vendredi-anti- Weasel is the Virgin Mary, mother of the divine Word.Les récits étiologiques européens prêtent à la Belette une ascendance humaine : jeune femme insoumise victime d'une malédiction qui la métamorphose en animal. Dans les Balkans l'ancêtre humaine de la belette est une jeune épouse mauvaise filandière. Récits comme pratiques rituelles gravitent autour de la quenouille, pivot de la métaphore textile-textuelle où se conjugent la symbolique du mariage et du filage. La belette s'oppose à la Sainte Vendredi, patronne du mariage et des travaux textiles. En Europe occidentale (cf. les Bestiaires) l'ancêtre humaine de la Belette est une jeune menteuse. Transformée en animal, elle est condamnée à concevoir par la bouche et engendrer par l'oreille. L'équivalent occidental de Sainte-Vendredi-anti-Belette est la Vierge Marie, génitrice de la Parole divine.Mesnil Marianne, Popova Assia. Sois belette et tais-toi ! ou la mégère répudiée. In: Langage et société, n°60, 1992. D'où parlent les mots ? Le terrain de l'étymologie, sous la direction de Diana Rey-Hulmann . pp. 79-106

Diversité des wari. Classification des différentes règles de jeu selon des critères techniques.

P. Deshayes, V. Gautheron & A. Popova - The Diversity of Wari Games; A Classification of the Various Rules according to Technical Criteria. It is impossible to consider the many different rules of various wari-type games as variants on a simple common basic game. The criteria used in order to build up a provisional classification are the technical rules (pawn-taking, permitted tricks and strikes etc.), first because they are all important in the actual playing of any game, and then because they almost automatically imply other special characteristics. While these criteria are open to discussion they still are precise enough to enable a coherent allocation of the various particular games in the suggested table.Deshayes Patrick, Gautheron Véronique, Popova Assia. Diversité des wari. Classification des différentes règles de jeu selon des critères techniques.. In: Cahiers d'études africaines, vol. 16, n°63-64, 1976. pp. 461-466