From early childhood, every person knows the word “name”. That he is a musical and poetic work, which is based on faith in the magical power of words, he learns later from the school curriculum. The addressee of calls in antiquity to this day are meteorological phenomena and celestial bodies.
Evolution
The song-songs belong to the folk art of the ancient folklore layer. At the initial stage of their functioning, they embodied the verbal magic of adults, after, through the Christianization of traditional folk culture, these beliefs gradually lost their relevance, meaning, but continued to live in a world of children's ideas about the surrounding world of nature. Previously, the appeal to the sun, rain, clouds, wind was directly related to the main occupation of the peasants - agricultural labor. The words were invariably accompanied by certain magical actions, the echoes of which were retained in modern texts by the echo. That this is a magical ritual is now clearly impossible to say.
Compositional structure
This folklore element has changed a lot since ancient times, but its essence remains the same. This is a request that it rain, the clouds disappear or the sun comes out. The long-lasting functioning of calls among children gave a second wind to already forgotten samples of ancient beliefs. Now the nicknames are mostly children's art. Compositionally, most of them have a common structure: exposure and a kind of epilogue, in which, in fact, the desire is concentrated (stopping or falling rain, the appearance of the sun, etc.). Chants for children are extremely melodic; their pronunciation is recitative and recitative. They are pronounced either by individual performers, accompanying the pronunciation with peculiar pantomimic elements (movements of the body, head, arms), or a group of children. Along with jokes, this is the most reproductive genre in the repertoire of children's creative groups.
Spring cast
That this is a kind of pagan song title songs is already clear. And, of course, like any folklore concept, a cast has its own classification. The most famous are the requests for spring. They also represent ritual songs that accompanied the East Slavic ritual of gukanyany (clicks). In addition to lamenting the prolonged winter, the performers call for spring, addressing not only the various natural phenomena, but also to animals and birds - the messengers of spring. They are also called freckles, deers, etc. Their words meant not only consistency in changing seasons, but also expressed ideas about the causes and consequences of changes in nature. In order to provoke the arrival of birds, and with it, respectively, the beginning of spring, this process should be imitated, depicted. The main means of spring conjuring was the baking of waders or larks. Baking was distributed to children or placed on elevated sites, less often tied with threads and thrown into the air. At the same time, ceremonial songs were performed - spring flies, which were supposed to bring closer, to call on spring.
Christian images
The process of penetration of Christian images into pagan formulas is unusually curious. Their introduction into the folk element did not change the essence. Although researchers have repeatedly asked the question: "The Christian call - what is it?" One of the most common and well-known examples can clarify the situation:
“Mother of God,
Give us rain
Rain gray
God-Prayed "
As it becomes clear, the desire to achieve the desired action from natural forces has been preserved, only the addressee of the cry has changed. In any case, regardless of any innovations, the images referenced in the titles were and remain mythological.