Lucia CIREŞ, ASPECTE ALE VIEŢII PASTORALE ÎN FOLCLORUL OBICEIURILOR DIN MOLDOVA

The study aims at presenting aspects of pastoral life as they appear within the calendar customs and the events related to the human life (birth, wedding, and funeral ceremony), using materials most of them unknown, from the Folklore Archive of Moldavia and Bukovine, of „A. Philippide” Institute of Romanian Philology in Iasi. The high frequency of pastoral references confirms the importance of this main occupation, as well as of agriculture, in the material and spiritual culture of Moldavia and a series of specific elements of historical-ethnographic relevance: magic practices, transfer of population, commercial and social relations, and traditions of pastoral life. The author points out the artistic value of the texts of the carols, New Year wishes, dramatic performances, wedding epithalamia and laments.