Russian folklore fairy tales ENG

 It is a widely known theory that battles with evil in Russian folklore fairy tales are there to represent ancient tradition of “initialization” – when a boy or a girl becomes an adult.

What makes this ritual important enough to be described in so many fairy tales? – Keeping in mind that fairy tales are part of the learning process, we might conclude that this ritual has some practical knowledge that is being passed to the new generation.

So what happens when you fight a dragon? What are your feelings before, after, and during the fight? Remember, that this is a life-and-death situation. The only way to survive is to do your best, disregarding all fear and doubt. At first the evil appears undefeatable and only the disregarding of fear and doubt helps to win the battle.

So far the knowledge does not seem very impressive: after all, one has to learn what is “good” and what is “evil”. So is this the only point in “initialization” – to fight the evil? I do not think so. The life-and-death situation changes something inside us on a very deep level. It changes our values. We never look at the world the same way again. And I have to note here that one does not have to actually be in such situation, given enough imagination, one can get same experience simply by imagining the situation, by identifying him/herself with a character in a story.

First thing to change is the way you think about yourself. Being male, female, 10-year old, 20-year old, 70-year old, student, teacher, wife, husband, worker, etc, do not make any sense in a life-and-death situation. These are nothing more but social constructs that stand on your way: can a 20-year old defeat a dragon? Can a wife defeat a dragon? Can a student defeat a dragon? One has to step out, go beyond social constructs to be able to face a dragon (here I am not talking about defeating it – this is not important). Social constructs are part of your personal history. Personal history is what makes you to identify with them. So the second thing that happens is throwing away one’s personal history. Whatever you have done in the past has been done under the pressure that other people have had on you through the social constructs. Whatever you have done in the past has not been done by real you.

And now you grow. Now you awake. Now you fully aware and fully responsible for everything you are doing. And from now on that is the way your actions are taken.