The Magic of Sound Chaos: East Slavonic "Borona" (Harrow) Ritual

The article focuses on the ritual "harrow", well documented for the Eastern Slavs. It is enacted by the participants as the simultaneous performance of all calendar song genres with strong seasonal association, which are known in the tradition. Folk singers believe that the performance of ritual songs out of their allotted time period could lead to negative consequences. However, in this ritual such rule is usually intentionally violated. Musical sound - a powerful magical tool that can be used to work on time, and this property is deliberately used to achieve a particular result in critical situations. The ritual "harrow" was conducted in a drought in order to invoke rain, or to neutralize a witch who can deprive cereals of their crop yield. The term "harrow" here is not associated with utilizing harrow as a ritual object. The verb "harrow" is often used by folk singers in the sense of "sing inaccurately". The simultaneous sound of all calendar genres leads to the intentional ritual collapse of time, its "contraction" to a single point at the performance of the ritual. Employment of such unusual audio technique is connected with the requirement for an exceptional magic force applied only in extraordinary circumstances. The chaos of sounds produced in the ritual was complimented by a certain pattern of actions, which varied depending on the pragmatic purpose of the ritual.