How a gathering becomes a holiday. Modern social practices of migrants from flooded zones in Ukraine

Abstract

The article presents the modern practices of remembering sunken Ukrainian villages at annual or periodic gatherings of migrants from flooded areas in various regions of Ukraine. It describes the subsequent stages of organising such events, from spontaneous visits to the flooded place to a solemn meeting of the villagers on the banks of the reservoir. It also discusses the ritualised mechanisms and means by which an ordinary meeting of group of people is transformed into a festival through the sacralisation of the gathering’s time and place (by building memorials, such as chapels, crosses or monuments, the publication of memoirs, organization of exhibitions, etc.), through the appropriate selection of participants and the use of suitable identifiers of a celebration time (e.g. a shared meal, musical accompaniment, the performance of special songs, the use of national costumes, the taking of memorial photographs).