The Word and Wax: A Medical Folk Ritual Among Ukrainians in Alberta

Tatiana Nazarenko teaches in the Department of Germanic and Slavic
Studies at the University of Manitoba.

Based on the author’s M.A. thesis written for the Ukrainian Folklore
Program, University of Alberta, this book explores the wax ceremony as
part of folk medicine. Hanchuk profiles the healer and the patient, and
discusses such topics as healing techniques, medical materials used in
the wax ceremony, syncretic elements in both the wax ceremony and the
incantations, and adaptations of the old Ukrainian ritual to the
contemporary Canadian context. The book includes illustrations, tables,
a bibliography, and a brief survey of research reports or other
scholarly sources on various aspects of wax ceremony.

For the purpose of the study, seven wax healers from Alberta were
interviewed or observed while performing the ceremony. However, it is
not clear how many healers in general practised wax pouring in Alberta
at the time of research, or why these particular healers were included
in the study. Follow-up interviews with the patients would also have
strengthened the work.

It is unfortunate that the incantations used by the healers—the
essential part of the ceremony—are not printed in Ukrainian. A
transliterated version serves no purpose, since an English translation
is provided. Although the author mentions some formal features of
incantations, such as rhythm, repetition, symbolic numbers, and colors,
an elaboration of these features, as well as some analysis of their
relation to folk poetry, would have been useful. In general, more
extensive cultural and ethnographic background would have made this book
more accessible to the general reader. In its present form, The Word and
Wax is recommended for scholars and students specializing in Ukrainian
folklore studies, and for the libraries of universities that offer
courses on folklore and/or Ukrainian culture.