Formulaic Opening (Zachyn)

The zachyn is the established beginning of a folklore work — a stable verbal formula that introduces the listener into the world of the narrative and attunes them to a certain genre. In a tale, the zachyn transfers one to an indefinite time and space ('Once there was…,' 'In a certain kingdom, in a certain land…'); in a duma, the zachyn often paints a broad picture of nature ('Oh, early on a Sunday morning…'); in a bylyna, it is an opening about an event. The zachyn performs a compositional function (demarcating the real and artistic worlds), a mood-setting, and a mnemonic one, facilitating oral reproduction. It is opposed by the closing (kintsivka) — the concluding formula of the work. The zachyn as an element of folk-poetic formulaicity was studied within the theory of oral-formulaic composition (Milman Parry, Albert Lord). Its stylization was actively used in the literary tale by Ivan Franko.