Ritual Scenario of Russian Siberian Wedding: Traditions and Innovations in the Second Half of the 20th Century (Based on Field Materials of 2018-2019)
The article analyzes the recollections on wedding traditions of the second half of the 20th century, told by the rural residents of Kemerovo Region (Mariinsky, Chebulinsky, and Tyazhinsky Districts). Using the typology of the Eastern Slavic wedding, proposed by K.V. Chistov and supplemented with additional criteria by T.A. Bernshtam, L.M. Telegina, I.M. Kolesnitskaya, and other scholars, main types of Russian Siberian wedding practiced at the upper and middle reaches of the Tom River have been identified. According to preliminary statistical assessment of field evidence, mixed type of wedding ritual combining Northern and Southern Russian elements played a leading role on these territories along with Ukrainian, Belorussian, as well as Northern and Central Russian types (following the Chistov’s terminology). The most important changes in the traditional wedding scenario, which became conspicuous by the mid 20th century, were associated with new practices of marriage registration replacing church wedding. The mandatory “registration” with local authorities (mostly consisting of paying the fee in the village administration), resulted in inevitable reduction of wedding ritual associated with the removal of some traditional elements of the wedding ritual, which did not comply with the new ideology (first of all, bride’s lamentations and farewell to her “beauty”). In addition to universal processes of modernization caused by transition from agricultural society to society of the modern type, the authors consider the circumstances caused by the Second World War and the ensuing economic crisis as decisive transformation factors of wedding ceremonies in 1950s-1960s.