Знаки «временной смерти» невесты в свадебной обрядности верхнесосьвинских манси
English
journal number:
Journal’s Subject Headings:
History, ethnography, archeology
About author:
Ob-Ugric Institute of Applied Researches and Development, Khanty-Mansiysk, Russian Federation, [email protected]
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article analyzes aspects of the worldview of the Mansi family rite. In the traditional consciousness, the girl’s marriage and her passing from the paternal family to the husband’s family is understood as a state of death. The trial of «temporary death» gives her a psychological attitude to the possibility of a successful passing not only to a new related group, but also to the next socio-age category. The idea of symbolic death is expressed by signs replacing the signs of another world in the trial of «temporary death». The transformation of a carefree girl into a married woman through rituals explains the increased attention to a bride during wedding celebrations.
Objective: using the example of the wedding ceremony of the Upper Sosva Mansi to reveal the semantic content of the signs of the «temporary death» of a bride from the standpoint of the theory of «rites of passage».
Research materials: folklore data, author’s field materials, published ethnographic materials.
Results and novelty of the research: wedding ceremony is considered in relation to the modern historical time (XVIII – XX centuries). In the course of the study, it was revealed that in the Mansi wedding ceremony that existed at the beginning of the last century, aspects of dual-phratry marriage (father’s family, husband’s family) and social behavior of community members (age gradation, passing from one social category to another) are reflected. The semantics of signs, as well as identical symbols and attributes from the point of view of the ritual signs of the symbolic death of a bride (immobility,
isolation, invisibility, avoidance) and their functional significance are analyzed. The actions aimed at the successful outcome of the wedding, the producing power (having many children) of a young couple, the protection of the newlyweds from the evil eye and spell, which corresponds to the meaning of the wedding itself, are described. The author’s field material on the formation of traditional ideas reflecting one of the periods of “life fractures” is introduced into scientific circulation.
Keywords: the Mansi, bride, rites of passage, symbolic death, signs of passage, wedding ceremony.
For citation: Popova S. A. Signs of the “temporary death” of a bride in the wedding ceremony of the Upper Sosva Mansi // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2021; 11 (4): 751–758.
ABSTRACT
Introduction: the article analyzes aspects of the worldview of the Mansi family rite. In the traditional consciousness, the girl’s marriage and her passing from the paternal family to the husband’s family is understood as a state of death. The trial of «temporary death» gives her a psychological attitude to the possibility of a successful passing not only to a new related group, but also to the next socio-age category. The idea of symbolic death is expressed by signs replacing the signs of another world in the trial of «temporary death». The transformation of a carefree girl into a married woman through rituals explains the increased attention to a bride during wedding celebrations.
Objective: using the example of the wedding ceremony of the Upper Sosva Mansi to reveal the semantic content of the signs of the «temporary death» of a bride from the standpoint of the theory of «rites of passage».
Research materials: folklore data, author’s field materials, published ethnographic materials.
Results and novelty of the research: wedding ceremony is considered in relation to the modern historical time (XVIII – XX centuries). In the course of the study, it was revealed that in the Mansi wedding ceremony that existed at the beginning of the last century, aspects of dual-phratry marriage (father’s family, husband’s family) and social behavior of community members (age gradation, passing from one social category to another) are reflected. The semantics of signs, as well as identical symbols and attributes from the point of view of the ritual signs of the symbolic death of a bride (immobility,
isolation, invisibility, avoidance) and their functional significance are analyzed. The actions aimed at the successful outcome of the wedding, the producing power (having many children) of a young couple, the protection of the newlyweds from the evil eye and spell, which corresponds to the meaning of the wedding itself, are described. The author’s field material on the formation of traditional ideas reflecting one of the periods of “life fractures” is introduced into scientific circulation.
Keywords: the Mansi, bride, rites of passage, symbolic death, signs of passage, wedding ceremony.
For citation: Popova S. A. Signs of the “temporary death” of a bride in the wedding ceremony of the Upper Sosva Mansi // Vestnik ugrovedenia = Bulletin of Ugric Studies. 2021; 11 (4): 751–758.
