E-mail: krasheninnikova@rambler.ru Tel.: +7 (8212) 20-17-02
26, Kommunisticheskaya str., Syktyvkar, Komi Republic, 167982, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Leading Researcher, Head of the Department of Folklore, Institute of Language, Literature and History, Komi Scientific Center, Uralic Division, Russian Academy of Sciences
The work was carried out within the framework of the NIR research plan (reg. No. 121051400044-2)
The present work is devoted to wedding decrees — comic texts recited during wedding rituals — from two neighboring local Russian traditions: from the Rostov district in Yaroslavl Province and from the Pereslavl-Zalessky district of Vladimir Province. The texts were documented mainly in the last third of the nineteenth and first third of the twentieth centuries. The author analyzes the themes and typical elements of wedding decrees; reveals the formulas and phrases that were borrowed from humorous “Dowry Lists”; and describes some their mechanisms of adapting the lubok and folklore repertoire. Dowry lists are oriented on the bride; wedding decrees, while retaining some focus on the bride (giving a parodic characterization of the dowry and the bride’s economic skills), pay even closer attention to the groom. Comparative analysis of wedding decrees demonstrates their mosaic quality and use of formulas, as well as their stylistic similarities to works of democratic satire, lubki, and folklore. While taking dowry lists as the starting point (as E. E. Blomkvist demonstrated, analyzing their themes and constructive principles), the creators of wedding decrees make use of a range of themes relevant to the ritual situation, including material from wedding speeches (prigovory), “koril” songs, Christmas liturgical songs, small genres, and short comic “nebyval’shchiny”; there are also many textual similarities between wedding decrees and works of folk theater (including mummer skits, satirical dramas, and puppet theater).
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