E-mail: irvin@sampo.ru Tel.: +7 (8142) 78-18-86
11, Pushkinskaya str., Petrozavodsk, 185910, Russian Federation
DSc in History, Leading Researcher, Institute of Language, Literature and History, Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences
The article was prepared as part of the implementation of the state commission of the Karelian Research Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences (registration number 121070700119–5).
In ethnology, little attention has been paid to the merchant life of the peoples of Russia. For the first time this article attempts to lift the veil over the unexplored topic of a wedding of Vepsian rural entrepreneurs. This was made possible thanks to a unique archival source — the manuscripts of K. A. Silakov concerning the pre-Revolutionary life of the Vepsians (or Veps) of the Shimozero region. These represent “naïve” literature written on a “credible” basis. The aim of this article is to analyze a manuscript about the wedding of a merchant’s daughter in the context of historical and ethnographic documents both in order to obtain reliable information about the topic and to correct some of the points distorted by the author. This contextual analysis demonstrates the importance of studying “naive literature” as a unique ethnographic source, and has made it possible to significantly expand our knowledge about the life of rural entrepreneurs among the Veps, including in the little-studied Shimozero region. Some of the wedding ceremonies described in the manuscript include rare details that usually fall out of the purview of scholars.
As the study shows, at the beginning of the twentieth century social-class differentiation was clearly manifested in the wedding ceremonies of the Veps of the Shimozero region. The wedding rites of these rural entrepreneurs retained a folk structure and encompassed many rituals that were greatly influenced by the traditions of urban merchants. The differences between them concern the wedding’s participants; the material components of the wedding, demonstrating prosperity (furniture, wedding clothes of the bride, treats); and its folkloric musical accompaniment. Key words: Veps, Shimozero region, naive literature, merchants, wedding ritual.
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