Abstract
In the rites of seeing off the conscripts in the Kostroma and Vologda regions the Ural Federal University Toponymic expedition recorded the custom of decorating a tree at the exit from the village or hanging such a decorated tree on the pediment of a recruit’s house, and the custom of breaking or wrapping the trees tops on the edge of the village (this was done also to mark some other significant events in human life). The article shows that these customs have different origins, they were included from different sources into the recruit’s leaving rite during its formation in the 18th–19th centuries. The custom of decorating trees is a direct borrowing from the wedding ceremony and comes from the common Slavic tradition to decorate a wedding tree, symbolizing “girlish beauty”. The custom of breaking a tree top has a substratum origin and probably goes back to the tradition of the Kostroma Meria, which is reconstructed on the basis of Uralo-Yukaghir concepts about a person’s connection with a tree and the ancient custom of marking important events in human life (rites de passages) by making a personal tree by breaking off branches on coniferous trees preserved by Karelians (karsikko), Udmurts and Yukaghirs, which penetrated into North America in ancient times and was found among the Karok Indians in Northern California.
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