Abstract
The paper is an attempt to identify the main symbolic meanings of the girl’s braid in the texts of wedding lamentations. In the modern researches (works of E.L. Madlevskaya, S.M. Tolstaya, A.V. Gura) the braid was considered only as one subject substitute for the volya/krásota an abstract concept that combined the idea of youth, beauty, virginity of a girl and her reaching childbearing age. In our work, we tried to show that a girl’s hair/braid has a number of eigenvalues. The braid can be interpreted as a symbol of girlish freedom, and this freedom can be of different: it is freedom of choice, freedom of participation in ritual and behavioral practices, relative freedom of appearance. The braid also can have mythological meaning: it can be thought of as a means of testing the groom. Also, the braid is an integral part of the appearance of the bride, which is constantly transforming depending on the stage of the ceremony. In the lamentations related to different stages of the wedding, we note a different configuration of hair: when a girl leaves her family her hair is uncombed and loose. When the groom and his family come the bride appears in all the best. In this way, through a change in hairstyle, changes in the social status of the girl can be reflected.
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