Музыкально-фольклорные жанры свадьбы луговых мари

Abstract

The traditional weddings of the Meadow Maris, known as süàn is a multiphase ritualistic complex consisting of various ritual actions extended in time and carried out in a definite succession of events. Many aspects of the Mari spiritual culture accumulated in them: the sacred-magical ritual elements, the symbolism of traditional clothes, food, poetry, music, and dance, as well as the semantics of ancient pagan thinking. The present article examines the folk music genres of the weddings of the Meadow Maris concisely specified in the wedding ritual and being a part of the acoustic code. The acoustic code of the Meadow Mari wedding is characterized by an unfolded system of intonational behavior of the participants of the ritual and includes verbal genres — prayers and expressions of good will pronounced by the kart(the priest); musical genres — the wedding songs süàn múro and pochésh múro, performed by the participants of the wedding procession, from the directions of the bridegroom and the bride, folk tunes played on ritual instruments — the shúvyr (bagpipe) and the túmyr (drum) strictly established in the structure of the ritual; and musical-choreographic genres presented by solo dances of the main characters of the ritual and mass dances of the participants of the wedding procession. The musical code of the traditional wedding of the Meadow Maris organically includes “corpora music”: sounding pendants on the wedding costumes of the female participants of the wedding processions, stamping in rhythm, clapping hands, exclamations, interjections, and whistling all carried out by the participants of the weddings. The peculiarities of conducting rituals with their musical components make it possible to classify the weddings of the Meadow Maris to the type of “merry weddings” characteristic to the cultures of the peoples of the Volga embankments.