Bridal Symbols in the Don Cossack Wedding

M A Ryblova

doi:10.17746/1563-0110.2020.48.2.114-121

Abstract

This study presents a new interpretation of symbols of the bride-maiden, already known in the Eastern Slavic, speciﬁcally Don Cossack tradition. It is based on ﬁndings of ethnographic expeditions of the 1980s–2000s to areas where Don Cossacks are concentrated, and on 19th-century periodicals published in the Don Region. To interpret the essence and meaning of bridal symbols, ritual practices and folklore texts are integrated, viewing both in the context of two principal passages that the bride undergoes during the wedding: 1) transition from the state of maidenhood to that of a married woman; and 2) transition from one family clan to another. Both transitions are related to the ideas of “beauty” (krasota), supposed to be lost during the ceremony, and “lot” (dolya)—part of the life force and beneﬁts allotted to the bride from her family/clan during the rite and added to the common lot of her new family. Material embodiments of “beauty” (the braid, ribbon, and wreath) can be interpreted as symbols of freedom and virginity. These qualities are lost during the rite, whereas their material symbols are either destroyed or passed on to others. Symbols such as a small tree and twig (referring to the folkloric image of the “garden”) can be related to the idea of “lot”, and rituals in which they feature can be interpreted as a gradual disruption of the braid’s ties with her family clan, deprivation of her familial “lot” (symbolic death), followed by rebirth manifested in the acquisition of a new “lot”—that of a married woman in a new family clan. Existing classiﬁcations of bridal symbols are revised, while new ones are revealed and interpreted.

Highlights

Symbolism of maidenhood in the Eastern Slavic tradition is very diverse, but in studying it, scholars have usually focused on the objects and imagery that appear in wedding rituals, such as the braid-ribbon, wreath, tree branch, bird, towel, etc
For establishing the essence of the concept of “beauty”, crucial for girls of marriageable age, we suggest addressing the concept of “lot”, which was widely understood in the Russian folk tradition as life force, energy, or benefits, and was subject to constant redistribution in the life cycle rituals
Analysis of the evidence associated with wedding rituals of the Don Cossacks has shown that bridal symbols reflected the changes that affected a bride-maiden as a person, and her position among her own relatives and among the relatives of her future husband

Summary

Introduction

Symbolism of maidenhood in the Eastern Slavic tradition is very diverse, but in studying it, scholars have usually focused on the objects and imagery that appear in wedding rituals, such as the braid-ribbon, wreath, tree branch, bird, towel, etc Most of these symbols and images are associated with the concept of “beauty”. After examining the image of the “garden” in wedding songs, which was most often associated with the time before the wedding night, we should turn to the ritual of the second day of the wedding (after the wedding night), in which the object-related symbol of the “garden” appears This could be a branch of the following trees: the guelder rose, willow, or cherry (among the Lower Don Cossacks), pine or fir (among the Upper Don Cossacks). In some Don villages, bunches of guelder rose tree branches, along with honeycombs, were put on a dish and placed on the table where the round loaf had been before (Polyakov, 1875)

Discussion

Conclusions