Functions of Ceremonial Wedding Tunes, Svadobné Nôty, in the Context of Traditional Culture in Slovakia and in a Cross-Cultural Perspective

Abstract

Within the varied repertoire of songs sung in the course of the traditional village wedding ceremony in Slovakia, specific songs were performed—usually by women without instrumental accompaniment—at particular, mostly ritual moments with context-appropriate texts to one or two recurring, locally identified wedding tunes called svadobné nôty. Today, these songs are still known by village people and are occasionally also performed within or outside the wedding context. Moreover, this phenomenon of a common local wedding melody seems to be spread among the wedding traditions of central, southern, and eastern Europe, sharing the name (svadobný hlas, svadbarski glas, svatovski glas) and similar features (Važanová 1999).