MATERIALS OF FIELD RESEARCH ON FAMILY AND MARRIAGE RELATIONS OF THE MEADOW AND MOUNTAIN MARI

Abstract

Comprehensive studying the topic of family and marriage is one of the relevant and important trends in ethnology. Some aspects of the family and marriage problems of the Mari people have not yet been fully investigated and require further scientific development.
 
 The purpose of the study is to analyze family and marriage relations among the meadow and the mountain Mari in the 1950s and 1970s on the basis of field materials collected by the authors during ethnographic expeditions in Gornomariysky, Zvenigovsky and Morkinsky districts of the Republic of Mari El in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022.
 
 Materials and methods. The research is based on diary and audio recordings, field materials and material sources collected as a result of expedition surveys of Mari villages, as well as archival materials stored in the fund of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev. During the study of the stated topic, the authors used the methods of survey, observation, questioning, interviews, as well as methods of analyzing the obtained field information, the historical-comparative, historical-typological and quantitative methods.
 
 Study results. The article presents the results of the analyzing the development of family and marriage relations among the mountain Mari and the Volga group (Sharpan-Nashmakan) meadow Mari in the 1950s–1970s on the basis of field expedition materials. Collecting, processing of ethnographic information and their systematization made it possible for the authors to identify some local features of mountain-Mari weddings, to determine the seasonality of meadow-Mari weddings, the specific ratio of primary marriages and re-marriages, to study the marriage district, to characterize mixed interethnic families and to determine the average marriage age at the time under consideration.
 
 Conclusions. The obtained data on the marriage age, the seasonality of marriages, the marriage district, the proportion of mono-ethnic and interethnic families have a valuable scientific significance for determining the features of the development and evolution of family-marriage relations among different ethno-territorial groups of the Mari people. The study showed that the most archaic ceremonial elements associated with the organization of matchmaking, conditional preparation of dowry and its redemption, holding a wedding in two days in compliance with certain folk customs, maintained their stable existence among the meadow and mountain Mari in the 1950s and 1970s.