Religious and Cultural Features of Church Records of Civil Statusparish Registers

Abstract

This article is an attempt to review religious and cultural features and to find published images on the pages of parish registers of different creeds. To determine and study the relevant and cultural features of the information recording in the parish registers, we considered appropriate to consolidate the comparative and historical-cultural method. The interest of scholars and novelty are proved due to the extremely large information potential of the church reports of civil status, considering their large array in the state archives and satisfactory physical status, suitable for appendage.The study of ecclesiastical acts of civil status makes it possible to study the religious and cultural peculiarities via the records characteristic for representatives of different religions. We should separately mention the peculiarities of the entries in parish registers of the Orthodox population regarding the veneration of holy figures according to the church calendar, which impacted the naming of newborns. Jewish records are characterized by the rite of circumcision of newborn boys and records as for a marriage contract (“ksubba / ktubba”).German-language parish registers attract attention to the double names given to newborn babies, the obligation to declare an forthcoming marriage, and the presence of family information in records of the deceased.