Wedding Songs Research Articles

Six-metre rhythms as a polyethnic melogeographic system (of rhythm-syllabic fragmentation in spring songs and fast sung verses of Ukrainians and Belarusians)

In the education of academic musicians, the 6-bar measure is not mentioned as an object worthy of special attention – from an early age children are taught to count mainly in 2-bar and 3-bar measures. School science is unaware of the fact that in the folk music of Ukrainians and Belarusians a significant number of works are "served" by the 6-bar meter, which is well suited for both moving dances and choruses, as well as for lyrical musical expressions.
 Ethnomusicologists, analyzing thousands of archives of recordings of rural (indigenous) melodies of two neighboring ethnic groups, found huge arrays of songs based on the 6-meter monochronic model. The lion's share belongs to the wedding qi-class (more than 9 thousand), a smaller one – to the spring (1300). Both cycles created quantitatively and geographically powerful arrays of moths.
 Vesnyanky densely occupied the expanses of Podillya and Pripyat Polissya (I. Klymenko. Atlas of ritual melodies of Ukrainians, vol. 2, map A19). Instead, among Belarusians they are found locally in the eastern zone.
 Wedding songs formed a huge polyethnic macro-array that united Ukrainians and Belarusians (ibid., maps A46-47). 5700 wedding samples belong to tyradic forms, 3500 are strophic forms.
 In other cycles 6-dole formulas are found only locally (winter, Kupala, harvest). In the lyrical layer its popularity is insignificant (for example, the Ukrainian story "I had one daughter"). Choruses in 6-measure are also known (well-known Ukrainian "Choboty", "Yakiv", Belarusian "Lyavonikha", "Kamarynska" and others).
 The original rhythm formula is very simple (in conventional digital coding it is | 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 ||, where 2 is equal to a quarter duration). But it gave a bunch of derivative variants, formed mainly in two ways - rhythmic-syllabic splitting of initial positions (| 1111¦2 2 2 2 || = V44 and other variants) and prolongation (lengthening) of individual positions, more often end positions (| 2 2 2 2 4 4 || and other less common variants).
 The range of various forms developed within wedding songs is relatively well studied - several articles were published in a special issue of "Problems of Ethnomusicology-8" (2013). Instead, vesniankas derived from the 6-dole model are described only in some regional varieties (Podillia and Polissya) – therefore they became the main analytical object of the article (with musical illustrations). The chorus pieces of 6-bar base are also commented. The conclusions about the polystadiality of rhythmic modifications of the model, caused by the drumming algorithm in different genres and regions, are made. Correlations between verbal accents and the choice of rhythmic figures are observed.
 The conclusions present a general genre picture of this typological group of melodies and outline the areas of their distribution, emphasize the prospects for in-depth study of ritual meloforms as arguments of the "archaeological type".

From Ritual Communication to Convivial Entertainment: Reflections of Old Drinking Rituals in Folk Songs

The article considers changes in drinking rituals and how they are reflected in folklore. Belarusian and Lithuanian songs sharing several similarities are selected for a more detailed discussion. The song motifs analysed in the article show clear links between drinking rituals and folklore (wedding songs and betrothal drinking customs), along with a certain implicit cultural link between the old ritual attitudes and festivities in subsequent times (motifs of feast songs paraphrased in drinking traditions). The theoretical framework of the paper is supported by research from the fields of folklore, ritual communication, and the history of traditional beverages that examines the cultural continuity of community life phenomena. The experiences of ritual attitudes passed down from generation to generation may encourage the existence of archaic cultural forms, even when specific ritual practices have long died out and become irrelevant as people’s life circumstances have changed significantly.

Художественные персонажи русского рекрутского песенного фольклора Удмуртии

The aim of the research is to study the song folklore of the Russian recruitment rite of Udmurtia. The analysis of the mythopoetic characteristics of the main characters is carried out. The research is novel in that it is the first to identify mythologemes associated with the description of recruits getting their hair cut, using Russian texts of recruitment songs of Udmurtia as an example. The correspondences between the customs of cutting a new recruit’s hair and a child’s first haircut in the traditional culture of Russians, Besermyans, Tatars, Udmurts are indicated. As a result of the research, it has been found that many poetic plots and motifs of songs of the recruitment rite are characteristic of wedding and calendar folklore. It has been shown that typological similarity in the arrangement of the verbal code in recruitment and wedding songs is also inherent in Mari and Udmurt folk culture. Differences in the methods of describing female and male characters of recruitment songs are noted.

Negotiating marital challenges through classic wedding songs: a case of the Ndebele in Zimbabwe

In African cultures, the Ndebele included, a strong society is one that is made up of healthy and robust family relationships, with the family institution serving as a foundation for the survival and continuity of society. However, the frequency of divorce nowadays suggests that the foundations of marriages are not as strong as they ought to be. Thus, this article seeks to examine how traditional Ndebele society has always sought to help couples to prevent or to manage marital challenges that could destabilise marital bonds and trigger marital failure. The article also attempts to find out if there are lessons that could help with marital distress and failure, single parenthood and many more issues on the increase in the embattled marriage institution. This examination is mainly done through a philosophical analysis of traditional wedding songs. Wedding songs are structured cultural expressions that reflect society’s marriage values and its efforts in the promotion of marital stability and success. The article adopts the theory of Africana womanism. The theory is critical here because of its commitment towards the stability of the family. The data was collected in Tsholotsho District in Zimbabwe from 2016 to 2019 through interviews, group discussions and participant observation.

TRADITIONAL FOLK DRESS IN THE FOLKLORE OF TRANSCARPATHIA

The article on the basis of available literature, archival and ethnographic data conducted a comprehensive analysis of folklore material, which glorifies the components of traditional folk women's and men's clothing of Transcarpathia. The study of the ritual role of clothing, its place in folklore is one of the priorities of modern ethnographers, local historians This issue is insufficiently studied and requires further research. The work is interdisciplinary, as it is written at the intersection of ethnography, folklore and local lore. The author presents a lot of folk songs, proverbs and sayings, which talk about the peculiarities of production, material, methods of dressing and wearing, and attitudes to the components of folk clothing of Transcarpathia. Particular attention is paid to the process of making cloth at home, finishing clothes. At the beginning, fragments of song folklore about sewing and embroidering shirts, their age and social functions are singled out and described. Skirts, scarves, jewelry and shoes are most often mentioned among the components of women's attire in the songs. All of them, like the shirt, were an important social marker. The song is a source of study and men's clothing, including shirts and hats. The decorated hats were the pride of young boys and men. The article pays special attention to wedding songs, which are about youth leisure, courtship, weaving periwinkle wreaths and wedding sticks. Folk costumes are often found in carols and Christmas carols. For the modern generation, the peculiarities of the folk costume of the region are transmitted through proverbs, sayings and beliefs, in which we find synonymous series "one's own-another's", thematic groups "wealth and poverty", opposition "stupid - smart", attitude to lazy people and lies.

Storytime in India: Wedding Songs, Victorian Tales, and the Ethnographic Experience by Helen Priscilla Myers and Umesh Chandra Pandey

Storytime in India: Wedding Songs, Victorian Tales, and the Ethnographic Experience by Helen Priscilla Myers and Umesh Chandra Pandey

Gender Roles in Pakistani-Urdu Wedding Song

This qualitative study of Pakistani-Urdu wedding songs allows a closer look at the gender situation, and towards the understanding of the process of construction and perpetuation of gender-based stereotypes. However, the major concern of this study is to understand the portrayal of each gender along with the question that does such portrayal underlines the traditional gender roles and gender inequality. Taking a discourse analysis perspective, this study analyzes textual data from the lyrics of the seventeen wedding songs. The song selection was based on purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through transcription and recording of the audios of the songs. As a result of thematic analysis thirteen themes emerged, ten portraying the female gender and four portraying the male gender. These themes reveal important findings that support and reinforce the gender-based stereotypes and also reflect gender hierarchy, normative heterosexual relationships, kinship norms and gender subversions.

Gender Roles in Pakistani-Urdu Wedding Song

This qualitative study of Pakistani-Urdu wedding songs allows a closer look at the gender situation, and towards the understanding of the process of construction and perpetuation of gender-based stereotypes. However, the major concern of this study is to understand the portrayal of each gender along with the question that does such portrayal underlines the traditional gender roles and gender inequality. Taking a discourse analysis perspective, this study analyzes textual data from the lyrics of the seventeen wedding songs. The song selection was based on purposive sampling technique. The data were collected through transcription and recording of the audios of the songs. As a result of thematic analysis thirteen themes emerged, ten portraying the female gender and four portraying the male gender. These themes reveal important findings that support and reinforce the gender-based stereotypes and also reflect gender hierarchy, normative heterosexual relationships, kinship norms and gender subversions.

La Bible d’Alexandrie: Le Cantique des cantiques. Translated and introduced by Jean-Marie Auwers

This book is volume 19 of the Alexandrian Bible, a translation of the Greek text of the Septuagint with introduction and notes. The book is divided into two main sections, an extensive introduction and a translation/annotation, which provides commentary on the Septuagint text of the Song of Songs. The introduction comprises fourteen sections. The first, ‘The Exegesis of the Song of Songs Today’, gives a brief overview of current discussions of the Song’s date, the gender of its author, the debate over its literary unity, the search for a plot, the continuing literal vs. allegorical debate, proposed parallel literary texts or ‘intertexts’, and the Song among other books of the Bible. As Auwers observes, there is no agreement among commentators concerning these topics. The second section looks at the title of the Song and its position in the biblical corpus. Section three looks at various proposed divisions of the text. In section four, ‘The Movement of the Text’, Auwers looks at whether there is a narrative plot in the Song, giving a brief history of research, and discusses the repetitions in the poem and the way that it mirrors itself. In section five, ‘The Texts’, Auwers discusses the Hebrew text, including those found at Qumran, the Septuagint/Greek manuscripts and old versions, the ancient Latin version and its revision by Jerome, the Coptic versions, and ‘Our Greek Text’, which notes that he translates the text of the A. Rahlfs edition (1935), noting main divergencies in the great uncials (Sinaiticus = S, Vaticanus = B, Alexandrinus = A, Venetus = V) and the fragmentary manuscripts Ra 952, Ra 838, and Ra 825 (p. 65, cf. p. 60). Section six looks at ‘The Greek Text and its Hebrew Model’, focusing on the ‘additions’ in the Septuagint version of the Song which were perhaps already in the model used by the translator, the Hebrew Vorlage, deviations in vocalization, and the divergent divisions of the Song in the LXX. Section seven looks at the ‘Date and Place of the Greek Translation’, particularly as it relates to the kaige group, a group of anonymous translators and revisers thought to be active in first century ce Palestine. Section eight looks at ‘The Vocabulary of Translation’, discussing ‘traditional’ vocabulary, consistency and inconsistency in lexical options (though the ‘translator is generally constant in the choice of lexical equivalents’, p. 80), choices that are surprising, words that are unique to the Song and not found elsewhere in the LXX, Greek words of Semitic origin, transliterations, vegetation vocabulary, names of animals, anatomical vocabulary, vocabulary of love, and names of loved ones. In section nine, ‘The Syntax of Translation’, Auwers notes that the translation is often word for word, following the Hebrew syntax as closely as possible, and sometimes mechanical. He also discusses its treatment of verbal forms, as well as the article. Section ten looks at ‘The Poetics and the Style of the Translation’, whilst section eleven discusses ‘The Linguistic Profile of the Translator’. Section twelve, ‘The Interpretive Choices of the Translator’, looks at the translator’s avoidance of elucidation in obscure passages, the question of whether the translator attempted to allegorize, eroticize, or employ biblical intertextuality, and their apparent ‘neutrality’ in translation. Section thirteen looks at ‘The Reception of the Song of Songs’ in ancient Judaism, in the New Testament and Church Fathers, in the Syriac domain, in the Greek domain, and in the Latin domain. In the Greek domain, special attention is given to Origen, Methodius of Olympus, Cyril of Jerusalem, Gregory of Nyssa, Evagrius Ponticus, Nilus of Ancyra, Philo of Carpasia, Theodore of Mopsuestia, Theodoret of Cyrus/Cyrrhus, Pseudo-Athanasius, and exegetical ‘chains’. In the Latin domain, special attention is given to Tertullian, Cyprian, Victorinus of Pettau/Poetovio, Reticius of Autun, Gregory of Elvira, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, Julian of Eclanum, Justus of Urgell, Gregory the Great, and Apponius. Section fourteen, ‘The Didascalia’, looks at speakers and interlocutors, the Didascalia of Alexandrinus, the Didascalia of Manuscripts 161 and 248, the Didascalia of Sinaiticus, the apparent Latin Didascalia, the Didascalia of Venetus, divergencies between the Didascalia with regards to the speaker, whether they are of Jewish or of Christian origin, reading the Song as a wedding song, and reading the Song as a drama. The introduction ends with the section ‘The Drama of the Song of Songs’, which is a complete translation of the Song of Songs, accompanied by the Didascalia of Sinaiticus, the gaps of which have been filled in from Greek manuscripts 46 and 631 and the didascalia transmitted by the Latin manuscripts of Stuggart (W) and Fribourg (F). The second half of the book is devoted to Auwers’s commentary on the LXX of the Song, including translation and annotation.

ВЕРБАЛІЗАЦІЯ АКСІОЛОГІЧНОЇ МОДЕЛІ АНДАЛУЗЬКИХ ЦИГАН І УКРАЇНЦІВ НА ПРИКЛАДІ ВЕСІЛЬНИХ ПІСЕНЬ

This article is devoted to the analysis of the representation of axiological values by means of the popular ritual wedding songs of Andalusian gypsies and Ukrainians. Axiological values shown through the text of the wedding songs of Andalusian gypsies and Ukrainians are considered. The ways of language expression of both national ritual songs are estimated. The research reveals the values expressed via metaphorical images, symbols and periphrasis which codify popular language. Similar frames of Andalusian gypsy and Ukrainian wedding songs are discovered. It is observed that such family values as chastity and welfare are pictured with the use of expressive means of the language in both ritual wedding songs of Andalusian gypsies and of Ukrainians. The cultural nature of appreciation of these axiological values is studied. Tentative mechanism of influence of the wedding songs on the younger generation is explained. A great educational power and an important pedagogical role of the wedding songs are highlighted. It is concluded that ritual wedding songs are a powerful medium (channel) of saving the traditional axiological model, behavior patterns, esthetic and moral values. The directions of further scientific research are considered:1) they may include a study of the psychological mechanism of metaphor, periphrasis and symbols in ritual songs and lullabies of both cultures or 2) they may involve an experimental study between the people of different cultures to know how they understand the metaphor formed in national and foreign cultures.

The Yiddish Wedding Folk Songs of East European Jews: Function, Ethnography, Sociology, Texts, and Music

The genre of Yiddish wedding songs as such did not exist in the Jewish music tradition and the wedding songs could be only identified by content, but not by function. The wedding songs were mainly performed before the wedding (by women) and less at wedding events (by men). However, although the Yiddish wedding folk songs didn't play a major ritual role in the actual wedding ceremony, their narrative and musical content represent an extremely important material that helped explain a deep, hidden, emotional context of the wedding and events preceding it. This article aims at a comprehensive analysis of this unique type of song in a broader sociological context, and identifies and reviews several categories of such songs in accordance with their place in the sequence of pre-wedding, wedding, and post-wedding events.

Свадебные песни села Селиверстово Волчихинского района Алтайского края: путь от записи до сцены

The article discusses the stages of work on the study and development of wedding songs in the village of Seliverstovo, Volchikhinsky district, Altai Territory, by teachers and students of the Altai State Institute of Culture: recording of the folk songs material, its decoding, analysis, arrangement and stage embodyment. The necessity of carrying out creative work with authentic material, taking into account the specifics of the regional and genre style of songs, is emphasized.

Раннефольклорные обрядовые жанры традиционной культуры хори-бурят

This article continues the study of the traditional musical culture of the Eastern Khori-Buryats, based on rare archival material of the audio collection of the famous orientalist Purbo Baldanovich Baldanzhapov (1921–1991). The research was started by the author in 2014 in the article “Materials of P. B. Baldanzhapov as a source for studying the song tradition of the Khori-Buryats”. The aim of this article is to represent the early folklore genres of the ceremonial traditional music of the Eastern Khori-Buryats. In the article the methods of genre and structural-typological analysis of folklore works recorded by P. B. Baldanzhapov were used. The study of the Khori-Buryat ritual song tradition, as a system, entailed the involvement of a structural and functional method, which allowed us to consider various aspects of the ritual and ritual complex of the eastern Khori-Buryats. The traditional musical culture of the Eastern Khori-Buryats can be divided into two genre groups (ceremonial and non-ceremonial). The ritual music of P.B. Baldanzhapov’s audio collection includes wedding songs (Uusyn duunuud), the ancient ritual dance Neryelge and accompanying songs (Neryelgyn or Neryeenei duunuud), the glorification of the horse by Morinoy solo, Buddhist Maani chants. The second group includes such genres of non-ritual sphere as uligers (Ulgernuud), historical songs (Tuuhyn duunuud) about Shilde Zangi, magtals to parents (Magtaalnuud), ring songs (Beheligey duunuud), comic songs (Shog duunuud). In this article, special attention is paid to the unique, but already lost genres of ritual music of Khori-Buryats – Neryelgyn duunuud, accompanying the ritual dance of Neryelge and the glorification of the horse (Morinoy solo), who won the race. The analysis of the semantics of poetic texts and musical intonations of Neryelgyn duunuud and Morinoy solo allows us to attribute these genres to the early folklore layer of the traditional musical culture of the Eastern Khori-Buryats and to reveal the semantic connection with the mythology and religion of the early nomads. Of course, in the future research it is necessary to continue studying the works of non-ritual traditional music of the Khori-Buryats from the collection of P.B. Baldanzhapov. The analyses of these samples of song folklore might allow to carry out the notation of Morinoy’s solo samples with their subsequent musical analysis and publication. One of the promising areas of research may be the reconstruction of these rare and unique genres of ritual music of the Khori-Buryats in the context of a comparative historical study of the cultural traditions of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples.

Two Mangghuer (Tu, Monguor, Mongghul) Wedding Songs (2008) from Minhe County, Qinghai Province, PR China

Two Mangghuer (Tu, Monguor, Mongghul) Wedding Songs (2008) from Minhe County, Qinghai Province, PR China

Storytime in India: Wedding Songs, Victorian Tales, and the Ethnographic Experience

Storytime in India: Wedding Songs, Victorian Tales, and the Ethnographic Experience

In Search of Folk Wedding Songs: A Woman Researcher’s Challenges in Family Folkloric Studies

This research gives an insight into the difficulties of doing family folkloric research in documenting folk wedding songs in the Rajput community of Bhakkar, Pakistan. I have gathered and analyzed 84 folk wedding songs taken from women of that community-majority by those who are my relatives. To overcome these drawbacks, I employed certain strategies like compromise, collaboration, and negotiation. These tactics would often prove very important to maintain rapport while doing research with people when research is going on in relation to folklore. The findings discuss challenges that are encountered in the process of folklore studies with the family context, which "require an adaptable approach." In this study, my experience in family folklore research has been very inclusive of unique challenges such as research encounters and developed insights on how to cope with them effectively in such situations.

Understanding an Epic Song of the Hmong in Laos From The Perspective of Oral Composition

This article looks at an epic song performed by Hmong in Laos from a perspective of oral composition by analyzing a wedding song Leuangtengdong. Through detailed musical and textual transcription, several compositional devices are identified and discussed. My study explores oral composition of the song focusing on its material and structure. I argue that music plays an important role in its oral composition: material-wise, music functions both as formulaic music-text association/unity and by careful music-text interactions; structure-wise, the song is organized in a multi-layered framework realized by the hierarchical music-text formulas, with music-text ‘theme’ in critical structural positions.

Lithuanian Riddles of the Pot as Allegories of the Human Life

Further analyzing the rather widespread international phenomenon – the so-called series of suffering in the riddles – this article focuses on the Lithuanian riddles of the pot, namely: ‘When I was young, I used to sit in a golden chair, when I grew old, even the dog does not eat my bones’ and ‘I was made like Adam from clay and annealed in the furnace like the three young people in Babylon. I was sold like Joseph to Egypt by his brothers. I drive a fiery chariot like Elijah. From my insides, the whole family eats, but when I die, they throw my bones over the fence (do not bury them).’ The analysis is based on all the variants of these riddles (both the published and the manuscript ones), their international parallels, and texts belonging to other genres. Despite the common answer to these riddles – pot – and its typical semantic field based on reality, the artistic expressions of these two riddles have little in common: they significantly differ in terms of structure, wording, and semantic. Thus, their recordings are reasonably attributed to different types in the current card file catalogue. The two riddles only share the common motive of bones at the end, which however has different context of the artistic expression and slightly different meaning. Except for some isolated cases and contaminations, the motives like dog does not eat my bones and they throw my bones over the fence (do not bury them) can be discerned only in these two riddle types respectively. The motive dog does not eat my bones is encountered in almost all the available variants of the first riddle and has the meaning of ‘being useless, idle’. However, the motives they throw the bones over the fence or do not bury them, found in the second riddle, also semantically include the aspect of disrespectful treatment of the deceased and neglecting of the proper funeral rites. Perhaps the main objective of this motive is prompting the listener towards the right answer and suggesting that the answer in question is not a human being. The first riddle seems to be of the Baltic origin, as it includes the typically Baltic motive of the golden chair and the common Baltic-Slavic expression dog does not eat (my) bones. Similar motives are encountered in the wedding songs, where they probably suggest the corresponding semantic field, which is narrowed by the pot as an answer to mean blossoming and withering of fertility. This classical riddle is likely to speak of the human life in general, albeit reducing it to the phases of valued youth and useless senility.The significantly more widespread version of the second riddle in Lithuania includes Biblical motives and has most probably found its way from the East, where it had been “Christianized” by a person well versed in the Old Testament and perhaps belonging to the Byzantine culture. Some variants of this riddle do not include Christian motives; such variants are few in Lithuania but abundant among the Eastern Slavs. Although such versions without Christian motives may be of common origins, however, the proportions of the materials suggest higher probability of the Slavic origin of this riddle. Attributing of these riddles to the series of suffering is also somewhat ambivalent: while the first riddle emphasizes the spiritual suffering, the totality of the variants of the second riddle may be rightfully summarized as the description of the pot’s life; descriptions of the suffering being more frequent in the riddles including the Christian motives. Both riddles tacitly compare the clay pot to the man, allegorically describing the shifts occurring in the human life, the inevitability of change and the instability of status. While reminding the perspective of eternity and the direction of the human life towards death, they allegedly fulfil the function of Memento mori and engage in a visual discussion with the Biblical phrase “from dust to dust”.

Lībiskā dialekta un vidus dialekta kursisko izlokšņu atspoguļojuma problemātika akadēmiskajā izdevumā „Latviešu tautasdziesmas”: 11. sējuma piemērs

The first volume of the academic edition entitled “Latvian Folksongs” was published in 1979, thus starting the publication of the largest collection of Latvian folksongs. Until now, eleven volumes have been arranged and published. The newest volume consists of wedding songs, and it was published in 2018. The publishing of the twelfth volume is currently in progress. The twelfth volume will continue the previous one, adding wedding customs songs, including naughty folk songs. In the academic edition of Latvian folksongs, the texts in High Latvian dialect are especially separated from Standard Latvian, thus creating their own unique set of texts. However, there are other dialects different from Standard Latvian – Livonian dialect and Curonian variety of Central dialect, which have been represented significantly less frequently. Based on the research of academic publications and questionnaires for the compilers of “Latvian Folksongs”, the research analyses why the situation with the representation of Livonian dialect and Curonian variety of Central dialect is so different from the representation of High Latvian – is it because there are fewer texts in these two dialects that are available or maybe there are more complicated reasons.

Вecільна лемківська пісня (українська, польська, словацька): специфіка та використання

The article analyzes Lemko’s wedding and post-wedding songs in comparison with Polish and Slovak ones. As an integral part of all-Ukrainian ceremonial song fund, Lemky wedding song ritualism is distinguished by some specificity due to Polish and Slovak close proximity. Naturally, Lemko song specificity are best revealed when compared with the similar song traditions of the Western Slavs. The similarity of certain elements is better traced in the wedding song ritualism of the East Slovakian, Ukrainians and Slovaks sons, as compared to the Lemky-Polish neighbourhood. While preserving a lot of archaic forms and elements, the Lemko version of the Ukrainian wedding is characterized by some differences, which reflect Lemko’s continuous ethnocultural contacts with neighbouring nations. The wedding song repertory of the three neighbouring nations has been found to impressively reflect its origin from the Proto-Slavic marriage ritualism, based on the monogamous marriage, husbandry lifestyle, close worldview (similar meaning of fire, water, bread, Eden tree, sun-worship, etc.), as well as on the similarity of ritual acts (garlanding, blessing, roundabout the table and dough trough, breaking wedding loaf, etc.). All mentioned above together with the similar dramatization of the wedding ceremony make ethnonational versions of traditional family ritualism – a so-called “Carpathian cycle”. The Lemko wedding song content has been found to preserve archaic motives and images of relict Ukrainian repertory with its typical ample song/choral expression of the content of wedding rituals, young couple’s and their families’ moral and mental state, varied poetic symbolism and stylistics. Long-term endosmosis of cultural, economic, and sociopolitical contacts between neighbouring ethnoses has conditioned the interchange of the elements of wedding song and ritual dramatization with marked Lemko dominant regarding Slovakian wedding song repertory, as well as with regard to the repertory of Polish Gorals, long-standing song strata in particular.