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

DOI: 10.47026/1810-1909-2023-3-29-35

УДК 392.51

ББК 663.2

Nadezhda A. VASKANOVA, Ananii G. IVANOV

Key words

family and marriage relations, the meadow Mari, the mountain Mari, ethnographic expeditions, Gornomariysky district, Zvenigovsky district, Morkinsky district, marriage age, seasonality of marriages, mono-national and mixed families, wedding ceremony

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.

References

1. Vaskanova N.A. Semeino-brachnye otnosheniya lugovykh mariitsev po materialam polevykh etnograficheskikh issledovanii [Family and marriage relations of the Meadow Mari people based on the materials of field ethnographic research]. Muzeinyi vestnik: ezhegodnyi sbornik. Vyp. 14 [Museum Bulletin: annual collection, issue 14]. Yoshkar-Ola, 2020, pp. 9–13.
2. Vaskanova N.A. Semeino-brachnye otnosheniya u gornykh i lugovykh mariitsev (po materia-lam polevykh issledovanii v Respublike Marii El v 2018–2021 godakh [Family and marriage relations among hill and meadow Mari (based on the materials of field research in the Republic of Mari El in 2018–2021]. Etnograficheskii muzei kak fenomen kul’tury: materialy Dvadtsatykh S.-Peterb. etnograficheskikh chtenii [The Ethnographic Museum as a Cultural Phenomenon: Materials of the Twentieth St. Petersburg Ethnographic Readings]. St. Petersburg, 2021, pp. 155–160.
3. Ivanov A.G., comps. Istoriya i kul’tura narodov Marii El v istochnikakh serediny XIX veka [History and culture of the Mari El peoples in the sources of the mid-XIX century]. Yoshkar-Ola, Mari State Univesity Publ., 2016, 176 p.
4. Itogovyi ezhegodnik Natsional’nogo muzeya Respubliki Marii El im. T. Evseeva. 2018 god [The final yearbook of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev. 2018]. Yoshkar-Ola, National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev Publ., 2019, 127 p.
5. Itogovyi ezhegodnik Natsional’nogo muzeya Respubliki Marii El im. T. Evseeva. 2019 god [The final yearbook of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev. 2019]. Yoshkar-Ola, National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev Publ., 2020, 120 p.
6. Itogovyi ezhegodnik Natsional’nogo muzeya Respubliki Marii El im. T. Evseeva. 2021 god [The final yearbook of the National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev. 2021]. Yoshkar-Ola, National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev Publ., 2022, 113 p.
7. Kozlova K.I. Ocherki etnicheskoi istorii mariiskogo naroda [Essays on the ethnic history of the Mari people]. Moscow, Moscow University Publ., 1978, 345 p.
8. Istoriko-etnograficheskie ocherki [Mari people. Historical and ethnographic essays]. Yoshkar-Ola, Mari Research Institute of Language, Literature and History named after V.M. Vasiliev Publ., 2013, 482 p.
9. Smirnov I.N. Polozhenie zhenshchiny v mariiskoi sem’e (konets XIX – nachalo KhKh vv.) [The position of women in the Mari family (late XIX – early XX centuries)]. Arkheologiya i etnografiya Mariiskogo kraya [Archeology and ethnography of the Mari Region]. Yoshkar-Ola, 1981, no. 5, pp. 122–132.
10. Smirnov I.N. Struktura mariiskoi sel’skoi sem’i [Structure of the Mari rural family]. Arkheologiya i etnografiya Mariiskogo kraya [Archeology and ethnography of the Mari Region]. Ioshkar-Ola, 1976, no. 1, pp. 87–114.
11. Smirnov I.N. Etnodemograficheskaya kharakteristika struktury mariiskoi sel’skoi sem’i [Ethnodemographic characteristics of the structure of the Mari rural family]. Arkheologiya i etnografiya Mariiskogo kraya [Archeology and ethnography of the Mari Region]. Yoshkar-Ola, 1991, no. 18, pp. 38–45.
12. Sharov V.D. Mezhnatsional’nye braki i sem’i v sel’skikh raionakh Mariiskoi ASSR [Interethnic marriages and families in rural areas of the Mari ASSR]. Arkheologiya i etnografiya Mariiskogo kraya [Archeology and ethnography of the Mari Region]. Yoshkar-Ola, 1976, no. 1, pp. 115–133.
13. Sepeev G.A., comps. Etnografiya mariiskogo naroda [Ethnography of the Mari people]. Yoshkar-Ola, Mari Publishing House, 2001, 184 p.

Information about the authors

Nadezhda A. Vaskanova – Candidate of Historical Sciences, Head of the Department of Scientific and Educational Work, National Museum of the Republic of Mari El named after Timofey Evseev, Russia, Yoshkar-Ola (koroleka22@mail.ru; ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5698-158X).

Ananii G. Ivanov – Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor, Head of the Department of National History, Mari State University, Russia, Yoshkar-Ola (anani@marsu.ru).

For citations

Vaskanova N.A., Ivanov A.G. MATERIALS OF FIELD RESEARCH ON FAMILY AND MARRIAGE RELATIONS OF THE MEADOW AND MOUNTAIN MARI. Vestnik Chuvashskogo universiteta, 2023, no. 3, pp. 29–35. DOI: 10.47026/1810-1909-2023-3-29-35 (in Russian).

 Download the full article