E-mail: matlin@mail.ru
Tel.: +7 (8422) 44-11-58
4, sq. of 100th Anniversary of V. I. Lenin’s birth, Ul’yanovsk, 432700, Russian Federation
PhD (Philology), associate professor, department of Russian language, Literature and Journalism, Ul’yanovsk State Pedagogical University named after I. N. Ul’yanov
This research is supported by the grant of the Russian State Fund for Humanities, No.13–04–00254.
The article reveals the peculiarity of the image of a Russian traditional wedding ceremony, combined with a unique holiday, which was called “the Feast of Servants” in Western Europe. A famous Russian writer and historian N. M. Karamzin reported about both in his sketch. He did not describe a wedding ceremony, typical of the particular region, in general, but articulated details of a specific wedding ceremony, which he had observed himself. Witnessing as aprinciple of recording of traditional weddings became popular in Russia in the middle of 19th century. Karamzin paid attention both to entire ceremonial sets and to separate rites, songs and prose texts, their positioning in ceremonial situations and performers appropriate to them. The unique feature of the wedding ceremony description is that so-called “ethnographism” is combined with depiction of individual emotional states of the participants, especially of the bride. “The Servants’ Feast” which crowns the celebration in the estate visited by the narrator was not typical of Russian traditional culture. Most likely, it was organized at the estate under the influence of an English tradition, which existed till the end of the 18th century in England. All this makes Karamzin’s sketch important for the history of Russian folklore studies as one of the first descriptions of the Russian traditional wedding. It is possible to note some characteristic features of the interaction between literature and folklore, so called “folklorism”, in the Russian prose of 18th century in it. It helps to deepen understanding of the role of ethnographic material in the fiction manifestation of social and ethical ideals given by N. M. Karamzin.
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