https:/orcid//org/ 0000-0001-6310-5561
E-mail: tutkija@mail.ru
Tel.: +7 (814) 278-44-96
11, Pushkinskaya str., Petrozavodsk, 185910, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, Institute of Linguistics, Literature and History, Karelian Scholarly Center, Russian Academy of Sciences, Petrozavodsk
Vera A. Shvetsova
https:/orcid//org/ 0000-0003-1876-8432
E-mail: vera.shvetsova5@yandex.ru
Tel.: +7 (8142) 267-23-67
16, Leningradskaya str., Petrozavodsk, 185031, Russian Federation
PhD in Art History, Associated Professor, Department of Music of Finno-Ugric Peoples, State Glazunov Conservatory, Petrozavodsk
The study was carried out within the framework of state assignment to KarRC of the Russian Academy of Sciences, No. 125032004283-0.
This article examines the modern features of the south Karelian lamentation tradition relying on expedition materials and published sources. Analysis of these texts provides insight into the distinctive repertoire performed by carriers of the lamentation tradition, including the specific features of the texts, such as their poetic and musical characteristics, and the changes they have undergone since the second half of the twentieth century. The study reveals that lamentations have lost their ritual function and are no longer a mandatory element of family rituals. The carriers of lamentation culture today are women who learned the texts from family members, and the laments are preserved in the performers’ mostly passive memory. Lamentation texts have experienced substantial change, abandoning archaic forms while retaining the main features of the genre, key motifs, and the vocabulary typical of Karelian laments, while performances continue to use the intonation of traditional south Karelian mourning songs.
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Mironova V. P., Shvetsova V. A. The Olonets/Livvi Karelian Lamentation Tradition: Its Contemporary State. Traditional Culture. 2026. Vol. 27. No. 2. Pp. 95–108. In Russian.