Transformation of relations in the Chuvash family

N.S. Volkovich

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography (the Kunstkamera),

Saint Petersburg, 199034 Russia

OOO “Advice”, Saint Petersburg, 192286 Russia

E-mail: nvolk@mail.ru

Received December 16, 2017

Full text PDF

Abstract

The paper is based on the results of the expedition organized in 2017 to the Chuvash village of Egorkino (Якурккел, Nurlat district, Republic of Tatarstan). The village is located in the south of the Republic, near the border with the Samara region, and was founded by the Upper Chuvash in the early 18th century. Most villagers are unbaptized Chuvash people. Currently, many of them are, however, Orthodox Christians. A small proportion of the population is made by Russians. The villagers speak the Lower Chuvash dialect. The institution of marriage in the traditional society and its modern transformation have been assessed by the live contacts with the villagers. Other sources have been used during the analysis to confirm the obtained conclusions: the materials of the expedition to the Ural region; conversations with Chuvash people from Saint Petersburg and the Leningrad region; data of the scientific archive of the Chuvash State Institute of Humanities; other publications. It has been suggested that the transformation of the marriage institution was caused by the devaluation of the economic and social influence of the family.

Keywords: wedding, family, generation, marriage, ceremony, ethnography, Chuvash

References

  1. Buzin V.S. Rozhdenie, vstuplenie v brak i smert' v traditsionnoi yuzhnorusskoi obryadnosti [Birth, Marriage, and Death in the South Russian Rites (Lipetsk, Tambov, and Penza Regions): Materials and Studies]. St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya, 2015. 640 p. (In Russian)
  2. Gennep A. van. Obryady perekhoda: Sistematicheskoe izuchenie obryadov [Rites of Passage: A Systematic Study of Rites]. Moscow, Vost. Lit. Ross. Akad. Nauk, 1999. 198 p. (In Russian)
  3. Kiikov A. On the history of family and marriage in the Bashkirs, Tatars, Mordvins, and Chuvash. Bashkirskii Kraevedcheskii Sbornik, 1927, no. 2, pp. 54–61. (In Russian)
  4. Salmin A.K. Prazdniki, obryady i verovaniya chuvashskogo naroda [Holidays, Rituals and Beliefs of Chuvash People]. Cheboksary, Chuv. Kn. Izd., 2016. 688 p. (In Russian)
  5. Mikhailov A.I. Chuvashka [Chuvash Women]. Moscow, Okhrana Materinstva i Mladenchestva, 1928. 46 p. (In Russian)
  6. Zolotarev A.M. Rodovoi stroi i pervobytnaya mifologiya [Clan System and Primitive Mythology]. Moscow, Nauka, 1964. 328 p. (In Russian)
  7. Anikin V.P. (Ed.) Mudrost' narodnaya. Zhizn' cheloveka v russkom fol'klore [Folk Wisdom. Human Life in Russian Folklore]. Iss. 4: Youth and love. Wedding. Moscow, Khudozh. Lit., 2001. 525 p. (In Russian)
  8. Kushkova A.N. The conflict of fathers and sons: Disinheritance and father's curse. In: Muzhskoi sbornik [Men's Collection]. Iss. 2: The “masculine” in traditional and modern society. Moscow, Labirint, 2004, pp. 178–186. (In Russian)
  9. Zabelin I.E. Domashnyaya zhizn' russkikh tsarei [Home Life of Russian Tsars]. Moscow, Eksmo, 2005. 445 p. (In Russian)
  10. Kondrat'ev M.G. Chuvashskaya savra yura i ee tatarskie paralleli [The Chuvash çавра юрă and Its Tatar Equivalents]. Cheboksary, NIIYALIE, 1993. 80 p. (In Russian)
  11. Yagafova E.A. Enthno-religious minorities of the Chuvash. Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie, 2008, no. 4, pp. 114–124. (In Russian)
  12. Endiryakov V.A., Endiryakov N.G. Religious beliefs of the Chuvash population of the Egorkinskaya volost, Chistopolskii uyezd, Kazan governorate until October 1917. Vestnik Chuvashskogo Gosudarstvennogo Pedagogicheskogo Universiteta im. I.Ya. Yakovleva, 1999, no. 4, pp. 59–62. (In Russian)
  13. Stolyarova G.R. Rites of Chuvash pagans in Tatarstan. Etnograficheskoe Obozrenie, 2006, no. 6, pp. 96–115. (In Russian)
  14. Malinovskii B. Magiya, nauka i religiya [Magic, Science, and Religion]. Moscow, Refl-buk, CEU, 1998. 290 p. (In Russian)
  15. Petrov I.G. Reproductive motives in Chuvash wedding ceremonies (the middle of the 19th – early 20th centuries). Vestnik Chelyabinskogo Gosudarstvennogo Universiteta, 2013, no. 30, pp. 11–17. (In Russian)
  16. Evola J. Metafizika pola [The Metaphysics of Sex]. Moscow, Belovod'e, 1996. 448 p. (In Russian)
  17. Mikhailov S. Sobranie sochinenii [Collection of Works]. Cheboksary, Chuv. Kn. Izd., 2004. 510 p. (In Russian)
  18. Prokop'ev K.P. Brak u chuvash [Marriage in the Chuvash]. Kazan, Tipo-Litogr. Imp. Univ., 1903. 63 p. (In Russian)


For citation: Volkovich N.S. Transformation of relations in the Chuvash family. Uchenye Zapiski Kazanskogo Universiteta. Seriya Gumanitarnye Nauki, 2018, vol. 160, no. 3, pp. 676–687. (In Russian)


The content is available under the license Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.