Wedding ceremonies of the Slavs as part of the common culture of the people

Wedding in Russia since ancient times was considered the most vivid and significant event in the life of every person. If we turn to the ancient chronicles, we will see that there were no wedding traditions common to all Slavs, as such, each tribe individually had its own customs and traditions. For example, the northerners and drevlyane traditionally abducted their brides from their parents and without committing any ceremony began to share with them shelter, life and bed. In the tribes of the glades, on the contrary, the ties of marriage were treated with great respect, the union of a man and a woman was considered sacred, the spouses had to respect and appreciate each other throughout their entire life together. Wedding ceremonies in Russia were not modest, the wedding, as a rule, was celebrated by the whole tribe for several days. The very expression "to play a wedding" sends us back to those distant times, when all the holidays were called a play, namely, in the period of pre-Christian Russia.

Today, traditions and wedding rites of the Slavs attract the attention of many historians. According to some scientists, they reveal the whole moral essence of this or that people. However, one can not fully agree with this statement, since Ancient Rus is represented by a large number of tribes living in the neighborhood and having married in various ways. Some extant wedding rites have been borrowed from tribes of glades. For example, it was their custom to bring a bride to the groom's house, and not vice versa. In other tribes traditionally flourished so-called marriage-abduction, and in some, polygamy. In the families of glade, as a rule, the male role was assigned to the male, the consent of the parents played a big role in the marriage. Often, parents could marry a daughter without her consent. From history we see that a similar tradition was also inherent in the medieval nobility (Domostroi's rule).

And now let us turn directly to traditions and rituals. Some of them may seem ridiculous and even cruel to the modern person. For example, the ritual of "peeling off a wife" that existed in medieval Rus aroused real horror among foreigners who visited the country. It included undressing the young, as well as scourging her with a whip, or boot top. This test testified to complete obedience and submission to a future spouse. It remains only to guess what humiliation the young girl experienced at that moment.

During the time of paganism, many wedding ceremonies were associated with the worship of the higher forces of nature, the marriage was usually held near rivers, lakes and streams. The young people had to go around the lake three times, only then their marriage was considered valid. This custom lasted quite a long time and only with the adoption of Christianity was replaced by a wedding.

In Kostroma for several centuries there was a rather amusing custom. On the Red Hill (the first Sunday after Easter), the young guys had fun on the hill and poured water on the girls they liked. Marry was taken on the one that was poured.

Many wedding ceremonies associated with the elements of water were based on the mythological representations of the Slavs in antiquity. Water was revered by them as an element of the world, without which the existence of man and everything around him is impossible. That's why they splashed and poured water at the time of marriage and celebration of the celebration.

Modern ideas about the weddings of the Slavs are somewhat blurred, since to date there is not a single preserved and authentically narrating about that source. All our ideas about the traditions and rites of our ancestors are based on historical materials, preserved annals and archaeological finds. It is possible that they are all wrong. The historian and writer Nikolai Karamzin, for example, wrote that the marriage ceremony for Slavs did not exist at all, and their wedding ceremonies were very cruel, the wife was bought by the husband and was equal in rights to the slave. The bride got to the man immaculate and had to obey his whims and whims for the rest of his life. In the event of the death of a spouse, a woman should burn herself at the stake. In case of disobedience, the custom of shame and dishonor fell on her entire family.

Birth, wedding and funeral were the three main events in the life of a man of pre-Christian Russia. However, with the adoption of Orthodoxy, little has changed. Only some traditions and rituals have undergone changes or began to be perceived in a different way. Studying the culture of their ancestors is necessary. Perhaps it allows us to better understand ourselves.