The ritual of “name questioning” in the Russian wedding tradition as a relic of bride abduction
Buzin Vladimir Serafimovich
St. Petersburg State University
Submitted: 02.02.2024
Abstract. The aim of the study is to determine the origin and meaning of the ritual of “name questioning”, identified in several variants of the Russian wedding tradition during which the groom, bride, and several other individuals are required to state each other’s full names including their patronymics. This ritual could take place during the pre-wedding period, at the wedding ceremony itself, and in post-wedding customs. The paper presents a collection of materials on this aspect of wedding ritual, revealing the specificity of its connection to different stages of the wedding ceremony, its territorial prevalence, the participants involved, their kinship relationships, and their specific roles in the wedding event. The scientific originality of the study lies in collecting extensive material on this ritual, analyzing it using a comparative-historical approach, and drawing conclusions regarding its origins. The study showed that this ritual action represents a relic form of the bride abduction tradition once practiced among many peoples, including Eastern Slavs, which evolved into an agreement on marriage. This is supported by linguistic data – the etymology of the word ‘невеста’ (bride), derived from ‘неизвестная’ (unknown), and a number of peculiarities in ritual actions, such as the involvement of the “groom’s companion” acting as the equivalent of the best man at the Russian wedding.
Key words and phrases: русская народная свадьба, сравнительно-исторический анализ, реликт, обряд «вопрошания имени», похищение невесты, Russian traditional wedding, comparative-historical analysis, relic, ritual of “name questioning”, bride abduction
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