The traditional wedding ritual of the Altai people is one of their ways of life, which changed and developed along with their material and spiritual culture. Holding a modern Altai wedding differs from ancient traditions. Moreover, each individual region of the Altai Republic has developed its own individual rituals, characteristic only for this area. Nevertheless, the general model of holding a wedding celebration continues to this day.

If the stolen bride was with the groom's relatives, the wedding began at his parents' place with a meeting of guests from her side. They arrived at the village no later than noon, but they were expected with light refreshments on the way and played ritual games of tepshi blaazhary (they had to take away a wooden dish with meat). At the end of the meeting, the matchmakers were treated and escorted to the wedding village, where a reception was organized.

The bride's relatives flaunted part of the dowry they had delivered. Before bringing him to the village, they performed a ritual game called deyozhe sadara - the sale of a dowry: offering various property, the women on the bride’s side praised him, “demanding” a symbolic ransom in return. The bride's nephew, dressed in the clothes of a married woman, took part in the game. It was offered with the words: “Who needs a girl, buy it!” The dowry was also brought to the village in the form of a ritual game, during which the groom’s side presented various treats or arak.

After the ritual ransom, the women of both sides began to design a new village. Then the groom's relatives followed the bride, taking with them juniper branches - archina, treats, and festive clothes from the dowry. A curtain was carried in front - kozhegyo, a relative of the groom walked on the left, and a relative of the bride on the right. The guests entered the village, where the bride was abducted during the marriage by prior agreement, singing. The wife of the groom's elder brother performed the ritual of sprinkling the fire of the owners' hearth. Having bought the bride, they dressed her in a girl’s outfit and, covering her with kozhegyo, led her to a new wedding village. She covered her face with her cuffed hands. Subsequent rituals were the same for all forms of marriage.

The bride was escorted to the village by the groom's parents (daan village). Before entering, they fumigated her with juniper, the future mother-in-law treated her with milk and blessed her. After which, having covered the kozhegyo, she was led twice around the new home, entered it, the girl was seated in the place of honor in the female half, facing towards the entrance, oriented to the east. Thus began the culminating wedding ceremony - the ceremony of braiding the bride's hair (chach yoryori). Women with many children and happy marriages took part in it.

Behind the curtain, the girl was dressed in the clothes of a married woman (chegedek), accompanying the action with ritual singing, they took off the girl's braids (shanki), unbraided her hair, combed it, made a straight parting dividing her head into equal halves - a sign of a woman's share. Then two braids were braided: the left one by the woman from the groom’s seok, the right one by the bride, which symbolized the transition of the bride from one family to another. Having tied the ends of the braids, they laid them on the chest, and put on the head a pointed hat of a married woman (kuraan beryuk). With wishes of prosperity, the young woman was treated to milk. Shankylu bala became a kelin - a married woman.

Közhögyo is a taboo object and should not be touched with hands. To show the wedding participants the bride hiding behind it, the groom's father or uncle opened it with the handle of a whip, the butt of a gun, or two or three branches of juniper (archyn). At the same time, he gave instructions to his daughter-in-law: “Don’t say my name. Don't cross my path. Honor your elder as your elder." Then he attached the kozhegyo to a permanent place - near the newlyweds’ bed. After that, boiled shin and sternal rib of a ram were tied to birch trees as a sign of wishing the young people a prosperous life. In relation to the one who opened the curtain in married life, the bride observed the custom of avoidance. The opening of the curtain itself is a symbol of the rebirth of the bride into a kelin. People gathered to see her.

Then the next ritual game began - aigyr la bee, or soykonish. Following this, a ritual of well-wishing the newlyweds was carried out - alkysh ses, or bashpaady, which means introducing the newlyweds as hosts to their hearth.

It should be noted that during the wedding feast there were strict rules for the reception of guests and their behavior. They were also seated in a certain order.

On the first day of the wedding, the bride was supposed to treat those gathered with home-made salty tea with milk. The groom helped her: prepared firewood, brought water and kept the fire going. After the feast, several more ritual games were played, including ichi chynyrtary (making a dog squeal).

Only her mother could attend the wedding on the bride's side. At the height of the feast, several relatives from the groom’s side visited the new relatives and delivered them horse meat or lamb. This ritual is called belkenchek tyuzhyurip, or diodo ekelgeni. The matchmaking visit took place after the hair braiding ritual. If the wedding celebration took place in the groom’s village, then the Belkenchek took place in the bride’s village.

For Belkenchek, the groom's relatives took archyn, tazhur with milk and tazhur with araka and shalta. They were not supposed to be met in the yard. Entering the house, the eldest of the matchmakers sprinkled milk on the fire and diayyk, blessing the girl’s relatives. The matchmakers were treated to milk. They were supposed to give it to the newlyweds. Then the groom's relatives brought in the back half of the ram carcass. It was kept upside down with its front part facing the hearth, which meant showing respect to the owners. The meat treat was served with arak tajour. The bride's mother served the brisket on a wooden platter, and the meat from the thigh and pelvis (pulled) was served to the father and other relatives. The shalt included sweets, tea bars, cheeses and other treats. According to tradition, the owners first threw the brought food (two or four pinches each) into the fire.

During the matchmaker's visit, the bride's mother was presented with emchek tazhuur, and her father was presented with tazhur with araka. After which the hosts invited the guests to the table, and as a sign of recognition by relatives, they tied belts. If the journey was not long, then the matchmakers set off on the return journey the same day, taking the rest of the dowry.

At the wedding site, the guests were supposed to be treated the next day: a two-year-old mare (baital) was slaughtered and a baital bash was held - that was the name of the feast on the second day after the wedding. In addition to the wedding meal, hot boiled heads of freshly slaughtered cattle were served on the table on this day. It was unethical for young women with no more than two children to sit among the elders and drink arak with them. It was also considered a great shame to get drunk at a wedding; those who did not know the limits were covered and wrapped in felt. According to custom, the hosts saw off the guests, accompanying them for a short part of the journey and treating them to several resting places.

Traditionally, the indigenous Altai peoples had four forms of marriage:

Matchmaking (where),

Snatching without the girl's consent (tudup apargan),

Bride theft (kachyp apargany)

Marriage of minors (balans toylogons).

Each of these forms of marriage had its own specific rituals and traditions. However, matchmaking was characteristic of all forms of marriage. Old maids and bachelors did not enjoy authority and had no weight in society; marriage was considered obligatory among the Altai people. A married heir was separated from his parents if one of the other brothers was preparing to marry. The youngest son, having married, lived with his parents and inherited their house and farm.

A wedding is a bright celebration in the life of any person, marked by the creation of his own family. The Altai wedding ceremony was divided into four stages: matchmaking, preparation for the wedding, the wedding itself and the post-wedding stage. In turn, each period consisted of a certain cycle of rituals and ritual games.

Matchmaking

Matchmaking included preliminary negotiations and official matchmaking (kudalash). In the case of marriage by prior agreement between the parents of both parties, kudalash was a continuation of negotiations and began with several visits by the groom's relatives to the bride's parents.

When the girl turned 10-12 years old, they came with gifts, reminding her of the conspiracy. Such meetings continued annually until the bride came of age. Throughout this time, furs (fox, sable or otter for sewing a woman’s hat), leather (for future shoes of the bride), various materials (velvet, silk, felt for sewing women’s clothing, bedding) and other.

When the time for the bride's handing over (dep detse) arrived, the groom's side performed kudalash, and the opposite side held a celebration in honor of this event. The celebration, accompanied by certain rituals, ended with the guests taking the bride to the groom, covering her with a curtain - kozhegyo.

To seal the marriage of the newlyweds, a traditional wedding ceremony took place in the new village. On this day, the groom's relatives held a celebration of kys ekelgeni (bringing of the bride). The result of the kudalash was the appointment of a wedding day and both parties began preparations for the celebration.

Pre-wedding preparation

During this period, pre-wedding rituals took place. As a rule, the wedding took place in the fall. To strengthen the marriage and kinship union, meetings were held, accompanied by negotiations and mutual treats. The groom's parents repeatedly supplied the bride's relatives with materials for preparing a dowry - shaalt (fabrics, leather, wool, furs, etc.) and a specified number of livestock.

Usually, the dowry (dyojo, sep) of the bride was prepared from the age of five for girls. It was stored in leather bags (kaptar) and chests (kaiyrchaktar). On the wedding day, the dojo was delivered to the groom’s new village. On the eve of the wedding, a dwelling for the newlyweds was built. To do this, the groom's parents invited distant relatives, neighbors, and friends. The construction of the ayil was marked by the holiday of ayil tudushtyn kyochezi, or aylanchyktyn chay.

An integral attribute of the wedding was kozhegyo - a white curtain measuring 1.5x2.5-3 meters. Its edges were bordered by silk tassels - amulets, brocade ribbons, the ends of which were stitched by the groom's relatives as a symbol of access to happiness for the newlyweds. Közhögyo was tied to two birch trees, cut in the morning from the eastern side of the mountain slope, all this was necessarily accompanied by a blessing ceremony. On the eve of the wedding, cattle were slaughtered.

Wedding ceremony and ritual games

If the stolen bride was with the groom's relatives, the wedding began at his parents' place with a meeting of guests from her side. They arrived at the village no later than noon, but they were expected with light refreshments on the way and played ritual games of tepshi blaazhary (they had to take away a wooden dish with meat). At the end of the meeting, the matchmakers were treated and escorted to the wedding village, where a reception was organized.

The bride's relatives flaunted part of the dowry they had delivered. Before bringing him to the village, they performed a ritual game called deyozhe sadara - the sale of a dowry: offering various property, the women on the bride’s side praised him, “demanding” a symbolic ransom in return. The bride's nephew, dressed in the clothes of a married woman, took part in the game. It was offered with the words: “Who needs a girl, buy it!”

The dowry was also brought to the village in the form of a ritual game, during which the groom’s side presented various treats or arak.

After the ritual ransom, the women of both sides began to design a new village. Then the groom's relatives followed the bride, taking with them juniper branches - archina, treats, and festive clothes from the dowry. A curtain was carried in front - kozhegyo, a relative of the groom walked on the left, and a relative of the bride on the right.

The guests entered the village, where the bride was abducted during the marriage by prior agreement, singing. The wife of the groom's elder brother performed the ritual of sprinkling the fire of the owners' hearth. Having bought the bride, they dressed her in a girl’s outfit and, covering her with kozhegyo, led her to a new wedding village. She covered her face with her cuffed hands. Subsequent rituals were the same for all forms of marriage.

The bride was escorted to the village by the groom's parents (daan village). Before entering, they fumigated her with juniper, the future mother-in-law treated her with milk and blessed her. After which, having covered the kozhegyo, she was led twice around the new home, entered it, the girl was seated in the place of honor in the female half, facing towards the entrance, oriented to the east. Thus began the culminating wedding ceremony - the ceremony of braiding the bride's hair (chach yoryori). Women with many children and happy marriages took part in it.

Behind the curtain, the girl was dressed in the clothes of a married woman (chegedek), accompanying the action with ritual singing, they took off the girl’s braids (shanki), unbraided her hair, combed it, made a straight parting dividing her head into equal halves - a sign of a woman’s share. Then two braids were braided: the left one by a woman from the groom’s seok, the right one by the bride, which symbolized the transition of the bride from one family to another. Having tied the ends of the braids, they laid them on the chest, and put on the head a pointed hat of a married woman (kuraan beryuk). With wishes of prosperity, the young woman was treated to milk. Shankylu bala became a kelin - a married woman.

Közhögyo is a taboo object and should not be touched with hands. To show the wedding participants the bride hiding behind it, the groom's father or uncle opened it with the handle of a whip, the butt of a gun, or two or three branches of juniper (archyn). At the same time, he gave instructions to his daughter-in-law: “Don’t say my name. Don't cross my path.

Honor your elder as your elder." Then he attached the kozhegyo to a permanent place - near the newlyweds’ bed. After that, boiled shin and sternal rib of a ram were tied to birch trees as a sign of wishing the young people a prosperous life. In relation to the one who opened the curtain in married life, the bride observed the custom of avoidance. The opening of the curtain itself is a symbol of the rebirth of the bride into a kelin. People gathered to see her.

Then the next ritual game began - aigyr la bee, or soykonish. Following this, a ritual of well-wishing the newlyweds was carried out - alkysh syos, or bashpaady, which means introducing the newlyweds as hosts to their hearth.

It should be noted that during the wedding feast there were strict rules for the reception of guests and their behavior. They were also seated in a certain order.

On the first day of the wedding, the bride was supposed to treat those gathered with home-made salty tea with milk. The groom helped her: prepared firewood, brought water and kept the fire going. After the feast, several more ritual games were played, including ichi chynyrtary (making a dog squeal).

Only her mother could attend the wedding on the bride's side. At the height of the feast, several relatives from the groom’s side visited the new relatives and delivered them horse meat or lamb. This ritual is called belkenchek tyuzhyurip, or diodo ekelgeni. The matchmaking visit took place after the hair braiding ritual. If the wedding celebration took place in the groom's village, then the Belkenchek took place in the bride's village.

For Belkenchek, the groom's relatives took archyn, tazhur with milk and tazhur with araka and shalta. They were not supposed to be met in the yard. Entering the house, the eldest of the matchmakers sprinkled milk on the fire and diayyk, blessing the girl’s relatives. The matchmakers were treated to milk. They were supposed to give it to the newlyweds.

Then the groom's relatives brought in the back half of the ram carcass. It was kept upside down with its front part facing the hearth, which meant showing respect to the owners. The meat treat was served with arak tajour. The bride's mother served the brisket on a wooden platter, and the meat from the thigh and pelvis (pulled) was served to the father and other relatives. The shalt included sweets, tea bars, cheeses and other treats. According to tradition, the owners first threw the brought food (two or four pinches each) into the fire.

During the matchmaker's visit, the bride's mother was presented with emchek tazhuur, and her father was presented with tazhur with araka. After which the hosts invited the guests to the table, and as a sign of recognition by relatives, they tied belts. If the journey was not long, then the matchmakers set off on the return journey the same day, taking the rest of the dowry.

At the wedding site, the guests were supposed to be treated the next day: a two-year-old mare (baital) was slaughtered and a baital bash was held - that was the name of the feast on the second day after the wedding. In addition to the wedding meal, hot boiled heads of freshly slaughtered cattle were served on the table on this day. It was unethical for young women with no more than two children to sit among the elders and drink arak with them.

It was also considered a great shame to get drunk at a wedding; those who did not know the limits were covered and wrapped in felt. According to custom, the hosts saw off the guests, accompanying them for a short part of the journey and treating them to several resting places.

Post-wedding activities

The final period of the wedding ceremony was dedicated to the newlyweds joining the ranks of spouses and consolidating new family relationships. When a girl got married, the custom of avoiding older men by the groom’s relatives (kaindash) and avoiding young men (kelindesh) came into force.

She was not supposed to meet them often, look them in the face and call them by name. The daughter-in-law addressed her husband's older relatives (men), including his father, through a third party. These prohibitions were mutual. The young wife called her husband adazi (father of the children), and he called his wife enezi (mother of the children). The daughter-in-law addressed her husband's parents as kayin (my father-in-law), kayin enem (my mother-in-law), and they, in turn, addressed her as balam (my child).

The woman did not appear to the elders with bare legs, arms, bare head, open breasts when feeding the child. She was forbidden to enter the male half of the yurt, and she turned her back to those avoiding her, and stood up respectfully when they entered the village. In addition, she did not sit at the table with men, did not joke or swear with them.

The newlyweds became full adult members only after the birth of the child. Not earlier than a year after this significant event for the newlyweds, the husband's father's relatives accompanied the young family with the child to the daughter-in-law's relatives. Her mother was given an emchek tazhur and a ram carcass. This offering was called emchek kargysh (breast milk). Having boiled the carcass, they divided it into two parts: the right half remained for the newly-minted grandmother, the left was passed on to her son-in-law.

As a “payment” for the breast milk of the daughter-in-law’s mother, the guests brought dairy cattle, usually a mare, and simply gave the cow as a “cold-breathing” animal. The first heifer from this cow was then given to a grandson or granddaughter. In gratitude for raising a young daughter-in-law, a horse in full trim was brought to her father. In the house of his wife's parents, the son-in-law hung out fabric (iliu bes). The matchmakers also gave the daughter-in-law's parents elegant clothes, emphasizing respect for them.

The owners treated the guests, tied the son-in-law with a new belt, and before leaving, gave the young enchi - various livestock for breeding, and the newborn - a foal, a lamb and valuable gifts. Guests always visited the daughter-in-law's maternal uncle; naturally, it was indecent to enter his home empty-handed. The hosts also tied belts for the guests, and the uncle generously gave a variety of livestock to the young family. Only after such a first trip could the young family travel at their own discretion to visit the daughter-in-law’s parents and her other relatives.

As you can see, the daughters-in-law contributed the bulk of the newlyweds' financial support, and the groom's parents were responsible for their family life.

The traditional wedding ritual of the Altai people is one of their ways of life, which changed and developed along with their material and spiritual culture.

Holding a modern Altai wedding differs from ancient traditions. In addition, each individual region of the Altai Republic has developed its own individual rituals, characteristic only for this area. Nevertheless, the general model of holding a wedding celebration continues to this day.

Prepared based on the materials of the book by N.A., Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Archeology, Ethnology and Source Studies of GASU. TADINA "Altai wedding rituals of the 19th - 20th centuries."

In Altai, it is believed that if there was no traditional wedding, then the marriage was not concluded. Registration at the registry office does not mean anything. After all, if it’s so easy to create a family – all you have to do is sign your name, then it’s just as easy to lose your family, Altaians believe.

The groom must be 100% sure that he will marry once and for all. And it’s not only about the sacred unity of spouses forever (even beyond earthly life), but also about the financial component. The groom's family actually conducts two weddings. Modest - youthful - in the European style. And real - traditional - with full Altai scope. Today this is difficult, because the groom will spend at least 300 thousand rubles on the wedding ceremony and matchmaking alone.

Altaians take marriage very seriously. There are not always enough resources of a whole kind - and this means dozens of relatives, so they take out pre-wedding loans from banks and then pay them off for five years.

And if the groom is an orphan, then the whole village will help him: both with money and food. Among the Altai people, a wedding is a sacred concept and does not depend on cataclysms like the global financial crisis. Moreover, the most expensive are rural weddings, because the whole village will come to the holiday! If you don't invite someone, resentment will arise.

I held the wedding not in the village, but in the regional center, where people live more secluded. Therefore, there were only about three hundred people at the wedding,” recalls Erkin Enchinov, a researcher of traditional Altai law. “However, it turned out that in the pre-wedding bustle they forgot to invite distant relatives and then I received serious criticism from my family.

What does the “wedding” money go to? For alcohol, for example. The Altai people have a custom of a kind of bride price. After the groom’s side has ritually kidnapped the bride (with her consent, of course), representatives of the future husband come to the girl’s parents and receive a list of houses that need to be visited with a “visit of politeness and respect.” To each house of future relatives you need to bring sweets, tea, as well as “white” and “red” - two units of alcoholic beverages. Usually this is vodka and red wine. The owner of the house opens the bottles, treats the spirit of fire (sprinkles to the fire), then pours it for the guests. Well, if he himself took a sip of the gift, then it means he gave his consent to the marriage of his relative. Often such consent needs to be obtained in 50-60 houses! Of course, it happens that some relatives are on bad terms with the bride’s family and decide to “harm” and refuse the wedding. Then the last word remains with the parents - they will say: “We are giving away our daughter!”, and no relatives will be able to interfere.

In every house where the matchmakers look, they will also be hinted at what they would like to receive as a shalta-kalym. If they demand a special drink or a rare item, the groom will have to go to neighboring regions - for example, to Barnaul - to get a gift for future relatives. Such an order means that the relatives intend to give the bride something significant.

So it turns out that a young family starts with serious capital. A girl comes to her husband’s family, fully provided with household “equipment”: furniture, household appliances, a computer, satellite dishes, carpets and other small services. This dowry costs the bride's family approximately 250-400 thousand rubles.

Well, in addition to two weddings, the groom’s family is traditionally responsible for the roof over their head. And it doesn’t matter whether the house has been purchased, whether it has already been built, or whether a building plot has just been acquired. The main thing is that the groom and his family promise and guarantee that the young woman will have a home!

Natalya Strebneva

Altai wedding traditions

Traditionally, the indigenous Altai peoples had four forms of marriage:

Matchmaking

Pre-wedding preparation

Wedding ceremony and ritual games

Post-wedding activities

Prepared based on the materials of the book by N.A., Candidate of Historical Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Archeology, Ethnology and Source Studies of GASU. TADINA “Altai wedding rituals of the 19th – 20th centuries.”

http://svadba-altai.ru/altayskaya-svadba

Matchmaking includes preliminary negotiations between future newlyweds, their families and official matchmaking ( "kudalash").

Earlier, in the case of marriage by prior agreement between the parents of both parties, kudalash was a continuation of negotiations and began with several visits by the groom’s relatives to the bride’s parents. When the girl turned 10-12 years old, they came with gifts, reminding her of the conspiracy. Such meetings continued annually up to adulthood brides Throughout this time, furs (fox, sable or otter for sewing a woman’s hat), leather (for future shoes of the bride), various materials (velvet, silk, felt for sewing women’s clothing, bedding) and other. This personified the division of responsibilities in the family: the husband is the breadwinner, supplier of raw materials, and the wife is the keeper of the hearth, the creative principle, the “processor.” Subsequently, the bride's dowry was made up of those household items and clothing that were created from materials provided by the groom.

When the time for the bride’s handing over (“Jöp јetse”) arrived, the groom’s side performed kudalash, and the opposite side held a celebration in honor of this event. The celebration, accompanied by certain rituals, ended with the guests taking the bride to the groom, covering her with a curtain (“kozhögö”). To seal the marriage of the newlyweds, a traditional wedding ceremony took place in the new village. On this day, the groom’s relatives organized a celebration of “bringing the bride” (“kys ekelgeni”).

The result of kudalash was the appointment of a wedding day. So both sides began preparations for the celebration.

Today Life became faster, and wedding rituals underwent changes along with it. So, from matchmaking to the wedding itself, it takes from several months to one year. Modern marriages among Altaians are concluded on the initiative of the young; preliminary agreement between parents is no more common among Altaians than among other peoples of Russia. However, the institution of matchmaking itself has been preserved and is an obligatory element of the Altai wedding. As in the old days, it begins with the parents and respected relatives of the groom paying a visit to the parents of the bride, and ends with the groom's relatives visiting other relatives of the bride specified by her parents. The content of such visits is to communicate about the upcoming marriage, get to know each other and show respect to the future matchmakers. Residents of Ongudaysky, Shebalinsky and Ust-Kansky districts visit the bride’s relatives separately. As is customary among Altai people, they don’t go on a visit empty-handed. Tea and sweets are traditional treats. They also often take with them a vessel of milk tied with sacred ribbons (“jalama”). in Ulagansky and Kosh-Agachsky districts - the bride’s relatives gather in one place on the agreed day. Then matchmaking is a small celebration where relatives from both sides are present.

One of the trends in recent years is that the tradition of gathering the bride’s relatives for matchmaking in one place is being adopted by residents of the “upper” districts - Ust-Kansky, Shebalinsky and Ongudaysky. In conditions where people of the same kind no longer live all close together, in one ravine, but are distributed throughout the republic and beyond, this approach seems justified and reasonable to us. This allows the parties to save both time and money - resources that will be needed when organizing a wedding.

Matchmaking has (“јаҥар”), which are performed by the groom’s side.