Structural and functional research of Ukrainian wedding rituals

Abstract

The aim of the article is to prove the possibility of applying the method of structural and functional analysis to scientific research of the ceremonial cycle of Ukrainian weddings. Thanks to the method, we obtained a structure in which the large cycle is divided into three small cycles of pre-wedding, wedding and post-wedding ceremonies, small cycles – into separate rites, and the rites are decomposed into episodes. Criteria for division into components are new-level and generalizing repetition of the event, social metamorphosis of the characters of sacred action, change of the sacred chronotope, the principle of constant renewal, change of the nature of the action.
In addition, the structure is divided into four stages, which change along with the change in social status of the main characters: a boy and a girl into a bride and a groom, the newly-weds, a man and a woman. The meaning of wedding ceremonies is that a boy and a girl become a man and a woman; but without ceremonial actions, without the sacralization of reality, without the intervention of the otherworldly, without the opposition of antinomian couples, such a transition is impossible. Therefore, there is a need, according to ritual conditions, in the intermediate sacred statuses: the bride and groom, the newly-weds.
The created structure of the ceremonial wedding cycle allows to outline the chronological and topographical boundaries of the rites, identify the goals of ritual actions and characters of each episode, characterize the characters and archetypes of the personages, divide the participants and topographic objects into antinomies, identify personages-mediators, establish entries to the rites and exits from them, to find out the limits of sacralization of fertility and its influence on the ritual actions of the wedding complex rites.
It has been established that due to antinomic pairs detected by the structure, a conflict arises, which is the driving force of any wedding cycle ceremony. In the culminating rite of the barn is the last transition of the main characters to the final social status. All other characters return to the original profane statuses, because the main task of the ritual cycle, with the maximum sacralization of reality by the influence of the energy of the afterlife, is achieved.
In the process of studying, it was established that in ceremonial wedding events there is not only sacralization, but also sacralization of fertility. Fertility in rituals is realized in a mass of images and symbols, both real and folk, in particular in the traditional songs of the rites of komora and perezva.
Thus, it should be considered that the use of the method of structural and functional analysis is actually acceptable for research of the national wedding ceremonies.