Marriage and family customs of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region: legal and anthropological analysis (late XIX – early XX century)

Introduction. The institutions of marriage and family seem to be an integral component of the traditional livelihood of peoples, refl ecting their history, features of life and activities. The Finno-Ugric ethnic groups, over the centuries of their existence, have formed original layers of marriage and family traditions, many elements of which have been preserved to this day. The article provides a comparative legal and anthropological analysis of the marriage and family customs of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region. Materials and Methods. The article is based on the literature, archival materials on the state of marriage and family relations of the Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region in the late XIX–XX centuries. It is based on a legal-anthropological methodology, which includes both relevant theoretical approaches and research methods of collecting materials. The comparative method makes it possible to compare certain elements of the institutions of marriage and family among individual Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga region, to identify their common and special features. The hermeneutic method implies a deeper penetration into the logic of human legal thinking in the study of legal customs. Results and Discussion. In the social life of the Finno-Ugric peoples, family rituals and customs related to marriage and wedding played an important role and family life. Great importance was attached to domestic deities. Many traditional features have been preserved in the regulation of marriage and family relations for a long time, which was due to the slow pace of the formation of market relations, patriarchal features of the family way of life, and the strength of family and kinship ties. Wedding ceremonies were characterized by great complexity and diversity. They were connected with different stages of the wedding, marking the transition of a young man and girl to a new social status; they were supposed to contribute to a more successful implementation of this event, to sanction it in the eyes of relatives and fellow villagers. Conclusion. The Finno-Ugric ethnic groups of the Volga region have developed many similar features of traditional culture and way of life, which indicates the traditions of interpenetration and interaction. Despite the common things and the general similarity of customs in the sphere of marriage and family relations, peoples also have distinctive properties, features of worldview, customary law, and other socionormative relations.