Ritual tree in the wedding tradition of the Don Cossacks

The article discusses the types of the ritual tree in the wedding tradition of the Don Cossacks, their areal distribution on the territory of the former Don Host Region, and also compares them with East Slavic traditions. The main sources are the materials of the dialectological and ethnolinguistic expeditions of 1974-2014. The analysis is carried out in line with the research of the Moscow ethnolinguistic school, using the methods of structural semiotics, ethnolinguistics, ethnography, linguogeography. The factual material reflects the specifics of the existence of a tree as an independent attribute of a wedding in several areas (in Volgograd Oblast along the Khoper River, in the regions of the Middle Don and in the Lower Don regions of Rostov Oblast). The names of the ritual tree are listed; the ritual actions associated with it are characterized; the motivation for the names that this object had in the space of the wedding complex is explained. The symbolism of the studied element among the Khoper Cossacks is revealed. The significance of the decorated branch of the viburnum as a ritual tree is studied. On the basis of the analogies made, a rapprochement with similar rites common in other areas of Rostov Oblast is traced, and the Ukrainian origin of the ritual actions associated with the viburnum is revealed. The inextricable connection of the wedding tree with ritual baking, which appeared in the form of decorating the traditional kalach (white bread in the form of a ring) of the bride with twigs and flowers, is traced, the corresponding symbols and rituals that existed in various settlements of the Don are characterized, and the meaning of the corresponding symbols and rituals is established. It is indicated that, in the areas where the wedding tree was carried, already in the Soviet period they did not bake a wedding karavay (large round bread) at all, or they made it almost without decorations. Testimonies of informants are given as proof of the author’s observations. It has been determined that the typology of wedding loaf decorations on the Don generally correlates with East Slavic traditions. Types of the wedding tree were established: (1) pine, fir tree, garden, kurnik - decorated tree branches, (2) viburnum - branches and berries of viburnum and (3) karavay - combination of a wedding tree with ritual bread. The author concludes that the types of the wedding tree are one of the markers that highlight the regional variants of the Don wedding tradition and make it possible to judge about the history of their formation.