Wedding ceremony semantics of the samara river Russian settlements

The articles examines the semantic plan of the wedding ceremony dramaturgy of the Samara river Russian settlements. It is shown that comprehension of the wedding as a rite of transition gives the key to the understanding of the symbolic meanings of all ritual stages. Tolerant combination of two types of transition - territorial (horizontal) and status (vertical) is topical in tradition of the examining territory. It is also stressed that Samara wedding belongs to the mixed type of the rite characterizing the majority of regional traditions of the later cultural stratum. Besides, it is determined that Samara wedding ceremony preserved signs of commune or clan rite which social goal directs first of all to the permeation of the matrimony.