Wedding of the Russian old dwellers in Siberia: modern reconstruction

Following a multidisciplinary approach (history, ethnography, cultural studies, folklore studies, museology, music studies), the authors discuss the present-day opportunities and challenges of reviving traditional wedding ritual of the Russian Old Dwellers of Siberia. Based on the methods of direct and participant observation, and ethno-sociological interviews, the authors analyze various variants of wedding reconstruction and identify traditional elements of the wedding which are reproduced most frequently in the modern times. The article concludes that the contemporary attitude to the wedding ceremony is ambiguous: there are both proponents and opponents of conducting weddings (including those following Russian popular traditions). However, exactly the wedding ceremony is the most ethnically marked element of culture, allowing the participants of the ritual to sustain their traditional identity.