SLFK 212, March 18, 2004
Last class - Old Believer video
Survival of traditional marriage practices among Old Believers in Oregon
But wedding practices preserved elsewhere also
Among ethnic groups in the US
What I do on Brama
In all of this, a woman is treated in a special way
There are death and rebirth elements in all rites of passage that occur in the middle of life
Think of fraternity and sorority initiation rites
But in Russian material (and to a lesser extent in Ukrainian material) the death elements of a bride's rite of passage are extreme
There are few rebirth elements
If anything, her real change of status is not a rebirth into her new home
But the actual birth of a child
Change of kin term
Why? Some of it has to do with motion in space
This is the culture of the Iron Curtain
This is the culture that protects openings big time
So anyone who moves in space is as if dead
But there is more to it than that
When a man moves at marriage, as in pryimak
He is symbolically adopted
He does not die symbolically, like the bride
One thesis is that this area, at one point in the past was a
Matriarchal society
A society with no marriage
A society with communal property or no property
Please note the communal nature of property still
Marxist thesis is that the introduction of property makes you want to know whose kid is whose so that you can pass on your property to your offspring
When matriarchal society collapses
Whether the intro. of property
Some say has to do with switch from nomadic to sedentary life style
Or for other reasons, you get what you have now.
Amazons video
Whether you buy this argument or not, there are LOTS of features that appear to be remnants.
One, of course, is the nature of the 19th century and even contemporary wedding
Also rusalka beliefs and the legend lesson that pregnancy outside marriage is bad
Courtship and negotiating virginity
What have you
The sacrifice belief
This is very important
Certainly extensively used by the Soviet Union and a kind of governing principle of WWII
Gimbutas' thesis - Matriarchy is linked to goddess beliefs
This is the reason for all those statues that I showed
When matriarchy goes to patriarchy, you get belief in male god(s) taking the place of belief in female goddess(es)
But the new society is fearful of this change
They are afraid of offending the goddess(es)
They are upset about the loss of the idyllic society that they destroyed
So, to expiate their guilt, they picture their male god, sometimes said to be the son of the goddess, being sacrificed to the female goddess
Idea of the male being a son further legitimizes this form of worship
The god pictured as a direct descendant
Show embroideries
There is also contemporary evidence here
The WWII mother/fatherland statues and the men sacrificed to the motherland buried within
Easter egg video