The paper offers characteristic features of
regional peculiarities that the traditional and modern urban cultures of Mari
El Republic possess. This region is remarkable for interaction of Slavic,
Finno-Ugric and Turkic cultures. The authors display changes of the content and
forms of Russian folk texts in XIX-XX (and XXI in the second part of the paper)
as well as their propensity to borrowing. The material used in the study
includes folk epic prose (stories, legends, bylichki) and poetry (historic
songs, ballads and spiritual poems), ritual lyrical poetry (calendar rites and
rites of the circle of life) and non-ritual lyrical poetry. As a result, the
authors come to a conclusion that in the XX century in the Volga Region there
were a number of events that proved detrimental for the traditional peasant way
of life and culture. However, the analysis of the material manifests
surprisingly well-preserved genres (among them there are genres common for the
Russian culture of the Volga Region) as well as separate unique species, their
vitality and power. It is important to notice that the most talented performers
of folk pieces, their family members and their community seem to have preserved
a highly respectful attitude towards traditional values, faith in their effectiveness,
a desire to share their knowledge. To the most significant constituents of
their life experience one can refer an ability to live in harmony, to give a
helping hand when needed, to worship nature, to be conscientious, sympathetic,
and socially optimistic despite hard lives. As for the artistic value of
Russian folklore of Mari El Republic, the condition of texts recorded in the
area proves the opinion of researchers working outside the republic. Nowadays
works of folk-art that fulfil educational, informative and communicative
functions take the first place. In most cases the mythological basis has been
lost. As a result, many of ritual forms have become games. Almost all genres
demonstrate the process of their semantic update. Old forms are filled with new
content. The traditional imagery has simplified a lot; a number of artistic
devices, which are not of current interest, have been lost. In the field of
ethnic interactions, one should pay attention to the tauseneviy door-to-door
rite, which is unique in its archaic basis and verbal accompaniment. The rite
emerged at the junction of Finno-Ugric (the Mordva) and Slavic (the Russians)
ritual culture. The paper also introduces forms of modern presentation of
regional folklore and shares the authors’ experience of developing virtual
folklore museums with game play elements. The last part of the paper deals with
the phenomenon of the Internet folklore of Mari El Republic. The Internet and
specific public pages in social media have been serving a platform for
contemporary folklore focusing on urban culture and people’s perception of
urban realia for almost a decade. The paper covers the Internet genres of
folklore and their functions including their role of markers of local identity,
and street art as a reflection of certain tendencies of a town’s life.
Russian folklore regional folklore genres ethnocultural interaction rites virtual museum Internet folklore
Journal Section | Articles |
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Authors | |
Publication Date | August 31, 2017 |
Submission Date | September 8, 2017 |
Published in Issue | Year 2017 |
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