Comparative analysis of the story-motive composition of the Еuropean Russian and Siberian versions of the wedding song "Widdle on the water"

Actualization of a complex methodology in the analysis of folklore phenomena is one of the most significant fields of the national folklore science. The core idea of this method is a merger of comparative historic, structural typological, semiotic, and ethno linguistic methods. These methods are being actualized through comparative analysis of Siberian and European Russian versions of a wedding song "Widdle on the Water" (further referred as "Widdle"). In a process of collecting analytic material, more than 50 versions have been found with 25 music records amongst them. Both published and archival materials were considered. The basic content of a wedding song "Widdle" is a depiction of groom's arrival into the bride's house on the wedding day and a ritualistic ownership passage of the bride to the groom. This ritual is a climactic moment of a traditional folk wedding. This ritual has been later substituted by the church wedding ceremony. Geographic analysis of the song has displayed the fact that the largest number of records has been produced at the North and North-West regions of Russia. Slightly less frequently the records were made in the middle region of the country and in the Volga region. Very few records have been located at the Russian South. On the contrary, in Siberia, especially in the districts traditionally populated by Old Believers, "Widdle" is extremely popular. The genre attribution of song examples displays a combination of a ritual song functionality (rigid utilization and singularity of a performance) and means of compositional and artistic expression. Analysis of a story-motive composition of "Widdle" texts allows detecting hidden ancient mythological roots: the archaic elements of a male initiation and a ritual transition of a maiden (a bride) into a new social status. This process happens through a symbolic "death": after "temporary" conditional death follows bride's "rebirth" or "resurrection". The "Widdle" text exemplifies quintessential wedding imagery that could also be found in other Russian folklore genres such as playful and lyrical songs and folktales. All aspects of the text content can only be revealed in the context of folk traditions and with consideration of symbolic imagery and rituals of different levels and genres. The analysis of the regional versions of a song compels to assert their specific features: 1. The imagery scope of the European versions is more unified unlike the imagery scope of Siberian songs. 2. The European versions are characterized by intensification of illustration and narration through employment of the verbal augmented elements. 3. An examination of compositional outlines of Siberian and European versions aids to arrive to conclusion that both Siberian and continental versions can be comparable on the level of text completeness.

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