Wedding rites of the Sayano-Altai region nations: the general and special

The family ceremony is one of the conservative elements of traditional culture. The ritual registering a marriage resembles with other transitional rites of a family cycle, but has its own specifics in comparison with other family ceremonies. The wedding rites are connected with change of the social status of the person, while maternity and funeral rituals are mostly determined by natural and biological factors. The object of the article is the wedding ceremony of the Sayano-Altai region nations within the chronological scope of the end of XIX - the beginnings of the XXI century. The analysis of the wedding rites of the Altaians, Tuvinians and Khakassess is based on the ethnographic literature of the end of XIX - the beginning of the XXI century, also the author's field materials were engaged. The ethnographic data on customs, marriage ceremonies in cultures being in consideration have revealed the identical representations of traditional outlook based on opposition "one's own" in contrast to "another's". The research isn't aimed at the description of the ways of the marriage registration and its forms. The common and distinctive features of the wedding rites in the Turkic traditional culture in their perception as the token are being investigated. The ethnographic literature and the author's field material led to revealing of the distinguishing feature in the wedding ceremony of the Altaians, Tuvinians and Khakasses. The general elements such as fire and ancestors worship, milk sacralization, blessing words, magic of the word, binary opposition "one's own" in contrast to "another's" in ideology of the Sayano-Altai region nations based on the complex of archaic beliefs and shamanism are modified. The modified archaic representations keep acting in contemporary family ceremony governed by their value in traditional sense and stability in traditional culture. The local distinguished features connected with a religious presentation of the world are also considered. Altai distinguishes from others by the complex of the Burkhanist cult articles, ceremonies. Burkhanism had considerable influence on ethnic attitude of the Altaians to the outside world that is reflected in identification and positioning in space and reveals the ethnoconfessional characteristic of indigenous people of Altai Republic. Buddhism had an influence on preservation and delivery of traditional culture of the Tuvinians. The considered material exposes that modified traditional outlook keeps and develops traditional culture of the Turkic nations of the Sayano-Altai region.

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