Features of Marital Relationships of the Inhabitants of Yakutia in the Late 19th - Early 20th Centuries (According to Metric Books)

The article analyzes marital relationships of the local population in Yakutia in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. From the point of view of ethnography, this topic has been studied by researchers in sufficient detail. However, such indicators as the proportion of early marriages (<17 years old), the average age of marriage, age difference between spouses, seasonality of marriages, etc. have been studied poorly or not studied at all. We were able to fill this gap by analyzing marriages recorded in the metric books of the Bilyuchansk Nicholas (1897-1917) and Sheinsky St. George churches (1891-1916) of the Vilyui district of Yakutia (n = 1209). We established that the widespread opinion about the prevalence of early marriages among the local population of Yakutia in the 19th and early 20th centuries is erroneous. For example, it was previously thought that, since the Orthodox Church banned marriages of minors, parents inflated the age of the newlyweds. During our age verification of 38 brides, we did not find a case where girls younger than 15.5 years old (the minimum age allowed) were brought to the wedding table. The insignificant number of underage brides is confirmed not only by the observations of ethnographers of that period but also by the data of the first general census of the Russian Empire in 1897: from 55,640 married women of Yakutia only 40 people were 15-16 years old. A significant proportion of men (57%) entered into their first marriage between the ages of 19 and 24, women between 17 and 22 (73.5%). As a rule, women were significantly less likely to get married after the age of 23-24. The proportion of 16- to 17-year-old brides to the total sample was 25.2%. The average age at their first marriage for men was 23.6±0.2 years, for women 20.3±0.1 years. In 80.6% of all marriages, grooms were older than brides, and the age difference was often 10 years or more. The probability of remarriage for men was 20.8% for men and 9.1% for women. One of the main reasons for this gender difference was the high mortality rate of women of reproductive age. Those who were widowed sought to establish a new family more quickly, which is a clear indication that in the period under consideration marriage should be understood not only as a union for the continuation of the family and expansion of influence but also in general as a necessary condition for existence in difficult social and climatic conditions. The share of exogamous marriages among Yakuts was at the level of 59.1-63.7%, and among Evenks at 67.1%. We found that Evenks preferred marriages with Yakuts than with representatives of other Tungus-Manchzhur clans. The specific characteristics of the local population and the harsh conditions of the region made certain adjustments to the work of the priests of the Yakutsk Eparchy. But, despite all the difficulties, the priests tried to faithfully perform the prescribed “church rites”, which is visible in the analysis of the seasonality of marriages.

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