Fatherhood in perception of russian peasants in the Altai region (the latter half of the 19th - the first half of the 20th century)

The main ideas of the article are the following. Delivery of achild was the meaning of life for a man, as well as for a woman. Realization of the fertile function influenced a man's status in thesociety. This dependence began to weaken by the end of the reviewed period. Father was not present at birth of his own child most ofall, because for a man, as for a representative of 'culture', the process of birth was 'natural' and, therefore, oppositional to 'culture'.Father, unlike mother, had no innate love for his child. He obtained it, particularly, through ritual practice. Interrelations between a babyand a father were limited. Men were supposed to place a priority on a son, especially on the first-born, as he was the heir. Loss of fatherwas considered less misfortunate, than that of mother. Sacral relation was set up between a father and a child, as well as between amother and a child during the whole life. The society considered children who were brought up without a father to be flawed, especiallywhen they were born out of wedlock. Father, more precisely - the eldest man in the house, was thought to be the head of the family.Usually he was called 'dad', 'daddy', 'young dad', a grandfather was called 'old dad', and long-standing inhabitants were called'fathers'. The form of address to parents was often 'You'. The role of a father as the head of the family weakened by the end of thereviewed period. It was connected with the strengthening of woman's financial independence and with the disproportion of sex ratio inconsequence of reprisals and wars. According to the Russian tradition mother's upbringing of a child changed to father's governancesince a child learned to walk. Father had the role of a 'moralizer' in the educational process. First of all, he was to influence thebehaviour of sons. Father was considered to be a protector from external forces. His functions were to take care of them, to take pity onthem, to protect them from offenders. He personified fear and punishment irrespective of child's age. Physical means of upbringingwere common. Parents had moral responsibility before God and society for behaviour of their children. This moral responsibility was inexaggerated form among the Old Believers. Parents', including father's, sanctions played a major role. They bent all life energy of achild. There was the priority of parents' word and act against child's ones irrespective of his age. Among the Russians in the AltaiRegion in the second half of the 19th - the first third of the 20th centuries the priority to choose a fiancé or a fiancée for a child mostlybelonged to father. Long-standing inhabitants, except for the Polish and the Bukhtarmins, were notable for being the strictest in thisissue. The legislation of the Russian Federation promoted strengthening of these stereotypes. Choice of a marriage partner wasbecoming a private matter of young people since the coming of the Soviet government, throwing religious ideology back, andstrengthening of adult children's financial independence. The influence of father's authority weakened in this issue.

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