‘May You Live in Welfare!’: Kalmyk Rites of Inducting a Bride to the New Abode

Abstract

The article deals with one of the Kalmyk marriage rites, the longstanding tradition of which was disrupted in the second half of the XX century. This topic has not been the subject of the research before. The purpose of the article is to identify the symbolism and origins of the fat-throwing rite in Kalmyk wedding ceremony. Methods. Methods used in the research are synchronous and diachronic, descriptive, comparativefunctional and comparative-semantic. Results. Various variants of this ritual have been studied in many Kalmyk families, its comparative materials in wedding traditions of the Turkic-Mongolian peoples have also been analyzed, the ideas that determined the origins and functionality of the ritual among Kalmyks have been revealed. As a result of the study, it was concluded that the original symbolism of this rite is associated with the ancient form of the cult of fire, various deities as well as the cult of ancestors. The ritual of throwing fat during the wedding ceremony in Kalmyk family is aimed at making offerings to various sacred forces through the fire of the hearth as a polysemantic marker and entering under their patronage. The image of fire among the Kalmyks continues to retain its ancient form, despite the adaptation of Buddhist practice. It is suggested that the image of the ancient deity is a taboo in the ritual exclamation-appeal “tsog/tsög” directed towards him. In rites associated with fire, a ram was used as a “solar animal” with the” hot living breath (“halun kiita”). The original meaning of offering the brisket of a ram to the deity of fire in context of the marriage rite is lost. In the ceremonial sphere, it is associated with female symbol, symbols of motherhood, the emotional world of a man

Keywords

• kalmyks
• wedding
• fire
• hearth
• fat
• ancestors
• lightning