рус eng
«BULLETIN OF THE IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY. GEOARCHAEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY, AND ANTHROPOLOGY SERIES»
ISSN 2227-2380 (Print)

List of issues > «Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series». 2025. Vol 51

Integration Motive in Wedding Rituals of the Turkic and Mongolic Peoples: Food Culture

Full text (russian)
Author(s)

M. M. Sodnompilova, E. A. Nemanova1

1 East Siberian State Institute of Culture, Ulan-Ude, Russian Federation

Abstract
Marriage is the unification of two groups, the groom and the bride, and at the same time the break of the bride with her father's family and clan. In the wedding rituals of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples, symbolic actions are simultaneously performed aimed at uniting two clans, the young, and the break of the bride with her kin group. The function of unifying society is most clearly represented by food, its joint preparation and tasting. This study focuses on special wedding rituals and dishes that performed specific “tasks” - to strengthen, support family ties, and evoke feelings in the young. One of the main events in the wedding cycle is matchmaking, at which representatives of the groom's and bride's relatives get acquainted, special festive dishes are tasted, legitimizing the marriage agreement. As part of the matchmaking, several meetings took place, to which dishes and drinks were brought as gifts and treated, symbolizing the unification of society. Their characteristic feature was a liquid or semi-liquid consistency. These were the following drinks and dishes – wine, kumys, salamat, fat, butter. The idea of the unity of society, embedded in the symbolism of dishes of such consistency, is due to the homogeneity of the product composition. The culmination of the most important event in the life of two young people and society is a wedding. Joint meals of the bride and groom occupied an important place in the composition of wedding feasts. Since marriages were usually concluded without the consent of the young, special dishes were intended not only to strengthen the connection between the young, but also to arouse mutual sympathy and affection in them. The ritual food that met these goals included consecrated milk, wine, sheep's cervical vertebrae, liver, lard, heart, kidneys and other parts of the carcass. In the wedding cycle of the Turkic and Mongolic peoples, actions are found aimed at maintaining other social ties that were also important for society. Special treats were intended for existing and future daughters-in-law, cousins of the bride. At the same time, among the Buryats, the daughters and sons-in-law of the bride's father provided treats for the daughters-in-law.
About the Authors

Sodnompilova Marina Mikhailovna, Doctor of Sciences (History), Department of Ethnology and Folk Art Culture, East-Siberian State Institute of Culture; 1, Tereshkova st., Ulan-Ude, 670031, Russian Federation e-mail: sodnompilova@yandex.ru  

Nemanova Eleonora Allekovna, Candidate of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, Department of Ethnology and Folk Art Culture, East-Siberian State Institute of Culture; 1

For citation
Содномпилова М. М., Неманова Э. А. Интеграционный мотив в свадебной обрядности тюрко-монгольских народов Внутренней Азии: пищевая культура // Известия Иркутского государственного университета. Серия Геоархеология. Этнология. Антропология. 2025. Т. 51. С. 63– 73. https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2025.51.63
Keywords
Turkic-Mongolian peoples, society, wedding, ritual food, symbolism, integration.
UDC
392.31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.26516/2227-2380.2025.51.63
References
  1.  Abramzon S. M. Kirgizy i ikh etnogeneticheskie i istoriko-kulturnye svyazi [Kirghizes and their ethnogenetic and historical-cultural connections]. Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1971, 400 p. (In Russ.)
  2. Aiyzhy E. V. Obryady zhiznennogo tsikla tuvintsev Rossii, Mongolii i Kitaya: traditsii i innovatsii : diss. … dok. ist. nauk [Life cycle rites of the Tuvans of Russia, Mongolia and China : traditions and innovations. Doc. histor. sci. syn. diss.]. Kyzyl, 2024, 344 p. (In Russ.)
  3. Asankanov A. A., Brusina O. I., Zhaparov A. Z. (eds.). Kyrgyzy [Kyrgyzes]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2016, 623 p. (In Russ.)
  4. Azhigali S. E., Naumova O. B., Oktyabrskaya I. V. (eds.). Kazakhi [Kazakhs]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2021, 846 p. (In Russ.)
  5. Bakaeva E. P., Zhukovskaya N. L. Kalmyki [The Kalmyks]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 2010, 568 p. (In Russ.)
  6. Baldaev S. P. Buryatskie svadebnye obryady [Buryat wedding rituals]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Book Publ., 1959, 179 p. (In Russ.)
  7. Basaeva K. D. Semya i brak u buryat (vtoraya polovina XIX – nachalo XX v.) [Family and marriage among the Buryats (second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries)]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1980, 223 p. (In Russ.)
  8. Batoeva D. B., Galdanova G. R., Nikolaeva D. A., Skrynnikova T. D. Obryady v traditsionnoi kulture buryat [Rites in the traditional culture of the Buryats]. Moscow, Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 2002, 222 p. (In Russ.)
  9. Butanaev V. Ya. Traditsionnaya kultura i byt khakasov [Traditional culture and life of the Khakass people]. Abakan, Khakassian Book Publ., 1996, 224 p. (In Russ.)
  10. Galdanova G. R. Dolamaistskie verovaniya buryat [PreLamaist Belief System of the Buryats]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1987, 115 p. (In Russ.)
  11. Galdanova G. R. Struktura traditsionnoi buryatskoi svadby [The structure of a traditional Buryat wedding]. Traditsionnaya kultura narodov Tsentralnoi Azii [Traditional culture of the peoples of Central Asia]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1986, pp. 131–159. (In Russ.)
  12. Khangalov M. N. Sobranie sochinenii [Collected works]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat book Publ., 1959, Vol. I, 443 p. (In Russ.)
  13. Kon F. Ya. Za pyatdesyat let [For fifty years]. Moscow, Sovetskii pisatel Publ., 1936, Vol. 3–4, 344 p. (In Russ.)
  14. Monraev M. U., Ochirova N. Ch., Karbusheva I. V., Sharapova N. N. Leksika svadebnogo obryada v kalmytskom yazyke: etnolingvisticheskii aspect [Vocabulary of the wedding ceremony in the Kalmyk language: ethnolinguistic aspect]. Mezhdunarodnyi nauchno-issledovatelskii zhurnal [International research journal]. 2022, Vol. 1 (115), Part 4, pp. 153–157. (In Russ.)
  15. Linkhovoin L. Zametki o dorevolyutsionnom byte aginskikh buryat [Notes on the pre-revolutionary life of the Agin Buryats]. Ulan-Ude, Buryat Book Publ., 1972, 100 p. (In Russ.)
  16. Natsov G.-D. Materialy po istorii i kulture buryat [Materials on the history and culture of the Buryats]. Ulan-Ude, BSC SB RAS Publ., 1995, Part 1, 155 p. (In Russ.)
  17. Ochirova G. N. Svadebnyi obryad sartulov Mongolii i Buryatii [Wedding ceremony of the Sartuls of Mongolia and Buryatia]. Traditsionnaya kultura narodov Tsentralnoi Azii [Traditional culture of the peoples of Central Asia]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1986, pp. 159–176. (In Russ.)
  18. Potapov L. P. Ocherki narodnogo byta tuvintsev [Essays on the folk life of the Tuvans]. Moscow, Nauka Publ., 1969, 401 p. (In Russ.)
  19. Pyurbeev G. Ts. (Ed.). Bolshoi akademicheskii mongolsko-russkii slovar [Big Academic Mongolian-Russian Dictionary]. Moscow, Academia Publ., 2002, Vol. 4, 506 p. (In Mongol.; in Russ.)
  20. Shakhanova N. Zh. Simvolicheskie aspekty traditsionnoi svadebnoi trapezy kazakhov [Symbolic aspects of the traditional wedding meal of the Kazakhs]. Etnograficheskoe izuchenie znakovykh sredstv kultur [Ethnographic study of sign means of cultures]. Leningrad, 1989, pp. 176–189. (In Russ.)
  21. Sodnompilova M. M. Traditsionnaya odezhda mongolskikh narodov v rituale i kak instrument sotsializatsii [Traditional clothing of Mongolian peoples in ritual and as a tool of socialization]. Izvestiya Irkutskogo gosudarstvennogo unersiteta. Seriya Geoarkheologiya. Etnologiya. Antropologiya [Bulletin of the Irkutsk State University. Geoarchaeology, Ethnology, and Anthropology Series]. 2013, Vol. 2, pp. 152–165. (In Russ.)
  22. Stasevich I. V. Sotsialnyi status zhenshchiny u kazakhov: traditsii i sovremennost [Social status of women among the Kazakhs: traditions and modernity]. St. Petersburg, Nauka Publ., 2011, 202 p. (In Russ.)
  23. Tserenkhand G. K voprosu ob evolyutsii traditsionnykh semeinykh obryadov u mongolov [On the evolution of traditional family rituals among the Mongols]. Buddiiskaya kultura. Istoriya, istochnikovedenie, yazykoznanie i iskusstvo. Tretii Dorzhievskie chteniya [Buddhist culture. History, source studies, linguistics and art. The Third Dorzhiev readings]. St. Petersburg, Nestor-Istoriya Publ., 2009, pp. 229–236. (In Russ.)
  24. Tsibikov B. D. (transl., intr., and comm.). Obychnoe pravo khorinskikh buryat. Pamyatniki staromongolskoi pismennosti [Customary law of the Khori Buryats. Monuments of old Mongolian writing]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1992, 312 p. (In Russ.)
  25. Vyatkina K. V. Mongoly Mongolskoi Narodnoi Respubliki (Materialy istoriko-etnograficheskoi ekspeditsii Akademii nauk SSSR i Komiteta nauk MNR 1948–1949 gg.) [Mongols of the Mongolian People's Republic (Materials of the historical and ethnographic expedition of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Mongolian People's Republic Committee of Sciences in 1948–1949)]. Vostochno-Aziatskii etnograficheskii sbornik [East Asian ethnographic collection]. Moscow, Leningrad, Nauka Publ., 1960, pp. 159–269. (In Russ.)
  26. Zhambalova S. G. Traditsionnaya okhota buryat [Traditional Buryat hunting]. Novosibirsk, Nauka Publ., 1991, 175 p. (In Russ.)