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| 1 | The rite of seeing off the recruits (soldiers) of the Chuvashs, like that of other peoples of Russia, began to take shape with the introduction of recruitment duty. According to the unfolding and variability, recruit rituals are much more inferior to wedding and funeral-memorial rituals, but it is nevertheless a rather complex and structured ritual complex. In this work, on the basis of archival, literary sources and author's field materials, the magical rites, signs and beliefs that took place in the recruitment ritual of the Chuvashs in the Volga-Ural region in the mid-19th century and the beginning of the 20th century are considered. Their goal is identified as having a magical effect on the fate of the conscripted to military service, furnishing their surroundings with reliable and permanent protection, ensuring a safe return to their homeland. Keywords: Chuvashs, seeing off in recruits, magic rituals, Volga-Ural region | 1471 | ||||
| 2 | One of the interesting and little-studied sources for studying the traditional ideas of the Chuvash people are prohibitions (taboos). According to Chuvash linguists and folklorists, they belong to small genres of Chuvash folklore and are a separate type of aphoristic oral-poetic works. They are characterized by a clear linguistic form of construction, logic, instructive orientation, rigor of execution. Originating in ancient times, prohibitions served as one of the forms of regulating human behavior in society. They regulated daily life, household occupations, crafts and crafts, food, religious beliefs, behavior, etiquette, language, culture of speech, etc. They occupied a special place in ceremonial life, including in customs and rituals associated with sending a person on his last journey. The purpose of this study is to determine the role and significance of prohibitions in regulating the behavior of people and members of the community within the framework of funeral and memorial customs and rituals of the Chuvash of the Ural-Volga region. In the study, the prohibitions are considered in accordance with the main stages of the funeral and memorial rite (preparation for the funeral and protection of the deceased; washing; seeing off on the last journey; burial; wake). The work is based on the author's literary, archival and field materials. When developing this topic, the author was guided by one of the methodological principles, according to which the system of prohibitions is understood as part of the socio-normative culture of the people, regulating human behavior in everyday life and in religious and ceremonial practices. In both cases, prohibitions have a religious nature and act as a kind of imperative in the process of human social life. The study showed that prohibitions in the context of funeral and memorial rites determined the place, time, order of the ritual and regulated the behavior of participants. In the prohibitions and prescriptions of this type of rite, an ambivalent attitude towards the deceased is manifested. On the one hand, they show the superstitious fear of the members of society before the deceased and death, on the other — the desire to propitiate him and as soon as possible to conduct him to the other world. Due to the observance of these prohibitions, the deceased was gradually isolated from the world of culture and society, as well as “moving” into the world of ancestors. Keywords: сhuvashs, funeral and memorial customs and rituals, prohibitions, omens, beliefs | 880 | ||||
| 3 | The article deals with prohibitions in Chuvash burial and memorial rituals and the factors of their mutability in the process of transformation. The study aims to analyze the prohibitions in the context of their study as a mechanism of regulating people's behavior at funerals and commemorations and the nature of changes in the prohibitions in modern conditions. The task of the study is to examine the prohibitions that occur in Chuvash funeral and memorial rituals through the prism of such key concepts as time, space, ritual actions, the composition of participants, objects, offerings, and the stability and variability of the prohibition system under the influence of globalization and cultural modernization. The work is based mainly on the authors' original field material collected between 1994 and 2022 in various Chuvash settlement areas in the Ural-Volga region. The methodological basis of the study is understanding the prohibition system as an integral part of the socio-normative culture that regulates human behavior in daily and ritual life. As a result of the study, it was found that the subject of prohibition norms in this area can be any area of the economic, daily, and ritual life of a person, whether the time, place of action, ritual attributes, composition of participants, clothing, food, offerings, behavior. Recently, the prohibitions in this area have changed significantly regarding safety and functionality. Under the influence of the sociocultural changes of the XX – early XXI century, the scope of prohibitions has significantly decreased, and a significant part of them is no longer considered binding. This is due to the fact that in modern reality, the boundaries between the profane and the sacred have become blurred, the economic and domestic way of life, employment, and the rhythm of people's lives have changed, families have been atomized, and the transmission of cultural traditions between generations is no longer guaranteed. As a result, many prohibitions no longer play a role in people's minds. In general, the changes noted are part of the general process of transformation of ethnic culture in the context of globalization and modernization of culture Keywords: Volga-Ural region, Chuvash, customs and rites related to the death of a person, prohibitions | 723 | ||||
| 4 | The article examines the tradition of guest visits retpe çӳreni/ertele kaini in the contemporary festive and ritual culture of the Chuvash people using the example of rural communities – the traditional environment for the emergence and existence of their ethnic culture. The study aims to identify forms of visits and determine their role in the system of social relations of an ethnic group. The work characterizes traditional elements and innovations in the culture of hospitality, describes the main signs of change in this custom, and identifies factors of change under the influence of socio-economic factors in the – first decades of the XXI century. The article considers the guest visit as a socially conditioned phenomenon, which, in its dynamics, reflects the processes of social change. The study is based on the field material collected by the authors in 1998–2003 and 2020–2022 in the republics of Bashkortostan and Tatarstan, the Samara region, and the Republic of Chuvashia. The study shows that the traditions of visits were part of the festivals and rituals of the Chuvash people, determined the structure, spatial, temporal, and action-related characteristics, and acted as one of the effective forms of social interaction within the patronymic groups at the level of the rural community. In contemporary culture, visits and related ritual actions continue to exist in integral form or as separate elements in the Chuvash calendar ritual, forming an important part of religious and ritual practices in some rural areas. Elements of guest etiquette, the digital ritual code, the attitude towards guests as part of the ritual, the preparation of traditional dishes, etc., have been preserved. The existing practices of hosting people at home show that this form of social interaction is necessary to maintain and strengthen intra-village relationships and family ties. The change in customs is expressed more in the fact that the traditional forms are being replaced by innovations that are not ethnic in nature, that the composition of the participants, the forms of hospitality, and their characteristics are changing, and that the ritual is diminishing over time. The changes are due to the weakening (sometimes loss) of family and neighborhood ties in rural communities, the declining importance of folk festivals and rituals in public life, and the advent of modern means of communication. Keywords: guest visits, hospitality, holidays, rituals, Chuvash | 562 | ||||