Geography and Semantics of the Rituals Named zavivat’ (zalivat’) ovin in the Wedding Rite of the Don Cossacks

Abstract

The rituals called phrases with the lexeme ovin (“drying barn”) were performed by the Don Cossacks during the hen party, before the departure of the wedding train from the bride’s house, after the wedding night and at the end of the wedding. Their timing to the different stages of the ritual and the different acts indicate the areal diversity of the Don wedding tradition, the formation of which was influenced by migrants mainly from the southern Russian regions. The motif of twisting reflected in the name of these rituals, drinking alcoholic beverages from common dishes, breaking hollow objects, lighting and extinguishing fire, imitation of childbirth and other elements of rituals named zavivat’ / zalivat’ ovin speak of the complex symbolic content of these ritual episodes and the archaic nature of the folk ideas behind them. Extinguishing of “ovin”, real or just called, symbolizes the final ritual transition of the newlyweds to another social group, first of all the bride, the loss of her former biological and social characteristics, the impossibility of returning to the premarital state.