REGIONAL PECULIARITIES AND PRESENTATION FORMS OF TRADITIONAL (FOLK) AND MODERN URBAN CULTURE IN MARI EL REPUBLIC

IJASOS- International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences, Vol. III, Issue 8, August 2017 REGIONAL PECULIARITIES AND PRESENTATION FORMS OF TRADITIONAL (FOLK) AND MODERN URBAN CULTURE IN MARI EL REPUBLIC* Nataya I. Efimova1*, Tatiana A. Zolotova2, Vera I. Toktarova3 1 2 Ph.D, Mari State University, Russia, Prof., Dr., Mari State University, Russia, 3 Ph.D, Mari State University, Russia, *Corresponding Author Abstract The paper offers characteristic features of regional peculiarities that the traditional and modern urban cultures of Mari El Republic possess. This region is remarkable for interaction of Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic cultures. The authors display changes of the content and forms of Russian folk texts in XIX-XX (and XXI in the second part of the paper) as well as their propensity to borrowing. The material used in the study includes folk epic prose (stories, legends, bylichki) and poetry (historic songs, ballads and spiritual poems), ritual lyrical poetry (calendar rites and rites of the circle of life) and non-ritual lyrical poetry. As a result, the authors come to a conclusion that in the XX century in the Volga Region there were a number of events that proved detrimental for the traditional peasant way of life and culture. However, the analysis of the material manifests surprisingly well-preserved genres (among them there are genres common for the Russian culture of the Volga Region) as well as separate unique species, their vitality and power. It is important to notice that the most talented performers of folk pieces, their family members and their community seem to have preserved a highly respectful attitude towards traditional values, faith in their effectiveness, a desire to share their knowledge. To the most significant constituents of their life experience one can refer an ability to live in harmony, to give a helping hand when needed, to worship nature, to be conscientious, sympathetic, and socially optimistic despite hard lives. As for the artistic value of Russian folklore of Mari El Republic, the condition of texts recorded in the area proves the opinion of researchers working outside the republic. Nowadays works of folk-art that fulfil educational, informative and communicative functions take the first place. In most cases the mythological basis has been lost. As a result, many of ritual forms have become games. Almost all genres demonstrate the process of their semantic update. Old forms are filled with new content. The traditional imagery has simplified a lot; a number of artistic devices, which are not of current interest, have been lost. In the field of ethnic interactions, one should pay attention to the tauseneviy door-todoor rite, which is unique in its archaic basis and verbal accompaniment. The rite emerged at the junction of Finno-Ugric (the Mordva) and Slavic (the Russians) ritual culture. The paper also introduces forms of modern presentation of regional folklore and shares the authors’ experience of developing virtual folklore museums with game play elements. The last part of the paper deals with the phenomenon of the Internet folklore of * The reported study was funded by RFBR and Government of the Mari El region according to the research project № 1614-12005 and 16-04-12003. http://ijasos.ocerintjournals.org 658 IJASOS- International E-Journal of Advances in Social Sciences, Vol. III, Issue 8, August 2017 Mari El Republic. The Internet and specific public pages in social media have been serving a platform for contemporary folklore focusing on urban culture and people’s perception of urban realia for almost a decade. The paper covers the Internet genres of folklore and their functions including their role of markers of local identity, and street art as a reflection of certain tendencies of a town’s life. Keywords: Russian folklore, regional folklore, genres, ethnocultural interaction, rites, virtual museum, Internet folklore 1 INTRODUCTION Modern folklorists include the Volga region in the group of regions characterized by the "increased intensity of folklore contacts" (Putilov, 1983, p. 10); they call it "the greatest laboratory <of multifold historico-poetical movements and> processes" (Gatsak, 1983, p. 5). Of particular interest is the culture of the local centers in which Slavic and Finno-Ugric elements interact directly (the so-called "limitrophe areas" – border districts and the regions with mixed Slavic and Finno-Ugric population). Several loci of Mari El Republic can be considered among the areas of this type (Zolotova ,1997). The contacts between the Russians and the Mari within these areas are usually characterized as interactions between "the neighboring peoples culturally close to each other" (Kostiukhin, 1993, p. 8). As a rule, these contacts are lengthy and continuous. In some cases, certain stages can be singled out in such relations: the initial stage is connected with the formation of stable forms of cultural interaction, while the nature of the relatively subsequent stage is defined by secondary influences. In this article, the modern forms of traditional Russian folklore are presented. The folklore material was gathered during the expeditions carried out by the students and the instructors of Mari State University (MarSU) in the territory of Mari El Republic in the 1970s and 1980s. The second records were made in 20122016. 2 METHODS In the process of gathering, systematization and analysis of the material we used such methods and particular procedures as interviewing, participant observation, comparative-historical and typological methods. 3 RESEARCH 3.1 Epic poetry and prose Epic poetry includes historic songs, ballads and spiritual poems. Historic songs draw the folklore researchers' attention in the first place. With good reason, V. K. Sokolova wrote about the "abundance and variety of historic songs in the Middle Volga Region". According to her, this is where "almost all the known (historic – T. Z.) plots were recorded" (Sokolova, 1960, 318)]. Indeed, along with the plots explaining the important events from the history of this area ("Vziatie Kazani" ("The Taking of Kazan"), "Molodets zovet devushku v Kazan" ("A Young Man Invites a Maiden to Kazan")), the wide-spread occurrence of the cultural works unrelated to the area directly is also stated by the participants of the MarSU expeditions. Among them, there are songs about the Russian-Swedish conflict of 1788 ("Eshche li ia korol' shvedskii..." ("I am the Swedish King..."), 15 variations), the French invasion of Moscow in September 1812 ("Napoleon v Moskve" ("Napoleon in Moscow", 5 variations)), the death of Alexander I ("Smert' Aleksandra I v Taganroge" ("The Death of Alexander I in Taganrog"), 7 variations), the Russo-Turkish War of 1828-1829 ("Turetskie ugrozy" ("Turkish Threats"), 4 variations) and some others. These songs strongly illustrate the way singers "adapt" historical facts. In a popular historic song "Napoleon in Moscow" (...truncated)