Сучасне Весілля У Народному Стилі: Театр Чи Традиція? Погляд Польських Дослідників
Modern Wedding in Folk Style: Theater or Tradition? The Opinion of Polish Researchers

Summary/Abstract: The article analyzes the work of Polish ethnologists and folklorists in the study and systematization of the modern reproduction of the wedding ceremony – both in life and on stage. Polish researchers were interested in the popularity of stylized wedding forms and contemporary options for the so-called traditional wedding model. The main question for scientists – what’s more in modern “folk” weddings – ritual or theater. This article is an attempt to analyze Polish achievements in the study of modern wedding ceremonies, because such tendencies are observed in Ukraine. Due to the popularity of stylized and inspired weddings, Polish researchers raise the issue of the causes and limits of the restoration of ancient customs, folklore, the principles of the evolution of cultural heritage, its use not only for the purpose of popularizing the “small homeland”, the cultural activity of local and regional communities and their participation in this process. Mass media (the Internet, television, the press, and radio) also play an active role. Doctor of Philology, Professor of the Department of Cultural Studies and Folklore Studies at the University of Opole, Theresa Smolinska, attempts to characterize and systematize modern “folkstyle” weddings. The author trend to consider this form of wedding in the category of special, original hybridization of traditional wedding ceremonies in contemporary culture. Teresa Smolinska categorized the forms of wedding engagement “in folk style” as follows: local scenes, which eventually gain a regional dimension; the literary-folklore marriage of Boryna and Jagna, whose script was worked out on the basis of novel “The Peasants” by W.S. Reymont; local staging of traditional weddings organized by lovers of traditions in their environment; staging of regional traditional weddings, organized by local and regional amateur theatrical groups; competitive performances, organized among amateur theaters of regional, general Polish or international level; media, especially TVshow of pre-wedding and wedding events in folk style; true folk weddings organized by institutions or сommunities. In the dramatized “folk” weddings you can observe the phenomenon of transition from ritual to theater. Thus, Polish researchers are interested in the various stratifications of polystylism of stylized wedding shapes in modern culture and contemporary variants of the so-called traditional wedding model. The question, which is more in modern «folk» weddings - ritual or theater, remains open. Tereza Smolinska’s classification is certainly her author’s vision, and this is the view of the folklorist at the wedding ceremony, which is interesting and unusual for me, becouse I’m ethnologist, and I was interested mainly in “real” weddings and didn’t introduce theatrical performances in the field of my research. One must agree that such a broader view of this phenomenon gives new material for analysis, becаuse in Ukraine, similar stagings are also popular.

• Details
• Contents