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Home Editorial board Publication ethics Information Current Archive Rules for authors Contacts	DOI: 10.46698/VNC.2026.32.25.006 WEDDING RITES OF THE KABARDIANS IN THE XXI-st CENTURY: TRADITIONS AND MODERNITY Tutukova, Madina R. Kavkaz Forum. 2026. Issue 25. Abstract: The purpose of this study is to conduct a comparative analysis of modern and historical Kabardian wedding ceremonies and to identify archaic and modern elements in the XXI-st century Kabardian wedding ceremonies. The relevance of this research stems from scholarly debates regarding the significance and observance of ancient rites during Kabardian wedding celebrations in the XXI-st century. The works of Russian researchers formed the scientific basis for this research. The study was conducted using general and specific methods: historical-genetic analysis, structural and retrospective methods, and comparative analysis. It is concluded that XXI-st-century Kabardian wedding ceremonies are a synthesis of ancient Kabardian and modern European wedding ceremonies. Modern Kabardian weddings, like other aspects of life, have undergone modernization, yet ancient wedding ceremonies have also been preserved. One of the most significant innovations is the unification of several ancient and modern wedding rites and the holding of the wedding ceremony within a single day, which has led to the gradual disappearance of some ancient Kabardian customs. Kabardian weddings are characterized by consistency, but the rite under study is influenced by socio-economic factors. Changes in the system of Kabardian wedding rituals are evolutionary and revolutionary in nature, leading to significant transformations in the XXI-st century. The most significant changes have been observed in wedding rites such as abduction and the payment for the bride. These transformations of the bride price and abduction date back to traditional society. These institutions underwent critical rethinking under the influence of Islam. In the 1920s, attempts were made at state regulation, and a system of punitive measures was developed, ultimately leading to the unification of the bride price and its latent existence. Keywords: wedding celebrations, family, bride transportation, kalym, abduction, nakyakh, trials. Language: Russian Download the full text For citation: Tutukova, M.R. Wedding rites of the Kabardians in the XXI-st century: traditions and modernity. KAVKAZ-FORUM. 2026, iss. 25 (32), pp. 140-151. (In Russian). DOI 10.46698/VNC.2026.32.25.006 + References 1. Sabanchieva, L.Kh. Kabardinskaya svad’ba: arkhaichnye i sovremennye motivy [Kabardian wedding: archaic and modern motifs]. Istoricheskii vestnik [Historical Bulletin]. 2009, no. 8, pp. 82-89. 2. Sabanchieva, L.Kh. Sem’ya i semeinaya obryadnost’ kabardintsev: mezhdu traditsiei i modernizatsiei [Family and Family Rituals of Kabardians: Between Tradition and Modernization]. Nalchik, Kabardino-Balkarian Institute of Humanitarian Research, 2015. 180 p. 3. Smirnova, Ya.S. Sem’ya i semeinyi byt narodov Severnogo Kavkaza [Family and family life of the peoples of the North Caucasus]. Moscow, Nauka, 1983. 399 p. 4. Kashezhev, T.P. Svadebnye obryady kabardintsev [Kabardian wedding ceremonies]. 1892, no. 1-4, b. 12-15, pp. 147-156. 5. Shikova, T.T. Ob usloviyakh zaklyucheniya braka u kabardintsev v dorevolyutsionnom proshlom [On the conditions of marriage among Kabardians in the pre-revolutionary past]. Uchenye zapiski KBNII [Scientific Notes of the Kabardino-Balkarian Research Institute]. 1959, vol. XVI, pp. 129-148. 6. Mambetov, G.Kh. Traditsionnaya kul’tura kabardintsev i balkartsev [Traditional culture of Kabardians and Balkars]. Nalchik, El-Fa, 1998. 349 p. 7. Mafedzev, S.Kh. Rituals and ritual games of the Adyghe in the XIXth – early XXth centuries [Rituals and ritual games of the Adyghe in the XIXth – early XXth centuries.]. Nalchik, Elbrus, 1979. 203 p. 8. Meretukov, M.M. Sem’ya i brak u adygskikh narodov [Family and marriage among the Adyghe peoples]. Maykop, Adygeiskoe otdelenie Krasnodarskogo knizhnogo izdatel’stva, 1987. 366 p. 9. Kalashaova, D.A. Svadebnye obryady adygov, traditsii i sovremennost’ [Adyghe wedding ceremonies: traditions and modernity]. Postsovetskoe sotsiokul’turnoe prostranstvo (na primere adygo-abkhazskoi identichnosti) [Post- Soviet socio-cultural space (on the example of Adyghe-Abkhaz identity)]. Maykop, 2016. pp. 78-84. 10. Unarokova, R.B., Khakunova, Eh.Kh. Adygskaya sovremennaya svad’ba: iz opyta rekonstruktsii [Adyghe modern wedding: from the experience of reconstruction]. Vestnik Adygeiskogo gosudarstvennogo universiteta. Seriya 2: Filologiya i iskusstvovedenie [The Bulletin of the Adyghe State University, the series «Philology and the Arts»]. 2019, no. 4 (247), pp. 144–148. 11. Arkhiv KBIGI [Arkhiv Kabardino-Balkarskogo instituta gumanitarnykh issledovaniy]. Fund 10 (Ethnographic). 1. Published sources. ← Contents of issue


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