Scientific novelty of research work. With the general characteristic, the novelty of our work is in the research and analysis of people’s familial-marriage customs and rites of the given historical-ethnographic region in the comparative-ethnographic layout. The work’s novelty in assessment of specific tasks’ decision is in the following:
Traditionally people of Central Asia had two forms of families: an undivided large patriarchal family and small nuclear family. Particularly small, divided family is typical for people with long-standing traditions of clan-generation division and prior cattle-breeding occupation (Kazakh, Kirghiz and Kara-kalpak people). Their small family coexisted with numerous survivals of a large patriarchal family. For Tajik, Uzbek and part of Turkmen people the tradition of a large patriarchal family still continued to dominate. Saving of the large patriarchal family for former agricultural people alongside with other secondary reasons is connected mainly with unwillingness of land partition.
People with strong traditions of clan-generation division, the familial-marriage relationships were mainly built according to the exogamy principle (Kazakh, Kirghiz, part of Kara-kalpak, Uzbek people with clan-generation division). The exception were only Turkmen people. Though exogamy till the seventh generation was kept only by Kazakh people. People who didn’t practice clan-generation division married mainly according to the custom of endogamy. Tajik, Uzbek without clan-generation division and most Turkmen people belonged to them.
Such traditions and customs as matchmaking, bride price, “uryn baru”, “kaitarma”, wedding in a bride’s village, ceremonial fighting for a bride, Muslim marriage, marriage train of a bride, marriage in a bridegroom’s side, “betashar’, “zhar-zhar”, bride’s virginity, communion of a bride to the fiance’s family, avoidance take place almost in every people of the region being studied. There is a lot in its content and there is some national-specific as well in the fulfillment of these customs and rites, in the composition of the things taking part in different ceremonies. According to ethno-cultural and ethno-genetic origin these customs and rites were classified by our predecessors and by us into the following groups: Turkic and Iranian, the Turkish in turn were subdivided into Kipchak and Oguz.
Customs and rites of so called childish cycle were also described and analysed in the following order: pregnancy, different kinds of prohibitions while being pregnant, ceremonies accompanying childbirth, Umai godess’s cult, “chillya” and all connected rites with it, naming, ceremonies of placing into cradle, “tusau kesu” ceremony etc. As a result of comparative-historical analysis we detected their ancient Indian-Iranian, Turkic roots, indigenous cattle-breeding or agricultural things of fetishism, wizardry and other cults. Almost all main cycles of children customs and rites for the first time were classified according to the phase of their origin, to their ethno-cultural belonging, to the economic-cultural type of the people-executives of these customs.
In a funeral-memorial part of family customs and rituals we described and analysed ideas of people about soul, customs accompanying approach of death and pre-funeral period, funerals, mourning, ritual lamentation on a dead – “zhoktau”, tradition of a “dead substitute” –“tul”, funeral repast. As most of funeral customs have religious and superstitious origin, in this sphere we discovered Zaroostric, Tengrian and Islamic layers of world outlook, ideology and rituals. Traditional customs and ceremonies also in this field of ceremonial life trace certain differences, which is also connected with ethno-genetic and economic-cultural features of their historical development and relationships with other cultures.