Evolution of the wedding in the Voroniaky region: in the footsteps of Oscar Kolberg and Osyp Rozdolskyy
Authors:   Rice University: Houston, Texas, US, Potoczniak Anthony 
Published: February 2021

Contemporary folk expeditions “retracing the footsteps of predecessors” belong to some of the most important and far-reaching research areas of folkloristics. Ethno- graphic materials representing different epochs from a geographic area can be used for comparative study. As a result, it is possible to consider evolutionary processes and external influences on oral traditions of a geographic area over a period of time. Thanks to the existence of ethnographic field notes of the traditional wedding ceremony in the Voronyaky region (Brody district, Lviv oblast) made in the second half of the 19th century, these processes can be observed and quantified. Collected by prominent collectors of musical folklore Oscar Kolberg (1814–1890) and Osyp Rozdolsky (1872–1945), these records of folk traditions are unparalleled in their his- torical and ethnographic significance in Ukrainian folklore studies. Not only do they establish a reference point to critically assess the collection of folk music of the previ- ous era, they also provide evidence of how the wedding tradition has changed in the region by comparing them to more recent field recordings. Thus, this study has several objectives. First, it examines the extent of ethno- graphic work completed by O. Rozdolsky and O. Kolberg in the Voronyaky region. Next, the methodological approach to collecting music is assessed, which determines how representative these materials are to the geographic area in question. The eth- nographic materials from different periods are compared to determine the structural, semantic, and repertoire changes of the wedding ceremony. Lastly, an analysis of the wedding ritual cycle as practiced in the Voronyaky region – its ethnography and melo- typology – is completed based on extensive contemporary field work of the region conducted by the author. A comparison of the collected folk song materials from different time periods shows the extent of the changes of the Voronyaky wedding ceremony, especially in its song texts, the order of rituals, its form, and content. While a trend of the simplifica- tion of the wedding ritual (e.g., the length of the traditional wedding is shortened from two days to one day), the process of how the modern wedding ceremony has been simplified from its previous practice is described. Similarly, the study shows how the repertoire of older wedding songs are performed less frequently or have also been shortened compared to earlier recordings from the last century. A similar tendency is observed with the melodies from the different periods in both quantitative and qualitative terms. A musical analysis and comparison of the melodies show a decrease in the total number of melodies performed throughout the ceremonies. Some of the melodies have been replaced by new ones, usually composed songs of literary origins associated with new wedding ceremonies. This simplifica- tion of the ceremony also affected the song forms themselves, which is most vividly expressed in the wedding chants and the recitative songs, which in more recent times have adopted more strophic forms.