Folklore

Review on the Macedonian Wedding Singing

Published:
2025-11-26
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Copyright (c) 2025 Ethnographica et Folkloristica Carpathica

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Selected Style: APA
Velichkovska, R. (2025). Review on the Macedonian Wedding Singing. Ethnographica Et Folkloristica Carpathica, 27, 29-46. https://doi.org/10.47516/ethnographica/27/2025/16392
Abstract

The wedding as a rite of passage in Macedonia is a living tradition that preserves numerous and various evidence either on the social relations of the traditional com­munity or the changes of this complex family-customs and ritual cycle. The characteristic of this complex is that it abounds with many ritual-magical actions, the basis of which is the apotropaic character.

The most significant signs, according to which it is possible to determine the boundaries of the local singing style, include: the constancy of the traditional wedding scenario, the commonality of the wedding repertoire and the types of musical-poetic structures.

Remains of the former characteristics of social life are deposited in the entire wed­ding complex: the former rights and duties of the woman and her position in the vil­lage community, as well as the old beliefs of magical and religious character.

The main characters in the wedding ceremony, apart from the bride and the groom, are: the father-in-law, the mother-in-law, the best man, the groomsman, the bride's brother, the brother-in-law and other participants, who are called wedding guests or in-laws. For them, during the entire wedding ritual, songs are sung, related to the entire ritual process and have a precisely determined ritual place and performance time. Their performance is related to four time-space segments of the wedding.

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