The Altai Republic is located in the center of Eurasia, in the southwestern part of Siberia. Here is the external border of Russia with China, Mongolia, Kazakhstan; the republic borders with the subjects of the Russian Federation: the republics of Tyva and Khakassia, the Altai Territory and the Kemerovo region. According to the All-Russian Census of 2002, the number of permanent residents of the republic reached 202.9 thousand people, including 53.5 thousand-urban, 149.4 thousand - rural population.

The territory of the republic is divided into ten districts. Of its 244 localities, 243 are located in rural areas. The central, western, and southern parts of the republic are dominated by the Altai population (Ongudai, Ust-Kansky, Ulagan, Shebalinsky, and Kosh-Agachsky districts); the share of indigenous people is about 33 %. Russians are settled mainly in the northern part of the republic (Maiminsky, Choysky, Turachaksky, Chemalsky and the south-eastern part of Ust-Koksinsky district) and make up 63 %.

The formation of the Oirot Autonomous Region in 1922 and the Gorno - Altaisk Autonomous Region in 1948 contributed to the formation of stable territorial, economic, and cultural ties between the various ethnic communities of Altai, which preserved their linguistic and cultural identity.

In July 1991, the autonomous region was transformed into the Gorno-Altaisk Soviet Socialist Republic, and in May 1992 - into the Altai Republic. Since the beginning of the 1990s, Altai has seen an increase in the ethnic identity of the indigenous population. The ideas of national revival determined the direction of the socio-political movement in the republic. In the mid-1990s, among more than 20 officially registered organizations, about half were foundations, associations, and centers that advocate for the social, economic, and cultural rights of the indigenous population. The search for models of the future was focused on the values of the traditional way of life. These provisions are reflected in the "Concept of National Schools of the Altai Republic" (1992) and in the law "On the Historical and Cultural Heritage of the peoples of the Altai Republic" (1994).

The "Concept of National Schools of the Altai Republic", designed for 1992-2010, defined the main task as " the development of national public consciousness by introducing the younger generation to the spiritual and cultural values of their people, understanding the place and role of these values in world culture; education of national consciousness aimed at enriching the interaction of nations and nationalities while simultaneously developing national culture, language, identity; restoration of historical memory; education of a sense of national pride and self-esteem, a sense of ethnic identity" [Concept of national schools..., 1992, pp. 3-4]. The educational program, designed to create an optimal model for the formation of a cultured person through the mandatory assimilation of traditional national culture and modern education of a citizen of the republic, is based on the concept of "ethnic personality" [Ibid.].

When updating ethnicity in the self-consciousness of the titular ethnic group, knowledge of ancestral affiliation was emphasized. The ancestral structures of the Altaians have retained their significance for many epochs within the framework of successive potestar and administrative-political formations.

The social structure of the indigenous communities of Altai is hierarchical. It was formed within the nomadic imperial structures of Central Asia and adjusted in the course of changes in the political, historical and cultural situation. In 1756, the Board of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Imperial Court issued a decree on the procedure for accepting the "mountain Kalmyks" of Altai as Russian subjects.

By this time in Altai, according to official data, there were five yasachny "dozens of loyal Kalmyks" - administrative and taxable

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There are several administrative divisions that have existed since the time of the Dzungarian rule, and two Chui dvoedanichesky dyuchins, later renamed volosts. In the structure of dozens, genera were distributed (rod-seok - "bone"), which united large families-patronymies that preserved internal unity.

Folk tradition connects the origin of the first five dyuchins with five zaisans-heads of clans/ seoks-Kipchak, irkit, todosh, mundus, who accepted Russian citizenship. Zaisan's title was broadcast to the Altai environment along with the Western Mongols ' governance system. The entry of Altai into Russia was accompanied by the preservation of authentic potestar structures (clans and dozens), which were included in the system of tax taxation and management of the empire.

Zaisans are people from among the most numerous seokas, who formed the core of administrative divisions - dyuchins, as well as volosts. The greatest authority was enjoyed by the generic (hereditary - "uktu") Zaisans. At the end of the 19th century, this title was held by six Altai zaisans - zaisans of the first (seok mundus), second (seok kipchak), third (seok todosh), fourth (seok irkit), fifth (seok todosh) dyuchin and first Chui volost (seok teles) (Oktyabrskaya, 1997, p.57).

At the end of the 19th century, there were seven Altai villages. The census of 1897 recorded 36 genera among the Altaians, which were included in various administrative and fiscal structures. At the end of the 19th century, the second dozen consisted of almost 60% Kipchaks, the third and fifth included mainly Todos, in the fourth almost 87% were Irkits, the sixth (separated from the second) was represented by Teles by 84%, in the seventh (separated from the fifth) 84% were Maimans (Naimans). Smaller seokas tended to be crowded associations. Thus, the fourth dozen included 19 other genera besides Irkits (Sherstova, 2005).

The stability of genera devoid of economic and territorial integrity was determined by the belief in the unity of origin and the mythical past; the name of the genus became a consolidating symbol. Generic structures based on the principles of the classification system of kinship and patrilineality preserved exogamy and avunculat, had their own shrines and a complex system of identification markers (the hero-the first ancestor, the revered mountain and tree, the tabooed bird/ beast, tamga, etc.).

Representatives of the same seok were considered blood relatives. Each seok was divided into several divisions: kipchak-kodonchi, koton, ak, tuzhat, diyat, sary, suras, shodon; sagal-sary, mogol, kara, ak, bai; kobok-ak, kara, tas, mogol, etc. Most seok, except for tonjoon and irkit, were united into related divisions. kipchak, mundus, and Kergil were considered sister seokas; todosh, chapty, and ochi were related seokas (Tadina, 1995, p. 24).

Traditional tribal institutions played an important role in the sphere of ethnic existence. For centuries, they remained the basis of self-organization of the nomadic mobile community.

The functions of the gens were to maintain social unity through economic and regulatory practices, historical memory, and regulation of preferred (cross-cousin) marital relationships. "In the social life of pre - revolutionary society," the researcher emphasizes, " the knowledge of the Altai people about their belonging to a certain genus was the starting point that predetermined the right to use this fishing territory, the economic mutual assistance of members of the same genus to each other (for example, in the case of livestock deaths, during epizootics, when building a house, in haymaking, when collecting funds for paying kolyma for the bride, in the wedding device). Belonging to the family regulated the attitude of a member of society to the people around him, to blood and non-blood relatives" [Shatinova, 1981, p. 35].

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Altai mountain-steppe zone experienced a "contraction of genera" and their enlargement within the boundaries of dozens. This was facilitated by the limited territory of dozens, as well as the growing importance of inter-family marriages simultaneously with homogenization. The formation of territorial-tribal groupings - "secondary clans" - determined the processes of ethnic consolidation in the central regions of Altai. There was a politicization of tribal and village structures.

The peculiarities of the arrangement of the indigenous communities of Altai within the Russian state contributed to the strengthening of tribal principles in all spheres of their life. Time has shown that the ancestral archaism was characterized by a high degree of adaptability to changes in the historical, social, and geo-ethno-political situation.

The end of the 19th century was marked by the policy of unification of the administrative system of the empire. In the 1880s, changes took place in the management of local councils: the status of the zaisan was equated with that of the family headman; this position became elective; the term of office was limited to three years. In the Altai environment, this was perceived as an encroachment on ancient foundations. At the same time, the process of isolating dozens began. Throughout the 19th century, Altaians, according to the Dzungarian tradition, gathered at congresses (shulgans) of all seven villages.

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The last general congress was held in Ust-Kan in 1886 (Sherstova, 2005).

By the end of the 19th century, the unified inter-communal self-government finally collapsed. First, the first dozen separated in the right bank of the Katun, developed by the Russians. Then two centers of ethnopolitical activity were identified in the left bank: the first included the second, third and fourth dozen formed during the transition of the Altai people to Russian citizenship; the second - the fifth, sixth and seventh dozen, whose leaders were representatives of the new Altai nobility, including the well-known Altai entrepreneurs Kuldzhin brothers. The centers competed with each other [Ibid.]. The leaders ' confrontations held back the consolidation process. But, one way or another, on the basis of the accumulation of secondary genera, the leveling of cultural and economic differences and the formation of dialect features in the Central Altai zone within the nomadic six dozen in the territory bounded by the valleys of the Charysh, Kana, Anuya, Kenga and Katun rivers, the Altai-Kizhi community was formed, which became the titular group of the Altai ethnic group. An important factor that determined its unity was the national ideology, which by 1904 was embodied in the form of the national religion of Burkhanism-the Altai white faith.

After the proclamation of new sacred truths that removed the problem of the difference between tribal cults, the leaders of the seventh dozen - the Kuljin brothers-took a pro-Burhanist position, in contrast to the authority of the hereditary tribal zaisans of the second, third and fourth dozen. They claimed to unite all the dozens under the rule of the" supreme zaisan", armed with the true (monotheistic) faith.

The consolidation process developed in an ethno-confessional form, but was stopped as a result of the intervention of administrative and legal structures concerned with the problem of interethnic contradictions and separatism that arose in connection with the development of the reformation religious movement in Altai.

The trial of the spiritual leaders of Burkhanism and the further socio-political development of Altai actualized the principle of ethnic and tribal self-determination of the indigenous population of the region. At the beginning of the 20th century, prominent representatives of the first generation of the Altai intelligentsia attached the name of a kind to their own name; surnames became known: Tiber-Petrov, Choros-Gurkin, Chagat-Stroev, Mundus-Edokov [Shatinova, 1981, p.19].

With the establishment of Soviet power in the 1920s, the Altaians gained the right to self-determination within the framework of national-territorial autonomy. The contradictory nature of the Soviet national policy, which supported various forms of autonomy and at the same time affirmed the principles of internationalism and unification at the expense of ethnic specificity, turned into a process of sovereignization at the end of the 20th century.

In the post-Soviet period, during the ethnopolitical restructuring of the multiethnic community of Altai, an active revival of traditional tribal structures began. The appeal to ancestral archaism has become a factor in the modernization of the regional ethnic community. This principle was first tested by the Soviet management system in the 1920s. The experience of a number of local administrations served as the basis for the development of the "Provisional Regulation on the management of native peoples and tribes of the northern outskirts of the RSFSR", approved by the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee on October 26, 1926. After its adoption, the institution of the genus was legitimized within the framework of Soviet political and administrative practices [Uvachan, 1970, p. 17].

The creation of tribal-based authorities at that time, according to Soviet leaders, prepared the transition of the peoples of the North to create autonomies on a national-territorial and economic basis. In December 1930, the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee adopted a resolution "On the formation of national associations in the areas of settlement of small nationalities of the North". This was the beginning of the creation of national statehood in the region in the Soviet version [Ibid., pp. 18-19].

A new stage of actualization and politicization of tribal structures occurred in the 1980s and 1990s and was associated with systemic socio-economic transformations in the country. The tribal movement among the indigenous population of Altai was revived in the late 1980s, although the principles of tribal organization remained stable here, adapting to various socio-economic and political transformations of the Soviet period. In 1932, at the height of collectivization in the Altai, the well-known researcher L. P. Potapov wrote:: "Positively, in all the collective farms I have surveyed, collective farmers are well aware of their ancestral identity. Even three-year-old children know the generic divisions, for example, in the collective farm "Kyzyl Tan" in the Tolguek tract, small boys add the name of the genus to their names " [1932, p. 40]. This knowledge remained relevant in all subsequent decades. The traditional question "soogin ne?" (what kind?) It was still playing in the Altai.

"As a result of the fundamental changes that took place after the establishment of Soviet power, in the economic, political, and cultural life of society, -

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N. I. Shatinova, the author of a well-known study on family problems among the Altaians, noted in 1981 that the generality of the genus has ceased to be the most important factor determining all aspects of everyday life and behavior of people. However, belonging to a certain family still influences marriage among Altaians today. < ... >

Altai society is in the process of forming new marriage norms that correspond to Soviet legislation and the moral level of modern life. Such traditional marriage norms as marriages between close blood relatives, levirate, sororat, marriages of an adult girl with young boys, and marriages under the agreement of parents have disappeared. However, such a requirement of marriage norms as compliance with exogamy lives among the Altai people. It manifests itself in a negative attitude to violations of exogamy" [1981, p. 35-36]. 77% of men and 79% of women were in favor of observing exogamy in surveys among Altaians in the late 1970s [Ibid., p. 38]. Gender in public opinion was and remains an institution that ensures the well-being of an ethnic group.

The public "rehabilitation" of tribal structures that remained important in the everyday life of Altaians, which took place in the 1990s - 2000s, was, among other things, an attempt to overcome the social crisis. According to researchers, the 1990s in Altai, as well as in Russia as a whole, were marked by disorganization of family and marriage relations and the development of a crisis demographic situation. Social and economic problems have significantly weakened the institution of the family. Analysis of statistics shows that throughout the 1990s, the Altai Republic experienced a decline in marriage and an increase in divorce rates, a drop in the birth rate and an increase in mortality. Attention is drawn to the increase in the number of unregistered marriages, the share of illegitimate births, a decrease in the reproductive attitudes of the family, an increase in the average age of first marriage, the transformation of traditional stereotypes in family relations, etc. [Women and men..., 2001]. In this context, a return to traditional social institutions was seen as a way to counter the destructive tendencies of our time. The legitimization of traditional potestar structures began simultaneously with the collapse of the unitary system.

In the summer of 1989, for the first time in Altai, in one of the tracts of the Ongudai district, on the initiative of the elders, the holiday of the maiman clan (seoka) was held. The 1990 Zvezda Altay newspaper published an article explaining to readers the role of the generic institute at the present stage of development. "In the Tekpenek tract of the Ongudai district, on July 7, the maimans of Gorny Altai invited many guests, representatives of other seokas, people well known in the region, to their first tribal kurultai," it said. - Mikhail Porfiryevich Shcherbakov, who spent all his ninety years living among the Altaians, was also a friend at the Maimanov family festival. No, not to split up the people, but, on the contrary, to consolidate them and help them on the basis of ancestral and family ties - this is the main task of modern seok. Each of us would like to draw on the same pure springs."

At the tribal congress, the Maimans developed the program of the Seok council, which included such areas as helping the elderly and infirm, educating young people in folk traditions of morality, helping law enforcement agencies, and protecting nature [Kuzmin, 1990, p.4]. Then seoki mundus, Kipchak, tolos, irkit, todosh, sagal held their congresses. Within the framework of the movement, which became a form of restoration of the genealogical and historical memory of an ethnic group and its self-organization in the spirit of neotraditionalism, the associations "Tolostar", "Mundustar" and "Otok Seoka Maiman"were created and officially registered. In the 1990s, some seokas were reorganized into public associations or "rod parties", for example," Kergil-Berlik "and" Todosh " (Oktyabrskaya, 1997, p.52).

In their programs, the associations of genera set the tasks of restoring customs and traditions of tribal mutual assistance, solving environmental problems that are closely intertwined with the religious views of the Altai people. Tribal organizations are working to establish the status of places of worship and ancestral mountains. According to the appeals of the leaders of the national movement, tribal associations should contribute to "the consolidation of all forces for the cultural, spiritual and economic prosperity of the historical homeland" [Kazantsev, 2006, p.217]. The authors of the charter of the public association "Kergil-Birlik" call on members of their organization to participate in the implementation of programs aimed at reviving the traditions and customs, crafts and crafts of the peoples of the republic and individual Altai clans. We are talking about the education of spirituality and the return of the cult of ancient deities-Uch-Kurbustan, Ulten, Umai-ene, the development of family and inter-family relations. The leaders of the tribal movement insist on preserving the natural monuments, archeology and ancient culture of nomads and studying historical and ancestral burials in the habitats of the Kergil seok and related Seok. It is important to foster people's sense of respect for the historical past and family and household traditions.-

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as well as the restoration of the identity of the clan with its attributes and totem-generic features [Ibid.]. Similarly, activists of the Todosh association formulate their tasks and goals: protection of political, social, economic, cultural rights, freedoms and interests of representatives of the Todosh seok; preservation of the ethnic, historical and natural habitat of the Altai people; development of language and culture; revival of traditions, customs and religion.

Members of these tribal associations take an active part in the work of government structures. Politicization is one of the main trends in the development of the tribal movement. The Law of the Republic of Altai "On Local Self-Government in the Republic of Altai" (1999) states that the competence of national-tribal communities and their self-government bodies in areas of compact residence of the indigenous population includes: control over the use of land on the territory of settlements and establishing conditions for their use; participation in environmental protection; preservation of historical and cultural monuments. crops under the jurisdiction of a rural settlement.

Following this law, the republic is developing a draft "Law on the tribal community of Altaians". This act was intended to establish the basic principles of organization and activity of tribal communities of Altaians and other ethnic groups (tribal communities) created in order to protect the native habitat, traditional way of life, rights and legitimate interests of indigenous peoples in a market economy. It was designed to determine the legal basis of the communal form of self-government and state guarantees for its implementation, as well as relations with State self-government bodies and public associations.

The Altai tribal community (seoc), according to the interpretation of the leaders of the national movement, should become an original and self-governing form of organization of citizens, families, clans of Altaians and other representatives of their ethnic groups, united by blood-related and (or) territorial-neighborly characteristics, a community of interests. The creation of tribal communities should be encouraged in order to protect the original habitat, preserve and develop the traditional way of life, economy, crafts and culture of the indigenous people. At present, generic structures, despite the fact that the process of legitimization has stopped, still retain their relevance in the organization of family and kinship relations, and are the primary level of identification of the Altai ethnic group.

At the end of the 20th century, the institute of elected zaisans was revived in Altai as part of the restoration of the prestigious status of the clan. Seok maimang chose zaisan first. The activation of the tribal movement and the growth of the authority of the new generation of Zaisans contributed to the widespread creation of local councils of tribal elders in the Altai. The adaptation of traditional potestar structures to the existing administrative and political system determined the prospects for the development of the ethno-political situation in the republic. In 1993, the public organization "Torgoo Zaisanov Altai" was established. The authority of the current family elders is based on the historical experience and status of 12 Zaisans who signed a treaty with Elizabeth on citizenship to the Russian state.

Held in the summer of 2006 in the village of At the state holiday of the Republic of Altai - El Oyyn, dedicated to the 250th anniversary of the entry of Altai into Russia, the theme of the great historical choice was the leading one. The opening ceremony began with a theatrical performance, the main characters of which were 12 Zaisans, including the heads of modern Altai families. The symbolically marked continuity of the modern and historical tribal elite of Altai was designed to legitimize the institution of zaisanismand increase its socio-political status. Within the framework of the tribal movement, the problem of forming a national ideology was clearly identified. The appeal to the historical past, in which the modern Republic of Altai tries to find answers to the questions of the present, has become popular.

Acknowledgements

The Directorate of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the management of the Denisova Cave research hospital, and all participants of the photo project express their gratitude to the administration of the Ust-Kansky district of the Altai Republic, as well as to the head and employees of the rural administration and residents of the village. Yakonur for your support and fruitful cooperation.

List of literature

Women and men in the Altai Republic: A brief statistical collection. Gorno-Altaisk Publ., 2001, 48 p. (in Russian)

Etnopoliticheskie protsessy v Respublike Altay v kontse XX veka [Ethnopolitical processes in the Altai Republic at the end of the XX century]: through the ages to the future: Mat-ly Vseros. nauch. - practical conference, dedicated to 250th anniversary of the Altai people's incorporation into Russia-

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of the Russian state. Gorno-Altaisk: Gorno-Altaisk State University, 2006, vol. 1, pp. 214-220.

The concept of national schools and the Program for the development of public education in the Altai Republic for the transition period. - Gorno-Altaisk, 1992. -271 p.

Kuzmin Yu. And the spring is pure and holy / / Star of Altai. -1990. -20 July. -P. 4.

Oktyabrskaya I. V. Tyurki Altay: problemy mezhnatsionalnogo obshchestva [Turki of Altai: Problems of interethnic community]. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEt SB RAS, 1997, pp. 48-60.

Potapov L P A trip to the collective farms of the Chemal aimag of the Oyrot Autonomous Region. - L., 1932. - 86 p.

Tadina N. A. Altaiskaya svadnaya obryadnost ' XIX-XX vv. - Gorno-Altaisk: Yuch-Sumer, 1995. -216 p.

Uvachan V. N. Sotsializm i narody Severa: Avtoref. dis. ... d-ra ist. nauk [Socialism and the peoples of the North: Abstract of the dissertation], Moscow, 1970, 44 p.

Shatinova N. I. Family among the Altaians. - Gorno-Altaisk: Gorno-alt. ed. Alt kn. izd-va, 1981. - 184 p.

Sherstova L. I. Turks and Russians in Southern Siberia: ethnopolitical processes and ethno-cultural dynamics of the XVII-early XX century. Novosibirsk: Izd-vo IAEt SB RAS, 2005, 312 p. (in Russian)

Institute of Archeology and Ethnography SB RAS

17 Akademika Lavrentieva Ave., Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

SIEM405@yandex.ru

* * *

Photo report prepared by Igor Lagunov (St. Petersburg) and Sergey Zelensky (Novosibirsk).

Igor Lagunov was born in 1963 in Kamensk-Uralsky. He graduated from the Chelyabinsk Cultural and Educational Technical School and two-year courses at the Photo Center of the Union of Journalists of the USSR (Moscow). Since 1990, he is a member of the Union of Photo Artists of Russia and the Union of Photographers of the Urals "Stone Belt". Winner of several awards of the Union of Photo Artists and awards of Russian and international competitions of photojournalists. Collaborates with a number of Russian publications. He is a participant of the expedition and exhibition photo project "Altai-four seasons". In October 2006, he received the Grand Prix of the ITAR-TASS contest for the materials of this project.

Serhiy Zelensky was born in 1965 in Cherepovets. In 1983 he graduated from high school in Novosibirsk. He worked in the Far East. Since 2003-Member of the Institute of Archeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. His works were repeatedly published in the popular scientific journal of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences "Science from the first hand". Participant of the expedition and exhibition photo project "Altai-four seasons".

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1. S. Zelensky. Autumn on the Keleiskiy pass.

Altaians call their faith - "akkan" - white faith. In their rites and prayers, the purity of their thoughts is confirmed by the shining whiteness of the ritual ribbons and cloths. White milk, white wedding curtain, white October snow, white waxing moon-harbingers of bright happiness of a new family.

2.S. Zelensky. A white curtain is one of the main attributes of an Altai wedding.

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3. S. Zelensky. Birch branches above the village - a symbol of a wedding celebration.

The wedding space is decorated with symbols that model the traditional picture of the world. Near the ancestral shrines-white ribbons, birch branches, juniper, hearth-there are signs of the new time. Among the bright tinsel of wedding decorations is a poster with the words from the old alkysh (benevolence): "Two logs connect - let the flame be bright. Two children connect - let the family be happy ."

4. S. Zelensky. The nephew of the bride or groom is an indispensable participant in the wedding.

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5. S. Zelensky. Older relatives accompany the bride to the groom's house.

"There is nothing more important than fire," any Altaian will say, sitting by the fire. Centuries pass, but for a nomad, the fire of the hearth, which warms and preserves the family, is the highest shrine and the true owner of the house. The words of ritual addresses to the hearth remain unchanged: "Four-umbilical Mother Fire. Mother Fire is a white flame. With a yellow ribbon edged united families".

6. S. Zelensky. Wedding hearth before the ritual of "treating" the fire.

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7. I. Lagunov. The groom's uncle is the main character of the Altai wedding.

A person has a particularly close relationship with his tai, his maternal uncle. The uncle takes an active part in the upbringing of his sister's children, arranging their weddings and destinies. Together with his nephew, he performs the first worship of the family hearth. Three white ribbons are tied on a tripod, three strips of tallow and three sprigs of juniper are placed; three times in the sun they go around the hearth and pour fat into it. High-flung flames are a guarantee of future happiness.

8. I. Lagunov. The" treat " of fire is the blessing of a new family.

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9. I. Lagunov. The ritual of dividing the bride's hair into two braids.

Ideas of transition and transformation define the drama of the Altai wedding. Disappearing behind the wedding curtain, the bride takes on the appearance of a married woman: her hair is combed and moistened with milk, braided into two braids. Only in a new image can the bride appear before the guests. One of the husband's relatives pulls back the edge of the curtain with the handle of a whip or the butt of a gun to reveal the bride's face. According to custom, she brings a cup of milk to everyone and listens to good wishes. The meaning of the ritual is to remove the ban on communication and establish good relations between relatives.

10. I. Lagunov. A bowl of milk as a symbol of the sanctity of marriage.

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11. I. Lagunov. Wedding feast.

Family and marriage among the Altaians are of key importance not only for the individual, but also for the genus as a whole. They ensure the well-being and continuity of life in a series of successive generations. Therefore, the wedding is a purely public matter. By combining the costs and efforts of creating a new family, tribal groups establish strong mutual ties. The meaning of the wedding ritual is to consolidate the social contract, which involves gift exchange and generous treats.

12. I. Lagunov. Cauldrons for cooking wedding treats are a living tradition.

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13. I. Lagunov. Waiting for a ransom.

A traditional Altai wedding includes elements of ritual rivalry, banter, and ridicule. The idea of the contradictory unity of the male and female principles is projected on the relationship between childbirth. Step by step, the symbolic confrontation between two family clans is overcome during the wedding ritual. The game element of the holiday allows you to cope with the tension. The new family appears as a kind of integrity that belongs equally to both collectives.

14. I. Lagunov. The groom's trial.

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15. S. Zelensky. Newlyweds. Yakonur village, October 2005

In a traditional Altai wedding, the union of a man and a woman is formed by rituals, among which images of unity play an important role. Two destinies are connected, intertwined, folded, like threads, strands of hair, felt plates, to create a single whole-a new family.

16. I. Lagunov. The most "interested" observers.

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