Segments of the Old Wedding Ceremony in Reports of the Serbs from Pešter Plateau

Folkloristics 7/2 (2022):
Author: Ana Petrović
Text:

This paper presents selected reports of interlocutors recorded during field research in villages on Pešter Plateau in southwestern Serbia. Recordings were acquired in succession during the period from 2008 to 2020. Traditional vocal practice of the villages still populated by Serbs has been documented. Results of the research completed till 2012 are presented in MA thesis of the author, while most of the material recorded from 2012 to 2020 pertains to the author’s doctoral research. During the conversations with interlocutors about situations that favoured singing, wedding ceremony appeared to be of the utmost importance. Interlocutors, especially elder ones, vividly remembered certain wedding customs and pertaining songs. Segments of the interviews that are presented in the paper are distinctively selected to showcase, among other features, the lyrics of songs that have no recorded i.e. sung versions. Announcing the lyrics in the context of field research provides better insight into the connection between song and ritual, into the function of a given song in specific performative situation, as well as into its the poetic components.

Keywords: wedding, wedding customs, Pešter (southwestern Serbia), jenđe (jenđibule) (braidsmaids), singing.