REGIONAL PECULIARITIES AND PRESENTATION FORMS OF TRADITIONAL (FOLK) AND MODERN URBAN CULTURE IN MARI EL REPUBLIC

The paper offers characteristic features of regional peculiarities that the traditional and modern urban cultures of Mari El Republic possess. This region is remarkable for interaction of Slavic, Finno-Ugric and Turkic cultures. The authors display changes of the content and forms of Russian folk texts in XIX-XX (and XXI in the second part of the paper) as well as their propensity to borrowing. The material used in the study includes folk epic prose (stories, legends, bylichki) and poetry (historic songs, ballads and spiritual poems), ritual lyrical poetry (calendar rites and rites of the circle of life) and non-ritual lyrical poetry. As a result, the authors come to a conclusion that in the XX century in the Volga Region there were a number of events that proved detrimental for the traditional peasant way of life and culture. However, the analysis of the material manifests surprisingly well-preserved genres (among them there are genres common for the Russian culture of the Volga Region) as well as separate unique species, their vitality and power. It is important to notice that the most talented performers of folk pieces, their family members and their community seem to have preserved a highly respectful attitude towards traditional values, faith in their effectiveness, a desire to share their knowledge. To the most significant constituents of their life experience one can refer an ability to live in harmony, to give a helping hand when needed, to worship nature, to be conscientious, sympathetic, and socially optimistic despite hard lives. As for the artistic value of Russian folklore of Mari El Republic, the condition of texts recorded in the area proves the opinion of researchers working outside the republic. Nowadays works of folk-art that fulfil educational, informative and communicative functions take the first place. In most cases the mythological basis has been lost. As a result, many of ritual forms have become games. Almost all genres demonstrate the process of their semantic update. Old forms are filled with new content. The traditional imagery has simplified a lot; a number of artistic devices, which are not of current interest, have been lost. In the field of ethnic interactions, one should pay attention to the tauseneviy door-to-door rite, which is unique in its archaic basis and verbal accompaniment. The rite emerged at the junction of Finno-Ugric (the Mordva) and Slavic (the Russians) ritual culture. The paper also introduces forms of modern presentation of regional folklore and shares the authors’ experience of developing virtual folklore museums with game play elements. The last part of the paper deals with the phenomenon of the Internet folklore of Mari El Republic. The Internet and specific public pages in social media have been serving a platform for contemporary folklore focusing on urban culture and people’s perception of urban realia for almost a decade. The paper covers the Internet genres of folklore and their functions including their role of markers of local identity, and street art as a reflection of certain tendencies of a town’s life.