CARNIVAL TSAR: INTO THE SENSE OF MOCK WEDDINGS AND FUNERALS IN THE PETRINE COURT CULTURE
The article attempts to identify the meaning of mock weddings and funerals which were the important part of the festive culture of the Petrine era and did not find a consistent explanation in historiography. For the analysis of historical material the author draws M. M. Bakhtin’s culturological nature theory of carnival and B. A. Uspenskiy’s theory of anti-behavior, as well as laughter concepts, lying at the intersection of cultural studies and psychology. Interdisciplinary and comparative-historical approaches allows to highlight in Peter’s amusements the characteristics of both Russian and European holiday traditions, creatively transformed by the tsar-reformer. Proposed the assumption that the elements of carnival, “adsorbed” by the baroque culture, was performed for Peter’s psyche a compensatory function, helping to cope with the stresses, related with the disturbance of cultural norms in the course of reform activities.
Keywords: Peter I, early modern time, interdisciplinary approach, carnival culture, anti-behavior, laughter
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Issue: 9, 2015
Series of issue: Issue 9
Rubric: HISTORY OF RUSSIA
Pages: 140 — 151
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