Contemporary animalistic subcultural practices and their precedents in Russian linguistic culture

The study aims to identify the attributive features that constitute a new subculture for Russian society, “the quadrobers”, based on its comparison with the morphology of the ritual of “ryazhenie” (traditional masked revelry). This innovative behavioral practice has caused a wide public resonance in Russia, characterized by contradictory assessments and interpretations. Justifications used include categorizing quadrobics as a sports entertainment, as well as references to the precedent connection of this new trend with the tradition of “ryazhenie” in Russia. The scientific analysis of probable intertextual connections between the two play-related phenomena is undertaken for the first time, which determines the scientific novelty of the work. As a result of the analysis, it was revealed that teenage animalistic practices share only superficial similarities with the transformations of “ryazhenie” performers. Distinctive features of Russian cultural tradition are its ritual nature and sacralization, its connection to specific cyclical events, the interactive nature of the theatricalized action with a stable distribution of roles. In teenage animalistic subcultures, dressing up and imitating animal behavior becomes an end in itself and serves as a means of attracting attention. In a broader linguoculturological context, this phenomenon can be considered as a type of transformative games of humans with their own nature, from projective concepts of transhumanism to real practices of play-related trans-animalism.