Ēdiens un ēšana kā attiecību reprezentācija laulāto sadzīves tautasdziesmās: sievietes redzējums

The word combination “married life” in Latvian traditional culture describes the period between two important rites of passage in an adult’s life – wedding and funeral – and is associated with the fulfilment of certain social roles, which is also abundantly reflected in folk songs. The study is based on a collection of folk song texts, which is kept in the Archives of Latvian Folklore and is included in the academic publication “Latvian Folk Songs” in the 13th volume “Life in Marriage. Pub. Funeral” in the chapter “Married People’s Life”. The aim of the article is to reveal how traditional Latvian relationships and their assessment are revealed through food and eating in married life folk songs. A semiotic approach was used to achieve the study’s goal, which helps to interpret the food codes contained in folk songs. Folk songs show the young wife’s relationship with her mother, her new husband and her husband’s mother through the aspect of food. The most frequently used foods in depicting a favourable life are nutritious foods, which contain dairy products, cabbage with meat or groats, and function in the songs as representations of favourable relationships. In this set of texts, the unfavourable experience of marital life is depicted relatively more often, which can be explained by singing songs as an important way of discharging emotions. Unfavourable relationships with the new husband and family are described by less nutritional foods, such as stale bread, husks, and improperly or incompletely prepared and spoiled food.