Daghestan’s urban culture, in its Russian–European variety, is a relatively new phenomenon. Until the 1970’s, weddings in cities have been celebrated only by hereditary citizens, i.e. Russians, Armenians, Jews, Azerbaijanis, Kumyks, occasionally, while the rest of the city residents preferred to go to their home villages and play weddings there, after which the bride and groom would return if they were going to live in the city. Since the 1990’s, with the growth of the urban population due to the influx of the rural population, this tradition has disappeared in Daghestan, as rural residents often have to come to the city to celebrate the wedding.This article is based on ethnographic materials identified through field observation included. The authors focus on the presentation of the preserved traditional elements of urban wedding rituals and the new ritual and other components that have appeared in recent decades. The analysis of the modern family and public holiday, which the wedding has always been for the peoples of Daghestan, demonstrates the close connection between local traditions and Russian-European innovations, under the influence of various factors. Modern city weddings in Daghestan find in different cities a different ratio between the secular and Islamic components in wedding ceremonies. The authors consider the modern wedding in the cities of Daghestan as a multicomponent ceremony, consisting traditionally of preliminary preparations, the wedding itself and the ceremonies after the wedding.The innovations used in urban wedding rituals are an expression of value orientations, ethnic, ethical, aesthetic, and ethnocultural preferences of modern Daghestan citizens.Under the conditions of ethnocultural dynamics influenced by the intensive migration of the population from the mountains to the plain, where all the modern Daghestan cities are located, the “urban culture” radically transforms not only the marriage traditions, but also the very perception of these traditions. A look at the ratio of the traditional and the modern in the urban wedding rituals is now in each generation its own. And perhaps it is partly subjective and needs to be discussed.

Based on field ethnographic material, studies of family, marriage and family rituals, the article describes and analyzes a sensitive and controversial topic in the traditions of the peoples of Dagestan related to the preservation of the integrity of a girl before marriage. The concept of interpreting the values ​​of chastity is considered in a complex of rituals, ideas and beliefs of the Dagestani peoples, not only through the prism of such an important family and social event as a wedding, but also as an independent object, although closely related to it.Chastity, the virginity of a girl before marriage is an object of heated debate in society, since the attitude towards him transforms from era to era, from people to people. Despite this, there is no special study devoted specifically to the traditions associated with the "wedding night".The peoples of Dagestan have an extensive ritual complex associated with the "first wedding night", in which both ancient beliefs and popular ideas about healthy offspring are intertwined. The successful completion of one of the epoch-making events in the human life cycle - the creation of a family, as well as the happiness of a woman and her status in society, in the Dagestan realities depend not only on the time under study, but also today, on the outcome of this "night". The fact of chastity, proven on the "wedding night", has not lost its relevance among the majority of the peoples of Dagestan at the present time. Accordingly, some ethnographic nuances will undoubtedly be of interest not only to specialists.