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Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion the Position and Meaning of the Mari Worldview in the Current Context

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Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion the Position and Meaning of the Mari Worldview in the Current Context TATIANA ALYBINA Vernacular Beliefs and Official Traditional Religion The position and meaning of the Mari worldview in the current context ernacular religion connected with the clan was Ethnographers also notice that ‘ethnic’ religions and expected to adapt in the context of globali- faith traditions, as forms of worldviews, reside deep Vsation and the vanishing ideals of traditional within the structures of culture and have an effect (tribal) societies. But at the turn of the twentieth and upon these structures. The period of state-sponsored twenty-first centuries a revival of European ‘pagan- atheism did not entirely uproot forms of religious ism’ has appeared (Koskello 2009: 295). Svetlana thought or rituals associated with Russia’s ethnic Chvervonnaya suggests that a return to vernacular be- minorities (Siikala and Ulyashev 2012: 312). Even liefs is not only happening in the mass religious mind in the context of the ideological dominance of Islam of some Eastern European and Asian people, but also in some regions, clusters of Muslim-heathen ‘double in the romantic mythologemes which are being cre- beliefs’1 (dvoeverie in Russian), or an explicit return ated by national elites. Lithuanians, who were Chris- to archaic beliefs, are emerging (Shnirelman 2008: tianised in the fourteenth century – the last nation in 1187). Among groups whose vernacular belief tradi- the Baltic region to undergo this process – recall their tions are a basis for cultural identity are the Adygs, heathen roots; Ukrainians revive their rodnoverie – indi- the Bashkirs and others (Chervonnaya 1998: 200). genous beliefs – in an attempt to resist the Orthodox The cult of Tengry – the pre-Islamic religion of the and Catholic Churches (Chervonnaya 1998: 200). Apart Turkic tribes – is undergoing a revival among the from this there are other pre-Christian faith organisa- Tatars . tions in Latvia, Estonia, Germany and England (Koskello 2009: 297). The traditions of the pre-Christian soci- eties attract people through their apparent proximity to Spiritual tradition in the history of Mari folk culture communal peasant culture. Followers of some of these According to Anastasiya Koskello’s categorisation, beliefs are interested in popularising Viking mythology. presented in the article ‘Contemporary pagan reli- The activities of druids and adherents of the Northern gions of Eurasia: the borders of globalization and European Asatru religion revive ancient festivals and antiglobalization’ (2009), Mari vernacular beliefs can ceremonies (Smorszhevskaya and Shiszhenskii 2010: be referred to as a conservative type. The religious 5). The popularisation of these movements can be seen as an attempt to resist an encroachment of the modern, globalised, urbane society. 1 ‘Double belief’ here refers to a syncretism of vernacu- lar and official local religions. Adherents can follow In provinces of European Russia the tradition parts of both religious norms and combine their of local vernacular belief is based on preserved folk customs. The term ‘double belief’ used in the current practices. The religious practices of the indigenous paper appropriates one of the Don Yoder’s definitions of ‘folk-religion’: in the context of the Caribbean and Finno-Ugric peoples living in the Russian north and Latin America the mixture of the ‘high’ (Catholic) the Urals are often thought of as a post-Soviet Rus- religion with native religious traditions. This is a syn- sian means of ethnic mobilisation (Chervonnaya cretic approach assigned from acculturation theory 1998, Leete and Shabayev 2010, Luehrmann 2011). (Yoder 1974: 14–15). Approaching Religion • Vol. 4, No. 1 • May 2014 89 tradition of the Mari people2 is based on polytheis- ology’ in 2007. Galina Shkalina writes about the spir- tic traditions of nature worship and ancestor cults itual and philosophical aspects of Mari vernacular known as Chimarij3 customs (Chimarij jüla in Mari). beliefs and their connection with Mari traditional Mari traditional beliefs are based on nature wor- culture. The history of reviving Mari religious cer- ship, are closely related to people’s worldviews and emonies in the territory of Mari El (the ‘land of the lifestyles, and are considered to be one of the most Mari’) and neighbouring regions has been explored important connecting factors in preserving national by the ethnographer Nikandr Popov. Scholars of the self-consciousness and identity. A spiritual life inter- regional and central research institutes completed woven with a traditional worldview encourages na- complex research into religious minorities of the tional unity amongst the Mari, who lack their own Volga river basin and the Urals in between 2006 and state (Bakhtin 2012). From ancient times, the multi- 2010 (Yagafova et al. 2010). Boris Knorre investigated national territory of the Volga basin was ‘a part of the the interaction between religious movements and na- world where religion has long served as a marker of tional politics in the Mari El Republic. A review of communal identification’ (Luehrmann 2011: 42). The the religious situation in the region, which compared dispersion of Mari tribes across an area of Islamic the region with the religious developments in con- and Christian culture, as well as religious persecu- temporary Russia, was presented in the volume The tion, made it difficult to preserve the ancient Chi- Religious Atlas of Contemporary Religious Life in Rus- marij customs and philosophy in a pure form. How- sia (Burdo and Filatov 2006). One of the most recent ever, the Mari ethnic worldview was developed and studies devoted to the religious question in the Re- preserved in the tradition of spiritual cults, although public of Mari El during the post-Soviet period was with small differences in the details and meanings of made by German anthropologist Sonja Luehrmann cere monies. Thus, we can talk about the process of (2011). Analysis of the increasing popularisation of reviving existing traditions with, in some cases, ad- Mari vernacular cults is presented here in compari- ditional elements, rather than complete reconstruc- son with other religious movements active during tions. this period of religious renaissance. The philosophical aspects and rituals of the Mari The extent to which traditions are maintained religious traditions of today are being investigated depends on how well unified customs comply with by folklorists, anthropologists and historians. Lidiya ethnic traditions. In the current paper the example Toidybekova has collected local variations of cere- of the maintenance of Mari vernacular beliefs and monies and narratives about the religious customs of the contemporary development of traditions are ex- the Mari. A large amount of data from expeditions plored. Local rituals in different parts of the Mari El was published in her monograph ‘Mari Vernacular Republic and border regions will be observed. Atten- Belief and Ethnic Self-consciousness’ (Tojdybekova tion will be paid to the development of a traditional 1997) as well as in ‘The Dictionary of Mari Myth- religion and the modification of its role in the context of life in a modern social context. Considering the current situation of the Mari folk 2 The Mari people (the old ethnonym is Cheremis) are religion, it is possible to see two tendencies occur- one of the indigenous minorities of the central region ring within the context of its development. A process of European Russia. They belong to the Finno-Ugric of the formation (or creation) of an official system family. According to the Russian Federation census of of ethnic religion, based on local vernacular belief 2010 the Mari population amounts to 547,605 people. traditions over the last two decades can be observed About half of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El, in Mari El, so that the Mari ethnic belief system has the capital of which is Yoshkar-Ola. A large propor- tion of the Mari population lives in the Bashkortostan developed both at the vernacular and institutional republic; in addition, there are Mari villages in neigh- levels. bouring regions in the territory of the Volga basin Vernacular religiosity is manifested through and the Ural Mountains. Today there are friendly spontaneous or village-level traditions of nature and associations of Mari people in Kazan, Moscow and ancestor worship. Seasonal prayers are closely con- Saint Petersburg. nected with the rural way of life; ceremonies of col- 3 Literally, ‘pure Mari’, a term denoting unbaptised lective nature worship are led by local elders – karts. adherents of Mari vernacular beliefs, people practis- ing traditional sacrificial rituals. When speaking Karts follow local traditions of vernacular belief and Russian, most use the term jazychestvo (paganism) local people are proficient in the customs of prepar- (Luehrmann 2011: 225, 230). ing and carrying out the prayer meetings. In each Approaching Religion • Vol. 4, No. 1 • May 2014 90 Mari region traditional ceremonies are preserved to use available data from Bashkortostan when struc- various extents and customs vary from one group to turing the Mari religion in Mari El. another, with the specific features of local customs being preserved. Another way in which the Mari religion has de- The religious status of Mari vernacular customs veloped is in the creation of a hierarchical structure Mari jüla of priests (karts), manifested in the legal registration Religion was officially marginalised in Soviet Russia. of the Mari religion as an organisation under the The situation with respect to religious issues changed name ‘Oshmarij-Chimarij’ in Moscow in 1991. Since when a law on religious freedom was passed in 1991 that time, the Mari religion has had official status in following the collapse of the Soviet Union (Resolu- Mari El which is equal to that of Islam and Russian tion no. 268-1). Orthodox and Islamic religious in- Orthodoxy. From the 2000s there has been quite a stitutions then became very active. Many different strong kart structure, a feature which is not charac- religious movements from abroad also appeared in teristic of traditional Mari vernacular belief. Russia at the beginning of the 1990s.
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