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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0007

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0013 In this article I describe the process of developing of Mari ethnic religion based on the tradition of animistic beliefs. I aim to consider two areas of contemporary Mari religion, the activities of the official religious organisation and the vernacular tradition as practiced by people in the countryside. The Mari vernacular belief system has been seen as one of the components of Mari ethnic identity. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, Mari religious tradition has played a role in strengthening national identity, and so the religious organisation has been officially registered. Today there is an attempt to adapt Mari religious practices to the conditions of the religious market, in the face of which vernacular tradition seems to lose its connection with the ethnic worldview and rural way of life. My analysis of research material from fieldwork conducted shows the existence of belief rituals that are followed independently from the official Mari religious movement. Contemporary Mari religious tradition has two layers and can be described as a process of transformation from vernacular belief to ethnic religion with its religious institutions and group of experts.

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@article{JEF, author = {Jakub Kocurek}, title = { Tree Beings in Tibet: Contemporary Popular Concepts of klu and gnyan as a Result of Ecological Change}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {7}, number = {1}, year = {2013}, keywords = {Tibet; religion; popular religion; trees; spirits; klu; gnyan}, abstract = {The article deals with the perception of trees in Tibet. It focuses on ideas on supernatural beings believed to dwell in trees, particularly klu and gnyan, which form a part of the popular or so called nameless religion. The study is based on fieldwork undertaken in the Tibetan areas of India and Nepal (the Spiti valley and Dolpo) among people of Dolpo origin living elsewhere and Tibetans in exile from different regions of Tibet. Gathered narratives and reappearing myth patterns are presented and discussed. The findings from the fieldwork are compared with the idea of tree beings found in ritual texts studied by Western scholars. The difference between these two sources are striking: popular traditions associate trees mainly with klu, whereas the ritual texts with gnyan. To explain the possible cause of this discrepancy, contemporary theories about the ecological history of the Tibetan Plateau are employed.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {19–30}, url = {http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/125} }

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0008 The paper was presented as plenary session at the Archives as Knowledge Hubs: Initiatives and Influences conference (September 25–28, 2017 in Tartu, Estonia). The event was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the Estonian Folklore Archives.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0011 The issue raised in the present article is shamanists’ ideas about why there should be unity in drinking in the shamanic community. In the framework of the shamanic worldview, each act of drinking, not only ritual acts but also everyday acts, can comprise the features of worshipping the spirits and making an offering to them. Hence there is the need to make an offering during any domestic drinking, and an obligation to share the drink with everyone present. From the shamanic perspective, by rejecting alcohol a person demonstrates a refusal to subordinate him or herself to the spirits, which can cause problems.

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@article{JEF, author = {Piret Koosa}, title = { Sowing the Seeds of Faith: A Case Study of an American Missionary in the Russian North}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {7}, number = {1}, year = {2013}, keywords = {Evangelical missionaries in Russia; Republic of Komi; Orthodox; community; place}, abstract = {Since early 1990s foreign missionaries have eagerly visited the Russian Federation to disseminate God’s word among the subjects of the formerly atheist state. Different Protestant denominations have been among the most successful in gathering followers. However, the Russian Orthodox Church and its supporters have not welcomed the evangelising work of Protestant missionaries. The present article aims to examine some aspects of the development of this relatively new religious diversity at the grass-roots level by analysing the role of an American missionary in forming an evangelical congregation in a small rural community in the Republic of Komi. Drawing on fieldwork materials, I intend to discuss both the missionary’s perspective and the local response to his presence.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {31–48}, url = {http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/131} }

@article{JEF, author = {Kaisa Kulasalu}, title = { Immoral Obscenity: Censorship of Folklore Manuscript Collections in Late Stalinist Estonia}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {7}, number = {1}, year = {2013}, keywords = {folklore collections; censorship; Estonia; Soviet Union; obscenity}, abstract = {The history of folkloristics contains many cases of obscene materials that were excluded from field notes, books and archives. The Estonian Folklore Archives (founded in 1927) did incorporate dirty jokes, riddles and songs in its collection. Soviet occupation changed the topics of folklore scholarship and archival practices. Between the years 1945 and 1952, the Folklore Archives’ manuscript collections, catalogues and photographs were censored. Anti-Soviet texts were cut out or made unreadable. In the first years after the incorporation of the Republic of Estonia into the Soviet Union, anti-Soviet mainly meant politically sensitive materials such as jokes about Stalin, very patriotic texts or the names of some people. During the beginning of the 1950s, stricter rules were applied and obscene texts were also censored. In this article, I will focus on the censorship of obscene words and motifs and the political dimension of moralistic censorship in a totalitarian state.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {65–81}, url = {http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/127} }

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0009 In 16th-century Assam, Srimanta Sankaradeva (1449–1568) introduced a movement known as eka sarana nama dharma – a religion devoted to one God (Vishnu or Krishna). The focus of the movement was to introduce a new form of Vaishnava doctrine, dedicated to the reformation of society and to the abolition of practices such as animal sacrifice, goddess worship, and discrimination based on caste or religion. A new institutional order was conceptualised by Sankaradeva at that time for the betterment of human wellbeing, which was given shape by his chief disciple Madhavadeva. This came to be known as Sattra, a monastery-like religious and socio-cultural institution. Several Sattras were established by the disciples of Sankaradeva following his demise. Even though all Sattras derive from the broad tradition of Sankaradeva’s ideology, there is nevertheless some theological segmentation among different sects, and the manner of performing rituals differs from Sattra to Sattra. In this paper, my aim is to discuss the origin and subsequent transformations of Sattra as an institution. The article will also reflect upon the implication of traditions and of the process of traditionalisation in the context of Sattra culture. I will examine the power relations in Sattras: the influence of external forces and the support of locals to the Sattra authorities. This research is the result of various interactions and encounters in the field.

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DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jef-2018-0017 Orttung. Robert W., ed. 2016. Sustaining Russia’s Arctic Cities: Resource Politics, Migration, and Climate Change. New York: Berghahn Books. 254 pages.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs license, the author(s) and users are free to share (copy, distribute and transmit the contribution) under the following conditions: 1. they must attribute the contribution in the manner specified by the author or licensor, 2. they may not use this contribution for commercial purposes, 3. they may not alter, transform, or build upon this work.

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@article{JEF, author = {Rozaliya Guigova}, title = { Anthropological Interpretation of the Meaning of Ritual Objects in the Contemporary Urban Wedding in Bulgaria}, journal = {Journal of Ethnology and Folkloristics}, volume = {7}, number = {1}, year = {2013}, keywords = {wedding cake; wedding chicken; wedding bread; wedding rituals; globalisation; material culture}, abstract = {This paper discusses the changing symbolic potential of items in the Bulgarian contemporary urban wedding. Based on my fieldwork material regarding the wedding cake and other items, I investigate cultural change in modern Bulgarian society not only as a result of the one-way process of transference, adaptation and incorporation of mass produced commodities into Bulgarian culture but also as a process of cultural change and variation. In that sense, I investigate the alternation between global and local perspectives of the forms of material culture in which certain levels of meaning, inherent to objects, play a crucial role, as for example the social communication factor, kinship ties, cross-generational continuity, local ritual and symbolic systems, local food culture, and even the personal fate and private life of an object’s owner. In this article I focus mainly on the wedding cake as a specific ritual item, functioning in the contemporary urban Bulgarian wedding, transmitted during the last decades from West European culture into the Bulgarian wedding tradition, and analyse the specific dialogue between ‘global’ items and local culture. Furthermore, taking as my example the wedding cake and other ritual objects (the wedding chicken, the wedding bread, and the sponsor’s stick) I question the concept of the globalisation, homogenisation and unification of forms of material culture in contemporary society.}, issn = {2228-0987}, pages = {83–104}, url = {http://www.jef.ee/index.php/journal/article/view/126} }