Ethnic and Cultural Identity of the Belorussian Migrants in Western Siberia

Ethnic and Cultural Identity of the Belorussian Migrants in Western Siberia

A.N. Bagashev and R.Yu. Fedorov.

This study describes some specifi c features in the traditional culture of the descendants of the Belorussian settlers living in Western Siberia. Their ancestors left Belorussia from the second half of the 19th to the early 20th century. The character of ethnic and cultural interaction between migrants and the Old Settlers as well as the main markers of ethnic and cultural identity of the Belorussians in Siberia are analyzed using the materials of expeditions to the places of their residence. The ritual of “the Candle,” common in the Mogilev Guberniya where the Belorussians departed from and practiced by the migrants, is described in detail. The conclusions of the study sum up the correlation between the principles of settlement of the Belorussians in Siberia and the specifi c features of their ethnic and cultural identity in their new place of residence.

Keywords: Belorussians, Siberia, traditional culture, peasant migrations, ethnic and cultural interaction.