The Variation of Russian Festive Ritualism in Russian Ethnography

The Variation of Russian Festive Ritualism in Russian Ethnography

DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2017.45.2.123-131

M.I. Vasiliev
Saint-Petersburg State University of Economics, Sadovaya 21, St. Petersburg, 191023, Russia

This article deals with the shifts of focus of general versus local elements in traditional Russian festive rites, as seen in the works of 19th–20th century Russian ethnographers. Two periods are described. The first lasted from the 1830s to the 1970s; the second began in the 1980s–1990s and is ongoing. The first period falls into two stages. From the 1830s to the 1950s, ethnographers sought to disclose common features, and in the 1960s and 1970s, they were interested in both the general and the specific in Russian and Slavic (specifically Eastern Slavic) festivals. Studies of this period were based on a macro-approach in that they used a wide range of sources relating to Russian, Slavic, and other European ethnic groups. As a result, common elements of Russian ritualism and their spatial variations were revealed, and broad generalizations were proposed. During the second period, the geographic scope narrowed. Boundaries between regional and local variants of festive traditions were delineated both in synchrony and diachrony. The attention has shifted to common Russian versus local elements within separate festivals and their parts rather than groups of rites within the annual cycle as before.

Keywords: Russian folk festivals, ethnography, Slavs, East Slavs, variability.