Rõžkovo virulaste rahvakalender
Folk Calendar of Virulased in Ryzhkovo Village

Summary/Abstract: The article explores the folk calendar tradition of a mixed Estonian and Finnish lore group (called virulased) settled in the village of Ryzhkovo. The village was established around 1803 as an ethnically mixed Lutheran settlement in West Siberia. The material is based on fieldwork conducted by the author in the village in 1999, 2000 and 2004, and parallels have been drawn with material recorded in other Estonian and Lutheran settlements in Siberia. The article discusses the folk calendar holidays of the ethnic group, starting from the most popular of these – Midsummer day. The author observes, to the extent enabled by the material, the changes that the calendar tradition of the community has undergone and the cause of these changes; the origins of the tradition in Pre-Christian or Lutheran tradition; the changes that the communication of settlers with their homeland have introduced; the elements that have been adopted from their closest neighbours Latvians or the Russian majority; the extent to which the traditional elements of the neighbouring peoples have been adapted in their ethnic tradition; and also the extent to which virulased have participated in foreign culture without adopting it as their own. In addition, the article analyses the impact of the long years of ideological pressure on the tradition of the community.

• Details
• Contents