Paper short abstract:

The paper will deal with a process of replacing traditions organized by officials of the Soviet occupation regime, done with assistance of local scientists (ethnographers, folklorists), composers, poets and others engaged with cultural sphere.

Paper long abstract:

One of the means for legitimizing the Soviet occupation power, strengthening the dominant ideology and consolidating society, which was used by the representatives of the communist regime (1940-1941; 1944/45-1991), were newly introduced celebrations and memorial days, rituals and family traditions customized in accordance with the Marxist-Leninist paradigm. The establishment and introduction of the new traditions took more than a decade of experimenting with the form and content of them, as well as trying to eradicate religious rituals from the daily life of inhabitants living in the vast country.

Using as a sources the documents and correspondence revealing the decree of the Council of Ministers on the implementation of the improvement measures in the invention of Soviet traditions, and the materials documenting the new traditions such as photographs, descriptions of events, the issued documents, methodological publications, calendars, as well as the statements provided in academic publications by ethnographers and folklore scholars regarding the theoretical and practical side of the invention of traditions, the process of replacing traditions will be reconstructed.