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Paper short abstract:

The report is devoted to the interaction of local religious tradition and institutional church religiosity in post-Soviet Russia. The material is the case of the village Oshevenskoye in the Arkhangelsk region. Local revered natural objects become the main "arena" of interaction.

Paper long abstract:

The village Oshevenskoye is located in the Kargopol district of the Arkhangelsk region (Russia). The local religious tradition was largely based on the venerating of natural objects - stones, trees, groves, in that were installed wooden crosses . Their agency was delegated to the local revered Orthodox saint - Alexander Oshevensky. There were practices of visiting such places not regulated by church institutions, and a special tradition of reciprocity, expressed in requests for healing - "offering" to the shrine votive offerings. Its continued to be actively reproduced in the Soviet period.

At the end of the 1990s the local church was reopened and began the restoration of the district's largest monastery. A priest from St. Petersburg comes to the village and begins active preaching work, organizes regular services, including "churching" local natural shrines. This process is accompanied by the adjustment of traditional practices that are unacceptable from the point of view of the Orthodox Church doctrine. With his move to another parish the old tradition begins to return in its previous form. Very few villagers visit the monastery, while participation in local pilgrimages to revered shrines remains a mass practice, despite a tendency to reduce the number of residents visiting local shrines. The miraculousness of the place is explained by a special "energy" and expressed by discursive schemes of New Age ideology.

The report is based on materials from the author's field work and materials from expeditions of the Russian State Humanitarian University.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper examines the gendered and religious dimensions of yoga practice in post-socialist Europe. Polish women separate what they perceive as the religious from the non-religious components of yoga, thereby rendering it a secular practice that allows them to remain faithful Catholics.

Paper long abstract:

This paper examines the gendered, class and religious dimensions of yoga practice in post-socialist Europe. A dominant Polish view is that yoga is "nice stretching" that enables middle and upper people to demonstrate their social status by purchasing yoga classes and accessories. By contrast, fieldwork indicates that among middle-income women in Warsaw yoga is perceived as a largely therapeutic practice and valued as exercise that helps women pursue healthy lifestyles. Yoga's therapeutic power lies mainly in offering a means of dealing with the stresses or ‘dis’-ease of everyday life. The paper contributes to knowledge about how the religious or spiritual aspects of yoga are navigated in this particular a non-Hindu, non-Indian context. Middle-income Polish women separate what they perceive as the religious from the non-religious components of yoga, thereby rendering it a secular practice that allows them to remain faithful Catholics, and, thus, demonstrating their agency despite the attempts of Polish Catholic priests to control discourses on everyday ways of behaving of faithful Polish citizens.

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Paper short abstract:

This paper will deal with one particular type of agents, namely Snowmen who occupy, along with extraterrestrials and poltergeists, a significant place in late Soviet and post-Soviet New Age ontologies of “paranormal”.

Paper long abstract:

This paper will deal with one particular type of agents, namely snezhnye liudi / Snowmen (known also as Bigfoots, Yeti, etc.) who occupy, along with extraterrestrials and poltergeists, a significant place in late Soviet and post-Soviet New Age ontologies of “paranormal”. Being initially stimulated by a number of motifs from world folklore, ancient and medieval literature, 20th century “Bigfoot beliefs” involved discussions of humanity, bestiality, and teratology; normal and paranormal; “secrets of nature” to be discovered and explained. On the other hand, the very importance of "surviving hominids" for post-secular ontologies and their relation to other agents of New Age beliefs still requires further investigation. The “Bigfoot hunt” in the USSR started in the mid 1950s and was supported by a number of influential academics including the prominent historian Boris Porshnev. However, the rise of “Bigfoot mythology” in late Soviet and post-Soviet popular culture was generally related to New Age beliefs, “alternative science” and “paranormal subcultures”. In the paper, I will discuss the history and cultural specifics of Russian “Bigfoot beliefs” in the global context of New Age culture.

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Paper short abstract:

I analyze the conflict around archaeological excavations between the authorities of the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania and Ossetian religious nationalists. These excavations were used by local religious traditionalists to gain public support for their movement.

Paper long abstract:

In the fall of 2020, excavations of a medieval burial ground, located next to an ancient chapel, began in the Republic of North Ossetia-Alania. These studies were were initiated by the local diocese and sanctioned by the authorities of the republic, but caused indignation among a number of Ossetian religious nationalists. These excavations were used by local religious leaders in their confrontation with the representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church to gain public support for their movement as the only real Ossetian religion. One of the arguments of local traditionalists was the lack of permission to excavate from the people buried in this old cemetery, whose religious identity may be misrepresented by archaeologists. The presentation analyzes the ideas about the agency of the dead, the commemorational community of the Church and the ethnic community of Ossetians in the dispute over who owns the past of Ossetia. The offended religious feelings of our contemporaries were combined with the reconstructed experiences of their ancestors and recoded into them.

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Paper short abstract:

Wicca is a religion of Witches, based on contact with nature, worshiping a God and a Goddess, and the use of magic. In the times of the pandemics Wiccans decided move many of their religious practices to the Internet. Does it work? Are rituals conducted on the Internet sufficient or of lesser value?

Paper long abstract:

Wicca, a western neopagan religion of Witches, is based on contact with nature, on worshiping a God and a Goddess, and the use of magic. Usually Wiccans meet in covens or bigger gatherings, among nature, to celebrate the festivals of the Wheel of the Year but this year everything is different. How to celebrate in a group when one is not allowed to meet with people outside of one’s bubble or cannot move freely for fear of their health and because of the restrictions?

Wiccans embraced the Web long time ago and are well connected and active Internet community. Faced with the restrictions caused by pandemics, many Wiccans quickly adapted to the new situation and decided to use the latest technologies in their ritual practices. With the use of webcams, social media and video communications they combine their traditions with the 21st century. Now not only one doesn’t have to leave home but can be hundreds of kilometres away and still participate in a ritual.

I conducted an anthropological research among Polish Wiccans in the years 2004-2006 and since 2015 I have been researching this movement in Poland and England. In my presentation I would like to show how British and Polish Wiccans find the ways to conduct their rituals in the times of Covid-19. What do they think of such a change? Do they consider rituals conducted with the use of Internet sufficient or of lesser value?