Paper short abstract:

Since the 90s in the Mari society there is a tendency to divide this people into regional groups. Based on field materials, the author explores the representation of territorial identities in narratives about legendary heroes as well as practices of using folk images in creation of identities.

Paper long abstract:

After the events of the 1990s we can see in the Mari culture the process of actualization of ethnic and regional identities, based on the connection with a certain area, which often have political borders. This fact concerns the crisis of self-representation in Sovietic and post-Sovietic societies ang growing interest in national myths nd traditions. The spatial identities of various Mari groups are expressed in the images of national folklore heroes ("patyrs"), models of their description and reproduction of related oral texts (non-fairy prose). A number of folklore characters have a connection with the oral tradition of a specifec region of the Mari Republic. This phenomenon is reflected in the media, the perception of certain landscape objects (mountains, rivers, stones, etc.) by the locals, monuments, as well as in commemorative and religious practices.The link between folklore images and regional identities is regularly reproduced through scientific, educational and artistic discourses, which are scrutinised in detail by the author. Moreover, representation of identities in the texts of legends is also associated with the construction of a dichotomy "our\their" and ideas of belonging.