The article examines one of the understudied issues related to Vepsian folk religiosity and churching – the historical and ethnographic study of Orthodox fast traditions among Vepsian peasantry, which existed in full form until the early 20th century. Reconstruction of the lost tradition was carried out using an interdisciplinary approach to sources. The study showed that Vepsian peasants either edited church canons on fasts or adopted them from Russians in a processed form. Veps vocabulary for fasting included terms with Baltic-Finnic origins, adapted to new circumstances, and Russian loanwords. The sources agreed on the religious discipline among Vepsians in observing dietary restrictions and marriage restrictions. At the same time, there was local hierarchy of fasts, with Great Lent being the most significant. The end of the fasting was vividly demonstrated by festive rituals, in which forbidden foods were offered to people or sacrificed to mythological creatures, gods and saints. It was also demonstrated by wedding cycles on the calendar of local churches. According to individual parishes, going to confession during fasting was not common among the majority of Vepsian people. Perhaps the indifference of the Veps to this sacrament can be explained by difficulties in establishing language contact with priests. The problem of relations between Russian Orthodox priests and non-Russian-speaking populations requires further study.
Key words: Vepsians, Orthodoxy, folk religiosity, fasting, confession, communion, rituals
DOI: 10.22250/2072-8662-2026-1-97-108
About the author
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Irina Yu. Vinokurova – Dr. Sc. (History), Leading Researcher, Institute of Language, Literature and History of the KarRC RAS; 11 Pushkinskaya St., Petrozavodsk, 185910, Russia; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. |