Udmurt Vos
Udmurt Vos (
The Udmurtian Pagan revival circles sprang out of the Demen (Udmurt for "Society") movement which was established in December 1989 for the protection and restoration of the Udmurt ethnic culture.[2] Udmurt Vos as an institution was founded in 1994.[3]
According to 2012 statistics, 2% of the population of Udmurtia adheres to forms of Paganism. Victor Schnirelmann reported an adherence of 4% for the Udmurts alone.
Etymology
The Udmurt word vös’ means "prayer", "sacrifice", "religion", "faith" and as a root derives many other words in the Udmurt language, among which vös’as’kon meaning "prayer", "sacrifice", vös’as’ meaning "priest", and the verbs vös’any meaning "to pray", "to sacrifice", "to hallow", vös’as’kyny that means "to pray", "to beg", and vös’atyny meaning "to sacrifice".[4]
History
The first date in the history of
Various attempts to restore the Udmurt native religion emerged, for example the movement of the "Lime-Tree Worshippers" in 1849.[5] However, in contrast to the Mari, the Udmurt Pagans did not display any tendency to centralise or formalise their religion.[5]
After 1917 began a short period of national reawakening, the Udmurt Republic was created and an active national intelligentsia took shape. This helped a revival of the Udmurt Vos.[5] However, with the 1930s' rise of the Soviet Union the Udmurt intelligentsia was almost entirely destroyed, the high priests were declared enemies of the people and subjected to cruel repression, worship was forbidden, rural holy places, temples and family shrines were destroyed, and sacred groves were uprooted.[5]
By the perestroika period, the Udmurts had very high levels of alcoholism and suicide, and low birth rates. Moreover, Russification proceeded steadily.[5] In the late 1980s and the early 1990s ethno-national and cultural identity reawakened, and despite the significant Christianisation the Udmurt national movement was entirely outside the framework of Eastern Orthodoxy, and even hostile to it.[5]
The Udmurt native religion became the basis of the national movement, and in 1994 a group of Izhevsk intellectuals, artists, writers, scholars and entrepreneurs founded the Udmurt Vos as an institution and mass association.[6] Genuine high priests were sought, and Vasili Maksimov, a simple peasant from an Udmurt village in Tatarstan, became the head of the new church.[7] National worship services were organised (a thing that had never happened before), and since that time these have been held yearly in different regions of the republic.[7]
Theory
According to the theologians of the Udmurt Vos, the whole of nature is determined by the numinous presence of divinity, gods and spirits.[7] Existence has three basic levels: the cosmic, in which the central divinity Inmar takes first place; that of the aerial elements, the heavens, in which Kvaz' is dominant; and the earthly creation, the world of creatures, in which Kelchin' is dominant. Alongside the hierarchy of Inmar, Kvaz' and Kelchin', there is Lud (the world tree), the genius (breeder) of all spirits, which is neither good nor evil.[7] The dead live in another world which is a perfect mirror of our own.[7]
According to another source (Taagepera), traditional Udmurt Vos theory follows patterns similar to the
According to the movement's leaders, peoples who have renounced their own gods have no future, because their spiritual betrayal has led to deep injury of the people's soul.[7] They point to the Japanese people, who have preserved their popular faith, as a model of better prospects.[7] Only peoples who find in themselves the strength to take the step of returning to their roots have any prospect for the future.[7]
One of the first Slavic
Practices
Some villages of followers of Udmurt Vos are organised to have sacrificial groves called lud in Udmurt[9] where often are located the "large temples" (byd’z’ym kuala, "large prayer house"), special buildings for worship dedicated to the spirit breeder-generator of the kin, whose worship comprises both the ideas of genius generis and genius loci. Both of them are connected in the Udmurt notion vorshud (formed by vordyny, meaning "to hold", "to contain" plus shud meaning "happiness", "luck").[10]
The "little temple" (pichi/pokchi kuala) is a kind of worship building located in the yard of each family that maintains the large prayer house. The clergy is made up of priests (vös’as’, vösias), local religious authorities elected amongst the males of the community for organising and performing prayers and sacrifices. They must be married and healthy, both mentally and physically.[10] Some of these priests may become high-priests (tuno).[5][10] Prayers are called kuriskon.[8]
Udmurt Vos in Tataria and Bashkiria
Northern
References
- ^ a b c Filatov-Shchipkov, 1997, p. 177
- Archive-It. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2002. p. 206
- ^ Taagepera p. 279
- ^ Aado Lintrop. The Spring Prayer Feasts in the Udmurt Village of Varklet-Bodya in Tatarstan. Cosmos 18 (2002), 43-55.
- ^ a b c d e f g Filatov-Shchipkov, 1997, p. 178
- ^ Filatov-Shchipkov, 1997, p. 179
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Filatov-Shchipkov, 1997, p. 180
- ^ a b Taagepera p. 278
- ^ Lintrop, 2002, p. 44
- ^ a b c Lintrop, 2002, 44
- ^ a b Filatov-Shchipkov, 1997, p. 181
Bibliography
- Schnirelmann, Victor: “Christians! Go home”: A Revival of Neo-Paganism between the Baltic Sea and Transcaucasia. Journal of Contemporary Religion, Vol. 17, No. 2, 2002.
- Aado Lintrop. The Spring Prayer Feasts in the Udmurt Village of Varklet-Bodya in Tatarstan. Cosmos 18 (2002). pp. 43–55
- Rein Taagepera. The Finno-Ugric Republics and the Russian State. C. Hurst & Co, UK, 1999.
- Filatov, Sergei; Shchipkov Alexander. Udmurtia: Orthodoxy, Paganism, Authority. Religion, State & Society, Vol. 25, No. 2, 1997
External links
- Udmurt Vos website