Local Rural Holidays of Russian Peasants as a System of Sacred Communication (based on the materials of the Nizhny Novgorod region)

Abstract

Introduction. The article proposes a worldview approach for typologizing local religious holidays of the rural population of the Nizhny Novgorod region, in which they are considered as a system of communication between the human collective and the divine. Results. The life of the Russian peasant was built up in a constant dialogue with the divine, the mediators of this dialogue were the patron saints of the community, communication with whom was carried out through local holidays established in their honor. Various forms of celebration correlated in the worldview of Russian peasants with different reasons for turning to the patron saints, which allowed the author to distinguish two types of local religious holidays that differ in their functions: petition holidays and thanksgiving holidays. Discussion and Conclusion. The system of local religious holidays was not only an accessible mechanism of religious practices for Russian peasants, but also a traditional way of life support. The holidays of supplication and the holidays of thanksgiving, complementing each other in a number of functions, were closely connected with the life of the peasant community. The former was responsible for earthly goods and united people using common natural resources in religious communication, the latter ensured the spiritual kinship of members of tribal groups united in a single veneration of their patron saint. Every significant event in the secular and spiritual life of the peasant world found its expression in the local holiday calendar.