Siberian Customs and Rituals in Archaeology: “Mouse, take my baby tooth and give me a new one — durable”

Abstract

Despite the orthodox faith the Russian population of Siberia preserved and actively used pre-Christian customs and beliefs brought from Rus’ in the traditional household ritual culture. Archaeological observations allow us to show attitudinal plots of spiritual culture that are not related to Christian practices. For the first time, the authors offer for the scientific discussion archaeological evidence of syncretism of the national worldview in a broad context, based on the study of urban and rural culture of the 17 th—18 th centuries. They examine images-amulets on women’s and men’s rings, symbols-amulets on objects, in dwellings, ceremonial dishes, the funerary rite of children, the belief in the replacement of baby teeth, customs in relation to domestic guardian spirits – domovoy and bannik. This complements and enhances the existing ethnographic knowledge.