Pentecost Church-Ale in the Aksubaevsky District of The Republic of Tatarstan

Abstract

In the article the authors on the basis of materials, consider the issues of preserving cultural traditions of the Russian population of the Middle Volga region, namely the revival of the Pentecost church-ale in 20–21 centuries on the example of the Russian national center of Aksubaevsky district of the Republic of Tatarstan. The experience accumulated over the thirty-year history of the revival of the holiday has not yet become an object of study of scientists, which determines the relevance of our work. The aim is to consider the features of the local version of the celebration of the Pentecost and the specifics of the revival of folk tradition in the modern world. The authors used general historical methods and special methods of ethnology: included observation and in-depth interview. Pentecost in its original meaning is a church festival. But it also incorporated folk traditions, customs and rituals. In Soviet times the celebration completely lost its former significance, the church service on the Whit Monday (Pentecost) was also not performed. Thanks to the initiative of local residents, the celebration of the Pentecost was resumed, which was a vivid example of the positive ethno-cultural experience of the revival of local ritual practices of the Russians of the Middle Volga region.