E-mail: nvlaskina@gmail.com
41, Chekhova av., Rostov-on-Don, 344004, Russian Federation
PhD in Philology, Senior Researcher, Federal State Budgetary Institution of Science, Federal Research Centre the Southern Scientific Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences
The article was prepared within the framework of the state assignment of the SSC RAS, project number 122020100347–2.
This article considers changes in the calendrical cycle in the Don region during the collapse of the Soviet Union and the first years of the Russian Federation. It analyzes the beginning of the Cossack Revival Movement that advocated the restoration of folk traditions. The article’s particular focus is the celebration of the Feast of the Protecting Veil of the Mother of God in the town of Konstantinovsk, a town which was the regional administrative center before the October Revolution. It makes use of local newspapers, interviews with residents of Konstantinovsk and their personal archives, as well as scholarly publications on the Cossack Revival Movement. The research shows that, in the 1990s, various active groups in town society were consolidated. The feast under analysis appeared to be an effective means to demonstrate the Cossack and Orthodox identities of town residents and a symbolic center of the town’s calendrical cycle. The same date united the patronal feast (which included a church service, a procession, and a communal meal); the City Day celebration (when a theatrical performance is combined with festivities, various folk concerts, and a common meal on the banks of the Don River); and a Day of Cossacks (with a parade and seeing off Cossacks to the army). The holiday developed by its transition into a purely church feast with some Cossack rituals occasionally included. The data and conclusions of this article may be used to consider the role of the individual in modern rituals as well as for understanding the Cossack Revival Movement and the mechanisms of group consolidation.
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