The rite seren in the Chuvash villages of the Republic of Bashkortostan: traditions and modern local features

Abstract

The article deals with the issues of modern existence of the cleansing rite of the spring cycle sĕren among the Chuvash living on the territory of the Republic of Bashkortostan. This topic has not yet become an object of scientific study, which determines the relevance of this work. The purpose of the study is to study the local features of the rite, as well as the processes of its transformation at the current stage, tasks – a brief analysis of the historiography of the issue in scientific literature, a general description of the essence and content of the ritual, its local manifestations in various areas of residence of the Chuvash, the role of the rite in modern ritual practice. The study was conducted using the principles of historicism, objectivity, consistency, specificity, as well as special methods of field ethnography – included observation and interviews. The work is based on the author’s field materials collected in 2002–2004, 2020, 2022 years in the Chuvash villages of the western, southwestern, central and southern regions of the republic. The results of the study showed that the seren rite has undergone significant changes in recent decades. In most settlements, he completely fell out of ritual life and remained in the memory of old-timers, in others he underwent reduction and decreased on a scale and continues his existence as a vital ritual. The latter is probably due to the stability of traditional religious ideas among the Chuvash of the region, which sometimes contribute to the situational reproduction of the rite in different rural communities.

Keywords

• Chuvash
• Republic of Bashkortostan
• cleansing rite seren
• local variants and features
• ritual culture
• Республика Башкортостан