“They put up crosses and a juniper branch too”: Ritual in the religious identity of southern Udmurts

Abstract

The article examines the religious identity and ritual practices of Southern Udmurts. It focuses on the specific features of Udmurt ethnic religion, its syncretic character, and the role of ritual in shaping the self-understanding of tradition bearers. The main hypothesis of the study is that, for most informants, religious identity is expressed less through doctrine than through participation in communal and family rituals. The article analyzes contemporary trends in Udmurt paganism: ritual life is becoming less elaborate; while rituals remain closed and esoteric in some villages, in others they are publicly presented and undergo festivalization. Particular attention is paid to the naturecenteredness of Udmurt religion, in which the forces of nature constitute the primary focus of worship. Informants’ narratives also reveal a tendency toward monotheization: the supreme god Inmar is perceived as a unified embodiment of the forces of nature. The study is based on fieldwork materials collected by the author in 2023-2025 in southern and central Udmurtia. The research was conducted as part of the Volga Ethnological Expedition of the Faculty of History, Lomonosov Moscow State University. The methods included in-depth interviews, biographical walks, and participant observation. The author concludes that ritual remains the primary form of expression of religious identity among contemporary Udmurt pagans. Their worldview is characterized by eclecticism, a strong connection to ethnic tradition, nature-centeredness, and a retrospective orientation toward the past. The article also examines the factors contributing to the simplification of ritual life: Christianization, economic transformations, the disruption of continuity in the priestly tradition, and Soviet atheist policies.