essay

The importance of religion in the Soviet rural community

Soviet rural communityUrbanaPublished In 1971 • Pages: 346-375

By: Dunn, Ethel.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
Despite decades of hostile communist policies and campaigns aimed at eradicating the vestiges of the Russian Orthodox Church, religion continued to play important roles in the lives of farming households and rural communities. The author underscores three historical and political factors likely accounting for the continued relevance of traditional religious practices, including baptism, annual festivals, and agrarian magical rites. First, the Orthodox Church is deeply revered as symbol of Russian nationality and identity. Second, active participation in local church affairs and parish communities provided a relatively safe venue for challenging the power of local party officials. Third, rural women and young girls lived in marginal social spaces beyond the reach of anti-religion communist campaigns.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Acculturation and culture contact
Economic planning and development
Political parties
General character of religion
Religious experience
Prayers and sacrifices
Congregations
Religious denominations
Religious intolerance and martyrs
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Russians
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Europe
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Eastern Europe
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
essay
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Anthropologist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
4: Excellent Secondary Data
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem ; 2018
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
no date given
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1917-1967
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
Soviet Union
NotesAdditional notes
Ethel Dunn
Includes bibliographical references
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
70122913
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Agriculture and state--Soviet Union--Congresses
Soviet Union--Rural conditions--Congresses