Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 37 (3) 2009

Annotation:  Middle Paleolithic Industries of the Early Late Pleistocene (OIS 5) in the Southwestern Part of East Evidence of Environmental Instability of the Lake Baikal Area after the Last Glaciation (Based on P Radiocarbon Chronology of Neolithic and Bronze Age Cultures in Yakutia Clay Balls from Suchu Island as Neolithic Sacral Symbols Models of Metal Production in the Near East (Chalcolithic – Middle Bronze Age) Chinese Inscription on the Lacquer Cup from Noin Ula Mound 20 (Mongolia) Horse Forehead Pieces from the Kuban Region The Pakhomovskaya Culture of the Late Bronze Age Stone Stele Bearing a “Sun-Headed” Deity on the Tuim River, Khakassia (In commemoration of the Finni Methodological Issues in the Digital Mapping of Archaeological Sites The Church of the Saviour from Zashiversk: The Dendrochronological Aspect The “Harlequin”: An Ostyak Idol “Technological Eschatology” in Modern Traditions of Popular Orthodoxy and among the Old Believers o Mummery in the Calendar Rites of German Settlers in Siberia Silver of Kazakh Zergers: Traditions in Modern Jewelry Art Dental Remains from Mound 20 at Noin-Ula, Mongolia The Origin of the Medieval Population of the Novgorod Republic) (10th–13th centuries): A Craniometri   

Mummery in the Calendar Rites of German Settlers in Siberia

T.B. Smirnova.

The present article discusses mummery rites which are widespread amongst the Germans living in Siberia today. These rites have been practiced since the time of immigration of the Germans to Russia. They are rather archaic in certain respects, and numerous local variants are known. Mummery rites are associated with winter calendar holidays and Christmas in particular. Christkind and Pelznikel are the main Christmas characters impersonating forces of good and evil, respectively. The article proposes a version of origins for those characters and studies their functions. The evolution of the rites practiced by the Germans in Russia and in Germany followed very different trajectories, especially in the 20th century. The reasons for the long term preservation of mummery customs amongst German settlers in Siberia, and the evolution and present state of those traditions, as well as their regional variants are described and analysed. The article is based on the materials of ethnographic expeditions conducted in the Altai Territory, as well as in Novosibirsk and Omsk Oblasts.

Keywords: Calendar holidays, Siberian Germans, ritualism, mummery rites.