The Material and Spiritual during the Votive Feast and Memorial Days

Abstract

The article examines the votive feast (celebration of the Tikhvin Icon of the Holy Virgin), held in the Nikol’skii district of the Vologda region, as compared to the commemoration ritual. Ritual activities and votive offerings are interpreted as symbols in the system of communication with an addressee in the other world (the Holy Virgin or a dead relative) and community members. Various objects, such as coins, food items, chips of the sacred wood, etc., are viewed as bearers of the idea of good and a token of belonging to the group. This study continues the author’s research into the meaning of lamentations and communication with the dead and draws on a range of unique materials collected in the course of the 1990–2000 expeditions of the Vologda School for the Study of Traditional Culture, as well as gathered during the author’s own field research in the 2010s.