Historical Geography Journal ISSN 2782-6511 (Print) | ISSN 3034-5286 (Online)

Elena M. Glavatskaya
Doctor of Historical Sciences, Ural Federal University (Russia, Ekaterinburg)
ORCID: 0000-0001-7013-5013
E-mail: elena.glavatskaya@urfu.ru

Maya V. Zhitkova
Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Russia, Еkaterinburg)
ORCID: 0009-0008-7048-2312
E-mail: mayacw@mail.ru

Natalia V. Postnikova
Ural Federal University (Russia, Ekaterinburg)
ORCID: 0009-0007-5081-145X
E-mail: nstavins@mail.ru

 Download | Back to the Content № 3. 2025

UDC 39(=945.21)
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-3-84-93

ABSTRACT. The article presents the results of a pilot field study among the Urals’ Mari — the Finno-Ugric people of Russia. It was conducted in September 2025 in the Arti district of Sverdlovsk Oblast’ with the aim to identify the forms and channels through which the Ural Mari preserve and transmit their cultural heritage. The researchers did not ask respondents to answer predefined questions, but instead sought to record what the residents of the Mari villages considered most important in representing their culture. The Mari people themselves also determined the route of the expedition. Thus, the collected material largely reflects their views on the state of their culture. The study yielded information on the challenges of the Mari language preservation, the activity of the folk dancing groups, preservation of national dress and crafts, traditional holidays and cultural events, annual prayers, and wedding rituals. All materials obtained during the study — 10 interviews and visual documents (544 photos and 17 videos) reflecting the current state of the Ural Mari cultural heritage were transferred to the Scientific Archive of the Ethnohistory Center of the Institute of History and Archaeology, Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. According to the fieldwork data, the most important elements of the contemporary Ural Mari cultural heritage include language, traditional costume and crafts, folk dancing, calendar rituals, and life-cycle rites. Promising areas for further research are studying contemporary demographic processes, the interactions between the Mariy El Republic and the Ural Mari diaspora, as well as between urban and rural population in preserving the Mari cultural heritage, and life-cycle rites.

KEYWORDS: ethnocultural heritage, Ural Mari, field research, ethnography, calendar rituals, life cycle rituals, traditional crafts

For citation: Glavatskaya Е. М., Zhitkova М. V., Postnikova N. V. [The Cultural Heritage of the Urals’ Mari: Results of the 2025 Field Research]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2025, vol. 4, no. 3, pp. 84–93. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2025-4-3-84-93 (In Russian).

Received 1 September 2025
Accepted 21 October 2025

© 2025 The Authors

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