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

Vladimir A. Korshunkov
Candidate of Historical Sciences, Vyatka State University
Kirov, Russia
E-mail: vla_kor@mail.ru
ORCID: 0000-0001-6150-8308

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UDC 94(470.342)
DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2024-3-4-20-35

ABSTRACT. The paper draws attention to the fact that for a long time, up to our days, there is a statement in the scientific and local history literature that in the territory of the city of Vyatka (Kirov) before the appearance of the Russian population there were Udmurt pagan sanctuaries. The paper is based on archival and other written sources. It analyzes an archival document of the mid-19th century, revealed by the author, which was written by a well-known in the Vyatka region Orthodox priest and missionary. This priest pointed to three places within the city of Vyatka and in its vicinity, where, in his opinion, pagan sanctuaries could have been located: a well on the square near the cathedral, a lake in the forest (it was called in other sources Nizhny Potok) and a place in the center of the city, where the annual ritual fest Svistoplyaska (Svistunya) was held. The author offers a contemporary interpretation of the ritual actions on Nizhny Potok and Svistoplyaska fest. Their features are typical of the so-called “folk Orthodoxy” and hardly go back to pagan antiquity. The paper shows that the 19th century Orthodox missionaries, reconstructing the pagan past of the Vyatka land, correlated non-canonical rites with the pre-Christian, i. e. Udmurt population. There is no reliable data on pagan sanctuaries within the city yet.

KEYWORDS: historical geography, historical local lore, urban archeology, archival sources, Vyatka (Khlynov), Udmurts, pagan religion.

For citation: Korshunkov V. A. [Were There Any Pagan Shrines within the City of Vyatka?]. Istoriko-geograficheskiy zhurnal [Historical Geography Journal], 2024, vol. 3, no. 4, pp. 20–35. DOI: 10.58529/2782-6511-2024-3-4-20-35 (In Russian).

Received 1 September 2024
Accepted 2 December 2024

© 2024 The Author

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