The Commemorative Ritual <i>Chekan</i> in the Ethnocultural Landscape of an Udmurt Village
Based on fieldwork, this article examines a local Udmurt commemoration ritual called Chekan, which is strictly associated with one of the summer months of leap years and included in the cycle of commemorative rituals dedicated to a particular category of deceased - people having died abroad and by non-natural causes. The participants in this ritual are only the inhabitants of two related villages, Kalashur (in Udmurt Vuzh Tigyrmen) and Dubrovskiy (in Udmurt Vyl’ Tigyrmen) in the Kiyasovo District of the Udmurt Republic, as well as people who had left these villages but came back on purpose to attend. The ceremony takes place downstream of the Shekhostanka River (in Udmurt Miyol) relative to the village of Kalashur; locals call it “chekan/chekas’kon in’ty” (“the place of the Chekan/Chekas’kon”). Everything in the surrounding space (the spring, meadow, sacrificial spruce, etc.), includes “Chekan” - the name of the ceremony - in their designation and continues to preserve a sacred significance. Repeated participation in the ritual has allowed the author to reconstruct its diachrony, to describe its synchronic forms and to follow the evolution of the ritual scenario. The infrequency of the ritual has led to the reduction and simplification of its structure, a decrease in both in quantitative participation and in its diversity, as well as to a change of place. In general, the waning of this tradition has entailed a significant transformation of the cultural and religious landscape of the village.