THE SACRED PLACES OF THE BASHKORTOSTAN UDMURT
In this short article, we attempt to summarize some data and reflections about the Eastern Udmurt’s sacred places, focusing mostly on places used for collective ceremonies at the village (and not at the family) level. Firstly we present these places from the point of view of continuity and show that most of the sacred places have remained the same for a long time, although changes in the agricultural system led to eliminate the rotation in the use of the fields and hence the rotation in the use of sacred places. The main changes of sacred places have been a consequence of the Soviet anti-religious policies, which compelled the villages to choose more hidden places for their ceremonies, for Soviet officials used to interrupt the ceremonies and to knock over the cauldrons with the sacrificial food. Then we introduce a recent phenomenon, the fencing of all sacred places: while traditionally only the Keremet / Lud ceremonies took place in a fenced location, now all the sacred places are being fenced and where they still are not, the wish to have them fenced is rising. We attempt to expose the reasons behind it and we conclude with some reflections on the possible different levels of sacredness for the Eastern Udmurt, an issue that requires further fieldwork to be developed.