Marla faith

The Mari Traditional Religion (MTR) is a syncretic religion and the traditional faith of the Mari people of the republic of Mari El, Russia. The religion encompasses animist beliefs, Paganism, and elements of Christianity and Islam. Subject to persecution in the Soviet Union, the faith has been granted official status since the 1990s by the government of Mari El, where it is recognized as one of the three traditional faiths along with Orthodox Christianity and Islam. Some activists claim that MTR believers are subject to pressure by Russian authorities as part of a wider campaign to russify Mari culture. Vitaly Tanakov, an adherent of the faith, was charged with inciting religious, national, social and linguistic hatred after publishing the book The Priest Speaks.^[1]

The Mari faith includes tree worship, animal sacrifices and comprises a pantheon of at least nine deities which are said to be substances or hypostases of Osh Kughu Yumo—Mari for "Great White God". These substances include the life-giving Ilyan Yumo, a birth goddess Shochinava and Agavairem, a god of creative powers.^[2]

The religion is one of Europe's last traditional belief that has survived Christianisation although it has co-existed with Russian Orthodoxy for generations. Many Maris today are baptized as Christians yet they attend traditional prayers rather than Church services. A sociological survey conducted in 2004 found that about 15 percent of the people of Mari-El consider themselves adherents of MTR. Since Maris make up just 45 percent of the republic's population of 700,000, this figure means that probably more than a third of them claim to follow the old religion.^[3]

Mari intellectuals maintain that MTR believers should be classified in groups with varying degrees of Russian-Orthodox influence, including "Rush Faith" followers, who might even go to church at times; followers of "Marla Faith" who are baptized; and nonbaptized "Chi Mari."

References

1. ^ http://xeno.sova-center.ru/6BA2468/6BB4208/9D8E370?print=on
2. ^ http://www.mari-el.name/mtr.html (Russian)
3. ^ [1]

External links

• Mari Traditional Religion - official website (in Russian)
• The Moscow Times: 'Europe's Last Pagans' Worship in Marii-El Grove
• Republic of Mari-El (Russia) MARI PAGANISM: TRADITIONAL RELIGION OR DESTRUCTIVE CULT? Keston News Service - 12 July 2002 on RELIGIOSCOPE
• http://www.woz.ch/artikel/archiv/10374.html