Marriage Rituals: Ritualistic Conditioning of Slavic Women

Abstract

My research paper for the international religious studies undergraduate research conference will outline Slavic peasants and the feminine myth in Russian culture, reconstructing the Russian Goddess Moist Mother Earth. In the Slavic peasant tradition Russia is inherently close to the earth because of its long-standing agrarian existence. By investigating the rites of the agrarian calendar I will research the question, how has Moist Mother Earth influenced Slavic peasant religious and folk traditions? I will analyze how the authority of Earth as Clan Mother is expressed in Russian peasantry in order to establish meaning behind various religious rituals and folk traditions.