Sacred Spaces of the Mari Culture. Signs and Typologization of the Mythologized Landscape

Introduction. Amid growing interest from the public and researchers in the pre-Christian, nature-centered beliefs of the peoples of the Volga region, issues related to the perception of natural landscapes and their use in ritual practices have gained renewed relevance. The study aims to propose key factors for the qualitative description of the sacred landscape of contemporary Mari communities: the degree of development, the orderliness of the locus, its mythological image, and its role in ritual practices. Based on these factors, the authors present their own typology of sacred toposes within Mari culture. Materials and Methods. The article is based on the field materials of the Department of Ethnology (the Faculty of History of Lomonosov Moscow State University) in 1995, 2021-2023 and the Complex Expedition of the National Museum (the Republic of Mari El named after T. Evseev). The geography of research covers Mari El, Bashkortostan, and the Kirov region. The main methods are the collection of texts about the landscapes (folklore texts, interviews) and their narratological analysis, visual fixation of monuments. Results and Discussion. As criteria for describing spaces the authors analyze their physical characteristics, the image in folklore, the practices and mythological characters associated with them, and the degree of anthropogenic influence. The ambivalent properties of sacred landscapes and the process of creating new sacred toposes are revealed in the article. The internal organization of sacred groves and their role in the religious life of local communities are described in detail. The authors identify five categories of spaces: sacred groves; unorganized sacred loci; symbolic burial sites of the Mari heroes; “bad places”; active and abandoned burial sites. At the same time, the researchers note the variability of natural landscape objects and the possibility of combining features of different types in one monument. Conclusion. The conclusions made by the authors contribute to the development of ethnological research of Mari religious practices and mythological representations. The materials of the article can be useful in describing and systematizing the landscapes of traditional culture, in studying the interaction of people and nature within the framework of ritual actions.