Stones-notes on Maximilian Voloshin’s grave
https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2024-4-92-111
Abstract
The author examines the vernacular «cult» that arose at the poet Maximilian Voloshin’s grave (Crimea, Koktebel village). Visitors to the grave, ascending the Kuchuk-Yenishar mountain, bring stones on which they write messages to the poet. In these messages, Voloshin acts as a giver of benefits, he is approached with requests for health, creation and well-being of a family, material prosperity, career success, etc. The article provides a quantitative analysis of written appeals to Voloshin. For comparison, the author presents materials of a similar «cult» that exists near one of the Novodevichy Convent towers in Moscow. Those two cases have similar structures of appeals to the mythologized sacred addressee. They differ only in particulars; that are determined by the characteristics of the addressee, place and time of address. The requests generally reflect the values of Russian citizens, revealed by sociological surveys; thus, the categories of health, family values, well-being and safety of loved ones come first. Voloshin’s grave and the tower of the Novodevichy Convent are tourist attractions. The vast majority of visitors come to them not to seek help (for example, miraculous healing), but simply as part of leisure. When «honouring» Voloshin, the first place is not the solution of current human issues, but gaming activity, largely motivated by the aesthetics of what is happening.
Supporting agencies: The work was carried out within the framework of the project «Neo-Paganism in the Russian Federation» of the Program of scientific research on the ethnocultural diversity of Russian society and aimed at strengthening Russian identity, 2023–2025. The author thanks the staff of the museum-reserve «Cimmeria M.A. Voloshin» (S.V. Kleps) and the organizers of the seminar «Anthropology of Religion: People, Relics, Practices in the Post-Soviet Space» of the Center for Visual Studies of the Middle Ages and Modern Culture of the RSUH, D.I. Antonov and D.Yu. Doronin.
About the Author
D. V. Gromov
N.N. Miklukho-Maklai Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Dmitrii V. Gromov, Dr. of Sci. (History)
32a, Leninsky Av., Moscow, 119334
References
1. Antonov, D.I. (2023), “Votive gifts in present-day Russia. Religious practice in the dynamics of its development”, RSUH/RGGU Bulletin. “Literary Theory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies” Series, no. 2, pp. 10–31.
2. Bessonov, I.A. (2012) “Notes to God and saints in the Russian and Jewish traditions”, in Belova, O.V., ed., “Staroe” i “novoe” v slavyanskoi i evreiskoi kul’turnoi traditsii [“Old” and “new” in the Slavic and Jewish cultural tradition], Moscow, Russia, pp. 165–178.
3. Filicheva, O.N. (2006), “Notes for Blessed Xenia. The position of clergy and folk custom”, Kormina, Zh.V., Shtyrkov, S.A. and Panchenko, A.A., eds., Sny Bogoroditsy: Issledovaniya po antropologii religii [Dreams of the Virgin. Studies in the anthropology of religion], Saint Petersburg, Russia, pp. 171–183.
4. Gromov, D.V. (2013), “Ritual in the urban landscape – objects and practices”, Traditsionnaya kul`tura, no. 3, pp. 71–82.
5. Gromov, D.V. (2013), “Saint Sophia of the Novodevichy Monastery. Who is she and where is she from?”, in Fol’klor XXI veka: Geroi nashego vremeni [Folklore of the 21 st century. Heroes of our time], Gosudarstvennyi respublikanskii tsentr russkogo fol’klora, Moscow, Russia, pp. 61–71.
6. Gromov, D.V. and Ippolitova, A.B. (2011), “The map of human desires, or Notes at the Moscow monastery walls”, Traditsionnaya kul`tura, no. 3, pp. 76–87.
7. Kormina, Zh. and Shtyrkov, S. (2008), “Letters of believers as an advertisement. The ‘national reception desk’ of St. Xenia of St. Petersburg”, Antropologicheskii forum, no. 9, pp. 154–184.
8. Maizul’s, M.R., Zotov, S.O. and Antonov, D.I. (2022), Voskovye nogi i zheleznye glaza: votivnye praktiki ot Srednevekov’ya do nashikh dnei [Wax legs and iron eyes. Votive practices from the Middle Ages to the present day], Slovo/Slovo, Moscow, Russia.
9. Moroz, A.B. (2021), “Revered crypts at the Vvedensky cemetery in Moscow: ‘Black Savior’ – the history of the cult”, Etnograficheskoe obozrenie, no. 1, pp. 163–178.
10. Moroz, A.B. (2014), “Veneration of the grave of Ivan Yakovlevich Koreysha in Moscow”, Zhivaya starina, no. 1, pp. 9–12.
11. Moroz, A.B. (2013), “The sacred addressee is a profane addressee. Notes to saints as a means of fulfilling desires”, Traditsionnaya kul`tura, no. 3, pp. 83–89.
12. Razumova, I.A. (2003), “Non-fairy tale prose of a provincial town”, in Sovremennyi gorodskoi fol’klor [Modern urban folklore], Moscow, Russia, pp. 544–559.
13. Ryigas, E.V. (2013), “Letters to the saints. Ethics and poetics of sacred communication”, in Arkhipova*, A., ed., Mifologicheskiye modeli i ritual’noye povedeniye v sovetskomi postsovetskom prostranstve [Mythological models and ritual behavior in the Soviet and post-Soviet space], RGGU, Moscow, Russia, pp. 143–151.
14. Shchepanskaya, T.B. (1995), “Crisis network (tradition of spiritual development of space)”, in Russkii Sever: K probleme lokal’nykh grupp [Russian North. On the issue of local groups], Saint Petersburg, Russia, pp. 110–177.
15. Toporov, V.N. (1995), “Petersburg texts and Petersburg myths (Notes from the series)”, in Toporov, V.N., Mif. Ritual. Simvol. Obraz: Issledovaniya v oblasti mifopoetichesk- ogo [Myth. Ritual. Symbol. Image. Research in the field of mythopoetic], Progress – Culture, Moscow, Russia, pp. 368–399.
Review
For citations:
Gromov D.V. Stones-notes on Maximilian Voloshin’s grave. RSUH/RGGU Bulletin: “Literary Teory. Linguistics. Cultural Studies”, Series. 2024;(4):92-111. (In Russ.) https://doi.org/10.28995/2686-7249-2024-4-92-111
Views:
67
Email this article 