"Kui pidu korraldatakse, on järelikult seda kellelgi vaja." Vene vastlapühade tähistamisest Tallinnas
„Every Celebration is Necessary for Someone”: Russian Shrovetide in Tallinn

Summary/Abstract: This article explores Russian Shrovetide or maslenitsa celebrations in contemporary Tallinn as means of giving Russian national culture in Estonia a tangible form and claiming, strengthening as well as representing a distinctively Russian ethnocultural identity. The article thus treats calendar customs as bodily techniques of incorporation that play a crucial role in creating and reproducing ethnic collectivity as a bodily community as well as an entity that can be put on display and remembered. Furthermore, maslenitsa celebrations in Estonia are discussed in the broader context of state integration policies, which aim at strengthening a homogeneous state identity in the public sphere, while fostering, at the same time, ethnocultural diversity in the private sphere. The analysis builds on ethnographic fieldwork carried out in Tallinn, focusing on two empirical cases: maslenitsa festivities in a school that uses Russian as the language of instruction and a commercial maslenitsa party held on Tallinn Song Festival Grounds, the capital’s major festival venue.

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