Metamorphosis of Gods: A Historical Study on the Traditional Religion of the Chuvash
Metamorphosis of Gods: A Historical Study on the Traditional Religion of the Chuvash

Summary/Abstract: After the Middle Volga region was taken under Russian control in the mid-sixteenth century, the Orthodox mission was developed in this region. Consequently, Christianity spread among the non-Russian people except for the Tatar, the greater part of whom were Muslim. The majority of the other nations such as Mari, Mordvin and Chuvash were baptized by the end of the nineteenth century.1 Yet many elements of traditional religion never disappeared despite vigorous Orthodox and Muslim proselytizing. Among these elements the most salient objects of worship were kiremet’ and ierekh. Although they underwent a drastic transformation in their features under the influence of Christianity, the worship was retained by the Chuvash people until the beginning of the twentieth century. The goal of this paper is to explore the historical process of the transformation of the traditional religion by analyzing in more detail these two objects.

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