Symposium C.3: The winter in Finno-Ugric cultures

Organizers: Natalia Ermakov, Nikolay Kuznetsov, Sergey Troitskiy (Estonian Literary Museum)

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The symposium focuses on the representation of winter in Finno-Ugric cultures. Winter is a particularly important ideational element for the northern peoples, but nevertheless it is little studied. The duration of winter, aesthetics, traumatism, etc., determine daily practices, configuration of the human body, religious rituals, etc. to a much greater extent than other seasons. Existence in winter conditions requires acceptance of natural conditions. People living in the North construct their way of life and daily practices based on the idea of natural domination, “big” winter, etc. (e.g. karelianism). At the same time, many modern philosophical, political and economic attitudes are formed without taking into account Northern living conditions. It is planned to study the image of winter primarily on the basis of folkloric materials and analyze the influence of winter on philosophical theories, political ideologies, economic practices, communication, feeling etc. Presentations dealing with the winter in Finno-Ugric cultures are welcome.

Contact persons: Natalia Ermakov natalia.ermakov@folklore.ee, Nikolay Kuznetsov nikolay.kuznetsov@folklore.ee, Sergey Troitskiy sergei.troitskii@folklore.ee