Dribbles of Rozanov: Fourth Droplet

Стоят два народа соседние и так и пылают гневом:
— Ты чему поклоняешься, болван??! — Кумиру, содеянному руками человеческими, из меди и дерева, как глаголет пророк (имя рек) в Писании. Я же поклоняюсь пречистым иконам, болван и нехристь...
Стоит “нехристь” и хлопает глазами, ничего не понимая. Но напоследок испугался, снял шляпу, и со всемордовским усердием земно поклонился перед Пречистым Образом и затеплил свечку.
Иловайский написал новую главу в достопамятную свою историю:
“Обращение в христианство мордвы”, “вотяков”, “пермяков”.
Племянник (приехал из “Шихран”, Казанской губ.) рассказывал за чаем: “В день празднования вотяцкого бога (кажется, Кереметь), коего кукла стоит на колокольне в сельской церкви, все служители низшие, дьячок, пономарь, сторож церковный, запираются под замок в особую клеть, и сидят там весь день... И сколько им денег туда (в клеть) вотяки накидают!!! Пока они там заперты, вотяки празднуют перед своим богом...” Это — день “отданья язычеству”, как у нас есть “отданье Пасхе”. Вотяки награждают низших церковнослужителей, а отчасти и со страхом им платят, за то, что они уступают один день в году их “старинке”... В “клети” православные сидят как бы “в плену”, в узилище, в тюрьме, даже (по-ихнему) “в аду”, пока их старый “бог” (а по-нашему “чёрт”) выходит из христианского “узилища”, чтобы попраздновать со своим народцем, с былыми своими “поклонниками”. Замечательный обычай, сохранившийся до нашего 1911 года.

Two neighbors stand near each other, they are aflame with fury.
--“What are you worshiping, you fool??!
An idol, made with human hands, out of honey аnd wood, like the prophet [?] spake in the Scriptures. Whereas I am worshiping a holy icon, you fool and non-christian heathen…”
The “non-christian” stands and bats his eyes, understanding nothing. But then he got scared at the last minute, and having snatched off his hat, bowed deeply, with Mordvinian zeal, to the ground in front of the Holy Icon and lit a candle.
Ilovaiskii wrote a new chapter in his memorable history:
“The Conversion To Christianity of the Mordvinians, the Votyakians and the Permians.”
My nephew (came from “Shikhran” in the Kazan Region) told me over tea: “On the day for celebrating the Votyakian god (apparently called Keremet’), whose doll stands on the bell tower of the village church, every lower church attendant-- sextons, watchman, etc.--lock themselves in a special cage and sit there the whole day…And the Votyakians throw so much money into it (the cage)!!! While they are locked up in there, the Votyakians celebrate their god…” It’s a day of “Pagan Salutation”, just like we have an “Easter Salutation.” The Votyakians reward the lower church attendants, partly paying them out of fear, so that they will be allowed one day a year for their “tradition”…In the “cage” the Russian Orthodoxy sit as if “in captivity” in prison, almost (as they call it) “in hell”, and all the while the old “god” (who we call “devil”) is let out of Christian “captivity” to celebrate with his people, with those who were once his devotees. A noteworthy custom, preserved all the way to our year of 1911.

***

How many times have you heard that old argument that “pagan” traditions are re-coded under Christianity, and allowed to persist in ritual practice? That story is ubiquitous, clichéd, and, as VR shows us, not entirely accurate.

Yes, in his first story, about the Mordvinians, VR tells the clichéd tale: Christian meets non-Christian. Christian tells non-Christian to switch idol for icon. Non-Christian switches objects and transfers his old spirituality [his “zeal”, or усердие] relatively intact to a new Religion.

In his story about the Votyakians, however, passed down through his nephew, VR shows us something different: Christians lock the Votyakian deity “in the closet.” Votyakians bribe Christians to allow them to “let him out” once a year. Christians accept money and pretend they aren’t looking.

This is really two stories: The first is a story about censorship, where certain practices, objects and people, need to be actively [and even ritualistically] EXCLUDED in order for the dominant narrative to function smoothly. This story should be familiar to us. Here in America we don’t learn about Native American history for the same reason. And in contemporary Russia, for example, homosexuality is politically and culturally repressed so that reprosexuality can flourish [got to birth those babies, now!]. Same kind of story.

The second story is about carnival, where the entire system of exclusions and closetings are suspended for a few moments of decadent, dissident release. These moments of return, of “unleashing the demons” are necessary to keep the system of oppression functional for the rest of the year. These stories aren't as familiar, but they are just as factual. After all, didn't Rozanov himself keep some demons “in the closet?” Demons that he sometimes “released?”

Organized religion seems pretty illegitimate when you think of it in these terms…just a bunch of overly-performative rituals [of exclusion and release, absorption and displacement]. Practical, strategic, but totally silly.