#RA27
1913
First Edition. Large Octavo. [4], vii, 293 pp. 24,8x16,5 cm. With sixteen photographic plates. Original publisher's printer wrappers. Spine is carefully restored. The pre-revolutionary stamp of the student reading group on the title page. Overall very good, clean copy.
First comprehensive ethnographic study of religious and folk holidays and festivities in Eastern Siberia, in particular in the Yenisei province (Krasnoyarsk, Achinsk, Minusinsk). The author focuses mostly on Russian peasants and indigenous converts to Orthodox Christianity, but notes that paganism and superstitions of the natives highly influenced the traditions and mentality of the Russian settlers. Makarenko describes Siberian folk festivities for every day of the year, their character, traditions of celebration and significance in people’s life. The illustrations reproduce thirty-two photographs, showing Siberian peasants and scenes of their everyday activities, dances and games. The supplement contains the alphabet and subject indexes of Siberian holidays; bibliography of the main works on the topic (p. 251-256); and an oral Siberian calendar from a blind Siberian peasant Chima, known for his phenomenal memory.
The author was a noted Russian ethnographer and journalist, an associate of the Ethnographic Department of the Russian Museum in Saint Petersburg, Alexey Makarenko. For the book he received awards of the Russian Geographical Society, Russian Academy of Sciences and Tomsk University.
