Stability and Change in the Udmurt Kuris’kon Prayers

Abstract

In Udmurt prayers, the texts have been slow to change in the last century. Although data are not complete, and we have only fractions of data about their evolution after the Revolution and during Soviet times, we know enough to understand that changes were introduced scarcely. In the last decades, especially in the two last decades, many changes have been introduced and the rhythm is increasing. This is the question this paper endeavours to explore, on the basis of a corpus gathered in Bashkortostan, region where the Udmurt ethnic religious practice is still very much alive and even thriving in the second decade of the 21st century.