akathistos (Greek; pl. akathistoi), akafist (Russian): Orthodox Christian hymn in praise of a saint, Jesus Christ, or an icon of Mary; may be performed as part of a church service or by laypeople in private
agavajrem, aga pajrem (Mari): spring plowing festival involving meatless sacrifices in a small grove at the edge of the village fields
ASSR (Russian): Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic; an administrative unit providing ethnic autonomy within the RSFSR or another part of the Soviet Union
batjushka (Russian): lit. “little father”; term of address for a Russian Orthodox priest
bozhnitsa (Russian, colloquial): derived from bog (God); shelf in a corner of a house where icons and other sacred objects are kept; often closed off by a curtain in the Volga region
Charismatic: in a general sense (usually lowercase), any movement within a Christian church that practices spiritual gifts, such as speaking in tongues. In this book, the term is used more specifically for a subgroup of Pentecostal churches with origins in late twentieth-century North America, associated with prosperity theology, a selective appropriation of contemporary popular culture and media, and an emphasis on systematic church growth.
chastushka (Russian; pl. chastushki): genre of teasing four-line verses whose texts are improvised to a set tune
Chimarij (Mari): lit. “pure Mari”; a term used for unbaptized Mari and, by extension, Mari who practice traditional sacrificial rituals
dukh, dukhovnost' (adj. dukhovnyj) (Russian): spirit, spirituality (adj. spiritual)
jachejka (Russian): lit. “cell”; the basic unit that made up local organizations of the Communist Party and the Komsomol during the Soviet period; later, transferred to small, face-to-face study groups in evangelical churches
joltash (Mari): friend; used as translation for Russian tovarishch
Joshkar-Ola (Mari): Red City, the capital of Marij El
jumo (Mari): god; can be applied to Mari and Christian divinities and saints
jumyn jüla (Mari): lit. “god’s custom”; Mari neologism for “catechism" or “religion”; title of a book on Chimarij ritual by the high priest Aleksandr Tanygin and the ethnographer Nikandr Popov
kart (Tatar): lit. “elder”; term used in Russian for Chimarij priests
kolkhoz (Russian): short for kollektivnoe khozjajstvo; collective farm
kolkhoznik, fem. kolkhoznitsa (Russian): collective farm worker
Komsomol (Russian): short for Kommunisticheskij Sojuz Molodëzhi; communist youth league
Kugu Sorta (Mari): lit. “big candle”; Mari reform movement of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries whose members rejected Christianity, but also animal and food sacrifices, and sought to present a rationalized and codified Mari religion. The movement was wiped out under Stalin.
kumaltysh (Mari): lit. “prayer”; term used for a ritual gathering, such as a sacrificial ceremony
Marij El (Mari): lit. “Mari country”; official name of the Mari republic since 1991
Mari Ushem (Mari): lit. “Union of Maris”; association representing Mari cultural and political interests, founded in April 1990
medrese (Tatar/Arabic): Islamic religious school
mer kumaltysh (Mari): lit. “world prayer” or “communal prayer”; prayer ceremony to which Maris are invited regardless of their residence
metodist (Russian): expert in didactic methods, events, and program planning at a cultural institution; rendered as “methodician” in this book
nagljadka (Russian, antiquated): informal learning by emulation, through watching others
nagljadnost' (Russian): visuality, visual teaching aids
onaeng (Mari): lit. “holy person”; a Chimarij priest
otpevanie (Russian): lit. “singing off"; Russian Orthodox funeral mass
peledysh pajrem (Mari): lit. “festival of flowers”; Soviet holiday created for the Maris in the 1920s and revived in the 1960s; also known as joshkar peledysh pajrem, the Festival of Red Flowers
poklon (Russian): bow, prostration
poklonjat'sja (verb), poklonenie (n.) (Russian): to bow down, to worship; worship (n.)
poshkudo (Mari): neighbor
proslavlenie (Russian): praise
rodo-tukym (Mari): relatives
RSFSR (Russian): Russian Soviet Federal Socialist Republic; one of the republics of the Soviet Union, known today as the Russian Federation
rural council (Russian: sel'sovet): lowest level of elected government in the Soviet and post-Soviet countryside. The rural council chairperson is comparable to a village mayor.
sabantuj (Tatar): festival of spring sowing held around the same time as the Mari agavajrem, involving wrestling and horse-racing competitions and ritual meals. Since the 1920s, it was promoted as a secularized ethnic festival analogous to the Mari peledysh pajrem.
semik (Russian), semyk (Mari): in the Russian and Mari folk calendar, a day for commemorating the dead seven weeks after Easter
shymaksh (Mari): pointed headdress worn by married Mari women on the left bank of the Volga; consists of an embroidered scarf placed over a birch-bark cone on a woman’s forehead and covers the back of her head and her hair
soroka (Mari, Russian derivation): married woman’s headdress worn in the western parts of the Mari region; consists of a rectangular box of birchbark placed on a woman’s head and covered by an embroidered scarf tied under the chin
subbotnik (Russian): derived from subbota (Saturday); unpaid community workday, typically devoted to cleaning up and beautifying public spaces
sürem (Mari): summer festival with animal sacrifices, celebrated around haying time
tamada (Georgian): Soviet term for toastmaster; master of ceremonies at a banquet
tovarishch (Russian): comrade
znanie (Russian): knowledge