Paganism in Russia Becoming Political Because of Ignorance and Inattention of Authorities

Experts Say

The attention that self-proclaimed Shaman Gabyshev has received for his plans to march on Moscow and the victory of the KPRF over United Russia in Mari El, one of the strongholds of traditional religion in the Russian Federation, have sparked concerns in the Russian capital that paganism is energizing the political opposition.

Russia’s unorthodox worshippers

Alexandre Billette pays a visit to forest worshippers of the remote Mari El republic on the Volga, who have maintained their religious traditions despite pressure from the Tsars, the Soviet regime and the Orthodox church.

On a poor road across the Mari El Republic, the village of Mari-Turek is barely distinguishable from thousands of others in rural Russia that time has forgotten. With no industry, it dozes peacefully away from the main thoroughfares of the Volga federal district.