ABSTRACT
The religious situation in the Arctic and Sub-Arctic regions of Eurasia differs a great deal from people to people, between the Saami in the west and the Chukchi in the east. Some of the peoples have been Christian for centuries, while among others the indigenous religions have been alive in all secrecy throughout the decades of the Soviet era. Most of the religious functionaries were executed in the middle of the 1930s when the north – some twenty years after the Russian revolution of 1917 – was integrated into Stalin’s empire. Only some aspects of the religions are known today to the peoples themselves. However, several of the indigenous religions of these peoples have been revitalized since the breakdown of the Soviet Union. Thus, bear ceremonials, sacrifices, and “shamanistic” rituals are today performed once again. In the Republic of Yakutia in Siberia, “shamanism” has even been proclaimed the official religion.
