Votive Gifts in Russia. Objects and Practices

Abstract

The paper considers the votive practices and gifts known in the Russian religious tradition. The author gives an overview of individual and collective vows common in medieval and imperial Russia, as well as the main types of votive gifts: buildings (churches, chapels), crosses, icons, reliquaries, icon salaries, church embroidery, fabrics, anatomical weights, precious gifts to icons, etc. Votive actions were the most important social tool for creating a variety of religious objects, from monumental (like monastery buildings and city cathedrals) to small (like shawls, towels or pendants in the form of a diseased organ). At the same time, the action of making, bringing, using the votive object and the material object itself were inextricably linked – the word ‘vow’ in Russia meant not only a promise, but also a monetary contribution to a monastery or church, and a votive object, and animals fattened for a sacrifice to a saint (holiday), and any other kind of gift, material or actional. As the author notes, a review of these traditions helps to better understand modern votive practices that have actively spread in Russia in the last decade.