Russia's Mari Mark 30 Years Of Forest Prayer

Mari worshipers kneel in a sacred forest grove near Toshkemnur village, in Russia's Mari El Republic. 

A cluster of candles burn inside a tree stump in the forest. The October prayers mark thirty years since the resumption of openly held Mari rituals after decades of repression by the Soviet authorities.

Cauldrons for the meat of sacrificial animals in the sacred grove. 

The Mari are a Finnic ethnic minority of some 350,000 people in central Russia. Many practice a unique, pre-Christian religion that is closely linked to nature.

Mari priests wave a smouldering stick during the autumn ceremony. 

Mari priest Vasily Smirnov. 

Smirnov, who led the prayers, says he was drawn to the religion during the Soviet era, when many Mari secretly continued their rituals. In October 1985, an old woman in a traditional Mari outfit passed the young Smirnov in the forest as he was gathering firewood with his family. "She looked straight at me, at first I was scared, then some kind of blissful calm settled over me." he recalls. "It happened in the space of a few seconds, my relatives didn't even notice anything." 

A sacrificial goose awaits its fate as chanted prayers ring out in the forest. The autumn ritual began before dawn when a goose, a young cow, and a male sheep were tied to trees in the glade. 

A stack of flatbreads, which are traditional in the central Russian region, photographed during the Mari ceremony. 

Mari with a goose they brought to sacrifice. 

Pots of boiling meat after several animals were slaughtered near the grove. 

Towels, which are brought by worshipers and hung on a string immediately upon arrival at the glade. During the ceremony, RFE/RL saw a police car pass nearby, apparently checking on the ritual, but it didn't stop. 

Worshipers are served boiled meat. Organizers of the event warned that only those who brought their own bowls and spoons would be served. 

Mari sing in front of buckets of freshly boiled meat. 

In the spring of 2021, there was an outcry among Mari after a regional official apparently referred to the adherents of the Mari religion as "radical" and called on local authorities to limit their freedom to use public land. In late September, that official left his post in El Mari after a poor showing from the ruling United Russia party in the region in recent elections. 

Mari priests preparing to eat the boiled meat of the ritual. 

A sign on a car near the grove with the message, in Mari language "Godspeed to you." Locals in El Mari say the ability to worship remains relatively free today, though there is some suspicion that senior religious leaders in the Mari community are being screened by the authorities.