Muslim Family Ceremonies in the Life of Contemporary Tatars: Traditions and Innovations

Abstract

The last decades of sociopolitical transformation in Russia
affected the intensification of ethnic and religious processes in the
society. The revival of Islam among the Tatars caused a sharp increase
of the number of religious communities and mosques, a strengthening
of their religious consciousness, and an intensification of religious
practices. Muslim family rituals such as Nickah (the religious
wedding rite), Isem qushu (the rite of childrens’ naming), Sunnat (the
rite of circumcision), and different funerary and memorial rites are
widely practiced among the Tatars and perceived as a significant part
of the Tatars’ festive culture.
Religious traditions in the family ceremonial culture of contemporary
Tatars are being reanimated in new forms, as the traditions—
innovations, that are formed under the influence of the process of
reislamization of the Tatar society and the process of its modernization.