Transformation of Traditional Culture (Case Study: Municipal Areas of Ulyanovsk Region, Russia)

The preset paper aimed to analyze the latest trends in a modern ethno-cultural life in two districts of Ulyanovsk region. Empirical basis of research included interviews and statistical data as well as publications in this field. All respondents mentioned a general increase of interest in the national culture among the population especially after the USSR collapse. However, it was mostly appeared in the responses of the Mordovians, the Chuvash and partly the Tatars. There was a significant aspiration to learn and thoroughly understand cultures of areas among the Russians. Nevertheless, this tendency is often neglected with obliteration of ethnic particularity in ethnos as a concern of some experts. The author believes that national villages, schools and in some cases the administration of national districts are centers of preservation and popularization of traditional culture. Traditional sport is a way of national cultures’ revival. In general, rural municipalities represent a role model for the tolerance even comparing with the multinational Middle Volga region that is especially noticeable among the youth. The interest in religion is also growing throughout the region. Christians are the greatest number of believers. The author assumed that the interest in "national" and "religious" aspects often had a distinctive characteristic indicating the process of irregularities of ethno-cultural and religious revival in the region.