BELIEFS OF MORDOVIANS ON THE TWELVE GREAT FEASTS

The article sets to examine the views of the Mordovian ethnos on the twelve great feasts. As a result of the analysis of ethnographic materials and Christian theology, the author comes to the conclusion that the beliefs of Moksha and Erzi regarding the content and meaning of such Great holidays as Christmas, Epiphany, Easter and All Saints' week have neither part nor lot in eortology. Mordva has bound traditional thoughts, having kept external commitment to Orthodoxy without knowing the value enclosed in them by Church.