The Semeiskie are a community of orthodox Old Believers who have lived in the

Transbaikal Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...

since the reign of Catherine the Great. The sacred rites and rituals of the Old Believers came to be in opposition to those of the official state church after the introduction of the 17th century religious reforms known as the

Raskol The Schism of the Russian Church, also known as Raskol (russian: раскол, , meaning "split" or "schism"), was the splitting of the Russian Orthodox Church into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It ...

. Those who rejected the reforms became known as " Old Believers" and continued to practice their faith despite repression. The Semeiskie were a particular group of Old Believers who fled to

Gomel Gomel (russian: Гомель, ) or Homiel ( be, Гомель, ) is the administrative centre of Gomel Region and the second-largest city in Belarus with 526,872 inhabitants (2015 census). Etymology There are at least six narratives of the o ...

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

(at that time part of

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

). Catherine the Great then exiled the group to Buryatia, on the pretext that they could there become farmers for the Cossack guards who defended the borders of the empire. The descendants of these original Semeiskie have lived in the region ever since.

Culture

The Semeiskie have a long oral tradition, in speech as well as vocal music. The Semeiskie songs are notable for their polyphonic dissonance in both sacred and secular music. The themes of the songs vary widely, from religious texts to everyday songs. The cultural space and oral culture of the Semeiskie was placed on the UNESCO List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2001.

References

{{UNESCO Oral and Intangible Eastern Europe Old Believers Ethnoreligious groups Ethnic groups in Siberia Russian sub-ethnic groups Social groups of Russia Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity