SAUNA IN THE “LEXICON OF TRADITIONAL CULTURE OF ESTONIA’S OLD BELIEVERS”

The Department of Russian Language researchers at the University of Tartu are working on the “Lexicon of Traditional Culture of Estonia’s Old Believers”. The purpose of the Lexicon is to describe the world of the Old Believers of Estonia, collect facts and phenomena of the departing folk culture of this national minority, give an idea of its dialect, show the similarities and differences in the culture of the peoples living nearby. Furthermore, the researchers attempt to fix the existing dialectal vocabulary and outgoing or gone phenomena of everyday life, rituals, traditions, etc. The publication assumes a combination of scientific and popular knowledge. Interpretations and comments on dictionary entries are in two languages: Russian and Estonian, which will allow the Estonian reader to get closer to the culture of local Old Believers. The collected material makes up three volumes of the Lexicon, which are conventionally called “House and Household”, “Faith and Customs”, “Labor and Nature”. The Lexicon’s structure follows ideographic and alphabetical principles. Currently, the researchers are completing the first volume, focused on the everyday life of the Old Believer family, actions in and around the house, the activities of a woman, the mother of the family. As an example, the article partially contains the section of the Lexicon devoted to the sauna.