A Surefire Way to Let Go of Resentment Toward Our Ancestors

On December 26, 1991, around 30 million ethnic Russians suddenly found themselves citizens of foreign countries, just a fraction of a second after the Soviet flag was lowered forever. A political agreement had stripped them of the privileges they had enjoyed as citizens of the “motherland,” not a war or an uprising.

Around 30 million Russians were living in Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and the Baltic states when the lowering of the Soviet hammer-and-sickle flag was broadcast on television. They lived in countries that would now be known as former Soviet republics, territories that had previously been required to set aside their local identities in favor of a single official identity.

Many of the conflicts in Eastern Europe today are, to a large extent, the result of small, long-smoldering tensions between the Russian diaspora and local populations in the former Soviet republics. Local communities carry deep trauma from various state policies once imposed by the government that had supported them and has since dissolved. Meanwhile, Russian immigrants see their circumstances as the consequence of policies made by people who were supposed to protect and look after them.

The people of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Moldova, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and, of course, Ukraine are still struggling to rediscover identities that were once lost. At the same time, members of the Russian diaspora living in these countries are also struggling to adapt to their governments’ efforts to move beyond the Soviet shadow. Among other things, this has meant no longer using Russian as an official language.

Illustration: A kapok tree in Situs Tejosari, Singosari, Malang. 

The end is the beginning

Parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, forebears, ancestors … All these words have essentially the same literal meaning in context: people who existed or were born before us, people who, by chance, are the reason you are here today, reading my blog.

Because they were ordinary human beings just like us, we are sometimes left puzzled by the actions they took and the decisions they made. This happens because they and we lived in different eras, shaped by different challenges and circumstances.

Indigenous Siberian communities saw the end of the Soviet era as a moment to “return to factory settings,” a moment to rebuild. Knowledge passed down from their ancestors was once again studied by younger generations of Siberia, a generation that began encountering the modern world after the Soviet government built schools across Siberia during its heyday.

Without the government assistance they had routinely received from the Soviet Union from the 1950s through the 1980s, Indigenous Siberian communities experienced economic hardship that led to depression and even an increase in suicide cases.

The Russian Federation, established following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, subsequently enacted a republican law in the spring of 1992, providing the basis for the establishment of several autonomous republics. The Sakha (Yakutia) Republic was one of them. This new republic would go on to encompass several Indigenous Siberian peoples and remains home to them today.

This was the moment that became a reset point for many Indigenous Siberian communities, giving them an opportunity to rebuild the local wisdom and ancestral values they had long abandoned.

Something to hold on to

By continuing traditional practices, such as leaving offerings in forests, rivers, or along the seashore, followers of Indigenous Siberian Faith maintain their connection to their origins, to the point where their existence began.

Political and economic upheaval can certainly be a shock to them, just as it is to every ethnic group anywhere in the world. That is why we all need something to hold on to, so that we do not fall when hard shocks come our way. And if falling is unavoidable, at least we may come away with a few bruises rather than serious injuries.  (dswas)