The Anastasians of Novosibirsk region: culture of the settlements

This article describes the Anastasians - new religious movement of Slavic Neopaganism, represented by several settlements in Novosibirsk Region. The origin of the movement is associated with the mythopoetic book “Anastasia” written by Vladimir Megre, which was the first in a book series “The Ringing Cedars of Russia.” Currently, this movement has spread throughout Russia and abroad. There are 430 Anastasian settlements in Russia, and about 617 settlements in the world. In 2012, the political party “Rodnaya Party” which is based on the movement was registered. The main point of the first book and the series is the concept of family estate as a new form of rural settlement. Family estate is a land property of not less that 1 ha, intended for the life of one family; it includes a number of mandatory structures, such as house, forest area, orchard, vegetable garden, apiary, pond, and live fence. Several adjacent estates constitute a settlement. The way of life in the estate follows several basic principles: environmentalism, initiativeness, self-organization, self- sufficiency, solidarity, and mutual support. The owners of the estates do different types of work to earn money, including agricultural production, gathering wild plants, handicrafts, organization of tourist projects and festivals, distance working, etc. All existing settlements are at different levels of development, yet all of them are based on the same cultural model implementing the concept of the mythologized unity of humans and nature. There are examples of effective family estates with good growth prospects. Being a new type of rural settlements, the programs of family estates in some Russian regions are regarded as successful experience in reviving abandoned villages and rural territories.