The “nonexisting tradition”: wood painting of the Komi Old Believers living in the Udora region

Based on collections of the National Museum of the Komi Republic, as well as published materials and results of field studies of 2015-2016 in the basin of Vashka, Udora region of the Komi Republic, the local ethnic traditions of pea- sant wood painting among the Udora Komi-Zyryans are discussed. These traditions were in practice in the XIX-first quarter of the XX century in villages of Yarensk District of the Vologda Province (the territory of the present Udora region of the Komi Republic). The experience of the description of the Canon of the Udora decorative painting is given. The hypothesis about the origin of this ethno-cultural phenomenon in the area of the joint or neighbouring habitation of the Komi and Russian population, including the Old-Believers, is put forward. On painting technique, ornamentation and coloring the painting of the Udora masters significantly differs from the peasant paintings characteristic for the Russian population of the Mezen District of the Arkhangelsk Province.