The new soviet ritualism: “civil christening” in Kuban in the 1960-1980s

Nowadays, the creation of rituals during Soviet times has again drawn a scientific interest of specialists in various fields. The paper analyzes documents and literature and discusses one of the most popular and significant elements of the new Soviet rituality - the solemn registration of newborns with its detailed ceremonial, paraphernalia, and Soviet mythology. The authors diachronically trace the formation of this rite in Kuban, provide statistical and comparative data, study written admonishments to babies. The authors conclude that the “red”/civil christening/“Octobering” was a reduced, desacralized version of the Christian rite of baptism filled with new content. Separate elements of the structure of the original ritual were preserved, but venue, participants, and exterior changed; the rite acquired its own face, symbolism, and attributes.