The features of religious syncretism in Transbaikal region

The purpose of this study is to identify and investigate the religious syncretism on the territory of Transbaikal Region. The paper focuses on the cross-border location of the Transbaikal Region which has a significant impact on the religious syncretism in this area. Noting the intensity of this phenomenon in cross-border regions, the author concludes that the religious syncretism is caused by the processes of interethnic, intercultural and interreligious interaction. Considering the geographic, political, economic and sociocultural space of cross-border regions, the special role of the religious syncretism in ensuring their sustainable development is identified. Having simultaneously emerged with the territorial and political configuration of the region, the syncretism of religions serves as a factor of social, cultural and religious security. The author proves that the result of the syncretism of shamanism, Buddhism and Christianity in Transbaikal Region is not the emergence of new syncretic religions but the creation of the syncretizing religious elements. The study of religious syncretism in the region under review is based on the system-based and structural as well as the structural and functional approaches that allowed one to determine the peculiarities of the syncretic religious complex and reveal its specific structure and functional capacity.