Traditional livelihood practices and household calendar of Karelian Pomorie

The article provides an overview of the annual cycle of household activities on the Karelian and Pomor coasts of the White Sea and related beliefs which had emerged by the late XIX - the early XX centuries. Scholarly literature has addressed the festive calendar rituals of the Pomors of this territory, but the specificity of their fishing calendar has not been specifically studied yet. The purpose of this article is to describe the fishing calendar and identify its features, summarize and systematize the information on the occupations and household activities of the Pomors' annual cycle on the Karelian and Pomor coasts. The study is based on the use of comparative-historical and descriptive methods. The sources for the article include research materials of I. M. Durov and A. M. Linevskiy from the archive of the Karelian Research Centre of the Russian Academy of Sciences, as well as reports of the researchers of marine fisheries and sea-hunting of the Russian North. The article identifies the economic specialization of various areas of the Karelian Pomorie, the division of household activities by seasons of the year, and the church holidays that symbolized the division of the year into economic seasons. The author studies the influence of the fishing specifics on the calendar rituals of the said territory, noting the existence of a specific complex of festive rites associated with seeing-off and meeting fishermen and sea-hunters, as well as with building and launching ships.