Peculiarities of religious behaviour of Lithuanian exiles and convicts in Siberia, 1945-1960

The article analyses the models of religious behaviour of rural residents exiled to Siberia and Gulag concentration camps (in 1945-1960). Data collected during fieldwork revealed that religion and religious rituals occupied multidimensional place during different periods of exile in Siberia. The most important for the deportees were rituals and customs at home, and those that were public. They were practiced on an individual, family and collective level. The form of these rituals and customs often depended on the specificity of life in exile. In fact, such religious life had no distinct system in the concentration camps of Gulag. At the moment of deportation and initial settlement in exile, individual and collective prayers were of utmost importance. Besides, the graveyards established in the places of exile also used the place for performance of religious ceremonies. The most significant collective ritual among the Siberian exiles were the May worship. The altars for family and collective rituals with image of Blessed Virgin Mary were built in barracks or a residential house. Thus, the collective rituals at home and in public place were of utmost importance for the exiles, since they used to integrate the exiles on the basis of religion and became the means of preserving religious and national identity