Spiritual culture 

Veps mythology comprises the groups’ ideas of the world and the human role within it. These ideas had emerged at a time that was dominated by mythic poetic thinking. They developed for a long time, changed, and expanded under the influence of different natural, climatic, socioeconomic, and cultural factors, yet they have generally persisted and currently permeate all aspects of folk culture.

Veps mythology has several cultural historical strata: universal and typological phenomena, substrata, and borrowings. The oldest, worst-preserved stratum features cultural phenomena that go back to the Finno-Ugric period. This stratum is followed by the Balto-Finnic and the “properly” Veps strata. Veps mythology also has Indo-European elements borrowed either through contacts with Baltic and Germanic tribes during the Balto-Finnic period, or later via the Russian surroundings; these elements were transformed in their new environment gaining certain unique features. Russian peasant worldview and Orthodox Christianity had a major impact on Veps mythology as well.

The Veps believed the soul (heng) to be connected with breathing (heygaiduz). When a person stops breathing, death comes, and the Veps say heyg’ l’aks’ , “the soul is gone.” The Veps have different ideas of the soul’s (heng) appearance. It can be a person’s invisible double, or  it can appear as smoke, fire, a bird, as well as a butterfly. There are also ancient beliefs in the soul reincarnating in a tree (for instance, in a juniper tree).

Because of early Christianization, medieval sources did not preserve the names of ancient Veps deities as they did for other Finno-Ugric peoples. Myths of higher gods have always been the least stable since new faith missionaries primarily worked to induce people to abandon them. The Veps god Jumal (G’umou, Juma, D’umal) was “in charge” of the weather. He is the origin of thunder, thunderstorms, and rainbows. During Christianization, the terms Jumala (Finnish, Karelian), Jumal (Estonian), Jumal (Veps) came to signify “a god in general.” The so-called lower Veps mythology proved to be far more stable. These are beliefs in various spirits inhabiting the entire mythologized space ranging from home to forest; the church sees these entities as unclean spirits. There were different sacrificial rites dedicated to those spirits.

In addition to terms connected with mythologizing certain bodies of water (lakes, streams, rivers), the Veps have a group of terms designating master spirits of waters that apply to any body of water: vedehine (“water spirit”); veden izand (“master of water”), and veden emag (“mistress of water”); vedenuk (“old man of water”); turzas; veziturzas . Fire (lamoi) is the element opposed to water. Fire worship held an important place in the Veps’ system of mythological rites. This worship is reflected primarily in a broad range of taboos, for example against spitting into fire, stomping on fire, etc. If one of the taboos was broken, fire could have its revenge manifesting in things burning down or in diseases, such as a rash around the lips called lendoi tuli (“flying fire”). The key spirit of the “home” realm was the “master” of the house, pertin izand who lives with his wife (pertin emag) and children (lapsed). Pertin izand (corresponds to the Russian domovoy , or a house spirit) was the patron of the family. He always appeared suddenly to family members (in dreams or pressing down on a sleeping person) to forewarn of impending misfortune.

The Veps believed warlocks to act as intermediaries between spirits and people. Their most popular name is noidad (sing. noid). Warlocks were regular peasants ascribed supernatural abilities (both harmful and helpful) to manage both people and forces of nature.

Family rites (i.e., birth rites, weddings, and funerals) were significantly influenced by Orthodox Christianity. For peasants, the rites were sanctified after a corresponding church ritual. A newborn would receive their name at baptism in church and thus the child would become a member of the community. In addition, the Veps recognized weddings to be an official registration of marriage. Finally, Christian’s life concluded with a funeral church service and burial in a church yard. Church canons determined the sequence of steps taken by the ritual’s participants and their roles; at the same time, the Veps preserved customs they had learned as their ancestors’ experience. The Veps’ dirges were seen as a “special language” for communicating with the dead. Regular speech was believed to be incomprehensible for the dead, and dirges made their journey to the afterlife easier. Clearly, dirges sung at weddings were also initially intended to inform the dead ancestors of the bride transitioning to a different clan, and only later they were taken as expressing concern over her future life in her new family.

The Veps’ family rites were similar to Northern Russian ones. The main differences lay in the traditions of nighttime offer of marriage, the rite of the newlyweds eating a fish pie as part of the wedding ceremony. Furthermore, the Veps had two types of funerals: the ones with dirges and with “entertaining” the deceased.