H-Rural

Magic and Enchantment in Eastern Europe, Russia and the Baltics (Nyce BSU)

Magic of all kinds was essentially taboo subject in Socialist European contexts.  One result of this that we know little about the role magic and other suspect forms of spirituality had in the daily life under communism.  What we do know is that magic managed to surpass the socialist crisis and in Romania at least the number of “customers” per magical figure is constantly growing. The anthropological literature dealing with problems of “transition” out of socialism has shed little light on the accelerating revitalization of “magical practices,” occurring throughout all the former socialist orders in Europe.