Humanities & Social Sciences 6 (2015 8) 1037-1042 ~ ~ ~ УДК 2-13+279+398.22 The Myth of the Ancestral Homeland in Russian Neo-paganism Alexey V. Osintsev and Olesya V. Kuznetsova* Ural Federal University named after the B.N. Yeltsin 51 Lenin, Ekaterinburg, 620083, Russia Received 12.11.2014, received in revised form 18.01.2015, accepted 26.03.2015 The article discusses a number of concepts of ideologists in Russian neo-paganism of the Slavs ancestral homeland. <...> The myth of the ancestral homeland is one of the major myths in Russian neo-paganism, regardless of the direction of the neo-pagan religious organization or group. <...> The appearance of numerous new religious organizations in the XX century, proclaiming the revival of ancient spiritual traditions, has its historical and cultural background. <...> Perhaps the works of Russian authors of the late XIX and XX centuries can be traced back to the neo-pagan ideology. <...> V.B. Yashin described a characteristic feature of the late Soviet and early post-Soviet years as «active participation of citizens in the political processes, which naturally stimulated the politicization of the religious sphere. <...> However, in our opinion, intensive formation of Russian neopaganism was facilitated by the process of the late Soviet and post-Soviet reality, which triggered the collective identity crisis. <...> As pointed out by N. Smolina, discourse of identity crisis is intertwined with the discourse of collective trauma: «Such state is experienced as loss and confusion associated with the new reality. <...> Trauma causes discomfort and feeling of religions, globalization issues, and Alexey V. Osintsev and Olesya V. Kuznetsova. <...> Trauma turns into a refl ection on the transformation of the familiar world and collective identity. <...> In addition to religious and environmental issues, the majority of Russian neo-pagan groups include a political component. <...> Plasticity of neopaganism ideas, absence of generally accepted dogma and continuous active construction of mythology allow it to incorporate various political traditions and concepts. <...> In addition, science has limited data on the initial period of the history of the Eastern Slavs. <...> Archaeology gives scant data on the history and culture of Eastern Slavs who lived on the territory of the future ancient Russia in the preliterate period. <...> There are still many unresolved issues related to the ethnogenesis of Eastern Slavs. <...> V. Shnirelman believes that Russian neopagan mythology about the extensive ancestral homeland and the ancient habitat <...>