Glubokovskii district, East Kazakhstan | June 21 - July 2, 2024

Centuries ago, this was a Cossack military outpost, part of Imperial Russia’s project to expand its influence in east Asia.

Pavlodar province, Republic of Kazakhstan | August 18 - 30, 2023

The village of Uspenka, on the Kulundinskaja steppe, was settled by Ukrainian migrants who came here in search of land and a better life during the Russian Empire’s Stolypin land reforms (1906-1914). Our team will document family history, songs, stories of the supernatural, beliefs, rituals, and material culture, with an aim to understanding the mechanism by which Ukrainian language and traditions adapted to the new location and to close contact with Russian- and Kazakh-speaking populations.

Ust-Kamenogorsk province, Kazakhstan | July 5 - 17, 2023

Since the days of Imperial Russia, remote river valleys of the Altai mountains have sheltered runaway serfs, escaped prisoners and Old Believer religious dissidents. On the banks of the Cheremshanka River you can find villages founded by Old Believers in the eighteenth century. Some of their descendents still live here, with memories of the rituals, songs, beliefs and customs of their grandparents’ day.

Katon-Karagai district | August 10 - 23, 2022

In the days of Imperial Russia, in these borderlands, villages along the Bukhtarma river sheltered runaway serfs, escaped prisoners, Old Believer religious dissidents and other refugees from the Russian government. Despite the persecutions of Imperial and Soviet times, many unique cultural and religious traditions have been documented here by past expeditions — funeral customs, wedding rituals, tales of bears and mythological beings, and oral histories of well-remembered ancestors.

Smolensk Province, Russia | February 19 - March 3, 2020

The season of Maslenitsa (aka Butter Week, Mardi Gras, Fat Tuesday, Shrovetide) is a great time to be in Russia. Everywhere people celebrate the end of winter and the promise of spring with music, merriment and a festive procession led by an effigy of Lady Maslenitsa (who is later burned up on a grand bonfire). It is also a good time to meet with the excellent traditional singers in the Yelnya district of Smolensk province. These singers learned their repertoire directly from previous generations, preserving the songs’ archaic language, vocal production and musical style. This expedition will concentrate on recording songs and old tales of local spirits and other mythological beings, as well as documenting the Maslenitsa festivities.

Altai Republic, Russia | July 1 - 14, 2019

The remote village of Shebalino is populated by both indigenous Altains and descendants of Russian settlers who arrived in the 1800s. These very different cultures have lived side by side for 150 years. How has this affected local folklore?  Team members will interview residents about holidays and  ritual occasions like weddings and funerals, and collect local stories about the supernatural, all with an eye towards understanding the expression of Altain and Russian folklore in local traditions.

Chelyabinsk province, Russia | July 15 - 27, 2019

Soon after  archaeologists uncovered the the Bronze Age city of Arkaim in 1987, an array of prophets, mystics and pilgrims heralded the site as the Aryan homeland, a model of the universe, an astronomical instrument,  Odin’s Asgard and Zarathrusta’s birthplace.   To the local people, Arkaim is just one of many “places of power”  around here, including other buried cities, stone-age megaliths, and the lake where a meteor landed in 2013.  Local legends, stories and beliefs about these places abound, some of them new and some passed down for generations.

Altai Republic, Russia | July 15 - 27, 2019

The city  of Gorno Altaisk is your jumping off point for Uimon Valley in the Altai mountains.  Here your team will visit the descendants of popovtsy and bezpopovtsy Orthodox Christian Old Believers who fled Russia to escape persecution under the Tsars.  Despite repression during the Soviet era, these religious refugees today preserve both religious traditions (an active church, spiritual poetry and songs) and  cultural traditions such as folk beliefs about holy springs, special trees,  and house and forest spirits, along with traditional maternity, funeral and wedding ceremonies. Expect to record lots of songs,  collect lots of stories, and drink in the spectacular Altai scenery.

Irkutsk province, Siberia | August 20 - September 2, 2019

Meet your team in lovely Irkutsk,  then travel by bus to the village of Blagodatnaya, founded over 100 years ago by Belarusian settlers seeking land and a new life.  Interview the residents about local customs and beliefs, record their songs, hear the family stories about leaving Belarus for the untamed  East.  While you’re at it, ask for the secrets of distilling vodka from birch sap. Your team will enjoy a stay at scenic Lake Baikal before riding the fabled Trans-Siberian railroad to Moscow.

Suceava County, Romania | July - August, 2019

Travel to the borderlands of Romania to study how modernization and traditional belief intertwine in 21st-century rural life.  During your three-week stay, cultural anthropologists Professor James M. Nyce and Alexandra Cotofana Ph.D. will teach the basics of conducting fieldwork interviews (through a translator) in historic Suçeava County.  This fieldwork will include interviews with a variety of magical figures (often called witches, folk healers, or shamans), their clients and families as well as members of the communities in which these different figures live.

Ocnita district, Republic of Moldova | January 4 - 16, 2019

Dr. David Galloway (Hobart and William Smith Colleges) and 7 intrepid students braved the Russian winter to record songs, tales and holiday customs in villages near Yelnya. Along the way they did some sight-seeing, played tag in the park with an Orthodox church youth group, got steamy in a village banya and tried out the bunks on the overnight train. They report excellent food (“best I’ve ever had in my life!”) everywhere.

Smolensk Province, Russia | January, 2013

Dr. David Galloway (Hobart and William Smith Colleges) and 7 intrepid students braved the Russian winter to record songs, tales and holiday customs in villages near Yelnya. Along the way they did some sight-seeing, played tag in the park with an Orthodox church youth group, got steamy in a village banya and tried out the bunks on the overnight train. They report excellent food (“best I’ve ever had in my life!”) everywhere.

Brest Province, Belarus | August 11 - 22, 2011

One of the branches of our research program is investigation and documenting of folklore traditions in Siberia villages which were settled as a result of the Stolypin land reforms of 1906-1916. In 2010, our research group conducted an expedition to an amazing Siberian village – Turgenevka – settled by Belorussian families in 1909.  In 2011 we traveled to Belarus to visit Turgenevka’s two mother villages – Soshitsy and Kabaki, to document their songs, stories and oral histories  and to compare them with the traditions of their Siberian offshoot.

Rostov province, Russia | July 20 - 31, 2011

Kakichev and nearby villages have been home to the Cossacks since the time of Peter the Great. When Peter settled the Cossacks here to secure Russia’s borders, they inherited a struggle which had been underway for centuries.  The area’s most famous battle was fought in 1185 when Prince Igor led Russian forces against the nomadic Polovtsy  Igor and the battle were immortalized in “The Tale of Igor’s Campaign” (Slovo o Polku Igoreve), a monument of Russian medieval poetry.

Kaluga province, Russia | January 4- 15, 2011

We just returned from our most recent winter expedition, where our purpose was to record songs and document rituals about Orthodox Christmas and Old New Year.  We found a wealth of mythological stories about house spirits and forest nymphs.  For a first-person report from one of our volunteers, see A Journey Through Russian Folklore and Song, by Dr. David J. Galloway.

Volgograd province, Russia | June 1 - 13, 2010

We continued to document and investigate the Don Cossack singing traditions, by recording the traditions of three new choirs.

Irkutsk province, Russia | July 17 - August 6, 2010

Our 2010 expedition to the Siberian village of Turgenevka continued our exploration and documentation of villages established over one hundred years ago as part of the Stolypin reforms.  One hundred years ago, a significant part of the population from the Central and South parts of Russian Empire moved out to Siberia with the hope of creating a better economic life for their families.  This expedition documented Belorusian folklore, mythology and heritage preserved in the Siberian village Turgenevka, founded by settlers from Belarus in 1909.

Karelia, Russia | August 8 - 22, 2009

This was our first expedition to the Russian North.  What type of folklore was preserved here? From where did the people come who settled this area?  What traditions did they bring with them? Our group lived in a small Karelian town, Khaapalampi, and collected mythological stories and oral histories.  During this expedition, our team members also spent three days on the famous island of Valaam