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Who are the Doukhobors? |
X Young lady in a contemporary Doukhobor
costume, consisting of an embroidered head shawl, delicately pleated skirt and blouse. This costume is worn to prayer meetings, Although the largest group of Doukhobors currently live in the southern interior of British Columbia, there are sizeable populations in all three western Canadian provinces. Bread, salt and water are traditional Slavic
symbols of peace and hospitality. To the Doukhobors, they also represent the Typical brick-faced Doukhobor communal
building, now part of the National Doukhobor Heritage Village in Veregin, Saskatchewan. The verandah of the Verigin Dom,*
a beautiful two story architectural showpiece at the National Heritage Village in Veregin, Sakatchewan. Formerly the prairie home of Doukhobor
*"Dom" is the English transliteration for Maple leaf - now a Canadian symbol
Title of a well know Doukhobor psalm
“Doukhoborets Tot” in Cyrillic text, defining the attributes of a Doukhobor. Like most prairie settlers, The Doukhobors
were self reliant and hardworking. The younger able-bodied men took employment with the railroad to earn much-needed income for their community. The older men and women tended their own gardens and fields. Until they were able to acquire sufficient horses or oxen, they occasionally hitched themselves to their plows to break the prairie soil. The new immigrants settled on the
Canadian prairies, initially living in sod-roofed earthen-floored homes in dozens of communal villages scattered across what was then the North West Territories and is now the province of Saskatchewan. The first group of Doukhobors to arrive in
Canada, embarked from the Black Sea port of Batum on the Steamship Lake Superior in December 1898. Together with its sister ship the SS Lake Leo Tolstoy, a world renowned Russian author,
sympathized with the Douhobors. He supported them in the press and through direct financial assistance, contributing the proceeds from his novel “Resurrection” to a migration fund. Together with his associates and with the A strong relationship with the Tolstoy family Spiritual leader, Peter V. Verigin, although
in Siberian exile, was able to give the Doukhobors guidance and encouragement. Also a capable administrator, he later served A white dove carrying an olive branch
– a universal symbol of peace. The Doukhobors incorporate this symbol in Metekhsky Zamok, once a medieval church,
this building has served as a fortress and military prison to which many Doukhobor protestors were confined. This building still remains in Tbilisi, Georgia. By the 1890s, the Doukhobor movement
had widened its ideological scope to include pacifism, vegetarianism, and abstinence from alcohol. When confronted with enforced military They endured severe punishment, imprisonment and relentless persecution for their convictions. The first Doukhobors were Russian peasants
who rejected the Orthodox Church for its elaborate rituals and ceremonies and its emphasis on the worship of religious ikons. As Christians, they chose to practice a simpler form of religion in which the extravagant formalities of the church were irrelevant. Considered to be dangerous dissidents by both church and state, they were persecuted for two centuries and ultimately exiled as a group to the mountainous Cauacasus region of southern Russian in the 1840's. The Doukhobors in Canada ... an interactive illustration Move your mouse slowly over the image This circular print was produced in 1995 |
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