“Tatar faith”. The image of Islam among the Russian population of the Ryazan region

Tatar population, represented by Kasimov Tatars and Mishars, traditionally lives in the eastern districts of the Ryazan region (the former districts of Ryazan and Tambov provinces), with a total number of about five thousand people. The area Tatars residence was traditionally adjacent to the Russian, which formed early ethnocultural contacts and mutual perception, lead to the observation of the ritual practices of each other. Funeral and memorial rituals, ritual food became the most vivid impression of the “Tatar faith” for Russian neighbours (this is how Islam is designated in this area), and Muslim cemeteries are perceived as the border of someone else›s sacred space. The research is based on materials from expeditions to Tatar and Russian (Russian-Tatar) villages of the Ryazan region within the framework of the project “The Shadows of the Kasimov Khanate”, carried out in 2015–2020.