01928nas a2200217   4500000000100000000000100001008004100002653001200043653001200055653002300067653001600090653001500106653002800121100001600149245009800165856015000263300001200413490000700425520125800432022002001690                                       d10aFinland10aKarelia10aOrthodox tradition10aSkolt Saami10apilgrimage10aprocession of the cross1 aElina Vuola00aReinventions of an Old Tradition: Orthodox Processions and Pilgrimage in Contemporary Finland  uhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85118310308&doi=10.1163%2f15685276-12341602&partnerID=40&md5=0c01bc199457b64131502251fd4de694  a557-5850 v673 aThis article examines two cases of Finnish Orthodox traditions of procession and pilgrimage that are currently being reframed in response to physical, political, and religious disruption. Annual Orthodox processions are now held in Northern Karelia close to and across the Finnish-Russian border, while the pilgrimage of St. Tryphon of Pechenga, the patron saint of the Skolt Saami in northeastern Finland, crosses the border between Finland and Norway to visit their lost home area, as an act of remembrance and recognition of the history of the Skolt Saami. Here I argue that, contrary to some trends within pilgrimage studies to blur tourism and pilgrimage, these journeys are primarily religious, understood only with an appreciation of Orthodox theology and worldview. Each case demonstrates both continuity and change in Orthodox pilgrimage praxis and its theological underpinnings. It highlights the pragmatism of the priests and congregations involved in adapting traditional forms to complex new contexts involving the loss of tangible and intangible heritage. The analysis shows that both events include the active agency of both the institution and local participants and a significant amount of invention in relation to new contexts of loss.  a00295973 (ISSN)