kuala

kuala, in Finno-Ugric religion, a small, windowless, and floorless log shrine erected by the Udmurt people for the worship of their family ancestors.

The term kuala is etymologically related to similar words in other Finno-Ugric languages, such as kola (Zyryan), kota (Finnish), and koda (Estonian), all of which simply mean “shelter,” “house,” or “home.” The kuala developed into a shrine from the actual dwellings of the Udmurt, but since the 20th century it has been relegated to the status of a mere outbuilding for storage.

The kuala was historically unfurnished except perhaps for a table used for eating during the summer months. In the centre of the room was a hearth for cooking, and on the back wall was a shelf on which was kept a sacred case associated with an ancestral spirit. Both the case and the spirit were called voršud (“luck protector”). As the focal point of family ceremonies, the kuala cult served to bind together the members of a lineage in a concrete fashion. Members of a family could worship only at their own ancestral kuala. Because the kuala families were exogamous, a wife could not worship at the kuala of her husband but had to return to that of her parents. When a family grew large or moved far away, a new kuala was built and dedicated by taking some ashes from the ancestral kuala and transferring them to the new site. A new voršud case was also made at the old kuala and used to transfer some of the power of the ancestral kuala, thenceforth to be known as a great kuala, to the new one, which was then called a lesser kuala (see mudor šuan).