Ritual of Matsg Performed by a Group of Practicing Buddhists

This video features a group of women who perform a ritual of matsg (fasting) consisting of reading prayers in the tantric temple in Gorodovikovsk in December 2017. Referred to by people as matsgta (lit. those who are fasting), in the Soviet period these women were known to have gathered to read prayers and perform healing rituals, usually on children. Such group sessions were instrumental in keeping religious practices alive among the wider population when religion was banned. ; Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin