Memorial Ritual Practices in Urban Environment of Elista

. Introduction. The article examines local mourning practices. Every year on 28 December a mourning rally is held in Elista when residents of the city and rural districts gather to commemorate victims of the Kalmyk deportation. Goals. The paper aims to consider the memorial ritual practices observed during the mourning meeting through a prism of concepts typical for cultural anthropology. Methods. The research employs the structural and functional method, as well as that of content analysis. Conclusions. The work concludes that contemporary memorial practices associated with the commemoration of victims of the Kalmyk deportation are characterized by the use of forms that go back to traditional mourning rites. It is shown how the historical policy is reproduced and implemented in public loci of the city.