The central subject of this project is the relationship between the Ural Mari people and their dead ancestors, as it survives both in traditional Mari belief and in its present-day form. The authors' first encounter with this surviving Finno-Ugric culture came in 2014, during an expedition to the Semik commemoration day: for the Komi-Permyaks, one of the year's most important days, when neighbours and relatives from different villages and towns meet at cemeteries to feed their dead abundantly, and in some places go on afterwards to old burial grounds or shrines to recite a special prayer dedicated to the founders of their villages and their mythological forebears. The work continued until 2019 and resulted in several multimedia exhibitions, a book and a dedicated website.