This book is about boundary maintenance among three ethnic Russian groups living in Oregon - the smaller Molokan and Russian Pentecostal groups and the much larger Old Believers. While the three groups interact for mutual benefit, they zealously guard the boundaries of religion, customs, dress, food restrictions, concepts of sacred and profane, language, patterns of authority and life crisis events. Comparative reference is also made to Russian cultural traditions as described in the literature on peasant Russia of the 18th and 19th centuries. While casting the three groups in perspective with each other, they are also shown against the larger host society in which they live.