UNESCO has declared 1994 the Year of the Family.

During the Soviet period, the comparatively closed structure of the family carried in particular the cultural and national identity, as well as preserved the collective memory and historical traditions of the Baltic and Finno-Ugric nations living in the Soviet Union.

At present the family plays significant role in opposing the industrial ideology and commercial culture, in estimating intellectual and ethnical values and in preserving human virtues. At the same time it is essential to connect traditional values with the changes of contemporary lifestyle.

This conference, attended by ethnologists, folklorists and sociologists from the Baltic and Nordic countries as well as from the Finno-Ugric research centres of Russian Federation enables researchers from different countries to meet, to exchange the scientific practice and share their nations historical experiences.