What can you say about the Chuvash people? Chuvash

Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”

The multimedia project “Faces of Russia” has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together while remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for countries throughout the post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, within the framework of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of different Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs “Music and Songs of the Peoples of Russia” were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs were published to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a snapshot that will allow the residents of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a legacy for posterity with a picture of what they were like.

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"Faces of Russia". Chuvash. "Chuvash "Treasure"", 2008

CHUVASH'I, chavash (self-name), Turkic people in the Russian Federation (1773.6 thousand people), the main population of Chuvashia (907 thousand people). They also live in Tatarstan (134.2 thousand people), Bashkiria (118.6 thousand people), Kazakhstan (22.3 thousand people) and Ukraine (20.4 thousand people). The total number is 1842.3 thousand people. According to the 2002 Census, the number of Chuvash living in Russia is 1 million 637 thousand people, according to the results of the 2010 census - 1,435,872 people.

Chuvash language is the only living representative of the Bulgarian group of Turkic languages. They speak Chuvash language Turkic group Altai family. Dialects are lower ("pointing") and upper ("pointing"), as well as eastern. Subethnic groups are the upper (viryal, turi) in the north and north-west, the middle lower (anat enchi) in the central and north-eastern regions and the lower Chuvash (anatri) in the south of Chuvashia and beyond. The Russian language is also widespread. The Chuvash began writing a long time ago. It was created based on Russian graphics. In 1769, the first grammar of the Chuvash language was published.

Currently, the main religion of the Chuvash is Orthodox Christianity, but the influence of paganism, as well as Zoroastrian beliefs and Islam, remains. Chuvash paganism is characterized by duality: belief in the existence, on the one hand, of good gods and spirits led by Sulti Tura (supreme god), and on the other - evil deities and spirits led by Shuittan (devil). The gods and spirits of the Upper World are good, those of the Lower World are evil.

The ancestors of the riding Chuvash (Viryal) are Turkic tribes of Bulgarians who came in the 7th-8th centuries from the North Caucasus and Azov steppes and merged with the local Finno-Ugric tribes. The self-name of the Chuvash, according to one version, goes back to the name of one of the tribes related to the Bulgarians - Suvar, or Suvaz, Suas. They are mentioned in Russian sources since 1508. In 1551 they became part of Russia. By the mid-18th century, the Chuvash were mostly converted to Christianity. Some of the Chuvash who lived outside Chuvashia converted to Islam and became Tatars. In 1917, the Chuvash received autonomy: Autonomous Okrug from 1920, Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic from 1925, Chuvash SSR from 1990, Chuvash Republic from 1992.

The Chuvash joined Russia in the middle XVI century. In the formation and regulation of the moral and ethical standards of the Chuvash people always big role played and plays public opinion villages (yal men drip - “what will fellow villagers say”). Immodest behavior, foul language, and even more so drunkenness, which was rare among the Chuvash until the beginning of the 20th century, are sharply condemned. Lynchings were carried out for theft. From generation to generation, the Chuvash taught each other: “Chavash yatne an sert” (don’t disgrace the name of the Chuvash).

Series of audio lectures “Peoples of Russia” - Chuvash

The main types of settlements are villages and hamlets (yal). The earliest types of settlement are riverine and ravine, the layouts are cumulus-cluster (in the northern and central regions) and linear (in the south). In the north, the village is typically divided into ends (kasas), usually inhabited by related families. Street layout distributed since the 2nd half of the 19th century. From the 2nd half of the 19th century, dwellings of the Central Russian type appeared. The house is decorated with polychrome painting, saw-cut carvings, applied decorations, the so-called “Russian” gates with a gable roof on 3-4 pillars - bas-relief carvings, later painting. There is an ancient log building (originally without a ceiling or windows, with an open hearth), serving as a summer kitchen. Cellars (nukhrep) and baths (muncha) are common. A characteristic feature of the Chuvash hut is the presence of onion trim along the roof ridge and large entrance gates.

Traditional food is dominated by plant products. Soups (yashka, shurpe), stews with dumplings, cabbage soup with seasonings made from cultivated and wild greens - hogweed, hogweed, nettle, etc., porridge (spelt, buckwheat, millet, lentil), oatmeal, boiled potatoes, jelly from oatmeal and pea flour, rye bread (khura sakar), pies with cereals, cabbage, berries (kukal), flatbreads, cheesecakes with potatoes or cottage cheese (puremech). Less often they prepared khupla - a large round pie with meat or fish filling. Dairy products - turah - spoiled milk, uyran - churning, chakat - curd cheese. Meat (beef, lamb, pork, among the lower Chuvash - horse meat) was a relatively rare food: seasonal (when slaughtering livestock) and festive. They prepared shartan - a sausage made from a sheep's stomach stuffed with meat and lard; tultarmash - boiled sausage stuffed with cereal, minced meat or blood. They made mash from honey, and beer (sara) from rye or barley malt. Kvass and tea were common in areas of contact with the Tatars and Russians.

A rural community could unite residents of one or several settlements with a common land plot. There were nationally mixed communities, mainly Chuvash-Russian and Chuvash-Russian-Tatar. Forms of kinship and neighborly mutual assistance (nime) were preserved. Family ties were steadily preserved, especially within one end of the village. There was a custom of sororate. After the Christianization of the Chuvash, the custom of polygamy and levirate gradually disappeared. Undivided families were already rare in the 18th century. The main type of family in the 2nd half of the 19th century was small family. The husband was the main owner of family property, the wife owned her dowry, independently managed income from poultry farming (eggs), livestock farming (dairy products) and weaving (canvas), and in the event of the death of her husband, she became the head of the family. The daughter had the right of inheritance along with her brothers. In economic interests, the early marriage of a son and the relatively late marriage of a daughter were encouraged (therefore, the bride was often several years older than the groom). The tradition of the minorate is preserved ( younger son remains with his parents as an heir).

The most developed genre of folklore is songs: youth, recruit, drinking, funeral, wedding, labor, lyrical, as well as historical songs. Musical instruments - bagpipes, bubble, duda, harp, drum, and later - accordion and violin. Legends, fairy tales and tales are widespread. Elements of ancient Turkic runic writing can be traced in generic tamgas and in ancient embroidery. Arabic writing was widespread in Volga Bulgaria. In the 18th century, writing was created based on Russian graphics of 1769 (Old Chuvash writing). Novochuvash writing and literature were created in the 1870s. The Chuvash national culture is being formed.

T.S. Guzenkova, V.P. Ivanov

They don’t carry firewood into the forest, they don’t pour water into the well.

“Where are you going, gray caftan?” “Shut up, you wide mouth!” Don't be alarmed, this is not a conversation between some drunken hooligans. This is a Chuvash folk riddle. As they say, you can’t guess it without a hint. And the hint is this: the action of this riddle takes place not in a modern house, but in an old hut. Over time, the stove in the hut turned gray... Warm, warm...

Here is the answer: smoke coming out of the open door of the smoking hut.

Have you warmed up? Here are a couple more dashing Chuvash riddles.

Clay mountain, on the slope of a clay mountain there is a cast iron mountain, on the slope of a cast iron mountain there is green barley, a polar bear is lying on the green barley.

Well, this is not such a difficult riddle, if you try hard and give free rein to your imagination, then it will be easy to guess. This is baking pancakes.

Don’t think that the Chuvash came up with riddles a hundred or two hundred years ago. They still don’t mind composing them. Here good example modern mystery.

At first, like a pillow. Then, like a cloud. What is this?

Well, okay, let's not torture. This is: a parachute.

We learned something about the Chuvash. They found out what was on their minds.

To find out more, listen to the fairy tale.

It’s called: “Shirt made of hemline fabric.”

One young widow was haunted by an evil spirit. And this way and that way the poor woman tried to free herself from him. She’s exhausted, but the evil spirit isn’t far behind—and that’s all. She told her neighbor about her trouble, and she said:

“And you hang the door with a shirt made of hemline fabric - it won’t let an evil spirit into the hut.”

The widow listened to her neighbor, sewed a long shirt from the timber and hung it on the door to the hut. At night an evil spirit came, and the shirt said to him:

- Wait a minute, listen to what I had to see and experience in my lifetime.

“Well, speak,” answered the evil spirit.

“Even before I was born,” the shirt began its story, “there was so much trouble with me.” In the spring, the land was plowed, harrowed, and only after that, hemp was sown. Some time passed and I was blocked again. Only then did I ascend and appear into the world. Well, when I appeared, I grow, I reach for the sun...

“Well, that’s enough, I guess,” says the evil spirit. “Let me go!”

“If you start listening, let me finish,” the shirt answers. “When I grow up and mature, they pull me out of the ground...”

“I understand,” the evil spirit interrupts again. “Let me go!”

“No, I haven’t understood anything yet,” his shirt won’t let him in. “Listen to the end... Then they thresh me, separate the seeds...

- Enough! - the evil spirit loses patience. - Let him go!

But at this time a rooster crows in the yard, and the evil spirit disappears without ever visiting the widow.

- So where did I stop? - she says. “Oh yes, on the seeds.” My seeds are peeled, winnowed, stored, and what the seeds grew on—hemp—is first put in stacks, and then soaked in water for a long time, three whole weeks.

“Well, is that all?” asks the evil spirit. “Let it go!”

“No, not all,” the shirt answers. “I’m still lying in the water.” After three weeks they pull me out of the water and put me out to dry.

- Enough! - the evil spirit begins to get angry again. - Let him go!

“You haven’t heard the most important thing yet,” the shirt answers. “You don’t know how they crush and break my bones... So, they break and crush me until my whole body is cleared of bones.” Not only that: they also put it in a mortar and let three or four of us pound it with pestles.

- Let me go! — the evil spirit begins to lose patience again.

“They knock all the dust out of me,” the shirt continues, “they leave only a clean body.” Then they hang me on a comb, separate me into thin hairs and spin them. The strained threads are wound on a reel and then dipped into the liquor. Then it’s difficult for me, my eyes are filled with ash, I can’t see anything...

- And I don’t want to listen to you anymore! - says the evil spirit and already wants to go into the hut, but at this time the rooster crows, and he disappears.

And on the third night an evil spirit appeared.

“Then they wash me, dry me, make skeins out of me and put me through a reed, weave it, and it turns out to be canvas,” the shirt continues its story.

- That's it now! - says the evil spirit. - Let him go!

“There’s still quite a bit left,” the shirt answers. “Listen to the end... The canvas is boiled in alkaline water, laid on green grass and washed so that all the ash comes out.” And again, for the second time, three or four of them push me so that I become soft. And only after that they cut off as much as necessary from the piece and sew it. Only then does the seed placed in the ground become a shirt, which is now hung over the door...

Here again the rooster crowed in the yard, and again the evil spirit, having had a slurp, had to go away.

In the end, he got tired of standing in front of the door and listening to the shirts' stories, from then on he stopped flying to this house and left the young widow alone.

An interesting fairy tale. WITH makes a lot of sense. The entire process of making a shirt is laid out in detail in this fairy tale. It is useful to tell this fairy tale to adults and children, but especially to students of agricultural universities and textile institutes. In the first year, of course.

And now we move from fairy-tale affairs to historical affairs. There is also something to tell about the Chuvash themselves. It is known that the Chuvash joined Russia in the middle of the century. Currently, there are 1,637,200 Chuvash in the Russian Federation (according to the results of the 2002 census). Almost nine hundred thousand of them live in Chuvashia itself. The rest live in several regions of Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, in the Samara and Ulyanovsk regions, as well as in Moscow, Tyumen, Kemerovo, Orenburg, Moscow regions of Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

The Chuvash language is Chuvash. It is the only living language of the Bulgaro-Khazar group of Turkic languages. It has two dialects - low (“pointing”) and high (“pointing”). The difference is subtle, but clear and noticeable.

The ancestors of the Chuvash believed in independent existence human soul. The spirit of the ancestors patronized the members of the clan and could punish them for their disrespectful attitude.

Chuvash paganism was characterized by duality: belief in the existence, on the one hand, of good gods and spirits led by Sulti Tura (supreme god), and, on the other, of evil deities and spirits led by Shuittan (devil). The gods and spirits of the Upper World are good, those of the Lower World are evil.

The Chuvash religion reproduced in its own way hierarchical structure society. At the head of a large group of gods stood Sulti Tura with his family.

In our time, the main religion of the Chuvash is Orthodox Christianity, but the influence of paganism, as well as Zoroastrian beliefs and Islam, remains.

The Chuvash began writing a long time ago. It was created based on Russian graphics. In 1769, the first grammar of the Chuvash language was published.

In the formation and regulation of the moral and ethical standards of the Chuvash, the public opinion of the village has always played and continues to play a large role (yal men drip - “what will fellow villagers say”). Immodest behavior, foul language, and even more so drunkenness, which was rare among the Chuvash until the beginning of the 20th century, are sharply condemned. Lynchings were carried out for theft. From generation to generation, the Chuvash taught each other: “Chavash yatne an sert” (don’t disgrace the name of the Chuvash).

Orthodox Chuvash people celebrate all Christian holidays.

Unbaptized Chuvash have their own holidays. For example, Semik, which is celebrated in the spring. By this day, you need to have time to eat seven different plants, for example, sorrel, dandelion, nettle, hogweed, lungwort, caraway seeds, and squash.

Nettle is especially revered, because if you eat nettle before the first thunder, you won’t get sick for a whole year. It is also good for your health to run outside during thunder and shake your clothes.

For Semik, the Chuvash bake pies, brew beer and kvass, and also prepare brooms from young birch.

On the day of the holiday, they wash in the bathhouse, certainly before sunrise. By lunchtime, festively dressed, everyone goes to the cemetery to invite deceased relatives to visit their home. Moreover, men call men, women call women.

After Christianization, baptized Chuvash especially celebrate those holidays that coincide in time with the pagan calendar (Christmas with Surkhuri, Maslenitsa and Savarni, Trinity and Semik), accompanying them with both Christian and pagan rituals. Under the influence of the church, patronal holidays became widespread in the everyday life of the Chuvash. By the beginning of the 20th century, Christian holidays and rituals became predominant in the everyday life of baptized Chuvash people.

Chuvash youth also have their own holidays. For example, in the spring and summer, the youth of the entire village, or even several villages, gather in the open air for round dances.

In winter, gatherings are held in huts where the older owners are temporarily absent. At gatherings, the girls are engaged in spinning, but with the arrival of the boys, games begin, the participants of the gatherings sing songs, dance, and have playful conversations.

In the middle of winter, the Maiden Beer festival takes place. The girls pool together to brew beer, bake pies, and in one of the houses, together with the boys, organize a youth feast.

Three forms of marriage were common among the Chuvash: 1) with a full wedding ceremony and matchmaking, 2) a “walk-away” wedding, and 3) kidnapping the bride, often with her consent.

The groom is escorted to the bride's house by a large wedding train. Meanwhile, the bride says goodbye to her relatives. She is dressed in girl's clothes and covered with a blanket. The bride begins to cry and lament.

The groom's train is greeted at the gate with bread and salt and beer.

After a long and very figurative poetic monologue, the eldest of the friends is invited to go into the courtyard to the laid tables. The meal begins, greetings, dances and songs of the guests sound.

The next day the groom's train leaves. The bride is seated astride a horse, or she rides while standing in a wagon. The groom hits her three times (for fun) with a whip to “drive away” the spirits of his wife’s clan from the bride (Turkic nomadic tradition). The fun in the groom's house continues with the participation of the bride's relatives.

The newlyweds spend their first wedding night in a cage or other non-residential premises. According to custom, the young woman takes off her husband’s shoes. In the morning, the young woman is dressed in a woman’s outfit with a women’s headdress “hush-poo”. First of all, she goes to bow and makes a sacrifice to the spring, then she begins to work around the house and cook food.

The young wife gives birth to her first child with her parents.

In a Chuvash family, the man dominates, but the woman also has authority. Divorces are extremely rare. There was a custom of the minority - the youngest son always remained with his parents.

Many are surprised that, seeing off the deceased in last way, the unbaptized Chu-Wash sing not only funeral songs, but also cheerful ones, even wedding songs. There is an explanation for this. Pagans consider themselves children of nature. And therefore they are not afraid of death. It is not something terrible and scary for them. It’s just that a person goes to another world, and they see him off. Songs. Cheerful and sad.

Chuvash songs are really different. There are folk songs. In turn, they are divided into everyday ones (lullabies, children's, lyrical, table, comic, dance, round dance). There are ritual songs, labor songs, social songs, and historical songs.

Among the folk musical instruments, the following are common: shakhlich (pipe), bagpipes of two types, kesle (harp), warkhan and palnaya (reed instruments), parappan (drum), khankarma (tambourine). The violin and accordion have long become familiar.

The Chuvash also love fairy tales in which truth and reality are easily intertwined. Fairy tales with more fiction than truth. If you use modern language, then these are fairy tales with elements of the absurd. When you listen to them, they clear your mind!

One day my grandfather and I went hunting. They saw a hare and began to chase it. We hit with a club, but we cannot kill.

Then I hit him with a Chernobyl rod and killed him.

Together with my grandfather, we started to lift it, but we couldn’t lift it.

I tried one - picked it up and put it on the cart.

Our cart was harnessed by a pair of horses. We whip the horses, but they cannot move the cart.

Then we unharnessed one horse and drove the other.

We arrived home, my grandfather and I began to remove the hare from the cart, but we couldn’t remove it.

I tried one and took it off.

I want to bring it in through the door, but it won’t fit, but it went through the window freely.

We were going to cook a hare in a cauldron - it didn’t fit, but we put it in the cauldron - there was still room left.

I asked my mother to cook the hare, and she began to cook, but didn’t follow: the water began to boil violently in the pot, the hare jumped out, and the cat - right there - ate it.

So we never had to try the hare meat.

But we a good fairy tale composed!

Finally, try to guess another Chuvash riddle. It is very complex, multi-stage: on an unplowed fallow field, next to an ungrown birch tree, lies an unborn hare.

The answer is simple: lies...

Do you feel what the wise Chuvash are getting at? An unborn lie is still much better than a born lie...

According to one hypothesis, the Chuvash are descendants of the Bulgarians. Also, the Chuvash themselves believe that their distant ancestors were the Bulgars and Suvars, who once inhabited Bulgaria.

Another hypothesis says that this nation belongs to the associations of Savirs, who in ancient times migrated to the northern lands due to the fact that they abandoned generally accepted Islam. During the time of the Kazan Khanate, the ancestors of the Chuvash were part of it, but were a fairly independent people.

Culture and life of the Chuvash people

The main economic activity of the Chuvash was settled agriculture. Historians note that these people succeeded in land management much more than the Russians and Tatars. This is explained by the fact that the Chuvash lived in small villages with no cities nearby. Therefore, working with the land was the only source of food. In such villages there was simply no opportunity to shirk work, especially since the lands were fertile. But even they could not saturate all the villages and save people from hunger. The main crops grown were: rye, spelt, oats, barley, wheat, buckwheat and peas. Flax and hemp were also grown here. To work with agriculture The Chuvash used plows, roe deer, sickles, flails and other devices.

In ancient times, the Chuvash lived in small villages and settlements. Most often they were erected in river valleys, next to lakes. Houses in villages were lined up in a row or in a heap. The traditional hut was the construction of a purt, which was placed in the center of the yard. There were also huts called la. In Chuvash settlements they played the role of a summer kitchen.

The national costume was clothing typical of many Volga peoples. Women wore tunic-like shirts, which were decorated with embroidery and various pendants. Both women and men wore a shupar, a caftan-like cape, over their shirts. Women covered their heads with scarves, and girls wore a helmet-shaped headdress - tukhya. The outerwear was a canvas caftan - shupar. In the autumn, the Chuvash dressed in a warmer sakhman - an underwear made of cloth. And in winter, everyone wore fitted sheepskin coats - kyoryoks.

Traditions and customs of the Chuvash people

The Chuvash people take care of the customs and traditions of their ancestors. Both in ancient times and today, the peoples of Chuvashia hold ancient holidays and rituals.

One of these holidays is Ulakh. IN evening time young people gather for an evening meeting, which is organized by the girls when their parents are not at home. The hostess and her friends sat in a circle and did needlework, and at this time the guys sat between them and watched what was happening. They sang songs to the music of an accordion player, danced and had fun. Initially, the purpose of such meetings was to find a bride.

To others national custom is Savarni, the festival of farewell to winter. This holiday is accompanied by fun, songs, and dances. People dress up the scarecrow as a symbol of the passing winter. Also in Chuvashia, on this day it is customary to dress up horses, harness them to festive sleighs and give children rides.

Mancun holiday is Chuvash Easter. This holiday is the purest and brightest holiday for the people. Before Mancun, women clean their huts, and men clean up the yard and outside the yard. People prepare for the holiday by filling full barrels of beer, baking pies, painting eggs and preparing national dishes. Mancun lasts seven days, which are accompanied by fun, games, songs and dances. Before Chuvash Easter, swings were installed on every street, on which not only children, but also adults rode.

(Painting by Yu.A. Zaitsev "Akatuy" 1934-35.)

Holidays related to agriculture include: Akatui, Sinse, Simek, Pitrav and Pukrav. They are associated with the beginning and end of the sowing season, with the harvest and the arrival of winter.

The traditional Chuvash holiday is Surkhuri. On this day, the girls told fortunes - they caught sheep in the dark to tie a rope around their necks. And in the morning they came to look at the color of this sheep; if it was white, then the betrothed or betrothed would have blond hair and vice versa. And if the sheep is motley, then the couple will not be particularly beautiful. In different regions, Surkhuri is celebrated on different days- somewhere before Christmas, somewhere in New Year, and some celebrate on the night of Epiphany.

- name of the ethnic group inhabiting Chuvash Republic with its capital in the city of Cheboksary, located in the European part of Russia. The number of Chuvash in the world is just over one and a half million people, of which 1 million 435 thousand live in Russia.

There are 3 ethnographic groups, namely: the upper Chuvash, inhabiting the north-west of the republic, the middle-low Chuvash, living in the north-east and the southern lower Chuvash. Some researchers also talk about a special subgroup of the steppe Chuvash living in the southeast of Chuvashia and in the neighboring areas.
The Chuvash people were first mentioned in written sources in the 16th century.

In the scientific community, the origin of the Chuvash is still controversial, but most scientists agree that they, as well as the modern Kazan Tatars, are essentially the heirs of the Volga Bulgaria and its culture. The ancestors of the Chuvash are called the tribes of the Volga Finns, who mixed in the seventh and eighth centuries with the tribes of the Turks who moved to the Volga from the steppes of the Azov region. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, the ancestors of modern Chuvash were part of the population of the Kazan Khanate, without losing, however, some isolation and independence.

Origin of the ethnic group

The origin of the Chuvash, which is based on a mixture of ethnic groups, was reflected in the appearance of the people: almost all of its representatives can be divided into Caucasians with blond hair and dark-skinned, dark-haired Mongoloids. The former are characterized by light brown hair, gray or blue eyes and fair skin, wide faces and a neat nose, while they are somewhat darker than Europeans. Distinctive features of the second group: narrow dark brown eyes, weakly defined cheekbones and a depressed nose. Facial features characteristic of both types: low bridge of the nose, narrowed eyes, small mouth.

The Chuvash have their own national language, which, along with Russian, is official language Chuvashia. The Chuvash language is recognized as the only living Turkic language of the Bulgar group. It has three dialects: high (it is also called “okayushchiy”), middle-low, and also low (“ukaya”). In the mid-nineteenth century, the enlightener Ivan Yakovlev gave the Chuvash people an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The Chuvash language is studied in schools of the Chechen Republic and its universities, local radio and television programs are broadcast in it, magazines and newspapers are published.

Religious affiliation

Most Chuvash profess Orthodoxy; the second most important religion is Islam. However, traditional beliefs have a great influence on the formation of worldviews. Based on Chuvash mythology, there are three worlds: upper, middle and lower. The upper world is the abode of the supreme deity, and here are the immaculate souls and the souls of unborn babies. The middle world is the world of people. After death, the soul of the righteous passes first to the rainbow, and then to the upper world. Sinners are cast down into the lower world, where the souls of the wicked are boiled. The earth, according to Chuvash myths, is square and the Chuvash live in its very center. The "sacred tree" supports the firmament in the middle, while at the corners of the earth's square it rests on gold, silver, copper, and also stone pillars. Around the earth there is an ocean, the waves of which constantly destroy the land. When the destruction reaches the territory of the Chuvash, the end of the world will come. Animism (the belief in the animation of nature) and the worship of the spirits of ancestors were also popular.

The Chuvash national costume is distinguished by its abundance decorative elements. Chuvash men wear a canvas shirt, trousers and a headdress; in the cold season, a caftan and a sheep's coat are added. On your feet, depending on the season, are felt boots, boots or bast shoes. Chuvash women wear shirts with breast medallions, wide Tatar trousers, and an apron with a bib. Women's headdresses are of particular importance: tukhya for unmarried girls and hushpu - an indicator of married status. They are generously embroidered with beads and coins. All clothing is decorated with embroidery, which serves not only as decoration for the outfit, but also as a carrier of sacred information about the creation of the world, symbolically depicting the tree of life, eight-pointed stars and flowers. Each ethnographic group has its own favorite colors. Thus, southerners have always preferred bright colors, and northwesterners love light fabrics; Chuvash men of the lower and middle groups traditionally wear onuchi white, and representatives of the upper groups prefer black ones.

Chuvash traditions

The ancient traditions of the Chuvash have been preserved to this day. One of the most colorful rituals is a wedding. At the traditional Chuvash wedding ceremony there are no official representatives of the cult (priests, shamans) or authorities. Guests witness the creation of a family. According to the canons, the bride should be about 5-8 years older than her husband. The concept of divorce in traditional Chuvash culture does not exist. After the wedding, lovers should be together for the rest of their lives. Funerals are considered an equally important rite: on this occasion, a ram or a bull is slaughtered and more than 40 people are invited to a richly laid funeral table. The holiday for many representatives of this people is still Friday, the day when they put on their best clothes and do not work.

In general, the Chuvash traditions emphasize the most character traits people - respect for parents, relatives and neighbors, as well as peacefulness and modesty. The very name of the ethnic group in most neighboring languages ​​means “calm”, “quiet”, which fully corresponds to its mentality.

Links

• Chuvash (ethnonym) // Wikipedia

29 Yasak Chuvash (Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, Tatars, Russians) are the tax population of the Middle Volga region, in the 16th-18th centuries. paying the feudal state yasak - rent-tax.

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V.. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - pp. 411-412

81 Serving Chuvash (Tatars, Mari, Udmurts, Mordovians) - in the 16th-18th centuries. a category of small military service people from the Volga peoples who performed abattoir and military service. Under Peter I, they were included in the category of state peasants (decrees of 1719-1724).

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash

Among the dependent population there were also Russian peasants. In our opinion, Russian peasants in the Scribe Book are hidden under the term “peasant household.” The heavy non-Russian population of local origin was usually called “Chuvash”, and the non-Russian population of the western regions was called “Latvians”. Peasant households (Russian peasants) on the farms of feudal lords are indicated separately from “Chuvash” and “Latvian”.

The term “yasak Chuvasha” fixed the class affiliation: the name “chuvasha” (šüäš), according to the authoritative conclusion of the linguist R. G. Akhmetyanov, meant “plowman, farmer” ( Akhmetyanov).

The so-called yasak Chuvash - Besermen were localized in the main territory of the Kazan Khanate, professing Islam in the 15th-16th centuries. spoke the Tatar language. Their numbers significantly exceeded the actual “Tatar” part of the dominant ethnic group in the Khanate.

In June, unrest began in Kazan. “Chuvash Arskaya” (apparently Arsky Votyaks) came to the capital to the Khan’s court “to fight the Crimeans” and demanded submission to Russian demands (“why don’t you beat the sovereign with your forehead”), but the government of Oglan Kuchak dispersed the crowd of rebels - “ They fought with them and beat the Chuvash.”

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected Works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - P. 410

77 Yasak is a rent-tax in favor of the feudal state, collected from yasak people of the Middle Volga region in money and bread from a fixed area of ​​land. See: Dimitriev V.D. About yasak taxation in the Middle Volga region in the 17th - first quarter of the 18th centuries // Dimitriev V.D. Chuvashia in the era of feudalism (XVI- early XIX centuries). - pp. 241-269.

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - P. 416.

80 Newly baptized servicemen (Chuvash, Mari, Udmurts, Tatars) - former servicemen who converted to Orthodoxy, stationed in the second half of the 16th-17th centuries. in the cities of the Middle Volga region and carried military service in cities and counties. They had small plots of land, in some cases they complained of bread and money.

Nikolaev G. A. Comments and notes // Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. Volume II. Works on the history of Christianization and Christian education of the Chuvash. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 2007. - P. 416.

A Chuvashenin who has accepted Muhammadanism is already ashamed to be called a Chuvashenin and speak Chuvash, but calls himself a Tatar. “I’m not a Chuvashe, that is. not a pagan,” he thinks: “I am a Tatar, i.e. true believer.

Dictionaries

Elistratov V. S. Dictionary of Russian argot (materials from 1980-1990). - M.: Russian dictionaries, 2000. - 694 p.

Trishin V.N. Large dictionary-directory of synonyms of the Russian language of the ASIS system, version 8.0, July 3, 2012 for 431 thousand words.

Dal V. Explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language: In 4 volumes / Vladimir Ivanovich Dal. - M.: Rus. language - Media, 2003.-T. 4: P - Ѵ . - 2003. - 688 pp., 1 portrait.

additional literature

Chernyshev E. I. Tatar village of the second half of the 16th and 17th centuries. // Yearbook on Agrarian History of Eastern Europe 1961 - Riga, 1963. - pp. 174-176.

Chernyshev E. I. Villages of the Kazan Khanate. // Questions of ethnogenesis of the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region. Kazan, 1971. - pp. 282-283.

Iskhakov D. M. From medieval Tatars to modern Tatars. - Kazan, 1998. - P. 58-60, 80-102.

Dimitriev V. D. About the last stages of the ethnogenesis of the Chuvash. //Bulgarians and Chuvashs. - Cheboksary: ​​ChNII, 1984. - pp. 39-43.

Skvortsov M. I. Chuvash language material in the “Scribe book of the Kazan district of 1602-1603”. // Interlinguistic interactions in the Volga-Kama region. - Cheboksary: ​​ChSU, 1988. - P. 89-101.

List of scribe books for the city of Kazan and the district. - Kazan, 1877.

List from the scribe and boundary book of the city of Sviyazhsk and the district. - Kazan, 1909.

Chuvash always found themselves at the crossroads of peoples and civilizations. This shaped their culture, but more than once brought them to the brink of death. It determined friendship with neighbors and, at the same time, enmity. It prompted the creation of a state in order to then repeatedly recreate it from the ashes. The fate of this people is difficult. Just like the path of Russia itself and its other ethnic groups.

“The Chuvash tribe is still an unsolved page of history,” in these words of the famous Tatar writer twentieth century, Zarif Bashiri captures the whole essence of the complex and even mysterious origin Chuvash people.

Entertaining quest: Bulgarian-Suvar ancestors

Ethnogenesis, in terms of the degree of confusion, resembles a game of thimbles: “I twist and turn - I want to confuse.” Try to find the grain in the depths of centuries without confusing the archaeological layers of the historical pie. Today we will follow the representatives of the Chuvash people to meet their ancestors and trace the life path of the ethnic group.

On the northern slopes of the Tien Shan, Altai and in the upper reaches of the Irtysh in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. the Bilu, Bugu, Cheshi and Puley tribes appeared. They belonged to the Oguro-Onur ethnic community. These proto-Bulgarian tribes, in turn, were representatives of the western wing of the Xiongnu tribes.

Huns... Yes, it is from them that the ancient Bulgars/Bulgarians, Suvars and some other ethnic groups trace their ancestry - the ancestors of the Chuvash people. (we use the traditional transcription of Russian chronicles, while keeping in mind “our” Volga Bulgarians, and not the Balkan ones).

The similarity of language, economy, life and culture speaks in favor of the fact that one should look for familiar Chuvash features in the “Caucasian faces with a slight Mongoloid admixture” of the Volga Bulgarians. By the way, Chuvash - the only surviving language of the Bulgarian branch - is different from all other Turkic languages. It is so dissimilar in general characteristics that some scientists generally consider it an independent member of the Altaic language family.

central Asia

The East poured into Europe. The mass exodus began with the Huns, who carried other peoples with them to the west. By the beginning of the 1st century AD. The Ogur tribes took advantage of the moral “right of the nation to self-determination” and went their own way - to the west, separately from the Huns. This path turned out to be not straight, but zigzag: from north to south and back to the north. In the 2nd century AD. Ogur tribes invaded Semirechye (the south-eastern part of modern Kazakhstan and northern Kyrgyzstan), where they received the ethnonym Sabir (from the Persian Savar, Suvar “rider”) as a nickname from local Iranian-speaking agricultural tribes. As a result of mutual assimilation with the Iranian-speaking Usuns, a Proto-Bulgarian ethnic community was formed.

Some researchers believe that it is there, in Central Asia, in the language of the ancestors of the Chuvash, ancient Iranian words are fixed (in modern speech there are about two hundred of them). Under the influence of Zoroastrianism, the paganism of the people was formed, and the ancient Iranian cultural influence is reflected in the Chuvash material culture, for example, women's hats, embroidery patterns.

Caucasus and Azov region

In the 2nd-3rd centuries AD. Bulgarian and Suvar tribes settled on the right bank of the Lower Volga, occupying the territories of the North Caucasus and the Azov region.

But, strictly speaking, the name “Bulgarians” was first mentioned only in 354 - in the anonymous “Chronograph”, written in Latin. It became widespread during the creation of “Great Bulgaria” - their first state formation. Ethnicity confidently promotes new round development - settled life and the formation of statehood.

This is how the Volga Bulgarians first found their native expanses, where they would build their first state. But from geographical application to the formation of the people there are still almost seven centuries of trials. And not just “state building”.

From afar for a long time - they flowed to the Volga

In the 40s of the 5th century. The militant leader Attila became the head of the Huns for 20 years, uniting the tribes from the Rhine to the Volga under his rule. The ancestors of the Chuvash, who lived in the Volga region at that time, found themselves part of a “nomadic empire”, of which even the Roman Empire was a tributary. However, with the death of Attila, the empire fell apart.

Finding themselves first under the rule of the Western Turkic Khaganate, the Bulgarian tribes continued the struggle for independence. In the first quarter of the 7th century, their ruler Kubrat united his people along with the Suvar and others Turkic-speaking tribes into a union called "Great Bulgaria". “Independence Day” finally arrived - the ruler managed to achieve autonomy from the Turkic Kaganate.

Great Bulgaria is located on the territory between the Azov and Caspian seas. And the capital became the city of Phanagoria.

State 2.0

The death of the ruler of Great Bulgaria, Kubrat, led to a split into the western and eastern parts - into two tribal unions. The first, pressed by the Khazars, led by Asparukh, moved to the west, where they later created the Bulgarian kingdom.

Part of the Eastern Bulgarians (the so-called “silver”) in the 70s of the 7th century moved first to the upper reaches of the Don, and then to the Middle Volga region. Those who remained on the spot submitted to the Khazars.

The theory about the seizure of the lands of local Finns by newcomers from the Eastern Bulgarians is disputed by modern historians. Archaeologists echo that when the Bulgarians arrived, the lands were already practically empty - the Imenkovo ​​population (Slavs who moved from the Middle Dnieper) disappeared in the 7th century, and the Volga Finns, who turned out to be the closest neighbors, lived in isolation. The Middle Volga region has become a place active interaction Volga-Finnish, Permian-Finnish population with Ugric tribes penetrating from Western Siberia.

Over time, the Bulgarians occupied a dominant position in the Middle Volga, managing to unite in an alliance and partially assimilate with the local Finno-Ugric tribes (the ancestors of the modern Mari, Mordovians and Udmurts), as well as the Bashkirs.

By the 8th-9th centuries, plow farming was established among the new settlers, and a transition to sedentary forms of farming took place. Back in the 10th century, the famous Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan mentioned that the Bulgars were actively engaged in cultivating the land: “Their food is millet and horse meat, but they also have wheat and barley.” large quantities, and everyone who sows something takes it for himself.”

In the “Risalia” of Ibn Fadlan (10th century) it is noted that the Bulgarian Khan Almush still lives in a tent.

Settlement, agriculture and even some kind of economic organization... Most likely, at the end of the 9th century, the state of Volga Bulgaria already existed. It was created in the context of the ongoing struggle against the Khazars, which contributed to the strengthening of autocracy in the state. In difficult times, the ruler relied on an eternal scheme: to unite the people with a common goal of survival and to hold with a firm hand the main levers of power, including financial ones. Even in the first quarter of the 10th century, Khan Almush concentrated in his hands the collection and payment of tribute to the Khazars from the tribes of the Middle Volga region subordinate to him.

A Question of Faith

Back in the first quarter of the 10th century, Almush, in order to fight the Khazars, turned for support to the Baghdad caliph Mukhtadir, who in 922 sent an embassy to Volga Bulgaria. As a result, most Bulgarians converted to Islam.

However, the Suwaz tribes refused. They retained the former name “Suvaz” - Chuvash, while those who remained later assimilated with the Bulgarians.

At the same time, one cannot exaggerate the scale of the spread of Islam in Volga Bulgaria. In 1236, the Hungarian monk Julian called it a powerful kingdom with “rich cities, but all there are pagans.” Therefore, it is too early to talk about the division of the Bulgar ethnic community into Muslims and pagans before the 13th century.

In 965, after the defeat of the Khazar Kaganate by Russia, a new stage in the development of Volga Bulgaria began. Territorial expansion is actively underway, as a result of which the Bulgarian ethnic group “subjugated all its neighbors...” (Al-Masudi). By the end of the 12th century, the northern part of the state reached the Kazanka River, the eastern - to the banks of Yaik and Belaya, the southern - to Zhiguli, and the western included the right bank of the Volga. The center of Volga Bulgaria until the middle of the 12th century was the city of Bolgar (Bulgar), and from the second half of the 12th to the beginning of the 13th century - Bilyar. Some researchers refuse to call these cities capitals, preferring to call them “centers”, because They believe that Volga Bulgaria was rather a union of independent principalities with separate capital cities.

The Bulgarian tribes (the Bulgarians themselves and related Suvars) are drawing closer together, and the Finno-Ugric peoples are also integrating. As a result, even before the Mongol invasion, a more or less unified nationality was formed in the Bulgarian state with its own common language Chuvash type.

Rus': only business and nothing personal

From the end of the 10th century until Mongol conquest The most active relations are developing between Volga Bulgaria and Russia. She is not yet Mother Rus' - the relationship is not one of love, but quite a commodity-money relationship. The Volga trade route passed through Bulgaria. By playing the role of an intermediary, she provided herself with decent benefits.

However, partnerships alternate with periods of military confrontation, which was caused mainly by the struggle for territory and influence over various tribes.

They failed to unite in a military alliance in the face of the Horde enemy, but the states made peace.

"Non-Golden Age" of the Horde

The real test for Volga Bulgaria was the invasion of the Golden Horde. At first, the courageous resistance of the people stopped the invasion. The first clash between the Bulgarians and the Mongols occurred after the Battle of the Kalka River in 1223. Then the Mongols sent a detachment of five thousand to Bulgaria, which was defeated. The attacks in 1229 and 1232 were also successfully repulsed.

The victory of the Volga Bulgarians over the Mongols, according to historian Khairi Gimadi, had far-reaching consequences: “Until the mid-30s of the 13th century, the Mongol invasion of Europe was delayed.” As for the Bulgarians themselves, they had no doubt that the next invasion would be more serious, merciless and would not last long. Therefore, intensive work begins to strengthen cities. In 1229, the peace treaty with Vladimir-Suzdal Russia was extended for six years.

However, in 1236 the Bulgarians were unable to resist Batu's army. Russian chronicles write about the defeat like this: “It came from eastern countries The godless Tatars entered the Bulgarian land, and took the glorious Great Bulgarian and beat them with weapons from the old man to the old man and to the living child, taking a lot of goods, and burned their city with fire and captivated their entire land.” The Mongols ravaged Bulgaria and destroyed almost all important cities (Bulgar, Bilyar, Dzhuketau, Suvar).

In 1241, the Mongols turned Volga Bulgaria into the Bulgar ulus of the Golden Horde. Moreover, the occupied territories had special significance for them: the city of Bulgar, before the construction of Sarai, was the capital of the Golden Horde, and later became the summer residence of the khans of the Jochi ulus.

Kazan Tatars

Mongol rule forced the population to move north. At the same time, there was an increased penetration of the Kypchaks into Volga Bulgaria, who, occupying the most important positions in the administration of the ulus, gradually moved to a settled life. The surviving Bulgarian elite, thanks to their religious community - many converted to Islam in the 9th-10th centuries - gradually became closer to the newcomer Kipchaks-Tatars, as a result of which by the 15th century. the nationality of the Kazan Tatars was formed.

As part of the decrepit Golden Horde, the Bulgar ulus was subjected to numerous raids. In 1391 and 1395, the territory was devastated by the troops of Tamerlane, Novgorod robbers and Russian princes. The devastation was completed by the Mangyt yurt of Prince Edigei (later the Nogai Horde). As a result, the Bulgarian ancestors of the Chuvash as an ethnic group found themselves on the verge of extinction, having lost their historical homeland, statehood, elite and ethnic identity. According to historians, at least 4/5 of the population was destroyed.

Chuvash Daruga of the Kazan Khanate

After the collapse of the Golden Horde in the Middle Volga region, Ulu-Muhammad created the Kazan Khanate in 1438 with its center in Kazan. In addition to the Kipchak-Tatars, who served as support for the ruler, a significant part of the population were Chuvash, Mari, Mordovians and Udmurts, who were the main tax-paying class. Also, part of the Bashkir lands was part of the Kazan Khanate.

Most of the Chuvash who found themselves part of the Kazan Khanate lived on the mountainous side of the Volga (north of modern Chuvashia), as well as on its left bank. Therefore, the territory east of Kazan, where they lived, was called the “Chuvash Daruga” (“Daruga” is an administrative unit in the Kazan Khanate).

Since a significant part of the feudal lords and nobility professing Islam remained in Kazan, the influence Tatar language and there were few Muslim clergy in the area. On the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria, on the basis of Bulgarian ethnoculture, by the end of the 15th century, the formation of two ethnic groups - Tatar and Chuvash - was completed. If in the first the Bulgarian ethnicity was practically replaced by the Kipchak-Tatar, then the Chuvash, according to ethnographer Rail Kuzeev, “preserving the archaic Turkic language, at the same time they developed a culture that was in many respects close to the culture of the Finno-Ugric people.”

33 misfortunes

As part of the Kazan Khanate, the Chuvash found a place to live. But this life was not easy due to tax burdens. The descendants of the once powerful Volga Bulgaria were obliged to pay a burdensome tribute, were involved in the construction of fortresses, and performed pit, road, stationary and military duties.

But the war brought the greatest suffering to the Chuvash people. Starting from the second half of the 15th century, the territory of their residence became a zone of Russian-Kazan confrontation. Thus, the Tatars marched across the Bulgarian-Chuvash land against the Russians 31 times, and the Russians against the Kazan Khanate - 33 times. Along with regular raids by Nogai nomads, campaigns became a real disaster for the population. These factors largely determined the willingness of the Chuvash to accept Russian citizenship.

To be continued