Kalmyks and Mari. In a multinational team, the behavior of the Mari is almost no different from the Chuvash and Russians; perhaps a little more restrained

Mari is a Finno-Ugric people, which is important to name with an emphasis on the letter “i”, since the word “Mari” with an emphasis on the first vowel is the name of an ancient ruined city. When immersing yourself in the history of a people, it is important to learn the correct pronunciation of their name, traditions and customs.

The legend of the origin of the mountain Mari

Marie believe that their people come from another planet. Somewhere in the constellation of the Nest there lived a bird. It was a duck that flew to the ground. Here she laid two eggs. Of these, the first two people were born, who were brothers, since they descended from the same mother duck. One of them turned out to be good, and the other - evil. It was from them that life on earth began, good and evil people were born.

The Mari know space well. They are familiar with the celestial bodies that are known to modern astronomy. This people still retain their specific names for the components of the cosmos. The Big Dipper is called the Elk, and the galaxy is called the Nest. For the Mari, the Milky Way is the Star Road along which God travels.

Language and writing

The Mari have their own language, which is part of the Finno-Ugric group. It contains four adverbs:

• eastern;
• northwestern;
• mountain;
• meadow

Until the 16th century, the mountain Mari did not have an alphabet. The first alphabet in which their language could be written was Cyrillic. Its final creation occurred in 1938, thanks to which the Mari received writing.

Thanks to the advent of the alphabet, it became possible to record Mari folklore, represented by fairy tales and songs.

Mountain Mari religion

The Mari faith was pagan before meeting Christianity. Among the gods there were many female deities left over from the time of matriarchy. There were only 14 mother goddesses (ava) in their religion. The Mari did not build temples and altars; they prayed in groves under the guidance of their priests (cards). Having become acquainted with Christianity, the people converted to it, maintaining syncretism, that is, combining Christian rituals with pagan ones. Some Mari converted to Islam.

Once upon a time in a Mari village there lived an obstinate girl of extraordinary beauty. Having provoked God's wrath, she was turned into a terrible creature with huge breasts, coal-black hair and feet turned inverted - Ovdu. Many avoided her, fearing that she would curse them. They said that Ovda settled on the edge of villages near dense forests or deep ravines. In the old days, our ancestors met her more than once, but we are unlikely to ever see this terrifying-looking girl. According to legend, she hid in dark caves, where she lives alone to this day.

The name of this place is Odo-Kuryk, which is translated as Mount Ovdy. An endless forest, in the depths of which megaliths are hidden. The boulders are gigantic in size and perfectly rectangular in shape, stacked to form a jagged wall. But you won’t notice them right away; it seems that someone deliberately hid them from human sight.

However, scientists believe that this is not a cave, but a fortress built by the mountain Mari specifically for defense against hostile tribes - the Udmurts. The location of the defensive structure - the mountain - played a big role. The steep descent, followed by a sharp ascent, was at the same time the main obstacle to the rapid movement of enemies and the main advantage for the Mari, since they, knowing the secret paths, could move unnoticed and shoot back.

But it remains unknown how the Mari managed to build such a monumental structure from megaliths, because for this it is necessary to have remarkable strength. Perhaps only creatures from myths are capable of creating something like this. This is where the belief arose that the fortress was built by Ovda in order to hide her cave from human eyes.

In this regard, Odo-Kuryk is surrounded by special energy. People with psychic abilities come here to find the source of this energy - Ovda's cave. But local residents try not to pass by this mountain again, fearing to disturb the peace of this wayward and rebellious woman. After all, the consequences can be unpredictable, just like its character.

The famous artist Ivan Yamberdov, whose paintings express the main cultural values ​​and traditions of the Mari people, considers Ovda not a terrible and evil monster, but sees in her the beginning of nature itself. Ovda is a powerful, constantly changing, cosmic energy. When rewriting paintings depicting this creature, the artist never makes copies; each time it is a unique original, which once again confirms the words of Ivan Mikhailovich about the variability of this feminine natural principle.

To this day, the mountain Mari believe in the existence of Ovda, despite the fact that no one has seen her for a long time. Currently, local healers, witches and herbalists are most often named after her. They are respected and feared because they are the conductors of natural energy into our world. They are able to feel it and control its flows, which distinguishes them from ordinary people.

Life cycle and rituals

The Mari family is monogamous. Life cycle divided into specific parts. The big event was the wedding, which acquired the character of a general holiday. A ransom was paid for the bride. In addition, she was required to receive a dowry, even pets. Weddings were noisy and crowded - with songs, dances, a wedding train and festive national costumes.

Funerals had special rituals. The cult of ancestors left its mark not only on the history of the mountain Mari people, but also on funeral clothing. The deceased Mari was always dressed in a winter hat and mittens and taken to the cemetery in a sleigh, even if it was warm outside. Together with the deceased, objects were placed in the grave that could help in the afterlife: cut nails, branches of prickly rose hips, a piece of canvas. Nails were needed to climb rocks in the world of the dead, thorny branches to ward off evil snakes and dogs, and to cross the canvas into the afterlife.

These people have musical instruments that accompany various events in life. This is a wooden trumpet, pipe, harp and drum. Traditional medicine has been developed, the recipes of which are associated with positive and negative concepts of the world order - life force coming from outer space, the will of the gods, the evil eye, damage.

Tradition and modernity

It is natural for the Mari to adhere to the traditions and customs of the mountain Mari to this day. They greatly respect nature, which provides them with everything they need. When they adopted Christianity, they retained many folk customs from pagan life. They were used to regulate life until the beginning of the 20th century. For example, a divorce was formalized by tying a couple with a rope and then cutting it.

At the end of the 19th century, the Mari developed a sect that tried to modernize paganism. The religious sect of Kugu sorta ("Big Candle") is still active. Recently there have been formed public organizations, who set themselves the goal of returning the traditions and customs of the ancient way of life of the Mari to modern life.

Economy of the mountain Mari

The basis for subsistence of the Mari was agriculture. These people grew various grains, hemp and flax. Root crops and hops were planted in the gardens. Since the 19th century, potatoes began to be grown en masse. In addition to the garden and field, animals were kept, but this was not the main focus of agriculture. The animals on the farm were different - small and large cattle, horses.

A little more than a third of the mountain Mari had no land at all. Their main source of income was the production of honey, first in the form of beekeeping, then raising beehives on their own. Also, landless representatives were engaged in fishing, hunting, logging and rafting of timber. When logging enterprises appeared, many Mari representatives went there to earn money.

Until the beginning of the 20th century, the Mari made most of their labor and hunting tools at home. Agriculture was carried out using a plow, a hoe and a Tatar plow. For hunting they used wooden traps, a spear, a bow and flintlock guns. At home, they carved wood, cast handicraft silver jewelry, and women embroidered. The means of transportation were also homegrown - covered wagons and carts in the summer, sleighs and skis in the winter.

Mari life

These people lived in large communities. Each such community consisted of several villages. In ancient times, within one community there could be small (urmat) and large (nasyl) clan formations. The Mari lived in small families; large families were very rare. Most often they preferred to live among representatives of their own people, although sometimes there were mixed communities with Chuvash and Russians. The appearance of the mountain Mari is not much different from the Russians.

In the 19th century, Mari villages had a street structure. Plots standing in two rows along one line (street). The house is a log house with a gable roof, consisting of a cage, a canopy and a hut. Each hut necessarily had a large Russian stove and a kitchen, fenced off from the residential part. There were benches along three walls, in one corner there was a table and a master’s chair, a “red corner”, shelves with dishes, in the other there was a bed and bunks. This is what the Mari winter home basically looked like.

In the summer they lived in log cabins without a ceiling with a gable, sometimes pitched roof and an earthen floor. A fireplace was built in the center, above which a boiler hung, and a hole was made in the roof to remove smoke from the hut.

In addition to the owner's hut, a cage used as a storeroom, a cellar, a barn, a barn, a chicken coop and a bathhouse were built in the yard. Rich Mari built two-story cages with a gallery and a balcony. The lower floor was used as a cellar, storing food in it, and the upper floor was used as a shed for utensils.

National cuisine

A characteristic feature of the Mari cuisine is soup with dumplings, dumplings, sausage cooked from grains with blood, dried horse meat, puff pancakes, pies with fish, eggs, potatoes or hemp seeds and traditional unleavened bread. There are also such specific dishes as fried squirrel meat, baked hedgehog, and fish flour cakes. Frequent drinks on the tables were beer, mead, and buttermilk (low-fat cream). Those who knew how, distilled potato or grain vodka at home.

Mari clothing

The national costume of the mountain Mari consists of trousers, a swing caftan, a waist towel and a belt. For sewing, they used homespun fabric made from flax and hemp. The men's costume included several headdresses: caps, felt hats with small brims, hats reminiscent of modern mosquito nets for the forest. They put bast shoes, leather boots, felt boots on their feet, so that the shoes did not get wet, high wooden soles were nailed to them.

The ethnic women's costume was distinguished from the men's by the presence of an apron, waist pendants and all kinds of decorations made of beads, shells, coins, and silver clasps. There were also various headdresses that were worn only by married women:

• shymaksh - a kind of cone-shaped cap on a birch bark frame with a blade at the back of the head;
• magpie - resembles the kichka worn by Russian girls, but with high sides and a low front hanging over the forehead;
• tarpan - head towel with headband.

The national outfit can be seen on the mountain Mari, photos of which are presented above. Today it is an integral attribute wedding ceremony. Of course, the traditional costume has been slightly modified. Details appeared that distinguished it from what the ancestors wore. For example, now a white shirt is combined with a colorful apron, outerwear is decorated with embroidery and ribbons, belts are woven from multi-colored threads, and caftans are sewn from green or black fabric.

The people got their name from the adapted Mari “mari” or “mari”, which in Russian translation means “man” or “person”. The population, according to the 2010 census, is approximately 550,000 people. Mari are an ancient people whose history dates back more than three thousand years. Now living, for the most part, in the Republic of Mari El, part of the Russian Federation. Also, representatives of the Mari ethnic group live in the republics of Udmurtia, Tatarstan, Bashkiria, Sverdlovsk, Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod and other regions of the Russian Federation. Despite the rough process of assimilation, the indigenous Mari, in some remote settlements, managed to preserve their original language, beliefs, traditions, rituals, clothing style and way of life.

Mari people of the Middle Urals (Sverdlovsk region)

The Mari, as an ethnic group, belong to the Finno-Ugric tribes, which, even in the early Iron Age, lived along the floodplains of the Vetluga and Volga rivers. One thousand years BC. The Mari built their settlements in the Volga interfluve. And the river itself got its name precisely thanks to the Mari tribes who lived along its banks, since the word “Volgaltesh” means “brilliance”, “brilliant”. As for the indigenous Mari language, it is divided into three language dialects, determined by the topographic area of ​​residence. The groups of adverbs are named, in turn, as are the speakers of each dialect variant, as follows: Olyk Mari (Meadow Mari), Kuryk Mari (Mountain Mari), Bashkir Mari (Eastern Mari). In fairness, it is necessary to make a reservation that the speech is not too different from each other. Knowing one of the dialects, you can understand the others.

Before IX, the Mari people lived on fairly vast lands. These were not only the modern Republic of Mari El and the present Nizhny Novgorod, but the lands of Rostov and the present Moscow Region. However, just as nothing lasts forever, the independent, original history of the Mari tribes suddenly ceased. In the 13th century, with the invasion of the troops of the Golden Horde, the lands of the Volga-Vyatka interfluve fell into the power of the khan. Then the Mari peoples received their second name “Cheremysh”, which was later adopted by the Russians as “Cheremis” and has a designation in the modern dictionary: “man”, “husband”. It is worth immediately clarifying that this word is not used in the current lexicon. The lives of people and the wounded valor of the Mari warriors during the reign of the khan will be discussed a little further in the text. And now a few words about the identity and cultural traditions of the Mari people.

Customs and life

Crafts and farming

When you live near deep rivers and endless forests around you, it is natural that fishing and hunting will occupy an important place in your life. This is how it was among the Mari peoples: hunting animals, fishing, beekeeping (extracting wild honey), then cultivated beekeeping occupied not the least place in their way of life. But agriculture remained the main activity. Primarily agriculture. Cereals were grown: oats, rye, barley, hemp, buckwheat, spelt, flax. Turnips, radishes, onions, and other root vegetables, as well as cabbage, were cultivated in the gardens; later they began to plant potatoes. Gardens were planted in some areas. The tools for cultivating the soil were traditional for that time: plow, hoe, plow, harrow. They kept livestock - horses, cows, sheep. They made dishes and other utensils, usually wooden. They wove fabrics from flax fibers. They harvested timber, from which dwellings were then built.

Residential and non-residential buildings

The houses of the ancient Marias were traditional log buildings. A hut, divided into living and utility rooms, with a gable roof. A stove was placed inside, which served not only for heating in cold weather, but also for cooking. Often a large stove was added for a convenient cooking stove. There were shelves with various utensils on the walls. The furniture was wooden and carved. Artfully embroidered fabric served as curtains for windows and sleeping places. In addition to the residential hut, there were other buildings on the farm. In the summer, when hot days came, the whole family moved to live in a kudo, a kind of analogue of a modern summer dacha. A log house without a ceiling, with an earthen floor, on which, right in the center of the building, there was a fireplace. A cauldron was hung over an open fire. In addition, the economic complex included: a bathhouse, a cage (something like a closed gazebo), a barn, a canopy under which sleighs and carts were located, a cellar and pantry, and a cattle shed.

Food and household items

Bread was the main dish. It was baked from barley, oatmeal, and rye flour. In addition to unleavened bread, they baked pancakes, flatbreads, and pies with various fillings. The unleavened dough was used for dumplings with meat or curd filling, and was also thrown into soup in the form of small balls. This dish was called “lashka”. They made homemade sausages and salted fish. The favorite drinks were puro (strong mead), beer, and buttermilk.

Meadow Mari

They made household items, clothes, shoes, and jewelry themselves. Men and women dressed in shirts, trousers and caftans. In cold weather they wore fur coats and sheepskin coats. Clothes were complemented with belts. Women's wardrobe items were distinguished by rich embroidery, a longer shirt and were complemented by an apron, as well as a robe made of canvas fabric, which was called a shovyr. Of course, women of the Mari nationality loved to decorate their outfits. They wore items made from shells, beads, coins and beads, and intricate headdresses called: magpie (a kind of cap) and scharpan (national scarf). Men's headdresses were felt hats and fur hats. Shoes were made from leather, birch bark, and felted.

Traditions and religion

In traditional Mari beliefs, as in any European pagan culture, the main place was occupied by holidays associated with agricultural activities and the change of seasons. So a shining example are Aga payrem - the beginning of the sowing season, the holiday of the plow and plow, Kinde payrem - the harvest, the holiday of new bread and fruits. In the pantheon of gods, Kugu Yumo was considered supreme. There were others: Kava Yumo - the goddess of fate and sky, Wood Ava - the mother of all lakes and rivers, Ilysh Shochyn Ava - the goddess of life and fertility, Kudo Vodyzh - the spirit guarding the house and hearth, Keremet - the evil god who, at special temples in the groves , sacrificed livestock. The religious person who conducted the prayers was a priest, “kart” in the Mari language.

As for marriage traditions, marriages were patrilocal; after a ceremony, the obligatory condition of which was the payment of a bride price, and the girl herself was given a dowry by her parents, which became her personal property, the bride went to live with her husband’s family. During the wedding itself, tables were set and a festive tree - a birch tree - was brought into the yard. The family structure was established as patriarchal; they lived in communities and clans called “Urmat”. However, the families themselves were not too crowded.

Mari priests

While the remnants of family relationships have long been forgotten, many ancient burial traditions have survived to this day. The Mari buried their dead in winter clothes; the body was transported to the graveyard exclusively on sleighs, at any time of the year. On the way, the deceased was supplied with a thorny branch of rose hips in order to ward off dogs and snakes guarding the entrance to the afterlife.
Traditional musical instruments during celebrations, rituals, and ceremonies were the harp, bagpipes, various trumpets and pipes, and drums.

A little about history, the Golden Horde and Ivan the Terrible

As mentioned earlier, the lands on which the Mari tribes originally lived were, in the 13th century, subordinated to the Golden Horde Khan. The Mari became one of the nationalities that were part of the Kazan Khanate and the Golden Horde. There is an excerpt from the chronicle of times, which mentions how the Russians lost a major battle to the Mari, the Cheremis as they were called then. The figures of thirty thousand killed Russian warriors are mentioned and talk about the sinking of almost all of their ships. Also, chronicle sources indicate that at that time the Cheremis were in alliance with the Horde, carrying out raids together as a single army. The Tatars themselves, by the way, are silent about this historical fact, attributing to himself all the glory of the conquests.

But, as Russian chronicles say, the Mari warriors were brave and dedicated to their cause. Thus, one of the manuscripts cites an incident that occurred in the 16th century, when the Russian army surrounded Kazan and the Tatar troops suffered crushing losses, and their remnants, led by the khan, fled, leaving the city to be conquered by the Russians. Then it was the Mari army that blocked their path, despite the significant advantage of the Russian army. The Mari, who could easily go into the wild forest, put up an army of 12 thousand people against the 150 thousandth army. They managed to fight back and forced the Russian army to retreat. As a result, negotiations took place, Kazan was saved. However, Tatar historians deliberately remain silent about these facts, when their troops led by their leader shamefully fled, the Cheremis stood up for the Tatar cities.

After Kazan had already been conquered by the Terrible Tsar Ivan IV, the Mari launched a liberation movement. Alas, the Russian Tsar solved the problem in his own spirit - with bloody massacres and terror. The “Cheremis Wars” - an armed uprising against Moscow rule, were so named because it was the Mari who were the organizers and main participants in the riots. In the end, all resistance was brutally suppressed, and the Mari people themselves were slaughtered almost completely. The survivors had no choice but to surrender and take an oath of allegiance to the winner, that is, the Tsar of Moscow.

Today's day

Today, the land of the Mari people is one of the republics that is part of the Russian Federation. Mari El borders on the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions, Chuvashia and Tatarstan. Not only indigenous peoples, but also other nationalities, numbering more than fifty, live on the territory of the republic. The bulk of the population are Mari and Russians.

Recently, with the development of urbanization and assimilation processes, the problem of the extinction of national traditions, culture, and folk language has become acute. Many residents of the republic, being indigenous Mari, abandon their native dialects, preferring to speak exclusively in Russian, even at home, among their relatives. This is a problem not only in large, industrial cities, but also in small, rural settlements. Children do not learn their native speech, and national identity is lost.

Of course, sports are being developed and supported in the republic, competitions are held, orchestra performances are held, writers are awarded, environmental activities are carried out with the participation of young people, and many other useful things are carried out. But against the backdrop of all this, we should not forget about the ancestral roots, the identity of the people and their ethnic and cultural self-identification.

Origin of the Mari people

The question of the origin of the Mari people is still controversial. For the first time, a scientifically substantiated theory of the ethnogenesis of the Mari was expressed in 1845 by the famous Finnish linguist M. Castren. He tried to identify the Mari with the chronicle measures. This point of view was supported and developed by T.S. Semenov, I.N. Smirnov, S.K. Kuznetsov, A.A. Spitsyn, D.K. Zelenin, M.N. Yantemir, F.E. Egorov and many others researchers of the 2nd half of the 19th – 1st half of the 20th centuries. A new hypothesis was made in 1949 by the prominent Soviet archaeologist A.P. Smirnov, who came to the conclusion about the Gorodets (close to the Mordovians) basis; other archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.F. Gening at the same time defended the thesis about Dyakovsky (close to measure) origin of the Mari. Nevertheless, archaeologists were already able to convincingly prove that the Merya and Mari, although related to each other, are not the same people. At the end of the 1950s, when the permanent Mari archaeological expedition began to operate, its leaders A.Kh. Khalikov and G.A. Arkhipov developed a theory about the mixed Gorodets-Azelinsky (Volga-Finnish-Permian) basis of the Mari people. Subsequently, G.A. Arkhipov, developing this hypothesis further, during the discovery and study of new archaeological sites, proved that the mixed basis of the Mari was dominated by the Gorodets-Dyakovo (Volga-Finnish) component and the formation of the Mari ethnos, which began in the first half of the 1st millennium AD , generally ended in the 9th – 11th centuries, and even then the Mari ethnos began to be divided into two main groups - the mountain and meadow Mari (the latter, compared to the former, were more strongly influenced by the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes). This theory is generally supported by the majority of archaeological scientists working on this problem. Mari archaeologist V.S. Patrushev put forward a different assumption, according to which the formation of the ethnic foundations of the Mari, as well as the Meri and Muroms, took place on the basis of the Akhmylov-type population. Linguists (I.S. Galkin, D.E. Kazantsev), who rely on language data, believe that the territory of formation of the Mari people should be sought not in the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, as archaeologists believe, but to the southwest, between the Oka and Suroy. Scientist-archaeologist T.B. Nikitina, taking into account data not only from archeology, but also from linguistics, came to the conclusion that the ancestral home of the Mari is located in the Volga part of the Oka-Sura interfluve and in Povetluzhie, and the advance to the east, to Vyatka, occurred in VIII - XI centuries, during which contact and mixing took place with the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes.

The question of the origin of the ethnonyms “Mari” and “Cheremis” also remains complex and unclear. The meaning of the word “Mari”, the self-name of the Mari people, is derived by many linguists from the Indo-European term “mar”, “mer” in various sound variations (translated as “man”, “husband”). The word “Cheremis” (as the Russians called the Mari, and in a slightly different, but phonetically similar vowel, many other peoples) has a large number different interpretations. The first written mention of this ethnonym (in the original “ts-r-mis”) is found in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph to the dignitary of the Cordoba Caliph Hasdai ibn-Shaprut (960s). D.E. Kazantsev, following the historian of the 19th century. G.I. Peretyatkovich came to the conclusion that the name “Cheremis” was given to the Mari Mordovian tribes, and translated this word means “a person who lives on the sunny side, in the east.” According to I.G. Ivanov, “Cheremis” is “a person from the Chera or Chora tribe,” in other words, neighboring peoples subsequently extended the name of one of the Mari tribes to the entire ethnic group. The version of the Mari local historians of the 1920s and early 1930s, F.E. Egorov and M.N. Yantemir, is widely popular, who suggested that this ethnonym goes back to the Turkic term “warlike person.” F.I. Gordeev, as well as I.S. Galkin, who supported his version, defend the hypothesis about the origin of the word “Cheremis” from the ethnonym “Sarmatian” through the mediation of Turkic languages. A number of other versions were also expressed. The problem of the etymology of the word “Cheremis” is further complicated by the fact that in the Middle Ages (up to the 17th – 18th centuries) this was the name in a number of cases not only for the Mari, but also for their neighbors – the Chuvash and Udmurts.

Mari in the 9th – 11th centuries.

In the 9th – 11th centuries. In general, the formation of the Mari ethnic group was completed. At the time in questionMarisettled over a vast territory within the Middle Volga region: south of the Vetluga and Yuga watershed and the Pizhma River; north of the Piana River, the upper reaches of Tsivil; east of the Unzha River, the mouth of the Oka; west of Ileti and the mouth of the Kilmezi River.

Farm Mari was complex (agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, gathering, beekeeping, crafts and other activities related to the processing of raw materials at home). Direct evidence of the widespread spread of agriculture in Mari no, there is only indirect evidence indicating the development of slash-and-burn agriculture among them, and there is reason to believe that in the 11th century. the transition to arable farming began.
Mari in the 9th – 11th centuries. almost all grains, legumes and industrial crops cultivated in the forest belt of Eastern Europe at the present time were known. Swidden farming was combined with cattle breeding; Stall housing of livestock in combination with free grazing predominated (mainly the same types of domestic animals and birds were bred as now).
Hunting was a significant help in the economy Mari, while in the 9th – 11th centuries. fur production began to have a commercial character. Hunting tools were bows and arrows; various traps, snares and snares were used.
Mari the population was engaged in fishing (near rivers and lakes), accordingly, river navigation developed, while natural conditions (dense network of rivers, difficult forest and swampy terrain) dictated the priority development of river rather than land routes of communication.
Fishing, as well as gathering (primarily forest products) were focused exclusively on domestic consumption. Significant spread and development in Mari beekeeping was introduced; they even put signs of ownership on the bean trees - “tiste”. Along with furs, honey was the main item of Mari export.
U Mari there were no cities, only village crafts were developed. Metallurgy, due to the lack of a local raw material base, developed through the processing of imported semi-finished and finished products. Nevertheless, blacksmithing in the 9th – 11th centuries. at Mari had already emerged as a special specialty, while non-ferrous metallurgy (mainly blacksmithing and jewelry - making copper, bronze, and silver jewelry) was predominantly carried out by women.
The production of clothing, shoes, utensils, and some types of agricultural implements was carried out on each farm in the time free from agriculture and livestock raising. Weaving and leatherworking were in first place among the domestic industries. Flax and hemp were used as raw materials for weaving. The most common leather product was shoes.

In the 9th – 11th centuries. Mari conducted barter trade with neighboring peoples - the Udmurts, Meryas, Vesya, Mordovians, Muroma, Meshchera and other Finno-Ugric tribes. Trade relations with the Bulgars and Khazars, who were at a relatively high level of development, went beyond natural exchange; there were elements of commodity-money relations (many Arab dirhams were found in the ancient Mari burial grounds of that time). In the area where they lived Mari, the Bulgars even founded trading posts like the Mari-Lugovsky settlement. The greatest activity of Bulgarian merchants occurred at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries. Any obvious signs close and regular connections between the Mari and the Eastern Slavs in the 9th – 11th centuries. has not yet been discovered, things of Slavic-Russian origin are rare in the Mari archaeological sites of that time.

Based on the totality of available information, it is difficult to judge the nature of contacts Mari in the 9th – 11th centuries. with their Volga-Finnish neighbors - Merya, Meshchera, Mordovians, Muroma. However, according to numerous folklore works strained relations Mari developed with the Udmurts: as a result of a number of battles and minor skirmishes, the latter were forced to leave the Vetluga-Vyatka interfluve, retreating east, to the left bank of the Vyatka. At the same time, among the available archaeological material there are no traces of armed conflicts between Mari and the Udmurts were not found.

Relationship Mari with the Volga Bulgars, apparently, they were not limited to trade. At least part of the Mari population, bordering the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, paid tribute to this country (kharaj) - initially as a vassal-intermediary of the Khazar Kagan (it is known that in the 10th century both Bulgars and Mari- ts-r-mis - were subjects of Kagan Joseph, however, the former were in a more privileged position as part of the Khazar Kaganate), then as an independent state and a kind of legal successor to the Kaganate.

The Mari and their neighbors in the 12th – early 13th centuries.

From the 12th century in some Mari lands the transition to fallow farming begins. Funeral rites were unifiedMari, cremation has disappeared. If previously in useMarimen often encountered swords and spears, but now they have been replaced everywhere by bows, arrows, axes, knives and other types of light bladed weapons. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the new neighborsMarithere were more numerous, better armed and organized peoples (Slavic-Russians, Bulgars), with whom it was possible to fight only by partisan methods.

XII – early XIII centuries. were marked by a noticeable growth of the Slavic-Russian and the decline of the Bulgar influence on Mari(especially in Povetluzhie). At this time, Russian settlers appeared in the area between the Unzha and Vetluga rivers (Gorodets Radilov, first mentioned in chronicles in 1171, settlements and settlements on Uzol, Linda, Vezlom, Vatom), where settlements were still found Mari and eastern Merya, as well as in the Upper and Middle Vyatka (the cities of Khlynov, Kotelnich, settlements on Pizhma) - on the Udmurt and Mari lands.
Settlement area Mari, compared with the 9th – 11th centuries, did not undergo significant changes, however, its gradual shift to the east continued, which was largely due to the advance from the west of the Slavic-Russian tribes and the Slavicizing Finno-Ugric peoples (primarily the Merya) and, possibly , the ongoing Mari-Udmurt confrontation. The movement of the Meryan tribes to the east took place in small families or their groups, and the settlers who reached Povetluga most likely mixed with related Mari tribes, completely dissolving in this environment.

Material culture came under strong Slavic-Russian influence (obviously through the mediation of the Meryan tribes) Mari. In particular, according to archaeological research, instead of traditional local molded ceramics comes dishes made on a potter's wheel (Slavic and “Slavonic” ceramics); under Slavic influence, the appearance of Mari jewelry, household items, and tools changed. At the same time, among the Mari antiquities of the 12th – early 13th centuries, there are much fewer Bulgar items.

No later than the beginning of the 12th century. The inclusion of the Mari lands into the system of ancient Russian statehood begins. According to the Tale of Bygone Years and the Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land, the Cheremis (probably the western groups of the Mari population) were already paying tribute to the Russian princes. In 1120, after a series of Bulgar attacks on Russian cities in Volga-Ochye, which took place in the second half of the 11th century, a series of retaliatory campaigns began by the Vladimir-Suzdal princes and their allies from other Russian principalities. The Russian-Bulgar conflict, as is commonly believed, flared up due to the collection of tribute from the local population, and in this struggle the advantage steadily leaned towards the feudal lords of North-Eastern Rus'. Reliable information about direct participation Mari in the Russian-Bulgar wars, no, although the troops of both warring sides repeatedly passed through the Mari lands.

Mari as part of the Golden Horde

In 1236 - 1242 Eastern Europe was subjected to a powerful Mongol-Tatar invasion; a significant part of it, including the entire Volga region, came under the rule of the conquerors. At the same time, the BulgarsMari, Mordovians and other peoples of the Middle Volga region were included in the Ulus of Jochi or Golden Horde, an empire founded by Batu Khan. Written sources do not report a direct invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in the 30s and 40s. XIII century to the territory where they livedMari. Most likely, the invasion affected the Mari settlements located near the areas that suffered the most severe devastation (Volga-Kama Bulgaria, Mordovia) - these are the Right Bank of the Volga and the left bank Mari lands adjacent to Bulgaria.

Mari submitted to the Golden Horde through the Bulgar feudal lords and khan's darugs. The bulk of the population was divided into administrative-territorial and tax-paying units - uluses, hundreds and tens, which were led by centurions and foremen - representatives of the local nobility - accountable to the khan's administration. Mari, like many other peoples subject to the Golden Horde Khan, had to pay yasak, a number of other taxes, and bear various duties, including military. They mainly supplied furs, honey, and wax. At the same time, the Mari lands were located on the forested northwestern periphery of the empire, far from the steppe zone; it did not have a developed economy, so strict military and police control was not established here, and in the most inaccessible and remote area - in Povetluzhye and the adjacent territory - the power of the khan was only nominal.

This circumstance contributed to the continuation of Russian colonization of the Mari lands. More Russian settlements appeared in Pizhma and Middle Vyatka, the development of Povetluzhye, the Oka-Sura interfluve, and then Lower Sura began. In Povetluzhie, Russian influence was especially strong. Judging by the “Vetluga Chronicler” and other Trans-Volga Russian chronicles of late origin, many local semi-mythical princes (Kuguz) (Kai, Kodzha-Yaraltem, Bai-Boroda, Keldibek) were baptized, were in vassal dependence on the Galician princes, sometimes concluding military wars against them alliances with the Golden Horde. Apparently, a similar situation was in Vyatka, where contacts between the local Mari population and the Vyatka Land and the Golden Horde developed.
The strong influence of both the Russians and the Bulgars was felt in the Volga region, especially in its mountainous part (in the Malo-Sundyrskoye settlement, Yulyalsky, Noselskoye, Krasnoselishchenskoye settlements). However, here Russian influence gradually grew, and the Bulgar-Golden Horde weakened. By the beginning of the 15th century. the interfluve of the Volga and Sura actually became part of the Moscow Grand Duchy (before that - Nizhny Novgorod), back in 1374 the Kurmysh fortress was founded on the Lower Sura. Relations between the Russians and the Mari were complex: peaceful contacts were combined with periods of war (mutual raids, campaigns of Russian princes against Bulgaria through the Mari lands from the 70s of the 14th century, attacks by the Ushkuiniks in the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries, participation of the Mari in military actions of the Golden Horde against Rus', for example, in the Battle of Kulikovo).

Mass relocations continued Mari. As a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and subsequent raids by steppe warriors, many Mari, who lived on the right bank of the Volga, moved to the safer left bank. At the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV centuries. The left-bank Mari, who lived in the basin of the Mesha, Kazanka, and Ashit rivers, were forced to move to more northern regions and to the east, since the Kama Bulgars rushed here, fleeing the troops of Timur (Tamerlane), then from the Nogai warriors. The eastern direction of the resettlement of the Mari in the 14th – 15th centuries. was also due to Russian colonization. Assimilation processes also took place in the zone of contact between the Mari and the Russians and Bulgaro-Tatars.

Economic and socio-political situation of the Mari as part of the Kazan Khanate

The Kazan Khanate arose during the collapse of the Golden Horde - as a result of the appearance in the 30s and 40s. XV century in the Middle Volga region, the Golden Horde Khan Ulu-Muhammad, his court and combat-ready troops, who together played the role of a powerful catalyst in the consolidation of the local population and the creation of a state entity equivalent to the still decentralized Rus'.

Mari were not included in the Kazan Khanate by force; dependence on Kazan arose due to the desire to prevent armed struggle with the aim of jointly opposing the Russian state and, in accordance with the established tradition, paying tribute to the Bulgar and Golden Horde government officials. Allied, confederal relations were established between the Mari and the Kazan government. At the same time, there were noticeable differences in the position of the mountain, meadow and northwestern Mari within the Khanate.

At the main part Mari the economy was complex, with a developed agricultural basis. Only in the northwestern Mari Due to natural conditions (they lived in an area of ​​almost continuous swamps and forests), agriculture played a secondary role compared to forestry and cattle breeding. In general, the main features of the economic life of the Mari in the 15th – 16th centuries. have not undergone significant changes compared to the previous time.

Mountain Mari, who, like the Chuvash, Eastern Mordovians and Sviyazhsk Tatars, lived on the Mountain side of the Kazan Khanate, stood out for their active participation in contacts with the Russian population, the relative weakness of ties with the central regions of the Khanate, from which they were separated by the large Volga River. At the same time, the Mountain Side was under fairly strict military and police control, which was due to the high level of its economic development, the intermediate position between the Russian lands and Kazan, and the growing influence of Russia in this part of the Khanate. The Right Bank (due to its special strategic position and high economic development) was invaded somewhat more often by foreign troops - not only Russian warriors, but also steppe warriors. The situation of the mountain people was complicated by the presence of main water and land roads to Rus' and the Crimea, since permanent conscription was very heavy and burdensome.

Meadow Mari Unlike the mountain people, they did not have close and regular contacts with the Russian state; they were more connected with Kazan and the Kazan Tatars politically, economically, and culturally. According to the level of their economic development, meadows Mari were not inferior to the mountain ones. Moreover, the economy of the Left Bank on the eve of the fall of Kazan developed in a relatively stable, calm and less harsh military-political environment, therefore contemporaries (A.M. Kurbsky, author of “Kazan History”) describe the well-being of the population of the Lugovaya and especially the Arsk side most enthusiastically and colorfully. The amounts of taxes paid by the population of the Mountain and Meadow sides also did not differ much. If on the Mountain Side the burden of regular service was felt more strongly, then on Lugovaya - construction: it was the population of the Left Bank that erected and maintained in proper condition the powerful fortifications of Kazan, Arsk, various forts, and abatis.

Northwestern (Vetluga and Kokshay) Mari were relatively weakly drawn into the orbit of the khan’s power due to their distance from the center and due to relatively low economic development; at the same time, the Kazan government, fearing Russian military campaigns from the north (from Vyatka) and north-west (from Galich and Ustyug), sought allied relations with the Vetluga, Kokshai, Pizhansky, Yaran Mari leaders, who also saw benefits in supporting the aggressive actions of the Tatars in relation to the outlying Russian lands.

"Military democracy" of the medieval Mari.

In the XV - XVI centuries. Mari, like other peoples of the Kazan Khanate, except for the Tatars, were at a transitional stage of development of society from primitive to early feudal. On the one hand, there was a separation within the framework of the land-kinship union ( neighboring community) individual-family property, parcel labor flourished, property differentiation grew, and on the other hand, the class structure of society did not acquire its clear outlines.

Mari patriarchal families were united into patronymic groups (nasyl, tukym, urlyk), and those into larger land unions (tiste). Their unity was based not on consanguinity, but on the principle of neighborhood, and to a lesser extent on economic relations, which were expressed in various kinds of mutual “help” (“vÿma”), joint ownership of common lands. Land unions were, among other things, unions of mutual military assistance. Perhaps the Tiste were territorially compatible with the hundreds and uluses of the Kazan Khanate period. Hundreds, uluses, and dozens were led by centurions or centurion princes (“shÿdövuy”, “puddle”), foremen (“luvuy”). The centurions appropriated for themselves some part of the yasak they collected in favor of the khan's treasury from subordinate ordinary community members, but at the same time they enjoyed authority among them as smart and courageous people, as skillful organizers and military leaders. Centurions and foremen in the 15th – 16th centuries. They had not yet managed to break with primitive democracy, but at the same time the power of the representatives of the nobility increasingly acquired a hereditary character.

The feudalization of Mari society accelerated thanks to the Turkic-Mari synthesis. In relation to the Kazan Khanate, ordinary community members acted as a feudal-dependent population (in fact, they were personally free people and were part of a kind of semi-service class), and the nobility acted as service vassals. Among the Mari, representatives of the nobility began to stand out as a special military class - Mamichi (imildashi), bogatyrs (batyrs), who probably already had some relation to the feudal hierarchy of the Kazan Khanate; on the lands with the Mari population, feudal estates began to appear - belyaki (administrative tax districts given by the Kazan khans as a reward for service with the right to collect yasak from land and various fishing grounds that were in the collective use of the Mari population).

The dominance of military-democratic orders in medieval Mari society was the environment where the immanent impulses for raids were laid. War, which was once waged only to avenge attacks or to expand territory, now becomes a permanent trade. Property stratification of ordinary community members, whose economic activities were hampered by insufficiently favorable natural conditions and the low level of development of the productive forces, led to the fact that many of them began to increasingly turn outside their community in search of means to satisfy their material needs and in an effort to raise their status in society. The feudalized nobility, which gravitated towards a further increase in wealth and its socio-political weight, also sought to find new sources of enrichment and strengthening of its power outside the community. As a result, solidarity arose between two different layers of community members, between whom a “military alliance” was formed for the purpose of expansion. Therefore, the power of the Mari “princes,” along with the interests of the nobility, still continued to reflect general tribal interests.

The greatest activity in raids among all groups of the Mari population was shown by the northwestern Mari. This was due to their relatively low level of socio-economic development. Meadow and mountain Mari those engaged in agricultural labor took a less active part in military campaigns, moreover, the local proto-feudal elite had other ways than the military to strengthen their power and further enrich themselves (primarily through strengthening ties with Kazan)

Annexation of the Mountain Mari to the Russian State

Entry Mariinto the Russian state was a multi-stage process, and the first to be annexed were the mountainousMari. Together with the rest of the population of the Mountain Side, they were interested in peaceful relations with the Russian state, while in the spring of 1545 a series of large campaigns of Russian troops against Kazan began. At the end of 1546, the mountain people (Tugai, Atachik) attempted to establish a military alliance with Russia and, together with political emigrants from among the Kazan feudal lords, sought the overthrow of Khan Safa-Girey and the installation of the Moscow vassal Shah-Ali on the throne, thereby preventing new invasions Russian troops and put an end to the despotic pro-Crimean internal policy of the khan. However, Moscow at this time had already set a course for the final annexation of the Khanate - Ivan IV was crowned king (this indicates that the Russian sovereign was putting forward his claim to the Kazan throne and other residences of the Golden Horde kings). Nevertheless, the Moscow government failed to take advantage of the successful rebellion of the Kazan feudal lords led by Prince Kadysh against Safa-Girey, and the help offered by the mountain people was rejected by the Russian governors. The mountainous side continued to be considered by Moscow as enemy territory even after the winter of 1546/47. (campaigns to Kazan in the winter of 1547/48 and in the winter of 1549/50).

By 1551, a plan had matured in Moscow government circles to annex the Kazan Khanate to Russia, which provided for the separation of the Mountain Side and its subsequent transformation into a support base for the capture of the rest of the Khanate. In the summer of 1551, when a powerful military outpost was erected at the mouth of Sviyaga (Sviyazhsk fortress), it was possible to annex the Mountain Side to the Russian state.

Reasons for the inclusion of mountain Mari and the rest of the population of the Mountain Side, apparently, became part of Russia: 1) the introduction of a large contingent of Russian troops, the construction of the fortified city of Sviyazhsk; 2) the flight to Kazan of a local anti-Moscow group of feudal lords, which could organize resistance; 3) the fatigue of the population of the Mountain Side from the devastating invasions of Russian troops, their desire to establish peaceful relations by restoring the Moscow protectorate; 4) the use by Russian diplomacy of the anti-Crimean and pro-Moscow sentiments of the mountain people for the purpose of directly including the Mountain Side into Russia (the actions of the population of the Mountain Side were seriously influenced by the arrival of the former Kazan Khan Shah-Ali in Sviyaga together with the Russian governors, accompanied by five hundred Tatar feudal lords who entered the Russian service); 5) bribery of local nobility and ordinary militia soldiers, exemption of mountain people from taxes for three years; 6) relatively close ties of the peoples of the Mountain Side with Russia in the years preceding the annexation.

There is no consensus among historians regarding the nature of the annexation of the Mountain Side to the Russian state. Some scientists believe that the peoples of the Mountain Side joined Russia voluntarily, others argue that it was a violent seizure, and still others adhere to the version about the peaceful, but forced nature of the annexation. Obviously, in the annexation of the Mountain Side to the Russian state, both reasons and circumstances of a military, violent, and peaceful, non-violent nature played a role. These factors complemented each other, giving the entry of the mountain Mari and other peoples of the Mountain Side into Russia an exceptional uniqueness.

Annexation of the left-bank Mari to Russia. Cheremis War 1552 – 1557

Summer 1551 – spring 1552 Russian state exerted powerful military-political pressure on Kazan, the implementation of a plan for the gradual liquidation of the Khanate by establishing a Kazan governorship began. However, anti-Russian sentiment was too strong in Kazan, probably growing as pressure from Moscow increased. As a result, on March 9, 1552, the Kazan people refused to allow the Russian governor and the troops accompanying him into the city, and the entire plan for the bloodless annexation of the Khanate to Russia collapsed overnight.

In the spring of 1552, an anti-Moscow uprising broke out on the Mountain Side, as a result of which the territorial integrity of the Khanate was actually restored. The reasons for the uprising of the mountain people were: the weakening of the Russian military presence on the territory of the Mountain Side, the active offensive actions of the left-bank Kazan residents in the absence of retaliatory measures from the Russians, the violent nature of the accession of the Mountain Side to the Russian state, the departure of Shah-Ali outside the Khanate, to Kasimov. As a result of large-scale punitive campaigns by Russian troops, the uprising was suppressed; in June-July 1552, the mountain people again swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. Thus, in the summer of 1552, the mountain Mari finally became part of the Russian state. The results of the uprising convinced the mountain people of the futility of further resistance. The mountainous side, being the most vulnerable and at the same time important part of the Kazan Khanate in military-strategic terms, could not become a powerful center of the people's liberation struggle. Obviously, such factors as privileges and all kinds of gifts granted by the Moscow government to the mountain people in 1551, the experience of multilateral peaceful relations between the local population and the Russians, and the complex, contradictory nature of relations with Kazan in previous years also played a significant role. Due to these reasons, most mountain people during the events of 1552 - 1557. remained loyal to the power of the Russian sovereign.

During the Kazan War 1545 - 1552. Crimean and Turkish diplomats were actively working to create an anti-Moscow union of Turkic-Muslim states to counter the powerful Russian expansion in the eastern direction. However, the unification policy failed due to the pro-Moscow and anti-Crimean position of many influential Nogai Murzas.

In the battle for Kazan in August - October 1552, a huge number of troops took part on both sides, while the number of besiegers outnumbered the besieged at the initial stage by 2 - 2.5 times, and before the decisive assault - by 4 - 5 times. In addition, the troops of the Russian state were better prepared in military-technical and military-engineering terms; The army of Ivan IV also managed to defeat the Kazan troops piecemeal. October 2, 1552 Kazan fell.

In the first days after the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV and his entourage took measures to organize the administration of the conquered country. Within 8 days (from October 2 to October 10), the Prikazan Meadow Mari and Tatars were sworn in. However, the majority of the left-bank Mari did not show submission, and already in November 1552, the Mari of the Lugovaya Side rose up to fight for their freedom. The anti-Moscow armed uprisings of the peoples of the Middle Volga region after the fall of Kazan are usually called the Cheremis Wars, since the Mari showed the greatest activity in them, at the same time, the insurgent movement in the Middle Volga region in 1552 - 1557. is, in essence, a continuation of the Kazan War, and the main goal of its participants was the restoration of the Kazan Khanate. People's liberation movement 1552 – 1557 in the Middle Volga region was caused for the following reasons: 1) defending one’s independence, freedom, the right to live in one’s own way; 2) the struggle of the local nobility to restore the order that existed in the Kazan Khanate; 3) religious confrontation (the Volga peoples - Muslims and pagans - seriously feared for the future of their religions and culture as a whole, since immediately after the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV began to destroy mosques, build Orthodox churches in their place, destroy the Muslim clergy and pursue a policy of forced baptism ). The degree of influence of the Turkic-Muslim states on the course of events in the Middle Volga region during this period was negligible; in some cases, potential allies even interfered with the rebels.

Resistance movement 1552 – 1557 or the First Cheremis War developed in waves. The first wave – November – December 1552 (separate outbreaks of armed uprisings on the Volga and near Kazan); second – winter 1552/53 – beginning of 1554. (the most powerful stage, covering the entire Left Bank and part of the Mountain Side); third – July – October 1554 (the beginning of the decline of the resistance movement, a split among the rebels from the Arsk and Coastal sides); fourth - end of 1554 - March 1555. (participation in anti-Moscow armed protests only by the left-bank Mari, the beginning of the leadership of the rebels by the centurion from the Lugovaya Strand, Mamich-Berdei); fifth - end of 1555 - summer of 1556. (rebellion movement led by Mamich-Berdei, his support by Arsk and coastal people - Tatars and southern Udmurts, captivity of Mamich-Berdey); sixth, last - end of 1556 - May 1557. (universal cessation of resistance). All waves received their impetus on the Meadow Side, while the left bank (Meadow and northwestern) Maris showed themselves to be the most active, uncompromising and consistent participants in the resistance movement.

The Kazan Tatars also took an active part in the war of 1552 - 1557, fighting for the restoration of the sovereignty and independence of their state. But still, their role in the insurgency, with the exception of some of its stages, was not the main one. This was due to several factors. Firstly, the Tatars in the 16th century. were experiencing a period of feudal relations, they were differentiated by class and they no longer had the kind of solidarity that was observed among the left-bank Mari, who did not know class contradictions (largely because of this, the participation of the lower classes of Tatar society in the anti-Moscow insurgent movement was not stable). Secondly, within the class of feudal lords there was a struggle between clans, which was caused by the influx of foreign (Horde, Crimean, Siberian, Nogai) nobility and the weakness of the central government in the Kazan Khanate, and the Russian state successfully took advantage of this, which was able to win over a significant group to its side Tatar feudal lords even before the fall of Kazan. Thirdly, the proximity of the socio-political systems of the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate facilitated the transition of the feudal nobility of the Khanate to the feudal hierarchy of the Russian state, while the Mari proto-feudal elite had weak ties with the feudal structure of both states. Fourthly, the settlements of the Tatars, unlike the majority of the left-bank Mari, were located in relative proximity to Kazan, large rivers and other strategically important routes of communication, in an area where there were few natural barriers that could seriously complicate the movements of punitive troops; moreover, these were, as a rule, economically developed areas, attractive for feudal exploitation. Fifthly, as a result of the fall of Kazan in October 1552, perhaps the bulk of the most combat-ready part of the Tatar troops was destroyed; the armed detachments of the left bank Mari then suffered to a much lesser extent.

The resistance movement was suppressed as a result of large-scale punitive operations by the troops of Ivan IV. In a number of episodes, rebel actions took the form civil war and class struggle, but the main motive remained the struggle for the liberation of their land. The resistance movement ceased due to several factors: 1) continuous armed clashes with the tsarist troops, which brought countless casualties and destruction to the local population; 2) mass famine and plague epidemic that came from the Volga steppes; 3) the left bank Mari lost the support of their former allies - the Tatars and southern Udmurts. In May 1557, representatives of almost all groups of meadow and northwestern Mari took the oath to the Russian Tsar.

Cheremis wars of 1571 - 1574 and 1581 - 1585. Consequences of the annexation of the Mari to the Russian state

After the uprising of 1552 - 1557 The tsarist administration began to establish strict administrative and police control over the peoples of the Middle Volga region, but at first this was only possible on the Mountain Side and in the immediate vicinity of Kazan, while in most of the Meadow Side the power of the administration was nominal. The dependence of the local left-bank Mari population was expressed only in the fact that it paid a symbolic tribute and fielded soldiers from its midst who were sent to the Livonian War (1558 - 1583). Moreover, the meadow and northwestern Mari continued to raid Russian lands, and local leaders actively established contacts with the Crimean Khan with the aim of concluding an anti-Moscow military alliance. It is no coincidence that the Second Cheremis War of 1571 - 1574. began immediately after the campaign of the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey, which ended with the capture and burning of Moscow. The causes of the Second Cheremis War were, on the one hand, the same factors that prompted the Volga peoples to start an anti-Moscow insurgency shortly after the fall of Kazan, on the other hand, the population, which was under the strictest control of the tsarist administration, was dissatisfied with the increase in the volume of duties, abuses and shameless arbitrariness of officials, as well as a streak of failures in the protracted Livonian War. Thus, in the second major uprising of the peoples of the Middle Volga region, national liberation and anti-feudal motives were intertwined. Another difference between the Second Cheremis War and the First was the relatively active intervention of foreign states - the Crimean and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde and even Turkey. In addition, the uprising spread to neighboring regions, which by that time had already become part of Russia - the Lower Volga region and the Urals. With the help of a whole set of measures (peaceful negotiations with a compromise with representatives of the moderate wing of the rebels, bribery, isolation of the rebels from their foreign allies, punitive campaigns, construction of fortresses (in 1574, at the mouth of the Bolshaya and Malaya Kokshag, Kokshaysk was built, the first city in the territory modern Republic of Mari El)) the government of Ivan IV the Terrible managed to first split the rebel movement and then suppress it.

The next armed uprising of the peoples of the Volga and Urals region, which began in 1581, was caused by the same reasons as the previous one. What was new was that strict administrative and police supervision began to extend to the Lugovaya Side (the assignment of heads (“watchmen”) to the local population - Russian servicemen who exercised control, partial disarmament, confiscation of horses). The uprising began in the Urals in the summer of 1581 (an attack by the Tatars, Khanty and Mansi on the Stroganovs' possessions), then the unrest spread to the left-bank Mari, soon joined by the mountain Mari, Kazan Tatars, Udmurts, Chuvash and Bashkirs. The rebels blocked Kazan, Sviyazhsk and Cheboksary, made long campaigns deep into Russian territory - to Nizhny Novgorod, Khlynov, Galich. The Russian government was forced to urgently end the Livonian War, concluding a truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1582) and Sweden (1583), and devote significant forces to pacifying the Volga population. The main methods of fighting against the rebels were punitive campaigns, the construction of fortresses (Kozmodemyansk was built in 1583, Tsarevokokshaisk in 1584, Tsarevosanchursk in 1585), as well as peace negotiations, during which Ivan IV, and after his death the actual Russian ruler Boris Godunov promised amnesty and gifts to those who wanted to stop resistance. As a result, in the spring of 1585, “they finished off the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich of all Rus' with a centuries-old peace.”

The entry of the Mari people into the Russian state cannot be unambiguously characterized as evil or good. Both negative and positive consequences of entering Mari into the system of Russian statehood, closely intertwined with each other, began to manifest themselves in almost all spheres of social development. However Mari and other peoples of the Middle Volga region faced a generally pragmatic, restrained and even soft (compared to Western European) imperial policy of the Russian state.
This was due not only to fierce resistance, but also to the insignificant geographical, historical, cultural and religious distance between the Russians and the peoples of the Volga region, as well as those dating back to early Middle Ages traditions of multinational symbiosis, the development of which later led to what is usually called the friendship of peoples. The main thing is that, despite all the terrible shocks, Mari nevertheless survived as an ethnic group and became an organic part of the mosaic of the unique Russian super-ethnic group.

Materials used - Svechnikov S.K. Methodical manual "History of the Mari people of the 9th-16th centuries"

Yoshkar-Ola: GOU DPO (PK) With "Mari Institute of Education", 2005

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The Mari, formerly known as the Cheremis, were famous in the past for their belligerence. Today they are called the last pagans of Europe, since the people managed to carry through the centuries the national religion, which a significant part of them still professes. This fact will be even more surprising if you know that writing among the Mari people appeared only in the 18th century.

Name

The self-name of the Mari people goes back to the word “Mari” or “Mari”, which means “man”. A number of scientists believe that it may be associated with the name of the ancient Russian people Meri, or Merya, who lived on the territory of modern Central Russia and mentioned in a number of chronicles.

In ancient times, the mountain and meadow tribes that lived in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve were called Cheremis. The first mention of them in 960 is found in a letter from the Khagan of Khazaria Joseph: he mentioned the “Tsaremis” among the peoples who paid tribute to the Khaganate. Russian chronicles noted the Cheremis much later, only in the 13th century, along with the Mordovians, classifying them among the peoples living on the Volga River.
The meaning of the name “cheremis” has not been fully established. It is known for certain that the “mis” part, like “mari”, means “person”. However, what kind of person this person was, the opinions of researchers differ. One of the versions refers to the Turkic root “cher”, meaning “to fight, to be at war.” The word “janissary” also comes from him. This version seems plausible, since the Mari language is the most Turkicized of the entire Finno-Ugric group.

Where live

More than 50% of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El, where they make up 41.8% of its population. The republic is a subject of the Russian Federation and is part of the Volga Federal District. The capital of the region is the city of Yoshkar-Ola.
The main area where the people live is the area between the Vetluga and Vyatka rivers. However, depending on the place of settlement, linguistic and cultural characteristics, 4 groups of Mari are distinguished:

1. Northwestern. They live outside Mari El, on the territory of Kirovskaya and Nizhny Novgorod regions. Their language differs significantly from the traditional one, but they did not have their own written language until 2005, when the first book was published in the national language of the northwestern Mari.
2. Mountain. In modern times they are small in number - about 30-50 thousand people. They live in the western part of Mari El, mainly on the southern, partly on the northern banks of the Volga. The cultural differences of the mountain Mari began to take shape in the 10th-11th centuries, thanks to close communication with the Chuvash and Russians. They have their own Mountain Mari language and writing.
3. Eastern. A significant group consisting of immigrants from the meadow part of the Volga in the Urals and Bashkortostan.
4. Meadow. The most significant in number and cultural influence a group living in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve in the Republic of Mari El.

The last two groups are often combined into one due to the maximum similarity of linguistic, historical and cultural factors. They form groups of Meadow-Eastern Mari with their own Meadow-Eastern language and writing.

Number

The number of Mari, according to the 2010 census, is more than 574 thousand people. Most of them, 290 thousand, live in the Republic of Mari El, which translated means “the land, the homeland of the Mari.” A slightly smaller, but largest community outside of Mari El is located in Bashkiria - 103 thousand people.

The remaining part of the Mari inhabits mainly the Volga and Ural regions, living throughout Russia and beyond. A significant part lives in the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.
The largest diasporas:

• Kirov region - 29.5 thousand people.
• Tatarstan - 18.8 thousand people.
• Udmurtia - 8 thousand people.
• Sverdlovsk region - 23.8 thousand people.
• Perm region - 4.1 thousand people.
• Kazakhstan - 4 thousand people.
• Ukraine - 4 thousand people.
• Uzbekistan - 3 thousand people.

Language

The Meadow-Eastern Mari language, which, along with Russian and Mountain Mari, is the state language in the Republic of Mari El, is part of a large group of Finno-Ugric languages. And also, along with the Udmurt, Komi, Sami, and Mordovian languages, it is part of the small Finno-Perm group.
There is no exact information about the origin of the language. It is believed that it was formed in the Volga region before the 10th century on the basis of Finno-Ugric and Turkic dialects. It underwent significant changes during the period when the Mari joined the Golden Horde and the Kazan Kaganate.
Mari writing arose quite late, only in the second half of the 18th century. Because of this, there is no written evidence about the life, life and culture of the Mari throughout their formation and development.
The alphabet was created on the basis of Cyrillic, and the first text in Mari that has survived to this day dates back to 1767. It was created by the Mountain Mari who studied in Kazan, and it was dedicated to the arrival of Empress Catherine the Second. The modern alphabet was created in 1870. Today, a number of national newspapers and magazines are published in the Meadow-Eastern Mari language, and it is studied in schools in Bashkiria and Mari El.

Story

The ancestors of the Mari people began to develop the modern Volga-Vyatka territory at the beginning of the first millennium of the new era. They migrated from the southern and western regions to the East under pressure from aggressive Slavic and Turkic peoples. This led to assimilation and partial discrimination of the Permians who originally lived in this territory.

Some Mari adhere to the version that the ancestors of the people in the distant past came to the Volga from Ancient Iran. Afterwards, assimilation took place with the Finno-Ugric and Slavic tribes living here, but the identity of the people was partially preserved. This is supported by research by philologists, who note that the Mari language has Indo-Iranian inclusions. This is especially true for ancient prayer texts, which have remained virtually unchanged for centuries.
By the 7th-8th centuries, the Proto-Marians moved north, occupying the territory between Vetluga and Vyatka, where they live to this day. During this period, the Turkic and Finno-Ugric tribes had a serious influence on the formation of culture and mentality.
The next stage in the history of the Cheremis dates back to the X-XIV centuries, when their closest neighbors from the west turned out to be East Slavs, and from the south and east - the Volga Bulgars, Khazars, and then the Tatar-Mongols. For a long time, the Mari people were dependent on the Golden Horde, and then on the Kazan Khanate, to whom they paid tribute in furs and honey. Part of the Mari lands was under the influence of Russian princes and, according to the chronicles of the 12th century, were also subject to tribute. For centuries, the Cheremis had to maneuver between the Kazan Khanate and the Russian authorities, who tried to attract the people, whose number at that time amounted to up to a million people, to their side.
In the 15th century, during the period of aggressive attempts by Ivan the Terrible to overthrow Kazan, the mountain Mari came under the rule of the king, and the Meadow Mari supported the Khanate. However, due to the victory of the Russian troops, in 1523 the lands became part of the Russian State. However, the name of the Cheremis tribe does not mean “warlike” for nothing: the very next year it rebelled and overthrew the provisional rulers until 1546. Subsequently, the bloody “Cheremis Wars” broke out twice more in the struggle for national independence, the overthrow of the feudal regime and the elimination of Russian expansion.
For the next 400 years, the life of the people proceeded relatively calmly: having achieved the preservation of national authenticity and the opportunity to practice their own religion, the Mari were engaged in the development of agriculture and crafts, without interfering in the socio-political life of the country. After the revolution, the Mari Autonomy was formed, in 1936 - the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1992 it was given the modern name of the Republic of Mari El.

Appearance

The anthropology of the Mari goes back to the ancient Ural community, which formed distinctive features the appearance of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group as a result of mixing with Caucasians. Genetic studies show that the Mari have genes for haplogroups N, N2a, N3a1, which are also found among the Vepsians, Udmurts, Finns, Komi, Chuvash and Baltic people. Autosomal studies showed kinship with the Kazan Tatars.

The anthropological type of modern Mari is Suburalian. The Ural race is intermediate between Mongoloid and Caucasian. The Mari, on the other hand, have more Mongoloid characteristics compared to the traditional form.
Distinctive features of appearance are:

• average height;
• yellowish or darker skin color than Caucasians;
• almond-shaped, slightly slanted eyes with downward outer corners;
• straight, dense hair of a dark or light brown shade;
• prominent cheekbones.

Cloth

Men's and women's traditional costumes were similar in configuration, but women's were decorated more brightly and richly. Thus, everyday attire consisted of a tunic-like shirt, which was long for women and did not reach the knees for men. They wore loose pants underneath and a caftan on top.

Underwear was made from homespun fabric, which was made from hemp fibers or woolen threads. The women's costume was complemented by an embroidered apron; the sleeves, cuffs and collars of the shirt were decorated with ornaments. Traditional patterns - horses, solar signs, plants and flowers, birds, ram's horns. In the cold season, frock coats, sheepskin coats and sheepskin coats were worn over it.
A mandatory element of the costume is a belt or waist wrap made of a piece of linen material. Women complemented it with pendants made of coins, beads, shells, and chains. Shoes were made of bast or leather; in swampy areas they were equipped with special wooden platforms.
Men wore tall hats with narrow brims and mosquito nets, since they spent most of their time outside the home: in the field, in the forest or on the river. Women's hats were famous for their great variety. The magpie was borrowed from the Russians, and the sharpan, that is, a towel tied around the head and fastened with an ochel - a narrow strip of fabric embroidered with traditional ornaments, was popular. Distinctive element wedding suit brides - a voluminous chest decoration made of coins and metal decorative elements. It was considered a family heirloom and was passed down from generation to generation. The weight of such jewelry could reach up to 35 kilograms. Depending on the place of residence, the features of costumes, ornaments and colors could vary significantly.

Men

The Mari had a patriarchal family structure: the man was in charge, but in the event of his death, a woman became the head of the family. In general, the relationship was equal, although all social issues fell on the shoulders of the man. For a long time, in the Mari settlements there were remnants of levirate and sororate, which oppressed the rights of women, but most of the people did not adhere to them.

Women

Woman in Mari family played the role of homemaker. She valued hard work, humility, thriftiness, good nature, and maternal qualities. Since the bride was offered a substantial dowry, and her role as an au pair was significant, girls got married later than boys. It often happened that the bride was 5-7 years older. They tried to get the guys married as early as possible, often at the age of 15-16 years.

Family life

After the wedding, the bride went to live in her husband’s house, so the Maries had large families. Families of brothers often coexisted in them; older and subsequent generations, the number of which reached 3-4, lived together. The head of the household was the eldest woman, the wife of the head of the family. She gave children, grandchildren and daughters-in-law tasks around the house and looked after their material well-being.
Children in the family were considered the highest happiness, a manifestation of the blessing of the Great God, so they gave birth a lot and often. Mothers and the older generation were involved in upbringing: children were not spoiled and were taught to work from childhood, but they were never offended. Divorce was considered a shame, and permission for it had to be asked from the chief minister of the faith. Couples who expressed such a desire were tied back to back in the main village square while they awaited a decision. If a divorce occurred at the request of a woman, her hair was cut off as a sign that she was no longer married.

Housing

For a long time, Marie lived in typical old Russian log houses with a gable roof. They consisted of a vestibule and a living part, in which a kitchen with a stove was separately fenced, and benches for overnight accommodation were nailed to the walls. Bathhouse and hygiene played a special role: before any important matter, especially by praying and performing rituals, it was necessary to wash. This symbolized the cleansing of the body and thoughts.

Life

The main occupation of the Mari people was arable farming. Field crops - spelled, oats, flax, hemp, buckwheat, oats, barley, rye, turnips. Carrots, hops, cabbage, potatoes, radishes, and onions were planted in the gardens.
Animal husbandry was less common, but poultry, horses, cows and sheep were bred for personal use. But goats and pigs were considered unclean animals. Among men's crafts, wood carving and silver processing to make jewelry stood out.
Since ancient times they have been engaged in beekeeping, and later in apiary beekeeping. Honey was used in cooking, intoxicating drinks were made from it, and was also actively exported to neighboring regions. Beekeeping is still common today, providing a good source of income for villagers.

Culture

Due to the lack of writing, Mari culture is concentrated in oral folk art: fairy tales, songs and legends, which are taught to children by the older generation from childhood. An authentic musical instrument is the shuvyr, an analogue of the bagpipe. It was made from a soaked cow's bladder, supplemented with a ram's horn and a pipe. He imitated natural sounds and accompanied songs and dances along with the drum.

There was also a special dance for cleansing from evil spirits. Trios, consisting of two guys and a girl, took part in it; sometimes all residents of the settlement took part in the festivities. One of its characteristic elements is the tyvyrdyk, or drobushka: a quick synchronized movement of the legs in one place.

Religion

Religion has played a special role in the life of the Mari people in all centuries. The traditional Mari religion has still been preserved and is officially registered. It is professed by about 6% of the Mari, but many people observe the rituals. The people have always been tolerant of other religions, which is why even now the national religion coexists with Orthodoxy.
The traditional Mari religion proclaims faith in the forces of nature, in the unity of all people and everything on earth. Here they believe in a single cosmic god, Osh Kugu-Yumo, or the Great White God. According to legend, he instructed the evil spirit Yin to remove from the World Ocean a piece of clay from which Kugu-Yumo made the earth. Yin threw his part of the clay onto the ground: this is how the mountains turned out. Kugu-Yumo created man from the same material, and brought his soul to him from heaven.

In total, there are about 140 gods and spirits in the pantheon, but only a few are especially revered:

• Ilysh-Shochyn-Ava - analogue of the Mother of God, goddess of birth
• Mer Yumo - manages all worldly affairs
• Mlande Ava - goddess of the earth
• Purysho - god of fate
• Azyren - death itself

Mass ritual prayers take place several times a year in sacred groves: there are between 300 and 400 of them throughout the country. At the same time, services to one or several gods can take place in the grove, sacrifices are made to each of them in the form of food, money, and animal parts. The altar is made in the form of a flooring made of spruce branches, installed near the sacred tree.

Those who come to the grove prepare the food they brought with them in large cauldrons: meat of geese and ducks, as well as special pies made from the blood of birds and cereals. Afterwards, under the guidance of a card - an analogue of a shaman or priest, a prayer begins, which lasts up to an hour. The ritual ends with eating what has been prepared and cleaning the grove.

Traditions

The ancient traditions are most fully preserved in wedding and funeral rites. The wedding always began with a noisy ransom, after which the newlyweds, on a cart or sleigh covered with bear skin, headed to the cart for the wedding ceremony. All the way, the groom cracked a special whip, driving away evil spirits from his future wife: this whip then remained in the family for life. In addition, their hands were tied with a towel, which symbolized the connection for the rest of their lives. The tradition of baking pancakes for the newly-made husband on the morning after the wedding has also been preserved.

Of particular interest are funeral rites. At any time of the year, the deceased was taken to the churchyard on a sleigh, and put into the house in winter clothes, supplied with a set of things. Among them:

• a linen towel along which he will descend to the kingdom of the dead - this is where the expression “good riddance” comes from;
• rosehip branches to ward off dogs and snakes guarding the afterlife;
• nails accumulated during life in order to cling to rocks and mountains along the way;

Forty days later, an equally terrible custom was performed: a friend of the deceased dressed in his clothes and sat down with the relatives of the deceased at the same table. They took him for dead and asked him questions about life in the next world, conveyed greetings, and told him news. During the general holidays of remembrance, the deceased were also remembered: a separate table was set for them, on which the hostess put little by little all the treats that she had prepared for the living.

Famous Mari

One of the most famous Mari is actor Oleg Taktarov, who played in the films “Viy” and “Predators”. He is also known throughout the world as the “Russian Bear”, the winner of brutal UFC fights, although in fact his roots go back to ancient people Marie.

The living embodiment of a real Mari beauty is the “Black Angel” Varda, whose mother was a Mari by nationality. She is known as a singer, dancer, model and curvy figure.

The special charm of the Mari lies in their gentle character and mentality based on the acceptance of all things. Tolerance towards others, coupled with the ability to defend their own rights, allowed them to maintain their authenticity and national flavor.

Video

Anything to add?

History of the Mari people from ancient times. part 2 The question of the origin of the Mari people is still controversial. For the first time, a scientifically substantiated theory of the ethnogenesis of the Mari was expressed in 1845 by the famous Finnish linguist M. Castren. He tried to identify the Mari with the chronicle measures. This point of view was supported and developed by T.S. Semenov, I.N. Smirnov, S.K. Kuznetsov, A.A. Spitsyn, D.K. Zelenin, M.N. Yantemir, F.E. Egorov and many others researchers of the 2nd half of the 19th – 1st half of the 20th century. A new hypothesis was made in 1949 by the prominent Soviet archaeologist A.P. Smirnov, who came to the conclusion about the Gorodets (close to the Mordovians) basis; other archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.F. Gening at the same time defended the thesis about Dyakovsky (close to measure) origin of the Mari. Nevertheless, archaeologists were already able to convincingly prove that the Merya and Mari, although related to each other, are not the same people. At the end of the 1950s, when the permanent Mari archaeological expedition began to operate, its leaders A.Kh. Khalikov and G.A. Arkhipov developed a theory about the mixed Gorodets-Azelinsky (Volga-Finnish-Permian) basis of the Mari people. Subsequently, G.A. Arkhipov, developing this hypothesis further, during the discovery and study of new archaeological sites, proved that the mixed basis of the Mari was dominated by the Gorodets-Dyakovo (Volga-Finnish) component and the formation of the Mari ethnos, which began in the first half of the 1st millennium AD , as a whole, ended in the 9th – 11th centuries, and even then the Mari ethnic group began to be divided into two main groups - the mountain and meadow Mari (the latter, compared to the former, were more strongly influenced by the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes). This theory is generally supported by the majority of archaeological scientists working on this problem. Mari archaeologist V.S. Patrushev put forward a different assumption, according to which the formation of the ethnic foundations of the Mari, as well as the Meri and Muroms, took place on the basis of the Akhmylov-type population. Linguists (I.S. Galkin, D.E. Kazantsev), who rely on language data, believe that the territory of formation of the Mari people should be sought not in the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, as archaeologists believe, but to the southwest, between the Oka and Suroy. Scientist-archaeologist T.B. Nikitina, taking into account data not only from archeology, but also from linguistics, came to the conclusion that the ancestral home of the Mari is located in the Volga part of the Oka-Sura interfluve and in Povetluzhie, and the advance to the east, to Vyatka, occurred in 8 - 11 centuries, during which contact and mixing took place with the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes. Azelinskaya culture is an archaeological culture of the 3rd-5th centuries in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve. Classified by V.G. Gening and named after the Azelinsky burial ground near the village of Azelino, Malmyzh district Kirov region . It was formed on the basis of the traditions of the Pyanobor culture. Habitats are represented by settlements and settlements. The entire economy is based on arable farming, animal husbandry, hunting and fishing. The Buyskoe settlement (Buisky Perevoz) hid a treasure of 200 iron hoes and spears. Most round-bottomed vessels have a pattern of notches or cord prints. Ground burial grounds, inhumation burials, oriented with their heads to the north. Women's costume: a cap or corolla with a braid and temple pendants, a necklace, hryvnias and bracelets, breast plates, an apron, a wide belt, often with an epaulette-like fastener, overlays and hanging tassels, various stripes and pendants, shoes with straps. Men's burials contain numerous weapons - spears, axes, helmets, chain mail and swords. The final process of separation of the Mari tribes was completed around the 6th-7th century AD. An ancient legend of the Mari people says that once upon a time, in ancient times, a mighty giant lived near the Volga River. His name was Onar. He was so big that he would stand on the steep Volga slope and his head would just barely reach the colored rainbow that rose above the forests. That is why in ancient legends the rainbow is called the Onar Gate. The rainbow shines with all colors, it is so red that you can’t take your eyes off it, and Onar’s clothes were even more beautiful: a white shirt was embroidered on the chest with scarlet, green and yellow silk, Onar was belted with a belt made of blue beads, and silver jewelry sparkled on his hat. Onar was a hunter, caught animals, collected honey from wild bees. In search of the beast and the sides full of fragrant honey, he went far from his home, kudo, which stood on the banks of the Volga. In one day, Onar managed to visit both the Volga and Pizhma and Nemda, which flow into the bright Viche, as the Vyatka River is called in Mari. It is for this reason, the Mari, that we call our land the land of the hero Onar. In the minds of the ancient Mari, ONARS are the first inhabitants who rose from the sea waters of the earth. ONARS are giant people of extraordinary height and strength. The forests were knee-deep. People call many hills and lakes in the Mountain Mari region the traces of an ancient giant. And again, the ancient Indian legends about the asuras involuntarily come to mind - ancient people (the first inhabitants of planet Earth) - the asuras, who were also giants - their height was 38-50 meters, later they became lower - up to 7 meters (like the Atlanteans). The ancient Russian hero Svyatogor, who is considered the progenitor of the entire ancient Russian people, was also an asur. The Mari themselves call their people the name Mari. Among scientists, the question of their origin is open. According to etymology, the Mari are a people living under the protection of the ancient goddess Mara. The influence of Mara on the beliefs of the Mari is strong. The Mari are considered the last pagan people of Europe. The Mari religion is based on faith in the forces of nature, which man must honor and respect. Mari temples - Sacred groves. There are about five hundred of them on the territory of the Mari El Republic. In the Sacred Grove, human contact with God is possible. The first written mention of the Cheremis (Mari) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan (6th century). They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Around this time, the first mentions of other tribes related to the ancient Mari - Meshchera, Muroma, Merya, who lived mainly to the west of the Vetluzhsky region, date back. Some historians claim that the Mari people received the name “Mari” from the name of the ancient Iranian god Mar, but I have not met such a god among the Iranians. But there are many gods with the name Mara in the Indo-European peoples. Mara is a female mythological character in the Western and Eastern Slavic traditions associated with the seasonal rites of death and resurrection of nature. Mara is a night demon, a ghost in Scandinavian and Slavic mythology. Mara in Buddhism is a demon, personified as the embodiment of artlessness, the death of spiritual life. Mara is a goddess who takes care of cows in Latvian mythology. In some cases, it coincides with the mythologized image of the Virgin Mary. As a result, I believe that the name “Mari” has its origins from the times when the Ural and Indo-European peoples lived side by side or were a single people (Hyperboreans, Boreans, Biarmians). Some researchers of the history of the Mari people believe that the Mari descended from the mixing of ancient Iranian tribes with the Chud tribes. Here the question arises: when did this happen? I spent a long time checking when the Iranians appeared on the territory of the ancient Mari, but I did not find such a fact. There was a contact of ancient Iranian tribes (Scythians, Sarmatians), but it was much further south and the contact was with the ancient Mordovian tribes, and not with the Mari. As a result, I believe that the Mari people received the name “Mari” from the most ancient times, when the Ural peoples and Indo-European peoples (including the Slavs, Balts, Iranians) lived nearby. And these are the times of the Biarmians, the Boreans, or even the Hyperborean times. So let’s continue to talk about the history of the Mari people. In the 70s of the 4th century AD, the Huns appeared in the south of Eastern Europe - a nomadic Turkic-speaking people (to be more precise, it was a union of many nomadic peoples, which included both Turkic and non-Turkic peoples). The era of the Great Migration of Peoples began. Although the alliance of Hunnic tribes advanced through the south of Eastern Europe (mainly along the steppes), this event also influenced the history of more northern peoples, including the history of the ancient Mari people. The fact is that one of the ancient Turkic peoples, the Bulgars (initially they were called Onogurs, Utigurs, Kutrigurs), was also involved in the flow of nomadic tribes. In addition to the ancient Bulgar tribes, other Turkic-speaking tribes, the Suvars, came to the territory of the steppes of the North Caucasus and the Don. From the 4th century until the emergence of a strong Khazar state in these places, many different nomadic tribes lived in the territory between the Black and Caspian Seas and in the steppes of the Don and Volga - Alans, Akatsirs (Huns), Maskuts, Barsils, Onogurs, Kutrigurs, Utigurs) . In the 2nd half of the 8th century, part of the Bulgars moved to the region of the Middle Volga region and the lower reaches of the Kama. There they created the state of Volga Bulgaria. Initially, this state was dependent on the Khazar Kaganate. The appearance of the Bulgars in the lower reaches of the Kama led to the fact that the single space occupied by the ancient Mari tribes was divided into two parts. A significant part of the Mari living in the west of Bashkiria found themselves cut off from the main territory of residence of the Mari. In addition, under pressure from the Bullgars, some of the Mari were forced to move north and displace the ancient Udmurt tribes (Votyaks), the Mari settled between the Vyatka and Vetluga rivers. For information, I inform readers that in those days the modern Vyatka land had a different name - “Votskaya Zemlya” (land of the Votyaks). In 863, part of the Suvars who lived within the Northern Caucasus and the Don, under the influence of Arab invasions, moved up the Volga to the Middle Volga region, where they became part of the Volga Bulgaria in the 10th century and built the city of Suvar. According to a number of Bashkir historians, in Volga Bulgaria the Suvars were the numerically predominant ethnic group. It is believed that the modern Chuvash are the direct descendants of the Suvars. In the 960s, Volga Bulgaria became an independent state (since the Khazar Khaganate was destroyed by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav). The question of the origin of the ethnonyms “Mari” and “Cheremis” also remains complex and unclear. The meaning of the word “Mari”, the self-name of the Mari people, is derived by many linguists from the Indo-European term “mar”, “mer” in various sound variations (translated as “man”, “husband”). The word “Cheremis” (as the Russians called the Mari, and in a slightly different, but phonetically similar vowel, many other peoples) has a large number of different interpretations. 960s - the first written mention of this ethnonym (in the original “ts-r-mis”) is found in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph to the dignitary of the Cordoba Caliph Hasdai ibn Shaprut. D.E. Kazantsev, following the 19th century historian G.I. Peretyatkovich, came to the conclusion that the name “Cheremis” was given to the Mari by the Mordovian tribes, and in translation this word means “a person living on the sunny side, in the east.” According to I.G. Ivanov, “Cheremis” is “a person from the Chera or Chora tribe,” in other words, the name of one of the Mari tribes. Neighboring peoples subsequently extended this name to the entire Mari people. The version of the Mari local historians of the 1920s and early 1930s, F.E. Egorov and M.N. Yantemir, is widely popular, who suggested that this ethnonym goes back to the Turkic term “warlike person.” F.I. Gordeev, as well as I.S. Galkin, who supported his version, defend the hypothesis about the origin of the word “Cheremis” from the ethnonym “Sarmatian” through the mediation of Turkic languages. A number of other versions were also expressed. The problem of the etymology of the word “Cheremis” is further complicated by the fact that in the Middle Ages (up to the 17th and 18th centuries) this was the name in a number of cases not only for the Mari, but also for their neighbors – the Chuvash and Udmurts. For example, the authors of the textbook “History of the Mari People” about archaeological finds related to Iranian-speaking tribes write that sacrificial fire pits with a large content of bones of domestic animals were discovered in Volga settlements. Rituals associated with the worship of fire and the sacrifice of animals to the gods subsequently became an integral part of the pagan cult of the Mari and other Finno-Ugric people. The worship of the sun was also reflected in applied art: solar (solar) signs in the form of a circle and a cross took a prominent place in the ornaments of the Finno-Ugric peoples. In general, all ancient peoples had solar gods and worshiped the Sun as the source of life on Earth. Let me remind you once again that the suras (ancient gods from the Sun) were the divine teachers of the first people - the asuras. The end of the first millennium BC for the Mari Volga region is characterized by the beginning of the use of iron, mainly from local raw materials - swamp ore. This material was used not only for the manufacture of tools that facilitated the clearing of forests for land plots, cultivation of arable land, etc., but also for the manufacture of more advanced weapons. Wars began to occur more and more often. Among the archaeological monuments of that time, the most characteristic are fortified settlements, protected from the enemy by ramparts and ditches. The hunting way of life is associated with a widespread cult of animals (elk, bear) and waterfowl. A.G. Ivanov and K.N. Sanukov talk about the resettlement of the ancient Mari. The ancient foundation of the Mari people, which had formed by the beginning of the first millennium, was subject to new influences, mixtures, and movements. But the continuity of the main features of material and spiritual culture was preserved and consolidated, as evidenced, for example, by archaeological finds: temple rings, elements of breast decorations, etc., as well as some features of the funeral rite. Ancient ethno-forming processes took place in conditions of expanding ties and interaction with related and unrelated tribes. The real names of these tribes remained unknown. Archaeologists gave them conventional names in accordance with the name settlement , near which their monument was first excavated and studied. With regard to the social development of tribes, this was the time of the beginning of the collapse of the primitive communal system and the formation of a period of military democracy. The “Great Migration of Peoples” at the beginning of the first millennium also affected the tribes living on the border of the forest zone and forest-steppe. The tribes of the Gorodets culture (ancient Mordovian tribes), under the pressure of the steppe inhabitants, moved north along the Sura and Oka to the Volga, and reached the left bank, in Povetluzhie, and from there to Bolshaya Kokshaga. At the same time from Vyatka, the Azelinians also penetrated into the area of ​​the Bolshaya and Malaya Kokshaga rivers. As a result of their contact and long-term contacts, with the participation of more ancient local populations, great changes occurred in their original cultures. Archaeologists believe that as a result of the “mutual assimilation” of the Gorodets and Azelin tribes in the second half of the 1st millennium, the ancient Mari tribes were formed. This process is evidenced by such archaeological monuments as the Younger Akhmylovsky burial ground on the left bank of the Volga opposite Kozmodemyansk, the Shor-Unzhinsky burial ground in the Morkinsky district, the Kubashevsky settlement in the south of the Kirov region and others containing materials from the Gorodets and Azelinsky cultures. By the way, the formation of the ancient Mari on the basis of two archaeological cultures predetermined the initial differences between the mountain and meadow Mari (the former had a predominance of features of the Gorodets culture, and the latter - the Azelinskaya). The region of formation and initial habitat of the ancient Mari tribes in the west and southwest extended far beyond the borders of the modern Republic of Mari El. These tribes occupied not only the entire Povetluga region and the central regions of the Vetluga-Vyatka interfluve, but also the lands west of Vetluga, bordering the Meryan tribes in the area of ​​the Unzha River; on both banks of the Volga, their habitat area extended from the mouth of the Kazanka to the mouth of the Oka. In the south, the ancient Mari occupied not only the lands of the modern Gornomari region, but also northern Chuvashia. In the north, the border of their settlement passed somewhere in the area of ​​​​the city of Kotelnich. In the east, the Mari occupied the territory of western Bashkiria. At the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia, when the ancient Mari people were basically already established, close relationships with related Finno-Ugric tribes (except for their closest neighbors - the Mordvins and Udmurts) actually ceased and quite close contacts were established with the early Turks (Suvars and Bulgars) who invaded the Volga. . Already from that time (mid-1st millennium), the Mari language began to experience a strong Turkic influence. The ancient Mari, already having their own specific characteristics and maintaining a certain similarity with the related Finno-Ugric people, began to experience serious Turkic influence. On the southern outskirts of the Mari territory, the population both assimilated with the Bulgars and was partially forced out to the north. It should be noted that some researchers in China, Mongolia and Europe, when covering the history of Attila’s Empire, include the Finnish-speaking tribes of the Middle Volga region in the empire. In my opinion this statement was extremely erroneous. . The decomposition of the clan system among the Mari occurred at the end of the 1st millennium, clan principalities arose, which were ruled by elected elders, and later the Mari began to have princes, who were called Oms. Using their position, they eventually began to seize power over the tribes, enriching themselves at their expense and raiding their neighbors. However, this could not lead to the formation of its own early feudal state. Already at the stage of completion of their ethnogenesis, the Mari found themselves the object of expansion from the Turkic East (the Volga-Kama state of Bulgaria) and the Slavic state (Kievan Rus). From the south, the Mari were attacked by the Volga Bulgars, then by the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. Russian colonization came from the north and west. Around the 11th century, the Vetlya-Shangonsky kuguzstvo (Mari Vetluzhsky principality) was formed. To protect its borders from Russian advances from the Galich principality, the Shanza fortress was built; this fortress later became the center of the Vetluga principality. The Shanza fortress (now the village of Staro-Shangskoye in the Sharya region) was placed by the Mari on the border of their lands as a guard post (eyes) that monitored the advance of the Russians. The place was convenient for defense, since it has natural fortress “walls” on three sides: the Vetluga River with a high bank and deep ravines with steep slopes. The word “shanza” comes from the Mari shentse (shenze) and means eye. The borders of North-Eastern Rus' came close to the territory of settlement of the Mari in the 11th century. The colonization of the Mari lands that began was both peaceful and violent. On the right bank of the Volga the Mari lived until Nizhny Novgorod. To the west of Sura, the Mari settlements of Somovskoe I and II and toponymy are known. There is Lake Cheremiskoye, two villages of Cheremiski and many villages with Mari names- Monari, Abaturovo, Kemary, Makatelem, Ilevo, Kubaevo, etc. The Mari, pressed by the Mordovians, retreated to the north and east beyond Sura. The Mari tribal elite turned out to be split, some of its representatives were guided by the Russian principalities, the other part actively supported the Bulgars (and later the Tatars). In such conditions there could be no question of creating a national feudal state. The first mention of the Mari in Russian written sources dates back to the beginning of the 12th century. and is found in the “Tale of Bygone Years” by the monk Nestor. The chronicler, listing the Finno-Ugric peoples neighboring the Slavs who pay tribute to Rus', also mentions the Cheremis: “On Beleozero there is all gray, and on Lake Rostov there is merya, and on Lake Kleshchina there is merya. And along the Otse Retsa, where it flows into the Volga, the Muroma have their language, and the Cheremisi have their language, and the Mordovians have their language. This is only the Slovenian language in Rus'; glades, derevlyans, nougorodtsy, polotsk, dregovichi, north, buzhans, zane sadosha along the Bug, and then the Velynians. And these are other languages ​​that give tribute to Rus': Chud, Merya, Ves, Muroma, Cheremis, Mordovians, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Lithuania, Zimigola, Kors, Noroma, Lib: these are their own language, from the tribe of Afetov, etc. live in midnight countries...” At the beginning of the 12th century, the Shang prince Kai, fearing Russian squads, turned Shang into a fortified city and built another new town Khlynov Vetluzhsky. At this time, the Galician prince Konstantin Yaroslavich (brother of Alexander Nevsky) tried by force of arms to force the Vetluga Cheremis to submit to Galich and pay tribute with “Zakamsky silver”. But the Cheremis defended their independence. In the 12th – 16th centuries, the Mari were more clearly divided into local ethnographic groups than now. There were differences in material and spiritual culture, language, and economy. They were determined by the characteristics of the settlement territory and the influence of various ethnic components that took part in the formation of certain groups of the Mari people. Some differences between ethnographic groups can be traced archaeologically. Studies of the structure of the Mari language also confirm the existence of tribal associations of the Mari with independent and rather different dialects. The mountain Mari lived along the right bank of the Volga. Meadow Mari settled east of the Malaya Kokshaga River. In relation to Kazan, they were also called “lower” and “near” Cheremis. To the west of Malaya Kokshaga lived the Vetluga and Kokshai Mari, also referred to by scientists as the northwestern ones. This was already noted by contemporaries. The Kazan chronicler, having reported about the “meadow cheremis,” continues: “... in that country of Lugovoy there are Koksha and Vetluga cheremis.” Cheremis and the scribal book on Kazan 1565–1568 are divided into Kokshai and Meadow ones. The Mari who lived in the Urals and Kama region are known as Eastern or Bashkir. In the 16th century, another group of Mari was formed, which, by the will of fate, ended up far to the west (in Ukraine), called the Chemeris. Mari society was divided into clans that made up tribes. One of the Mari legends indicates the existence of more than 200 clans and 16 tribes. Power in the tribe belonged to the council of elders, which usually met once or twice a year. Issues about holidays, the order of public prayers, economic matters, issues of war and peace were resolved there. It is known from folklore that once every 10 years a council of all Mari tribes met to resolve issues affecting common interests. At this council, the redistribution of hunting, fishing, and hunting lands took place. The Mari professed a pagan religion; their gods were the spiritual forces of nature. Some of the Mari who lived close to Kazan, especially the clan elite, converted to Islam in the 16th century under the influence of neighboring Tatars, and subsequently became Tatars. Orthodoxy spread among the Mari living in the west. The significant place in the economic activities of the Mari in forestry, beekeeping, fishing and hunting is explained by the fact that they lived in a truly fertile forest region. Boundless dense mixed virgin forests occupied the entire Meadow Side in a continuous massif, merging with the taiga in the north. When describing the Mari region, contemporaries often used expressions such as “forest supports”, “wilds”, “forest deserts”, etc. In the Mari forests there was a great variety of game - bears, moose, deer, wolves, foxes, lynxes, ermines, sables, squirrels, martens, beavers, hares, a large number of various birds, the rivers were full of fish. Hunting among the Mari was commercial, focused on the extraction of furs for sale. An examination of bones from Mari archaeological sites shows that about 50% of them belong to fur-bearing animal species, mainly beaver, marten and sable. The Mari also established handicraft production. They knew blacksmithing and jewelry, woodworking, leather tanning, and pottery. Mari women wove linen and woolen clothing. The Mari lived in log houses, in small villages consisting of several houses - ilems and settlements - ruems. Settlements were located along the banks of reservoirs. There were also “forts” and “fortresses” fortified with ditches, ramparts and palisades, in which the Mari took refuge in case of military danger. Some of these forts were administrative and tribal centers. The Mari had a family nobility, referred to in Russian sources as tens, pentecostals, centurions and hundred princes. The ten-hundred form of government developed as a result of the organizational measures of the Golden Horde for administrative, fiscal and military purposes. This form of government generally corresponded to the tribal organization already existing among the Mari and was therefore accepted by them. The Mari themselves called their leaders shÿdyvuy, puddle, luzhavuy, luvuy and kuguoza (kugyza), which meant “great master, elder.” Mari could act as a mercenary army in the internecine feuds of the Russian princes, or carry out predatory raids on Russian lands alone or in alliance with the Bulgars or Tatars. Often the Bulgar and Kazan rulers hired mercenary warriors from among the Mari, and these warriors were famous for their ability to fight well. All territories in the north of Rus' were at first subordinate to the “lord of Veliky Novgorod”. His sons, the dashing Ushkuiniki, knew the waterway that connected the Volga with the north, through Vetluga, Vokhma, through a small portage between the Northern Dvina and the Volga, through the Yug River and the Northern Dvina. But the advance of the Russians to the northeast constantly accelerated every year, and by 1150 the Russians completely subordinated them to their power and included in their state the Murom tribes and a significant part of the Merya tribes (in the western part of the Kostroma region). The Russians had already penetrated to the banks of the Unzha, but they were not in the valley of the Upper Vetluga (in the Vetluga region). The northern Mari, the Cheremis, still lived there. But from the north, Novgorodians gradually penetrated into this territory, and Suzdal and Nizhny Novgorod residents penetrated into the territory of the south of Vetluga. At the end of the 12th century, Mari armed detachments took part in the internecine wars of the Kostroma and Galician princes, helping one of the warring princes. But it didn't last long.