Chairman of the public organization of Ingrian Finns - about the past, present and future. Chairman of the public organization of Finns-Ingrians - about the past, present and future Why Russians enroll in Ingrians

I have several views on the Finns. Firstly, I was born in the Finnish city of Sortavala. Follow this tag in my magazine - you will learn a lot of interesting things.

Secondly, as a teenager, I had a friend, Zhenya Krivoshey, on his mother’s side, Tkhura, thanks to whom I learned a lot, from about the 8th grade, that people can live, very close to us, a much more normal life than they lived We.

Thirdly, in our family, from approximately 1962 to 1972 (I may be slightly wrong in the dates), a Finnish woman lived - Maria Osipovna Kekkonen. How she settled with us and why, I will tell you when I put my mother’s memories in order.

Well, my friend in life and in LiveJournal, Sasha Izotov, despite his Russian (paternal) surname, is also half Finnish, although we met and became friends a considerable time after our mutual departures abroad.

It’s not that I don’t like, but I avoid the word immigrant (emigrant) for the simple reason that I am formally listed as “temporarily staying abroad.” The time of my stay was quite extended, on May 23, 2015 I will be 17 years old, but nevertheless I did not have permanent residence and still do not have it.

I am always interested in this country, and this gives me endless respect for people of few words for their quality that cannot be translated into Russian. sisu. Any Finn will understand what it is and may even smile. if you mention this word.

Therefore, when I saw this material on the Yle website, I could not resist re-posting it. I think I even knew Victor Kiura, about whom you will read below.
In any case, I definitely met him on the streets of Petrozavodsk or in the editorial office of the Northern Courier. Only events and faces are forgotten...

So, stories about destinies.

Kokkonen

Thank you for being alive...

Once in my childhood I asked my grandmother: “Are you happy?” After thinking a little, she replied: “Probably, yes, she’s happy, because all the children remained alive, only the youngest baby died of hunger on the way to Siberia.”

Over the years, bit by bit, from the memories of relatives, a chronology of events and stages in the lives of my loved ones has been built, starting from pre-war times.

On the Karelian Isthmus, five kilometers from the pre-war border, in the village of Rokosaari, the Kokkonens lived, and almost half of the village had the same surname. No one remembered which territories of Suomi they moved there from; married people from neighboring villages.

In the family of my grandmother Anna and Ivan Kokkonen there were six children: Victor, Aino, Emma, ​​Arvo, Edi and the youngest, whose name has not been preserved.

Before the start of hostilities (Winter War of 1939 - editor's note), units of the Red Army entered the village, residents were ordered to leave their homes. Some of the male population managed to escape across the border, while the rest were sent to labor camps. My grandfather’s two brothers called Ivan to go to Finland, but he could not leave his wife and children. Subsequently, he ended up in labor camps, and of the brothers, one lived in Finland, the other in Sweden. But where? All connections were lost and remain unknown to this day. Grandfather met his children only in the sixties, and he already had another family.

Women and children were ordered to take a ferry across Lake Ladoga, but some of the residents hid in the forest and lived in dwellings dug into the ground - “dugouts”. Among them was my grandmother and her children. Residents later said that the ferry was bombed by planes with red stars on them. Before last days Grandma kept it a secret.

The Kokkonen family, 1940.

Photo:
Natalia Blizniouk.

Later, the remaining residents were transported along the Road of Life across Lake Ladoga, put into freight cars and taken somewhere far away and for a long time. There was no food, the grandmother had no milk to feed the little one... He was buried somewhere at a little station in a field, now no one knows where.

There were many such trains, the residents of the villages they passed knew where the freight trains were being taken. The trains stopped in the taiga in winter, everyone was disembarked and left to die from cold and hunger.

The train stopped at the station: the city of Omsk. People went out to get water and find some food. A woman approached the grandmother (many thanks to her) and said: “If you want to save the children, do this: leave two of them at the station, and when the train starts to move, start screaming that you have lost children, they have fallen behind the train and you need to get them.” return. And then you can all take the next train together.” My grandmother did just that: she left the elders Victor and Aino (my mother) at the station, was able to get off the train at the next stop, return back to Omsk with the remaining children and find Victor and Aino.

Another kind person (many thanks to him) advised my grandmother to hide the documents that indicated her last name and nationality, and go to a distant collective farm, say that the documents were lost or that they were stolen along the way - this would be an opportunity to stay alive. The grandmother did just that: she buried all the documents somewhere in the forest, got with the children to an educational farm (a training livestock farm) in the Omsk region and worked there as a calf shepherd, raising small calves. And the children remained alive. Thank you grandma for staying alive!

In the 1960s, N. Khrushchev was at the head of the country, and repressed peoples were allowed to return to their native lands. Son Arvo, daughters Edie, Emma and Aino with their children returned from Siberia with their grandmother (it was me, Natalya, and brother Andrei). The eldest grandmother's son Victor already had four children, all of them had to be registered under the changed surname - Kokonya. And only in the eighties they were able to regain their real surname Kokkonen.

Emma returned without children, they remained to live with her mother-in-law in Omsk, after which she became very ill and died, and the children died at the age of thirty.

To the moment possible relocation All my grandmother’s children passed away in Finland, and out of thirteen grandchildren, four remained in Siberia, four died at the age of 30-40, and only four were able to move. Now there are only three of us, my brother, unfortunately, only managed to live in Suomi for one year and a week: his bad heart stopped.

The thirteenth grandson, Oleg, Emma's youngest son, may live in Finland or Estonia (his father was Estonian), there is no information, and I would like to find him.

My family and I moved to Finland in 2000. We accidentally learned from a woman who already lived in Suomi that there is a law according to which people with Finnish roots can move to their historical homeland.

Bliznyuk family, 2014.

Photo:
Natalia Blizniouk.

By this time, after several crises in the Russian economy and politics, fears arose for the lives and future of children. Thanks to my husband Alexander for insisting on completing the documents to move to Finland. We moved and began... “a completely different life.” I had the feeling that I had always lived here, that I had returned to “childhood.” The people were friendly, spoke the same language as my grandmother, and looked very much like her. The flowers growing are the same as in our garden when I was little. And the Finnish language “naturally” appeared in my head; I almost didn’t have to learn it.

When communicating with Finns, they take stories about our past very warmly and to heart. In Russia, I always felt like “not Russian,” because you couldn’t say what nationality your relatives were, whether you had relatives abroad, you had to keep your family history secret.

In Suomi I feel “at home”, I feel like a Finnish woman who was born in Siberia and lived for some time outside of Finland.

Regarding the future of the Ingrian people: in Russia there is not even such a question and nationality, but in Finland, I think that this is a history common to the entire Finnish population without any differences.

Natalya Bliznyuk (born 1958)
(descendant of the Kokkonens)

P.S. I often think about the story of my relatives and sometimes I think that it is worthy of being published and could even be made into a film; it is quite consonant with S. Oksanen’s novel “Purification”, only our story is about the Finns who found themselves “on the other side” of the front.

Kiuru

My name is Victor Kiuru, I am 77 years old. I was born in Southern Kazakhstan, on the Pakhta-Aral cotton-growing state farm, where in 1935 the Stalinist regime exiled my parents and children. Soon their children, my brothers, died from climate change. Later, in 1940, my father managed to move to Eastern Kazakhstan with a more favorable climate, where I improved my poor health at that time.

Victor Kiuru with his mother

In 1942, Father Ivan Danilovich went into the labor army, and in 1945 I went to school and gradually forgot words in Finnish and spoke only Russian. In 1956, after Stalin’s death, my father found my brother, and we moved to Petrozavodsk. In Toksovo, where my parents lived before the evacuation, entry was prohibited. After that there was study, three years in the army, work in different positions, marriage - in general, usual life Soviet person with social work in the Federation of Chess and Ski Racing of Karelia.

Agricultural Technical School, first year, 1951

In 1973, my father’s cousin, Danil Kiuru from Tampere, came from Finland on a tour package. This is how I first met a real Finn from capital country. By chance, in 1991, the sports committee of Karelia, at the invitation of a farmer from Rantasalmi Seppo, sent me and two young skiers (champions of Karelia) to competitions in Finland. Seppo and I became friends and began to meet on Finnish soil and in Petrozavodsk. They began to study Finnish and Russian together, and even corresponded.

Later, the editors of the Northern Courier, where I worked as a sports columnist, sent me many times as a special correspondent to the ski championships in Lahti and Kontiolahti, and the World Cup stages in Kuopio and Lahti. There I met outstanding athletes from Russia, Finland and my native Kazakhstan, whom I interviewed.

Victor Kiuru, 1954.

At the same time, he became acquainted with the life, work and leisure of Finnish friends, who by that time were living in different provinces of Finland. In the summer he came to them on vacation, worked in the forest and fields, and picked berries. I bought a car here, and Seppo’s neighbor Jussi gave me my first Opel. He simply stunned me - he submitted the documents and said: “Now she is yours! For free!" You can imagine how shocked I was.

During the putsch I was in Rantasalmi and was very worried, following what was happening in Russia. But everything ended well, and I calmly returned to Petrozavodsk. By this time, many Ingrian people began to move to Finland, my father’s sister, my cousin, and many acquaintances left, but I was in no hurry, still hoping that a fresh wind would bring positive changes to the lives of ordinary Russian citizens.

Retirement approached, and soon the famous decree of Tarja Halonen about the last opportunity for Ingrian people to return to Finland, in my case, to move. By this time, my daughter was living in Finland on a work visa. After working for five years, she received the right to permanent residence, and then received Finnish citizenship. She lives in Turku, and in Seinäjoki her eldest granddaughter, Evgeniya, lives in her own house with her family.

My wife Nina and I moved there in 2012 to help the young people. They have five-year-old Sveta and three-year-old Sava. Zhenya works with her husband Sergei in Kurikka at a small electrical engineering company. Following the Russian habit, we developed a vegetable garden on their plot, installed a greenhouse, and now in the summer we have something to do: potatoes and vegetables, berries and herbs are now on the table, and we are busy too. In the fall, we collected, salted and froze mushrooms.

Victor Kiuru with his great-grandchildren.

And I got a three-room apartment on the third day! It’s incredible, in Petrozavodsk I lived in a one-room apartment, and then immediately had my own office, where there was always an easel and chess - these are my hobbies. I paint the surrounding landscapes and rejoice in life, which has changed so much in better side after the move. In a word, I am happy and understand perfectly well that I have never lived so well before.

I fully feel the help of the social service from its representative Lena Kallio, the medical center and the attending physician Olga Korobova, who speaks excellent Russian, which makes communication easier for us. I go skiing, there is a beautiful illuminated track nearby, I have been involved in sports all my life, I ran the Murmansk marathon three times and told my readers about the holiday of the North in Karelia. And, of course, I don’t stop following all sporting events in Finland and the world. I’m looking forward to the biathlon championship in Kontiolahti, where I visited back in 1999. Petrozavodsk residents Vladimir Drachev and Vadim Sashurin performed successfully there, the first for the Russian national team, the second for Belarus. Well, now I will follow the races on TV and root for two countries - Russia and Finland.

Victor Kiuru (born 1937)

So

My name is Andrey Stol, I am 32 years old. I was born in the city of Osinniki, near Novokuznetsk, in the Kemerovo region Western Siberia. Our region is known for its beauty, rich deposits of coal and iron ore, as well as large factories.

Stoli in 1970.

I moved to Finland a year and a half ago with my wife and child. My moving story begins in 2011. My namesake Mikhail found me on Skype, for which I thank him very much. At that time, a guy from the Moscow region was studying in Mikkeli in his first year. We met him and began to look for common roots. As it turned out later, his roots were German, however, when the war began, his grandmother said that she was from the Baltic states. Now, having safely moved with his family, he lives in Riga.

During the conversation, he said that in Finland there is a repatriation program under which Ingrian Finns can move to Finland. I started collecting information and documents to get in line for repatriation. My father was able to tell me a little about my grandfather Oscar, since my grandfather died while my father was in the army.

My grandfather Stol Oscar Ivanovich was born on February 16, 1921 at the Lakhta station in the Leningrad region. During the war he was exiled to Siberia to work in a mine. There he met my grandmother, a German by nationality, Sofia Alexandrovna, and my uncle Valery and my father Victor were born there. They say that Oscar was good hunter, fisherman and mushroom picker. He spoke Finnish only once, when his sister came to visit him. The family spoke only Russian.

Oscar Stol.

So, I quickly collected my documents and flew to Moscow to get on the waiting list a week before it closed (July 1, 2011). Luckily, I ended up in line at number twenty-two thousand or something. My birth certificate was enough. I was told that I needed to pass an exam in the Finnish language, and then if the result was positive, I would be able to submit documents to move to Finland, provided that I rented an apartment. I said that I don’t know where to start learning, since we don’t have any Finnish language courses in Siberia. The embassy gave me several books and told me that I had to return them and take an exam within a year. Time has passed.

Since September 2011, I began to closely study the Finnish language. Combining two jobs, I found the time and energy to look at textbooks purchased via the Internet for at least an hour, and listened to Finnish radio. In May 2012, I took the exam and waited about a month for the result. Finally they called me and said that you can prepare documents for the move. It was difficult to find an apartment remotely. Fortunately, one wonderful woman, Anastasia Kamenskaya, helped us, for which we thank her very much!

So, we moved in the summer of 2013 to the city of Lahti. Recently, work in Novokuznetsk, where I lived with my family, has not been good. Moreover, I didn’t want to stay in the fifth most polluted city in Russia; besides, my wife was pregnant with her second child. We were the only relatives who moved. At one time in the 90s, my parents had the opportunity to move to Germany based on my grandmother’s roots, but my grandfather, my mother’s father, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, who went all the way to Berlin, strictly ordered me to stay in my homeland.

My wife and I don’t regret moving one bit. We are currently renting a three-room apartment. The eldest Timofey goes to kindergarten. His wife Ksenia is currently staying at home with their one-year-old Oscar, who was born in Lahti. I completed Finnish language courses and entered Ammattikoula for a profession that I had only dreamed of. No stress, no rush, good-natured and honest people, clean air, tasty tap water, children will have a real childhood and one of the best education in the world! I am grateful to Finland for all this!

Of course, I would like to find relatives in Finland. Perhaps someone will read this article, remember my grandfather and want to answer me.

Thank you for your attention!

Andrey Stol (born in 1982)

Suikanen

History of the Suikanen family

My mother, on my father’s side - Nina Andreevna Suikanen, was born in the village of Chernyshovo near Kolpino (Leningrad region) into an Ingrian family. My grandfather, Suikanen Andrey Andreevich, worked as a forester in a forestry enterprise, he had five daughters and one son, a small farm - a horse, cows, chickens and ducks. IN free time he participated in the volunteer fire department and played in an amateur brass band.

Nina Andreevna Suikanen in Helsinki, 1944

In 1937, my grandfather was dispossessed and later convicted under Article 58 as an enemy of the people. In 1939, he died of pneumonia in a camp in the northern Urals in the city of Solikamsk. My mother went through the Klooga concentration camp during the war, and later the Finns took her and her sisters to Finland. The sisters worked at a military factory in the city of Lohja, and the mother looked after the children of a wealthy family.

In 1944, my mother and sisters were sent back to the USSR, to the Yaroslavl region. And two years later they moved to the Estonian SSR to the city of Jõhvi, and my mother began working at a cement factory. All the sisters somehow settled into life, worked and lived in Estonia. At the end of the 60s, my mother moved to live in Leningrad with my father.

We learned about the existence of a program for the resettlement of Ingrian Finns in the Lutheran church in the city of Pushkin, where my mother went to services. The first time I came to Finland was in ninety-two, we stayed with my mother’s cousins ​​in Helsinki, but there was no talk of staying forever. I didn’t know the language (my father did not approve of learning Finnish), and I had a good job in Leningrad. My wife and daughter and I moved to Suomi for good only at the end of 1993. During this time, I learned a little language, and the unresolved issue with my own housing also pushed me to move.

Baptism of Mark's second daughter in Kouvola, 1994.

The small town of Kouvola was not at all ready for our arrival, although this is the only place out of six where I wrote to the labor exchange and sent a resume and from where I received an answer: I was invited to personally participate in the job search on the spot. When I arrived with my family, of course, there was no work for me. There were no adaptation programs at all. Thank you, casual acquaintances, fellow Ingrians, who helped me rent a house, open a bank account and complete other formalities.

The work situation was difficult, and already in the spring of ninety-four I went back to Russia to work, while the family remained to live in Kouvola. Gradually everything got better: my wife took language courses, the family grew - I had two more daughters. My wife found a job, the older children grew up and got a profession, now they live separately and work not far from us.

The Solovyovs' dacha in the village of Siikakoski

In 1996, my mother and my sister and their family came to live in Finland, everything turned out well for everyone. I myself moved to Suomi permanently in 2008. Work in Russia has ended, and I have not yet been able to find a permanent job here, but I still hope. Although my Finnish language, age and lack of jobs make this hope illusory. And everything is not bad: your home, nature, forest. Over time, everyone received Finnish citizenship, got used to it, and now we connect our lives only with Suomi, thanks to President Koivisto and the Finnish state.

Mark Solovyov (born in 1966)

Reginya

Regina family history

My name is Lyudmila Gouk, nee Voinova. I was born, raised and lived for many years in the small Karelian town of Medvezhyegorsk. My paternal ancestors are from the Medvezhyegorsk region. My mother is the daughter of a Swede and a Finnish woman who lived in the Murmansk region before the repressions. Grandma's first family lived in the village of Vaida-Guba, the second - in the village of Ozerki.

Maria Regina, 1918.

But in 1937, the grandmother was arrested and six months later shot. The grandfather, apparently, was scared (we know nothing about him), and the mother (she was 4 years old) ended up in an orphanage in the Arkhangelsk region. She learned her mother's surname - Reginya - only at the age of 15, when she had to go to school. She had wonderful life later: she became a teacher of the Russian language, worked at the school for 42 years, she is an honored teacher of Karelia.

My sister and I knew from birth that my mother was Finnish. Brother Olavi sometimes came to see her. He spoke Russian poorly, but sang songs in Swedish and Norwegian. Often during conversations they suddenly fell silent and sat silently for quite a long time. Arriving in Finland, I learned that these are traditional Finnish pauses. Of course, we felt some kind of specialness. Let's say we were different from our peers, as if we knew something that they didn't know.

In the 80s, I wrote to the Murmansk FSB. They sent us a letter indicating the date of arrest, date of execution, date of rehabilitation, and that the place of death had not been established. As I remember now: I walk in, and my mother is sitting with a large envelope and crying.

I learned about the re-emigration program in the early 90s. Then I got married, and, as it turned out, my husband was also from a family of repressed Finns. His mother Pelkonen (Russunen) Alina was born in 1947 in Yakutia, where her entire family was exiled in 1942. In 1953, her father was lucky to receive documents, and they went to Karelia, to the village of Salmi, Pitkyaranta region of Karelia. They arrived in Leningrad, but they were not allowed to settle there, and they bought a ticket to the station to which they had enough money.

The fate of Alina and her sisters was not so successful. All their lives they lived in fear. For example, I learned that my mother-in-law is Finnish many years later. And the fact that she speaks Finnish well only came when she came to visit us in Helsinki. According to her stories, she seemed to be ashamed of it, unlike my mother, who was always proud of it. The mother-in-law remembered how her older sisters went to report to the police, how her mother, who did not speak Russian, practically did not leave the house. My mother also has terrible memories: how they walked to school, and local children threw stones at them and shouted: White Finns!

When we found out that we could come, the decision came immediately. Of course, we didn’t know what difficulties we would face (we were a little naive), but we were sure that we would be better off in Finland. No matter how much we tried to persuade our relatives, they did not come with us. Maybe they regret it now, but that was their decision.

The Gouk family in Helsinki.

Upon arrival, everything went very well: we got a wonderful apartment, my husband quickly began to learn the language, I gave birth to a son. Later I opened my own small business and have been working for 9 years now. My husband also works at his favorite job, we have two children, 11 and 16 years old.

I was bored for a very long time, but when I stopped, I felt at home. And no matter how sinful it may sound, I consider Finland to be my homeland. I feel very good here both mentally and physically. Now about the difficulties. The first is a kindergarten and school. We studied at a completely different school, and when our daughter went to school, for the first two years we could not understand anything at all, how it all worked and how it all worked. It’s easier now, my daughter has already finished school, now we’re mastering Lukio.

The second difficulty (only for me) is the Finnish language. I didn’t go to many courses; at work I mostly remain silent, speaking Russian with employees. In the evening I come home, tired, children and household chores - in the end I speak poorly. There are very few evening courses for working people. All short-term, I tried to get in a couple of times, all unsuccessfully. But this, of course, is only my fault. We have lived in Helsinki for 13 years, and I have never once felt discrimination towards myself or my loved ones. At work, everyone is very respectful and even, let’s say, extremely attentive. We are happy here and we think that everything will continue to be fine.

Lyudmila Gouk (born 1961)

Savolainen

For a long time I did not attach importance to my ethnic origin. Although I noticed differences in mentality from ethnic Russians, I had not previously connected this with nationality, I thought that it was more of a family thing.

Andrey with his daughter Orvokki in Jokipii.

Starting approximately from the middle of the first decade of the 21st century, many of my acquaintances, one after another, began to periodically travel abroad, including to Finland. They told me that I really have a Finnish character. In addition, I dated for some time a girl who had lived in Norway for a long time. And according to her, I had a typical Scandinavian mentality (by Scandinavians she meant both Norwegians and Finns; from her point of view, there are no significant national differences between them).

I liked what my friends told me about Finland and the Finns. Although many responded negatively, I, on the contrary, considered the features that they did not like to be positive qualities. I became interested and read materials about Finland. He also became more interested in the history of the Ingrian Finns than before. Unfortunately, by that time none of the grandparents’ generation was alive. I searched for information on the Internet, and later also sometimes participated in events organized by the Inkerin liitto society.

I know that the ancestors of the Ingrians moved to Ingria in the 17th century, having moved there from Karelia and Savo. Judging by my grandmother’s maiden name, Savolainen, my distant ancestors were from Savo. During World War II, Ingrians, including all my paternal relatives living at that time (my mother is ethnically half-Estonian, half-Russian), were exiled to Siberia. Their houses and all property were confiscated, and they themselves were sent to the Omsk region.

Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”

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

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Faces of Russia". Ingrians. 2011

FINNS-INGERMANLANDANS, St. Petersburg Finns, people in the Russian Federation, subethnic group of Finns. The population in the Russian Federation is 47.1 thousand people, including in Karelia - 18.4 thousand people, in the Leningrad region (mainly Gatchina and Vsevolozhsk districts) - about 11.8 thousand people, in St. Petersburg - 5, 5 thousand people. They also live in Estonia (about 16.6 thousand people). The total number is about 67 thousand people. According to the 2002 Population Census, the number of Ingrian Finns living in Russia is 300 people.

The language (a number of slightly different dialects) belongs to the eastern dialects of the Finnish language. Literary Finnish is also widely spoken. Self-name - Finns (suomalayset), inkerilaiset, i.e. residents of Inkeri (Finnish name for Izhora land, or Ingria - the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus, Germanized name - Ingria).

Believing Ingrian Finns are Lutherans. In the past, among the eurymeyset there was small group Orthodox. The Savakots had widespread sectarianism (including “jumpers”), as well as various pietistic movements (Lestadianism).

The mass resettlement of Finns to the territory of Ingria began after 1617, when these lands, under the terms of the Stolbovo Treaty, were ceded to Sweden, which at that time included Finland. The main influx of Finnish colonists occurred in the mid-17th century, when the Swedish government began to force the conversion of local residents to Lutheranism and close Orthodox churches. This caused a mass exodus of the Orthodox (Izhorian, Votic, Russian and Karelian) population to the southern lands that belonged to Russia. The empty lands were quickly occupied by Finnish settlers. Settlers from the nearest regions of Finland, in particular from the parish of Euräpää and its neighboring parishes in the north-west of the Karelian Isthmus, were called eurymeiset, i.e. people from Euryapää. The Savakot ethnographic group, formed by settlers from Eastern Finland (the historical lands of Savonia), was more numerous: in the mid-18th century, out of 72 thousand Ingrian Finns, almost 44 thousand were Savakots. The influx of Finns into the territory of Ingria also occurred in the 19th century. The Ingrian Finns had little contact with the indigenous population of this region.

At the end of the 1920s and 30s, many Ingrian Finns were deported to other regions of the country. During the Great Patriotic War, about 2/3 of the Ingrian Finns ended up in the occupied territories and were evacuated to Finland (about 60 thousand people). After the conclusion of the peace treaty between the USSR and Finland, the evacuated population was returned to the USSR, but did not receive the right to settle in their previous places of residence. Since the late 1980s, a movement has developed among Ingrian Finns to restore cultural autonomy and return to their old habitats.

N.V. Shlygina

Finnish is spoken by the Baltic-Finnish subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic family. Dialects are divided into Western and Eastern groups. Modern literary language based on Western dialects with the inclusion of Eastern vocabulary. Writing based on Latin script.

The believers are mostly Lutherans. Various Pietist movements are widespread: Herrnhuters (from the 1730s), Prayerists (from the 1750s), Awakeners (from the 1830s), Laestadians (from the 1840s), Evangelists (from 1840 's), Free Church, Methodists, Baptists, Adventists, Pentecostals, Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, etc. There is a small number (1.5%) of Orthodox Christians in the southeastern regions (and immigrants from there).

The ancestors of the Finns - the Baltic-Finnish tribes - penetrated into the territory of modern Finland in the 3rd millennium BC and by the 8th century they settled most of it, pushing the Sami population to the north and partially assimilating it. The Finnish people were formed in the process of merging the southwestern tribes of the Suomi (in the Old Russian chronicles - Sum), Hame (Old Russian Em), who lived in the central part of Finland, the eastern Savo tribe, as well as the western (Vyborg and Saima) groups of Karelians (see Karelians). The eastern regions of the country were characterized by contacts with the Ladoga region and the Upper Volga region, and the southwestern regions with Scandinavia and the Baltic states.

In the 12th and 13th centuries, Finnish lands were conquered by the Swedes. The long-term Swedish rule left a noticeable imprint on Finnish culture (agrarian relations, social institutions, etc.). The Swedish conquest was accompanied by the forced Christianization of the Finns. During the Reformation (16th century), Finnish writing was created. However, the Finnish language remained only a language of worship and everyday communication until the 2nd half of the 19th century, when it received formal equality with the Swedish language. In reality, it began to be implemented in independent Finland. Swedish remains second official language Finland.

From 1809 to 1917 Finland, with the status of an autonomous Grand Duchy, was part of the Russian Empire. In December 1917, the independence of Finland was proclaimed, and in July 1919 it became a republic.

Finnish folk culture shows differences between Western and Eastern Finland. The ethnographic border between them runs along the line of the modern cities of Kotka, Jyväskylä, then between Oulu and Raahe. In the West, the influence of Swedish culture is more noticeable. Until the end of the 19th century, agriculture was dominated by farming. In the east in the Middle Ages, the main form was slash-and-burn agriculture; in the southwest, a fallow arable system developed early; Since the end of the 19th century, multi-field crop rotation began to be introduced. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, dairy farming became the leading industry. Traditional crafts are marine (fishing, seal hunting, sailing), forest (tar smoking), woodworking (including the manufacture of wooden utensils). More than 33% of modern Finns are employed in industry, about 9% in agriculture and forestry.

Peasant settlements in the southwest of the country until the 16th-17th centuries were cumulus villages; from the 18th century, with the spread of farmstead land use, a scattered village layout began to predominate. In the east, due to the slash-and-burn farming system, small settlements, often single-yard ones, predominated; villages arose only where there were large areas of land suitable for constant cultivation. The traditional dwelling is a log house of elongated proportions with a gable roof covered with shingles. Since the 18th century, the south of Pohjanmaa has been characterized by a two-story house. The most important outbuildings were a barn, a bathhouse (sauna), and cages (in the southwest they were often two-story; the top floor was used for sleeping in the summer). In the southwest of Finland, a residential building and outbuildings formed a closed quadrangular courtyard; in the east, the courtyards have an open layout. Dwellings in the west and east of the country differed in the design of the stove: the west is characterized by a combination of a heating-bread stove and an open hearth for cooking food, and the early appearance of chimneys; In the East, an oven close to the so-called Russian oven is common. The interior of a Western peasant house is characterized by bunk and sliding beds, cradles on curved runners, and a variety of cabinet shapes. Polychrome painting and carvings were widespread, covering furniture and utensils (spinning wheels, rakes, clamp pliers, etc.). The living space was decorated with woven products (blankets, holiday bedspreads, curtains for bunk beds), and ruyu pile carpets. In the east, archaic forms of furniture were preserved for a long time - wall benches, fixed beds, hanging cradles, wall shelves, cabinets. Traditional architecture and decoration from the east of the country had a great influence on Finnish architecture and art during the so-called “national romanticism” period of the late 19th century.

Traditional women's clothing - a shirt, blouses of various cuts, a skirt (mostly striped), a woolen sleeveless bodice or jacket, an apron, for married women - a linen or silk headdress on a rigid basis with lace trim; girls wore open headdresses in the form of a crown or headband. Men's clothing- shirt, knee-length pants, vests, jackets, caftans. In the east, a women's shirt with embroidery and an oblique cut on the chest, a white homespun or linen semi-long sundress (viita), a towel headdress, and caps were preserved for a long time. Embroidery patterns reflected Karelian and North Russian influence. Folk forms clothes disappear early, especially in the west of the country. Their revival and the formation of the so-called national costume occurs in the late 19th - early 20th centuries, during the period of the national movement. This costume still retains its festive and symbolic role today.

There were differences in the traditional food of the Western and Eastern Finns: in the East, tall soft bread was regularly baked, in the West, bread was baked 2 times a year in the form of round flat dry cakes with a hole in the middle and stored on poles under the ceiling. In the east they made lumpy yogurt, in the west they made stretchy forms of fermented milk, and they also made homemade cheese. Only in the east were baked closed pies (including fishmongers) and “wicket” type pies, only in the extreme southeast was daily consumption of tea accepted. In the western regions it is traditional to make beer, in the east - malt or bread kvass.

Small family. Large families, both paternal and fraternal, survived until the 19th century in the northwest of the country in Pohjanmaa, in the northeast in Kainuu, in the southeast in Karjala, where they existed until the 20th century.

The wedding ritual in Western Finland was distinguished by Swedish influences and borrowings from church rites: wedding at home, “gate of honor”, ​​“wedding pole” in the yard, wedding under the canopy (“himmeli”), bride’s wedding crown, etc. The eastern Finns retained the archaic a form of wedding, with a three-part ritual of the bride’s “leaving” from her father’s house, moving (wedding train) to the groom’s house and the actual wedding-hyayat in his house. Many rituals were aimed at protecting the bride from evil spirits (when moving to the groom’s house, her face was covered with a veil, a knife was taken into the cart, etc.) and ensuring the fertility of the marriage.

Of the calendar holidays, the most important are Christmas and Midsummer's Day (Juhannus, Mittumaarja). During their conduct, various pre-Christian rituals were preserved, for example, making bonfires on Midsummer's Day. There was a belief in guardian spirits, troll witches, various protective actions, etc.

Epic songs of runic meter occupy a special place in folklore. Based on runes collected in Karelia, Eastern Finland and Ingermanland, E. Lönnrot compiled the epic “Kalevala” (1835), which became a symbol of the Finnish national movement.

N.V. Shlygina

One's own land is strawberries, someone else's land is blueberries / Oma maa mansikka; muu maa mustikka

Finland is called the Land of a Thousand Lakes. In fact, there are much more of them: about 190 thousand! Lakes occupy almost 9% of the entire territory of the country.

What happened before the lakes? To the forests? Before, when there was no land at all?

Initially, there was only an endless ocean. A lone bird flew above him in search of a nest. Exactly which one is unknown. Ancient runes differ on this issue. It could be a duck, a goose, an eagle, or even a swallow. In a word, a bird.

It was the bird that saw the knee of the first human being, which stuck out of the water. This was the tribe of the wise old man Väinämöinen or (in another rune) his mother, the heavenly maiden Ilmatar.

The bird laid an egg right on his knee... From this primary material the creator bird created the world. In some runes, the world is created by the first man Väinämöinen, and the firmament is forged by the blacksmith Ilmarinen.

From the top half of the egg the sky was created. From the bottom - the earth, from the yolk - the sun. From the protein - the moon, from the shell - the stars.

So, the creation of the universe is more or less clear, but how did it happen that the Finns became exactly what they are today?

Finn relies only on himself

The question is difficult, but it can be answered. The Finnish national character, so to speak, was forged from confrontation with nature. This is where the primary characteristic of Finnish consciousness begins. Everything about him is determined by the desire to conquer nature. And what is most interesting (which commands respect): in the fight against the natural elements, the Finn relies only on himself. That is why he attaches such importance to himself, convincing himself of his abilities. In the Finn's mind, man is a truly powerful creature, called to conquer the elements. We see this in the epic “Kalevala”.

In fairy tales, this theme of knowing the secret codes of nature is also reflected, sometimes even slightly in a comic form. Here, for example, is “The Peasant’s Prediction.”

Once upon a time there lived a king and a peasant, and the peasant's meadows and fields were so close to the royal palace that the owner had to pass through the courtyard of the royal castle every time on the way to his lands. One day a peasant went on a horse to buy some vein. When he returned from the meadows through royal court, the king happened to be in the courtyard of his castle, and he began to scold the peasant.

How dare you, you idiot, drive through my yard with your hay, aren’t you ashamed?!

Sorry, dear king,” replied the peasant. “But the fact is that there will soon be a thunderstorm, it will begin to rain, and if I drove along the long circular road, I would not make it before the rain began to pour down, and my hay would get wet.” That's why I hurried straight ahead with the hay.

Well,” said the king, “how do you know this?”

Great sovereign! - answered the peasant. - I know from my mare's tail. Look how the gadflies crawl under your tail. And this is a sure sign that there will be bad weather.

That’s how... - said the king and allowed the peasant to pass.

After this, the king went to the tower of the palace astrologer and asked the fortuneteller whether it would rain today. The astrologer took the telescope, looked at the sky and said:

No, Mr. King, there will not be a single tear, not a single drop, today, tomorrow, or even the day after tomorrow, but then, maybe, there will be.

“I see,” said the king and descended from the tower to go to his chambers. But on the way to the palace they overtook the king like this pouring rain and a terrible thunderstorm that the king was wet to the skin. Finally he got, all dirty, to his palace and immediately called the fortuneteller to him.

You, unfortunate astrologer, will have to make room, since you understand nothing about the weather, while a stupid and uncouth peasant, looking at the tail of his mare, sees when it will rain and when there will be a bucket, - the king told him and dismissed him with positions, sending him to the stable to remove manure.

And the king summoned the peasant to himself and gave him possession of the astrologer’s tower and the proper title, giving him the same salary as the previous fortuneteller received. Thus, thanks to horseflies and a gadfly, the peasant became the king’s friend, to the envy of all the courtiers.

Finns love themselves

Finns love themselves in a way that few nations love themselves. In general, there are few peoples who love themselves, and the Finns are one of them. In the consciousness of most peoples there is a certain perfect image, or attributed to the golden age in the past, and one’s own inconsistency with this image is acutely felt.

The Finns have almost no such dissatisfaction. Finn, in essence, does not need the highest sanction; he achieved his exceptional position in the world himself. This explains the Finns’ emphasized respect for themselves, which surprised many researchers. Finn behaves with dignity, never begs for tea, even avoids a hint of it, although he will not refuse to take an increase on occasion, he will not even mention it, and whether they add something to him at the time of payment or not, he will equally thank him when he receives the agreed upon fee.

Finn depends extremely little on the team. A Finnish peasant lives on a farm. He does not often communicate with his neighbors, is closed in the family circle and does not see any particular need to open this circle. After Sunday lunch the owner will not go to visit. And why would he run away from home? His wife is his best friend, children respect him. Finn is almost entirely focused on himself. His eyes, sometimes beautiful and expressive, look somehow into themselves, he is closed and silent. Finn goes to fight nature one-on-one.

Even at the end of the 18th century, Finland was called the land of sorcerers. The sorcerers themselves firmly believed in their art and, as a rule, passed it on to their children, which is why it was considered the property of entire families.

Enchant nature to conquer

Since ancient times, the Finns considered the greatest wisdom to be knowledge of the hidden forces of nature, believing that a word can force nature to act as a person pleases. The wiser a person is, the stronger influence his words on the surrounding nature, especially since it is subject to him. Since ancient times, the Finns were more famous than others for their sorcerers. The Finns tried to bewitch nature and thus conquer it. This is one of the adequate expressions of the content inherent in the Finn’s consciousness. A sorcerer is like a superman. He is lonely and proud. He is closed in and on himself. He can go out to duel with nature. His goal is to force the alien forces of nature to obey his word, his desire.

The Finns' relationship with God is almost contractual. They are ordered and extremely rationalized. Lutheranism is a purely individual religion. There is no conciliarity in it, everyone is on his own. There is no mysticism in it either. Its instructions are strict and simple. The liturgical rite is strict and simple. A person must work. Must be a respectable family man, raise children, help the poor. The Finn does all this with the greatest diligence. But in this very correctness and moderation passion shines through. This rationality itself takes on magical features.

The goal of conquering nature was and remains the main content of the Finn’s consciousness. Finn, even in our time, continues to recognize himself as a lone fighter, obliging everything to himself and counting on his own strengths or God, but not on God’s mercy and pity, but on God as a reliable collaborator with whom the Finn enters into a contract, pledging to lead a virtuous life in exchange for His protection.

Finn follows the contract to the letter. His religious life very correct and orderly. Skip church service for a Finn it was considered an unforgivable crime. Even at the post station there was a sign with the rule: “No one, except in extreme need, has the right to demand a horse and travel during worship on Sundays.”

The ability to read is considered a religious duty by Finns. After all, every Lutheran must know the text of Holy Scripture and be able to interpret it. Therefore, literacy in Finland was already 100% in the 20th century.

Finns read everywhere: in cafes and on trains. It is the Finnish character that can explain the Finns’ love for the harsh and uncompromising poetry of Joseph Brodsky. It is this poet who enjoys incredible success in the Land of Blue Lakes.

Laugh at yourself

This is another feature of the Finnish character. It turns out that Finns love jokes about themselves. And they willingly compose them themselves. And when they meet, they exchange new products. And this can also be seen as a healthy start. People who can laugh at themselves are truly capable of great things. Finns can even joke about their favorite sauna. “The sauna can be used by anyone who can reach it.”

Here are a few anecdotal stories that have become a kind of classic of the genre.

Three Finn brothers are sitting fishing on the Gulf of Finland. Morning, the sun begins to rise, younger brother says: “Nah kluyett.”

Well, it’s already day, the sun is high...

The middle brother says: “Taa, it just won’t bite.”

Well, it’s already evening, the sun has already set, well, the older brother says:

You chat a lot and it gets bitten...

Raaime, are you married?

Naette, I'm not married.

But the guys have kaaltso on the paaltz!

ABOUT! Already married! How letitt frammyaya!

Toivo means hope

Finnish names... do they mean something? Finnish names adopted in the Lutheran Finnish calendar are heterogeneous in their origin. Ancient, pagan names occupy a significant place. These are names that still retain a connection with the words from which they originated.

For example: Ainikki (the only one), Armas (beloved), Arvo (dignity, honor), Ilma (air), Into (inspiration), Kauko (distance), Lempi (love), Onni (happiness), Orvokki (violet), Rauha (peace), Sikka (grasshopper), Sulo (lovely), Taimi (sprout), Taisto (struggle), Tarmo (energy, strength), Toivo (hope), Uljas (brave), Urho (hero, hero), Vuokko ( snowdrop).

Another part of the names was borrowed from Germanic and some other peoples. But these borrowed names have undergone such significant linguistic processing on Finnish soil that they are now perceived as originally Finnish, although they are not associated with any meaning.

With Finnish surnames the situation is different. All Finnish surnames are formed from native Finnish significant words. Surnames of foreign origin are recognized by native speakers as foreign.

Finnish given names are placed before the surname. Very often, a child is given two or even three names at birth. The names preceding the surname are not declined - only the surname changes. For example: Toivo Letinen (Toivo Lehtinen) - Toivo Lehtiselle (Toivo Lehtinen). The emphasis in names, as in Finnish in general, falls on the first syllable.

It's interesting to know what Finnish names correspond to Russian ones. In fact, there aren't that many of them. For example, names such as Akhti or Aimo have no correspondence in the Russian language. But the name Antti corresponds to the Russian name Andrey.

Let's list a few more Finnish names along with their Russian counterparts: Juhani - Ivan, Marty - Martyn, Matti - Matvey, Mikko - Mikhail, Niilo - Nikolay, Paavo - Pavel, Pauli - Pavel, Pekka - Peter, Pietari - Peter, Santeri - Alexander, Simo - Semyon, Vikhtori - Victor. Women's list will be like this: Annie - Anna, Helena - Elena. Irene - Irina, Katri - Ekaterina, Leena - Elena, Liisa - Elizaveta, Marta - Martha.

The Russian language has close ties with Finnish, or more precisely, with the group of Finno-Ugric languages. It so happened historically that the lands of northern Rus' (and then Muscovy) were practically surrounded by peoples who spoke Finno-Ugric languages. This includes the Baltic region, and the northeastern forests, near the Arctic Circle, and the Urals, and many nomadic tribes that lived in the southern steppes.

To this day, linguists argue about which words passed from whom to whom. For example, there is a version that the word “tundra”, which passed into the Russian language, comes from the Finnish word “tunturi”. But with the rest of the words, everything is far from so simple. Did the Russian word “boots” come from the Finnish word “saappaat” or vice versa?

Aphorism boom in Finland

Of course, there are proverbs and sayings in Finland. Books are also published in which these proverbs are collected.

The sauna is a pharmacy for the poor. Sauna öä apteekki.

One's own land is strawberries, someone else's land is blueberries. Oma maa mansikka; muu maa mustikka.

The Finns not only honor folk wisdom, but also modern, that is, aphorisms. In Finland there is an association that unites authors working in the aphorism genre. They publish books and anthologies. They have their own website on the Internet (.aforismi.vuodatus.).

The 2011 anthology “Tiheiden ajatusten kirja” (Close to thoughts on paper) contains aphorisms from 107 authors. Every year in Finland there is a competition for the best author of aphorisms (the Samuli Paronen competition). Not only writers, poets, journalists, but also people of other professions take part in this competition. It can be said without any exaggeration that all of Finland is passionate about both reading aphorisms and composing them. It is with great pleasure that we introduce the works modern authors aphorisms.

Every person is the architect of his own happiness. And if someone wants to forge eternal chains for themselves, then this is their personal right. Paavo Haavikko

The most common type of classification: me and the rest. Torsti Lehtinen

When you become very old, you are not afraid to be young. Helena Anhava

Slowness (slowness) is the soul of pleasure. Markku Envall

Don't confuse God's sycophants with angels. Eero Suvilehto

It is very possible that some modern Finnish aphorisms will go among the people and become proverbs.

Statistics

INGERLANDS INGERS

INGERMANLANDS (Ingrian Finns, St. Petersburg Finns), subethnic group of Finns (cm. FINNS), live in the Russian Federation and Estonia. The 2002 census in the Russian Federation counted 314 Ingrians, mainly in Karelia and St. Petersburg. Ingrians are the old-timers of Ingria (Russian Izhora, German Ingermanlandia; the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland and the Karelian Isthmus). In principle, they should be distinguished from the Finns themselves - later immigrants from various regions of Finland. But the Ingrians themselves have almost completely lost their ethnic identity and consider themselves Finns or assimilated by neighboring peoples. A number of slightly different dialects of the Ingrians belong to the eastern dialects of the Finnish language; Literary Finnish was also widespread. In the past, Ingrians divided themselves into two ethnic groups: Avramoiset and Savakot. The Finns call the Ingrians inkerilaiset - residents of Inkeri (the Finnish name for Ingria).
Ingrian believers are Lutherans; in the past, there was a small group of Orthodox Christians among the Eurymeiset. The Savakots had widespread sectarianism, including “jumpers,” as well as various movements in Lutheranism (Lestadianism). The Finns appeared on the territory of Ingria mainly after 1617, when these lands were ceded to Sweden under the terms of the Peace of Stolbovo. A certain number of Finnish settlers existed here earlier, from the 14th century, after the conclusion of the Shlisselburg (Orekhovets) Peace Treaty. The main influx of Finnish colonists occurred in the mid-17th century, when the Swedes began to force local residents to accept Lutheranism and closed Orthodox churches. This caused a mass exodus of the Orthodox (Izhorian, Votic, Russian and Karelian) population to Russia. The deserted lands were occupied by Finnish settlers.
Settlers from the immediate regions of Finland, in particular from the Euräpää parish, which occupied the northwestern part of the Karelian Isthmus, as well as from the neighboring parishes of Jäeski, Lapes, Rantasalmi and Käkisalmi (Kexholm), were called Eurämäset (people from Euräpää). Part of the Eurymeiset occupied the nearest lands of the Karelian Isthmus, the other settled on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland between Strelnaya and the lower reaches of the Kovashi River. A significant group of Eurymeiset lived on the left bank of the Tosna River and near Dudergof.
A group of immigrants from Eastern Finland (the historical region of Savo) is known as Savakot. Numerically, it prevailed over the Eurymeset. In the mid-18th century, out of 72 thousand Ingrians, almost 44 thousand were Savakot. The number of immigrants from other parts of Finland was insignificant until the 19th century. During the 17th and 18th centuries, the formation of the Ingrian ethnic group took place. This process accelerated after Ingria became part of Russia and the severance of ties with Finland. After Finland joined Russia, the influx of Finns into the territory of Ingria resumed, but was no longer as significant as before and the Finns did not mix with the Ingrians. In addition, the main flow of immigrants from Finland was directed not to Ingermanland, but to other regions of the Russian Empire.
Despite their great similarity in language, religion, and customs, Savakot and Eurymeiset developed for a long time in isolation from each other. The Eurymeiset considered the rest of the Finns to be late newcomers and refrained from marrying them. Evrymeiset women, who went to the Savakot village after marriage, tried to wear their traditional clothes and preserve in the minds of their children the concept of their maternal origin. The Ingrians generally remained isolated from the neighboring population - the Vodi, Izhora, and Russians.
The main occupation of the Ingrians was agriculture, which, due to the lack of land and poor soil, was unprofitable. The limited area of ​​pasture land hampered the development of livestock farming. The forced three-field system persisted for a long time, which hampered the development of more intensive forms of crop rotation. Cereals were mainly rye, spring barley, oats, and industrial crops were flax and hemp, which were used for household needs (making nets, bags, ropes). In the 19th century, potatoes took an important place; in some villages it was grown for sale. Among the vegetable crops, cabbage went to the market, partly in pickled form.
On average, a peasant yard had 2-3 cows, 5-6 sheep, they usually kept a pig, and several chickens. Ingrians sold veal and pork at St. Petersburg markets and bred geese for sale. Among the St. Petersburg retailers, “Okhtenki” were typical, selling milk, butter, sour cream and cottage cheese (originally this name applied to the residents of the Ingrian villages near Okhten).
On the coast of the Gulf of Finland, the Ingrians had developed fishing (mainly winter fishing for herring); fishermen went out onto the ice with sleighs and board huts in which they lived. The Ingrians were engaged in various auxiliary work and waste trades - they were hired to cut wood, peeled bark for tanning leather, drove cabs, and in winter, cab drivers (“wakes”) worked part-time in St. Petersburg, especially during the Maslenitsa riding season. On the farm and traditional culture Ingrian peoples archaic features were combined with innovations that were part of daily life due to the proximity of the capital of the Russian Empire.
The Ingrians lived in villages; their layout had no specific features. The dwelling consisted of one living room and a cold entryway. Chicken stoves were preserved for a long time. The stoves were ovens (like a Russian stove), but they were placed on a stone stove, as in Eastern Finland. A hanging cauldron was fixed above the pole. With the improvement of the stove and the advent of the chimney, pyramidal caps over the hearth became characteristic, into which a stove with a firebox was built. In the hut they made fixed benches along the walls, on which they sat and slept. The baby's cradle was suspended. Subsequently, the dwelling developed into a three-chamber building. When the dwelling was placed facing the street, the front hut was a winter hut, and the back one served as a summer dwelling. The Ingrians maintained a large family for a long time; separate premises were built for married sons, which did not mean separating them from the family.
The men wore the same clothes as the surrounding Russian and Karelian population: cloth trousers, a linen shirt, a gray cloth caftan at the waist with wedges extending it from the waist. Festive high boots were also worn in the summer on major holidays - they served as a symbol of prosperity. Along with felt hats, city caps were also worn. Women's clothing it differed between eurymeiset and savakot. Eurymeset clothing had local differences. The clothes of Ingrian women in Dudergof (Tuutari) were considered the most beautiful. Women's shirts had a chest slit on the side, on the left side, and in the middle of the chest there was a trapezoidal embroidered bib - recco. The incision was fastened with a round fibula. The sleeves of the shirt were long, with a cuff at the wrist. A sundress-type clothing was worn over the top - a blue skirt sewn to a bodice with armholes made of red cloth. The girl's head was tied with a cloth ribbon decorated with white beads and tin stripes. Women wore a junta on their heads - a small circle of white fabric, attached to their hair above the forehead at the parting. Hair was cut, girls usually wore short hairstyles with bangs. On the Karelian Isthmus among the Orthodox Eurymeiset married women they wore magpie-type headdresses with a richly embroidered headband and a small “tail” at the back. Here, girls braided their hair in one braid, and after getting married - in two braids, which were placed on the crown of the head like a crown.
In Tyur (Peterhof - Oranienbaum), married eurymeiset women also wore long hair, twisting it into a tight cord (syukeret) under towel headdresses. In Western Ingria (Koporye - Soykinsky Peninsula) hair bundles were not made; hair was hidden under a white towel headdress. Here they wore simple white shirts (without a recco bib) and skirts. The evrymeyset's apron was striped wool, and on holidays it was white, decorated with red cross stitch and fringe. Warm clothing was a white or gray cloth caftan and sheepskin coats; in the summer they wore “kostoli” - a hip-length linen caftan. The wearing of leggings sewn from linen (red cloth in winter) to cover the shins was preserved for a long time.
Savakot women had shirts with wide sleeves that were pulled up to the elbow. The shirt had a slit in the middle of the chest and was fastened with a button. The waist-length clothing was colorful skirts, often checkered. On holidays, a woolen or calico one was worn over an everyday skirt. With a skirt they wore either a sleeveless bodice or jackets that were fastened at the waist and at the collar. A white apron was required. Head and shoulder scarves were widely used. In some villages of Western Ingria, Savakot switched to wearing Russian-style sundresses. At the end of the 19th century, in many localities, eurymeiset began to switch to the Savakot type of clothing.
The basis of nutrition was sour soft rye bread, cereal porridge and flour. It is typical to eat both salted mushrooms and mushroom soups, and use flaxseed oil.
The Ingrian wedding ceremony retained archaic features. Matchmaking had a multi-stage nature with repeated visits of matchmakers, a visit by the bride to the groom's house, and the exchange of collateral. After the agreement, the bride went around the surrounding villages, collecting “help” for her dowry: she was given flax, wool, ready-made towels, and mittens. This custom, which dates back to the ancient traditions of collective mutual assistance, was preserved at the end of the 19th century only on the outskirts of Finland. The wedding was usually preceded wedding ceremony, and from the church the married couple left for their homes. The wedding consisted of celebrations in the bride’s house - “leaving” (laksiaiset) and the actual wedding “haat”, which was celebrated in the groom’s house.
In Ingria, many Finnish fairy tales, legends, tales, sayings, songs, both runic and rhymed, are collected, laments and laments are recorded. However, from this heritage it is difficult to single out Ingrian folklore itself. The Ingrians are characterized by songs with rhymed verse, especially round dances and swing songs, close in form to Russian ditties. Dance songs are known, in particular for rentuske - a square dance type dance.
The Lutheran Church promoted early literacy. Gradually, secular primary schools emerged in Finnish-speaking parishes. At the end of the 19th century there were 38 Finnish schools in Ingria, including three in St. Petersburg. The maintenance of Finnish language skills was also supported by rural libraries, which emerged from the mid-19th century in parish centres. In 1870, the first newspaper in Finnish, Pietarin Sanomat, was published in St. Petersburg.
The teaching of Finnish in schools was discontinued in 1937. In 1938, the activities of Lutheran church communities were banned. Back in the late 1920s, during dispossession, many Ingrians were deported to other regions of the country. In 1935-1936, a “cleansing” of the border areas of the Leningrad region from “suspicious elements” was carried out, during which a significant part of the Ingrians were evicted to Vologda region and other regions of the USSR. During the Great Patriotic War, about two-thirds of Soviet Finns ended up in the occupied territories and, at the request of the Finnish authorities, were evacuated to Finland (about 60 thousand people). After the conclusion of the peace treaty between the USSR and Finland, the evacuated population was returned to the USSR, but did not receive the right to settle in their previous places of residence. As a result, over several decades, the Ingrians were almost completely assimilated into larger ethnic groups.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what "INGERMANLANDS" are in other dictionaries:

It is proposed to rename this page to Ingria Finns. Explanation of the reasons and discussion on the Wikipedia page: Towards renaming / January 17, 2012. Perhaps its current name does not correspond to the norms of the modern Russian language... ... Wikipedia

Ingrians Ingermanland flag Total population: Settlement: Russia, Finland Language: Russian ... Wikipedia

Russia, according to the constitution, is a multinational state. More than 180 peoples live on its territory, which includes not only indigenous small and autochthonous peoples of the country. At the same time, Russians make up about 80% of the population... ... Wikipedia

Historical region Northern Europe Estonian Ingermanland Other names (Estonian) Eesti Ingeri; (fin.) Viron Ink ... Wikipedia

Original taken from nord_ursus in The Shelter of the Poor Chukhonets: the history of the Finnish population in the vicinity of St. Petersburg

The second largest city in the country, St. Petersburg, is located at the northwestern borders, directly adjacent to the borders with Finland and Estonia. The history of this region, which is called the Izhora Land, Ingermanlandia, the Nevsky Territory, or simply the Leningrad Region, contains a valuable layer of cultural and historical heritage left by the Finno-Ugric peoples who lived here. And now, when traveling outside of St. Petersburg, every now and then you come across the names of villages and villages with seemingly Russian endings, but still not quite familiar to the Russian ear with roots - Vaskelovo, Pargolovo, Kuyvozi, Agalatovo, Yukki and so on. Here, among dense forests and swamps, the “Chukhons” have long lived - as the Russians called the Finno-Ugric peoples - Izhoras, Vods, Finns, Vepsians. This word, in turn, comes from the ethnonym Chud - the common name of the Baltic-Finnish peoples. Now there are few Chukhons left near St. Petersburg - some have left for last years, some simply Russified and assimilated, others simply hide their belonging to the Finno-Ugric people. In this article I will try to shed at least a little light on the fate of these small peoples in the vicinity of the Northern Capital.

Map of Ingria. 1727

Finno-Ugric tribes - such as Izhora, Vod, Ves, Korela - have since ancient times inhabited the territories along the shores of the Gulf of Finland, the Neva River and Lake Ladoga. These tribes were characterized by slash-and-burn agriculture; in the more northern area, hunting and cattle breeding were of greater importance, as well as fishing along the seashores. According to the currently available results of archaeological research, the settlement of these lands by the Slavs began in the 6th century, when the Krivichi tribes moved here, and continued in the 8th century, when the territories were inhabited by the Ilmen Slovenes. The prerequisites for the emergence of a state are taking shape. According to traditional Russian historiography, the founding date of Veliky Novgorod is considered to be 859, and 862, the date of the beginning of the reign of Rurik, is considered the date of the emergence of the Russian state. Novgorod was one of the most powerful centers Ancient Rus'. The possessions of Novgorod during the period of its greatest prosperity occupied an area larger than the modern Northwestern Federal District - then the White Sea, the Kola Peninsula, Pomorie and even the Polar Urals were under its rule.

Thus, the Baltic-Finnish peoples living near the Gulf of Finland and Lake Ladoga also found themselves under the rule of a powerful northern state, through which the trade route “From the Varangians to the Greeks” passed. The Tale of Bygone Years mentions that the Kiev prince Oleg, during his campaign against Constantinople in 907, took with him, among other tribes, the Chud, that is, the Finno-Ugric tribes living close to the Baltic:

“In the year 6415 Oleg went against the Greeks, leaving Igor in Kyiv; he took with him many Varangians, and Slovens, and Chuds, and Krivichi, and Meryu, and Drevlyans, and Radimichi, and Polans, and Northerners, and Vyatichi, and Croats, and Dulebs, and Tivertsi, known as interpreters: these were all called Greeks "Great Scythia."

In the second half of the 12th century, in the bull of Pope Alexander III, sent to the Uppsala bishop Stephen, the first historical mention of the pagan Izhora people, who are called “Ingris” in the text, is found. At the same time, the territory of present-day Finland has been under the rule of the Swedes since 1155, after the Swedish king Eric IX carried out a crusade and conquered the Finnish tribes living in the north of the Baltic - em (in Russian pronunciation the name yam is more common (from the Finnish yaamit (jäämit) )), from it came the name of the city of Yamburg) and sum (suomi). In 1228, in Russian chronicles, the Izhorians are already mentioned as allies of Novgorod, who participated together with the Novgorodians in the defeat of the detachments of the Finnish tribe Em, who invaded the Novgorod land in alliance with the Swedes:

“The last remaining Izherians sent them running, and beat them up a lot, but to no avail they ran away, where anyone saw.”

Looking ahead, we can say that it was then that the civilizational division of the Finnish tribes began through belonging to different states. Izhora, Vod, Vse and Korela found themselves as part of Orthodox Rus' and themselves gradually accepted Orthodoxy, and sum and em became part of Catholic Sweden. Now Finnish tribes close in blood fought on opposite sides of the front - civilizational (including religious) division took precedence over blood affinity.

Meanwhile, in 1237, the Teutonic Order carried out a successful expansion into the Baltic states, capturing Livonia, and strengthened itself on the Russian borders, founding the Koporye fortress. Novgorod escaped the devastating Mongol invasion while a serious threat arose from the western side. From the very moment the Swedes consolidated their position in Finland, the Karelian Isthmus and the mouth of the Neva became the site of territorial disputes between Novgorod Rus and Sweden. And on July 15, 1240, the Swedes, under the leadership of Earl Birger Magnusson, attacked Rus'. A battle takes place at the confluence of the Izhora River (named after the tribe) into the Neva, known as the Battle of Neva, as a result of which the Novgorod army under the command of Prince Alexander Yaroslavich, who received the nickname Nevsky as a result of the battle, wins. Mentions of the help of the Finno-Ugrians to the Russian army can be seen here. The chronicles mention “a certain man named Pelgusy (Pelguy, Pelkonen), who was an elder in the Izhora land, and he was entrusted with the protection of the sea coast: and he received holy baptism and lived in the midst of his family, a filthy creature, and in holy baptism the name Philip was given to him ». In 1241, Alexander Nevsky began to liberate the western part of Novgorod land, and on April 5, 1242, his army defeated the Teutonic Order on the ice of Lake Peipsi (Battle of the Ice).

In the 13th century, most of the Izhorians, Vozhans (vod) and Karelians converted to Orthodoxy. In the administrative division of the Novgorod land, such a unit appears as the Vodskaya Pyatina, which was named after the Vod people. In 1280, Prince Dmitry Alexandrovich strengthened the western borders of the Novgorod Republic, when, by his decree, the stone fortress of Koporye (Finnish Caprio) was built - on the same place where the Germans built a wooden fortress in 1237. A little to the west the Yam fortress was built (formerly Yamburg, now the city of Kingisepp). In 1323, in the Novgorod fortress of Oreshek at the source of the Neva, the Orekhovets Peace Treaty was concluded between Novgorod and Sweden, establishing the first border between these two states. The Karelian Isthmus was divided in two. Its western part, where the Swedes founded the city of Vyborg in 1293, went to Sweden, and the eastern part with the Korela fortress and Lake Ladoga went to Novgorod. According to the terms of the agreement, Novgorod transferred to Sweden “for love, three churchyards of Sevilakshyu(Savolax, now part of Finland) , Jaski(Yaskis or Yaaski, - now the village of Lesogorsky, Vyborg region) , Ogrebu(Euryapää, now the village of Baryshevo, Vyborg district) - Korelsky churchyard". As a result, part of the Korela tribe began to live in Sweden and, being converted to Catholicism, took part in the ethnogenesis of the Finns.

Koporye fortress. Nowadays it is part of the Lomonosovsky district of the Leningrad region

Novgorod-Swedish border along the Orekhovetsky world. 1323

Thus, in the 14th century we observe the following picture of the settlement of the Baltic-Finnish peoples: Finns and Sami live in Sweden, Karelians, Vepsians, Vodians and Izhoras live in the Novgorod Republic, Estonians live in the Livonian Order. In 1478, the Novgorod land was conquered by the Moscow prince Ivan III and became part of the centralized Russian state. In 1492, by decree of the prince, the Ivangorod fortress was built on the western border, opposite the Livonian castle of Narva (Rugodiv). Under Ivan IV the Terrible, after the end of the Livonian War, Russia in 1583 concluded the Truce of Plyus with Sweden, which leads to changes in the state border - now the western part of the Izhora land with the fortresses of Koporye, Yam and Ivangorod, as well as the eastern part of the Karelian Isthmus with the Korela fortress go to Sweden, which in turn annexes Estland, that is, the northern part Livonian Order(Livonia itself goes to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth). Now part of Izhora and Voda also comes under Swedish rule.

Change of borders according to the Plyus truce. 1583 Territories ceded to Sweden are shown in grey.

But only seven years have passed since Russia took revenge for the results of the Livonian War. As a result of the Russian-Swedish war of 1590-1593, Russia returns both the Karelian Isthmus and the western part of the Izhora land. In 1595, the return of the lands was secured by the signing of peace in the Izhora village of Tyavzino near Ivangorod.

However, a radical change in the history of the region soon occurred. In 1609, during the Time of Troubles, an agreement was concluded in Vyborg between the Russian government of Vasily Shuisky and Sweden, under the terms of which the Swedes undertook to provide military assistance to Russia in the fight against the Polish intervention, in exchange for Russia transferring the Korelsky district (that is, the eastern part of the Karelian isthmus) into Sweden. The Swedish army was commanded by commander Jacob Pontusson Delagardie, a nobleman of French origin. After the crushing defeat of the joint Russian-Swedish army in the battle near the village of Klushino, Delagardi, under the pretext of the Russians’ failure to fulfill the conditions for the transfer of Korela, stopped providing military assistance to Russia. Sweden now acted as an interventionist, first occupying the Izhora land, and then, in 1611, capturing Novgorod. As a pretext for these actions, the Swedes used the fact that the Moscow Seven Boyars elected the Polish prince Vladislav to the Russian throne, while Sweden was at war with Poland and considered this action as a rapprochement between Russia and Poland. For the same reason, speaking about the events of the Time of Troubles, Sweden can in no way be called an ally of Poland - it, like Poland, intervened in Russia, but not in alliance with Poland, but in parallel. After the capture of Novgorod, the Swedes unsuccessfully besieged Tikhvin in 1613, and in 1615 they equally unsuccessfully besieged Pskov and captured Gdov. On February 27, 1617, in the village of Stolbovo near Tikhvin, the Peace of Stolbovo was signed between Russia and Sweden, under the terms of which the entire Izhora land went to Sweden.

As a matter of fact, the turning point in the history of the Izhora land was precisely this. After the Treaty of Stolbovo, many Orthodox inhabitants of the lands ceded to Sweden - Russians, Karelians, Izhorians, Vozhans - not wanting to accept Lutheranism and remain under the Swedish crown, left their homes and went to Russia. Karelians settled in the vicinity of Tver, as a result of which the subethnic group of Tver Karelians was formed. The Swedes, in order not to leave the depopulated lands empty, began to populate them with Finns. On this land, a dominion was formed within Sweden (a dominion is an autonomous territory with a status higher than a province), called Ingria. According to one version, this name is a translation of the term Izhora land into Swedish. According to another version, it comes from the Old Finnish Inkeri maa - “beautiful land” and the Swedish land - “earth” (that is, the word “land” is repeated twice). Finns resettled in Ingermanland formed the subethnic group of Finns-Ingrians (Inkerilaiset). Most of the settlers came from the province of Savolaks in Central Finland - they formed the group of Finns-Savakots (Savakot), as well as from Euräpää county (Äyräpää), located on the Karelian Isthmus, in the middle reaches of the Vuoksa - they formed a group of Finnish Evremeis (Äyrämöiset). Of the Izhorians who remained to live in Ingria, some converted to Lutheranism and were assimilated by the Finns, and only a very small part was able to preserve Orthodoxy and their original culture. In general, Ingria remained a rather provincial region within Sweden - Swedish exiles were sent here, and the land itself was sparsely populated: even half a century after joining Sweden, the population of Ingria was only 15 thousand people. Since 1642, the administrative center of Ingria was the city of Nyen (Nyenschanz), founded in 1611, located at the confluence of the Okhta and the Neva. In 1656 begins new war between Russia and Sweden. The root cause of the military conflict lay in the successes of Russian troops in the Russian-Polish War that began in 1654, when the Russians occupied the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Swedes, in order to prevent the capture of Poland by the Russians and, as a consequence, the strengthening of Russia in the Baltic, invade Poland and declare claims to the territories occupied by Russian troops. The Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich used this circumstance as a reason to try to return Russia to the Baltic Sea, and Russian troops invaded the Baltic states, and then Ingria, where they met significant support from the Orthodox Izhorians and Karelians who remained there, who created for the purpose of fighting against the Swedes partisan detachments. According to the Truce of Valiesar in 1658, Russia retained the occupied lands, but in 1661 it was forced to conclude the Treaty of Kardis and remain within the borders of 1617 in order to avoid a war on two fronts - with Poland and Sweden at the same time. After the Peace of Kardis, there was another wave of departure of the Orthodox population from Ingria, along with the Russian troops leaving there, and, as a result, the process of migration of Finns from the central provinces of Finland intensified. Now the Finns already constituted the absolute majority of the population of Ingria.

Administrative divisions of Sweden in the 17th century

Coat of arms of Swedish Ingria. 1660

In the very early XVIII century, Russian Tsar Peter I put an end to territorial disputes between Russia and Sweden for control over Karelia and Ingria. The Northern War began in 1700, at first unsuccessfully for Russia - with the defeat of Russian troops near Narva, but then the Russians developed a successful offensive deep into Swedish territories. In 1702, the Noteburg (Oreshek) fortress was taken, and in 1703 the Nuenschanz fortress was taken, and then followed the most important event in the history of Russia - the founding of St. Petersburg, which in 1712 became the new capital of Russia. Russian troops continued to advance on the Karelian Isthmus and took Vyborg in 1710. As in the previous Russian-Swedish war of 1656-1658, the Russian troops were supported by partisan detachments of Orthodox Karelian and Izhora peasants. Meanwhile, there were frequent cases of Ingrian Finns going over to the side of Russia; the majority of them preferred to remain on their lands after their annexation to Russia. In 1707, the Ingermanland province was formed, renamed St. Petersburg in 1710. The Northern War ended in 1721 with a brilliant victory for Russia, which, under the terms of the Nystadt Peace Treaty, received the Baltic states, Ingermanland and Karelia, and the status of an empire to boot.

It was the Ingrian Finns who left the Finnish names of villages and hamlets in the vicinity of St. Petersburg, which have survived to this day. St. Petersburg has become the most European Russian city. Not only because it was built according to the canons European architecture, but also because a significant part of its inhabitants were visiting Western Europeans - architects, artisans, workers, mostly Germans. There were also Ingrian Finns - a kind of local Europeans. A significant part of St. Petersburg Finns worked as chimney sweeps, which created a certain stereotypical image of Finns in the eyes of Russians. Also common among them were the professions of railway workers and jewelers; women often worked as cooks and maids. The cultural and religious center of the St. Petersburg Finns was the Lutheran Finnish Church of St. Mary on Bolshaya Konyushennaya Street, built in 1803-1805 according to the design of the architect G. H. Paulsen.

And the outskirts of the City on the Neva still remained “the shelter of the wretched Chukhon.” And, strange as it might be to realize now, outside of St. Petersburg, without going far from it, Finnish speech in villages could sometimes be heard even more often than Russian! As of the second half of the 19th century, the population of Ingria (that is, St. Petersburg, Shlisselburg, Koporsky and Yamburg districts), excluding the population of St. Petersburg, was about 500 thousand people, of which about 150 thousand were Finns. Consequently, Finns made up approximately 30% of the population of Ingria. In St. Petersburg itself, according to the 1897 census, the Finns were the third largest nation after the Great Russians, Germans and Poles, accounting for 1.66% of the capital's population. At the same time, in the population censuses of the 19th century, Ingrian Finns and Suomi Finns were recorded separately, that is, those who moved to the St. Petersburg province from the Grand Duchy of Finland after the latter’s annexation to Russia (the annexation, let me remind you, took place in 1809, after the last Russian - Swedish war). In 1811, the Vyborg province, conquered by Russia back in the Northern War, was annexed to the Grand Duchy of Finland - an autonomous part of the Russian Empire, therefore those who moved from there after 1811 were also classified as Suomi Finns. According to the 1897 census, Izhora numbered 13,774 people, that is, 3% of the population of Ingria (again, excluding the population of St. Petersburg) - ten times less than the Finns.

Finnish Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul in the villageToksovo. 1887

Finnish Church of St. Mary in St. Petersburg

Map of Evangelical Lutheran parishes in Ingria. 1900

But in 1917 a revolution occurred, and a radical change occurred in the history of our entire country, and our region in particular. Russian-Finnish relations have also changed. On December 6, 1917, the Finnish Sejm proclaims the state independence of the Republic of Finland (Suomen tasavalta), which the Bolsheviks recognize after 12 days. A month later, a socialist revolution also breaks out in Finland, followed by a civil war that ends with the defeat of the Reds. After defeat in the civil war, Finnish communists and Red Guards fled to Soviet Russia. At the same time, the issue of the border between Soviet Russia and Finland remains unresolved. The commander-in-chief of the Finnish troops, Carl Gustav Emil Mannerheim, considers it necessary to “liberate” Karelia from the Bolsheviks, and in the spring of 1919, Finnish troops made unsuccessful attempts to capture Karelia.

The population of the northern part of Ingria was in territory controlled by the Bolsheviks. Ingria peasants were subjected to surplus appropriation and the Red Terror, which was carried out in response to the peasants' evasion of mobilization into the Red Army; many of them fled across the Finnish border to the Finnish border villages of Raasuli (now Orekhovo) and Rautu (now Sosnovo). In early June, Ingrian peasants from the village of Kiryasalo launched an anti-Bolshevik uprising. On June 11, rebels numbering about two hundred people took control of the village of Kirjasalo and nearby Autio, Pusanmäki, Tikanmäki, Uusikylä and Vanhakylä. On July 9, the independent Republic of Northern Ingria was proclaimed (Pohjois Inkerin Tasavalta). The territory of the republic occupied the so-called “Kiryasala salient” with an area of ​​about 30 square kilometers. The village of Kiryasalo became the capital, and the leader became local Santeri Termonen. Behind a short time the power acquired state symbols, mail and army, with the help of which she tried to expand her territory, but failed in battles with the Red Army near the villages of Nikulyasy, Lembolovo and Gruzino. In September 1919, Finnish army officer Jurje Elfengren became the head of the republic.

Flag of the Republic of Northern Ingria Yrje Elfengren

Postage stamps of the Republic of Northern Ingria

Approximately shows the territory controlled by the Republic of Northern Ingria

But the struggle of Ingrian peasants for independence remained in history. On October 14, 1920, in the Estonian city of Tartu, a peace treaty was signed between Soviet Russia and Finland, under the terms of which Northern Ingria remained in the Soviet state. On December 6, 1920, on the second anniversary of the independence of the country of Suomi, a farewell parade was held in Kiryasalo, after which the flag of Northern Ingria was lowered, and the army and the population left for Finland.

North Ingrian Army in Kirjasalo

In the 1920s, the Soviet government pursued a policy of “indigenization,” that is, encouraging national autonomies. This policy was designed to reduce interethnic contradictions in the young Soviet state. It also extended to the Ingrian Finns. In 1927, there were 20 Finnish village councils in the northern part of the Leningrad region. In the same year, the Kuyvozovsky Finnish national district was formed (Kuivaisin suomalainen kansallinen piiri) , occupying the territory of the north of the current Vsevolozhsk district, with the administrative center in the village of Toksovo (the name of the district from the village of Kuyvozi), in 1936 the district was renamed Toksovo. According to the 1927 census, in the region there were: Finns - 16,370 people, Russians - 4,142 people, Estonians - 70 people. In 1933, there were 58 schools in the area, of which 54 were Finnish and 4 Russian. In 1926, the following people lived on the territory of Ingermanland: Finns - 125,884 people, Izhorians - 16,030 people, Vodians - 694 people. The Kirja publishing house operated in Leningrad, publishing communist literature in Finnish.

The 1930 guidebook “On skis around the outskirts of Leningrad” describes the Kuyvozovsky district as follows:

«
Kuyvazovsky district occupies most of the Karelian Isthmus; from the west and north it borders with Finland. It was formed during zoning in 1927 and assigned to the Leningrad region. Lake Ladoga adjoins the region to the east, and in general these places are rich in lakes. Kuyvazovsky district gravitates towards Leningrad as part of Agriculture gardening and dairy farming, as well as in the handicraft industry. As for factories and factories, the latter are represented only by the former Aganotovsky Sawmill. Shuvalov (in 1930 it employed 18 people) in the village of Vartemyaki. The area of ​​the Kuyvazovsky district is estimated at 1611 square meters. km, its population is 30,700 people, the density per 1 km² is 19.1 people. The population is distributed by nationality as follows: Finns - 77.1%, Russians - 21.1%, out of 24 village councils, 23 are Finnish. Forest occupies 96,100 hectares, arable land 12,100 hectares. Natural hayfields - 17,600 hectares. The forests are dominated by coniferous species - 40% pine, 20% spruce and only 31% deciduous species. As for cattle breeding, we present several figures relating to the spring of 1930: horses - 3,733, cattle - 14,948, pigs 1,050, sheep and goats - 5,094. Of the total number of farms in the region (6,336), fell on kulak in April there were only 267. Now the region is completing complete collectivization. If on October 1, 1930 there were 26 collective farms with 11.4% of socialized poor and middle peasant farms, then today there are about 100 agricultural artels in the region (as of July - 96) and 74% of collectivized farms.

The region has made great progress in increasing the sown area: compared to 1930, the area of ​​spring crops has increased by 35%, vegetables by 48%, root crops by 273%, and potatoes by 40%. The area is cut through by the Oktyabrskaya railway line. Leningrad - Toksovo - Vaskelovo for 37 km. In addition, there are 3 large highways and a number of small ones with a total length of 448 km (as of January 1, 1931).

However, soon loyalty Soviet power the Ingrian Finns are almost disappearing. As a people living on the border with bourgeois Finland, and, moreover, representing the same nation that lives in this state, the Ingrians are considered a potential fifth column.

Collectivization began in 1930. The following year, as part of the “kulak expulsion”, about 18 thousand Ingrian Finns were evicted from the Leningrad region, who were sent to the Murmansk region, the Urals, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. In 1935, in the border areas of the Leningrad Region and the Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, by decree of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs G. G. Yagoda, the “kulak and anti-Soviet element” was expelled, while many exiles were warned of their eviction only the day before. Now, however, it is impossible to say unequivocally that this event was a purely ethnic deportation. After this action, many Finns ended up in the Omsk and Irkutsk regions, Khakassia, Altai Territory, Yakutia, and Taimyr.

The flags of Finland and Ingermanland are flown at half-mast in protest against
deportations of Ingrian Finns. Helsinki, 1934.

The next wave of deportations took place in 1936, when the civilian population was evicted from the rear of the Karelian fortified area under construction. Ingrian Finns were evicted to the Vologda region, but in fact this event was not exile in the full sense, since the exiles did not have the status of special settlers and could freely leave their new place of residence. After this, the national policy towards the Finns acquired a fundamentally opposite character than in the 1920s. In 1937, all Finnish-language publishing houses were closed, school education was translated into Russian, and all Lutheran parishes in Ingria were closed. In 1939, the Finnish national district was abolished, which was annexed to the Pargolovsky district. That same year, on November 30, the bloodshed began Soviet-Finnish war, which lasted until March 1940. After its completion, the entire Karelian Isthmus became Soviet, and former places the residence of Ingrian Finns ceased to be a border area. The deserted Finnish villages were now gradually populated by Russians. There are very few Ingrian Finns left.

During the Great Patriotic War, Finland was an ally of Nazi Germany, and Finnish troops attacked Leningrad from the north. On August 26, 1941, the Military Council of the Leningrad Front decided to expel the German and Finnish population of Leningrad and its suburbs to the Arkhangelsk region and the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic in order to avoid cooperation with the enemy. Only a few were able to be taken out, however, it is worth noting that this saved them from the blockade. A second wave of evictions was carried out in the spring of 1942. The Finns were taken to the Vologda and Kirov regions, as well as to the Omsk and Irkutsk regions and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Some of the Ingrian Finns remained in besieged Leningrad and in the occupied territory, having experienced all the horrors of war. The Nazis used Ingrians as labor and at the same time extradited them to Finland. In 1944, under the terms of the Soviet-Finnish truce, Ingrian Finns were to be returned to the USSR. At the same time, they now settled in Karelia, Novgorod and Pskov regions. In 1949, Ingrian Finns were generally allowed to return from places of exile, but a strict ban was imposed on their resettlement in their native lands. The returning Finns were settled in the Karelo-Finnish SSR - in order to increase the percentage of the titular nation of the republic. In 1956, the ban on living in the Leningrad region was lifted, as a result of which about 20 thousand Ingrian Finns returned to their places of residence.

In 1990, Ingrian Finns received the right to repatriate to Finland. Finnish President Mauno Koivisto began to actively pursue a corresponding policy, and over the past 20 years, about 40 thousand people left for Finland under a repatriation program that lasted until 2010. Purebred descendants of Ingrian Finns are sometimes still found in St. Petersburg, Ingria, Karelia and even in places of exile, but there are very few of them left.

Such is the difficult and in many ways difficult and tragic fate of this small people. If you trace the history of the Ingrian Finns, you will notice that their place of residence periodically changed due to the difficult geographical location of their lands. From the middle of the 17th century, they migrated from their original places of residence to Ingria; after the Northern War, two with more than a century lived side by side with the Russians. In the 1930s they began to be sent, some to the north, some to Siberia, some to Central Asia. Then many were deported during the war. Many were shot during the repressions. Some returned and lived in Karelia, and some in Leningrad. Finally, at the end of the 20th century, the Ingrian Finns received refuge in their historical homeland.

Izhora and Vod are currently extremely small peoples, since they are mainly assimilated by the Russians. There are several local history organizations of enthusiasts engaged in the study of the heritage and preservation of these peoples and their culture.

In general, one cannot help but say that the Ingrian Finns made a very significant contribution to the history of both St. Petersburg itself and its environs. This is expressed most strongly in local toponymy and, in some places, in architecture. Let's take care of what we inherited from the past!

According to the latest census, the population of the Leningrad region is more than 1.7 million people. The majority - 86% - consider themselves Russian, but there are also representatives of indigenous peoples (most of whom originally lived on the historical territory of Ingermanland), who belong mainly to the Finno-Ugric group - Ingrian Finns, Izhoras, Vods, Vepsians, Tikhvin Karelians. Some of them moved to other countries and cities - while some, including young ones, continue to cling to their roots. The Village photographed Ingrian Finn, Veps and Izhora with symbolic objects and asked to tell what they mean.

Photos

Egor Rogalev

Elizabeth

Izhora, 24 years old

number of Izhoras in the world:
500–1,300 people

We are often incorrectly called Izhorians. Izhora people are workers of the Izhora plant. And we are the people of Izhora. However, I am calm about such mistakes.

My maternal grandmother is Izhora, from the village of Koskolovo in the Leningrad region. We communicate with her often. Grandmother talked little about her childhood: mainly how they were taken for evacuation to the Arkhangelsk region in the 1940s (evacuation is the same as deportation, they just used a euphemism hinting at the fact that people were supposedly being saved). However, I didn’t hear horrors about those times from my grandmother. Now I know that the village was burned, and many were shot - but our farm, apparently, was lucky. Unfortunately, my grandmother doesn’t remember the Izhorian language well, so it was my personal desire to revive the culture.

Once I came to a concert in Lenryb (like Koskolovo, a village in the Kingisepp district of the Leningrad region. - Ed.) on Indigenous Peoples' Day. There I saw the Korpi group, children who are involved in Finno-Ugric culture - they sing, wear folk costumes. It shocked me.

About five years ago I found a cultural and educational organization “ Center for Indigenous Peoples of the Leningrad Region" I came to a class on reconstructing an Izhora costume, got involved, and started studying folklore and language. Now I'm driving public"VKontakte", dedicated to the study of the Izhorian language.

From childhood memories - a great-grandfather who spoke a strange language. Then I kept thinking what it was. I grew up and understood. About four years ago I found the scientist Mehmet Muslimov - he works at the Institute of Linguistic Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences and sometimes conducts language courses. And so we gathered as a group of activists, and he began to teach us Izhorian. It is very difficult to learn: the language itself is complex, and there is no practice. There is no one to talk to: there are about 50 native speakers, mostly grandmothers in the villages. However, two years ago I found my great-aunt in the village of Vistino (another village in the Kingisepp district. - Ed.). So, she is a native speaker. Sometimes I come to her, we communicate in Izhorian. She tells family stories and we look at old photographs.

Now two dialects of the Izhorian language are alive: Lower Luga (closer to Estonian) and Soykinsky (closer to Finnish). There is no literary form of Izhorian yet, which also complicates the study. I won’t say that I now speak Izhorian perfectly.

Main center Izhora culture- all in the same Vistina. There is wonderful museum, where Nikita Dyachkov, a young man who teaches the Izhorian language, works as a guide. He learned it almost perfectly, I don’t understand: how?! I study and study, and it’s still difficult to speak, but he knows the language remarkably well.

According to the 2010 census, the number of Izhora in Russia is 266 people. But in reality there is much more: the Center for Indigenous Peoples conducted a study, during which it turned out that every fourth resident of St. Petersburg has Finno-Ugric blood. Our goal is to tell people about how interesting the culture of their ancestors was.

About the objects with which I was photographed. Firstly, mittens bought in the Komi Republic: this is not quite an Izhorian item - rather, Finno-Ugric, however, the ornament is similar to ours. What does it mean? Interpreting symbols is a thankless task; most of it results in speculation. There is an assumption that this is a symbol of the sun, but the exact meaning has already been lost. Musical instrument, which I hold in my hands, is called a kannel in Izhorian: it is the same as a kantele, the closest analogue is the Novgorod gusli. It is five-string, made in Finland - there is a factory there where kantele is made. Previously, the cannel was considered a mystical instrument; it was played only married men. It served as a talisman; it was painted black and hung above the door. It was also believed that the sounds of the cannel cast a spell on the sea waves; in the past, they even took a cannelist with them especially when fishing so that the boat would not get caught in a sea storm. According to legend, the first cannel was made from the jaw of a pike, and Väinämöinen played it. (one of the main characters of “Kalevala”. - Ed.): he used hair as strings beautiful girl Aino. I can play several traditional folk tunes on the cannel.

Alexander

Veps, 28 years old

NUMBER OF VEPSIANS IN THE WORLD:
6,400 people

My father is a Vepsian, my mother is a Vepsian. But I only learned about this when I was 10 years old, and since then I have been interested in the history of the people.

My paternal grandfather’s family lived in Vinnitsy (Vepsian village in the Podporozhye district of the Leningrad region. - Ed.) in a typical Vepsian house, inherited. By the way, the tradition of passing houses by inheritance, as far as I know, has been preserved in some Vepsian families to this day. My grandfather's family was quite prosperous - with its own farm, even a blacksmith's shop. According to stories, in the 1920s the family was dispossessed and the house was taken away. They built a new house, but then my grandfather went to study in Petrozavodsk. He left there during the Finnish occupation in the first half of the 1940s and returned after the war. My father is from Petrozavodsk.

I am Russified, but I feel more like a Vepsian. I have no grudges for my grandfather: it was the fault of the authorities, not the people. That was the time. What has passed cannot be returned. It’s just a pity that many people forget about their roots: for example, I know Karelians who consider themselves Russians. I try not to forget about my roots.

Before the revolution, the Vepsians (and Finno-Ugric peoples in general) were called Chud, Chukhons. The name “Vepsians” appeared after 1917. The Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan in the 10th century described the “Visu” people - people living in the forest in harmony with nature. Later they began to be called all - probably these are the ancestors of the Vepsians.

From the Vepsians the Russians inherited such characters as the brownie and the goblin. This is what is known about the devil: when you are going to the forest, you need to take some gift in order to appease the owner of the forest. It could be a pinch of salt or bread, but in no case mushrooms or berries - not what the forest can provide. If you don't capture it, you'll anger the owner of the forest, and he won't let you out. But if you get lost, you need to turn your clothes to the left side, then the devil will lead you out.

In the photo I am in Sosnovka Park, showing the ritual of greeting the forest owner. IN in this case I brought the seeds. And then the squirrels came running - they, as “children of the forest,” were also entitled to gifts. After leaving the gifts, you need to bow and say: “See you later.”

I was in Vinnitsa, my grandfather’s homeland, several years ago: then they gathered representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples - there were Karelians, Izhoras, Vods. There are few old buildings left in the village, more modern ones. And yet time seemed to stand still there. I liked that atmosphere.

I tried to learn the Vepsian language, but, unfortunately, there is very little educational literature, and I am not familiar with native speakers. I feel proud that I belong to a rare people... and pity that there are so few of us. Unfortunately, many people forget their roots. But it’s so interesting to know who you are. Veps are essentially friendly, kind, and treat everyone well. If you come to them, they will give you food and drink, no matter whether you are Russian or not. They will accept you as one of their own.

Valeria

Ingrian Finnish,
20 years

number of Ingrians
in Russia:
441 people (Finns - 20,300 people)

I am from the village of Vybye, it is located on the Kurgal Peninsula in the Kingisepp district of the Leningrad region. Ingrian Finns have lived there since ancient times. My grandmother is from the village of Konnovo, located on the same peninsula. Her maiden name there was Saya. My surname Lukka comes from my grandfather, he, like my grandmother, is from Ingrian Finns.

At the village school we were told that since ancient times Finno-Ugric peoples lived here - Vod, Izhora, Ingrian Finns. I have heard Finnish since childhood: my grandmother spoke it. While still at school, I signed up for the Vodka folk club. And then, when I moved to St. Petersburg to study, I joined the folklore group “Korpi”. I knew its leader Olga Igorevna Konkova for a long time, and my grandmother communicated with her.

When it comes to the repression and deportation of Ingrian Finns, I feel sad. My grandmother told me about her dad: he fought in the Great Patriotic War, and after that he was exiled to Siberia, why is unclear. Then he returned to the Leningrad region, but was already very ill. However, I have no grudges. This is a bad feeling, it’s better not to hide it.

As far as I know, there used to be a program under which Ingrian Finns could move to Finland. But I probably wouldn’t want to go there: I think Finland is too boring. I've been there - I just went for a few days. In general, my godparents live in Finland - they have their own parish there. They come to us twice a year.

At the “Center for Indigenous Peoples of the Leningrad Region,” where I work, there is a puppet theater: we travel with educational performances, mainly in villages. We are treated well everywhere, many people come to our performances. I like that we are useful to people.

I started to learn purely Finnish (Ingrian is a dialect, but Finns understand it), but I always lacked patience. Now I don’t know him perfectly, but I can explain myself by using gestures.

I'm interested in being a representative of my people. They often say that I look like a Finnish woman. And many people are not interested in their own history, and this is also normal. Everyone has different interests.

I have in my hands a book with the Karelian-Finnish epic “Kalevala”, written by Elias Lönnrot. I haven’t read the book yet, but from there we often sing the Izhora rune - the only one from the Kalevala recorded in Ingermanland. It talks about how one man went to plow, plowed a hundred furrows around a stump, the stump split in two, and it turned out to be two brothers. And then it unfolds sad story about how these brothers were at enmity.