Chuvash nationality characteristics. The question of the origin of the Chuvash people in the light of archaeological data

The Chuvash people are quite numerous; more than 1.4 million people live in Russia alone. Most occupy the territory of the Republic of Chuvashia, the capital of which is the city of Cheboksary. There are representatives of the nationality in other regions of Russia, as well as abroad. Hundreds of thousands of people each live in Bashkiria, Tatarstan and the Ulyanovsk region, and a little less in the Siberian territories. The appearance of the Chuvash causes a lot of controversy among scientists and geneticists about the origin of this people.

Story

It is believed that the ancestors of the Chuvash were the Bulgars - tribes of Turks who lived from the 4th century. on the territory of the modern Urals and in the Black Sea region. The appearance of the Chuvash speaks of their kinship with the ethnic groups of Altai, Central Asia and China. In the 14th century, Volga Bulgaria ceased to exist, the people moved to the Volga, to the forests near the Sura, Kama, and Sviyaga rivers. At first there was a clear division into several ethnic subgroups, but over time it smoothed out. The name "Chuvash" in Russian-language texts appears with early XVI centuries, it was then that the places where these people lived became part of Russia. Its origin is also associated with the existing Bulgaria. Perhaps it came from the nomadic tribes of the Suvars, who later merged with the Bulgars. Scholars were divided in their explanation of what the word meant: a person's name, a geographical name, or something else.

Ethnic groups

The Chuvash people settled along the banks of the Volga. The ethnic groups living in the upper reaches were called Viryal or Turi. Now the descendants of these people live in the western part of Chuvashia. Those who settled in the center (anat enchi) are located in the middle of the region, and those who settled in the lower reaches (anatari) occupied the south of the territory. Over time, the differences between subethnic groups have become less noticeable; now they are the people of one republic, people often move and communicate with each other. In the past, the way of life of the lower and upper Chuvashes was very different: they built their homes, dressed, and organized their lives differently. Based on some archaeological finds, it is possible to determine which ethnic group an item belonged to.

Today, there are 21 districts in the Chuvash Republic, and 9 cities. In addition to the capital, Alatyr, Novocheboksarsk, and Kanash are among the largest.

External features

Surprisingly, only 10 percent of all representatives of the people have a Mongoloid component that dominates their appearance. Geneticists claim that the race is mixed. It belongs predominantly to the Caucasian type, which can be seen from the characteristic features of the Chuvash appearance. Among the representatives you can find people with brown hair and light-colored eyes. There are also individuals with more pronounced Mongoloid characteristics. Geneticists have calculated that the majority of Chuvash have a group of haplotypes similar to that characteristic of residents of countries in northern Europe.

Among other features of the appearance of the Chuvash, it is worth noting their short or average height, coarse hair, and darker eye color than those of Europeans. Naturally curly hair is a rare phenomenon. Representatives of the people often have epicanthus, a special fold at the corners of the eyes, characteristic of Mongoloid faces. The nose is usually short in shape.

Chuvash language

The language remained from the Bulgars, but differs significantly from other Turkic languages. It is still used in the republic and in surrounding areas.

There are several dialects in the Chuvash language. The Turi living in the upper reaches of the Sura, according to researchers, are “okai”. The ethnic subspecies anatari placed greater emphasis on the letter “u”. However, there are currently no clear distinguishing features. The modern language in Chuvashia is rather close to that used by the Turi ethnic group. It has cases, but lacks the category of animation, as well as the gender of nouns.

Until the 10th century, the runic alphabet was used. After reforms it was replaced by Arabic symbols. And since the 18th century - Cyrillic. Today the language continues to “live” on the Internet; even a separate section of Wikipedia has appeared, translated into the Chuvash language.

Traditional activities

The people were engaged in agriculture, growing rye, barley and spelt (a type of wheat). Sometimes peas were sown in the fields. Since ancient times, the Chuvash raised bees and ate honey. Chuvash women They were engaged in weaving and weaving. Patterns with a combination of red and white colors on fabric were especially popular.

But other bright shades were also common. The men carved, cut dishes and furniture from wood, and decorated their homes with platbands and cornices. Matting production was developed. And since the beginning of the last century, Chuvashia began to seriously engage in the construction of ships, and several specialized enterprises were created. The appearance of the indigenous Chuvash is somewhat different from the appearance of modern representatives of the nationality. Many live in mixed families, marry with Russians, Tatars, and some even move abroad or to Siberia.

Suits

The appearance of the Chuvash is associated with their traditional types of clothing. Women wore tunics embroidered with patterns. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the lower Chuvash women have been wearing colorful shirts with ruffles from different fabrics. There was an embroidered apron on the front. For jewelry, Anatari girls wore tevet - a strip of fabric trimmed with coins. They wore special caps on their heads, shaped like a helmet.

Men's trousers were called yem. In the cold season, the Chuvash wore foot wraps. As for footwear, leather boots were considered traditional. There were special outfits worn for the holidays.

Women decorated their clothes with beads and wore rings. Bast sandals were also often used for footwear.

Original culture

Many songs and fairy tales, elements of folklore remain from the Chuvash culture. It was customary for the people to play instruments on holidays: the bubble, the harp, the drums. Subsequently, a violin and an accordion appeared, and new drinking songs began to be composed. Since ancient times, there have been various legends, which were partly related to the beliefs of the people. Before the annexation of the territories of Chuvashia to Russia, the population was pagan. They believed in various deities and spiritualized natural phenomena and objects. At certain times, sacrifices were made as a sign of gratitude or for the sake of a good harvest. The main deity among other deities was considered the god of Heaven - Tur (otherwise - Torah). The Chuvash deeply revered the memory of their ancestors. The rituals of remembrance were strictly observed. Columns made of trees of a certain species were usually installed on the graves. Linden trees were placed for deceased women, and oak trees for men. Subsequently, most of the population accepted the Orthodox faith. Many customs have changed, some have been lost or forgotten over time.

Holidays

Like other peoples of Russia, Chuvashia had its own holidays. Among them is Akatui, celebrated in late spring - early summer. It is dedicated to agriculture, the beginning of preparatory work for sowing. The duration of the celebration is a week, during which time special rituals are performed. Relatives go to visit each other, treat themselves to cheese and a variety of other dishes, and pre-brew beer from drinks. Everyone sings a song about sowing together - a kind of hymn, then they pray for a long time to the god of Tours, asking him for a good harvest, the health of family members and profit. Fortune telling is common during the holiday. Children threw an egg into the field and watched whether it broke or remained intact.

Another Chuvash holiday was associated with the veneration of the sun. There were separate days of remembrance of the dead. Agricultural rituals were also common when people caused rain or, conversely, wished it to stop. Large feasts with games and entertainment were held for the wedding.

Dwellings

The Chuvash settled near rivers in small settlements called yalas. The settlement plan depended on the specific place of residence. On the south side, houses were lined up. And in the center and north, a nesting type of layout was used. Each family settled in a certain area of ​​the village. Relatives lived nearby, in neighboring houses. Already in the 19th century, wooden buildings similar to Russian rural houses began to appear. The Chuvash decorated them with patterns, carvings, and sometimes paintings. As a summer kitchen, a special building (la) was used, made of logs, without a roof or windows. Inside there was an open hearth on which they cooked food. Baths were often built near houses; they were called munches.

Other features of life

Until Christianity became the dominant religion in Chuvashia, polygamy existed in the territory. The custom of levirate also disappeared: the widow was no longer obliged to marry relatives dead husband. The number of family members was significantly reduced: now it included only spouses and their children. The wives took care of all the household chores, counting and sorting food. The responsibility of weaving was also placed on their shoulders.

According to the existing custom, sons were married early. On the contrary, they tried to marry off daughters later, which is why wives were often older than husbands in marriages. The youngest son in the family was appointed heir to the house and property. But girls also had the right to receive an inheritance.

The settlements could have mixed communities: for example, Russian-Chuvash or Tatar-Chuvash. In appearance, the Chuvash did not differ strikingly from representatives of other nationalities, therefore they all coexisted quite peacefully.

Food

Due to the fact that livestock farming in the region was poorly developed, plants were mainly consumed as food. The main dishes of the Chuvash were porridge (spelt or lentil), potatoes (in later centuries), vegetable and herb soups. The traditional baked bread was called hura sakar and was baked with rye flour. This was considered a woman's responsibility. Sweets were also common: cheesecakes with cottage cheese, sweet flatbreads, berry pies.

Another traditional dish is khulla. This was the name of a circle-shaped pie; fish or meat was used as filling. The Chuvash were preparing different types of sausages for the winter: with blood, stuffed with cereals. Shartan was the name of a type of sausage made from a sheep's stomach. Basically, meat was consumed only on holidays. As for drinks, the Chuvash brewed special beer. The resulting honey was used to make mash. And later they began to drink kvass or tea, which were borrowed from the Russians. The Chuvash from the lower reaches drank kumys more often.

For sacrifices they used poultry that was bred at home, as well as horse meat. On some special holidays, a rooster was slaughtered: for example, when a child was born new member families. From chicken eggs Even then they made scrambled eggs and omelettes. These dishes are eaten to this day, and not only by the Chuvash.

Famous representatives of the people

Among the Chuvash with a characteristic appearance there were also famous personalities.

Vasily Chapaev, a future famous commander, was born near Cheboksary. His childhood was spent in a poor peasant family in the village of Budaika. Another famous Chuvash- poet and writer Mikhail Sespel. He wrote books in his native language and was at the same time a public figure in the republic. His name was translated into Russian as “Mikhail”, but in Chuvash it sounded Mishshi. Several monuments and museums were created in memory of the poet.

A native of the republic is also V.L. Smirnov, a unique personality, an athlete who became the absolute world champion in helicopter sports. He trained in Novosibirsk and repeatedly confirmed his title. There are also famous artists among the Chuvash: A.A. Coquel received an academic education and painted many stunning works in charcoal. He spent most of his life in Kharkov, where he taught and was involved in the development of art education. A popular artist, actor and TV presenter was also born in Chuvashia

Introduction

Chapter 1. Religions and Beliefs

2.1 Chuvash folk religion

2.2 Chuvash gods and spirits

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Introduction

In the modern world there is a large number of diverse faiths and ideologies.

Religion has accompanied humanity throughout a significant part of its history and currently covers 80% of the world's population. And yet it is a sphere that is little understood even for ordinary people, and for specialists. There are many reasons for this. It is hardly possible to give one definition of what religion is, simply because it is known great amount religions past and present.

The concept of “religion” means faith, a special view of the world, a set of ritual and cult actions, as well as the unification of believers in a certain organization, which stem from the conviction of one or another type of the supernatural.

Relevance of the topic: a person initially experiences a spiritual need to have a holistic view of the world. In the course of mastering reality, he needs to get answers to questions about what our world as a whole is. The Chuvash folk religion is the spiritual wealth of our people, its history, and cultural heritage that has accumulated over the centuries.

There is an urgent need to identify these hidden ideological constants and determine the forms of their awareness by the people. In the modern period, the study of religion is important for the spiritual life of society and people, just as the problem of preserving ethnic values ​​is of particular importance today.

Goal: to talk about the religious beliefs of the Chuvash people.

.find out the relationship between Chuvash religions and the religions of other peoples.

2.study the religious beliefs of the Chuvash people

.talk about the main beliefs of the Chuvash people.

Scientific significance

Practical significance

Object: religion as pagan beliefs of the Chuvash

The work consists of an introduction, two chapters, four paragraphs, a conclusion, and a list of references.

Chapter 1. Religions and Beliefs

1.1 Historical forms of religious beliefs. Structure and functions of religion

The main defining feature of the religious nature of certain ideas is their connection with belief in the supernatural - something standing outside the laws of the material world, disobeying and contradicting them. This includes, firstly, belief in the real existence of supernatural beings (gods, spirits), secondly, belief in the existence of supernatural connections between natural phenomena (magic, totemism) and, thirdly, belief in the supernatural properties of material objects (fetishism ).

Belief in the supernatural is characterized by the following main points:

) conviction in the real existence of the supernatural (unlike other forms of fantastic thinking, for example art, where they also often occur fantastic images and events, but they do not stand out from reality);

) emotional attitude towards the supernatural - a religious person not only imagines a supernatural object, but also experiences his attitude towards it;

) illusory activity, which is an integral part of any more or less mass religion. Since a religious person believes in the ability of supernatural beings, forces or properties to positively or negatively influence his life, every religion includes certain instructions for the behavior of the believer in relation to the supernatural, which are implemented in a religious cult.

So, faith is the central ideological position and at the same time the psychological attitude of all religions. It expresses a specific attitude towards real or imaginary objects and phenomena, in which the reliability and truth of these objects and phenomena are accepted without evidence. Faith has two sides, or two meanings. The first side is faith in someone or something through recognition of their value and truth, for example faith in the Holy Trinity. The second side is trust, i.e. the combination of faith with a personal-practical attitude, the subordination of human consciousness and behavior to ideas accepted on faith. This faith essence value allows us to define the following types:

)naive faith, which arises in a person before the critical activity of reason awakens in him;

2)blind faith, caused by a passionate feeling that drowns out the voice of reason;

)conscious faith, consisting in the recognition by reason of the truth of something.

The difficulty in defining religion as a social phenomenon lies in the fact that it is traditionally viewed as a phenomenon of human existence and culture. Therefore, each thinker defined religion based on his own views. Thus, for I. Kant (1724 - 1804), religion is a guiding force: “Religion (considered subjectively) is the knowledge of all our duties as divine commandments,” i.e. is not just a view of the world, but, in fact, strict requirements that regulate human life, indicate to a person exactly how he should direct and distribute his efforts.

Russian religious philosopher and theologian S.N. Bulgakov (1871 - 1944) in his work “Karl Marx as a Religious Type” wrote: “In my opinion, the determining force in the spiritual life of a person is his religion - not only in the narrow, but also in the broad sense of the word, i.e. those highest and the last values ​​that a person recognizes above himself and above himself, and the practical attitude in which he becomes towards these values.”

Thus, religion is a worldview based on belief in the existence of God and supernatural forces that control the world.

First religious ideas our ancestors are closely related to the emergence of their early forms of spiritual life. Apparently, this could only take place at a certain stage of development of Homo sapiens, who has the ability to reason and is therefore capable not only of accumulating and comprehending practical experience, but also of some abstraction, transformation of sensory perceptions in the spiritual sphere. As science shows, the achievement of this kind of state in humans occurred about 40 thousand years ago.

More than 100 thousand years ago, art, religion, and the tribal system emerged, and spiritual life was enriched.

An extremely meager supply of knowledge, fear of the unknown, which continually corrects this meager knowledge and practical experience, dependence on the forces of nature, environmental surprises - all this inevitably led to the fact that human consciousness was determined not so much by logical cause-and-effect relationships, but by connections emotional - associative, illusory - fantastic. In the process of labor activity (procuring food, making tools, equipping a home), family and clan contacts (establishing marriage ties, experiencing the birth and death of loved ones), primitive primary ideas about the supernatural forces that rule the world, about the patron spirits of this kind were formed and strengthened , tribe, about magical connections between the desired and the actual.

Primitive people believed in the existence of supernatural connections between people and animals, as well as in the ability to influence the behavior of animals using magical techniques. These imaginary connections received their understanding in the ancient form of religion - totemism.

Totemism is a once almost universal and still very widespread religious and social system, which is based on a kind of cult of the so-called totem. This term, first used by Long at the end of the 18th century, was borrowed from the North American Ojibwa tribe, in whose language totem means the name and sign, the coat of arms of the clan, as well as the name of the animal to which the clan has a special cult. In the scientific sense, a totem means a class (necessarily a class, not an individual) of objects or natural phenomena, to which one or another primitive social group, clan, phratry, tribe, sometimes even each individual sex within the group (Australia), and sometimes an individual ( North America) - provide special worship with which they consider themselves related and by the name of which they call themselves. There is no such object that could not be a totem, but the most common (and, apparently, ancient) totems were animals.

Animism (from Latin anima, animus - soul, spirit), belief in the existence of souls and spirits, i.e. fantastic, supernatural, supersensible images, which in religious consciousness are represented as agents operating in all dead and living nature, controlling all objects and phenomena of the material world, including humans. If the soul seems to be associated with any individual being or object, then the spirit is credited with independent existence, a wide sphere of activity and the ability to influence various objects. Souls and spirits are sometimes presented as amorphous, sometimes phytomorphic, sometimes zoomorphic, sometimes anthropomorphic creatures; however, they are always endowed with consciousness, will and other human properties. The beginnings of animistic ideas arose in ancient times, perhaps even before the advent of totemism.

Unlike totemism, animistic ideas had a broader and more universal character.

Magic is the belief in the existence of supernatural connections and relationships between a person and things, animals, spirits, established through a certain type of religious activity with the aim of having a desired effect on the world.

Thus, in the consciousness of primitive people, in the process of the formation of tribal society, a fairly clear, harmonious and extensive complex of early religious ideas was developed.

With the emergence of the state, new forms of religious beliefs appeared. Among them there are national and world religions.

National religions are those religious beliefs that cover with their influence all social strata of the population within one nationality.

Religions also arise, to which various peoples become adherents. These religions are usually called world religions. They appeared somewhat later than the national ones and became an important event in the history of religion. In world religions, the cult is significantly simplified; there are no specific national rituals - the main element that prevents the spread of national religions among other peoples. The idea of ​​universal equality: men and women, poor and rich, also turned out to be attractive to the working masses in world religions. However, this equality turned out to be only equality before God: everyone can believe in him and hope for an otherworldly reward for suffering on earth.

Structurally, religion is a very complex social phenomenon. There are three main elements in any religion:

Religious consciousness;

Religious cult;

Religious organizations.

Religious consciousness has two interrelated and at the same time relatively independent levels: religious psychology and religious ideology. In other words, religious consciousness functions at the ideological and socio-psychological levels.

Religious psychology is a set of ideas, feelings, moods, habits, and traditions shared by believers. it arises spontaneously, as a direct sensory reflection of a person’s powerlessness in front of the surrounding reality.

Religious ideology is more or less harmonious system ideas, the development and promotion of which are carried out by religious organizations represented by professional theologians and clergy.

Religious cult (Latin cultus - care, veneration) is a set of symbolic actions with the help of which a believer tries to influence fictitious (supernatural) or real-life objects. Religious cult includes worship, sacraments, rituals, sacrifices, fasting, prayers, spells, and rituals. The subjects of religious activity can be either a religious group or an individual believer. Such activities are organically connected with rituals, which represent patterns of behavior in relation to sacred and supernatural forces.

A religious organization is an association of followers of a particular religion, arising on the basis of common beliefs and rituals. The functions of religious organizations are to satisfy the religious needs of believers, regulate religious activities, and ensure the sustainability and integrity of the association.

Functions of religion.

There are two approaches to realizing God: rationalistic, through reason, and irrationalistic, through a sense of faith.

Functions are the ways in which religion operates in society, and the role is the total result that is obtained as its functions are performed. Over the centuries, the basic functions of religions have been preserved, although some of them were given more emotional and psychological than sacred meaning. Religion from the standpoint of the scientific, Soviet approach carries out the following main functions:

.Worldview - creates a special worldview, which is based on a certain omnipotent force - the World Spirit or Mind, which controls all processes of the Universe, Earth, flora, fauna, as well as the destinies of humanity and the individual.

2.Compensating - enables a person, by turning to God or other supernatural forces, to compensate for his powerlessness and get rid of suffering in the face of unfavorable natural, hostile social forces, and unfortunate circumstances of life.

.Integrating and differentiating - can be considered in two opposite aspects. On the one hand, this is the unity of believers, which was a very important factor in the consciousness and strengthening of the state. On the other hand, it is the division of people by religion.

.Regulatory - defines a system of moral norms, gives moral, ethical and value guidelines to both clergy and a wide range of believers. Provides for the practice of managing the activities of individuals, small and large groups in religious and parish communities, as well as ethnic groups in general.

Religion is a certain component of human development; its significance lies in giving meaning to the value of his existence.

1.2 Relationship with other religions

The mythology and religion of the Chuvash inherited many features from common Turkic beliefs<#"justify">Chuvash religion myth belief

According to various archaeological, epigraphic, written, folklore sources According to linguistic data, the influence of the Muslim religion on the Chuvash of the Middle Volga region dates back to the 10th century. In the era of the Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate, the Chuvash borrowed certain religious ideas, Persian and Arabic religious vocabulary, certain features of the pagan cult of the Chuvash, their customs, and features of social organization were formed, pagan-Muslim syncretism took shape, where the pre-Muslim element remained the dominant element. Some Chuvash even converted to the Muslim faith. Throughout the ethnocultural contacts of the Tatars and Chuvash, their cohabitation in the Middle Volga region, some similarity of culture and languages ​​were the most important factors contributing to the transition of part of the Chuvash population to Islam. In some cases, in the conditions of living together, the ethnic boundaries between the Chuvash and Tatars were blurred, which led to very interesting results: for example, in the Sviyazhsky district a unique group of Molkeev Kryashens was formed, in which a Chuvash and Tatar (presumably Mishar) ethnic component can be traced.

In the middle of the 16th century. The Middle Volga region became part of the Russian state. Since that time, the policy of Christianization of local peoples has become an important factor influencing the dynamics of their religious beliefs and the development of ethnic processes in the region. Thus, as a result of the forced spread of Christianity, part of the Chuvash who did not accept the Orthodox faith converted to Islam, and subsequently dissolved among the Tatar population. The beginning of this process dates back to the 40s of the 18th century. The Islamization of pagan Chuvash and Orthodox Chuvash was a kind of anti-Christian protest directed “against national-colonial oppression.”

In the 19th century under the influence of the above-mentioned factors, some Chuvash of the Middle Volga region continued to convert to Islam. In the Simbirsk province, according to archival sources, the earliest mentions of the transition of the Chuvash to the Muslim faith date back to the 30s of the 19th century. According to the testimony of residents of the village of Staroe Shaimurzino, Buinsky district, at the turn of the 20-30s. The pagans Yargunov and Batyrshin converted to Islam. And in 1838-1839. Five more Chuvash families followed their example. In March 1839, they even sent a petition to the Orenburg Mufti with a request to enroll them in the Mohammedan faith. The petition, at the request of the Chuvash, was written by the designated mullah of the village of Malaya Tsilna, Ilyas Aibetov. The Chuvash explained the desire to become Muslims as a consequence of “cohabitation with the Tatars and a short, constant relationship with them, especially since they did not find anything solid and religious in the Chuvash faith in worship, in the absence of spiritual prayers and mentors.” Probably, not without the influence of the Muslim Tatars, the newly-minted Chuvash Muslims appreciated new religion as better than the previous pagan faith.

In May 1839, the Archbishop of the Simbirsk Diocese asked the governor to find out the circumstances of the transition to Islam of the pagan Chuvash village of Staroye Shaimurzino, since, based on the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs of February 18, 1839, it was necessary to “pay the strictest attention to the prosecution of such seductions.” However, in 1843, the Governing Senate decided to stop the persecution of unbaptized Chuvash who accepted the Mohammedan faith, to leave them to same place residence, and strictly instill in Mulla I. Aibetov not to attract pagans to Islam in the future. Although the resolution itself does not indicate the reasons that prompted the Senate to make such a decision, it appears inconsistent in relation to the order of the Minister of Internal Affairs. Probably, such a decision was made on the basis of Catherine II’s decree on religious tolerance. In general, the state’s position on issues of confessional policy was extremely clear and precise: if possible, baptize the majority of non-Russian peoples of the empire and, in this case, in the Middle Volga region, stop their Islamization.

In August 1857, under the leadership of the appanage office of the Simbirsk province, the baptism of the Chuvash who still remained in paganism began. By February 8, 1858, according to the manager of the specific office, up to a thousand pagan Chuvash were converted to Christianity. For conversion to the Orthodox faith, the Department of Appanages granted a three-year exemption from paying taxes and personal freedom from recruitment for life.

However, some pagan Chuvash, deprived of the opportunity to continue to practice their faith, and contrary to the expectations of the church and state, preferred to convert to Islam. For example, in the villages of Gorodishchi and Starye Tatar Chukaly of Buinsky district, nine Chuvash refused to be baptized and hid with local Muslim Tatars. In response to all the exhortations of the priests to accept the Orthodox faith, they resolutely declared that “if it is impossible for them to remain in paganism, then they rather express a desire to convert everything to Mohammedanism.” The Chuvash of the villages of Old Shaimurzino and New Duvanovo sent petitions to the highest name of the emperor, the Orenburg mufti and the head of the corps of gendarmes of the Simbirsk province, in which they called themselves unbaptized, professing Islam, and complained about the actions of the authorities who forced them to be baptized. The Chuvash asked to be allowed to remain in the Mohammedan faith and at the same time referred to a precedent that took place in 1843, when the pagans of the village of Staroye Shaimurzino were allegedly allowed to profess the Muslim faith.

Complaints about forced baptism were also received from the Chuvash of other villages: Old Tatar Chukaly, Middle Algashi, Gorodishchi and Three Izba Shemurshi. At the same time, rumors even appeared among the pagans who had not accepted the Orthodox faith, “that the government would like to allow them to continue to be pagans, or to convert to the Mohammedan law.” In particular, such rumors were spread by the peasants of the village of Srednie Algashi, Danila Fedotov and Semyon Vasiliev.

Soon, the complaints of the Chuvash were followed by a strict order, first from the Minister of Internal Affairs, and then from the Chairman of the Department of Appanages, to understand the circumstances of the forced baptism. On February 1, 1858, the assistant manager of the specific office reported that the Chuvash in the villages of Staroe Shaimurzino, New Duvanovo, and Starye Tatar Chukaly converted to Orthodoxy voluntarily.

But still, as documents from that time show, complaints about forced baptism were not groundless. For example, on November 5, 1857, a menacing message was sent to the Shigalinsky order from the Simbirsk appanage office, which stated that until now, despite the order No. 1153 of September 26, 1857, many pagans of this department had not been baptized. According to the chairman of the specific office, such delays in “such an important matter” were associated with “the complete inaction and inattention of the administrative head Vasiliev.” And the chairman is forced to give him a “stern reprimand” so that in future all necessary measures will be taken for the baptism of pagans.

Already on January 14, 1858, the manager of the Buinsky branch of the Simbirsk appanage office, court councilor Kaminsky, reported that, on his instructions, the Shigalinsky order began to search for pagan Chuvash people hiding from baptism. A similar order concerned the families of two brothers from the village of Old Tatar Chukaly of the Parkinsky order, in the words of the court councilor, “persistent in their delusion,” “accustomed to Islamism” and hiding among the Tatars. In the village For three days in Gorodishchi, Kaminsky and the priest exhorted the Chuvash family to convert to Orthodoxy, since their family “cannot [be] tolerated” in the entire Christian village and “will certainly be evicted.” But the brothers rejected all “persuasions.” One of them ran away from the commander's head and hid in the underground. As a sign of protest, he shaved off the hair on his head and began wearing a skullcap. And the other stubbornly refused to give his name, for which, by order of the court councilor, he was whipped with rods (40 strokes) and sent to community service for six days.

However, in the Simbirsk appanage office, such measures were recognized as “violent” and completely unnecessary, and in orders dated January 18 and 22, 1858, the head of the Shigalinsky order and the manager of the Buinsky branch were ordered to leave the stubborn pagans alone “until their own conviction of errors.”

During the Christianization of the pagan Chuvash of the Simbirsk province in 1857, not all Chuvash who refused to be baptized converted to Islam, although they submitted petitions asking to be enrolled in Mohammedanism. In fact, under this pretext, some of them wished to continue to profess the pagan faith. Judging by the documents, the most consistent in their desire to become Muslims were seven Chuvash families in the village of Staroye Shaimurzino. Of these, the authorities eventually managed to convert six families to Christianity.

Echoes of the missionary activity of the Simbirsk appanage office were not long in coming. Already in the early 60s. XIX century, the office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Simbirsk province issued the following order: “The peasants of Ilendey Ishmulin, Makhmut Ilendeev, Antip Bikkulov, Abdin Ablyazov, Alexey Alekseev, Matvey Semyonov and Emelyan Fedotov for seducing the peasants of the village of Novoe Duvanovo and surrounding villages from Orthodoxy to Mohammedanism on the basis of 184 , 19, 25 articles of the Code of Punishments, deprive of all rights of state, exile to hard labor in fortresses for 8 years [.]. From those who apostatized from Orthodoxy, collect the benefits that they enjoyed for three years, and into conscription." According to archival documents, it is known that of the named peasants in 1857-1858. Antip Bikkulov and Ilendey Ishmulin complained about forced conversion to the Orthodox faith in petitions to various government departments. In a petition dated July 15, 1864, the Chuvash villages of Middle Algashi (Simulla Simukov and Alginey Algeev), New Duvanovo (Abdyush Abdelmenev) and Three Izba Shemurshi (Marheb Mulierov) asked to remain in the pagan faith, as they recognized the prophet Mohammed. In a petition drawn up in the highest name, they wrote that they had been professing paganism for a long time, and in 1857 the appanage authorities began to push them into Christianity, for which they had previously submitted petitions more than once asking for protection. According to the results of the investigation carried out in March 1865, it turned out that three Chuvash - S. Simukhov (Semyon Vasiliev), A. Algeev (Alexander Efimov) and M. Mulierov (Yushan Trofimov) - wished to be pagans, and only A. Abdulmenev (Matvey Semenov) intends to convert to Mohammedanism. Considering themselves unbaptized, the Chuvash refused to pay the obligatory secular tax from all Christians of the religious parish (94 kopecks per soul) and to deliver building material (one log from a forest dacha per three souls) for the repair of the church in the village. Kill. These circumstances became the main reason that prompted the Chuvash to submit a petition addressed to the emperor.

In the mid-60s. XIX - early XX centuries, during the repeated “apostate” movements of the baptized Tatars of the Simbirsk province, they were often joined by the baptized Chuvash of a number of villages. This is evidenced by archival documents and observations of contemporaries. At the beginning of the twentieth century. priest K. Prokopiev wrote that the baptized Chuvash of the villages of Buinka, Siushevo, Chepkasy, Ilmetyevo, Chikildym, Duvanovo, Shaimurzino and Trekh-Boltaevo participated in such movements and, along with the Tatars, petitioned “for official permission for them to profess the Muslim faith.” So, for example, the foreman of the Kaisarovsky volost government reported on June 25, 1866 that in the village of Novoirkeevo two baptized Chuvash joined the “fallen away” baptized Tatars. True, one of them, Semyon Mikhailov, soon returned to the Orthodox faith. And Philip Grigoriev, being “raised in the Tatar way of life, cannot change that and profess the Orthodox faith, and wants to be a Mohammedan.” Therefore, he is, by his own admission, in “a community with baptized Tatars by petition.”

The old-baptized Chuvash of the village of Chepkas Ilmetyevo (33 people) in a petition dated March 19, 1866 addressed to the emperor called themselves Mohammedans and asked to be protected from oppression by the authorities in observing Muslim rituals. In addition, as priest Malov noted, they also called themselves “natural Tatars.” The leader of these Chuvash was Vasily Mitrofanov, who studied at rural school six years old and considered her best student. He maintained close contacts with individual leaders of the “apostate” movement of baptized Tatars, and with some of them in 1866 he was exiled to the Turukhansk region of Eastern Siberia.

It must be said that at this time, in addition to the aforementioned baptized Chuvash who clearly converted to Islam, almost all residents of the village of Chepkas Ilmetyevo were inclined to “fall away” into the Muslim religion. Their way of life showed the religious and cultural influence of the Muslim Tatars. The Chuvash observed the holiday, celebrated Friday, wore Tatar costumes and spoke the Tatar language in everyday life. Subsequently, most of these Chuvash remained in the fold Orthodox Church, and as priest N. Krylov noted, in their religious life noticeable changes have occurred. They “abandoned their intention” to convert to Islam, stopped celebrating Friday and observing the ritual. According to the testimony of the Orthodox clergyman N. Krylov, they were kept from finally falling away into Islam by the tsar’s highest refusals to the request of the “fallen away” Chuvash to convert to Islam.

In the apostate movement of 1866-1868. Newly baptized Chuvash from the village of Staroye Shaimurzino, who converted to Orthodoxy back in 1857, also took part. Their representative, Bikbav Ismeneev, went to St. Petersburg with a petition. But the trip yielded absolutely nothing. In the capital, he and the still baptized Chuvash Makhmut Ishmetyev from the village of Novoye Duvanovo were detained and taken to the city police chief. After spending a week in St. Petersburg, B. Ismeneev returned to his native village and, despite the futility of the trip, informed his fellow villagers that their matter had been settled.

According to the participants in this petition, their transition to Islam was influenced by the forced conversion to Christianity in 1857, the circumstances of close and joint living with Muslim Tatars, their way of life with which they had already become accustomed and, in addition, some ideas about the advantages of the “Tatar "beliefs over the "Russian" ones, which appeared in the Chuvash environment. About the latter, in particular, Bikbav Ismeneev spoke eloquently, declaring that “the soul does not accept the Russian faith, we know the Tatar faith better - there are Tatars all around, and your Russian faith is darkness - it is impossible to fulfill.” The baptized Chuvash Abdulmen Abdreev, a peasant in the village of Chepkas Ilmetyevo, said: “I and my other fellow residents met on the street, talked about faiths: Tatar and Russian and decided to switch to the Tatar, as it was recognized as the best.”

But there were also cases when the Chuvash, who had already been in the Muslim and Orthodox faiths, returned to their former pagan religion. This is what Emeliy Temirgaliev did, a participant in the petition of the baptized Chuvash in the village of Staroye Shaimurzino. During the interrogation on September 22, 1871, he testified that five years earlier he signed a sentence for Bikbav Ismeneev to petition the Tsar for permission to convert to Islam. Now, he “does not want either the Tatar or Russian faith,” but wants to “remain in his former Chuvash faith.”

At the end of the 60s. In the 19th century, the transition of baptized Chuvash to Islam was noted in the villages of Elhovoozernoye and Middle Algashi in the 70-80s. - in the villages of Trekh-Boltaevo and Bolshaya Aksa. In addition, according to the observations of contemporaries, the influence of the Muslim religion on the baptized Chuvash of the Simbirsk province took place in the villages of New Algashi, Alshikhovo and Tingashi.

Concerned about the Islamization of the Chuvash, Orthodox priests and officials of the Ministry of Public Education in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries took various measures to protect baptized Chuvash from Tatar-Muslim influence and strengthen them in the Orthodox faith. For example, in those Chuvash villages where the population was influenced by the Muslim religion, missionary schools were opened on the initiative of the inspector of Chuvash schools of the Kazan educational district. There they taught the law of God, practiced church singing, and read Orthodox books in the Chuvash language. Teachers held religious conversations with adults and involved them in reading religious books and church singing in the Chuvash language along with children. Some time later, with the permission of the Ministry of Public Education, “house” churches were opened in these schools, where the priests were Chuvash.

In the 70s XIX century inspector of Chuvash schools in the Simbirsk province I.Ya. Yakovlev petitioned the local Orthodox missionary committee to open a similar missionary school in the village of Srednie Algashi. A prominent Chuvash educator believed that in the matter of religious choice, Islam was harmful to the ethnic self-identification of his people. The Simbirsk Spiritual Consistory supported the initiative of I.Ya. Yakovlev, ordering that 150 rubles be allocated annually for the maintenance of the school and a lump sum of 60 rubles for the initial establishment.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, priest K. Prokopyev noted that “thanks to the influence of the school and Christian books in the Chuvash language,” the beliefs and sympathies of the Chuvash “certainly moved towards Christianity.” And an important role in this was played by the introduction of the pedagogical system of I.N. into the teaching and educational practice of Orthodox foreign schools. Ilminsky.

In addition, parish priests and deans of church districts carried out special anti-Muslim propaganda among the Chuvash population, explained to them the advantages of Christianity over Islam and “proved its falsity.” According to the priests, these events contributed to some isolation of the baptized Chuvash from the Muslim Tatars and the emergence of tense relations between them. The baptized Chuvash of a number of villages with a mixed population, on the initiative of the priests, initiated petitions for separation from the Muslim Tatars into an independent society, and even for the formation of a village.

In the Simbirsk province at the end of the 19th century, a new apostate movement of baptized Tatars took place. It was attended by baptized Chuvash from six villages: Bolshaya Aksa, Chepkas Ilmetyevo, Entuganovo, New Duvanovo, Old Shaimurzino and Old Chekurskoye. Petitions were also submitted by baptized Tatars from the villages of Trekh-Boltaevo, Elhovoozernaya, Buinka and Chikildym, in which individual transitions of baptized Chuvash to the Muslim faith had previously been noted. True, from the available sources it is impossible to find out how many of them there were by this time among the “fallen away” baptized Tatars. But the government once again refused to satisfy the requests, and the baptized Tatars, along with the Chuvash, did not receive official Muslim status.

Little changed in the legal status of Chuvash Muslims at the beginning of the 20th century. The liberal bills adopted during the first Russian revolution - the manifesto of October 17, 1905 on freedom of religion and the highest decree of April 17, 1905 - did not change the status of the Orthodox Chuvash and pagan Chuvash who converted to Islam. If the “fallen away” baptized Tatars were officially allowed to convert to Islam, then the Chuvash were denied this, since according to the decree of April 17, 1905, baptized Chuvash did not have the right to convert to Islam, since before the adoption of Christianity they were pagans, not Muslims . The decree stated that “persons who are listed as Orthodox, but in reality professing the non-Christian faith to which they themselves or their ancestors belonged before joining Orthodoxy, are subject, at their request, to exclusion from the number of Orthodox Christians.” Thus, according to the meaning of the decree, the Orthodox Chuvash should have returned to paganism, but the state and the church could not allow this.

Guided by the provisions of the decree of April 17, 1905, the Simbirsk provincial government and the spiritual consistory refused requests for conversion to Islam from the baptized Chuvash of the villages of Tingashi and Siushevo, Buinsky district, and the village of Staroye Shaimurzino, Simbirsk district. The Chuvash of the last two villages tried to appeal this decision by filing a petition to the Senate asking for a review of their case. As a result, at the request of the Chuvash of the village of Siushevo, the Buinsky district police officer had to conduct a second investigation, which showed that these Chuvash, “for a long time” and “stubbornly” - since the 80-90s. XIX century - avoid performing the rituals of the Orthodox faith and secretly profess Islam. But the spiritual consistory in the summer of 1907 again rejected the petition of these Chuvash. Unable to accept this decision, they sent a petition to the governor in October 1907, and to the Governing Senate in May 1908. The case was referred to the Synod, which rejected their petitions.

Nevertheless, despite all the refusals of the authorities to recognize their right to practice Islam, the peasants of the village of Siushevo in 1907 arbitrarily built a mosque, and no longer hiding, began to perform the rituals of the Muslim religion. But soon the provincial authorities stopped all attempts of the Chuvash to organize their religious life. The construction of the mosque was declared illegal, and in 1911 it was closed. Although the attempt of the Chuvash Muslims of the village of Siushevo to organize a religious community failed, the authorities were forced to admit that “all the apostate Chuvash firmly adhere to the Mohammedan religion” and there is no hope for their return, especially since the children born after the final “abandonment” of their parents are raised by them "in the spirit and customs of that religion."

The fate of the baptized Chuvash, who converted to Islam back in the 50-70s, was completely different. XIX centuries At the beginning of the twentieth century, the authorities officially called them baptized Tatars in family lists. And in 1905-1907. among them were able to legalize and become Muslims, for example, the Chuvash of the villages of Staroye Shaimurzino, Elkhovozernoye of Simbirsk district, Bolshaya Aksa, Staroe Chekurskoye, New Duvanovo, Buinka, Trekh-Boltaevo and Chepkas Ilmetyevo of Buinsky district. By this time, they no longer differed from the Muslim Tatars and the “fallen away” baptized Tatars in names, clothing, or language, and even called themselves Tatars.

According to various data, the number of Chuvash Muslims in the Simbirsk province in 1905-1907 was 400-600 people. Thus, according to family lists, there were 554 people, but according to volost administrations, by 1911 there were only 483 people. We must assume that in reality in the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. There were slightly more Chuvash Muslims in the Simbirsk province than indicated in the sources. Perhaps their number at that time was 600-800 people. Of the total Chuvash population (159,766 people), according to the 1897 census, their share is 0.3-0.5%, respectively, the Tatar population (133,977 people) is 0.4-0.6%. Thus, there is no need to talk about large-scale Islamization and assimilation of the Chuvash by the Muslim Tatars.

Chuvash Muslims positively perceived the new self-identification and the very opportunity to openly profess the Mohammedan faith, which appeared at the beginning of the 20th century in connection with noticeable relaxations in the confessional policy of the authorities. For example, Chuvash Imadetdin Izmailov (Ivan Fedorov), a resident of the village of Siushevo, said about this: “We are very glad that we can pray openly, because we like it and there is no need to hide anymore.” His fellow villager Ibragim Shamshetdinov (Nikolai Spiridonov) admitted: “Now we can openly pray according to the Mohammedan law. We are all very happy that we converted to Mohammedanism: before you couldn’t find Russian priests, but now there is always a mullah at hand. It used to happen [that] The priest kept laughing at us, saying that we were Tatars, but what should we do when we like it; when we converted to Mohammedanism, we began to live better, and the Tatars help us with work and don’t offend us anymore.” The Chuvash, having converted to Islam and becoming Tatars, improved their social status in comparison with the Chuvash, who remained in paganism and Orthodoxy. However, the Orthodox Chuvash did not approve of the conversion of their fellow tribesmen to Islam, since they believed that this would inevitably be followed by ethnic assimilation. For example, when in 1906, the baptized Chuvash K. Stepanov, a peasant from the village of Tingashi, decided to become a Muslim, as the priest wrote, confused by his “unworthy wife,” his parents could not come to terms with the idea that their son would someday become “ Tatar."

In some cases, the Islamization of the majority of the inhabitants of a village was accompanied by tense relations in everyday life between the Chuvash who remained Orthodox and those who converted to Islam. This, for example, was the case in the village of Siushevo. Here in 1905 there were 50 households with Chuvash people who “fell away” to Mohammedanism and 20 households with Orthodox Christians. In particular, according to the testimony of the baptized Chuvash A.Z. Makarov: “It became difficult for those who remained in Orthodoxy to live: on holidays we were given public work, they offended and beat our children, they insulted us with land and meadows. Returning from church, we often suffered ridicule from those who left, and they threw "We, in addition, have stones and dirt. In general, it has become difficult to live among the Tatars and those who retreated, especially with the latter. There are constant quarrels and even fights between us and those who retreated." Another Chuvash P.G. Zharkov noted that there were constant misunderstandings and fights between the baptized and the Muslims, and those who left behind always won, since they were the majority. Their neighbors, the Muslim Chuvash, denied all these accusations as unfair. However, some of the Muslim Chuvash actually treated the baptized Chuvash and the church with hostility. Thus, in 1906, a Chuvash Muslim from the village of Siushevo, Ignatius Leontyev, was found guilty and subject to arrest for one month for insulting a priest during the blessing of water of the houses of baptized Chuvash people and for striking at the Gospel in the hands of the boys accompanying the priest. The actions of the accused, according to his explanations cousin, an Orthodox Chuvash woman, were caused by the fact that a church service was held in her house, where this incident occurred. Her brother intended to convert her nephews who lived with her to the Muslim faith and therefore disapproved of the actions of the priest who decided to hold a service in this house. Thus, religion divided not only the village residents, but also some families, introducing a certain amount of conflict into the relations of relatives. The liberalization of ethno-confessional relations revealed the complexity of religious contradictions in the Chuvash environment.

In conclusion, the following conclusions can be drawn. The documented Islamization of the Chuvash of the Simbirsk province can be traced back to the beginning of the 19th century, during which Orthodox Chuvash and pagan Chuvash repeatedly converted to Islam, often together with baptized Tatars. The change of religion was due to a complex of sociocultural and political factors, among which one can highlight the similarity of the language and way of life of the Chuvash and Tatars, their close proximity, long-term cultural contacts and, of course, the forced Christianization of the Chuvash. According to various estimates, the number of Chuvash Muslims in the Simbirsk province in the 19th - early 20th centuries. did not exceed 1000 people. In the minds of Chuvash Muslims (and not only for them), Islam was a “Tatar” faith, and the transition to the Muslim religion was perceived by them as a “transition to the Tatars” (“Epir tutara tukhramar” - literally: “We went to the Tatars”). The Chuvash regarded Islam as a better faith than paganism or Orthodox Christianity. In the conditions of the historically established Islamic-Christian borderland in the Middle Volga region and the Urals, the Islamization of the Chuvash, as evidenced by materials on the Simbirsk province, ultimately turned out to be ethnic assimilation, which manifested itself in a change in self-awareness, loss of the native language and changes in cultural and everyday features.

Chapter 2. Myths and beliefs of the ancient Chuvash

2.1 Chuvash folk religion

Traditional beliefs of the Chuvashrepresent a mythological worldview, religious concepts and views coming from distant eras. The first attempts at a consistent description of the pre-Christian religion of the Chuvash were made by K.S. Milkovich (late 18th century), V.P. Vishnevsky (1846), V.A. Sboeva (1865). Materials and monuments related to beliefs were systematized by V.K. Magnitsky (1881), N.I. Zolotnitsky (1891) Archbishop Nikanor (1910), Gyula Messaros (translation from the Hungarian edition of 1909. Implemented in 2000), N.V. Nikolsky (1911, 1912), N.I. Ashmarin (1902, 1921). In the second half of the 20th - early 21st centuries. a series of works devoted to the traditional beliefs of the Chuvash appeared.

BeliefsThe Chuvash belong to the category of those religions that are called the religion of sacrifice, according to researchers, whose origins go back to the first world religion - ancient Iranian Zoroastrianism. Christianity, Islamwere known to the ancient ancestors of the Chuvash already in the early stages of the spread of these two religions. It is known that the Suvar king Alp-Ilitver in his principality (17th century) propagated Christianity in the fight against ancient religions.

Christianity, islamas, Judaism coexisted side by side in the Khazar state, at the same time the masses were very committed to the worldview of their ancestors. This is confirmed by the absolute dominance of pagan funeral rites in the Saltovo-Mayak culture. Researchers also discovered Jewish elements in the culture and beliefs of the Chuvash (Malov, 1882). In the middle of the century, when the Chuvash ethnic group was being formed, traditional beliefs were under the lasting influence of Islam. After the annexation of the Chuvash region to the Russian state, the process of Christianization was long and did not end only with an act of forced baptism. The Bulgar-Chuvash adopted elements of the traditional beliefs of the Mari, Udmurts, possibly Burtases, Mozhors, Kipchaks and others ethnic communities with whom they came into contact.

Commitment to Islam after its adoption in 922 by the Bulgars under Khan Almush, on the one hand, to ancient beliefs, on the other, becomes an ethno-confessional and ethno-dividing feature of the population of Volga Bulgaria, where the nobility and the bulk of the townspeople became Muslims (or Besermians), rural residents predominantly remained fans of the pre-Islamic religion. In Bulgaria, Islam established itself not as an orthodox one, but as a syncretic one, enriched with elements of traditional cultures and beliefs. There is reason to believe that transitions from one state to another (from Chuvash to Besermyan and back) among the population, especially the rural one, took place throughout the entire Bulgar period. It is believed that official Islam, before the formation of the Kazan Khanate, did not persecute non-Muslims too much, who, despite the syncretization of traditional beliefs, remained faithful to pre-Muslim canons, social and family life. The complex processes that took place during the period of the Golden Horde left their mark on the religious and ritual practice of the ancient Chuvash. In particular, the pantheon reflected gods and spirits in the images of khans and the officials who served them.

In the Kazan Khanate, the ruling class and the Muslim clergy preached intolerance towards people of other faiths - the so-called. yasak Chuvash. The hundredth sickle and tenth Wunpu princelings, Tarkhans and Chuvash Cossacks, having converted to Islam, tarred. Traditions indicate that the yasak Chuvash were also forced to accept Islam. There are also known facts of the return of bearers of traditional beliefs to the fold. After the capture of Kazan in 1552, when the position of Islam was greatly weakened, some Muslim villagers passed into the “Chuvash” pre-Muslim state. This took place back in the period of the Golden Horde in connection with strife in the Trans-Kama region, from where the population of the Bulgar ulus (vilayet) went north - to the Trans-Kazan region and north-west - to the Volga region, as a result of these migrations there was a break from the Muslim centers. Adherents of non-Muslim beliefs, according to researchers, made up the majority of residents of the Transcaucasian region and the Volga region. However, as Islam strengthened, starting from the 17th century, in the ethno-contact Chuvash-Tatar zone, there was an influx of pagans (part or all families) in Chuvash villages into Islam. This process continued until the mid-19th century. (for example, in the village of Artemyevka, Orenburg province).

Until the middle of the 18th century. Adherents of traditional beliefs retained canonized forms and were subjected to violent acts of baptism on an insignificant scale (the Chuvash servicemen accepted Orthodoxy). The bulk of the Chuvash remained faithful to the pre-Christian religion even after their baptism in 1740. Forcibly, when with the help of soldiers, members of the New Epiphany office drove village residents to the river, performed the baptismal ceremony and wrote down their Orthodox names. Under the influence of Orthodoxy, its developed, including rural, church organization in the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. syncretization of traditional beliefs took place. For example, the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Mozhaisk), which was a rare example of a wooden sculpture from the 16th century (located in the St. Nicholas Convent), which turned into Mikul of Tour and entered the Chuvash pantheon, became revered. Chuvash rituals and holidays are moving closer to Christian ones, but the trend of convergence was not simple and smooth.

During the period of mass forced baptism in the 18th and first quarter of the 19th centuries, they were subjected to brutal destruction. sacred places public prayers and ancestral prayer sites (kiremetey), baptized Chuvash were prohibited from performing traditional customs and rituals in these places. Churches and chapels were often built here. Violent actions and spiritual aggression of Orthodox missionaries caused protests and mass movements in defense of folk beliefs, rituals and customs and, in general, original culture. The erected Orthodox churches, chapels, and monasteries were poorly visited (although many chapels arose on the site of ancient sanctuaries in different areas of Chuvash settlement), with the exception of several well-known churches, including Ishakovskaya (Cheboksary district), which became multi-ethnic and interregional.

In the mid-19th century, the Kazan province remained near them, as admittedly official statistics, there was much more. In fact, judging by data from 1897, 11 thousand “pure pagans” lived in the right-bank districts of the Kazan province. The second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries is characterized as a transitional state in religious terms. This period is associated with the introduction of N.I. Ilminsky, Christian educational activities of I.Ya. Yakovlev and Chuvash Orthodox missionaries, young people were drawn to Orthodoxy through education, as a result of which the process of Christianization of the Chuvash accelerated. The victory of Orthodoxy over ethnic religions was also accelerated by bourgeois reforms. Orthodox figures of this period generally respected Chuvash traditions and mentality and enjoyed the trust of the masses. Orthodoxy on Chuvash soil was rapidly consolidated, albeit on a syncretic basis.

During the 20th century, the number of unbaptized adherents of Chuvash beliefs (they call themselves Chan Chavash - “true Chuvash”) gradually decreased, because the generation of people of Soviet times grew up outside of religious soil. However, in peasant environment Thanks to the stability of folk ritual culture, which could not be supplanted by Soviet rituals and holidays, the ethno-confessional community was preserved, localized mainly outside the Chuvash Republic in multinational regions - in the Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Samara regions, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Due to the lack of statistical data, we can only speak approximately about the number of Chuvash in this group - several thousand people, but not less than 10 thousand, and two-thirds of them live in the Trans-Kama region, especially in the Bolshoi Cheremshan and Sok basin.

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the tendency for “pagans” to convert to Orthodoxy intensified, in particular in families where spouses belong to different faiths.

The Orthodox religion, which established itself as the official religion among the Chuvash, has absorbed significant elements of traditional beliefs that are associated with folk customs and rituals, the ritual calendar, and the names of religious holidays. The term Tura denoted the Chuvash supreme heavenly god, and later Jesus Christ. The Chuvash also call Christ turash, as do images of other Christian gods and saints. This is due to the consolidation of the veneration of icons as gods (turash - “icon”). In the 20th century, it was common to turn to the icon and pagan gods simultaneously. During this century, despite atheistic propaganda Soviet era, folk (nevertheless real Chuvash, associated with beliefs) religious rites and holidays functioned, and in many cases actively existed, primarily associated with the cult of ancestors and production rituals - the first cattle pasture, rites of consecration of the new harvest of chukleme and others. The traditional Chuvash holidays of the winter, spring, summer and autumn cycles coincided or merged with the Christian ones: Kasharni - Epiphany, Mancun - Easter, Kalam - with Holy Week and Lazarus Saturday, Virem - with Palm Sunday, Simek - with Trinity, Sinse - with Spiritual Day , Kerr sari - happy patronal holidays.

The traditional beliefs of the Chuvash, as noted above, have become the object of attention of researchers, missionaries, and writers of everyday life since the 18th century. And even then, the pronounced dualism with a sharp distinction between the good and evil principles of their religion served as the basis for its classification as a branch of Zoroastrianism. In the Chuvash pantheon and the pre-Christian concept of the consciousness of the world and the creation of man, researchers find similarities with ancient Iranian mythology. For example, the following names of Chuvash gods echo the pantheon of the Indo-Iranian circle: Ama, Amu, Tura, Asha, Puleh, Pihampar. Yanavar.

The beliefs of the Chuvash associated with fire worship, cosmogonic ideas, the numerous gods of the hearth and nature, rituals in honor of ancestors, and the construction of anthropomorphic stone and wooden monuments gave rise to researchers back in the 19th century to conclude that the Chuvash adhered to the teachings of Zoroastrianism.

At the head of the Chuvash pantheon, complex in its structure, is the supreme heavenly god Sulti Tura, who rules the entire world and acts as the main person of religious worship and faith. This main character of the Chuvash religion coincides with the riding gods of many Indo-European, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples, including in etymology, functions and other parameters.

In a solemn form, a thanksgiving sacrifice was made to the god of Tours during public rituals, the family-tribal ritual of chukleme, when new bread was baked from the new harvest in his honor and beer was brewed. Tura was addressed in many rituals, including public, family and individual ones; the prayer had specifics in each specific case.

In a solemn form, thanksgiving was performed to the god of Tours.

What is Chuvash folk religion? Under the Chuvash folk religion refers to the pre-Orthodox Chuvash faith. But there is no clear understanding of this faith. Just as the Chuvash people are not homogeneous, the Chuvash pre-Orthodox religion is also heterogeneous. Some Chuvash believed in Thor and still do. This is a monotheistic faith. There is only one Torah, but in the Torah belief there is Keremet. Keremet is a relic of the pagan religion. The same pagan relic in the Christian world as the celebration of the New Year and Maslenitsa. Among the Chuvash, keremet was not a god, but an image of evil and dark forces, to which sacrifices were made so that they would not touch people. Keremet literally means belief in (god) Ker . Ker (name of god) to have (faith, dream).

Structure of the world

Chuvash paganism is characterized by a multi-tiered view of the world. The world consisted of three parts: the upper world, our world and the lower world. And there were only seven layers in the world. Three layers in the upper one, one in ours, and three more in the lower worlds.

In the Chuvash structure of the universe, a common Turkic division into above-ground and underground tiers can be traced. The main pireshti lives in one of the heavenly tiers<#"center">2.2 Chuvash gods and spirits

In Chuvash mythology according to V.K. Magnitsky<#"center">Conclusion

A person initially experiences a spiritual need to have a holistic view of the world. The problem of the origin of philosophy, its separation from myth and its transformation into an independent sphere of spiritual life is among the most important philosophical problems.

The topic of my research is “Ancient Chuvash gods and the cult of ancestors.” Why did we choose this topic? The choice of our topic is not accidental. Last year marked the 140th anniversary of the birth of Nikolai Ivanovich Ashmarin, an outstanding Turkologist and linguist, the founder of modern scientific linguistics, the author of the 17-volume “Dictionary of the Chuvash Language,” which also reflects the religion, beliefs, mythology, and rituals of the Chuvash people.

Understanding culture as a set of traditions and customs of a particular people in the process of development turns into understanding it as a system of patterns, paradigms of activity hidden in the life of a people. There is an urgent need to identify these hidden ideological constants and determine the forms of their awareness by the people. Of particular importance today is the problem of preserving and enhancing ethnic values ​​in order to properly regulate the activities and behavior of members of society. Familiarity with mythology, traditions and rituals allows you to introduce the spiritual values ​​of the Chuvash to the system universal human values, makes it possible to understand the vision of the world by our ancestors and determine the prospects for the development of national culture.

The purpose of the work is to study the worldview of the Chuvash people and the formation of their philosophical culture on the basis of the “Dictionary of the Chuvash Language” by N.I. Ashmarina. Who did the ancient Chuvash consider to be their gods and where are these customs still preserved?

Notes

Kudryashov G.E. Dynamics of polysyncretistic religiosity. Cheboksary, 1974. P. 38, 333; Dimitriev V.D. M.P. Petrov: life and scientific activity// Historical and ethnographic studies in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1990. P. 8-10; Koblov Ya.D. About the Tatarization of foreigners of the Volga region. Kazan, 1910; Mozharovsky A.F. Outline of the progress of missionary work to educate Kazan foreigners from 1552 to 1867. M., 1880; Runovsky N. Essays on the history of education of foreigners of the Volga-Kama region in connection with the history of translations into their languages ​​until the first half of the 19th century // Simbirsk Diocesan Gazette. 1901. No. 2, 4, 7; He is also the Office of New Baptism Affairs // Simbirsk Diocesan Gazette. 1903. No. 11; Chicherina S.V. Among the Volga foreigners. Travel notes. St. Petersburg, 1905; Prokofiev K. On the history of education of foreigners of the Kazan region in the 18th century. // Simbirsk Diocesan Gazette. 1905. No. 2.

Morozov I.L. The economy of the Tatar post-reform village and the mass movement of the Tatar peasantry in the 50-70s. XIX century // Materials on the history of Tatarstan in the second half of the 19th century. M.; L., 1936; Grigoriev A.N. Christianization of non-Russian nationalities as one of the methods of the national-colonial policy of tsarism in Tataria (from the half of the 16th century to February 1917) // Materials on the history of Tataria. Kazan, 1948. Issue 1; Chernyshev E.I. Tataria during the period of decomposition of serfdom // Materials on the history of Tataria. Kazan, 1948. Issue 1; Gritsenko N.G. Appanage peasants of the Middle Volga region. - Grozny. 1959; Denisov P.V. Religious Beliefs Chuvash. Historical and ethnographic essays. - Cheboksary. 1959; Smykov Yu.I. Peasants of the Middle Volga region in the struggle for land and freedom. Kazan. 1973; Dimitriev V.D. Chuvashia in the era of feudalism. Cheboksary, 1986.

Kakhovsky V.F. Ethnogenesis of the peoples of the Middle Volga region and religious syncretism // Problems of the development of atheism in modern conditions. Cheboksary, 1973; Kudryashov G.E. Dynamics of polysyncretistic religiosity. Cheboksary, 1974; Dimitriev V.D. The spread of Christianity and the Chuvash masses during the period of feudalism // Problems of religious syncretism and the development of atheism in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1978. Issue 86; Kakhovsky V.F. Ethnogenesis of the Chuvash people and religious syncretism // Problems of religious syncretism and the development of atheism in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1978. Issue 1; Denisov P.V. Manifestation of pagan-Orthodox syncretism in the religious beliefs of the Chuvash peasantry at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century // Problems of religious syncretism and the development of atheism in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1978. Issue 86; Kudryashov G.E. Ethnospecificity of everyday religiosity // Problems of religious syncretism and the development of atheism in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. - Cheboksary, 1978. Issue 86.

Dimitriev V.D. On the dynamics of the Tatar and Chuvash population of the Kazan province at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th centuries // Scientific notes of the ChNII. Cheboksary, 1969. Issue 47. P. 242-246; Kakhovsky V.F. Ethnonym "Chuvash" in written sources // Actual problems archeology and ethnography of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1982. pp. 75-94.

Iskhakov D.M. Settlement and number of Tatars in the Volga-Ural historical and ethnographic region in the 18th-19th centuries. // Soviet ethnography. 1980. No. 4. P. 25-39; Same as Ob ethnic situation in the Middle Volga region in the 16th-17th centuries. (a critical review of hypotheses about the “yasak” Chuvash of the Kazan region) // Soviet ethnography. 1988. No. 5. P. 141-146.

Kabuzan V.M. Peoples of Russia in the 18th century. Number and ethnic composition. M., 1990; He, Peoples of Russia in the first half of the 19th century. M., 1992.

Taimasov L.A. Christianization of the Chuvash people in the first half of the 19th century. Cheboksary, 1992.

Chicherina S.V. Among the Volga foreigners. Travel notes. St. Petersburg, 1905; Gritsenko N.G. Appanage peasants of the Middle Volga region. - Grozny. 1959.

Denisov P.V. Religious beliefs of the Chuvash. Historical and ethnographic essays. Cheboksary, 1959. pp. 63-64, 66-67, 75-77; Kakhovsky V.F. Ethnogenesis of the peoples of the Middle Volga region and religious syncretism // Problems of the development of atheism in modern conditions. Cheboksary, 1973. P. 34; Kudryashov G.E. Dynamics of polysyncretistic religiosity. Cheboksary, 1974. P. 40, 64-65, 195; Dimitriev V.D. The spread of Christianity and the Chuvash masses during the period of feudalism // Problems of religious syncretism and the development of atheism in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1978. Issue 86. P. 82; Mikhailov E.P. Golden Horde and Kazan Khan periods in the history of Chuvashia according to archaeological data // Research on the history of Chuvashia during the period of feudalism. Cheboksary, 1986. pp. 17-18. These works note the forced imposition of Islam in the 10th-16th centuries. among the peoples of the Middle Volga region, carried out by the authorities of the Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. But there is also an opposite opinion expressed by M.G. Khudyakov. He believed that complete religious tolerance was maintained in the Kazan Khanate in accordance with the trading nature of the urban population and the traditions of Volga Bulgaria, and missionary preaching was carried out peacefully (Khudyakov M.G. Essays on the history of the Kazan Khanate. - Kazan, 1990. pp. 197-198 ); Zakiev M.Z., Kuzmin-Yumanadi Ya.F. Volga Bulgars and their descendants. Kazan, 1993. pp. 21-28.

Kakhovsky V.F. Ethnogenesis of the Chuvash people and religious syncretism // Problems of religious syncretism and the development of atheism in the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1978. Issue 1. P. 62-63; History of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Cheboksary, 1983. T. 1. P. 57; Taimasov L.A. Christianization of the Chuvash people in the first half of the 19th century. - Cheboksary, 1992, p. 86

Iskhakov D.M. Molkeevsky Kryashens: the problem of formation and demographic development in the 18th - early 20th centuries. // Molkeevsky Kryashens. Kazan, 1993. pp. 4-25.

Kabuzan V.M. The peoples of Russia in the first half of the 19th century. M., 1992. P. 197; Kabuzan V.M. Peoples of Russia in the 18th century. Number and ethnic composition. M., 1990. P. 142; Mozharovsky A.F. Outline of the progress of missionary work and education in the Kazan region from 1552 to 1867. M., 1880. P. 89. In addition, according to V.F. Kakhovsky and V.D. Dimitriev, in the XVI-XVII centuries. hundreds of Chuvash villages in the Kazan and Sviyazhsky districts were assimilated by the Tatars (Dimitriev V.D. On the dynamics of the Tatar and Chuvash population of the Kazan province at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th centuries // Scientific notes of the ChNII. Cheboksary, 1969. Issue 47. P. 242- 246; Kakhovsky V.F. The ethnonym “Chuvash” in written sources // Current problems of archeology and ethnography of the Chuvash ASSR. Cheboksary, 1982. pp. 75-94). At the same time, D.M. Iskhakov believes that the state of Russian-language sources of the 16th-17th centuries. according to the Sviyazhsky district does not allow us to unambiguously distinguish “the Chuvash proper from those groups that until the middle of the 17th century were called Chuvash, and later began to be called Tatars.” As for the Kazan district, the previously stated hypotheses about ethnic background“yasak Chuvash” (1. “yasak Chuvash” of the Kazan district are the Chuvash proper, 2. Tatars, 3. groups of the Bulgar population, in whose language the Kipchak elements did not achieve a final victory and 4. southern Udmurts) are not sufficiently reasoned (Iskhakov D. M. On the ethnic situation in the Middle Volga region in the 16th-17th centuries // Soviet ethnography. 1988. No. 5. pp. 141-146). Therefore, the issue of large-scale assimilation of the Chuvash by the Tatars during this period in this territory remains controversial.

Kirillov R.S. Missionary activity of the Russian Orthodox Church in the Middle Volga region in the second half of the 19th century // History of the Christianization of the peoples of the Volga region. Critical judgments and evaluations. Interuniversity collection of scientific papers. Cheboksary, 1989. P. 60; Denisov P.V. Religious beliefs of the Chuvash. Historical and ethnographic essays. Cheboksary, 1959. P. 238; Taimasov L.A. Christianization of the Chuvash people in the first half of the 19th century. Cheboksary, 1992. P. 86; Dimitriev V.D. Chuvashia in the era of feudalism. Cheboksary, 1986. P.133.

There is an opinion that it was at this time that the Muslimization of the Chuvash reached its culmination (Kudryashov G.E. Dynamics of polysyncretistic religiosity. Cheboksary, 1974. P. 74).

GAUO (State Archives of the Ulyanovsk Region), f. 318, op. 3, d. 230, l. 6-6 rev., 10, 11 rev.

Ibid., l. 10 rev., 20, 24-24 rev.

Ibid., l. 6-6 vol., 43-45.

Ibid., l. 12, 19-20.

Ibid., l. 6-6 rev., 11.

Ibid., l. 1

Ibid., l. 89.

Right there, op. 1, d. 1082, l. 218 rev.

Ibid., l. 218 rev.

Ibid., l. 95.

Ibid., l. 177-179, 183-186, 189-191 vol.; d. 1083, l. 10-10 rev.

Ibid., no. 1082, l. 213-213 vol., 264-264 vol., 289-289 vol.

Ibid. 1083, l. 286-286 vol.

Ibid., l. 179, 182, 209-209 vol., 212.

Ibid., l. 215 rev. - 217 rev., 290-292 rev.

Ibid., no. 1083, l. 1-1 rev.

Ibid., l. 79.

Ibid., l. 79 rev.

Ibid., l. 79 rev. - 80.

Ibid., l. 81 rev; d. 1082, l. 192.

Ibid., no. 1083, l. 10-10 vol., 63 vol.; d. 1082, l. 289-289 vol.

Ibid., l. 183-186, 189-191 vol.

Ibid., l. 215 rev. - 217 rev.

Quote by: Kudryashov G.E. Dynamics of polysyncretistic religiosity. Cheboksary, 1974. P. 73.

GAUO, f. 318, op. 1, d. 1082, l. 213-213 vol., 264-264 vol., 289-289 vol.; d. 1083, l. 10-10 rev.

Ibid., f. 76, op. 1, d. 22, l. 16-17.

Baptismal names are indicated in brackets.

Ibid., l. 15-15 rev.

Ibid., l. 9-10.

Chicherina S.V. Among the Volga foreigners. Travel notes. St. Petersburg 1905. P. 142.

GAUO, f. 134, op. 7, d. 149, l. 24-24 rev.

Ibid., 70, l. 9-10.

Ibid., l. 23 rev.

Ibid., 302, l. 3; f. 108, op. 1, d. 50, l. 119-119 vol.

Ibid., f. 134, op. 7, d. 302, l. 3-4 vol.

Ibid., f. 108, op. 50, d. 10, l. 3, 14-14 vol.

Ibid., l. 14 rev. - 15 rev.

Ibid., l. 18 rev. - 20 rev.

Ibid., l. 19-19 rev.

Ibid., f. 134, op. 7, d. 70, l. 6.

Ibid., f. 108, op. 50, d. 10, l. 18-18 rev.

Chicherina S.V. Decree. op. pp. 335, 382; Attitude of the Inspector of Chuvash schools of the Kazan educational district No. 209 dated September 17, 1877 // Journals of the regular and emergency Simbirsk district zemstvo assemblies. Simbirsk, 1877. P. 16; GAUO, f. 134, op. 7, d. 578, l. 121-121 vol.; d. 839, l. 34.

Chicherina S.V. Decree. op. pp. 380, 142-144.

GAUO, f. 99, op. 1, d. 308, l. 1-3.

Prozorov S.L. Features of adaptation of the Chuvash in the conditions of a Russian city (using the example of Simbirsk in the 19th - early 20th centuries) // Historical and ethnographic studies of the Simbirsk Volga region: a collection of scientific articles. Ulyanovsk, 2002. P. 64.

Attitude of the Inspector of the Chuvash schools of the Kazan educational district No. 209 dated September 17, 1877 // Journals of the regular and emergency Simbirsk district zemstvo assemblies. Simbirsk, 1877. pp. 17-18.

Chicherina S.V. Decree. op. P. 142.

GAUO, f. 134, op. 7, d. 839, l. 7, 28-28 vol., 32, 32 vol., 33, 54-54 vol., 35 vol., 52.

Ibid., l. 28-29, 52; d. 625, l. 7-7 vol., 10-11 vol.; f. 76, op. 7, d. 1142, l. 19-20 rpm; Chicherina S.V. Decree. op. P. 142.

GAUO, f. 134, op. 7, d. 578, l. 14, 16, 20, 24, 27-28, 35-36, 9-10, 51-54, 95 rev., 116-123, 124-125 rev., 127-128, 5 rev. - 6, 97 vol., 113-133 vol.; d. 577, l. 15-18, 66-70.

Ibid., no. 578, l. 17, 33, 37, 59-60, 98-101, 128-144 vol.; d. 577, l. 53-62, 101-116.

Ibid., f. 88, op. 4, units hr. 209, l. 108.

GAUO, f. 88, op. 1, d. 1457, l. 1, 6-11; d. 1459, l. 1, 3, 8, 12; d. 1460, l. 1-1 rev., 3-4, 12 rev. - 13; op. 4, d. 209, l. 101-102.

Ibid., 1460, l. 7-7 vol., 25-27 vol., 30-36, 38 vol., 42, 46-47, 53, 58-58 vol., 62.

Ibid., f. 1, op. 88, d. 2, l. 18, 28, 30-31 rpm; op. 93, d. 86, l. 4-4 vol., 37-37 vol.; f. 88, op. 1, d. 1460, l. 34-36.; d. 1930, l. 27-27 vol., 40, 52-52 vol., 81-81 vol., 102-102 vol., 111 vol.; f. 108, op. 39, d. 25, l. 17.

Ibid., f. 1, op. 93, d. 86, l. 18; f. 88, op. 1, d. 1930, l. , l. 16-16 rev., 27-27 rev., 37-38, 40, 48, 72, 114, 118.

Ibid., f. 88, op. 1, d. 1457, l. 6-8; d. 1930, l. 102-102 vol.

Ibid., f. 88, op. 1, d. 1361, l. 15, 18, 20 vol., 38-40; d. 1416, l. 4, 8-11; f. 134, op. 7, d. 70, l. 6-8 vol.; d. 149, l. 1, 112-113 vol.; d. 577, l. 15-18, 66-70; d. 578, l. 5 rev. - 6, 118-123 vol., 126-127 vol., 133-133 vol.; d. 807, l. 26, 34-40, 85, 104-105, 137-143, 189, 258-259; d. 816, l. 40-42, 47-51; f. 318, op. 1, d. 1082, l. 164-164 rpm, 180 rpm - 181 rev.

GAUO, f. 1, op. 93, d. 86, l. 34, 45, 34-34 vol.; f. 88, op. 1, d. 1361, l. 38-40; d. 1416, l. 8-10; d. 1457, l. 9; d. 1459, l. 1; d. 1460, l. 3-4, 11-11 vol., 12, 31-32; d. 1930, l. 56-56 vol., 64-71; f. 134, op. 7, no. 807, l. 104-105, 258-259; d. 816, l. 40-42, 47-51, 32.

The most important statistical information about foreigners in Eastern Russia and Western Siberia, influenced Islam. Kazan, 1912. P. 62.

GAUO, f. 76, op. 7, d. 1142, l. 34.

Ibid., l. 33-33 rev.

Ibid., f. 88, op. 1, d. 1457, l. 6-8.

Kudryashov G.E. Dynamics of polysyncretistic religiosity. Cheboksary, 1974. P. 279.

GAUO, f. 1, op. 93, d. 86, l. 45.

Ibid., f. 76, op. 7, d. 1142, l. 15-15 rev.

Ibid., l. 21-21 rev.

Ibid., l. 17-18 rev., 33 rev., 34 rev.

Ibid., f. 1, op. 88, d. 1, l. 2 vol., 34-37, 41.

Ibid., l. 9 vol., 58 vol., 59-61 vol., 56, 63.

Bibliography

1.Chuvash: ethnic history and traditional culture / Aftorov-comp.: V.P. Ivanov, V.V. Nikolaev, V.D. Dimitriev. M.: Publishing House DIK, 2000.96 p.: ill., map.)

2.To prepare this work, materials from the site http://www.chuvsu.ru were used

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IN different time scientists have put forward various theories of the origin of the Chuvash - either from the Khazars (A. A. Fuks, P. Hunfalvi), then from the Burtas (A. F. Rittich, V. A. Sboev), then from the Huns (V. V. Bartold) , then from the Finno-Ugric peoples (N.M. Karamzin, I.A. Firsov), then from the ancient Avars (M.G. Khudyakov), then from the Volga Bulgarians (V.N. Tatishchev, N.I. Ashmarin, 3 . Gombots), then from the Sumerians (N. Ya. Marr), etc. In total, they come down to the following concepts:

1) the basis of the Chuvash people (ethnic group) is the local Finno-Ugric (Mari) population, which experienced strong cultural and especially linguistic influence from the alien Turkic-speaking Bulgarian-Suvar tribes;

2) as an ethnic group, the Chuvash were formed mainly on the basis of the pre-Bulgarian Turks, who supposedly penetrated in large numbers into the Middle Volga region until the 6th century. n. e., that is, before the Bulgarians and Suvars appeared here;

3) The so-called Kazan school. Some Kazan researchers are searching for evidence of the hypothesis about the beginning of the formation of the Chuvash ethnic group on the basis of Turkic-speaking tribes that allegedly penetrated the region in the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. She claimed that the ancestors of the Chuvash appeared earlier than the Volga Bulgarians.

The first of these concepts (“autochthonous theory”) did not stand up to criticism and is now not supported by anyone, since its supporters ignored the role of Turkic-speaking tribes - one of the main ethnic components of the Chuvash - and in their research were limited to the territory of the Chuvash region and the later stages of ethnic history.

As for the second concept, it began to be actively developed only in the last twenty years. A number of prominent scientists (R. G. Kuzeev, V. A. Ivanov, etc.) attribute the time of mass penetration of the Turks into the Volga-Ural region to the last centuries of the 1st millennium AD. e. and they connect this precisely with the migration of Bulgarian tribes from the North Caucasus and the Azov region. At the same time, one of the convincing evidence of the late migration of the Turks to the Middle Volga region is the weak and unclear identification of ethnic groups among the newcomer Turks in comparison with the neighboring Finno-Ugric peoples. The ethnic differentiation of the Chuvash, Tatars, Bashkirs - that is, those peoples whose history was closely connected with the Volga Bulgarians - into independent nationalities ended relatively late, only in the 13th-16th centuries.

The question arises, what exactly is the Bulgarian heritage of the Chuvash? The most fundamental argument is language, for Chuvash is the only surviving language of the Bulgarian branch. It differs from all other Turkic languages ​​in that the sound “z” in them in the Chuvash language corresponds to the sound “r” (so-called rhotacism), and the sound “sh” corresponds to the sound “l” (lambdaism). Rhotacism and lambdaism are also characteristic of the Bulgarian language. For example, Chuv. kher "girl" - common Turkic. kyz; Chuv. khel "winter" - common Turkic. - shoo, etc.

In the development of the Bulgarian theory of the origin of the Chuvash, a huge role was played by the discovery of Chuvash words in the texts of the Volga-Bulgarian tombstone inscriptions of the 13th-16th centuries, made in the 19th century. Kazan researcher X. Feyzkhanov, and the discovery of elements of the Chuvash type language in the ancient Slavic-Bulgarian source - “The Name Book of the Bulgarian Princes”. The similarity of the economy, life and culture of the Chuvash and Bulgarians is also evidenced by numerous archaeological studies. The first ones inherited from their rural ancestors the types of dwellings, the layout of the estate, the location of the house inside the estate with a blank wall facing the street, rope ornaments for decorating gate posts, etc. According to experts, white women's clothing, headdresses (tukhya, hushpu, surban), jewelry (belts, braids), which were common among the Chuvash until recently, were common among the Bulgarians, including the Danube. In the pre-Christian religion of the Chuvash, constituting the most important part of the ethnic specificity of spiritual culture, Old Bulgarian pagan cults were traditionally and persistently preserved, containing some features of Zoroastrianism - the religion of the ancient ethnic groups of Iran and Central Asia.

The concept of Bulgarian-Chuvash ethnic continuity is believed to be confirmed, further developed and specified in modern research on archaeology, ethnography, linguistics, folklore and art of the peoples of the region. To date, significant material has been accumulated and partially published characterizing the main stages of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Chuvash people. Of great value are the works of V. F. Kakhovsky, V. D. Dimitriev, M. F. Fedotov and A. A. Trofimov, in which, unlike some other works, the problems of Chuvash history, culture and language are considered taking into account many factors . In recent decades, major studies by Chuvash scientists have appeared on various aspects of the traditional culture of the people, economic activities, social and family life, the characteristics of folk knowledge and philosophy, artistic creativity, modern social and ethnic processes.

The ancestors of the Bulgarian tribes, like all Turks, came from Central Asia. On this vast territory since the 3rd millennium BC. e. ancient ancestors were widely dispersed Turkic-speaking peoples- Huns. In the neighborhood there were also Mongolian, Tungus-Manchu, Finno-Ugric, and Indo-European tribes, who in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. e. were conquered by the Huns. The Huns were under strong linguistic and cultural influence from China. Some scholars consider the Chuvash language of Unity to be a remnant of the language of the ancient Huns. A closer ethnic group from which the Bulgarians came are considered to be the Oguro-Onogurs, who lived in the northern ostrogans of the Tien Shan and in the upper reaches of the Irtysh. The area of ​​formation of sabirs (suvars) also lay in the regions of the Irtysh. The time of stay of the ancestors of the Bulgarian and Suvar tribes in Central Asia was imprinted so clearly that it is no less reflected in the culture, especially the language of the Chuvash. The Chuvash have a number of strong parallels with the Turkic peoples of Altai and Southern Siberia, in particular the Khakass, Uighurs, Shors, Tuvinians, and Altaians. Manifests itself in the commonality of elements of utensils, housing, ornaments, etc. In addition, the main elements ancient religion The Sayan-Altai Turks are manifested in the complex of the pagan cult of the Chuvash. The Chuvash language has preserved the most ancient words used in the era of weak isolation of the Turkic and Mongolian languages.

Sources

The main sources of information on Chuvash mythology and religion are the records of such scientists as V. A. Sboev, V. K. Magnitsky, N. I. Zolotnitsky, etc. An important source of information about the traditional beliefs of the Chuvash was the Hungarian book published in 1908 researcher D. Meszaros “Monuments of the old Chuvash faith.”

Paganism remained intact only very sporadically. A pagan village is a rare phenomenon. Despite this, last summer I managed to visit one such primordially pagan area for a long time.<…>And in other regions, where the Christian faith is now already professed, the memory of the pagan era is alive, mainly in the mouths of old people, who themselves, 40-50 years ago, also made sacrifices to the ancient Chuvash gods.

At the end of the 20th century. a large array of Chuvash myths was processed in the compilation of the Chuvash epic Ulyp.

world creation

According to legend, the world was created by the god Tură, “but now no one knows how he created it.” At first there was only one language and one faith on earth. Then 77 different peoples, 77 different languages ​​and 77 different faiths appeared on earth.

Structure of the world

“Chuvash World” (drawing by Vladimir Galoshev)

Chuvash paganism is characterized by a multi-tiered view of the world. The world consisted of three parts and seven layers: a three-layer upper world, a single-layer our world and a three-layer lower world.

In the Chuvash structure of the universe, a common Turkic division into above-ground and underground tiers can be traced. In one of the heavenly tiers lives the main piresti Kebe, who conveys the prayers of people to the god Tură, who lives in the uppermost tier. In the above-ground tiers there are also luminaries - the moon is lower, the sun is higher.

The first above-ground tier is between the earth and the clouds. Previously, the upper limit was much lower ( "at the height of the roofs of windmills"), but the clouds rose higher as people got sicker. In contrast to the underground tiers, the surface of the earth - the world of people - is called the “upper world” ( Çỹlti çantalăk). The shape of the earth is quadrangular; conspiracies often mention the “quadrangular light world” ( Tăvat kĕteslĕ çut çantalăk).

The earth was square. Different peoples lived on it. The Chuvash believed that their people lived in the middle of the earth. The sacred tree, the tree of life, which the Chuvash worshiped, supported the firmament in the middle. On four sides, along the edges of the earth's square, the firmament was supported by four pillars: gold, silver, copper, stone. At the top of the pillars there were nests with three eggs in them, and ducks on the eggs.

Gods and spirits

There are several opinions about the number of gods. According to one opinion, there is only one god - the Supreme God (Ҫӳлti Tură), and the rest only serve him and are spirits. Others consider the Chuvash faith to be polytheistic.

• Albasta - an evil creature in the form of a woman with four breasts
• Arzyuri - spirit, owner of the forest, goblin
• Wubar - an evil spirit, sent diseases, attacked a sleeping person
• Vite Husi - owner of the stable
• Vudash - an evil spirit that lives in water
• Iye is a spirit that lives in baths, mills, abandoned houses, stables, etc.
• Irich is the guardian deity of the hearth; a spirit capable of sending illnesses to people
• Kele is an evil spirit.
• Vupkan is an evil spirit that sends diseases, invisible or in the form of a dog.
• Herle shchyr - a good spirit living in the skies
• Esrel - spirit of death

Mythical creatures

Heroes

Yramas

Mythical places

• Mount Aramazi, to which the forefather of the Chuvash Ulyp was chained.
• Mount Aratan is the mountain of the underworld. The mountain of the same name is located in the Shemurshinsky district on the territory of the Chavash Varmane National Park.
• Yrsamay (Kiremet) Valem Khuzya. State kiremet of the Silver Bulgars in the Bulgar capital Pyuler (Bilyar).
• Setle-kul - according to a number of myths, a milky lake, on the shores of which the descendants of the last Kazan khan live.

Relationship with other religions

The mythology and religion of the Chuvash inherited many features from common Turkic beliefs. However, they have gone much further from a common root than the beliefs of other Turkic peoples. The monotheistic nature of the Chuvash faith is sometimes attributed to the strong influence of Islam. Many religious terms are Islamic (Arabic and Persian) in origin. The traditions of Islam affected the prayer, funeral and other customs of the Chuvash. Later, the Chuvash faith was no less strongly influenced by Christianity. Nowadays, among the Chuvash living in rural areas, religious syncretism is quite widespread, where Christian traditions are closely intertwined with “pagan” (ancient Chuvash religion).

see also

Literature

• Meszáros D. Monuments of the old Chuvash faith / Trans. from Hungarian - Cheboksary: ​​ChGIGN, 2000. - 360 pp. - ISBN 5-87677-017-5.
• Magnitsky V.K. Materials for the explanation of the old Chuvash faith. Kazan, 1881;
• Denisov P.V. Religious beliefs of the Chuvash (historical and ethnographic essays). - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash State Publishing House, 1959. - 408 p.
• Trofimov A. A. Chuvash folk cult sculpture. Ch., 1993;

And behavior. The Chuvash people live in the center of the European part of Russia. Characteristic character traits are integrally connected with the traditions of these amazing people.

Origins of the people

At a distance of about 600 kilometers from Moscow is the city of Cheboksary, the center Chuvash Republic. Representatives of a colorful ethnic group live on this land.

There are many versions about the origin of this people. It is most likely that the ancestors were Turkic-speaking tribes. These people began migrating west as early as the 2nd century BC. e. Seeking a better life, they came to the modern territories of the republic back in the 7th-8th centuries and three hundred years later created a state that was known as Volga Bulgaria. This is where the Chuvash came from. The history of the people could have been different, but in 1236 the state was defeated by the Mongol-Tatars. Some people fled from the conquerors to the northern lands.

The name of this people is translated from Kyrgyz as “modest”, according to the old Tatar dialect - “peaceful”. Modern dictionaries claim that the Chuvash are “quiet”, “harmless”. The name was first mentioned in 1509.

Religious preferences

The culture of this people is unique. Elements of Western Asia can still be traced in rituals. The style was also influenced by close communication with Iranian-speaking neighbors (Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans). The Chuvash adopted not only their everyday life and economy, but also their manner of dressing. Their appearance, costume features, character and even religion were obtained from their neighbors. So, even before joining To the Russian state these people were pagans. The supreme god was called Tura. Later, other faiths began to penetrate into the colony, in particular Christianity and Islam. Those who lived on the lands of the republic worshiped Jesus. Allah became the head of those who lived outside the area. In the course of events, Muslims became dissatisfied. Yet today, most of the representatives of this people profess Orthodoxy. But the spirit of paganism is still felt.

Merging two types

Various groups influenced the appearance of the Chuvash. Most of all - the Mongoloid and Caucasian races. That is why almost all representatives of this people can be divided into fair-haired Finns and representatives of dark hair. Blonde hair is characterized by light brown hair, gray eyes, pallor, a wide oval face and a small nose, the skin is often covered with freckles. At the same time, they are somewhat darker in appearance than Europeans. Brunettes' locks are often curled, their eyes are dark brown and narrow in shape. They have poorly defined cheekbones, a depressed nose and a yellow skin type. It is worth noting here that their features are softer than those of the Mongols.

The Chuvash differ from neighboring groups. Characteristic for both types are a small oval head, a low bridge of the nose, narrowed eyes, and a small, neat mouth. Average height, not prone to obesity.

Casual look

Each nationality has a unique system of customs, traditions and beliefs. It was no exception, and from ancient times these people made cloth and canvas on their own in every home. Clothing was made from these materials. Men were supposed to wear a linen shirt and trousers. If it became cool, a caftan and a sheepskin coat were added to their look. The Chuvash had patterns unique to themselves. The woman’s appearance was successfully emphasized by unusual ornaments. All things were decorated with embroidery, including the wedged shirts that the ladies wore. Later, stripes and checks became fashionable.

Each branch of this group had and still has its own preferences for the color of clothing. Thus, the south of the republic has always preferred rich shades, and northwestern fashionistas loved light fabrics. Each woman's outfit included wide Tatar trousers. A mandatory element is an apron with a bib. It was especially diligently decorated.

In general, the appearance of the Chuvash is very interesting. The description of the headdress should be highlighted in a separate section.

Status determined by helmet

Not a single representative of the people could walk with his head uncovered. This is how a separate movement in the direction of fashion arose. Such things as tukhya and hushpu were decorated with special imagination and passion. The first was worn on the head by unmarried girls, the second was only for married women.

At first, the hat served as a talisman, a talisman against misfortune. Such an amulet was treated with special respect and decorated with expensive beads and coins. Later, such an object not only decorated the appearance of the Chuvash, it began to speak about the social and marital status of a woman.

Many researchers believe that the shape of the dress resembles Others provide a direct link to understanding the design of the Universe. Indeed, according to the ideas of this group, the earth had a quadrangular shape, and in the middle stood the tree of life. The symbol of the latter was a bulge in the center, which distinguished a married woman from a girl. Tukhya had a pointed conical shape, hushpu was round.

The coins were chosen with special care. They had to be melodic. Those that hung from the edges hit each other and rang. Such sounds scared away evil spirits - the Chuvash believed in this. The appearance and character of a people are directly related.

Ornament code

The Chuvash are famous not only for their soulful songs, but also for their embroidery. The skill grew over generations and was passed down from mother to daughter. It is in the ornaments that one can read the history of a person, his belonging to a separate group.

The main embroidery is clear geometry. The fabric should only be white or gray. It’s interesting that girls’ clothes were decorated only before the wedding. There was not enough time for this in family life. Therefore, what they did in their youth was worn for the rest of their lives.

Embroidery on clothes complemented the appearance of the Chuvash. It contained encrypted information about the creation of the world. Thus, the tree of life and eight-pointed stars, rosettes or flowers were symbolically depicted.

After the popularization of factory production, the style, color and quality of the shirt changed. The older people grieved for a long time and assured that such changes in the wardrobe would bring disaster to their people. And indeed, over the years, true representatives of this genus are becoming fewer and fewer.

World of traditions

Customs say a lot about a people. One of the most colorful rituals is a wedding. The character and appearance of the Chuvash, traditions are still preserved. It is worth noting that in ancient times wedding ceremony no priests, shamans or government officials were present. Guests of the event witnessed the creation of a family. And everyone who knew about the holiday visited the homes of the newlyweds’ parents. Interestingly, divorce was not perceived as such. According to the canons, lovers who married in front of their relatives must be faithful to each other for the rest of their lives.

Previously, the bride had to be 5-8 years older than her husband. When choosing a partner, the Chuvash put their appearance last. The character and mentality of these people required that, first of all, the girl be hardworking. They gave the young lady in marriage after she mastered housekeeping. An adult woman was also tasked with raising a young husband.

Character is in customs

As previously mentioned, the very word from which the name of the people comes is translated from most languages ​​as “peaceful”, “calm”, “modest”. This meaning absolutely corresponds to the character and mentality of this people. According to their philosophy, all people, like birds, sit on different branches big tree life, each other is a relative. Therefore, their love for each other is limitless. The Chuvash people are very peaceful and kind people. The history of the people does not contain information about attacks on the innocent and arbitrariness against other groups.

The older generation keeps traditions and lives according to the old pattern, which they learned from their parents. Lovers still get married and swear fidelity to each other in front of their families. Mass celebrations are often held, at which the Chuvash language sounds loudly and melodiously. People wear the best suits, embroidered according to all the canons. They cook traditional lamb soup - shurpa, and drink home-made beer.

The future is in the past

In modern conditions of urbanization, traditions in villages are disappearing. At the same time, the world is losing its independent culture and unique knowledge. Nevertheless, the Russian government is aimed at maximizing the interest of contemporaries in the past of different peoples. The Chuvash are no exception. Appearance, features of life, color, rituals - all this is very interesting. To show to the younger generation the culture of the people, university students of the republic spend impromptu evenings. Young people speak and sing in the Chuvash language.

The Chuvash live in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan, so their culture is successfully breaking through into the world. Representatives of the people support each other.

Recently it was translated into Chuvash language main book Christians - the Bible. Literature is flourishing. The ornaments and clothing of the ethnic group inspire famous designers to create new styles.

There are still villages where they still live according to the laws of the Chuvash tribe. The appearance of men and women in such gray hair is traditionally folk. The great past is preserved and revered in many families.