Kazan Tatars. On the question of the origin of the Volga Tatars

Tatars are the second largest people in Russia.
Photo by ITAR-TASS

On the European ethnopolitical scene, the Bulgar Turks appeared as a special ethnic community in the second half of the 5th century, after the collapse of the Hunnic state. In the 5th–6th centuries, in the Azov region and the Northern Black Sea region, an alliance of many tribes led by the Bulgars formed. In the literature they are called both Bulgars and Bulgarians; so that there is no confusion with Slavic people in the Balkans, I use the ethnonym “Bulgars” in this essay.

Bulgaria – possible options

At the end of the 7th century, part of the Bulgars moved to the Balkans. Around 680, their leader Khan Asparukh conquered lands near the Danube Delta from Byzantium, simultaneously concluding an agreement with the Yugoslav tribal association of the Seven Clans. In 681, the First Bulgar (Bulgarian) Kingdom arose. In subsequent centuries, the Danube Bulgars were assimilated both linguistically and culturally by the Slavic population. Appeared new people, which, however, retained the former Turkic ethnonym - “Bulgars” (self-name - Българ, Български).

The Bulgars, who remained in the steppes of the Eastern Black Sea region, created a state entity that went down in history under big name"Great Bulgaria". But after a brutal defeat from the Khazar Kaganate, they moved (in the 7th–8th centuries) to the Middle Volga region, where at the end of the 9th – beginning of the 10th century their new state was formed, which historians call Bulgaria/Volga-Kama Bulgaria.

The lands to which the Bulgars came (the territory mainly on the left bank of the Volga, bounded by the Kama in the north and the Samara Luka in the south) were inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes and Turks who came here earlier. All this multi-ethnic population - both old-timers and new settlers - actively interacted; By the time of the Mongol conquest, a new ethnic community had emerged - the Volga Bulgars.

The state of the Volga Bulgars fell under the blows of the Turko-Mongols in 1236. Cities were destroyed, part of the population died, many were taken captive. Those who remained fled to the right bank regions of the Volga region, to the forests north of the lower reaches of the Kama.

The Volga Bulgars were destined to play an important role in the ethnic history of all three Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region - Tatars, Bashkirs and Chuvash.

Talented Chuvash people

Chuvash, Chavash (self-name) are the main population of Chuvashia; they also live in the neighboring republics of the region, in different regions and regions of Russia. In total there are about 1,436 thousand people in the country (2010). The ethnic basis of the Chuvash was the Bulgars and related Suvars, who settled on the right bank of the Volga. Here they mixed with the local Finno-Ugric population, Turkifying it linguistically. The Chuvash language has retained many features of the Bulgarian; in linguistic classification it forms the Bulgar subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altaic family.

During the Golden Horde period, the “second wave” of Bulgar tribes moved from the left bank of the Volga to the area between the Tsivil and Sviyaga rivers. It laid the foundation for the subethnic group of the lower Chuvash (Anatri), who retain to a greater extent the Bulgar component not only in the language, but also in many components material culture. Among the riding (northern) Chuvashes (Viryals), along with the Bulgars, elements traditional culture mountain Mari, with whom the Bulgars intensively mixed, migrating to the north. This was also reflected in the vocabulary of the Chuvash-Viryals.

The self-name “Chavash” is most likely associated with the name of the tribal group of Suvars/Suvaz (Suas) close to the Bulgars. There are mentions of suvazs in Arab sources of the 10th century. The ethnonym Chavash first appears in Russian documents in 1508. In 1551, the Chuvash became part of Russia.

The predominant religion among the Chuvash (with mid-18th century centuries) – Orthodoxy; However, among the rural population, pre-Christian traditions, cults and rituals have survived to this day. There are also Chuvash Muslims (mostly those who have been living in Tatarstan and Bashkiria for several generations). Since the 18th century, writing has been based on Russian graphics (it was preceded by Arabic writing - from the time of Volga Bulgaria).

The talented Chuvash people gave Russia many wonderful people, I will name only three names: P.E. Egorov (1728–1798), architect, creator of the Summer Garden fence, participant in the construction of the Marble, Winter Palaces, Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg; N.Ya. Bichurin (in monasticism Iakinth) (1777–1853), who headed the Russian spiritual mission in Beijing for 14 years, an outstanding sinologist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences; A.G. Nikolaev (1929–2004), pilot-cosmonaut of the USSR (No. 3), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General of Aviation.

Bashkir - leader wolf

Bashkirs – indigenous people Bashkiria. According to the 2010 census, there are 1,584.5 thousand of them in Russia. They also live in other regions, in the states of Central Asia, in Ukraine.

The ethnonym adopted as the main self-name of the Bashkirs - “Bashkort” - has been known since the 9th century (basqyrt - basqurt). It is etymologized as “chief”, “leader”, “head” (bash-) plus “wolf” (kort in Oghuz-Turkic languages), that is, “wolf-leader”. Thus, it is believed that the ethnic name of the Bashkirs comes from the totemic hero-ancestor.

Previously, the ancestors of the Bashkirs (Turkic nomads of Central Asian origin) roamed the Aral Sea and Syr Darya regions (VII–VIII). From there they migrated to the Caspian and North Caucasian steppes in the 8th century; at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th centuries they moved northwards, into the steppe and forest-steppe lands between the Volga and the Urals.

Linguistic analysis shows that the vocalism (system of vowel sounds) of the Bashkir language (as well as Tatar) is very close to the vowel system of the Chuvash language (a direct descendant of Bulgar).

In the 10th – early 13th centuries, the Bashkirs were in the zone of political dominance of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria. Together with the Bulgars and other peoples of the region, they fiercely resisted the invasion of the Turko-Mongols led by Batu Khan, but were defeated, their lands were annexed to the Golden Horde. During the Golden Horde period (40s of the 13th century - 40s of the 15th century), the influence of the Kipchaks on all aspects of the life of the Bashkirs was very strong. Bashkir language formed under powerful impact Kipchak language; he is included in the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family.

After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Bashkirs found themselves under the rule of the Nogai khans, who ousted the Bashkirs from their best nomadic lands. This forced them to go north, where there was partial mixing of the Bashkirs with the Finno-Ugric peoples. Separate groups of Nogais also joined the Bashkir ethnic group.

In 1552–1557, the Bashkirs accepted Russian citizenship. This important event, which determined the further historical fate of the people, was formalized as an act of voluntary accession. Under new conditions and circumstances, the process of ethnic consolidation of the Bashkirs significantly accelerated, despite the long-term preservation of the tribal division (there were about 40 tribes and tribal groups). It should be especially noted that in the 17th–18th centuries the Bashkir ethnos continued to absorb people from other peoples of the Volga and Ural regions - the Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts and especially the Tatars, with whom they were united by linguistic kinship.

When the allied armies led by Emperor Alexander I entered Paris on March 31, 1814, the Russian troops also included Bashkir cavalry regiments. It is appropriate to remember this this year, when we celebrate the 200th anniversary Patriotic War 1812.

Adventures of the ethnonym, or Why “Tatars”

Tatars (Tatars, self-name) are the second largest people in Russia (5310.6 thousand people, 2010), the largest Turkic-speaking people in the country, the main population of Tatarstan. They also live in many Russian regions and other countries. Among the Tatars, there are three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural (Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals, the largest community); Siberian Tatars and Astrakhan Tatars.

Supporters of the Bulgaro-Tatar concept of the origin of the Tatar people believe that its ethnic basis was the Bulgars of Volga Bulgaria, in which the basic ethnocultural traditions and characteristics of the modern Tatar (Bulgaro-Tatar) people were formed. Other scientists develop the Turkic-Tatar theory of the origin of the Tatar ethnic group - that is, they talk about broader ethnocultural roots of the Tatar people than the Ural-Volga region.

The influence of the Mongols who invaded the region in the 13th century was very insignificant anthropologically. According to some estimates, under Batu, 4–5 thousand of them settled in the Middle Volga. In the subsequent period, they completely “dissolved” in the surrounding population. In the physical types of the Volga Tatars, Central Asian Mongoloid features are practically absent; most of them are Caucasians.

Islam appeared in the Middle Volga region in the 10th century. Both the ancestors of the Tatars and modern Tatar believers are Muslims (Sunnis). The exception is a small group of the so-called Kryashens, who converted to Orthodoxy in the 16th–18th centuries.

For the first time, the ethnonym “Tatars” appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes that roamed in the 6th–9th centuries in Central Asia, as the name of one of their groups. In the XIII-XIV centuries it spread to the entire Turkic-speaking population of the huge power created by Genghis Khan and the Genghisids. This ethnonym was also adopted by the Kipchaks of the Golden Horde and the khanates that were formed after its collapse, apparently because representatives of the nobility, military servicemen and bureaucrats called themselves Tatars.

However, among the broad masses, especially in the Middle Volga region - the Urals, the ethnonym “Tatars” even in the second half of the 16th century, after the annexation of the region to Russia, took root with difficulty, very gradually, largely under the influence of the Russians, who called the entire population of the Horde Tatars and khanates The famous Italian traveler of the 13th century Plano Carpini, who visited the residence of Batu Khan (in Sarai on the Volga) and at the court of the Great Khan Guyuk in Karakorum (Mongolia) on behalf of Pope Innocent IV, called his work “The History of the Mongols, whom we call Tatars.”

After the unexpected and crushing Turkic-Mongol invasion of Europe, some historians and philosophers of that time (Matthew of Paris, Roger Bacon, etc.) reinterpreted the word “Tatars” as “people from Tartarus” (that is, the underworld)... And six and a half centuries later, the author articles "Tatars" in the famous encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Efron reports that “in the 5th century. the name ta-ta or tatan (from which, in all likelihood, the word Tatars comes) refers to a Mongol tribe that lived in northeastern Mongolia and partly in Manchuria. We have almost no information about this tribe.” In general, he summarizes, “the word “Tatars” is a collective name for a number of peoples of Mongolian and, mainly, Turkic origin, speaking the Turkic language...”.

Such a generalized ethnic naming of many peoples and tribes by the name of one is not uncommon. Let us remember that in Russia only a century ago Tatars were called not only those from Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberia and Crimean Tatars, but also some Turkic-speaking peoples of the North Caucasus (“Mountain Tatars” - Karachais and Balkars), Transcaucasia (“Transcaucasian Tatars” - Azerbaijanis), Siberia (Shors, Khakassians, Tofalars, etc.).

In 1787, the outstanding French navigator La Perouse (Comte de La Perouse) named the strait between the island of Sakhalin and the mainland Tatar - because even in that already very enlightened time, almost all the peoples who lived east of the Russians and north of the Chinese were called Tatars. This hydronym, the Tatar Strait, is truly a monument to the inscrutability, mystery of migrations of ethnic names, their ability to “stick” to other peoples, as well as territories and other geographical objects.

In search of ethnohistorical unity

The ethnicity of the Volga-Ural Tatars took shape in the 15th–18th centuries in the process of migrations and rapprochement, unification of different Tatar groups: Kazan, Kasimov Tatars, Mishars (the latter are considered by researchers to be the descendants of Turkified Finno-Ugric tribes, known as Meshchers). In the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries, the growth of all-Tatar national self-awareness and awareness of the ethnohistorical unity of all territorial groups of Tatars intensified in broad layers of Tatar society and especially in intellectual circles.

At the same time, the literary Tatar language was formed, mainly on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect, replacing the Old Tatar language, which was based on the language of the Volga Turks. Writing from the 10th century to 1927 was based on Arabic (until the 10th century, the so-called Turkic runic was occasionally used); from 1928 to 1939 - based on the Latin alphabet (Yanalif); from 1939–1940 – Russian graphics. In the 1990s, a discussion intensified in Tatarstan about the transfer of Tatar writing to a modernized version of the Latin script (Yanalif-2).

The described process naturally led to the abandonment of local self-names and to the approval of the most common ethnonym, which united all groups. In the 1926 census, 88% of the Tatar population of the European part of the USSR called themselves Tatars.

In 1920, the Tatar ASSR was formed (as part of the RSFSR); in 1991 it was transformed into the Republic of Tatarstan.

A special and very interesting topic, which in this essay I can only touch on, is the relationship between the Russian and Tatar populations. As Lev Gumilyov wrote, “our ancestors, the Great Russians, in the 15th–16th–17th centuries mixed easily and quite quickly with the Tatars of the Volga, Don, and Ob...”. He liked to repeat: “scratch a Russian and you will find a Tatar, scratch a Tatar and you will find a Russian.”

Many Russian noble families had Tatar roots: the Godunovs, Yusupovs, Beklemishevs, Saburovs, Sheremetevs, Korsakovs, Buturlins, Basmanovs, Karamzins, Aksakovs, Turgenevs... The Tatar “origins” of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were traced in detail in most interesting book“Born in Russia” by literary critic and poet, professor Igor Volgin.

It was not by chance that I started this short list surnames from the Godunovs: known to everyone from history textbooks and even more from the great Pushkin tragedy, Boris Godunov, Russian Tsar in 1598–1605, was a descendant of the Tatar Murza Chet, who left the Golden Horde for Russian service under Ivan Kalita (in the 30s years of the XIV century), was baptized and received the name Zacharias. He founded the Ipatiev Monastery and became the founder of the Russian noble family of the Godunovs.

I want to complete this almost endless topic with the name of one of the most talented Russian poets of the twentieth century - Bella Akhatovna Akhmadulina, whose rare talent has different genetic origins, the Tatar one being one of the main ones: “The immemorial spirit of Asia / Still roams within me.” But her native language, the language of her creativity, was Russian: “And Pushkin looks tenderly, / And the night has passed, and the candles are going out, / And the tender taste of her native speech / So cleanly her lips are cold.”

Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvash, all the peoples of multi-ethnic Russia, which this year celebrates the 1150th anniversary of its statehood, have had a common, common, inseparable history and destiny for a very long time, for many centuries.

Tribes XI - XII centuries. They spoke Mongolian (Mongolian language group of the Altai language family). The term “Tatars” first appears in Chinese chronicles specifically to designate their northern nomadic neighbors. Later it becomes the self-name of numerous nationalities speaking languages ​​of the Tyuk language group of the Altai language family.

2. Tatars (self-name - Tatars), an ethnic group that makes up the main population of Tatarstan (Tatarstan) (1,765 thousand people, 1992). They also live in Bashkiria, the Mari Republic, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Penza and other regions of the Russian Federation. Tatars are also called Turkic-speaking communities of Siberia (Siberian Tatars), Crimea (Crimean Tatars), etc. The total number in the Russian Federation (excluding Crimean Tatars) is 5.52 million people (1992). The total number is 6.71 million people. The language is Tatar. Believing Tatars are Sunni Muslims.

Basic information

Autoethnonym (self-name)

Tatar: Tatar is the self-name of the Volga Tatars.

Main area of ​​settlement

Basic ethnic territory The Volga Tatars are the Republic of Tatarstan, where, according to the 1989 USSR census, 1,765 thousand people lived. (53% of the republic's population). A significant part of the Tatars live outside of Tatarstan: in Bashkiria - 1121 thousand people, Udmurtia - 111 thousand people, Mordovia - 47 thousand people, as well as in other national-state entities and regions of the Russian Federation. Many Tatars live within the so-called. “near abroad”: in Uzbekistan – 468 thousand people, Kazakhstan – 328 thousand people, in Ukraine – 87 thousand people. etc.

Number

The dynamics of the population of the Tatar ethnic group according to the country's censuses is as follows: 1897 – 2228 thousand (total number of Tatars), 1926 – 2914 thousand Tatars and 102 thousand Kryashens, 1937 – 3793 thousand, 1939 – 4314 thousand ., 1959 - 4968 thousand, 1970 - 5931 thousand, 1979 - 6318 thousand people. The total number of Tatars according to the 1989 census was 6649 thousand people, of which in the Russian Federation - 5522 thousand.

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

There are several quite distinct ethno-territorial groups of Tatars; they are sometimes considered separate ethnic groups. The largest of them is the Volga-Urals, which in turn consists of the Kazan, Kasimov, Mishar and Kryashen Tatars). Some researchers, as part of the Volga-Ural Tatars, especially highlight the Astrakhan Tatars, which in turn consist of such groups as the Yurt, Kundrovskaya, etc.). Each group had its own tribal divisions, for example, the Volga-Ural group - Meselman, Kazanly, Bolgar, Misher, Tipter, Kereshen, Nogaybak, etc. Astrakhan - Nugai, Karagash, Yurt Tatarlars.
Other ethno-territorial groups of Tatars are Siberian and Crimean Tatars.

Language

Tatar: The Tatar language has three dialects - western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). The earliest known literary monument in the Tatar language dates back to the 13th century; the formation of the modern Tatar national language was completed at the beginning of the 20th century.

Writing

Until 1928, Tatar writing was based on Arabic script; in the period 1928-1939. - in Latin, and then based on Cyrillic.

Religion

Islam

Orthodoxy: Believers of the Tatars are mainly Sunni Muslims, the group of Kryashens are Orthodox.

Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

The ethnonym “Tatar” began to spread among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes of Central Asia and southern Siberia from the 6th century. In the 13th century during the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and then Batu, Tatars appear in Eastern Europe and make up a significant part of the population of the Golden Horde. As a result of complex ethnogenetic processes occurring in the 13th-14th centuries, the Turkic and Mongolian tribes of the Golden Horde consolidated, including both the earlier Turkic newcomers and the local Finnish-speaking population. In the khanates formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, it was primarily the elite of society who called themselves Tatars; after these khanates became part of Russia, the ethnonym “Tatars” began to be adopted by the common people. Finally Tatar ethnicity formed only at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1920, the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as part of the RSFSR, and since 1991 it has been called the Republic of Tatarstan.

Farm

At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the basis of the traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars was arable farming with three fields in forest and forest-steppe regions and a fallow-fallow system in the steppe. The land was cultivated with a two-toothed plow and a heavy Saban plow in the 19th century. they began to be replaced by more improved plows. The main crops were winter rye and spring wheat, oats, barley, peas, lentils, etc. Livestock farming in the northern regions of the Tatars played a subordinate role; here it was of a stall-pasture nature. They raised small cattle, chickens, and horses, the meat of which was used for food; the Kryashens raised pigs. In the south, in the steppe zone, livestock farming was not inferior in importance to agriculture, and in some places it had an intense semi-nomadic character - horses and sheep were grazed all year round. Poultry was also bred here. Vegetable gardening played a role among the Tatars minor role, the main crop was potatoes. Beekeeping was developed, and melon growing was developed in the steppe zone. Hunting as a trade was important only for the Ural Mishars; fishing was of an amateur nature and only commercial on the Ural and Volga rivers. Among the crafts of the Tatars, woodworking played a significant role, high level craftsmanship was distinguished by leather processing, gold embroidery, weaving, felting, blacksmithing, jewelry and other crafts were developed.

Traditional clothing

Traditional Tatar clothing was made from home-made or purchased fabrics. The underwear of men and women was a tunic-shaped shirt, men's length almost to the knees, and women's almost to the floor with a wide gather at the hem and a bib decorated with embroidery, and trousers with wide steps. The women's shirt was more decorated. The outerwear was swinging with a continuous fitted back. This included a camisole, sleeveless or with short sleeves; the women's was richly decorated; over the camisole, men wore a long, spacious robe, plain or striped, belted with a sash. In cold weather they wore quilted or fur beshmets and fur coats. On the road they wore a straight-back fur sheepskin coat with a sash or a checkmen of the same cut, but made of cloth. The men's headdress was a skull cap of various shapes; a fur or quilted hat was worn over it in cold weather, and a felt hat in summer. Women's headdresses were distinguished by great variety - various types of richly decorated hats, bedspreads, towel-shaped headdresses. Women wore a lot of jewelry - earrings, braid pendants, breast jewelry, baldrics, bracelets; silver coins were widely used in making jewelry. Traditional types Shoes were leather ichigs and shoes with soft and hard soles, often made of colored leather. Work shoes were Tatar-style bast shoes, which were worn with white cloth stockings, and mishars with onuchas.

Traditional settlements and dwellings

Traditional Tatar villages (auls) were located along the river network and transport communications. In the forest zone, their layout was different - cumulus, nesting, chaotic; the villages were characterized by crowded buildings, uneven and confusing streets, and the presence of numerous dead ends. The buildings were located inside the estate, and the street was formed by a continuous line of blank fences. The settlements of the forest-steppe and steppe zones were distinguished by the orderliness of their development. In the center of the settlement there were mosques, shops, public grain barns, fire sheds, administrative buildings, families of wealthy peasants, clergy, and merchants also lived here.
The estates were divided into two parts - the front yard with housing, storage and premises for livestock, and the back yard, where there was a vegetable garden, a threshing floor with a current, a barn, a chaff barn, and a bathhouse. The buildings of the estate were located either randomly or grouped in a U-, L-shape, in two rows, etc. The buildings were erected from wood with a predominance of timber frame technology, but there were also buildings made from clay, brick, stone, adobe, and wattle structures. The dwelling was three-partitioned - izba-seni-izba or two-partitioned - izba-seni; among the wealthy Tatars there were five-walled, cross-shaped, two- and three-story houses with storage rooms and shops on the lower floor. The roofs were two- or four-slope; they were covered with planks, shingles, straw, reeds, and sometimes coated with clay. The internal layout of the Northern Central Russian type predominated. The stove was located at the entrance, bunks were laid along the front wall with a “tour” place of honor in the middle, along the line of the stove the dwelling was divided by a partition or curtain into two parts: the women’s – kitchen and the men’s – guest. The stove was of the Russian type, sometimes with a boiler, mounted or suspended. They rested, ate, worked, slept on bunks; in the northern regions they were shortened and supplemented with benches and tables. The sleeping places were enclosed by a curtain or canopy. In interior design big role embroidered fabric products were played. In some areas, the exterior decoration of dwellings was abundant - carvings and polychrome painting.

Food

The basis of nutrition was meat, dairy and plant foods - soups seasoned with pieces of dough, sour bread, flat cakes, pancakes. Wheat flour was used as a dressing for various dishes. Homemade noodles were popular; they were cooked in meat broth with the addition of butter, lard, sour milk. Delicious dishes included baursak - dough balls boiled in lard or oil. There was a variety of porridges made from lentils, peas, barley, millet, etc. Various meats were consumed - lamb, beef, poultry; horse meat was popular among the Mishars. They prepared tutyrma for future use - sausage with meat, blood and cereals. Beleshi were made from dough with meat filling. There were a variety of dairy products: katyk - a special type of sour milk, sour cream, kort - cheese, etc. They ate few vegetables, but from the end of the 19th century. Potatoes began to play a significant role in the diet of the Tatars. The drinks were tea, ayran - a mixture of katyk and water, the festive drink was shirbet - made from fruit and honey dissolved in water. Islam stipulated dietary prohibitions on pork and alcoholic beverages.

Social organization

Until the beginning of the 20th century. For public relations Some groups of Tatars were characterized by tribal division. In the field of family relations, the predominance of small families was noted with a small percentage large families, which included 3-4 generations of relatives. There was avoidance of men by women, female seclusion. The isolation of male and female youth was strictly observed; the status of men was much higher than that of women. In accordance with the norms of Islam, there was a custom of polygamy, more typical for the wealthy elite.

Spiritual culture and traditional beliefs

It was typical for the wedding rituals of the Tatars that the parents of the boy and girl agreed on the marriage; the consent of the young people was considered optional. During preparations for the wedding, the relatives of the bride and groom discussed the size of the bride price, which was paid by the groom's side. There was a custom of kidnapping the bride, which eliminated the payment of bride price and expensive wedding expenses. The main wedding rituals, including the festive feast, were held in the bride’s house without the participation of the newlyweds. The young woman remained with her parents until the bride price was paid, and her move to her husband’s house was sometimes delayed until the birth of the first child, which was also accompanied by many rituals.
The festive culture of the Tatars was closely connected with the Muslim religion. The most significant of the holidays were Korban Gaete - sacrifice, Uraza Gaete - the end of the 30-day fast, Maulid - the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. At the same time, many holidays and rituals were of a pre-Islamic nature, for example, related to the cycle of agricultural work. Among the Kazan Tatars, the most significant of them was Sabantuy (saban - “plow”, tui - “wedding”, “holiday”), celebrated in the spring before sowing. During it, competitions were held in running and jumping, national wrestling keresh and horse racing, and a collective meal of porridge was held. Among the baptized Tatars, traditional holidays were dedicated to the Christian calendar, but also contained many archaic elements.
There was a belief in various master spirits: water - suanasy, forests - shurale, earth - fat anasy, brownie oy iyase, barn - abzar iyase, ideas about werewolves - ubyr. Prayers were held in groves called keremet; it was believed that an evil spirit with the same name lived in them. There were also ideas about other evil spirits - gins and peris. For ritual help they turned to the yemchi - that’s what healers and healers were called.
Folklore, song and dance art associated with the use of musical instruments– kuraya (a type of flute), kubyz (labial harp), and over time the accordion became widespread.

Bibliography and sources

Bibliographies

• Material culture of the Kazan Tatars (extensive bibliography). Kazan, 1930./Vorobiev N.I.

General work

• Kazan Tatars. Kazan, 1953./Vorobiev N.I.
• Tatars. Naberezhnye Chelny, 1993./Iskhakov D.M.
• Peoples of the European part of the USSR. T.II / Peoples of the world: Ethnographic essays. M., 1964. P.634-681.
• Peoples of the Volga and Urals regions. Historical and ethnographic essays. M., 1985.
• Tatars and Tatarstan: Directory. Kazan, 1993.
• Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals. M., 1967.
• Tatars // Peoples of Russia: Encyclopedia. M., 1994. pp. 320-331.

Selected aspects

• Agriculture of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals 19th-early 20th centuries. M., 1981./Khalikov N.A.
• Origin of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1978./Khalikov A.Kh.
• Tatar people and their ancestors. Kazan, 1989./Khalikov A.Kh.
• Mongols, Tatars, Golden Horde and Bulgaria. Kazan, 1994./Khalikov A.Kh.
• Ethnocultural zoning of the Tatars of the Middle Volga region. Kazan, 1991.
• Modern rituals of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1984./Urazmanova R.K.
• Ethnogenesis and main milestones in the development of the Tatar-Bulgars // Problems of linguoethnohistory of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1995./Zakiev M.Z.
• History of the Tatar ASSR (from ancient times to the present day). Kazan, 1968.
• Settlement and number of Tatars in the Volga-Ural historical and ethnographic region in the 18th-19th centuries. // Soviet ethnography, 1980, No. 4./Iskhakov D.M.
• Tatars: ethnos and ethnonym. Kazan, 1989./Karimullin A.G.
• Handicrafts of the Kazan province. Vol. 1-2, 8-9. Kazan, 1901-1905./Kosolapov V.N.
• Peoples of the Middle Volga region and Southern Urals. Ethnogenetic view of history. M., 1992./Kuzeev R.G.
• Terminology of kinship and properties among the Mishar Tatars in the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic // Materials on Tatar dialectology. 2. Kazan, 1962./Mukhamedova R.G.
• Beliefs and rituals of the Kazan Tatars, formed due to the influence of Sunni Mohammedanism on their life // Western Russian Geographical Society. T. 6. 1880./Nasyrov A.K.
• Origin of the Kazan Tatars. Kazan, 1948.
• Tatarstan: national interests (Political essay). Kazan, 1995./Tagirov E.R.
• Ethnogenesis of the Volga Tatars in the light of anthropological data // Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences. New gray T.7 .M.-L., 1949./Trofimova T.A.
• Tatars: problems of history and language (Collected articles on problems of linguistic history, revival and development of the Tatar nation). Kazan, 1995./Zakiev M.Z.
• Islam and the national ideology of the Tatar people // Islamic-Christian borderland: results and prospects of study. Kazan, 1994./Amirkhanov R.M.
• Rural housing of the Tatar ASSR. Kazan, 1957./Bikchentaev A.G.
• Artistic crafts of Tatarstan in the past and present. Kazan, 1957./Vorobiev N.I., Busygin E.P.
• History of the Tatars. M., 1994./Gaziz G.

Selected regional groups

• Geography and culture of ethnographic groups of Tatars in the USSR. M., 1983.
• Teptyari. Experience of ethnostatistical study // Soviet ethnography, 1979, No. 4./Iskhakov D.M.
• Mishar Tatars. Historical and ethnographic research. M., 1972./Mukhamedova R.G.
• Chepetsk Tatars (Brief historical sketch) // New in ethnographic studies of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1978./Mukhamedova R.G.
• Kryashen Tatars. Historical and ethnographic study of material culture (mid-19th-early 20th centuries). M., 1977./Mukhametshin Yu.G.
• On the history of the Tatar population of the Mordovian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (about the Mishars) // Tr.NII YALIE. Issue 24 (serial source). Saransk, 1963./Safrgalieva M.G.
• Bashkirs, Meshcheryaks and Teptyars // Izv. Russian Geographical Society.T.13, Issue. 2. 1877./Uyfalvi K.
• Kasimov Tatars. Kazan, 1991./Sharifullina F.M.

Publication of sources

• Sources on the history of Tatarstan (16-18 centuries). Book 1. Kazan, 1993.
• Materials on the history of the Tatar people. Kazan, 1995.
• Decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars on the formation of the Autonomous Tatar Soviet Socialist Republic // Collection. legalizations and orders of the workers' and peasants' government. No. 51. 1920.

According to the 2010 census, there are more than 5 million Tatars in Russia. The Kazan Tatars have their own national autonomy within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Tatarstan. Siberian Tatars do not have national autonomy. But among them there are those who want to call themselves Siberian Tatars. About 200 thousand people declared this during the census. And this position has a basis.

One of the main questions: should the Tatars be considered a single people or a union of close ethnolinguistic groups? Among the Tatar subethnic groups, in addition to the Kazan and Siberian Tatars, the Mishar Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars, Polish-Lithuanian Tatars and others also stand out.

Often even the common name - “Tatars” - is not accepted by many representatives of these groups. For a long time, Kazan Tatars called themselves Kazanians, and Siberian Tatars called themselves Muslims. In Russian sources of the 16th century, the Siberian Tatars were called “Busormans”, “Tatarovya”, “Siberian people”. The common name for the Kazan and Siberian Tatars appeared through the efforts of the Russian administration at the end of the 19th century. In Russian and Western European practice, even representatives of peoples who did not belong to them were called Tatars for a long time.

Language

Now many Siberian Tatars have accepted the official point of view that their language is an eastern dialect of literary Tatar, spoken by the Volga Tatars. However, there are also opponents to this opinion. According to their version, Siberian-Tatar is an independent language belonging to the northwestern (Kypchak) group of languages; it has its own dialects, which are divided into dialects. For example, the Tobol-Irtysh dialect includes Tyumen, Tar, Tevriz and other dialects. Not all Siberian Tatars understand literary Tatar. However, it is the language that is taught in schools and the language that is studied in universities. At the same time, Siberian Tatars prefer to speak their own language at home.

Origin

There are several theories of the origin of the Tatars: Bulgaro-Tatar, Turkic-Tatar and Tatar-Mongolian. Supporters of the idea that the Volga and Siberian Tatars are two different peoples adhere mainly to the Bulgaro-Tatar version. According to it, the Kazan Tatars are the descendants of the Bulgars, Turkic-speaking tribes who lived on the territory of the Bulgar state.

The ethnonym “Tatars” came to this territory with the Mongol-Tatars. In the 13th century, under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars, Volga Bulgaria became part of the Golden Horde. After its collapse, independent khanates began to form, the largest of which was Kazan.

At the beginning of the 20th century, historian Gainetdin Akhmetov wrote: “Although it is traditionally believed that the Bulgars and Kazan are two states that replaced one another, with careful historical comparison and study it is easy to find out their direct inheritance and, to some extent, even identity: in Kazan The same Turkic-Bulgar people lived in the khanate.”

The Siberian Tatars are defined as an ethnic group formed from a complex combination of Mongolian, Samoyedic, Turkic, and Ugric components. First, the ancestors of the Khanty and Mansi came to the territory of Siberia, followed by the Turks, among whom were the Kipchaks. It was from among the latter that the core of the Siberian Tatars was formed. According to some researchers, some of the Kipchaks migrated further to the territory of the Volga region and also mixed with the Bulgars.

In the 13th century Western Siberia the Mongol-Tatars arrived. In the 14th century, the first state formation of the Siberian Tatars arose - the Tyumen Khanate. At the beginning of the 16th century it became part of the Siberian Khanate. Over the course of several centuries, there was also mixing with the peoples living in Central Asia.

The ethnic groups of the Kazan and Siberian Tatars emerged at approximately the same time - around the 15th century.

Appearance

A significant part of the Kazan Tatars (up to 60%) look like Europeans. There are especially many fair-haired and light-eyed people among the Kryashens - a group of baptized Tatars who also live on the territory of Tatarstan. It is sometimes noted that the appearance of the Volga Tatars was formed as a result of contacts with Finno-Ugric peoples. Siberian Tatars are more similar to the Mongols - they are dark-eyed, dark-haired, with high cheekbones.

Customs

Siberian and Kazan Tatars are mostly Sunni Muslims. However, they also retained elements of pre-Islamic beliefs. From the Siberian Turks, for example, the Siberian Tatars inherited the veneration of ravens for a long time. Although the same ritual of “crow porridge”, which was cooked before the start of sowing, is now almost forgotten.

The Kazan Tatars had rituals that were largely adopted from the Finno-Ugric tribes, for example, weddings. Ancient funeral rituals, now completely supplanted by Muslim traditions, originated in the rituals of the Bulgars.

To a large extent, the customs and traditions of the Siberian and Kazan Tatars have already mixed and unified. This happened after many residents of the Kazan Khanate conquered by Ivan the Terrible migrated to Siberia, and also under the influence of globalization.

Among the non-Russian population of the east of the European part of the USSR, the Tatars are the most numerous (4969 thousand people, according to the 1959 census). In addition to the so-called Volga Tatars living along the middle reaches of the Volga and in the Urals, to whose ethnographic characteristics this article is devoted, this number also includes Tatars from other regions of the Soviet Union. Thus, between the Volga and Ural rivers live the Astrakhan Tatars (Kundrovsky and Karagash) - descendants of the Nogais, the main population of the Golden Horde, who differ in their everyday life from the Volga Tatars. The Crimean Tatars, who differ both in life and language from the Volga Tatars, are now settled in various regions of the USSR. Lithuanian Tatars are descendants of the Crimean Tatars, but they have not preserved their language and only differ from the Lithuanians in some features of their life 1 . West Siberian Tatars are close to the Volga Tatars in language, but differ in their way of life 2.

According to the dialectal features of the language, everyday differences, and the history of formation, the Volga Tatars are divided into two main groups: Kazan Tatars and Mishars; among these groups there are several divisions.

The Kazan Tatars are most compactly settled in the Tatar, as well as in the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and are found in separate groups in the Mari and Udmurt Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics, in the Perm, Kirov, Sverdlovsk and Orenburg regions. The Mishars are settled primarily on the right bank of the Volga: in the Gorky, Ulyanovsk, Penza, Tambov, Saratov regions, as well as in the Tatar, Bashkir, Mordovian and Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics (in particular, significant groups of Mishars live in Western Trans-Kama, in Tataria, south of the Kama, and in western regions of Bashkiria). Mishar Tatars live in separate villages in the left bank parts of the Kuibyshev and Saratov regions, as well as in the Sverdlovsk and Orenburg regions. The so-called Kasimov Tatars, living in the Ryazan region, stand somewhat apart. The Karin (Nukrat) and Glazov Tatars live in isolation - descendants of the population of the ancient Bulgar colony on the river. Cheptse, a tributary of the river. Vyatka.

A significant number of Kazan Tatars and Mishars live in Donbass. Grozny region, Azerbaijan, the republics of Central Asia, Western and Eastern Siberia, in particular at the Lena mines, where they appeared in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. as migrant workers and partly as migrant peasants. There are many Tatars in Moscow and Leningrad, in the cities of the Volga region and the Urals. There are Tatar migrants from the Volga region and abroad: in China, Finland and some other countries.

According to the 1959 census, there are 1,345.2 thousand Tatars in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, of which 29.4% live in cities. In addition to the Tatars, Russians, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Udmurts, Maris, etc. live in the republic.

The name “Volga Tatars” is used only in literature. They themselves call themselves Tatars. Kazan Tatars sometimes call themselves Kazanlak, and Mishars - Migaer. The Mishars call themselves Tatars. Russians, calling all groups Tatars, distinguish them by their habitat: Kazan, Kasimov, Sergach, Tambov, Penza, etc.

Among the Volga Tatars there is a small ethnographic group of Kryashen Tatars who converted to Orthodoxy. They adopted Russian culture to some extent, retaining, however, their language and many features of life.

The Tatars speak one of the languages ​​of the Turkic group, formed as a result of the mixing of a number of ancient tribal languages. Traces of this mixture are still found in various dialects and dialects. The modern language of the Volga Tatars is divided into Western - Mishar and Middle - Kazan dialects, somewhat different from each other in phonetics, morphology and vocabulary.

The Tatar literary language is built on the basis of the Kazan dialect, but in our time it has included many Mishar elements. Thus, in a number of words Kazan was replaced by Mishar ye (shigit - yeget).

In Soviet times, the Tatar literary language received significant development, enriched with new words, especially in the field of political and scientific terms, which is a consequence of the enormous cultural upsurge that the Tatar people are experiencing under the conditions of the Soviet socialist state system.

Brief historical sketch

The population of the territory of the modern Atar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic became acquainted with iron in the era of the so-called Ananyin culture (VII-III centuries BC). The Ananyin people were sedentary; the basis of their economy was hoe farming and cattle breeding. Hunting continued to play a significant role. Around the turn of our era, the Pyanobor culture was formed on the basis of the Ananino culture. The descendants of the drunken fighters are the Finnish peoples of the Middle Volga and Kama regions.

Some of these Finnish peoples were conquered and assimilated by the Bulgars, a Turkic people who came from the south in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. e. Even in the steppes of the Volga and Azov regions, that is, before the resettlement to the Kama region, part of the Alans, an Iranian-speaking people, whose ancestors are considered to be the Sarmatians, and the descendants of modern Ossetians, joined the Bulgars. The Bulgaro-Alan tribes created a state in the Kama region, known as Volga Bulgaria. A significant, if not most, part of the population of Volga Bulgaria were descendants of local Finnish peoples. The language of the Volga Bulgars, related to the Turkic language family, was probably closest to modern Chuvash.

In 1236-1238 Volga Bulgaria was defeated by the Mongols, who were known to their neighbors as Tatars. Later, the name "Tatars" began to be applied to those Turkic peoples who were conquered by the Mongols and were part of the Mongol armies. After the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Volga Bulgaria became part of the Golden Horde, the vast majority of whose population were Turkic peoples, mainly Kypchaks (Polovtsians). The name “Tatars” was assigned to them. The newcomers began to settle on the Bulgarian lands, mainly in the southern places, gradually settling down and merging with the indigenous population, introducing many of their own features into their life, and especially into their language.

The religious beliefs of the Bulgaro-Tatar population were close to the animistic views of the neighboring peoples of the Middle Volga region. They believed in the master spirits of water (su anasy), forest (urman iyase or shurale), earth (shir anasy - mother of the earth), in spirits that send diseases (mother of smallpox, fever and other diseases). In addition to the brownie (ey iyase) - the patron of the house, they revered the “owner of the stable” (abzar iyase), close to the patron spirits of livestock among nomads. They believed in werewolves (ubyr), as well as in a special spirit called bichur, which did not exist in the mythology of their neighbors. Bichura, according to the Tatars, settled in the house and could help the owner: get him money, milk other people’s cows for him, etc., or harm him. Almost all the spirits of Tatar folk mythology have an analogy among their neighbors, but some were endowed with specific properties. For example, the shurale goblin allegedly loves to tickle people caught in the forest to death, rides horses grazing at the edge of the forest, bringing them to exhaustion.

Sunni Islam began to penetrate among the Bulgars from the East, starting in the 10th century. It was first the religion of the ruling elite of the Bulgar, and later of the Tatar-Bulgar society, and then gradually penetrated into the working strata of the Tatars.

In the second half of the 14th century. The Bulgarian lands, which had been restored, were again attacked by the Golden Horde feudal lords, Russian appanage princes, and then by the invasion of Tamerlane’s troops. As a result, Volga Bulgaria ceased to exist as a vassal state of the Golden Horde. The territory of the former center of Volga Bulgaria was deserted, the population moved even further north from the lower reaches of the Kama and to the northern part of the interfluve of Sviyaga and Sura, on the right bank of the Volga. A new economic and cultural association began to be created on these lands, the center of which was the city of Kazan. In the middle of the 15th century. it turned into a feudal state - the Kazan Khanate.

The question of the origin of the main population of the Khanate - the Kazan Tatars - has long been the subject of controversy. Some scientists (V.V. Radlov, V.V. Bartold, N.I. Ashmarin, S.E. Malov) considered them to be the Golden Horde Tatars who moved to the region, displacing the former Bulgars, others (D.K. Grekov, S. P. Tolstov, A. P. Smirnov, N. F. Kalinin, N. I. Vorobyov, Kh. G. Gimadi), based on archaeological, historical and ethnographic materials, as well as anthropological data, believe that the ethnic basis of the Kazan The Tatars are part of the ancient Bulgars who moved to the north and assimilated separate groups of the Finno-Ugric population there. A part of the Tatar-Kypchaks merged with them, who had a significant influence, mainly on the language, making it close to Tatar official language Golden Horde. This opinion is currently considered the most reasonable. The neighbors of the Kazan Tatars, mainly Russians, with whom they had also been in contact for a long time, first called the population of the Khanate new Bulgars, Kazanians, and later, due to the fact that the Golden Horde dynasty ruled in the new state and the Horde feudal Tatars were of great importance, they gave them the name Kazan Tatars , which, by the way, did not take root as a self-name for a long time.

The formation of the Mishar Tatars took place in the forest-steppe zone west of the river. Sura, in the basin of the Oka tributaries. Here, in the areas inhabited by local tribes, Finno-Ugrians in language, mainly the ancestors of the Mordovians, since the beginning of the millennium AD. e. Separate groups of steppe nomads began to penetrate and settled here. After the formation of the Golden Horde, separate groups of Tatar-Kypchaks with their Murzas moved to this area, which became the actual border of the Horde proper and lands inhabited by Russians. Strongholds of these groups, small towns, arose: Temnikov, Narovchat, Shatsk, Kadom, etc. Here the Tatars gradually settled down, drawing closer to the ancient inhabitants of these places - the Finno-Ugric tribes. After the Battle of Kulikovo and the weakening of the power of the Golden Horde, the Kipchak Tatars went into the service of the Moscow princes and began, together with Russian troops, to guard the southern borders of Russian lands.

During the Golden Horde period, Islam became the official religion. However, ancient beliefs manifested themselves in various rituals for a long time. The Tatars revered the places of prayer of neighboring peoples, sacred groves, where the evil spirit of Keremet supposedly lived. The groves themselves were also called Keremets. The efforts of the Muslim clergy to destroy these groves were unsuccessful, since the population guarded them.

Healers and healers (yemchi) were very popular at especially as healers of diseases. They treated with spells. The Muslim clergy also used magical techniques to treat and prevent diseases. Mullahs and azanchi (junior spiritual ranks) practiced treatment by reading certain passages from the Koran, various prayers-spells, hanging amulets with the texts of sacred books sewn into them, using sacred water from the Zem-Zem spring in Arabia, earth brought by pilgrims from Mecca - the sacred cities of Muslims.

Many magical techniques were used to treat childhood diseases allegedly caused by the evil eye. To take away evil eye and in general to protect children from the action of evil forces, various amulets were sewn onto their clothes and headdresses, in particular pieces of wood (rowan), as well as shiny objects, which were supposed to attract an evil look.

Among religious ideas There were Tatars and some ancient beliefs of the Arabs were brought along with Islam. These include faith in yukha - a wonderful serpent that can supposedly take on a human form, faith in genies and peri-spirits, which supposedly can bring great harm to humans. The Tatars believed, for example, that mental illnesses are the result of a certain peri settling in a person, and paralysis is the result of accidental contact with them.

After the fall of the Golden Horde, the number of Tatars moving from the south to Russian lands began to increase. So, in the 15th century. The Horde prince Kasym appeared in Moscow with his retinue and transferred to Russian service. The Meshchersky town on the Oka River, later named Kasimov, was transferred to his management. The vassal Kasimov Khanate was formed here. Subsequently, many Nogai Murzas with their troops also switched to Russian service; they, together with part of the Kipchaks who moved here, were resettled along the defensive line that ran along the river. Sura, to protect the border with the Kazan Khanate. Tatar settlements arose in the areas of new Russian cities: Arzamas, later Alatyr, Kurmysh, etc.

Thus, during the XV - XVI centuries. At the same time, both groups of Volga Tatars were formed: on the old Bulgar lands - the Kazan Tatars, descendants of the Bulgars with an admixture of Kipchak Tatars, and the Mishars, mainly Kipchaks, immigrants from the Golden Horde, who settled west of the river. Sura, in the Oka basin.

The struggle between Moscow and Kazan for the Middle Volga region ended in 1552 with the capture of Kazan and the annexation of all lands subject to the Khanate to the Russian state. Thus, in the middle of the 16th century. all the Tatars of the Volga region, both Kazan and Mishars, ended up on the territory of Russian possessions.

After the annexation of the Middle Volga region to the Moscow state, the population of the region closely linked their fate with the Russian people. Annexation to the Russian state put an end to feudal fragmentation, constant attacks by nomads, predatory destruction of productive forces, despotic oppression by the khans, from which the population of the region suffered. The peoples of the Middle Volga region joined the more intensive and developed economic life of the Russian state.

At the same time, the indigenous peoples of the region, especially the Kazan Tatars, had to fight hard to defend their language and culture against the Russification policy of the tsarist government. One of the sides of this policy was the imposition of Orthodoxy on the Tatar population. By the time the region annexed to the Russian state, not all segments of the population professed Islam, so the spread of Orthodoxy was to some extent successful; Even an ethnic group of Tatars-Kryashens (baptized) was formed, which still exists. Later, the Christianization of the Tatars was much more difficult. In the dialect of modern Kryashens, whose ancestors were not Muslims, there are almost no Arabic and Persian words that entered the Tatar language through Islam.

While colonizing the region with the Russian population, the tsarist government drove Tatar peasants from the best lands. This caused a series of uprisings, and then the flight of part of the Kazan Tatars, mainly to the middle part of the Urals and Bashkiria.

The working masses of the Tatars fell under double oppression: being in the majority first yasak and later state peasants, they suffered a lot from the arbitrariness of the tsarist administration and from their feudal lords, who first tried to get a second yasak from them in their favor, and later exploited them in other ways. All this exacerbated class contradictions and prepared the ground for brutal class battles that unfolded more than once in the region, especially during popular uprisings led by Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev, in which the Tatars took an active part.

After the region annexed to the Russian state, the majority of Tatar feudal lords went into the service of the tsarist government, but at the same time continued to fight for their privileges, for dominance over the indigenous population; opposing Islam to Orthodoxy, they preached hatred of everything Russian. However, during popular movements, the Tatar ruling classes usually sided with the tsarist government.

In relation to the Mishar Tatars, who became part of the Russian state before the Kazan Tatars, the national-colonial policy of tsarism was carried out somewhat differently; in particular, cruel Russification through forced baptism was not carried out among them. Tsarist government in the 17th century. transferred part of the Mishars along with their Murzas to the western part of Bashkiria to protect the fortified borders of the Volga region from attacks by southern nomads. The Mishars were involved in the construction of defensive structures both on the right bank and beyond the Volga, allocating them with lands in the newly captured places. The government equated the mishars who remained in their former places with the yasak, later state peasants, taking away a significant part of their lands and transferring them to Russian landowners.

Thus, in the XVII - XVIII centuries. Kazan Tatars and right-bank Tatars-Mishars moved east in fairly significant numbers to the Trans-Volga lands, especially to the Western Urals, making up a large percentage of the population there. The Kazan Tatars, who fled here even earlier, fell into semi-serf dependence on the Bashkir feudal lords and received the name “friends” or “teptyars”. The serving Tatar-Mishars called temen (Temnikovskys) retained their privileged position for a long time, and the so-called Alatyr, or Simbirsk, Mishars who moved later became ordinary yasak-payers, and later state peasants. They settled with the Bashkirs or occupied free lands. The Teptyars and Alatyr Mishars became close to the Bashkirs and representatives of other peoples of the Volga region: Chuvash, Mordovians, Mari, Udmurts, but retained their language, albeit with some Bashkirisms. They formed a unique subgroup of the Tatars of the Urals, different in everyday life from the Kazan Tatars and the Mishar Tatars of the right bank.

Migration of the Tatars after their entry into the Russian state during the 16th - 18th centuries. contributed to the further process of their ethnic formation. In new places they did not lose their main features, but as a result of rapprochement with new neighbors, features appeared in their language and way of life that distinguished them from those who remained in their previous habitats.

The development of capitalist relations among the Tatars was slower than among the Russians. However, commodity-money relations gradually penetrated into the Tatar village, contributing to the stratification of the Tatar peasantry. At the end of the 18th century. Ruined peasants began to engage in handicrafts, and traders and the rich part of the peasants first began buying products from artisans, and then organizing small factories.

The abolition of serfdom had little effect on the Tatars, who had previously been state peasants, but the 1866 reform concerning state peasants worsened their economic situation, depriving them of a significant part of forest and hay land.

The rapid development of capitalism in Russia in the post-reform period increased the stratification of the Tatar village. Peasants lost their livestock and equipment and were forced to rent out allotment land. Due to brutal exploitation by buyers and owners of handicraft industries, handicraft industries did not provide the working population with a means of subsistence. The Tatar poor began to go to otkhodnichestvo, creating separate groups of workers in otkhodnichestvo areas. However, the formation of the Tatar proletariat was hampered by feudal remnants that kept the poor in the countryside.

The Tatar bourgeoisie, into whose ranks the old feudal elite gradually joined, engaged in trade both in the region and beyond (Central Asia, Kazakhstan), in the second half of the 19th century. tried to found large industrial enterprises, but ran into fierce competition: it was more profitable for Russian industrialists to keep the Tatars buying raw materials, especially outside the region, and in their primary processing, than to allow them into large-scale production, where Russian capital was firmly established.

At this time, the Tatars were already forming into a bourgeois nation. The Tatar ruling classes proclaimed Islam as the basis folk culture. Numerous cadres of Muslim clergy arose, subjugating the school and invading even family life Tatars Over the centuries, Islam has imbued with its dogmas and institutions not only the consciousness, but also the life of the people. Every Tatar village had at least one mosque with an appropriate staff of clergy. To perform the wedding ceremony (nikah), as well as to name the child, a mullah was invited.

The funeral was carried out according to religious rites. They tried to bury the deceased as quickly as possible, and the entire ritual was performed by men. Women were not even allowed to enter the cemetery. The Tatars usually planted large trees on their graves, so the cemeteries were large groves, carefully fenced and guarded.

The relative isolation of the Tatar culture, imbued with Muslim fanaticism, determined the persistence of their backwardness and hampered the cultural growth of Tatar society. Religious school, where all attention was focused on the meaningless cramming of Muslim dogmas, did not provide the knowledge necessary for practical life. The leading people of Tatar society rebelled against Muslim scholasticism with its teaching about indifference to everything earthly and boundless submission to fate (Sufism), so convenient for the exploitation of the working masses by the ruling classes. At the same time, advanced Russian social thought of the post-reform era could not help but influence the Tatar educated society. A huge role here was played by Kazan University, opened in 1804, which became the cultural center of the entire Middle Volga region.

Among the Tatar bourgeoisie, supporters of some changes in the life of the Tatar people stood out. They began their activities by changing teaching methods at school, and therefore received the name New Methodists (Jadidists), in contrast to the supporters of the old days - Old Methodists (Kadimists). Gradually, the struggle between these movements engulfed various aspects of the life of Tatar society.

As in any national movement, among the Jadids there were two sharp various directions- bourgeois-liberal and democratic. Liberals demanded careful reforms within the basic dogmas of Islam, the introduction of a new (Russian) culture only among the ruling classes and the preservation of the old Muslim culture for the masses. The democrats stood for building Tatar culture on the model of democratic Russian, for raising the cultural level of the working masses, for their education.

The educational movement among the Tatars was led by the democratic scientist Kayum Nasyri (1825-1901). He organized the first new-method Tatar school, was the founder of the Tatar literary language, since the Tatars used to write in Arabic. Taking care of the education of the people, Nasyri compiled and published many books on various branches of knowledge. His activities aroused the furious hatred of reactionaries and the ridicule of liberals, but the democratic public found their leader in him. Nasyri's ideas had a great influence on the development of Tatar democratic culture.

In the second half of the 19th century. Large-scale industry began to develop in the region and a cadre of workers began to form, albeit still weak, who entered the struggle against capitalist exploitation. At first, this struggle was spontaneous, but from the late 1880s, Marxist social democratic circles began to help create workers’ organizations and develop proletarian self-awareness among them. The first of them was the circle of N. E. Fedoseev, in whose work V. I. Lenin took part, who returned to Kazan from his first exile in the village. Kokushkino.

In the early 1900s, the Kazan Social Democratic Group arose; in 1903, the Kazan Committee of the RSDLP was organized, which stood on the positions of Lenin’s Iskra.

The Social Democrats launched a large propaganda campaign among workers at Kazan enterprises. At this time, a highly educated Marxist-Bolshevik, Khusain Yamashev (1882-1912), emerged from among the Tatars.

During the revolution of 1905-1907. In Tatar society, the alignment of class forces has already clearly emerged. The advanced Tatar workers, under the leadership of the Bolshevik party organization, headed at that time by Ya. M. Sverdlov, fought against the tsarist government together with the proletariat of other nationalities. Tatar peasants fought for the land, but social democratic propaganda was still poorly distributed among them, and they often acted spontaneously. The ruling classes completely sided with the government, although outwardly they were divided into groups: some became outright obscurantist Black Hundreds, others became cadet liberals. Having united in the Union of Muslims party, the Tatar bourgeoisie, which took a nationalist position, tried to occupy a dominant position not only among its people, but throughout the entire Muslim East of Russia.

The bourgeois camp was opposed by the democratic intelligentsia, from which emerged a group of major figures of Tatar culture - poets G. Tukay and M. Gafuri, playwright G. Kamal, writers G. Kulakhmetov, Sh. Kamal, G. Ibragimov, etc. They launched propaganda for democratic ideas, fighting the Black Hundreds and liberals. In 1907, the Bolsheviks managed to organize the publication of the first Tatar Bolshevik newspaper “Ural,” which was published in Orenburg under the leadership of X. Yamashev and was of great importance for the propaganda of social democratic ideas among the working Tatars.

The revolution of 1905 had a huge impact on Tatar society. Even in the dark years of the Stolypin reaction, the best representatives of the Tatar people continued to fight for democratic culture. The working Tatars began to gradually emerge from centuries of stagnation and isolation; they accumulated strength in order, together with the Russian people under his leadership, to give the last battle to the oppressors, without distinction of nationalities.

During the period of development of capitalism, there was a significant cultural rapprochement between the Kazan Tatars and Mishars. Reading literature created in the Kazan dialect influenced the Mishar language and gradually brought it closer to Kazan-Tatar. The Mishari took an active part in the creation of a pan-Tagarian democratic culture.

The February Revolution, when the leadership was seized by the Tatar bourgeoisie, gave nothing to the working masses. Only the Great October Socialist Revolution, carried out by the working people of Russia under the leadership of the Communist Party, liberated all the peoples of the country, including the Tatars, from centuries of oppression and opened the way for them to a new happy life.

The main working masses of the Tatars, like all the peoples of the region, took an active part in the October Revolution, but the Tatar bourgeoisie met Soviet power with fierce resistance. During the period of the civil war, which engulfed some of the territory of this region, the working population offered active resistance to the White Guards.

After the civil war, in which the Red Tatar units took an active part, the working Tatars received their autonomy. On May 27, 1920, the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed. It included the territories of the Middle Volga and Lower Kama regions, most densely populated by Tatars. A significant part of the Mishars and Tatars of the Urals, scattered in small groups among other nationalities, was not included in the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

The formation of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic made it possible for the Tatar people, together with other peoples living on the territory of the republic, to carry out socialist transformations under the leadership of the Communist Party.

The Tatar people completely overcame their previous economic and cultural backwardness and became an equal member of a socialist society, successfully building communism. The Tatar people also contribute their share to the general treasury of the socialist culture of the Soviet Union, their cultural values ​​collected over the centuries of its historical existence and created in recent decades.

Students: Polina Bolshakova, Olga Zhuk, Elena Manyshkina

The work was completed for participation in the KTD. It contains material about the settlement of Tatars in the Samara region, about the life and traditions of the people.

Download:

Preview:

Tatars of the Volga region.

The second largest people in the region are the Tatars (127,931 people (3.949% of the population). Tatar rural settlements are located in a wide strip in the north, northeast and east of the region, on the border with the Republic of Tatarstan, Ulyanovsk and Orenburg regions in Kamyshlinsky, Pokhvistnevsky, Elkhovsky, Krasnoyarsk, Shentalinsky, Koshkinsky, Chelnovershinsky districts and in the city of Samara. The first Tatar settlements in the Samara Trans-Volga region appeared in the 16th century. The Tatars are divided into four ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural, Siberian, Astrakhan and Crimean. Each ethno-territorial group of Tatars has its own linguistic and cultural and everyday features. Tatars belong to the ethnic groups professing Islam (with the exception of the Kryashens - baptized Tatars). On the territory of the Samara region there are many mosques located in Tatar settlements.

Traditional economic activity Samara Tatars werearable farming combined with livestock farming. Along with agriculture, crafts developed:jewelry, leather, felt.

Housing Previously, it was mainly built from wood; today, brick is often used in construction. Inside the dwelling there were built-in benches, shelves, and chairs. Wide bunks along the front wall were universal furniture in the past - they were used as beds and seats. Bedding was stored in closets or chests.

And today the interior decoration of a Tatar house has retained many ethnic features. The bright colors of the paneling, the openwork carving of the window frames, colored fabrics of different tones - all this creates the unique appearance of the Tatar home. The walls are often decorated with embroidered tablecloths, prayer rugs, homespun towels, and a colorful saying from the Koran is hung under glass on the front wall.

Traditional costume set(male and female) consisted of a shirt, wide-legged trousers, a fitted velvet camisole, and a bishmet. The women's shirt was decorated with flounces, the chest part was decorated with an arched appliqué or a special bib - izu. Over the camisole, men wore a spacious robe with a shawl collar, and in winter, fur coats and sheepskin coats. The men's headdress was an embroidered skullcap with a flat top, over which a fur or quilted hat was worn in cold weather. Women's headdresses were distinguished by their originality different groups Tatars The small kalfak cap, sewn with pearls and gold embroidery, became widespread among many groups of Tatars; There were also towel-shaped tastars, and among the Kazan Tatars there were erpek bedspreads embroidered with a vestibule. A girl's headdress, takya, was a cap with a semi-rigid band and a soft flat top. It was sewn from blue, green, burgundy velvet and decorated with embroidery, beads, and coins.

Since the Tatar economy combined both agricultural and animal husbandry traditions,National cuisinerepresented by various dishes made from flour, milk and meat. They baked bread and flatbreads from flour, prepared pies and pies from yeast, unleavened and butter dough (belesh, echpochmak) stuffed with potatoes, meat, carrots, beets, etc. Lamb, beef and poultry were used to prepare soups, broths and main courses; horse meat was salted and processed into sausage. The favorite drink of the Tatars is tea, which they drink hot, topped with milk or sour cream. Favorite sweet baked dishes -chuck – chuck , helpek, etc.

To the greatest extent Tatar culture represents the festival of the plow in honor of the end of the sowing of spring crops - Sabantui , which did not have an exact calendar date, but was celebrated depending on the readiness of the land for sowing. Now Sabantuy is usually celebrated in June in Samara, Togliatti and some other localities in the region. During the holiday, sports competitions are organized: keresh - wrestling with sashes, short distance running, etc. Both pop and amateur Tatar groups perform, national music is played and traditional and modern dances are performed. Participants in the events wear traditionally styled clothing, and thanks to the fair, spectators have the opportunity to try the dishes national cuisine.

Among the Tatar settlements, we note Old Ermakovo in the Kamyshlinsky district and Alkino in the Pokhvistnevsky district - in these settlements decorative folk art, features of the spiritual culture and life of the Tatar population of the region are clearly represented.

Tatar hospitality customs

The custom of meeting and receiving guests is common to people of any nationality. Legends are made about the hospitality of the Tatar people.

The Tatar family sees a good omen in the very arrival of a guest in the house; he is an honorable, respected, dear person. Tatars have long been very attentive, caring and polite towards guests. They try to set the table with taste and generously treat them with various dishes.

“If there is no treat, caress the guest with a word” and “If they offer a treat, even drink water,” teach Tatar folk proverbs.

Hospitality of the Tatars According to the ancient Tatar custom, a festive tablecloth was laid out in honor of the guest and the best treats were put on the table: sweet chak-chak, sherbet, linden honey, and, of course, fragrant tea.

“An inhospitable person is inferior” was considered by Muslims.

It was customary not only to treat guests, but also to give gifts. According to custom, the guest responded in kind.

Ancient Tatar dishes
Tatars have long lived in different regions with different natural conditions. Therefore, the food of Siberian, Astrakhan, Kazan, Crimean and other Tatars has its own characteristics. For example, one traveler wrote almost 400 years ago that the Astrakhan Tatars eat vobla “instead of bread,” prepare sturgeon pilaf, eat a lot of vegetables, and love watermelons. For the Siberian Tatars, hunting taiga animals was of great importance. The Volga Tatars extracted a lot of honey wild bees and they made many products from cow's milk - they even have a proverb: "He who has a cow, has a treat."
And yet, all Tatars have common national dishes, common culinary traditions. Therefore, looking at festive table, you can immediately say: this is a Tatar table!
From a long time ago and to this day, the Tatars consider bread to be sacred food. In the old days, they most often ate rye bread - ikmyok (only the rich ate wheat bread, and even then not always). There was even a custom of swearing with bread - ipider. From an early age, children learned to pick up every crumb. During the meal, the eldest member of the family cut the bread.
Especially famous Tatar dishes with meat:
Bishbarmak is boiled meat, cut into small flat pieces, which are lightly stewed in oil with onions, carrots and peppers. Coarsely chopped noodles serve as a side dish for the meat. Previously, bishbarmak was eaten with hands, which is why it received a second name - kullama from kul - hand.
Dried horse meat and goose, horse meat sausage - kazylyk.
Pelmeni-it pilmene made from young lamb or foal; they are eaten with broth.
Peremyachi-peremyoch - very juicy round pies baked in the oven with finely chopped meat; Ochpochmak-ichpochmak - triangles stuffed with fatty lamb, onions and potato pieces.
Belish-belesh is a tall pie with a large bottom and small top crust.
Ubadiya-gubadiya is a round pie with a “multi-story” filling: minced meat, rice, chopped hard-boiled eggs, raisins. This pie is one of the obligatory treats at celebrations.

Chakchak (chekchek): a delicious meal you can create yourself
Of course, it's better if adults help you. However, it all depends on whether you have cooking experience.
So, take five eggs, a quarter glass of milk, a little sugar, salt, soda, flour. We make soft dough, and from it small and necessarily identical balls - like pine nuts. Here, please show patience and diligence! And then pour a little into the pan vegetable oil and fry the “nuts”.
Now add sugar to the honey (in the proportion of 200 grams of sugar per kilogram of honey) and boil it. You will get a very sticky mass. Mix it with “nuts”. Finally, from this" building material"We're building a truncated pyramid. That's it! The miracle is ready. You yourself, of course, won't be able to resist and will lick your fingers, because they are sticky and sweet, sweet. But everyone you treat with cut pieces of chakchak will also lick their fingers - it turned out to be a delicious treat!

What do Tatars drink?
The most popular Tatar drink is tea: Indian and Ceylon - merchants have brought it from the East since ancient times. In addition to sugar, milk or melted cream or butter is added to hot and strong tea. And the Astrakhan Tatars love brick large-leaf tea. It is poured into water boiled in a cauldron, milk is poured in and boiled for 5-10 minutes. They drink it hot, adding salt, butter and sometimes ground black pepper. This tea is often drunk with peppers.
In addition to ayran (katyk diluted with cold water), the Tatars old custom They drink sherbet - water sweetened with honey. Previously, during the holidays they drank buza - a sweetish, intoxicating drink. The sourish kumiss is slightly intoxicating - it is made from mare's milk, yoche bal and kerchemyo are honey drinks. Drunkenness was despised by the Tatars for centuries.

What not to do
In addition to alcohol, Tatar folk tradition forbade eating burbot, because this fish was considered similar to a snake. It was forbidden to eat crayfish or the meat of predatory animals. Swans and doves were considered sacred and were not eaten either. They did not collect or eat mushrooms. Muslims should not eat pork: the Koran forbids it.

What are they rich in...
Like all peoples in the world, the Tatars lived and live differently: some are rich, others are poor. They also ate and eat differently: some eat “supermarkets”, and others eat what they grew in their garden.
Here is one family's menu:
In the morning - tea with peppers.
For lunch - dumplings with katyk.
For the second lunch - balish with tea.
For an afternoon snack - tea with apricots or chakchak.
For dinner - fried kaz (goose) or boiled meat and tea.
And in another family the food is like this:
In the morning - talkan (porridge made from flour and water) and it’s good if you have katyk or tea.
For lunch - salma (soup with pieces of dough), and in the summer - buckwheat porridge and katyk.
In the evening - again flour mash and tea.
But both poor and rich Tatars are always hospitable. True, the Tatar proverb says: “When a guest arrives, the meat is fried, but if there is no meat, it throws you into a fever.” And yet, a guest never leaves a Tatar house without a treat - at least a cup of tea with homemade marshmallow.

Ancient instructions
O my son, if you want to be revered, be hospitable, friendly, generous. Your good will not be diminished from this, and perhaps it will increase.

Tatar tea drinking - more than a tradition

“The tea table is the soul of the family,” the Tatars say, thereby emphasizing not only their love for tea as a drink, but also its importance in the table ritual. This is a characteristic feature of Tatar cuisine. The ritual of tea drinking - “whose echa” - has become so integrated into Tatar life that it is impossible to imagine a single holiday without it: weddings, matchmaking, Sabantuy, the birth of a child... Tea is drunk strong, hot, often diluted with milk or cream. At dinner parties, dried apricots, apricots, raisins, and slices of fresh apples are added to tea at the request of the guests. Essentially, not a single feast is complete without tea, no matter whether with invited or uninvited guests.

Some groups of Tatars begin the ritual of treating guests with tea and numerous baked goods, and only then are the first and second courses served. For others, on the contrary, the tea table completes the meal. And this order is a stable ethnic tradition, although the set of dishes is largely the same.

They like to drink tea from small bowls so that it does not get cold. And if, during an interesting conversation, a guest struck up a conversation with the owner of the house, the hostess always served him a new bowl of freshly brewed tea.

Mandatory items for serving a tea table, in addition to cups, are individual plates, sugar bowls, milk jugs, and teaspoons. A highly polished samovar with a teapot on the burner should set the tone for a pleasant conversation, create a mood, and decorate the table on holidays and on weekdays.

Even during the times of Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde, the culture of feasting and preparing drinks from various herbs was characteristic of these places. In use were bowls and jugs made from a special composition “kashin”, covered with painted glaze. A new drink - tea - organically fit into the life of the local population.

In the 19th century, tea drinking entered every home in multinational Kazan. K. Fuchs, the first researcher of the life of the Kazan Tatars, wrote: “... a laid table with porcelain cups and a samovar by the stove were typical in the house of a Tatar tradesman of those years.”

Brewing Tatar tea

Pour 3 liters of water into a small saucepan and boil. After the water boils, add the tea leaves, boil for five minutes and then enrich the tea with oxygen (scoop it with a ladle and pour the tea leaves back into the pan in a small stream - and as Minem Apa advised, 100 times). Then add about 1 liter of milk. You can add butter. Let it sit for about 5-7 minutes. We pour tea into bowls. A bowl is a mandatory attribute of every tea party.

Bagels and dishes of Tatar national cuisine go well with tea: kystyby, pәrәmәch, өchpochmak.

Hospitality

We love home
Where they love us.
Let it be cheese, let it be stuffy.
But just a warm welcome
It bloomed in the window of the owner's eyes.

And according to any tricky map
We will find this strange house -
Where is the long tea?
Where is the timid apron,
Where is it equal - in December and in March -
Meet
Sunny face!

Joseph Utkin

The customs of hospitality are passed down from generation to generation. They have become so firmly established in our lives that in the minds of different peoples they are taken for granted, as an integral part of culture. Times are difficult now, but still, visit each other, be open, welcoming, and friendly. After all, the main thing when visiting is not the feast, but the joy of communicating with dear people, on whom, as we know, the world rests.