Chuvash people: culture, traditions and customs. Chuvash folk religion

Balanovo culture

Log culture

Abashevo culture

Ananyinskaya culture

Gorodets culture

Hun Empire (434 - 6th century)

Khazar Khaganate (650-969)

Volga Bulgaria (X century - 1240)

Golden Horde (1240 - 1438)

Khanate of Kazan (1438 - 1552)

Kazan Kingdom (1552 - 1708)

Kazan province (1708 - 1920)

Simbirsk province (1796 - 1924)

Chuvash Autonomous Region (1920 - 1925)

Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1925 - 1990)
Chuvashia in the Stalin era (1920s - 1953)

Chuvash SSR (1990 - 1992)

Chuvash Republic (Since 1992)

The first people within modern Chuvashia appeared approx. 80 thousand years ago, during the Mikulin interglacial period: the Urazlinskaya site of this time was discovered on the territory of Chuvashia. Neolithic era (4-3 thousand BC) The Middle Volga region was inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes - the ancestors of the Mari and Mordovian peoples. In Chuvashia, Mesolithic (13-5 thousand BC) and Neolithic sites have been discovered along the rivers.

• 1 Bronze Age
• 2 Origin of the Chuvash
• 3 Chuvash as part of the Russian state
• 4 Formation of statehood
• 5 Notes
• 6 Literature
• 7 See also
• 8 Links

Bronze Age

A shift in social development occurred in the Bronze Age - in 2 thousand BC. e. Cattle breeding spread.

Origin of the Chuvash

At the beginning of a new era Turkic-speaking tribes The Bulgars and Suvars began to move west along Semirechye and the steppes of present-day Kazakhstan, reaching in the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. North Caucasus. Centuries-old communication with the Iranian-speaking Scythians, Saks, Sarmatians and Alans enriched the culture of the Chuvash ancestors - their economic activities, life, religion, clothing, hats, jewelry, ornaments.

In the 30-60s. VII century in the Northern Black Sea region there was public education Great Bulgaria, but under the attack of Khazaria, it disintegrated. 70s Bulgarians moved to the Volga-Kama region. The Suvars on the territory of modern Dagestan had their own principality, which since the 60s. 7th century until the 30s 8th century was dependent on the Khazar Kaganate. After the invasion in 732-37. The Suvars moved to their lands of the Arabs into the Middle Volga region and settled south of the Bulgarians. VIII century In the Middle Volga region, a Bulgarian union of tribes arose, which, under the leadership of the Bulgarians, included the Suvars and local Volga-Finnish tribes. end of the 9th century the union develops into the Volga Bulgaria, which occupied vast territories of the Middle Volga region from the Samara Luka in the south to the river. Vyatka in the north, from the Middle Kama in the east to the river. Sura in the West. The main economic activities in Volga Bulgaria were arable farming and animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, and beekeeping. Cities arose: Bolgar (capital in the 10th-11th centuries), Bilyar (capital in the 12th - early 13th centuries), Suvar, Oshel, Nokhrat. Crafts and internal and transit trade developed. Volga Bulgaria paid attention to the development of science and education, state language was the Bulgarian language.

In X - beginning XIII century in the process of uniting the Bulgar and Suvar tribes, who spoke a language with “rotacism” (the use, unlike other Turkic languages, “r” instead of “z”), and their assimilation of part of the Finno-Ugric population, a new Volga-Bulgarian nationality was formed.

In 1236, Volga Bulgaria was devastated by the Mongol-Tatars under the leadership of Khan Batu (Batu). The territory of the Middle Volga region was included in the vassal Golden Horde Bulgar ulus. The population was constantly subjected to violence and physical destruction. According to historian V.D. Dimitriev, in the XIII - early XV centuries. About 80% of the inhabitants of the former Volga Bulgaria died. Some people moved to Prikazanye, Zakazanye, as well as to the central and northern regions of the modern territory of Chuvashia. In 1438, the Kazan Khanate broke away from the Golden Horde, which, in addition to the Kazan Tatars, included the ancestors of the Chuvash, Mari, Erzyans, Udmurts and Bashkirs.

On the territory of modern Chuvashia, as well as in the Prikazan-Zakazan region, in the Chuvash Daruga, as a result of the repeated mixing of the Bulgars with the Mari, the modern Chuvash nation was formed by the end of the 15th century. The basis of the nation was the Bulgars.

Chuvash as part of the Russian state

The Chuvash lands, located on the border between the Principality of Moscow and the Kazan Khanate, were often subject to attacks and raids from both sides.

In 1523, the troops of Shah Ali, a Moscow protege and pretender to the Kazan throne, marched from Nizhny Novgorod to the Mountain Side. His warriors ravaged the Chuvash and Cheremis lands between the Sura and Sviyaga rivers and began building a fortification at the mouth of the Sura in preparation for the capture of Kazan.

“Appeal of the Chuvash and Mountain Mari to Shah-Ali and the Russian governors.” Miniature from “The History of the Kazan Kingdom” (1551)

In 1545, the Kazan Khan Safa-Girey, who was extremely unpopular on the Mountain Side, was overthrown, who transferred the right to collect yasak from the Chuvash lands to the Kazan and Crimean feudal lords and thereby placed the Chuvash princes and Tarkhans in a humiliating and subordinate position. A year later, Safa-Girey, who had secured the support of the Nogais in exchange for transferring the Mountain Side to them, regained the Kazan throne. Soon after this, mass protests began by the right-bank Chuvash and mountain Mari, who did not want to submit to the Nogais. The rebels called on Russian troops for help. In the summer of 1551, during the founding of the city of Sviyazhsk by the Russians, the Chuvash of the Mountain Side were annexed into the Russian state (see Annexation of Chuvashia to Russia).

After the fall of Kazan in 1552 and the suppression of the anti-Moscow uprisings of 1552-57, the Chuvash who lived on the Lugovaya Side also became subjects of Moscow. Some believe that by becoming part of Russia, the Chuvash got rid of Islamic-Tatar assimilation and preserved themselves as a people. Chuvashia built the fortified cities of Cheboksary (first mentioned in chronicles in 1469, founded as a fortified city in 1555), Alatyr, Tsivilsk, Yadrin, which soon became trade and craft centers. In the 2nd half of the 16th and 17th centuries, the southern and southwestern parts of Chuvashia, abandoned in the 14th and early 15th centuries due to the robbery of the Nogai Tatars, were settled. Chuvashia became widespread land ownership Rus. light. and spirits. feudal lords (in the middle of the 18th century there were more than 200 landowners and 8 monastic estates in the region), the number of Russians grew (in 1795 they made up 19.2% of the total population). The right bank settlement area became the center of consolidation and growth of the Chuvash people. In the 16th-17th centuries, a significant part of the Chuvash of the Order and Zakazan moved to the Lower Trans-Kama region and Bashkiria, the other part moved to the right bank of Chuvashia, and the Chuvash who remained in place merged with the Tatars. In the 2nd half of the 16th-17th centuries, the right bank Chuvash settled in the southeastern part of Chuvashia, and in the 17th-18th centuries they moved to the Lower Trans-Kama region, Bashkiria, Simbirsk, Samara, Penza, Saratov, and Orenburg regions. 1795 out of 352.0 thousand of all Chuvash in Russia, 234.0 thousand (66.5%) lived on the territory of the future Chuvashia, and 118.0 thousand people lived outside its borders.

Chuvashia became an area of ​​relatively high agricultural culture. The main occupational traditions of the population are arable farming, animal husbandry, hop growing, and beekeeping. Crafts for processing wood, leather, wool, fiber, etc. became widespread. In order to suppress the production of weapons used in popular movements, the tsarist government at the beginning of the 17th century. prohibited the Chuvash and other Volga peoples from engaging in blacksmithing and silversmithing (until the 19th century). In the 2nd half. 17th century Tanneries, distilleries, and lard distilleries arose in the cities of Chuvashia. and other entrepreneurs rus. merchants. K ser. 19th century in Chuvashia there were approx. 150 brick, copper casting, spinning, silk belt and other small enterprises. 18 - 1st floor. 19th century There were up to 15 patrimonial tanneries and cloth tanneries in the region. and other manufactories, there were glasses. and cloth. f-ki.

Chuvash. the peasants paid to the tsar. treasury of money and bread. yasak, carried out labor duties, delivered to the Russian Federation. an army of one warrior from 3 yasaks (from 6 households). 20s 18th century they were included in the category of state peasants, yasak was replaced by poll tax and quitrent, the size of which was in the 18th - 1st floor. 19th century grew systematically. Chuvash. peasants were exploited by Russians. and Tatars. merchants and moneylenders, proper. patriarchal-feudal. layer - puyans and chestnuts. 17th century Chuvash. surrounding princes, hundreds and tenths princes and Tarkhans gradually thinned out; in 1718-23, together with the serving Chuvash, by decree of Peter I they were equalized with the state. peasants and assigned to perform lashman. duties. 1830s OK. 100 thousand Chuvash. the peasants were transferred to the department of appanages - the king became serfs. surnames. The Chuvash were conscripted for military service. service in Russian army, participated in Livon. war (1558-83), the fight against the Polish-Swedish. intervention (1611-14), Polish campaigns, Russian-Turkish wars of the 18th century. Fatherland During the war of 1812, thousands of Chuvash selflessly fought against the Napoleons. hordes

In the middle of the 18th century. The Chuvash were subjected to Christianization, but until the 70s. 19th century their baptism was of a formal nature, sermons were conducted to the Old Slavs. and Russian languages ​​and were incomprehensible to the Chuvash. In fact, they remained adherents of pre-Christians. faith.

In the XVI-XVII centuries. the territory of Chuvashia was governed by the Order of the Kazan Palace, in the beginning. XVIII century included in the Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod provinces; according to the administrative reform of 1775, it became part of the Kazan and Simbirsk provinces. Exploitation, arbitrariness and excesses of officials, the forced imposition of Orthodoxy led to resistance from the population. The Chuvash participated in all major uprisings of the people that affected the Middle Volga region in the 16th-19th centuries: in 1571-1573, at the beginning of the 17th century, in 1634, the peasant uprisings of S. T. Razin and E. I. Pugachev . In 1842, there was an armed uprising of the Chuvash and Mari peasants (the so-called Akramov War) against the reforms of P. D. Kiselev of the state administration. peasants, up to 10 thousand people took part in the uprising.

In the 19th century, especially after the abolition of the fortress. rights, capitalist relations are developing in Chuvashia, social stratification of the village is taking place, and a small trade and industrial sector is emerging. bourgeoisie. However, compared to the central regions of Russia, this process was much slower, with a predominance of primary cap forms. entrepreneurship. By the time of the abolition of serfdom, the industry of the Chuvash region was represented by two cloth factories and three distilleries, which, with the exception of one cloth factory, belonged to landowners. In addition to them, there were small potash, glass, and silk belt manufactories. late XIX- early 20th century Up to three dozen factories and factories were operating, a small proletariat was formed: approx. 6 thousand people

In the timber industry and logging at the end of the 19th century. on seasonal work Tens of thousands of people were employed annually. Since the 80s XIX century Factory sawmilling is developing, up to mid. 90s XIX century 6 sawmills operated. More than 8% of the male working population of the region was employed in waste trades.

The transport network developed. The Druzhina steamship company founded a mechanical plant in 1860 in the Zvenigovsky backwater of the Cheboksary district for the construction and repair of ships. Cheboksary pier in the 1860s. sold more than 28,000 tons of goods, and at the beginning of the 20th century. - OK. 16,700 t. 1891-1894 construction of the railway line Alatyr - Shikhrany (Kanash) - Kazan Moscow-Kazan was underway railway. Woodworking enterprises arose along it, which from the end of the 19th century. became the main industry sector of the Chuvash region. 1894 The Alatyr railway workshops came into operation, becoming the largest enterprise in the region.

The absolute majority of the population of Chuvashia (approx. 96%) lived in rural areas. Its number increased from 436 thousand in 1859 to 660 thousand in 1897. During the post-reform period, agriculture gradually acquired the features of a capitalist economy. In 1905, the treasury and appanage owned 36.4% of the land, landowners and clergy - 5.4%, merchants and burghers - 1%, communal peasants - 54%, peasant owners - 2.7%, others - 0.5 %. Allotment peasant land was at the disposal of the rural community, which hampered the development of capitalist relations. The results of the Stolypin agrarian reform in Chuvashia were insignificant.

At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. in Nar. Social Democratic ideas penetrate the masses. The revolutionary unrest of 1905-1907 and the subsequent decade were marked by protests by workers and peasants against the autocracy, the abolition of arrears and indirect taxes, and against the implementation of the Stolypin agrarian reform. A movement for national uplift is emerging, the national self-awareness of the people is growing. This was facilitated by the first Chuvash newspaper “Khypar” (“News”), published in 1906-1907.

During the First World War, the peasantry experienced great difficulties. Farms whose heads were mobilized went bankrupt. Dissatisfaction with the war grew. In the fall of 1916, anti-war protests began.

After the February coup, Soviets were organized in the cities and some volosts of Chuvashia, together with the bodies of the Provisional Government, most of which were headed by the Socialist Revolutionaries and Mensheviks. In June 1917 in Simbirsk, at the all-Chuvash congress, the Chuvash National Society (CHNO) was established, which supported the Provisional Government. The Socialist-Revolutionaries were at the head of the Black Ops. The other wing of the national movement did not have a complete organizational structure and was mainly represented by national organizations of soldiers and sailors at the place of service, which adhered to Bolshevik views. These two directions diverged after the October Revolution and during the Civil War.

Formation of statehood

The formation of Chuvash statehood is associated with the name of the Chuvash public and political figure D. S. Elmen (1885-1932). At a meeting of Chuvash communists held on January 12, 1919 in Kazan, Elmen called on representatives of the Chuvash intelligentsia to join the work of the Chuvash department at the People's Commissariat for Nationalities of the RSFSR, of which Stalin was the people's commissar, to develop cultural construction. On January 3, 1920, a memorandum from the Chuvash department was sent to the commissariat, which officially raised the issue of autonomy for the Chuvash. In February 1920, the First All-Russian Congress of Chuvash Communists took place, discussing the issue of organizing Soviet autonomy for the Chuvash people.

On June 24, 1920, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR adopted a decree on the formation of the Chuvash Autonomous Region within the RSFSR with its center in the city of Cheboksary, which included 7 districts of the Kazan and Simbirsk provinces. The resolution was signed by the Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR V. I. Lenin, the Chairman of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee M. I. Kalinin and the Secretary of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee A. S. Enukidze. On the same day, the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) considered the issue of the composition of the Chuvash Revolutionary Committee (Revkom), the chairman of which was D.S. Elmen. The Revolutionary Committee was approved as the Soviet body to lead the new administrative unit. On July 1, 1920, the Organizing Bureau of the Central Committee of the RCP (b) formed a temporary Chuvash regional committee of the RCP (b), whose executive secretary was also Elmen, who held this position intermittently until 1924. On August 20, 1920, on the initiative of the Revolutionary Committee in Cheboksary, in honor of the proclamation of the Chuvash Autonomous Region, a rally was held with the participation of public organizations, guests from the Tatar ASSR formed on May 27, 1920 and a number of provinces of the RSFSR.

The I Chuvash Regional Congress of Trade Unions (September 6-7, 1920) and the I Chuvash Regional Conference of the RKSM (October 1920) formalized the trade union and Komsomol organizations of the Chuvash Autonomous Okrug. On October 6-9, 1920, the First Chuvash Regional Party Conference was held, which completed the formalization of the regional party organization.

On June 24, 1920, by decree of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the Chuvash Autonomous Region was formed, and on April 21, 1925, by decree of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee, it was transformed into the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In June of the same year, the city of Alatyr with three volosts was included in its composition.

In the 1920s, the idea of ​​changing the name of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic into the Bulgarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and renaming the Chuvash into Bulgarians, following the renaming of the Cheremis into Mari, was discussed. The proposal of local historians did not receive the support of the leadership and population of the republic.

“... Chuvash bourgeois nationalists who sought to use the Bulgarian theory of the origin of the Chuvash people for their own hostile political purposes.

In a number of works published by them in the 1920s, they propagated the assertion that the Chuvash are the only, direct and pure descendants of the Volga-Kama Bulgarians, and allowed for a bourgeois-nationalist idealization of the era of the state of Volga Bulgaria.

In the works of D. P. Petrov (Yuman), M. P. Petrov, A. P. Prokopyev-Milli and other local historians, the Bulgarian period was depicted as a “golden age” in the history of the Chuvash people, social-class contradictions and the presence of oppression of exploiters in this state. During these same years, bourgeois nationalists launched a campaign to rename the Chuvash as Bulgarians, and they proposed calling the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic “Bulgarian.”

Denisov P.V. Ethnocultural parallels of the Danube Bulgarians and Chuvashs. - Cheboksary, 1969. - P. 10

The first years of the existence of the ChuvAO, and then the Czech Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, were marked by difficulties and trials, the peak of which occurred in 1921: first, a peasant uprising, brutally suppressed by the Bolsheviks, then a disastrous crop failure and a terrible famine. The Civil War in Russia caused enormous damage. With a total population of less than 1 million people. About 200 thousand people were mobilized for the war. (almost the entire working-age male population after the mobilization of the 1st World War) and about 100 thousand did not return.

In 1929-1936, the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was part of the Nizhny Novgorod (from 1932 - Gorky) region. After the restoration of the national economy, devastated by the civil war, it was subordinated to the formation of a powerful industrial sector. potential. During the pre-war five-year plans, Chuvashia experienced to the full all the hardships of industrialization and collectivization. In the republic, woodworking, chemical, food industry, and mechanical engineering enterprises were built (Kanash Car Repair Plant, Kozlovsky House-Building Plant (now a van plant), the Sumerlinsky Tanning Extract Plant (chemical plant) and a furniture plant (van plant). In 1939, the construction of a single-track railway was completed. branch of Kanash-Cheboksary. The share of Chuvash among industrial workers reached 44% against 9.5% in 1926. By the end of the 30s, literacy of the population was about 90%, there were about 7.5 thousand representatives of the “intelligentsia” "Up until the 30s, the strengthening of national statehood was underway, there were Chuvash sections and departments in the central party, state, cultural institutions. Places of compact settlement of the Chuvash in other republics and regions, magazines and newspapers were published in the Chuvash language, preparations were made for teaching staff, Chuvash theaters are functioning 1935 The Chuvash Republic was awarded the Order of Lenin for outstanding achievements in the development of the national economy and culture.

At the same time, in the 30s. The formation of administrative teams was actively completed. management system, and Chuvashia became its component element. Supporters of other views were brutally persecuted. It is assumed that in the republic. from the end 20s By 1953, more than 14 thousand people were repressed. As in plural national-state formations, most of the victims were accused of bourgeois-nationalist actions.

During the Great Patriotic War, more than 208 thousand natives of Chuvashia fought the Nazis. Of these, St. 100 thousand died. OK. 54 thousand people awarded orders and medals. Chuvashia occupies a prominent place in the number of Heroes of the Soviet Union. More than 80 natives of the Czechoslovak Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic were awarded this high title. Natives of the Czech Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic fought selflessly in various sectors of the front. For example, according to data that has not yet been fully clarified, about 1,000 natives of the Czech Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic arrived to serve in the garrison of the Brest Fortress on the eve of the fighting. Almost all of them laid down their lives in that unequal duel. A large number of natives of the Chuvash Republic participated in the partisan movement. Many of them fought against fascist invaders on the territory of other states. From the western and central regions of the USSR, 70.5 thousand people were accepted into Chuvashia, more than 20 industrial workers were relocated. enterprises. During the war years, the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic received the challenge Red Banner of the State Defense Committee three times.

In the 50-80s. The average annual growth rate of the total volume of industrial output in Chuvashia was ahead of the all-Russian rate. 50-60s Chuvashia from agrarian-industrial. became industrial-agrarian. republic. By 1970, 26 large industrial plants had been built and put into operation. enterprises in Cheboksary: ​​cotton mill, electrical factories. performer mechanisms, electrical measuring instruments plant, tractor spare parts plant. parts, "Chuvashkabel", Alatyr plants "Electropribor", "Electroavtomat", Kanash factories of electric forklifts, paint and varnish and plastic products, etc. In 1970, the construction of the Cheboksary hydroelectric power station began, in 1972 - the Cheboksary industrial plant. tractors. These same years are notable for the strengthening of the directive nature of economics. relationships. People's reforms households did not touch upon the foundations of strict centralized planning. K con. 90s St. 80% production capacity turned out to be concentrated. in Cheboksary and Novocheboksarsk. In rural areas, industry is mainly represented. small food and wood processing enterprises. industries. the industrial structure remained high. weight of production of means of production, which amounted to 78% in 1985 in the machine-building complex. the weight of products at the global level in 1985 was 8%.

Intensive the growth of industry led to significant population migration to cities, especially to Cheboksary. Some “unpromising” villages were liquidated. It was constantly going, especially in the mountains. terrain, narrowing of the functions of the Chuvash. language From the beginning 60s schools rep. We switched to teaching students from grades 5-7 in Russian. language This innovation helped some schoolchildren to better master Russian. language, made it easier to study in technical schools and universities. But the sudden withdrawal of the native language. from education process led to the loss of the basics of literacy by the majority of its speakers, among many. I retained the ability to explain myself only at the everyday level. Representatives of the Chuvash found themselves in a particularly difficult position. diaspora. In 2013, UNESCO experts classified the Chuvash language as endangered.

The search for a way out of the current situation, which began actively, but ill-considered, in April. 1985, did not produce tangible results in the economy. Since 1991, production volumes began to decline in absolute terms. expression. Failure. attempts to root reforms of the country's economy undertaken in the beginning. 90s, brought people. economy to a systemic crisis. esp. Regions that do not have rich natural resources find themselves in a difficult situation. resources and enterprises for their processing.

Unresolved and aggravated socio-economic, national, cultural and everyday problems in the context of the weakening of strict ideological. and state dictatorship contributed to the emergence of societies. movements that advocated expanding the rights of republics and peoples. con. 1989 Chuvash was created. social-cultural center (CHOKTs), in March 1991 - the Chuvash party. National Revival (CHAP), 8-9 Oct. 1993 organized the Chuvash National Congress (CHNC), whose delegates represented the Chuvash. population of the republic and Chuvash. diaspora. At the beginning 2001 in Chuvash. Rep. 39 registered polit. associations, there are 12 national cultural societies. centers, but their activities did not prevent a further rapid decrease in the number of Chuvash. as a result of the socio-economic processes that took place in the period from 1991 to 2010. the number of Chuvash in the Russian Federation decreased by almost 446 thousand people (24% of the 1989 level). The number of Chuvash in the Russian Federation decreased especially quickly in the period from 2002 to 2010 - by almost 202 thousand. people (by 14% over 8 years - up to 1,435,872 people, i.e. up to the level of 1955), incl. in the Czech Republic by 75 thousand people. This is comparable to the losses of the Czech Republic in the 2nd World War or the Civil War (for comparison: the losses of the USSR in the Second World War were 13.6% -27 million people).

Notes

1. Dimitriev V.D. Main milestones in the history of the Chuvash people and region of the X-XVII centuries.

   “In the second half of the fourteenth and early fifteenth centuries. 32 cities and about 2000 villages of the Bulgarian land were destroyed by the Golden Horde khans and emirs, nomadic hordes, Tamerlane, who made campaigns here in 1391 and 1395, but mainly by the nomadic Mangyt yurt of Edigei in 1391-1419. According to calculations taking into account archaeological, written and numismatic information, no more than one fifth of the Bulgarians survived. The elite and the urban population were almost completely destroyed. The territory of the Bulgarian land turned into a wild field where the Mangyts (Nogais) began to roam.”

2. 1 2 Dimitriev, V. D. Entry of Chuvashia into the Russian state. Chuvash encyclopedia. Retrieved October 31, 2012. Archived from the original on December 4, 2012.

   “On the Mountain Side, the Chuvash and Mountain Mari suffered from continuous wars. clashes between Russians and Kazan. troops."

3. Ryabchikov, Maxim. Voluntary annexation of the Mountain Side is a myth, Irӗklӗ Sӑmakh (10.22.2012). Retrieved October 31, 2010.
4. Denisov P.V. Ethnocultural parallels of the Danube Bulgarians and Chuvashs / ​​author. preface I. D. Kuznetsov. - Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash. book publishing house, 1969. - 176 pp.: fig.
5. February 1918 national convention Mari decided to abolish the name “Cheremisy” due to its non-national origin and replace it with the historical national self-name “Mari” (Formation of the Mari Autonomous Region - Yoshkar-Ola, 1966. - P. 39).

Literature

• Historia ecclesiastica Zachariae Bhetori vulgo adscripta edidit E. W. Brooks, v. II, 1.12, cap. 7, r. 214; Corpus scriptorum christianorum orientalium. Scriptores Syri, series tertia, t. VI
• Procopius of Caesarea. War with the Persians
• Theophanes the Confessor. Chronography.
• Theophylact Simocatta. Story.
• Movses Kalankatuatsi. History of the country Aluanq.
• Nina Pigulevskaya. A NOTE ON THE RELATIONS BETWEEN BYZANTIUM AND THE HUNS IN THE 6th century.
• Notes of Ahmed Ibn Fadlan
• V. P. Ivanov, V. V. Nikolaev, V. D. Dmitriev. Chuvash. Ethnic history and traditional culture. Moscow, 2000.
• V. P. Ivanov, Chuvash ethnos. Cheboksary, 1998.
• V.V. Nikolaev, History of the ancestors of the Chuvash. XXX century BC e. - XV century n. e., Cheboksary, 2005.
• V. F. Kakhovsky, Origin of the Chuvash people, Cheboksary, 2003.
• Gury Komissarov (Kuri Vanter), Chăvash halăkh istoriiĕ, Shupashkar, 1990.
• Culture of the Chuvash region, Cheboksary, 1995.
• Chuvash folk tales, Cheboksary, 1993.
• Ponomareva A., Ivanova M. Memory.-Cheboksary: ​​Chuvash Book Publishing House.-1996.-T.2.-P.17-19

see also

• Chronology of Chuvashia
• Chuvashia during the Stalinist period

Links

• http://www.archives21.ru/default.aspx?page=./4220/4227/4481/4965
• http://chuvash.gks.ru/download/VOV/Chuv%20v%20VOV.htm
• http://www.mar-pamiat.narod.ru/ctr5.htm

History of Chuvashia Information About

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. They lived on it different peoples. 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 - 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 experienced no less strong influence from the side of 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;

Chuvamshi (Chuvash chgvashsem) are a Turkic people, the main population of the Chuvash Republic (Russia).

According to the results of the 2002 census, there are 1,637,200 Chuvash in the Russian Federation; 889,268 of them live in the Chuvash Republic itself, making up 67.69% of the republic's population. The largest share of Chuvash is in the Alikovsky district - more than 98%, the smallest in the Poretsky district - less than 5%. The rest: 126,500 live in Aksubaevsky, Drozhzhanovsky, Nurlatsky, Buinsky, Tetyushsky, Cheremshansky districts of Tatarstan (about 7.7%), 117,300 in Bashkortostan (about 7.1%), 101,400 in the Samara region (6.2%) , 111,300 in the Ulyanovsk region (6.8%), as well as 60,000 in Moscow (0.6%), Saratov (0.6%), Tyumen, Rostov, Volgograd, Kemerovo, Novosibirsk, Irkutsk, Chita, Orenburg, Moscow, Penza regions of Russia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

According to recent research, the Chuvash are divided into three ethnographic groups:

riding Chuvash (viryaml or turim) - northwestern Chuvashia;

middle-low Chuvash (anamt enchim) - northeast Chuvashia;

lower Chuvash (Anatrim) - the south of Chuvashia and beyond;

Steppe Chuvash (Khirtim) - a subgroup of the lower Chuvash, identified by some researchers, living in the southeast of the republic and in adjacent regions).

Language - Chuvash. He is the only living representative of the Bulgarian group of Turkic languages. It has three dialects: high ("pointing"), eastern, lower ("pointing").

The main religion is Orthodox Christianity.

The Mongol invasion and the events that followed it (the formation and collapse of the Golden Horde and the emergence on its ruins of the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde) caused significant movements of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region, led to the destruction of the consolidating role of the Bulgarian statehood, and accelerated the formation of individual Chuvash ethnic groups , Tatars and Bashkirs, In the 14th - early 15th centuries, under conditions of oppression, about half of the surviving Bulgarian-Chuvash moved to Prikazanye and Zakazanye, where the “Chuvash Daruga” was formed from Kazan east to the middle Kama.

The formation of the Tatar people took place in the Golden Horde in the 14th - first half of the 15th centuries. from the Central Asian Tatar tribes that arrived along with the Mongols and appeared in the Lower Volga region back in the 11th century. Kipchaks, with the participation of a small number of Volga Bulgarians. On Bulgarian land there were only small groups of Tatars, and on the territory of the future Kazan Khanate there were very few of them. But during the events of 1438 - 1445 associated with the formation of the Kazan Khanate, about 40 thousand Tatars arrived here at once along with Khan Uluk-Muhammad. Subsequently, Tatars from Astrakhan, Azov, Sarkel, Crimea and other places moved to the Kazan Khanate. In the same way, the Tatars who arrived from Sarkel founded the Kasimov Khanate.

The Bulgarians on the right bank of the Volga, as well as their fellow tribesmen who moved here from the left bank, did not experience any significant Kipchak influence. In the northern regions of the Chuvash Volga region, they mixed, for the second time, with the Mari and assimilated a significant part of them. Muslim Bulgarians who moved from the left bank and from the southern regions of the right bank of the Volga to the northern regions of Chuvashia, finding themselves among the pagans, abandoned Islam and returned to paganism. This explains the pagan-Islamic syncretism of the pre-Christian religion of the Chuvash and the spread of Muslim names among them.

Until the 15th century the land east of the Vetluga and Sura rivers, occupied by the Chuvash, was known as “Cheremis” (Mari). The first mention of the name of this territory under the name “Chuvashia” also dates back to the beginning of the 16th century, i.e., to the time the ethnonym “Chuvash” appeared in sources, which, of course, is not accidental (we are talking about the notes of Z. Herberstein, made in 1517 and 1526).

The complete settlement of the northern half of modern Chuvashia by the Chuvash occurred in the 14th - early 15th centuries, and before that time the ancestors of the Mari - the real "Cheremis" - dominated here numerically. But even after the entire territory of present-day Chuvashia was occupied by the Chuvash, partially assimilating and partially displacing the Mari from its northwestern regions, Russian chroniclers and officials throughout the 16th-17th centuries, according to tradition, continued to call the population living east of the lower Sura at the same time or “Mountain Cheremis”, or “Cheremis Tatars”, or simply “Cheremis”, although the Mountain Mari themselves occupied only small territories east of the mouth of this river. According to the message of A. Kurbsky, who described the campaign of Russian troops against Kazan in 1552, the Chuvash, even at the time of the first mention of them, called themselves “Chuvash” and not “Cheremis”.

Thus, during the complex military-political, cultural-genetic and migration processes of the 13th - early 16th centuries. Two main areas of residence of the Bulgarian-Chuvash people were formed: 1 - the right-bank, mainly forested area between the Volga and Sura, limited in the south by the line of the Kubnya and Kirya rivers; 2 - Prikazansky-Zakazansky district (the number of Kipchak-Tatars was also significant here). From Kazan to the east, to the river. Vyatka, the Chuvash Daruga extended. The basis of both territorial groups of the ethnic group was predominantly the rural agricultural Bulgarian population, which did not accept Islam (or moved away from it), and absorbed a certain number of Mari. The Chuvash people included generally various ethnic elements, including the remnants of the “Imenkovo” East Slavic population, part of the Magyars, Burtases, and, probably, Bashkir tribes. Among the ancestors of the Chuvash are, although insignificantly, the Kipchak-Tatars, Russian Polonyaniks (captives) and peasants who lived in the 15th-16th centuries.

The fate of the Prikazan-Zakazan Chuvash, known from sources dating back to the 15th - first half of the 17th centuries, developed in a peculiar way. Many of them in the XVI-XVII centuries. moved to Chuvashia in the 17th century. - in Zakamye (their descendants live here today in a number of Chuvash villages - Savrushi, Kiremet, Serezhkino, etc.). The remainder became part of the Kazan Tatars.

According to the scribe books of the Kazan district 1565-15b8. and 1b02-1603, as well as other sources, in the second half of the 16th - first half of the 17th century. There were about 200 Chuvash villages on the territory of the Kazan district. In the very center of the ethnic territory of the Kazan Tatars - Kazan district - at the beginning of the 17th century. There were much more Chuvash than Tatars: here, only in mixed Tatar-Chuvash villages, according to the Scribe Book of 1602-1603, there were 802 courtyards of yasak Chuvash and 228 service Tatars (then only villages in which there were service Tatars were recorded; the number Chuvash villages were not rewritten). It is noteworthy that in the Scribe Book of Kazan 1565 - 1568. Urban Chuvash were also listed.

As some researchers believe (G.F. Sattarov and others), the “yasak Chuvash” in the Kazan district in the 16th - mid-17th centuries. those groups of the Bulgarian population were named in whose language the Kipchak elements did not achieve a final victory, and “Bulgars with a native Bulgarian language (Chuvash type) should not have disappeared and lost their native language in the period between the 13th and 16th centuries.” This can be evidenced by the decoding of the names of many villages in the central part of the Kazan district - Zakazanye, which are etymologized on the basis of the Chuvash language.

Since ancient times, the Bulgarian population also lived in the middle Vyatka, on the Chepets River. It was known here under the name “Chuvash” at the very beginning of the 16th century. (since 1510). On its basis, ethnographic groups of “Besermyans” (with a culture more than similar to the Chuvash) and Chepetsk Tatars emerged. The charters of the "Yar" (Arsk and Karin) princes of the 16th century have been preserved, which note the arrival of the river in the basin. Caps of the “Chuvash from Kazan places” in the first half of the 16th century.

Among the Chuvash who converted to Islam in Zakazanye, Trans-Kama, the Cheptsa basin, in Prisviyazhye, according to the Tatar scientist-educator Kayum Nasyri and folk legends, there were also their own learned Mudarists, imams, hafizs and even Muslim “saints” who performed the Hajj to Mecca , which was, for example, judging by his rank, Valikhadzh, known among the Chuvash as “Valum-khusa”.

The main component of the Chuvash people were the Bulgarians, who passed on to them the “r” - “l” language and other ethnocultural characteristics. The fact that it was the Bulgarians who served as a component of the Chuvash nationality, mainly formed into an ethnos by the beginning of the 13th century, determined the ethnic, cultural, everyday and linguistic unity characteristic of the Chuvash, and the absence of tribal differences.

The greatest Turkic scholar of our time, M. Ryasyanen, writes that “the Chuvash language, which is so different from the other Turkic-Tatar languages, belongs to a people who with all confidence should be considered as the heir of the Volga Bulgarians.”

According to R. Akhmetyanov, “both the Tatar and Chuvash ethnic groups were finally formed, apparently, in the 15th century. Moreover, the same elements served as the “building material” in both cases: Bulgars, Kipchaks, Finno-Ugrians. The only differences were in the proportions of these components. In Chuvash, some unique features of the Bulgar language in the system of Turkic languages ​​have been preserved, and this fact suggests that in the ethnogenesis of the Chuvash people the Bulgar element played a big role... Bulgar features are also present in Tatar (especially in the vowel system) But they are hardly noticeable."

A total of 112 Bulgarian monuments have been identified on the territory of Chuvashia, of which: fortifications - 7, settlements - 32, localities - 34, burial grounds - 2, pagan burial grounds with epitaphs - 34, treasures of Dzhuchizh coins - 112.

Bulgarian monuments of the Chuvash region make up a small share (about 8%) of the total number of monuments discovered in the central regions of the former Bulgarian state - a total of 1855 objects.

According to the research of V.F. Kakhovsky, these monuments are the remains of Bulgarian settlements abandoned by residents in the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries, due to the devastating raids of the Golden Horde emirs, the hordes of Tamerlane, the Ushkuiniks and the campaigns of the Russian princes. According to V.D. Dimitriev’s calculations, the number of Bulgarian-Chuvash monuments on the right bank of the Volga, including the territory of the Ulyanovsk region and the Chuvash Volga region, exceeds 500 units. Many Chuvash and Tatar settlements on the right bank of the Volga and Predkamye are a continuation of the Bulgarian-Chuvash villages of the 13th - 14th centuries; they were not destroyed and did not become archaeological monuments.

Late Bulgarian monuments from the times of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate also include Chuvash medieval pagan cemeteries, on which stone tombstones were installed with epitaphs, usually in Arabic script, rarely with runic signs: in the Cheboksary region - Yaushsky, in Morgaushsky - Irkhkasinsky, in Tsivilsky - Toysinsky burial grounds.

The bulk of burial grounds with stone tombstones and epitaphs have been preserved in the eastern and southern regions of Chuvashia (in Kozlovsky, Urmarsky, Yantikovsky, Yalchiksky, Batyrevsky).

The types of dwellings (half-dugouts, log huts), the construction of an underground floor in them and the location of the stove, the layout of the estate, enclosing it on all sides with a meadow or fence, placing the house inside the estate with a blank wall facing the street, etc., characteristic of the Bulgarians, were characteristic of the Chuvash XVI-XVIII centuries The rope ornament used by the Chuvash to decorate gate posts, the polychrome coloring of platbands, cornices, etc. find similarities in fine arts Volga Bulgarians.

The pagan religion of the Suvars and Bulgarians, described in Armenian sources of the 7th century, was identical to the Chuvash pagan religion. Noteworthy are the facts of religious veneration by the Chuvash of the fallen cities - the capitals of Volga Bulgaria - Bolgar and Bilyar.

The culture of the Chuvash people also included Finno-Ugric, primarily Mari, elements. They left their mark on the vocabulary and phonetics of the Chuvash language. The riding Chuvash preserved some elements of the material culture of the Mari ancestors (the cut of clothing, black onuchi, etc.).

The economy, life and culture of the rural population of Bulgaria, judging by archaeological data and written sources, had many similarities with those known to us from the descriptions of the 16th-18th centuries. material and spiritual culture of the Chuvash peasantry. Agricultural technology, the composition of cultivated crops, types of domestic animals, farming techniques, beekeeping, fishing and hunting of the Volga Bulgarians, known from Arabic written sources and archaeological research, find correspondence in the economy of the Chuvash of the 16th-18th centuries. The Chuvash are characterized by a complex anthropological type. A significant part of the representatives of the Chuvash people have Mongoloid features. Judging by the materials of individual fragmentary surveys, Mongoloid features dominate in 10.3% of the Chuvash, and about 3.5% of them are relatively “pure” Mongoloids, 63.5% belong to mixed Mongoloid-European types, 21.1% represent various Caucasoid types - both dark-colored (predominant), and light-haired and light-eyed, and 5.1% belong to the sublaponoid type, with weakly expressed Mongoloid characteristics.

The anthropological type of the Chuvash, characterized by experts as a sub-Ural version of the Ural transitional race, reflects their ethnogenesis. The Mongoloid component of the Chuvash, according to the famous anthropologist V.P. Alekseev, is of Central Asian origin, but at this stage it is impossible to name the ethnic group that introduced Mongoloid features into the anthropological type of the Chuvash. The Bulgarians, who emerged from the Mongoloid Hunnic environment of Central Asia, were certainly carriers of precisely that physical type, but later, on their long journey across Eurasia, they adopted Caucasoid features from the Caucasoid Dinlins of Southern Siberia, the Northern Iranian tribes of Central Asia and Kazakhstan, the Sarmatians, Alans and the peoples of the Northern Caucasus, East Slavic Imenkovsky tribes and Finno-Ugric people in the Volga region. As already noted, the Chuvash included in the XV-XVII centuries. A number of Russians (mostly Polonyaniks) also entered, which also affected their physical type. As Islam strengthened in the culture of the Tatars, Central Asian traditions became established, and among the pagan Chuvash, the layer of Finno-Ugric culture became influential, since the neighboring Finno-Ugric peoples remained pagans until the 18th-19th centuries. As a result, the Chuvash, according to R. G. Kuzeev and others, turned out to be the most bicultural (i.e., with a dual culture) people; The Chuvash, “preserving the archaic Turkic language,” the scientist noted, “at the same time developed a culture that was in many respects close to the culture of the Finno-Ugric people.”

Ethnographic groups

Traditional festive costumes of the riding (Viryal) and lower Anatri) Chuvash people.

Initially, the Chuvash people formed two ethnographic groups:

Viryal (mountaine, also called turi) - in the western half of the Chuvash region,

Anatri (lower) - in the eastern half, with differences in language, clothing and ritual culture. At the same time, the ethnic self-awareness of the people was united.

After joining the Russian state, the Chuvash of the northeastern and central parts of the region (mainly Anatri) in the 16th-17th centuries. began to move to the “wild field”. Subsequently, in the XVIII-XIX centuries. Chuvash also migrate to the Samara region, Bashkiria and Orenburg region. As a result, a new ethnographic group has emerged, which currently includes almost all Chuvash living in the southeastern regions of the Chuvash Republic and in other regions of the Middle Volga and Urals. Their language and culture have been tested noticeable influence Tatars Researchers call this group Anatri, and their descendants who remained in the former territory - in central, northern and northeastern Chuvashia - Anat Enchi (middle-bottom).

It is believed that the Anat Enchi group formed in the 13th-15th centuries, the Viryal group in the 16th century, and the Anatri group in the 16th-18th centuries.

In terms of culture, Anat Enchi is closer to Anatri, and in terms of language - to Viryalam. It is believed that the Anatri and Anat Enchi largely retained the ethnic traits of their Bulgarian ancestors, and Finno-Ugric (mainly Mari) elements were noticeably evident in the Virial culture.

The names of ethnographic groups are based on settlement relative to the course of the Volga: the Chuvash settled below the upper ones are called Anatri (lower), and the group located between them is Anat Enchi, i.e. Chuvash of the lower (lower) side,

Already in the pre-Mongol period, two main ethno-territorial massifs of the Bulgarian-Chuvash were formed, but then they were distinguished, apparently, not along the course of the Volga, but by settlement on its left and right banks, i.e. on the “mountain” (turi) and on the “steppe” (khirti), or “Kama”, During the academic expedition of the 18th century. P.S. Pallas identified exactly two groups of Chuvash: the riding along the Volga and the Khirti (steppe, or Kama).

Since ancient times, the northeastern regions of the Chuvash region were a kind of crossroads of migration movements of the Bulgarian-Chuvash tribes. This is the territory of residence of modern Anat-Enchi, who were originally called Anatri. It is among the latter that the Bulgarian components had and have the most pronounced manifestation, both in language and ethnoculture.

The formation of modern antri was associated with the process of development of the “wild field”. Those who moved here and to new lands up to the Urals were mainly people from Pritsivilye and Prianishye, as well as Prisviyazhye, i.e. from the places where the Anat Enchi now live. Constant contacts with the Kazan Tatars and Mishars, weakening ties with their mother villages, living in a different environment and under different conditions led to changes in their culture and way of life. As a result, the southern Chuvash became isolated and a separate ethnographic group emerged, called Anatri.

Outside the modern borders of Chuvashia, the majority of people live are Anatri. However, a rather complex and mixed Chuvash population settled in Zakamye (Tatarstan), Ulyanovsk, Samara, Orenburg, Penza, Saratov regions and Bashkiria. For example, the village of Saperkino, Isaklinsky district, Samara region, arose in the middle of the 18th century, it was founded by pagan Chuvash people - immigrants from the village of Mokshina, Sviyazhsky district, led by Saper (Sapper) Tomkeev. Subsequently, Chuvash migrants moved to Saperkino not only from Sviyazhsky, but also from Cheboksary, Yadrinsky, Simbirsk, and Koz-Modemyansky districts.

Ethnographic groups of the Chuvash differ mainly in women's clothing and dialectal features of everyday language. The most ancient and basic among them is considered to be the women's shirt anat enchi, which is cut from four panels of white canvas. Wedges were inserted from below. The Anatri's shirt also has this appearance. In the Viryala it is longer and wider, made of five panels and without wedges. According to researchers (N.I. Gagen-Thorn and others), the cut of the shirt among the riding Chuvash and mountain Mari, as well as the entire complex of clothing, is almost the same.

In the second half of the nineteenth century. Anat Enchi and Anatri began to sew clothes from motley fabric, but the Viryalki did not adopt this fabric. The riding Chuvash women wore 2-3 belts (to create an overlap), while the Anat Enchi and Anatri wore only one belt, which served more for hanging waist decorations.

The riding bast shoes were identical to the Mountain Mari ones and differed from the rest of the Chuvash ones. Virials wore long footcloths and onuchi, the frills of their dresses were longer than those of the others. Their legs were wrapped thickly, just like their Finno-Ugric neighbors. The Viryal had foot wraps made of black cloth, the Anat Enchi - from black and white, the Anatri - only from white.

Married Chuvash women of all groups wore hushpa - a cylindrical or conical headdress, decorated with sewn coins and beads.

The towel-shaped surpan headdress of the upper and mid-lower people was shorter than that of the anatri.

Anat Enchi women also wore a turban - a triangular canvas bandage - over the surpan.

The girl's headdress tukhya - a hemispherical cap made of canvas - among the riding Chuvash, as well as among some middle-class Chuvash, is almost entirely covered with coins. Among the middle ones, it was trimmed with beads, several rows of coins and had a beaded cone with a metal cone at the top.

The linguistic characteristics of ethnographic groups are expressed in the existence of two easily mutually understandable dialects - lower and higher: the first is characterized by ukanye (for example: uksa - money, urpa - barley), the second - okanye (oksa, orpa).

Thus, unlike a number of neighboring peoples (for example, the Mari and the Mordovians, who are characterized by more than significant differences), the Chuvash dialects and, in general, all specific group cultural characteristics developed relatively late. Dialects did not have time to separate into separate languages ​​before the appearance of a common literary language. All this indicates that the Volga-Kama Bulgarians by the time the Mongol-Tatar hordes appeared in the Middle Volga - at the turn of the 12th-13th centuries. - basically had already formed into the Bulgarian nationality, and it was experiencing ethno-consolidation processes. Then, on the basis of the consolidation of individual tribal dialects, all the main characteristic features of a single Bulgarian language were finally formed, which later became the basis of Chuvash.

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. Belongs predominantly to the Caucasoid type, which can be said by characteristic features appearance of the Chuvash. 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 short or average height, coarse hair, more dark color eyes than 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 were engaged in weaving and weaving. Patterns with a combination of red and white flowers on fabric.

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 different deities, 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 good harvest, health of family members and profits. 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 the relatives of her deceased 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. For some special holidays slaughtered a rooster: for example, when a rooster was born new member families. Scrambled eggs and omelettes were already made from chicken eggs. These dishes are eaten to this day, and not only by the Chuvash.

Famous representatives of the people

Among those who have characteristic appearance Famous personalities also met Chuvash people.

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 is the 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 developed art education. A popular artist, actor and TV presenter was also born in Chuvashia

Chuvash (Chuvash. chăvashsem) are a Turkic people, the main population of the Chuvash Republic (Russia). The number is about 1.5 million, of which in Russia 1 million 435 thousand according to the results of the 2010 census. Approximately half of all Chuvash living in Russia live in Chuvashia, the rest live in almost all regions of Russia, and a small part lives outside the Russian Federation, the largest groups in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Ukraine.
According to recent research, the Chuvash are divided into three ethnographic groups:
riding Chuvash (viryal or turi) - northwestern Chuvashia;
middle-low Chuvash (anat enchi) - northeast Chuvashia;
lower Chuvash (anatri) - the south of Chuvashia and beyond;
Steppe Chuvash (Khirti) are a subgroup of the lower Chuvash, identified by some researchers, living in the southeast of the republic and in adjacent regions.

Traditional clothing clearly reflects historical development, social and natural conditions existence, aesthetic preferences, as well as ethnic group and ethno-territorial characteristics of the Chuvash people. The basis of women's and men's clothing was the white kĕpe shirt.
It was made from one piece of hemp (hemp) canvas, folded in half and sewn along the longitudinal line. The sides were covered with straight inserts and wedges that extended the silhouette of the shirt downward. Straight and narrow sleeves 55-60 cm long were sewn in at right angles and complemented by a square gusset.

Women's shirts had a height of 115-120 cm and a central chest slit. They were decorated with embroidered patterns on both sides of the chest, along the sleeves, along the longitudinal seams and along the hem. The outline of the patterns was made with black threads, their colors were dominated by red, with additional colors being green, yellow and dark blue. The main patterns were chest rosettes kĕskĕ or diamond-shaped suntăkh figures (pushtĕr, konchĕk, kĕsle) made of red homespun or chintz ribbons.
Men's shirts were 80 cm high and were more modestly decorated. The right-sided chest section was highlighted by stripes of an embroidered pattern and red ribbons, as well as a triangular red patch.

At the end of the 19th century, shirts made of colored homespun ulach canvas in blue or red checks spread among the lower group of Anatri. They were decorated with chintz stripes along the chest and shoulders, and along the hem with 1-2 frills made of colored factory fabric or colored homespun canvas. An apron was tied over the shirt - ornamented, made of white canvas or colored, made of red, blue, green motley. The riding Chuvash wore a white sappun apron with a bib, decorated with patterns on the hem.
They girded themselves with 1-2 pikhhi belts and covered the back of the figure with pendants different types: antique decorations made of pipes and black fringe khÿre, embroidered sară accessories, on the sides - paired bright pendants. Until the 20th century, the Chuvash had a special type of swinging ritual clothing like a traditional robe - a white straight-backed shupăr. It featured long narrow sleeves and rich ornamentation with a combination of embroidery and appliqué at the top, along the sides and along the hem. A mandatory accessory for women's and men's clothing were white yĕm trousers with a wide leg, ankle-length or longer.

Festive and ritual headdresses are varied and decorative. Girls wore rounded tukhya hats, decorated with beadwork and silver coins. Married women They always covered their heads with surpan - a white strip of thin canvas with ornamented ends that went down to the shoulder and along the back. On ordinary days, a similar-shaped, but narrower headband puç tutri (or surpan tutri) was tied over the surpan, and on holidays - an elegant headdress khushpu, which was distinguished by rich coin decoration and the presence of a vertical dorsal part. Based on their shape, 5-6 local types of hushpu can be distinguished: cylindrical, hemispherical, round with a small apex, like a high or low truncated cone, as well as a tight-fitting hoop.

A single ensemble with elegant headdresses consisted of decorations made of coins, beads, beads, corals and cowrie shells. They had a symbolic, functional and aesthetic value, differing in women's and girls', and according to their location on the figure - head, neck, shoulder, chest, waist.

Outerwear and shoes
Pustav robes and săkhman caftans were used as demi-season clothing; fitted kĕrĕk fur coats were used for winter; for long trips they wore long, voluminous sheepskin sheepskin coats or straight-back cloth chapans. Men's hats were not very diverse: there were cloth hats with brims and fur hats.

Everyday shoes were bast shoes (çăpata) woven from linden bast, which the upper Chuvash wore with black cloth onuchs, and the lower ones - with white woolen or cloth stockings (tăla chălkha). Festive footwear was leather boots or shoes, in the riding group - high accordion boots. Since the end of the 19th century, high women's leather lace-up boots began to appear. White, gray and black felt boots served as winter footwear.
Like most peoples of the Volga region, children's clothing was similar to adult clothing, but did not have rich ornamentation and iconic decorations.

Since the 1930s, traditional clothing has been widely replaced by urban clothing. However, in the rural environment, national complexes have been preserved to this day almost everywhere, especially in remote areas. They are mainly used as festive and ritual clothing, as well as in folklore and stage activities. The traditions of folk costume are developing in the work of many folk craftsmen and artists, in the work of folk arts and crafts enterprises.

Modern fashion designers do not reconstruct traditional outfits, but create costumes based on associative ideas and the study of museum originals. They strive to understand the origins and meaning of patterns and to preserve the value of handcraft and natural materials. The most active and talented ones participate in prestigious contemporary fashion competitions at the regional and Russian levels.

Rural craftsmen make festive costumes for national weddings in villages and cities. Such “updated” outfits sometimes use authentic hushpu headdresses and jewelry. They still retain their significance as the most important semantic, aesthetic and sacred center of the Chuvash costume.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads.
Official portal of the authorities of the Chuvash Republic
Brief Chuvash Encyclopedia
Ashmarin N. I. Bulgarians and Chuvashs - Kazan: 1902.
Ashmarin N. I. Ancient Bulgarians. — Kazan: 1903.
Braslavsky L. Yu. Orthodox churches Chuvashia - Chuvash book publishing house. Cheboksary, 1995
Dimitriev V. D. Peaceful annexation of Chuvashia to the Russian state Cheboksary, 2001
Ivanov L. M. Prehistory of the Chuvash people
Ivanov V.P., Nikolaev V.V., Dimitriev V.D. Chuvash: ethnic history and traditional culture Moscow, 2000
Kakhovsky V.F. Origin of the Chuvash people. — 2003.
Nikolaev V.V., Ivanov-Orkov G.N., Ivanov V.P. Chuvash costume: from antiquity to modern times / Scientific and artistic publication. - Moscow - Cheboksary - Orenburg, 2002. 400 p. Ill.
Nikolsky N.V. Short course ethnography of the Chuvash. Cheboksary, 1928.
Nikolsky N.V. Collected works. — In 4 volumes — Cheboksary: ​​Chuv. book publishing house, 2007—2010.
Peoples of Russia: painting album, St. Petersburg, printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, December 3, 1877, art. 317
Petrov-Tenekhpi M.P. About the origin of the Chuvash.
Chuvash // Bashkortostan (Atlas). — M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. — ISBN ISBN 5-287-00450-8
Chuvash // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. — M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. — ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8