Tatars (origin, customs, traditions, holidays). Volga region descendants of the ancient Bulgars

They speak the Kazan dialect of the Tatar language of the Kipchak group of Turkic languages. The ethnic basis of the Kazan Tatars was made up of Turkic (Bulgars, Kipchaks, etc.) peoples, as well as representatives of the Imenkovo ​​culture.

Story

Early history

Funeral rite

Many facts about the funeral rites of the Kazan Tatars show complete continuity from the Bulgars; today, most of the rites of the Kazan Tatars are associated with their Muslim religion.

Location. The city necropolises of the Golden Horde were located within the city, as were the burial grounds of the Kazan Khanate period. Cemeteries of Kazan Tatars of the 18th-19th centuries. were located outside the villages, not far from the villages, if possible - across the river.

Grave buildings. From the descriptions of ethnographers it follows that the Kazan Tatars had the custom of planting one or more trees on the grave. The graves were almost always surrounded by a fence, sometimes a stone was placed on the grave, small log houses were made without a roof, in which birch trees were planted and stones were placed, and sometimes monuments were erected in the form of pillars.

Burial method. The Bulgars of all periods are characterized by the ritual of inhumation (deposition of a corpse). The pagan Bulgars were buried with their heads to the west, on their backs, with their arms along the body. A distinctive feature of the burial grounds of the X-XI centuries. is the period of formation of a new ritual in Volga Bulgaria, hence the lack of strict uniformity in individual details of the ritual, in particular, in the position of the body, hands and face of the buried. Along with observing the qibla, in the vast majority of cases there are individual burials facing upward or even to the north. There are burials of the dead on the right side. The position of the hands is especially varied during this period. For necropolises of the XII-XIII centuries. The ritual details are unified: strict adherence to the qibla, the face facing Mecca, a uniform position of the deceased with a slight turn to the right side, with the right hand extended along the body and the left hand slightly bent and placed on the pelvis. On average, 90% of burials give this stable combination of features versus 40-50% in early burial grounds. During the Golden Horde period, all burials were performed according to the rite of inhumation, the body was stretched out on the back, sometimes with a turn on the right side, head to the west, face to the south. During the period of the Kazan Khanate, the funeral rite did not change. According to the descriptions of ethnographers, the deceased was lowered into the grave, then laid in the side lining, facing Mecca. The hole was filled with bricks or boards. The spread of Islam among the Volga Bulgars already in pre-Mongol times was very clearly manifested in the rite of the Bulgars of the 12th-13th centuries, during the period of the Golden Horde, and later in the funeral rite of the Kazan Tatars.

National clothes

The clothing of men and women consisted of trousers with a wide step and a shirt (for women it was complemented by an embroidered bib), on which a sleeveless camisole was worn. Outerwear they served as a cossack, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. The men's headdress is a skullcap, and on top of it is a hemispherical hat with fur or a felt hat; for women - an embroidered velvet cap (kalfak) and a scarf. Traditional shoes were leather ichigi with soft soles; outside the home they wore leather galoshes. Women's costumes were characterized by an abundance of metal decorations.

Anthropological types of Kazan Tatars

The most significant in the field of anthropology of the Kazan Tatars are the studies of T. A. Trofimova, conducted in 1929-1932. In particular, in 1932, together with G.F. Debets, she conducted extensive research in Tatarstan. In the Arsky district, 160 Tatars were examined, in the Elabuga district - 146 Tatars, in the Chistopol district - 109 Tatars. Anthropological studies have revealed the presence of four main anthropological types among the Kazan Tatars: Pontic, light Caucasoid, sublaponoid, Mongoloid.

These types have the following characteristics:

Pontic type- characterized by mesocephaly, dark or mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes, high bridge of the nose, convex bridge of the nose, with a drooping tip and base, significant beard growth. Growth is average with an upward trend.
Light Caucasian type- characterized by subbrachycephaly, light pigmentation of hair and eyes, medium or high bridge of the nose with a straight bridge of the nose, a moderately developed beard, and average height. Whole line morphological features- the structure of the nose, the size of the face, pigmentation and a number of others - brings this type closer to the Pontic.
Sublaponoid type(Volga-Kama) - characterized by meso-subbrachycephaly, mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes, wide and low nose bridge, weak beard growth and a low, medium-wide face with a tendency to flattening. Quite often there is a fold of the eyelid with weak development of the epicanthus.
Mongoloid type(South Siberian) - characterized by brachycephaly, dark shades of hair and eyes, a wide and flattened face and a low bridge of the nose, frequent epicanthus and poor beard development. Height, on a Caucasian scale, is average.

Theory of ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars

There are several theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars. Three of them are described in the most detail in the scientific literature:

• Bulgaro-Tatar theory
• Tatar-Mongol theory
• Turkic-Tatar theory.

see also

Notes

Literature

• Akhatov G. Kh. Tatar dialectology. Middle dialect (textbook for students of higher educational institutions). - Ufa, 1979.
• Akhmarov G. N. (Tatar.)Russian. Wedding ceremonies of Kazan Tatars// Akhmarev G. N. (Tatar.)Russian Tarihi-documentary Khyentyk. - Kazan: “Җyen-TatArt”, “Khater” nashriyats, 2000.
• Drozdova G. I. Funeral rite of the Volga-Kama peoples of the 16th-19th centuries: based on archaeological and ethnographic materials / abstract of thesis. ... candidate of historical sciences: 07.00.06. - Kazan: Institute of History named after Sh. Mardzhani of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 2007. - 27 p.

The population of the Volga Federal District numbers over 32 million people, of which more than 20 million, or 67%, are Russians.

The relevance of the topic of the course work lies in the fact that the ethno-demographic feature of the district is that in the Russian Federation it is one of the most populous (ranks second after Central District, which has 38 million people), and at the same time it has the lowest share of Russians in Russia. In the North Caucasus, which forms the basis of the Southern District, this share is the same or slightly higher, which is explained by the “transfer” to this district of two Volga regions - the Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, predominantly Russian in composition.

The total Russian population of the district grew slowly throughout the 1990s. due to the excess of the migration influx from neighboring countries, primarily from Kazakhstan, over the natural decline, and then gave way to zero growth.

More than 13% of the district's population are Tatars, numbering more than 4 million people. The Volga District is home to the largest number of Tatars in the Russian Federation.

Russians and Tatars together make up 80% of the entire population of the Volga region. The remaining 20% ​​includes representatives of almost all ethnic groups living in Russia. Among the ethnic groups, however, there are only 9, which, together with Russians and Tatars, make up 97-98% of the population in the district.

There are about 6 million Tatars in Russia. Abroad, 1 million Tatars live in states that were previously part of the USSR (especially many in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). The ethnonym “Tatars” unites large and small ethnic communities.

Among them, the most numerous are the Kazan Tatars. It is impossible to determine the exact number of Kazan Tatars using population census data, since all groups, except the Crimean Tatars, were designated by the same name until the 1994 microcensus. It can be assumed that out of 5.8 million Tatars in the Russian Federation, at least 4.3 million people are Kazan Tatars. The question of the relationship between the ethnonym “Tatars” and the term “Tatar people” is to a certain extent politicized. Some scholars insist that the ethnonym "Tatars" designates all groups of Tatars as an expression of a single, consolidated Tatar people (Tatar nation). On this basis, even a special term arose in relation to groups of Tatars living outside the Republic of Tatarstan - “intra-Russian Tatar diaspora.”

The purpose of this course work is to consider the features of settlement and residence of Tatars in the Volga region.

To achieve the goal of the course work, consider the following tasks:

In the Volga region, the number of Tatars in the 2000s. slowly increased, primarily due to natural growth (an average of 0.8% per year).

Most of the Tatars are settled in the Middle Volga region, primarily in the Republic of Tatarstan. Over a third of all Tatars are concentrated there - about 2 million people. The densely populated Tatar area extends into the neighboring Republic of Bashkortostan (where the Tatars outnumber the Bashkirs) and further into the Chelyabinsk region. Large groups settled in the Lower Volga region (Astrakhan Tatars), as well as in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Moscow and the Moscow region. The range of the Tatars extends into Siberia.

According to population census data, 32% of the Tatar population of Russia live in the Republic of Tatarstan. If we take only the Kazan Tatars, then this share will be much higher: most likely it is 60%. In the republic itself, Tatars make up about 50% of all residents.

The basis of the literary Tatar language is the language of the Kazan Tatars, while at the everyday level regional dialects and dialects are preserved. There are three main dialects - Western, or Mishar; medium, or Kazan; Eastern, or Siberian.

The Kazan Tatars and Mishars (or Mishars) are settled in the Volga-Ural region, as well as a small group - the Kryashens. These groups are divided into smaller territorial communities.

The Mishars, the second major division of the Volga-Ural Tatars, are somewhat different from the Kazan Tatars in language and culture (it is believed, for example, that the Mishars, in their traditions and everyday characteristics, are similar to the neighboring Mordovians). Their range, coinciding with the range of the Kazan Tatars, is shifted to the southwest and south. Characteristic Mishars - erased differences between territorial groups.

Kryashen Tatars (or baptized Tatars) stand out among the Volga-Ural Tatars on the basis of their religious affiliation. They were converted to Orthodoxy and their cultural, everyday and economic characteristics are connected with this (for example, unlike other Tatars, the Kryashens have long been engaged in pig breeding). The Kryashen Tatars are believed to be a group of Kazan Tatars who were baptized after the Russian state conquered the Kazan Khanate. This group is numerically small and concentrated mainly in Tatarstan. Experts distinguish the following groups of Kryashens: Molkeevskaya (on the border with Chuvashia), Predkamskaya (Laishevsky, Pestrechensky districts), Elabuga, Chistopolsky.

In the Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions live a small group (about 10-15 thousand people) of Orthodox Tatars who call themselves “Nagaibaks”. It is believed that the Nagaibaks are descendants of either baptized Nogais or baptized Kazan Tatars.

Neither among researchers nor among the population itself there is a consensus on whether all groups of Tatars bearing this name form a single people. We can only say that the greatest consolidation is characteristic of the Volga-Ural, or Volga, Tatars, the vast majority of which are Kazan Tatars. Besides them, the composition Volga Tatars It is customary to include groups of Kasimov Tatars living in the Ryazan region, the Mishars of the Nizhny Novgorod region, as well as the Kryashens (although there are different opinions about the Kryashens).

The Republic of Tatarstan has one of the highest percentages of locals in rural areas in Russia (72%), while migrants predominate in cities (55%). Since 1991, cities have experienced a powerful migration influx of the rural Tatar population. Even 20-30 years ago, the Volga Tatars had high level natural increase, which remains positive even now; however, it is not so large as to create demographic overload. Tatars are in one of the first places (after Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) in terms of the share of the urban population. Although among the Tatars there is a significant number of interethnic marriages (about 25%), this does not lead to widespread assimilation. Interethnic marriages are concluded mainly by Tatars living dispersedly, while in Tatarstan and in areas where Tatars live compactly, especially in rural areas, a high level of intra-ethnic marriage remains.

When writing this course work, the works of such authors as Vedernikova T.I., Kirsanov R., Makhmudov F., Shakirov R. and others were used.

The structure of the course work: the work consists of an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion, and a list of references.

The anthropology of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals provides interesting material for judgments about the origin of this people. Anthropological data show that all studied groups of Tatars (Kazan, Mishars, Kryashens) are quite close to each other and have a complex of characteristics inherent to them. According to a number of characteristics - by pronounced Caucasianity, by the presence of sublapoidity, the Tatars are closer to the peoples of the Volga region and the Urals than to other Turkic peoples.

The Siberian Tatars, who have a pronounced sublaponoid (Ural) character with a certain admixture of the South Siberian Mongoloid type, as well as the Astrakhan Tatars - Karagash, Dagestan Nogai, Khorezm Karakalpaks, Crimean Tatars, whose origin is generally linked to the population of the Golden Horde, are distinguished by their greater Mongoloidity from the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals.

In terms of external physical type, the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals show a long-standing crossbreeding of Caucasian and Mongoloid characteristics. The latter signs among the Tatars are much weaker than among many other Turkic peoples: Kazakhs, Karagash, Nogais, etc. Here are some examples. For Mongoloids, one of the characteristic features is the peculiar structure of the upper eyelid, the so-called. epicanthus. Among the Turks, the highest percentage of epicanthus (60-65%) is among the Yakuts, Kyrgyz, Altaians, and Tomsk Tatars. Among the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals, this trait is weakly expressed (from 0% among the Kryashens and Mishars of the Chistopol region to 4% among the Ar and 7% of the Kasimov Tatars). Other groups of Tatars, not related by their origin to the Volga region, have a significantly higher percentage of epicanthus: 12% - Crimean Tatars, 13% - Astrakhan Karagash, 20-28% - Nogai, 38% - Tobolsk Tatars.

The development of a beard is also one of the important characteristics that distinguishes the Caucasian and Mongoloid populations. The Tatars of the Middle Volga region have beard growth below the average level, but still more than that of the Nogais, Karagash, Kazakhs and even the Mari and Chuvash. Considering that weak beard growth is characteristic of Mongoloids, including sublaponoids of Eurasia, and also that the Tatars, located in the north, have significantly greater hair growth than the more southern Kazakhs and Kyrgyz, we can assume that this was reflected in the impact of the so-called Pontic population groups with fairly intensive beard growth. In terms of beard growth, Tatars are close to Uzbeks, Uyghurs and Turkmens. Its greatest growth is observed among the Mishars and Kryashens, the smallest among the Tatars of Zakazanya.

Tatars generally have dark hair pigmentation, especially among the Tatars of Zakazanya and the Narovchatov Mishars. Along with this, up to 5-10% there are also lighter shades of hair, especially among the Chistopol and Kasimov Tatars and almost all groups of Mishars. In this regard, the Volga Tatars tend to local peoples Volga region - Mari, Mordovians, Chuvash, as well as Karachais and north-eastern Bulgarians of the Danube region.

In general, the Tatars of the Middle Volga region and the Urals have a mainly Caucasoid appearance with a certain inclusion of Mongoloid features, and with signs of long-standing crossbreeding or mixing. The following anthropological types are distinguished: Pontic; light Caucasian; sublapanoid; Mongoloid.

The Pontic type is characterized by a relatively long head, dark or mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes, a high bridge of the nose, a convex bridge of the nose with a drooping tip and base of the nose, and significant beard growth. Growth is average with an upward trend. On average, this type is represented by more than a third of the Tatars - 28% among the Kryashens of the Chistopol region to 61% among the Mishars of the Narovchatovsky and Chistopol regions. Among the Tatars of Zakazan and the Chistopol region, it fluctuates between 40-45%. This type is not known among the Siberian Tatars. In paleoanthropological material it is well expressed among the pre-Mongol Bulgars, in modern - among the Karachais, Western Circassians and in eastern Bulgaria among the local Bulgarian population, as well as among some Hungarians. Historically, it should be linked to the main population of Volga Bulgaria.

Light Caucasoid type with an oval head shape, light pigmentation of hair and eyes, a medium or high bridge of the nose, a straight bridge of the nose, and a moderately developed beard. Average height. On average, 17.5% of all studied Tatars are represented, from 16-17% among the Tatars of the Elabuga and Chistopol regions to 52% of the Kryashens of the Elabuga region. In a number of features (morphology of the nose, absolute size of the face, pigmentation) he is close to the Pontic type. It is possible that this type penetrated into the Volga region along with the so-called. saklabs (fair-haired according to Sh. Marjani), about whom Arab sources wrote in the 8th - 9th centuries, placing them in the Lower Volga region, and later (Ibn Fadlan) in the Middle Volga region. But we should not forget that among the Kipchak-Polovtsians there were also light-pigmented Caucasians; it is not without reason that the ethnonym “Polovtsian” itself is linked with the word “Polovtsy”, i.e. light, red. It is possible that this type, so characteristic of the northern Finns and Russians, could have penetrated to the ancestors of the Tatars from there.

The sublapanoid (Ural or Volga-Kama) type is also characterized by an oval head shape and has mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes, a wide nose with a low bridge, a poorly developed beard and a low, medium-wide face. In some features (a significantly developed fold of the eyelids, an occasionally occurring epicanthus, weak beard growth, some flattening of the face) this type is similar to the Mongoloid type, but has strongly smoothed out features of the latter. Anthropologists consider this type as formed in ancient times in Eastern Europe from a mixture of Euro-Asian Mongoloids and the local Caucasian population. Among the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals it is represented by 24.5%, least among the Mishars (8-10%) and more among the Kryashens (35-40%). It is most characteristic of the local Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga-Kama region - the Mari, Udmurts, Komi, partly Mordvins and Chuvash. It obviously penetrated to the Tatars as a result of the Turkization of the Finno-Ugric people back in the pre-Bulgar and Bulgar times, for sublapanoid types are already found in the Bulgar materials of the pre-Mongol period.

The Mongoloid type, characteristic of the Tatars of the Golden Horde and preserved among their descendants - the Nogais, Astrakhan Karagash, as well as among the Eastern Bashkirs, partly Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, etc., is not found in its pure form among the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals regions. In a state mixed with Caucasoid components (Pontic type), it is found in an average of 14.5% (from 7-8% among the Kryashens to 21% among the Tatars of the Trans-Zazan region). This type, which includes characteristics of both South Siberian and Central Asian Mongoloids, begins to be noted in anthropological materials of the Volga and Urals region since the Hunnic-Turkic time, i.e. from the middle of the 1st millennium AD, it is also known in the early Bulgarian Bolshe-Tarkhan burial ground. Therefore, its inclusion in the anthropological composition of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals cannot be linked only to the time of the Mongol invasion and the Golden Horde, although at that time it intensified.

Anthropological materials show that the physical type of the Tatar people was formed in the difficult conditions of cross-breeding of a mainly Caucasian population with Mongoloid components of ancient times. In terms of the relative degree of expression of Caucasoid and Mongoloid characteristics, the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals (average score - 34.9) are between the Uzbeks (34.7), Azerbaijanis (39.1), Kumyks (39.2), Russians (39.4), Karachais (39.9), Gagauz (34.0) and Turkmens (30.2).

The ethnonym has historically been assigned to the Turkic-speaking population of the Ural-Volga historical-ethnographic region, Crimea, Western Siberia and to the Turkic in origin, but who have lost their native language, Tatar population of Lithuania. There is no doubt that the Volga-Ural and Crimean Tatars are independent ethnic groups.

Long-term contacts between the Siberian and Astrakhan Tatars and the Volga-Ural Tatars, which especially intensified in the second half of the 19th century, had important ethnic consequences. In the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. There was an active process of consolidation of the Middle Volga-Ural, Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars into a new ethnic community - the Tatar nation. Due to their large numbers and socio-economic, as well as cultural advancement, the Tatars of the Volga-Ural region became the core of the nation. The complex ethnic structure of this nation is illustrated by the following data (at the end of the 19th century): Volga-Ural Tatars made up 95.4%, Siberian Tatars -2.9%, Astrakhan Tatars -1.7%.

On modern stage It is impossible to talk about Tatars without the Republic of Tatarstan, which is the epicenter of the Tatar nation. However, the Tatar ethnic group is by no means limited to Tatarstan. And not only because of dispersed settlement. The Tatar people, having a deep history and thousand-year-old cultural traditions, including writing, are connected with all of Eurasia. Moreover, being the northernmost outpost of Islam, the Tatars and Tatarstan act as part of the Islamic world and the great civilization of the East.

The Tatars are one of the largest Turkic-speaking ethnic groups. Total number 6,648.7 thousand people. (1989). Tatars are the main population of the Republic of Tatarstan (1,765.4 thousand people), 1,120.7 thousand people live in Bashkortostan, 110.5 thousand people live in Udmurtia, 47.3 thousand people live in Mordovia, in the Republic Mari El - 43.8 thousand, Chuvashia - 35.7 thousand people. In general, the bulk of the Tatar population - more than 4/5 - lives in the Russian Federation (5.522 thousand people), ranking second in number. In addition, a significant number of Tatars live in the CIS countries: in Kazakhstan - 327.9 thousand people, Uzbekistan - 467.8 thousand people, Tajikistan - 72.2 thousand people, Kyrgyzstan - 70.5 thousand people ., Turkmenistan - 39.2 thousand people. Azerbaijan - 28 thousand people, in Ukraine - 86.9 thousand people, in the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia) about 14 thousand people. There is also a significant diaspora throughout the rest of the world (Finland, Turkey, USA, China, Germany, Australia, etc.). Due to the fact that separate records of the number of Tatars in other countries have never been kept, it is difficult to determine the total number of the Tatar population abroad (according to various estimates, from 100 to 200 thousand people).

The Tatars of the Volga region include two large ethnic groups (sub-ethnic groups): Kazan Tatars and Mishars.

The intermediate group between the Kazan Tatars and the Mishars are the Kasimov Tatars (the area of ​​their formation in the city of Kasimov, Ryazan region and its environs). The ethno-confessional community is made up of baptized Kryashen Tatars. Due to territorial disunity and under the influence of neighboring peoples, each of these groups in turn formed ethnographic groups with some peculiarities in language, culture and way of life. Thus, among the Kazan Tatars, researchers identify the Nukrat (Chepetsk), Perm, ethnic class group of Teptyars, etc. The Kryashens also have local features (Nagaibaks, Molkeevites, Elabuga, Chistopol, etc.). The Mishari are divided into two main groups - the northern, Sergach, “clinking” in their language, and the southern, Temnikov, “clinking” in their language.

In addition, as a result of repeated resettlement, several territorial subgroups also formed among the Mishars: right bank, left bank or Trans-Volga, Ural.

The ethnonym Tatars is a national name, as well as the main self-name of all groups that form the nation. In the past, the Tatars also had other local ethnonyms - Moselman, Kazanly, Bulgarian, Misher, Tipter, Kereshen, Nagaibek, Kechim, etc. In the conditions of the formation of the nation (second half of the 19th century), the process of growth of national self-awareness and awareness of its unity began . The objective processes taking place among the people were recognized by the national intelligentsia, which contributed to the abandonment of local self-names in the name of acquiring one common ethnonym. At the same time, the most common ethnonym that unites all groups of Tatars was chosen. By the time of the 1926 census, the majority of Tatars considered themselves Tatars.

The ethnic history of the Volga Tatars has not yet been fully elucidated. The formation of their main groups - the Mishars, Kasimov and Kazan Tatars - had its own characteristics. Early stages The ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars is usually associated with the Volga Bulgars, whose ethnic composition was heterogeneous, and their different groups went through a long path of development. In addition to the Turkic tribe, the Bulgars themselves, such tribes as the Bersils, Esegels, Savirs (Suvars), etc. are known. The origins of some of these tribes go back to the Hunnic environment, and were later mentioned among the Khazars. Finno-Ugric groups played a significant role in the formation of the Bulgars. As part of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria), from many tribes and post-tribal formations, the Bulgar nation emerged, which in pre-Mongol times experienced a process of consolidation.

Established during the 8th - early 13th centuries. ethnic ties are broken in 1236 Mongol invasion. The conquerors destroyed cities and villages, especially those located in the center of the country. Part of the Bulgars moved to the north (to the areas of the Kama region) and to the west (to the Volga region). As a result of these migrations, the northern border of the settlement of the Volga Bulgars moves to the Ashit River basin. Separate small groups of Bulgars penetrated to the Cheptsa River, thereby laying the ethnic foundation of the Chepetsk or Nukrat Tatars.

After Mongol conquest Volga Bulgaria became part of the Golden Horde. The Golden Horde period in the ethnic history of the Bulgars and their descendants, including the Volga Tatars, is characterized by increased contacts with the Turkic-speaking world. Epigraphic monuments of the XIII-XIV centuries. indicate that the Bulgar language experienced certain changes in the direction of strengthening the elements of the Kipchak language, characteristic of the population of the Golden Horde. This is explained not only by the interaction of cultures, but also by the process of consolidation of the Kipchak and other Turkic-speaking tribes. Starting from the second half of the 14th century, especially after the new defeat of Bulgaria by Timur (1361), there was a mass migration of Bulgars from Trans-Kama to Pre-Kama (to the area of ​​modern Kazan). In the middle of the 15th century. a feudal state was formed here - the Kazan Khanate. Russian chronicles call its population new Bulgars or Bulgars, verb Kazanians, later Kazan Tatars. The ethnic development of the Bulgars in this area was influenced by the close proximity to the Finno-Ugric population.

The ethnic formation of the Mishars took place in the Oka-Sur interfluve as a result of a complex mixture of Turkic, Turkicized Ugric and Finnish population groups during the era of the Volga Bulgaria and the Golden Horde. During the collapse of the Golden Horde, they found themselves on the territory of the Golden Horde prince Bekhan, later the Narovchatov principality. This territory early entered the sphere of economic and political influence of the Moscow State.

The formation of the Kasimov Tatars as an independent group took place within the framework of the Kasimov Khanate (1452-1681), which was a buffer principality between Moscow and Kazan, completely dependent on the Russian state. The population already in the 15th century. was ethnically heterogeneous and consisted of the newcomer Golden Horde population (the dominant layer), Mishars, Mordovians, and a little later Russians, who had a certain impact on their culture.

From the middle of the 16th century. The ethnic history of the Tatars was determined by diverse connections with ethnic processes taking place within the framework of the Russian multinational state, into which, after the defeat and capture of Kazan, the Kazan Tatars were included in 1552.

In the Middle Ages, the ethnic territories of the Tatars occupied a vast area: Crimea, the Lower and Middle Volga region (with part of the Urals), Western Siberia. Almost in the same area the Tatars lived in the 16th - early centuries. XX centuries However, during this period, intensive migration processes were also observed among the Tatars. They were especially intense among the Volga-Ural Tatars. Active resettlement of Tatars from the Middle Volga region to the Urals began after the liquidation of the Kazan Khanate, although Tatars and their ancestors lived in some areas of the Urals before. The peak of Tatar resettlement in the Urals occurred in the first half XVIII V. Its causes are associated with increased socio-economic oppression, brutal persecution on religious grounds with forced Christianization, etc. Thanks to this, the number of Tatars in the Urals in the middle of the 18th century. made up 1/3 of the Tatars of the Ural-Volga region.

In the post-reform period, Tatar migrants from the Middle Volga and Urals regions moved through northern and northeastern Kazakhstan to Western Siberia and Central Asia. Another direction of Tatar migration from the zone under consideration was resettlement to the industrial areas of the European part of Russia and the Transcaucasus. Volga-Ural Tatars in the XVIII - early. XX centuries became a noticeable part of the Tatar population of the Astrakhan region and Western Siberia. In the Astrakhan Territory their share is late XVIII V. amounted to 13.2%, in the 30s. XIX century -17.4%, and at the beginning of the 20th century. - exceeded 1/3 of the total Tatar population of the Lower Volga region. In Western Siberia a similar picture was observed: to end of the 19th century V. migrant Tatars made up 17% of all Tatars in Western Siberia.

Historically, all groups of Tatars had a noticeable layer of urban residents, especially during the period of the existence of independent khanates. However, after the annexation of the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian khanates to the Moscow state, the urban layer of Tatars sharply decreased.

As a result of socio-economic transformations of the 18th-19th centuries. urbanization processes among the Tatars began to develop quite intensively. However, urbanization remained quite low - 4.9% of the total number of Volga-Ural Tatars at the beginning. XX century Most of the urban Tatars lived in large cities of the region - in Kazan, Ufa, Orenburg, Samara, Simbirsk, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, Penza, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Chelyabinsk, Troitsk, etc. In addition, people from the Middle Volga and Urals regions lived in a number of cities in the European part of Russia (Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kiev, etc.), Transcaucasia (in Baku), Central Asia and Western Siberia. Very significant changes in the distribution of the Tatar population occurred in the 20th century. As a result of urbanization processes, which took place especially intensively during the 1950-1960s, more than half of the country’s Tatar population became urban residents. In 1979-09 the share of urban Tatars increased from 63 to 69%. Now the Tatars are one of the most urbanized peoples of the former Soviet Union.

The traditional religion of the Tatars is Sunni Islam, with the exception of a small group of Kryashen Christians who were converted to Orthodoxy in the 16th-18th centuries. As historical sources and archaeological excavations testify, the ancestors of modern Tatars - the Bulgars - began to join Islam already in the first decades of the 9th century, and this process ended in 922 with the proclamation of Islam as the official religion of Volga Bulgaria.

The adoption of Islam opened up the possibility of familiarization with the advanced Arab-Muslim culture and the widespread penetration of scientific, philosophical, literary and artistic ideas common in the East into the Volga-Kama region. And this, in turn, played a very significant role in the development of culture, scientific and philosophical thought among the Bulgars themselves. The foundations for education were laid, and the education system was being established. The Muslim school was the most important factor in national consolidation and self-preservation.

Dire trials befell the Tatars after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate by the Russians in 1552. From that time on, a systematic attack of the state and church on Islam began, especially intensified from the beginning of the 18th century, from the reign of Emperor Peter I. The process of converting the “non-believers” was carried out with intense economic pressure on those who did not want to be baptized: the lands of non-religious landowners were assigned to the sovereign, while the newly baptized were given tax breaks for 3 years, and all taxes on them were transferred to the shoulders of the Muslim Tatars who remained in “unbelief.” Missionaries desecrated Muslim cemeteries, gravestones were placed in the foundations of Orthodox churches under construction. By decree of 1742, the destruction of mosques began: literally in two months in the Kazan district, out of 536 existing mosques, 418 were broken, in the Simbirsk province out of 130 - 98, in Astrakhan out of 40 - 29.

The Tatars could not stand it: on the one hand, their flight to those areas where life was easier became widespread. The most accessible of these areas was the Urals, Trans-Volga region; on the other hand, they took an active part in a number of uprisings, including peasant war under the leadership of E. Pugachev (1773-75), which shook all the foundations of feudal Russia. In this confrontation between the Tatars, the unifying influence of Islam and the Muslim clergy increased even more. Even in the pre-Russian period of Tatar history, when Islam occupied the dominant ideological positions, it did not play such a significant role in the spiritual life of the people as during the period of persecution and oppression of the second half of the 16th - mid-18th centuries. Islam began to play a huge role in the development of not only culture, but even ethnic identity. Apparently it is no coincidence that in the 18th-19th centuries. Many of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals, when defining their ethnicity, preferred to call themselves Muslims.

The Tatar people defended their historical identity in the struggle against the spiritual yoke of autocracy and Orthodoxy, but this struggle for survival delayed the natural course of development for at least two centuries secular culture and social thought. It resumes in the last quarter of the 18th century, when the autocracy, frightened by the growth of the national liberation movement among the Muslims of the Volga region and the Urals, changes tactics. The reforms of Catherine II legalize the Muslim clergy - the Orenburg Spiritual Assembly opens, create the preconditions for the development of the Tatar bourgeoisie, the secularization of social thought. Forces are gradually maturing, feeling the need for social change and a departure from the dogmas of medieval ideology and traditions, a reformist-renovation movement is being formed, called Jadidism: religious, cultural and, finally, political reformation (late 18th - early 20th centuries).

In Tatar society until the beginning of the 20th century. Three generations of Islamic reformers have passed. Their first generation includes G. Utyz-Imani and Abu-Nasr al Kursavi. The main and most prominent representative of the second generation of religious reformers was Shigabuddin Marjani. The essence of religious reformation was the rejection of Islamic scholasticism and the search for new ways of understanding Islam.

The activities of Muslim reformers of the last generation occurred during the period of cultural reformation in Tatar society and at the stage of drawing the Jadids into politics. Hence the two main features of Muslim reformism among the Tatars of the late 19th - first decades of the 20th centuries: the desire to consider Islam within the framework of culture and Active participation in politics. It was this generation of reformers through the radical reformism of the early 20th century. ensured the movement of the Tatar-Muslim ummah towards secularization. The most prominent representatives of this generation of Muslim reformers were Rizautdin Fakhrutdinov, Musa Yarulla Bigi, Gabdulla Bubi, Ziyauddin Kamali and others.

The main result of the activities of Muslim reformers was the transition of Tatar society to a purified Islam that met the requirements of the time. These ideas penetrated deeply into the masses of the people, primarily through the educational system: Jadidist mektebe and madrasah, through printed materials. As a result of the activities of Muslim reformers, the Tatars by the beginning of the 20th century. faith was largely separated from culture, and politics became an independent sphere, where religion already occupied a subordinate position.

The overwhelming majority of Tatar believers in the Saratov region are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi movement. The policy of mass Christianization of the Volga peoples, actively pursued by the tsarist government in XVIII-XIX centuries, was not successful.

In pre-revolutionary times, mosques functioned in all Tatar villages of the province.

During the Soviet period, especially in the 30s, most mosques were destroyed, some of them were converted into schools, clubs, shops, first-aid posts and warehouses. Only in some villages did mosques continue to function, although most of the official clergy were repressed, and their functions were performed by local elders.

Today, there are 20 mosques and 2 madrassas in the Saratov region. The Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Saratov Region (DUMSO) was created.

In architectural terms, newly built mosques in rural areas completely copy the old makhalla mosques, while their size, number and size of windows have been increased, and some of them are built of brick.

Tatar language is included in the so-called Kipchak-Bulgar subgroup of the Kipchak group of Turkic languages. In lexical terms, it shows the greatest similarity to the Bashkir, then Karakalpak, Kazakh, Nogai, Balkar, Uzbek and Kumyk languages.

According to UNESCO, the Tatar language is one of the 14 most communicative languages ​​in the world. It was formed together with the native people of this language in the Volga and Urals regions in close communication with other both related and unrelated languages. He experienced a certain influence of Finno-Ugric (Mari, Mordovian, Udmurt, Old Hungarian), Arabic, Persian, Slavic languages. Thus, linguists believe that those features in the field of phonetics (changes in the vowel scale, etc.), which, on the one hand, unite the Volga-Turkic languages ​​with each other, and on the other hand, contrast them with other Turkic languages, are the result of their complex relationship with the Finno-Turkic languages. Ugric languages.

The colloquial language of the Tatars is divided into 3 dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). Until the middle of the 19th century, the Old Tatar literary language functioned. Earliest surviving literary monuments- poem by Kyis and Yosyf. This language is close to the Chagatai (Old Uzbek) literary language, but has also experienced a certain influence of the Ottoman language. It contained a large number of borrowings from Arabic and Persian. All this made the Old Tatar literary language incomprehensible to the masses, and it was used, like other literary languages ​​of the pre-national period, by a thin layer of scientists, writers, religious and government (diplomats) figures.

From the second half of the 19th century. based on the Kazan-Tatar dialect, but with the noticeable participation of Mishar, the formation of modern Tatar begins national language, which ended at the beginning of the 20th century. In reforming the Tatar language, two stages can be distinguished - the second half of XIX- beginning of the 20th century (until 1905) and 1905-1917 At the first stage, the main role in the creation of the national language belonged to Kayum Nasyri. It was he who sought to ensure that the literary language became more Tatar. After the revolution of 1905-1907. the situation in the field of reforming the Tatar language has changed dramatically: there is a rapprochement between the literary language and the colloquial language, and a terminological apparatus in it is being developed.

Reforming the alphabet and spelling was also of no small importance. The Arabic alphabet, on which the Tatar writing was based since the Middle Ages (before this period there was a Turkic runic), was not sufficiently adapted to the peculiarities of the Tatar language. The legislative consolidation of the writing reform occurred at the end of 1920 with the adoption of the decree “On the Alphabet and Spelling,” accompanied by a decree of the People’s Commissar of Education on the obligatory nature of the Tatar written language for all schools and all publications noted in the decree. At the same time, work began (completed in 1926) to improve the writing of Arabic letters, important for printing, publishing newspapers, magazines and writing. However, already in 1929, the Latin alphabet was introduced, by the way, more adapted to the phonetics of the Tatar language, and since 1939, the Russian alphabet. Since the 1990s, the question of introducing Latin script has been raised again.

Until the end of the 19th century. The Volga-Ural Tatars were dominated by two types of confessional (Muslim) school: primary - mektebe and secondary - madrasah, maintained at the expense of parishioners. Their network was extremely wide. They functioned not only in large cities and towns, but also in the most remote villages. Thus, in 1912, in the Kazan province alone there were 232 madrassas and 1067 mektebs, in which about 84 thousand people studied. And throughout Russia there were 779 madrassas and 8117 mektebs, where about 270 thousand students received Muslim education.

Since the end of the 19th century. New method (Jadidist) schools appeared and became widespread, the curriculum of which included a wide range of secular subjects. Literacy among the Tatars was mainly in their native language - in 1897, 87.1% were literate in the Tatar language, in 1926 - 89%.

This in turn contributed to the widespread distribution of printed materials among the population. By 1913, Tatars by circulation national books came in second place in Russian Empire, second only to Russians and in third place in terms of the number of books published (a larger number of books, besides Russian, were published only in Latvian). The main place, along with religious literature, was occupied by the publication of works of folklore, fiction, textbooks, various calendars, books on history, philosophy, pedagogy, etc. All these book products, published not only in Kazan, but also in many cities of the Volga region, the Urals, St. Petersburg, etc., were distributed throughout the territory of the Tatars. Almost every large Tatar village had booksellers. This noble work was carried out by mullahs and shakirds.

At the beginning of the 20th century. The Tatars created an extensive network of periodicals. Newspapers and magazines were published in almost all major cities of the Volga-Ural region (Astrakhan, Kazan, Samara, Ufa, Orenburg, Troitsk, Saratov, Simbirsk, etc.), in capital cities. By the way, published in the beginning. XX century The newspaper of the Samara Tatars was called "New Power" - "Yana Kech".

In Soviet times, due to the transfer of control over the content of education to the state, which was totally subordinate to communist ideology, the Tatar school gradually lost its position. Even in rural areas, education is being translated into Russian (most actively since the early 1960s), pedagogical schools and institutes that train teachers in their native language are being closed. The vast majority of periodicals in the Tatar language are also closing, especially outside Tatarstan.

According to linguists, a single Tatar dialect with specific features has not been formed on the territory of the Saratov region. Since the overwhelming majority of the settlers were from among the Tsoking Mishars, the peculiarities of the language of this particular group are observed in the dialect of the Tatars in the north-west of the Saratov region. At the same time, close contacts with the Mishars, who moved from areas with a clinking dialect, as well as with the dialects of the middle (Kazan-Tatar) dialect and other neighboring peoples, contributed to the emergence of local specifics. Linguists called this dialect the Melekes dialect of the Mishar dialect. At the same time, in eastern regions The region has preserved settlements with a clinking dialect.

Livestock farming - pasture and stalls - played a subordinate role. They kept large and small livestock. In the steppe zone, the herds were significant. Tatars are characterized by a special love for horses. Poultry farming was common, especially chickens and geese. Vegetable gardening and horticulture were poorly developed. Beekeeping was traditional: first on-board, in the 19th-20th centuries. - apiary.

Along with agriculture, trades and crafts were important: labor migration to areas of entrepreneurial farming for the harvest, etc. and to factories, factories, mines, and cities (the Mishars and Kasimov Tatars most often resorted to the latter). The Tatars were famous for their skill in processing leather “Kazan morocco” and “Bulgarian yuft”. Their origins were trade and trade and intermediary activities. They practically monopolized petty trade in the region; Most of the prasol-procurers were also Tatars.

At the end of the 20th century. Tatars, having become one of the most urbanized peoples of Russia, both in the republic and abroad, are mainly engaged in industrial production: oil production, production of petrochemical products, mechanical engineering, instrument making, etc. Tatarstan is a republic of highly developed agriculture, an important producer of grain and livestock products.

The traditional economic activity of the Saratov Tatars was arable farming and livestock farming. Since the 16th century, farming was carried out on a three-field basis using characteristic arable tools: a heavy wheeled plow - “saban”, a double-share plow with a club, a wicker harrow, and later a frame harrow - “tyrma”. The range of grain crops, as well as the method of processing them, was the same as that of other peoples of the Volga region. Vegetable gardening and horticulture were poorly developed.

Cattle breeding (livestock farming) was of a stable nature, with large and small cattle predominating in the herd. Horse meat was a favorite food among the Tatars. Poultry rearing was widely practiced. In accordance with religious prohibitions, pork was not eaten, which is why pigs were practically not kept.

The Tatars also developed crafts: jewelry, leather, and felt.

The Tatars are the largest ethnic group in the Volga Federal District among the peoples traditionally professing Islam. According to the 2002 population census, 4 million 063 thousand Tatars live in the Volga Federal District, of which more than 2 million live in the Republic of Tatarstan.

Pre-1917 list ethnic communities, called Tatars, was much wider than it is now. In Russian sources, the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Caucasus and Central Asia were sometimes called Tatars, as were the Azerbaijanis, Balkars, Shors, and Yakuts.

Currently, the various ethnic groups referred to in official statistics and scientific research Tatars are united primarily by the similarity of languages: almost all of them speak the languages ​​of the Kipchak subgroup of Turkic languages.

The Tatar language has one of the most ancient writing traditions in Russia. Even the Bulgars, the predecessors of the current Volga Tatars, had runic writing. As Islamization progressed, runic writing was replaced by Arabic script. The Old Tatar literary language was formed on the basis of Arabic script in the 16th-19th centuries. In 1927, the Tatar letter was translated into Latin script, and in 1939 - into Cyrillic with the addition of six letters to convey sounds not found in the Russian language. The grammar of the Tatar language has been developed since the end of the 19th century.

The basis of the literary Tatar language is the language of the Kazan Tatars; at the everyday level, regional dialects and dialects are preserved. There are three main dialects: Western (Mishar), (Kazan), Eastern (Siberian).

The everyday culture of the Kazan Tatars was formed on the basis of agriculture; Islam had a significant influence on everyday culture.

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Valeev F. T. Volga Tatars: culture and life. - Kazan, 1992. P. 76.

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.

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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.

The traditional economic activity of the Samara Tatars wasarable 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 differed in their originality among different groups of 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.

Tatar culture is most represented by 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 dance. Event participants wear traditionally styled clothing, and thanks to the fair, spectators have the opportunity to try 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” and prepare pilaf from sturgeon fish, eat a lot of vegetables, love watermelons. For Siberian Tatars great importance had a hunt for taiga animals. The Volga Tatars extracted a lot of honey from wild bees and 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 the 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 vegetable oil into the pan 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 sustainable 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 serving items tea table In addition to cups, there 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.

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, ethnographic characteristics whom this article is devoted to, 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, belonging 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 Kipchaks (Cumans). 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 allegedly 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. In order to ward off the evil eye and generally 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 eye.

Among the religious ideas of the Tatars were some ancient beliefs of the Arabs, included 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. Joining the Russian state put an end to feudal fragmentation, constant attacks by nomads, predatory destruction of productive forces, and despotic oppression by the khans, from which the population of the region suffered. The peoples of the Middle Volga region joined a more intensive and developed economic life 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 the basis of popular culture. Numerous cadres of Muslim clergy arose, subjugating the school and even invading the family life of the 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. Advanced people 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 sharply different 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 before the Tatars wrote 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 civil war, which covered some part 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, were 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.

Posted Fri, 06/04/2012 - 08:15 by Cap

Tatars (self-name - Tat. Tatar, tatar, plural Tatarlar, tatarlar) - a Turkic people living in the central regions of the European part of Russia, in the Volga region, the Urals, Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Xinjiang, Afghanistan and the Far East.

The population in Russia is 5310.6 thousand people (population census 2010) - 3.72% of the Russian population. They are the second largest people in the Russian Federation after the Russians. They are divided into three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural, Siberian and Astrakhan Tatars, sometimes Polish-Lithuanian Tatars are also distinguished. Tatars make up more than half of the population of the Republic of Tatarstan (53.15% according to the 2010 census). Tatar language belongs to the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family of languages ​​and is divided into three dialects: Western (Mishar), Middle (Kazan-Tatar) and Eastern (Siberian-Tatar). Believing Tatars (with the exception of a small group of Kryashens who profess Orthodoxy) are Sunni Muslims.

LIST OF TOURIST OBJECTS, HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND NOTABLE PLACES IN KAZAN AND AROUND THE CITY FOR EXCURSIONS AND VISITS, AS WELL AS ARTICLES ABOUT THE TATAR PEOPLE:

Bulgar warrior

Hero of the Soviet Union and Tatar poet - Musa Jalil

History of the ethnonym

First the ethnonym “Tatars” appeared among the Turkic tribes that wandered in the 6th-9th centuries to the southeast of Lake Baikal. In the 13th century, with the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the name “Tatars” became known in Europe. In the XIII-XIV centuries it was extended to some peoples of Eurasia that were part of the Golden Horde.

TUKAY MUSEUM IN THE VILLAGE OF KOSHLAUCH - IN THE HOMELAND OF THE GREAT POET

Early history

The beginning of the penetration of Turkic-speaking tribes into the Urals and Volga region dates back to the 3rd-4th centuries AD. e. and is associated with the era of the invasion of Eastern Europe by the Huns and other nomadic tribes. Settled in the Urals and Volga region, they perceived elements of the culture of the local Finno-Ugric peoples, and partially mixed with them. In the 5th-7th centuries, there was a second wave of advance of Turkic-speaking tribes into the forest and forest-steppe regions of Western Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, associated with the expansion of the Turkic Kaganate. In the 7th-8th centuries, Bulgar tribes came to the Volga region from the Azov region, who conquered the Finno-Ugric-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes(including, possibly, the ancestors of the Bashkirs) and in the 9th-10th centuries they created the state of Volga-Kama Bulgaria. After the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria in 1236, and a series of uprisings (the uprising of Bayan and Dzhiku, the Bachman uprising), the Volga Bulgaria was finally captured by the Mongols. The Bulgarian population was forced out to the north (modern Tatarstan), replaced and partially assimilated.

In the XIII-XV centuries, when the majority of Turkic-speaking tribes were part of the Golden Horde, some transformation of the language and culture of the Bulgars took place.

Formation

In the XV-XVI centuries the formation of separate groups Tatars - the Middle Volga and Urals (Kazan Tatars, Mishars, Kasimov Tatars, as well as the sub-confessional community of Kryashens (baptized Tatars), Astrakhan, Siberian, Crimean and others). The Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals, the most numerous and having a more developed economy and culture, by the end of the 19th century had developed into a bourgeois nation. The bulk of the Tatars were engaged in agriculture; in the economy of the Astrakhan Tatars, cattle breeding and fishing played a major role. A significant part of the Tatars were employed in various handicraft industries. The material culture of the Tatars, which was formed over a long period of time from elements of the culture of a number of Turkic and local tribes, was also influenced by the cultures of the peoples of Central Asia and other regions, and from the end of the 16th century - by Russian culture.

Gayaz Ishaki

Ethnogenesis of the Tatars

There are several theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars. Three of them are described in the most detail in the scientific literature:

Bulgaro-Tatar theory

Tatar-Mongol theory

Turkic-Tatar theory.

For a long time, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory was considered the most recognized.

Currently, the Turkic-Tatar theory is gaining greater recognition.

PRESIDENT OF THE RF MEDVEDEV AND PRESIDENT OF THE RT MINNIKHANOV

I. SHARIPOVA - REPRESENTED RUSSIA AT MISS WORLD - 2010

Subethnic groups

The Tatars consist of several subethnic groups - the largest of them are:

Kazan Tatars (Tat. Kazanly) are one of the main groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Kazan Khanate. They speak the middle dialect of the Tatar language.

(GENERAL ARTICLE ABOUT KAZAN - HERE).

Mishari Tatars (Tat. Mishar) are one of the main groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis took place in the territory of the Middle Volga, Wild Field and the Urals. They speak the Western dialect of the Tatar language.

Kasimov Tatars (tat. Kәchim) are one of the groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Kasimov Khanate. They speak the middle dialect of the Tatar language.

Siberian Tatars (Tat. Seber) are one of the groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Siberian Khanate. They speak the eastern dialect of the Tatar language.

Astrakhan Tatars (tat. Әsterkhan) are an ethno-territorial group of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Astrakhan Khanate.

Teptyari Tatars (Tat. Tiptar) are an ethnic class group of Tatars, known in Bashkortostan.

clothes of Bulgarian girls

Culture and life

Tatars speak the Tatar language of the Kipchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family. The languages ​​(dialects) of the Siberian Tatars show a certain closeness to the language of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals. The literary language of the Tatars was formed on the basis of the middle (Kazan-Tatar) dialect. Most ancient writing- Turkic runic. From the 10th century to 1927, writing was based on Arabic script; from 1928 to 1936, Latin script (Yanalif) was used; from 1936 to the present day, writing in Cyrillic was used. graphical basis, although there are already plans to translate Tatar writing into Latin.

The traditional dwelling of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals was a log hut, separated from the street by a fence. The external façade was decorated with multicolor paintings. The Astrakhan Tatars, who retained some of their steppe cattle-breeding traditions, used a yurt as a summer home.

Every nation has its own National holidays. Tatar folk holidays They delight in people’s sense of gratitude and respect for nature, for the customs of their ancestors, and for each other.

Religious Muslim holidays are called by the word gaet (ayet) (Uraza gaete is a holiday of fasting and Korban gaete is a holiday of sacrifice). And all folk, non-religious holidays are called beyram in Tatar. Scientists believe that this word means “spring beauty”, “spring celebration”.

Religious holidays are called by the word Gayt or Bayram (Eid al-Fitr (Ramazan) - a holiday of fasting and Korban Bayram - a holiday of sacrifice). Muslim holidays among Tatars - Muslims include collective morning prayer, in which all men and boys participate. Then you are supposed to go to the cemetery and pray near the graves of your loved ones. And the women and the girls helping them at this time prepare treats at home. On holidays (and each religious holiday used to last for several days), people went around the houses of relatives and neighbors with congratulations. Particularly important was a visit to my parents' home. During the days of Korban Bayram - the holiday of sacrifice, they tried to treat as many people as possible with meat, the tables remained set for two or three days in a row and everyone entering the house, no matter who he was, had the right to treat himself.

Tatar holidays

Boz karau

According to the old, old tradition, Tatar villages were located on the banks of rivers. Therefore, the first beyram - “spring celebration” for the Tatars is associated with ice drift. This holiday is called boz karau, boz bagu - “watch the ice”, boz ozatma - seeing off the ice, zin kitu - ice drift.

All residents, from old people to children, came to the river bank to watch the ice drift. The youth walked dressed up, with accordion players. Straw was laid out and lit on floating ice floes. In the blue spring twilight these floating torches were visible far away, and songs followed them.

Younger yau

One day in early spring, the children went home to collect cereals, butter, and eggs. With their calls, they expressed good wishes to the owners and... demanded refreshments!

From the collected products on the street or indoors, with the help of one or two elderly women, the children cooked porridge in a huge cauldron. Everyone brought a plate and spoon with them. And after such a feast, the children played and doused themselves with water.

Kyzyl yomorka

After some time, the day came to collect colored eggs. Village residents were warned about such a day in advance and housewives painted eggs in the evening - most often in a decoction of onion skins. The eggs turned out to be multi-colored - from golden yellow to dark brown, and in a decoction of birch leaves - various shades of green. In addition, in each house they baked special dough balls - small buns, pretzels, and also bought candy.

The children were especially looking forward to this day. Mothers sewed bags for them from towels to collect eggs. Some guys went to bed dressed and with shoes on, so as not to waste time getting ready in the morning; they put a log under their pillow so as not to oversleep. Early in the morning, boys and girls began to walk around the houses. The one who came in was the first to bring in wood chips and scatter them on the floor - so that “the yard would not be empty,” that is, so that there would be a lot of living creatures on it.

The children's humorous wishes to the owners are expressed in ancient times - as in the times of great-grandmothers and great-grandfathers. For example, this: “Kyt-kytyk, kyt-kytyk, are grandparents at home? Will they give me an egg? Let you have a lot of chickens, let the roosters trample them. If you don’t give me an egg, there’s a lake in front of your house, and you’ll drown there!” The egg collection lasted two to three hours and was a lot of fun. And then the children gathered in one place on the street and played different games with the collected eggs.

But the spring holiday of the Tatars, Sabantuy, is once again becoming widespread and beloved. This is a very beautiful, kind and wise holiday. It includes various rituals and games.

Literally, “Sabantuy” means “Plow Festival” (saban - plow and tui - holiday). Previously, it was celebrated before the start of spring field work, in April, but now Sabantuy is celebrated in June - after the end of sowing.

In the old days, they prepared for Sabantui for a long time and carefully - the girls wove, sewed, embroidered scarves, towels, and shirts with national patterns; everyone wanted her creation to become a reward for the strongest horseman - the winner in national wrestling or horse racing. And young people went from house to house and collected gifts, sang songs, and joked. Gifts were tied to a long pole; sometimes horsemen tied the collected towels around themselves and did not remove them until the end of the ceremony.

During the Sabantuy, a council of respected elders was elected - all power in the village passed to them, they appointed a jury to award the winners, and kept order during the competitions.

Socio-political movements of the 1980s—1990s

The late 80s of the 20th century saw a period of intensification of socio-political movements in Tatarstan. One can note the creation of the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOC), the first president M. Mulyukov, the branch of the Ittifak party - the first non-communist party in Tatarstan, headed by F. Bayramova.

V.V. PUTIN ALSO CLAIMES THAT THERE WERE TATARS IN HIS FAMILY!!!

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:

http://www.photosight.ru/photos/

http://www.ethnomuseum.ru/glossary/

http://www.liveinternet.ru/

http://i48.servimg.com/

Wikipedia.

Zakiev M.Z. Part two, Chapter one. History of the study of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars // Origin of the Turks and Tatars. - M.: Insan, 2002.

Tatar Encyclopedia

R.K. Urazmanova. Rituals and holidays of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals. Historical and ethnographic atlas of the Tatar people. Kazan, House of Printing 2001

Trofimova T. A. Ethnogenesis of the Volga Tatars in the light of anthropological data. - M., Leningrad: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1949, P.145.

Tatars (Series “Peoples and Cultures” of the Russian Academy of Sciences). M.: Nauka, 2001. - P.36.

http://firo04.firo.ru/

http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/

http://www.ljplus.ru/img4/s/a/safiullin/

http://volga.lentaregion.ru/wp-content/

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