Ethnocultural characteristics. Features of ethnic culture

Capital - regions: fractal structures of interaction in the socio-cultural space of the city Interaction between the capital and regions is most often considered from the perspective of state-political or socio-economic problems. However, one of the most important

The development of children occurs in a certain ethnocultural context, the features of which, of course, leave their mark on the specifics of development, consciousness and self-awareness of children. When discussing the characteristics of children's development in the context of ethnic cultures, the formation of their ideas about their place in the world and society, such categories as the image of the world, ethnic self-awareness, mentality, and ethnic stereotype are significant. “The worldview and worldview of each nation is based on its own system of objective meanings, social stereotypes, cognitive schemes. Therefore, human consciousness is always ethnically determined, the vision of the world by one people cannot be simply “recoded” to be translated into the language of the culture of other peoples.”

Various studies have identified features of the sociocultural determination of the intellectual development of primary schoolchildren, depending both on the ethnic component and on the type of settlement (city, village). Thus, in a study by Yu. V. Solovyova and N. F. Talyzina, it was revealed that sociocultural conditions of development influence the following characteristics of the intellectual development of younger schoolchildren, which are significant in educational activities: novelty and accessibility of admission; reception plan; correlation of the reception plan with age; the level of assistance sufficient at the stage of drawing up a diagram of the indicative basis for action; coincidence of plans for executing the plan.

In relation to the study of the worldview of various ethnic groups, it is most advisable to use the phenomenon of “ethnic self-awareness”, since ethnic self-awareness is a kind of “last frontier” for the preservation of ethnicity, because in the course of historical development, the language, the common territory, and even cultural traditions can be lost, but as long as ethnic self-awareness is preserved, the image of the ethnic “we” does not fade. The characteristics of self-awareness largely depend on the practice of interethnic interaction and the characteristics of the ethnic environment.

Ethnic identity – the most stable side of an individual’s self-awareness, which is formed in the process of social communication of an individual through repulsion from an ethnic other and represents the individual’s awareness of his connections with a given ethnic group, the affirmation of his “I” in these connections.

In the context of discussing the regulatory role of ethnic identity or ethnic self-awareness for the personality of a primary school student, it is necessary to note the scarcity of theoretical and empirical research.

The proposed stages of identity formation in the works of J. Piaget today need to be revised. Thus, in accordance with the periods of mental development of a child, J. Piaget proposes the following stages in the formation of ethnic identity:

• 1) at 6–7 years old, the child acquires the first fragmentary, unsystematic knowledge about his ethnicity; he receives this knowledge from his family and immediate social environment, and not from his country and ethnic group;
• 2) at 8–9 years old, the child already identifies himself with his ethnic group; the basis for such identification is the nationality of the parents, place of residence, native language; during this age period, national feelings awaken in him;
• 3) at 10–11 years old, ethnic identity is fully formed; As features of different peoples, the child notes the uniqueness of history and the specifics of traditional everyday culture.

The current situation and recent research allow us to assert that ethnic identity begins to form at the age of three, and it may not be fully formed even by the age of 25.

As A. S. Obukhov notes, the peculiarities of the formation of the ethnic component of social identity are largely influenced by the sociocultural context of development - according to the parameter of ethnicity: monoethnic, biethnic, multiethnic. In a monoethnic context, other types of social identity rather than ethnic (regional, local, etc.) develop. In a biethnic context, depending on the established traditions of interethnic relations, ethnicity begins to be understood quite early through a clear awareness of belonging to a certain “we” in relation to a certain “they”. In a multiethnic context, the development of ethnicity can occur according to very different scenarios and strategies, depending on the specifics of the family, ethnic group, microsociety, general socio-economic conditions, etc.

An analysis of psychological research allows us to note that in its formation, the ethnic identity of a junior schoolchild goes through the following stages:

• self-determination, i.e. identifying oneself as a member of an ethnic group;
• inclusion of the general characteristics of the ethnic group into one’s “I-concept” and the assimilation of values ​​and norms characteristic of the ethnic group;
• The learned values ​​and norms of the ethnic group become internal regulators of the social behavior of the individual of a primary school student.

The first social group to which a junior schoolchild realizes that he belongs is the family. The unsystematic knowledge that children receive at the initial stages of forming their ideas about themselves from their immediate social environment and which they include in their “Self-concept” does not yet correlate in any way with the values, norms, traditions and culture of a particular ethnic group.

At the second stage, through the social context, the values ​​and norms of the ethnic community are mastered, which subsequently determine his line of behavior.

The formation of the ethnic identity of a junior schoolchild is completed when the knowledge, beliefs and views of the junior schoolchild are embodied in his corresponding actions and behavior that meet ethnocultural norms, i.e. traditions and customs of their people. The values ​​and norms of an ethnic group learned by children of primary school age become internal regulators of their social behavior.

Thus, primary school age is the most important period in human psychosocial development. Children of this age are actively involved in adult life, form the identity of their ethnic group, master various social roles and most actively go through the stage of formation of ethnic self-awareness. But ethnic status most often remains unchanged throughout a person's life. And ethnic identity is not a static, but a dynamic formation. External circumstances can push a person of any age to rethink the role of ethnicity in his life and lead to a transformation of ethnic identity. In children, the formation of ethnic identity and its time boundaries are not universal for all peoples and social situations. Depending on the social context, they can speed up or slow down. Ethnic identity is more clearly recognized, and knowledge about the differences between groups is acquired earlier if the child’s socialization takes place in a multiethnic environment. The transformation of identity is also influenced by which group a person belongs to - the majority or minority group. Research highlights that minority groups are more knowledgeable about ethnic groups. It has been noted that representatives of ethnic minorities give preference to the dominant culture.

The regulatory role of culture. With regard to the regulatory role of culture and its influence on the personality of a primary school student, it is necessary to note that “not all of an individual’s actions exist for society, but only those to which some social significance is attributed in a given cultural system.” Through observance of customs, values, norms, ideals, and beliefs of the culture, the younger student corresponds to the “sociotypical behavior of the individual.” This is the behavior that, according to A.G. Asmolov, “by expressing the standard programs of a given culture and regulating behavior in situations standard for a given community, frees a person from making individual decisions.” Or these are actions that correspond to social ideas. Based on this situation, we note that a junior schoolchild, finding himself in a different cultural environment, may become confused, since he is focused on his own culture and the corresponding model of behavior.

Social and normative features of ethnic culture and junior schoolchildren. Cultural norms, which are largely the same for society and, to a certain extent, different for representatives of different ethnic groups, determine the consciousness and real behavior of the individual of a primary school student.

In the process of interaction with the social environment, children of primary school age appropriate social experience, culture, and values ​​of society. In the complex system of relationships in which a junior schoolchild is included and which connect him with various groups, the ethnic community is distinguished by special conditions for the development of normative systems that regulate behavior.

Folk traditions, being part of ethnic culture, accumulate such moral categories as duty, honor, conscience, dignity, which are a necessary condition for a child’s self-affirmation in society. T. G. Stefanenko notes that “the tradition of each culture is holistic and represents a complex system of interconnected elements - customs, values, norms, ideals, beliefs that are regulators of human behavior.”

Folk traditions provide a special psychological environment, acting as the most important means of socializing the personality of a primary school student.

The older generation, through tradition, passes on to the younger generation moral beliefs and feelings, ways and techniques of activity, and experience of social and ethical behavior. "Tradition is a dynamic, self-developing process of transmission of spiritual values ​​and standards from generation to generation, on which the existence of culture is based. Tradition acts as an organizing factor in a person’s interaction with the world, with others, with himself. Tradition largely determines the formation of a worldview and organizes a person’s life in objective, natural, social and symbolic realities.<...>Tradition, existing in society and defining the existence of society through the transmission of culture, like culture itself, cannot be “dead”, since it can exist only as long as it fulfills its functions of preservation and transmission, which can change, but not die out.<.„>Tradition is the implementation of various variations on a theme adopted from previous generations. Tradition is not something self-producing and self-generating. Only a living, cognizing, desiring human being can perceive it and modify it. Tradition develops because those who bear it strive to create something better, more suitable.

Tradition can be either more stable or more dynamic and changeable. At the present stage of cultural development, dividing along the poles of stability and variability, we can distinguish rural (often called traditional) and urban (book and mass) cultures. The fundamental difference between them is the predominance of one or another method of transmitting culture from generation to generation."

Traditions record historically established norms and principles of connections, relationships, ideals that have established themselves in an ethnic group, ensuring its survival and active functioning. Acting as collective memory, traditions are an integral element of ethnic identity. They contribute to the emergence of ethnic “attraction” and strengthen the feeling of patriotism and national pride.

It should be noted that by their nature, being addressed to people, folk traditions are humanistic. They reflect the need for work, human communication, conscience, dignity, a sense of mercy, mutual assistance, concern for the preservation of public goods, leniency towards the weak, tolerance, aversion to violence and other universal moral values. Since the departure from observing folk traditions is condemned by public opinion, as a result they have a normative and regulatory impact, help to consolidate the value orientations of a primary school student, and act as an important means of socialization of the child.

Thus, values, ideals, norms and patterns of behavior, concentrated in the traditions of the people, in the process of socialization of a junior schoolchild become part of his self-awareness.

Psychology of interethnic relations and multicultural education in primary school. The psychology of interethnic relations occupies a special place in ethnopsychology, but we note that there are no special psychological phenomena and processes characteristic only of interethnic relations. All of them are universal for intergroup relations. To understand these processes and build harmonious relationships between representatives of different ethnic groups, it is important to know how the mechanisms of interethnic perception work in intergroup relations. In social psychology, the following mechanisms of interethnic perception are distinguished: ethnocentrism, stereotyping, social causal attribution.

Ethnocentrism is a preference for one's own group. This concept was introduced in 1906 by W. Sumner, who understands ethnocentrism as a vision of things in which one’s own group is at the center of everything, and all others are measured against it or evaluated with reference to it. This mechanism, on the one hand, helps a person maintain his identity, and on the other hand, when strongly expressed, is an obstacle to interethnic relations and interactions. There is nothing wrong with giving preference to our ethnic group; preference for one's own group can be combined with a tolerant attitude towards other ethnic communities. Problems arise when people don't just favor their own group, but begin to impose their values ​​on others. This type of ethnocentrism is called militant.

There is another type of ethnocentrism - delegitimization, when they not only give preference to their own group, impose their values, but also consider representatives of other ethnic groups as non-humans, maximizing intergroup differences.

Numerous discussions about what influences the degree of expression of ethnocentrism indicate that a more significant influence is exerted not by cultural features, but by the social structure and the objective nature of interethnic relations.

The next mechanism is stereotyping: a psychological process, a rational form of cognition, a special case of categorization. With this mechanism, a person’s characteristics are given based on his ethnicity. Stereotyping is also aimed at preserving ethnic identity, but it deprives a person of the right to be perceived and understood as an individual with his own special traits, positive and negative. In addition, in a stable and peaceful situation, stereotypes do not particularly express themselves, but in a situation of interethnic tensions and competition at the group and personal levels, this mechanism works - we no longer see a person as such, but we see a representative of a certain ethnic group and reward him with the corresponding characteristic: “Yes they are all like this..."

The final mechanism of intergroup perception, social causal attribution, is the interpretation of individuals' behavior and performance based on their group membership. Thus, there are ethnocentric attributions - internal reasons are attributed to the positive behavior of members of one’s own group and the negative behavior of an out-group, and external reasons are attributed to the negative behavior of “insiders” and the positive behavior of “strangers”.

Thus, we note that the above-mentioned mechanisms of intergroup perception in interethnic relations (ethnocentrism, stereotyping and social causal attribution) operate on an unconscious level, but their knowledge will help to understand oneself and others in a situation of interethnic interaction and facilitate the building of normal human relations between representatives of different ethnic groups . As for the younger schoolchild, “...of the totality of complex interactions within the social space that the child has to master, the clearest for him are the rules of interaction with other people... In regions where representatives of different ethnic groups live together, the child very early adopts the style of interethnic relationships: he develops a deeply inherent emotional position in relation to his own and other ethnic groups living in a single geohistorical space."

Multicultural education in primary school requires close attention, since this is where views on the world, values ​​and orientations are formed, and personal experience of communication in large and small peer groups is accumulated. We think it is important to form ethnocultural competence, by which we mean a personality trait expressed in the presence of a set of objective ideas and knowledge about a particular culture, realized through skills, abilities and behavior patterns that contribute to effective interethnic understanding and interaction.

Ethnocultural competence involves introducing a primary school student initially to his native culture, and then to other cultures. At the same time, the child must first develop a willingness to recognize ethnocultural differences as something positive, which should then develop into the ability for interethnic understanding and dialogue.

St. Petersburg State University

Faculty of Geography and Geoecology

Department of Regional Studies and International Tourism

Course work

Vepsians: ethnocultural characteristics

3rd year student Kochubeeva Yu.A.

Scientific supervisor: Botyakova O.A.

St. Petersburg 2011

Introduction

History, settlement from archaeological times to the present

Traditional Vepsian culture

1 Traditional economic activities

2 Material culture

3 Spiritual culture

Modern ethnocultural characteristics of the Vepsians

Conclusion

List of sources used

Application

Introduction

Veps are one of the indigenous peoples of North-West Russia. In terms of language, they belong to the Finno-Ugric language family, the Baltic-Finnish group (northern subgroup) and are closest to the Karelians, Finns, Estonians and Izhoras. The ethnic territory of the Vepsians in the past covered Mezhozerye - the space between the three largest northern lakes - Ladoga, Onega and White. Now it has shrunk significantly and occupies the eastern part of Mezhozerye, at the junction of the Leningrad and Vologda regions and the Republic of Karelia.

Despite the fact that now the Vepsians are only a small nation (number - 8270 people according to the 2002 census), gradually assimilated by the surrounding population, all - the ancestors of the current Vepsians - at the turn of the 1st and 2nd millennia played a significant role in Russian history and even stood at the origins of Russian statehood. Traces of ancient weight can still be traced in the toponymy of Mezhozerye. Most of the water bodies and tracts on the map of the eastern regions of the Leningrad region, southwestern Prionezhye and western Vologda region bear Vepsian (Baltic-Finnish) names: the rivers Oyat, Pasha, Kapsha, Syas, Pyalya, Shapsha; lakes Shugozero, Myagozero, Korbozero, Sarozero, Kukozero, Shidrozero and many others.

Russia is home to many small nations, thanks to which the unique ethnocultural landscape of the country is formed. In our age of universal standardization, they are threatened by gradual assimilation, which will inevitably lead to the impoverishment of the country’s cultural and ethnic diversity. Therefore, recently there has been an increase in interest in the fate of small peoples in general and the Vepsians in particular. Since the late 1980s, proactive public activities have been carried out to preserve and study the traditional culture of the people and develop national self-awareness. Conferences and folk festivals are organized, the study of the Vepsian language begins in schools and universities, and the Vepsian Forest natural park is created. These events are aimed, among other things, at attracting the attention of the authorities and the general public to the culture of the Vepsian people, which is threatened with gradual extinction due to the ethnic assimilation of its bearers.

Against the backdrop of growing interest in the Vepsian people, my work arose, conceived as the beginning of a large study devoted to the history and ethnography of the northwestern region of Russia. The purpose of my work is to summarize materials on the history and culture of the Vepsians. The set goal is achieved by the following tasks: description of the history and settlement of the Ves and Vepsians; elements of traditional culture (material and spiritual); description of the current state of culture of the Vepsian people; demographic situation; measures taken to preserve culture.

Vepsian indigenous culture mythological

Chapter 1. History, settlement from archaeological times to the present

When studying the history of the Vepsian people, researchers use three groups of sources: written (chronicles, descriptions of travelers and historians of the past, various administrative acts), linguistic (comparative historical analysis of language and toponymy) and archaeological. Unfortunately, none of these sources can provide accurate and comprehensive information, so they are usually used in parallel, confirming each other’s data. Thus, linguistics can be a very useful tool for obtaining information about the ethnogenesis of a people, but without archaeological data or written sources it is weak, since it has a weak geographical reference.

The earliest mentions of vesi date back to the 6th century AD. The Gothic writer Jordan, listing the tribes of the North of what was then Europe, calls the tribe Vas or Vasina. Nothing is said there about the location of Vasina, but the tribe is listed among Thiudos (Chud), Merens (Merya), Mordens (Mordva). Numerous references to the people of Wisu or Isu are also found in Arab authors, starting from the 10th century. The consonance of the name and the coincidence of geographical location (Mezhozerye) allows us to conclude that we are talking about the weight. More detailed information can be found in Russian chronicles. “The Tale of Bygone Years” reports on the habitat of the vesi in the ethnographic introduction: “In the Afetov part there are Rus', Chud and all the pagans: Merya, Muroma, Ves, Mordva, Zavolochskaya Chud, Perm...”, also PVL clearly indicates the participation of the vesi along with other peoples in the calling of the Varangians. A brief information about the habitat was given: “On Lake Bela there are gray All.” Previously, there was a version that in the second half - the end of the 1st millennium AD. On White Lake, one of the Vesi groups is formed with its center on the site of the city of Beloozero. However, archaeological materials obtained in the 1980-90s allow us to draw different conclusions. The fact is that there were not so many Finnish settlements with a ceramic complex of the 9th-11th centuries on White Lake and Sheksna, and only 3 of them can be called relatively large, therefore the population there could not be significant. And according to the chronicle, all of them were one of the main participants in the events associated with the formation of Northern Rus'. Therefore, there is no reason to believe that the core of the mass was located precisely on White Lake. The discovery of monuments of the second half of the 1st millennium AD, attributed as Ves, at Suda allows us to make the assumption that the main settlement area was localized not on the White Lake itself, but 70-100 km to the southwest, on the river. Suda and its right tributaries (see Appendix 2). One cannot ignore the materials of toponymy, which invariably occupied a central place in developments on the ethnogenesis and history of the region. Mullonen's research showed that the intensity of the Vepsian toponymic layer in Mezhozerye weakens from west to east. In Belozerie, Vepsian toponymy is clearly inferior to the more powerful pre-Vepsian toponymic substrate, which is of Proto-Saami origin. So Mullonen comes to the conclusion that Belozerye is the outskirts of the Vepsian area, where the Vepsian influence was not so powerful as to cover the previous substrate. This fully corresponds to the picture reconstructed from archaeological materials.

Linguistic data can also be extremely useful in solving questions of the ethnogenesis of the Vesi-Vepsians. A comparative historical analysis of the Vepsian language confirms the idea that the Vepsians also belonged to the Baltic-Finnish linguistic community in the past. Moreover, the greatest degree of kinship is observed with the South Karelian dialects, which some researchers even distinguish into a separate language, formed by mixing Vepsian and Karelian. As in all languages ​​of the Baltic-Finnish branch, there are borrowings from Letto-Lithuanian, Slavic and Old Germanic languages. The study of the ratio and share of these borrowings allows us to conclude that the ethnogenesis of the Vesi-Vepsians took place, firstly, in the Baltic states (since borrowings from the Slavic and Letto-Lithuanian languages ​​occurred relatively simultaneously), and secondly, in the southeastern periphery of the settlement zone Baltic-Finnish tribes (since there are much fewer borrowings from Old Germanic than in other Baltic-Finnish languages). In Mezhozerye, i.e. a little to the east, it all appeared as a result of migration, the path of which probably ran south of Lake Ladoga and along the Svir and Oyat rivers. By the turn of the 1st-2nd millennium this process was completed. In the new place, the ancestors of the Vepsians probably met an earlier settlement - Lop, which was partly assimilated, partly pushed to the north.

Further events in the ethnic history of the Vesi-Vepsians are associated with the Slavs and the Russian state. In addition to the fact that the vesi participated in the calling of the Varangians, the chronicle also indicates that they all paid tribute to Rus' and participated in some military campaigns on its side. With the collapse of the Old Russian state, the area of ​​Vesi settlement began to belong to Novgorod, and a stream of settlers from Novgorod lands poured into Mezhozerye and to the east. This is known from written sources and some toponyms that are either of Russian origin, or of Ves origin, but associated with the Novgorodians. However, there is no information about the enmity of the settlers with the aborigines in written sources, which can be explained by the large spaces with a low population density and different economic structures. During the Old Russian and subsequent Russian agricultural colonization of the vast spaces of Mezhozerye, the majority of territorial groups of the local population of the Baltic-Finnish massif gradually lost their cultural and linguistic identity, becoming part of the Russian people. And only the Vepsian people have survived to this day, having formed into a special ethnographic unit. In general, the migration and assimilation of individual groups of the Ves-Vepsian people is a separate story. There were two directions of local migrations: to the north and northeast. In the first case, the Vepsians mixed with the Karelians, who were less numerous in that territory, and formed the southern branch of the Karelian people - the Livviks and Ludics. In the case of migration to the northeast (quite early, by the way), Chud was formed, known among the Scandinavians as “Biarmians” (see Appendix 3). Just like the settlers from the northern direction, Chud was assimilated, only not by Karelians, but by Russian colonists and Komi. The historical fate of the Vepsians was determined largely by the fact that the ancient Russian colonization of the North largely took place along waterways already mastered by the Vepsians, and following the Vepsians. This naturally led to the assimilation of the Vepsian population, who settled along the waterways, and to their displacement to the upper reaches of rivers and watersheds. Thus, only the main part of the Vepsian people living in the indigenous territory were able to preserve their language, culture and ethnic independence, due to the compactness of their settlement, remoteness from state borders and the main streams of colonization.

Subsequently, everything seems to disappear from the historical scene; written sources do not contain information about it. It is believed that all of them, together with other Baltic peoples, began to appear on the pages of chronicles under the name Chud. However, there is no longer any doubt that everyone is the ancestor of the Vepsians.

An interesting fact is that in the scientific literature the history of the Ves-Vepsian people is covered extremely unevenly. Along with detailed and numerous studies devoted to the ancient Vesian period, the history of the 12th-18th centuries is described extremely sparingly.

We can only find that throughout the Middle Ages, the Vepsians lived on the same territory of Mezhozerye, as indicated by the analysis of toponyms and the testimony of scribe books of the 14th - 17th centuries. It is also obvious that the development of the nationality at this stage was under strong Russian influence.

Complete information about the size and distribution of the people was not available until the publication of materials from the first general population census of the Russian Empire in 1897. According to her data, the number of Vepsians was 25.6 thousand people, 7.3 thousand of whom lived in the Onega region, and the rest - to the south, in the Lodeynopolsky, Tikhvinsky and Belozersky districts of the Olonetsk and Novgorod provinces. Two settlements - the Onega region and the main one - were already separated by the Voznesensk region, inhabited by Russians, at the end of the 19th century.

During the period of serfdom, the Onega and Shimozero Vepsians, some of the Oyats were state peasants, and the rest were landowners. At the beginning of the XVIII. The Vepsians of Petrozavodsk and Lodeynopol districts were assigned to metallurgical and weapons factories, as well as to a shipyard. Work in factories and shipyards drew them into the economic life of the region, while the Vepsians of the Novgorod province led a much more closed and archaic life. These territories - the current Tikhvin and Boksitogorsky districts of the Leo region - have served as a place for studying the “living antiquity” of the Vepsians by both domestic and foreign researchers for more than a hundred years.

Until the middle of the 20th century. The Vepsians lived as a relatively homogeneous ethnic group, but then a “split” occurred into separate parts. There are many reasons for this: indifference to the fate of the people on the part of the authorities, administrative division of the territory without taking into account the Vepsians living there, recognition of many villages as “unpromising”, lack of roads, lack of transport links between regions. The consequence of all this is either a massive outflow of the population to cities, or the forced relocation of entire villages, as happened in 1958-59. with Shimozerye.

Thus, three groups of Vepsians have emerged, each of which has certain differences in traditional culture and speaks a special dialect. One group of northern (or Onega) Vepsians lives on the southwestern coast of Lake Onega, at the mouths of small rivers flowing into it. The second is to the south, across the Svir River, in the upper reaches of the Oyat River (Oyat Vepsians) and in northern Belozerie (Pyazhozero and Kuysk-Pondal Vepsians). The third group - the southern one - lives between the upper reaches of the Lid and Kolp rivers. (see Appendix 4).

According to the latest census of the Russian Federation (2002), there were 8,270 Vepsians, of which 4,870 (59%) were in Karelia, with the urban Vepsian population predominant (3,238 people) and the majority of Vepsian townspeople (2,715 people) living in the capital of the republic - the city. Petrozavodsk. In the Leningrad region and St. Petersburg, 2319 Vepsians (28%) were registered, in the Vologda region - 426 people (5%).

Chapter 2. Traditional Vepsian culture

.1 Traditional economic activities

The traditional economic activities of the Vepsians primarily include agriculture. However, due to not the most favorable physical and geographical living conditions, agriculture is unproductive and “risky”, so it was traditionally supplemented by livestock farming - the second basis of the Vepsian economy. Side industries also played a significant role: fishing, hunting, crafts, and waste trades.

Agriculture

In the Vepsian regions until the 1940s, slash-and-burn agriculture prevailed. Given the short summer, the primitiveness of agricultural tools and the poverty of the population, this was the most profitable way of farming and was preserved despite government prohibitions (since 1779). For arable land, forests were burned in dry high places - lingonberries, and for mowing - in damp ones. From the first cutting on fatty soils, four crops were harvested (two of rye, two of oats), and two on thin soils (rye and oats). After that the field was abandoned. In the same place, the cutting was resumed after fifteen to twenty years. Vegetable gardening was poorly developed, and the population was not involved in gardening at all. Due to the specific natural conditions (rugged terrain, abundance of heavy and rocky soils), the arable lands did not form a continuous area, but were scattered in separate clearings between lakes and swamps. Often arable land was located dozens of miles from the village. In their fields, peasants grew vegetables such as rye, oats, barley, flax, peas, beans, and turnips. Agricultural implements for cultivating fields consisted of archaic-shaped wooden tools: plows made of birch and harrows made of split spruce trunks. The oldest type of Veps plow should be considered kaskadr, which literally translates as “plow for cutting.” The name reflects the essence of the tool: the cracker was located at right angles to the shafts, the openers were short and blunt, which made it possible to dig up the ground only a few centimeters deep. However, this design is fully justified when plowing rocky soils that are poorly cleared of roots and stumps. The more common and advanced types of plow were hamez and p ö udadr, the angle between the opener and the shafts was smaller, and the angle between the opener and the shafts was longer. They were intended for plowing permanent fields. They crushed the plowed soil and covered the sown seeds with the help of a knot harrow, whose twig-teeth reached 50 cm.

A comparison of the design of these land-cultivating tools among the Vepsians with similar ones among the peoples of the north of the European part of Russia, despite their similarities, gave reason to consider them closer in design to the tools of the Baltic-Finnish peoples.

Flour products and mainly bread formed the basis of the Veps diet. It was usually baked from rye flour, with the addition of barley or oatmeal. The peasants did not have enough bread of their own; they had to buy more with money earned from otkhodnichestvo. Vepsian cuisine (as well as Karelian and Northern Russian) is characterized by an abundance of products made from sour and unleavened dough; Cereals were common: oatmeal, barley, buckwheat, from which stews and porridges were prepared, if possible with milk. Vegetables were readily used, eaten both raw and processed; They cooked soups: meat and lean. Among the drinks there was always kvass, and at holidays - beer.

Livestock

The lack of feed did not allow the development of dairy farming in the Vepsian region, since the stall period lasted up to 8 months. Cattle were not numerous - on average one, rarely two small breed cows and a calf per farm. Cows were kept mainly “for manure” (fertilizer), since due to poor living conditions the cows produced little milk. Sheep were kept as long as they could stock up on feed. Previously, pigs were almost never bred, since it was believed that keeping them was not profitable. A peasant family of average income usually had 1 horse, 1-2 cows, 2-3 sheep, and several chickens. Like neighboring peoples, the institution of shepherding was developed. The important role of animals in the economy, as well as the difficulty of caring for livestock, contributed to the emergence of many signs, beliefs, magical rituals and prohibitions. . Meat was not a mass food product; not everyone could afford to eat it, but milk and dairy products occupied a significant place in the diet.

Fishing

Almost all lakes and rivers in the areas of Vepsian settlement were fished. They were inhabited by pike perch, trout, perch, pike, bream, roach, burbot, and ruffe. Along the rivers Oyat, Pasha and Kapsha, lake salmon rose to spawn, and in many lakes of the right bank of Prioyatye there lived “white fish” - vendace. Smelt was found in Lake Korvalskoye (Nurmozero). Some fishermen from Prisvirye went fishing to Lakes Onega and Ladoga. Despite the fact that there was a lot of fish, the Vepsians previously did not know how to use this wealth; fish were caught mainly only to feed the family. Subsequently, however, some villages began to completely specialize in fishing and selling it even to St. Petersburg. All types of fish were used for food with the exception of burbot, as it was considered “unclean”. For the same reason, crayfish were not caught. A variety of fishing tools were used: seines, floating and fixed nets, meshes and snouts. Sometimes a prison was used for large fish. Fish, which was much loved, played a large role in the diet. They dried it, fried it, made soups from it and stuffed it into fish pies.

Hunting

Commercial hunting, which previously served as the main source of income for the population, had already lost its importance by the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The reason for this was the reduction or almost complete disappearance of valuable fur-bearing animals. In pre-revolutionary times, the main basis of hunting was: hazel grouse, black grouse, wood grouse, squirrels, hares, martens, foxes, otters, wolves, bears, moose. Both active and passive hunting were practiced. The bird was shot with flintlocks and caught using various traps. Traps were used to catch animals. The region of upper Prioyatye and Shimozerye was considered the best place for bear hunting in the 19th century. The districts of the village of Shemenichi (Yuksovskaya volost) and the villages of Kukasy and Nirginichi (Shapshinskaya volost) were also considered “bear” regions by hunters.

Otkhodnichestvo

In order to feed his family, the Vepsian peasant had to look for work on the side. Otkhodnichestvo was developed in almost all areas of Vepsian settlement. In the Onega region, a significant number of otkhodniks were carpenters and stonemasons. (The emergence of the stone-cutting industry in these places is associated with the deposits of crimson quartzite found here.) Almost the entire adult male population before the revolution, during the period free from work on the land, was employed in forestry: cutting and rafting of timber, racing resin and tar, collecting oleoresin - pine resin. Peasants worked in state-owned, appanage and privately owned forests. Logging was done manually. The main rafting routes were the Svir, Oyat and Pasha rivers with large tributaries; in the South Vepsian region - Kolp, Tutoka.

Crafts

Vepsians are a people of artisans. They provided themselves with utensils, furniture, work and fishing equipment. Almost every village had peasants engaged in cooperage, carpentry or carpentry. The manufacture of utensils from twigs, bark, pine and spruce chips was widespread. Peasants everywhere were engaged in tanning leather, sheepskin and shoemaking. One of the oldest non-agricultural industries on the river. Pottery production began again. Mostly men were engaged in making dishes here. Only wealthy peasants had special pottery workshops with a kiln for firing dishes, while the rest were engaged in the production of pottery directly in the chicken huts. The range of manufactured products was varied: pots for cooking in the oven, pots for dough and storing milk, bowls, plates, mugs, washstands, jugs, jelly molds, teapots, etc. The manufactured utensils were sold on the local market - sold or exchanged for corn. The best examples of Oyat glazed pottery were exported for sale to St. Petersburg. Currently, they are trying to revive pottery in the village of Alekhovshchina on the Oyat River. Each locality had its own specialization. As the studies of ethnographers in the 1920s showed, the widespread distribution of trades and crafts (and, as a consequence, participation in general trade fairs) led to the formation at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. to the formation of significant cultural ties that contributed to the consolidation of the Vepsian people. Even the geographical isolation of the Onega Vepsians was softened by common trade ties with Ascension - the center of the volost, separating the two settlement areas of the Vepsians.

.2 Material culture

Settlements and dwellings of the Vepsians

A stable Vepsian settlement system developed in the late Middle Ages and remained virtually unchanged until the 20th century. A characteristic feature of most Vepsian villages was the absence of any plan and arrangement of houses. Almost every settlement had two, three, or even four names: by geographical area, by the name of the founder of the village, by the name of the most influential person, etc. Some names were listed in books, others were common among the people.

The traditional home of the Vepsians was formed over many centuries. Its appearance had much in common with the buildings of other Baltic Finns and Russians inhabiting northwestern Russia, which is explained by similar geographical conditions. However, there were some differences; they were manifested in house-building techniques and the decoration of Vepsian buildings. Extensions to the original hut appeared when the number of family members increased; then they cut down another hut and attached it to the entryway of the house. All buildings were built taking into account the microrelief of the area. Until the beginning of the 20th century, timber-framed “church” huts with a strongly protruding gable canopy of a pointed roof over the front facade and basement - a lower room without windows - prevailed in Vepsian villages. The basement was used for storing various utensils, agricultural implements and products. Dwellings most often consisted of two or three chambers. The roofs were covered with planks, straw, and later with shingles. The oldest buildings had one or two windows on the facade; at the end of the 19th century huts with three windows along the facade appeared. In the Onega region, the houses of wealthy Vepsian peasants resembled large northern Russian huts. They were built on two floors with a large number of windows on the facade and side walls. At the back of such huts there was a covered courtyard. Often a balcony with carved pillars and railings was built under the roof. Above the balcony there was a semicircular arch-canopy.

Preparations for building a house began with the choice of material; The Vepsians attached great importance to this, since the hut was built “for centuries.” Timber harvesting began in late autumn or early winter. Each trunk was specially selected; Notches were made on trees suitable for construction. Over the centuries, the accumulated experience has allowed peasants to make the right choice: if water appears under the tree’s feet and the bark is light, this is a “maltage” forest; They didn’t take it - the wood is loose. Preference was given to "carganic" - pine trees that grew mixed with fir trees on the banks of dry swamps, or to "kondova", "ore" - pine forest growing in high places and on rocks.

The best time to build a home was considered to be autumn - more free time, cheaper to hire workers. If the hut was built on their own land, then they did not ask the consent of the neighbors, and if in a new place, then the site for construction was determined by all fellow villagers. Usually eight people per day were invited to build a house. Two or three Sundays of work and the log house was ready. If the family built the house themselves, then the owner himself laid the first six crowns and the floor, then he called for “help” in order to raise the hut. Before work, the owner fed the gathered fellow villagers lunch, and sometimes treated them to beer, specially brewed for this occasion. Prosperous peasants always invited carpenters to “decorate” their huts. They cut through windows, made doors, hewed walls, installed “shelves”, and, to complete all the internal work, made an “oshestok” - a box near the stove. If the family was poor and could not pay for the entire range of work on the interior decoration of the hut, then they limited themselves to cutting off the walls near the window and nailing large layers of birch bark to the outside of the doors (for warmth).

The huts of wealthy peasants were decorated with rich decor. The “braids” were covered with carvings - boards along the edges of roof overhangs, fences of balconies, platbands of “red” and dormer windows, gutters, protruding upper logs of the side walls. Master carvers skillfully combined notched, contour and applied figured carvings. The carving was made from raw material - “while the sap in the tree is alive.” A variety of external high porches with stairs gave special expressiveness to ancient Vepsian buildings. They were installed on massive pillars. The edge of the porch landing was supported either by one post in the center or by two posts placed at the outer corners of the porch. The porches were both open and closed (sewn with planks). They had one or two descents. Roof overhangs were made single-pitch or gable. Often the porches, like the huts, were decorated with carved boards and “towels”. The roof on the high porches was supported by carved pillars. In addition to the porches described above, in Vepsian villages one could see low porches - “steps”. These were platforms made of boards in front of the entrance to the house with a canopy and railings.

Communication routes and means of transportation.

The most ancient routes of communication in the Vepsian region were rivers and lakes. The rivers served as water mains. Svir and Lake Onega, the rivers Oyat, Pasha, Kapsha, Syas and Tikhvinka (Baltic basin), as well as the river. Lid, Kolp r., r. Vessels. The network of land roads developed much later. The first historical evidence of roads in the region dates back to the Middle Ages, to the time of the “Novgorod” development of the region. The memory of the existence of one of these paths is fixed in the toponym - the name of the village of Zalyushchik. “Lyushchik” or “Lyudschik” is a word that meant a high road in the Middle Ages. The most intensive process of forming a network of internal communication routes in the Vepsian regions took place during the mass peasant colonization of lands (XV-XVI centuries). At this time, many overland communications arose, connecting villages with agricultural lands, hunting grounds, community and parish centers. In connection with the establishment of the rapid Yamsk chase in Russia (15th century), roads were built between Vepsian graveyards, which the peasants had to follow. However, their condition constantly worsened during the years of economic crises and wars. Therefore, until the 18th century. Priority in the communication system was retained by water communications and, above all, by the Svir and Tikhvin waterways. Their operation was supported by the state, while supervision of land routes was transferred to local authorities.

Repairing old roads and building new zemstvos began only at the beginning of the 20th century. By this time, roads in the Vepsian forests were built only to the volost villages. The rest of the villages were connected by forest paths, along which people moved mainly on foot or on horseback. For Vepsians, walking 40 - 60 kilometers a day with a birch bark wallet was a common thing. Wheeled vehicles - gigs - began to appear on Vepsian roads only at the end of the 19th century, and in the most remote places the first carts began to be used only in the 1920s. Until this time, people rode sleighs and rode horses in winter and summer.

If the village stood on the shore of a reservoir, then the population primarily used water means of transportation. For different needs, different types of swimming facilities were built. The most ancient of them were boats made of solid wood. Dugout boats were made from aspen. Sewn boats were made from boards. Coniferous wood was used for their manufacture. The boats were stored on the shores of reservoirs on special “trunks”, sometimes under canopies made of spruce bark, and for the winter the boats were stored in sheds.

In the cold season, when the snow cover was established, people always went to the forest to work or hunt on skis. Skis were made from birch or aspen wood, and the fastenings to them were made from old tugs; they were lubricated with fat to improve gliding. Skis lined with fur were used mainly during hunting.

Cloth

Based on archaeological data, one can get a general idea of ​​the clothing of the people of the 10th-13th centuries. The materials were flax, hemp, sheep's wool; the cloth was usually brown, sometimes reddish. Fur from wild and domestic animals was used for winter clothing. Remains of silk fabrics are also found, which is explained by the proximity of important trade routes to the Vesi habitat. Women wear a lot of jewelry - bracelets, brooches, all kinds of pendants, which serve, among other things, to protect against evil spirits. Men also wore brooches that fastened the collar of their shirt; a mandatory part of the costume was a leather belt and a knife on the right side.

There is a centuries-old gap between archaeological data and ethnographic materials, and the following information about Vepsian clothing that we have dates back to the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. Moreover, in the second half of the 19th century. Vepsian costume was subject to strong Russian and urban influence, largely due to the otkhodnichestvo practiced by the Vepsians.

Men's outerwear of the Vepsians (the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries) is represented by several types: caftan, fur coat, sheepskin coat. As a rule, they had a robe-like cut. The caftan and fur coat were made without a collar and were not covered with fabric. The sheepskin sheepskin coat, on the contrary, was made with a collar and covered with black or blue material on top. Not everyone was the owner of a sheepskin coat, so old people willingly gave their sheepskin coats to young guys to wear during a festive party or wedding. To work in the forest, in the clearing, in the field, the Vepsians used a type of robe-like clothing called a robe, which was very popular in the Vepsian environment. It was sewn from white rough canvas, worn on a shirt in the summer, and on a fur coat in the winter. According to the Vepsian tradition, during sowing, the peasant scattered seeds from the hem of his robe. An important feature of the outerwear of the Vepsians (male and female), as well as other sedentary farmers of the East European Plain, was the smell - always from the right hem to the left. According to Vepsian beliefs, wrapping clothes on the right side characterized representatives of another world, in particular, the “master” spirit of the forest. Men's hats, depending on the season, were home-made hare or sheepskin hats with earflaps, caps rolled from wool, hats with a plush cone-shaped rim, and purchased caps. Men cut their hair in a “circle”; later this haircut was replaced by urban types of hairstyles - “polka” and “brush”. After marriage, wearing a beard became mandatory. The main types of Vepsian men's clothing, very similar to Russian ones, were complemented by small details of Baltic-Finnish origin, which gave the Vepsian men's suit a unique ethnic flavor. Wedding versions of men's clothing were of the same cut, but much more richly decorated with embroidery, ribbons, and colored inserts.

IN women's suitthe displacement of traditional forms occurred much more slowly. In the 80s of the XIX century. The main type of everyday and festive clothing of Vepsian women was the sundress complex, which, in addition to the sundress, included a shirt, a jacket, a shugai, and an apron.

The main element of the complex, the sundress, was borrowed by the Vepsians from the Russians. The festive sundress was made from bright purchased fabrics - calico, silk, cashmere, garus; everyday - made of homespun canvas, usually painted blue. The sundress was worn over a shirt consisting of two parts: a stanushka - the lower part, sewn from four panels of homespun coarse white canvas, and sleeves made from factory fabrics (chintz, calico, eraser). The hem of the shirt was decorated with an ornament, the size and colorfulness of which depended on the age of the woman and the purpose of this type of clothing. The everyday shirts of older women were not embroidered at all or had a nondescript pattern. During the holidays, every woman tried to show off an elegant pattern on her shirt, tucking the hem of her sundress or skirt into her belt. On weekdays, on the contrary, the embroidery was hidden under clothes. On holidays, Vepsian women of the Onega region sometimes put on two or more shirts, so that the embroidered edges were arranged in rows above each other, forming a wide ornamental canvas. In Vepsian villages, embroidery of stools and towels was mainly done by girls. Among the northern Vepsians, an interesting custom of a calendar nature arose: every year in the summer, before Midsummer (24.06/07.07), mothers of girls organized an “exhibition” of their daughters’ embroidered items, hanging them for everyone to see. Based on the handicrafts they saw, community members judged the girl and made an opinion on which her future fate depended. A shower jacket is another element of the sundress complex, which is a vest-type chest piece worn over a shirt and sundress. In colder times, the jacket was replaced by shugai - a kind of jacket made of thin cloth, cut at the waist. An apron (fartug) was tied at the waist over the sundress. The color of the apron depended on the age of the woman. The aprons of young women, as a rule, were red, those of older women were black. To work in the forest and in hayfields, Vepsian women wore so-called blanket skirts, which were made of the same fabric as rugs. According to researchers, the blanket skirt is one of the original elements of Vepsian national clothing, preceding the sundress. At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. a woman's suit with a sundress is gradually collapsing under the pressure of a new complex - with a skirt and jacket.

Women's outerwear largely coincided with men's: caftans, sheepskin coats and sheepskin coats. The distinctive women's outerwear was a festive short hare fur coat (fur inside) with a collar, topped with damask - heavy silk or woolen fabric. Women's work clothes were flyers made of white rough canvas, similar to men's robes.

Vepsian girls combed their hair in the middle and braided it into one braid, into which a bright silk ribbon was woven. The girls framed their heads with another bright ribbon, which was a wide strip of material, and tied the ends at the back of their heads. There was a special, “girlish” way of weaving a braid - “up” or “away”, when strands of hair were placed on top of each other. The headdress of the Vepsian bride was a wedding headband in the form of a wreath with a solid wide frame, covered with colored material, and decorated with ribbons, multi-colored shreds, beads or colored shavings. Married women wore two braids, tied at the back of their heads in a bun. The braids were also braided differently - “down” or “towards oneself”, i.e. strands of hair were placed underneath (Kostygova, 1958, p.51). The hair was covered from above with a headdress. Women's headdresses ultimately met the same fate as girls' headbands: they were gradually replaced by a variety of scarves in elegant colors. The ancient Vepsian women's tradition of using many different decorations in their costume did not survive until the middle of the 19th century. The only remnant from the ancient times was that which was common among the southern Vepsians at the beginning of the 20th century. a unique wedding decoration for the bride called a borok, which played the role of a talisman. The borok was a necklace made of wooden and belemnite beads strung on a rough linen thread, separated from each other by fabric rosettes of multi-colored shreds. It turned out to be similar to some decorations from the Oyat burial grounds of the 11th century. .

From about 6-10 years old children's clothingcopied adults' clothes. Girls wore sundresses and skirts, boys wore shirts and trousers. Summer clothing for younger children consisted of one shirt.

Many types shoeswere the same for men and women. Birch bark shoes were very common: two types of bast shoes and boots. They also wore leather shoes: boots, shoes and ankle boots. The pimokat trade, developed in many Vepsian villages, provided the people with permanent winter footwear - felt boots.

Arts and crafts

The decorative art of the Vepsians is genetically and typologically close to the art of the South Karelians. Direct analogies with archaeological materials of ancient times have been established in the ornaments and their interpretation. Despite a number of local differences, the decorative and applied art of the Vepsians of all groups was united by a thematic unity of patterns, in which pictorial motifs, as well as everyday scenes and images, became widespread.

Women were engaged mainly in weaving, knitting and embroidery only to meet the needs of their family. Girls' training in spinning and weaving began at an early age. By the age of ten, young craftswomen already knew how to make fabrics for clothes, rugs, blankets, and by the time they got married they had mastered more complex weaving techniques (multi-hemp weaving).

Mostly girls did embroidery. Embroidery was used to decorate ritual towels, bed valances, and shirt hems. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. The embroidery was done on homemade bleached linen using red and white linen and cotton threads. A variety of stitches were used for embroidery; The double-sided “painting” seam was widely used, sometimes in combination with “setting”. Often in embroidery they used a simple and double cross, a chain stitch, contour stitches and various “stitching” options. Also, Vepsian peasant women knew the technique of sewing using vyderg - “resolving”, “weaving”, “flooring on a grid”. The ornaments of ancient Vepsian embroidery, executed on towels and shirt hems, are complex subject compositions consisting of female figures, horses, birds and stylized plant patterns. In the subject embroideries there is often an image of a heraldic bird - a double-headed eagle, stylized images of a frog and occasionally “werewolves”. All these images in ancient times carried a semantic load - they reflected mythological ideas about the structure of the world, but by the beginning of the 20th century they had already been forgotten and the patterns were simply copied according to old models. Knitting with a needle, crochet and knitting was one of the most accessible handicrafts. Every Vepsian woman knew how to knit stockings, socks, mittens, scarves, seams for towels, tablecloths and valances for sheets. More experienced craftswomen crocheted tablecloths, bedspreads, dresser covers and pillows. Socks and mittens were knitted from thick sheep wool with a bone needle and were intended for everyday wear. Women's stockings and “farcical” openwork gloves made of linen threads were knitted on knitting needles (they were part of the girl’s festive outfit). Knitting patterns were taken from each other.

The art of wood carving and painting has been known among the Vepsians for a long time. Already in the archaeological materials of ancient Beloozero, remains of wooden utensils decorated with chiseled carvings, as well as birch bark utensils with contour patterns, were found. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Wood carving was used for the external and internal decoration of homes, as well as for decorating household items. In the Vepsian decoration of wooden objects and home decorations, pictorial motifs also occupied a prominent place: anthropomorphic, zoomorphic, ornithomorphic. Certain plots and forms of ornaments that decorated the details of the house actually repeated the plots of traditional embroidery. Fine carvings were also found among the middle and southern Vepsians on ancient ritual utensils - burl ladles. Furniture and other household items were usually decorated with geometric patterns. Already at the beginning of the 20th century. the tradition of decorating these wooden objects began to quickly disappear, being replaced by polychrome brush painting.

Judging by archaeological sites, the production of pottery and small plastic items has a centuries-old history. And in the 19th - first half of the 20th century. ceramic production remained of great importance among the Vepsians. Compared to other types of folk crafts designed for their own needs, pottery products went to rural and urban markets in the northwestern region. Among the Vepsians, pottery was a family affair, in which men were involved in shaping and firing vessels, and women and children were involved in preparatory work, as well as sculpting small sculptures. Pottery production, known as "Oyat crafts", in the 19th and first half of the 20th centuries. was concentrated in the villages of Shapshinskaya volost, Lodeinopolsky district, Olonets province. In the post-war period, pottery production in Vepsian villages gradually began to decline. In the 1950-1960s, it was still preserved in certain settlements, in particular in the villages of Efremkovo and Alekhovshchina.

.3 Spiritual culture

Religious and mythological ideas of the Vepsians

Vepsians are officially by religion Orthodox. Finding themselves quite early in the orbit of influence of the Old Russian state, they were all baptized earlier than most other Finnish-speaking peoples - at the turn of the 10th-11th centuries. The introduction of a new religion played a progressive role in introducing the population of the northeastern outskirts of the Novgorod land to Christian culture and contributed to ethnic consolidating processes. However, the process of Christianization turned out to be long, difficult and incomplete. The Orthodox faith, as expounded by the priest at the service, was poorly understood by the peasants. The ritual side of religion was assimilated by them much better, and the Vepsians treated the church with great respect. Almost every Vepsian village had chapels, which were erected with the money of the peasant community and were often built “by vow” - on the occasion of crop failure, death of livestock, fire, miraculous phenomena and visions. In the interior of the chapel, a special place was allocated for placing covenants - objects that served as offerings to God; Sheep's wool and food products were placed in special wooden boxes or on shelves, and treasured towels, clothes, and fabrics were hung on crossbars attached to the ceiling. In addition to chapels in the Vepsian region in the first half of the 20th century. one could still see roadside wooden crosses: chapel crosses, memorial crosses, votive crosses.

Official Orthodoxy partly fought with pre-Christian beliefs, partly adapted to them, as a result of which a peculiar Orthodox-pagan complex. .

The archaic way of life contributed to the preservation pre-Christian beliefs. Thus, in the Vepsian worldview, all kinds of spirits calmly coexisted next to God and the saints. According to cosmogonic myths, all evil spirits appeared from a hole made in the earth by the devil, thrown down from heaven by God. One of the main characters of the Vepsian demonological pantheon was considered the forest owner - the eldest among the forest inhabitants, who served as an intermediary between man and nature. The forest owner was considered strict, but fair, and if you follow the rules (do not harm the forest and its inhabitants unnecessarily, make symbolic sacrifices to the owner) - he would never offend you. The situation was different with the owner of the water - the waterman and the owner of the bathhouse - the bannik. These spirits were considered insidious and unkind towards humans. The kindest spirit was considered to be the brownie, who protected the peasants from the invasion of evil spirits and was the guardian of the hearth. In the minds of the Vepsians, there were master spirits near the courtyard, barn, barn, threshing floor, field, etc. The cult of fire occupied an important place in the ancient worldview and religion of the Vepsians. It is expressed primarily in various taboos prohibiting in any way desecrating this pure element: it was forbidden to spit on the fire, trample it underfoot, etc. Various types of fire (bonfires, a burning torch or candle, smoke, etc.), which purifying, healing, protective or productive properties were attributed and were widely used in Vepsian rituals. The further development of ideas about the many faces of fire among the Vepsians led to the personification of some forms of its manifestation. Thus, among the northern Vepsians, isolated information has been collected about the personification of fire in the form of the spirits of the “master of fire.” In the traditional Vepsian worldview, animals occupied a significant place, the role of which was surprisingly diverse. This could be not only the worship of animals associated with animistic ideas, totemic or trade cults, but also a superstitious fear of some of them. The most striking image among the revered animals among the Vepsians, the “king of all animals,” was the bear. Many beliefs, signs and stories were associated with birds. Pets were also the subject of irrational ideas. The Vepsians, who have traditionally lived surrounded by forests, are characterized by quite vivid ideas associated with certain types of trees and shrubs. The cult tree was the birch; spruce and alder were revered; Rowan, thistle, rose hips, and juniper are known as amulets plants. Aspen was considered an unclean tree. .

In addition to belief in demons, it was widespread in Vepsian villages witchcraft and witchcraft.Previously, this business was mainly done by men. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries, Vepsian sorcerers - “noids” were considered the most powerful in the rural district. Sorcerers could send illness to people and livestock, and they could also cure it. The village believed that the disease was easier to prevent than to cure. In order to prevent any illness from entering the house, objects with “protective” powers were stuck under the threshold, above the door: iron products, pike jaws, prickly plants, etc.

Sorcerers were invited to weddings as protectors of the wedding action. The shepherds asked the sorcerers to "bypass". Often girls turned to sorcerers for help - to help bewitch a guy and speed up marriage. The sorcerers also helped to bring back the husband (wife). .

Calendar customs, rituals and holidays.

The Vepsian folk calendar corresponded to the economic and cultural type of arable farmers of the forest belt. If we consider agricultural and pastoral rituals separately, their shares are approximately the same.

Two circumstances leave a significant imprint on the ritualism of the Vepsians: place of residence and nature of occupation. The northern group of Vepsians experienced the influence of Karelians, the eastern and southern - Russians, the middle - mixed influence. The second reason is related to the development of communications and the share of agriculture in the economy. The northern Vepsians went to work to earn money, so the agrarian component of their rituals was reduced, and the social one developed. The middle Vepsians are characterized by a greater variety of rituals and the leading role of local sacred holidays. The southern group of Vepsians, who were in an isolated sedentary position, were characterized by an adherence to archaic agrarian rituals. Ritualism was mainly of a declamatory rather than musical nature, since the niche was already occupied by church chants.

The most important actions of economic life: the beginning and end of field work and livestock grazing were necessarily timed to fixed dates and were surrounded by ritual restrictions: territorial and calendar. For example, all rituals related to cattle breeding were valid only until the veil, after which forces hostile to man gained superiority over him. Rituals for the human environment and those foreign to him differed significantly in clothing, speech, and the color of ritual objects.

In the autumn-winter period, any activity significant for the Vepsians: threshing, weaving, slaughtering, was also accompanied by accompanying rituals that took on a specific character. Threshing is an offering to the owner of the barn, flax processing is the burning of fires, slaughter is the walking of mummers.

The combination of the mythologized consciousness of the Vepsians and the adopted Orthodox tradition was especially evident among them during Christmastide. This time was perceived as a time of activity among hostile forces, which required reactive magical activity of people. These magical actions were late in origin and extended to the social sphere of life: marriage, the appearance of offspring, social status. They were similar among all groups of Vepsians and were an ethno-consolidating element.

Easter was considered the main holiday among the Vepsians; it was based on common Christian rituals, but with regional characteristics (games with eggs, remembrances).

The spring-summer period was marked by unique sacred holidays associated with important events of a local nature, which combined the alternation of Christian and pagan elements of the ritual. The main thing was the offering to the sacred place.

Family

Back in the 1920s, many villages retained the family-clan principle of settlement. Vepsian families were large. According to the surviving information from one of the Vepsian parishes (1787), there were an average of 12.7 people per family. There were sometimes up to three daughters-in-law in the house. The owner was considered the oldest man. After marriage, the eldest son was separated and a new house was built for him. The last son remained in his father's house. The woman had no rights: neither to property nor to personal freedom. Marriage among the Vepsians is a commercial transaction, therefore the girls do not particularly “watch themselves,” and marital fidelity is also not particularly high.

The Vepsians' attitude towards children was ambiguous. It was considered a sin in marriage not to have children or to give birth to stillbirths. But the birth of a large number of children was also recognized as a misfortune - a punishment from God. The number of births in families reached up to twenty, but due to poor care of the mother in labor, childhood illnesses and accidents, not all newborns survived and on average a family raised from six to ten children. The period of gestation and birth of a child was accompanied by various rituals, which were based on the idea of ​​​​the need to protect the baby and mother from the “evil eye” and ensure the child’s health and happy destiny. Children were usually baptized in church after two to six weeks of birth; but in remote villages this ritual was also performed at home. The mother's brother usually acted as godfather, and the father's sister became godmother. The baptismal ceremony was performed by a priest, and newborns were given names according to the calendar. .

Despite the purely rational approach to marriage, the wedding itself has always been a big event, not only for the newlyweds or their relatives, but for the entire village. Several stages were distinguished: courtship, matchmaking, hand-shaking, visiting before the wedding, the wedding ceremony itself, which included the wedding, the wedding train, and ceremonial meetings. All this was accompanied by gifts for the bride, groom, relatives, boyfriends and girlfriends. And - most importantly - rituals aimed at protecting against the evil eye and damage, at magically ensuring the future of a happy life. The wedding ceremony provided for a certain set of items and a strict sequence of their use. Not a single step could be taken simply, since everything was full of deep meaning. .

Chapter 3. Modern ethnocultural characteristics of the Vepsians

The small Vepsian intelligentsia managed to attract the attention of the public and authorities to the Vepsian problem. In October 1988, an interregional meeting “Vepsians: problems of economic and cultural development” was held in Petrozavodsk, as a result of which the authorities adopted a resolution on the priority development of the territory inhabited by the Vepsians of Karelia and the Leningrad region. However, due to the changed political and socio-economic conditions in the country, the recommendations of the regional interdepartmental meeting remained unimplemented. It was possible to achieve certain successes only in the field of education, especially in that part, the implementation of which largely depended on the efforts of the Vepsian intelligentsia, united in the Society of Vepsian Culture. On the initiative of the Society, in 1989, Vepsian writing was recreated, a Vepsian primer, textbooks on the Vepsian language for the second and third grades, an educational Vepsian-Russian and Russian-Vepsian dictionary, several art books in the Vepsian language were published.. When creating the primer, its authors refused from the idea of ​​borrowing missing words from the Russian language, so that the language of a small people does not lose its originality. Words were created according to the laws of language, according to patterns of existing words. Such accuracy is also necessary because a well-composed word that fits into linguistic patterns is easily acquired by native speakers. Since 1994, the publication of the monthly newspaper "Kodima" ("Native Land") began in the Vepsian and Russian languages. . The Vepsian Culture Society, created in 1989, together with the Finno-Ugric branch of the International Institute of Bible Translation, published translations into the Vepsian language of the children's Bible and the four Gospels during 1992-1996. The publication of educational and fiction literature, translations of biblical texts, and newspapers in the Vepsian language laid the foundation for the formation of the literary Vepsian language. Many schools in the Vepsian region have begun teaching the Vepsian language. Since the 1992-1993 academic year, the Karelian State Pedagogical Institute began training teachers of the Vepsian language, and at Petrozavodsk State University - specialist philologists in the Vepsian language. There are old and new Vepsian song groups are emerging.

At an interregional meeting in 1988, a proposal arose to create a Vepsian autonomous region. As a result of understanding this problem and real practical actions, it turned out that in modern conditions it is most appropriate to resolve national-territorial issues within the framework of already existing subjects of the Russian Federation. As a result, the Kuya Vepsian National Village Council arose in the Vologda region.

At the end of 1994, the boundaries of the Vepsian national volost were established, which in 1996 received the status of an independent administrative unit, i.e. had the right to form elected bodies of local self-government, have a territory assigned to it, the right to form its own budget, have municipal property and the right to control the distribution of natural resources on its territory. The Vepsian national volost had guaranteed representation in the legislative authorities: one deputy was elected to the Chamber of the Republic of the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Kazakhstan, working on a permanent basis. Since 2002, in accordance with the new legislation of the Republic of Kazakhstan, the representation of Vepsians in the Legislative Assembly of the Republic of Kazakhstan has become problematic. The volost has ceased to be an administrative-territorial unit and remains a national municipal entity. .

That is, we must admit that despite the successes achieved, the main task - to revive a full-fledged life in Vepsian villages and create conditions for the development of the ethnic culture of the Vepsians has not been solved and is still far from it. The ancient traditional way of life, which has survived to this day, is being eroded and disappearing before our eyes due to the departure of its bearers.

In particular, to preserve the culture of the Vepsian people, the Vepsian Forest natural park was created, which declares its goals, firstly, to correct the socio-economic situation in this territory, and secondly, to preserve traditional culture, revive lost elements and create conditions for its reproduction and development. This includes the promotion of Vepsian speech, local folklore, and literature about this region. It is planned to revive traditional activities and crafts using local natural resources. It is planned to develop local infrastructure, correct in relation to traditional culture. The Vepsian Forest Natural Park is located on the territory of the traditional settlement of the Vepsians - possible descendants of the chronicle Vepsians. In the south and west of the natural park there are narrow strips of Russian villages. The remaining settlements are Vepsian.

Without these actions, the local culture that has developed over several hundred years will be replaced either by emptiness or by a completely different culture. We have only a few years at our disposal.

Conclusion

During the work, information about the history, culture and current state of the Vepsian people was collected and processed. As a result, the following conclusions were made.

Veps are an autochthonous population of Mezhozerye - the space between Lakes Ladoga, Onega and White. There is convincing evidence that their distant ancestors - the entire chronicle - have long lived in this territory. Representing at the end of the 1st millennium AD. a significant political force, all actively involved in the fate of the region and the formation of Russian statehood, appears among the tribes that called the Varangians.

At the turn of the 1st - 2nd millennium AD. active Slavic colonization of the lands where the ancestors of the Vepsians lived began. Like other Finno-Ugric peoples, they were all drawn into the orbit of Slavic influence, which resulted in fairly early Christianization. However, the process of Christianization remained unfinished and as a result of the collision of Orthodoxy with local pre-Christian beliefs, a unique Orthodox-pagan complex formed at the heart of the traditional worldview of the inhabitants of Mezhozerye.

Despite their centuries-long proximity to Slavic tribes, the Vepsians did not undergo Russification, managing to preserve part of their beliefs, language, and many elements of material and spiritual culture.

The original occupation was agriculture, which, due to its low productivity, was supplemented by animal husbandry, as well as side industries: fishing, migrant work. The type of farming completely determined the life of the Vepsians, including not only material, but also spiritual culture.

Over the past centuries, the influence of the Vepsians in the region has been reduced to a minimum, and their numbers have dropped significantly. Already at the end of the 19th century. ethnographers wrote about the existing possibility of assimilation of the people by the surrounding Russian population. The process of assimilation took place especially actively in the 20th century.

In recent years, the issue of preserving the culture that has developed in this territory for hundreds of years has become especially acute. The small Vepsian intelligentsia managed to attract the attention of the public and authorities to the Vepsian problem. Some success has been achieved only in the field of education. Despite the successes achieved, the main task - to revive a full-fledged life in Vepsian villages and create conditions for the development of the ethnic culture of the Vepsians has not been solved and is still far from it. The ancient traditional way of life, which has survived to this day, is being eroded and disappearing before our eyes due to the departure of its bearers.

Bibliography

1) Vepsians: history, culture and interethnic contacts: collection of scientific works / Ed. I.Yu. Vinokurova. - Petrozavodsk: PetrSU Publishing House, 1999. - 189 p.

) Vinokurova I.Yu. Calendar customs, rituals and holidays of the Vepsians (late XIX - early XX centuries). - St. Petersburg: publishing house "Science", 1994. - 124 p.

)Gorb D.A. Material components of the Vepsian wedding ceremony at the end of the 19th - 20th centuries. //Population of Leningrad and Leningrad region - L. 1981

)Makarov N.A., Zakharov S.D. Medieval settlement on White Lake. - M.: publishing house "Languages ​​of Russian Culture", 2001 - 495 p.

)Mullonen I. Essays on Vepsian toponymy. - St. Petersburg: publishing house "Science", 1994. - 156 p.

)Pimenov V.V. Vepsians: an essay on ethnic history and the genesis of culture. - M.L.: publishing house "Science", 1965. - 264 p.

)Baltic-Finnish peoples of Russia: collection of scientific works / [V.A. Tishkov, S.V. Cheshko, N.V. Shlygina, etc.] - M.: publishing house "Science" 2003. - 671 p.

)Problems of history and culture of the Vepsian people: collection of articles/Ed. V.V. Pimenova (chief editor), Z.I. Strogalshchikova, Yu.Yu. Surkhasko. - Petrozavodsk, 1989. - 171 p.

) Ryabinin E.A. Finno-Ugric tribes within Ancient Rus': On the history of Slavic-Finnish ethnocultural relations: historical and archaeological essays. - St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 1997. - 260 p.

) We live on the same land: The population of St. Petersburg and Leningrad. region / Comp. and scientific ed. K. V. Chistov. St. Petersburg, 1992

) The Quasquicentennial of the Finno-Ugrian Society, edited by Jussi Ylikoski. - Helsinki, “Societe finno-ougrienne”, 2009. - 271 p.

Internet resources:

)Vepsian site #"justify">)Vepsian forest natural park site #"justify">)Ethnographic museum #"justify">) indigenous peoples of Karelia #"justify">) Kodima - Vepsian-Russian newspaper #"justify">) Official portal of government authorities of the Republic of Karelia #"justify"> Application

)Map-scheme of the modern settlement of the Vepsians ( Modern territory of residence of the Vepsians(compiled by Z.I. Strogolshchikova)

Borders of the KASSR and regions; 2 - district boundaries; 3 - regional centers; 4 - populated areas; 5 - empty villages; 6 - territory of residence of the Vepsian people

2) Map of the distribution of Finno-Ugric and Slavic-Finnish monuments of the Ladoga-Onega Interzero region and Eastern Onega region of the 10th-13th centuries.

a - burial mounds; b - settlements; c - ground cemeteries; g - urban centers

3) Ethnocultural situation in the lands of Slavic-Finnish settlement of the late 1st - early 2nd millennium AD.

a - archaeological regions (1 - area of ​​Votic and Slavic-Vodian monuments; 2 - Izhora monuments; 3 - kurgan "Chud" culture of the South-Eastern Ladoga region; 4, 5 - area of ​​Vesi monuments; 6 - local divisions of the Chud of Zavolochye; 7 - territory Meryan and Slavic-Merian settlement); b - borders of Rus' XII-XIII centuries; c - the southern border of the ancient Finno-Ugric hydronymy; d - northern border of the Baltic hydronymic area; d - Finno-Ugric tribes

5) Veps plows

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I will give some definitions of ethnic community developed in Russian literature. S.A. Tokarev believes that “an ethnic community is a community of people that is based on one or more of the following types of social ties: community of origin, language, territory, nationality, economic ties, cultural way of life, religion.” But, in his opinion, none of these differences is a mandatory sign of an ethnic community, although each of the types of social connections that underlie such differences can form the basis for the emergence of an ethnic community.

Some researchers propose using the term “ethnicity” instead of the term “people,” emphasizing that an ethnic community is a broader concept than an ethnic group. It is believed that cultural specificity should be considered as the main feature of an ethnic group, allowing in all cases without exception to distinguish it from other ethnic groups. In essence, even a language, usually considered the main ethnic indicator, is closely connected with the culture of the people speaking this language, since its culture, primarily spiritual, is to a large extent always expressed in a certain language. Each ethnic group must be considered as a historically established group of people, along with the territory of its formation and subsequent settlement, the culture it created and the language that expressed this culture.

According to N.N. Cheboksarov, “an ethnic community should be called a broad category that includes not only peoples or ethnic groups, but also divisions of these peoples, groups of related peoples that have a number of common cultural and linguistic features.” This point of view is also supported by Yu.V. Bromley, noting that by ethnic community we understand the entire ethnic hierarchy - from the ethnographic group to ethnolinguistic communities.

An ethnos, as a rule, is understood as that basic ethnic unit, which is usually colloquially called a people, that is, a tribe, nationality, nation. However, this term is often used in an even narrower sense of the word - close to the concept of “nationality”.

The term “ethnos” is becoming increasingly widespread in special ethnopsychological literature. So, V.I. Kozlov gives the following definition of an ethnic community: “A people, or an ethnic community, is a social organism that has formed in a certain territory from groups of people, provided that they already have or have achieved through the development of various connections (economic, cultural and other) a common language, common features of culture and life, features of mental make-up, and if these groups differed sharply in racial terms, then significant cross-breeding. The main features of an ethnic community are: ethnic identity and self-name, language, territory, cultural characteristics, a certain form of socio-territorial organization or a clearly expressed desire to create such an organization.” But I think the main thing is not the list of signs, but the clarification of the nature of the connections between people included in the community and the refraction of these connections in consciousness.

One of the directions in ethnosociology is the study of national character. G. Lebon notes: “Traditional ideas (widespread in literature, as well as in everyday life) say that all people belonging to a certain nation are similar to each other in certain characteristics and, accordingly, differ in the same characteristics from other nations, the characteristics attributed to them are what -in a way connected with the fact that they are citizens of a certain nationality.”

There are different approaches to studying the cultural characteristics of ethnic groups and determining the cultural distance between them.

A special contribution to the study of the characteristics of ethnic groups was made by such scientists as N.A. Berdyaev, A.O. Boronoeva P.I. Smirnova, K. Kasyanova, Z.V. Sikevich, Yu.V. Harutyunyan, L.M. Drobizheva, S.S. Susokulov, V.S. Kukushina, L.D. Stolyarenko, A.B. Imkenova and dr.

For a comparative analysis of the cultural characteristics of ethnic groups, I use the method of comparing the ethnic characteristics of different peoples, which are given by specialists and authors of works on ethnic topics. A comparative description of the peoples of the South of Russia, such as Russians, Ukrainians, as well as Circassians, Chechens and Ingush, allows us to some extent assess the degree of “closeness-distance” of the culture of these ethnic groups, i.e. the intercultural distance between them, and, accordingly, their ability and willingness to engage in a variety of interethnic interactions.

As an example of the use of this method, let us take those ethnocultural characteristics of ethnic groups given by V.S. Kukushina and L.D. Stolyarenko."

So, for Russians these traits are: 1) hard work, 2) patience, 3) endurance, 4) community, following traditions, 5) mercy, compassion, kindness, free help, self-sacrifice, 6) equality, freedom, liberty, independence, 7) paternalistic tradition, 8) love, 9) conscience, 10) emotionality, (the need for close contacts, understanding from others), intuitiveness, unpredictability, imagination and contemplation, a tendency to think, impulsiveness, emotional involvement, 11) a tendency to mismanagement, 12), 13) willingness to give in while maintaining normal relationships (if there is a threat of conflict), 14) hospitality, sociability, 15) initiative.

Efficiency, practicality, accuracy, punctuality, commitment, enterprise in work - these are qualities that are rarely found in a Russian person.

Characteristic features of Ukrainians: 1) interest in the work at hand, 2) assertiveness, 3) the ability to show themselves and their work, 4) diligence, conscientious fulfillment of their duties, 5) independence, 6) mobility, cheerfulness, 7) sense of humor, 8) musicality.

In an unusual environment, they may seem: 9) reserved, but in business relationships they are 10) thorough, 11) prudent, 12) economical, 13) diligent. Ukrainians: 14) love order, legality, are intolerant of theft and other forms of behavior of unscrupulous people, 15) boldly go into conflict with them, showing emotionality.

For the Circassians, one of the ethnic groups of Russia, the characteristic features will be 1) strong character, 2) loyalty to the word, 3) perseverance, perseverance, 4) patience in achieving goals, 5) unpretentiousness in everyday life, 6) impressionability, 7 ) energy.

Chechens and Ingush will have similar ethnic characteristics: 1) impressionability, 2) courage, 3) manifestation of organizational skills, 4) endurance, 5) resourcefulness, 6) the ability to obey the will of an elder and at the same time take control. They behave with strangers: 7) closed, 8) wary, distrustful. In their native environment they show: 9) sociability and a cheerful disposition. They are characterized by: 10) a sense of national pride, dignity and honor; 10) love of edged weapons. These ethnic groups are: 11) religious. But the attitude towards work is ambiguous: 12) there are also the values ​​of conscientious work, diligence, and the values ​​of an aggressive, predatory or “easy” lifestyle.

From the above material it is clear that each of the presented ethnic groups has its own system of characteristics, which, apparently, determines the nature of interethnic interaction. The nature of communication, the success of joint activities and the achievement of set goals depend on the degree of closeness or alienation between ethnic groups living in a single political and legal space. Alienation can be zero - with the maximum coincidence of ethnic characteristics, with the close proximity of ethnocultural systems. In this situation, joint activities of representatives of different ethnic groups will be the most fruitful and effective, the likelihood of interethnic conflicts is very small, and joint activities will be assimilative or harmonious in nature. The degree of alienation may vary. Thus, a high degree of alienation arises between ethnic groups when their cultures, national characteristics, etc. are completely different. Accordingly, the greater the degree of alienation between ethnic groups, the less stable the relations between them, the higher the likelihood of interethnic conflicts.

Of the above-mentioned ethnic groups, as one might expect, Russians and Ukrainians turn out to be less alienated, because the number of matching signs they have is 6 (Table No. 1).

Table No. 1 Coincidence of ethnic characteristics

In this case, not only the number of matching ethnic characteristics is indicative, but also their place in the list, i.e. rank. The table shows that hard work, independence, and courage are characteristics that are similar in both ethnic groups, which indicates a certain closeness between them. But at the same time, Ukrainians turn out to be more mobile and emotional than Russians.

A comparative description of the Russian ethnic group with the Adyghe, Chechen-Ingush shows that the number of coincidences of ethnic characteristics between ethnic groups is different. This fact allows us to assume that Russians with the ethnic groups listed above have a greater value-cultural distance than with Ukrainians. At the second stage of analysis, when considering the location of the features, it is clear that although only two features coincide with the Adyghe ethnic group, their location (in the value system) is relatively close. The number of coincidences between the Chechen-Ingush ethnic group and the Russian one, which is four, shows at first glance some closeness between the ethnic groups. But upon closer examination of this issue, it turns out that these ethnic groups have greater cultural distance than might seem at first glance. Thus, the main characteristic of Russians is hard work. It is curious that for Chechens and Ingush hard work comes last. This indicates a certain degree of alienation, despite the existing similarities (Table No. 2).

Table No. 2 Coincidences of ethnic characteristics

This material does not yet allow us to draw unambiguous conclusions about the degree of alienation or closeness of ethnic groups, because these are rather assessments and characteristics of a heterosteriotypical plan. The ideas of Russian researchers about the Chechen, Ingush, Adyghe and other ethnic groups may differ significantly from their own (i.e., from autostereotypes).

So, for example, Yan Chesnov, discussing the Chechen mentality, identifies the following main features of his ethnic group: first of all, it is 1) regret, 2) repentance, 3) sincerity, 4) respect, 5) freedom, and also - 6) ability, 7) joy of life, 8) feeling of fear, shame, 9) conscience, 10) regret about human powerlessness 11) acceptance of guilt, 12) nobility, spiritual aristocracy, 13) repentance, 14) responsibility, 15) consent, 16) sincerity, 17) ethical thinking. Chechens often have the deepest 18) respect for their neighbors and other ethnic groups; they place a foreign-ethnic guest, partner, or cultural figure in a higher place (than the one reserved for their own). Aggression is met with 19) incredible resistance. And also 20) friendship, loyalty 21) not accepting familiarity, 22) individualism and inner loneliness are overcome through music, song, dancing, 23) wisdom and 24) cheerfulness.

If we compare the autostereotypes of Russians and Chechens, then the value-cultural distance is partially visible from table No. 3.

Table No. 3 Coincidences of ethnic characteristics (by autosteriotypes)

As can be seen from the table, the number of matches is very small, but on the other hand, according to the matching characteristics (“freedom”, “conscience”) there is a high degree of coincidence of ranks.

Ways of existence of ethnic groups

Ethnic development, unlike social development, is discrete, that is, discontinuous. This is due to internal and external processes that affect the functioning of ethnic groups, and therefore their existence. The following ways of existence of ethnic groups are highlighted in the specialized literature:

* origin;

* extension;

* decrease in activity level, or decay;

* transition to homeostasis, that is, the static state of the ethnic group.

Emergence refers to the process of formation of an ethnic group during secession, or assimilation. This is the primary stage in the formation of an ethnic community, if we consider it in time terms.

The second stage in the existence and development of an ethnos is expansion. It means strengthening ties within an ethnic group, as well as increasing the number of its members through the assimilation of neighboring ethnic groups. In the course of expansion, an ethnic group is constantly progressing, since internal psychological processes occur within a given ethnic group that determine its continuous development. At this stage, the level of ethnic (and national) self-awareness grows, which results in the harmonization of the ethnic group and its development. However, this process occurs until members of an ethnic community begin to differentiate themselves into new ethnic groups based on individual characteristics. The desire for separation may be due to the fact that as a result of the assimilation of neighboring ethnic groups, differentiation occurs within a given ethnic community according to some criteria (economic, cultural, social, religious).

The emergence of discriminatory processes within an ethnic group contributes to a corresponding decline in the level of ethnic self-awareness; national ideas are devalued, as personal motives begin to prevail over national ones. As a result, we observe a decrease in the level of activity of the ethnic group. At this stage, the ethnic group becomes the most vulnerable, which can lead to external aggression from other ethnic communities or to its assimilation by neighboring communities and subsequent disintegration due to the loss of territory, culture, language and unity. For example, A.M. Volkonsky notes that “the cohabitation of Russians with Finns led to the almost complete Russification of the latter and to some change in the anthropological type of the northern Russians: wide cheekbones, a wide nose - this is the legacy of Finnish blood”13.

The process of disintegration or decrease in the activity of an ethnic group can be transformed into homeostasis, in which the ethnic group is in a static state. Homeostasis is a mobile equilibrium state of an ethnic community, preserved by its counteraction to external and internal factors that disrupt the balance. The concept of homeostasis was originally developed in physiology to explain the constancy of the internal environment of the body and the stability of its basic physiological functions. This idea was developed by the American physiologist W. Cannon in the doctrine of “the wisdom of the body as an open system that continuously maintains stability.” The principle of homeostasis moved from physiology to ethnopsychology, acquiring a more general meaning as the principle of a systems approach and self-regulation based on feedback. The idea that every system strives to maintain stability was transferred to ethnopsychology. Each ethnic community strives for stability, but at a certain stage this stability ceases to accompany the progressive development of the ethnic group, which leads to a state of homeostasis. An example of ethnic communities in a state of homeostasis are the Indian tribes of North America, which preserved the development and culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, which, however, did not disintegrate, since they retained a strong ethnic identity.

This is the typical energy state of a system exchanging information and energy with its environment. The social institutions of ethnic groups are different. This means that the social form of the movement of matter and ethnogenesis are two different processes, although correlated and even intersecting.

THE SUBSTANTIAL NATURE OF AN ETHNOSIS The briefly outlined theoretical positions of scientists show that the question of the substantial nature of an ethnos, firstly, is far from indisputable, and, secondly, is acutely relevant, since it directly addresses the problem of developing an approach to regulating the sphere of interethnic relations. This situation explains the need for the analysis being undertaken.

The concept of substance is among the categories of European rationalist philosophy. In this vein, we immediately recall the self-generating characteristic of substance, which was emphasized by B. Spinoza, recognized by Hegel, and justified in relation to society by K. Marx in the process of theoretical analysis of practical economic relations. What is meant here is the ability of a system to contain within itself all the characteristics that unfold in the process of its subsequent development.

(Hegel gives a well-known example-image - an acorn in which an oak tree is already “programmed”). This does not mean that self-generating systems - substances - do not have some external reasons for their development and are self-sufficient. In our example, the same acorn can develop only under certain conditions - temperature, humidity, a certain soil composition. The above-mentioned thinkers note another aspect - the absence of an initial target predetermined system.

In this regard, we can assert that society does not have an initial goal of its development, just as the process of ethnogenesis does not have any specific purpose. These characteristics - self-development, lack of purpose - allow us to consider both the social system and the ethnic group as substances. Analyzing the characteristics of substantial systems, the famous modern scientist K.S. Momdzhyan points out that they have a “special holistic way of life.”

“It presupposes a special mechanism of self-preservation and self-development of system integrity, in which all the diversity of parts, properties and states of the system has a single source and is reduced to a single foundation” (19, p. 151). Based on this premise, the analysis of the substantial nature of an ethnos presupposes the identification of such a mechanism of self-preservation and self-development.

As a rule, the consideration of an ethnic group by ethnologists unfolds in the key of studying its specific characteristics, which make it possible to distinguish ethnic groups as special social communities. Here it is enough to indicate the modern discussion on the subject of ethnology and, within its framework, one of the generalizing points of view on the issue of ethnicity, set forth by the famous scientist V.I. Kozlov (15).

We need to show the systemic nature of the ethnos, which presupposes the identification of internal system-forming connections that are inherent in the ethnos as a natural-social integrity and ensure the reproduction and survival of the ethnos. These include: the form of settlement and adaptation to the natural environment, methods of reproducing numbers and maintaining the age structure, the level of intra-ethnic cohesion and stability of primary groups (tribal structures, rural communities, urban communes).

In other words, when people interact with the natural environment, a certain collective is formed, the functioning of which is necessary to preserve the existence of an individual. Adaptation to the natural environment gives birth to a collective - an ethnos - and determines the way it functions. The latter, in turn, determines the formation of internal system-forming connections, which to one degree or another influence social development (the economy, the type of political relations, the dominant personality type, etc.).

The spatial and temporal stability of an ethnic group is based on information connections of a diachronic type (5, pp. 17-41.). It is easy to notice the emphasis on the role of the natural environment in ethnogenesis. In the context of historiosophical concepts, such thinkers as Danilevsky, O. Spengler, A. Toynbee paid attention to this. From the point of view of ethnogenesis, the role of the natural environment (climate, landscape, size of the territory) was emphasized not only by L. Gumilyov, but also by the outstanding Russian historian of the 19th century. S.M. Soloviev.

Their argumentation gives grounds to assert that the natural environment determines the economic life, forms of life and political organization of an ethnic group (of course, if we are talking about the period of development before the 19th century). Other researchers - S. Arutyunov, V. Kozlov and others - emphasize the influence of the natural environment on the formation of the mental makeup of an ethnic group and the content of ethnic self-awareness. In other words, the natural environment determines the main characteristic features of an ethnic group.

However, not only them, but also intrasystem connections - the degree of intra-group cohesion, the type of demographic reproduction, the stability of primary groups - since it determines the form of settlement developed in given conditions by the ethnic community.

In one case, we can talk about scattered rural settlements and the colonization of fairly large spaces, in another - about the formation of rural settlements or urban-type settlements in limited spaces, in the third - about scattered settlements of an ethnic group in mountainous conditions, where communication between them is difficult. The form of the settlement and the scale of the populated territory have a significant impact on the method of economic development of the natural environment, i.e. to fold the type of culture.

Economists and cultural scientists distinguish cultures not only by the dominant type of production activity - agricultural and industrial - but also by the quality of this activity. The last criterion allows us to classify a culture, by its nature, as an intensive or extensive type, and this affects such a systemic characteristic of an ethnic group as a type of demographic reproduction.

Pre-industrial agrarian culture is characterized by the formation of the family as an economic and production unit, the number of which determines the material support of life for each of its members. Therefore, a family in an agrarian society develops as a multi-generational one, where three generations of relatives live under one roof.

The mechanism of reproduction of a community based on a multigenerational family is characterized by the following features: a high marriage rate (the number of unmarried women is insignificant - 2-3%), early marriage and guardianship from the parental family, a high birth rate and infant mortality rate, a relatively short life expectancy of an individual .

This reproduction mechanism leads to a progressive age structure of the population (the proportion of the working-age population significantly exceeds the proportion of the older generation). A multigenerational family focuses an individual on reproducing his own style and way of life. The “do as I do” principle dominates here. This family, being the bearer and transmitter of tradition, acts as the basis for the sustainability of society.

It focuses on the elements of culture, the emergence of which is associated with the adaptation of the community to the natural environment, i.e. specifically ethnic culture. Moreover, apparently another specific function of this type of family is connected with the implementation of this function - the custodian and translator of ethnic culture. It is manifested in her endogamy - control over the preferential marriage with representatives of her ethnic group.

Endogamy is an important means of preserving the stability and monolithic nature of an ethnic group, its traditional culture, ethnic identity and linguistic characteristics. Research of the last decade shows that the ethnocultural function of the family is fulfilled under the condition of a compact territorial settlement of at least several traditional multigenerational families.

In this case, not only does ethnocultural information pass through generations, but also “a connection is established with other communities of the same hierarchical level and thereby maintains the unity of the ethnic group as a complex social system” (25, p. 22). It can be added that the meaning of this communication at the local level is in the implementation of ethnic life itself, i.e. information is transmitted not only about the past, the past turns out to be present, modern, and therefore the unity of the ethnic group is preserved.

Thus, intra-ethnic system-forming connections (the form of settlement, the type of adaptation to the natural environment, which is manifested in the dominant forms of economic activity, as well as the method of reproduction of the population of the community) focus on such an important characteristic of the ethnos as the level of intra-ethnic cohesion. This characteristic of an ethnic group and the methods of its study in domestic science are extremely poorly developed.

A.A. Susokolov, who specifically studies the problem of ethnic structuring, identifies three main factors that underlie ethnic self-organization and contribute to intra-ethnic cohesion: 1) formed local stable subcultures; 2) close information connection between local subcultures; 3) the presence of developed “supralocal” information and organizational circles of communication, the main function of which is the development of pan-ethnic layers of culture (25, p. 28).

Intra-ethnic cohesion manifests itself as self-organization and self-government, i.e. in the form of intra-ethnic institutions (consanguineous, settlement, for example, teips, tukhums, uluses, etc.) and the mechanisms of their functioning. These institutions, as a rule, through etiquette, which defines the norms of interpersonal and intergroup relationships, as well as through customary law, ensure the self-preservation and reproduction of the ethnic group as a community.

Ethnicity acts as a society in the first stages of its development. Therefore, some scientists admit that “ethnonational formations of various kinds remain the main way of human existence” (13, p. 24). Thus, the adaptation of an ethnic group to the external environment explains its structural and institutional organization, the interdependence of systemic connections and specific characteristics.

And the ability to reproduce and move in time allows us to characterize an ethnos as a substantial system. The study of this class of systems allows researchers to insist on their inherent specific feature - the primacy of the whole in relation to the individual characteristics or elements of the system.

In this regard, “it is precisely the need for survival in the environment, inherent in the system as a whole, and not in its individual parts individually, that determines both the method of their functional intermediation and the very fact of the structural isolation of parts in the field of system integrity.... We are not able to explain the inherent system integrity, analyzing individual spheres of social life and the actually existing functional intermediation between them.

The quality of the system cannot be deduced from its structural and functional organization" (19, pp. 160-161). Precisely because the whole dominates and is irreducible to its individual parts and characteristics, ethnologists in long discussions fail to determine the nature of the ethnic system: each of the characteristics of an ethnos without connection with others is not an indicator of its ontological nature.

And this, in turn, is one of the key arguments of the position, which proves the illusory nature of the interpretation of ethnic groups as objectively real social formations. The ability of an ethnos to self-develop requires consideration of the transformation of its system-forming connections. Let's construct an abstract model of this process. The process of transition from the agrarian, traditional phase to the industrial phase has a fundamental impact on the ethnic system. It leads to modification of the system as a whole.

First of all, the methods of formation of ethnic characteristics and the mechanism of community reproduction are subject to change. The industrialization of labor develops in parallel with the change in the form of settlement.

The change in the settlement structure of an ethnic group - the transition from rural forms (villages, auls, etc.) to the urban type of settlement - is associated with the destruction of the communal form of organization of life, and, above all, with the blocking of communal control over the behavior of the individual, i.e. this transition leads to the gradual extinction of religious cults, traditions and customary law as the main forms of regulation of behavior and ethnic-forming characteristics. Instead, the development of world religions and legal norms, in which ethnic characteristics are removed, is becoming widespread. The economic life of the city also universalizes the individual’s abilities and eliminates the ethnic specificity of work activity. Thus, ethnospecific forms of organizing life - customary law, labor activity, traditions and religious beliefs - are pushed out of the sphere of material and practical activities of people.

They are transformed into historical memory, the specifics of the ethnopsychic makeup, and the mentality of the culture. This process is also objectively manifested in the destruction of the institutions of self-organization of the ethnic group - the withering away of customary law occurs simultaneously with the decline in the authority and importance of community institutions (the council of elders, for example). The industrialization of labor and the urban lifestyle also gradually lead to a change in the type of population reproduction, which manifests itself in the form of the family.

It no longer becomes related, multi-generational, but marital (binary, nuclear). The mechanism of reproduction of an ethnic group based on a binary family has different features compared to a multigenerational family, and changes in social functions. Here, first of all, we point out that it is losing its “ethnic-orienting” functions: transmission of ethnic culture, socialization of the individual according to the model of previous generations, maintenance of a certain demographic structure, intra-ethnic cohesion.

The preservation of the ethnic system when changing the ways of organizing its life (forms of settlement, type of population reproduction, type of socialization, etc.) occurs through the allocation within the ethnos of specialized types of intellectual work and corresponding social institutions that carry out, firstly, the management of the community, and, secondly, the preservation and transmission of its ethnocultural specificity.

These functions are assumed either by the emerging centralized state or by the intellectual elite of the ethnic group. A comparison of the history of the formation of European nations and the intellectual tradition of understanding the problem of ethnicity allowed the Swiss sociologist P. Serio to identify two models for constructing collective identity - French and German. The French are characterized by the activity of the state in establishing and promoting ethno-national identity.

Here the state imposed a single state language, which became a means of unifying the social community, as well as the principles of bourgeois urban civilization to the detriment of rural civilization. In Germany, a different process took place: a common language served as a sign for defining a nation and the basis for the demand for the organization of a single national state. In other words, the cultural and linguistic community of the population preceded national-state unity.

And the protection of this ethnocultural integrity required the creation of a strong state. The two European paths highlighted are different: “according to the German concept, the German people already have a language, while in the French concept, a “common” language must become urgently necessary for the entire nation, especially that part of it that does not know it. These different approaches can be defined as “ethnos” and “demos”, i.e. the romantic meaning of “people” is contrasted with its social meaning.”

The French definition of a nation is the right of the land, the German romantic definition is the right of blood. (24, p.53). Thus, two groups specialized in forms of labor - the managerial and intellectual elite - take on the functions of maintaining the ethnic characteristics of the community in conditions when the objective basis of its existence (territory, the specifics of labor activity) and traditional social institutions (settlement bodies, family) are lost function data.

With a strong management group, the state dominates in this process; with a weak development of the management group and the absence of a tradition of state organization, the function of preserving and reproducing ethnic culture and ethnic solidarity is carried out by the intellectual elite. In the first model, the “French” one, the state is formed on the basis of the most developed ethnic group, drawing territorially and culturally similar ethnic groups into a single political body.

The active principle in a social system of this type belongs to the state. It acts as a subject of social and political processes.

In the second model, before the acquisition of political institutional forms, the active principle belongs to the intellectual elite, and since it acts from the position of preserving and protecting the ethnic culture widespread in a certain territory (the territory of ethnogenesis, which is conceptualized in the characteristics of “native land”, “father’s home” and etc.), to the extent that it is perceived as part of the ethnic system.

Those. the subjective, active characteristics here belong to the ethnos itself, the intellectual elite of which puts forward the achievement of forms of political institutionalization as a development goal. The setting of this goal, which at first glance seems to be introduced into ethnic self-awareness, is determined by the influence of the immediate social environment. The political strengthening of neighboring peoples potentially carries the threat of absorption of weaker ethnic groups.

The demand for a centralized state form here acts as a defensive reaction, i.e. adaptation to a changing social world. In this changed socio-historical environment, the state, putting forward and pursuing political goals, acts as a mechanism of self-organization of the ethnic group and therefore is formed into a real subject of social development.

So, we can define an ethnos as a substantial system, which is characterized by such characteristics as self-organization and self-development, based on adaptation to the environment and diachronic information connections. If at the first stage of its development adaptation presupposed the adaptation of an ethnos mainly to the natural environment, then with historical development the adaptation mechanism is reoriented towards adaptation to a changing social environment.

The latter is explained by the fact that the social environment is acquiring an increasingly determining influence on the functioning of the ethnic group as an integral system. This is due, firstly, to the formation of world history and the development of increasing interdependence of ethnic groups that have acquired state organization; secondly, with the uneven pace of historical development of ethnic groups. Thus, in the historical development of an ethnos, based on the signs of self-organization of life, two stages can be distinguished - traditional and industrial.

The first is characterized by the formation of ethnic characteristics in the objective process of life of individuals (type of development of the natural environment in economic and everyday life, forms and methods of socialization, etc.) and their spontaneous consolidation into a community based on these characteristics. The second is characterized by the reproduction of ethnic characteristics mainly in the process of socialization, i.e. in the individual’s subjective assimilation of the experience of previous development.

The transition of an ethnic group from one stage to another is associated with a change in the nature of the formation of system-forming intra-ethnic ties. At the second stage, they are produced by specialized professional groups, mainly the intellectual elite and politicians, who act as conscious organizers of the consolidation process along ethnic lines.

The transition of the function of organizing, managing and consolidating society from tribal (actually ethnic) structures to the state is associated with the process of destruction of the former. Social consolidation now occurs on other grounds, on which the individual’s method of survival depends: during the normal functioning of society, the production and economic principle acts as such a basis; in crisis situations, when a broader base for unification is required, it is citizenship.

Thus, the systemic integrity of the ethnic group is eroded. Changing the way of forming social connections and turning an ethnic group into one of the characteristics of society has external and internal forms of manifestation. Externally, they manifest themselves in the loss of the traditional system of ethnic institutions, internally - in a change in the value orientations of consciousness, in which ethnic identification recedes into the background. Under these conditions, the preservation of ethnic identity depends on the special organizational activities of government bodies.

Ethnicity becomes one of the dimensions of national (civic) identity, where ethnocultural characteristics merge with the economic and political goals of state development. And the ethnos itself acts either as part of the population of the socio-territorial system (country), or, in monoethnic states, coincides with it.

The coincidence of ethnicity and state organization is therefore recognized as an ideal model of ethnic development: here the most important structural elements of the socio-territorial system - territory, population and political organization - are in consistent interdependence. With such a coincidence, the ethnos retains the role of a subject of the historical process, and the function of political subjectivity is performed by the state.

However, we emphasize: this model was extremely rarely embodied in a real historical process. Very few states were formed on the basis of predominantly one ethnic group.

The uneven pace of social development of various peoples led to the so-called phenomenon of “historical lag”, when peoples who did not have a developed form of political organization began to enter the stage of world history, along with already established state formations (as, for example, happened in the 17th-19th centuries with Caucasian peoples who fell into the sphere of interests of Iran, Turkey, Great Britain and Russia). This led to their inclusion in the state formations of other nations.

This course of the historical process, which emerged in modern times, allowed scientists to conclude that the further development of such ethnic groups is associated with their associated development with some other large ethnic group that has formed a strong state. At the same time, the associated ethnic group does not lose its ethnocultural distinctive features, but finds itself drawn into the orbit of the socio-economic and political development of the state of another ethnic group and acts as part of its population (5, p. 29).

In this variant, the lagging ethnic group either gradually moves from an associated state to assimilation and loses the very possibility of self-organization and preservation of cultural identity, or, for a number of reasons, preserves its ethnocultural specificity. It can persist as an awareness of cultural differences along with the formation of a national-state identity (double identity), or it can persist with the rejection of state identity.

One or another path of socio-historical development of an ethnic group within a large multi-ethnic state depends on the nature of the cultural and political interaction of peoples. However, the formation of a national-state identity presupposes a policy aimed at blocking the mechanisms of ethnic solidarity. Specific ethnic characteristics can be preserved and transmitted as cultural characteristics, but not as the basis for the organization of social groups.

The situation when cultural differences begin to be recognized in terms of social differentiation (as a basis for privileges or discrimination) gives impetus to the process of ethnomobilization. It is in this case that the ethnic group, already as part of another state entity, is formed into a subject of the political process. The substantive side of ethnopolitical relations is manifested in the clash of systems of values ​​and interests - national and local-ethnic.

The value system concentrates ideas about the world, the desired, proper and fair structure of social life. At the same time, the most important basic value is the idea of ​​justice of the existing social order. And since it is organized by the state, the functioning of this particular social institution is assessed. Let's draw some conclusions:

1) The set of community characteristics - language, territory of ethnogenesis, self-awareness, culture, customs and traditional system of norms, specifics of economic activity, etc. - allow us to outline some boundaries of the ethnic community. The ability for spontaneous generation and self-development is an essential characteristic of the substantial nature of an ethnos.

2) As a mechanism of spontaneous generation and self-development of an ethnos, adaptation to the natural and social environment can be distinguished.

It serves as the basis for the formation of intra-ethnic ties and determines their interdependence. The latter, in turn, gives the ethnic group systemic integrity.

3) The system-forming connections inherent in an ethnic group as a natural-social integrity and ensuring its reproduction and survival include: the form of settlement and methods of economic activity in a certain natural environment, methods of reproducing numbers and maintaining the age structure, as well as institutions that ensure intra-ethnic cohesion and stability of primary collectives (tribal structures, rural communities, urban communes).

4) The natural environment - the territory of ethnogenesis, climatic conditions, landscape - is not just one of the characteristics of the ethnic group, imprinted in national identity, but the initial condition for the formation of the ethnic group as a natural-social integrity. Therefore, a violation of the connection between the ethnic group and the natural environment causes the activation of ethnic life as a natural reaction aimed at self-preservation and self-reproduction of the collective.

5) The social subjectivity of an ethnic group - as activity in the natural and social environment - is determined by the mechanism of self-defense and self-reproduction. However, at different stages of the socio-historical development of an ethnic group (traditional and industrial), various institutions act as bearers of this quality. In a traditional society, this is family, traditions, primary (tribal and settlement) management structures. In industrial - the state, the education system, cultural and scientific institutions.

When ethnicity and statehood coincide, ethnic subjectivity becomes an integral part of the social activity of a broader social entity - the state; when they do not coincide, ethnic subjectivity can be preserved as a potential quality that can manifest itself as the basis for the political activity of ethnic groups in the conditions of a multi-ethnic state formation.

Conditions and factors for the formation of the political subjectivity of an ethnic group. The above reflections lead to the conclusion that the formation of an ethnos into a subject of political relations is by no means some natural characteristic of its functioning. This characteristic is acquired under a certain set of circumstances, and therefore is not inherent in every ethnic group.

In modern research, political subjectivity in the most general form is understood as “the ability to behave independently, namely, to formulate one’s interests, goals, to make one’s own choice, to express one’s will” (16, p. 184).

The criteria for granting the status of a political subject usually include: the self-awareness of the subject, where one’s own position in political reality, interests and goals of activity are determined; the will to social action and its implementation in political practice; the autonomy of the subject in political actions and their constancy, rather than fragmentation and spontaneity.

The universality of these criteria, as convincingly shown in the work of R.D. Khunagov, allows the authors of most political science works (and even textbooks on political science), when designating the subject of political relations in brackets, to list them - classes, nations, ethnic groups - initially neglecting their differences (28, pp. 11-18). The structure of a social group as a subject of politics is also universal. As a rule, scientists identify subject-forming groups (extensive social groups: classes, ethnic groups) that act as carriers of needs and political interests, and the actual subjects acting on their behalf: parties, lobbying groups, movements - which articulate these interests and represent them at the conceptual level programs, and also carry out activities for their implementation. The sufficient development of these plots in literature allows us not to dwell on them specifically.

But the problem of the formation of an ethnic group from a cultural and historical community into a politically active group in a multi-ethnic state deserves close attention. It has general theoretical and political-situational aspects. Considering the process of formation of political subjectivity of social units of any class in society, R.D. Khunagov identifies the objective conditions necessary for this.

The social system in economic and political terms must be organized in a certain way: there must be institutional conditions that allow subjects to form and purposefully represent and protect their interests (28, pp. 48-52). We take this conclusion as a premise for our analysis of the formation of the political subjectivity of an ethnic group: the presence of these conditions is assumed.

The process of reforming the Russian political system has created a political space (or “policy field”) for the expression and clash of interests of social actors. However, we note that not all Russian ethnic groups have entered the “field of politics”. Therefore, the analysis of the political subjectivity of an ethnos presupposes consideration not of the external conditions of the possibility of its formation, but of some others.

Analyzing the social relations that lead to the emergence of a social group as a really active subject, Yu.L. Kachanov and N.A. Shmatko note that they are realized as a system of recognized differences. Provided that these differences are statistically repeatable, social relations take on a natural character.

And a social group arises as a “bundle” of relationships and “manifests itself in the reproduction of differences/differences, understood as the reproduction of a certain system of practices (formed into a social gestalt - lifestyle) that is different and different from another system of practices” (14, p. 92). The analysis of social relations here, according to the authors, is reduced to the study of social positions.

Within the framework of the proposed concept, those groups that have a large “share of cultural capital” have the greatest political potential, since the latter provides the opportunity for greater flexibility and mobility for the development of new social forms of practices (14, p.93). Applying this approach to the analysis of the formation of an ethnic group as a politically active group, we can identify the social relations that lead to this.

We are talking about differences in the social status of ethnic groups (economic niches that they occupy; standard of living; provision of the social sphere, etc.), in political positions (titular or non-titular ethnic group, historical rootedness in the territory, compactness of settlement). At the same time, the socio-political position is stronger among the ethnic group that has formed a broader layer of intellectual (humanitarian and managerial) elite.

The latter makes it possible to ideologically and organizationally consolidate an ethnic community and declare itself as an organized force. Such a scenario is possible in the context of the destruction of the usual structure of economic and political relations, the loss of traditionally dominant elements from it.

The departure of the CPSU from the stage of political life, which provided the power vertical in the political organization of the country, the discrediting of the communist ideology, which previously, at least to some extent, integrated various peoples into a single state community at the country level, a large-scale change in the form of ownership carried out in a short time, which, along with other reasons caused the economic crisis of society, the paralysis of industry, the collapse of traditional forms of organization of the working class (enterprises, trade unions, party organizations), which led to the restructuring of the so-called “political field”. In a number of regions of the country, ethnic groups began to emerge into the center as communities that survived the period of the systemic crisis of Soviet and post-Soviet society. At a time when other social groups lost their “recognized” and “statistically repeatable” differences, ethnocultural differences between groups remained and determined the emergence of ethnic groups.

The interests of the latter, in turn, were dictated by the different political and economic positions (statuses) of ethnic groups, which were formed in previous decades, but existed in a latent form. The desire to highlight the reasons for the formation of the political subjectivity of ethnic groups forces us to take a closer look at those of them that have already appeared on the political scene of Russia.

Acute political situations regarding ethnopolitical problems as problems of division of power powers arose in the 90s. in Tatarstan and the republics of the North Caucasus region. The problem of political subjectivity involves identifying some criteria by which it can be determined that the participant in the events we are considering is indeed its subject.

One of the researchers of the political process at the country level, N.A. Kosolapov introduces the following features that characterize political subjectivity: 1) the subject must exist physically, as a very real material formation; 2) it must exist as a single, organically interconnected whole, as an independent quality; 3) the subject has internal motivation, the ability to set goals, set goals and realize them;

4) the requirement from the subject of goal setting and the mechanism for achieving the goal presupposes the presence of a management center that ensures its legal capacity. However, for our analysis the proposed set of criteria is clearly insufficient, because Based on them, it is difficult to determine who is the subject of the ethnopolitical process in the republics: official authorities or active groups of intellectuals speaking on behalf of the interests of the ethnic group.

For example, the leadership of Tatarstan or the leaders of the Tatar Public Center (TOC)? Apparently, one of the most important indicators of subjectivity is the ability of a particular group to influence the course of the political process, change the political situation, and achieve its goals. In this regard, an analysis of the political process in Tatarstan shows that the TOC, although fairly widely known in the republic, does not enjoy active support among the Tatar population.

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