Cheremis appearance characteristic features. Mari: what religion does it belong to? Dictionary of obsolete words and special terms

Posted Tue, 06/27/2017 - 08:45 by Cap

Mari (Mar. Mari, Mary, Mare, Mӓrӹ; formerly: Russian Cheremis, Turkic Chirmysh, Tatar: Marilar) are a Finno-Ugric people in Russia, mainly in the Republic of Mari El. It is home to about half of all Mari, numbering 604 thousand people (2002).
The remaining Mari are scattered across many regions and republics of the Volga region and the Urals.

The ancient territory of the Mari was very wide; currently the main territory of residence is between the Volga and Vetluga rivers.
There are three groups of Mari: mountain (they live on the right and partially left bank of the Volga in the west of Mari El and in neighboring regions), meadow (they make up the majority Mari people, occupy the Volga-Vyatka interfluve), eastern (they were formed from settlers from the meadow side of the Volga to Bashkiria and the Urals) - the last two groups, due to historical and linguistic proximity, are combined into the generalized meadow-eastern Mari.
They speak Mari (meadow-eastern Mari) and mountain Mari languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric group Ural family. Among many Mari, especially those living in Tatarstan and Bashkiria, the Tatar language is widespread. Most Mari profess Orthodoxy, but some remnants of paganism remain, which, combined with the ideas of monotheism, form a unique Mari traditional religion.

Among the Mari there are many famous people: war heroes, writers, poets, actors, composers, artists, athletes, etc.
In our article we will tell you about the most interesting representatives of the Mari people.

Famous Mari
Bykov, Vyacheslav Arkadyevich - hockey player, coach of the Russian national hockey team
Vasiliev, Valerian Mikhailovich - linguist, ethnographer, folklorist, writer
Kim Vasin - writer
Grigoriev, Alexander Vladimirovich - artist
Efimov, Izmail Varsonofevich - artist, king of arms
Efremov, Tikhon Efremovich - educator
Efrush, Georgy Zakharovich - writer
Ivanov, Mikhail Maksimovich - poet
Ignatiev, Nikon Vasilievich - writer
Iskandarov, Alexey Iskandarovitch - composer, choirmaster
Yyvan Kyrla - poet, film actor
Kazakov, Miklai - poet
Vladislav Maksimovich Zotin - 1st President of Mari El
Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Kislitsyn - 2nd President of Mari El
Columbus, Valentin Khristoforovich - poet
Konakov, Alexander Fedorovich - playwright
Lekain, Nikandr Sergeevich - writer
Luppov, Anatoly Borisovich - composer
Makarova, Nina Vladimirovna - Soviet composer
Mikay, Mikhail Stepanovich - poet and fabulist
Molotov, Ivan N. - composer
Mosolov, Vasily Petrovich - agronomist, academician
Mukhin, Nikolai Semenovich - poet, translator
Sergei Nikolaevich Nikolaev - playwright
Olyk Ipay - poet
Orai, Dmitry Fedorovich - writer
Palantay, Ivan Stepanovich - composer, folklorist, teacher
Prokhorov, Zinon Filippovich - guard lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Pet Pershut - poet
Savi, Vladimir Alekseevich - writer
Sapaev, Erik Nikitich - composer
Smirnov, Ivan Nikolaevich (historian) - historian, ethnographer
Taktarov, Oleg Nikolaevich - actor, athlete
Toidemar, Pavel S. - musician
Tynysh Osyp - playwright
Shabdar Osyp - writer
Shadt Bulat - poet, prose writer, playwright
Shketan, Yakov Pavlovich - writer
Chavain, Sergei Grigorievich - poet and playwright
Cheremisinova, Anastasia Sergeevna - poetess
Eleksein, Yakov Alekseevich - prose writer
Elmar, Vasily Sergeevich - poet
Eshkinin, Andrey Karpovich - writer
Eshpai, Andrey Andreevich - film director, screenwriter, producer
Eshpai, Andrey Yakovlevich - Soviet composer
Eshpai, Yakov Andreevich - ethnographer and composer
Yuzykain, Alexander Mikhailovich - writer
Yuksern, Vasily Stepanovich - writer
Yalkain, Yanysh Yalkaevich - writer, critic, ethnographer
Yamberdov, Ivan Mikhailovich - artist.

In 1552-1554 he led a small group of rebels and carried out attacks on Russian ships on the Volga. By 1555 his force had grown to several thousand warriors. In order to recreate the Kazan Khanate, in 1555 he invited Tsarevich Ahpol Bey from the Nogai Horde, who, however, with his detachment of 300 soldiers did not help the rebels, but began robbing the Mari population, for which he was executed along with his retinue. After this, Mamich-Berdey himself led the movement of the peoples of the Volga region for the restoration of independence from the Russian kingdom. Under his leadership there were twenty thousand rebels - Meadow Mari, Tatars, Udmurts.

On June 10, 1995, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the classic writer, founder of Mountain Mari literature N.V. Ignatiev, a native of the village of Chalomkino, the Literary and Art Museum was inaugurated. The museum is open for the purpose of collecting, storing, exhibiting objects of material and spiritual culture, promoting the work of N.V. Ignatiev, satisfying the ethnocultural needs of citizens, preserving the language, culture, traditions and customs of the Mountain Mari people, implementing educational and educational activities. In today's changing world, we are returning to the historical past of our people, which allows us not to lose the connection between generations and preserve our roots. The museum has its own history, the history of creation, formation, development and activities.
The museum is located in a one-story, log, specially constructed wooden building. Its area is 189 m². There are two halls - exposition and exhibition, each of which occupies 58 and 65 m², respectively.

Since 1993, preparations began for the 100th anniversary of N.V. Ignatieva. An organizing committee was created both in the region and in the republic. The museum's archives contain the minutes of the meetings of the organizing committee, the first meeting of which took place in March 1993. Members of the organizing committee were: V.L. Nikolaev - Minister of Culture of the Republic of Mari El, S.I. Khudozhnikova - Deputy Head of the Administration of the Gornomarisky District, A.I. Khvat is the head of the district’s cultural department, employees of the district newspaper, the education department, local historians, teachers of district schools and others. The Republican Organizing Committee developed a program that included the construction of a road to the village of Chalomkino, the creation of a museum, and a bust of N.V. Ignatieva. The Mari book publishing house was commissioned to publish the collected works of N.V. Ignatiev, and Mari national theater- production based on the works of N.V. Ignatieva. The first president of the Republic of Mari El, Vladislav Maksimovich Zotin, provided invaluable assistance.

Born on November 25, 1890 in the village of Olykyal - now the Morkinsky district of the Republic of Mari El in the family of a rural teacher.

After graduating from the Unzhin school in 1907, N. Mukhin began working as a teacher.

Participated in the First World War.

In 1918 he returned to pedagogical activity, worked in a number of Mari schools. In 1931 he entered the Pedagogical Institute, where he graduated with honors.

He worked at the Morkinsky Pedagogical School, taught language and literature, and was the head teacher. During this period, he compiled language textbooks for seven-year schools, translated books for extracurricular reading in geography, natural science, social studies.

In 1931, N.S. Mukhin took part in a seminar-meeting of authors of national textbooks in Moscow.
He began writing in 1906; for the first time, several poems were published in 1917 on the pages of the newspaper “Ozhara”.

In 1919, his first book was published in Kazan - the poem “Ilyshyn oyyrtyshyzho” (“Signs of Life”).

Then his other collections appeared: “Pochelamut” (“Poems”), “Eryk Saska” (“Fruits of Freedom”). He created over a dozen plays: “Ushan the Fool” (“ Clever fool"), "Kok tul koklashte" ("Between two fires"), "Ivuk" and others.

There is an inconspicuous at first glance village in the outback of vast Russia with the true Mari name Olykyal. The literal translation into Russian is Meadow Village (olyk - meadow, yal - village).
It is located in the Volzhsky region, at the junction of two republics: Mari El and Tatarstan. The village is famous for the fact that two Heroes were born and raised here: Hero of the Soviet Union Zinon Filippovich Prokhorov and Hero of Russia Valery Vyacheslavovich Ivanov.
I am very proud of these two courageous people and I honor them not only because they are my relatives, but most importantly because they were real people in life! I am proud that I can drink from the same spring they drank from. I am proud to walk on the same ground on which the current two Heroes ran as barefoot boys! I am proud that I can breathe in the aroma of the soft ants of the endless meadows, where these two fellows once mowed the grass at different times! And they didn’t think that they would leave an indelible mark on the earth.

G. in the village Bolshaya Vocherma, Mari-Turek region, Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. This village, lost in the Mari outback, became the most expensive place on the planet for Sergei. And not only because he was born here, also because he took his first steps on the earth here, here he knew every path, here were his roots.
Father, Roman Pavlovich Suvorov, fought on the fronts of the First World War. It was hard, hard life after the war. The mother, Agrafena Fedorovna, had a lot of troubles, because there were two sons and three daughters in the family. The children grew up competent and hard-working. Sergei was the eldest.
In March 1930, when Seryozha Suvorov was already in his eighth year, Roman Pavlovich Suvorov and several brave peasants from the very poor organized native village collective farm and called it “Saska”, which means fruits. Others joined, the collective farm grew, and they worked tirelessly. Things were looking up.
The father wanted his son to study. In the fall of 1930, Seryozha was brought to school. “Study, son,” said the father, “knowledge, brother, is the basis of everything,” and Sergei studied. First at an elementary school in the village of Vocherma, then he graduated from the Bolsheruyal seven-year school and the Mari-Bilyamorsk pedagogical school.

And here he is, a teacher at Pumara Primary School, an active social activist.

Namesake of the great Russian commander
In the fierce winter of 1942, when there were hot battles near Moscow, the 222nd Infantry Division arrived in the capital, in whose company of machine gunners a young fighter, Sergei Suvorov, defended the Motherland.
On June 22, 1941, terrible news came to the Mari land. Sergei went to the front without hesitation. And he was only 19 years old then.

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________

SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads.
Book: Mari. Historical and ethnographic essays / Collective monograph - Yoshkar-Ola: MarNIYALI, 2005. / Traditional culture.
Museums of Mari El.
Mari / Eastern Mari / Mountain Mari / Meadow Mari / Northwestern Mari / // Encyclopedia of the Republic of Mari El / Ch. editorial board: M. Z. Vasyutin, L. A. Garanin and others; Rep. lit. ed. N. I. Saraeva; MarNIYALI them. V. M. Vasilyeva. - M.: Galeria, 2009. - P. 519-524. — 872 p. — 3505 copies. — ISBN 978-5-94950-049-1.
Mari // Ethnoatlas of the Krasnoyarsk Territory / Council of the Administration of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Public Relations Department; Ch. ed. R. G. Rafikov; Editorial Board: V. P. Krivonogov, R. D. Tsokaev. — 2nd ed., revised. and additional - Krasnoyarsk: Platinum (PLATINA), 2008. - 224 p. — ISBN 978-5-98624-092-3.
M. V. Penkova, D. Yu. Efremova, A. P. Konkka. Materials on the spiritual culture of the Mari // Collection of articles in memory of Yugo Yulievich Surkhasko. - Petrozavodsk: Karelian Research Center RAS, 2009. pp. 376-415.
S. V. Starikov. Mari (Cheremis) of the Middle Volga and Urals at the turn of the 19th—20th centuries. - Philokartia, 2009, No. 4(14) - p. 2-6.

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Posted Thu, 20/02/2014 - 07:53 by Cap

Mari (Mar. Mari, Mary, Mare, Mӓrӹ; formerly: Russian Cheremisy, Turkic Chirmysh, Tatar: Marilar) - Finno-Ugric people in Russia, mainly in the Mari El Republic. It is home to about half of all Mari, numbering 604 thousand people (2002). The remaining Mari are scattered across many regions and republics of the Volga region and the Urals.
The main territory of residence is between the Volga and Vetluga rivers.
There are three groups of Mari: mountainous (they live on the right and partially left banks of the Volga in the west of Mari El and in neighboring regions), meadow (they make up the majority of the Mari people, occupy the Volga-Vyatka interfluve), eastern (they formed from settlers from the meadow side of the Volga to Bashkiria and the Urals ) - the last two groups, due to historical and linguistic proximity, are combined into a generalized meadow-eastern Mari. They speak Mari (Meadow-Eastern Mari) and Mountain Mari languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic family. They profess Orthodoxy. The Mari traditional religion, which is a combination of paganism and monotheism, has also long been widespread.

Mari hut, kudo, Mari's home

Ethnogenesis
In the early Iron Age, the Ananyin archaeological culture (8th-3rd centuries BC) developed in the Volga-Kama region, the bearers of which were the distant ancestors of the Komi-Zyryans, Komi-Permyaks, Udmurts and Mari. The beginning of the formation of these peoples dates back to the first half of the 1st millennium.
The area of ​​formation of the Mari tribes is the right bank of the Volga between the mouths of the Sura and Tsivil and the opposite left bank along with the lower Povetluga region. The basis of the Mari were the descendants of the Ananyians, who experienced the ethnic and cultural influence of the Late Gorodets tribes (ancestors of the Mordovians).
From this area, the Mari settled eastward all the way to the river. Vyatka and in the south to the river. Kazankas.

______________________MARI HOLIDAY SHORYKYOL

Ancient Mari culture (Meadow Mar. Akret Mari cultures) is an archaeological culture of the 6th-11th centuries, marking the early periods of the formation and ethnogenesis of the Mari ethnos.
Formed in the middle of the VI-VII centuries. based on the Finnish-speaking West Volga population living between the mouths of the Oka and Vetluga rivers. The main monuments of this time (Younger Akhmylovsky, Bezvodninsky burial grounds, Chorotovo, Bogorodskoye, Odoevskoye, Somovsky I, II, Vasilsurskoye II, Kubashevskoye and other settlements) are located in the Nizhny Novgorod-Mari Volga region, Lower and Middle Povetluzhie, and the basins of the Bolshaya and Malaya Kokshaga rivers. In the 8th-11th centuries, judging by the burial grounds (Dubovsky, Veselovsky, Kocherginsky, Cheremissky cemetery, Nizhnyaya Strelka, Yumsky, Lopyalsky), fortified settlements (Vasilsurskoye V, Izhevskoye, Emanaevskoye, etc.), settlements (Galankina Gora, etc.) , the ancient Mari tribes occupied the Middle Volga region between the mouths of the Sura and Kazanka rivers, the Lower and Middle Povetluga region, and the right bank of the Middle Vyatka.
During this period, the final formation of a single culture and the beginning of the consolidation of the Mari people took place. The culture is characterized by a unique funeral rite, combining the deposition of a corpse and the burning of a corpse on the side, sacrificial complexes in the form of sets of jewelry placed in birch bark boxes or wrapped in clothes.
Typically there is an abundance of weapons (iron swords, axes, spearheads, darts, arrows). There are tools of labor and everyday life (iron celt axes, knives, chairs, clay flat-bottomed unornamented pot-shaped and jar-shaped vessels, spindle whorls, dolls, copper and iron kettles).
Characterized by a rich set of jewelry (various hryvnias, brooches, plaques, bracelets, temple rings, earrings, ridge pendants, “noisy” pendants, trepezoidal pendants, “mustached” rings, stacked belts, head chains, etc.).

map of the settlement of the Mari and Finno-Ugric tribes

Story
The ancestors of modern Mari interacted with the Goths between the 5th and 8th centuries, and later with the Khazars and Volga Bulgaria. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Mari were part of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. During the hostilities between the Moscow state and the Kazan Khanate, the Mari fought both on the side of the Russians and on the side of the Kazan people. After the conquest of the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the Mari lands that had previously depended on it became part of Russian state. On October 4, 1920, the Mari Autonomous Okrug was proclaimed within the RSFSR, and on December 5, 1936, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
Joining the Moscow state was extremely bloody. Three uprisings are known - the so-called Cheremis Wars of 1552-1557, 1571-1574 and 1581-1585.
The Second Cheremis War was of a national liberation and anti-feudal nature. The Mari managed to raise neighboring peoples, and even neighboring states. All the peoples of the Volga and Urals regions took part in the war, and there were raids from the Crimean and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde and even Turkey. The Second Cheremis War began immediately after the campaign Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey, which ended with the capture and burning of Moscow.

Sernur folklore Mari group

The Malmyzh principality is the largest and most famous Mari proto-feudal formation.
Its history dates back to the founders, the Mari princes Altybai, Ursa and Yamshan (1st half-middle of the 14th century), who colonized these places after arriving from Middle Vyatka. The heyday of the principality was during the reign of Prince Boltush (1st quarter of the 16th century). In cooperation with the neighboring principalities of Kityaka and Porek, it offered the greatest resistance to Russian troops during the Cheremis Wars.
After the fall of Malmyzh, its inhabitants, under the leadership of Prince Toktaush, Boltush’s brother, descended down the Vyatka and founded new settlements Mari-Malmyzh and Usa (Usola)-Malmyzhka. Descendants of Toktaush still live there. The principality broke up into several independent minor fiefs, including Burtek.
In its heyday, it included Pizhmari, Ardayal, Adorim, Postnikov, Burtek (Mari-Malmyzh), Russian and Mari Babino, Satnur, Chetai, Shishiner, Yangulovo, Salauev, Baltasy, Arbor and Siziner. By the 1540s, the areas of Baltasy, Yangulovo, Arbor and Siziner were captured by the Tatars.

The Izhmarinsky principality (Pizhansky principality; meadow mar. Izh Mari kugyzhanysh, Pyzhanyu kugyzhanysh) is one of the largest Mari proto-feudal formations.
Formed by the Northwestern Mari on the Udmurt lands conquered as a result of the Mari-Udmurt wars in the 13th century. The original center was the Izhevsk settlement, when the borders reached the Pizhma River in the north. IN XIV-XV centuries The Mari were driven out of the north by Russian colonialists. With the fall of the geopolitical counterweight to the influence of Russia, the Khanate of Kazan and the advent of the Russian administration, the principality ceased to exist. The northern part became part of the Izhmarinskaya volost of the Yaransky district, the southern part - as the Izhmarinskaya volost of the Alat road of the Kazan district. Part of the Mari population in the current Pizhansky district still exists to the west of Pizhanka, grouping around national center village of Mari-Oshaevo. Among the local population, rich folklore from the period of the existence of the principality has been recorded - in particular, about local princes and the hero Shaev.
It included lands in the basins of the Izh, Pizhanka and Shuda rivers, with an area of ​​about 1 thousand km². The capital is Pizhanka (known in Russian written sources only from the moment the church was built, in 1693).

Mari (Mari people)

Ethnic groups
Mountain Mari (Mountain Mari language)
Forest Mari
Meadow-Eastern Mari (Meadow-Eastern Mari (Mari) language)
Meadow Mari
Eastern Mari
Pribel Mari
Ural Mari
Kungur, or Sylven, Mari
Upper Ufa, or Krasnoufimsky, Mari
Northwestern Mari
Kostroma Mari

Mountain Mari, Kuryk Mari

Mountain Mari language - the language of the Mountain Mari, literary language based on the mountain dialect of the Mari language. The number of speakers is 36,822 (2002 census). Distributed in the Gornomariysky, Yurinsky and Kilemarsky districts of Mari El, as well as in the Voskresensky district of the Nizhny Novgorod and Yaransky districts of the Kirov regions. Occupies the western regions of distribution of the Mari languages.
The Mountain Mari language, along with the Meadow-Eastern Mari and Russian languages, is one of the official languages ​​of the Republic of Mari El.
On the mountain Mari language The newspapers “Zherӓ” and “Yomdӹli!” are published, the literary magazine “U Sem” is published, and Gornomari Radio broadcasts.

Sergei Chavain, founder of Mari literature

Meadow-Eastern Mari is a generalized name for the ethnic group of Mari, which includes the historically established ethnic groups of Meadow and Eastern Mari, who speak a single Meadow-Eastern Mari language with their own regional characteristics, in contrast to the Mountain Mari, who speak their own Mountain Mari language.
Meadow-Eastern Mari make up the majority of the Mari people. The number is, according to some estimates, about 580 thousand people out of more than 700 thousand Mari.
According to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002, a total of 56,119 people (including 52,696 in Mari El) out of 604,298 Mari (or 9% of them) in Russia identified themselves as Meadow-Eastern Mari, of whom as “Meadow Mari” (Olyk Mari) - 52,410 people, as the “Meadow-Eastern Mari” proper - 3,333 people, as the “Eastern Mari” (Eastern (Ural) Mari) - 255 people, which speaks in general about the established tradition (commitment) to call themselves under the single name of the people - “Mari”.

Eastern (Ural) Mari

Kungur, or Sylven, Mari (Mar. Köҥgyr Mari, Suliy Mari) are an ethnographic group of Mari in the southeastern part of the Perm region of Russia. The Kungur Mari are part of the Ural Mari, who in turn are part of the Eastern Mari. The group received its name from the former Kungur district of the Perm province, which until the 1780s included the territory where the Mari had settled since the 16th century. In 1678-1679 In the Kungur district there were already 100 Mari yurts with a male population of 311 people. In the 16th-17th centuries, Mari settlements appeared along the Sylva and Iren rivers. Some of the Mari were then assimilated by the more numerous Russians and Tatars (for example, the village of Oshmarina of the Nasadsky village council of the Kungur region, former Mari villages along the upper reaches of the Ireni, etc.). The Kungur Mari took part in the formation of the Tatars of the Suksun, Kishert and Kungur regions of the region.

Funeral ritual among the Mari people __________________

Mari (Mari people)
Northwestern Mari- an ethnographic group of Mari who traditionally live in the southern regions of the Kirov region, in the northeastern regions of Nizhny Novgorod: Tonshaevsky, Tonkinsky, Shakhunsky, Voskresensky and Sharangsky. The overwhelming majority underwent strong Russification and Christianization. At the same time, near the village of Bolshaya Yuronga in the Voskresensky district, the village of Bolshie Ashkaty in Tonshaevsky and some other Mari villages, Mari sacred groves have been preserved.

at the grave of the Mari hero Akpatyr

The Northwestern Mari are presumably a group of Mari, whom the Russians called Merya from the local self-name Märӹ, in contrast to the self-name of the meadow Mari - Mari, who appeared in the chronicles as Cheremis - from the Turkic chirmesh.
The northwestern dialect of the Mari language differs significantly from the meadow dialect, which is why literature in the Mari language published in Yoshkar-Ola is poorly understood by the northwestern Mari.
In the village of Sharanga, Nizhny Novgorod region, there is a center of Mari culture. In addition, in the regional museums of the northern regions of the Nizhny Novgorod region, tools and household items of the northwestern Mari are widely represented.

in the sacred Mari grove

Resettlement
The bulk of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El (324.4 thousand people). A significant part lives in the Mari territories of the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions. The largest Mari diaspora is in the Republic of Bashkortostan (105 thousand people). Also, the Mari live compactly in Tatarstan (19.5 thousand people), Udmurtia (9.5 thousand people), Sverdlovsk (28 thousand people) and Perm (5.4 thousand people) regions, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions. They also live in Kazakhstan (4 thousand, 2009 and 12 thousand, 1989), in Ukraine (4 thousand, 2001 and 7 thousand, 1989), in Uzbekistan (3 thousand, 1989 G.).

Mari (Mari people)

Kirov region
2002: number of shares (in the region)
Kilmezsky 2 thousand 8%
Kiknursky 4 thousand 20%
Lebyazhsky 1.5 thousand 9%
Malmyzhsky 5 thousand 24%
Pizhansky 4.5 thousand 23%
Sanchursky 1.8 thousand 10%
Tuzhinsky 1.4 thousand 9%
Urzhumsky 7.5 thousand 26%
Number (Kirov region): 2002 - 38,390, 2010 - 29,598.

Anthropological type
The Mari belong to the Sub-Ural anthropological type, which differs from the classical variants of the Ural race in a noticeably larger proportion of the Mongoloid component.

Marie hunting at the end of the 19th century

Festive performance among the Mari people______

Language
The Mari languages ​​belong to the Finno-Volga group of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic languages.
In Russia, according to the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, 487,855 people speak Mari languages, including Mari (meadow-eastern Mari) - 451,033 people (92.5%) and Mountain Mari - 36,822 people (7.5%). Among the 604,298 Mari in Russia, 464,341 people (76.8%) speak Mari languages, 587,452 people (97.2%) speak Russian, that is, Mari-Russian bilingualism is widespread. Among the 312,195 Mari in Mari El, 262,976 people (84.2%) speak Mari languages, including Mari (meadow-eastern Mari) - 245,151 people (93.2%) and Mountain Mari - 17,825 people (6 .8%)); Russians - 302,719 people (97.0%, 2002).

Mari funeral rite

The Mari language (or Meadow-Eastern Mari) is one of the Finno-Ugric languages. Distributed among the Mari, mainly in the Republic of Mari El and Bashkortostan. The old name is “Cheremis language”.
Belongs to the Finno-Perm group of these languages ​​(along with the Baltic-Finnish, Sami, Mordovian, Udmurt and Komi languages). In addition to Mari El, it is also distributed in the Vyatka River basin and further east, to the Urals. In the Mari (meadow-eastern Mari) language, several dialects and dialects are distinguished: meadow, widespread exclusively on the meadow shore (near Yoshkar-Ola); as well as those adjacent to the so-called meadow. eastern (Ural) dialects (in Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk region, Udmurtia, etc.); The northwestern dialect of the Meadow Mari language is spoken in Nizhny Novgorod and some areas of the Kirov and Kostroma regions. The Mountain Mari language stands out separately, widespread mainly on the mountainous right bank of the Volga (near Kozmodemyansk) and partly on its meadow left bank - in the west of Mari El.
The Meadow-Eastern Mari language, along with the Mountain Mari and Russian languages, is one of the official languages ​​of the Republic of Mari El.

Traditional Mari clothing

The main clothing of the Mari was a tunic-shaped shirt (tuvir), trousers (yolash), as well as a caftan (shovyr), all clothes were girded with a waist towel (solyk), and sometimes with a belt (ÿshto).
Men could wear a felt hat with a brim, a cap and a mosquito net. Shoes were leather boots, and later felt boots and bast shoes (borrowed from Russian costume). To work in swampy areas, wooden platforms (ketyrma) were attached to shoes.
Women had common waist pendants - decorations made of beads, cowrie shells, coins, clasps, etc. There were also three types of women's headdresses: a cone-shaped cap with an occipital blade; soroka (borrowed from the Russians), sharpan - a head towel with a headband. Similar to the Mordovian and Udmurt headdress is the shurka.

Public works among the Mari people__________

Mari prayer, Surem holiday

Religion
In addition to Orthodoxy, the Mari have their own pagan traditional religion, which retains a certain role in spiritual culture today. The commitment of the Mari to their traditional faith arouses keen interest among journalists from Europe and Russia. The Mari are even called " the last pagans Europe".
In the 19th century, paganism among the Mari was persecuted. For example, in 1830, on the instructions of the Minister of the Interior, who received an appeal Holy Synod, the place of prayer - Chumbylat Kuryk - was blown up, however, interestingly, the destruction of the Chumbylat stone did not have the desired effect on morals, because the Cheremis worshiped not the stone, but the deity that lived here.

Mari (Mari people)
Mari traditional religion (Mar. Chimarii yula, Mari (marla) faith, Mariy yula, Marla kumaltysh, Oshmariy-Chimariy and other local and historical variants of names) is the folk religion of the Mari, based on Mari mythology, modified under the influence of monotheism. According to some researchers in lately, with the exception of rural areas, is neo-pagan in nature. Since the beginning of the 2000s, there has been organizational formation and registration as several local and uniting regional centralized religious organizations of the Republic of Mari El. For the first time, a single confessional name, Mari Traditional Religion (Mar. Mari Yumiyula) was officially established.

Holiday among the Mari people _________________

The Mari religion is based on faith in the forces of nature, which man must honor and respect. Before the spread of monotheistic teachings, the Mari revered many gods known as Yumo, while recognizing the primacy of the Supreme God (Kugu-Yumo). In the 19th century, pagan beliefs, under the influence of the monotheistic views of their neighbors, changed and the image of the One God Tÿҥ Osh Poro Kugu Yumo (One Bright Good Great God) was created.
Followers of the Mari traditional religion carry out religious rituals, mass prayers, and conduct charitable, cultural and educational events. They teach and educate the younger generation, publish and distribute religious literature. Currently, four district religious organizations are registered.
Prayer meetings and mass prayers are held according to the traditional calendar, always taking into account the positions of the moon and sun. Public prayers usually take place in sacred groves (kusoto). The prayer is led by onaeҥ, kart (kart kugyz).
G. Yakovlev points out that the meadow Mari have 140 gods, and the mountain Mari have about 70. However, some of these gods probably arose due to incorrect translation.
The main god is Kugu-Yumo - the Supreme God who lives in the sky, heads all the heavenly and lower gods. According to legend, the wind is his breath, the rainbow is his bow. Also mentioned is Kugurak - “elder” - sometimes also revered as the supreme god:

Mari archer on the hunt - late 19th century

Other gods and spirits among the Mari include:
Purysho - god of fate, spellcaster and creator future destiny all people.
Azyren - (mar. “death”) - according to legend, appeared in the form of a strong man who approached the dying man with the words: “Your time has come!” There are many legends and tales of how people tried to outwit him.
Shudyr-Shamych Yumo - god of the stars
Tunya Yumo - god of the universe
Tul on Kugu Yumo - the god of fire (perhaps just an attribute of Kugu-Yumo), also Surt Kugu Yumo - “god” hearth and home, Saksa Kugu Yumo - the “god” of fertility, Tutyra Kugu Yumo - the “god” of fog and others - most likely, these are simply attributes of the supreme god.
Tylmache - speaker and lackey of the divine will
Tylze-Yumo - god of the moon
Uzhara-Yumo - god of the dawn
In modern times, prayers are made to the gods:
Poro Osh Kugu Yumo is the supreme, most important god.
Shochinava is the goddess of birth.
Tuniambal sergalysh.

Many researchers consider Keremetya to be the antipode of Kugo-Yumo. It should be noted that the places for sacrifices at Kugo-Yumo and Keremet are separate. Places of worship of deities are called Yumo-oto (“god’s island” or “divine grove”):
Mer-oto - public place worship, where the whole community prays
Tukym-oto - family and ancestral place of worship

The nature of prayer also differs into:
random prayers (for example, for rain)
community - major holidays (Semyk, Agavayrem, Surem, etc.)
private (family) - wedding, birth of children, funeral, etc.

Settlements and dwellings of the Mari people

The Mari have long developed a riverine-ravine type of settlement. Their ancient habitats were located along the banks of large rivers - the Volga, Vetluga, Sura, Vyatka and their tributaries. Early settlements, according to archaeological data, existed in the form of fortified settlements (karman, or) and unfortified settlements (ilem, surt), connected by family ties. The settlements were small, which is typical for the forest belt. Up to mid-19th century V. the layout of the Mari settlements was dominated by cumulus, disorderly forms, inherited early forms resettlement by family-patronymic groups. The transition from cumulus forms to an ordinary street layout of streets occurred gradually in the middle - second half of the 19th century.
The interior of the house was simple but functional; there were wide benches along the side walls from the red corner and the table. On the walls there were shelves for dishes and utensils, crossbars for clothes, and there were several chairs in the house. The living quarters were conventionally divided into the female half, where the stove was located, the male half - from front door to the red corner. Gradually, the interior changed - the number of rooms increased, furniture began to appear in the form of beds, cupboards, mirrors, clocks, stools, chairs, and framed photographs.

folklore Mari wedding in Sernur

Mari economy
Already by the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. was complex in nature, but the main thing was agriculture. In the IX-XI centuries. The Mari switched to arable farming. The steam three-field with manured fallows became established among the Mari peasants in the 18th century. Along with the three-field farming system until the end of the 19th century. slash-and-burn and fallow cultivation were maintained. The Mari cultivated grains (oats, buckwheat, barley, wheat, spelt, millet), legumes (peas, vetch), industrial crops (hemp, flax). Sometimes in the fields, in addition to the vegetable gardens on the estate, they planted potatoes and grew hops. Vegetable gardening and horticulture were of a consumer nature. The traditional set of garden crops included: onions, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, pumpkins, turnips, radishes, rutabaga, and beets. Potatoes began to be cultivated in the first half of the 19th century. Tomatoes began to be grown in Soviet times.
Gardening has become widespread since the mid-19th century. on the right bank of the Volga among the mountain Mari, where there were favorable climatic conditions. Gardening was of commercial value to them.

Folk calendar Mari holidays

The original basis of the holiday calendar was the labor practice of people, primarily agricultural, therefore the calendar ritual of the Mari was of an agricultural nature. Calendar holidays were closely related to the cyclical nature of nature and the corresponding stages of agricultural work.
Christianity had a significant impact on the calendar holidays of the Mari. With the introduction of the church calendar, folk holidays were close in timing to Orthodox holidays: Shorykyol (New Year, Christmastide) - for Christmas, Kugeche (Great Day) - for Easter, Sÿrem (feast of the summer sacrifice) - for Peter's Day, Uginda (feast of the new bread) - for Elijah's Day and etc. Despite this, ancient traditions were not forgotten, they coexisted with Christian ones, preserving their original meaning and structure. The dates of arrival of individual holidays continued to be calculated in the old way, using the lunisolar calendar.

Names
From time immemorial the Mari had national names. When interacting with the Tatars, Turkic-Arabic names penetrated the Mari, and with the adoption of Christianity - Christian ones. Currently, Christian names are being used more, and a return to national (Mari) names is also gaining popularity. Examples of names: Akchas, Altynbikya, Aivet, Aymurza, Bikbai, Emysh, Izikai, Kumchas, Kysylvika, Mengylvika, Malika, Nastalche, Payralche, Shymavika.

Mari holiday Semyk

Wedding traditions
One of the main attributes of a wedding is the wedding whip “Sÿan lupsh”, a talisman that protects the “road” of life along which the newlyweds will have to walk together.

Mari people of Bashkortostan
Bashkortostan is the second region of Russia after Mari El in terms of the number of Mari residents. There are 105,829 Mari living on the territory of Bashkortostan (2002), a third of the Mari of Bashkortostan live in cities.
The resettlement of the Mari to the Urals took place in the 15th-19th centuries and was caused by their forced Christianization in the Middle Volga. The Mari of Bashkortostan for the most part retained traditional pagan beliefs.
Training in the Mari language is available in national schools, secondary specialized and higher education institutions educational institutions in Birsk and Blagoveshchensk. Mariskoe operates in Ufa public association"Mari ushem."

Famous Mari
Abukaev-Emgak, Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich - journalist, playwright
Bykov, Vyacheslav Arkadyevich - hockey player, coach of the Russian national hockey team
Vasikova, Lidia Petrovna - the first Mari woman professor, Doctor of Philology
Vasiliev, Valerian Mikhailovich - linguist, ethnographer, folklorist, writer
Kim Vasin - writer
Grigoriev, Alexander Vladimirovich - artist
Efimov, Izmail Varsonofevich - artist, king of arms
Efremov, Tikhon Efremovich - educator
Efrush, Georgy Zakharovich - writer
Zotin, Vladislav Maksimovich - 1st President of Mari El
Ivanov, Mikhail Maksimovich - poet
Ignatiev, Nikon Vasilievich - writer
Iskandarov, Alexey Iskandarovitch - composer, choirmaster
Kazakov, Miklai - poet
Kislitsyn, Vyacheslav Alexandrovich - 2nd President of Mari El
Columbus, Valentin Khristoforovich - poet
Konakov, Alexander Fedorovich - playwright
Kirla, Yivan - poet, film actor, film Start to Life

Lekain, Nikandr Sergeevich - writer
Luppov, Anatoly Borisovich - composer
Makarova, Nina Vladimirovna - Soviet composer
Mikay, Mikhail Stepanovich - poet and fabulist
Molotov, Ivan N. - composer
Mosolov, Vasily Petrovich - agronomist, academician
Mukhin, Nikolai Semenovich - poet, translator
Sergei Nikolaevich Nikolaev - playwright
Olyk Ipay - poet
Orai, Dmitry Fedorovich - writer
Palantay, Ivan Stepanovich - composer, folklorist, teacher
Prokhorov, Zinon Filippovich - guard lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Pet Pershut - poet
Regezh-Gorokhov, Vasily Mikhailovich - writer, translator, People's Artist MASSR, Honored Artist of the RSFSR
Savi, Vladimir Alekseevich - writer
Sapaev, Erik Nikitich - composer
Smirnov, Ivan Nikolaevich (historian) - historian, ethnographer
Taktarov, Oleg Nikolaevich - actor, athlete
Toidemar, Pavel S. - musician
Tynysh, Osyp - playwright
Shabdar, Osyp - writer
Shadt, Bulat - poet, prose writer, playwright
Shketan, Yakov Pavlovich - writer
Chavain, Sergei Grigorievich - poet and playwright
Cheremisinova, Anastasia Sergeevna - poetess
Chetkarev, Ksenophon Arkhipovich - ethnographer, folklorist, writer, organizer of science
Eleksein, Yakov Alekseevich - prose writer
Elmar, Vasily Sergeevich - poet
Eshkinin, Andrey Karpovich - writer
Eshpai, Andrey Andreevich - film director, screenwriter, producer
Eshpai, Andrey Yakovlevich - Soviet composer
Eshpai, Yakov Andreevich - ethnographer and composer
Yuzykain, Alexander Mikhailovich - writer
Yuksern, Vasily Stepanovich - writer
Yalkain, Yanysh Yalkaevich - writer, critic, ethnographer
Yamberdov, Ivan Mikhailovich - artist

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Source of information and photos:
Team Nomads.
Peoples of Russia: painting album, St. Petersburg, printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, December 3, 1877, Art. 161
MariUver - Independent portal about the Mari, Mari El in four languages: Mari, Russian, Estonian and English
Dictionary of Mari mythology.
Mari // Peoples of Russia. Ch. ed. V. A. Tishkov M.: BRE 1994 p.230
The Last Pagans of Europe
S.K. Kuznetsov. A trip to the ancient Cheremis shrine, known since the time of Olearius. Ethnographic review. 1905, No. 1, p. 129—157
Wikipedia website.
http://aboutmari.com/
http://www.mariuver.info/
http://www.finnougoria.ru/

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Mari

MARI-ev; pl. The people of the Finno-Ugric linguistic group, constituting the main population of the Mari Republic; representatives of this people, the republic.

◁ Mariets, -riytsa; m. Mariika, -i; pl. genus.-riek, date-riikam; and. Mari (see). In Mari, adv.

(self-name - Mari, obsolete - Cheremis), people, indigenous people Mari Republic (324 thousand people) and neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total there are 644 thousand people in Russia (1995). Mari language. The Mari believers are Orthodox.

MARI (obsolete - Cheremis), people in the Russian Federation, the indigenous population of the Mari Republic (312 thousand people), also live in neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals, including Bashkiria (106 thousand people), Tataria (18 ,8 thousand people), Kirov region (39 thousand people), Sverdlovsk region (28 thousand people), as well as in the Tyumen region (11 thousand people), Siberian Federal District (13 thousand people .), Southern Federal District (13.6 thousand people). In total there are 604 thousand Mari in the Russian Federation (2002). The Mari are divided into three territorial groups: mountainous, meadow (or forest) and eastern. Mountain Mari live mainly on the right bank of the Volga, meadow Mari - on the left, eastern - in Bashkiria and the Sverdlovsk region. The number of Mountain Mari in Russia is 18.5 thousand people, the Eastern Mari are 56 thousand people.
According to their anthropological appearance, the Mari belong to the sub-Ural type of the Ural race. In the Mari language, which belongs to the Volga-Finnish group of Finno-Ugric languages, mountain, meadow, eastern and northwestern dialects are distinguished. Russian is widely spoken among the Mari. Writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet. After the Mari lands became part of the Russian state in the 16th century, the Christianization of the Mari began. However, the eastern and small groups of meadow Mari did not accept Christianity; until the 20th century, they retained pre-Christian beliefs, especially the cult of ancestors.
The beginning of the formation of the Mari tribes dates back to the turn of the first millennium AD; this process took place mainly on the right bank of the Volga, partially capturing the left bank areas. The first written mention of the Cheremis (Mari) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan (6th century). They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Big role Close ethnocultural ties with the Turkic peoples played a role in the development of the Mari ethnic group. Russian culture had a significant influence, especially intensified after the Mari joined the Russian state (1551-1552). From the end of the 16th century, the resettlement of the Mari began in the Cis-Urals, which intensified in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The main traditional occupation is arable farming. Of auxiliary importance were gardening, breeding horses, cattle and sheep, hunting, forestry (harvesting and rafting of timber, tar smoking), beekeeping; later - apiary beekeeping, fishing. The Mari have developed artistic crafts: embroidery, wood carving, and jewelry making.
Traditional clothing: richly embroidered tunic-shaped shirt, trousers, swinging summer caftan, hemp canvas waist towel, belt. Men wore felt hats with small brims and caps. For hunting and working in the forest, a headdress like a mosquito net was used. Mari shoes - bast shoes with onuchs, leather boots, felt boots. To work in swampy areas, wooden platforms were attached to shoes. For women's suit characterized by an apron and an abundance of jewelry made of beads, sparkles, coins, silver clasps, as well as bracelets and rings.
Women's headdresses are varied - cone-shaped caps with an occipital blade; magpies borrowed from the Russians, head towels with a headband, tall spade-shaped headdresses on a birch bark frame. Women's outerwear - straight and gathered kaftans made of black or white cloth and fur coats. Traditional types of clothing are common among the older generation and are used in wedding rituals.
Mari cuisine - dumplings stuffed with meat or cottage cheese, puff pancakes, cottage cheese pancakes, drinks - beer, buttermilk, strong mead. The Mari families were predominantly small, but there were also large, undivided ones. The woman in the family enjoyed economic and legal independence. At the time of marriage, the bride's parents were paid a ransom, and they gave a dowry for their daughter.
Converted to Orthodoxy in the 18th century, the Mari retained pagan beliefs. Public prayers with sacrifices are typical, held in sacred groves before sowing, in the summer and after harvesting. Among the Eastern Mari there are Muslims. IN folk art Wood carving and embroidery are unique. Mari music (harp, drum, trumpets) is distinguished by its richness of forms and melody. Among the folklore genres, songs stand out, among which “songs of sadness,” fairy tales, and legends occupy a special place.

Encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what “Mari” are in other dictionaries:

Mari ... Wikipedia

- (self-name of the Mari, obsolete Cheremis), nation, indigenous population of the Mari Republic (324 thousand people) and neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total there are 644 thousand people in the Russian Federation (1992). The total number is 671 thousand people. Mari language... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (self-names Mari, Mari, Cheremis) people with a total number of 671 thousand people. Main countries of settlement: Russian Federation 644 thousand people, incl. Republic of Mari El 324 thousand people. Other countries of settlement: Kazakhstan 12 thousand people, Ukraine 7 thousand… … Modern encyclopedia

MARI, ev, units. yets, yitsa, husband. Same as mari (1 value). | wives Mari, I. | adj. Mari, aya, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

- (self-name Mari, obsolete Cheremis), people in the Russian Federation, indigenous population of the Mari Republic (324 thousand people) and neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total there are 644 thousand people in the Russian Federation. Mari language Volga... ...Russian history

Noun, number of synonyms: 2 mari (3) cheremis (2) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Dictionary of synonyms

Mari- (self-names Mari, Mari, Cheremis) people with a total number of 671 thousand people. Main countries of settlement: Russian Federation 644 thousand people, incl. Republic of Mari El 324 thousand people. Other countries of settlement: Kazakhstan 12 thousand people, Ukraine 7 thousand… … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Mari- (self-named Mari, obsolete Russian name Cheremisy). They are divided into mountain, meadow and eastern. They live in the republic. Mari El (on the right bank of the Volga and partly on the left mountainous, the rest meadow), in Bashk. (East), as well as in a small number in neighboring republics. and region... ... Ural Historical Encyclopedia

Mari Ethnopsychological Dictionary

MARI- representatives of one of the Finnish Ugric peoples(see), living in the Volga-Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, the Kama region and the Urals and in its national psychology and culture is similar to the Chuvash. The Mari are hardworking, hospitable, modest,... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

The Mari, formerly known as the Cheremis, were famous in the past for their belligerence. Today they are called the last pagans of Europe, since the people managed to carry through the centuries the national religion, which a significant part of them still professes. This fact will be even more surprising if you know that writing among the Mari people appeared only in XVIII century.

Name

The self-name of the Mari people goes back to the word “Mari” or “Mari”, which means “man”. A number of scientists believe that it may be associated with the name of the ancient Russian people Meri, or Merya, who lived on the territory of modern Central Russia and mentioned in a number of chronicles.

In ancient times, the mountain and meadow tribes that lived in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve were called Cheremis. The first mention of them in 960 is found in a letter from the Khagan of Khazaria Joseph: he mentioned the “Tsaremis” among the peoples who paid tribute to the Khaganate. Russian chronicles noted the Cheremis much later, only in the 13th century, along with the Mordovians, classifying them among the peoples living on the Volga River.
The meaning of the name “cheremis” has not been fully established. It is known for certain that the “mis” part, like “mari”, means “person”. However, what kind of person this person was, the opinions of researchers differ. One of the versions refers to the Turkic root “cher”, meaning “to fight, to be at war.” The word “janissary” also comes from him. This version seems plausible, since the Mari language is the most Turkicized of the entire Finno-Ugric group.

Where do they live?

More than 50% of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El, where they make up 41.8% of its population. The republic is a subject of the Russian Federation and is part of the Volga Federal District. The capital of the region is the city of Yoshkar-Ola.
The main area where the people live is the area between the Vetluga and Vyatka rivers. However, depending on the place of settlement, linguistic and cultural characteristics There are 4 groups of Mari:

1. Northwestern. They live outside of Mari El, in the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions. Their language differs significantly from the traditional one, but they did not have their own written language until 2005, when the first book was published in the national language of the northwestern Mari.
2. Mountain. In modern times they are small in number - about 30-50 thousand people. They live in the western part of Mari El, mainly on the southern, partially on the northern banks of the Volga. The cultural differences of the Mountain Mari began to form as early as X-XI centuries, thanks to close communication with the Chuvash and Russians. They have their own Mountain Mari language and writing.
3. Eastern. A significant group consisting of immigrants from the meadow part of the Volga in the Urals and Bashkortostan.
4. Meadow. The most significant in number and cultural influence a group living in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve in the Republic of Mari El.

The last two groups are often combined into one due to the maximum similarity of linguistic, historical and cultural factors. They form groups of Meadow-Eastern Mari with their own Meadow-Eastern language and writing.

Number

The number of Mari, according to the 2010 census, is more than 574 thousand people. Most of them, 290 thousand, live in the Republic of Mari El, which translated means “the land, the homeland of the Mari.” A slightly smaller, but largest community outside of Mari El is located in Bashkiria - 103 thousand people.

The remaining part of the Mari inhabits mainly the Volga and Ural regions, living throughout Russia and beyond. A significant part lives in the Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug.
The largest diasporas:

• Kirov region - 29.5 thousand people.
• Tatarstan - 18.8 thousand people.
• Udmurtia - 8 thousand people.
• Sverdlovsk region - 23.8 thousand people.
• Perm region - 4.1 thousand people.
• Kazakhstan - 4 thousand people.
• Ukraine - 4 thousand people.
• Uzbekistan - 3 thousand people.

Language

The Meadow-Eastern Mari language, which, along with Russian and Mountain Mari, is the state language in the Republic of Mari El, is included in large group Finno-Ugric languages. And also, along with the Udmurt, Komi, Sami, and Mordovian languages, it is part of the small Finno-Perm group.
There is no exact information about the origin of the language. It is believed that it was formed in the Volga region before the 10th century on the basis of Finno-Ugric and Turkic dialects. It underwent significant changes during the period when the Mari joined the Golden Horde and the Kazan Kaganate.
Mari writing arose quite late, only in the second half of the 18th century. Because of this, there is no written evidence about the life, life and culture of the Mari throughout their formation and development.
The alphabet was created on the basis of Cyrillic, and the first text in Mari that has survived to this day dates back to 1767. It was created by the Mountain Mari who studied in Kazan, and it was dedicated to the arrival of Empress Catherine the Second. Modern alphabet was created in 1870. Today, a number of national newspapers and magazines are published in the Meadow-Eastern Mari language, and it is studied in schools in Bashkiria and Mari El.

Story

The ancestors of the Mari people began to develop the modern Volga-Vyatka territory at the beginning of the first millennium of the new era. They migrated from the southern and western regions to the East under pressure from aggressive Slavic and Turkic peoples. This led to assimilation and partial discrimination of the Permians who originally lived in this territory.

Some Mari adhere to the version that the ancestors of the people in the distant past came to the Volga from Ancient Iran. Afterwards, assimilation took place with the Finno-Ugric and Slavic tribes living here, but the identity of the people was partially preserved. This is supported by research by philologists, who note that the Mari language has Indo-Iranian inclusions. This is especially true for ancient prayer texts, which have remained virtually unchanged for centuries.
By the 7th-8th centuries, the Proto-Marians moved north, occupying the territory between Vetluga and Vyatka, where they live to this day. During this period, the Turkic and Finno-Ugric tribes had a serious influence on the formation of culture and mentality.
The next stage in the history of the Cheremis dates back to the X-XIV centuries, when their closest neighbors from the west turned out to be Eastern Slavs, and from the south and east - the Volga Bulgars, Khazars, and then the Tatar-Mongols. For a long time The Mari people were dependent on the Golden Horde, and then on the Kazan Khanate, to whom they paid tribute in furs and honey. Part of the Mari lands was under the influence of Russian princes and, according to the chronicles of the 12th century, were also subject to tribute. For centuries, the Cheremis had to maneuver between the Kazan Khanate and the Russian authorities, who tried to attract the people, whose number at that time amounted to up to a million people, to their side.
In the 15th century, during the period of aggressive attempts by Ivan the Terrible to overthrow Kazan, the mountain Mari came under the rule of the king, and the Meadow Mari supported the Khanate. However, due to the victory of the Russian troops, in 1523 the lands became part of the Russian State. However, the name of the Cheremis tribe does not mean “warlike” for nothing: the very next year it rebelled and overthrew the provisional rulers until 1546. Subsequently, the bloody “Cheremis Wars” broke out twice more in the struggle for national independence, the overthrow of the feudal regime and the elimination of Russian expansion.
For the next 400 years, the life of the people proceeded relatively calmly: having achieved the preservation of national authenticity and the opportunity to practice their own religion, the Mari were engaged in the development of agriculture and crafts, without interfering in the socio-political life of the country. After the revolution, the Mari Autonomy was formed, in 1936 - the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, in 1992 it was assigned modern name Republic of Mari El.

Appearance

The anthropology of the Mari goes back to the ancient Ural community, which formed distinctive features the appearance of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group as a result of mixing with Caucasians. Genetic studies show that the Mari have genes for haplogroups N, N2a, N3a1, which are also found among the Vepsians, Udmurts, Finns, Komi, Chuvash and Baltic people. Autosomal studies showed kinship with the Kazan Tatars.

The anthropological type of modern Mari is Suburalian. The Ural race is intermediate between Mongoloid and Caucasian. The Mari, on the other hand, have more Mongoloid characteristics compared to the traditional form.
Distinctive features of appearance are:

• average height;
• yellowish or darker skin color than Caucasians;
• almond-shaped, slightly slanted eyes with downward outer corners;
• straight, dense hair of a dark or light brown shade;
• prominent cheekbones.

Cloth

Men's and women's traditional costumes were similar in configuration, but the women's were decorated more brightly and richly. Thus, everyday attire consisted of a tunic-like shirt, which was long for women and did not reach the knees for men. They wore loose pants underneath and a caftan on top.

Underwear was made from homespun fabric, which was made from hemp fibers or woolen threads. The women's costume was complemented by an embroidered apron; the sleeves, cuffs and collars of the shirt were decorated with ornaments. Traditional patterns- horses, solar signs, plants and flowers, birds, ram's horns. In the cold season, frock coats, sheepskin coats and sheepskin coats were worn over it.
A mandatory element of the costume is a belt or waist wrap made of a piece of linen material. Women complemented it with pendants made of coins, beads, shells, and chains. Shoes were made of bast or leather; in swampy areas they were equipped with special wooden platforms.
Men wore tall hats with narrow brims and mosquito nets, since they spent most of their time outside the home: in the field, in the forest or on the river. Women's hats were famous for their great variety. The magpie was borrowed from the Russians, and the sharpan, that is, a towel tied around the head and fastened with an ochel - a narrow strip of fabric embroidered with traditional ornaments, was popular. A distinctive element of the bride’s wedding costume is a voluminous chest decoration made of coins and metal decorative elements. It was considered a family heirloom and was passed down from generation to generation. The weight of such jewelry could reach up to 35 kilograms. Depending on the place of residence, the features of costumes, ornaments and colors could vary significantly.

Men

The Mari had a patriarchal family structure: the man was in charge, but in the event of his death, a woman became the head of the family. In general, the relationship was equal, although all public issues and fell on the shoulders of the man. For a long time, in the Mari settlements there were remnants of levirate and sororate, which oppressed the rights of women, but most of the people did not adhere to them.

Women

The woman in the Mari family played the role of homemaker. She valued hard work, humility, thriftiness, good nature, and maternal qualities. Since the bride was offered a substantial dowry, and her role as an au pair was significant, girls got married later than boys. It often happened that the bride was 5-7 years older. They tried to get the guys married as early as possible, often at the age of 15-16 years.

Family life

After the wedding, the bride went to live in her husband’s house, so the Maries had large families. Families of brothers often coexisted in them; older and subsequent generations, the number of which reached 3-4, lived together. The head of the household was the eldest woman, the wife of the head of the family. She gave children, grandchildren and daughters-in-law tasks around the house, monitored material well-being.
Children in the family were considered the highest happiness, a manifestation of the blessing of the Great God, so they gave birth a lot and often. Mothers and the older generation were involved in upbringing: children were not spoiled and were taught to work from childhood, but they were never offended. Divorce was considered a shame, and permission for it had to be asked from the chief minister of the faith. Couples who expressed such a desire were tied back to back in the main village square while they awaited a decision. If a divorce occurred at the request of a woman, her hair was cut off as a sign that she was no longer married.

Housing

For a long time, Marie lived in typical old Russian log houses with a gable roof. They consisted of a vestibule and a living part, in which a kitchen with a stove was separately fenced, and benches for overnight accommodation were nailed to the walls. Bathhouse and hygiene played a special role: before any important matter, especially by praying and performing rituals, it was necessary to wash. This symbolized the cleansing of the body and thoughts.

Life

The main occupation of the Mari people was arable farming. Field crops - spelled, oats, flax, hemp, buckwheat, oats, barley, rye, turnips. Carrots, hops, cabbage, potatoes, radishes, and onions were planted in the gardens.
Animal husbandry was less common, but poultry, horses, cows and sheep were bred for personal use. But goats and pigs were considered unclean animals. Among men's crafts, wood carving and silver processing to make jewelry stood out.
Since ancient times they have been engaged in beekeeping, and later in apiary beekeeping. Honey was used in cooking, intoxicating drinks were made from it, and was also actively exported to neighboring regions. Beekeeping is still common today and is a good source of income for villagers.

Culture

Due to the lack of writing, Mari culture is concentrated in the oral folk art: fairy tales, songs and legends that the older generation teaches children from childhood. An authentic musical instrument is the shuvyr, an analogue of the bagpipe. It was made from a soaked cow's bladder, supplemented with a ram's horn and a pipe. He imitated natural sounds and accompanied songs and dances along with the drum.

There was also a special dance for cleansing from evil spirits. Trios, consisting of two guys and a girl, took part in it; sometimes all residents of the settlement took part in the festivities. One of his characteristic elements- tyvyrdyk, or drobushka: fast synchronized movement of the legs in one place.

Religion

Religion has played a special role in the life of the Mari people in all centuries. The traditional Mari religion has still been preserved and is officially registered. It is professed by about 6% of the Mari, but many people observe the rituals. People have always been tolerant of other religions, which is why even now national religion adjacent to Orthodoxy.
The traditional Mari religion proclaims faith in the forces of nature, in the unity of all people and everything on earth. Here they believe in a single cosmic god, Osh Kugu-Yumo, or the Great White God. According to legend, he ordered evil spirit Yynu take out from the World Ocean a piece of clay from which Kugu-Yumo made the earth. Yin threw his part of the clay onto the ground: this is how the mountains turned out. Kugu-Yumo created man from the same material, and brought his soul to him from heaven.

In total, there are about 140 gods and spirits in the pantheon, but only a few are especially revered:

• Ilysh-Shochyn-Ava - analogue of the Mother of God, goddess of birth
• Mer Yumo - manages all worldly affairs
• Mlande Ava - goddess of the earth
• Purysho - god of fate
• Azyren - death itself

Mass ritual prayers take place several times a year in sacred groves: there are between 300 and 400 of them throughout the country. At the same time, services to one or several gods can take place in the grove, sacrifices are made to each of them in the form of food, money, and animal parts. The altar is made in the form of a flooring of fir branches, installed near the sacred tree.

Those who come to the grove prepare the food they brought with them in large cauldrons: meat of geese and ducks, as well as special pies made from the blood of birds and cereals. Afterwards, under the guidance of a card - an analogue of a shaman or priest, a prayer begins, which lasts up to an hour. The ritual ends with eating what has been prepared and cleaning the grove.

Traditions

The ancient traditions are most fully preserved in wedding and funeral rites. The wedding always began with a noisy ransom, after which the newlyweds, on a cart or sleigh covered with bear skin, headed to the cart for the wedding ceremony. All the way the groom snapped a special whip, driving away evil spirits from future wife: This whip then remained in the family for life. In addition, their hands were tied with a towel, which symbolized the connection for the rest of their lives. The tradition of baking pancakes for the newly-made husband on the morning after the wedding has also been preserved.

Of particular interest are funeral rites. At any time of the year, the deceased was taken to the churchyard on a sleigh, and put into the house in winter clothes, supplied with a set of things. Among them:

• linen towel along which he will go down to kingdom of the dead- this is where the expression “good riddance” comes from;
• rosehip branches to ward off dogs and snakes guarding the afterlife;
• nails accumulated during life in order to cling to rocks and mountains along the way;

Forty days later, an equally terrible custom was performed: a friend of the deceased dressed in his clothes and sat down with the relatives of the deceased at the same table. They took him for dead and asked him questions about life in the next world, conveyed greetings, and told him news. During the general holidays of remembrance, the deceased were also remembered: a separate table was set for them, on which the hostess put little by little all the treats that she had prepared for the living.

Famous Mari

One of the most famous Mari is actor Oleg Taktarov, who played in the films “Viy” and “Predators”. He is also known throughout the world as the “Russian Bear”, the winner of brutal UFC fights, although in fact his roots go back to ancient people Marie.

The living embodiment of a real Mari beauty is the “Black Angel” Varda, whose mother was a Mari by nationality. She is known as a singer, dancer, model and curvy figure.

The special charm of the Mari lies in their gentle character and mentality based on the acceptance of all things. Tolerance towards others, coupled with the ability to defend their own rights, allowed them to maintain their authenticity and national flavor.

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This category of people can be classified as Finno-Ugric peoples. They are called differently mara, mere and some other words. The Republic of Mari El is the place where such people live. For 2010 there are about 547 thousand people Mari, half of whom live in this republic. In the regions and republics of the Volga region and the Urals you can also meet representatives of a given people. The Mari population mainly accumulates in the area between the Vyatka and Vetluga rivers. There is a classification for this category of people. They are divided into 3 groups:
- mountain,
- meadow,
- eastern.

Basically, such a division is based on place of residence. But recently there has been some change: the two groups have merged into one. The combination of Meadow and Eastern Mari formed the Meadow-Eastern subspecies. The language these people speak is called Mari or Mountain Mari. Orthodoxy is considered as a faith here. The presence of the Mari traditional religion is a combination of menotheism and polytheism.

Historical background

In the 5th century, a Gothic historian named Jordan says in his chronicle that there was interaction between the Mari and the Goths. Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate also included these people. It was quite difficult to join the Russian state; this struggle could even be called bloody.

Suburalsky anthropological type is directly related to the Mari. This category of people is distinguished from the classic version of the Ural race only by a large proportion of the Mongoloid component. The anthropological appearance of this people belongs to the ancient Ural community.

Features in clothing

For such peoples there was even traditional clothing. The tunic-shaped cut can be seen in a shirt typical of this people. It's called tuvyr. Pants, yolash, also became an integral part of the image of this nationality. Also a mandatory attribute is a caftan, otherwise called shovyr. A waist towel (sol) encircled clothing, sometimes a belt (ÿshto) was used for this. A felt hat with a brim, mosquito net or cap is more typical for Mari men. A wooden platform (ketyrma) was attached to felt boots, bast shoes or leather boots. The presence of belt pendants is most typical for women. The decoration, made of beads, cowrie shells, coins and clasps - all this was used for the original decoration of a unique women's costume, was striking in beauty. Hats for women can be classified as follows:

Cone-shaped cap having an occipital lobe;
-magpie,
-sharpan - head towel with headband.

Religious component

Quite often you can hear that the Mari are pagans, and the last in Europe. Due to this fact, journalists from Europe and Russia have considerable interest in this nation. The 19th century was marked by the fact that the beliefs of the Mari were persecuted. The place of prayer was called Chumbylat Kuryk. It was blown up in 1830. But such a measure did not produce any results, because the main asset for the Mari was not the stone, but the deity that lived in it.

Mari names

The presence of national names is typical for this nation. Later there was a mixture with Turkic-Arabic and Christian names. For example, Aivet, Aimurza, Bikbay, Malika. The listed names can safely be attributed to traditional Mari.

People treat things quite responsibly wedding traditions. The wedding whip Soan Lupsh is a key attribute during the celebration. The road of life that the newlyweds will need to travel is protected by this amulet. Famous Mari include Vyacheslav Alexandrovich Kislitsyn, who was the 2nd President of Mari El, Columbus Valentin Khristoforovich, who is a poet, and many other personalities. The level of education is quite low among the Mari, as evidenced by statistical data. Director Alexei Fedorchenko made a film in 2006 in which the characters use the Mari language for conversation.

This nation has its own culture, religion and history, many prominent figures in different areas and its own language. Also, many Mari customs are unique today.