Chuvash classes. Origin of the Chuvash people (characteristics of hypotheses)

What facial features distinguish the Chuvash from other nations.

The Chuvshi are 1000% smarter than the Tatars, that’s why they are under our yoke,
slightly Mongoloid facial features, but everything has to be taken together: skin color and manner of communication
Chubby, slightly slanted. I noticed it when I was shapushkare ;-)))
Chuvash and Russian are the same
Chuvash are easy to distinguish from Russians. Chuvash (Volga-Bulgarian type) They combine a lot ethnic characteristics, taken from other peoples: Caucasians, Mari, Udmurts, partly Mordovians-Erzi, Slavs, but many of them are similar to typical Turks and mostly Mongolides, that is, representatives of the Ural type. There are not many Caucasians, but they are also found. The peoples closest in appearance are the Kazan Tatars, Mari and Udmurts.
Sharply protruding Chuvashas
The Mongol invasion and the events that followed it (the formation and collapse of the Golden Horde and the emergence on its ruins of the Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde) caused significant movements of the peoples of the Volga-Ural region, led to the destruction of the consolidating role of the Bulgarian statehood, and accelerated the formation of individual Chuvash ethnic groups , Tatars and Bashkirs, In the 14th and early 15th centuries. , under conditions of oppression, about half of the surviving Bulgarian-Chuvash moved to Prikazanye and Zakazanye, where the Chuvash Daruga was formed from Kazan east to the middle Kama.
Formation of the Chuvash people
girl in national Chuvash costume

Chuvash (self-name Chavash); It also includes peoples close to the main ethnic group: Viryal, Turi, Anatri, Anatenchi, a people with a total number of 1840 thousand people. Main countries of settlement: Russian Federation - 1773 thousand people. , including Chuvashia - 907 thousand people. Other countries of settlement: Kazakhstan - 22 thousand people. , Ukraine - 20 thousand people. , Uzbekistan - 10 thousand people. Language - Chuvash. Main religion Orthodox Christianity, the influence of paganism remains, there are Muslims.
The Chuvash are divided into 2 groups:
Upper Chuvash (Viryal, Turi) north and northeast of Chuvashia;
lower Chuvash (anatri) south of Chuvashia and beyond.
Sometimes the meadow Chuvash (anat enchi) are distinguished in the center and southwest of Chuvashia.
Chuvash language. He is the only living representative of the Bulgaro-Khazar group of Turkic languages. It has two dialects: lower (pointing) and upper (pointing). Many Chuvash speak Tatar and Russian.
Well, in fact, the answer to the question: Anthropological types of the Urals and Volga region (Komi, Mordovians, Chuvash, Bashkirs, etc.), occupying an intermediate position between Caucasoids and Mongoloids, in their morphological characteristics are characterized by a complex of characteristics that includes both Caucasoid , and Mongoloid features. They are characterized by medium and short stature, the pigmentation of the skin, hair and eyes is somewhat darker than that of northern and central Caucasians, the hair is coarser, with a predominance of straight shape, however, compared to the Mongoloids, the pigmentation is lighter and the hair is softer. The face is short, the protrusion of the cheekbones is medium and strong, but less than in the Mongoloid groups, the bridge of the nose is medium and low, the nose is short, often with a concave dorsum, and epicanthus is found.
Most likely the word Chuvashaly is some kind of local dialect, I would be grateful if you could explain what it is.
the link is blocked by decision of the project administration
BY THE WAY
Chapaev was born on January 28 (February 9), 1887 in the village of Budaika (now the territory of Cheboksary), into a poor family. Erzya by nationality (erz. chapoms chop (log house)). The Chapaevs' ancestors went around the villages for hire, cut log houses and decorated houses. According to the version widespread in Chuvashia, Chapaev’s nationality is Chuvash (Chuv. chap goodness, beauty), in other sources it is Russian.
only shupashkarami))
This is probably sad, but the peoples of the Volga region, Chuvash (Moksha and Erzya) and Kazan Tatars, according to epidemiological studies, in terms of major histocompatibility complex (HLA) antigens, do not differ from Russians living in the same places, while Russians living in other areas differ from Russians living in these republics.
That is, the population is genetically homogeneous, but the language and culture are of course different.
Therefore, there is no need to talk seriously about physiognomic differences among the Chuvash. I can only say that the people from your krav are very nice, even beautiful and good-natured.
The Chuvash are a national team, a mixture of EUROPE and ASIA. My mother was fair-haired, my father had very dark hair (Pontic type). Both are Caucasians.
I wouldn’t say that Russians and Chuvashs are the same. Now, let's arrange them in descending order. From Caucasoid to Mongoloid peoples of the Volga region: Kershennr, Tatar-mishrlr (62 Pontids, 20 SE, 8 Mongoloids, 10 sublapponoids), Mordovian-Moksha (close to the Mishars not only in culture, but also in anthropology), Mordovian-Erzya, Kazanla ( Kazan Tatarlars), Chuvash (11 - pronounced Mongoloids, of which 4% are pure, 64 are transitional between Mongolides and Caucasians, with a preponderance of Euro-, 5% - sublapponoids, 20% - pontids (among the lower classes), SE, Baltids
On my father’s side I am Chuvash, so if my grandmother had Asian facial features, then my grandfather had a European face..
I haven’t seen the Chuvash. Maybe Chapaev is Chuvash?
no

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

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

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

riding Chuvash (viryaml or turim) - northwestern Chuvashia;

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

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

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

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

The main religion is Orthodox Christianity.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Ethnographic groups

Traditional holiday costumes the upper (Viryal) and lower Anatri) Chuvash people.

Initially, the Chuvash people formed two ethnographic groups:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The towel-like headdress of the surpan among the upper and middle lower classes was shorter than that of the anati.

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

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

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

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

Traditional beliefs of the Chuvash represent a mythological worldview, religious concepts and views coming from distant eras. The first attempts at a consistent description of the pre-Christian religion of the Chuvash were made by K.S. Milkovich (late 18th century), V.P. Vishnevsky (1846), V.A. Sboeva (1865). Materials and monuments related to beliefs were systematized by V.K. Magnitsky (1881), N.I. Zolotnitsky (1891) Archbishop Nikanor (1910), Gyula Messaros (translation from the Hungarian edition of 1909. Implemented in 2000), N.V. Nikolsky (1911, 1912), N.I. Ashmarin (1902, 1921). In the second half of the 20th - early 21st centuries. a series of works devoted to the traditional beliefs of the Chuvash appeared.

Beliefs The Chuvash belong to the category of those religions that are called the religion of sacrifice, according to researchers, whose origins go back to the first world religion - ancient Iranian Zoroastrianism. Christianity, Islam were known to the ancient ancestors of the Chuvash already in the early stages of the spread of these two religions. It is known that the Suvar king Alp-Ilitver in his principality (17th century) propagated Christianity in the fight against ancient religions.

Christianity, Islam, Judaism coexisted side by side in the Khazar state, at the same time masses were very committed to the worldview of their ancestors. This is confirmed by the absolute dominance of pagan funeral rites in the Saltovo-Mayak culture. Researchers also discovered Jewish elements in the culture and beliefs of the Chuvash (Malov, 1882). In the middle of the century, when the Chuvash ethnic group was being formed, traditional beliefs were under the lasting influence of Islam. After the annexation of the Chuvash region to the Russian state, the process of Christianization was long and did not end only with an act of forced baptism. The Chuvash Bulgars adopted elements of the traditional beliefs of the Mari, Udmurts, possibly Burtases, Mozhors, Kipchaks and other ethnic communities with which they came into contact.

Commitment to Islam after its adoption in 922 by the Bulgars under Khan Almush, on the one hand, to ancient beliefs, on the other, becomes an ethno-confessional and ethno-dividing feature of the population of Volga Bulgaria, where the nobility and the bulk of the townspeople became Muslims (or Besermians), rural residents predominantly remained fans of the pre-Islamic religion. In Bulgaria, Islam was established not of the orthodox type, but as syncretic, enriched with elements traditional cultures and beliefs. There is reason to believe that transitions from one state to another (from Chuvash to Besermyan and back) among the population, especially the rural one, took place throughout the entire Bulgar period. It is believed that official Islam, before the formation of the Kazan Khanate, did not persecute non-Muslims too much, who, despite the syncretization of traditional beliefs, remained faithful to pre-Muslim canons, social and family life. The complex processes that took place during the period of the Golden Horde left their mark on the religious and ritual practice of the ancient Chuvash. In particular, the pantheon reflected gods and spirits in the images of khans and the officials who served them.

In the Kazan Khanate ruling class and the Muslim clergy preached intolerance towards people of other faiths - the so-called. yasak Chuvash. The hundredth sickle and tenth Wunpu princelings, Tarkhans and Chuvash Cossacks, having converted to Islam, tarred. Traditions indicate that the yasak Chuvash were also forced to accept Islam. There are also known facts of the return of bearers of traditional beliefs to the fold. After the capture of Kazan in 1552, when the position of Islam was greatly weakened, some Muslim villagers passed into the “Chuvash” pre-Muslim state. This took place back in the period of the Golden Horde in connection with strife in the Trans-Kama region, from where the population of the Bulgar ulus (vilayet) went north - to the Trans-Kazan region and north-west - to the Volga region, as a result of these migrations there was a break from the Muslim centers. Adherents of non-Muslim beliefs, according to researchers, made up the majority of residents of the Trans-Casa region and the Volga region. However, as Islam strengthened, starting from the 17th century, in the ethno-contact Chuvash-Tatar zone, there was an influx of pagans (part or all families) in Chuvash villages into Islam. This process continued until the mid-19th century. (for example, in the village of Artemyevka, Orenburg province).

Until the middle of the 18th century. Adherents of traditional beliefs retained canonized forms and were subjected to violent acts of baptism on an insignificant scale (the Chuvash servicemen accepted Orthodoxy). The bulk of the Chuvash remained faithful to the pre-Christian religion even after their baptism in 1740. Forcibly, when with the help of soldiers, members of the New Epiphany office drove village residents to the river, performed the baptismal ceremony and recorded them Orthodox names. Under the influence of Orthodoxy, its developed, including rural, church organization in the late 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. syncretization of traditional beliefs took place. For example, the icon of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker (Mozhaisk), which was a rare specimen, became revered wooden sculpture 16th century (located in the St. Nicholas Convent), which turned into Mikul Tur and entered the Chuvash pantheon. Chuvash rituals and holidays are moving closer to Christian ones, but the trend of convergence was not simple and smooth.

During the period of mass forced baptism in the 18th and first quarter of the 19th centuries, sacred places of public prayer and ancestral prayer sites (kiremetey) were subjected to brutal destruction, and baptized Chuvash were prohibited from performing traditional customs and rituals in these places. Churches and chapels were often built here. Violent actions and spiritual aggression of Orthodox missionaries caused protest and mass movements in defense folk beliefs, rituals and customs and, in general, an original culture. The erected Orthodox churches, chapels, and monasteries were poorly visited (although many chapels arose on the site of ancient sanctuaries in different areas of Chuvash settlement), with the exception of a few famous churches, including Ishakovskaya (Cheboksary district), which became multi-ethnic and interregional.

In the mid-19th century, there were much more of them in the Kazan province, according to official statistics. In fact, judging by data from 1897, 11 thousand “pure pagans” lived in the right-bank districts of the Kazan province. The second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries is characterized as a transitional state in religious terms. This period is associated with the introduction of N.I. Ilminsky, Christian educational activities of I.Ya. Yakovlev and Chuvash Orthodox missionaries, young people were drawn to Orthodoxy through education, as a result of which the process of Christianization of the Chuvash accelerated. The victory of Orthodoxy over ethnic religions was also accelerated by bourgeois reforms. Orthodox figures of this period generally respected Chuvash traditions and mentality, enjoyed the trust of the masses. Orthodoxy on Chuvash soil was rapidly consolidated, albeit on a syncretic basis.

During the 20th century, the number of unbaptized adherents of Chuvash beliefs (they call themselves Chan Chavash - “true Chuvash”) gradually decreased, because the generation of people of Soviet times grew up outside of religious soil. However, in the peasant environment, thanks to the stability of folk ritual culture, which could not be supplanted by Soviet rituals and holidays, an ethno-confessional community was preserved, localized mainly outside the Chuvash Republic in multinational regions - in Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Samara regions, Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. Due to the lack of statistical data, we can only speak approximately about the number of Chuvash in this group - several thousand people, but not less than 10 thousand, and two-thirds of them live in the Trans-Kama region, especially in the Bolshoi Cheremshan and Sok basin.

At the turn of the 20th and 21st centuries, the tendency for “pagans” to convert to Orthodoxy intensified, in particular in families where spouses belong to different faiths.

The Orthodox religion, established as the official religion among the Chuvash, has absorbed significant elements of traditional beliefs that are associated with folk customs and rituals, the ritual calendar, and the names of religious holidays. The term Tura denoted the Chuvash supreme heavenly god, and subsequently Jesus Christ. The Chuvash also call Christ turash, as do images of other Christian gods and saints. This is due to the consolidation of the veneration of icons as gods (turash - “icon”). In the 20th century, it was common to turn to the icon and pagan gods simultaneously. During this century, despite atheistic propaganda Soviet era, folk (nevertheless real Chuvash, associated with beliefs) religious rites and holidays functioned, and in many cases actively existed, primarily associated with the cult of ancestors and production rituals - the first pasture of livestock, rites of consecration of the new crop of chukleme and others. The traditional Chuvash holidays of the winter, spring, summer and autumn cycles coincided or merged with the Christian ones: Kasharni - Epiphany, Mancun - Easter, Kalam - so Holy Week and Lazarus Saturday, Virem - with Palm Sunday, Simek - with Trinity, Sinse - with Spiritual Day, Kerr Sari - with patronal feasts.

The traditional beliefs of the Chuvash, as noted above, have become the object of attention of researchers, missionaries, and writers of everyday life since the 18th century. And even then, a pronounced dualism with a sharp distinction between the good and evil principles of their religion served as the basis for its classification as a branch of Zoroastrianism. In the Chuvash pantheon and the pre-Christian concept of the consciousness of the world and the creation of man, researchers find similarities with ancient Iranian mythology. For example, the following names of Chuvash gods echo the pantheon of the Indo-Iranian circle: Ama, Amu, Tura, Asha, Puleh, Pihampar. Yanavar.

The beliefs of the Chuvash associated with fire worship, cosmogonic ideas, the numerous gods of the hearth and nature, rituals in honor of ancestors, and the construction of anthropomorphic stone and wooden monuments gave rise to researchers back in the 19th century to conclude that the Chuvash adhered to the teachings of Zoroastrianism.

At the head of the Chuvash pantheon, complex in its structure, is the supreme heavenly god Sulti Tura, who rules the entire world and acts as the main person of religious worship and faith. This main character Chuvash religion coincides with the riding gods of many Indo-European, Turkic and Finno-Ugric peoples, including in etymology, functions and other parameters.

In a solemn form, a thanksgiving sacrifice was made to the god of Tours during public rituals, the family-tribal ritual of chukleme, when new bread was baked from the new harvest in his honor and beer was brewed. Tura was addressed in many rituals, including public, family and individual ones; the prayer had specifics in each specific case.

In a solemn form, thanksgiving was performed to the god of Tours.

What is Chuvash folk religion? The Chuvash folk religion refers to the pre-Orthodox Chuvash faith. But there is no clear understanding of this faith. Just as the Chuvash people are not homogeneous, the Chuvash pre-Orthodox religion is also heterogeneous. Some Chuvash believed in Thor and still do. This is a monotheistic faith. There is only one Torah, but in the Torah belief there is Keremet. Keremet is a relic of the pagan religion. The same pagan relic in the Christian world as the celebration of the New Year and Maslenitsa. Among the Chuvash, keremet was not a god, but an image of evil and dark forces, to whom sacrifices were made so that they would not touch people. Keremet literally means “faith in (god) Ker.” Ker (name of god) to have (faith, dream).

Structure of the world

Chuvash paganism is characterized by a multi-tiered view of the world. The world consisted of three parts: the upper world, our world and the lower world. And there were only seven layers in the world. Three layers in the upper one, one in ours, and three more in the lower worlds.

In the Chuvash structure of the universe, a common Turkic division into above-ground and underground tiers can be traced. In one of the heavenly tiers lives the main piresti Kebe, who transmits the prayers of people to the god Turg, who lives in the uppermost tier. In the above-ground tiers there are also luminaries - the moon is lower, the sun is higher.

The first above-ground tier is between the earth and the clouds. Previously, the upper limit was much lower (“at the height of the roof windmills"), but the clouds rose higher when people became worse. In contrast to the underground tiers, the surface of the earth - the world of people - is called the "upper world" (Z?lti zantalgk). The shape of the earth is quadrangular, in conspiracies the "quadrangular light world" is often mentioned. (Tgvat ketesle zut zantalgk).

The earth was square. They lived on it different peoples. The Chuvash believed that their people lived in the middle of the earth. The sacred tree, the tree of life, which the Chuvash worshiped, supported the firmament in the middle. On four sides, along the edges of the earth's square, the firmament was supported by four pillars: gold, silver, copper, stone. At the top of the pillars there were nests with three eggs in them, and ducks on the eggs.

The shores of the earth were washed by the ocean; raging waves constantly destroyed the shores. “When the edge of the earth reaches the Chuvash, the end of the world will come,” the ancient Chuvash believed. In every corner of the earth, wonderful heroes stood guard over the earth and human life. They protected our world from all evil and misfortune.

The Supreme God was in the upper world. He ruled the whole world. Thunder and lightning were thrown, rain fell on the ground. In the upper world were the souls of saints and the souls of unborn children. When a person died, his soul crossed a narrow bridge, crossing onto a rainbow, and ascended to the upper world. And if he was sinful, then, without crossing the narrow bridge, the man’s soul fell into the lower world, into hell. In the lower world there were nine cauldrons where the souls of sinful people were boiled. The devil's servants constantly kept the fire burning under the cauldrons.

Religions and beliefs Before joining the Russian state, the Chuvash of the Ulyanovsk Volga region were pagans. In their paganism there was a system of polytheism with the supreme god Turg. The gods were divided into good and evil. Each occupation of people was patronized by its own god. The pagan religious cult was inextricably linked with the cycle of agricultural work and the cult of ancestors. The cycle of agrarian-magical rituals began with winter holiday"Surkhuri", then came the holiday of honoring the sun "Z?varni" (Slavic Maslenitsa), then - the spring multi-day holiday of sacrifices to the sun, god and dead ancestors - "Mgnkun" (which later coincided with Christian Easter). The cycle continued with “Akatuy” - a holiday of spring plowing and plowing, before the start of spring sowing - “Zimek” (a holiday of nature’s flowering, public commemoration. Coincided with the Orthodox Trinity). After sowing grain, the lower Chuvash celebrated "Uyav". In honor of the new harvest, it was customary to organize prayers - thanksgiving to the spirit - the guardian of the barn. From autumn holidays celebrated "Avtan-Syry" (rooster festival). Chuvash weddings were celebrated mainly in the spring before Zimmk (Trinity) or in the summer from Petrov to Ilyin's day. Public commemorations for all ancestors took place on the third day of Easter, at Zimmk. In November-December, the month of commemoration and sacrifice coincided with the beginning of the year according to the Chuvash lunisolar calendar. The Chuvash, more often than other peoples, commemorated their deceased relatives, since they attributed all troubles and illnesses to the anger of the dead.

The traditional Chuvash faith was complex system beliefs, the basis of which was the belief in Turo - the supreme god of the sky and includes many elements of Zorathushtra (Sarotusturo) - the worship of fire. D. Messarosh also noticed the presence of a single god among the Chuvash, who, nevertheless, was combined with agrarian holidays:

The southern Chuvash call God Tur?, the northern Chuvash call God Tor?. Regarding the Chuvash concept of God, Russian specialized literature has so far been in error. She attributed to paganism or “black magic” countless Gods, regardless of whether they were good or evil, as well as other figments of the imagination. With their incomplete knowledge of the language and the subject, the vague names of some diseases were also perceived as names of Gods. They differed main god(Tur?) and many lower rank Gods. Also, the traditional Chuvash faith was characterized by dualism - the presence of good and bad deities. The Chuvash called him "Shuittan":

One day, when a thunderstorm broke out, a peasant was walking with a gun along the bank of a river. Thunder roared in the sky, and Shuitan, mocking God, beat his backside up towards the sky. The peasant, seeing this, took a gun and shot at him. Shuitan fell from the shot. The thundering stopped, God descended from the sky in front of the peasant and spoke: “You turned out to be stronger even than me.” I have been chasing Shuitang for seven years now, but until now I have never been able to catch him.

The Chuvash also had other beliefs, one of the most significant being the worship of the spirits of ancestors, which Kiremet personified. Kiremet was a holy place on a hill, next to a clean drinking source. Oak, ash or other strong and tall trees were used as a symbol of life in such places. living tree. The faith of the Chuvash people has much in common with the traditional beliefs of the Mari, as well as with other peoples of the Volga region. The influence of Islam is quite noticeable in it (for example, Piresti, Kiremet, Kiyamat), as well as Christianity. In the 18th century, the Chuvash underwent Christianization. The Chuvash are the largest Turkic people, the majority of whose believers are Christians. There are also a few groups that practice Sunni Islam and traditional beliefs

Sources

The main sources of information on Chuvash mythology and religion are the records of such scientists as V. A. Sboev, V. K. Magnitsky, N. I. Zolotnitsky and others. An important source of information about traditional beliefs The Chuvash became the book of the Hungarian researcher D. Mészáros, “Monuments of the Old Chuvash Faith,” published in 1908.

Paganism remained intact only very sporadically. A pagan village is a rare phenomenon. Despite this, last summer I managed long time visit one such primordially pagan area<…>And in other parts, where they are now already professing Christian faith, the memory of the pagan era is alive mainly in the mouths of old people, who themselves, 40-50 years ago, also made sacrifices to the ancient Chuvash gods.

At the end of the 20th century. a large array of Chuvash myths was processed in the compilation of the Chuvash epic Ulyp.

Creation of the world

According to legend, the world was created by the god Tură, “but now no one knows how he created it.” At first there was only one language and one faith on earth. Then 77 different nations appeared on earth, 77 different languages and 77 different faiths.

Structure of the world

“Chuvash World” (drawing by Vladimir Galoshev)

Chuvash paganism is characterized by a multi-tiered view of the world. The world consisted of three parts and seven layers: a three-layer upper world, a single-layer our world and a three-layer lower world.

In the Chuvash structure of the universe, a common Turkic division into above-ground and underground tiers can be traced. In one of the heavenly tiers lives the main piresti Kebe, who conveys the prayers of people to the god Tură, who lives in the uppermost tier. In the above-ground tiers there are also luminaries - the moon is lower, the sun is higher.

The first above-ground tier is between the earth and the clouds. Previously, the upper limit was much lower ( "at the height of the roofs of windmills"), but the clouds rose higher as people got sicker. In contrast to the underground tiers, the surface of the earth - the world of people - is called the “upper world” ( Çỹlti çantalăk). The shape of the earth is quadrangular; conspiracies often mention the “quadrangular light world” ( Tăvat kĕteslĕ çut çantalăk).

The earth was square. Different peoples lived on it. The Chuvash believed that their people lived in the middle of the earth. The sacred tree, the tree of life, which the Chuvash worshiped, supported the firmament in the middle. On four sides, along the edges of the earth's square, the firmament was supported by four pillars: gold, silver, copper, stone. At the top of the pillars there were nests with three eggs in them, and ducks on the eggs.

Gods and spirits

There are several opinions about the number of gods. According to one opinion, there is only one god - the Supreme God (Ҫӳлти Тură), and the rest only serve him and are spirits. Others consider the Chuvash faith to be polytheistic.

Albasta - an evil creature in the form of a woman with four breasts
Arzyuri - spirit, owner of the forest, goblin
Wubar - evil spirit, sent diseases, attacked a sleeping person
Vite Husi - owner of the stable
Woodash - an evil spirit that lives in water
Iye is a spirit that lives in baths, mills, abandoned houses, stables, etc.
Irich is the guardian deity of the hearth; a spirit capable of sending illnesses to people
Kele is an evil spirit.
Vupkan is an evil spirit that sends diseases, invisible or in the form of a dog.
Herle shchyr - good spirit living in the sky
Esrel - spirit of death

Mythical creatures

Heroes

Yramas

Mythical places

Mount Aramazi, to which the forefather of the Chuvash Ulyp was chained.
Mount Aratan - mountain underworld. The mountain of the same name is located in the Shemurshinsky district on the territory national park"Chavash Varmane".
Yrsamay (Kiremet) Valem Khuzya. State kiremet of the Silver Bulgars in the Bulgar capital Pyuler (Bilyar).
Setle-kul - according to a number of myths, a milky lake, on the shores of which the descendants of the last Kazan khan live.

Relationship with other religions

The mythology and religion of the Chuvash inherited many features from common Turkic beliefs. However, they have gone much further from a common root than the beliefs of other Turkic peoples. The monotheistic nature of the Chuvash faith is sometimes attributed to the strong influence of Islam. Many religious terms are Islamic (Arabic and Persian) in origin. The traditions of Islam affected the prayer, funeral and other customs of the Chuvash. Later, the Chuvash faith experienced no less strong influence from the side of Christianity. Nowadays, among the Chuvash living in rural areas, religious syncretism is quite widespread, where Christian traditions are closely intertwined with “pagan” (ancient Chuvash religion).

Literature

Meszaros D. Monuments of the old Chuvash faith / Trans. from Hungarian - Cheboksary: ChGIGN, 2000. - 360 pp. - ISBN 5-87677-017-5.
Magnitsky V.K. Materials for the explanation of the old Chuvash faith. Kazan, 1881;
Denisov P.V. Religious beliefs of the Chuvash (historical and ethnographic essays). - Cheboksary: Chuvash State Publishing House, 1959. - 408 p.
Trofimov A. A. Chuvash folk cult sculpture. Ch., 1993;

1. History of the Chuvash

The Chuvash are the third largest indigenous ethnic group in the Volga-Ural region. Their self-name: Chavash.
The first written mention of the Chuvash people dates back to 1551, when, according to the Russian chronicler, the royal governors “led the Chuvash and Cheremis and the Mordovians to the truth.” However, by that time the Chuvash had already come a long historical way.
The ancestors of the Chuvash were tribes of the Volga Finns, who in the 7th-8th centuries mixed with the Turkic tribes of the Bulgars and Suvars, who came to the Volga from the Azov steppes. These tribes made up the main population of Volga Bulgaria, which fell at the beginning of the 13th century under the blows of the Mongols.
In the Golden Horde, and later in the Kazan Khanate, the Chuvash were among the yasak (tax-paying) people and were ruled by the khan's governors and officials.
That is why in 1551 the Chuvash voluntarily became part of Russia and actively helped Russian troops in capturing Kazan. The fortresses of Cheboksary, Alatyr, and Tsivilsk were built on Chuvash soil, which soon became trade and craft centers.
This complex ethnic history of the Chuvash has led to the fact that every tenth modern Chuvash has Mongoloid features, 21% of the Chuvash are Caucasoid, the remaining 68% belong to mixed Mongoloid-Caucasoid types.
As part of Russia, the Chuvash first gained their statehood. In 1925, the Chuvash autonomous region, transformed in 1990 into the Chuvash Republic.
During the Great Patriotic War, the Chuvash people fulfilled their duty to their Motherland with dignity. 75 Chuvash soldiers were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, about 54 thousand people were awarded orders and medals.
According to the 2002 census, 1 million 637 thousand Chuvash live in Russia. Of these, more than 45% live outside their historical homeland - in Bashkiria, Udmurtia, Tatarstan and other regions of the Volga region.
Respect for one's neighbor has always been a remarkable national trait of the Chuvash. And this saved the republic from strife on ethnic grounds. In modern Chuvashia there are no manifestations of national extremism or interethnic hatred. Apparently, the long-standing traditions of friendly coexistence of Russians, Chuvash and Tatars had an effect.

2. Religion

The original religion of the Chuvash was pagan polytheism. Then, from the many gods and spirits, the supreme god, Tura, stood out.
But in the 15th-16th centuries he had powerful competitors - Christ and Allah, who entered into a dispute with him for the souls of the Chuvash. The adoption of Islam led to otatarivanie, because Muslim missionaries demanded complete renunciation of nationality. Unlike them, Orthodox priests they did not force the baptized Chuvash to renounce their native language and customs. Moreover, converts to Christianity were exempted from paying taxes and conscription for several years.
Therefore to mid-18th century century, the bulk of the Chuvash chose Christianity. Some of the Chuvash, having converted to Islam, became Tatars, while others remained pagans.
However, the baptized Chuvash essentially remained pagans for a long time. The service in an incomprehensible Church Slavonic language was completely alien to them, the purpose of the icons was unclear: considering them idols that reported to the “Russian God” about the actions of the Chuvash, the Chuvash gouged out the eyes of the images and placed them facing the wall.
However, the conversion of the Chuvash to Christianity contributed to the development of enlightenment. In church schools that opened in Chuvash villages, the native language was introduced. On the eve of the First World War, there were about a thousand clergy in the region, while there were only 822 public teachers. So the majority of Chuvash could only receive education in parish schools.
Modern Chuvash for the most part are Orthodox, but echoes of pagan rituals have survived to this day.
More southern regions retained their paganism. The holiday of the pagan Chuvash is still Friday. In Chuvash they call it ernE kun “weekly day”, or uyav kun: “holiday day”. They begin to prepare for it on Thursday: in the evening, everyone at home washes and cuts their nails. On Friday they put on a white shirt, do not light a fire in the house and do not work, they sit on the street, talk, in a word, relax.
Yours ancient belief The Chuvash call themselves “the custom of the old,” and today’s pagan Chuvash proudly call themselves “true Chuvash.”

3.Culture and traditions of the Chuvash

Chuvash are a Turkic-speaking people. There are two dialects in their language: Viryal - among the “upper” Chuvash and Anatri - among the “lower” Chuvash.
Chuvash people, as a rule, are friendly and tolerant. Even in the old days, in Chuvash villages they said: “Everyone asks God for bread in his own language. Why can’t faith be different?” The pagan Chuvash were tolerant of the baptized. By accepting a baptized bride into their family, they allowed her to continue to observe Orthodox customs.
The Chuvash pagan religion allows everything except sin. While Christians can forgive their sins, Chuvash people cannot. This means there is no need to do it.
Family ties mean a lot to the Chuvash.
Relatives are invited to any celebration. In the guest songs they sang: “There is no one better than our relatives.”
Chuvash wedding ceremonies are strictly regulated. Random person cannot get here - only invited people and only relatives.
The importance of family ties was also reflected in funeral customs. At least 41 people are invited to the funeral table. A rich table is set and a lamb or cow is slaughtered especially for this occasion.
The most offensive comparison among the Chuvash is the word “mesken”. There is no unambiguous translation into Russian. The semantic series turns out to be quite long: timid, pitiful, submissive, miserable, wretched...
An important element Chuvash culture is the national dress. Every Chuvash woman certainly dreams of having a “khushpa” - a headdress. married woman with a solid cone-shaped or cylindrical frame. For girls, the festive headdress was “tukhya” - a helmet-shaped cap with headphones and pendants, completely covered with colored beads, corals and silver coins.
For the Chuvash people, the most characteristic national feature is their emphasized respect for parents. This is often sung in folk songs. The anthem of the Chuvash people “Asran Kaimi” begins with the words: “unforgettable father and mother.” Another feature of Chuvash culture is the absence of divorces in families.
So other peoples have a lot to learn from the Chuvash.