The Chuvash are a unique people who have been able to carry their authenticity through the centuries. It is the fifth largest nation in Russia, most of whose representatives speak the Chuvash language - the only living one of the extinct Bulgar group. They are considered the descendants of the ancient Sumerians and Huns, however, the Chuvash gave a lot to modern history. At a minimum, the homeland of the symbol of the revolution Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev.

Where do they live?

More than half of the representatives of the Chuvash people - 67.7%, live in the territory Chuvash Republic. She is the subject Russian Federation and is located on the territory of the Volga region federal district. The republic borders on the Ulyanovsk and Nizhny Novgorod regions, Tatarstan, Mordovia and the Republic of Mari El. The capital of the Chuvash Republic is the city of Cheboksary.

Outside the Republic, the Chuvash live mainly in neighboring regions and in Siberia, a small part - outside the Russian Federation. One of the largest Chuvash diasporas in Ukraine - about 10 thousand people. In addition, representatives of the nationality live in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
There are three ethnographic groups on the territory of the Republic of Chuvashia. Among them:

1. Horse Chuvash. They live in the northwestern part of the region, have local names turi or virial.
2. Middle-bottom Chuvash. Their location is the northeast of the Republic, dialect name anat enchi.
3. Grassroots Chuvash. They live in the southern part of the region, in the Chuvash language they have the name anatri.

Number

The Chuvash are the fifth largest ethnic group in Russia: about 1,400,000, according to the 2010 census. Of these, more than 814 thousand people live on the territory of the Chuvash Republic. About 400 thousand Chuvash are located in neighboring regions: Bashkortostan - 107.5 thousand, Tatarstan - 116.3 thousand, Samara - 84.1 thousand and Ulyanovsk - 95 thousand regions.
It is worth noting that the number of Chuvash by 2010 decreased by 14% compared to the 2002 census. Negative dynamics brought this indicator to the level of 1995, which ethnographers perceive as a negative result of assimilation.

Name

The main version of the origin of the name is associated with the ancient tribe “Suvars” or “Suvazy”. It was first mentioned in the 10th century in the memoirs of the traveler of Arab origin Ibn Fadlan. The author wrote about a tribe that was part of the Volga Bulgaria and refused to convert to Islam. Some researchers believe that it was the Suvars who became the ancestors of the Chuvash, who went to the upper reaches of the Volga in order to avoid the imposition of an alien religion.

In chronicles, this name was first mentioned only in the 16th-17th centuries, during the period of the Chuvash Daruga joining the Russian state after the fall of the Kazan Khanate. One of the earliest evidence is the description of the mountain Cheremis (modern Mari) and Chuvash by Andrei Kurbsky, who spoke about the campaign against Kazan in 1552.
The self-name of the people is Chavashi, which is considered the traditional definition of nationality. The name of the nationality in other languages ​​is similar in sound: “chuash” and “chuvazh” - among the Mordovians and Tatars, “syuash” - among the Kazakhs and Bashkirs.
Some researchers believe that the roots of the name and the people go back to the ancient Sumerians, but geneticists have not found confirmation of this theory. Another version is associated with the Turkic word javas, which means “peaceful, friendly.” By the way, such character traits, along with decency, modesty and honesty, are characteristic of modern Chuvash people.

Language

Until the 10th century, the language of the Suvazian tribes existed on the basis of ancient runic writing. IN X-XV centuries, during the close proximity to Muslim tribes and the Kazan Khanate, the alphabet was replaced by Arabic. However, the sound of the language and the definition of local dialects became increasingly distinctive during this period. This allowed the formation of an authentic, so-called Middle Bulgarian language by the 16th century.
Started in 1740 new page in the history of the Chuvash language. During this period, Christian preachers and priests from the local population began to appear in the region. This led to the creation in 1769-1871 of a new version of writing based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The basis of the literary language was the dialects of the lower Chuvash. The alphabet was finally formed by 1949, and consists of 37 letters: 33 of them are characters of the Russian alphabet and 4 additional Cyrillic characters.
In total, the Chuvash language has three dialects:

1. Grassroots. It is distinguished by an abundance of “hooking” sounds and is widespread downstream of the Sura River.
2. Horse. “Outlining” phonetics, characteristic of the inhabitants of the upper reaches of the Sura.
3. Malokarachinsky. A separate dialect of Chuvash, characterized by changes in vocalism and consonantism.

Modern Chuvash language belongs to the Turkic language family. Its unique feature is that it is the only living language of the extinct Bulgarian group in the world. This official language Chuvash Republic, which, along with Russian, is a state one. It is taught in local schools, as well as educational institutions some regions of Tatarstan and Bashkiria. According to the 2010 census, the Chuvash language is spoken by more than 1 million Russian citizens.

Story

The ancestors of the modern Chuvash were the nomadic tribe of Savirs, or Suvars, who lived in the Western Caspian region since the 2nd century AD. In the 6th century, its migration to the North Caucasus began, where part of it formed the Hunnic kingdom, and part was defeated and driven out to Transcaucasia. In the 8th-9th centuries, the descendants of the Suvars settled in the Middle Volga region, where they became part of the Volga Bulgars. During this period, there was a significant unification of culture, religion, traditions and customs of peoples.

In addition, researchers note a significant influence on the language, objects of material and spiritual culture of the ancient farmers of Western Asia. It is believed that the southern tribes, who migrated during the Great Migration of Peoples, partially settled in the Volga region and assimilated with the Bulgarian-Suvar peoples.
However, already at the end of the 9th century, the ancestors of the Chuvash separated from the Bulgarian kingdom and migrated further to the north due to their rejection of Islam. The final formation of the Chuvash people ended only in XVI century, when the assimilation of the Suvars, Tatars from the neighboring Kazan kingdom and Russians took place.
During the reign of the Kazan Khanate, the Chuvash were part of it, but they remained separate and independent, despite the need to pay tribute. Soon after the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, the Chuvash accepted the power of the Russian state, but throughout history they defended their rights. Thus, they participated in the uprisings of Stenka Razin and Emelyan Pugachev, opposed the arbitrariness of officials in 1571-1573, 1609-1610, 1634. Such self-will caused problems for the state, therefore, until the 19th century, a ban on blacksmithing was in force in the region to stop the production of weapons.

Appearance

The appearance of the Chuvash was influenced long history migration of the ancestral people and significant mixing with representatives of the Bulgar and Asian tribes. Modern Chuvash people have the following types of appearance:

• Mongoloid-Caucasian type with a predominance of European features - 63.5%
• Caucasian types (with light brown hair and light eyes, as well as with darker skin and hair, brown eyes) - 21.1%
• pure Mongoloid type - 10.3%
• sublaponoid type or Volga-Kama race with mild pronounced signs Mongoloids - 5.1%

From a genetic point of view, it is also impossible to distinguish a pure “Chuvash haplogroup”: all representatives of the nation are of mixed race. According to the maximum correspondence among the Chuvash, the following haplogroups are distinguished:

• Northern European - 24%
• Slavic R1a1 - 18%
• Finno-Ugric N - 18%
• Western European R1b - 12%
• Jewish J inherited from the Khazars - 6%

In addition, genetic connections between the Chuvash and neighboring peoples have been discovered. Thus, the Mari, who in the Middle Ages lived in the same region with the Bulgarian-Suvars and were called the Mountain Cheremis, share with the Chuvash a mutation of the LIPH chromosome gene, which causes earlier baldness.
Among the typical appearance features it is worth noting:

• average height in men and short in women;
• coarse hair that naturally rarely has a curl;
• darker skin tone and eye color in Caucasians;
• short, slightly depressed nose;
• the presence of epicanthus (a characteristic fold in the corner of the eyes) in representatives of mixed and Mongoloid types;
• the shape of the eyes is almond-shaped, slightly slanting;
• wide face;
• prominent cheekbones.

Ethnographers of the past and present noted soft facial features, a good-natured and open expression associated with character traits. The Chuvash have bright and agile facial expressions, easy movements, and good coordination. In addition, representatives of the nation were mentioned in all testimonies as neat, clean, well-built and neat people who created a pleasant impression with their appearance and behavior.

Cloth

In everyday life, Chuvash men dressed simply: a loose shirt and trousers made of homespun cloth, which was made from hemp and flax. The look was completed with a simple hat with a narrow brim and shoes made of bast or leather. The habitats of the people were distinguished by the appearance of the shoes: the Western Chuvash wore bast shoes with foot wraps in black, while the Eastern Chuvash preferred white. It is interesting that men wore onuchi only in winter, while women complemented their look with them all year round.
Unlike men, who wore national costumes with ornaments only for weddings and religious ceremonies, women preferred to look attractive every day. Their traditional clothing included a long, tunic-like shirt made of white store-bought or homespun cloth and an apron.
Among the Western Viryalas, it was complemented by a bib, traditional embroidery and appliqués. Eastern Anatri did not use a bib, but made an apron from checkered fabric. Sometimes there was an alternative option, the so-called “modesty apron.” It was located on the back of the belt and reached mid-thigh. An obligatory element of the costume is a headdress, of which Chuvash women had many variations. In everyday life they used light-colored scarves, canvas surpans or headbands similar to an Arab turban. The traditional headdress, which has become one of the symbols of the people, is the tukhya cap, shaped like a helmet and richly decorated with coins, beads and beads.

Chuvash women also hold other bright accessories in high esteem. Among them were ribbons embroidered with beads, which were passed over the shoulder and under the arm, neck, waist, chest and even back decorations. A characteristic feature of the ornaments is the strict geometry of the forms and specularity, the abundance of rhombuses, eights and stars.

Housing

The Chuvash settled in small villages and villages, which were called yaly and were located near rivers, lakes and ravines. In the southern regions the type of settlement was linear, and in the northern regions it was the traditional cumulus-cluster type. Usually, related families settled at different ends of the yawl and helped each other in every possible way in everyday life. The increase in population in the villages, as well as the traditional modern formation of streets, appeared in the region only in XIX century.
The home of the Chuvash was a solid house made of wood, for insulation of which straw and clay were used. The hearth was located indoors and had a chimney; the house itself had a regular square or quadrangular shape. During their neighbors with the Bukharans, many Chuvash houses had real glass, but in the future most of them were replaced with specially made glass.

The courtyard had the shape of an elongated rectangle and was traditionally divided into two parts. The first contained the main living house, a summer kitchen with an open fireplace and all the outbuildings. Products were stored in dry cellars called nukhreps. In the back part they laid out a vegetable garden, equipped a corral for livestock, and sometimes there was a threshing floor there. There was also a bathhouse located here, which was available in every yard. Often an artificial pond was dug next to it, or they preferred to locate all buildings near a natural reservoir.

Family life

The main wealth of the Chuvash is family relationships and respect for elders. Traditionally, three generations lived in a family at the same time, the elderly were carefully looked after, and they, in turn, raised their grandchildren. Folklore is permeated with songs dedicated to love for parents; there are even more of them than ordinary love songs.
Despite the equality of the sexes, the mother, “api,” is sacred for the Chuvash. Her name is not mentioned in abusive or vulgar conversations or ridicule, even if they want to offend a person. It is believed that her word is healing, and a curse is the worst thing that can happen. Eloquently testifies to the attitude towards the mother Chuvash proverb: ““Treat your mother with pancakes baked in your own palm every day - you still won’t repay her with kindness for kindness, or labor for labor.”

Children are no less important in family life than parents: they are loved and welcomed regardless of the degree of relationship. Therefore, in traditional Chuvash settlements there are practically no orphans. Children are pampered, but they do not forget to instill hard work and the ability to count money from an early age. They are also taught that the main thing in a person is kămăl, that is, spiritual beauty, the inner spiritual essence that can be seen in absolutely everyone.
Before the widespread spread of Christianity, polygamy was allowed, and the traditions of sororate and levirate were practiced. This means that after the death of her husband, the wife had to marry her husband's brother. Sororat allowed the husband to take one or more of his wife’s sisters as his wife, successively or simultaneously. The tradition of minorat, that is, the transfer of inheritance to the youngest in the family, is still preserved. In this regard, the youngest of the children often remains for the rest of their lives in their parents’ house, caring for them and helping with the housework.

Men and women

The Chuvash husband and wife have the same rights: the man is responsible for everything that happens outside the home, and the woman takes full responsibility for everyday life. Interestingly, she can independently manage the profit she receives from the sale of products from the yard: milk, eggs, fabrics. It values ​​hard work, honesty and the ability to have children most of all.

It is especially honorable to give birth to a boy, and although girls are Chuvash families they love no less, their appearance means additional troubles, since for each of them you have to pay a substantial dowry. The Chuvash believed that the later a girl gets married, the better: this will allow her to accumulate more dowry and thoroughly learn all the intricacies of housekeeping. Young men were married as early as possible, so in traditional families the husband is often several years younger. However, women had the right to inherit from their parents and husband, so they often became the head of the family.

Life

Today, as throughout history, agriculture continues to play a major role in the life of the Chuvash. Since ancient times, people have been actively engaged in agriculture, using three-field or slash-and-burn systems. The main crops were wheat, rye, oats, spelt, peas, and buckwheat.
Flax and hemp were grown to create fabrics, and hops and malt were grown to produce beer. The Chuvash have always been famous as excellent brewers: every family has its own beer recipe. For holidays, stronger varieties were produced, and in everyday life they drank low-alcohol varieties. Intoxicating drinks were produced from wheat.

Livestock farming was not so popular because there was a lack of suitable forage land in the region. Households raised horses, cows, pigs, sheep, and poultry. One more thing traditional occupation Chuvash - beekeeping. Along with beer, honey was one of the main export goods to neighboring regions.
The Chuvash have always been involved in gardening, planting turnips, beets, onions, legumes, fruit trees, and later potatoes. Among the crafts, wood carving, basket and furniture weaving, pottery, weaving and handicrafts flourished brightly. The Chuvash achieved great success in woodworking handicrafts: the production of matting, ropes and ropes, carpentry, cooperage, carpentry, tailoring, and wheelwork.

Religion

Today, more than half of the Chuvash formally profess Christianity, but there are still associations of adherents of traditional paganism, as well as religious syncretism. A few groups of Chuvash profess Sunni Islam.
In ancient times, the Chuvash believed that the world was a cube, in the center of which were the Chuvash. Along the shores the land was washed by oceans, which gradually destroyed the land. It was believed that as soon as the edge of the earth reached the Chuvash, the end of the world would come. On the sides of the cube were the heroes guarding it, below was the kingdom of evil, and above were the deities and spirits of those who died in infancy.

Despite the fact that the people professed paganism, they had only one supreme god, Tour, who ruled the lives of people, sent disasters to them, and emitted thunder and lightning. Evil was personified with the deity Shuittan and his servants - evil spirits. After death, they tortured sinners in nine cauldrons, under which they kept the fire burning for eternity. However, the Chuvash did not believe in the existence of hell and heaven, just as they did not support the idea of ​​​​rebirth and transmigration of souls.

Traditions

After the Christianization of society, pagan holidays were correlated with Orthodox ones. Most of the ritual celebrations occurred in the spring and were associated with agricultural work. Thus, the holiday of the winter equinox Surkhuri marked the approach of spring and the increase sunny day. Then came the analogue of Maslenitsa, the sun festival of Savarni, after which Mancun was celebrated for several days, coinciding with the Orthodox Radonitsa. It lasted several days during which sacrifices were made to the sun and ceremonies of veneration of ancestors were carried out. The month of remembrance was also in December: the culture believed that the spirits of ancestors could send curses and blessings, so they were placated regularly throughout the year.

Famous Chuvash

One of the most famous natives Chuvashia, born near Cheboksary, famous Vasily Ivanovich Chapaev. He became a real symbol of the revolution and a hero of national folklore: they not only make films about him, but also come up with witty jokes about Russian ingenuity.

Andriyan Nikolaev was also from Chuvashia - the third Soviet citizen to conquer space. Among his personal achievements is working in orbit without a spacesuit for the first time in world history.

The Chuvash have a rich historical and cultural past, which they have been able to preserve to this day. The combination of ancient beliefs, customs and traditions, adherence to the native language help preserve authenticity and transfer the accumulated knowledge to new generations.

Video

1. History of the Chuvash

The Chuvash are the third largest indigenous ethnic group in the Volga-Ural region. Their self-name: Chavash.
First written mention 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 the tribes of the Volga Finns, who in the 7th-8th centuries mixed with Turkic tribes Bulgars and Suvars, who came to the Volga from the Azov steppes. These tribes made up the main population of Volga Bulgaria, which fell in early XIII centuries 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 was created, 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 cohabitation 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 XV-XVI 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. In contrast, Orthodox priests did not force baptized Chuvash people to renounce their native language and customs. Moreover, converts to Christianity were exempted from paying taxes and conscription for several years.
Therefore, by the middle of the 18th 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, native language. 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 parochial schools.
Modern Chuvash for the most part are Orthodox, but echoes of pagan rituals have survived to this day.
The 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.
The Chuvash call their ancient belief “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.
They mean a lot to the Chuvash family ties.
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. A random person cannot get here - only invitees 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 of Chuvash culture is national clothes. Every Chuvash woman certainly dreams of having a “khushpa” - a married woman’s headdress 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 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.

Tretyakov P. N.

The question of the origin of the Chuvash people in the light of archaeological data* // Soviet ethnography. - 1950. - Issue. 3. - pp. 44-53.

One of the most complex and undeveloped questions of the ancient and early medieval history of the USSR is the question of the origin of the peoples of our country. Bourgeois science, which proceeded from racist ideas and nationalist tendencies when solving ethnogonic issues, greatly complicated and confused this issue. Soviet historical science solves it completely anew, accumulating relevant factual materials and considering them in the light of Marxism-Leninism, in the light of the works of V. I. Lenin and I. V. Stalin on the theory of the national question.

Soviet science proceeds from the basic theoretical position that the process of formation of nationalities and nationalities is a historical process. It is determined primarily by internal socio-economic conditions and depends on their level of development.

The nature of the ethnogonic process also depends on the specific historical situation. Together with ethnic traditions, the importance of which should not be downplayed, specific historical conditions largely determine the specific (national) form of culture of a particular people, of a particular nationality.

Of outstanding importance for research in the field of the origin of nationalities and nations are the works of J. V. Stalin, devoted to issues of language and linguistics, which were a major new contribution to the theory of historical materialism. In these works, J.V. Stalin showed that the views of Academician. N. Ya. Marr’s view of language as a superstructure, as a phenomenon of class order, his views on the development of language, which have become widespread among not only Soviet linguists, but also representatives of historical disciplines, have nothing to do with Marxism. In his work, J.V. Stalin widely revealed the foundations of the Marxist theory of language as a tool of communication between people, a social phenomenon directly related to the production and other activities of people in society, but not generated by this or that economic system of society, not by this or that level public life. “Language is not generated by this or that basis, the old

* The studies published here on the ethnogenesis of the Chuvash people are reports read by the authors at a session of the Department of History and Philosophy of the USSR Academy of Sciences and the Chuvash Research Institute of Language, Literature and History on January 30-31, 1950. The articles were already in the set when they were published the works of I.V. Stalin “Concerning Marxism in Linguistics”, “On Some Questions of Linguistics” and “Answer to Comrades”, the most valuable instructions of which the authors tried to take into account.

or a new basis, within a given society, but through the entire course of the history of society and the history of bases over the centuries. It was created not by just one class, but by the whole society, all classes of society, through the efforts of hundreds of generations.”

It is known that language is one of the most important features that define a tribe, nationality, and nation. It constitutes the national form of their culture. Therefore, N. Ya. Marr’s views on the development of language, uncritically accepted by historians and archaeologists dealing with the origins of the peoples of our country, led to a number of erroneous constructions in this area. A typical example is the question of the origin of the Chuvash people, which was considered N.Ya. Marrom, as a people who are basically Japhetic, preserving in their language the features of the Japhetic stage.

J. V. Stalin showed that the “theory” of the staged development of language, from which N. Ya. Marr proceeded, does not correspond to the actual course of language development and is a non-Marxist theory. Thus, clarity was brought to the question of the origin of the Chuvash people, and broad scientific prospects opened up for research in this area.

1

The theory of the origin of the Chuvash people, currently accepted by the majority of Soviet historians and linguists, represents the complete opposite of the previously existing bourgeois concepts. According to the latter, the Chuvash people were considered as a fragment of the once allegedly existing Turkic world. His immediate ancestors, according to bourgeois scientists (A. A. Kunik, A. A. Shakhmatov, N. I. Ashmarin, etc.), were the Volga Bulgarians, a people who came to the Volga from the Azov steppes and founded Volga or Kama Bulgaria. The mentioned scientists proceeded from the fact that among modern peoples living within the territory of Volga Bulgaria, only the Chuvash people reveal ancient Turkic features in their language. Another argument in favor of the Bulgarian theory was several individual Chuvash words and names found on Bulgarian gravestones with Arabic inscriptions. Bourgeois science did not have any other data in favor of the Bulgarian theory.

The fragility of the evidence on which the Bulgarian theory was built is quite obvious. In the light of the news of ancient authors, it is indisputable that Volga Bulgaria was no different from all other states of antiquity - it was not a national state at all, but included within its borders a number of different tribes.

Volga Bulgaria was undoubtedly only a minor step forward compared to the states of Caesar or Charlemagne, which J.V. Stalin characterizes as “military-administrative associations”, “a conglomerate of tribes and nationalities that lived their own lives and had their own languages” 2. Volga Bulgaria included both local and alien tribes, and different speeches were heard in the Bulgarian cities. The Bulgarians themselves, that is, the population that came to the Volga-Kama region from the Azov steppes, also did not constitute a single ethnic group. Based mainly on archaeological as well as historical data, it is now established that the population of the Eastern European steppes in the second half of the first millennium AD. e. was a very ethnically complex formation. Its basis was made up of various Sarmatian-Alan tribes, mixed with Turkic elements represented by

1 I. Stalin. Regarding Marxism in linguistics, Ed. "Pravda", M., 1950, p. 5.

2 Ibid., p. 11.

firstly, in the Hunnic hordes of the 4th-5th centuries AD. e. and, secondly, in the Avar hordes that penetrated Europe in the 6th century AD. e. This combination of Sarmatian-Alan and Turkic elements is perfectly revealed from the materials of the North Caucasus, Don and Donetsk (Saltovo-Mayatsk) settlements and burial grounds. The same exactly mixed Sarmatian-Alan-Turkic material culture was brought by the Bulgarians Asparukh to the Danube, where, judging by the materials of excavations in the ancient Bulgarian cities of Pliska and Preslav, it was preserved for two or three generations before dissolving into the local Slavic environment.

Thus, the question of the origin of the Chuvash people was by no means resolved by the Bulgarian theory. The statement that the Chuvash are Bulgarians was tantamount to trying to construct an equation from two equally unknown quantities.

When characterizing the Bulgarian theory of the origin of the Chuvash people, one cannot, however, limit ourselves to pointing out the weakness of its factual basis and theoretical depravity. This theory arose and received wide circulation, first of all, as a nationalist theory, meeting the interests of pan-Turkists, on the one hand, and Chuvash nationalists, on the other. The Bulgarian theory was an integral part of the pan-Turkic legend about the ancient Turkic people, who allegedly played an exceptional role in the historical process; this myth is about the great state of the Bulgarian-Chuvash, dominating all other peoples of the Volga region. No wonder enemies Soviet people in the first years after the October Revolution, this theory was widely propagated, trying to sow national discord between the Turkic-speaking peoples and the great Russian people, between the Chuvash people and other peoples of the Volga region.

2

It is known that almost all the peoples of the Volga region consist of two or more parts. These are the two main groups of the Mordovian people - Moksha and Erzya, to which are added the Tyuryukhans, Karatai and Shoksha. The Mari have retained a clear division into mountain and meadow peoples. The Chuvash people also consist of two main parts, differing from each other in language and material culture. It's about about the upper Chuvash - “viryal”, occupying the northwestern part of Chuvashia, and the Lower Chuvash - “anatri”, living in the southwestern half of the Chuvash land. The third Chuvash group - “Anat-Enchi”, located between the first and second, is considered by most ethnographers not as an independent part of the Chuvash people, but as a result of a mixture of Viryal and Anatri. It must be assumed that in the complex composition of the peoples of the Volga region traces of ancient tribes are preserved; their study can shed bright light on issues of ethnogony. It is especially interesting that this division of the Chuvash people into two parts has a long prehistory, dating back to the 2nd millennium BC. e.

To characterize the ancient tribes of northwestern Chuvashia, we currently have the following archaeological material.

1. Near Kozlovka, near the village of Balanovo, an extensive burial ground 3 was discovered and explored, and in the Yadrinsky district near the village of Atlikasy - mound 4, dating back to the middle of the second millennium BC. e. and belonging to the group of archaeological monuments widespread in the Upper Volga region and received the name Fatyanovo

3 O. N. Bader, Burial ground in the Karabay tract near the village of Balanovo in Chuvashia, “Soviet Archaeology”, vol. VI, 1940.

4 P. N. Tretyakov, From the materials of the Middle Volga expedition, State Communications. acad. History of Material Culture, 1931, No. 3.

named after a burial ground near the village of Fatyanovo, Yaroslavl region. The Fatyanovo tribes were the first cattle-breeding tribes in the Upper Volga region, perhaps also familiar with agriculture. These were the first tribes in these places to become acquainted with metal - copper and bronze. T. A. Trofimova’s assumption about the southern, Caucasian origin of the population who left the Balanovsky burial ground 5, which still requires verification, even if it turns out to be fair, does not change the essence of the matter. The culture of the Balanovo people - their economy and way of life - had a distinct northern, forest character.

2. In the same part of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, numerous mounds of the second half of the second millennium BC are known. e., called Abashevo after the name of s. Abashevo, Tsivilsky district of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, where they were first studied in 1925 by V.F. Smolin 6. As studies of subsequent years have shown, the Abashev tribes lived not only in the territory of the northern and central regions Chuvashia, but also far beyond their borders (in the northern, northwestern and northeastern direction). The Abashevo mounds are known on the Lower Oka near Murom 7, in the Upper Oka basin near the village. Ogubi 8 and on the shore of Lake Pleshcheevo 9. In the form of a treasure, characteristic Abashevo items - bronze tools and jewelry made of bronze and silver were found in the Urals near Upper Kizil. There are also known places of ancient settlements that supposedly belonged to either the Abashevites or tribes close to them in culture 10 .

3. Within the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, along the banks of the Volga and Sura, several ancient settlements of the first millennium BC are known. e., characterized by the so-called “mesh” or “textile” ceramics, the same as those known from numerous. settlements and settlements in the Oka and Upper Volga basin.

4. Near the village. Ivankovo ​​on Nizhnyaya Sura 11 and near the village of Kriushi on the banks of the Volga at the mouth of the river. Anish 12, burial grounds of the beginning and middle of the first millennium AD were explored. e., close to the well-known ancient Mordovian, Murom, Mari and Meryan burial grounds of the same time. Near the village Yandashevo in the lower reaches of the river. Tsivil found bronze jewelry of the Pyanobor look 13, common at the turn and at the beginning of our era among the tribes of the Kama region and Povetluga region.

5. In the same northern and northwestern regions of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, belonging to the Viryal Chuvash, several dozen settlements of the middle and second half of the first millennium AD are known. e. 14 Fortifications are miniature fortifications, usually located on capes of a high coast. During excavations, pottery was found on them, fashioned without the help of potter's wheel, sinkers from nets and livestock bones. In terms of their general appearance, these settlements and the finds made on them closely resemble similar monuments of the neighboring Mordovian land.

6. Finally, one should point out the numerous kivĕ-çăva - languages

5 See T. A. Trofimova, On the issue of anthropological connections in the era of Fatyanovo culture, “Soviet ethnography”, 1949, No. 3.

6 V. F. Smolin, Abashevsky burial ground in the Chuvash Republic, Cheboksary,

7 Excavations by B. A. Kuftin. State Hermitage.

8 Excavations by V.I. Gorodtsov. State Historical Museum.

10 "Archaeological research in the RSFSR 1934-1936", 1941, pp. 131-136.

11 See P. P. Efimenko, Middle Volga expedition 1925-1927, State reports. Academy of the History of Material Culture, vol. II, 1929.

12 See P. N. Tretyakov, Monuments of the ancient history of the Chuvash Volga region, Cheboksary, 1948, pp. 55-56.

13 See ibid., p. 53.

14 See ibid., pp. 46 et seq., 65 et seq.

cemeteries of the 16th-18th centuries, known everywhere in the land of the Chuvash-Viryal. Study of remains women's suit, originating from Kivĕ-çăva, reveals some features that bring the ancient Viryal costume closer to the Mari one. Such a detail of the costume is, in particular, a tassel made of thick woolen cords, studded with bronze tubes, suspended from the back of the headdress. According to T. A. Kryukova, one such Chuvash headdress is in the collections of the State Ethnographic Museum in Leningrad. A well-known parallel with the ancient monuments of the Mari are also the numerous Chuvash “keremets” of the 16th-18th centuries, as well as the kivĕ-çăva, known everywhere in the land of the Chuvash-Viryal.

As a result of the above review of archaeological monuments of the northwestern part of the Chuvash land, we can conclude that in this part of Chuvashia, from ancient times, there lived tribes closely related in their material culture to the neighboring, more northern, western and eastern Volga population - the population of the forest spaces of the Middle and Upper Volga region. It can also be argued that This population is genetically associated with that part of the Chuvash people called “viryal” and which to this day has retained in its way of life many features similar to the culture of the neighboring Mari, and partly the Mordovian and Udmurt peoples. It is not possible to give a more definite picture of the ethnogonic process in this part of Chuvashia given the current state of the sources. We do not know in what relation to each other stood the tribes that left the groups of archaeological monuments listed above - whether they formed a continuous chain of autochthonous development or whether they were tribes of different origins that replaced each other on the territory of Chuvashia. It is also likely that not all groups of archaeological sites in northwestern Chuvashia have currently been identified and studied by us. However, it is difficult to allow future discoveries to shake the main conclusion is the conclusion about the local origin of the Chuvash tribes that are part of the Chuvash-Viryal, and that their ancestors were closely related to other forest tribes.

3

The archaeological monuments of the southern part of the Chuvash Republic, which belongs to the Anatri Chuvash, are much less well known than the antiquities in the area of ​​the Viryal Chuvash. However, the little that we have at the present time allows us to assert that, starting from the distant past, here lived a population markedly different from that described above. Tribes associated with the more southern regions, with the steppe Middle Volga region, have long lived here.

At a time when in the second millennium BC. e. in the northern part of the Chuvash territory lived the Abashev tribes; in the south there were tribes with a different culture, well known from research carried out by Soviet archaeologists in the Kuibyshev and Saratov regions and received the name Khvalyn 15. Two such Khvalyn burial mounds were explored by P. P. Efimenko in 1927 in the village. Baybatyrevo Yalchik district on the bank of the river. Bula. One of them contained 16 graves containing burials accompanied by characteristic pottery and other objects, the other contained one grave 16. Unlike the Abashevsky mounds, the Khvalynsky mounds have

15 P. S. Rykov, On the issue of Bronze Age cultures in the Lower Volga region, “Izv. Institute of Local Lore at the Saratov Institute", vol. II, 1927.

16 P. N. Tretyakov, Monuments of the ancient history of the Chuvash Volga region, p. 40.

They are large in size, have vague outlines, and do not form large groups. Such mounds are known at a number of points along the Bula, Kubna and other rivers of southern Chuvashia. Near the mounds in the territory of southern Chuvashia there are remains of settlements of the Khvalyn tribes. One of them, located in the Vetkhva-Syrmi tract near the village. Baybatyrev, was subjected to small studies in 1927, during which fragments of pottery and bones of domestic animals were found: cows, horses, sheep and pigs.

Research in recent years, carried out in various parts of the Middle Volga region, has shown that the Khvalyn tribes, who occupied in the second millennium BC. e. a huge area on both sides of the Middle and partly Lower Volga, should be considered as the ancestors of two large population groups known in the Volga region in the subsequent time - in the first millennium BC. e. One of them was settled pastoral and agricultural tribes who left the Khvalyn, Saratov and Kuibyshev settlements. They are usually considered as the oldest Mordovian, and perhaps Burtas, tribes. The other troupe consisted Savromatian-Sarmatian tribes, nomadic pastoral population, which arose in the steppe Volga region on the basis of local tribes of the Bronze Age in conditions of widespread contact with the population living east of the Volga.

It is still unknown what path the ethnogonic process took in the territory of southern Chuvashia during this period, since there are no archaeological monuments of the first millennium BC. e. not found there. It seems, however, indisputable that the Sarmatization process closely affected the population of the Chuvash Volga region.

This question acquires special interest due to the fact that Sarmatian-Alanian tribes of the Eastern European steppes in the middle of the first millennium AD. e., as is known, were subject to Turkization. This happened as a result of the penetration of first the Hunnic nomadic hordes into Europe, then the Avars and others. Most of them were the nomadic population of the territory of modern Kazakhstan, related to the European Sarmatian tribes. They carried with them, however, the Turkic language, which during this period - the period of military democracy, tribal unions and the “great migration of peoples” - turned into the dominant language of the nomadic population of the Eurasian steppes.

From this we can make the assumption that the Turkization of some tribes of the Volga-Kama region is a very old phenomenon, which began in the middle of the first millennium AD. e. Bulgarians who appeared in the Volga-Kama region in the 7th-8th centuries. n. e. and representing the Turkified Sarmatian-Alan population of the Azov region, were by no means an ethnic group completely alien to many local tribes. Their arrival probably did not cause fundamental changes in the course of the ethnogonic process in the Volga-Kama region, but only strengthened and completed what had begun much earlier.

This, apparently, explains the difference in the fate of the Bulgarian tribes - the tribes of the conquerors - in Danube and Volga Bulgaria. On the Danube, the Bulgarians of Asparukh very soon dissolved and disappeared without a trace, along with their language, in the local Slavic environment. On the Volga, where, as on the Danube, they undoubtedly constituted a minority compared to the local population, the Turkic language won. It happened firstly, because the process of Turkization had already affected the tribes of the Volga region, and, secondly, because here the Bulgarians met with a number of different tribes, whereas on the Danube they found themselves in a homogeneous Slavic environment, standing at a higher stage of historical development.

The emergence of a number of large trade and craft cities in the Volga-Kama region, connecting Eastern Europe with the countries of Central Europe, had a serious impact on the development of the culture and language of all local tribes.

Asia. It was at this stage of the historical life of the Volga region tribes that both the process of Turkization and the process of consolidation of ancient tribes into larger ethnic formations should have been completed.

It is interesting to note that the culture characteristic of the Bulgarian kingdom was not represented on the territory of the entire Chuvashia, but mainly in its southern part - in the land of the Anatri Chuvash. There, in the river basin. Bula and Kubni, Bulgarian settlements are known - the remains of large cities surrounded by high ramparts and small but strongly fortified castles. An example of a settlement of the first type is the huge Bulgarian fortification near the village of Deusheva on Sviyag, which has a circumference of about two kilometers. The feudal castles were a settlement near the village of Bolshaya Toyaba on the river. Bule, a settlement near the village of Tigishevo on the river. Bolshoy Bule, Yaponchino settlement in the lower reaches of the river. Kubni, etc. Numerous rural settlements of the Bulgarian era are known around them. In these same places, connecting ancient settlements and rural settlements into a single system, powerful earthen ramparts stretch along the rivers for tens of kilometers, the same as in other places in Volga Bulgaria. They were intended to protect the possessions of the Bulgarian nobility from enemy invasions 17.

In the northern regions of the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the remains of the Bulgarian culture are almost unknown. At present, it is possible to name only two points - a small rural settlement at the mouth of the river. Anish near Kozlovka, where characteristic Bulgarian dishes and some other things of the 10th-13th centuries were found. 18, and the city of Cheboksary, where similar finds were discovered. There are no settlements of a Bulgarian nature or ramparts on the land of the Chuvash-Viryal. At the same time, there are settlements of a completely different nature, noted above when listing the archaeological monuments of northwestern Chuvashia under point 5.

From this we can conclude that in Bulgarian times the Chuvash people had not yet emerged as a single whole. The ancient differences between the northern and southern populations were still quite strong. There is no doubt, however, that the Bulgarian time, with its class society and statehood, with city life, trade relations and other unique features of the economy and way of life, should have created favorable conditions for cultural and ethnic rapprochement individual parts Volga-Kama population.

One might think that the subsequent XIV-XVI centuries were the time when the process of formation of the peoples of the Volga-Kama region, including the Chuvash people, in its main features reached its completion. The ancient differences did not disappear without a trace; they were preserved in both language and material culture, and they are preserved to this day. But they have long faded into the background, overshadowed by those cultural phenomena that were becoming common to the entire Chuvash population. This is how the Chuvash language, territory and cultural community gradually developed - elements of the Chuvash nation.

“Of course, the elements of a nation - language, territory, cultural community, etc. - did not fall from the sky, but were created gradually, even in the pre-capitalist period,” points out Comrade Stalin. “But these elements were in their infancy and in best case scenario represented only potential in the sense of the possibility of forming a nation in the future under certain favorable conditions” 19.

Subsequently, the history of the Chuvash people proceeded in close

17 See P. N Tretyakov, Monuments of the ancient history of the Chuvash Volga region, pp. 58-61.

18 See ibid., p. 62.

19 J.V. Stalin, National question and Leninism, Soch., vol. 11, p. 336.

interaction with the history of the Russian people. This refers to the pre-revolutionary time, when the economic life of the Chuvash people, who were one of the oppressed nationalities Tsarist Russia, developed within the framework of the all-Russian economy, which was facilitated by the location of Chuvashia on the banks of the Volga - the most important economic artery of the country. Especially here we mean the years of the Great October Socialist Revolution, when the Chuvash people, together with the great Russian people, rose up against a common enemy, and the Soviet era, when as a result of the victory of socialism in the USSR, the Chuvash people formed into a socialist nation.

4

The question of the origin of the Chuvash people can receive a satisfactory solution only if it is considered in inseparable connection with the question of the origin of all other peoples of the Volga-Kama region and, first of all, with the question of the origin of the Tatar people.

As a result of the work of Soviet archaeologists, ethnographers, anthropologists and linguists, it has now been established that the paths of ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars were basically the same as the paths of Chuvash ethnogenesis. The Tatar people emerged as a result of the long development of local tribes and their mixing with Turkic-speaking Bulgarian elements that penetrated the Volga-Kama region in the last quarter of the first millennium AD. e. The Tatar-Mongol conquest, especially the formation of the Kazan Khanate on the ruins of Volga Bulgaria, undoubtedly also played a well-known role in Tatar ethnogenesis. During this period, Kipchak (Polovtsian) elements penetrated into the local environment, constituting the bulk of the population of the European part of the Golden Horde 20 .

Having established the significant commonality of the ethnogonic destinies of the Chuvash and Tatar peoples, it is necessary to answer another question: how should the differences between these peoples be explained, why in the Volga-Kama region, in the place of the Bulgarian state, not one Turkic-speaking people, but two - Chuvash and Tatar - emerged? The resolution of this issue goes far beyond the scope of archaeological data and can be given mainly on the basis of ethnographic and linguistic materials. Therefore, we do not at all pretend to solve this issue and dwell on it only because there has been a certain tendency here that cannot be reconciled with.

We are talking about attempts by some researchers to turn the Bulgarian heritage into an object of division between the Tatar and Chuvash peoples, while it is obvious that it is the same common property of both peoples as the heritage of Kievan Rus is for the Russian, Ukrainian and Belarusian peoples. These attempts took place, in particular, at a scientific session devoted to the origins of the Tatar people, held in Moscow in 1946.

Thus, A.P. Smirnov, who, based on archaeological data, gave a very convincing picture of the ethnogenesis of the Tatar people in the above plan, sees the difference between the Tatars and the Chuvash in the fact that Tatars are descendants of supposedly Bulgarians themselves, while Chuvash are descendants of the Bulgarian Suvar tribe 21. This conclusion, supported by some other researchers, is, however, in conflict with the concept of A.P. Smirnov himself. This contradiction concludes

20 Collection. “The origin of the Kazan Tatars”, Kazan, 1948.

21 See ibid., p. 148.

It is not only that the newcomers - the Bulgarians - again turn out to be the main ancestor of the Tatar and Chuvash peoples, which does not correspond to the actual data, but also that the Bulgarians themselves are portrayed in essence as two monolithic ethnic groups, which in reality was not the case . As mentioned above, the Bulgarian tribes of the Azov region were ethnically a very diverse formation. To assume that within Volga Bulgaria with its lively trading life there existed Bulgarians and Suvars as two different ethnic groups, of course, it’s not necessary.

One cannot help but dwell on the attempts of some Tatar linguists to consider the Tatar people as direct descendants of the Volga Bulgarians, and the Chuvash as only one of the tribes that were part of the state of Volga Bulgaria. “The Kazan Tatar language is a direct continuation of the Bulgarian language,” says A. B. Bulatov. “It is impossible to conclude,” he declares here, “about the Chuvash, that they are direct descendants of the Bulgarians” 22. Archaeological data strongly protests against ideas of this kind. We saw above that on the territory of Chuvashia there were Bulgarian cities, powerful earthen ramparts stretching for tens of kilometers, and castles of the Bulgarian nobility. In southern Chuvashia there was the center of one of the Bulgarian principalities; this was by no means a remote province of Volga Bulgaria. On the territory of Tataria there were also similar urban and rural feudal centers, where the local population mixed with the Bulgarian. In some regions of Tataria, as well as in the north of Chuvashia, there are places where there were no Bulgarian cities and feudal possessions. The population living here undoubtedly retained their ancient specific cultural features for a long time. What is the basis for placing the Chuvash people in a different relationship to the Bulgarian heritage than the Tatar people?

According to Turkologists, the Chuvash language is the oldest among the Turkic languages ​​23 . On this basis, some linguists draw conclusions about some special antiquity of the Chuvash people. According to R.M. Raimov, the Chuvash are a remnant of some ancient people, Bulgarians are descendants of the Chuvash, and Tatars are descendants of Bulgarians. As an argument in favor of this fantastic view, R. /L. Raimov provides ethnographic data. The culture, life and language of the Chuvash people of the post-Bulgarian period, in his opinion, were supposedly at a lower stage of development than the culture, life and language of Volga Bulgaria 24.

All this is undoubtedly deeply erroneous and theoretically untenable. There were and could not be any ancient Chuvash people who preceded Volga Bulgaria in the era of the primitive communal system. It is impossible to compare the culture of the Chuvash village of the post-Bulgarian period with the culture of the Bulgarian trading cities, as well as with the culture of the feudal Bulgarian nobility and on this basis conclude that the Chuvash stood at a lower level cultural level than the Bulgarians. When R. M. Raimov says that the Chuvash could be considered as descendants of the Bulgarians only if “the level of culture that was achieved in the Bulgar period was preserved among the Chuvash people,” he is completely captive of the notorious theory of a single stream and idealizes the Bulgarian past. What little we know about the village of Bulgarian times testifies to a very primitive patriarchal life, the level of which was incomparably lower than the ancient Chuvash life, which allows us

22 Collection. “The origin of the Kazan Tatars”, Kazan, 1948, p. 142.

23 See ibid., p. 117.

24 See ibid., p. 144.

restore archaeology, ethnography and folkloristics. When discussing the issue of the origin of the Tatar people, Sh. P. Tipeev was absolutely right when he said the following: “The Bulgarian state was a cultural state in the past. I believe in this conditionally. Yes, the old Bulgar and the new Bulgar-Kazan were cultural centers in the Volga region. But was all of Bulgaria a cultural center?... I think Bulgaria was not a culturally integral entity. The Old Bulgar and the New Bulgar (Kazan), predominantly with a population of Bulgar tribes, stood out as luxuriantly developed shopping centers among the barbarian tribes that were part of this state" 25.

How is it possible to explain the difference between the culture and language of the Chuvash and Tatar peoples? Why did two Turkic-speaking peoples arise in the Volga-Kama region, and not one? Our assumptions regarding this issue are very brief outline boil down to the following.

In the middle of the first millennium AD. e. in the Volga-Kama, on the border of the forest and steppe zones, various tribes lived, the southern (conditionally Sarmatian) group of which began to undergo Turkization. In Bulgarian times, when the inhabitants of the steppe Azov region penetrated here, when a class society and statehood arose here and trading cities associated with the East appeared, the process of Turkization intensified significantly, capturing a wider (not only conventionally Sarmatian) circle of local tribes. Linguistically and ethnically, all the Volga-Kama tribes developed during this period in a general direction, to a certain extent similar to how during the era of Kievan Rus all East Slavic tribes developed in a general direction.

Local tribes, which later became part of the Tatar people and lived lower along the Volga than the ancestors of the Chuvash, have long been much more connected with the world of the steppes than the latter. The process of Turkification could not but develop more energetically here. And while among the ancestors of the Chuvash people this process did not go further than the level that was achieved in the era of Volga Bulgaria, among the ancestors of the Tatar people it continued subsequently. Even in the era of Volga Bulgaria, Pecheneg-Oguz and Kipchak (Polovtsian) elements penetrated here. During the Tatar-Mongol conquest and during the period of the existence of the Kazan Khanate in the Volga-Kama region, the influx of Kipchak elements dominating the European part of the Golden Horde could not but continue. Kipchak elements almost did not penetrate into the environment of the ancestors of the Chuvash people. Their language developed on local and old Turkic foundations. This circumstance, apparently, explains why not one Turkic-speaking people, but two, were formed in the Volga-Kama region - Chuvash and Tatar.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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

One of the most numerous peoples Volga region, has long become “one of our own” in the family of Russian peoples.
It is all the more interesting to know that its history and origin are the subject of fierce battles among historians and anthropologists!
The Chuvash were related to the most different peoples past and present and they are not directly related to anyone.
So who are they really?

The invisible people of the Volga region

Despite the fact that the Volga region was located on the outskirts of ancient civilizations, its peoples were well known.
The Mordovians, Maris and Cheremis are mentioned long before the Slavs!
Herodotus and Jordan write about the well-recognized signs of these peoples, but not a word about the Chuvash...

The Arab traveler Ibn Fahdlan, in the 10th century, described the local peoples in detail, but did not see the Chuvash.
The Khazar king Joseph wrote to his Jewish co-religionist in Spain about the subject peoples, but again without the Chuvash!
And even in the 13th century, the Hungarian monk Julian and the famous Rashid ad-Din crossed Chuvashia far and wide, but did not see such a people.

However, there is a strong version that the Chuvash are not just the indigenous inhabitants of these places, but even the descendants of Attila the Huns!

Horsemen of Attila or peaceful farmers?

Hunnic hypothesis

Traditionally, the Chuvash are considered the descendants of the people suar-suvar , which was related to the Khazars and Bulgars, developed somewhere in the steppes Central Asia and together with the Huns came to Europe.
Some Savirs, as part of the Sarmatian world, are mentioned by Strabo, and in myths Siberian Tatars, there is a legend about how they conquered these lands from the people soir, who went west.
Thus, the Savirs could be one of the eastern branches of the Sarmatians, who early met the Turks and Huns, after which they came to Europe under the banner of Attila, already a strongly mixed people.
After the murder of Attila and the defeat of his sons in the battle with the Gepids, at Nedao, the remnants of the Huns went to the Black Sea region, and from there further east, where they mixed with the aboriginal Finno-Ugrians and became the Chuvash.

As proof, they cite the undoubtedly Turkic language of the Chuvash and the distinctly mixed Mongoloid appearance and, in general, nothing more!

Bulgarian hypothesis

Another version derives the Chuvash from the population of Volga Bulgaria, which disintegrated after Batu conquered it and a certain part of the tribe settled in present-day Chuvashia.
DNA genealogy speaks in favor of this version - showing a large percentage of R1A haplotypes in the Chuvash and Bulgars, which makes both Sarmatians related.
But linguists are strongly against it, since the Bulgars spoke a typically Western Turkic language, which is related, but very different from Chuvash.
These are cousins, not direct relatives.

Khazar version

There is reason to suspect a strong Khazar influence on the Chuvash: the Chuvash language has a huge number of parallels with the language of the Jewish rulers of Khazaria (about 300 similar words).
Even the name supreme deity"Toram" suspiciously coincides with the holy book of Judaism.
In the 19th century this version was very popular

The Chuvash and their ethnonym “Chuvash” were brought out of the Khazar Kaganate. They acquired it during the Kavar uprising, when a split occurred among the Khazars.
As is known, the Kavar uprising occurred shortly after the religious reform of Kagan Obadhia, who elevated Judaism to the rank of state religion.
This uprising was raised by the Muslim Khazars, outraged by the granting of privileges to Jews and the infringement of their own rights.
It was then that the Khazar people split into two branches: into rebels called Kavarami(from the Chuvash word kavar“conspiracy, conspirators, front”) and on peaceful Khazars who did not participate in the rebellion and were nicknamed Chuvash(from Chuvash-Turkic-Iranian juash, yuash(“peaceful, meek, quiet”).

Anthropology of the Chuvash

Chuvash - usually have mixed European-Mongoloid features.
Moreover, they predominate, oddly enough for this region, mixes with southern Europeans, and not in the northern ones, like the Mordovians or Permians.
Caucasoidism, in general, predominates and typical Mongoloids make up no more than 10% of the population.
But the appearance of the Chuvash is quite recognizable: small or medium height, with dark eyes and hair, dark skin, a wide and flattened face, small eyes and a short, wide nose.
In men, the growth of beards and mustaches is weakened; in women, there is often excessive accumulation of male-type fat in the area of ​​the shoulders and abdomen.
The length of the body is greater than the length of the legs, the shape of the head is round with a massive facial part and a weakly defined chin.

Chuvash language

With all the influence of Khazar words, as well as the differences in the written language of the Volga Bulgaria and Chuvash, the language of this people is clearly recognized as Turkic and the only living language of the Bulgarian group.

Who are the Chuvash and from whom did they descend?

Today it is obvious that the Chuvash have a large share of haplotypes of the Indo-European population, and a very ancient one - the Andronovo people of Western Siberia, who were the ancestors of the Altai Scythians and Sarmatians, as well as the Avars.
This people early mixed with the early Turks: the Huns, and then the Bulgars and Khazars.
Then they were joined by the indigenous inhabitants of the Volga region, close to the Finno-Ugrians, and perhaps the West Siberian Ostyak Ugrians took part in the formation of this people.

From such a cocktail of backgammon, a very mixed ethnic group emerged, where obvious Mongoloid characteristics of the people are combined with Turkic language, Finno-Ugric customs and the obvious influence of the Tatar-Mongols and Khazars on the linguistic base of the Chuvash.