Mansi is a mysterious northern people whose history dates back to Neolithic times. There are many myths and legends around it: from rumors about alcohol intolerance to terrible shamanic rituals that are carried out to this day.

Where do they live?

The main habitat of modern Mansi is the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, often called Yugra, after the name of the Ugric peoples, its indigenous inhabitants. Most of the representatives of the nationality - from 300 to 700 people - live in the cities of Khanty-Mansiysk, Nizhnevartovsk and Tyumen, the villages of Kondinskoye, Igrim, Mezhdurechensky, Saranpaul, Sosva, Shugur, Berezovo.
A small number of the so-called “Ural Mansi” live in the northern part of the Sverdlovsk region - about 200 people. In addition, the Mansi family lives in the Vishersky state reserve on the territory Perm region. Despite the fact that these places are considered the historical homeland of the people, in modern world It is the northern regions of Western Siberia that are associated with the Mansi.
Now about 80% of Mansi have completely assimilated and live in cities or towns, 60% of them consider Russian their native language, and only 13% speak Mansi fluently. The indigenous population of the North is provided with material support and, if necessary, is provided with their own modern housing free of charge. Representatives of the nationality who support the traditional way of life are allocated plots of land for use free of charge, the area of ​​which amounts to several hundred thousand hectares.

Number

According to the 2010 census, the number of representatives of the people is 12,269 people. Over the last century, its numbers have tended to increase: in 1924, only 5,754 Mansi were registered.

Name

Mansi is the self-name of the nationality, derived from the Proto-Finnish-Ugric word *mańćɜ, meaning both “man” and “man”. Interestingly, the Hungarians also chose a similar word as their own name: magyar. It also finds parallels in the names of the Khanty clans - “Mant” and “Mas”, and the Mansi themselves - “Mos”. In Russian, the word “Mansi” is not declined; the adjective “Mansi” is formed from it. Representatives of the nationality are called “Mansi” and “Mansi”.
In the Middle Ages and during the subsequent development of the Urals and Siberia, the Mansi were known under the name “Voguls” - it was assigned to them until the 1920-1930s of the 20th century. This name comes from the Khanty words u̯oɣaĺ, u̯oɣat́. According to one version, they began to be called that after the name of the local river Vogulka. According to another, because of the desperate and bloodthirsty nature, since the translation of the word is close to the meaning of the word “wild”.

Language

The Mansi language is part of a large group of Finno-Ugric languages ​​and, according to research, is most similar to Hungarian. Before the revolution, writing did not exist among the people: only oral creativity and drawings. The first sound-based alphabet was created in 1931: it used letters from the Latin alphabet.
However, at the end of the 30s it was rewritten using the Russian language as a basis. In the seventies, another modernization took place: letters denoting long vowels were added. Today, the Mansi language is studied in primary schools in the area of ​​​​residence and at Ugra University.

Story

It is believed that the tribes that laid the foundation national peculiarities Mansi, appeared in the foothills of the Urals 2-3 thousand years BC. Later they moved beyond the Ural Mountains, where their development was significantly influenced by the Iranian peoples who lived here. The main monument of those years is located on the territory of the modern Perm region: this is the famous Vishera Written Stone. It is a wall with rock paintings and paintings made by the ancestors of modern Mansi.

The first recorded contacts with the aborigines occurred in the 11th century, when the Novgorodians reached the Ural lands. Individual Mansi tribes at that time were part of the Kondinsky, Sosvinsky, Lyapinsky and Pelymsky principalities. The abundance of natural resources and the desire to appropriate new territories more than once brought Russians to these regions. First, because of their raids, the Mansi left the foothills of the Urals and moved to the southern and middle parts of Western Siberia. It is believed that it was during this period that Ugric tribes from Asia joined the Neolithic Ugrians, forming the Mansi people familiar to us today.
In the 16th-17th centuries, the Ob-Irtysh lands were annexed to the Moscow Principality, after which the active resettlement of peasants began here to develop new territories. As a result, the oppression of the indigenous people, the struggle with them for territory and an attempt to convert them to the Christian faith began simultaneously. This led to clashes and then to the departure of the Aborigines to the cold northern parts of the region.

Appearance

The appearance of the Mansi reflects the features of the indigenous Ugric peoples of the Neolithic era, combined with the Ugric tribes that passed through the steppes of Asia and Kazakhstan. The appearance features of modern representatives include:

• height up to 160 cm for men and women;
• fragile physique;
• hair is straight, black or dark brown, dense structure;
• the fold of the eyelid covering the lacrimal tubercle is of a distinct Mongolian type;
• mostly dark eyes;
• wide mouth opening, straight shape and thin lips;
• chin pointed or rounded, medium protruding;
• beard and body hair do not grow thickly and slowly;
• The shape of the head is not wide and low.

Cloth

The Mansi national costume, due to the natural climate, was distinguished by the mandatory presence of warm outerwear. It was sewn from deer skins by women, and fish bones and sinews were used as needles and threads. From the skins of deer killed in summer time, they sewed men's fur coats with the fur turned inside out or light women's fur coats. Since the ladies spent most of their time at home or engaged in gathering, they had no need for insulated clothing.

By winter, deer grew thick fur with an incredibly warm undercoat, so road clothing was made from animals killed in winter. It was a long, closed-cut parka with the fur turned outward: it was worn after the malitsa. For everyday use, fur coats were made knee-length. Mittens and shoes were made from skin taken from deer limbs.

Men's underwear consisted of stockings, into which fur pants were tucked, and a shirt made of nettles or fabric bartered from merchants. In the summer, the outfit was added with luzans - multi-colored cloth capes with slits on the sides, with a hood and sleeveless. Hunters used similar lusans, but without a hood.

Summer shoes were made of leather without fur and secured around the shins with special laces. Clothes were necessarily belted with leather belts decorated with chains made of metal or bones. They were considered talismans that brought good luck, and only men could wear them. In case of danger, for example, before a hurricane or during a hunt, the belts were thrown into a lake or forest to appease the spirits of nature.

Men wore rings that were sacred and were often mentioned in folklore as helpers to achieve goals or find the right path. Their hairstyle is also curious: they did not cut their hair, but braided it into two braids, located on the sides and fastened at the bottom with a chain.

Women's clothing consisted of long dress straight cut, over which a swinging robe was worn. A headscarf was required to be worn on the head; walking with one's head uncovered was considered indecent. The collars and cuffs were decorated with beads, and bright strips of fabric or fur of different shades were sewn along the hem of the underwear and outerwear. The ornaments are interesting, among which there were such patterns as:

1. Variations on the theme of deer antlers
2. Diamond-shaped patterns elongated into stripes
3. Cones
4. Schematic images of a house and the sun
5. Images of a swan, goose, loon.

Interestingly, the embroidery was distinguished by a predominance of dark but rich colors. Among them are black, brown, deep green, blue.

Mansi men

The very name “Mansi” means both “man” and “man,” which already speaks of the significance and role of the latter in the life of the tribe. The man was responsible for everything that happened outside the home: hunting, fishing, trading, cattle breeding. He also had exclusive rights to communicate with spirits. Only representatives of the stronger sex could be shamans, participate in religious rituals, and make sacrifices.

Mansi women

The role of the Mansi woman was to organize household life: everything inside the house fell on her shoulders. She had to light and maintain the fire, heat the house, cook food, sew clothes, look after children and livestock. Women were not allowed to participate in secret shamanic rituals, nor were they allowed to perform them themselves.
So, in each house, a talisman was installed on the back external wall. A woman was not only forbidden to touch him, but also to walk around the house, and also to sleep in the part of the dwelling closest to it. During the bear festival, only men could perform sacred rituals, songs and dances. Mansi women had to cover their faces during this time so as not to confuse the spirits.
However, despite this, according to legend, it was the female bear who gave birth to the first Mansi, and the bear was considered a sacred animal in most clans. For this reason and according to the established order, women were not offended among the people, and they tried to live peacefully in families. One of their main tasks was the birth of healthy offspring and remaining faithful to their husband. For a long time, infertility was considered good reason for polygamy.

Housing

While living on the slopes of the Ural Mountains, the Mansi lived in low, one-story log houses, often with an earthen roof. Representatives of the ethnic group living in the Urals continue to live in wooden huts today. With the move to the north, they began to build more substantial dwellings, which were insulated from the inside with skins, and the cracks were plugged with reindeer moss.

In summer while hunting and fishing, which often took place far from the main dwelling, temporary cone-shaped tents were built from birch bark. Mansi reindeer herders built spacious tents covered with reindeer skins. Since these representatives of the nationality were forced to roam, moving herds, their homes were temporary.
This did not affect their quality: it was always warm and spacious inside, and the responsibilities for arranging the home fell on the woman’s shoulders. In the center of the hut or tent, a special open hearth was installed, made of logs coated with clay. Smoke escaped from the home through a ventilation window in the roof of the house or a small hole in the upper part of the chum. Food was cooked on a fire right in the house, sometimes a fire was lit on the street, near the tent.

Mansi life

The main occupations of the Mansi are hunting, fishing and gathering: this is exactly what the indigenous Neolithic people did Ugric peoples, who lived here originally and came from the foothills of the Urals. They caught fish with nets and snares, but they adhered to the belief that the young should not be killed, so the nets were not made too narrow. The main place of production is the Verkhnyaya Sosva River, where Sosva herring, which has always been considered a delicacy, is still caught.
The Mansi caught large quantities of muksun, salmon, sterlet, sturgeon, burbot, and pike, which they sold to Russian merchants. Today, some Mansi families are engaged in large-scale fishing and supply of fish, catching up to several hundred kilograms per year.
The constant source of food for the people is gathering. Every year they collected a huge harvest of Siberian cedar cones, unusually tasty and nutritious, which served their families as a help throughout the winter. In the fall, delicious northern berries were found: cranberries, lingonberries, cloudberries, and blueberries.
The Mansi hunted with bows. This weapon was considered sacred, women were forbidden to touch it or step over it. Hunting was prohibited for sacred animals, which included otters, beavers, and geese in various genera. Since the pagan beliefs of the Mansi were based on respect for nature, it was forbidden to kill baby animals and pregnant females.
Reindeer husbandry was mainly carried out by the descendants of the nomadic Ugrians who came from the south, while other families used reindeer as personal transport and raised them for food and clothing. The traditions of reindeer husbandry have been preserved to this day: the largest herd numbers about 20 thousand heads.

Culture

The main manifestation of Mansi culture is the creation of music and songwriting. Studying the history of the people, scientists were able to count more than 20 species musical instruments. Most of them are stringed and were created based on associations with animals. For example, a seven-string instrument similar to a harp is a swan. A large layer of folklore consists of songs:

• sacred
• hiking
• military
• glorifying heroes
• satirical
• dedicated to ancestors
• spell songs
• love
• oath songs

The next important element of culture, the formation of mentality and identity are legends and fairy tales. Of particular importance are shamanic and sacred tales, which tell about religion, the origin and structure of the world, and give important guidelines for social roles. They often shared fascinating everyday and heroic tales among themselves. Their main feature is an interesting, but sometimes very confusing plot. The heroes of these stories are smart, cunning, resourceful and strong, defeating enemies and evil forces.

Religion

Initially, like most ancestral peoples, the Ob Ugrians had many gods, each of whom personified the power of nature. So, the supreme god was Num-Torum, the underworld was ruled by the spirit Kul-Otyr. Polum-Torum was the patron of fish and birds - the main source of food, and Kaltash-ekva was considered the goddess of earth and fertility.

The Mansi also have their own legend of the creation of the world. They believed that everything that exists is divided into three spheres: earth, water and air. That's why main role played by the loon, a waterfowl capable of moving in all three. She dived many times to the bottom of a single ocean and pulled out pieces of silt from there, which eventually became land.
Officially, more than 80% of Mansi profess Christianity, but in practice it is closely intertwined with pagan beliefs. Thus, they identify Nicholas the Pleasant with Num-Torum, and the Virgin Mary with the earth goddess Kaltash-ekva. There are eclectic and macabre rituals, such as smearing the lips of icons with animal blood to ask the saints for help.

Traditions

Traditional holiday Mansi is called “bearish”. It is carried out every time a bear, which is considered sacred, is killed in order to appease its spirit and reconcile with the hunter. Preparation begins in the forest: the animal is wiped of blood and dirt, placed on a stretcher so that the head is between the paws.
Entering the village, men sing ritual songs and fumigate themselves. The women begin to prepare food, and guests from neighboring villages are invited. If a bear is killed, the holiday with feasts, songs and rituals lasts 4 days, if a bear - 5 days. This is due to the Mansi belief that a woman has 4 souls, and a man has 5, and each of them must be honored. A deer is sacrificed: its skull is hung in a prominent place for the entire duration of the holiday.

Character

In the Middle Ages, the Mansi were considered brave warriors, bloodthirsty and merciless, for which they were nicknamed Voguls, which means “wild”. However, centuries-old oppression of the people, the imposition of the Christian faith, the desire to deceive and take possession of priceless reserves of furs and fish left a serious imprint on the character of its representatives.
At the end of the 19th century, in the journal “Nature and People” they were described as lazy and uninitiative, preferring to relax and observe events from the sidelines. One could often see situations when there was no food in the house, and Mansi men preferred to play cards and smoke a pipe. However, their positive qualities were also noted: hospitality, compassion and restraint.

Mansi, even in the midst of fun, rarely smiled, maintaining a thoughtful and even slightly gloomy expression on their face with compressed lips and a gloomy, deep gaze from under their brows. These features of the people have been mentioned more than once in folklore. Concentration, prudence and alertness were valued in a man. Beauty and a cheerful disposition were rarely extolled in women: the main thing was that she be hardworking, restrained and economical.
Ethnographers also note such a character trait of the Mansi as cunning. According to the testimony of Russian and overseas merchants who came to the natives for valuable furs, the Mansi were in no hurry to immediately display all their goods. At first they showed unremarkable samples, gradually taking out more and more valuable specimens of fur from the reserves. It is possible that such behavior was also a sign of caution: the seller first looked closely at the buyer out of his inherent wariness.
Another property that has been noticed among the natives is intemperance in alcohol. For a long time there was a myth that northern peoples are genetically predisposed to drunkenness, but scientists have refuted this information. Perhaps the fascination of the indigenous people of the north with cheerful drinks is due to a lack of resistance to them. Unlike southern regions, abounding in vineyards, in the north there were no raw materials suitable for the production of alcohol. He came to Mansi only with the arrival of Russian and foreign merchants, who, noticing the peculiarity of their body, exchanged the most valuable furs, deer and bear skins for vodka.

Famous Mansi

One of famous representatives Mansi nationality - boxer Ruslan Provodnikov, who now does not live in his homeland, but often shares stories about his origins. Surprisingly famous artist Wassily Kandinsky also has Mansi roots on his father’s side. The surname of their family was formed from the name of a well-known family of rulers of the Kondinsky principality.

The small Mansi people continue to preserve their traditional way of life and fight to preserve their language and cultural characteristics. The rich historical past, customs that have survived to this day and an incredible folklore reserve leave ethnographers with a wide field for research.

Video

Muncie- one of the small peoples of the Siberian North. Their number in 1989 was 8,459 people. Today, the Mansi live mainly in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug of the Tyumen Region and a number of districts of the Sverdlovsk Region along the Lower Ob and the rivers Northern Sosva, Lyapin, Konda, Lozva. Previously, the territory of their settlement was much wider and was located significantly to the west and south of the modern one. According to toponymy, until the 16th century. The Mansi lived in the middle Urals and to the west of the Urals, in the Perm Kama region (on the tributaries of the Kama - Vishera, Chusovaya), in the upper and middle reaches of the Pechora. In the south, the borders of their settlement reached the upper reaches of the river. Ufa and almost to the lower reaches of Tura, Tavda, Sosva, Pelym and Lozva.

In the 16th century in Russian documents, the Mansi are listed along the rivers Chusovaya, Tagil, Neiva, Kokuy, Barancha, Vishera, Pechora, middle and lower Lozva, Sosva, Lyalya and Konda. By the 17th century this territory was significantly reduced, including only the Vishera in the west, the middle reaches of the Lozva in the north, the middle and lower reaches of the Pelym and Sosva in the east, the upper reaches of the Tura and the middle reaches of the Tavda in the south. In the 18th century it shrank a little more in the west, expanded in the south, including the entire Tura basin, and in the east, including the upper and middle reaches of the Konda, as well as in the north – the upper reaches of Lozva. In the XIX – early XX centuries. the boundaries of Mansi settlement moved further to the east and north, approaching modern ones: the Mansi disappeared on Tura and Tavda, appeared on Northern Sosva and Lyapina; at the beginning of the 20th century a few still remained on Vishera, small groups - along Pelym, Sosva, Ivdel.

Until the 1930s (in foreign literature and now) Mansi was called Voguls. This name is the same as the Khanty (northern) name Mansi Vogal, apparently comes from the names of the rivers that flowed on the lands of the Pelym principality: mans. (northern) will, (Khant. (northern) vogal-yogan) letters "river with reaches" This ethnonym begins to be used in Russian documents from the 14th century (Sofia Chronicle, 1396), primarily in relation to the Mansi, who lived on the western slopes of the Urals; later (XVI - XVIII centuries) the Mansi population of Konda, Tura, Tavda, Pelym, Sosva, Chusovaya, Tagil, Ufa was called Voguls.

In the XI – XVI centuries. to the population of the Northern Trans-Urals and Lower Ob region - territories where the Nenets, Khanty and Mansi later lived, used the name Ugra. The Russians met Ugra through the Komi-Zyryans of Pechora and Vychegda. From the 12th century Novgorodians began to constantly exchange their goods for sable and marten furs with the Trans-Ural tribes. In the 17th century term Ugra disappears, terms are used Voguls(Vogulich), and for territories – Siberia.

Mansi speak the language of the Ugric subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group, the Uralic family of languages. The Mansi language is divided into groups of dialects, the differences between which are very significant - according to a number of linguists, at the level independent languages. The northern group of dialects includes the North Sosvinsky and Verkhny Lozvinsky dialects with four dialects (Verkhnosvinsky, Sosvinsky, Lyapinsky and Obskoy). The southern group included the Tavda dialects, the eastern group included the Kondinsky (upper, middle and lower Kondinsky) and Karymsky (according to Yukonda). In the western group, most of the dialects, like the Tavda (southern) dialects, have been lost. These are Pelymsky, Middle Lozvinsky, Lower Lozvinsky, Vagilsky, Kungursky, Verkhotursky, Cherdynsky and Ust-Ulsuysky dialects.

The anthropological type of Mansi is special Ural a race whose origin is interpreted by scientists in two ways. Some consider it the result between Caucasoid and Mongoloid types, others trace its origin to protomorphic ancient Ural race. In the formation of the anthropological types of the Mansi, apparently, both Caucasian elements (of southern origin) and Mongoloid elements (Siberian, apparently Katangese type), and ancient Ural.

Thus, based on their language and economic and cultural type, the Mansi can be conditionally divided into several ethnographic groups. Currently, two have been preserved - northern and eastern, as well as a small part of the western, Lower Lozvinsky ones. The northern group - North Sosvinskaya, consists of five territorial (spoken) groups (Verkhsosvinskaya, Sosvinskaya, Lyapinskaya, Obskaya, Verkhnel Lozvinskaya). The eastern group consists of the Karymskaya, Verkhkondinskaya and Srednekondinskaya territorial groups. Since these groups settled along the tributaries of the Ob and Irtysh, the Mansi often called themselves by the rivers: Sakw mahum(Saqu- Lyapin, mahum – people, people) Polum makhum(Half– Pelym), etc.

The history of studying Mansi began in the 18th century. The first information about them came from travelers, monks and priests, officials G. Novitsky, I.I. Lepekhina, I.G. Georgi, P.S. Pallas, P. Lyubarskikh. In the XIX – early XX centuries. S. Melnikov, M. Kovalsky, Hieromonk Macarius, N.V. wrote about Mansi. Sorokin, K.D. Nosilov, N.L. Gondatti, I.N. Glushkov, I.G. Ostroumov, V.G. Pavlovsky, P.A. Infantiev et al.

In the XIX – early XX centuries. Mansi was studied by Hungarian and Finnish scientists - A. Reguli (1843 - 1844), A. Ahlqvist (1854 - 1858), B. Munkacsi (1888 - 1889), A. Kannisto (1901, 1904 - 1906 .), W.T. Sirelius (1898 – 1900), K.F. Karjalainen et al.

In Soviet times, the history and culture of Mansi were studied by S.I. Rudenko, V.N. Chernetsov, S.V. Bakhrushin, I.I. Avdeev, M.P. Vakhrusheva, A.N. Balandin, E.A. Kuzakova, E.I. Rombandeeva, 3.P. Sokolova, P. Veresh, G.M. Davydova, E.G. Fedorova, N.I. Novikova, I.N. Gemuev, A.M. Sagalaev, A.I. Pika, A.V. Golovnev, E.A. Pivneva.

The oldest substrate in the Mansi are the creators of the Ural cultures of the Mesolithic-Neolithic period - the distant ancestors of the Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples. In the Bronze Age (2nd millennium BC), the creators of the andronoid cultures of the forest-steppe zone of the Trans-Urals and Western Siberia included Ugric herder tribes who were in close contact with the Iranian-speaking world of the steppe. With climate change, the advance of the border of the taiga and the steppe to the north, they moved to the north, where they partially merged with the aborigines of the Urals and Western Siberia (descendants of the ancient Urals). The aborigines of the taiga, hunters and fishermen, led a sedentary and semi-sedentary lifestyle, lived in dugouts, and used wooden, bone and copper tools. Ugric pastoralists bred horses, rode them, led complex farming and a semi-nomadic lifestyle, and made bronze tools, weapons, and jewelry. That is why the Mansi culture has many features of the southern pastoral culture, traces of Iranian-speaking influence, on the one hand, and also more features northern taiga culture. Probably at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. The Ugric community collapsed, and the ancestors of the Mansi, Hungarians and Khanty emerged from it.

In their original settlement territory to the west of the Urals, in the Urals and to the east of it, the ancestors of the Mansi came into contact in the east with the Khanty, in the west with the Permians, the ancestors of the Komi, who formed in the Kama region, and at the end of the 1st millennium AD. began to move to the north. Aborigines, incl. They partially assimilated the ancestors of the present-day Mansi, and partially pushed them out to the east and northeast.

The Vychegda land lay on the routes to the Trans-Urals, where Novgorod’s “willing people”, merchants, and industrialists, sought. Following the Novgorodians, the Rostov-Suzdal residents also moved here. By the 11th – 12th centuries. they developed the lands of the river basins. South and Sukhona. At the beginning of the 14th century. The Moscow state also began to show interest in these lands, sending its squads there. Having subjugated Perm Vychegda, the Principality of Moscow turned its attention to Perm the Great - lands stretching from the headwaters of the Kama in the west to the Urals in the east, from Lake Chusovskoye in the north to the river. Chusovoy in the south. Through these lands there were routes to the Trans-Urals - from the western slopes of the Urals from the Vym and Vishera rivers, along the Vishera, through the Urals, to Pelym, Lozva and Tavda. This was the southern route. The northern road went through the so-called. Ugra transition. These routes have long been known to the Mansi, Komi, and Russians. The lands inhabited by the Komi were finally annexed to the Moscow state after the campaign against Perm the Great in I472 by the detachment of Fyodor the Motley. Under pressure from the Russians, the Komi moved north and east, the Mansi, in turn, moved east under pressure from both the Komi and the Russians.

In the XV - XVI centuries. The influx of Russian population into the Kama region and the Urals increased, especially after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate. Russian industrialists Stroganovs settled in the Kama region, having received letters from the tsar to develop the local places along Chusovaya and Sylva.

As a result of the military campaigns of the military troops of Ivan III (1465, 1483, 1499), the Ugra, Mansi and Khanty princes recognized vassal dependence on him. These were the territories of Lozva, Pelym, Northern Sosva, Lyapin, Tavda, Tobol. The fortresses built on the lands of the Stroganovs were outposts for further campaigns to the east and protected the Stroganov lands from the attacks of the Mansi, Khanty and Tatars.

In the 15th century, the Mansi, judging by folklore and archaeological data, lived in Western Siberia in small, sparsely populated villages ( Paul), grouped around fortified towns ( mustache). The southern groups of the Mansi (along Tura and Tavda) early came into contact with Turkic tribes, apparently, already in the 7th – 8th centuries, when the ancestors of the current Siberian Tatars appeared here, whose socio-economic level of development was higher than that of the Mansi. At the beginning of the 16th century. The lands of Tyumen became part of the Siberian Khanate created by the Tatars with its center in Kashlyk. The Mansi were subject to tribute, and they developed trade and exchange relations with the Tatars (for furs they received weapons, bread, fabrics and other goods). Assimilation by the Tatars southern groups Mansi had a large scale, especially later, in the 16th – 17th centuries. The Siberian Khanate gained great influence under Khan Kuchum (1563 - 1581), who collected tribute from the Mansi and Khanty of Western Siberia and constantly sought to advance north of Tobol, right up to the Kama region. Naturally, the interests of the Moscow state and the Siberian Khanate collided in this region. In 1572, Kuchum recognized vassal dependence on the Moscow prince, but the very next year he invaded the estates of the Stroganovs and killed the royal envoy Chubukov in Kashlyk.

In 1574, the Stroganovs received a new charter for lands on the eastern slopes of the Urals, r. Tobol and its tributaries. Fortresses were also built here. The Mansi and Khanty princes staged raids on the Stroganovs' possessions, plundered and burned Russian villages along Chusovaya, incl. Solikamsk. The Stroganovs responded in kind. At the end of the 1570s. they hired the Cossack ataman Ermak for a campaign to the east (1582), as a result of which Kuchum was defeated, and by 1585 the Siberian lands became part of the Moscow principality.

Back in the 17th – 18th centuries. the population on Northern Sosva and Yukonda were called Ostyaks, not Voguls. Apparently, the processes of formation of modern Mansi took place here based on the merger of Mansi (newcomers from the south and west), local aboriginal and Khanty groups. The Mansi moved here from the Kama region and the Urals, as well as from Tura and Tavda, where in the 16th - 17th centuries. processes of Tatarization of the Ugric population took place. By the middle of the 20th century. The Mansi remained only in the territory of Northern Sosva and Lyapin (the newly formed northern group), Konda, Lozva. In the east they advanced to the Ob, mixing in the lower reaches of this river with the Khanty.

The main activities of the Mansi are hunting, fishing and reindeer herding. Gathering of nuts, berries, roots and herbs was of no small importance for all Mansi groups. According to economic and cultural type, most of the Mansi in the 19th century. belonged to semi-sedentary taiga hunters and fishermen, but small groups northern Mansi were nomadic reindeer herders of the forest-tundra and tundra (in their reindeer herding there are many features borrowed from the Nenets and Komi), and the southern and eastern (Kondinsky, Pelymsky, Turinsky) combined hunting and fishing with agriculture and livestock raising in their economy. In addition, the share of fishing activities among different territorial groups of the Mansi was different. Hunting was more developed in the upper reaches of the rivers, tributaries of the Ob and Irtysh, and fishing - in their lower reaches.

In hunting, a large role was played by driven hunting for elk and deer, hunting with a bow and arrow, with a dog (from the 19th century - with a gun), catching animals and birds with various traps, loops, overweight nets, and nets. Fur hunting, which intensified due to the payment of yasak, was carried out for sable, fox, squirrel, ermine, wolverine, marten, and weasel. For food, hunting game was of great importance - upland (grouse, capercaillie, hazel grouse) and waterfowl (ducks, geese). The hunting season was divided into two periods - from November to New Year and from February to March. In January, when there was a lot of snow and frost, hunters rested at home, handed over furs, bought new supplies of food and ammunition, and repaired gear. They hunted on lands that traditionally belonged to village residents or individual families. There they set up hunting huts, from which they rode out on reindeer or on skis, harnessing a dog to a hand sled, to hunt, returning to spend the night. They hunted individually, in groups of kin, and driven hunts were carried out by artels. In fishing, a large role was played by constipation fishing, which was widespread in the past among all Finno-Ugric peoples. The region inhabited by the Mansi is rich in large and especially small rivers, which are convenient to block off with a fence with traps in its openings. Due to the fact that fish go to spawn, going down or up the river (anadromous and semi-anadromous fish), fishermen have to change the place of fishing and the methods of catching it - from a shut-off to a net, etc. Some of the North Sosvinsky Mansi descended in the summer down to the Ob River, where they caught high-value fish (sturgeon, sterlet, nelma, muksun, cheese). In the r. Northern Sosva was home to freshwater herring, which fish farmers even harvested for export.

Hunting and fishing activities determined the types of Mansi settlement - dispersed, small groups scattered throughout the taiga, developing areas close to villages and distant lands. In addition to permanent winter settlements, they always had seasonal settlements in which they lived in spring, summer and autumn, fishing fishing grounds and going around hunting areas.

Traditional means of transport are sled dogs and reindeer herding (in winter); in the southern regions, horseback riding. In summer, water transport is developed, now they travel mainly on motorboats, but they check nets on nearby lands on traditional dugout boats, and seine on large planks, which have long been made under the influence of the Russians. In winter they go on skis: tops and caps, glued with camus, fur from the leg of a deer.

According to folklore, the Mansi lived in villages (sometimes from the same house) and towns. Their appearance emerges from folklore and archaeological sources. They were fortified with ramparts and ditches, located on high, inaccessible wooded headlands. Inside there were underground and above-ground houses in which “heroes”, warriors, lived; Sacrifices were made to the spirits in them, and hitching posts stood near the houses. Villages of hunters and fishermen were located around the towns.

In the XVIII – XIX centuries. Mansi villages were small, from 3 to 20 houses, in which from 10 to 90 people lived. Most often they were located along river banks, the layout was scattered. Winter permanent dwellings were log houses, above ground, single-chamber, low, with gable (sometimes flattened earthen) roofs on rafters and ridge beams (the roof and side roofs were sometimes carved in the form of the heads of animals, for example, a hare), with small windows, low doors, often with a canopy. In winter, the windows were covered with ice; in summer, they were covered with the abdomen of a deer. The house was heated and lit by a chuval - an open hearth like a fireplace, woven from twigs and coated with clay.

A small one was also built separately from the main house. man-kol(log house or small tent), where women lived during childbirth and menstruation.

Property, clothing, shoes, skins of fur-bearing animals, stocks of fish and meat were stored in barns, ground or (more often) piled. The barns were made of logs or planks, with a gable roof. There could be several such barns in a family; they also stood in the remote taiga next to hunting huts or separately; the meat of hunted animals was also stored in them. Sledges and boats were stored under barns in villages. Bread was baked in outdoor adobe ovens with a frame of poles, without a chimney, installed on a platform.

Seasonal Mansi settlements on fishing grounds consisted of several light frame buildings with a frame of poles, covered with birch bark, or less often with larch bark. There was no fireplace; they cooked outside over a fire.

One Mansi family could have several - up to 4 - 6 similar seasonal villages and several hunting huts. Throughout the year they moved from one place to another to fish.

These types of settlements, settlements and dwellings, as well as lifestyles, persisted until the 1960s. on Northern Sosva, Lozva, on the tributaries of the Konda, they are still preserved in remote taiga places. However, most of the small villages were liquidated due to the consolidation of farms, the transfer of the population to a sedentary lifestyle, while the Mansi were considered as nomadic people (reindeer herders), both the specifics of their economy and the presence of permanent villages were ignored. New settlements for 200–500 people were built for them (less often reconstructed from old ones). They were built according to standard designs with street layouts, boarding schools, hospitals or first-aid posts, clubs, shops, post offices; Here were also the boards of collective and state farms and the buildings of village councils. Near large settlements there are landing sites for helicopters or small airfields and piers for ships. The state's attempt to improve the life of the Mansi, however, tore them away from their fishing grounds, caused underemployment of the population, the curtailment of traditional sectors of the economy, and reduced the standard of living of the population.

The Mansi sewed clothes from animal skins (winter), rovduga, leather (demi-season and shoes), cloth and cotton fabrics (summer). Men's clothing is closed, women's clothing is open. Winter closed clothing of local origin (parka) and borrowed from the Nenets (from Mansi reindeer herders) - malitsa, sokuy (or sovik). Western and Eastern Mansi wore sheepskin coats and cloth caftans in winter.

Demi-season (spring-autumn) Mansi clothes were made of cloth, just like winter ones, men's - closed, women's - swing. Underwear - shirts and trousers for men, shirts and dresses for women - were made from fabrics, chintz, and satin. Back at the beginning of the 20th century. Mansi women collected nettles, knew how to process them, spin threads from nettle fiber and weave canvas on simple looms. Already in the 19th century. men's clothing was often purchased (especially from the southern and western Mansi). Men's clothing They were belted with a wide leather belt, decorated with bone and metal plaques, and bags, sheaths and cases for a knife, ammunition, etc. were hung from the belt. The hunters wore a cloth cape luzan closed cut with unsewn sides, with a hood, pockets and loops for an ax, food, ammunition, etc.

Clothes and shoes made from skins were decorated with fur mosaics, appliques made of colored cloth, clothes made from fabrics were decorated with appliques made of fabrics, beaded embroidery, and cast tin plaques. Ancient ornaments still live (their origin is associated with andronoid cultures) - ribbon, geometric, zoomorphic with appropriate names (“ bunny ears", "deer antlers", "birch branches", "sable trail", etc.). The head was covered with hoods (men), fur hats (women); in the summer, men covered their heads and necks with a scarf from mosquitoes. Women always walked with their heads covered with a scarf. Large colorful woolen or silk scarves with tassels or fringes were worn on the head so that the two ends of the scarf hung down the sides of the head. In the presence of her husband's older relatives, a woman covered her face with one end of a scarf or moved both ends of it over her face. Previously, both women and men wore braids, wrapping them with colored (red) woolen cord. By the 20th century short haircut replaced braids among men. Women wore special braids - false braids woven from woolen laces and ribbons intertwined with chains with rings and plaques.

All these types of clothing, shoes, hats, and jewelry (except those made from nettle fiber) were preserved back in the 1950s and 60s. However, they are gradually being replaced by purchased clothing and footwear, especially summer and mid-season, and mainly men's and youth clothing and footwear. Traditional clothing and footwear among reindeer herders are preserved, as well as for fishing and road wear.

The food diet has also undergone many changes, although in the families of reindeer herders, hunters and fishermen it retains its traditions - fish and meat of deer and wild animals, game. These families still eat fish and meat raw and drink fresh deer blood. Meat and fish are boiled, dried, smoked, fried. Fish and ducks are also salted for the winter. Fishermen drink and store fish oil for future use by boiling it from the insides of fish. Berries (blueberries, lingonberries, raspberries, blueberries, cloudberries, cranberries) are eaten raw, jam is made from them, lingonberries and cranberries are frozen or soaked. Bread is baked in frying pans in a bread oven, and flat cakes are baked over a fire (in the taiga). Deer blood, crushed berries, bird cherry, and fish oil are added to the flour. They drink a lot of tea, every meal is accompanied by tea drinking.

In the past, Mansi utensils were made of wood and birch bark; copper cauldrons and teapots were bought or exchanged. From the 17th – 18th centuries. Glass, porcelain, and metal utensils began to spread from the Russians. In the 20th century almost all the dishes were purchased. Only fishermen retain a certain amount of wooden and birch bark utensils - bowls, dishes, troughs, spoons, tues. Women sew bags for storing handicrafts from reindeer skins, decorating them with mosaics; they make birch bark boxes for storing sewing and handicrafts; the boxes are decorated with ornaments, scraping them on birch bark.

The Russians no longer found Mansi giving birth, although a number of travelers and scientists back in the 19th century. noted the division of the northern Mansi into two phratries Por And Mos. The dual-fratrial division is especially characteristic of the northern Mansi, but marriages according to the rules of dual exogamy, judging by marriage ties (according to metric church registers), are recorded among all groups of Mansi in late XVIII– XIX centuries and even at the beginning of the 20th century. A smaller subdivision of phratry is a genealogical group of blood relatives, descending from one (often mythological zoomorphic) ancestor, very similar to a clan, but does not have such a feature as clan exogamy. Already by the 19th century. A territorial-neighboring community began to take shape; members of not only several genealogical groups, but also both phratries lived in one village (which is associated with strong migration processes among the Mansi during the 18th – 19th centuries). The functions of the territorial community were to regulate land relations when the land was in possession individual families or family groups (the Mansi did not have a traditional institution of land ownership).

Mansi, like other peoples of Siberia, were subject to tribute. Yasak was calculated for every man from 16 to 59 years old. This fiscal order, as well as Christianization, finally consolidated patriarchal relations in Mansi society, although in folklore and even in everyday life in the late 19th - early 20th centuries. one could find traces of the former high status of women in Mansi society (images of female heroes defeating male heroes, women’s independence in everyday life, traces of a man’s matrilocal settlement in his wife’s family, the special role of the maternal uncle, etc.).

Until the 15th – 16th centuries, judging by folklore data, Mansi society was at the so-called stage. “military democracy” or potestar society. Local groups (residents of a village or group of villages) were headed by elders (“gray-headed elders”), as well as “heroes” - military leaders who headed local and tribal associations, especially during military operations. Intertribal clashes, wars with the Nenets, Khanty, Tatars, Komi, and Russians were frequent in the 2nd millennium AD. Faced with military leaders and detachments of armed Mansi, with their potestar society, the Russian administration transferred its feudal terminology to them (heroes, military leaders - “princes”, tribal and territorial groupings and associations - “principalities”). However, at that time, the Mansi had not yet developed feudal relations, as S.V. believed. Bakhrushin, although property differentiation had already been established (“best”, “poor” and other people).

The family became the main economic and social unit among the Mansi already in the 18th century. This process was completed by the 20th century, although in social and religious life the dual-fratrial division, ideas about descent from a single ancestor, its cult, and awareness of oneself as part of a certain territorial group were of great importance.

Marriage among the Mansi was concluded by conspiracy and matchmaking, with the payment of bride price and dowry; marriage-exchange of women from different families and marriage-kidnapping were practiced. In the past, before the Christianization of the Mansi (and even back in the 18th – 19th centuries), they practiced polygamy (two or three wives). This was explained by the fact that child marriages were common, and moreover, the wife was often much older than her husband. Often an adult girl was taken as a wife to a boy-husband - as a farm worker, because Women's labor was of great importance in the hunting and fishing industry.

In the XVIII – XIX centuries. there were a lot large families, incl. and fraternal. By the 20th century became dominant small family. However, the Mansi family is unique: the term “family” in Mansi means “household collective” ( count takhyt), not only relatives, close and distant, lived in it, but often also strangers (orphans, disabled people, “yard servants”).

The Mansi were converted to Christianity in the 18th century. Methods of conversion to the Christian faith were both peaceful and violent. Converts received as a gift not only a cross and a shirt, but also an exemption from paying yasak for a year. At the same time, the destruction of sacred places and images of spirits that accompanied Christianization caused protests, incl. and armed, Mansi against missionaries, priests and the military detachments that accompanied them at first.

Although in general Christianity was formally accepted by the Mansi and they retained their faith and rituals, nevertheless it was reflected in the Mansi worldview, their rituals, and in everyday life. Some wore crosses, had icons, and placed crosses on their graves. In yasak books, the Mansi are rewritten under their own names (sometimes with the mention of their father’s name). When the Mansi converted to Christianity, they were given Orthodox names and Russified surnames: the endings in -ev, -ov, -in were added to their father’s name (Artanzey - Artanzeev, Kynlabaz - Kynlabazov, etc.).

Today, the rural population of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug is still employed in traditional sectors of the economy, which has changed greatly during Soviet times. In regional centers (Berezovo, Oktyabrskoye) factories and combines were created that processed fish into canned food. Fishermen on collective farms handed over the bulk of the fish they caught to fishing grounds and received a salary. The Mansi had a widespread form of collective farming - the fishing artel. Collectivization took place in the pre-war period, then part of the Mansi was concentrated in villages and hamlets in which the centers of collective farms and village councils were located. In the 1960s farms and settlements were enlarged, the population was even more concentrated in new large settlements, and the traditional settlement system characteristic of the traditional hunting and fishing economy was finally disrupted. Then the reorganization of farms was carried out; on the basis of former fishing and agricultural artels, state and cooperative fishing farms (industrial farms), state farms, and fish plots of fish factories were formed.

The policy of transferring the population to a sedentary lifestyle was carried out in violation of all traditions. This was a state policy, large funds were allocated for its implementation (construction of villages, houses). In order to occupy the population living in villages and isolated from the land, they began to introduce cellular fur farming, animal husbandry, and vegetable growing. They were unusual and unprofitable occupations for the peoples of the North; only part of the population of the village was employed in them. Nevertheless, under the influence of these measures, some Mansi, even the northern ones, began to keep livestock on private farms and have vegetable gardens (especially on the Ob and Konda).

The industrial development of the region caused great damage to the Mansi traditional economy. Back in the 1930s. On the lands of the Mansi (Konda, between the Konda and Northern Sosva rivers), the development of the timber industry began. Since the 1960s The development of oil fields (Konda, Shaim), the construction of cities and towns for oil workers and timber workers began. The fishing grounds of the Mansi have shrunk, processes of pollution of rivers and soils, their destruction by the ruts of all-terrain vehicles, and poaching have begun.

In recent years, the situation has worsened further due to Russia's transition to economic reforms. From collective farms and industrial farms, family and community groups began to emerge, managing their own households. In the Tyumen region and the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, resolutions were adopted according to which Mansi farms began to be allocated land (the so-called “ancestral lands”) transferred to them for permanent use. These farms began to organize something like farms, only with a commercial rather than agricultural character. However, there were many obstacles on their way, incl. and new ones: the high cost of gasoline, means of transport (boats, boat engines, snowmobiles, etc.), the advance of industry on the traditional economy, deterioration in supplies, poaching on land, fires, etc. The traditional economy, although it remains the main means of livelihood, is in a difficult state.

Modern Mansi are overwhelmingly urban or rural residents who have lost many features of their national culture, as well as their language: in 1989, only 36.7% of Mansi considered the Mansi language their native language. In the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, the territory of their most compact settlement, they, together with the Khanty, Nenets and Selkups, accounted for only 1.6% of the population in 1989. total number population of the district. Among the Mansi intelligentsia, residents of taiga villages where traditional farming can still be practiced, in the last 5-7 years there has been a strong mood to revive their culture and language. Certain activities in this direction are carried out by members of the “Saving Ugra” association, which, along with the Mansi, also includes the Khanty. The activities of the research institute for the revival of the Ob-Ugric peoples, created several years ago in Khanty-Mansiysk, also contribute to this. However, there are many obstacles in the way of this revival - the small number of people, their dispersed settlement, a large percentage of the urban and rural population, divorced from the traditional economy and way of life, the rapid pace of industrial development of the region, and the lack of financial resources.

Many people believe that in order to uncover the unknown secrets of civilization, it is necessary to go to other continents: to plow the seas, cross deserts and climb through the jungle. Meanwhile, in Russia there are peoples whose way of life, traditions and views on life can surprise or even shock. For example, the Mansi and Khanty, who have lived in the vast expanses of Ugra since ancient times, have posed many questions to historians and ethnographers, the answers to which have not yet been found.

These are two different peoples

Despite the unconditional kinship, which is expressed in the similarity of languages ​​and many rituals, the Khanty and Mansi are different peoples. But it just so happened that the colonialists of Western Siberia, who represented the interests Russian Empire, there was no time to identify ethnographic differences. Residents of Ugra were mentioned in droves both in official documents and in scientific research. This approach led to the emergence of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

The common name that scientists came up with to justify the unification of the two peoples sounds like “Ob Ugrians.” Since these people live in the Ob basin and belong to the Finno-Ugric peoples. By the way, their closest relatives, according to linguists, are the Hungarians (Magyars). Khanty, Mansi and Hungarian are included Ugric group Uralic language family.

It is believed that the ethnogenesis of two indigenous peoples of Western Siberia occurred in the Urals as a result of mixing local residents, who lived on these lands since the Neolithic era, and Finno-Ugric tribes who came from the south. Then both the Khanty and the Mansi were forced out to the northeast by their warlike neighbors.

The main difference between the two above-mentioned peoples is their way of life. Mansi (Voguls) are nomadic reindeer herders inhabiting the tundra. Their life corresponds to their main occupation. Although they also hunt, the production of fur-bearing animals has never been their main source of income.

The Khanty (Ostyaks) live in the taiga and along the banks of the Ob, Irtysh, and their tributaries. They are skilled hunters and fishermen. Initially, these people lived only by fishing, and also collected what the forest provided. Therefore, among the Khanty, the cult of worshiping the spirits of trees is no less developed than the veneration of totem animals. However, starting from the 19th century, many Khanty took up reindeer herding.

The habitat and main activity of the Voguls and Ostyaks, as they were called before, are different, and therefore their way of life is different.

According to the 2010 Russian population census, the number of the Khanty people exceeds 30 thousand people, the Mansi are much smaller - only about 12 thousand representatives.

Sacrifices to icons

Traditionally, the Khanty and Mansi adhered to pagan beliefs. They worshiped gods, nature spirits, totem animals, trees, and deceased ancestors. The shaman was the indisputable authority for them. And although the Ob Ugrians officially adopted Christianity, their worldview surprisingly combines animism, zoomorphism and Orthodoxy.

These people continue to follow their traditions. True, with the massive settlement of Siberia by Russian colonists, they began to practice their cults secretly, moving idols to special places that serve the pagans as sanctuaries. There they bring various offerings to their gods and spirits, which they worship.

Sometimes the Khanty and Mansi smear the blood of sacrificial animals on the lips of saints depicted on Orthodox icons, which are found in almost every home, because they perceive these faces as pagan gods. Thus, the supreme god, called Num-Torum, is associated here with Nicholas the Pleasant, because it is to him that believers turn if they need help in a specific matter. For example, in moose hunting. And the earth goddess Kaltas-ekva is perceived by local believers as the Mother of God. So far, Orthodox priests cannot do anything about such religious syncretism, because in words the Mansi and Khanty are Christians.

Celebrating the killing of a bear

Many peoples of Siberia consider the bear to be their ancestor, including the Khanty and Mansi. But religious worship does not prevent them from killing this animal, skinning it and eating the meat. On the contrary, every “master of the taiga” caught by taiga hunters is a reason to organize a holiday for all residents of the settlement. Moreover, if the victim is a bear, then the general fun lasts 4 days, and the killing of the bear is celebrated a day longer.

Ritual actions accompany the cutting of the animal carcass. They skin him solemnly, in front of a large crowd of people. The head is placed between the front paws, they are left untouched. Silver coins are placed on the nose and eyes of the killed male, and a muzzle made of birch bark is placed on the mouth. The female is decorated in a different way: a woman's scarf is thrown over her head, and beads are placed around her.

If we consider that every local family has a bear skin, and even more than one, then we can assume that the hunt for the “masters of the taiga” in Western Siberia was carried out regularly. At the festival, people not only treat themselves to fresh bear meat and other dishes of national cuisine, they sing ritual songs, dance, and stage comic performances. Moreover, the actors are exclusively men who perform female roles, dressed in the clothes of their relatives.

The Bear Festival is an alternative reality, a kind of looking glass where the world of spirits intertwines with reality.

Allows adultery

Representatives of the indigenous peoples of Ugra do not strictly monitor the behavior of their daughters, because premarital relations are not considered something reprehensible among them. Having a child from another man does not in any way prevent a girl from deciding to get married. From the groom's point of view, this positive point, because his chosen one has proven that she is able to bear and give birth to healthy offspring.

But infertility is a real tragedy in the eyes of the Khanty and Mansi. They even allow adultery if a woman cannot get pregnant from her husband. In case of infertility of the first chosen one, the man is allowed bigamy.

These people believe that a difficult birth indicates the lady’s infidelity, because this is how the gods themselves punish her - when she gives birth to a child not from her official spouse, she experiences much more suffering and pain than a decent woman. And the affairs of the gods do not concern mere mortals. And every child is greeted with joy.

Castrating deer with teeth

Muncie, as a rule, keep large herds of deer. The meat of these animals is eaten, traditional clothing is made from the skins, and the horns and bones are used in the manufacture of various tools and household utensils. Sometimes deer are used to pay with each other.

In a large herd, one (less often two) male breeder is left. He inseminates females during the rutting period. Most grown-up male animals are castrated: otherwise they will begin to fight fiercely for the fawns, which is fraught with losses for the owners. In addition, after castration, former males gain weight better.

In the old days, not having the necessary tools and fearing infection of animals, the Mansi would bite the eggs of young deer to be castrated... with their own teeth. This became a tradition that some livestock farmers still follow today.

They eat the contents of deer stomachs

Many peoples of the world can surprise you with their national dishes. And the indigenous people of Siberia are no exception. They eat not only the insides of deer, but also the contents of their stomachs. This delicacy is called “kanyga”; in winter it usually consists of semi-digested reindeer moss, and in summer - from the leaves of shrubs, grass, lichens and mushrooms exposed to the gastric juices of a deer.

It is believed that kanyga is very useful; it promotes the digestion of animal food. To enrich it with vitamins and microelements, this dish is consumed together with northern berries: lingonberries, blueberries and others.

In addition, Mansi and Khanty drink the blood of a freshly slaughtered deer, and also eat bone marrow from the legs of the animal, breaking them with the butt of an ax. Raw meat, while it is still warm, according to the natives of Ugra, helps against many diseases, strengthens a person’s immune system, gives him strength and warms him from the inside, which is important during severe frosts.

Blood feud

The tradition of blood feud is widespread among the Khanty. Sometimes families have been at odds with each other for generations. For the murder of a relative, it is customary here to take revenge on the family of the perpetrator of the crime.

Interestingly, this custom also applies to bears. If the “owner of the taiga” takes the life of a hunter who came to the forest for prey, then the relative of the deceased must go to the taiga and punish the clubfooted criminal. Moreover, the corpse of such a killer bear is supposed to be burned, and no holiday should be held in his honor.

Play 27 instruments

The musical culture of the Ob Ugrians is much richer and more diverse than that of most of their neighbors. Thus, the Khanty and Mansi have long learned to make a variety of stringed instruments. Researchers have counted 27 of their species, each of which is associated with some kind of totem animal or pagan ritual. For example, a seven-string harp is a swan. And there is also the tumran, nars-yuh, nonryp, kugel-yuh, nin-yuh and many other musical instruments.

Air burial rite

One of the oldest funeral traditions is air burial. Although the word “burial” is clearly not suitable here, because during the funeral the body of the deceased is hung on a special crossbar or left on a high platform in a special place. Some peoples who adhere to pagan beliefs do this so that a person’s soul can fly through the air to another world for the next incarnation.

Not only individual Khanty and Mansi people bury their dead in this way, but also some Nenets, Nganasans, Itelmens, Yakuts, Tuvinians, Altaians and others, including the Iroquois of North America.

Mansi are a people in the Russian Federation who have inhabited the Ob River basin since ancient times. According to the 2002 Population Census, about twelve thousand representatives of this nationality live in Russia. Most Mansi speak Russian, but there are still entire villages that have not forgotten their native Mansi language.

The Mansi formed as a separate people in the middle of the first millennium AD. The nation was formed from several tribes that settled in the basins of the Kama, Ural, Ob rivers, and so on. Some of these tribes came from Northern and Western Siberia. Around the first half of the second millennium, the Mansi had frequent conflicts with Russian tribes and the Komi people.

In Russian chronicles, the first mentions of Mansi date back to the second half of the eleventh century. At this time, the Russians called them “Ugras”, less often “Vogulichs” or “Voguls”. Close contact between the Mansi and the Russians began after the conquest of Siberia. During this period, the development of Mansi was at a very low level. They lived in a tribal system, the main occupation was hunting forest animals and fishing. Rare tribes bred deer and cultivated the land.

Until the end of the eighteenth century, the Mansi did not know transport other than reindeer or dog sleds, horses and skis. Only with the arrival beyond the Urals Soviet power, the active development of northern peoples began. Many Mansi took up raising livestock (horses, sheep, cows) and reindeer herding.

Traditional Mansi home

The traditional Mansi home is a wooden hut, where the family spent the whole winter. In summer, autumn and spring, the Mansi left their permanent homes for fishing grounds. Temporary huts were assembled from poles covered with birch bark. Reindeer herders in the steppe built tents from poles and reindeer skins. Among the Mansi living in the south and west of the Trans-Urals, permanent (winter) huts were very similar to Russian log cabins. In the northern regions, winter huts often had an earthen or birch bark roof. Mansi settlements consisted of close and distant relatives.

As a rule, permanent huts were heated using some kind of fireplace, assembled from poles and coated with clay. This hearth was also used for cooking. Mansi bread was baked in special ovens, which were specially built near the house. Mansi's favorite food was dried reindeer meat and fish baked over a fire. Sometimes fish and meat were fried or dried. In the fall, they ate forest products, with the exception of mushrooms, which were considered unsuitable for food.

Mansi folk costume

Mansi men dressed in a shirt, wide and warm pants. Outerwear was made of cloth and always had a hood and wide sleeves. Reindeer herders wore “luzan” - a cape made of reindeer skins with holes for the head and arms and unstitched sides.

Women dressed in a dress or robe, richly decorated with embroidery. Required attribute was a scarf on his head. Women paid special attention jewelry: rings from precious metals, bead embroidery on clothes, necklaces, earrings and the like.

In the eighteenth century, the Russians converted Mansi to the Orthodox faith. Until this moment, the northern people had a developed mythology and believed in ancestor spirits and patron spirits. Each village had its own shaman. Currently, the overwhelming majority of Mansi are Orthodox Christians, but still distant echoes of the former faith remain.
The Mansi believed that the entire world around them was divided into three kingdoms: heaven, earth and the underworld, and each of them was ruled by a separate deity. For example, the sky was ruled by the god Torum (translated as "sky", "weather" or "supreme being"), who created and rules the earth. Khul-Otyr is the god of the underworld, who harms people, creates dangerous creatures and takes people into his possession. Ma-ankva is the goddess of the earth, saving people from diseases, giving offspring...

In addition to the three main deities, the Mansi believed in the existence of human-like gods living among people. For example, the deities of Menkeva are divine beings created by Torum. According to legend, the heavenly god created them from wood, but the Menkevas hid from their creator in the forest and live there, hunting wild animals. The Mansi believed that the Menkevas brought good luck in the hunt. Forest deities have families and children.

Some forest dwellers were also endowed with divine qualities. For example, the cult of the bear has survived to this day. The Mansi wolf was feared and considered the creation of an underground god. Dogs, according to beliefs, were a kind of intermediary between the living and the dead.

The Bear Festival is one of the few remnants of the old faith of the people that have survived today. The bear has always been a particularly revered divine creature among the Mansi people, but it was also the main object of hunting, providing clothing and food.

A bear festival or bear games is a kind of ritual aimed at calming the soul of a killed animal and the soul of the person who killed it. The Mansi held bear festivals once every seven years; in addition, a ritual was performed every time the hunters returned home with a killed animal.

The ritual itself begins in the forest, at the place of death of the animal. Hunters had to clean the bear's skin by wiping it with water, snow, grass, or just dirt. Then the carcass was placed on a special stretcher, so that the head lay between the front paws. In this form, the prey was carried to the settlement. When approaching their relatives, the hunters notified them by shouting. If a female bear was killed, then the hunters shouted four times, and if it was a male, then five times. Villagers came out to meet the hunters and fumigated them with smoke, sprinkled them with water or snow.

Depending on the sex of the animal, the holiday lasted five days (if a male was killed) or four days (if a female was killed). First, the bear’s head was placed in the “holy corner” of the house, and hunting weapons were placed nearby. The head was then asked for permission before the celebration began. After obtaining the consent of the Mansi, they chose an animal that would be sacrificed to the bear. Only the hunter who killed the animal could set the day when the holiday would begin. A magnificent feast was held in the house, and treats were placed in front of the bear's head.

The self-name of this people - Mianchi, Mansi - means “man”. In scientific literature, the Mansi are combined with the Khanty under the general name Ob Ugrians.

Mansi, Cherdynsky district of Perm province, beginning of the 20th century.

The Russians called them Yugra (i.e. Ugrians), and then - Voguls, from the name of the Vogulka River, the left tributary of the Ob.

Tools and weapons of the ancient Mansi: 1- spear; 2 - kochedyk; 3,4 - knives; 5 - ax; 6 - axe-adze;
7 - fishing hook; 8-10 - knife handles; 11 - spoon; 12 - seat; 1. 3-7, 12 - iron; 2 - bone; 8-11 - bronze.

In the old days the Mansi were warlike people. IN XIV-XVI centuries the lands of Perm the Great were subjected to their systematic raids. The center and main base of these campaigns was the Pelym principality (a large Mansi association on the Pelym River). It got to the point that in 1483 the great sovereign Ivan III Vasilievich had to equip a large army, which passed through the lands of the Pelym Mansi with fire and sword.

The eastern part of the map of Muscovy by S. Herberstein. Yugra - in the upper
right corner

However, the Pelym princes remained unconquered for a long time.

This is not Lenin, this is a Mansi prince or warrior.

Almost a century later, in 1572-73, Prince Bekhbeley of Pelym led real war with the rulers of the Upper Kama region, the merchants Stroganovs, besieged Cherdyn and other Russian towns, but was defeated and died in captivity. Then the Mansi-Voguls took part in the campaigns against Chusovaya by the troops of the Siberian Khan Mametkul. Even after Ermak’s campaign through the Mansi lands, the Pelym prince made a last desperate attempt at resistance. In 1581, he besieged the Ural towns, but was defeated, captured and forced to take an oath of allegiance to the Moscow Tsar. The entry of the Mansi lands beyond the Urals into the Russian state was finally secured by the founding of the cities of Tobolsk, Pelym, Berezov and Surgut at the end of the 16th century.

17th century engraving with a view of Tobolsk

With the cessation of wars, the military tribal elite of the Mansi gradually lost their power. The memory of the “heroic” time remained only in folklore.

By the end of the 17th century, the number of local Russians already exceeded the number of the indigenous population. In the next century, the Mansi were converted to Christianity.

The Soviet government showed attention to the national and cultural problems of Mansi. In 1940, the Khanty-Mansi National (and later Autonomous) Okrug was formed on the territory of the Tyumen Region.

Over the last century total number Mansi increased from seven thousand to eight thousand three hundred people. However, despite this, the process of assimilation has become threatening: today only 3,037 people recognize the Mansi language as their native language.

The traditional Mansi culture combines the culture of taiga hunters and fishermen with the culture of steppe nomadic herders. This is most clearly manifested in the cult of the horse and the heavenly rider - Mir susne khuma.

And yet, the majority of Mansi are, in the true sense of the word, “river people.”

Their whole life flows in the rhythm of the breathing of the Ob and its tributaries, subject to the rise and fall of water, the freezing and clearing of ice from rivers and lakes, the movement of fish and the arrival of birds. The Mansi calendar looks like this: “The month of the opening of the Ob”, “the month of the flood”, “the month of the arrival of geese and ducks”, “the month of fish spawning”, “the month of sturgeon spawning”, “the month of burbot”, etc. According to Mansi beliefs, the Earth itself appeared among the primordial ocean from silt, which was taken out by a loon that dived after it three times.

Kurikov family, Pelym River.
From the archives of the research expedition "Mansi - Forest People"
travel company "Team of Adventure Seekers", www.adventurteam.ru.

Fishing techniques and gear were different. Mansi from the lower reaches of the rivers went to the Ob for seasonal fishing. During the fishing period, they lived in summer dwellings, catching fish and storing it for future use. Before the freeze-up they returned to their winter place of residence. Fish stocks far exceeded the needs of personal consumption, and most of the fish were sold.

Both Russian and foreign travelers deservedly called the Mansi “fish eaters.” One of them calculated that during the summer fish season, an adult man “can eat at least half a pound, or 8 kg, of fish per day only in its raw form, without bones and heads.”

Fish figurines cast for the purpose of obtaining a catch.

Particularly popular among the Mansi is the Sosva herring - a tugun fish from the salmon family, caught in the Sosva River (a tributary of the Ob). Fat is rendered from the entrails, which is consumed pure or mixed with berries. Meat is eaten boiled, raw, frozen, and also dried, dried and smoked.

Mansi consume fresh meat and blood from domestic reindeer mainly on holidays. Mushrooms used to be considered unclean food, but now this prohibition is not strictly adhered to. Bread has been popular for quite a long time; flour is used to make a thick mash called straw. The main drink of Mansi is tea, which is brewed very strongly.

Mansi, Suevatpaul camp. Oven for cooking.

True, it is quite difficult for Mansi to eat and drink to their heart’s content. After all, according to their ideas, a man has as many as five souls, and a woman has four.