Siberian Tatars, their culture and customs. Tatars in Russia

We all probably heard that the Tatars - Siberian, Kazan or Crimean - is a nation that has long inhabited the territory of our vast homeland. To date, some of them have been assimilated, and now they are quite difficult to distinguish from the Slavs, but there are also those who, despite everything, continue to honor the traditions and culture of their ancestors.

This article is aimed at giving as accurate a description of such a representative of a multinational Russian people as a Russian Tatar. The reader will learn a lot of new, and sometimes even unique information about these people. The article will be very interesting in terms of cognition. It is not for nothing that today the customs of the Tatars are considered one of the most ancient and unusual on the planet.

General information about the people

Tatars in Russia represent a nation that densely populates the central European part of our state, as well as the Urals, the Volga region, Siberia and the Far East. Outside the country, they are found in Kazakhstan and Central Asia.

According to the opinion of ethnographic scientists, their approximate number at the moment is 5523 thousand people. Speaking generally about this people, the Tatars, it is worth noting, can be divided according to their ethno-territorial character into three main categories: the Volga-Ural, Astrakhan and Siberian.

The latter, in turn, usually call themselves sibirtartarlars, or sibirtars. Only in Russia they live about 190 thousand people, and about 20 thousand can be found in some countries of Central Asia and Kazakhstan.

Siberian Tatars. Ethnic groups

Among the ethnic group , the following ethnic groups distinguish:

• Tobol-Irtysh, including the Kurdak-Sargat, Tyumen, Tara, and Yaskolbin Tatars;
• Barabinsky, which includes the Barabinsk-Turaj, the Terenin-Choi and the Lubey-Tunus Tatars;
• Tomsk, consisting of Kalmaks, eushtintsev and chats.

Anthropology and language

Contrary to popular belief, in the anthropological terms Tatars are considered extremely heterogeneous.

The thing is that, say, Siberian Tatars in their physical appearance are very close to the so-called South Siberian type, belonging to a huge Mongoloid race. Tatars permanently residing in Siberia, as well as those inhabiting the Urals and the Volga region, speak their own Tatar language, which belongs to the Kypchak subgroup of a very common Turkic group (Altaic language family).

Their literary language was once formed on the basis of the so-called middle dialect. According to experts, writing, called the Turkic runic, can be attributed to one of the oldest on the planet.

Culture of the Siberian Tatars and items of the national wardrobe

Not everyone knows that even at the very beginning of the last century local residents of Tatar settlements did not wear underwear. In the views on this account the Russians and Tatars differed significantly from each other. The latter were rather spacious trousers and shirts. Both men and women put on national beshmets, which are very large caftans with long sleeves.

Also very popular were camisoles, which were made, both with sleeves, and without them. Special preference for a long time was given to special local dressing gowns. Their Tatar women were sewed from a durable homespun cloth. Of course, winter clothes did not save such outfits; therefore, in the cold season, warm coats and fur coats were obtained from the chests, called in the local language by tones or tuna, respectively.

Somewhere at the turn of the century, Russian daughters, sheepskin coats, sheepskin coats and armenaki came into fashion. So dressed men. But women preferred to dress up in generously decorated folk dresses. By the way, it is believed that Kazan Tatars were assimilated rather than Siberian Tatars. At least, now the first in terms of clothes practically do not differ from the native Slavs, while the latter are kept very apart, and those who adhere to national traditions still are considered fashionable.

How is the traditional home of this people

Surprisingly, the Russians and Tatars who have lived side by side for a long time have completely different ideas about the construction of the so-called home hearth. For many centuries, their settlements were called yurts and auls. Such villages in most cases were located along the shores of lakes and rivers.

It should be noted that the local mayors disposed and carefully monitored that all the streets, be they cities or a modest village, were straight ahead, intersecting strictly at right angles. Kazan Tatars, by the way, never adhered to this principle. At them the center of the settlement was a practically equal circle with beams scattered in all directions.

Houses of the Tatars living in Siberia are still on both sides of the road, and only in some cases, for example, near a reservoir, one-sided buildings are observed. The huts were wooden, but mosques, as a rule, were built of bricks.

On the general background, there were always postal stations, schools, numerous shops and shops, as well as forges.

Tatar dwellings are rarely decorated with any patterns. Only sometimes you can find geometric figures, painted on window frames, cornices of houses or the gate of the whole manor. And this is by no means an accident. To depict animals, birds, or even more so a person was forbidden by Islam.

As for the interior decoration, even now the modern Tatars of Moscow, St. Petersburg and other major cities of our country very often decorate their houses and apartments with little-legged tables and intricate shelves for dishes.

Economic activity

At all times, the traditional occupation of this group of Tatars was agriculture. It existed in the tradition of the people even before the arrival of the Russians. Its features are still determined by the geography of the place of residence. For example, in the southernmost part of Siberia, millet, wheat, oats and rye were predominantly grown. In the northern territories, lake and river fishing was, and still is, a great honor.

Cattle breeding can be practiced in the forest-steppe areas or on steppe solonetzes, which at all times were famous for their herbage. If the territory allowed, and the vegetation of the region was relatively riotous, the Siberian Tatars, unlike the same Tatar, always bred horses and cattle.

Talking about crafts, we can not fail to mention the leather business, the manufacture of particularly strong ropes made from special lime-weave, weaving of boxes, knitting of nets and almost mass production for our own needs, and for the exchange of birch bark utensils, boats, carts, skis and sledges.

Beliefs of representatives of this nationality

Since the 18th century in the Russian Siberia, most of the Tatars are Sunni Muslims, and today their religious center is located in the city of Ufa. The most important and widely celebrated holidays are Kurban-Bayram and Uraza-Ramazan.

Almost immediately after the arrival of the Russians, a substantial part of the Tatars adopted Christianity and began to practice Orthodoxy. However, it should be noted that such representatives of this nationality, as a rule, broke away from their historically ethnic group and continued to assimilate with the Russian population.

Until about the second half of the 19th century, servicemen of various ancient pagan cults were massively present in the villages, shamanism flourished, and local healers were treating the sick. There were also sacrifices, during which a tambourine and a special beater in the form of a scapula were used.

By the way, it should be noted that shamans could be both men and women.

Beliefs, Myths and Legends

Their supreme deities Siberian Tatars considered kudaya and tangri. Also believed in the existence of the evil underground spirit of the Ain, who brought troubles, illnesses and even death.

Myths also indicate special idol spirits. They, according to the belief, had to be made from birch bark and branches, then left in a special place in the forest, most often in hollows of trees. It was believed that they could protect the whole village from adversity.

It often happened that such wooden gods had to be pinned to the roofs of houses. They had to protect all household members.

It was believed that the spirits of the deceased can attack the village, so the local people from time to time made from the fabric of special kurchakov dolls. They had to be kept in wicker baskets under loose trees near the cemetery.

Features of national cuisine

It should be noted that even today the Tatars of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Ufa proudly boast of delicacies and delicacies of their cuisine. What is so special about it? Yes, strictly speaking, nothing special, except, perhaps, the fact that literally everything here is actually very tasty.

In their food, Siberian Tatars prefer to use mainly meat (pork, elk, rabbit and poultry) and dairy products (ayran, cream, butter, cheeses and cottage cheese).

Soups are very popular. Now visitors to trendy Tatar restaurants are happy to order a shurpa or a very peculiar soup soup, as well as national first dishes from millet, rice or fish.

Traditional porridges based on milk or water are prepared with the addition of barley or oats.

Tatars are famous amateurs of flour. At the first opportunity it is worth trying their tortillas, pies and dishes, something remotely resembling our pancakes.

Social organization of Siberian Tatars

During the reign of the Siberian Khanate , the people in question had so-called tribal relations with the elements of the territorial community present in them. Initially, there were two such communities: a village and a parish. The management of society was conducted with the help of democratic gatherings. By the way, mutual assistance with this people is far from a rarity, but the usual order of things.

It is impossible not to mention the existence of the tuguma, which was a whole group of families with related ties between them . This administrative body, as a rule, was used to regulate both family and household relations, as well as supervised the execution of various kinds of folk and religious rites.

The system of modern Tatar education

In general, today this issue is considered one of the most urgent. There is nothing surprising in the fact that Siberian Tatars make a lot of efforts to introduce their children to national traditions and centuries-old culture.

Despite this, assimilation is still in full swing. Only a small part of the Tatars have the opportunity to send their children for the summer to the villages to their grandparents, and thus gives them the chance to take part in folk celebrations or practice their language. A huge proportion of adolescents remain in cities, has long been talking only in Russian and has very vague ideas about the culture of their ancestors.

In places of mass settlements of Tatars, as a rule, newspapers are published in their native language, several times a week; Both the radio and television broadcast a series of programs in Tatar. In some schools, however, mostly rural, special lessons are being conducted.

Unfortunately, it is impossible to get a higher education in Tatar in Russia. True, since last year a new specialty "Tatar language and literature" has been introduced in universities. It is believed that future teachers, having completed this faculty, will be able to teach the language in the Tatar school.