Mordovians are stubborn and hospitable. Mordva, characteristic features and appearance of the Mordovian people

If we are really talking about “Mordovians”, then you can notice that the root of the word is the same “mord”, the ending “ens” from Germanic languages ​​is added. Based on the fact that the Goths and early Slavs at that time were almost mixed up (this is the era of migration of peoples), it was most likely from the Goths that the Slavs adopted the designation of our peoples, which began to have the Slavic form “Mordva”. But how did this exoethnonym get from the Iranian languages ​​to the Goths? A science such as archeology will help here. At the beginning of the 1st millennium AD, in the vast territories of the European part of Russia, scientists identified related archaeological cultures Dyakovskaya and Gorodetskaya. Who doesn't know what it is, but wants to find out - in general outline described on Wikipedia, including the territories in which these archaeological cultures were located. They are defined as Finno-Ugric, that is, the peoples who left the artifacts of these cultures spoke Finno-Ugric languages, and related to Erzya.
By the way, here is a fragment of the ethnic map of Europe, which shows the settlement of ethnic groups in the 1st-2nd centuries. AD: (see full view here: http://www.roman-glory.com/images/img050101-05.jpg)

To make it roughly clear what territories were occupied by the Gorodets and Dyakovo cultures (on the map “Finno-Ugric tribes”), I have plotted the locations of some current Russian cities. Apparently they occupied the main part of the East European Plain. At the beginning of our era, the so-called great migration of peoples begins, groups of southern neighbors of the Tissagetians (as Herodotus calls the tribes of the Gorodets culture) - the Sarmatians-Aorses - invade the north. Experienced Aors warriors brutally suppress the resistance of local forest hunters - the Tissagets, subjugate them, and form something like a trading post on the middle Oka, which subsequently becomes isolated. It was then that, apparently, the word “mord” came, which came from the Iranian-speaking Aors to the territory of Meshchera. Later, the empire of the Gothic king Germanarich reached the Oka, not long before its collapse as a result of the invasion of the Huns. The Goths take control of the middle Oka, after which the Ryazan-Oka tribes begin to form (3rd century). It was then that the Goths became aware of the tribes on the Oka called "mordens". Later, the Ryazan-Oka tribes became independent and began to develop independently; the Gothic elite assimilated among the local population. It was then that they began to move to the lands east of the Oka in the Oxo-Sura interfluve and participated in the ethnogenesis of the Erzya people, the other part settled on the Tsna and the upper reaches of the Sura, forming the Moksha ethnic group, which from the very beginning had differences from the Erzya in the orientation of the ground burial grounds, the Moksha were oriented head to the south, southeast, Erzya - to the north, northwest. This already speaks of differences in the religious and mythological ideas of peoples (the burial rite is entirely connected with the religious and mythological ideas of peoples). However, despite the fact that the Erzya and Moksha peoples are different, in the west, among the Slavic tribes, it still remains common name of these peoples since the time of the Sarmatian rule over their ancestors - “mord” with the collective ending “va”. That is why many centuries later, the chronicler of Rus' - Nestor mentions “And along Otse Retsa, where it flows into the Volga, the Murom have their language, and the Cheremisi have their language, the Mordva have their language.”. It is worth noting that the Finno-Ugric people of Murom (the pre-Russian population of Murom) are also formed under the influence of Ryazan-Oktsev, but the chronicler writes about the difference between the languages ​​of “Mordva” (in this case Erzi) and “Murom”.
So, we figured out where the name “Mordovians” came from. Obviously this is a foreign ethnic name, and not a people; the Erzya and Moksha peoples did not define themselves in this way. That is, the definition of Mordovians as a people is erroneous, but at the same time it is widely exaggerated by the authorities and official science. The error of using one ethnonym in relation to two different nationalities was pointed out by Academician A. A. Shakhmatov and Academician I. I. Lepyokhin: “The difference between the two Mordovian generations is also visible from the fact that before their baptism the Mokshas were not allowed to take Erzyans, and the Erzyans - Mokshans ; but everyone was content with his own breed.” Obviously, both ethnic groups had and have their own identity (Erzya or Moksha).
Often from supporters of Mordvinization one can hear a reproach that compares “Mordovians” and Mari. The essence of the reproach is that the Mari are divided by language into meadow and mountain, but at the same time remain Mari. And we, they say, unfairly divide the Mordovians according to their languages ​​into Erzya and Moksha. Often they explain this to the population, relying on their lack of knowledge about their people, thereby convincing them that they are right. However, they are somewhat disingenuous and do not say much.
Firstly, before the revolution, the Mari were identified by the exoethnonym “Cheremis” (Nestor mentions them, see above). After the revolution, the Cheremis ensured that their people were defined by their own ethnonym (name in their language) - Mary, Mari. From this moment on, they became widely known under the name Mari, and their autonomy also emerged - Mari-El with the capital Yoshkar-Ola (red city), before that there was a Russian name - Tsarevokokshaysk. Obviously, this became possible due to the fact that both the meadow and mountain Cheremis are Mari; they have the same native ethnonym, which speaks of the unity of the Mari people. The "Mordovians" do not have this. Erzi and Moksha do not have a native ethnonym that would unite them; historically, it so happens that no. That’s why today the authorities, in order to stay in their seats, are starting to add the ending “s” to the foreign word “Mordva”, the result is a nightmare called “Mordva”, and “Vasya-Vasya” is not enough to substitute...
In general, you can collect a whole list of differences, which shows that the Erzya and Moksha are two peoples, and not subethnic groups of one.
1) Erzyan and Moksha languages ​​are different languages. (As you know, there is no language - no people) General vocabulary in Erzyan and Moksha villages of remote regions of Mordovia - 73%, for example: Russian and Ukrainian - 86%, As for literary languages, then the authorities have adjusted the general vocabulary to 90%, but no one communicates in pure literary language. Therefore, such a figure is only on paper.
2) Erzya and Moksha are ethnonyms of two peoples; there is no common ethnonym, there is only a foreign exoethnonym.
3) They differed in religious and mythological terms (described above), and pre-Christian deities also had different names (Ineshki Paz, Cham Paz - Erzya; Varde Shkai, Shkabavas - Moksha) - the supreme gods. The same applies to other deities.
4) National costume and ornaments vary.
5) Architecture
6) Anthropological type
7) As for the Shoksha, it is precisely the ethnographic group of Erzya: they also call themselves Erzya. That is, Erzya is a common ethnonym for both Erzya and Erzya of the Tengushevsky region (Shoksha). Therefore, Erzya and Shoksha are one people.
8) There is no striping on historical lands residence of the Erzya and Moksha, that is, the Erzya and Moksha people lived next door, but not intermingled. Only after the Tatar-Mongol invasion did the Erzya and Moksha peoples begin to move - Erzya villages appeared in the Penza region. mixed with Moksha ones. But even so, they retain their Moksha or Erzya identity. (And this is after many centuries!) There are many more minor differences that are not included in the list.
However, despite the fact that we are two peoples, we remain closely related. We have a lot in common, and were formed on the same “platform” with the Russified peoples of Merya, Murom, Meshchera.
When in the 30s of the 20th century the issue of forming autonomy for the Erzyan and Moksha people was discussed, there were options to call the autonomy Erzyan-Moksha, however, due to the fact that few people know us by our names, they decided to name the autonomy in honor of our exo-ethnonym - Mordovian, they say everyone knows us by this name. (I have a question: do the Mari and Udmurts honor their roots more than we do? Why didn’t they ask this question? Why did the “Cheremis” become Mari without any questions, the “Votiaks” - Udmurts, and “Mordovians” have remained “Mordovians”, where is the pride? Where does this indifference come from?
As can be seen from the very first map, the Republic of Moldova is much smaller in size than the ethno-historical territories of the Erzyans and Mokshans. The reason is generally banal, it’s just that when the MASSR was created, it included only those territories where the percentage of Erzyans and Mokshans was at least 30%, those territories where this percentage was lower were simply included in neighboring regions, and the MASSR was no longer part of the MASSR, even if these territories were ancestral - Erzya and Moksha. As soon as today the Erzyan lands are not called “the land of Seraphim of Sarov”, then the “Land of Nizhny Novgorod” or something else, but not Erzya, hiding in every possible way real story region, in other words, the history of the subjugation of the region.
By the way, why is it important to stick to your line now. The mentality of the Erzyans and Mokshans is such that when a guest arrives, they immediately serve him the best chair, and they themselves sit by the stove, when the guest is Russian-speaking, immediately everyone in the house begins to speak Russian, well, like, so what ( guest) was comfortable. That's how things are, no doubt about it good qualities In terms of ethics, they talk about the high morality of the people, about caring for their neighbors, but they led to very bad consequences - the complete Russification of many villages. They considered their own language to be second-rate, like “Russian is more important and everyone understands it, it’s more convenient,” when the TV speaks only in Russian from morning to evening, then willy-nilly (see psychology) you become convinced that you must speak the same way. However, the peasant is not the kind of person to realize that there is no country of Erzyania beyond the river, and that Erzyania is preserved only in his house - it was not important to him, what was important was the realization that all the cattle in the yard were fed, that the cow was milked. .. It didn’t matter to him that Erzya is under threat, while the Russian language is more than a hundred million people, in villages, towns, cities, that the Russian language is under the protection of the vast Russian Empire / Soviet Union/Everyone in the Russian Federation is obligated to teach him. Our culture has no protection. Therefore, it is time to realize that native culture According to the threat, it’s time to respect what’s yours, it’s time to throw away destructive fatalism and develop, develop your own. The Erzya people paid too high a price to history, too many people did not return from other people’s wars, too many taxes were paid for other people’s yachts, too many relatives were lost.

The name Mordovians (from Russian - in European languages: German Mordwinen, etc.) is not an original self-name and, although it has long been used by the Mordovian population itself, it is an exoethnonym borrowed from the Russian language and serves to designate two initially close to each other in language and culture, but nevertheless having different ethnic identity of groups - moksha And Erzi. For the first time this ethnonym is found in Jordan (VI century AD) in the form of Mordens - one of the peoples allegedly conquered by the Gothic king Germanaric. Then, in the 10th century, the Byzantine emperor Constantine Porphyrogenet used Mordia as the name of the country. In Russian chronicles Mordva mentioned for the first time in the list of peoples of the Middle Volga region included in the sphere of interests Kievan Rus from the earliest times, compiled, as is commonly believed, in the 11th century. Its origin is obviously connected with the words of the Iranian languages ​​that mean “man, man.” The self-name of the Mordovians is Erzi er(d)zya, was first recorded, as is commonly believed, in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph (10th century), where, among the peoples subjugated by the Khazars, between s-var (obviously, the Suvars, a tribe living on the territory of Volga Bulgaria) and c-r-mis ( apparently - Cheremis, that is, Mari), the Arisu people are mentioned. Perhaps the same name (Erzya) became the basis for the name of the mysterious country Arsa(niya) or Arta(b), mentioned in the works of Arab geographers since the 10th century as one of the three main centers of the Rus, the most inaccessible for foreigners. The origin of the word Erzya remains unclear. The self-name of Mordvins-Moksha (Mord. moksha) is first found in sources of the 13th century - in the notes of the Flemish traveler brother William de Rubruk, among the peoples conquered by Genghis Khan, the people of Moxel are named, living beyond the Don in the north, beyond which live the Mordovians (“Merdas, whom the Latins call Merduinis”). Moksha, along with Erza (arjan), is mentioned as one of the peoples of the Middle Volga region conquered by the Tatars in the “Collection of Chronicles” statesman at the court of the Mongol khans, the Persian Rashid ad-Din (XIV century). This ethnonym is apparently associated with the name of the Moksha River, which flows through the original territory of the Mordovian-Moksha settlement, which, in turn, may have a Balto-Slavic etymology: Old Church Sl., Old Russian. wet“wet” + Baltic parallels). Starting from the 9th century, Mordovians (especially Moksha in the south and east) fell under the influence of Volga Bulgaria, and from the 11th century, Mordovian lands became the subject of attention of Russian princes (according to the “Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land” Mordva paid tribute in honey to Vladimir Monomakh (1053–1125)), and the Mordovians took part in the struggle between Rus' and Bulgaria for zones of influence in the Middle Volga region. This struggle especially intensified at the end of the 12th - beginning of the 13th centuries, when (in 1221) at the mouth of the Oka it was founded by the Russians. Nizhny Novgorod, and in the Mordovian lands the Erzyan prince Purgas rose to prominence, fighting the Russians not without success, even making campaigns against Nizhny Novgorod. The defeat of Purgas by the Nizhny Novgorod people in 1229 took place with the support of the son of a certain prince named Puresh (option - Pureisha), an ally Prince of Vladimir Yuri, whom some researchers are also inclined to consider as a Mordovian prince (in the chronicles, however, “Pureshev son of the Polovtsi” is mentioned, which gives reason to doubt his Mordovian origin). The struggle that unfolded in the Middle Volga region was put an end to by a third force - the Mongol-Tatars , during the invasion of which (in 1237–1238) the Mordovian lands were subjugated to the Mongols, and part of the Mordovian-Moksha led by the princes, according to the testimony of br. Wilhelm de Rubruk (see above), was included in the composition Mongol troops and died in the European campaigns. To control the Mordovian and neighboring lands, the Golden Horde was founded on the river in the 14th century. Mokshe city Mukhshi (cf. Tat. mukshy"Mordva-Moksha"< морд. moksha), now the village of Narovchat, Penza region. From this time on, the Turkic influence on the culture and language of the Mordovians-Moksha increased. On the other hand, in the north, from the second half of the 14th century, the Mordovian lands fell under the rule of the Nizhny Novgorod princes, and the Russian influence into the Mordovian-Erzya, there is a partial assimilation of it in the Oka-Sura interfluve and a shift of the main ethnic territory of the Erzya to the east and southeast - to the middle reaches of the Sura River. The cruel Horde oppression, which did not save from the constant terrible raids of the steppe inhabitants (reflected in Mordovian folklore in the cycle historical songs and legends about the Nogais), led to the fact that most of the Mordovians gradually leaned towards the Russians, and during the period of Moscow’s struggle with the Kazan Khanate, the Mordovians were already a people allied with Moscow. The final inclusion of all Mordovian lands into the Russian state occurred after Moscow’s conquest of Kazan in 1552. IN XVI-XVII centuries Cities were built here to form a defensive line on the steppe borderlands of Rus', and the influx of Russian population increased greatly. From this same time, the Christianization of the Mordovians began, which gained special scope in the 18th century. The reaction to it, as well as to the increasing social and national oppression, was the so-called Teryushevsky (by the name of the volost) uprising of 1808–1810, led by Kuzma Alekseev (in Russian documents - “Kuzka the Mordovian god”), who tried to create on the basis of pagan Mordovian beliefs a special national religion of the Mordovians (see similar reformist neo-pagan movements in the 19th century among the Mari and Udmurts in the corresponding sections). As a result of assimilation by the Tatars and Russians to 19th century There were two special ethnographic groups of Mordovians: Karatai(external name for the village of Bolshie Karatai), living in the southwest of Tatarstan (Tetyushsky district), speaking Tatar today, but considering themselves Mordovians (Moksha) and preserving the Mordovian features of traditional culture, and Teryukhane(also the external name for the village of Bolshoye Teryushevo), who lived in the Nizhny Novgorod province (today - the Dalnekonstantinovsky district of the Nizhny Novgorod region), who at the beginning of the 20th century retained Mordovian characteristics in culture and self-awareness (Mordovian-Erzya), today completely Russified. On the other hand, due to the influx Russian settlers to Mordovian lands, enslavement of part (no more than 10%) of the Mordovian peasantry, etc., from the 17th century, migrations of Mordovians to the east began: initially - to the Volga region, on the territory of the present Samara, Ulyanovsk, Saratov regions, Tatarstan, then, in the 18th century - in the Volga region and the Urals, in Bashkiria, the Orenburg region. These migrations led to an extremely dispersed and widespread settlement of the Mordovians, who, however, retained their culture, language, and ethnic identity in the new lands. Already by mid-19th century, barely more than half of the entire Mordovian population of Russia lived on the indigenous Mordovian lands, which at that time (before the abolition of serfdom in 1861) amounted to about 670 thousand people. The movement of the Mordovians to the east continued in the second half of the 19th century: according to the 1897 census, 1 million 22 thousand people lived in Russia as Mordovians, of which more than 30 thousand lived in the Trans-Urals, Siberia and Northern Kazakhstan. After the 1917 revolution in Russia, the Mordovian people received autonomy : in 1928, the Mordovian Okrug was created, transformed in 1930 into the Mordovian Autonomous Region (since 1934 - the Mordovian Autonomous Republic). Due to the dispersed settlement of the Mordovians, initially less than a third of the total Mordovian population of Russia (according to the 1926 census - 1 million 339 thousand people) found themselves living within the boundaries of the created autonomy, among the population of which Mordovians accounted for 32.2% (452 ​​thousand people) in 1928 .), and in 1930, after changing the borders - 38.5% (501 thousand people). During the years of industrialization and World War II, the number of Mordovians, both in Russia as a whole and within the Mordovian Republic, decreased - mainly due to assimilation, which was facilitated by the dispersion of Mordvinian settlement, the presence of two literary languages, urbanization, and the liquidation of Mordovian national regions created in 1930- e years in Penza and Samara regions. According to the 1959 census, the number of Mordovians in the USSR was 1 million 285 thousand people, of which 358 thousand lived in Mordovia. The process of reducing the number of Mordovians continued in the 1960–1980s: 1970 - 1 million 262 thousand, 1979 - 1 million 192 thousand, 1989 - 1 million 154 thousand people within THE USSR. Moreover, only 740 thousand people in 1989 (64%) considered one of the Mordovian languages ​​their native language. In Mordovia in 1989, there were 313.4 thousand people of Mordovian nationality, of whom 277.3 thousand (88%) considered one of the Mordovian languages ​​their native language. Speaking about modern ethnosocial processes among the Mordovians, it should be borne in mind that, in the strength of the linguistic and ethnic proximity of Moksha and Erzi, the fact that for a long time a single exo-ethnonym Mordovians has been used in relation to both, the existence of Mordovian statehood, a kind of “dual” ethnic self-awareness is really widespread among Mordovians, when a person considers himself, on the one hand, belonging to the “Mordovian people”, and on the other hand, to one of its so-called “subethnic divisions” (Moksha or Erze). In connection with the growing interest in national issues, the rise of national self-awareness in the late 1980s - early 1990s in the Mordovian environment, the question of the priority of the general Mordovian or “separate”, Moksha and Erzya self-awareness, and whether it should continue to be used the name Mordovians brought from outside as the name of the people, or it is necessary to move to the official use of two self-names, thereby recognizing the existence of two special peoples. Today, the Mordovians-Moksha inhabit mainly the west and center of Mordovia, and the Erzya - the east (see above about the formation of the ethnic territory of the Mordovians), while most of the Erzyans (who, as is commonly believed, make up about two-thirds of the Mordovians) live outside the republic, in Penza, Ulyanovsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Orenburg regions, in the republics of Tatarstan and Bashkortostan. The Mokshans also live in these regions and republics, sometimes in the same villages with the Erzyans, but in general there are fewer of them outside of Mordovia. In addition to these two groups and the Teryukhans and Karatais described above, the Mordovians should be mentioned shokshu or (for some authors) Tengushevskaya Mordovians, living in the extreme north-west of Mordovia (about 15 thousand people in the Tengushevsky and Torbeevsky districts) and representing a culturally and linguistically isolated Mordovian group, initially, perhaps, close to the ancient Erzyan massif, long living in the Russian and Moksha environment . Links

The indigenous Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia include the Erzya and Moksha, which Russians traditionally unite with the concept of “Mordva”, despite the fact that Erzya and Moksha are independent languages. Initially, only the Erzyans were called Mordovians, who at the end of the 14th century came under the rule of the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal Grand Duchy and began to accept Orthodoxy (which is now the main religion of the Erzyans and Mokshans).
During the 2010 Russian population census, more than 744 thousand people called themselves Mordovians (9th place among), of which 57 thousand classified themselves as Erzyans (Mordovian-Erzya), and 4 thousand 767 people classified themselves as Mokshans (Mordovian-Moksha). At the same time, about 20 million people have Mordovian roots (information from the official website of the Republic of Mordovia - e-mordovia.ru), for example, the famous model Natalya Vodianova had a paternal grandmother from Erzya.
A woman/girl from Mordovians is called a Mordovian or Mordvinka in Russian. The names “Erzyanka” and “Mokshanka” are also used.
The following are the most beautiful, in my opinion, Erzyan and Moksha women. The list included only well-known girls and women at the regional and all-Russian level: athletes, finalists of beauty contests, radio presenter, poetess and singer.

8th place. Daria Uchvatova- representative of Mordovia at international competition beauty among girls of Finno-Ugric peoples "Star of the North 2011". Daria, who is Moksha, won in the “Voice of the North” nomination. Daria Uchvatova’s page on the VKontakte social network - https://vk.com/id65524177

7th place. Nadezhda Kadysheva(born June 1, 1959, Gorki, Leninogorsk district, Tatarstan) - singer, soloist of the ensemble " Golden ring", People's Artist of Russia, People's Artist of Mordovia. Nadezhda Kadysheva is an Erzyan, her last name is spelled "Kadyshen" in Erzyan.

6th place. Lyudmila Batyaykina- winner of the Miss Mordovia 2010 contest. Erzyanka.

5th place. Tatyana Dudnikova- winner of the competitions “Miss Student of Finno-Ugria 2012” and “Tatyana Volga Region 2013” ​​(student competition among girls named Tatiana). Works as a ballet dancer at the State musical theater Opera and Ballet named after. THEM. Yausheva, danced in ballets: “Giselle”, “ Swan Lake", "Ship of Fools", "The Nutcracker", "The Magic Tree or the Tale of the Enchanted Prince." Soloist of the dance ensemble “Mordovochka” at the Institute of National Culture. Erzyanka. Tatyana's VKontakte page - https://vk.com/dtp.aferistka

4th place. Alina Podgornova- Erzya poetess. Born on October 19, 1991 in the village of Kabaevo, Dubyonsky district, Republic of Mordovia. Page on the website "Erzyan Weigel" (Voice of Erzi) - http://www.goloserzi.ru/ru/tvorchestvo/literatura/alina-podgornova.html VK page - https://vk.com/id70074719

3rd place. Svetlana Khorkina(born January 19, 1979, Belgorod) - Russian gymnast, two-time Olympic champion in parallel bars (1996, 2000), three-time absolute world champion and three-time absolute European champion. Mokshanka, but in an interview he calls himself a Mordovian: “My parents are Mordovians, and since their blood flows in me, I consider myself a purebred Mordovian.”

2nd place. Natalya Erzyaykina- presenter of programs in the Erzya language on the national radio "Weigel". Natalia's VKontakte page - https://vk.com/id10604257

1 place. Olga Kaniskina(born January 19, 1985, Saransk) - track and field athlete, Olympic champion in 2008, the first three-time world champion in the history of race walking (2007, 2009 and 2011), European champion in 2010, two-time Russian champion. Erzyanka.

According to the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, in the Southern Urals there are 18,138 people belonging to the Mordovians (0.5 percent of the total number of inhabitants). In 1989 there were 27,095 (0.7 percent).

When I started preparing material about the Mordovians Southern Urals, I was immediately struck by several things. It turns out that those whom we habitually call Mordovians and Mordovians never called themselves that; other peoples gave them this name. But the heterogeneity of the ethnic groups united by the word “Mordovians” did not prevent them from becoming one of the country’s indigenous peoples. The interpenetration has gone so deep that it is very difficult to figure out where the Mordovians, Russians and other Russians are.

Erzya + Moksha = Mordovians

Mordva is an exo-ethnonym related to two related Finno-Ugric peoples of the Volga-Perm subgroup, Moksha and Erzya. The word “Mordovians” appeared in written sources quite early, scientists note. The first reliable mention is in the book of the Gothic historian Jordan of the 6th century “On the Origin and Deeds of the Getae.” Speaking about the peoples of Eastern Europe, he also mentions the Mordens, that is, the Mordovians. The ethnonym goes back to the Iranian-Scythian languages ​​(in Iranian, mard means man).

According to the 1989 census, 1,117,429 people in Russia considered themselves Mordovians. According to the 2002 census, 843,350 Russians identified themselves as such, including 49,624 and 84,407 who identified themselves as Mokshans and Erzyans, respectively.

The main territory of residence of the Mokshans is the Moksha River basin, the Erzyans are the Sura River basin. The Mokshans speak Moksha, the Erzyans speak Erzya. Along with the blond and gray-eyed people who predominate among the Erzyans, among Moksha there are also brunettes with dark color skin and with finer facial features. Many Erzyans are taller.

Mordovians profess Orthodoxy, to a lesser extent Lutheranism, there are also adherents of pre-Christian pagan traditions and Molokans. Main musical instrument– nyudi, nuday (double clarinet made of two hollow reed tubes fastened on the sides). The main dish is millet pancakes.

The Erzyans and Mokshans were the first of the ethnic groups of the Middle Volga region to join Russia, historians from the capital of Mordovia, Saransk, emphasize. In 2012, the country will celebrate the 1000th anniversary of the unity of the Mordovians with the peoples of our state. Although many remember that in 1985 the 500th anniversary of the annexation was celebrated.

In the 16th century, the Mordovians underwent forced mass baptism. Russification was unstoppable, many villages lost their former names, they cannot be distinguished from Russians. “My edge! Beloved Rus' and Mordva!” – Sergei Yesenin exclaimed later.

In July 1928, at a meeting of the Council of People's Commissars on the issue of creating the Erzyan-Moksha district, it was proposed to call it Mordovian on the basis that the words “Moksha” and “Erzya” are not well-known, but the name “Mordva” is known to everyone. On July 16, 1928, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars created the Mordovian district as part of the Middle Volga region.

The most famous

Among the Mordovians there are many truly famous people. According to Leo Tolstoy and academician Dmitry Likhachev, the famous archpriest Avvakum (1620 - 1682) was a Mordvin. Our list also includes the famous historian Vasily Klyuchevsky. There are a lot of celebrities among the Erzya: Patriarch Nikon (in the world – Nikita Minov, 1605-1681), sculptor Stepan Erzya (also written “Erzya”, real name- Nefedov), legendary division commander Vasily Chapaev, singer Lidia Ruslanova, baritone bass Illarion Yaushev, People's Artist of Russia, singer Nadezhda Kadysheva, supermodel Natalya Vodianova, actor Nikolai Chindyaykin, Governor of the Primorsky Territory Sergei Darkin, Olympic champions in race walking Olga Kaniskina and Valery Borchin , artist Nikas Safronov, group “Brothers Grimm” (twins Boris and Konstantin Burdaev) and others worthy people. The Moksha people are not inferior here: Nikolai Mordvinov (1754-1845) - Russian state and public figure, economist, count; Metropolitan Anthony (Vadkovsky, 1846-1912) - Bishop of Vyborg and Finland, Mikhail Devyataev (pilot who hijacked a plane from German captivity, Hero of the Soviet Union), Alexey Maresyev (flying on a military plane wearing prosthetics, the prototype of the protagonist of “The Tale of a Real Man” by writer Boris Polevoy), Andrei Kizhevatov – defender of the Brest Fortress, Hero of the Soviet Union (posthumously). Surprisingly, Saransk researchers also found Moksha roots in the writer, director and actor Vasily Shukshin. Famous Mokshans also include: composer, laureate of the D.D. Shostakovich of the Union of Composers of Russia Nina Koshelev, front-line poet Ivan Chigodaykin, two-time Olympic champion, gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, former world heavyweight boxing champion according to the WBC Oleg Maskaev and many others interesting people. World hockey star Alexander Ovechkin is also a Mordvin! Artistic director Moscow Art Theater named after A.P. Chekhov and “Snuffboxes”, the great Russian actor Oleg Tabakov “admitted” that his grandfather was a Mordvin.

Appearance in the Southern Urals

Mordva moved to our region in different time. The first wave is associated with the outflow to the east of the country in connection with Russian expansion in the 16th century. Historians write that at the beginning and middle of the 17th century, the Mokshans and Erzyans moved across the Volga, and in the 18th century they settled widely throughout the Samara, Ufa and Orenburg provinces. Further migration was facilitated by the creation of the Saratov-Orenburg-Chelyabinsk line of fortresses.

The time of mass movement of Mordovian peasants to our region was the second half of the 20s of the 20th century. Ruined after Civil War the country could not get back on its feet. Powerful armed uprisings of the peasantry took place on the territory of the Mordovian region. It was decided to resettle people to the east, in particular to our region.

In 1925, a resettlement office was organized in the South Ural village of Ostrolenka. In the spring of 1928, the settlement of village No. 48 began (in common parlance “Mordva”, in the future, from 1961, Berezki) by five Mordovian families of the Stepkin brothers, as well as the Syrkin and Artemov families. They brought with them livestock, household equipment, a loom, household utensils, etc. They built dugouts. They took up farming. From Mordovia, relatives and fellow countrymen who lived in their homeland in extreme need flocked to the new place. In total, there were about 80 households in the village. In the 40-50s, after the discovery of the Astafievskoye rock crystal deposit, Berezovka residents began working at the Yuzhny mine that opened next door. In 1981, all remaining residents were relocated to the village of Yuzhny. The birch trees were eliminated.
In the Verkhneuralsky district there is the village of Ivanovsky, which was founded in the 1920s by immigrants from Mordovia and named after one of the first settlers. It has 250 people. A resident of this village, Vasily Zdunov, became a Hero of the Soviet Union and a participant in the Victory Parade during the Great Patriotic War.

In the 1930s, dispossessed people were sent to the region. At that time, many Mordovian families came to the Southern Urals. Prosperous Mordovian old people then said: “If lazy people have risen, they need to eat everything.” In the 40s, representatives of the Mordovians came to the region as Labor Army members. After the Great Patriotic War, there was hunger in the republic. There was no money; on the collective farm they worked for sticks. People went to the east, in Chelyabinsk they got jobs at ChTZ and ChMK. Many settled in the villages of Malakul and Partizan.

They moved from Mordovia to our region later, in the 70s. “I came to Chelyabinsk in 1971,” says Anna Isaeva, head of the regional center of Finno-Ugric culture “Sterkh”, a Moksha Mordovian. – I see that there is sausage and a lot of other goods in the stores. Things were bad for us back then; we had to stand for sausage for days. In 1972 she married a Russian. Our son signed up as a Mordvin: “Mom, I want your nation to be bigger.” My brother and sister came for me. Sister - Anastasia Burlakova, brother - Pyotr Parshin.” Mordva lives in the Troitsky, Nagaibaksky and Varna districts of the region, as well as in the Leninsky, Traktorozavodsky and Metallurgical districts of Chelyabinsk. On June 30, 1891, prose writer, playwright and publicist Alexander Zavalishin was born in the village of Kulevchi, now Varna region. Our list includes the former head of the Kartalinsky district, Alexander Sutunkin, and the current one, Anatoly Vdovin. Valery Yakovlev works as the deputy head of the Chelyabinsk suburban directorate of the Southern Railway. The artist Vasily Neyasov lived and worked in Chelyabinsk, his daughter Olga Gladysheva teaches at an art school. Children's writer Tatyana Timokhina wrote in Russian and Mordovian. Pensioner Yegor Chetyrkin worked all his life as a graphic designer at ChTZ. The artist Stepan Aleshkin recently passed away, his sons studied at the same school with the bard Oleg Mityaev, now they are in Saransk: artist Andrei Aleshkin (author of the coat of arms and flag of Mordovia, headed the Union of Artists of the Republic, worked in the government, studied in Finland and is now without him meetings of distinguished Finnish guests are not included) and priest Alexey Aleshkin. By the way, many are now leaving for their historical homeland. Activists of the Sterkh center Valentina Shakhotkina and Viktor Yutkin left the region.
Not everyone knows that the famous Lyudmila Tatyanicheva was born in Mordovia, she has poems about her homeland.

Center "Sterkh"

“Only in the last 20 years have we begun to remember who is Erzya and who is Moksha,” says Anna Isaeva. “And before everyone was written as Mordovians.” After moving to Chelyabinsk, Anna Mikhailovna worked as a stamper at ChTZ, then became a timekeeper and deputy chief accountant of the workshop. Retired from the position of Deputy Director municipal institution social assistance.

The State Song and Dance Ensemble "Umorina" performed in Chelyabinsk at the Days of Mordovian Culture, they took place on April 8-10, 2010 and were dedicated to the 1000th anniversary of unity with the peoples of the Russian state. It is noteworthy that the holiday took place in the year of the All-Russian population census; the Mordovians of the Southern Urals were promptly reminded of their roots. After the celebrations, Anna Isaeva and Natalya Duryagina, head of Chelyabinsk Library No. 11 named after Gashek (where the Sterkh Center is located), received certificates and gifts from the head of Mordovia, Nikolai Merkushkin. He pays great attention to diasporas in the regions.

In the village of Skalisty, Troitsky district, a regional holiday of national culture was held, and People's Artist of Mordovia Nina Spirkina performed at it. In the regions of the Southern Urals there are vocal groups in which Russians also sing. In Chesma the ensemble is called “Mokshanyat” (“Mokshanochka”). In the Nagaybak region, in the village of Yuzhny, the descendants of the settlers created the ensemble “Kelune” (“Birch”).
“I was in first grade when my mother began to weave fabric for Mordovian national clothing,” says A. Isaeva. - “Anna, let’s fill the shuttle!” “Mom, who needs this now?” “The time will come, you’ll put it on yourself and show it to everyone,” Ekaterina Efimovna told her daughter then.

And so it happened. Anna Mikhailovna's costume now hangs in the Sterkha Museum. She puts it on once a year, when the city’s socio-political opening day takes place. Following her, other leaders of national cultural centers began to put on their outfits. Trying on a costume for a photo shoot, Anna Mikhailovna said that the Mordovian bride takes about two hours to dress, and five people help her. You need to put on five to seven shirts, put a wreath (ashkotv) on your head, hang a lot of ringing decorations (coins, bells) on your shoulders and belt. Anna Isaeva takes this wealth out of a special bag. “They say that first you will hear the muzzle by the tinkling of jewelry,” Natalya Duryagina comments with a smile, “and only then will you see it.”

In the museum of the Sterkh center there are many traditional Mordovian whistles. Anna Isaeva brings them from her homeland every year. The director of the Ruzaevskaya art school, Vladimir Kalmykov, gives her wonderful products. Among the exhibits are funny horses (by Alexander Gaushev), a doll in a national costume, nesting dolls, an old forest man, rugs from the 30s of the 20th century, and baskets for picking mushrooms.

Proud people

As far as I understand, the most important qualities of the Mordovians are pride, willpower and a certain impetuosity. This is what permeates the huge book “MORDVA. Erzya. Moksha" (991 pages!), published in Saransk in 2004. Its authors emphasize the self-sufficiency of the Erzyans and Mokshans. The chapter on joining Russia notes that there was no conquest. Saransk scientists also write that it is incorrect to believe that the Mordovians were part of Volga Bulgaria (modern Tatarstan).

I asked representatives of the Chelyabinsk Mordvins what is the difference between Erzya and Moksha. They told me that nothing, only the tongue. In our region, as in other regions, these two-pronged peoples really have no contradictions. Meanwhile, in the Republic of Mordovia everything is more complicated. I realized this when I looked at the RM websites. I was immediately surprised that almost all the jokes play out the relationship between Moksha, Erzi and Mordovians. Trying to understand this phenomenon, the author unexpectedly discovered that many modern Erzyans and Mokshans do not consider themselves Mordvins and Mordovians. Most of“passport” Mordvins live outside the republic.

The Erzyans are especially stubborn; they fear for their identity. The debate intensifies ahead of the census. These days there are calls to “remember your name.” Erzyans consider themselves descendants of the Aryans (erzya - from the words “eriya”, “ariy” - resident) and are indignant that Russian scientists do not notice them. They are convinced that the Erzya past is the history of Rus'.

To the question Nationality of the Mordvins. What is their appearance? given by the author *Yana the best answer is probably muzzled
Mikhail Markelov
Student
(208)
As they say, “you have strength, but you don’t need intelligence.”

Answer from Choir[guru]
dark hair, often brown eyes; there are also those with a slightly Mongoloid appearance. usually dense build, short stature, round skull shape, wide faces

Answer from Alexander Panyushkin[guru]
Quite Slavic. My cousin's husband is Mordvin, there are no questions about his appearance. And what's the difference?

Answer from philosophy[guru]
basically like Slavs... but a little bit Asian... They are generally a Finno-Uyghur group as far as I remember

Answer from Eurovision[guru]
Like almost all Russians. High cheekbones, wide-faced. Some, like me (also a Mordovian), look like Chechens.

Answer from User deleted[active]
I wonder what's in ancient world And early middle ages in the Volga region, on the Oka, and throughout the entire region, Indo-Europeans lived, including the Slavs, it seems, so in any case, the Mordvins must be very similar to the Slavs

Answer from Oshkova Nadezhda[guru]
Most Mordovians are representatives Caucasian. At the same time, the anthropological appearance of the Mordovians is highly differentiated among different groups. Among part of the Mordovians-Moksha, the Sub-Ural type is common, characterized by a relatively long head and a rather tall face within the Ural race. Most of the Erzi Mordovians are characterized by the Sur type of the Atlanto-Baltic race, which is characterized by mesocephaly and a relatively narrow face, but not as tall as the Scandinavian type. Among some groups of Mordovians-Erzi and southern Mordovians-Moksha, the North Pontic type of the Central European race is found, which is also characteristic of the Russians of the Volga region. This type is characterized by an average or above average body length, predominant mesocephaly, narrow face, and are quite common Wavy hair. Such anthropological characteristics bring the Mordovian population closer to the population that left the Pyanobor archaeological culture.
I. N. Smirnov in late XIX centuries described the Mordovians as follows: Moksha represents a greater variety of types than Erzya; Along with the blond and gray-eyed people who predominate among the Erzyans, Moksha also has brunettes, with a dark skin color and more delicate facial features. The height of both divisions of the Mordovians is approximately the same, but the Erzyans, apparently, are distinguished by a larger massive build (especially women).

Answer from Marina Sytnaya[active]
you are stupid people))

Answer from Vladislav Kanashsky[expert]
The Russians are the Mordovians, that is, representatives of the Finno-Ugric peoples who were made serfs Kyiv princes. Before Catherine II they were called Muscovites, and after Catherine’s decree they were called Russians (whose). Slavic peoples there was not and is not on the territory of Russia, just as the former Russian serfs do not have their own Republic. .."In the Moscow part of Bolshiye Penkov Street (as Razyezzhaya Street was called in the old days), in house No. 174, - published in 1802, - a husband and wife from 40-45 years old, of good behavior, and a young brown horse are for sale ". link

Answer from Egorova Tatyana[newbie]
What an appearance - pleasant in every way. 50/50 brunettes and blondes sometimes with curly hair. The faces are wide and open. Eye color is predominantly light. The physique is strong, the height is average, rarely high... To determine the nationality by appearance is possible only for the Mordovians themselves. My personal observations. Moksha are mostly blonde.

Answer from Horatio[guru]
European

Answer from Major[newbie]
don’t talk nonsense.... learn history, the genotype of the Mordovians is different, there are Erzya.... light-skinned.... northern, with a Sanskrit language, Moksha, with a Mongoloid appearance, with a Turkic dialect, Shoksha... Volgograd... practically Tatars , and karatai.... from the Caspian region.... draw other conclusions yourself.... IN ERZYAN... mon pocket lovnomo.... I will read, Sanskrit.... mane karmas levto me

Answer from Natalia[active]
Mordovians - Erzya hair color from blond to light brown, blue eyes.

Answer from IRINA[newbie]
This is all sorts of uneducated nonsense. What is Mongoloid appearance? You yourself are Mongoloids. Read what it is. These are Finno-Hungarians. The types are different from blondes with light eyes to brunettes with brown eyes and dark brown with a dark complexion (Southern) in the north are lighter. but there are such people here and there. If the Slavs themselves have a wide facial bone. The shape of the eyes can be slightly narrowed (north wind, south sun), and it is difficult to distinguish them from the Slavs. In the south there are many Slavs with narrow eyes, this is half of Ukraine. What are Chechens like?

Answer from Milena Myrochkina[newbie]
Friends (who came from Saransk) say that Mordovians are characterized by eyes with slightly drooping edges of the eyelids, as if overhanging or something... Is there really some peculiarity in the eyes?

Answer from S X[guru]
Moksha - brown and light brown hair, often curly, narrow or medium skull, highlighted cheekbones, brown, green, blue eyes, often freckles. Erzya - light brown, narrow or medium skull, highlighted cheekbones, blue to green eyes, straight nose.
They are practically no different from the Russians of Central Europe; you won’t know until they themselves say that they are not Russians.
In the photo - Erzya Valery Borchin and Moksha Alexander Pudin