Folk religion of the Chuvash (Chemen Kuli). Chuvash folk religion

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

The beliefs of the Chuvash belong to the category of those religions that are called the religion of sacrifice, according to researchers, whose origins go back to the first world religion - ancient Iranian Zoroastrianism. Christianity and Islam were known to the ancient ancestors of the Chuvash already early stages distribution of these two...

Religions and Beliefs

Before joining the Russian state, the Chuvash of the Ulyanovsk Volga region were pagans. In their paganism there was a system of polytheism with a supreme god...

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

Perhaps some believe in Tengrism; what it is is not entirely clear. Tengrism, in Chuvash tenker, actually means ten (faith) ker (name of god), i.e. “faith in the god Ker.”

There was also a pagan religion with many gods. Moreover, each settlement, city had its own chief...

Religious beliefs of the Chuvash people, their relationship with the religions of other peoples. Main types of religion. Historical forms of religious beliefs. Structure and functions of religion. Myths and beliefs of the ancient Chuvash. Folk religion, Chuvash gods and spirits.

Students, graduate students, young scientists who use the knowledge base in their studies and work will be very grateful to you.

In some cases, the Islamization of the majority of the inhabitants of a village was accompanied by tense relations in everyday life between the Chuvash who remained Orthodox and those who converted to Islam. This, for example, was the case in the village of Siushevo. Here in 1905 there were 50 households with Chuvash people who “fell away” to Mohammedanism and 20 households with Orthodox Christians. In particular, according to the testimony of the baptized Chuvash A.Z. Makarova: “It became difficult for those who remained in Orthodoxy to live: on holidays they gave us public work, they insulted and beat our children, they insulted us with land and meadows. Returning from church, we often...

Mass Christianization of the Chuvash was carried out in the first century. floor. 18th century She met stubborn resistance from the peasants...

conscious faith, consisting in the recognition by reason of the truth of something.

The difficulty of defining religion as social phenomenon is that it is traditionally viewed as a phenomenon human existence and culture. Therefore, each thinker defined religion based on his own views. Thus, for I. Kant (1724 - 1804), religion is a guiding force: “Religion (considered subjectively) is the knowledge of all our duties as divine commandments,” i.e. is not just a view of the world, but, in fact, strict requirements that regulate human life, indicate to a person exactly how he should direct and distribute his efforts.

Russian religious philosopher and theologian S.N. Bulgakov (1871 - 1944) in his work “Karl Marx as a Religious Type” wrote: “In my opinion, the determining force in the spiritual life of a person is his religion - not only in the narrow, but also in the broad sense of the word, i.e. those highest and final values that...

1. History of the Chuvash

The Chuvash are the third largest indigenous ethnic group in the Volga-Ural region. Their self-name: Chavash.
The first written mention of the Chuvash people dates back to 1551, when, according to the Russian chronicler, the royal governors “led the Chuvash and Cheremis and the Mordovians to the truth.” However, by that time the Chuvash had already come a long historical way.
The ancestors of the Chuvash were the tribes of the Volga Finns, who in the 7th-8th centuries mixed with Turkic tribes Bulgars and Suvars, who came to the Volga from the Azov steppes. These tribes made up the main population of Volga Bulgaria, which fell at the beginning of the 13th century under the blows of the Mongols.
In the Golden Horde, and later in the Kazan Khanate, the Chuvash were among the yasak (tax-paying) people and were ruled by the khan's governors and officials.
That is why in 1551 the Chuvash voluntarily became part of Russia and actively helped Russian troops in capturing Kazan. The fortresses of Cheboksary, Alatyr,…

Ministry of Education of the Russian Federation

GOU VPO branch of the Volga-Vyatka Academy civil service in Cheboksary

Department of Cultural Studies
Essay
majoring in Finance and Credit
on the topic of:
« Religious Beliefs and traditions of the Chuvash people"

Supervisor:

Cheboksary, 2010

Chuvash………………………………………………………………………………..5
Religious beliefs of the Chuvash people……………………………11
Religious beliefs of the Chuvash in modern times………………….16
Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….18
References……………………………………………………………19

Introduction
Religion is a phenomenon inherent in human society...

Bulatov A. B.

Parallels in the beliefs of the ancient Suvars and Chuvash / A. B. Bulatov, V. D. Dimitriev // Scientists zap. CHNII. - Cheboksary, 1962. - Issue. 21. - pp. 226-236.

Dimitriev V. D.

Parallels in the beliefs of the ancient Suvars and Chuvashs // Scientific notes of the ChNII. - Cheboksary, 1981. - pp. 226-236.

The article was written by V.D. Dimitriev based on extracts from the book “The History of Agvan Moses Kagankatvatsi”, sent by A.B. Bulatov with some comments, which is why he is a co-author of the article. Reprinted with minor clarifications.

Among a number of other ethnographic factors, to solve questions of the origin of peoples, one can also use data on religious beliefs and family life, studying them in a comparative historical aspect. For this purpose we want to compare religion, family relationships Suvar (savir) 7th century. with the Chuvash.

A most valuable source on the religion and family life of the Suvars of the second half of the 7th century has been preserved. This is a book by an Armenian monk of the 10th century. Moses Kagankatvatsi about...

Chuvash mythology and traditional religion are a complex of views, beliefs and cults of the Chuvash that existed from the 9th to the 19th centuries. Certain features of Chuvash mythology and religion are preserved in our time.

The traditional religion was called by the Chuvash themselves “the custom of the old” (Vattisen...

The Chuvash call their old belief “the custom of the old” (Vattisen...

Life style, everyday life, rituals - all this influences appearance and behavior. The Chuvash people live in the center of the European part of Russia. Characteristic character traits are integrally connected with the traditions of these amazing people.

Origins of the people

About 600 kilometers from Moscow is the city of Cheboksary, the center of the Chuvash Republic. Representatives of a colorful ethnic group live on this land.

There are many versions about the origin of this people. It is most likely that the ancestors were Turkic-speaking tribes. These people began migrating west as early as the 2nd century BC. e. Seeking a better life, they came to the modern territories of the republic back in the 7th-8th centuries and three hundred years later created a state that was known as Volga Bulgaria. This is where the Chuvash came from. The history of the people could have been different, but in 1236 the state was defeated by the Mongol-Tatars. Some people fled from the conquerors to the northern lands.

The name of this people is translated from Kyrgyz as “modest”, according to...

Chuvash beliefs

The Chuvash are a Turkic-speaking people of the Volga region, numbering 1,842,346 people. Of these in Chuvash Republic More than 46% (906,922 people) live there. In the population of the republic, the share of the Chuvash people is 67.8%, Russians 26.7, Tatars 2.7, Mordovians 1.4%. Most of the Chuvash live in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Kuibyshev, Ulyanovsk, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Perm regions, as well as in Ukraine and Kazakhstan.

There are three groups in the Chuvash ethnos: the upper Chuvash (Viryal), the lower Chuvash (Anatri) and the middle Chuvash (Anat Enechi).

The Chuvash, despite the presence of a significant Bulgarian component in their culture, did not become Muslims. Some of the Chuvash who converted to Islam became Tatars. The rest of Islam adopted only the cult of Muslim saints and preachers revered in the Volga region, the prophet Pihampar, the god of fate Kepe, and certain customs and religions. sayings.

Mass Christianization of the Chuvash was carried out in the first century. floor. 18th century She met stubborn...

Religions and Beliefs

Before joining the Russian state, the Chuvash of the Ulyanovsk Volga region were pagans. In their paganism there was a system of polytheism with the supreme god Tur#259;. The gods were divided into good and evil. Each occupation of people was patronized by its own god. The pagan religious cult was inextricably linked with the cycle of agricultural work and the cult of ancestors. The cycle of agrarian-magical rituals began with winter holiday Surkhuri, then came the holiday of honoring the sun #199;#1233;varni (Slavic Maslenitsa), then the spring multi-day festival of sacrifices to the sun, god and dead ancestors M#259;nkun (which later coincided with Christian Easter). The cycle continued with Akatui, the holiday of spring plowing and plowing, before the start of spring sowing (the holiday of the flowering of nature, public commemoration. Coincided with the Orthodox Trinity). After sowing grain, the lower Chuvash celebrated Uyav. In honor of the new harvest, it was customary to organize prayers of thanksgiving to the guardian spirit of the barn. From…

IN different time scientists have put forward various theories of the origin of the Chuvash - either from the Khazars (A. A. Fuks, P. Hunfalvi), then from the Burtas (A. F. Rittich, V. A. Sboev), then from the Huns (V. V. Bartold) , then from the Finno-Ugric peoples (N.M. Karamzin, I.A. Firsov), then from the ancient Avars (M.G. Khudyakov), then from the Volga Bulgarians (V.N. Tatishchev, N.I. Ashmarin, 3 . Gombots), then from the Sumerians (N. Ya. Marr), etc. In total, they come down to the following concepts:

1) the basis of the Chuvash people (ethnic group) is the local Finno-Ugric (Mari) population, which experienced strong cultural and especially linguistic influence from the alien Turkic-speaking Bulgarian-Suvar tribes;

2) as an ethnic group, the Chuvash were formed mainly on the basis of the pre-Bulgarian Turks, who supposedly penetrated in large numbers into the Middle Volga region until the 6th century. n. e., that is, before the Bulgarians and Suvars appeared here;

3) The so-called Kazan school. Some Kazan researchers are searching for evidence of the hypothesis about the beginning of the formation of the Chuvash ethnic group on the basis of Turkic-speaking tribes that allegedly penetrated the region in the 2nd-3rd centuries. n. e. She claimed that the ancestors of the Chuvash appeared earlier than the Volga Bulgarians.

The first of these concepts (the “autochthonous theory”) did not stand up to criticism and is now not supported by anyone, since its supporters ignored the role of the Turkic-speaking tribes - one of the main ethnic components of the Chuvash - and in their research were limited to the territory of the Chuvash region and the later stages of ethnic history.

As for the second concept, it began to be actively developed only in the last twenty years. A number of prominent scientists (R. G. Kuzeev, V. A. Ivanov, etc.) attribute the time of mass penetration of the Turks into the Volga-Ural region to the last centuries of the 1st millennium AD. e. and they connect this precisely with the migration of Bulgarian tribes from North Caucasus and the Azov region. At the same time, one of the convincing evidence of the late migration of the Turks to the Middle Volga region is the weak and unclear distinction in comparison with the neighboring Finno-Ugric peoples ethnic groups among the newcomer Turks. The ethnic differentiation of the Chuvash, Tatars, Bashkirs - that is, those peoples whose history was closely connected with the Volga Bulgarians - into independent nationalities ended relatively late, only in the 13th-16th centuries.

The question arises, what exactly is the Bulgarian heritage of the Chuvash? The most fundamental argument is language, for Chuvash is the only surviving language of the Bulgarian branch. It differs from all other Turkic languages in that the sound “z” in them in the Chuvash language corresponds to the sound “r” (so-called rhotacism), and the sound “sh” corresponds to the sound “l” (lambdaism). Rhotacism and lambdaism are also characteristic of the Bulgarian language. For example, Chuv. kher "girl" - common Turkic. kyz; Chuv. khel "winter" - common Turkic. - shoo, etc.

In the development of the Bulgarian theory of the origin of the Chuvash huge role played a role in the discovery of Chuvash words in the texts of Volga-Bulgarian gravestone inscriptions of the 13th-16th centuries, made in the 19th century. Kazan researcher X. Feyzkhanov, and the discovery of elements of the Chuvash type language in the ancient Slavic-Bulgarian source - “The Name Book of the Bulgarian Princes”. The similarity of the economy, life and culture of the Chuvash and Bulgarians is also evidenced by numerous archaeological studies. The first ones inherited from their rural ancestors the types of dwellings, the layout of the estate, the location of the house inside the estate with a blank wall facing the street, rope ornaments for decorating gate posts, etc. According to experts, white women's clothing, headdresses (tukhya, hushpu, surban), jewelry (belts, braids), which were common among the Chuvash until recently, were common among the Bulgarians, including the Danube. In the pre-Christian religion of the Chuvash, constituting the most important part of the ethnic specificity of spiritual culture, the Old Bulgarian pagan cults, containing some features of Zoroastrianism - the religions of the ancient ethnic groups of Iran and Central Asia.

The concept of Bulgarian-Chuvash ethnic continuity is believed to be confirmed, further developed and specified in modern research on archaeology, ethnography, linguistics, folklore and art of the peoples of the region. To date, significant material has been accumulated and partially published characterizing the main stages of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Chuvash people. Of great value are the works of V. F. Kakhovsky, V. D. Dimitriev, M. F. Fedotov and A. A. Trofimov, in which, unlike some other works, problems Chuvash history, culture and language are considered taking into account many factors. In recent decades, major studies by Chuvash scientists have appeared on various aspects traditional culture people, economic activity, social and family life, features of folk knowledge and philosophy, artistic creativity, modern social and ethnic processes.

The ancestors of the Bulgarian tribes, like all Turks, came from Central Asia. On this vast territory since the 3rd millennium BC. e. The ancient ancestors of the Turkic-speaking peoples, the Huns, were widely settled. In the neighborhood there were also Mongolian, Tungus-Manchu, Finno-Ugric, and Indo-European tribes, who in the 3rd-2nd centuries BC. e. were conquered by the Huns. The Huns were under strong linguistic and cultural influence from China. Some scholars consider the Chuvash unity language to be a remnant of the language of the ancient Huns. A closer ethnic group from which the Bulgarians came are considered to be the Oguro-Onogurs, who lived in the northern ostrogans of the Tien Shan and in the upper reaches of the Irtysh. The area of formation of sabirs (suvars) also lay in the regions of the Irtysh. The time of stay of the ancestors of the Bulgarian and Suvar tribes in Central Asia was imprinted so clearly that it is no less reflected in the culture, especially the language of the Chuvash. The Chuvash have a number of strong parallels with the Turkic peoples of Altai and Southern Siberia, in particular the Khakass, Uighurs, Shors, Tuvinians, and Altaians. Manifests itself in the commonality of elements of utensils, housing, ornaments, etc. In addition, the main elements ancient religion The Sayan-Altai Turks are manifested in the complex of the pagan cult of the Chuvash. The Chuvash language has preserved the most ancient words used in the era of weak isolation of the Turkic and Mongolian languages.

- the name of the ethnic group inhabiting the Chuvash Republic with its capital in the city of Cheboksary, located in the European part of Russia. The number of Chuvash in the world is just over one and a half million people, of which 1 million 435 thousand live in Russia.

There are 3 ethnographic groups, namely: the upper Chuvash, inhabiting the north-west of the republic, the middle-low Chuvash, living in the north-east and the southern lower Chuvash. Some researchers also talk about a special subgroup of the steppe Chuvash living in the southeast of Chuvashia and in the neighboring areas.
The Chuvash people were first mentioned in written sources in the 16th century.

In the scientific community, the origin of the Chuvash is still controversial, but most scientists agree that they, as well as the modern Kazan Tatars, are essentially the heirs of the Volga Bulgaria and its culture. The ancestors of the Chuvash are called the tribes of the Volga Finns, who mixed in the seventh and eighth centuries with the tribes of the Turks who moved to the Volga from the steppes of the Azov region. During the time of Ivan the Terrible, the ancestors of modern Chuvash were part of the population of the Kazan Khanate, without losing, however, some isolation and independence.

Origin of the ethnic group

The origin of the Chuvash, which is based on a mixture of ethnic groups, was reflected in the appearance of the people: almost all of its representatives can be divided into Caucasians with blond hair and dark-skinned, dark-haired Mongoloids. The former are characterized by light brown hair, gray or blue eyes and fair skin, wide faces and a neat nose, while they are somewhat darker than Europeans. Distinctive features of the second group: narrow dark brown eyes, weakly defined cheekbones and a depressed nose. Facial features characteristic of both types: low bridge of the nose, narrowed eyes, small mouth.

The Chuvash have their own national language, which, along with Russian, is the official language of Chuvashia. The Chuvash language is recognized as the only living Turkic language of the Bulgar group. It has three dialects: high (it is also called “okayushchiy”), middle-low, and also low (“ukaya”). In the mid-nineteenth century, the enlightener Ivan Yakovlev gave the Chuvash people an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The Chuvash language is studied in schools of the Chechen Republic and its universities, local radio and television programs are broadcast in it, magazines and newspapers are published.

Religious affiliation

Most Chuvash profess Orthodoxy; the second most important religion is Islam. However, traditional beliefs have a great influence on the formation of worldviews. Based on Chuvash mythology, there are three worlds: upper, middle and lower. The upper world is the abode of the supreme deity, and here are the immaculate souls and the souls of unborn babies. The middle world is the world of people. After death, the soul of the righteous passes first to the rainbow, and then to the upper world. Sinners are cast down into the lower world, where the souls of the wicked are boiled. The earth, according to Chuvash myths, is square and the Chuvash live in its very center. The "sacred tree" supports the firmament in the middle, while at the corners of the earth's square it rests on gold, silver, copper, and also stone pillars. Around the earth there is an ocean, the waves of which constantly destroy the land. When the destruction reaches the territory of the Chuvash, the end of the world will come. Animism (the belief in the animation of nature) and the worship of the spirits of ancestors were also popular.

Chuvash National Costume distinguished by abundance decorative elements. Chuvash men wear a canvas shirt, trousers and a headdress; in the cold season, a caftan and a sheep's coat are added. On your feet, depending on the season, are felt boots, boots or bast shoes. Chuvash women wear shirts with breast medallions, wide Tatar trousers, and an apron with a bib. Women's headdresses are of particular importance: tukhya for unmarried girls and hushpu - an indicator of married status. They are generously embroidered with beads and coins. All clothing is decorated with embroidery, which serves not only as decoration for the outfit, but also as a carrier of sacred information about the creation of the world, symbolically depicting the tree of life, eight-pointed stars and flowers. Each ethnographic group has its own favorite colors. So, southerners have always preferred bright shades, and in the north-west they like light fabrics, Chuvash men of the lower and middle groups traditionally wear onuchi white, and representatives of the upper groups prefer black ones.

Chuvash traditions

The ancient traditions of the Chuvash have been preserved to this day. One of the most colorful rituals is a wedding. In traditional Chuvash wedding ceremony there are no official representatives of the cult (priests, shamans) or authorities. Guests witness the creation of a family. According to the canons, the bride should be about 5-8 years older than her husband. The concept of divorce does not exist in traditional Chuvash culture. After the wedding, lovers should be together for the rest of their lives. Funerals are considered an equally important rite: on this occasion, a ram or a bull is slaughtered and more than 40 people are invited to a richly laid funeral table. The holiday for many representatives of this people is still Friday, the day when they put on their best clothes and do not work.

In general, the Chuvash traditions emphasize the most character traits people - respect for parents, relatives and neighbors, as well as peacefulness and modesty. The very name of the ethnic group in most neighboring languages means “calm”, “quiet”, which fully corresponds to its mentality.

Sources

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

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

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

world creation

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

Structure of the world

“Chuvash World” (drawing by Vladimir Galoshev)

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

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

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

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

Gods and spirits

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

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

Mythical creatures

Heroes

Yramas

Mythical places

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

Relationship with other religions

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

Literature

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

Chuvash ( self-name - chăvash, chăvashsem) - the fifth largest people in Russia. According to the 2010 census, 1 million 435 thousand Chuvash live in the country. Their origin, history and peculiar language are considered very ancient.

According to scientists, the roots of this people are found in the ancient ethnic groups of Altai, China, and Central Asia. The closest ancestors of the Chuvash are considered to be the Bulgars, whose tribes inhabited a vast territory from the Black Sea region to the Urals. After the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria state (14th century) and the fall of Kazan, part of the Chuvash settled in the forest regions between the Sura, Sviyaga, Volga and Kama rivers, mixing there with Finno-Ugric tribes.

The Chuvash are divided into two main sub-ethnic groups according to the course of the Volga: riding (Viryal, Turi) in the west and north-west of Chuvashia, grassroots(anatari) - in the south, besides them in the center of the republic there is a group middle grassroots (anat enchi). In the past, these groups differed in their way of life and material culture. Now the differences are becoming more and more smoothed out.

The self-name of the Chuvash, according to one version, directly goes back to the ethnonym of a part of the “Bulgar-speaking” Turks: *čōš → čowaš/čuwaš → čovaš/čuvaš. In particular, the name of the Savir tribe ("Suvar", "Suvaz" or "Suas"), mentioned by Arab authors of the 10th century (Ibn Fadlan), is considered by many researchers to be a Turkic adaptation of the Bulgarian name "Suvar".

In Russian sources, the ethnonym “Chuvash” first appears in 1508. In the 16th century, the Chuvash became part of Russia, and at the beginning of the 20th century they received autonomy: from 1920, the Autonomous Region, from 1925 - the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Since 1991 - the Republic of Chuvashia as part of the Russian Federation. The capital of the republic is Cheboksary.

Where do the Chuvash live and what language do they speak?

The bulk of the Chuvash (814.5 thousand people, 67.7% of the region’s population) live in the Chuvash Republic. It is located in the east of the East European Plain, mainly on the right bank of the Volga, between its tributaries Sura and Sviyaga. In the west, the republic borders with the Nizhny Novgorod region, in the north - with the Republic of Mari El, in the east - with Tatarstan, in the south - with the Ulyanovsk region, in the southwest - with the Republic of Mordovia. Chuvashia is part of the Volga Federal District.

Outside the republic, a significant part of the Chuvash live compactly in Tatarstan(116.3 thousand people), Bashkortostan(107.5 thousand), Ulyanovskaya(95 thousand people) and Samara(84.1 thousand) regions, in Siberia. A small part is outside the Russian Federation,

The Chuvash language belongs to Bulgarian group of the Turkic language family and represents the only living language of this group. In the Chuvash language, there is a high ("pointing") and a lower ("pointing") dialect. Based on the latter, it was formed literary language. The earliest was the Turkic runic alphabet, replaced in the X-XV centuries. Arabic, and in 1769-1871 - Russian Cyrillic, to which special characters were then added.

Features of the appearance of the Chuvash

From an anthropological point of view, most Chuvash belong to the Caucasoid type with a certain degree of Mongoloidity. Judging by research materials, Mongoloid features dominate in 10.3% of the Chuvash. Moreover, about 3.5% of them are relatively pure Mongoloids, 63.5% belong to mixed Mongoloid-European types with a predominance of Caucasoid features, 21.1% represent various Caucasoid types, both dark-colored and fair-haired and light-eyed, and 5.1 % belong to the sublaponoid type, with weakly expressed Mongoloid characteristics.

From a genetic point of view, the Chuvash are also an example of a mixed race - 18% of them carry the Slavic haplogroup R1a1, another 18% carry the Finno-Ugric N, and 12% carry the Western European R1b. 6% have the Jewish haplogroup J, most likely from the Khazars. The relative majority - 24% - bears haplogroup I, characteristic of northern Europe.

Elena Zaitseva

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

Perhaps some believe in Tengrism; what it is is not entirely clear. Tengriism, in Chuvash tanker, actually means ten(faith) ker(name of god), i.e. “faith in the god Ker.”

There was also a pagan religion with many gods. Moreover, each settlement and city had its own main god. Villages, cities, and peoples were named after these gods. Chuvash - sounds Chuvash Syavash (Sav-As literally means “aces (god) Sav”), Bulgars - in Chuvash pulhar ( pulekh-ar- literally means “people (of God) pulekh”), Rus - Re-as(literally means “aces (god) Ra”), etc. In the Chuvash language, in myths, there are references to pagan gods - Anu, Ada, Ker, Savni, Syatra, Merdek, Tora, Ur, Asladi, Sav, Puleh, etc. These pagan gods are identical with the gods of ancient Greece, Babylonia or Rus'. For example, the Chuvash god Anu (Babylonian -Anu), Chuv. Ada (Babylon. - Adad), Chuv. Torah (Babylon. - Ishtor (Ash-Torah), Chuv. Merdek (Babylon. Merdek), Chuv. Savni (Babylon. Savni), Chuv. Sav (Greek Zeus -Sav- as, Russian Savushka).

Many names of rivers, cities and villages are named after gods. For example, the Adal (Volga) River ( Ada-ilu means the god of Hell), the river Syaval (Civil) ( Sav –ilu- god Sav), river Savaka (Sviyaga) ( Sav-aka- meadows of the god Sav), the village of Morkash (Morgaushi) ( Merdek-ash- god Merdek), city of Shupashkar (Cheboksary) ( Shup-ash-kar- the city of the god Shup), the village of Syatrakassi (street (of the god) Syatra) and much more. All Chuvash life is permeated with relics of pagan religious culture. Today we don't think about religious culture, and religion does not occupy the first place in the life of a modern person. But to understand ourselves, we must understand the people's religion, and this is impossible without restoring the history of the people. On my small homeland(Tuppai Esmele village, Mariinsko-Posad district) Orthodoxy was forcibly adopted in the mid-18th century, which led to a decrease in the village population by 40%. The Chuvash have always been adherents of their antiquity and did not accept the forced imposition of another culture and religion.

An examination of folk religion shows a layering of three types of religions:

Monotheistic belief in the god Thor.
An ancient pagan faith with many gods - Sav, Ker, Anu, Ada, Pulekh.
Monotheistic faith Tengrinism is a belief in the god Tenker, nothing more than a belief in the god Ker, which is possibly the result of the development of a pagan religion with its transformation into a monotheistic one with the god Ker.

IN different parts In Chuvashia and the Russian Federation there are relics of these types of religion, respectively, rituals differ and there is cultural diversity. Moreover, this diversity is also accompanied by linguistic diversity. Thus, there is evidence to suggest that this diversity is due to the influence different cultures or peoples. But as historical analysis has shown, this assumption is incorrect. In fact, such diversity is due to the fact that only one culture, one people, but different tribes of this people, who went through different historical paths, participated in the ethnogenesis of the Chuvash people.

The ancestors of the Chuvash are the Amorites, the biblical people, three or four waves of Amorite migration to different eras settled on the middle Volga, passing through different historical paths development. To understand the history of the Chuvash, it is necessary to trace the history of the Amorites from the 40th century BC. to 10th century AD In the 40th century BC. our ancestors, the Amorites, lived in the territory of western Syria, from there, for almost 5 thousand years, the Amorites settled throughout the world, spreading their pagan faith and culture, which was the most progressive at that time. The Amorite language is considered a dead language. Until the beginning of our era. On the vast Eurasian continent, two main religions dominated - Celto-Druid and pagan. The bearers of the first were the Celts, the bearers of the second were the Amorites. The border of the spread of these religions ran through Central Europe - the Druids dominated to the West, to the East up to the Pacific and Indian Ocean- pagans.

Modern Chuvash culture and language are the result of thousands of years of history of the Amorite people, whose descendants are the Chuvash people. The history of the Chuvash is very complex and varied. There are many hypotheses and theories of the origin of the Chuvash, which at first glance are contradictory. All historians agree that the ancestors of the Chuvash were Savirs (Suvaz, Suvars). Many historical documents speak about this people, but geographically they are located in all parts of the Eurasian continent - from the Barents Sea to the Indian Ocean, from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. Modern Russian spelling the name of the Chuvash people, and the self-name of the people is Syavash, which consists of two parts Sav and Ash. The first part denotes the name of the god, the second part denotes the type of people - the Ases. (You can read in detail about the aces in the Scandinavian epic). In the Chuvash language the sound is often With is replaced by w. Thus, the Chuvash always considered themselves subjects of the god Sav, or the Chuvash can be called Sav aces. Often in these myths words were mentioned that were not used in ordinary life. Coming home, I asked my father the meaning of these words and why they are not used now. For example, rotatkan, as the father explained, this is an old Chuvash word for squirrel; in the modern Chuvash language the word paksha is used. Spanekappi was originally from the Chuvash from the Mari Trans-Volga region, where ancient Chuvash words and pagan myths were probably preserved. For example, the ancient Chuvash word meshkene, means slave, also not found in modern language, but was used in ancient Babylon and is also an Amorite word. I did not come across this word in conversation, but heard it only from the lips of Spanecappi.

Spanekappi told myths about a world tree with two peaks, on one peak sits an owl, on the other an eagle, how at the roots of this tree there is a sacred spring that runs along the branches rotatkan, and gnaws the leaves pumpkin. The top of the tree touches the sky. (In our village on Cape Tanomash there is such a tree, a sacred spring flows at the roots.) God lives in the sky Anu, people, animals live on the earth, and reptiles live underground. This myth is very similar to the Scandinavian epic. It's also called a squirrel rotatkan. World tree - ash ikktorsil, if translated from the Chuvash language, this literally means two-vertex.

Spanecappi told me about the hero Chemen. Having matured, I began to look for the historical prototype of the hero Chemen and came to the conclusion that this was the commander Semen, in whose honor the city of Semender was named.

Spanecappi told about a hero (I don’t remember his name), who performed feats, traveled to the underworld, where he fought and defeated various monsters, traveled to the heavenly world to the gods and competed with them. I remembered all these myths several decades later, when I read about the exploits of Gilgamesh from Mesopotamian mythology, they were so similar.

But I always had a question to which I could not find an answer, why the Chuvash do not have a full-fledged pagan epic. Studying historical material and reflection led me to the conclusion that this is the result of the complex history of the people. The tales, myths and legends that Spanecappi told us as a child were much richer than those recorded and printed in books. But these myths are characteristic only of the Chuvash of the Mari Trans-Volga region, who differed from the rest of the Chuvash, both in mythology, language, and in appearance - fair-haired and tall.

Attempts to understand, reflection and study of historical material allowed me to come to certain conclusions, which I want to present here.

The modern Chuvash language contains a large number of Turkic words from the Bulgarian language. In the Chuvash language, there are often two parallel words that have the same meaning - one from Turkic, the other from ancient Chuvash. For example, the word potato is denoted by two words - sier ulmi (Chuv) and paranka (Turks), cemetery - syava (Chuv) and masar (Turks). The appearance of a large number of Turkic words is due to the fact that when the Bulgars accepted Islam, part of the Bulgars refused to convert to Islam and remained in the old religion and mixed with the pagan Chuvash.

Many researchers classify the Chuvash language as a Turkic language group, but I do not agree with this. If the Chuvash language is purified from the Bulgar component, then we will get the ancient Chuvash language, which turns out to be an Amorite language.

Here I want to give my point of view about the history of the Chuvash, which begins in the 40th century BC. In the 40th century BC. The ancestors of the Chuvash Amorites lived in the territory of modern western Syria. (Remember the mention of frescoes in Syria). From the 40th century BC. Amorite tribes begin to intensively settle throughout the world. There is information about the migration of the Amorites in the 40th century BC. to the west, to northern Africa, where they, together with the Luwian tribes, participated in the formation of the first Egyptian kingdoms.

In the 30th century BC. the following Amorian tribes called Carians(the main god of the Ker tribe) invaded the Mediterranean, settled the Mediterranean islands, part of the Balkan Peninsula and the Etruscan tribe (Ada-ar-as - means the people of the god Hell) - part of modern Italy. Exist common elements cultures of the Etruscans and Caucasian Savirs. For example, the Etruscans have a ritual battle of warriors (gladiators) over the grave of the deceased, and the Savirs have a ritual battle of relatives with swords over the deceased.

In the 16th century BC. next Amorite tribe Thorians(who are called the Northern Greek tribe, the main god is Thor) invaded the north of the Balkan Peninsula. All these tribes, together with the Indo-European tribes (Pelasgians, Achaeans), participated in the creation of the Cretan, Greek and Roman civilizations with pagan religion and culture. Scientists are still struggling with the solution to Cretan writing. Last year, Americans came to the conclusion that Cretan writing is a variety of Greek. But in fact it is one of the varieties of Amorite writing and is written in the Amorite language.

Between the 30th and 28th centuries BC. The Amorite tribes migrated east, passed through Mesopotamia without stopping, where there was a strong Sumerian state, moved further east and reached northwestern China. Arriving in the Tufyan depression, they created the civilization of the Turfyan chamois (Turkhan Sier) and settled Tibet. These same Amorites captured the entire territory of China, created the first Chinese state and the first royal dynasty in China, ruled for about 700 years, but were then overthrown. The Amorites who arrived differed in appearance from the Chinese - tall, fair-haired. Subsequently, the Chinese, having come to power, decided to crowd out memories of the rule of the aliens from their memory; it was decided to destroy all references to the rule of the Amorites. Already in later times in the 14th century BC. The Amorites were forced to leave the Turfian depression. Due to tectonic movements (new mountain building), the appearance of northwestern China changed, and the depressions were flooded. The Amorites migrated to the north - to Siberia, to the West - to Altai, and to the south. Centuries later, after the cessation of tectonic movements, the Amorites again populated northwestern China and already at the beginning of our era came to Europe as part of a union of tribes called the Huns, main role the Savirs occupied this union. The Huns brought faith - Tengrism, which is the development of the pagan religion of the Amorites and its transformation into a monotheistic one, where there was one god Tenker (Tenker - from Chuvash means god Ker). Only part of the Savirs settled in the middle Volga, where the Amorites of the first wave of migration, who came from Mesopotamia, already lived; part went to Western Europe.

In the 20th century BC. a more powerful flow of Amorite migration was again directed to the east. Under the pressure of this migration, the weakened Sumerian-Akkadian state fell. Arriving in Mesopotamia, the Amorites created their own state with Babylon as its capital. Before the arrival of the Amorites, there was only a small village on the site of Babylon. But the Amorites did not destroy the Sumerian-Akkadian cultural heritage, as a result of the synthesis of the Sumerian-Acadian and Amorite cultures, a new one emerged - the Babylonian culture. The first Amorite kings took Akkadian names for themselves. Only the fifth Amorite king took the Amorite name - Hamurappi, which is translated from Chuvash as “elder of our people.” Writing and correspondence were conducted in Akkadian, a language related to Amorite. Therefore, practically no documents in the Amorite language have survived. The modern Chuvash language and culture have a lot in common with the Amorite culture and the language of Babylonia from the 20th to the 10th centuries BC. In the 10th century BC. The Amorites were driven out of Mesopotamia by the more warlike Aramean tribes. The departure of the Amorites from Mesopotamia was associated with a change in the culture and economic structure of this region, a change in diet, etc. For example, the Amorites brewed beer, with their departure brewing was replaced by winemaking.

The Amorites went north - they populated the territory of the Caucasus and further to the north of the European Plain and to the east - the Iranian Plateau. On European plain The Amorites are mentioned by Herodotus (5th century BC) under the name Sauromats (sav-ar-emet), which literally translated from Chuvash means “the people who believe in (the god) Sav.” Emet in the Chuvash language means dream, faith. It was the Sauromats, from my point of view, who made up the first wave of migrants, our ancestors, who settled on the Volga. The Sauromatians were pagans; the Sauromatians settled over a vast Eurasian territory. It was they who brought to the Eurasian territory the names of rivers, mountains, and places, the meaning of which is now unclear. But they are understandable from the Amorite language. Moscow (Me-as-kekeek - from Amorite “homeland of the Ases (god) Me, kevek -homeland)”, Dnieper (te en-eper - “road of the country (god) Te”, eper - road), Oder, Vistula, Tsivil, Sviyaga, etc. The Amorite name is Kremlin (Ker-am-el from Amorean “sacred land (of god) Ker”), the Slavic name of the fortress is Detinets. The Chuvash of the Mari Trans-Volga region, who are different from the rest of the Chuvash, may not have mixed with the Amorites of the later migration to the Volga (Huns and Savirs) from other regions.

It is with this stream of Amorite migrants (Sauromats) that paganism is associated in the Chuvash culture, but it was forced out of life by the Amorites of later and numerous migration streams. Therefore, I learned Chuvash pagan mythology only from the lips of Spanecappi, who was from the Chuvash Mari Trans-Volga region, where the influence of later Amorite migrants had no effect.

The next wave of Amorite migrants who came to the Volga were the Huns, some of whom settled in the territory of related tribes, brought Tengrism, and some went west. For example, a tribe called the Suevi, led by the leader Cheges, went west and settled in the south of France and Spain; the Suevi later participated in the ethnogenesis of the French and Spaniards. It was they who brought the name Sivilya (Sav-il, means the god Sav).

The next wave of Amorite migration was the resettlement of the Savirs, who lived in the northern Caucasus. Many people identify the Caucasian Savirs as the Hunnic Savirs, but they probably settled in the Caucasus when forced out of Mesopotamia back in the 10th century BC. By the time of the resettlement, the Savirs had already abandoned the pagan religion and adopted Christianity. The Savir princess Chechek (flower) became the wife of the Byzantine emperor Isaurian V, adopted Christianity and the name Irina. Later, after the death of the emperor, she became empress and actively took part in the canonization of Orthodoxy. In the Caucasus (Chuvash name Aramazi), the Savirs converted to Christianity in 682. The adoption of Christianity was forced, the king of all Savir Elteber (in Chuvash this title sounded yaltyvar, literally from Chuvsh means “to carry out customs”) Alp Ilitver cut down sacred trees and groves, destroyed idols, executed all the priests, and made crosses from the wood of sacred trees. But the Savirs did not want to convert to Christianity. The disunited Savirs, with the adoption of a new religion, could not resist the Arab invasion after 24 goals in 706. Before the adoption of Christianity, the Savirs were a very warlike people, constantly participating in wars with the Arabs and Persians and emerging victorious. The basis of the belligerence and courage of the Savirs was their religion, according to which the Savirs were not afraid of death, only warriors who died in battle with enemies went to heaven in the divine country. With the adoption of Christianity, the psychology and ideology of the people changed. A similar process occurred with the Norwegians and Swedes (Vikings) after the adoption of Christianity.

The Arabs marched through the country of the Savirs with sword and fire, destroying everything, especially destroying the Christian faith. The Savirs were forced to go north, settling from the Dnieper to the Volga and further to the Aral Sea. And within a decade, these Savirs created a new state - Great Khazaria, which occupied the territory of settlement of the Caucasian Savirs, Hunnic Savirs and their allies (Magyars). In the 9th century, a military coup took place in Khazaria, the military and the Jews came to power, and Judaism became the state religion. After this, the state of Khazaria became an alien and hostile state for the Savirs, and a civil war began. The Oguzes were called in to maintain power. Without the support of the population, Khazaria did not exist for long.

The invasion of the Arabs led to the Savirs moving away from the pagan religion due to the destruction of the priests who were in charge of the customs, but the new Christian religion did not have time to gain a foothold among the people and took the form of a monotheistic religion of faith in the Torah. The last wave of migration was the most numerous. The resettlement of the Savirs from the Caucasus (from the Aramazi Mountains - translated from Chuvash as - “land (am) of the people (ar) ases (az)”) is spoken of in myths. In the myth, the Chuvash hastily left their place of residence along the Azamat Bridge, which rested at one end on the Aramazi Mountains and the other on the banks of the Volga. The Savirs, having migrated with their still unsettled religion, forgot about Christ, but moved away from the pagan religion. Therefore, the Chuvash practically do not have a full-fledged pagan mythology. The pagan myths told by Spanecappi were probably introduced by the Amorites of the first wave of migration (Sauromatians), and were preserved only in inaccessible areas, such as the Mari Trans-Volga region.

As a result of the mixing of three streams of descendants of the Amorites and synthesis, they received the pre-Orthodox faith of the Chuvash. As a result of the synthesis of three waves of migration of the descendants of the Amorites (Sauromatians, Savirs, Huns), we have a variety of language, differences in appearance, and culture. The predominance of the last wave of migration over others led to the fact that paganism and Tengrism were practically forced out. Savirs from the Caucasus migrated not only to the Volga, a large group migrated and settled on the vast territory of modern Kyiv, Kharkov, Bryansk, Kursk regions, where they created their own cities and principalities (for example, the principality of Novgorod of Siversky). They, together with the Slavs, participated in the ethnogenesis of Russians and Ukrainians. Back in the 17th century AD, they were mentioned under the name of stellate sturgeon. The Russian cities of Tmutarakan, Belaya Vezha (translated literally from Chuvash as “the land of (god) Bel”), Novgorod Siversky were Savir cities.

There was another wave of Amorite migration, at the turn of two eras. This wave may not have led to the settlement of the Amorites on the Volga. The Amorites went far to the north of the European continent - to the north of Russia and to Scandinavia under the name Svear, partly from Scandinavia they were forced out by the Germanic tribes of the Goths, who crossed to the continental part of Europe in the 3rd century AD. created the state of Germanrich, which later fell under the onslaught of the Huns (Savirs). The Svears with the remaining Germanic tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Swedes and Norwegians, and the Svears on the European territory of Russia, together with the Finno-Ugrians and Slavs, participated in the ethnogenesis of the Russian people of the north, in the formation of the Novgorod principality. The Chuvash call the Russians “roslo”, which literally means “mountain aces” (along the upper reaches of the Volga), and the Chuvash call themselves “aces”, believers of the god Sav. It was the participation of the Savirs in the ethnogenesis of the Russian people that brought many Chuvash words into the Russian language - top (Russian) - vir (Chuv.), lepota (Russian) - lep (Chuv.), pervy (Russian) - perre (Chuv.) , table (Russian) - setel (Chuv.), cat (Russian) - sash (Chuv.), city (Russian) - map (Chuv.), cell (Russian) - keel (Chuv.), bull ( Russian) - upkor (Chuv.), opushka (Russian) - upashka (Chuv.), honey mushroom (Russian) - uplyanka (Chuv.), thief (Russian) - voro (Chuv.), prey (Russian) ) - tuposh (Chuv.), cabbage (Russian) - kuposta (Chuv.), father (Russian) - atte (Chuv.), kush (Russian) - kushar (Chuv.), etc.

It is necessary to note the invasion of the Amorites from the Iranian plateau into India. This invasion occurred in the 16th-15th century BC. The invasion may have taken place in conjunction with Indo-European peoples and is referred to in history as the Aryan Invasion. With the arrival of the Amorites, the weakened Harappan state fell and the newcomers created their own state. The Amorites brought a new religion and culture to India. In the Mahabharata there is an early mention of the Savirs together with the Sindhis. In ancient times, the territory of the Sinds was known as Sovira. In the ancient Vedas there are many words similar to Chuvash, but modified. (For example, how the name of the city Shupashkar was modified in the Russian spelling of Cheboksary). The sacred pillar is called yupa, among the Chuvash it is also called yupa. The fifth book of the Vedas about life history is Puran (Puran from Chuvash - life), the book of the Vedas Atharva about treatment from Chuvash means (Ut - horvi, from Chuvash - protection of the body), another book of the Vedas is Yajur (yat-sor - earthly name).