About 14 thousand people. The total number is 6710 thousand people.
They are divided into three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural Tatars, Siberian Tatars and Astrakhan Tatars. The most numerous are the Volga-Ural Tatars, including the sub-ethnic groups of Kazan Tatars, Kasimov Tatars and Mishars, as well as the sub-confessional community of Kryashens (baptized Tatars). Among the Siberian Tatars, Tobolsk, Tara, Tyumen, Baraba and Bukhara (an ethnic group of Tatars) stand out. Among the Astrakhan - Yurt, Kundra Tatars and Karagash (in the past, the Tatars of the "three yards" and the Tatars "emeshnye" also stood out). A special ethnic group of the Golden Horde-Turkic ethnos, which disappeared as a result of the ethnic and political processes of the 15th-16th centuries, were the Lithuanian Tatars until the beginning of the 20th century. This group in the 2nd half of the XIX - early XX centuries. experienced to a certain extent the process of integration into the Tatar ethnic community.
The colloquial Tatar language of the Kypchak group of the Turkic language is divided into three dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). Astrakhan Tatars retain certain specifics in terms of linguistic features. The Turkic language of the Lithuanian Tatars ceased to exist in the 16th century (the Lithuanian Tatars switched to the Belarusian language, and by the middle of the 19th century, part of the intelligentsia began to use Polish and Russian).
The most ancient writing is the Turkic runic. Writing from the 10th century to 1927 - based on Arabic graphics, from 1928 to 1939 - Latin (yanalif), from 1939 - 40 - Russian.
Believing Tatars, with the exception of a small group of Kryashens (including Nagaybaks), who were converted to Orthodoxy in the 16th-18th centuries, are Sunni Muslims.
In the past, all ethnoterritorial groups of Tatars also had local ethnonyms: the Volga-Urals - Meselman, Kazanly, Bolgars, Misher, Tipter, Kereshen, Nagaybek, Kechim and others; in Astrakhan - nugai, karagash, yurt Tatarlars and others; Siberian - Seber Tatarlars (Seberek), Tobollyk, Turals, Baraba, Bokharly, etc.; among Lithuanians - meslim, lithuania (lipka), tatarlars.
For the first time, the ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes in the 6th-9th centuries, in the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries. he was fixed as a common ethnonym of the Tatars. In the 13th century, the Mongols who created the Golden Horde included tribes conquered by them (including the Turkic ones), called "Tatars". In the XIII-XIV centuries, as a result of complex ethnic processes that took place in the Golden Horde, the numerically predominant Kipchaks assimilated the rest of the Turkic-Mongolian tribes, but adopted the ethnonym "Tatars". European peoples, Russians and some large Asian peoples called the population of the Golden Horde "Tatars". In the Tatar khanates that formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, noble layers, military service groups and the official class, which consisted mainly of the Golden Horde Tatars of Kypchak-Nogai origin, called themselves Tatars. It was they who played a significant role in the spread of the ethnonym "Tatars". After the fall of the khanates, the term was also transferred to the common people. This was facilitated by the representations of the Russians, who called all the inhabitants of the Tatar khanates "Tatars". In the conditions of the formation of an ethnos (in the 2nd half of the 19th - early 20th centuries), the Tatars began the process of growing national self-consciousness and awareness of their unity. By the time of the 1926 census, most Tatars called themselves Tatars.
The ethnic basis of the Volga-Ural Tatars was made up of the Turkic-speaking tribes of the Bulgarians, who created in the Middle Volga region (no later than the beginning of the 10th century) one of the early states of Eastern Europe - the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, which existed as an independent state until 1236. As part of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, from many tribal and post-tribal formations, the Bulgarian nationality took shape, which in the pre-Mongolian period experienced a process of consolidation. The inclusion of its territories in the Golden Horde led to significant ethno-political changes. On the site of the former independent state, one of the ten administrative divisions (iklim) of the Golden Horde was formed with the main center in the city of Bulgar. In the XIV-XV centuries, separate principalities were known in this territory with centers in Narovchat (Mukshy), Bulgar, Dzhuketau and Kazan. In the XIV-XV centuries, Kipchakized, including Nogai, groups penetrated the ethnic environment of the population of this region. In the XIV - the middle of the XVI centuries. the formation of ethnic communities of Kazan, Kasimov Tatars and Mishars took place. The Kazan-Tatar people developed in the Kazan Khanate (1438-1552), which was one of the significant political centers of Eastern Europe. The ethnic image of the Mishars and Kasimov Tatars was formed in the Kasimov Khanate, which was dependent on Muscovite Russia from the middle of the 15th century (it existed in a greatly modified form until the 80s of the 17th century). Until the middle of the 16th century, the Mishars experienced the process of becoming an independent ethnic group. The Kasimov Tatars, who had some ethnic characteristics, were in fact the social elite of the Kasimov Khanate and ethnically formed a transitional group between the Kazan Tatars and the Mishars. In the 2nd half of the XVI-XVIII centuries. as a result of mass migrations of Tatars in the Volga-Ural region, there was a further convergence of Kazan, Kasimov Tatars and Mishars, which led to the formation of the Volga-Ural Tatars ethnos. The Astrakhan Tatars are descendants of the Golden Horde groups (but possibly some of the earlier components of Khazar and Kypchak origin). In the XV-XVII centuries, this population, living in the Astrakhan Khanate (1459-1556), partly in the Nogai Horde and individual Nogai principalities (Big and Small Nogai and others), experienced a strong influence of the Nogais. There are other components among the Astrakhan Tatars (Tatar Tats, Indians, Central Asian Turks). Since the 18th century, the ethnic interaction of the Astrakhan Tatars with the Volga-Urals has intensified. In separate groups of Astrakhan Tatars - in the Yurt Tatars and Karagash - ethnic groups of the medieval Nogai and the Golden Horde-Turkic ethnic groups are distinguishable.
Lithuanian Tatars began to form at the end of the 14th century on the territory of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania at the expense of immigrants from the Golden Horde, later from the Great and Nogai Hordes.
Siberian Tatars were formed mainly from ethnic groups of Kipchak and Nogai-Kipchak origin, which included the Ugric peoples assimilated by them. In the XVIII - early XX centuries. Ethnic contacts of the Siberian Tatars with the Volga-Urals intensified.
In the 2nd half of the XIX - early XX centuries. as a result of ethnocultural and demographic processes (early entry into the Russian state, proximity of ethnic territories, migration of the Volga-Ural Tatars to the regions of Astrakhan and Western Siberia, linguistic and cultural rapprochement based on ethnic mixing), there was a consolidation of the Volga-Ural, Astrakhan and Siberian Tatars into a single ethnic group. One of the expressions of this process is the assimilation by all groups of the "general Tatar" self-consciousness. Among a part of the Siberian Tatars, the ethnonym "Bukharians" existed, the Astrakhan - "Nogais", "Karagashi", among the Volga-Ural Tatars, according to the 1926 census, 88% of the Tatar population of the European part of the USSR considered themselves Tatars. The rest had other ethnonyms (Mishar, Kryashen, including some of them - Nagaybak, Teptyar). The preservation of local names indicates the incompleteness of the consolidation processes among the Tatars, who are a well-established large ethnic group, although some of the Siberian Tatars, Nagaybaks and some other groups continue to distinguish themselves from the rest of the Tatars.
In 1920, the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (as part of the RSFSR) was formed, which in 1991 was transformed into the Republic of Tatarstan.
Traditional occupations are arable farming and cattle breeding. They grew wheat, rye, oats, barley, peas, lentils, millet, spelt, flax and hemp.
Large and small cattle and horses were bred, the Kryashens Tatars bred pigs. In the steppe zone, the herds were significant, and among the Tatar-Orenburg Cossacks and Astrakhan Tatars, animal husbandry was not inferior in importance to agriculture. Tatars are characterized by a special love for the horse - a legacy of the nomadic past. Poultry was bred - chickens, geese, ducks, recently - turkeys. Horticulture played a secondary role. The main garden plant for most peasants was potatoes. In the Southern Urals and the Astrakhan Territory, melon growing was of great importance. Beekeeping was traditional for the Volga-Ural Tatars: formerly beekeeping, in the 19th-20th centuries beekeeping. In the recent past, hunting as a trade existed only among the Ural Mishars. Fishing was more of an amateur character, and on the Ural River, and especially among the Astrakhan Tatars, it was of commercial importance, lake fishing played a large role among the Baraba Tatars, and river fishing and hunting among the northern groups of the Tobol-Irtysh and Baraba Tatars.
Along with agriculture, various trades and crafts have long been important. There were different types of earnings: seasonal work - for harvesting and for factories, factories, mines, for state-owned forest dachas, sawmills, etc.; izvoz. Traditional, especially for the Kazan Tatars, were various crafts: wood-chemistry and woodworking (bast-kulletka, cooperage, carriage, carpentry, carpentry, etc.). They were highly skilled in processing leather (“Kazan morocco”, “Bulgarian yuft”), sheepskin, and wool. On the basis of these crafts in the Order in the 18th-19th centuries, felting, furrier, weaving, chizhny, gold-embroidery manufactories arose, in the 19th century - tanneries, cloth and other factories. Locksmith, jewelry, brick and other handicrafts were also known. Many peasants were engaged in crafts in seasonal work (tailors, wool beaters, dyers, carpenters).
Traditional for the Tatars were trade and trade intermediary. activity. Tatars practically monopolized petty trade in the region; most of the prasol-purveyors were also Tatars. From the 18th century, large Tatar merchants dominated operations with Central Asia and Kazakhstan.
The Tatars had urban and rural settlements. Villages (villages) were mainly located along the river network, there were many of them near springs, tracts, lakes. For the Tatars of the Fore-Kama region, part of the Urals, settlements of small and medium size, located in the lowlands, on the slopes of the hills, were characteristic; in the forest-steppe and steppe areas, large, spread out auls on flat terrain prevailed. The old villages of the Tatars of the Fore-Kama region, founded back in the time of the Kazan Khanate, until the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. they retained cumulus, nesting forms of settlement, disordered planning, were distinguished by crowded buildings, uneven and intricate streets, often ending in unexpected dead ends. Often there was a concentration of estates by related groups, sometimes the presence of several related families in one estate. A long tradition of dwellings located in the depths of the yard, a continuous line of deaf street fences, etc., was preserved. In areas with a forest-steppe and steppe landscape, the villages mostly had a focal form of settlement in the form of a sparse network of single isolated settlements. They were characterized by multiple yards, linear, quarterly, ordered street buildings, the location of dwellings on the street line, etc.
Estates of wealthy peasants, clergy, merchants were concentrated in the center of the auls, a mosque, shops, shops, and public grain barns were also located here. In mono-ethnic villages, there could be several mosques, and in poly-ethnic villages, churches were built in addition to them. On the outskirts of the village there were baths of the ground or semi-dugout type, mills. In forest areas, as a rule, the outskirts of the villages were assigned to pastures, surrounded by a fence, and field gates (basu kapka) were placed at the ends of the streets. Large settlements were often volost centers. They held bazaars, fairs, there were all the buildings necessary for the administrative functioning.
The estates were divided into two parts: the front part was a clean yard where dwellings, storage facilities, cattle rooms were located, the back part was a vegetable garden with a threshing floor. There was a current, a barn-shish, a chaff, and sometimes a bathhouse. Less common were single-yard estates, while rich peasants had estates in which the middle yard was entirely devoted to livestock buildings.
The main building material is wood. Log construction technique prevailed. The construction of residential buildings made of clay, brick, stone, adobe, wattle was also noted. The huts were ground or on the foundation, basement. The two-chamber type prevailed - a hut - canopy, in some places there were five-walls, huts with a prirub. Prosperous peasant families built three-chamber huts with a connection (hut - canopy - hut). Huts connected through a canopy with a cage, dwellings of a cruciform plan, “round” houses, crosses and occasionally multi-chamber houses built according to urban models prevailed in the forest areas. The Volga-Ural Tatars also mastered the construction of vertically developed dwellings, also mainly noted in the forest zone. These included houses with a semi-basement residential floor, two-, occasionally three-story. The latter, built according to the traditional cruciform plan, with mezzanines, girls' rooms (aivans), represented the specifics of the rural architecture of the Kazan Tatars. Wealthy peasants put residential log cabins on stone, brick storerooms, placed shops and shops on the lower floor.
Roof truss construction, gable, sometimes four-slope forms. With a trussless design in forest areas, a male one was used, and in the steppe, a rolling covering of logs and poles was used. Territorial differences were also observed in the material of the roof covering: in the forest zone - hemp, sometimes shingles were used, in the forest-steppe - straw, bast, steppe - clay, reeds.
The interior layout is of the northern-Central Russian type. In some areas of the forest and steppe zones, sometimes - the eastern version of the South Russian plan, occasionally there was a plan with the opposite direction of the mouth of the furnace (towards the entrance) and rarely among the Mishars of the Oka basin - the West Russian layout.
The traditional features of the interior of the hut are the free location of the stove at the entrance, the place of honor "tour" in the middle of the bunks (seke), set along the front wall. Only among the Kryashen Tatars was the “tour” placed diagonally from the stove in the front corner. The area of \u200b\u200bthe hut along the line of the stove was divided by a partition or curtain into the female - kitchen and male - guest halves.
Heating was carried out by a stove with a “white” firebox, and only in rare huts of the Tatar-Mishars, stoves without pipes were preserved. Baking ovens were built of adobe and brick, differed by the absence or presence of a boiler, the method of strengthening it - suspended (for certain groups of Mishar Tatars of the Oka basin), smeared, etc.
The interior of the dwelling is represented by long bunks, which were universal furniture: they rested, ate, and worked on them. In the northern areas, and especially among the Mishars, shortened bunks were used, combined with benches and tables. Walls, piers, corners, finials, etc. decorated with fabric decorations with bright colors, woven and embroidered towels, napkins, prayer books. Sleeping places were fenced with a curtain, a canopy. Valances were hung along the matitsa, along the upper perimeter of the walls. The outfit of the hut was complemented by festive clothes hung on a partition or shelves, felt and lint-free carpets, paths, etc. laid on the bunks and on the floor.
The architectural decoration of dwellings has been preserved in the villages of the Kazan Tatars of the Zakazan’e regions: ancient buildings, two- and three-story Bai houses, decorated with carved and overlaid ornaments, columns with orders, pilasters, lancet and keeled gable niches, light verandas, galleries, balconies decorated with figured columns , lattice. The platbands, the plane of the pediment, the cornice, the chapels, as well as the details of the porch, panels and gate posts, the upper lattice of the blind fences in front of the house, were carved. Carving motifs: floral and geometric ornaments, as well as a stylized image of birds, animal heads. The carved decoration of architectural parts was combined with polychrome painting in contrasting colors: white and blue, green and blue, etc. She covered the sheathed planes of walls and corners. Overhead sawn carving was more used in the northern regions of the Oka basin. Here, the design of the tops of the roof, chimneys, and drains with patterns of perforated iron was developed. The Tatar huts of adjacent, and partly southern areas of the forest-steppe zone had the simplest appearance: plastered walls were covered with whitewash and small window openings without platbands, but mostly equipped with shutters, stood out on the clean surface of the walls.
Men's and women's underwear - a tunic-shaped shirt and wide, loose-fitting pants (the so-called "pants with a wide step"). The women's shirt was decorated with frills and small assemblies, the chest part was arched with appliqué, ruffles or special pectoral decoration from izu (especially among the Kazan Tatars). In the design of men's and women's shirts, in addition to appliqué, tambour embroidery (floral and floral ornament) and artistic weaving (geometric ornament) were often used.
The outer clothing of the Tatars was oar with a solid fitted back. A sleeveless (or short-sleeved) camisole was worn over the shirt. Women's camisoles were sewn from colored, more often plain velvet and decorated on the sides and bottom with braided braid and fur. Over the camisole, the men wore a long, spacious robe with a small shawl collar. In the cold season, they wore beshmets, chikmeni, tanned fur coats.
The headdress of men (except for the Kryashens) is a four-wedge, hemispherical skullcap (tubetei) or in the form of a truncated cone (kelapush). Festive velvet lace skullcap was embroidered with tambour, smooth (more often gold) embroidery. Over the skullcap (and women - bedspreads) in cold weather they put on a hemispherical or cylindrical fur or simply quilted hat (burek), and in summer a felt hat with lowered brim.
A women's hat - kalfak - was embroidered with pearls, a small gilded coin, gold-embroidered stitch, etc., and was common among all groups of Tatars, except for the Kryashens. Women and girls braided their hair in two braids, smoothly, parted; only the Kryashenki wore them with a crown around their heads, like Russian women. There are numerous women's jewelry - large almond-shaped earrings, pendants for braids, collar clasps with pendants, baldrics, spectacular wide bracelets, etc. inlaid with precious stones and gems. In rural areas, silver coins were widely used in the manufacture of jewelry.
Traditional shoes are leather ichigi and shoes with soft and hard soles, often made of colored leather. Festive women's ichigi and shoes were ornamented in the style of multi-colored leather mosaic, the so-called "Kazan boots". Bast shoes of the Tatar type (Tatar chabata) served as work shoes: with a straight-braided head and low sides. They were worn with white cloth stockings.
The basis of nutrition was meat, dairy and vegetable food - soups seasoned with pieces of dough (chumar, tokmach), cereals, sourdough bread, flat cakes (kabartma), pancakes (koymak). The national dish is belesh with a variety of fillings, often meat cut into pieces and mixed with millet, rice or potatoes, in some groups - in the form of a dish cooked in a pot; pastry from unleavened dough is widely presented in the form of bavyrsak, kosh tele, chek-chek (wedding dish). Dried sausage (kazylyk) was prepared from horse meat (the favorite meat of many groups). Dried goose was considered a delicacy. Dairy products - katyk (a special kind of sour milk), sour cream (set este, kaymak), sezme, eremchek, kort (varieties of cottage cheese), etc. Some groups prepared varieties of cheese. Drinks - tea, ayran - a mixture of katyk with water (summer drink). During the wedding, they served shirbet - a drink made from fruits and honey dissolved in water. Some ritual dishes have been preserved - elbe (fried sweet flour), honey mixed with butter (bal-may), - a wedding dish, etc.
The small family predominated, although in remote forest areas until the beginning of the 20th century there were also large families of 3-4 generations. The family was based on patriarchal principles, there was an avoidance of men by women, some elements of female seclusion. Marriages were made mainly by matchmaking, although there were runaway marriages and there were kidnappings of girls.
In wedding ceremonies, despite local differences, there were common points that make up the specifics of the Tatar wedding. In the pre-wedding period, during matchmaking, conspiracy, engagement, the parties agreed on the quantity and quality of gifts that the groom's side had to give the bride's side, i.e. about kalyma; the amount of the bride's dowry was not particularly specified. The main wedding ceremonies, including the religious ceremony of marriage, accompanied by a special feast, but without the participation of the young, were held in the bride's house. The young woman remained here until the payment of bride price (in the form of money and clothes for the girl, food for the wedding). At this time, the young man visited his wife on Thursdays once a week. The young woman's move to her husband's house was sometimes delayed until the birth of a child and was furnished with many rituals. A specific feature of the wedding feasts of the Kazan Tatars was their separate holding for men and women (sometimes in different rooms). For other groups of Tatars, this division was not so strict, and for the Kryashens it was completely absent. The Kryashens and Mishars had special wedding songs, and the Mishars had wedding lamentations of the bride. In many areas, the wedding took place either without alcohol at all, or their consumption was negligible.
The most significant Muslim holidays: Korban Gaete is associated with sacrifice, Uraza Gaete is celebrated at the end of the 30-day fast and the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad - Maulid. Baptized Tatars celebrated Christian holidays, in which elements of traditional folk holidays of the Tatars were observed. Of the folk holidays, the most significant and ancient is Sabantuy - the holiday of the plow - in honor of the spring sowing. He did not have not only an exact calendar date, but also a specific (established) day of the week. Everything depended on the weather conditions of the year, the intensity of snow melting and, accordingly, the degree of readiness of the soil for sowing spring crops. Villages in the same district celebrated in a certain order. The culmination of the holiday was meydan - competitions in running, jumping, national wrestling - keresh and horse races, preceded by a collection of gifts for the winners. In addition, the holiday included a number of rituals, children's, youthful amusements that make up its preparatory part - hag (dere, zere) botkasy - a collective treat of porridge made from the collected products. It was cooked in a large cauldron in the meadows or on a hillock. An obligatory element of Sabantuy was the collection of colored eggs by children, which were prepared by each hostess. In recent decades, Sabantuy has been celebrated everywhere in the summer, after the completion of spring field work. The attitude towards it as a national holiday is characteristic, which manifested itself in the fact that it was also celebrated by those groups of Tatars who had not celebrated it in the past.
Since 1992, two religious holidays - Eid al-Adha (Muslim) and Christmas (Christian) have been included in the official holiday calendar of Tatarstan.
Epos, fairy tales, legends, baits, songs, riddles, proverbs and sayings are presented in the oral folk art of the Tatars. Tatar music is built on the pentatonic scale, close to the music of other Turkic peoples. Musical instruments: accordion-talyanka, kurai (like a flute), kubyz (a mouth harp, possibly penetrated through the Ugrians), a violin, among the Kryashens - a harp.
Professional culture is closely connected with folk art. National literature, music, theater and science have achieved significant development. Applied ornamental art is developed (gold embroidery, tambour embroidery, leather mosaic, jewelry - filigree, engraving, chasing, stamping, stone and wood carving).
Tatars are the second largest ethnic group and the most numerous people of Muslim culture in the Russian Federation.
The Tatar ethnos has an ancient and colorful history, closely connected with the history of all the peoples of the Ural-Volga region and Russia as a whole.
The original culture of the Tatars deservedly entered the treasury of world culture and civilization.
We find traces of it in the traditions and language of Russians, Mordovians, Maris, Udmurts, Bashkirs, Chuvashs. At the same time, the national Tatar culture synthesizes the achievements of the Turkic, Finno-Ugric, Indo-Iranian peoples (Arabs, Slavs and others).
There are also various interpretations of the ethnonym "Tatars". This question is very relevant at the present time.
Some researchers deduce the origin of this word from the “mountain inhabitant”, where “tat” means “mountains”, and “ar” means “resident”, “person” (A.A. Sukharev. Kazan Tatars. St. Petersburg, 1904, p. 22). Others - the etymology of the word "Tatars" to the ancient Greek "messenger" (N.A. Baskakov. Russian surnames of Turkic origin. Baku, 1992, p. 122).
The well-known Turkologist D.E. Eremov connects the origin of the word "Tatars" with the ancient Turkic word and people. He associates the first component of the word "tat" with the name of the ancient Iranian people. At the same time, he refers to the information of the ancient Turkic chronicler Mahmud Kashgari that the Turks called “tatam” those who speak Farsi, that is, the Iranian language. The original meaning of the word "tat" was most likely "Persian", but then this word in Russia began to denote all the Eastern and Asian peoples (D.E. Eremeev. Semantics of Turkic ethnonymy. - Sat. "Ethnonyms". M., 1970 , p.134).
Thus, a complete decoding of the ethnonym "Tatars" is still waiting for its researcher. In the meantime, unfortunately, even now the burden of established traditions, stereotypes about the Mongol-Tatar yoke makes most people think in highly distorted categories about the history of the Tatars, about their true origin, about Tatar culture.
According to the 1989 census, about 7 million people lived on the territory of the USSR. Of these, in the RSFSR - more than 5.5 million or 83.1% of the indicated number, including in Tatarstan - more than 1.76 million people (26.6%).
At present, Tatars make up slightly more than half of the population of Tatarstan, their national republic. At the same time, the number of people living outside Tatarstan is 1.12 million people in Bashkortostan, 110.5 thousand in Udmurtia, 47.3 thousand in Mordovia, 43.8 thousand in Mari El, and 35.7 thousand in Chuvashia. In addition, the Tatars also live in the regions of the Volga region, the Urals and Siberia.
Tatars are one of the most mobile peoples. Due to lack of land, frequent crop failures in their homeland and traditional craving for trade, even before 1917 they began to move to various regions of the Russian Empire, including the provinces of Central Russia, the Donbass, Eastern Siberia and the Far East, the North Caucasus and Transcaucasia, Central Asia and Kazakhstan. This migration process intensified during the years of Soviet rule, especially during the period of "great construction projects of socialism." Therefore, at present in the Russian Federation there is practically not a single subject of the federation, wherever the Tatars live. Even in the pre-revolutionary period, Tatar national communities were formed in Finland, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, and China. As a result of the collapse of the USSR, Tatars living in the former Soviet republics - Uzbekistan (467.8 thousand), Kazakhstan (327.9 thousand), Tajikistan (72.2 thousand), Kyrgyzstan (70.5 thousand people) found themselves in the near abroad. ), Turkmenistan (39.2 thousand), Azerbaijan (28 thousand), Ukraine (86.9 thousand), in the Baltic countries (14 thousand). Already at the expense of remigrants from China. In Turkey and Finland, since the middle of the 20th century, Tatar national diasporas have formed in the USA, Japan, Australia, and Sweden.
According to many historians, the Tatar people with a single literary and practically common spoken language developed during the existence of a huge Turkic state - the Golden Horde. The literary language in this state was the so-called "Idel Terkise" or Old Tatar, based on the Kypchak-Bulgarian (Polovtsian) language and incorporating elements of the Central Asian literary languages. The modern literary language based on the middle dialect arose in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.
In ancient times, the Turkic ancestors of the Tatars used runic writing, as evidenced by archaeological finds in the Urals and the Middle Volga region. From the moment of the voluntary adoption of Islam by one of the ancestors of the Tatars, the Volga-Kama Bulgars - the Tatars used the Arabic script, from 1929 to 1939 - the Latin script, since 1939 they use the Cyrillic alphabet with additional characters.
The modern Tatar language, belonging to the Kypchak-Bulgar subgroup of the Kypchak group of the Turkic language family, is divided into four dialects: middle (Kazan Tatar), western (Mishar), eastern (the language of the Siberian Tatars) and Crimean (the language of the Crimean Tatars). Despite the dialectal and territorial differences, the Tatars are a single nation with a single literary language, a single culture - folklore, literature, music, religion, national spirit, traditions and rituals.
The Tatar nation, in terms of literacy (the ability to write and read in their own language), even before the 1917 coup, occupied one of the leading places in the Russian Empire. The traditional craving for knowledge has been preserved in the current generation.
The ethnonym "Tatars" is of ancient origin, however, as a self-name of modern Tatars, it was accepted only in the 19th century, and the Ancient Tatars - Turkic tribes lived on the territory of today's Eurasia. The current Tatars (Kazan, Western, Siberian, Crimean) are not direct descendants of the ancient Tatars who came to Europe along with the troops of Genghis Khan. They formed into a single nation called the Tatars, after they were given such a name by the European peoples.
There is an opinion of historians that the name "Tatars" came from the name of a large influential clan "Tata", from which many Turkic-speaking military leaders of the state "Altyn Urta" (Golden Mean), better known as the "Golden Horde" came from.
Tatars are one of the most urbanized peoples of the Russian Federation. The social groups of Tatars living both in cities and in villages are almost no different from those that exist among other peoples, primarily among Russians.
In terms of their way of life, the Tatars do not differ from other surrounding peoples. The modern Tatar ethnos originated in parallel with the Russian. Modern Tatars are the Turkic-speaking part of the indigenous population of Russia, which, due to its greater territorial proximity to the East, chose not Orthodoxy but Islam. 99% of believing Tatars are Sunni Muslims of the moderate Hanafi persuasion.
Many ethnologists note the unique phenomenon of Tatar tolerance, which consists in the fact that in the entire history of the existence of the Tatars, they did not initiate a single conflict on ethnic and religious grounds. The most famous ethnologists and researchers are sure that tolerance is an invariable part of the Tatar national character.
The traditional food of the Tatars is meat, dairy and vegetable soups seasoned with pieces of dough (tokmach noodles, chumar), cereals, sourdough bread, kabartma cakes. National dishes - byalesh with a variety of fillings, often from meat (peryamyach), cut into pieces and mixed with millet, rice or potatoes, unleavened pastry is widely represented in the form of bavyrsak, kosh tele, ichpochmak, gubadia, katykly salma, chak-chak ( wedding dish). From horse meat (the favorite meat of many groups) they prepare dried sausage - kazylyk or kazy. Dried goose (kaklagan kaz) is considered a delicacy. Dairy products - katyk (a special kind of sour milk), sour cream, cottage cheese. Drinks - tea, airan (tan) - a mixture of katyk with water (used mainly in summer).
Tatars have always taken an active part in all defensive and liberation wars. In terms of the number of "Heroes of the Soviet Union", the Tatars are in fourth place, and in terms of the percentage of heroes for the entire nation, they are first. According to the number of Heroes of Russia, the Tatars have the second place.
From the Tatars advanced such military leaders as General of the Army M.A. Gareev, Colonel Generals P.S. Akchurin and F.Kh. Churakov, Vice Admiral M.D. Iskanderov, Rear Admirals Z.G. Lyapin, A.I. Bichurin and others. Outstanding scientists - academicians R.Z.Sagdeev (physical chemist), K.A.Valiev (physicist), R.A.Syunyaev (astrophysicist), and others.
Tatar literature is one of the most ancient in the Russian Federation. The most ancient literary monument is the poem "The Tale of Yusuf" by the Bulgarian poet Kul Gali, written in 1236. Among the famous poets of the past are M. Sarai-Gulistani (XIV century), M. Mukhammadyar (1496/97-1552), G. Utyz-Imyani (1754-1834), G. Kandaly (1797-1860). From the poets and writers of the 20th century - the classics of Tatar literature Gabdullu Tukay, Fatih Amirkhan, the writers of the Soviet period - Galimzyan Ibragimov, Hadi Taktash, Majit Gafuri, Hasan Tufan, the patriotic poet, Hero of the Soviet Union Musa Jalil, Sibgat Hakim and many other talented poets and writers.
One of the first among the Turkic peoples, the Tatars developed theatrical art. The most outstanding artists are: Abdulla Kariev, actor and playwright Karim Tinchurin, Khalil Abjalilov, Gabdulla Shamukov, actors: Chulpan Khamatova, Marat Basharov Renata Litvinova, actor and director Sergei Shakurov, director Marcel Salimzhanov, opera singers - Khaidar Bigichev and Zilya Sungatullina, folk singers Ilgam Shakirov and Alfiya Afzalova, popular performers - Rinat Ibragimov, Zemfira Ramazanova, Salavat Fatkhutdinov, Aidar Galimov, Malika Razakova, young poet and musician Rustam Alyautdinov.
Fine art of the Tatars: First of all, this is the artist-patriarch Baki Urmanche, and many other prominent Tatar artists.
The sports achievements of the Tatars also constantly make themselves felt:
Wrestling - Shazam Safin, champion of the 1952 Olympic Games in Helsinki in Greco-Roman wrestling.
Rhythmic gymnastics - Olympic champion and multiple world champion Alina Kabaeva, world champions Amina Zaripova and Laysan Utyasheva.
Football - Rinat Dasaev, goalkeeper No. 1 in the world in 1988, goalkeeper of the Spartak team, members of the 2002 World Cup football team, attacking midfielder of the Russian national team Marat Izmailov (Lokomotiv Moscow), winner of the Russian Cup 2000/01; silver medalist of the Russian Championship in 2001, and goalkeeper of the Russian national team, KAMAZ (Naberezhnye Chelny); "Spartak Moscow); Lokomotiv (Moscow); "Verona" (Italy) Ruslan Nigmatullin, Hockey - Irek Gimaev, Sergei Gimaev, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, Tennis World Champion Marat Safin, and many many others.
Famous Russians - people from Tatar families
Many famous noble families of Russia have Tatar roots. Apraksins, Arakcheevs, Dashkovs, Derzhavins, Yermolovs, Sheremetevs, Bulgakovs, Gogols, Golitsyns, Milyukovs, Godunovs, Kochubeys, Stroganovs, Bunins, Kurakins, Saltykovs, Saburovs, Mansurovs, Tarbeevs, Godunovs, Yusupovs - not to list them all. By the way, the origin of the Counts Sheremetevs, in addition to the surname, is also confirmed by the family coat of arms, on which there is a silver crescent. The nobles Ermolovs, for example, where General Alexei Petrovich Ermolov came from, the pedigree begins like this: "The ancestor of this family Arslan-Murza-Yermola, and by baptism named John, as shown in the presented pedigree, in 1506 went to Grand Duke Vasily Ivanovich from the Golden Horde ." Russia was fabulously enriched at the expense of the Tatar people, talents flowed like a river. The princes Kurakins appeared in Russia under Ivan III, this family comes from Ondrey Kurak, who was the offspring of the Horde Khan Bulgak, the recognized ancestor of the Great Russian princes Kurakins and Golitsyns, as well as the noble family of Bulgakovs. Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, whose family was descended from the Tatar ambassador Karach-Murza. The nobles of the Dashkovs are also from the Horde. And the Saburovs, Mansurovs, Tarbeevs, Godunovs (from Murza Chet, who left the Horde in 1330), Glinskys (from Mamai), Kolokoltsevs, Talyzins (from Murza Kuchuk Tagaldyzin) ... A separate conversation is desirable about each clan - a lot, a lot they did for Russia. Every Russian patriot has heard about Admiral Ushakov, and only a few know that he is a Turk. This clan comes from the Horde Khan Redeg. The princes of Cherkasy are descended from the khan's family of Inal. “As a sign of allegiance,” it is written in their genealogy, “he sent his son Saltman and daughter Princess Maria to the sovereign, who later was married to Tsar John Vasilyevich, and Saltman was named Mikhail by baptism and was granted a boyar.”
But even by the named surnames it is clear that the Tatar blood greatly influenced the gene pool of the Russian people. Among the Russian nobility there are more than 120 famous Tatar families. In the sixteenth century, Tatars dominated among the nobles. Even by the end of the nineteenth century in Russia, there were approximately 70 thousand nobles with Tatar roots. This amounted to more than 5 percent of the total number of nobles throughout the Russian Empire.
A lot of Tatar nobility disappeared forever for their people. This is well told by the genealogical books of the Russian nobility: "The General Heraldry of the Noble Clans of the All-Russian Empire", begun in 1797, or "The History of the Clans of the Russian Nobility", or "The Russian Genealogical Book". Historical novels pale before them.
The Yushkovs, Suvorovs, Apraksins (from Salakhmir), Davydovs, Yusupovs, Arakcheevs, Golenishchev-Kutuzovs, Bibikovs, Chirikovs... The Chirikovs, for example, came from the clan of Khan Berke, brother of Batu. Polivanovs, Kochubeys, Kozakovs...
Kopylovs, Aksakovs (aksak means "lame"), Musins-Pushkins, Ogarkovs (the first from the Golden Horde came in 1397, Lev Ogar, "a man of great stature and a brave warrior"). The Baranovs... In their pedigree it is written as follows: "The ancestor of the Baranov family, Murza Zhdan, nicknamed Baran, and named Daniel by baptism, came in 1430 from the Crimea."
Karaulovs, Ogarevs, Akhmatovs, Bakaevs, Gogol, Berdyaevs, Turgenevs ... "The ancestor of the Turgenev family, Murza Lev Turgen, and by baptism named John, went to Grand Duke Vasily Ioannovich from the Golden Horde ..." This family belonged to the aristocratic Horde tukhum , as well as the Ogarev family (their Russian ancestor is "Murza with the honest name of Kutlamamet, nicknamed Ogar").
Karamzins (from Kara-Murza, a Crimean), Almazovs (from Almazy, named Erifei by baptism, he came from the Horde in 1638), Urusovs, Tukhachevskys (their ancestor in Russia was Indris, a native of the Golden Horde), Kozhevnikovs (coming from Murza Kozhaya, since 1509 in Russia), Bykovs, Ievlevs, Kobyakovs, Shubins, Taneevs, Shuklins, Timiryazevs (there was such Ibragim Timiryazev, who came to Russia in 1408 from the Golden Horde).
Chaadaevs, Tarakanovs... and it will take a long time to continue. Dozens of so-called "Russian clans" were founded by the Tatars.
The Moscow bureaucracy grew. Power was gathering in her hands, Moscow really did not have enough educated people. Is it any wonder that the Tatars also became carriers of more than three hundred simple Russian surnames. In Russia, at least half of the Russians are genetic Tatars.
In the 18th century, the rulers of Russia tailored the current ethnographic map, tailored it in their own way, as they wanted: they recorded entire provinces as "Slavic". So Russia became the one about which the Kipchak from the Tukhum (clan) Turgen said: "Russia is thousands of miles around."
Then, in the XVIII century - only two hundred years ago - the inhabitants of Tambov, Tula, Oryol, Ryazan, Bryansk, Voronezh, Saratov and other regions were called "Tatars". This is the former population of the Golden Horde. Therefore, the ancient cemeteries in Ryazan, Orel or Tula are still called Tatar.
Defenders of the Fatherland
Tatar warriors honestly served Russia. "Be not only the son of your father, but also be the son of your Fatherland" - says a Tatar folk proverb. The fact that Tatars and Russians supposedly always opposed each other religiously is a myth invented by our common enemies. During the war of 1812, 28 Tatar-Bashkir regiments were formed in the Kazan province. It was these regiments under the command of Kutuzov's son-in-law, the Tatar prince Kudashev, an active participant in the Battle of Borodino, that terrified the Napoleonic soldiers. The Tatar regiments, together with the Russian people, liberated the European peoples from the occupation of the Napoleonic troops.
In the army, due to the national and religious characteristics of the Tatars, a number of indulgences were made, based on respect for the religion they professed. The Tatars were not given pork, they were not subjected to corporal punishment, they were not drilled. In the Navy, Russian sailors were given a glass of vodka, and Tatars - for the same amount - tea and sweets. They were not forbidden to bathe several times a day, as is customary among Muslims before each prayer. Their colleagues were strictly forbidden to mock the Tatars and say bad things about Islam.
Great scientists and writers
Tatars faithfully served the Fatherland, not only fighting for it in countless wars. In peaceful life, they gave him many famous people - scientists, writers, artists. Suffice it to name such scientists as Mendeleev, Mechnikov, Pavlov and Timiryazev, researchers of the North Chelyuskin and Chirikov. In literature, these are Dostoevsky, Turgenev, Yazykov, Bulgakov, Kuprin. In the field of art - ballerinas Anna Pavlova, Galina Ulanova, Olga Spesivtseva, Rudolf Nureyev, as well as composers Skryabin and Taneyev. All of them are Russians of Tatar origin.
Tatars are a Turkic people living in the central part of European Russia, as well as in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia, in the Far East, in the Crimea, as well as in Kazakhstan, in the states of Central Asia and in the Chinese Autonomous Republic of XUAR. About 5.3 million people of Tatar nationality live in the Russian Federation, which is 4% of the total population of the country, in terms of numbers they rank second after Russians, 37% of all Tatars in Russia live in the Republic of Tatarstan in the capital of the Volga Federal District with the capital in Kazan and make up most (53%) of the population of the republic. The national language is Tatar (a group of Altaic languages, a Turkic group, a Kypchak subgroup), which has several dialects. Most of the Tatars are Sunni Muslims, there are also Orthodox, and those who do not identify themselves with specific religious movements.
Cultural heritage and family values
Tatar traditions of housekeeping and family way of life are mostly preserved in villages and settlements. Kazan Tatars, for example, lived in wooden huts, which differed from Russians only in that they did not have a vestibule and the common room was divided into a female and male half, separated by a curtain (charshau) or a wooden partition. In any Tatar hut, the presence of green and red chests was obligatory, which were later used as a bride's dowry. In almost every house, a framed piece of text from the Koran, the so-called “shamail”, hung on the wall, it hung over the threshold as a talisman, and a wish of happiness and prosperity was written on it. Many bright juicy colors and shades were used to decorate the house and the adjacent territory, the interior was richly decorated with embroidery, since Islam forbids depicting humans and animals, mostly embroidered towels, bedspreads and other things were decorated with geometric ornaments.
The head of the family is the father, his requests and instructions must be carried out unquestioningly, the mother in a special place of honor. Tatar children are taught from an early age to respect their elders, not to hurt the younger ones and always help the disadvantaged. The Tatars are very hospitable, even if a person is an enemy of the family, but he came to the house as a guest, they will not refuse him anything, they will feed him, give him drink and offer him an overnight stay. Tatar girls are brought up as modest and decent future housewives, they are taught in advance to manage the household and prepare for marriage.
Tatar customs and traditions
Rites are calendar and family sense. The first ones are related to labor activity (sowing, harvesting, etc.) and are held every year at about the same time. Family ceremonies are held as needed in accordance with the changes that have taken place in the family: the birth of children, the conclusion of marriage alliances and other rituals.
The traditional Tatar wedding is characterized by the obligatory observance of the Muslim ritual nikah, it takes place at home or in the mosque in the presence of a mullah, the festive table consists exclusively of Tatar national dishes: chak-chak, kort, katyk, kosh-tele, peremyachi, kaymak, etc., guests do not eat pork and do not drink alcohol. The male groom puts on a skullcap, the female bride puts on a long dress with closed sleeves, a headscarf is obligatory on her head.
Tatar wedding ceremonies are characterized by a preliminary agreement between the parents of the bride and groom to conclude a marriage union, often even without their consent. The groom's parents must pay a dowry, the amount of which is discussed in advance. If the size of the kalym does not suit the groom, and he wants to "save", there is nothing shameful in stealing the bride before the wedding.
When a child is born, a mullah is invited to him, he performs a special ceremony, whispering prayers in the child's ear that drive away evil spirits and his name. Guests come with gifts, a festive table is set for them.
Islam has a huge impact on the social life of the Tatars and therefore the Tatar people divide all holidays into religious ones, they are called “gaeta” - for example, Uraza Gaeta - a holiday in honor of the end of fasting, or Korban Gaeta, a feast of sacrifice, and secular or folk “Bayram”, meaning "spring beauty or celebration."
On the holiday of Uraza, believing Muslim Tatars spend the whole day in prayers and conversations with Allah, asking him for protection and removal of sins, you can drink and eat only after sunset.
During the celebrations of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice and the end of the Hajj, also called the holiday of goodness, every self-respecting Muslim, after performing the morning prayer in the mosque, must slaughter a sacrificial ram, sheep, goat or cow and distribute the meat to those in need.
One of the most significant pre-Islamic holidays is considered the holiday of the plow Sabantuy, which is held in the spring and symbolizes the end of sowing. The culmination of the celebration is the holding of various competitions and competitions in running, wrestling or horse racing. Also, a treat for all those present is obligatory - porridge or botkasy in Tatar, which used to be prepared from common products in a huge cauldron on one of the hills or hillocks. Also at the festival, it was obligatory to have a large number of colored eggs in order for children to collect them. The main holiday of the Republic of Tatarstan Sabantuy is recognized at the official level and is held every year in the Birch Grove of the village of Mirny near Kazan.
There are many strangers in our country. It is not right. We should not be strangers to each other.
Let's start with the Tatars - the second largest ethnic group in Russia (there are almost 6 million of them).
1. Who are the Tatars?
The history of the ethnonym "Tatars", as it often happened in the Middle Ages, is the history of ethnographic confusion.
In the 11th-12th centuries, the steppes of Central Asia were inhabited by various Mongol-speaking tribes: Naimans, Mongols, Kereits, Merkits and Tatars. The latter wandered along the borders of the Chinese state. Therefore, in China, the name of the Tatars was transferred to other Mongolian tribes in the meaning of "barbarians". Actually, the Chinese called the Tatars white Tatars, the Mongols who lived to the north were called black Tatars, and the Mongolian tribes who lived even further, in the Siberian forests, were called wild Tatars.
At the beginning of the 13th century, Genghis Khan undertook a punitive campaign against real Tatars in retaliation for the poisoning of his father. The order that the lord of the Mongols gave to his soldiers has been preserved: to destroy everyone who is taller than the cart axle. As a result of this massacre, the Tatars as a military-political force were wiped off the face of the earth. But, as the Persian historian Rashid ad-din testifies, “due to their extraordinary greatness and honorary position, other Turkic clans, with all the difference in their ranks and names, became known under their name, and everyone was called Tatars.”
The Mongols themselves never called themselves Tatars. However, the Khorezm and Arab merchants who were constantly in contact with the Chinese brought the name "Tatars" to Europe even before the arrival of Batu Khan's troops here. Europeans brought together the ethnonym "Tatars" with the Greek name for hell - Tartarus. Later, European historians and geographers used the term Tartaria as a synonym for the "barbarian East". For example, on some European maps of the 15th-16th centuries, Moscow Russia is designated as "Moscow Tartaria" or "European Tartaria".
As for the modern Tatars, they have absolutely nothing to do with the Tatars of the XII-XIII centuries either by origin or by language. The Volga, Crimean, Astrakhan and other modern Tatars inherited only the name from the Central Asian Tatars.
The modern Tatar people do not have a single ethnic root. Among his ancestors were the Huns, Volga Bulgars, Kipchaks, Nogais, Mongols, Kimaks and other Turkic-Mongolian peoples. But even more, the formation of modern Tatars was influenced by the Finno-Ugric peoples and Russians. According to anthropological data, more than 60% of Tatars have Caucasoid features, and only 30% have Turkic-Mongolian features.
2. Tatar people in the era of Genghisides
The appearance on the banks of the Volga Ulus Jochi was an important milestone in the history of the Tatars.
In the era of Genghisides, Tatar history became truly global. The system of state administration and finance, the postal (Yamskaya) service, inherited by Moscow, has reached perfection. More than 150 cities arose where the boundless Polovtsian steppes recently stretched. Some of their names sound like a fairy tale: Gulstan (land of flowers), Saray (palace), Aktobe (white vault).
Some cities in size and population far exceeded those of Western Europe. For example, if Rome in the XIV century had 35 thousand inhabitants, and Paris - 58 thousand, then the capital of the Horde, the city of Saray, had more than 100 thousand. According to Arab travelers, there were palaces, mosques, temples of other religions, schools, public gardens, baths, and water supply in Sarai. Not only merchants and warriors lived here, but also poets.
All religions in the Golden Horde enjoyed the same freedom. According to the laws of Genghis Khan, insulting religion was punishable by death. The clergy of each religion were exempted from paying taxes.
The contribution of the Tatars to the art of war is indisputable. It was they who taught the Europeans not to neglect intelligence and reserves.
In the era of the Golden Horde, a huge potential for the reproduction of the Tatar culture was laid. But the Kazan Khanate continued this path mostly by inertia.
Among the fragments of the Golden Horde, scattered along the borders of Russia, Kazan was of the greatest importance for Moscow due to its geographical proximity. Spread out on the banks of the Volga, among dense forests, the Muslim state was a curious phenomenon. As a state formation, the Kazan Khanate arose in the 30s of the 15th century and, over a short period of its existence, managed to show its cultural identity in the Islamic world.
3. Capture of Kazan
The 120-year neighborhood of Moscow and Kazan was marked by fourteen major wars, not counting the almost annual border skirmishes. However, for a long time, both sides did not seek to conquer each other. Everything changed when Moscow recognized itself as the "third Rome", that is, the last defender of the Orthodox faith. Already in 1523, Metropolitan Daniil outlined the further path of Moscow politics, saying: "The Grand Duke will take all the land of Kazan." Three decades later, Ivan the Terrible fulfilled this prediction.
On August 20, 1552, the 50,000-strong Russian army encamped under the walls of Kazan. The city was defended by 35 thousand selected soldiers. About ten thousand more Tatar horsemen hid in the surrounding forests and disturbed the Russians with sudden raids from the rear.
The siege of Kazan lasted five weeks. After the sudden attacks of the Tatars from the side of the forest, the cold autumn rains annoyed the Russian army most of all. The soaking wet warriors even thought that Kazan sorcerers sent bad weather on them, who, according to Prince Kurbsky, went out onto the wall at sunrise and performed all sorts of spells.
All this time, Russian warriors, led by the Danish engineer Razmussen, were digging a tunnel under one of the Kazan towers. On the night of October 1, the work was completed. 48 barrels of gunpowder were laid in the tunnel. At dawn there was a huge explosion. It was terrible to see, says the chronicler, many tormented corpses and crippled people flying in the air at a terrible height!
The Russian army rushed to the attack. The royal banners were already fluttering on the city walls, when Ivan the Terrible himself drove up to the city with guards regiments. The presence of the tsar gave the Moscow warriors new strength. Despite the fierce resistance of the Tatars, Kazan fell a few hours later. There were so many killed on both sides that in some places the piles of bodies lay flush with the city walls.
The death of the Kazan Khanate did not mean the death of the Tatar people. On the contrary, it was precisely within Russia that the Tatar nation was actually formed, which finally received its truly national-state formation - the Republic of Tatarstan.
4. Tatars in Russian history and culture
The Muscovite state has never closed itself in a narrow national-religious framework. Historians have calculated that among the nine hundred most ancient noble families of Russia, Great Russians make up only one third, while 300 families come from Lithuania, and the other 300 come from Tatar lands.
The Moscow of Ivan the Terrible seemed to Western Europeans an Asian city not only in terms of its unusual architecture and buildings, but also in terms of the number of Muslims living in it. One English traveler who visited Moscow in 1557 and was invited to the royal feast noted that the tsar himself with his sons and Kazan tsars sat at the first table, Metropolitan Macarius with the Orthodox clergy at the second table, and the third table was entirely reserved for the Circassian princes. In addition, two thousand noble Tatars feasted in other chambers!
In the state service, they were given not the last place. And there was no case that the Tatars in the Russian service betrayed the Moscow Tsar.
Subsequently, the Tatar clans gave Russia a huge number of intellectuals, prominent military and political figures. I will name at least some names: Alyabyev, Arakcheev, Akhmatova, Bulgakov, Derzhavin, Milyukov, Michurin, Rachmaninov, Saltykov-Shchedrin, Tatishchev, Chaadaev. The Yusupov princes were direct descendants of the Kazan queen Suyunbike. The Timiryazev family comes from Ibragim Timiryazev, whose last name literally means "iron warrior." General Ermolov had Arslan-Murza-Yermol as his ancestor. Lev Nikolaevich Gumilyov wrote: "I am a purebred Tatar both on the side of my father and on the side of my mother." He signed "Arslanbek", which means "Lion". You can list indefinitely.
Over the centuries, the culture of the Tatars was also absorbed by Russia, and now many native Tatar words, household items, culinary dishes have entered the consciousness of a Russian person as if they were their own. According to Valishevsky, when going out into the street, a Russian person put on shoe, armyak, zipun, caftan, hood, cap. In a fight, he let go fist. As a judge, he ordered to put on the convict shackles and give him whip. Going on a long journey, he got into a sleigh to coachman. And, getting up from the mail sleigh, he went into tavern, which replaced the old Russian tavern.
5. Religion of the Tatars
After the capture of Kazan in 1552, the culture of the Tatar people was preserved primarily thanks to Islam.
Islam (in its Sunni version) is the traditional religion of the Tatars. The exception is a small group of them, which in the 16th-18th centuries were converted to Orthodoxy. This is how they call themselves: "Kryashen" - "baptized".
Islam in the Volga region was established as early as 922, when the ruler of the Volga Bulgaria voluntarily converted to the Muslim faith. But even more important was the "Islamic revolution" of Uzbek Khan, who at the beginning of the XIV century made Islam the state religion of the Golden Horde (by the way, contrary to the laws of Genghis Khan on the equality of religions). As a result, the Kazan Khanate became the northernmost stronghold of world Islam.
In Russian-Tatar history there was a sad period of acute religious confrontation. The first decades after the capture of Kazan were marked by the persecution of Islam and the forcible planting of Christianity among the Tatars. Only the reforms of Catherine II fully legalized the Muslim clergy. In 1788, the Orenburg Spiritual Assembly was opened - the governing body of Muslims, with its center in Ufa.
In the 19th century, within the Muslim clergy and the Tatar intelligentsia, forces gradually matured that felt the need to move away from the dogmas of medieval ideology and traditions. The revival of the Tatar people began precisely with the reform of Islam. This religious renewal movement was called Jadidism (from the Arabic al-Jadid - renewal, "new method").
Jadidism has become a significant contribution of the Tatars to modern world culture, an impressive demonstration of Islam's ability to modernize. The main result of the activity of the Tatar religious reformers was the transition of the Tatar society to Islam, cleansed of medieval fanaticism and meeting the requirements of the times. These ideas penetrated deeply into the stratum of the people, primarily through Jadid madrasahs and printed matter. Thanks to the activities of the Jadids among the Tatars, by the beginning of the 20th century, faith was basically separated from culture, and politics became an independent sphere, where religion already occupied a subordinate position. Therefore, today the Russian Tatars are in the full sense of the word a modern nation, which is completely alien to religious extremism.
6. About the Kazan orphan and the uninvited guest
The Russians have long said: "An old proverb is not said without reason" and therefore "there is no trial or reprisal against the proverb." Silencing uncomfortable proverbs is not the best way to achieve interethnic understanding.
So, Ushakov’s “Explanatory Dictionary of the Russian Language” explains the origin of the expression “Kazan orphan” as follows: originally it was said “about the Tatar mirzas (princes) who, after the conquest of the Kazan Khanate by Ivan the Terrible, tried to get all sorts of indulgences from the Russian tsars, complaining about their bitter fate” .
Indeed, the Moscow sovereigns considered it their duty to caress and ingratiate the Tatar murzas, especially if they decided to change their faith. According to the documents, such "Kazan orphans" received about a thousand rubles of annual salary. Whereas, for example, a Russian doctor was entitled to only 30 rubles a year. Naturally, this state of affairs gave rise to envy among Russian service people.
Later, the idiom "Kazan orphan" lost its historical and ethnic coloring - this is how they began to talk about anyone who only pretends to be unhappy, trying to arouse sympathy.
Now - about the Tatar and the guest, which of them is "worse" and which is "better".
The Tatars of the times of the Golden Horde, if they happened to come to a subordinate country, behaved like masters in it. Our chronicles are full of stories about the oppression of the Tatar Baskaks and the greed of the Khan's courtiers. Russian people involuntarily got used to every Tatar who came to the house, to consider not so much a guest as a rapist. It was then that they began to say: "A guest in the yard - and trouble in the yard"; “And the guests did not know how the host was tied up”; "The edge is not great, but the devil brings a guest - and the last one will be carried away." Well, and - "an uninvited guest is worse than a Tatar."
When times changed, the Tatars, in turn, knew what he was like - the Russian "intruder". Tatars also have a lot of offensive sayings about Russians. What can you do about it?
History is the irreparable past. What was, was. Only the truth heals morals, politics, interethnic relations. But it should be remembered that the truth of history is not bare facts, but an understanding of the past in order to live correctly in the present and future.
7. Tatar hut
Unlike other Turkic peoples, Kazan Tatars lived for centuries not in yurts and wagons, but in huts. True, in accordance with the common Turkic traditions, the Tatars retained a way of separating the female half and the kitchen with a special curtain - charshau. In the second half of the 19th century, instead of ancient curtains, a partition appeared in Tatar dwellings.
On the male half of the hut there was a place of honor for guests and a place for the owner. Here, space was allocated for relaxation, a family table was laid, many household works were carried out: men were engaged in tailoring, saddlery, weaving bast shoes, women worked at a loom, twisted threads, spun, rolled felt.
The front wall of the hut from corner to corner was occupied by wide bunks, on which soft down jackets, feather beds and pillows rested, which the poor replaced with felt. Nars are in fashion to this day, because they have traditionally been assigned a place of honor. In addition, they are universal in their functions: they can serve as a place to work, eat, rest.
Red or green chests were an obligatory attribute of the interior. According to custom, they were an indispensable part of the dowry of the bride. In addition to the main purpose - storing clothes, fabrics and other valuables - the chests noticeably enlivened the interior, especially in combination with the bedding picturesquely laid on them. There were so many chests in the huts of rich Tatars that sometimes they were placed on top of each other.
The next attribute of the interior of the Tatar rural dwellings was a bright national feature, moreover, characteristic only for Muslims. This is a popular and universally revered shamail, i.e. a text from the Koran written on glass or paper and inserted into a frame with wishes for peace and prosperity for the family. A characteristic detail of the interior of the Tatar dwelling was also flowers on the windowsills.
Traditional Tatar villages (auls) are located along rivers and roads. These settlements are distinguished by tightness of buildings, the presence of numerous dead ends. The buildings are located inside the estate, and the street is formed by a continuous line of deaf fences. Outwardly, the Tatar hut is almost indistinguishable from the Russian one - only the doors do not open in the canopy, but inside the hut.
8. Sabantuy
In the past, the Tatars for the most part were rural residents. Therefore, their folk holidays were associated with the cycle of agricultural work. Like other agricultural peoples, the Tatars were especially expecting spring. This time of the year was celebrated with a holiday, which was called "Saban tue" - "wedding of the plow."
Sabantuy is a very ancient holiday. In the Alkeyevsky district of Tatarstan, a tombstone was found, the inscription on which says that the deceased reposed in 1120 on the day of Sabantuy.
Traditionally, before the holiday, young men and elderly men began collecting gifts for Sabantuy. The most valuable gift was considered to be a towel, which was received from young women who married after the previous Sabantuy.
The holiday itself was celebrated with competitions. The place where they were held was called "Maidan". Competitions included horse racing, running, long and high jumps, national wrestling koresh. Only men took part in all types of competitions. The women just watched from the sidelines.
Competitions were held according to the developed routine for centuries. They started their races. Participation in them was considered prestigious, so everyone who could put up horses at the village races. The riders were boys 8-12 years old. The start was arranged in the distance, and the finish was on the Maidan, where the participants of the holiday were waiting for them. The winner was given one of the best towels. Horse owners received separate prizes.
At the time when the riders went to the starting point, other competitions were held, in particular, running. Participants were divided by age: boys, adult men, old people.
After the end of the competition, people went home to treat themselves to festive dishes. A few days later, depending on the weather, they started sowing spring crops.
Sabantuy remains the most beloved mass holiday in Tatarstan to this day. In the cities, this is a one-day holiday, and in the countryside it consists of two parts: the collection of gifts and the Maidan. But if earlier Sabantuy was celebrated in honor of the beginning of spring field work (at the end of April), now it is in honor of their end, in June.
In the Middle Ages, the Tatar empire was one of the largest in the world. Initially, these were scattered tribes, incapable even of self-organization. But the introduction of a single religion made it possible to unite different leaders and create a powerful state, which all of Europe was afraid of. Not everyone knows what religion the Tatars profess.
Who are the Tatars
A large and colorful people living from central Europe to the Far East of Russia are called Tatars. The origin of this ethnic group still causes controversy in the circles of scientists. Some believe that the Tatars are the descendants of the Mongols who assimilated with the less numerous peoples of Siberia. Others argue that the main distinguishing feature of this ethnic group is the Turkic language. But there are also facts on which there is no disagreement. What religion do the Tatars have, the Russian people have known since the XIII century.
Impressed by the wonders of the Arab countries, Khan Uzbek forcibly introduced Islam. Such an act consolidated the nation, but not in the way the ruler would have liked. Many Tatars did not accept the new faith. Initially, discontent did not manifest itself at the global level, but a series of unsuccessful battles, the weakening of the state and the low economic level of development led to the fact that many tribes began to migrate to Russia.
The origins of religion
Islam originated in 611, was consolidated by the Koran, and for two centuries was actively spreading in the territory of Central Asia and the Caucasus. The Tatars also accepted Islam. Religion in the VIII-IX century was not planted artificially, most of the people turned to it of their own free will. Volga Bulgaria - the progenitor region of this ethnic group - was the first to adopt Islam. The khans were especially concerned about the faith.
One of them, Almysh, asked Baghdad to organize the construction of mosques and send preachers. His request was granted. Nevertheless, pagan roots in some places made themselves felt, Allah was called by the name of another god - Tengri.
Animism (that is, belief in the existence of spirits and souls) still remained close to the population. It was clearly traced in shamanic rituals. And Tengri was the main celestial deity, the creator of plants and the conqueror of thunder.
But it was Islam that became a significant step in raising to the highest level of civilization. In 1241, the state was captured by the Mongols and became part of the Golden Horde. Genghis Khan was the first to call the population of Buryatia and the Turkic-speaking units of the troops simply with one word - "Tatars". The religion of Islam was then alien to the Mongols, and the already mentioned Uzbek forcibly turned Christians into Muslims.
Followers of the prophet
Mohammed became the founder of this religion. This simple man lived in the city of Mecca and worked as a merchant for a long time. The man received visions, and in 615 he decided to preach publicly. Along with the fans, the pursuers also appeared. After his death, Islam split into two lines. This was due to the fact that the disciples could not determine who would become the successor of the prophet.
A minority became supporters of Shia Islam, and more than 90% - Sunni. What religion do Tatars belong to today? According to their beliefs, they are Sunni Muslims.
According to the theory, Muhammad was the harbinger of the word of God. Unlike Christianity, the prophet was not the son of God. The name Allah is translated as "one god", and his earthly home is a mosque. It is worth noting that the Tatars, who were used to leading a nomadic lifestyle, were not inclined to construction. Only thanks to the adoption of Islam, cities appeared on their lands. They were designed by architects from Arab countries.
Mix of styles
Tatars lived at the turn of different cultures. East, Europe, Russia, Islam, Christianity, polytheism - all this influenced the architectural style. Mosques are especially striking. Since the religion of the Mongol-Tatars is Islam, the khans actively built places of worship. But initially they had nothing to do with the openwork mosques of Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
Castles became God's houses. It was a forced necessity, since the Horde was constantly at war. Subsequently, on the orders of Ivan the Terrible, almost all the centers of Islamic culture, which the tsarist troops could reach, were defeated. Tatars living in Russia were forced to accept Orthodoxy.
declining architecture
Despite the persecution and obstacles, some of the monuments were rebuilt and began to operate again. Especially in the capital of the modern Republic of Tatarstan. By the way, not only those Tatars whose religion is Islam had a hand in this.
The first building, which was founded as a symbol of two faiths (Orthodoxy and Islam) in one city, was the restoration of the place of worship of al-Marjani. Not inferior in splendor to another Muslim prayer building in Kazan - Apanaevskaya. Construction began in 1768. Remarkably, the project was approved by Catherine II herself, and the Islamic community allocated funds.
On the territory of modern Russia there are other, no less significant monuments of Islam. Unfortunately, very few of them have survived in their original form, but the Islamic community continues to work actively to restore its heritage.
Faith in Christ
According to many researchers, today almost 20% of the Turkic tribes of Russia are Orthodox in several generations. And their numbers are slowly growing. Since in mixed marriages of Orthodox and Muslims, the child is usually baptized.
It is believed that some separate groups of Tatars began to profess Christianity as early as the 10th century. They had to change their views under the pressure of the Golden Horde and the khans, who severely cracked down on anyone who spoke out in defense of Orthodoxy. It is noteworthy that the religion of the Crimean Tatars was originally Christian. The local population refused to accept Islam. The result of this behavior was the destruction of all Orthodox churches.
Tatars of Siberia
The indigenous ethnic group of Western and Southern Siberia is the Turkic race. In general, she is different from other representatives of the tribe. But genetically the closest relatives are Bashkirs, Kazakhs and Sarti. The religion of the Siberian Tatars is a mixture of Islam and rituals. So, much attention is paid to the name at birth, marriage, funeral.
Funeral rites, the celebration of the Eastern New Year and animal spells are practiced. Along with this, the Siberian Tatars adhere to Ramadan, celebrate Kurban and so on.
The region of residence of this group of Turkic tribes is far from Moscow. During the time of the power of the Golden Horde, the main goal of the wars was enrichment, so Siberia did not arouse any interest among the khans. The situation did not change much even when the Russian tsars finally defeated the Mongol hordes and put an end to the empire of Genghis Khan.
Thus, the local population found itself in a certain isolation. It was able to develop on its own. The main teachers and preachers, as before, were shamans. The Siberian Tatars, whose religion is a unique symbiosis of classical Sunni Islam and ancient shamanism, are of the greatest interest to ethnographers. This group of tribes practically did not assimilate and was able to preserve the true history of their ethnic group.
