While exchange rates are breaking new records, and panic among the population is growing for all sorts of reasons, it's time to take a break from the hustle and bustle and plan a vacation or a trip for a few days.
A crisis is not a reason to stop traveling. Moreover, we should not forget that we live in the largest country in the world. Residents of the two capitals are simply unaware of the many recreational areas that are popular in the regions. It is about this place that my story will go.
"Mary Chodra" translated from Mari language means "Mari forest»
The Republic of Mari El is part of the Volga federal district. It borders on the Kirov and Nizhny Novgorod regions, the Republic of Tatarstan and Chuvashia. It is in Mari El (or, as the locals say, in Mariyka) that the beautiful natural park "Mari Chodra" is located. It is located in the southeastern part of the republic, not far from the border with Tatarstan. You can get there from Kazan in a couple of hours.
"Mari Chodra" in translation from the Mari language means "Mari forest". The first question that arises is: who are the Mari? Who are these people who have lived in the forests for centuries? Meanwhile, there are more than half a million Mari people in our country. They live mainly in the Volga region and the Urals. It may seem that the Mari are similar to the Tatars. But it is not so. Of particular interest is the fact that the Mari did not centrally accept any of the world religions.
Who are the Mari?
The Mari are pagans. This people is also unique in that in this climate zone no one lived so massively in the forests as its representatives. For Tatars, Bashkirs and many Ural peoples the forest has always been something frightening, mysterious and unknown. And the Mari lived there in whole villages. The glory of sorcerers and witches was firmly entrenched behind them.
Before here was classified zone
The main attractions of the reserve are unique lakes. Yalchik, Glukhoe, Mushan-Er, Konan-Er and other smaller ones. The water in them is so clean and transparent that water lilies grow in it. However, do not be deceived by the outward innocence of landscapes. Forests in Mariyka are dense, lakes and rivers are deep.
This used to be a secret area. But even now, not everyone will find their way through the forest. Modern cards almost not. If you are going to wander through the forests, you should stock up on charged phones (fortunately, communication catches almost everywhere), navigators, or even a compass. Finding something in the Mariy Chodra park is not so easy!
The Lost Village and the Legend of the Mermaid
Lake Conan-Er (or Witch Lake) is located near Maple Mountain. The lake is karst, which means it is very deep. According to one legend, a long time ago a village stood on this place. Someone cursed her, and she fell like an even funnel into the ground. Another legend tells that a Kazan beauty drowned in the lake, who was forcibly married to an unloved one. Locals allegedly saw a mermaid singing sad songs at night. They say that to this day you can hear someone singing here at night.
People with weak energy is better than this zone avoid
Psychics believe that Konan-Er has a special energy, and there is an anomalous zone near the lake. It is better for people with weak energy to avoid this zone, otherwise it will take away from them last strength. But those who, on the contrary, have an excess of energy, should come here, then the forest will take away the excess, and the person will not do stupid things.
Even without being a psychic, everyone will feel the amazing energy of the Mari forests. Believe me, in a couple of hours in the forest you will certainly feel something that you have not felt before, think about what you have never thought about before, and only God knows what you will do.
Oak Pugachev
On Klenovaya Gora there is an "oak of Pugachev". Yes, the same one, Emelyan. According to legend, in the forest Pugachev with a small detachment hid from the tsarist troops passing along the Kazan highway. Whether this oak tree really saw Emelyan Pugachev is not known for certain. However, the tree is really very old and is carefully guarded by the park staff as a valuable cultural object. This is a place of real tourist pilgrimage. Fortunately, ribbons are not tied to a tree.
Around the lakes meet tents and tents
Perhaps, after my story, you have the impression that Mari Chodra is a remote place. But that's not the case at all. Wide roads covered with sand and gravel. Foresters make a regular detour of the territory on the UAZ. Around the lakes there are tents and tents with people frying shish kebabs, cooking fish soup and smoking hookahs.
Quiet and no trash
In Mari Chodra you will not see mountains of garbage, you will not hear loud music and screams. Nobody bothers here. People take care of nature. Campfires are allowed, but only for cooking and in strictly designated areas. The reserve is equipped with special parking. There are also wooden trash cans. The territory is regularly cleaned by volunteers, so you want to come back here again and again. The cost of all this pleasure is 70 rubles per day per person.
Can live with comfort and go to the forest only for walk
For those who cannot or do not want to spend the night in a tent, recreation centers and sanatoriums are located around Lake Yalchik and in the village of Klenovaya Gora. So you can live in comfort, attend medical procedures, and go to the forest only for a walk.
Photo: IRINA FAZLIAKHMETOVA, mariy-chodra.ru. The editors would like to thank the authors of the site komanda-k.ru for the information about the Mari legends.
History has not preserved documents telling about the worldview and faith ancient people Merya. But there is a lot of medieval evidence and legends that the Meryan pagans migrated from Rostov and Yaroslavl lands (and obviously from Vladimir and Ivanovo) to the east across the Volga from Moscow baptism and Slavization to their closest relatives Mari (Cheremis). Most of the Mari never underwent forced Slavicization and managed to maintain their ancient culture and faith. On its basis, it is possible to reconstruct the beliefs of the ancient Mary related to them.
In the center of Russia, on the left bank of the Volga, between Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, the people of Mari keep their culture and religion based on faith in the power of Nature.
Early October morning, 100 kilometers east of Yoshkar-Ola. The sun has not yet risen over the wooden huts of the village of Mari-Turek, a light fog has not yet let go of the bare fields, and the village is already revitalized. A line of cars stretches along a narrow road to a small forest. Among the old "Zhiguli" and "Volga" a water carrier and a truck are crammed in, from which a dull lowing is heard.
At the edge of the forest, the procession stops. Men in heavy boots and women dressed in warm coats, from under which the hems of colorful national costumes. They take out boxes, bags, and large fluttering bags, from which brown geese peer out curiously.
.jpg)
At the entrance to the forest, an arch was built of fir trunks and a blue-and-white flag. In front of her, people with bags stop for a moment and bow. Women straighten their headscarves, and those who have not yet put on a headscarf do it. Because in the forest in front of which they stand, women cannot enter with their heads uncovered.
This is the Sacred Grove. In the morning twilight of autumn Sunday in the east of the Republic of Mari El in the Volga region, the last pagans of Europe gather to perform the ritual of prayer and sacrifice.
All who came here are the Mari, representatives of the Finno-Ugric people, whose number barely exceeds 700,000 people. Approximately half of them live in the republic, which is named after the people: Mari El. The Mari have own language- soft and melodic, has its own songs, its own customs. But the main thing: they have their own, pagan religion. The Mari believe in the gods of nature and that things have a soul. They worship the gods not in churches, but in the forests, sacrificing food and animals to them.
In Soviet times, this paganism was prohibited, and the Mari prayed secretly in the family circle. But since the late 1980s, Mari culture has been reborn. More than half of the Mari today recognize themselves as pagans and regularly participate in sacrifices.
Throughout the Republic of Mari El there are several hundred Sacred Groves, some of which are protected by the state. Because where the laws of the Mari religion are observed, sacred forests still remain oases of untouched nature. In the Sacred Groves, you can not cut down trees, smoke, swear and tell lies; there you can not use the land, build power lines and even pick berries and mushrooms.
In a GROVE near the village of Mari-Turek, a large meadow opens up between fir and birch trees. A fire burns under three wooden frames, water boils in huge cauldrons. Those who have come unload their bales and let the geese go for a walk on the grass - for the last time. The truck rumbles into the clearing, and a black-and-white steer doomedly emerges from it.
.jpg)
"Where are we with this?" - asks a woman in a flowery scarf, bent over from the weight of the bags in her hands. "Ask Misha!" they shout back at her. Misha is Mikhail Aiglov, head of the Mari traditional religion"Oshmariy-Chimariy" in the area. A 46-year-old Mari with a twinkle in his brown eyes and a shiny mustache makes sure that the festive meal in honor of the gods goes without overlap: that there are boilers, fire and water for washing dishes, and that the young bull is finally slaughtered in the right place.
Michael believes in the forces of nature, cosmic energy, and that everything on earth is part of nature, and therefore part of God. If you ask him to express the essence of his faith in one sentence, he will say: "We live in unity with nature."
This unity implies giving thanks to the gods regularly. Therefore, several times a year, the Mari perform rituals of prayer - in individual villages, districts, throughout the republic. Once a year, the so-called All-Mari prayer takes place, which gathers thousands of people. Today, this October Sunday, in the Sacred Grove near the village of Mari-Turek, about 150 pagans gathered to thank the gods for the harvest.
From the crowd of people in the clearing, four men stand out in high white felt hats - just like Mikhail. Such headwear worn only by the most respected members of the community. These four - "cards", priests, lead the process of traditional prayer. The oldest and highest-ranking of them is Alexander Tanygin. This old man with a beard was one of the first to start praying again in the late 1980s.
“In principle, anyone can become a kart,” explains the 67-year-old priest. “You need to be respected in the community and have people choose you.”
There is no special education, older priests pass on their knowledge of the world of the gods and traditions to the young. The teacher Alexander Tanygin allegedly possessed the gift of foresight and could predict what the future holds for the Mari people and all of humanity. Does he himself have a similar gift? "I can do what I can," the High Priest says enigmatically.
What exactly the priests can do remains hidden from the understanding of the uninitiated guests of the ceremony. Priests bustle around their fires for hours, add salt to porridge in cauldrons, and listen to stories about the needs of community members. One woman worries about her son, who is serving in the army. Today she brought a goose with her as a sacrifice - so that everything would be fine with her son in the army. Another man asks for a successful surgery. All these confidential conversations take place under the cover of trees, in columns of smoke.
MEANWHILE the geese, rams and bull are slaughtered. The women have hung the carcasses of the birds on wooden racks and are now plucking them while chatting merrily. In the motley sea of their scarves, short chestnut hair stands out: Arsenty Savelyev in a blue tracksuit plucks his goose himself. He is a football coach and was born in one of the neighboring villages, now works more than a thousand kilometers away, in a different time zone, in the city of Yugorsk, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. The day before, he and a friend had been driving all night to participate in the traditional prayer.
“Marie is my people,” says Arsentii. He is 41 years old, as a child he went to a school where they taught in the Mari language, now it is gone. Far from his homeland, in Siberia, he speaks only Mari with his 18-year-old son. But his youngest daughter speaks Russian to her mother. “That's life,” Arsenty shrugs.
Around the fires grow holiday tables. On sacrificial stands with fir branches, women put up mountains of thick ruddy pancakes, homemade kvass and “tuar” - original cheesecakes made from cottage cheese, eggs, milk and butter. Each family must bring at least pancakes and kvass with them, some have baked brown flat bread. Like, for example, 62-year-old Ekaterina, a sociable pensioner, a former Russian language teacher, and her friends from the village of Engerbal. Elderly women did everything together: baked bread, dressed up, carried animals. Under the coat they wear traditional Mari clothing.
Ekaterina proudly shows her festive dress with colorful embroidery and silver jewelry on the chest. She received it as a gift from her daughter-in-law, along with a whole collection of dresses. The women pose for the photographer, then sit down on the wooden bench again and explain to the guests that they believe in the god of the sky, earth, water and other gods, “you can’t list them all.”
Mary's prayer lasts longer than any Christian church service. From early morning until afternoon, a sacrificial meal is prepared in the cold, damp forest. In order not to be bored while waiting, Gregory, one of the priests, set up a stand in the middle of the clearing, where you can get tart kvass, hearty pancakes and a friendly blessing for a small donation. Two girls from music school Yoshkar-Ola settled down in the middle of the clearing and play the harp. Music fills the air with magic, which is mixed with the quite earthy smell of fatty goose broth.
SUDDENLY A strange silence reigns in the grove - prayer begins at the first fire. And for the first time in a whole day, this forest becomes like a temple. Families quickly place candles on piles of pancakes and light them. Then everyone takes several fir branches, put them on the ground, descend on them and fix their eyes on the sacred tree. The priest, dressed in a white, cloak-like robe, sings the Mari song "Love us, God, and help us ..."
At the second fire, the high priest Alexander Tanygin also begins to pray. For the work to be argued and for the trips to be successful, and for there to be no accidents on the roads, and for the children and nature to be healthy, for the village to have bread and for the politicians to be all right, and for them to help the Mari people .
.jpg)
While he addresses the gods in a guttural voice, the organizer of the prayer, Mikhail, with two assistants with large knives, walk along the sacrificial table. From each pancake they cut off a small piece and throw it into a tin basin. In the end, they symbolically pour the contents into the fire - for the Mother of fire.
The Mari are sure that what they sacrifice will return to them a hundredfold.
In one of the front rows on my knees with eyes closed Nadezhda, Mikhail's eldest daughter, and her fiancé Alexei are standing. Both of them graduated from the Mari State Technical University and now live and work in Yoshkar-Ola. Light red Nadezhda works as a furniture designer. “I like the job, but the pay is low,” the 24-year-old girl smiles during a festive dinner after prayer. On the table in front of her meat broth, pancakes with honey, bread.
Does she want to stay in Yoshkar-Ola? "Not". Where, then - to Moscow or Kazan? "Why?" - Alex is surprised. When the children arrive, the couple wants to return to the village, perhaps somewhere near Nadezhda's parents, who live in Mari Turek.
It is to their house that Mikhail and his assistants drag the cauldrons after the meal. Nina, mother, nurse by profession. She shows the oven in which pancakes are baked and talks about the Mari traditions that still live in this house, for example, about the Mari holiday of the beginning of the year. “On this day, we change clothes, put on masks and hats, take brooms and pokers in our hands and go outside,” says Nina. They go to the neighbors, who on this day also open the doors of their houses, set the table and receive guests.
But alas, for the last time, Nina says, several village families left their doors locked. Mari in neighboring villages forget traditions. Mikhail does not understand how one can betray one's customs. “People need religion, but they don't understand it,” he says, and tells his favorite story.
When there was no rain for a long time and the drought almost ruined the harvest, the inhabitants of the village of Mari-Turek gathered and organized a holiday on the street, cooked porridge, baked cakes and, setting the table, turned to the gods. Of course, soon after that, rain fell on the ground.
PS
The rise of the Mari national culture and the emergence of literature in the Mari language occurred at the beginning of the twentieth century. in 1905, the poet Sergei Chavain wrote the poem "Grove", which is considered the first Mari literary poetic work. In it, he describes the beauty of the Sacred Grove and says that it must not be destroyed.
Religious representations of the Mari
1170. They have a fusion (syncretism) of pagan and Christian there. They pray to Nikola yumo (they call Nikola Nikola yumo), they pray with three fingers. As if Christian symbols, but they ask ... They ask the vidava for pagan deliverance from diseases, so they give her pagan sacrifices. My legs hurt - socks, my hands - mittens, my head - a hat, my neck - a scarf there, my body ...
1171. The Mari are just as Orthodox as we are, but the Tatars are completely different. If a Mari marries a Russian, it is possible, but it is impossible with the Tatars: not of our faith, they are somehow different. This is not welcome.
1172. Mari - they are closer to the Russians than the Tatars. Some of them believe in our God. Although, of course, they can do anything. Here the Mari put their keels under their bosoms.
1173. They are churchmen. They go to church.<...>Go-ko - half a church of some Mari: they revere him like that, this Nikola.
1174. I noticed that the Mari have no awareness of sin: that I committed a sin. And in the church they try to appease, bring a goose, that is, give a bribe from God. And the realization of sin - they won’t hurt their foreheads. Here even communicating with them, you can see that they are trying to justify themselves. Here is the realization that I am sinful, that I am bad, I realize this - this is not there. I'll give it to you.
1175. Both Russians and Mari lived in this village of Vareno. And then one day a Mari comes to a Russian neighbor and says: "Ivan, what are you doing?" He says: "Well, I'm dragging manure from the barn." - "Let me carry manure, and you help me with this. A birch has grown in my garden." And what about the birch for the Mari? Sacred tree. birch suit. Mariets cannot cut a birch. And she interferes. So he came: "Ivan, you cut down a birch for me in my garden, and I'll carry manure from your barn." That's how they changed: the Russian went to cut the birch in the Mari garden, and the Mari went to the Russian manure to wear from a barn, that is, these traditions are kept.
1176. I tried to attribute the pantheon of the Mari gods. The mountain Mari have seven dozen of them, the meadow ones have ninety, and we have about a hundred and twenty.<...>And there is one feature. We have some Mari deities; in my opinion, they correspond to the Ud-Murt Vorshuds. We, for example, have worship, for example, of a swan. The pagan Mari have never worshiped a swan. And just this is the territory that the Udmurts and Mari lived in contact. We have such features.
1177. In contrast to the mountain and meadow Mari, our Mari have the most gods and gods. That is, they have four levels of gods. Here is the main god there, for example, Kugu yumo. This is a big Kugu Yumo. There, or, say, Ava Kugu yumo, his mother is always present, or Yudava there, or Kugurcha yumo there, there are a lot of gods. The second, third and fourth levels they are Karmakaya gods. This is, for example, Kapkaval kirimet, the gate spirit. Or Munchalza there or, let's say, Kudovadysh with them<...>. We have something ... So I counted one hundred and seventy such gods in my pantheon. And they, the mountains, the meadows, at most there are ninety-three. We are lucky: here is polytheism.
1178. The god of the sun, the god of the sun's shadow, Mlandova is an earthly mother, the shadow of the earth, moonlight, star Light, star shadow, water mother, wind god, god of lightning and thunder, meadow wealth, forest flowers, cattle god, birds. Nikola Yumo - God Nicholas the Wonderworker.
How God Yumo Distributed Faith
1179. In ancient times, Yumo gathered a council, where he ordered an Udmurt, a Tatar, a Russian, a Mari with their wives and children to come. Russian and
295 Tatars came to Yumo and introduced their families. Yumo was friendly with them, so he gave the Russian Christian faith, ordered to pray in the church; gave the Tatar the Mohammedan faith, commanded to worship the moon in the mosque. Then he called the Udmurt. And he was ashamed to show his family to God, so he was angry with him. I told him: "Until death, offer sacrifices to your children. And let your children turn into charred stumps." After that, "the Udmurts, like the Mari, began to make sacrifices to the Keremet. Until now, some Udmurts sacrifice a goat to him.
The Mari was the last to come to Yumo. Yumo asked him: "Where are your wife and children?" The Mariets answered: "I was ashamed - I brought them, I left them behind a grove in the forest." “Ah! You are ashamed of God! Let your children and wife turn into charred stumps and become keremets,” God said. Mariets, hanging his head, went to the grove. The children and wife left by him behind the grove turned into charred stumps and asked their father: “Give us something to eat, donate meat! "After that, the Mari got a keremet. So the Mari began to court (sacrifice) different keremets. There were special rituals during the sacrifice.<...>When sacrificing, they used special prayers. And the prayers are as follows: "Spirit of fire! Raise with your straight rising smoke and say (you are the translator of a person). I came with a request. My words (my thought) asked: reach the spirit of the swan, bring our prayer and say:" Spirit swan! If my daughter fell ill from a sickness sent, then take our donations - a bundle of flour, a coin to buy a ram. I pray to you with porridge and salt. You just put a sick person on his feet. " Having performed such a rite, having found a place, they hang a bundle of flour on a tree. Then, if necessary, they make a sacrifice by slaughtering a ram. The rite is performed secretly.
1180. We have a special reverence for Yudave. In our country, from Vyatka, it is transferred to small rivers. Suppose I heard when I was recording in the swan side, they threw porridge into Urzhumka. These are the elements that are characteristic of the worship of Yudava. Well, also Kugu yumo. We have a few more keremets, which belong only to our county. Let's say we have our own keremet - yomshiner-keremet.<...>An evil spirit that each place can have its own. We had a lot of such keremets. We worshiped Maxe-Keremet in Maxinery Local deities. And the Keremets are evil. Them
they only tried to appease, that is, to ask them for some kind of favor, the Mari did not dare to bless, but as if bribed, appeased them: they would sacrifice this, that and that, hoping to get from them.
1181. There is such a legend among the Mari people about Ovda. Ovda - these were such gigantic people. Ovda poured sand out of the bast shoes, and a mountain appeared. And Ovda - this is a legendary tribe. Ovda Kulyk among the Mari. Now, if the old woman is smart, they say: "Smart as Ovda." Their ovda turns into a bird. Sometimes it can be a woman, sometimes a man. Ovd has twisted legs (legs turned back). Ovda loves children very much. This is only for the Mari.
1182. Iya lives in the forest... Iya is a Leshak. Bad: people turn on.<...>Ovda is. Lives in the forest. Legs back. The bird can fly. Will fly to the village. Like a big owl. Ovda above the forest. The legs are large, turned back. Ovda walked, the earth spilled out of his boots - the mountain became bigger, smaller. The mountain has become
1183. Obda or Ovda live in the forest. Our Mari have legends. This is a giant man, a giant with tangled hair, feet turned back. Sometimes Ovda is an old woman or a bird. There is a boundary Ovda. Such an old woman with big breasts.<...>Obda naked fly. Obda love to rock children in cradles. Obda lived in ravines. For a bath, if anyone let them in, they paid with silver. These are only Mari legends. Russians don't know. My old grandmother didn't even know it.<...>They actually have many gods. mother of God there is also God. Yumo - light: this is the supreme god, an assistant. He does good.<...>Iya is Satan, darkness.
1184. I wrote down the legend about Ovda Sarmari in Tyum-Tyum. This tea-ka, likes fish. Flew and met two fishermen. There were Timothy and Yanakhtey fishermen. Timothy did not give fish to the ovda bird and his clan became a small clan, and Yanakhtai a large clan (there are many Yanakhtaevs).
1185. [Which of the Christian saints is more revered by the Maris?] Nikola yumo. In second place ... Well, they personify the Mother of God - yumo ava. They think she is their Mother of God. She and Kugu yumo mother and mother of Christ. That is, I have not heard that they call Christ Kugu yumo. They turn to Kugu yumo only in dire need. 1186. Ilyin's day is the most severe day. Ilya Prolov - the upper god, also yumo. They prayed to them in Kyushu. The hay burns. It hits a tree, people, a house, burns it. In a thunderstorm, tongs are thrown from the stove. Throw it in the yard. They said: "Lord, great yumo, save it for home, don't let trouble!"
Prayer groves and trees of the Mari
1187. Mari are pagans, you know? Such prayerful groves. Twenty-eight in our area. This is kysotu and yumomotu, where they go to pray. In yumomotu they go to pray to the god yum. Hume is God. And kysotu is when they are just getting rid of something. The Mari go to pray, they promise a goose. He goes to the kysota to pray and for insurance he goes and drags the second goose to our Orthodox church. They have synthetism, fusion.
1188. They went to the grove to pray. There they all prayed to the cattle. They prayed twice - in spring and autumn. This is usually the case. But if there is no rain or it does not grow, or the cattle become dead, then we are already going any day. We were getting ready. Here they promise to make a prayer service to Ivan the Warrior. Or they promise Nikol Yumo a prayer service. Or Bela Yumo promises to make a prayer service.<...>Here we go Nicol Yumo. It's in Semik on Tuesday. Until then, we're getting ready.
In a week, the whole house is washed, all the floors are washed, all the stoves are cleaned, all the sheds. And they will wash themselves in the bath. And you can’t wrap a lot, you can’t carry water back and forth. You can't carry milk back and forth. You can't spin. You can't sleep in the same place with your husband and wife. Here ... On Tuesday, everything is dressed in white, tailor. We bake pancakes, cook porridge. Everything is baked. They will give a goose, they will give a ram. And if it's bad, then they'll give you a stallion. [And what does "give" mean?] He will be taken away from others earlier and given to another place. Let it stand there. He is one week old and lives. Then they take him to Kyushu, where they cook and eat. So they pray.
There are trees in Kyushu. Each family has its own tree. There is a tree. There is a tree for everyone. Everyone is praying there. There, the cards (pop in Russian) cut them and let the blood go under the tree or under the stone. They cook and eat. And they pray. They pray on their knees. But you can't be baptized. So we pray, so we all eat. Knife is not allowed. The card has a wooden knife, all the plates are wooden. Everything is broken by hand. No iron is allowed. Only money can be thrown iron.
[And how was the kart dressed?] Is that pop? It has long been. I don't remember.
Too white whole, like all. On the head only wind something from a birch. So white... Like a hat... [From birch bark, from bark?] Yes, just about, from birch. That's how he walked there.<...>He is praying for everything. And each for himself, for the children, for the cattle. On the second day they go again. They carried boilers with them. Cattle were boiled in cauldrons and eaten. And on the Christmas tree, birch towels hung. Partuks [aprons] were hung up.
[What does a tree, a birch mean?] We have two aha-baryam. There is a tree, there is a birch. Sometimes there is pine. This tree is holy, sacred tree. They put candles on him, they hung a towel on him, they said to him: "Great Nikol Yumo, give me health, give me eyes, give me riches, give money to women and cattle!" [And what does "give me eyes" mean?] Here, all the old and the young also have sick eyes. Eyes flow. One grandfather faded, the other. Dark steel. I have one eye too. This in Russian is called a fuck. Everyone was always sick. It was. And they asked.<...>
It was more on the water. They go to the key where the holy water is. They go and pray to Nikol Yumo for health, for their eyes. And wash your eyes. Wash them a lot. It's not in Kyushu. And then they go to Kyushu in the fall according to the promise. They will go before Pokrovskaya. If God gives health, wealth, they carry duck according to the promise. And they eat there. In autumn, each carries wool from the yard, from one yard you need wool and everything goes there, to Kyushu. And they come from Kyushu, pray in the huts. Both spring and autumn. They will come, go to the corner and pray at the icons. Icons pray. Everything is Mari.<...>
And this food is brought from Kyushu. You can't leave anything there, everything is clean. We leave nothing there. We eat everything here. Then another week we eat at home. The food is holy, like an egg from a church. You can't give to others, you can't throw it away. Cats and dogs must not be fed. You can't pour out, you can't swear. This is still not possible. Children cannot go to school for a week, children cannot play loudly. An adult does not work, only cattle must be loved, everything must be cleaned. We pray every day of the week. We cross already. Can. Guests are not allowed, bread cannot be made. Husband and wife are not allowed again. They eat only holy food. And they pray. It's all done by God. God did it.<...>
A week has passed, we don’t go to Kyushu anymore: it’s impossible. You can't go there like that. There, too, the Russians cannot do everything. And yes, we just can't.<...>So you can't walk. You can't cut anything there, you can't break it, grass, flowers can't be torn. Don't touch the dry branch! [And who kills with a windbreak?] There are people, I put cards (pop, it means). They walk, collect everything and burn it, so that everything is clean. They will gather on the day, as the pop says, and go to clean everything. They are also getting ready. Bath ... They will clean themselves first. [And who went to clean: men or women?] All the women [And who went to pray?] Everyone went. The family went. The village was walking. If something bad comes from cattle or war. They walked in circles. Seven to ten villages will gather in a circle. All villages will converge to go to Kyushu.<...>Only men could pray for this, women did not go.
The women wove the canvas or weaved the ribbon, wove. White should be without a gap. Long! It was a very long time ago. I did not see. My grandmother told me this. They will go into kyushota and will cover the whole outside from edge to edge. And they pray there for a long time inside. It should be long - the whole kyushota should be hugged. Even if the boys began to die, it is also necessary. We must ask Yumo, God ask. It's all from God. Every village prayed. They prayed to God. Each village has its own kyushota, its own trees. They boiled cattle there. This is called kyushota or aga-baryam. And in Russian keremetishche. This is what the Russians say. This is bad. They didn't say so. We have a kyushot or a pouch, but the keremetische is wrong.
1189. Kyushoto still exists. There is a father in the church, and we have a grandfather with a beard. Geese and sheep were given. Only they didn’t cross themselves, but bowed and prayed: “Ivan the Warrior, Ivan the Great, Ivan the Posmanny, give me strength, health, bread and money.” And in Mari: "Kuruk Kugu en, Tiak and Piambar." This is Ivan the Warrior. So in Kyushoto they prayed to him, and they wore wool so that the sheep had good wool. From there they will bring it and give it to the poor. Candles will be lit, hung up, but you can’t cut them. You can't just walk like that. You can't pick raspberries, you can't tear the leaves. There was an important tree - linden. Prayed to this linden. They hung everything.<...>In Kyushoto they prayed, they gave a sacrifice: a goose, a ram and a foal. They prayed - and so many people did not die.
1190. They will come to kyushoto, hang towels on a tree. Each family has its own tree to which they pray. Here they hang towels on it. And then, when they return home, these towels are hung up next to the icons. They returned and prayed in front of the icon, but they did not baptize themselves, only with their heads. Until we finish eating all the food from kyushoto, it is impossible to be baptized. And we eat. Nothing was left there. There are prayers. Didn't work for a week.<...>The Russians call it Keremetishche, and in Mari, Kyushoto is a forest on a high-rise. You can't cut. We had the Russian villages Bazhino and Rudniki. And where are they? As soon as they began to cut down the grove, they swept away like a broom: who died, who left. Only arable land remained.
We, when there was no kyushoto, had a different grove. One sticky tree and a tree.
They went there to pray. They prayed for the linden: it was big. In Mari-ski it is necessary for leafy. We prayed. They went to Semik. This is aga-bar-yam [Aga Payrem — spring holiday, field holiday]. And they went to these two trees in the middle of the field. Two trees too: aha-baryam tree and aha-baryam linden. They hung everything on a linden. They made pancakes, brought kvass and beer there and ate there. There was a hearth. Beer was carried there in a birch hutch. Paygan was carried (it's a kind of wooden mug). They drank with this mug. Everyone had their own. There was only one knife on the kart. He cut pancakes with this wooden one. But not for yourself, but for yourself. They are asking for a field, for bread. If for yourself, as for yourself, you want everything, but from yourself - as from God, you ask everything. Everything was done like a card. He prays, everyone prays. He is in bast shoes, and everyone is in bast shoes: barefoot is not allowed. He cut something, cards, into four parts to make a cross. Holy cross. Kart was still with him and Iko-well wore a kugu cross. So it's a big cross. All women with the same big crosses and cards. And the men wore small crosses. Here are the clothes specially tailor-made, embroidered.
1191. They go to Aga-Baryam to Semik, and to Kyushu in spring and autumn. In the spring with young cattle or geese, ducks. And the same in autumn, with young living creatures. Fifteen plates of pancakes, eggs and other things were carried in aga-bariyam. Kyushota is the main one, and aha-baryam is like a brother. She is listed as smaller. Pray on their knees. They don't get baptized in Kyushu. We are baptized in the church.
Everyone used to have their own tree for prayer. And there was the main tree - a Christmas tree. It is a common tree. In the fires, the brought living creatures were cooked (they cut and butchered there). The rest of the food is brought to my house and eaten within a week. This food cannot be fed to cats, dogs, only sheep and eat it yourself. You find your prayer tree on a whim. The Lord brings you to him. Somehow you feel that this is it. You yourself somehow stop near him, as if someone let you down.
When you enter Kyushu, you don’t say extra words, but only think about one thing, that the Lord helps and gives you everything. And the main pilgrim keeps asking the Lord for happiness, wealth, everything. You ask yourself, and he asks. You don’t pray in Kyusett, but you just stand there and ask. The old man prepares food and everyone starts eating. And at the same time they continue to ask the Lord. They take dishes with them to Kyushu. After the end, the ashes are raked into one heap. Whoever touches the black ashes in Kyusett, the Lord will punish him.<...>
Pray only during the day. You can only pray in Semik. In vain, you can’t go into Kyushu. Prayer is very pure. You can only pray with pure thoughts. Sometimes they pray while eating. They eat and pray. The main trees are linden, birch and Christmas tree: they are closer to God. Pieces of food (pieces of pancakes, etc.) are thrown into the fire and continue to ask the Lord. The ashes are raked into a heap / The next prayer should be in the same place.
1192. Keremetishche - the national grove of the Mari. They used to hold their services there. There was a hearth in the center. There they brought sacrifices: both a goose and a sheep. There they were roasted and eaten. Towels, scarves, shirts were brought and hung up. Everything remained: the sacred cannot be taken. They threw a lot of money in the fire: Russian coins! We ran to pick berries far away, behind the Fedosimovskaya grove. I was about ten or twelve years old. The little ones were stupid. So we went there quietly: money in a fire, an apron embroidered in wi-sit, a towel hanging. Let's take a look and run quickly, quickly.<...>
Previously, parents punished: "If you go, don't mess around, don't touch anything." It was impossible: Holy place. <...>Mostly there were old, big ones. Now it is growing there. Previously, the Mari-tsy went and watched, cleaned with a windbreak, cleaned the grove. In the center, right in the recess, a fire was made. There is Keremetishche in Tyumen Tyumen. There is also an old Mari burial ground. There is also such a sacred place. You can't walk.
1193. Earlier, when I was small, we went to the fields to pull flax. So there is a Mari keremetishche. So we went there, kids, we went here. It's called Keremetishche. This is their god's name - keremet. Here. Well, as we went there, duck there were fires. They made sacrifices there. There's a ram, or a goose, or a duck. They even said that earlier they could fry and eat a person. Exactly. Well, we're watching. This is only later, as there is no one in the grove. On the trees, towels were tied in knots, scarves were hung, and something else, probably, and wool was lying around, bones from animals. It was such a special day for them. And we didn't go for it there. We'll take a look later! Suddenly keremet will drag away!<...>They have two holidays. Ninth Friday is a must for everyone (both ours and in the neighboring area). And also Semik too. Here, maybe, they went there to Semik.
1194. Keremetishche: the Mari prayed to God. They prayed strongly, all kinds of cooking. The garden is there, well, a grove. They will come here, pray to God. Like Sabantuy among the Tatars. They can pray for a whole week. [So what is a kere-metische?] Actually, only trees. Trees, in the middle of the playground and tables are covered. Food is cooked in cauldrons. There, they stopped by a whole cow: a lot is going. And I was a little ishsho. [Have you heard of the lonely holy tree?] Yes. A cross is carved into a tree. Well, as if there is a monument when they are buried. This is how it was cut down. Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. [Is this tree standing alone?] No. Right here. Right there, in the cave. On the birch... Russians were not allowed there. And faith is one, like us. They also go to church: Russian faith.
1195. Here the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Tse-pochkinsky monastery was built, the Mari were baptized into the Russian faith, the Orthodox. They, therefore, go to church with us now. They, therefore, wear an Orthodox cross. At the same time, they observe their pagan customs, pray in prayer groves, sacrifice livestock and animals.
By the way, in Tyum-Tyum there was a very big prayer, there was even a kart, a priest from Yoshkar-Ola, and a horse was sacrificed. This is considered a very big prayer. They bring a horse, pray, ask permission from the victim, according to this animal, to be stabbed (this stew was cooked from it) or not.
That's when I was in Tyum-Tyum in a Mari family, I was just on January 19, for Epiphany. And on this day, the Mari brought holy water from the church. I say: "Well, how is it? Here you are, so you go to church, Orthodox cross wear, and men's clothes, and go to the prayer grove, which means that you all observe these customs there. Even sacrifice a horse, this is a very big prayer. "But the Marie answered me very well:" Duck we go to the prayer groves to pray for cattle, so what! And we go to church to God. "Do you understand? The ancient pagan faith, it is difficult to fall behind, but the Orthodox faith turned out to be better. Well, they honor traditions.
AC 1196. Choosing an animal as a sacrifice, they ask the consent of this animal and the blessing of God on this animal. Let's say (I wrote it down in Akmaziki), the woman is alone: "The animal should have spun with its ears as a sign of consent." And they sat for half a day waiting for this consent to be received.
1197. Aga-baryam, clearly expressed in Akmaziki, and we have it. There is an aha-baryam in the Big Swarm. There is an oak. In the form of an aga-baryam, an oak, a linden appears, a birch can be an aga-baryam. We also have a subtra, on which bags with diseases are hung. Subtra or chop-chop is called. A person puts his illness in a bag, a rag bag (now plastic bags) and hangs it on a ritual tree.
1198. Sabtra or chop-chop ritual trees. This is where the Mari pagans hang their illnesses in bags. That is, if you touch the bag or open it, this disease passes to you. Show these bags. And they showed more trees, birches, which<...>Mari sorcerers spoil.
Well, let's say we were in Timoshkino. They tell there. Chi-hundred Mari village. The sorcerer can no longer harm anyone: everyone knows that he is a sorcerer, and if he does anything, they will immediately beat him. And he needs to somehow realize his gift, so he goes to the forest, to the grove, and purposefully splashes out his nod on one tree. And the tree is overgrown with growths from top to bottom. Here even one birch broke under the weight of growths. This is a black one, a huge bump, maybe twenty or fifteen kilograms there. Even the tree has split.
1199. When I lived in Savinovo, I went to Fedoskino. There was an island in the forest - keremetishsho. One day, the Mari dragged a ram there, where they boil it and eat it. I once went with bread, ran into keremetishsho from the edge, did not take mushrooms. Let them not eat anything with kerems-tishsha. And the Mari believe Keremetyu, they hung some towels. Nothing can be torn there, as in our cemetery. If someone cuts down a tree there, there will be misfortune with him: either he himself will die, or the cattle.
1200. Mari cemetery - keremetishche: those who were not baptized, they were laid in keremetishche. If you cut down a vitch, God will punish you. Here's a guy who cut it down and now it's shaking. The Mariets said: "If you cut down a vicka, at least put a penny on the felled place as a ransom. Otherwise, he will torment you."
1201. Previously, Russians were not allowed there. They made sacrifices there, and the place was special for them. Russians can't. Their whips were wicker, straw. So if you come in, they will whip you to the point of blood. They are wild. We did not go ourselves, we were afraid. If we're going somewhere, we won't go there.
Because whoever comes in idle will be punished: either you get sick, or something happens. In general, it will be bad. You can’t even touch a blade of grass there, not like a tree or mushrooms and berries.
We have one guy who went for an argument, and he also broke his horn there. So, a week later, with this horn, he went into the forest with the guys and got lost. So they didn't find it. Only the horn stands, and his cap lies nearby. So he was punished. [And who punished? Who was it?] And who needs it, he punished. There was nothing to go to keremetishte. Here is his Mari devil from the grove and punished.
1202. Only Mari lived in the village of Yangarashki. They lived according to their customs, in which there was much from the pagan faith. And a grove grew near the village. It was said that it was an ancient Mari cemetery. And it looks like just a copse. Once the chairman of the collective farm decided to cut down this grove, to clear the field. The most desperate men left for work, although the night before the women howled and begged the men not to go, because the Mari had threatened to put a kila on the cutters. Before the brigade had time to dismantle the axes, an old woman, nicknamed Sekema, who was considered a sorceress, emerged from the grove. She began to drive the men, saying that this place was guarded by spirits. Many Maris came here to pray. At the same time, Sekema threw a scarf from her head to the ground and said: "If someone steps over this scarf, there will be big troubles in life, misfortunes." And one man laughed, picked up his handkerchief and threw it into the bushes. The men were a little crumpled and the grove was cut down. And then the peasant was unlucky all his life: he even had to serve time in prison.
1203. And after they knocked out, one man had a dream. An old man with a gray beard came out and said: “You,” he says, “have cut down my village, and your village will not be bred either. Everything,” he says, “will end.” And that's how it works, look. And this old man is our god. After that, life is bad in our village.
1204. The old people said: grandfather walks small, his beard is big. Near kyushoto. Not everyone thinks, only the believer. Small, like a child. And it dissolves.
1205. We had Russians here, so they cut down Kyushu, the most valuable and sacred trees - Christmas trees and lindens. So everyone was blind. You can not cut these trees: they are devout.
1206. We went to Kyushu for raspberries. They then got sick and died.
1207. Here, too, a Russian chopped, so the bull gored him. We go to Kyushu, we don’t even look around in vain. You can only go there in clean underwear, because religion is clean.
THE SOURCE OF INFORMATION:
http://www.vyatkavpredaniyah.ru/
The Mari are a Finno-Ugric people who believe in spirits. Many people are interested in what religion the Mari belong to, but in fact they cannot be defined as Christianity or the Muslim faith, because they have their own idea of God. This people believe in spirits, trees are sacred to them, and Ovda replaces the devil. Their religion implies that our world originated on another planet, where a duck laid two eggs. They hatched good and evil brothers. They are the ones who created life on Earth. The Mari perform unique rituals, respect the gods of nature, and their faith is one of the most unchanged since ancient times.
History of the Mari people
According to legend, the history of this people began on another planet. A duck, living in the constellation of the Nest, flew to Earth and laid several eggs. So this people appeared, judging by their beliefs. It is worth noting that to this day they do not recognize the worldwide names of the constellations, naming the stars in their own way. According to legend, the bird flew from the constellation Pleiades, and, for example, Ursa Major they call Elk.
sacred groves
Kusoto are sacred groves, which are so revered by the Mari. Religion implies that people should bring purlyk to the groves for public prayers. These are sacrificial birds, geese or ducks. To conduct this ceremony, each family must choose the most beautiful and healthy bird, because the Mari priest will check it for suitability for the ceremony. If the bird is fit, then they ask for forgiveness, after which they light it with smoke. Thus, the people express their respect for the spirit of fire, which cleanses the space of negativity.
It is in the forest that all Mari pray. The religion of this people is built on unity with nature, so they believe that by touching the trees and making sacrifices, they create a direct connection with God. The groves themselves were not planted on purpose, they have been there for a long time. According to legend, even the ancient ancestors of this people chose them for prayers, based on how the sun, comets and stars are located. All groves are usually divided into tribal, rural and general. Moreover, in some you can pray several times a year, while in others - only once every seven years. There is a great energy force in Kusoto, the Mari believe. Religion forbids them to swear, make noise or sing while in the forest, because according to their faith, nature is the embodiment of God on Earth.
Fight for Kusoto
For many centuries, they tried to cut down the groves, and the people of the Mari long years defended the right to preserve the forest. At first, Christians wanted to destroy them, imposing their faith, then the Soviet government tried to deprive the Mari of sacred places. To save the forests, the Mari people had to formally accept the Orthodox faith. They attended church, defended the service and secretly went into the forest to worship their gods. This led to the fact that many Christian customs became part of the faith of the Mari.
Legends about Ovda
According to legend, once upon a time a stubborn Mari woman lived on Earth, and one day she angered the gods. For this, she was turned into Ovda - a terrible creature with large breasts, black hair and twisted legs. People avoided her, as she often caused damage, cursing entire villages. Although she could help too. In the old days, she was often seen: she lives in caves, on the outskirts of the forest. Until now, the Mari people think so. The religion of this people is built on natural forces, and it is believed that Ovda is the original bearer of divine energy, capable of bringing both good and evil.
There are interesting megaliths in the forest, very similar to blocks of man-made origin. According to legend, it was Ovda who built a defense around her caves so that people would not disturb her. Science suggests that the ancient Mari defended themselves from enemies with their help, but they could not process and install stones on their own. Therefore, this area is very attractive to psychics and magicians, because it is believed that this is a place of powerful power. Sometimes all the peoples living nearby visit it. Despite how close the Mordovians live, the Maris are different from them, and they cannot be attributed to the same group. Many of their legends are similar, but that's all.
Mari bagpipe - shuvyr
Shuvyr is considered a real magical instrument of the Mari. This unique bagpipe is made from a cow's bladder. First, for two weeks it is prepared with porridge and salt, and only then, when the bladder becomes limp, a tube and a horn are attached to it. The Mari believe that each element of the instrument is endowed with a special power. A musician using it can understand what birds are singing and animals are talking about. Listening to play on this folk instrument people go into a trance. Sometimes with the help of shuvyra people are healed. The Mari believe that the music of this bagpipe is the key to the gates of the spirit world.
Honoring deceased ancestors
The Mari do not go to cemeteries, they invite the dead to visit every Thursday. Previously, no identifying marks were placed on the graves of the Mari, but now they simply install wooden decks, where they write the names of the deceased. The religion of the Mari in Russia is very similar to the Christian one in that souls live well in heaven, but the living believe that their deceased relatives are very homesick. And if the living do not remember their ancestors, then their souls will become evil and begin to harm people.
Each family sets up a separate table for the dead and sets it up as for the living. Everything that is prepared on the table should also stand for invisible guests. All treats after dinner are given to pets to eat. This ritual also represents an ancestral request for help, the whole family at the table discusses problems and asks for help in finding their solution. After a meal for the dead, a bathhouse is heated, and only after a while the owners themselves enter it. It is believed that you can not sleep until all the villagers see their guests.
Mari Bear - Mask
There is a legend that in ancient times a hunter named Mask angered the god Yumo with his behavior. He did not listen to the advice of his elders, he killed animals for fun, and he himself was distinguished by cunning and cruelty. For this, God punished him by turning him into a bear. The hunter repented and asked for mercy, but Yumo ordered him to keep order in the forest. And if he does it regularly, then in the next life he will become a man.
Beekeeping
Mariytsev pays special attention to bees. According to ancient legends, it is believed that these insects were the last to come to Earth, having arrived here from another Galaxy. Mari's laws imply that each kart should have its own apiary, where he will receive propolis, honey, wax and bee bread.
Signs with bread
Every year, the Mari grind some flour by hand to make the first loaf. During its preparation, the hostess should whisper good wishes on the dough for everyone she plans to treat with a treat. Considering what kind of religion the Mari have, it is worth paying special attention to this rich treat. When someone in the family goes on a long journey, they bake special bread. According to legend, it must be put on the table and not removed until the travelers return home. Almost all the rituals of the Mari people are associated with bread, so every housewife, at least for the holidays, bakes it herself.
Kugeche - Mari Easter
Mari people use stoves not for heating, but for cooking. Once a year, pancakes and pies with porridge are baked in every house. This is done on a holiday called Kugeche, it is dedicated to the renewal of nature, and it is also customary to commemorate the dead on it. Every home should have homemade candles made by the cards and their helpers. The wax of these candles is filled with the power of nature and, during melting, enhances the effect of prayers, the Mari believe. It is difficult to answer what faith the religion of this people belongs to, but, for example, Kugeche always coincides in time with Easter, celebrated by Christians. Several centuries erased the boundaries between the faith of the Mari and Christians.
Celebrations usually last for several days. The combination of pancakes, cottage cheese and loaf for the Mari means a symbol of the triplicity of the world. Also on this holiday, every woman should drink beer or kvass from a special fertility ladle. They also eat colored eggs, it is believed that the higher the owner breaks it against the wall, the better the chickens will rush in the right places.
Rites in Kusoto
All people who want to unite with nature gather in the forest. Before the prayer, the cards are lit by homemade candles. You can’t sing and make noise in the groves, the harp is the only musical instrument allowed here. Rites of purification with sound are performed, for this they strike with a knife on an ax. The Mari also believe that a breath of wind in the air will cleanse them of evil and allow them to connect with pure cosmic energy. The prayers themselves do not last long. After them, part of the food is sent to the fires so that the gods enjoy the treats. The smoke of campfires is also considered cleansing. And the rest of the food is distributed to people. Some take food home to treat those who couldn't make it.
The Mari people really appreciate nature, so the next day the cards come to the place where the rites are held and clean up everything. After that, no one from five to seven years old can enter the grove. This is necessary so that she restores energy and can saturate people with her during the next prayers. This is the religion that the Mari profess, during its existence it began to resemble other faiths, but still many rituals and legends have remained unchanged since ancient times. This is a very unique and amazing people, devoted to their religious laws.
thaipersonal letter
This is the beginning of an adventure novel. One day I received a letter with the following content:
“Dear gentlemen! We, representatives of the public of the republic and the Mari people, appeal to you as an authoritative and respected person in the Eurasian space. The Mari and other peoples inhabiting the Republic of Mari El trust you and fully share and support the policy you propose in the interests of the entire population of Russia-Eurasia. Our small republic, which is an integral part of Eurasia and is currently experiencing a serious national and political crisis due to the fact that the local leadership subtly violates the rights titular nation, offends our national dignity, humiliates the people of the Republic of Mari El.
In Moscow, dozens of appeals and open letters the federal government is ignored. Moreover, despite the negative reaction of the world community from 47 countries of the world (more than ten thousand signatures) about the events taking place in Mari El, the Russian Foreign Ministry spread a false statement that there are no problems in the Mari Republic. 
This, in turn, was followed by an appeal from the public of the republic to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation S.V. Lavrov with a request to deal with the real situation in Mari El, and not to follow the criminal elements of our republic and not to cover up the shamelessly irresponsible policy of the Markelov regime. To the greatest regret, and this is no longer a secret, in Moscow everything is decided by dollars, which are inserted into officials instead of eyes. This is how Moscow capitalizes on the misfortune and grief of the regions of Russia.
In 2004 in Moscow was published black book entitled "Mari El: a republic that does not exist?". It details today's scary picture Republic of Mari El. And, despite the fact that the State Duma of the Russian Federation, the Federation Council, the Federal Security Service of Russia, the Administration of the President of the Russian Federation have been acquainted with this book, there has been no reaction.
Today, US special services are infiltrating Mari El, films are being made and materials are being collected not in favor of Russia. The UFSB of Mari El has essentially been crushed and suppressed by the Markelov regime, and we see how the situation is growing like an avalanche in our region to purposefully undermine the authority of Russia, which stubbornly does not want to deal with its regions. Thieving people in Mari El came to power, which is tearing the subject of the Federation to shreds. In June, an international delegation arrives in our republic to get acquainted with the situation. It's strange, they don't want to come from Moscow, but they go with pleasure from the Council of Europe.
We are for Great Russia and its multinational people, we will never allow “orange” people in Mari El and will not follow the lead of the secret services of the West and from overseas. But we will also never reconcile ourselves to the criminal regime of Markelov, who, for some unknown reason, is covered (obviously for suitcases with dollars) by Moscow. With such an attitude towards the Mari people, we will actively insist on bringing L. I. Markelov to the court of the international tribunal for the genocide of the Mari people.
Concerning, Dear friends, we ask you to actively engage in the work to resolve the crisis in Mari El and represent the interests of the Mari people at various levels.”
With deep respect,
Kozlov V. N. - Chairman of the All-Mari Council;
Maksimova N. F.- Chairman of the Interregional Public Organization "Mari Ushem";
Tanakov V.D.- onaeng (priest) of Yoshkar-Ola.
Vitaly Lezhanin and Vladimir Kozlov
The letter was so surprising that we decided to look into the situation. We have long heard rumors from our representative in Mari El Vitaly Lezhanin about the real apartheid of President Leonid Markelov in relation to the Mari people. In the end, the important task of the "Eurasian Movement" is precisely to defend the rights and interests of the indigenous peoples of Russia: Russian, Tatar, Mari, and all the rest. We haven’t really dealt with the Finno-Ugric topic yet, but it seemed promising to us, and the Head of the MED Administration, as a light person, immediately went to Kazan, and from there by train to Yoshkar-Ola to sort it out.
Mari
The Mari (the former official name is Cheremis) are natives of the Middle Volga, they belong to the Finno-Ugric language group. The distant ancestors of the Mari came to the Middle Volga from the east and south. But with the ethnic characteristics inherent in it, the Mari people developed mainly on the territory now occupied. The very name of the people is “Mari”, “Mary”. It goes back to the meaning of "man", "man", "husband". The Mari are divided into "meadow" and "mountain". In general, these are two different peoples (Ugric and Finnish) - they “during it” organized the Middle Volga “union of tribes”, but under Soviet rule they were “recorded” into one ethnic group and one single language was created on the basis of two languages Mari language, the Cyrillic alphabet was invented. Since the 17th century, there has been an active baptism of the Mari people, as the practice of today has shown, without much success. According to their religion, the Mari are pagan manifestationists.
To date, there is not a single Mari school in Mari El. Mari National Theater named after Shketan is closed according to one of the first decrees of the President of Mari El. By the way, the current President of this Republic, Leonid Markelov, does not know the Mari language, and since he has been the Mari President for many years and has not yet learned the Mari language, it can be assumed that he will not learn it. 
In total, about 700 thousand Mari live in Russia, about 200 thousand live outside Mari El. Today, as in the early nineties, one can observe the rise of public Mari organizations "Mari Ushem" ("Union of Mari" or "Society of Mari"), the youth organization "U Viy" ("New Force"). Mari organizations are united in the "All Mari Council".
The rise of the self-consciousness of the Mari in last years entered into a sharp resonance with the usual bureaucratic lawlessness, active accomplices of which are members of the team of the incumbent President Markelov. It is no secret that the republic, with its "effective" management, is on the economic bottom of Russia.
In recent months, due to feeble attempts Russian authorities to somehow begin to protect the rights of Russians in the Baltics, the European Parliament immediately organized a cunning move. At the request of the Finno-Ugric members of the European Union (Hungary, Finland and Estonia), the European Parliament turned to the Russian Federation with a resolution on the violation of the rights of the Mari people in Russia. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation stated that there is no such problem. Overnight, the Mari people, due to the idiocy of Russian officials, turned out to be a bargaining chip in complex geopolitical games.
Mari leadership public organizations, having consulted, invited to Yoshkar-Ola for consultations representatives of the transcendent organization in relation to the state Russian insanity - the Eurasians.
Our representative in Yoshkar-Ola - Vitaly Lezhanin, ex-editor of the Yoshkar-Ola newspaper, closed by President Markelov. Great Russians of this type, like Vitaly - clean, bright and decent, usually live in a remote province, which is Yoshkar-Ola. For several years, Lezhanin propagated Eurasianism in five newspapers published by him, which were gradually closed by the local Administration. He built bridges with the Mari intelligentsia, under his influence the elite of the Mari people began to read the works of the Eurasians.
Liberal Stalin
The train departed at three in the morning, I had to be in Yoshkar-Ola at seven in order to be in time for the memorial Mari holiday “Chumbylat Sugun”. The car is empty, ordinary, as in all trains. I lay down on a bench, put my shoes in a bag with a TV camera so that they would not be removed in a dream locals, tied the bag to his hands, fell asleep. We arrive in Yoshkar-Ola, where we meet a convoy of cars and buses. Lezhanin at the station square solemnly introduces Vladimir Kozlov, the Head of "Mari Ushem" Nadezhda Maksimova, the Head of the Mari youth organization "U Viy" Yevgeny Alexandrov. We get into cars and we all go to Chumbylatov Mountain (Chumbylat Kuryk) - this is a mountain on the Nemda River in the Sovietsky District of the Kirov Region.
Nemda river
On the way, our friends talk about Mari paganism, about the sacred attitude to the world, commanded for every Mari from birth. “If I go to the forest to collect brushwood or cut down a tree, then I ask the forest for permission if it can be done. Sometimes he says, "No, you can't." When I chop down a tree, I ask him for forgiveness, when I scoop up water from a stream, I ask permission from the stream, I give him a flower in return ... ”This is the simple life ethics of the Mari. Faith in the father of the Gods Kugo Yuma could not be eradicated by centuries of Christianization. Before the USSR, the Mari did not have a written language, and the tradition was passed down secretly and orally from father to son. The law on religious tolerance in the Russian Empire of 1905 did not apply to the Mari. Strange as it may seem, the actual ban on the free practice of the Mari folk cult was lifted by Joseph Stalin in 1942. In this terrible time, the Father of Nations allowed everyone to pray, as they please. The Mari, who reproach Stalin for the defeat of their intelligentsia in the 1930s, still believe that Faith is the main thing and therefore they praise Stalin.
Mountain and birch
Chumbylatova Gora (Chumbylat Kuryk) is a mountain on the Nemda River in the Sovetsky District of the Kirov Region. The mountain is the burial place of the legendary Mari hero Prince Chumbylat, who at the end of the 11th century gathered under his patronage most disparate Mari tribes and ordered the construction of fortified cities. The Mari people considered him their northern king. Under him, new traditions were formed, including divine services, which remained traditional for centuries and have survived to this day. Oral folk art testifies that Chumbylat saved his people from the invasion of enemies not only during his lifetime, but also after death.
Prokofy Alexandrov
The Mari ethnic consciousness immortalized Chumbylat in the image national hero, raised to the deity. At the place of his burial, at the tombstone (Chumbylatov stone), the Mari arranged world prayers, sacrificed livestock and poultry.
The cult of worship of the legendary ancestor has not lost its relevance at the present time. Chumbylat continues to be a nationwide symbol, the most ancient shrine of the meadow Cheremis-Mari. It is believed that the Mari are indebted to Chumbylat and make sacrifices to him according to the promise, and two years later, on the third, they pray to him publicly.
The Nevda, a tributary of the Vyatka, is the sacred river of the Mari. According to legend, the legendary prince Chumbylat sleeps in one of the caves on the banks of the river. He lies on a golden stone, like a German sacred emperor Friedrich Hohenstaufen. And, like the head of the Ghibellines, will wake up in end times when even the stones wake up.
From this river, having previously asked for its permission, the Mari carefully take sacred water. The Mari people are warlike, one of their princely dynasties, dating back to Chumbylat, gave the Empire a glorious family of commanders and administrators Sheremetevs (Cheremisovs). Most of the myths of the Mari are associated with princely deeds and military campaigns, the Mari consider the monarchical princely system to be the ideal government for themselves, which is why they call the head of the All-Mari Council Vladimir Kozlov “behind the backs” the Mari Tsar.
At Nicholas I Chumbylatova mountain was blown up so that the Mari would not arrange their pagan prayers on it. For two hundred years it has been overgrown with forest, pieces torn from the Mountain are lying around. The Mari both held their "world prayers" on the mountain, and continue to do so.
I asked Vladimir Kozlov how he explains this simple circumstance - despite the centuries-old systemic pressure, have the Mari remained strict faithful to their roots and traditions? “We are a persistent and stubborn people, we were rolled into asphalt, and we grew through it. Great Power lives in our people.
Russians and Tatars have long treated Finno-Ugric peoples as their own. younger brothers, as to small-sized and frail forest gnomes, narrow-minded and rustic. Today, the ultra-resistant, deep and noble Mari ethnos will give the modernized Russians who have lost their tradition and the Tatars rapidly losing it a hundred points ahead. In the millennial competition, the Mari immovable engine won, the Mari turned out to be stronger and smarter than their "big brothers".
Near the river assistant card (Mari priest) Prokofy Aleksandrov excitedly talks in Russian and Mari about Alexander Herzen and the medieval traveler Olearia, who came to the Nevda and the Mountain many years ago. It was Herzen, after spending linguistic analysis of the Finno-Ugric languages familiar to him, was the first to declare that the ethnonym "Moscow" was of non-Slavic origin. In the lost language of the Meryans, the brothers of the Mari, this word means "bear". Also, everything else can be translated from Finno-Ugric: Oka, Vychegda, Murom, Vologda, Tsna, Unzha, Vaga, Kirishi, Rochegda, Vyksa, Kimry. For some reason, today they forgot that in the Russian people of Finno-Ugric blood, from a quarter to a half (according to the latest genetic research- up to 40% in the North of the Russian Plain). Along with Slavic, Turkic and Lithuanian.
Russians are a complex ethnic group; only clinical idiots can talk about the purity of Russian blood. The heart of Great Russia is the Mesopotamia of the Oka and Volga, it is also the cradle and homeland of the Finno-Ugric peoples, who dissolved in the Russian language Merya, Murom and Meshchera, who gave Russian culture the name of its main character is Ilya Muromets.
They say that the presence of Finno-Ugric blood in the Russian people is one of the explanations for the total Russian drunkenness, because Finno-Ugric peoples, like many Eurasian ethnic groups, lack the gene responsible for the breakdown of alcohol.
According to another legend, the original totem tree of the Slavs, who from time immemorial settled along the banks of rivers, was Willow. Birch turned out to be the main Russian tree precisely under the influence of the Finno-Ugric peoples, they have three main sacred trees: Birch, Oak and Alder. At the birth of children, the Mari plant these trees, and gardens grow, and then forests. What colorfully narrated the young activists of the Movement "U Viy" (" New Power"). Looking at the Mari, it is clear that their Power is infinite, but they give birth to children and plant sacred trees, the New Power rustles with leaves.
The conspiracy of our colleagues on the other side of the ocean is very subtle: to wrest from under the feet of the Russians their last support, their "self" - the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia. They worked actively at the holiday: they filmed, photographed and met two ethnographers - German and American, as well as a Russian girl Elena - a correspondent for Radio Liberty. Neither the authorities nor the special services of the Russian Federation care about the Mari. Paraphrasing Trotsky, Vitaly Lezhanin noted the following on this occasion: “If the authorities and the special services do not deal with ethnology, then sooner or later the authorities and the special services will take care of ethnology.”
Prayers in the Sacred Grove
“Among the European tribes of the Finno-Ugric group, pagan cults were mostly performed in sacred groves enclosed by fences. In the very center of the grove - at least among the Volga tribes - there was a sacred tree that darkened everything around. Before the faithful gathered and the priest offered prayers, sacrifices were made at the roots of the tree, and its branches served as a kind of pulpit. These are lines from the ethnographic classic "Golden Branch" grandfathers of ethnographers James Fraser. And here is how the Mari sacred work is today:
We were driving in the rain along the broken Kirov roads ( Kirov region one of the poorest and abandoned in Russia, it is hard to believe that in the last century it was the main supplier of flax to the world market), fascinated by the unprecedented beauty of exquisite old rite. From now on, the Eurasians are in firm conviction that it is necessary to make every effort to prevent bureaucratic thieves from continuing to rot the beautiful forest people. The Eurasian Movement becomes the super-arbiter in the showdown Russian authorities and the European Parliament. The interest of some is the permanent endless sawing of the abstract oil bubble. The interest of others is intrigues against Russia. Eurasian populists stake on the existence and revival of the Mari people, on the existence and revival of the Russian people. This is something truly worth dying for. And live!
Gothic vaults of sacred forests nail our thoughts to the sacred axis of being. Once having visited the airy heart of the forest cathedral, he will be forever tied with it by an invisible umbilical cord.
Pavel Zarifullin
