According to N. Mokshin
The ethnonym Mordva is one of the ancient ethnonyms of Eastern Europe. The first reliable evidence has come down to us from the mention of it in the VI century. in the work of the Byzantine Bishop Jordan "Getika", which is considered important work era of the early Middle Ages. Listing a number of tribes or nationalities conquered by the leader of the Goths, Ermanaric, Jordan also names the people Mordens, by which the researchers mean the Mordovians. In other Western European sources of the Middle Ages, the Mordovians are also called Merdas, Merdinis, Merdium, Mordani, Mordua, Morduinos.
The earliest written information about the ethnonym Erzya (arisu) came to us in the message of Khazaria Khagan Joseph (X century), and about the ethnonym Moksha (Moxel) - in the notes of the Flemish traveler Guillaume Rubruk (XIII century).
In ancient Russian sources, the earliest of which are chronicles, the ethnonym Mordovian has been found since the 11th century. The "News of Bygone Years" (second decade of the 12th century), compiled by Nestor, speaks of the Mordovians and their habitat: language". Along with the ethnonym Mordovians, the ethnonym Mordvichi (“Mordovian princes from Mordvichi”) also appears in the annals.
The ethnonyms Moksha and Erzya began to appear rather late in Russian sources. "Mokshana", "Mokshanya" were first recorded in the "Books of Letters and Measures" by D. Pushechnikov and A. Kostyaev for 1624-1626. And the ethnonym Erzya begins to occur even later, from the 13th century. This is explained by the fact that the Mordovians in relations with the Russians acted as ethnic united people(ethnos). This is how the Russians perceived them, and this is how they were reflected in the annals.
It has been established that the ethnonym Mordovian basically goes back to the Iranian-Scythian languages (compare: Iranian, Tajik mard - man). In the Mordovian languages, this word has been preserved to denote a husband (mirde). In the Russian word Mordva, the particle -va has a connotation of collectiveness and can be compared with the ethnonyms lithuania, tatarva. In Russian sources up to the 17th century. Mordva appears only under an identical ethnonym, i.e., the ethnonym Mordva. But Mordva herself uses this ethnonym more often in contacts with other peoples. In intra-ethnic communication, they often use the self-names Erzya and Moksha.
Realizing themselves as a single Mordovian people, considering both those and others (i.e. Erzya and Moksha) as two constituent parts of this people, the Erzya and Moksha, along with the general Mordovian self-consciousness, also have a special (Erzya and Moksha) self-consciousness, which gives reason to consider them as two subethnoi of the Mordovian ethnos. Thus, this ethnic group is binary (some other ethnic groups of our country are also binary: Mari (mountain and meadow), Chuvash (upper and lower), Udmurts (northern and southern) and others).
The ethnonyms Erzya and Moksha are not of local, Mordovian origin, they also go back to Indo-European origins: Erzya comes from the Iranian arsan (male, male, hero), and Moksha comes from the Indo-European hydronym Moksha, which, in turn, descends Sanskrit mokcha, meaning "spill, flow".
In quantitative terms, at the beginning of the 20th century, Erzya was approximately 3 times larger than Moksha. At present, it is difficult to determine a more accurate ratio from censuses. But, according to Mordovian scientists, this ratio remained the same. Hungarian scientists came to the conclusion that due to the processes of Russification and internationalization by 3400, the Mordvins, as well as other Finno-Ugric ethnic groups, will disappear altogether.
In the literature (and in the mass consciousness) there is also a pseudo-ethnonym Shoksha. The word shoksha in the ethnonymic meaning has been used relatively recently to designate the Erzyans of the Tengushevsky and Torbeevsky regions of the Republic of Mordovia (in which the Moksha live). In the Tengushevsky district there are 15 settlements(Baevo, Bereznyak, Vyazhga, Dudnikovo, Kolyaevo, Kuraevo, Malaya Shoksha, Melsetyevo, Mokshanka, Narovatovo, Sakaevo, Standrovo, Shelubey, Shiromasovo, Shoksha) and 5 settlements in the Torbeevsky district (Drakino, Kazhlodka, Maisky, Fedorovka, Yakster Teshte ), numbering about 10,000 people, inhabited by Shoksha.
Quite a long time ago, breaking away from the general mass of Erzya (in the 16th-17th centuries), this group found itself among moksha and experienced a certain influence on its part, including in language, but not so much as to lose its Erzya identity (this group, for example , dresses like a moksha, but speaks the Erzya language). This group of Mordovians call themselves Mordovians, Mordovians-Erzei, Erzei, neighboring Mokshans call them more often Erzei, Russians - Mordovians. The assignment of this group of Mordovians to a special nationality or the third branch of the Mordovian ethnos is the result of an unscientific approach to ethnic processes and the history of the Mordovian ethnos on the part of some scientists, and on the part of the inhabitants - a lack of knowledge in this area.
AT scientific literature for some time, starting from the 18th century, there was an opinion that inside the Mordovians, in addition to Moksha and Erzi, there were also ethnic groups Karataev and Teryukhan.
On the territory of the Kazan province in mid-nineteenth century there were 6 villages, the name of which included the word karatai, 5 of them were located in the Tetyush district: Mordovian Karatai (Christmas) on the river. Karatai, Karatai at Lake Mensit (repairing Mensi-tov), Small Karatai, or Shershalan, where the Mordvins lived. Mensitovo and Small Karatai separated from the village of Mordovskiye Karatai.
Russians lived in the village of Karatai-Savinovka, or Barskoye, and in the village of Zaovrazhnye Karatai, and Tatars lived in the village of Karatai on the Shoshma River in the Kazan district. Apparently, the name of the oldest village with the word karatai is derived from the hydronym Karatai.
Thus, karatai were not separate Mordovian tribe, but by the local group of Mordovians, which was subjected to strong Tatar influence: they took Tatar language and some elements of the culture of the Tatars, retaining, however, their ethnic, Mordovian, self-consciousness. The Tatars surrounding them unequivocally attribute them to the Mordovians, calling them Muksha, Mukshilar (in Tatar - Mordovians), Russians and they also call themselves Mordovians.
Teryukhans begin to be mentioned in the scientific literature from the second half of XIX century. During the study of this group, it turned out that they were Russified Mordvins-Erzya, who lived in 40 villages of the Nizhny Novgorod district of the Nizhny Novgorod province (in the Teryushev volost - now the Dalnekonstantinovsky district). The word teryukhane is associated with the name of the center of their settlement - the village of Bolshoi Teryushev and probably comes from male name(Lose - Teryukhay - Teryusha).
Teryushev Mordovians were baptized only in mid-eighteenth centuries, having forgotten by this time the Mordovian language, but retaining, however, the Mordovian self-consciousness and largely pre-Christian customs and rituals. In the first decades of the 20th century, they completely lost their Mordovian ethnic identity, finally merging into the Russian ethnos.
Thus, both Karatai and Teryukhan are not ethnonyms, but pseudo-ethnonyms.
Mordva, Sergachsky district.
Colorized photo late XIX century.
"... all this is for the most part large people, tall, apparently well-nourished, healthy, with an open and clean face, a bold look, with free, unconstrained movements.
N. Ogloblin "In the Mordovian Territory" (1899)
http://pckfun.ru/ Volga Center of Finno-Ugric Peoples' Cultures
Diverse Russia: essayist's notes on one of our most industrious peoples
Loving native songs and myths, the poetic nature of the Mordvin cannot live ... without work. This is the very essence of him - an irrepressible thirst for activity and perseverance, which helps him overcome all obstacles, if only to do the job well and correctly. There is much to learn from these people.
In the dead of night in the peasant's hut, something terribly squeaked. The squeak woke up the inhabitants of the house and seriously frightened them. But then the owner saw in the corner a tiny creature, the size of a thimble, and sighed with relief:
Kuygorozh!
It is impossible to live with him without work, and if you don’t give him something to do, everything in the house will be destroyed from an excess of strength. Kuygorozh's perseverance in his work will come to the point that he will have to give him impossible tasks, for example, to draw water from a swamp or to twist a rope out of sand...
Kuygorozh is a Mordovian gnome. Only the owner sees it. The owner-Mordvinian about him and the legend folded. Knew that this invisible to the world, but a strong kid is the essence of the Mordvin himself: his irrepressible thirst for activity and perseverance, sometimes reaching unbridled, wild stubbornness. "Harness" the Mordvin, it is difficult to drive him. Fleeing from serfdom, the Mordovians dispersed throughout Great Russia, went to Siberia and partly even to Armenia, and it is as historically correct to talk about the Mordovian diaspora as about the Chinese, Jewish or Armenian diaspora.
But at first, the Mordovians lived crowded in a huge corner between the Oka and the Volga, being a separate and independent nation belonging to a large Finno-Ugric family of languages and peoples.
Let me remind you that it includes Estonians, Finns, Karelians, Udmurts, Maris, Komis and others on the one hand, and Hungarians, Khanty and Mansi on the other.
However, any Mordvin, not even a very learned one, can immediately, on the spot, reproach me for the fact that the Mordovians are by no means a single nation: there are Mordvin-Moksha and Mordvin-Erzya (and I will answer him that I know about this, and even add that there is also a small subgroup of shoksha, she wrote about it herself). The two Mordovian languages are similar, but there are more differences between them than between Russian and Belarusian. Literature and periodicals are published in Moksha and Erzya languages in Mordovia, they are studied at school and universities, signs on institutions are made in three languages, but ... passers-by usually read only the third inscription. In the capital of Mordovia, Saransk, you will, however, be hinted that here, on a field fertilized with freedom of miracles, a kind of interethnic debating club: who is “better”, who is older, who is more cultured - Moksha or Erzya, but at least the fact that the debaters speak the common and more familiar Russian language (which is the third inscription on the doors of institutions) ...
All this is just politics that has bothered everyone, but the fact that the linguistic and ethnological Mordovian subtleties are quickly fading into the past along with the poetic epos of the Mordovians is a great regret. And if it wasn't for scientists...
In Saransk, there is, perhaps, no greater connoisseur of everything Mordovian than a professor, doctor historical sciences, Honored Worker of Science of the Russian Federation Valery Anatolyevich Yurchenkov. Some time ago, we talked with him about the features of the Mordovians.
When you ask any neighbor - Tatar, Chuvash, Mari - about the main national line Mordvin, they all unanimously call stubbornness. But with a positive connotation. Try to clarify: perseverance? No, it's stubbornness. My graduate student conducted a survey on this topic, and 85 percent of the respondents said this word. They also emphasize benevolence, contact ... Fairly! Look: the Mordvins are the only Finno-Ugric people who have a huge diaspora, which means they know how to live together with other peoples. Although in the Middle Ages, the Mordvins, under the leadership of their princes, strongly resisted the Russian conquest. And only when the Mongols went to Russia, the former enemies became allies.
Mordva - Orthodox people; there are wonderful churches in Mordovia. For three hundred years since the beginning of the baptism of the Mordovian people, about 650 churches and 42 monasteries have appeared on the territory where they live!
After the upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century, associated with the destruction of churches, Orthodox life recovered. The Saransk and Mordovian diocese was created. The new church district was separated from the Penza diocese. Now in Mordovia there are more than 250 churches, 13 monasteries (8 male and 5 female), 8 monastic farmsteads, there is a religious school.
On May 7, 1991, by a decree of the Council of Ministers of Mordovia, the Saransk and Mordovian diocese was transferred to the Sanaksar Monastery of the Nativity of the Mother of God, near the city of Temnikov. The first pupils of the Sanaksar Monastery revived several more monasteries.
In the early 80s, by the way, I visited there, in the then “former” monastery. From the windows of the dilapidated main building peeped out the heads of cheerful petushniks. Some of the windows, which they had broken out, were covered with pillows. But in the center of the monastery courtyard there was a neat flower bed, and at a distance, quite unexpectedly for myself, I saw the well-groomed grave of the great Russian naval commander, Admiral Fyodor Ushakov. Subsequently, it became known to me that there was also a second grave - the uncle of the admiral, the elder Theodore of Sanaksar.
In 2001 F.F. Ushakov was classified as Russian Orthodox Church to the canon of saints as a righteous warrior Feodor Ushakov (October 6, 2004, the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church ranked Feodor Ushakov among the church-wide saints in the face of the righteous).
In 2006, a majestic cathedral was erected in Saransk in honor of the Holy Righteous Warrior Theodore Ushakov.
... And as for Kuygorozh and pagan beliefs in general, then a Mordovian woman can turn to the goddess Tolava, ask her for something and at the same time be baptized. Yes, and we, Russians, have been Christians for a thousand years, aren’t we sometimes superstitious? ..
In the summer of 1957, in the village of Torbeevo, west of Saransk, they learned that their fellow countryman, senior lieutenant of the guard Mikhail Petrovich Devyatayev, had been awarded the high title of Hero of the Soviet Union. It was for what.
Before the war, Mikhail, Mordvin-Moksha by origin, graduated from a river technical school in Kazan, having trained as a river captain. But he became a fighter pilot. After being seriously wounded, he was transferred, exactly as in the film "Heavenly Slow-moving", to low-speed aviation. Only after meeting the legendary Alexander Pokryshkin in May 1944, Devyatayev was returned to fighter aviation. In the same year, he was shot down near Lvov. Descending with a parachute, he lost consciousness, hitting his own plane, and was taken prisoner. In the Łódź prisoner of war camp, he made his first – unsuccessful – attempt to escape. Next was the Sachsenhausen death camp, where he managed to change his status from a suicide bomber to a penitentiary. Finally, Usedom Island, the famous Peenemünde test site, where the Nazis tested Fau cruise and ballistic missiles. It was from here that the stubborn Mordvin fled, placing nine more prisoners in Heinkel-111.
Mikhail Petrovich lived to be 85 years old. For a long time he walked along the Volga on river boats as a captain, participated in the testing of new ships, drove "Rockets" and "Meteors", which, alas, are now so rarely seen on the Volga expanses ...
If you are an art lover, and suddenly you are offered a business trip to any city in Russia, without a doubt choose the capital of Mordovia. In Saransk - Erzya.
His works, of course, are in the Russian Museum and the Tretyakov Gallery, but there other masterpieces will prevent you from viewing the work of the Mordovian genius. And in Saransk, in the museum own name He's in full view.
I have not noticed how the name affects the fate of a person. Stay talented Stepan, as he was according to the metrics, Nefedov - maybe he will never see powerful world fame. But he chose a pseudonym for himself after the name of his people. True, for most of his life the sculptor painted his new surname with Latin letters- Erzia. Italy, France, Argentina ... - where only his fate and creativity did not throw.
He was stubborn, angry, peculiar. In the end, I found a material for myself, hard, like Carrara marble, but, unlike stone, alive. From the full-flowing South American rivers, the frantic Mordvin fished out the heavy trunks of the kebracho, or quebracho - a tree with a human color of wood: from pink to dark brown. And the sculptor also fell in love with the algarrobo, with its painful influxes of wood.
What personalities were immortalized by Erzei in his no one's similar works: Eve, Moses, Christ, Lenin, Tolstoy, Stalin!
Well, besides them - just a Mordvin, just an Argentine, just a Kazakh, a Mordovian girl, an unknown Russian, and also Stepan Dmitrievich's own mother. What about “state portraits”? And the famous "Passion" ...
At the end of his life path Stepan Dmitrievich returned to his homeland, still worked in Moscow, and bequeathed to be buried in Mordovia, which was later done. The tombstone was made by Erzya's eternal rival Sergei Konenkov.
The former head of the Republic of Mordovia, now the governor of the Samara region, Nikolai Ivanovich Merkushkin, whom we have known for many years, always passed through the large village of Baevo, the homeland of Erzya, sometimes on his way to neighbors in Chuvashia. He once told me about the village of Baevo:
Look here: in just a few years, Novaya Street appeared in this village. And what beautiful houses! At the same time, people built them for themselves, on their own, helping their fellow villagers by sharing. But where are the funds, I ask, in this hard times? It turns out that within a radius of almost a hundred kilometers, the houses and wells were built by the hands of Baev craftsmen. In general, there were always a lot of otkhodniks on the Mordovian land, seasonal workers who left to work thousands of kilometers away. 40-50 men from one village left, created teams of 4-5 people and worked 14-16 hours a day.
Basically, these are woodworkers: put up a well, cut down a house, decorate the pediment with carvings, windows with platbands. And for all this beauty they charge less than private firms.
Nikolai Ivanovich began to tell me about the Mordovian village.
There are few sparsely populated villages in Mordovia - on the contrary, there are villages of 4-5 thousand people each. They survived, according to N.I. Merkushkin, because the Mordovian peasants have always worked well on the land, striving for prosperity, for a good life.
Yes, in fact, otkhodnichestvo developed because there was often not enough work on their land: there were many workers. And the Mordovian peasant, like the workaholic Kuygorozh, cannot live without work. And if he has set himself a goal - to earn money, he will persistently strive for its implementation, no one will stop him.
I also saw Soviet time many Mordovian fields and farms. These were real fields - that is, places where wheat, rye, barley, oats grow as such, and not weeds. These were real farms, the milk and cream from which are such that I have never tried them tastier in Russia: you buy them for dinner and sit and drink in a hotel, you don’t need any restaurant.
By the way, about the restaurant. My first business trip to the then Mordovian ASSR as a staff correspondent " Komsomolskaya Pravda took place over thirty years ago. It was winter, always somehow especially white and clean in this forested and rural region. Things were dealt with quickly. "Now for lunch," they told me. The road, which went through the snowy fields, slipped onto the bridge and flew up to the edge of the pine forest. We went up to the second floor of the forest restaurant, where the employees of the regional Komsomol committee who received me fed the whole company in a completely European way and even gave champagne to drink under the usual toast "to the success of our hopeless cause." Let's hit the road? But the owners smiled mysteriously and looked at the stairs leading from the first floor. Suddenly, the head of a girl in an outlandish dress appeared, then the girl herself in the Mordovian national dress ... She carried on a platter a pile of something massive and airy at the same time.
Never tried? Our food is purely Mordovian.
They were fried pancakes. Lush, tender, soft, I remember them as vividly as homebaked bread what my great-aunt baked in the village of Berezovskaya - a Don Cossack woman, like Ukrainian borscht - a product of my Ukrainian aunt, like Belarusian potato pancakes - a culinary attempt by her husband, like Jewish tsimes in a friends house, like fiery Georgian, Spanish and Korean food, Czech dumplings and real Uzbek pilaf which I have tried on my many travels. It’s not worth it, really, to treat gastronomic life impressions with disdain: culinary traditions enter the culture of the people in the same way as songs, legends and embroideries.
The main thing - to everyone good deed treat with love. And if you add Mordovian stubbornness to love, which is called stubbornness here with such stubbornness, then the results will be impressive. So, by the way, it is.
So far, in some other regions of Russia, the authorities are amicably whining from impotence and bringing the fields to complete unrecognizability, and the former cattle yards are allowed to "fertilize" former fields broken brick, the agro-industrial complex of Mordovia has been one of the leading in the country for many years now, and in terms of the production of eggs, milk and meat of cattle per capita, this region is rarely bypassed.
The majority of industrial enterprises of the republic are alive and well. In 2012, Saransk, the capital of Mordovia, ranked second in the World Bank's Doing Business in Russia ranking.
The results of a special study showed that it is easiest to register a company, obtain building permits, connect to the power grid and formalize the ownership right in Saransk. At the same time, this clean, pleasant city in all respects became the winner of the contest "The most comfortable urban (rural) settlement in Russia" four years ago. And what? When everything is clean and right, easier to work. Labor, as we already know, is the favorite thing of the Mordvins.
Especially for "Century"
Erzya and Moksha. The formation of nationalities
In Russia on this moment more than 150 various peoples, each of which is interesting in its own way, original, has own traditions and customs. One of these peoples is the Mordovians. The origin of this people goes back to the first centuries of our era. Before the arrival of the Slavs, the territory of the Middle Oka was ruled by Finno-Ugric tribes, later called by historians "Old Mordovian". Over the next millennium, these tribes split into two main groups. Some called themselves "Erzya", others - "Moksha", but for many neighboring tribes they still remained one people - the Mordvins. The appearance, way of life, culture and traditions of the Erzya and Moksha also began to differ. Anthropological signs, costume decorations, funeral rites per for a long time acquired from the Mordovian peoples so specific features, what modern archaeologists, exploring Mordovian archaeological sites, can accurately determine whether certain burials belonged to Erzya or Moksha.
Assimilation of the Mordovians
The formation of these two nationalities has come a long and difficult way.
For a long time they were in contact with the Tatars, the Volga Bulgars, the Khazars and other numerous neighbors. All this ultimately influenced the origin of the Mordovians. Its culture, traditions, way of life developed under the influence of neighbors. The Mordovians then borrowed a lot from foreign peoples. The appearance of the Mordovian population can say a lot about assimilation with neighboring tribes; interethnic marriages were not only allowed, but also welcomed. In the XI-XII centuries, the central strip of Russia began to be populated Slavic tribes, carrying with you christian religion. Soon the territory became part of Russia, and the population underwent Christianization. Assimilation with the Russian population continues to this day. The Russian people and the Mordovians influence each other. The appearance of the Erzya is distinguished by a significant presence of light-skinned gray-eyed blondes and blondes, while among the Mokshans, black-eyed and black-haired men and women with dark or yellowish skin predominate, which indicates their relationship with the Tatars and Chuvashs.
Modern problems of the Mordovians
Now there is a lot of talk about the unification of the ethnic peoples Erzya and Moksha. One territory, one ancestors, and lived all the time side by side. Many of the inhabitants of Mordovia and nearby regions have long called themselves "Mordovians". Appearance and character, culture and traditions are increasingly losing their uniqueness and originality, merging with the features of other nationalities. But there is one thing, one barrier, which the supporters of unification will never be able to overcome. This is the national language. Over the centuries, the Erzya and Moksha languages were formed. They contain the history of the people, the history of their ancestors. When splitting into two branches at some point mutual language became almost unrecognizable. Now the Mokshan will not understand a word in Erzya, and the Erzya - in Moksha, but both nationalities are trying with all their might to preserve and pass on to their descendants the features of their national language. Probably, in the presence of such a powerful weapon lies the strength of the unity of the people.
Erzya and Moksha. The formation of nationalities
More than 150 different peoples currently live in Russia, each of which is interesting in its own way, original, has its own traditions and customs. One of these peoples is the Mordovians. The origin of this people goes back to the first centuries of our era. Before the arrival of the Slavs, the territory of the Middle Oka was ruled by Finno-Ugric tribes, later called by historians "Old Mordovian". Over the next millennium, these tribes split into two main groups. Some called themselves "Erzya", others - "Moksha", but for many neighboring tribes they still remained one people - the Mordvins. The appearance, way of life, culture and traditions of the Erzya and Moksha also began to differ. Anthropological features, costume decorations, funeral rites have acquired such specific features among the Mordovian peoples for a long time that modern archaeologists, exploring Mordovian archaeological sites, can accurately determine whether certain burials belonged to Erzya or Moksha.
Assimilation of the Mordovians
The formation of these two nationalities has come a long and difficult way.
For a long time they were in contact with the Tatars, the Volga Bulgars, the Khazars and other numerous neighbors. All this ultimately influenced the origin of the Mordovians. Its culture, traditions, way of life developed under the influence of neighbors. The Mordovians then borrowed a lot from foreign peoples. The appearance of the Mordovian population can say a lot about assimilation with neighboring tribes; interethnic marriages were not only allowed, but also welcomed. In the 11th-12th centuries, Slavic tribes began to settle in central Russia, bringing with them the Christian religion. Soon the territory became part of Russia, and the population underwent Christianization. Assimilation with the Russian population continues to this day. The Russian people and the Mordovians influence each other. The appearance of the Erzya is distinguished by a significant presence of light-skinned gray-eyed blondes and blondes, while among the Mokshans, black-eyed and black-haired men and women with dark or yellowish skin predominate, which indicates their relationship with the Tatars and Chuvashs.
Modern problems of the Mordovians
Now there is a lot of talk about the unification of the ethnic peoples Erzya and Moksha. One territory, one ancestors, and lived all the time side by side. Many of the inhabitants of Mordovia and nearby regions have long called themselves "Mordovians". Appearance and character, culture and traditions are increasingly losing their uniqueness and originality, merging with the features of other nationalities. But there is one thing, one barrier, which the supporters of unification will never be able to overcome. This is the national language. Over the centuries, the Erzya and Moksha languages were formed. They contain the history of the people, the history of their ancestors. When divided into two branches, at some point the common language became almost unrecognizable. Now the Mokshan will not understand a word of Erzya, and the Erzya - in Mokshan, but both nationalities are trying with all their might to preserve and pass on to their descendants the features of their national language. Probably, in the presence of such a powerful weapon lies the strength of the unity of the people.
Mordovians are proud and hospitable people who have always been famous for their stubbornness. They worship the female spirit gods, but the man still remains the head of the family. They do not have shamans, but there are pagan rituals with sacrifices. They have literature, but the Mordovian language does not exist. So multifaceted and contradictory: why did it happen?
Name
Interestingly, the Mordovians themselves began to call themselves that only from the middle of the 20th century, when the region of their residence began to be officially called Mordovia. Moreover, such a nationality as the Mordovians does not exist at all: for greater clarity, the Russians called this word two different people living in the same territory: Moksha and Erzya.
Modern interpretation defines midge and Erzya as sub-ethnic groups of Mordovians, however, many researchers believe that these are completely different nationalities. Each of them has its own language different features religion, culture and rituals, the concept of "Mordovian language" does not exist.
For the first time in written sources Mordovians are mentioned in Gothic notes of the 6th century: the historian Jordanes, with the word Mordens, denoted the peoples of Moksha and Erzi. It is believed that the word comes from a root of Iranian origin, meaning "man, person."
Where do they live, number
According to the 2002 census, the number of Mordovians in Russia was over 843,000. Almost 284,000 of them live in Mordovia, making up over 30% of the region's population. Large diasporas are found in regions such as:
- Samara Region - 86000
- Penza region - 70739
- Orenburg region - 52458
- Ulyanovsk region - 50229
- Republic of Bashkortostan - 26020
- Nizhny Novgorod Region - 25022
Story
At the beginning and middle of the first millennium AD, in the zone between the Volga and Oka rivers, the late Gorodetsky and Pyanoborsky tribes lived, which were the ancestors modern peoples moksha and erzya. The tribes actively interacted with the Persians, Slavs, in early Middle Ages were under the influence Khazar Khaganate.
In the 9th-13th centuries, the territory of the Mordovians fell into the zone of interests of the Volga Bulgaria and Russia. One of the chronicles mentions that already in the 12th century Mordovians paid tribute to Vladimir Monomakh with honey. However, later the people were captured by the Tatar-Mongols, under whose influence the Mordovians were until XVI century, and after the fall of Kazan, they joined Ivan the Terrible.
Active Christianization and colonial policy did not please the people, so some of them migrated to neighboring, Ural or southern regions. The Mordovians who remained in their historical homeland more than once raised uprisings for independence, but they were all quickly suppressed.
Appearance
It is impossible to unequivocally determine the anthropological type of Mordovians: the appearance differs both among representatives of Moksha and Erzi, and within nationalities. In general, the Mordovians belong to the Caucasoids, among them there are Subural and Pontic types, some of the characteristics bring the people closer to the ancient Pyanobor culture.
clothing
National clothes Mordovians was made mainly of white cloth. Women's attire consisted of a straight long shirt, gathered or belted at the waist with a special decoration made of fabric and coins. The outfit was complemented by an apron made of red or blue wool with or without a bib, and a sleeveless caftan was worn over it. Clothes were richly decorated with embroidery, beads, beads, coins, and trimmed with fur.
Headdresses were different: from the Russian magpie to the national likeness of a turban. Of interest are high headdresses: to create them, an elongated blank of aspen was sheathed with fabric, after which it was decorated with embroidery and beads, and a strip of fabric was let out at the back.
Family way
The Mordovians were dominated by a traditional patriarchal way of life. They lived mainly in tribal communities, later they were replaced by neighbors of 150-500 households. At the head of the clan was an elder who supervised all economic and social issues.
The age of marriage for men and women was different, usually the brides were 10-15 years older than the grooms. This was explained by the fact that parents kept the girls on the farm longer, extra hands were also needed in the families of boys, so it often happened that 23-25-year-old brides were married to 10-12-year-old boys.
The husband was the head of the family, but the role of the woman was more significant than that of the neighboring peoples. Even in religion, almost all deities were female, so wives were respected and loved, their opinions were listened to.
In a woman, thriftiness, a lively disposition and the ability to bear children were valued. Therefore, if a woman had a child before marriage, this was rather a plus and meant that she was able to give birth in the future: this did not become an obstacle to marriage. Large women with thick legs were considered attractive, so they tried to feed the girls of marriageable age well, pampered them with dresses and jewelry.
Character
The main character trait of the Mordovians, which is noted by the representatives of the nation themselves, and neighboring nations- stubbornness. Moreover, this was noted from a positive point of view: they were characterized not by stubbornness, but by the desire to achieve results in any task. At the same time, such character traits as hospitality, mutual assistance, a sense of dignity, short temper and desire to get into a fight.
dwelling
The traditional Mordovian dwelling is a two- or three-section wooden hut, similar to the Russian one. In ancient times, the room was heated in a black way, during the ignition, doors or special smoke windows were opened. Then a stove came into use, which was installed in the front or back of the hut.
Mordovian villages were rarely built according to plan, and the arrangement of houses was mostly chaotic. Sometimes a radial structure was used, with dwellings placed around a lake or other body of water. Communities in the forest were more crowded, on the plains they were located at far distances from each other.
Unlike Russian courtyards, Mordovian houses were located in the center of the site. If they were placed near the fence, then the windows were facing the courtyard. Among the outbuildings, a barn, a corral for animals, a cellar with a ground superstructure and a bathhouse were obligatory. In the summer, during hunting, fishing or field work, they often lived in temporary uninsulated houses or winter quarters.
Life
The main occupation of the Mordovians was agriculture. In ancient times, they used a hoe, then switched to a plow, plowing the land no more than 5 cm, and later to a heavy plow. The main crops are rye, barley, oats, peas, millet, spelt, hemp. Most grains were put into flour, which was produced in mills different type: water, manual, wind.
They were also engaged in gardening, growing garlic, onions, beets, hops, carrots, cucumbers, herbs, but it was poorly developed. Hunting was an additional trade, mainly hunting for fur-bearing animals. For this they used arrows and a bow, sometimes hounds were used. Fishing was practiced only in river settlements and was not a mass occupation.
Since ancient times, Mordovians have been engaged in beekeeping, after beekeeping. The number of hives for some reached 200: they ate honey themselves, sold it to Russian merchants, and gave it as a tribute. Crafts were associated with the processing of wool and wood. Mordovians were famous as good weavers, sometimes entire villages specialized in dyeing and stuffing cloth.
Religion
Even after forced Christianization, the Mordovians for a long time continued to adhere to the traditional beliefs of "Mokshen-Koi". They had one supreme deity, which was called Cham-Pas, Shkai or Nishke. His antagonist, the lord of evil, was Shaitan.
However, the cult for the most part was built around the many female spirit-gods "ava". Among them:
- Varma-ava - the patroness of the wind
- Vir-ava - mistress of the forest
- Norov-ava - goddess of harvest, fields
- Tol-ava - the spirit of fire
- After all, Ava is the patroness of water
The Mordovians did not have shamans, and the most respected elder, the head of the clan, was chosen to conduct communal rituals. They usually prayed in the forest or on the edge of the village in a specially fenced-off wicker place. Pillars were placed here, to which sacrificial animals were tied, a niche where their blood merged, idols carved from wood were installed. There was a zone with cauldrons in which meat was cooked after the sacrifice: it was eaten by all those present at the end of the prayer.
Traditions
Of interest are wedding and funerary traditions Mordovians. Marriages were usually carried out by agreement or by kidnapping: in the second case, magnificent feasts were not arranged. In the traditional version, marriage began with matchmaking: late in the evening, a man from the groom's family came to the house of the chosen girl, threw bread out the window and tried to quickly hide.
Native brides had to chase him: having reached the matchmaker's house, they answered by knocking on his window: this meant consent to negotiations. The day before the wedding, the groom’s house was engaged in baking, among the products there was a large pie in the form of a phallic symbol and large pies stuffed with “young woman’s breast” cottage cheese. With these dishes, the Mordovians asked the gods to have many children in the house of the young.
On the eve of the wedding, the bride arranged a bachelorette party: together with her friends, they embroidered towels for matchmakers and friends, weaved decorations from artificial flowers for themselves. After that, they all went to the bathhouse together, where they washed the bride and braided her with two braids instead of one: such a hairstyle was supposed to be married.
The tradition of organizing cemeteries is interesting: usually the first deceased in a new place was buried vertically, with a staff in hand. He was supposed to become the spirit of the churchyard and protect the living from the dead. The cult of ancestors was also practiced: the dead were commemorated according to Christian traditions, and once a year a ceremony of “returning and seeing off” the deceased was also held. They imagined that the deceased had returned, told him the news of the living, and then saw him off and asked him not to return.
Famous Mordovians
If we talk about the Mordovians, as the inhabitants of Mordovia, the most famous resident The city of Saransk has recently become Gerard Depardieu. After receiving Russian citizenship, he almost immediately acquired a residence permit in the city of Saransk.
Mordovian roots have outstanding historical figures: church ministers Patriarch Nikon and Archpriest Avvakum, historian and educator Vasily Klyuchevsky. There are many representatives among the Mordovians creative elite: actors Vasily Shukshin and Oleg Tabakov, artists Lidia Ruslanova, Nadezhda Kadysheva and soloists of the Brothers Grimm group, artist Nikas Safronov.
Many Mordovian people gave the world and athletes. Among them are gymnast Svetlana Khorkina, Olympic champions in race walking Valery Borchin and Olga Kaniskina, WBC boxer Oleg Maskaev.
Pilot Alexei Maresyev and defender became national heroes Brest Fortress Andrey Kizhevatov. Well, the supermodel Natalya Vodianova, who has Erzya roots, became famous all over the world.
