Russia is famous as a multinational state, more than 190 peoples live on the territory of the country. Most of them ended up in the Russian Federation peacefully, thanks to the annexation of new territories. Each nation is distinguished by its history, culture and heritage. Let us analyze in more detail the national composition of Russia, considering each ethnic group separately.
Large nationalities of Russia
Russians are the most numerous indigenous ethnic group living in Russia. The number of Russian people in the world is equated to 133 million people, but some sources indicate a figure of up to 150 million. More than 110 (almost 79% of the total population of the country) millions of Russians live in the Russian Federation, most of the Russians also live in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and Belarus. If we consider the map of Russia, then the Russian people are distributed in large numbers throughout the entire territory of the state, living in every region of the country ...
Tatars, compared with Russians, make up only 3.7% of the total population of the country. The Tatar people have a population of 5.3 million people. This ethnic group lives throughout the country, the most densely populated city of Tatars is Tatarstan, more than 2 million people live there, and the most sparsely populated region is Ingushetia, where there are not even a thousand people from the Tatar people ...
The Bashkirs are the indigenous people of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The number of Bashkirs is about 1.5 million people - this is 1.1% of the total number of all residents of the Russian Federation. Of the one and a half million people, most (about 1 million) live on the territory of Bashkortostan. The rest of the Bashkirs live throughout Russia, as well as in the CIS countries ...
Chuvash are the indigenous inhabitants of the Chuvash Republic. Their number is 1.4 million people, which is 1.01% of the total national composition of Russians. According to the census, about 880 thousand Chuvashs live on the territory of the republic, the rest live in all regions of Russia, as well as in Kazakhstan and Ukraine ...
Chechens are a people who settled in the North Caucasus, Chechnya is considered their homeland. In Russia, the number of the Chechen people was 1.3 million people, but according to statistics, since 2015 the number of Chechens in the territory of the Russian Federation has increased to 1.4 million. This people makes up 1.01% of the total population of Russia ...
The Mordovian people have a population of about 800 thousand people (about 750 thousand), which is 0.54% of the total population. Most of the people live in Mordovia - about 350 thousand people, followed by the regions: Samara, Penza, Orenburg, Ulyanovsk. Least of all, this ethnic group lives in the Ivanovo and Omsk regions, and 5 thousand belonging to the Mordovian people will not gather there ...
The Udmurt people have a population of 550 thousand people - this is 0.40% of the total population of our vast Motherland. Most of the ethnic group lives in the Udmurt Republic, and the rest is dispersed in neighboring regions - Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Sverdlovsk Region, Perm Territory, Kirov Region, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. A small part of the Udmurt people migrated to Kazakhstan and Ukraine ...
The Yakuts represent the indigenous population of Yakutia. Their number is equal to 480 thousand people - this is about 0.35% of the total national composition in the Russian Federation. Yakuts make up the majority of the inhabitants of Yakutia and Siberia. They also live in other regions of Russia, the most densely populated regions of Yakuts are the Irkutsk and Magadan regions, the Krasnoyarsk Territory, Khabarovsk and the Primorsky District ...
According to statistics available after the census, 460,000 Buryats live in Russia. This is 0.32% of the total number of Russians. Most of the Buryats (about 280 thousand people) live in Buryatia, being the indigenous population of this republic. The rest of the people of Buryatia live in other regions of Russia. The most densely populated territory by Buryats is the Irkutsk Region (77 thousand) and the Trans-Baikal Territory (73 thousand), and the less populated territory is the Kamchatka Territory and the Kemerovo Region, even 2000 thousand Buryats cannot be found there ...
The number of the Komi people living on the territory of the Russian Federation is 230 thousand people. This figure is 0.16% of the total population in Russia. For living, this people chose not only the Komi Republic, which is their immediate homeland, but also other regions of our vast country. The Komi people are found in the Sverdlovsk, Tyumen, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk and Omsk regions, as well as in the Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrugs ...
The people of Kalmykia are indigenous to the Republic of Kalmykia. Their number is 190 thousand people, if compared as a percentage, then 0.13% of the total population living in Russia. Most of these people, not counting Kalmykia, live in the Astrakhan and Volgograd regions - about 7 thousand people. And least of all Kalmyks live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Stavropol Territory - less than a thousand people ...
Altaians are the indigenous people of Altai, therefore they live mainly in this republic. Although some part of the population has left the historical habitat, they now live in the Kemerovo and Novosibirsk regions. The total number of the Altai people is 79 thousand people, in percentage - 0.06 of the total number of Russians ...
The Chukchi are a small people from the northeastern part of Asia. In Russia, the Chukchi people have a small number - about 16 thousand people, their people make up 0.01% of the total population of our multinational country. This people is scattered throughout Russia, but most of them settled in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, Yakutia, the Kamchatka Territory and the Magadan Region ...
These are the most common peoples that you can meet in the vastness of Mother Russia. However, the list is far from complete, because there are also foreigners in our state. For example, Germans, Vietnamese, Arabs, Serbs, Romanians, Czechs, Americans, Kazakhs, Ukrainians, French, Italians, Slovaks, Croats, Tuvans, Uzbeks, Spaniards, British, Japanese, Pakistanis, etc. Most of the listed ethnic groups make up 0.01% of the total, but there are peoples with more than 0.5%.
You can continue endlessly, because the vast territory of the Russian Federation is capable of accommodating many peoples under one roof, both indigenous and those arriving from other countries and even continents.
Russia is five times the size of India, but its population is seven times smaller. It is twice the size of the United States in area, but half the population. About 145 million people live in Russia. For comparison: in Germany - 82 million, in Japan - 126, in the USA - 278, and in China - about 1 billion 300 million people.
Instead of a preface
"You are poor, you are rich, you are powerful, you are powerless, Mother Rus'!" - exclaimed N. A. Nekrasov. The national character of any nation is full of contradictory and even mutually exclusive features, but the Russians are ahead of the pack in this respect. The average Russian is a melancholic who hopes for the best while carefully preparing for the worst.. Often there are good reasons for such a strategy. "That's the way it's always been with me!" - the Russian exclaims sadly when he suffers another setback. Muttering curses, he collects the scattered remnants of his belongings and starts life from a new page.
From what has been said, one might get the impression that Russians are bad patriots. No, they are all right with patriotism, but their patriotism is of a special nature. For Russians, “mine” or “ours” has a private, personal character, associated with the home and motherland, while the government, leadership at any level is “they”, the eternal enemy, which must be feared and should be avoided in every possible way. Government cannot be good by definition. However, no one expects to see him like that. As the saying goes: "In Russia, glory to those, Lord, fools are in store for a hundred years ahead." Such healthy pessimism often helps Russians avoid disaster.
How do they see themselves
If you ask the Russians how they see themselves, they will answer depending on the momentary mood. And since their mood is unimportant 23 hours a day, then most likely you will hear that they are the most unfortunate and unlucky people in the world, that before, under the communists, everything was much better, before the revolution even better than under the communists , and even in the days of Kievan Rus, it was completely magnificent. Having said this, they will fall on your chest and sprinkle it with burning tears.
If they are in a better mood, they will probably tell you that they are the most benevolent, most hospitable and friendliest people in the world, and this will be much closer to the truth.
In the same way, today you can hear from them that no one in the world needs Russia, that it is the dumbest and most backward country, the backyard of the civilized world; and tomorrow the same people will tell you that without Russia the world would have gone to hell long ago. "Our country is so unusual!" - any Russian will tell you, and his voice will tremble at the same time. And it is true. Russia is an unusual country. Very unusual. So unusual that even half of this unusualness would be more than enough.
How do they think others treat them?
Well, of course, the whole world knows that Moscow is the "Third Rome", that Russia is called to save long-suffering humanity, in general - the Messiah. The heads of the double-headed eagle on the Russian coat of arms face one to the West, the other to the East, and this is absolutely fair. For Russia is doomed to cooperate with both, since it is neither a Western nor an Eastern country. Sitting on two chairs at once is the most comfortable position for a referee. The fact that the West is the West, the East is the East, and neither one nor the other shows a great desire to obediently learn from Russia, does not bother the latter in the least. Wait, her time will come!
And until that time comes, the Russians grimly suspect that Westerners see them as long-bearded men in huge fur hats who drive sleighs pulled by polar bears rushing along the frozen Volga. The sleigh contains an indispensable couple of missiles with nuclear warheads, as well as a bottle of vodka. (Strictly between us: there are at least two bottles, but that's beside the point.)
It is not easy for a foreigner to understand that the word "Russians" means only part of the population of the Russian Federation. Abroad, they often speak of the entire population of Russia as "Russians", which offends the dignity of numerous non-Russian nationalities - Tatars, Bashkirs, Kalmyks, Karelians - in a word, a whole hundred nationalities, many of which live in autonomous republics and have their own governments.
Meanwhile, it is absolutely necessary to distinguish ethnic Russians from Russians of other nationalities, for whom Russia is also their home. On the new Russian postage stamps, it is written in Latin letters not Russia, A Russia. If this difference is established, it will be easier for foreigners: if you are an ethnic Russian, you will be called that Russian, "Russian". And if you belong to one of dozens of national minorities, you will be called Russian, "Russian". Then the life of representatives of certain nationalities will be much easier - they will not have to explain to foreigners every time that they are native Russians, but not ethnic Russians, although they live in Russia, etc. Although, perhaps, the introduction of different terms is more likely to confuse everyone.
How do they see others
The attitude of Russians towards other nationalities largely depends on what kind of nationality they are. All their foreign neighbors, without exception, are treacherous, vile, greedy and vicious; they all owe their well-being to the ruthless exploitation of poor Russians, their brains and their resources. If not for the neighbors, these arrogant Americans would long ago have envied Russia's prosperity.
In Soviet times, America was considered enemy No. 1, which is why today it is looked at with black envy, admiration and suspicion. After all, everyone knows that Americans are fabulously rich, that even beggars there demand alms from the windows of their Mercedes. Ah, if only it were possible to work like Russians and live like Americans!
Other Western nations are generally about the same. They live in luxury and look down on the world. True, there are slight differences. The English are so funny, with their ancient traditions and stupid humor, which only they themselves understand. They are, in general, not bad - after all, they are relatives of the last royal family and, like the Russians, they love to make tea. They have only one writer - Shakespeare. The French are all lovers, there is not a single one who would be faithful to his wife. They have a writer - Dumas, well, the one that wrote The Three Musketeers. Germans are presented by Russians as such serious, boring and industrious pedants who read Schiller and quote Goethe. Russians still remember the last war with Germany with trepidation, but there were other Germans, right? Italians live in palaces, eat pasta, drink Chianti and sing Neapolitan songs. Very cheerful people. They don't have writers, but they have a lot of artists, sculptors and singers. The best are Michelangelo and Pavarotti. The most mysterious are the Japanese. They are an Eastern people, and, therefore, the quality of their life should be like that of the Indians or the Chinese, or at least like the Russians. The fact that they have reached the level of European prosperity is embarrassing and annoying. Well, how is this possible? There is clearly something wrong with the Japanese! There is some mistake of nature here.
There is still such a small problem with immigrants. More and more Russians are returning to Russia from countries that used to be part of the Soviet Union. Since the birth rate in Russia is greatly reduced (if this continues, by the middle XXI half of the current number of Russians will remain), immigration to Russia is welcomed, but the local authorities are unpleasantly surprised that all newcomers need a roof over their heads and earn money.
It's even worse when it comes to "real foreigners" like the Chinese and Turks. The Chinese help to develop trade, but at the same time they illegally populate the Russian Far East and thus change the national composition of large territories. Turks are hired as builders, as it turned out that they work better and faster than Russians. Such an observation greatly revolts the latter.
The people that the Russians have chosen as a "whipping boy" are the Chukchi. This is a tiny nation, quiet and calm people living in the Far North of the country, close relatives of the American Eskimos. Why exactly the Chukchi were chosen for this unenviable role is a mystery: there are so many national minorities in the country, about the life of which the Russians have no idea! Very few Russians have seen a live Chukchi at least once in their lives. But still, you must agree that the very name of the nationality sounds ridiculous: "chuk-cha". Reason enough to laugh at them, isn't it?
Fedor Tyutchev, in a few lines of his poem about Russia, wrote the foundation of the foundations, which is still popular today, and here is the quatrain itself:
“... Russia cannot be understood with the mind,
Do not measure with a common yardstick:
She has a special become -
One can only believe in Russia…”
This can be said not only about the Russian people or about Russia, but also about the soul of a Russian person, it is truly immense. On this occasion, the Russian philosopher Nikolai Alexandrovich Berdyaev said the following: “There is a correspondence between the immensity, boundlessness, infinity of the Russian land and the Russian soul, between physical geography and spiritual geography. In the soul of the Russian people there is the same immensity, boundlessness, aspiration to infinity, as in the Russian plain.
The values of the people are passed down from generation to generation, they are valued, they are protected. Just as all people are different, peoples are also different from each other. So the Russian people are a special people. This is most often noted by foreigners.
Representatives of other nations note the breadth of the Russian soul, openness, hospitability, readiness, if necessary, to give the last shirt. Many people note the unique ingenuity of the Russian people. She, as it were, demonstrates that the need for invention is cunning. This was written even in fairy tales. If you recall such a character as Ivan the Fool, then it immediately becomes clear that he is far from being a fool. He lay on the stove longer than the others, and in the end, thanks to his resourcefulness and ingenuity, he got everything that others could only dream of.
Representatives of other peoples do not cease to be surprised and admire one more of our values: beauty, not only internal, but also external. The beauty of Russian women is celebrated by many men. She causes admiration, delight and genuine interest in our women. After all, even the philosopher and writer Nikolai Gavrilovich Chernyshevsky noticed that people ceased to be animals at the moment when men began to appreciate their beauty in women. And the French writer Honore de Balzac, as if in unison with Chernyshevsky, expressed the idea that ideal beauty and a delightful appearance go nowhere if other people do not admire them.
Foreigners note that Russian women have a surprisingly expressive look and bright eyes that can captivate any man. Our women, in their opinion, are more feminine and organic in their image. And with all this, a Russian woman is capable of stopping a galloping horse and entering a burning hut, if necessary, the historian and art critic Alexei Ivanovich Nekrasov managed to notice this, and it’s hard to disagree with this.
The Russian soul would not have such values without its land. The beauty of the Russian land, its unique nature and expanses, is another value that we must protect and cherish in every possible way. Her chanting continues in the poems and works of many poets and writers. Ivan Sergeevich Turgenev urges us to look at our nature, at the beauty of trees, at the sky in order to notice that
beauty and life breathe from everywhere, and where there is beauty and life, there is poetry.
And all the same Turgenev, along with our other writers, helps us, including through his work, to realize the incomprehensible depth and value of the Russian language, saying the following about it: “In days of doubt, in days of painful reflections about the fate of my homeland, you are alone support and support for me, O great, mighty, truthful and free Russian language! It is impossible to believe that such a language was not given to a great people!”
The teacher Konstantin Dmitrievich Ushinsky said the following about the language: “The language of the people is the best, never fading and ever again blooming color of its entire spiritual life. In the bright, transparent depths of the folk language, not only the nature of Russia is reflected, but the whole history of spiritual life.
Another unshakable value of the Russian people and their sincerity is the world-famous, most talented ancestors, from whom the formation, formation and development of the language began. Among them: Cyril and Methodius, Mikhail Vasilievich Lomonosov, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin, Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky, Mikhail Evgrafovich Saltykov-Shchedrin and others.
The writer Leo Tolstoy generally calls Pushkin the indestructible berth of the Russian language, its foundation, and the poet and critic Pyotr Andreevich Vyazemsky calls the language the confession of the people, because the nature, soul and native life of the people are heard in the language. Prose writer Alexander Ivanovich Kuprin believed that in skillful hands and experienced lips, the Russian language becomes surprisingly beautiful, expressive, flexible, obedient, dexterous and roomy. And Nikolai Vasilyevich Gogol compares the Russian language with an amazing jewel, every sound in it is like a gift, like pearls. One name of a thing surpasses it in its value. So let's respect and appreciate, improve what we inherited from our ancestors!
A Russian person has absorbed so many values into himself that he himself can be called a special value for other peoples. We must share our values not only with future generations, but also with representatives of other peoples.
We even love in a special way, because you also need to know how to love in Russian! With all my heart, with all my passion. If a Russian person loves, then the grass will not grow here, he loves everything, and you will not lead him astray from this path. We even beat and then loving. We do many things with love. It is out of love for one's neighbor, and not out of self-interest or for the purpose of superiority.
But, like all peoples, we also have shortcomings, which, by the way, sometimes help us a lot, strengthen us. The most unique, praised in many works of our shortcoming is laziness. Here is what Nikolai Vasilievich Gogol said about our long-suffering peculiarity, which we cherish, cherish, appreciate: “The Russian person has an enemy, an irreconcilable, dangerous enemy, without which he would be a giant. This enemy is laziness.
And here is one more of our virtues and at the same time our shortcomings - this is unshakable patience, we are madly patient, we are uniquely steadfast in our long-suffering. Here is what Mikhail Yuryevich Lermontov said about our superior dignity: “The Russian people, this hundred-armed giant, will rather endure the cruelty and arrogance of their master than his weakness; he wants to be punished - in fairness, he agrees to serve - but he wants to be proud of slavery, he wants to raise his head to look at his master, and will forgive in him an excess of vices rather than a lack of virtues. Our patience, like our faith in the best, in God, is boundless. By this we live, by this we are saved.
We harness for a long time, but if we go, then by all means with a breeze. And this despite the presence of two shortcomings: fools and roads built by them. Moreover, we have read fairy tales and remember that fools are such only for fools who simply cannot figure out and understand the main idea of our foolishness. Yes, we are able to laugh at ourselves and this, perhaps, is another of our virtues, which is worthy of emulation! It also takes a lot of courage, and we have it! But we are steadfast like tin soldiers! For all tryn-grass! And this may mean that we are a cheerful, but at the same time thoughtful, reasonable people.
The Russian people are distinguished by their religiosity (spirituality). The Orthodox faith is its unshakable value. Fighting in wars for their Motherland, the Russians repeatedly turned to God, asking in their prayers for His intercession and all kinds of help. Faith, like language, has united and continues to unite the Russian people into a single whole, into a single community that lives with God in the soul. The formation of the values of the Russian people was influenced and continues to be influenced by its shrines, temples, with which Russia is filled in abundance, which indicates that our state with such protection is not able to overcome any enemy. And we must appreciate and protect what we have! Our faith in ourselves, in the Almighty, in a bright future, (no matter how difficult the present is), is unshakable by anything.
But if the patience of a Russian person comes to an end, then righteous anger will be almost impossible to contain. But our people have one more advantage - to warn about their intention in advance. So did once back in the days of Ancient Rus', the Grand Duke and commander, the son of Princess Olga, Svyatoslav Igorevich, warning his enemies through a messenger with a message in which it was indicated that the prince intended to go to "you", that is, to you, his opponents. And here the ingenuity and wisdom of our ancestors were also visible, because such a move helped to defeat the enemy faster.
ON THE. Berdyaev expressed the love of the Russian people for their mother land in the following lines: “Our love for the Russian land, long-suffering and sacrificial, exceeds all eras, all relationships and all ideological constructions. The soul of Russia is not a bourgeois soul, a soul that does not bow before a golden calf, and for this alone one can love her endlessly. Russia is dear and loved in its very monstrous contradictions, in its mysterious antinomy, in its mysterious spontaneity.
You can try to break the Russian people, but it is impossible to win to the end! Together we are a force capable of much! In order to remain persistent and invincible, we need not to forget our traditions, true values and moral principles, coming from time immemorial, inherited from our ancestors. We need to protect, remember and appreciate what we have inherited from them, as well as to multiply and introduce new values worthy of emulation.
Alexander Suvorov wrote: “We are Russians! What a delight! Let's agree with the great commander and remember 50 facts about the Russian people.
1. Koreans in the USSR called Russians "maoz", which translates as "bearded".
2. Hapolgroups R1a, I1b, N1c are most common among Russians.
3. The term "Russia", replacing the word "Rus", began to be used to a limited extent from the 16th century, when the idea of the "Third Rome" was born in Moscow.
4. As of January 1, 2015, the number of Russians in Russia is 111 million 500 thousand people.
5. An Austrian diplomat of the 17th century, Sigismund Herberstein, in his “Notes on Moscow Affairs” wrote that Russians have long been called “Rossey” - “that is, a scattered or scattered people, because Rossey, in the language of the Russians, means dispersion.”
6. In China, there is a Russian national region of Shiwei, more than half of its population are Russians.
7. The neutral designation of Russians in Finnish is “venyalainen”. "Ryussa" is pejorative.
8. Russian is the native language for 168 million people, for 111 million - the second language.
9. Pushkin has the largest dictionary of the language of the Russian people. It includes approximately 25,000 lexemes. Shakespeare possessed approximately the same vocabulary (in English).
10. The Russian people had 19 queens and kings from two dynasties (Rurikovich, Romanov).
11. From the middle of the 16th century to the beginning of the 19th century, there were 10 wars between Russia and Sweden.
12. The negative designation of Russians among Estonians is “tybla”. "Tybla" came from the treatment "you, bl.". The Media Council believes that the word "tibla" is primarily used as a designation for Homo soveticus (Soviet man).
13. There were 12 wars between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in 241 years. On average, one Russo-Turkish war was separated from another by 19 years.
14. Russian philosopher Ivan Ilyin wrote: “Soloviev counts from 1240 to 1462 (for 222 years) - 200 wars and invasions. From the 14th century to the 20th (for 525 years) Sukhotin has 329 years of war. Russia has fought two-thirds of its life."
15. appeared in the 13th century, but most remained “nicknameless” for another 600 years.
16. By the time of universal passportization in the 1930s, every resident of the USSR had a surname.
17. According to Vernadsky, the word "Russian" goes back to the Iranian "ruhs" (or "rohs"), which means "light, bright, white."
18. During the Great Patriotic War, according to M. V. Filimoshin, almost 6 million Russians died.
19. The only one-syllable adjective in Russian is "evil".
21. There are 441 words in Russian with the word “love”. In English - 108.
22. Fashion came to Rus' from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
23. Russians themselves in Ancient Rus' called Rusyns, and Rusaks. In the Bulgarian language, Rusyn remained an ethnonym for Russians until the beginning of the 20th century.
25. The endings "-gda" in the Central Russian toponymy: Vologda, Sudogda, Shogda are the heritage of the Meryan people.
26. In the village of Russkoye Ustye (71 degrees north latitude) live Russkoye Ustya - natives of Cossacks and Pomors. The dialect of the Russo-Ustyintsy is extremely rare - not “shocking” or “okaying”, but “shuffling”.
27. The Russian language ranks fifth in terms of the total number of people speaking it.
28. The Russian greeting “hello” was discovered by researchers for the first time in an annals dated 1057. The author of the chronicles wrote: "Hello, many years."
29. The surname "Romanovs" was not immediately attached to the dynasty. They were both Yakovlevs and Zakharyins-Yuryevs. They became Romanovs by the name of the great-grandson of Fyodor Koshka, the son of Andrei Kobyla.
30. In every Russian hut there was always a so-called "beggar's shop" at the door. So that a beggar, or another uninvited guest, could sit on it.
31. In 1910, the Russian Empire occupied the penultimate place in Europe in terms of per capita alcohol consumption, only Norway drank less.
32. "Bear fun" in Russia was banned twice: in 1648 and in 1867, however, until the 20s of the XX century, bears really walked the streets.
33. Russian fights are not afraid. Fist fights were the favorite pastime of Russian guys back in 1048, when the chronicler Nestor wrote about them.
34. In Rus', men were met not by their clothes, but by their beard. People with poorly growing beards were considered almost degenerates. The beardless, as a rule, remained in the bobs.
35. Russian folk "measure" of alcoholic doses, recorded by Dahl:
- To drink the first cup - to be healthy, to drink the second - to amuse the mind, to triple - to arrange the mind, to drink the fourth - to be unskillful, to drink the fifth - to be drunk, the sixth spell - the thought will be different, to drink the seventh - to be insane, to the eighth drag - no hands take them away, take up the ninth - do not get up from your seat, but drink ten cups - they will involuntarily infuriate you.
36. What is a Russian without a balalaika? Nevertheless, balalaikas were banned more than once, taken from their owners and burned outside the city - they fought buffoonery. The instrument was reborn in the middle of the 19th century - Vasily Andreev, a nobleman and gifted musician, made the balalaika fashionable again.
37. Russian obscenities are already found in Novgorod birch bark documents dating back to the 11th century. It was then called “barking obscene” and initially included exclusively the use of the word “mother” in a vulgar context.
38. The Russian swear word with the letter “B” was banned by Anna Ioannovna. Prior to that, it was quite legal and was often used with the meanings of "fornication", "deception", "delusion", "heresy", "mistake".
39. Matryoshka is actually not Russian, but a Japanese toy, but it was in Russia that it became a real cult.
40. The Russian people are a chess player. Already in the XII century, chess in Rus' was played not only by the nobility, but also by ordinary people. This has been proven by archaeological excavations. However, they also wanted to ban chess here: at the Sixth Ecumenical Council it was proposed to anathematize chess players.
41. The most common outdoor games in Rus' were: bast shoes, towns, baker, clubbing, siskin and horses.
42. The Great Russian bast shoe was distinguished by the oblique weaving of the bast; Belarusian and Ukrainian - direct.
43. Not all dishes that are considered Russian actually are. Dumplings come from China, vinaigrette - from Scandinavia.
44. In Rus', felt boots had different names: in Nizhny Novgorod they were called "chesanki" and "rolled wire", in the Tambov and Tver regions - "valenki", in Siberia - "pims". Valenki made of goat wool were called "waves" and "antics", and sheep wool - "rolled rolls".
45. Russian women in Rus' had a lot of professions: mourners wept professionally, plasticizers mixed mass for marshmallows, potters sculpted pots, knitters wove knots.
46. The attitude to bread in Rus' was strictly regulated by special “bread rules”: from blessing during baking to the fact that bread cannot be broken, thrown away and put on the table without a tablecloth.
47. The cult of seeds among the Russian people is associated with the revolution. It was then that they began to "capture cities." Mikhail Bulgakov wrote in the story "The Capital in a Notebook": "For me, the aforementioned paradise will come at the very moment when the seeds disappear in Moscow."
48. The midwife in Rus' stayed with the newly-made mother for 40 days already - she helped to bathe, treat and ... twist. Vitem used to be called swaddling.
49. The secret Russian community (traveling merchants) had its own special language. Here are three proverbs translated into Ofensky: 1. Live for a century, learn for a century - you will die a fool. - Pehal of the Kindriks kurav, Pehal of the Kindriks peel - you will darken with a smoky look. 2. Who does not work - he does not eat. – Kchon doesn’t mastyr, he doesn’t shave. 3. You can’t even catch a fish from a pond without difficulty. - Without a mastyra, you can’t even puff up a psalud from a rag.
50. Russian people are wide! In the middle of the 19th century, two Yekaterinburg gold miners married their children. The wedding went on for a whole year.
Who are Russians?
Who are Russians - character and culture
The Russian national character is very ambiguous, and it is not easy to assess it. Surprisingly, a Russian person combines positive and negative character traits, as well as completely opposite to each other.
How was the Russian national character and culture formed? Here are some important factors such as:
- the geographical position of Rus';
- Russian nature;
- everyday life of a Russian person;
- the adoption of Christianity in the Byzantine version;
- mobilization type of state development.
Let's consider the influence of each factor in more detail.
Geographical position
The Russian state is vast and occupies a position between European and Asian states. This led to the combination of elements of Eastern and Western civilization in the national culture of Rus'. This binarity of the Russian character is described by V.O. 
Klyuchevsky in "A Brief History of Rus'". He wrote that the formation of the character of the Russian people was significantly influenced by the geographical location of the country between the steppe and the forest. Being in the forest, near rivers, people strove for rapprochement, unity near a water source. Thus, a spirit of unity was brought up in them, they learned to feel themselves as a part of society. And what did the steppe give to man? It symbolizes space, freedom, loneliness, wandering. Being on an endless plain encourages reflection, reflection. Under the influence of the steppe, people developed such qualities as modesty, softness of mind, a tendency to melancholy, "withdrawal into oneself", asceticism, and isolated life. Such seemingly incompatible qualities are successfully combined in Russian culture.
Nature
The influence of nature can also explain the fact that Russian people began to refer to nationality as an adjective. This implies that a person belongs not just to a separate people, but to Rus', the Russian land. That is, the connection with the land, native places is extremely important for a person of this nationality - and has always been important.
The adoption of Christianity in the Byzantine version entailed some isolation of Rus' from Western states. She had her own way of development that 
also applied to culture. The church also brought up the spirit of unity in people, rallied the people in difficult times.
Mobilization development of the state
The mobilization development of the state is the use of human resources to the maximum for solving various state tasks. At the same time, there is a discrepancy between the volume of tasks and internal resources. This can explain the emergence of Russian people's dislike for the government and at the same time the readiness to tolerate it and, if necessary, stand up for their state.
All these factors determined the character of the Russian people. It combines the incompatible - diligence and laziness, openness and unsociableness, hospitality and a tendency to isolation, loneliness. And Russian culture is also characterized by such duality.
Anthropology
Anthropological features include external and genetic indicators. Russians 
in this aspect they are similar to Europeans. Signs that distinguish them from Europeans:
- Light shades of skin and hair predominate, dark ones are less.
- Eyebrows, beard grow at a slower rate.
- The brow is less pronounced, as is the slope of the forehead.
- The bridge of the nose is medium high, the profile of the face is moderately wide, in the horizontal profile - medium prevails.
For a Russian person, epicanthus is not typical - a fold near the eye, which is noticeable in Mongoloids.
Ethnic history of the Russian people
How did the Russian people originate? It was formed from the East Slavic tribes and the settlers who flocked from the Dnieper region. Entered the Russian people and Finno- 
Ugric tribes. In the 12th century, as a result of the merger of tribes, the Old Russian nationality was formed. However, later it broke up into three separate peoples - Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians.
The Baptism of Rus', organized by Prince Vladimir in 988, had a strong influence on the Russian people. This event caused the appearance of their own calendar and Russian church holidays, original writing, and certain types of national art - icon painting or architecture.
The invasion of the Mongol-Tatars had a tangible impact on the Russian people. Rus' took upon itself the burden of the yoke, which greatly set it back - about a century ago - in the development of culture and industry in comparison with Europe.
