For us, Russian historians, the history of the Volga Tatars and Bulgars is of tremendous importance. Without studying it, we will never understand Russia's connection with the East.

This story of a brilliant, bright, talented, energetic, courageous people - the Tatar people, attracts us with its great significance in history, I would say, general, international.

Academician M. N. Tikhomirov

In 1946, the Department of History and Philosophy of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, together with the Institute of Language, Literature and History of the Kazan Branch of the Academy of Sciences, held a scientific session in Moscow on the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars. The session was organized to further scientific development history of the Tatar ASSR in the light of the resolution of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of August 9, 1944 "On the state and measures to improve mass-political and ideological work in the Tatar party organization."

This was the first and successful experience of holding ethno-genetic conferences in the history of the study of the past of the peoples of the Volga and Ural regions. Four main reports at the session were made by: A. P. Smirnov - "On the origin of the Kazan Tatars", T. A. Trofimova - "The ethnogenesis of the Tatars of the Middle Volga in the light of anthropological data", N. I. Vorobyov - "The origin of the Kazan Tatars according to ethnography”, L. 3. Zalyai - “On the question of the origin of the Tatars of the Volga region (based on the materials of the language)”. The co-reports were made by: N. F. Kalinin (based on epigraphy) and Kh. G. Gimadi (based on historical sources). Prominent scientists of the country, Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences M. N. Tikhomirov (later Academician), A. Yu. Yakubovsky, S. P. Tolstov, N. K. Dmitriev, S. E. Malov and others took part in the speeches. The session was led by the outstanding Soviet historian, Academician B. D. Grekov.

Despite the fact that this session could not fully resolve all the issues of the complex problem of the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars, which, of course, could not be resolved only at one conference, however, a large and useful work- the question of the origin and formation of the Tatar people was put before science. After discussing the issues raised, the scientists adopted a kind of program for further, more in-depth study this serious and urgent problem. In the reports and most speeches, the idea was that the main role in the formation of the ethnic group of the Kazan Tatars was played by the Turkic-speaking peoples (Bulgars and others), who even before the arrival of the Mongol conquerors, coming into contact with the local Finno-Ugric tribes, created the Bulgar state, which stood on higher level of economic and cultural development compared to the nomadic Mongols". It must be emphasized that this main conclusion of the session was confirmed and even more enriched with new valuable materials revealed in the forty years that have passed since the session.

Particularly great success has been achieved as a result of archaeological research. Based on a multi-year survey former territory Volga Bulgaria, taking into account pre-revolutionary

research, the most complete Code of Bulgar and Bulgaro-Tatar monuments was compiled, which includes about 2000 different objects, 85% of which fall on the share of the Tatar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Excavations of the Bulgar, Bilyar and some other settlements and settlements, the Iska of Kazan and the Kazan Kremlin, the study of epigraphic monuments of the 13th - 17th centuries. opened new pages in the history of the formation of the Volga Bulgaria, its individual cities, revealed very valuable information on the material culture of the Volga Bulgars and Kazan Tatars.

The excavations of Bolshe-Tarkhansky, Tankeevsky, Tetyushsky, Bilyarsky and some other monuments, the circle of monuments of the pre-Bulgarian era allowed their researchers to express new ideas about the early Turkization of the Middle Volga region, about the ethnic composition of the region during the formation of the Volga Bulgaria, in particular,

about the significant role of the Ugric or Turko-Ugric component in the formation of the Volga Bulgars. A number of new provisions require clarification and new work in order to obtain supporting data.

Significant progress has been made; linguists i study history Tatar language, especially its dialects, issues of education and development of the national literary language, the language of individual monuments of ancient Tatar literature and manuscripts of the XVI -

XVII centuries, anthroponyms and toponyms of the Tatar ASSR. The most valuable information was obtained as a result of the historical and linguistic analysis of the ancient Bulgarian language (the name of the Bulgarian princes, Turkic borrowings in the Hungarian language, the language of the Bulgar epitaphs) and the comparison of this language with the Tatar. Such serious work made it possible to put this complex problem on a truly scientific basis.

In the study of certain periods of ethnogenesis and ethnic history Tatars of the Middle Volga and Ural regions, especially of the later periods, representatives of other sciences also achieved considerable success. In the 1950s and 1960s, N. I. Vorobyov and under his leadership created fundamental works on the traditional ethnography of the Kazan Tatars. Studies of the material culture of other ethnographic groups of the Tatar people (Tatars-Mishars, Tatars-Kryashens) have noticeably intensified recently.

It should be noted in-depth scientific study

Tatar folk ornament, other types and artistic and technical means of the decorative and applied art of the Kazan Tatars, which allows us to see the origins of this art among the Volga Bulgars. Being one of the most sustainable elements material culture, reflecting the development of the spiritual culture of the people in different historical periods, the ornament is the most valuable source in the formulation and solution of issues of ethnogenesis. The successes of folklorists in collecting and publishing works of almost all genres of oral history are also significant. folk art, this huge heritage of spiritual culture. Significant progress has been made in the study musical folklore, musical ethnography of the Tatar people.

Within the framework of one section of a small book, it is impossible to analyze all this huge scientific material covered in a fairly large number of monographs, collections and individual articles published in central, local, and partially foreign publications.

Taking this opportunity, I would like to give a brief summary of the main conclusions arising from the analysis of the historical and archaeological materials accumulated to date on the problem of the origin of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals. These conclusions also follow from the digression that was made in the previous essays of the book on the history of the Volga Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate, their main cities. Naturally, as a historian, to the best of my ability, I will use the published, tested information from other related sciences. So, these main conclusions are summarized as follows.

The Bulgar origin of the Kazan Tatars is confirmed by all the data on the material and spiritual culture, self-consciousness of the Kazan Tatars. The basis of the economy of the Vozhskaya Bulgaria - arable farming on large and fertile areas - was the basis of the economy and the Kazan Khanate. It was the sedentary agricultural, and not the nomadic Mongolian, culture of the Kazan Khanate that was brought from the former, agricultural center of Bulgaria; Bulgarian agricultural culture was the basis for the development of the feudal relations of this state. The Bulgarian steam system was inherited by the Kazan Tatars, the Bulgarian plow with a metal plowshare (saban) was the main

nym agricultural tool of the population of the Kazan Khanate and later times. The old agricultural culture of the Bulgars was reflected in the national holiday of the Tatar people "Saban-tuy".

Kazan with its Gostiny Island on the Volga, like Bulgar with its Volga Aga Bazaar, was the center of international trade between the West and the East. On the example of Kazan and the Kazan Khanate, the complete preservation and further development traditions of the Bulgarian internal and external transit trade.

The continuity of the Bulgaro-Tatar economy and culture can also be traced in urban planning. The Bulgarian defensive architecture (fortifications of cities, feudal castles and military outposts) was continued in the construction of city fortifications of the Kazan Khanate. The presence of stone structures in the Tatar Kazan was the preservation of the traditions of the monumental architecture of the Volga Bulgaria. The surviving stone structures of the XV century. in the city of Kasimov (the minaret of the Khan's Mosque), built by people from Kazan, and the architectural monuments of the city of Bulgar (Small Minaret) belong to the same architectural school in the presence of separate local elements. The features of the eastern classicism of the Bulgar monumental architecture were subsequently manifested not only in architecture, but also in the ornamentation of the epitaphs of the Kazan Khanate. In general, the urban culture of the Kazan Khanate is a continuation and further development of the urban culture of the Volga Bulgaria.

The identity of the Bulgaro-Tatar material culture is clearly distinguished in the craft and applied arts. Archaeological finds revealed at the settlements of the Volga Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate repeat each other. Back in 1955, A.P. Smirnov wrote: “Now it is fairly firmly established by comparing the large material of the settlement Velikie Bolgars from the 14th century layer with materials from ancient layers Kazan, the continuity of the culture of the Kazan Tatars from the Volga Bulgars ". Rich material in this regard was provided by further excavations of the Bulgar, Bilyar settlements, Iski-Kazan and the Kazan Kremlin: proximity or identity jewelry, iron yell

1 Smirnov A.P. Results of archaeological work in the flood zone of the Kuibyshev hydroelectric power station. Kazan, 1955, p. 24.

diy of labor and weapons, household items, simple polished and glazed ceramics, remnants of handicraft production, epigraphy. The most characteristic in this regard is Old Kazan - a large and bright link between the Bulgar and Kazan-Tatar material culture: here are layers with abundant material from pre-Mongolian and Golden Horde Bulgaria and the Kazan Khanate. Jewelry and generally decorative and applied arts of the Kazan Tatars, not only of the XV-XVI centuries, but also of later times (XVIII - early XX centuries), are basically Bulgar. Types of Tatar folk ornament - floral, geometric and zoomorphic - mainly date back to the Bulgar ones.

The epigraphy of the Kazan Tatars appeared on the basis of the epigraphy of the Volga Bulgars. A monographic study of epigraphic objects of the Middle Volga region (G. V. Yusupov) showed that the typological elements of the Bulgar epitaphs (both I and II styles) in the process of changing the political system formed the basis of a new style of tombstones in the first half of the 16th century, moreover, organically liaison role monuments of the 15th century played a role in the emergence of this classical style. Although paleographically, the monuments of the XV century. significantly inferior to the Bulgar ones, but on them there is a relief handwriting of the 1st style of the 13th - 4th centuries. and the new style of the XVI-XVII centuries. In linguistic terms, the monuments of the XV century. are also close to the epitaphs of both the 14th and 16th centuries, as well as to such literary heritage of the Kazan Khanate as Nury-sodur and Tukhfai-mardan.

Speaking about epigraphic monuments, it should be especially noted that the custom of their establishment in the Volga region is inherent only to the Volga Bulgars, and later to the Kazan Tatars. It is noteworthy that in the same cemetery of the modern Tatar villages of Zakazany and Gornaya side there are monuments of the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. or 14th and 16th centuries. and more recent times. This clearly testifies to the continuous functioning of the "Tatar cemeteries since the Bulgar time. It is necessary to emphasize the utmost careful attitude to these monuments on the part of the Tatar population, unlike other Turkic-speaking peoples of the region. The Kazan Tatars treat the Bulgar epitaphs with worthy respect: they carefully guard them” when renewing the fences, they call them “tash gazizlar” (stones).

shrines”), “Tash bilge” (“Stone monument”), “Izge tash” (“Holy stone”), “Izge zirat” (“Holy cemetery”). The definitions of "shrine", "holy" are used in this case in the sense of deeply revered, dear, cherished.

The Tatar people keep a careful attitude not only to epigraphic, but also to other monuments of the Bulgar antiquity: settlements, settlements, individual tracts, calling them "Shaһre Bolgar", "Shem-Suar", "Kashan kalasy", "Iske Kazan", the names of other historical cities, as well as the common names "kala tau" (abbreviated from "kala tauy" - "the mountain where the city used to be"), "kyzlar kalasy" ("girl's city"), "iske avyl" ("old village"), “iske yort” (“old dwelling”), the Russians call these Bulgarian monuments “tatar town”, “tatar dwelling”, “iski-yurt”. Legends, traditions and other works of oral folk art about the Bulgar cities and villages, about the resettlement of the Bulgars in the Order and the Northern Pre-Volga region,

about the emergence of Kazan's lawsuits instead of Bulgar are widespread among the Kazan Tatars and have found bright coverage in the literature.

Many scholars of the history of peoples of Eastern Europe connected the Kazan Tatars with the Bulgars, considered the Kazan Khanate a continuation of the history of the Volga Bulgaria, paid special attention to the fact that the Kazan Tatars proudly called themselves Bulgars, and their past - "Bulgarlyk" ("Bulgarism"). The use of the epithet "al-Bulgari" ("Bulgarian"), not only in previous centuries, but also in the XX century. (based on the materials of "shezhere" - genealogies) serves as an excellent example of the consciousness of the Kazan Tatars of their Bulgar origin.

The fact that the Kazan Tatars used to be called Bulgars is clearly evidenced by the well-known expression of the Nikon Chronicle, compiled in the second half of the 16th century: “Bulgarians, Kazanians,” i.e., Bulgars called Kazanians. Particularly noteworthy is the more specific phrase of the chronicle: "Bulgarians, Kazanians are now spoken" 1 .

However, it would be to a certain extent one-sided to limit the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars only to the Volga Bulgars. The very history of the Bulgar state

1 PSRL, vol. XI. M., 1965, p. 12.

The donation was closely connected with the history of Khazaria, later - the Golden Horde. The Bulgar culture was influenced by the cultures of many nationalities, elements of the cultures of Central Asia, Rus', the Caucasus, Mamluk Egypt penetrated to the Bulgars.

Even at the Moscow session of 1946, it was noted that the modern Tatar language cannot be considered a continuation of one Bulgar language. The Tatar language, at its core, has undergone very big changes. In addition to Bulgar, the Kipchak language also played a role in the formation of the language of the Kazan Tatars. At the same time, it is necessary to note the closeness of the Bulgar and Kipchak languages, their relation to the same language group. This is to some extent confirmed, in addition to the data of linguistics, by the statements of contemporaries that the Polovtsy, i.e. the Kipchaks, "there is one language and clan from the Bulgarians." These words belong to the Grand Duke of Vladimir Vsevolod III, a major political and statesman of his time ( end XII- early XIII centuries), who was quite well aware of his closest neighbors, i.e., the Bulgars and Kipchaks, with whom Rus' had long had close economic and cultural ties.

First of all, it should be noted the ethnic and linguistic proximity of the Bulgars with the Lower Volga Kipchaks called Saksins. The resettlement of some part of the Saksins to the Volga Bulgaria before the invasion of the Mongols, in general, the historical closeness of the Bulgars and Saksins in subsequent times are noted in a number of written sources- in Russian chronicles and in the writings of Arab-Persian geography. Several Polovtsian-Kipchak cemeteries and burials are known in the Zakamsky and partially Zakazan regions of Tataria: the Bairako-Tamaksky burial ground in the Bavlinsky region and the Kipchak "stone woman" in the same area near the village. Urussu, the Lebedinsky burial in the Alekseevsky district and the Kipchak burial with the remains of a horse in the Kamaevsky settlement. The Kipchak clan is known as part of the princely families of the Kazan Khanate. At the same time, the share of the Kipchak ethnos in the origin of the Kazan Tatars was small, as evidenced primarily by the incomparably small number of Kipchak antiquities on the Bulgaro-Tatar territory, in contrast to the Bulgar ones - compare: about 2000 proper Bulgar monuments (hillforts, villages, burial grounds, epigraphic objects ,

the richest treasures and finds, individual locations) and only 4 Kipchak monuments (more on the Kipchaks will be discussed below).

In addition to the Kipchak component, the Nogai also played a role in the origin and formation of the Kazan Tatars, which can be traced linguistically and from historical sources: Nogai elements in Zazan dialects, individual toponyms of Tataria associated with the ethnonym "Nogai" ("Nogai prison" in the past, "Nogai Stans ”, “Nogai cemeteries”), the presence of a large number of Nogais in Tatar Kazan, the Nogai militia from Order during the siege of Kazan by the troops of Ivan the Terrible.

Finally, one cannot ignore the presence of the Finno-Ugric element, which is especially noticeable in the northern zone of the Order - in the basins of the Ashita, Sheshma, and partly Kazanka rivers - according to toponymy: old "Cheremis" cemeteries, "chirmesh yruy" ("Cheremis clan"), "chirmesh yagy" ("Cheremis side") of the Tatar villages, as well as based on the materials of ethnography, anthropology and language.

So, the formation of the ethnos of the Kazan Tatars was a complex historical process that included a number of Turkic-speaking, partly Finno-Ugric components. The basis of the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars was the Volga Bulgars with a certain participation of the Saxin Kipchaks from the 12th century, the Nogais from the 15th - 16th centuries. and Finno-Ugric peoples during the X - XVI centuries.

In addition to the theory of the Bulgar origin of the Tatar people, mainly Kazan Tatars, there is also a theory of the Kipchak origin of modern Tatars. It is based on the data of the language, to some extent - on historical materials and, of course, on the well-known fact that the Kipchaks of the Golden Horde in. XIV - XV centuries. They were also called Tatars. The main linguistic source in this matter is the well-known Codex Kumanikus (Kuman Dictionary; Cumans is a parallel, Western European name for the Kipchaks), compiled at the beginning of the 14th century. At one time, academician-Turkologist V. V. Radlov, having analyzed this dictionary, expressed the opinion that it was closer to the language of the Mishars Tatars.

True, there were other points of view: some saw analogies of the language of the "Code" in the languages ​​of the Karaites (Western Karaites), Nogais, Karakalpaks; other pre

The search for parallels was delayed in the southwestern corner of the southern Russian steppes, in the Crimea. However, a number of researchers, among them Kazan, for example, Ali-Rahim, G. S. Gubaidullin, L. T. Makhmutova, I. A. Abdullin 'to one degree or another adhere to the opinion of V. V. Radlov.

In recent years, Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov came up with the theory of the assimilation of the Bulgar language by the Kipchak. The possibility of such assimilation was also expressed by the linguist V. Kh. Khakov, who noted at the same time that this opinion requires additional argumentation and specific clarifications. To a certain extent, accepting the concept of Sh. F. Mukhamedyarov, although not agreeing with a number of its points, I would like to note that such assimilation mainly refers to the Mishar Tatars, which can be traced through some historical and archaeological sources using language data.

In the 1950s and 1960s, M.R. Polessky studied a group of medieval archaeological sites Penza region, among which there were more than 40 settlements and settlements. Their main part is located in the basin of the upper and middle reaches of the Sura River to the east and southeast of modern Penza. Some of the settlements are located in the upper reaches of the Moksha River in the northwestern part of the region. In the process of studying this group of monuments, the point of view about their ethnicity changed several times, which is apparently explained by the novelty of this circle of monuments both for the region and for the researcher. So, in the first, preliminary publications of his research, he dated these settlements to the 13th - 14th centuries. and associated them with newcomers of "Polovtsian-Kipchak or Alanian origin", shifted by the Mongol invasion. A little later, he attributed them to the Burtases, assimilated by the Mongols; finally, he defended the idea of ​​the Burtas belonging of the monuments later, but already dating them to the 11th-12th centuries. At the same time, M. R. Polesskikh believed that the Burtases were assimilated by the Kipchaks, who took part in the ethnogenesis of the Mishar Tatars.

I had to closely familiarize myself with the materials of the Penza group of monuments. Their ceramics in its shape, color and ornamentation finds a good analogy in the ceramics of the monuments of the Bulgar lands proper. A small part of the collections has early features,

for example, individual elements of dishes from the Yulovsky and Narovchatsky settlements; silver jewelry from the Zolotarevsky settlement is also largely associated with pre-Mongolian times. However, the main part of the Penza monuments belongs to the XIII - XIV centuries. In general, the mass of all collected ceramics testifies to the Golden Horde period: clearly expressed elements of the form and ornamentation of the Late Bulgar pottery and the absence of known types of pre-Mongolian pottery and stucco ceramics. At the same time, this pottery somewhat differs from the proper Bulgar one by a pinkish tint of the outer surface, which is inherent in the ceramics of the Golden Horde cities of the Lower Volga region.

A number of cemeteries in the same Penza region and in the neighboring Mordovian ASSR are to a certain extent connected with these settlements and settlements. Such cemeteries as Starosotensky, Karmaleisky, attributed by M.R. Polessky to the ancient Mordovians and dated to the 14th century, also contain a noticeable number of Bulgar elements, for example, ceramics, bronze cauldrons. A synchronous Mordovian burial ground with Bulgar artifacts was also found in the center of Narovchat; burials with a purely Muslim burial rite were also unearthed there.

The presence of Mordovian burial grounds of the XIV century. in the area of ​​settlements and settlements with red pottery, as well as the parallel existence of two types of burial grounds, i.e. Mordovian and Muslim, once again testifies to the Golden Horde period of the Penza group of settlements. Ethnically they belong to the Bulgars; an attempt to connect them with the Burtases, which has been undertaken in recent years by some Kazan archaeologists, is not convincing, because the Burtas material culture, with which these monuments could be compared, is not known at all.

Based on all this, we can say that a certain part of the population of the Volga Bulgaria, forced to leave their indigenous lands after the invasion of the Mongols, came to the modern Penza region - Mordovian prince Purgas). The Bulgar population, having come to the Old Mordovian land, partially assimilated the inhabitants or lived in parallel with them, as evidenced by these burial grounds.

This group of Bulgars begins an independent way of development, which is connected with its isolation from the main Bulgar lands. Soon a separate ulus of the Golden Horde arose here with its center in Narovchat, located on the territory of Prince Bekhan and also known as the city of Mokhsha, where the minting of Jochid coins began in 1312. In the funds of the former Sarov monastery of the Mordovian ASSR, the historian M. G. Safargaliev discovered the genealogy of the Tatar princes Seid-Akhmedovs, Adashevs, Kudashevs, Tenishevs and Yangalychevs, descended from this Bekhan “from the Golden Horde”, who “by the authority of the Golden Horde of the king owned many surrounding cities and other camps of the Tatar and Mordovians" along the valley of the Mokhshi River; since that time, their descendants “began to own estates and lands and settled in different places". On the territory of the possessions of one temnik prince, who belonged to the descendants of Behan, in 1257-1259. the city of Temnikov arises.

From the 60s of the XIV century. in these western lands, a separate Narovchat principality is formed under the leadership of Sekiz-bey, who was mentioned in the Venetian letters of 1349 as the governor of the ruler of Tanu (Azak-Azov). The capture of Tanu by Mamai in 1361 forced Sekiz Bey to retire to the Mordovian lands, to the region of the Pyana River. However, in the same year, another Horde prince, Tagai, ran there. The Nikon Chronicle reports that other princes arrived with him, between whom a struggle for power began in the new land. The Principality of Tagaya, with its center in Narovchat, occupied a fairly large territory. According to the observations of M. G. Safargaliev, within the former Simbirsk, Nizhny Novgorod and Penza provinces in the 19th century. there were many toponyms bearing the name "Tagai".

So, the listed historical materials speak of the great role of the princes and the Kipchaks (“Tatars”) who arrived with them in the Sura and Mokhshi basins. These materials make it possible to judge a larger number of Kipchaks in comparison with the Bulgars, who came into partial contact with the local Mordovians. The Kipchaks entered into the same contact with the local population, as evidenced by the data of the language. The Kipchak basis of the Mishar dialect of the Tatar language has already been written in Turkology. This is also confirmed by studies of Kazan lines.

gvists of the last 20-25 years. This is evidenced by the data of the language of the Armenian-Kipchak manuscripts of the 16th-17th centuries.

Kipchak language of the XI-XIV centuries. among various ethnic admixtures, it also contained a significant Oguz layer (Oguzes, Guzes are the main ancestors of modern Turkmens). According to the research of L. T. Makhmutova, of the Tatar dialects, the largest number of features of the Oguz type is found in the Mishar dialect, moreover, quite big number Oguz elements refers to the period not earlier than the 11th century. These elements, obviously, are explained through the Kipchak language - as early as the 11th century, having started moving to the west, the Kipchaks subjugated a significant mass of the Oguzes and Pechenegs. Part of the Pechenegs, with the exception of those pushed back to the west by the Kipchaks and assimilated after that by the Madjars, dissolved among the Kipchaks. The Oguzes, on the other hand, made up a significant component in the formation of a powerful Kipchak union of tribes. A contemporary of these events, Mahmud Kashgari, mentioning the Kipchaks, put them closer in language to the Oguzes, and a hundred years later al-Garnati named the Oguzes as the main population of the city of Saksin in the lower reaches of the Volga, and about another 100 years later, in the 13th century, this population began to appear in the sources under the name Saksins, i.e., the Lower Volga Kipchaks.

The researcher of the ethnography of the Tatar-Mishars R. G. Mukhamedova sees in their ethnogenesis, in addition to the Kipchaks and Bulgars, participation and Mochars, calling them Turkic Ugrians. The linguist-Turkologist M. Z. Zakiev is more consistent and specific here, noting in the formation of the Mishar ethnos, in addition to the Akatsirs (an ancient Turkic, Hunnic tribe) and the Kipchaks, and the Turkic-speaking Madjars. Please note: it is the Turkic-speaking Madjars (Maҗar), and not the Finno-Ugric (Ugric!) Magyars-Hungarians. The researcher believes that the Madjars were later dissolved among the Kipchaks - the main Turkic population of the southern strip of Eastern Europe. For my part, I would also like to draw the reader's attention to the proximity of the ethnonyms "Mishar" and "Mazhar".

Thus, the ethnogenesis of the Tatar-Mishars was a rather complex historical process, which included a number of components, the main of which was the Kipchak-Bulgarian with a predominance of the Kipchak ethnos.

A few words about the Kipchaks themselves. Kipchaks - Turkic-speaking nomadic tribes of the Northern Altai, known

there from the II-I centuries BC. e. In those days, they did not yet play any significant role in the history of Siberia and Central Asia. From the 8th century n. e. as a large association, they are part of the Kimak Khaganate, formed in Western Siberia along the middle course of the Irtysh - the Kipchaks constituted the western branch of the Khaganate, the nomadic part of its population. From the middle of the ninth century in the history of the Kipchaks, great socio-economic changes are taking place: property inequality,

the formation of the privileged class, which ultimately led the class elite of society to expand their possessions, to campaigns.

Together with other Ural-Altai tribes, the Kipchaks began a mass movement to the west, which was the second major migration of tribes after the Huns. Having ousted the Pechenegs and Torks, at the beginning of the 11th century. the Kipchaks captured the Trans-Volga region and soon the interfluve of the Volga and the Don. In 1055 they reached the Dnieper and thus became the masters of a large territory between the Volga and the Dnieper, which turned into their second homeland. These lands later received the name "Dasht-i-Kipchak", which in Persian means "Kipchak Steppe" or "Polovtsian Steppe"; Polovtsy - the Russian, chronicle name of the Kipchaks, from the word "field" and meant a man of the field, that is, a nomad. From this period, the history of the Polovtsian world was closely connected with the history of Rus': feudal wars, diplomacy, trade, marriage relations between princes and beks (and later, in 1223, a joint struggle with the Russians against the Mongols on the Kalka River).

In the second half of the XI century. There were two large Kipchak unions of tribes: the western one in the territory from the Dnieper to the Don and the eastern one - from the Don to the Volga and in the Lower Volga region. The Western alliance under the leadership of Khan Kobyak broke up in 1183 under the blows of the troops of Svyatoslav and Rurik. Eastern Union, on the contrary, intensified, and under the leadership of Khan Konchak, a powerful feudal association of the Polovtsian-Kipchak tribes was formed. In response to the defeat of the Western Kipchaks and the murder of Khan Kobyak, in 1183 Konchak began military operations against Rus', took Pereyaslavl and Putivl, defeated the troops of Igor, the son of Svyatoslav, and captured the prince himself (these events are clearly reflected in the famous poem " A word about Igor's regiment,

later served as the plot for the heroic opera "Prince Igor"),

As a result of constant communication with the Russians, from the middle of the 12th century, part of the Polovtsy. began to convert to Christianity; even Konchak's successor was baptized (Yuri). Russian campaigns 1190-1193 undermined the forces of the Polovtsy, they are in the period Mongol conquest entered into close contact with the Russians.

In the 30s of the XIII century. the Kipchaks led by Bachman rebelled against the Mongols (there were also Alans and Bulgars in Bachman's army), but were defeated. The Kipchaks became part of the Golden Horde, a state formed by the Mongols on the lands of Desht-i-Kipchak, the main Turkic population of which were the Kipchaks. The main part of the Mongols ("Tatar-Mongols") in the army of Genghis Khan, and then Batu Khan, returned to Mongolia after the conquests of Eastern Europe, and the rest assimilated among the Kipchaks, but left their name "Tatars" behind them (whence the name " Tatars" - see below). This historical phenomenon most vividly described by al-Omari, the greatest Arab scholar-encyclopedist of the first half of the 14th century:

“In ancient times, this state was the country of the Kipchaks, but when the Tatars took possession of it, the Kipchaks became their subjects. Then they (Tatars) mixed and intermarried with them (Kipchaks), and the earth prevailed over the natural and racial qualities of them (Tatars) and they all became exactly Kipchaks, as if they were of the same (with them) kind, that the Mongols (and Tatars) settled on the land of the Kipchaks, entered into marriage with them and remained to live in their land (Kipchaks)." 1

Finishing the story about the Kipchaks, it is necessary to pay special attention to one crucial moment. Under this general ethnic term, one cannot mean a single nationality with one “purely Kipchak” language. The Kipchaks played one role or another in the formation of a fairly significant number of Turkic-speaking peoples: Bashkirs, Kazakhs, Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals, Crimean and Siberian Tatars, Uzbeks and others (Caucasoid and Mongoloid).

Famous Soviet Turkologists E. V. Sevortyan and A. K. Kuryshzhanov note the heterogeneity of the Kipchaks,

1 Tizenhausen V. Collection of materials relating to the history of the Golden Horde. SPb., 1884, vol. 1, p. 235.

It is believed that the ethnographic name "Kipchaks" meant a political military-tribal association of a number of Turkic peoples, tribes and clans, sometimes separated by many thousands of kilometers, who spoke their native languages, for which the Kipchak language did not become a single language. Known are the Kipchak-Polovtsian, Kipchak-Bulgar, Kipchak-Nogai subgroups of the Kipchak group of languages, which are associated with modern Karaim, Kumyk, Karachay-Balkarian, Crimean Tatar, Tatar, Bashkir, Nogai, Karakalpak, Kazakh languages. Although this classification of N. A. Baskakov requires more clarifications, and perhaps, to some extent, revision, however, there is no doubt that the Kipchak language and its native speakers were far from unified. There are examples of the heterogeneity of large unions of tribes, different even in language, but having one collective name, in history there are: before the Kipchaks, these were the Huns, earlier - the Sarmatians, even earlier - the Scythians, and later - the Tatars.

So, where does the name "Tatars" come from? Tatars - an ethnonym, the name of some Turkic-speaking tribes of the Eastern Turkic Khaganate, known since the 8th century. according to tombstones on the graves of the leaders of the kaganate. These tribes are known under the names "Tokuz-Tatars" ("Nine Tatars") and "Otuz-Tatars" ("Thirty Tatars"). Tatars are also mentioned in Chinese sources of the 9th century. in the forms yes-yes, ta-ta, tan-tan. In a Persian work of the tenth century "Khudud al-alam" Tatars are named as one of the clans of the Tokuz-Oghuz - the population of the Karakhanid state, formed after the collapse of the Western Turkic Khaganate. Tatars are also known from the sources of the 11th century. So, Mahmud Kashgari names the Tatar tribe among 20 Turkic tribes, and al-Gardizi cites a legend from the history of the formation of the Kimak Khaganate, according to which people from the Tatar tribe played a significant role in it.

In the XII century. Tatars began to play a prominent role in the movement that arose in the steppes of Central Asia in the process of the formation of the Mongol Empire. "According to

1 These events are vividly reflected in a number of valuable sources: in Mongol un-niucha tobcha'an (The Secret History of the Mongols; also known as the Secret History, and in Chinese Yuan-chao-bishi, created in 1240; in the series "Jami'at Tavarih" ("Collection of Chronicles") by an outstanding Persian historian and statesman first floor. 14th century Rashid ad-din; in the Mongolian chronicle of the 17th century. "Altai Tobchi" ("Golden Legend"), as well as in the Chinese chronicle of the XIII century. "Meng-da bei-lu" (" Full description Mongol-Tatars").

sources, in the territory where modern Mongols live, in the XII century. the Mongols proper and other Mongolian tribes lived, for example, the Kereits, Merkits, Oirots and Naimans. If all of them occupied most of the Orkhon and Kerulen basins, as well as lands to the west and north of these rivers, then the Tatars lived in the east, in the areas of lakes Buir-Nor and Kulen-Nor. In sources, especially Meng-da bei-lu, these Tatars are called Eastern Mongolian tribes; despite the fact that they were once Turkic-speaking in origin, over time they were assimilated by more numerous Mongols. This process intensified during the creation of a unified Mongol empire under the leadership of Genghis Khan ("Great Khan"; his own name is Temujin or simply Timuchin).

Being a talented commander and an experienced diplomat, Genghis Khan achieved great success in uniting the scattered Mongol and other tribes subordinate to them. At the same time, he successfully took advantage of the long-standing enmity between some Mongol tribes and the Tatars. Considering the Tatars as their natural enemies (they once killed his father), Genghis took revenge on them all his life, called to exterminate them. When he began his campaign to the west, he put the Tatars in the front detachment of his army, introduced them into battle first, as a kind of suicide bombers. The Western European traveler, the Hungarian monk Julian, who visited Eastern Europe in 1237-1238, i.e., during the period of the Mongol conquests, wrote that the Mongols, having armed the tribes and peoples they had defeated, sent themselves into battle and forced them to call them Tatars. Another Flemish traveler, Guillaume Rubruk, visiting Karakorum, the capital of the Mongol Empire, in 1254, wrote: “Then Genghis sent Tatars everywhere, and from there their name spread, as everywhere they shouted:“ Here come the Tatars ”

Consequently, according to the name of the avant-garde detachment, the entire Mongol invasion was accepted as Tatar. Soon this name became a common, common noun

1 Guillaume de Rubruk. Journey to the Eastern countries. - In the book: Journey to the eastern countries of Plano Carpini and Rubruk. M., 1957, p. 116.

for all these conquerors. Actually, the Tatars, originally Turkic-speaking tribes, had already disappeared as an ethnic group by that time, were assimilated, absorbed by the Mongols, leaving only their name behind them. The entire Mongol conquest was called Mongol-Tatar or Tatar.

However, soon after the creation of the Golden Horde in the western regions of the vast Mongol Empire and the return of the main Mongol forces to Central Mongolia, the same story happened to the Mongols themselves, who remained in the new conquered lands - in Desht-i-Kipchak. As we saw above according to the message of al-Omari, they were assimilated by the Kipchaks, but left their common name"Tatars". There are enough such phenomena in history; let us remember only the Asparukh Bulgarians, who were absorbed over time by the southern, Danubian Slavs, who took the name “Bulgarians” from them, as they are now called.

Gradually, the word "Tatars" began to be used to name the Turkic-speaking population of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and Western Siberia; at the same time, it spread most of all in the western regions - in the Volga region and in adjacent regions. The name of the military-feudal elite was transferred to the entire population of the region, however, this term was used not by these peoples themselves, but by others, primarily Europeans and Russians. In other words, the Turkic world to the east of Rus' was called Tatar, and was known for a long time under the name of Tataria, Tartaria. In the name of this world Tatar, a special role was played by Russian historical and fiction literature, in general public opinion Russia of feudal and later eras.

The artificial spread of the name “Tatars” among the Turkic-speaking peoples of Eastern Europe and adjacent regions was explained by “reminiscences (echoes - R. F.) of the Mongol conquest, primarily Russian historical tradition, because the Russians in most cases retained this term as the name of these peoples, who almost completely did not use this name themselves or did not use it at all.

The most powerful Turkic state after the collapse of the Golden Horde in the Volga region was Kazan

1 Sat. The origin of the Kazan Tatars, p. 137.

the khanate is the nearest eastern neighbor of Russia, which, according to the old tradition, was accepted as Tatar. In Russian sources reflecting the events of the 15th century, the time of formation and the initial history of this khanate, along with the words “Bulgarians”, “Besermens” (from the word “Busurmans”, that is, Muslims), the word “Tatars” appears. The entire XV century is the time of the parallel application of these three terms to refer to the population of the new, Bulgaro-Tatar land - first the Kazan principality, and then the khanate. However, the population itself, i.e. the former Bulgars, did not yet call themselves Tatars. Both in the 15th and 16th centuries, already in the period of the independent existence of the Kazan Khanate, this population was called mainly Kazanians, which is noted, as we have seen above, in Russian chronicles: “Bulgarians, verbs of Kazan”. Another curious example: in the “Kazan History” known to us, the author of which lived 20 years in Kazan before the capture of Ivan the Terrible by the troops, the term “Kazan” in the meaning of the main population of Kazan and the Kazan Khanate is mentioned 650 times, while “Tatars” - only 90 once.

"Tatars" as a self-name of the people began to be used only in the 19th century. In other words, the Tatars began to call themselves Tatars only during this period. However, even then there was still some strangeness of this word. In protest against this name, the old-timers often called themselves Muslims, or simply Bulgars. In numerous Tatar shezhers (genealogies), compiled at the end of the 19th - the first quarter of the 20th centuries, the epithet "al-Bulgari" (Bulgarian) is very common. Moreover, it was worn not only by representatives of the early generations, but also by the compilers themselves. The epithet "al-Bulgari" is characteristic of all centuries from the 12th century up to the 20s of our century.

At the end of XIX - beginning of XX centuries. a number of Turkic-speaking peoples of Russia also bore the common name "Tatars". In addition to the Kazan, Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov and Crimean Tatars, there were, for example, Azerbaijani, Turkmen, Uzbek, Jagatai Tatars, Kazakh Tatars, Kirghiz Tatars, Khakass Tatars and others. After the Great October Socialist Revolution, all these peoples, except for the Tatars, regained their original names, ethnonyms. The name "Tatars", although with difficulty, but fixed forever and became the self-name of the modern Tatar people - the very

numerous Turkic-speaking people of Eastern Europe, who left the most noticeable mark in the complex medieval history this region. It was also firmly entrenched in the population of the former Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov and Crimean khanates, formed at one time after the final collapse of the Golden Horde - the former "Tatar" state.

It should be noted that the nationalist Tatar bourgeoisie, who considered themselves the descendants of the “great Genghis”, the Horde, also played a certain role in the adoption of this name. One way or another, the name "Tatars" by the will of fate was assigned to the whole people. However, it must always be clearly borne in mind that the origin of a people and the origin of its name often do not coincide, which is especially clearly seen in the example of the modern Tatar people.

There was a time when modern Tatars were considered descendants of the Mongols conquerors. This idea, i.e., the idea of ​​the Mongol origin of the Tatar people, was widespread in the former, aristocratic-bourgeois historiography. Although the echoes of this theory are still alive to a certain extent, our Soviet historical science practically already abandoned it, primarily because between the Mongols-Genghisids of the XII-XIII centuries. and modern Tatars have nothing in common either in language, or in anthropology, or in material and spiritual culture. The current Tatars, as is known, have long spoken Turkic (Tatar), and not Mongolian. According to the structure of their physical type, they belong to caucasian race, and the Mongols were and now are pronounced Mongoloids. True, among current Tatars there is a small proportion of Mongoloids - 14.5%; in addition to them, there is a noticeable part of sublaponoids (a type formed as a result of mixing Caucasoids and Mongoloids) - these make up 24.5%. However, they are by no means descendants of the Mongols conquerors.

According to anthropologists, the Mongoloid nature of modern Tatars is associated with the Kipchaks, and the sublaponoid type was formed as a result of the penetration of the Siberian (Mongoloid) tribes of the 1st millennium AD into the Middle Volga region. e. (and even earlier) and mixing them with local Caucasians. Between the Chingizid Mongols and modern Tatars - the Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals - there is nothing in common and ethnography

Czech. There are no Mongolian archaeological sites in Tataria and adjacent regions, with the exception of the remains of several houses typical of Central Asia, which did not play a role in the formation of the ethnos.

Above, it was briefly told about the origin of the Kazan Tatars and Tatars-Mishars. In addition to them, there are other ethnographic groups of modern Tatars - the Siberian, Astrakhan, Kasimov Tatars mentioned above. The Altai Turks and, to a certain extent, the late Kipchaks played a role in the formation of the ethnos of the Siberian Tatars. Astrakhan Tatars also have early and late components: Khazars and Nogais. Kasimov Tatars are natives of the Kazan Khanate, Kazan Tatars, but in the west they have largely mixed with the Mishar Tatars.

These groups include separate small groups. Each of them. passed its historical path. This path has not always been direct. Entering into ethno-cultural contact with other groups, peoples, these groups were enriched with new elements of language and culture. As a result historical development all these groups and subgroups were created in the 19th century. bourgeois, and after the Great October Revolution - the Tatar socialist nation. From time immemorial, the Tatar people have lived in friendship with the great Russian people and with other peoples, sharing with them, in the words of Tukay, "their rich language, customs and morality."

In 1913, the seriously ill Tukay, in his incomplete 27 years, wrote two months before his death:

Our trace will not fade on Russian soil.

We are the image of Russia in mirror glass.

We lived and sang in harmony with the Russians of old,

Evidence - manners, habits, vocabulary.

We have long been related to the Russian people,

In all trials we stand together.

Such kinship cannot be avoided at times, -

We were firmly connected by a thread of history!

Like tigers, we are bold in the anxieties of war,

Like horses we work in peaceful days.

Fortunately - with any people on a par -

We have the right in our native country! 1

The poet's cherished dream of the equality of his people with other peoples came true after the Great October Revolution. October, the great Lenin gave the Tatar people freedom, they gave the republic. Today is almost seven millionth Tatar people- in a single, friendly, family of Soviet socialist nations.

1 Gabdulla Tukay. Favorites. M., 1986, p. 146-147.

Tatars - Turkic people living in the central part of European Russia, as well as in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia, in the Far East, in the Crimea, as well as in Kazakhstan, in the states of Central Asia and in the Chinese Autonomous Republic of XUAR. About 5.3 million people of Tatar nationality live in the Russian Federation, which is 4% of the total population of the country, in terms of numbers they rank second after Russians, 37% of all Tatars in Russia live in the Republic of Tatarstan in the capital of the Volga Federal District with the capital in Kazan and make up most (53%) of the population of the republic. The national language is Tatar (a group of Altaic languages, a Turkic group, a Kypchak subgroup), which has several dialects. Most of the Tatars are Sunni Muslims, there are also Orthodox, and those who do not identify themselves with specific religious movements.

Cultural heritage and family values

Tatar traditions of housekeeping and family way of life are mostly preserved in villages and settlements. Kazan Tatars, for example, lived in wooden huts, which differed from Russians only in that they did not have a vestibule and the common room was divided into a female and male half, separated by a curtain (charshau) or a wooden partition. In any Tatar hut, the presence of green and red chests was obligatory, which were later used as a bride's dowry. In almost every house, a framed piece of text from the Koran, the so-called “shamail”, hung on the wall, it hung over the threshold as a talisman, and a wish of happiness and prosperity was written on it. Many bright juicy colors and shades were used to decorate the house and the adjacent territory, the interior was richly decorated with embroidery, since Islam forbids depicting humans and animals, mainly embroidered towels, bedspreads and other things were decorated with geometric ornaments.

The head of the family is the father, his requests and instructions must be carried out unquestioningly, the mother in a special place of honor. Tatar children with early years they teach to respect the elders, not to hurt the younger ones and always help the disadvantaged. The Tatars are very hospitable, even if a person is an enemy of the family, but he came to the house as a guest, they will not refuse him anything, they will feed him, give him drink and offer him an overnight stay. Tatar girls are brought up as modest and decent future housewives, they are taught in advance to manage the household and prepare for marriage.

Tatar customs and traditions

Rites are calendar and family sense. The first are related to labor activity(sowing, harvesting, etc.) and are held every year at about the same time. Family ceremonies are held as needed in accordance with the changes that have taken place in the family: the birth of children, the conclusion of marriage alliances and other rituals.

The traditional Tatar wedding is characterized by the obligatory observance of the Muslim ritual nikah, which takes place at home or in a mosque in the presence of a mullah, festive table are exclusively Tatar national dishes: chak-chak, kort, katyk, kosh-tele, peremyachi, kaymak, etc., guests do not eat pork and do not drink alcoholic beverages. The male groom puts on a skullcap, the female bride puts on a long dress with closed sleeves, a headscarf is obligatory on her head.

Tatar wedding ceremonies are characterized by a preliminary agreement between the parents of the bride and groom to conclude a marriage union, often even without their consent. The groom's parents must pay a dowry, the amount of which is discussed in advance. If the size of the kalym does not suit the groom, and he wants to "save", there is nothing shameful in stealing the bride before the wedding.

When a child is born, a mullah is invited to him, he performs a special ceremony, whispering prayers in the child's ear that drive away evil spirits and his name. Guests come with gifts, a festive table is set for them.

Islam has a huge impact on the social life of the Tatars and therefore the Tatar people divide all holidays into religious ones, they are called “gaeta” - for example, Uraza Gaeta - a holiday in honor of the end of fasting, or Korban Gaeta, a feast of sacrifice, and secular or folk “Bayram”, meaning "spring beauty or celebration."

On the holiday of Uraza, believing Muslim Tatars spend the whole day in prayers and conversations with Allah, asking him for protection and removal of sins, you can drink and eat only after sunset.

During the celebrations of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice and the end of the Hajj, also called the holiday of goodness, every self-respecting Muslim, after performing the morning prayer in the mosque, must slaughter a sacrificial ram, sheep, goat or cow and distribute the meat to those in need.

One of the most significant pre-Islamic holidays is considered the holiday of the plow Sabantuy, which is held in the spring and symbolizes the end of sowing. The culmination of the celebration is the holding of various competitions and competitions in running, wrestling or horse racing. Also, a treat is obligatory for all those present - porridge or botkasy in Tatar, which used to be prepared from common products in a huge cauldron on one of the hills or hillocks. Also at the festival, it was obligatory to have a large number of colored eggs in order for children to collect them. Main holiday Republic of Tatarstan Sabantuy is recognized at the official level and is held every year in the Birch Grove of the village of Mirny near Kazan.

TATARS, Tatarlar(self-name), people in Russia (the second largest after the Russians), main population of the Republic of Tatarstan .

According to the 2002 Census, 5 million 558 thousand Tatars live in Russia. They live in the Republic of Tatarstan (2 million people), Bashkiria (991 thousand people), Udmurtia, Mordovia, the Mari Republic, Chuvashia, as well as in the regions of the Volga-Ural region, Western and Eastern Siberia and the Far East. They live in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, Ukraine, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. According to the 2010 Census, 5,310,649 Tatars live in Russia.

History of the ethnonym

For the first time ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Mongolian and Turkic tribes in the 6th-9th centuries, but was fixed as a common ethnonym only in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

In the 13th century, the Mongols who created the Golden Horde included the tribes they conquered, including the Turks, who were called Tatars. In the 13-14 centuries, the Kipchaks, who were numerically predominant in the Golden Horde, assimilated all the other Turkic-Mongolian tribes, but adopted the ethnonym "Tatars". The European peoples, Russians and some Central Asian peoples also called the population of this state.

In the khanates formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde, the noble layers of Kypchak-Nogai origin called themselves Tatars. They are the ones who played leading role in the spread of the ethnonym. However, among the Tatars in the 16th century it was perceived as derogatory, and until the second half of the 19th century there were other self-names: Meselman, Kazanly, Bulgarians, Misher, Tipter, Nagaybek and others - in the Volga-Ural and nougai, karagash, yurt, tatars and others- the Astrakhan Tatars. Except for Meselman, all of them were local self-names. The process of national consolidation led to the choice of a unifying self-name. By the time of the 1926 census, most Tatars called themselves Tatars. In recent years, a small number in Tatarstan and other regions of the Volga region call themselves Bulgars or Volga Bulgars.

Language

Tatar language belongs to the Kypchak-Bulgarian subgroup of the Kypchak group of the Turkic branch of the Altaic language family and has three main dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). literary norm was formed on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect with the participation of Mishar. Writing based on Cyrillic graphics.

Religion

Most believing Tatars are Sunni Muslims of the Hanafi madhhab. The population of the former Volga Bulgaria was Muslim from the 10th century and remained so in the Horde, therefore standing out among neighboring peoples. Then, after the entry of the Tatars into the Muscovite state, their ethnic self-consciousness became even more intertwined with the religious. Some of the Tatars even defined their nationality as "meselman", i.e. Muslims. At the same time, they retained (and partly retain to this day) elements of the ancient pre-Islamic calendar rituals.

Traditional activities

The basis of the traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars in the 19th and early 20th centuries was plowed agriculture. They grew winter rye, oats, barley, lentils, millet, spelt, flax, and hemp. They were also engaged in horticulture and melon growing. Pasture-stall animal husbandry resembled nomadic in some ways. For example, horses in certain areas whole year grazed on pasture. Only the Mishars were seriously engaged in hunting. A high level of development was achieved by handicraft and manufactory production (jewelry, felting, furriery, weaving and gold embroidery), tanneries and cloth factories were operating, and trade was developed.

National Costume

Men and women consisted of trousers with a wide step and a shirt, which was worn with a sleeveless jacket, often embroidered. Tatar women's costume was distinguished by an abundance of jewelry made of silver, cowrie shells, glass beads. Cossacks served as outerwear, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. Men wore a skullcap on their heads, and over it a fur hat or a hat made of felt. Women wore an embroidered velvet cap and a scarf. The traditional shoes of the Tatars are leather ichigi with soft soles, over which they put on galoshes.

Sources: Peoples of Russia: Atlas of Cultures and Religions / Ed. V.A. Tishkov, A.V. Zhuravsky, O.E. Kazmina. - M.: CPI "Design. Information. Cartography", 2008.

Peoples and Religions of the World: Encyclopedia / Ch. ed. V.A. Tishkov. Editors: O.Yu.Artemova, S.A.Arutyunov, A.N.Kozhanovsky, V.M.Makarevich (deputy chief editor), V.A.Popov, P.I. ed.), G.Yu. Sitnyansky. - M .: Great Russian Encyclopedia, 1998, - 928 p.: ill. — ISBN 5-85270-155-6

According to the 2010 census, there are more than 5 million Tatars in Russia. The Kazan Tatars have their own national autonomy within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Tatarstan. Siberian Tatars do not have national autonomy. But among them there are those who want to call themselves Siberian Tatars. About 200 thousand people during the census declared this. And there is a basis for this position.

One of the main questions: should the Tatars be considered a single people or a union of close ethnolinguistic groups? Among the Tatar sub-ethnic groups, in addition to the Kazan and Siberian Tatars, there are also Tatars-Mishars, Astrakhan, Polish-Lithuanian and others.

Often even the common name - "Tatars" - is not accepted by many representatives of these groups. Kazan Tatars for a long time called themselves Kazanians, Siberian - Muslims. In Russian sources of the 16th century, the Siberian Tatars were called "Busormans", "Tatars", "Siberian people". Common name Kazan and Siberian Tatars got it through the efforts of the Russian administration at the end of the 19th century. In Russian and Western European practice, for a long time even representatives of peoples who did not belong to them were called Tatars.

Language

Now many Siberian Tatars have accepted the official point of view that their language is the eastern dialect of literary Tatar, which is spoken by the Volga Tatars. However, there are opponents of this opinion. According to them, Siberian-Tatar is an independent language belonging to the northwestern (Kypchak) group of languages, it has its own dialects, which are divided into dialects. For example, the Tobol-Irtysh dialect includes Tyumen, Tar, Tevriz and other dialects. Not all Siberian Tatars understand literary Tatar. However, it is on it that teaching is conducted in schools and it is studied at universities. At the same time, Siberian Tatars prefer to speak their own language at home.

Origin

There are several theories of the origin of the Tatars: Bulgaro-Tatar, Turko-Tatar and Tatar-Mongolian. Supporters of the fact that the Volga and Siberian Tatars are two different people, adhere mainly to the Bulgaro-Tatar version. According to her, the Kazan Tatars are the descendants of the Bulgars, Turkic-speaking tribes who lived on the territory of the Bulgar state.

The ethnonym "Tatars" came to this territory with the Mongol-Tatars. In the XIII century, under the onslaught of the Mongol-Tatars, the Volga Bulgaria became part of the Golden Horde. After its collapse, independent khanates began to form, the largest of which was Kazan.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the historian Gainetdin Akhmetov wrote: “Although it is traditionally believed that the Bulgars and Kazan are two states that have replaced one another, but with careful historical comparison and study, it is easy to find out their direct heredity and, to some extent, even identity: in Kazan Khanate lived the same Turkic-Bulgarian people.

Siberian Tatars are defined as an ethnic group formed from a complex combination of Mongolian, Samoyedic, Turkic, Ugric components. First, the ancestors of the Khanty and Mansi came to Siberia, followed by the Turks, among whom were the Kypchaks. It was from the environment of the latter that the core of the Siberian Tatars was formed. According to some researchers, some of the Kipchaks migrated further to the territory of the Volga region and also mixed with the Bulgars.

In the XIII century, the Mongols-Tatars came to Western Siberia. In the XIV century, the first state formation of the Siberian Tatars arose - the Tyumen Khanate. At the beginning of the 16th century, it became part of the Siberian Khanate. Over the course of several centuries, there was also a mixture with the peoples living in Central Asia.

The ethnic groups of the Kazan and Siberian Tatars formed at about the same time - around the 15th century.

Appearance

A significant part of the Kazan Tatars (up to 60%) outwardly look like Europeans. There are especially many fair-haired and light-eyed people among the Kryashens - a group of baptized Tatars who also live on the territory of Tatarstan. It is sometimes noted that the appearance of the Volga Tatars was formed as a result of contacts with the Finno-Ugric peoples. Siberian Tatars are more like the Mongols - they are dark-eyed, dark-haired, with high cheekbones.

customs

Siberian and Kazan Tatars are mostly Sunni Muslims. However, they also retained elements of pre-Islamic beliefs. From the Siberian Turks, for example, the Siberian Tatars inherited the veneration of ravens for a long time. Although the same rite of "crow porridge", which was cooked before the start of sowing, is now almost forgotten.

The Kazan Tatars had rituals, largely adopted from the Finno-Ugric tribes, for example, wedding ones. Ancient funeral rituals, now completely supplanted by Muslim traditions, originated in the rituals of the Bulgars.

To a large extent, the customs and traditions of the Siberian and Kazan Tatars have already mixed and unified. This happened after many residents of the Kazan Khanate conquered by Ivan the Terrible migrated to Siberia, as well as under the influence of globalization.

TATARS OF THE URAL-VOLGA REGION(self-name - Tatars), people, the main population of Tatarstan (1765 thousand people, 1992) They also live in the Republic of Bashkortostan - 1120.7 (1989), the Mari Republic, Mordovia, Udmurtia, Chuvashia, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Penza and other regions Russian Federation. The Turkic-speaking communities of Siberia (Siberian Tatars), Crimea (Crimean Tatars), Astrakhan, etc. are also called Tatars. The total number in the Russian Federation (excluding Crimean Tatars) is 5.52 million people. (1992) Total number - 6.71 million people. Tatar. Believing Tatars - Sunni Muslims.An event in the life of the Tatars of Bashkiria was the opening in 2005 in the village of Kilim of the Tatar historical and cultural center -.

As an addition, I post an article

TO THE QUESTION OF THE ORIGIN OF THE VOLGA TARTARS*

A. P. Smirnov(Questions of Ethnogenesis, No. 2, 1946, pp. 37-50).

A lot of works are devoted to the topic of the formation of the Tatars of the Volga region. All points of view expressed can be reduced to the following.

Some researchers considered the Tatars of the Volga region to be one of the Turkish peoples who received their name from the Mongols and speak one of the Turkish languages. These researchers believe that the Tatars were formed from various peoples who fell into the forest-steppe Volga region at different times, and included local Finnish tribes in their composition. The process of the formation of this people began from the era of the Mongol conquest. This point of view was shared by many historians, including Gubaidulin, Vorobyov and Veselovsky. Other researchers considered the Tatars of the Volga region to be mainly Mongols, among whom a certain stream of Turkic elements can be noted. This group includes Klaproth, Iakinf, Dosson, Wolf, Erdman, Radlov, Bartold. Finally, a third theory was expressed, the supporters of which brought the Tatars out of the Bulgar tribes. This point of view was defended by M. G. Khudyakov, S. P. Tolstov.

Most of the ancient authors considered the Tatars to be Turks.

So, Rashid-Eddin-Juveini noted that the Tatars call themselves Mongols and many Turkish clans adopted this name; by origin they were Turks. Mahmud of Kashgar, an anonymous author, Ibn-Batuta and Abul-Gazi were on the same point of view. At the same time, Ibn-Batuta argued that the Turkic language was not only vernacular, but in the era of Khan Uzbek - the language of the ruling elite. For a correct understanding of the ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars, it is not enough to study the historical process, starting from the era of the Mongol invasion, but it is necessary to consider earlier eras.

The historical process in the Middle Volga and Lower Kama regions is quite well studied, starting from the 1st millennium BC. e.

This time (the Ananyino culture) is known from the material of ancient settlements and graves. A number of summary works on the monuments of this time, of which I will note the studies of A. D. Spitsin, A. M. Tallgren, A. V. Schmidt, give reason to assert that the culture of this time is genetically related to the culture of the previous era, which was influenced by the southern - log culture. Big interest represents the anthropological material of this time. During the excavations of the Lugovsky burial ground, 36 skulls were obtained. The studies of T. D. Trofimova established their pronounced Mongoloid character; only some of them showed a weakly manifested Caucasoid admixture. T. A. Trofimova noted in her work that the Mongoloid type represented in the burials of the Lugovsky burial ground is distinguished by a relatively low and very flat face with an extremely slightly protruding nose and a sharply sloping forehead with a strongly developed eyebrow.

The Khazars undoubtedly were the first owners of that marketplace, on the site of which the international fair-city of Bulgar later grew up.

Until the middle of the tenth century the Bulgars were dependent on the Khazars. In the note of Iba-Fadlan, there is a message that the Bulgars pay tribute to the Khazar king, information is given about the military campaigns of the Khazars against the Bulgars. All this gives grounds to attribute the first major penetration of the Turkic elements, which have been preserved in the language of modern Tatars, to the 6th-10th centuries.

The Bulgarian state, which arose in the tenth century. was multicultural.

Along with the local tribes who left us settlements with bast ceramics, we see the newcomer, the Bulgar horde, from among the Alanian tribes noted above, we see the strong influence of the Khazars and the penetration of the Turkic element with it. Finally, we meet here with representatives numerous nations settled in the Volga region. Here, as well as to the south, in the monuments of the Tsimlyansk settlement, the Slavic stream was strong. Excavations in the Tsimlyansk settlement recent years a large number of purely Slavic burials were discovered. Arabic sources say a lot about Russians in Bulgaria. Apparently, the Russians, attracted by trade with the locals, had numerous colonies and, to some extent, could assimilate with the local population. It is known that the Bulgars also went to the Russian lands, in particular to the Vladimir-Suzdal principality.

The second way of assimilation with the Russians was wars and, as a result of them, prisoners.

V. V. Bartold considers it possible to attribute to the Volga Bulgars the news about the “sovereign of the Slavs”, to whom, along with the sovereigns of the Greeks and Khazars, the Armenians, who had fled from the Arabs, turned in 852 with a request for help. Finally, representatives of the surrounding Chud tribes settled in Bulgaria proper. This latter is well traced in the archaeological material.

An important role in the formation of the Kazan Tatars was played by the Polovtsy, who took part in the political life of the country, which can be judged at least from the description in the Russian chronicle under 1183, the year of the Russian campaign against the Bulgars.

In the archaeological In the material of the Bulgars, there are many Polovtsian items confirming these historical information. All the materials cited indicate that the process of formation of the peoples of the Lower Kama region in the Bulgar era was very complex. Finally, one cannot ignore the influx of population from Central Asia. From the note of Ibn-Fadlan it can be established that even before the arrival of the embassy of Caliph Muktadir, artisans from Central Asia lived in Bulgaria. After the establishment of connections, which appeared as a result of the embassy in 922, the number of craftsmen of various kinds increased.

The Mongol conquest introduced minor changes in the composition of the population of Bulgaria.

The defeat of 1236 affected mainly central regions. Tatars did not spread deep into the forests. Having defeated the cities, the Mongols moved on, invading the Ryazan lands in 1237. The Russian chronicles report a second pogrom in 1240, after which relations were established between the Bulgars and the conquering Mongols, which were also characteristic of Rus'. The Bulgar princes, like the Russians, received labels for reigning; the Bulgars, like the Russians, were subject to tribute. Is it possible to speak about any change of culture and population in Bulgaria? There are no grounds for this. The study of the Bulgaro-Tatar culture shows much in common between the monuments of the first and second periods.

Anthropological studies show that the Tatars of the Middle Volga region are a Caucasoid group with a slight Mongoloid admixture.

Among the Tatars there are: a dark mesocephalic Caucasoid type (Pontic race), reminiscent of the type of Bulgarians and Circassians, light Caucasoid types and a sublaponoid type - a descendant of the ancient local Mongoloid population of the Ananyin era, widespread among the surrounding Finnish and Russian population, and a Mongoloid - South Siberian appearance, known in the southern Russian steppes among the nomads, both in the pre-Golden Horde era, and among the tribes conquered by the Golden Horde. Anthropologists have not established Mongoloid types of Central Asian origin, actually Mongolian, among the Tatars of the Middle Volga region. This proves that the Tatars, having passed the Volga Bulgaria with fire and sword, did not settle in the Middle Volga region and, in any case, did not have a noticeable influence on the formation of the physical appearance of modern Tatars.

After the conquest of Bulgaria by the Mongols, the Bulgars retained their name for a long time.

Their princes, like the Russians, enjoyed a great deal of independence in internal affairs, receiving labels from the khans to reign. Under own name Bulgars, not Tatars, the Russian chronicle also knows them. So, in the events of 1311, 1366, 1370, 1374-1391. the Bulgars were called either Bulgarians or (in the Nikon Chronicle) - Kazanians or Besermens, but nowhere are they designated as Tatars.

Even referring to the events of the beginning of the 15th century, in particular the campaign of Prince Fyodor Motley, the chronicle calls the Bulgars by their name. “In the summer of 6939 ... The same summer, from the Grand Duke Vasily Vasilyevich, the voivode, Prince Fedor Davydovich Motley went to fight against the Bulgarians and took it.” And later, listing the lands under the Russian crown, the chronicler reports: “The Great Prince Ivan Vasilyevich, Vladimir, Moscow, Novgorod, Pskov, Tver, Yugra, Perm, Bulgarian, Smolensk and many other lands, king and sovereign of all Rus'.” Even the new capital of the Bulgar kingdom, Kazan, according to Narmukhamet, the son of Agmedzyan, was also called "New Bulgar".

In the XVI century. for the Russian chronicler, the Kazan Tatars were synonymous with the Bulgars.

We also meet this much later among the Udmurts, who call the Tatars Besermen. True, in a number of places the word besermenin also means “alien”, “foreigner”. On the. the solution of the issue of accepting the name of the Tatars by the Bulgars sheds light on Rashid-Eddin-Juveini. He writes: “They (Tatars) ruled and dominated in ancient days most of the time over the strongest tribes and countries with power, strength and perfect honor. For the sake of their extraordinary greatness and respect, other Turkish clans, moving degrees, ranks and their names, became known under their name and were all called Tatars. And those various families saw their greatness and dignity in the fact that they attributed themselves to them and became known by their name. So, together with other peoples, the Bulgars also received this name. The Bulgars themselves seem to have sought to keep their name for quite a long time and politically did not merge with the Golden Horde, although culturally it is often difficult to distinguish between the Bulgars and the Golden Horde. The desire of the Bulgars for independence and the desire of the Tatars to finally subjugate the Bulgars is evidenced by at least the event of 1370, when the Russians with the Tatars went to the Bulgars. For neighbors, the similarity of the culture of the Bulgars and the Golden Horde could from the XIV century. lead to confusion of tribal names.

The transfer of the center of the Bulgar state to Kazan and the "New Bulgar" and the transfer of power to Ulu-Mohammed, who gave the state a new political and military organization, strengthened this position.

Since that time, the name Tatars has finally been established for the population of the Middle Volga region. It was only a name change, and the Tatars themselves, and their neighbors, continued to call themselves Bulgars. Such a connection with the Bulgars has survived to the present. Tatars, especially old people, consider themselves descendants of the Bulgars. Monuments of the Bulgar history ( architectural structures, tombstones) are considered sacred and carefully guarded. The XIV century is the time of expansion of the Bulgar influence on the neighbors. This can be clearly seen from the grave monuments, spread far beyond the main Bulgar territory. Muslim propaganda under the protection of the khans of the Golden Horde took on a large scale. It is also indisputable that the defeat of the main centers of Bulgaria at the end of the XIV-beginning of the XV century. (the last defeat - the campaign of Prince F. Motley in 1431) led to the departure of the population to the Zakama forests, to the assimilation of the local Finnish population and the spread of the Bulgar culture. Here we can therefore speak of a secondary crossing and Chud tribes. In turn, these peoples had their influence on the culture and physical appearance of the Tatar-Bulgars.

When considering the monuments of material culture, it was noted that the culture of the Bulgars of the Golden Horde time was formed on the basis of the local culture of the previous era.

If we compare the culture of the Bulgaro-Tatar with the culture of the Kazan Khanate and modern Tatars, then it is easy to make sure that the Bulgar culture was the basis of the culture of the Kazan Tatars. The latter over its long historical path, like the culture of any people, has absorbed a large number of all kinds of influences and now is a complex conglomerate. Consideration of the culture of the Tatars of the Volga region is best done by its individual elements.

A significant place is occupied by architectural monuments.

Unfortunately, we currently do not know almost completely the architecture of the Kazan Khanate, as a result of which a large chronological segment falls out. Partially, this shortcoming can be made up for by the architecture of the Kasimov kingdom, which has come down to us in the form of individual monuments. Tatar architecture, in particular dwellings, has the monuments of the Bulgars as its prototype. The dwelling of the ancient Bulgars was quite fully revealed by excavations of the ruins of Suvar and Bulgar; among a number of partially preserved houses, buildings were discovered, which made it possible to establish precisely that the type of dwelling that existed in the Bulgar era was preserved in the subsequent time, although along with it in the 13th century. after the Mongol conquest, another appeared. Suvar's excavation data was confirmed by Eastern writers.

Ancient Bulgarian house -

or a log house or adobe structure, close to a square in plan, with an adobe stove placed at some distance from the wall. In front of the oven there is a hole in the underground, with two granary pits. It was possible to establish that the adobe houses had a flat roof. The houses were surrounded by outbuildings. Of interest is a rich brick house, discovered in the center of Suvar, built in the 10th century, later destroyed and repeatedly restored. Originally it was a house almost square in plan, with an underfloor heating system; it was surrounded by outbuildings and a brick wall.

This brick house can be called a palace by its location and inventory. Apparently, for the tenth century. it was a rather rare building. The plan of this house basically repeats the ordinary houses of the townspeople and is very close to the house discovered by V. A. Gorodtsov during the study of old Ryazan. Whether this similarity was the result of the influence of the Bulgars on the Russians or, conversely, the Russians on the Bulgars, is difficult to decide. It is most likely that the creation of a common type was influenced by local conditions, the same for the tribes that made up the Bulgar kingdom and the Ryazan principality.

Similar houses continued to exist in the Golden Horde era.

The palace has changed significantly, it received columns and facing with glazed tiles. In the XIII century. it was an elongated building with a small vestibule and apparently had two floors. This type of house later passed into the architecture of the Kazan Khanate, which can be judged from the material of the city of Kasimov, where a house is noted that is similar in general appearance to the Suvar one. As can be judged from the excavations of the Golden Horde cities of the Lower Volga region, there were quite a lot of rich brick buildings. Their distinguishing feature was the multi-room and polychromy in processing.

If we take a modern Tatar estate, we will see similarities with the ancient Bulgar dwellings. Among the Tatars, the house was usually placed in the middle of the estate, on poles and surrounded by outbuildings. The entire estate is surrounded by a fence overlooking the street, so that the street is a long blank wall. A modern house is close in plan to a square with a stove in the middle or closer to a blank wall. The house has a wooden floor. Along with the log house, in the southern regions there are houses and baths, half dug into the ground and representing, as it were, a dugout with a roll and a flat roof, houses made of adobe, adobe. Looking at them, we see that modern buildings have been developed from the ancient Bulgar ones. Ancient adobe buildings can be compared with modern adobe buildings.

In the ornamentation of the Tatar dwelling, the main element is not carving, but rich polychrome coloring.

As a rule, on the main green or yellow field, narrow strips of white are given, interspersed with blue and red. The gates are also painted green; all the details, such as trims and rosettes, are in yellow and blue tones.

Analyzing the ornamentation of the Tatar house, one involuntarily wants to recall the houses of the Bulgar-Golden Horde period, where we meet with the decoration of the building with polychrome tiles, and the colors of modern houses give tones similar to the Golden Horde glazed tiles. The data that we have allow us to assert that the architecture of modern Tatars was developed from the Bulgar, from their city buildings and city estates.

Separate parts of the Tatar clothing have the same form as that of other peoples of the Kama region.

So, Tatar shirts are similar to Finnish ones and differ from the latter only in that they are sewn from a wide canvas, and not from a narrow one, like the Finns of the Volga region. The hat is of particular interest. Currently, the Tatars have two varieties: spherical and cylindrical. The first is usually sewn from cloth, drape, almost always black. These spherical hats are usually worn by peasants and poor townspeople, especially the elderly. The height of these hats is 15-20 cm. This type of spherical hat is currently the most common; this form must be considered specific to the Tatars, while other Turkish peoples usually use a conical hat with a wide edge of fur. N. I. Vorobyov believes that “upon a detailed study, it can be assumed with some degree of probability that the hemispherical cap came from the same source as the makja, i.e. from the balaclava, but not from the Persian Kalapush.” Other researchers believe that this hat is borrowed from the Persians.

It is difficult to agree with these hypotheses. The image of a warrior on a slab from the Ananyino burial ground conveys the same type of cap, close to conical. The easiest way to derive this type of spherical cap is from the headdress of the Ananyin era. There, this cap has two features at the base, which, perhaps, convey the edge. These data, commonality with the Chuvash clothing and the Ananyin era, testify to the deep local roots of the Tatar culture. Its basis is the Bulgar one, on which a large number of all kinds of influences have accumulated over a long period of time.

It should also be remembered that one of the largest remnants of ancient forms among the Tatars - the remains of nomadic life - again connects them with the ancient Bulgars, whose everyday life had elements of nomadic life already in the 10th century. existed as a relic, as can be judged from the note of Ibn Fadlan.

Along with the remnants of nomadic life, coming from the Bulgars, the Tatars retained quite a few elements of pre-Muslim beliefs, and these latter are very close to the tribal religious beliefs of other peoples of the Volga region.

Interesting material pointing to deep local roots is provided by the mythology of the Kazan Tatars.

Despite the fact that Islam has become the dominant religion in the region since the second quarter of the 10th century, nevertheless, in the minds of the Tatars, many remnants of the tribal religion have been preserved until recently, very similar to the ideas of other peoples of the Volga and Kama regions.

In this case, the mythology that has been preserved since ancient times in the Vyatka-Kama region is important. Here, first of all, it is necessary to note the faith in the brownie (oh-ace); in the view of the Tatars, this is an old man with long hair. The Tatars also have a barn owner (abzar-eyse), who appears to people in the form of a person or an animal. It has to do with livestock. Oi-Eise and Abzar-Eise are very similar to the corresponding images of Udmurt mythology.

Bichura, according to the mythologies of the Tatars,

a small woman, 125 cm tall, with an ancient headdress, lives underground or in a bathhouse. Because of Bichura, sometimes they abandoned the house, or, conversely, they believed that Bichura helped the owner to get rich. Close to her stands Yurtava - the goddess of the hearth, the house from the Mordovian pantheon.

All the peoples of the Volga region have preserved remnants of faith in the goblin.

In Tatar mythology, under the name Shuryale, he lives in dense forests, looks like a man, has long strong fingers up to 12 cm long and unusually long nipples, which he throws over his shoulder. He loves to take passers-by into the depths of the forest, loves to ride. A legend has been preserved in which a Shuryale woman is described; she sat naked on a horse, backwards, her head was small with short hair, chest hung, over the shoulder. Similar are Shurale-Alida, Chatches-nunya and Nyules-nunya - Udmurt mythology or Vir-ava - Mordovians, or Arsuri - Chuvash.

Albasty -

evil creatures living in non-residential houses, in wastelands, in fields, and in logs, appear to people in the form of a person or a large cart, haystack, stack, Christmas tree. Albast can crush a person to death, and drinks blood from him. The closest analogy to him in character and even in name is Albast Udmurtov, who lives mainly in empty houses and baths. To expel him from there, it is necessary to set fire to the buildings occupied by him.

A number of spirits

according to the ideas of the Tatars, he lives in the water: syubabasy (water grandfather - the main owner), syu-eyase - his son; syu-yanasy is similar to the Russian mermaid. The Syu-babasy of the Tatars is very close to the Wu-murtu of the Udmurts.

Of great interest is belief in Yuhu -

a snake-maiden, with which one can associate a part of the archaeological material, among which there are a large number of objects reflecting this section of mythology. According to the ideas of the Tatars, a snake lives up to 100 years in its own form; after 100 years, he turns into a human girl (yuhu), but can take the form of a cow, dog, cat.

In the archaeological material of the Kama region, images of snakes come from ancient times. The earliest of them were found in the Gladenovsky bone, the beginning of which dates back to the 6th century. BC. Along with snakes, figures of dragons are very frequent; a number of them date back to the time of the advent of our era, an example of which is the Nyrginda burial ground, where an openwork plate represents a dragon with a woman sitting on her back with a child. Separate figures of dragons are found in more late time, in the so-called Lomavatiev era. These images, which are currently difficult to interpret, indicate the deep antiquity of these representations among the peoples of the Kama region. They once again confirm the local basis of the Tatars of the Volga region;

The connection with other peoples of the Volga region was especially pronounced in the faith of the Tatars in Keremet.

Keremet was called the sacrificial place where the sacrifice was made, as well as the spirit itself, living in this place. The Tatars made sacrifices to Keremeti, for which they slaughtered cattle. The Muslim clergy waged a stubborn struggle against this belief. It is characteristic of all peoples. Middle Volga and Kama regions. So, among the Chuvash, keremetyu or irzamaa was called a quadrangular square, fenced off by a fence, where a sacrifice was made. The spirit itself was also called Keremet. An animal that had passed a special test was usually sacrificed to him. Similar representations also existed in the Uudmurts, who under. by the name of Keremet or Shaitan, they recognized the evil god, as opposed to the good Inmar. The Udmurts also called Keremetyu a sacrificial place where sacrifices were usually made to this evil spirit. There was a belief in Keremet among the Mordovians, although it was not as common as among the Chuvash and Udmurts. The Mordovians had Keremet-szek - the prayer of Keremeti. This prayer in the old days took place around St. Peter's Day and was held in the forest near a large birch. Residents of the surrounding villages gathered for the holiday and brought with them bread, meat, mash and wine. First they prayed, then they feasted and rejoiced.

The second prayer among the Mordovians, associated with Keremet, was called Keremet-ozis-saban - a prayer to the sokh-plow.

In some places this prayer was called saban-ozis. Where forests or trees were preserved near the village, prayers were made there. Each family brought a rooster or a drake, which they slaughtered, cooked stew, prayed and ate stew. Prayer in the grove was also known among the Mari and was associated with the name of Keremet-arka. Cattle were slaughtered there for the feast.

From the above material it can be seen that belief in Keremet in the most archaic form was observed among the Chuvash and Udmurts, and to a lesser extent among the Mordovians. Undoubtedly, the struggle of the Muslim clergy with faith in Keremet led to the fact that the Tatars had only minor traces of these beliefs. There is no doubt that this prayer passed to the Volga Tatars from their ancestors. There is no reason to believe here borrowing from neighbors.

Summing up, it must be said that the process of formation of the Tatars of the Volga region is very long and complicated. It cannot be started from the era of the Mongol conquest, as is usually the case. This time introduced the least new elements into the ethnogenesis of the Tatars.

Published in abridged.