Tatars are a Turkic people living in the central part of European Russia, as well as in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia, in the Far East, in the Crimea, as well as in Kazakhstan, in the states of Central Asia and in the Chinese Autonomous Republic of XUAR. About 5.3 million people of Tatar nationality live in the Russian Federation, which is 4% of the total population of the country, in terms of numbers they rank second after Russians, 37% of all Tatars in Russia live in the Republic of Tatarstan in the capital of the Volga Federal District with the capital in Kazan and make up most (53%) of the population of the republic. The national language is Tatar (a group of Altaic languages, a Turkic group, a Kypchak subgroup), which has several dialects. Most of the Tatars are Sunni Muslims, there are also Orthodox, and those who do not identify themselves with specific religious movements.
Cultural heritage and family values
Tatar traditions of housekeeping and family way of life are mostly preserved in villages and settlements. Kazan Tatars, for example, lived in wooden huts, which differed from Russians only in that they did not have a vestibule and the common room was divided into a female and male half, separated by a curtain (charshau) or a wooden partition. In any Tatar hut, the presence of green and red chests was obligatory, which were later used as a bride's dowry. In almost every house, a framed piece of text from the Koran, the so-called “shamail”, hung on the wall, it hung over the threshold as a talisman, and a wish of happiness and prosperity was written on it. Many bright juicy colors and shades were used to decorate the house and the adjacent territory, the interior was richly decorated with embroidery, since Islam forbids depicting humans and animals, mostly embroidered towels, bedspreads and other things were decorated with geometric ornaments.
The head of the family is the father, his requests and instructions must be carried out unquestioningly, the mother in a special place of honor. Tatar children are taught from an early age to respect their elders, not to hurt the younger ones and always help the disadvantaged. The Tatars are very hospitable, even if a person is an enemy of the family, but he came to the house as a guest, they will not refuse him anything, they will feed him, give him drink and offer him an overnight stay. Tatar girls are brought up as modest and decent future housewives, they are taught in advance to manage the household and prepare for marriage.
Tatar customs and traditions
Rites are calendar and family sense. The first ones are related to labor activity (sowing, harvesting, etc.) and are held every year at about the same time. Family ceremonies are held as needed in accordance with the changes that have taken place in the family: the birth of children, the conclusion of marriage alliances and other rituals.
The traditional Tatar wedding is characterized by the obligatory observance of the Muslim ritual nikah, it takes place at home or in the mosque in the presence of a mullah, the festive table consists exclusively of Tatar national dishes: chak-chak, kort, katyk, kosh-tele, peremyachi, kaymak, etc., guests do not eat pork and do not drink alcohol. The male groom puts on a skullcap, the female bride puts on a long dress with closed sleeves, a headscarf is obligatory on her head.
Tatar wedding ceremonies are characterized by a preliminary agreement between the parents of the bride and groom to conclude a marriage union, often even without their consent. The groom's parents must pay a dowry, the amount of which is discussed in advance. If the size of the kalym does not suit the groom, and he wants to "save", there is nothing shameful in stealing the bride before the wedding.
When a child is born, a mullah is invited to him, he performs a special ceremony, whispering prayers in the child's ear that drive away evil spirits and his name. Guests come with gifts, a festive table is set for them.
Islam has a huge impact on the social life of the Tatars and therefore the Tatar people divide all holidays into religious ones, they are called “gaeta” - for example, Uraza Gaeta - a holiday in honor of the end of fasting, or Korban Gaeta, a feast of sacrifice, and secular or folk “Bayram”, meaning "spring beauty or celebration."
On the holiday of Uraza, believing Muslim Tatars spend the whole day in prayers and conversations with Allah, asking him for protection and removal of sins, you can drink and eat only after sunset.
During the celebrations of Eid al-Adha, the feast of sacrifice and the end of the Hajj, also called the holiday of goodness, every self-respecting Muslim, after performing the morning prayer in the mosque, must slaughter a sacrificial ram, sheep, goat or cow and distribute the meat to those in need.
One of the most significant pre-Islamic holidays is considered the holiday of the plow Sabantuy, which is held in the spring and symbolizes the end of sowing. The culmination of the celebration is the holding of various competitions and competitions in running, wrestling or horse racing. Also, a treat for all those present is obligatory - porridge or botkasy in Tatar, which used to be prepared from common products in a huge cauldron on one of the hills or hillocks. Also at the festival, it was obligatory to have a large number of colored eggs in order for children to collect them. The main holiday of the Republic of Tatarstan Sabantuy is recognized at the official level and is held every year in the Birch Grove of the village of Mirny near Kazan.
Tatars are the second largest people in Russia.
Photo ITAR-TASS
On the European ethno-political scene, the Bulgar Turks appeared as a special ethnic community in the second half of the 5th century, after the collapse of the Hunnic state. In the 5th-6th centuries, an alliance of many tribes led by the Bulgars formed in the Sea of Azov and the Northern Black Sea region. In the literature they are called both Bulgars and Bulgarians; so that there is no confusion with the Slavic people in the Balkans, in this essay I use the ethnonym "Bulgars".
Bulgaria – options are possible
At the end of the 7th century, part of the Bulgars moved to the Balkans. Around 680, their leader, Khan Asparukh, conquered the lands near the Danube Delta from Byzantium, at the same time concluding an agreement with the Yugoslav tribal association of the Seven Clans. In 681, the First Bulgar (Bulgarian) kingdom arose. In subsequent centuries, the Danube Bulgars, both linguistically and culturally, were assimilated by the Slavic population. A new people appeared, which, however, retained the former Turkic ethnonym - "Bulgars" (self-name - Bulgar, Bulgari).
The Bulgars, who remained in the steppes of the Eastern Black Sea region, created a state formation, which went down in history under the loud name "Great Bulgaria". But after a brutal defeat from the Khazar Khaganate, they moved (in the 7th-8th centuries) to the Middle Volga region, where at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century their new state was formed, which historians call Bulgaria / Volga-Kama Bulgaria.
The lands to which the Bulgars came (the territory mainly on the left bank of the Volga, bounded in the north by the Kama, and in the south by the Samara Luka) were inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes and Turks who had come here earlier. All this multi-ethnic population - both old-timers and new settlers - actively interacted; By the time of the Mongol conquest, a new ethnic community had formed - the Volga Bulgars.
The state of the Volga Bulgars fell under the blows of the Turkic Mongols in 1236. Cities were destroyed, part of the population died, many were taken into captivity. The rest fled to the right-bank regions of the Volga region, to the forests north of the lower reaches of the Kama.
The Volga Bulgars were destined to play an important role in the ethnic history of all three Turkic-speaking peoples of the Middle Volga region - Tatars, Bashkirs and Chuvashs.
Talented Chuvash people
Chuvash, Chavash (self-name) - the main population of Chuvashia, they also live in neighboring republics of the region, in different regions and regions of Russia. There are about 1,436,000 of them in the country in total (2010). The ethnic basis of the Chuvashs was the Bulgars and related Suvars, who settled on the right bank of the Volga. Here they mixed with the local Finno-Ugric population, making it linguistically Turkic. The Chuvash language has retained many features of the Bulgar language; in the linguistic classification, it forms the Bulgar subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altaic family.
In the Golden Horde period, the “second wave” of Bulgar tribes moved from the left bank of the Volga to the interfluve of the Tsivil and Sviyaga. It laid the foundation for a sub-ethnic group of the lower Chuvashs (Anatri), who retain to a greater extent the Bulgar component not only in the language, but also in many components of material culture. Among the riding (northern) Chuvashs (Virials), along with the Bulgars, elements of the traditional culture of the mountain Maris are very noticeable, with which the Bulgars intensively mixed, migrating to the north. This was also reflected in the vocabulary of the Chuvash-Virials.
The self-name "Chavash" is most likely associated with the name of the tribal group of Suvars/Suvazs (Suas) close to the Bulgars. Suvaz are mentioned in Arabic sources of the 10th century. In Russian documents, the ethnonym Chavash first appears in 1508. In 1551, the Chuvash became part of Russia.
The predominant religion among the Chuvash (since the middle of the 18th century) is Orthodoxy; however, pre-Christian traditions, cults and rituals have survived to this day among the rural population. There are also Muslim Chuvashs (mostly those who have been living in Tatarstan and Bashkiria for several generations). Since the 18th century, writing has been based on Russian graphics (it was preceded by Arabic writing - from the time of the Volga Bulgaria).
The talented Chuvash people gave Russia many wonderful people, I will name only three names: P.E. Egorov (1728–1798), architect, creator of the Summer Garden fence, participant in the construction of the Marble, Winter Palaces, Smolny Monastery in St. Petersburg; N.Ya.Bichurin (monastic Iakinf) (1777–1853), who headed the Russian spiritual mission in Beijing for 14 years, an outstanding sinologist, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences; A.G. Nikolaev (1929–2004), USSR pilot-cosmonaut (No. 3), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Major General of Aviation.
Bashkir - wolf-leader
Bashkirs are the indigenous population of Bashkiria. According to the 2010 census, there are 1,584.5 thousand of them in Russia. They also live in other regions, in the states of Central Asia, in Ukraine.
The ethnonym accepted as the main self-name of the Bashkirs - "Bashkort" - has been known since the 9th century (basqyrt - basqurt). It is etymologized as “chief”, “leader”, “head” (bash-) plus “wolf” (kort in the Oguz-Turkic languages), that is, “wolf-leader”. Thus, it is believed that the ethnic name of the Bashkirs is from the totemic hero-ancestor.
Previously, the ancestors of the Bashkirs (Turkic nomads of Central Asian origin) roamed in the region of the Aral Sea and Syr Darya (VII–VIII). From there, in the 8th century, they migrated to the Caspian and North Caucasian steppes; at the end of the 9th - beginning of the 10th century, they move northward, into the steppe and forest-steppe lands between the Volga and the Urals.
Linguistic analysis shows that the vocalism (vowel system) of the Bashkir language (as well as Tatar) is very close to the vowel system of the Chuvash language (a direct descendant of Bulgar).
In the 10th - early 13th centuries, the Bashkirs were in the zone of political domination of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria. Together with the Bulgars and other peoples of the region, they fiercely resisted the invasion of the Turkic-Mongols led by Batu Khan, but were defeated, their lands were annexed to the Golden Horde. In the Golden Horde period (40s of the 13th - 40s of the 15th century), the influence on all aspects of the life of the Kipchak Bashkirs was very strong. The Bashkir language was formed under the powerful influence of the Kypchak language; it is included in the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai family.
After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the Bashkirs fell under the rule of the Nogai khans, who ousted the Bashkirs from their best nomadic lands. This forced them to leave to the north, where there was a partial mixing of the Bashkirs with the Finno-Ugric peoples. Separate groups of Nogais also joined the Bashkir ethnic group.
In 1552-1557, the Bashkirs accepted Russian citizenship. This important event, which determined the further historical fate of the people, was formalized as an act of voluntary accession. Under the new conditions and circumstances, the process of ethnic consolidation of the Bashkirs significantly accelerated, despite the long-term preservation of the tribal division (there were about 40 tribes and tribal groups). It should be noted in particular that in the 17th-18th centuries the Bashkir ethnos continued to absorb people from other peoples of the Volga and Ural regions - Mari, Mordovians, Udmurts and especially Tatars, with whom they were brought together by linguistic kinship.
When on March 31, 1814, the allied armies led by Emperor Alexander I entered Paris, the Bashkir cavalry regiments were also part of the Russian troops. It is appropriate to recall this this year, when the 200th anniversary of the Patriotic War of 1812 is being celebrated.
Adventures of an ethnonym, or why "Tatars"
Tatars (Tatars, self-name) - the second largest people of Russia (5310.6 thousand people, 2010), the largest Turkic-speaking people of the country, the main population of Tatarstan. They also live in many Russian regions, in other countries. Among the Tatars, there are three main ethno-territorial groups: the Volga-Urals (Tatars of the Middle Volga and Urals, the most numerous community); Siberian Tatars and Astrakhan Tatars.
Supporters of the Bulgaro-Tatar concept of the origin of the Tatar people believe that the Bulgars of the Volga Bulgaria became its ethnic basis, in which the basic ethno-cultural traditions and features of the modern Tatar (Bulgaro-Tatar) people were formed. Other scholars develop the Turkic-Tatar theory of the origin of the Tatar ethnos - that is, they speak of broader ethno-cultural roots of the Tatar people than the Ural-Volga region.
The anthropological influence of the Mongols who invaded the region in the 13th century was very insignificant. According to some estimates, 4-5 thousand of them settled on the Middle Volga under Batu. In the subsequent period, they completely "dissolved" in the surrounding population. In the physical types of the Volga Tatars, Central Asian Mongoloid features are practically absent, for the most part they are Caucasoids.
Islam appeared in the Middle Volga region in the 10th century. Both the ancestors of the Tatars and the modern believing Tatars are Muslims (Sunnis). The exception is a small group of so-called Kryashens who converted to Orthodoxy in the 16th-18th centuries.
For the first time, the ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Mongol and Turkic tribes who roamed in the 6th-9th centuries in Central Asia, as the name of one of their groups. In the XIII-XIV centuries, it spread to the entire Turkic-speaking population of a huge power created by Genghis Khan and the Genghisids. This ethnonym was adopted by the Kipchaks of the Golden Horde and the khanates that formed after its collapse, apparently because representatives of the nobility, military service and bureaucratic strata called themselves Tatars.
However, among the broad masses, especially in the Middle Volga - Urals, the ethnonym "Tatars" and in the second half of the 16th century, after the annexation of the region to Russia, took root with difficulty, very gradually, to a large extent under the influence of the Russians, who called the entire population of the Horde Tatars and khanates The famous Italian traveler of the 13th century, Plano Carpini, who, on behalf of Pope Innocent IV, visited the residence of Batu Khan (in Saray on the Volga) and at the court of the Great Khan Guyuk in Karakorum (Mongolia), called his work "History of the Mongols, called by us Tatars."
After the unexpected and crushing Turkic-Mongol invasion of Europe, some historians and philosophers of that time (Matthew of Paris, Roger Bacon, etc.) reinterpreted the word "Tatars" as "natives of Tartarus" (that is, the underworld) ... And six and a half centuries later, the author article "Tatars" in the famous encyclopedic dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron reports that "in the V century. under the name ta-ta or tatan (from which, in all likelihood, the word Tatars comes) meant the Mongol tribe that lived in northeastern Mongolia and partly in Manchuria. We have almost no information about this tribe. In general, he summarizes, “the word “Tatars” is a collective name for a number of peoples of Mongolian and, mainly, Turkic origin, who speak the Turkic language…”.
Such a generalized-ethnic naming of many peoples and tribes by the name of some one is not uncommon. Recall that in Russia just a century ago, Tatars were called not only Kazan, Astrakhan, Siberian and Crimean Tatars, but also some Turkic-speaking peoples of the North Caucasus (“Mountain Tatars” - Karachays and Balkars), Transcaucasia (“Transcaucasian Tatars” - Azerbaijanis), Siberia (Shors, Khakases, Tofalars, etc.).
In 1787, the outstanding French navigator La Perouse (Count de La Perouse) named the strait between the island of Sakhalin and the Tatar mainland - because even in that already very enlightened time, almost all the peoples living east of the Russians and north of the Chinese were called Tatars. This hydronym, the Tatar Strait, is truly a monument to the inscrutableness, the mystery of the migrations of ethnic names, their ability to “stick” to other peoples, as well as to territories and other geographical objects.
In search of ethnohistorical unity
The ethnos of the Volga-Ural Tatars took shape in the 15th-18th centuries in the process of migration and rapprochement, rallying different Tatar groups: Kazan, Kasimov Tatars, Mishars (the latter are considered by researchers to be descendants of the Turkic Finno-Ugric tribes known as the Meshchers). In the second half of the 19th - early 20th centuries, the growth of the all-Tatar national self-consciousness, the awareness of the ethno-historical unity of all territorial groups of Tatars, intensified in broad sections of Tatar society, and especially in intellectual circles.
At the same time, the literary Tatar language was formed, mainly on the basis of the Kazan-Tatar dialect, which replaced the Old Tatar language, which was based on the language of the Volga Turks. Writing from the 10th century to 1927 is based on the Arabic alphabet (before the 10th century, the so-called Turkic runic was occasionally used); from 1928 to 1939 - based on the Latin alphabet (yanalif); from 1939-1940 - Russian graphics. In the 1990s, a discussion intensified in Tatarstan about the transfer of the Tatar script to a modernized version of the Latin script (Yanalif-2).
The described process naturally led to the rejection of local self-names, to the approval of the most common ethnonym, which united all groups. In the 1926 census, 88% of the Tatar population of the European part of the USSR called themselves Tatars.
In 1920, the Tatar ASSR was formed (as part of the RSFSR); in 1991 it was transformed into the Republic of Tatarstan.
A special and very interesting topic, which I can only touch upon in this essay, is the relationship between the Russian and Tatar populations. As Lev Gumilyov wrote, "our Great Russian ancestors in the 15th-16th-17th centuries mixed easily and rather quickly with the Tatars of the Volga, Don, Ob ...". He liked to repeat: "scratch a Russian - you will find a Tatar, scratch a Tatar - you will find a Russian."
Many Russian noble families had Tatar roots: Godunovs, Yusupovs, Beklemishevs, Saburovs, Sheremetevs, Korsakovs, Buturlins, Basmanovs, Karamzins, Aksakovs, Turgenevs ... The Tatar "origins" of Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky were traced in detail in the most interesting book "Born in Russia" by a literary critic and poet , Professor Igor Volgin.
It was no accident that I began this short list of surnames with the Godunovs: known to everyone from history books and even more from the great Pushkin tragedy, Boris Godunov, the Russian Tsar in 1598-1605, was a descendant of the Tatar Murza Chet, who left the Golden Horde for Russian service under Ivane Kalita (in the 30s of the XIV century), was baptized and received the name Zacharias. He founded the Ipatiev Monastery, became the ancestor of the Russian noble family of the Godunovs.
I want to complete this almost endless topic with the name of one of the most talented Russian poets of the 20th century - Bella Akhatovna Akhmadulina, whose rare talent has different genetic sources, Tatar - one of the main ones: "The immemorial spirit of Asiaticism / Still roams in me." But her native language, the language of her work, was Russian: “And Pushkin looks kindly, / And the night has passed, and the candles go out, / And the gentle taste of her native speech / So pure her lips cool.”
Russians, Tatars, Bashkirs, Chuvashs, all the peoples of multi-ethnic Russia, which is celebrating the 1150th anniversary of its statehood this year, have had a common, common, inseparable history and destiny for a very long time, for many centuries.
Posted Fri, 06/04/2012 - 08:15 by Cap
Tatars (self-name - Tatar Tatar, tatar, plural Tatarlar, tatarlar) is a Turkic people living in the central regions of the European part of Russia, in the Volga region, the Urals, in Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Xinjiang, Afghanistan and the Far East.
The number in Russia is 5310.6 thousand people (2010 census) - 3.72% of the population of Russia. They are the second largest people in the Russian Federation after the Russians. They are divided into three main ethno-territorial groups: Volga-Ural, Siberian and Astrakhan Tatars, sometimes Polish-Lithuanian Tatars are also distinguished. Tatars make up more than half of the population of the Republic of Tatarstan (53.15% according to the 2010 census). Tatar language belongs to the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altai language family and is divided into three dialects: western (Mishar), middle (Kazan-Tatar) and eastern (Siberian-Tatar). Believing Tatars (with the exception of a small group - the Kryashens, who profess Orthodoxy) are Sunni Muslims.
LIST OF TOURIST OBJECTS, HISTORICAL MONUMENTS AND NOTICEABLE PLACES IN KAZAN AND NEAR THE CITY FOR EXCURSIONS AND VISITS, AS WELL AS ARTICLES ABOUT THE TATARS PEOPLE:
Bulgarian warrior 
Hero of the Soviet Union and Tatar poet - Musa Jalil 
History of the ethnonym
First the ethnonym "Tatars" appeared among the Turkic tribes that roamed in the 6th-9th centuries southeast of Lake Baikal. In the XIII century, with the Mongol-Tatar invasion, the name "Tatars" became known in Europe. In the XIII-XIV centuries, it was extended to some peoples of Eurasia that were part of the Golden Horde.
TUKAY MUSEUM IN THE VILLAGE OF KOSHLAUCH - IN THE HOME OF THE GREAT POET 
Early history
The beginning of the penetration of Turkic-speaking tribes into the Urals and the Volga region dates back to the 3rd-4th centuries AD. e. and is associated with the era of the invasion of Eastern Europe by the Huns and other nomadic tribes. Settling in the Urals and the Volga region, they perceived elements of the culture of the local Finno-Ugric peoples, and partly mixed with them. In the 5th-7th centuries, there was a second wave of advancement of the Turkic-speaking tribes into the forest and forest-steppe regions of Western Siberia, the Urals and the Volga region, associated with the expansion of the Turkic Khaganate. In the 7th-8th centuries, the Bulgar tribes came to the Volga region from the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, who conquered the Finno-Ugric-speaking and Turkic-speaking tribes that existed here (including, possibly, the ancestors of the Bashkirs) and in the 9th-10th century created the state - Volga-Kama Bulgaria. After the defeat of the Volga Bulgaria in 1236, and a series of uprisings (the uprising of Bayan and Dzhiku, the uprising of Bachman), the Volga Bulgaria was finally captured by the Mongols. The Bulgar population was forced out to the north (modern Tatarstan), replaced and partially assimilated. 
In the XIII-XV centuries, when most of the Turkic-speaking tribes were part of the Golden Horde, there was some transformation of the language and culture of the Bulgars.
Formation
In the 15th-16th centuries, separate groups of Tatars were formed - the Middle Volga and the Urals (Kazan Tatars, Mishars, Kasimov Tatars, as well as a sub-confessional community of Kryashens (baptized Tatars), Astrakhan, Siberian, Crimean and others). The Tatars of the Middle Volga and Ural regions, the most numerous and having a more developed economy and culture, by the end of the 19th century formed a bourgeois nation. The bulk of the Tatars were engaged in agriculture, in the economy of the Astrakhan Tatars the main role was played by cattle breeding and fishing. A significant part of the Tatars was employed in various handicraft industries. The material culture of the Tatars, which evolved for a long time from elements of the culture of a number of Turkic and local tribes, was also influenced by the cultures of the peoples of Central Asia and other regions, and from the end of the 16th century - by Russian culture.
Gayaz Iskhaki 
Ethnogenesis of the Tatars
There are several theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars. Three of them are described in the scientific literature in the most detail:
Bulgaro-Tatar theory
Tatar-Mongolian theory
Turko-Tatar theory.
For a long time, the Bulgaro-Tatar theory was considered the most recognized.
At present, the Turko-Tatar theory is gaining more recognition.
RF PRESIDENT MEDVEDEV AND RT PRESIDENT MINNIKHANOV 
I. SHARIPOVA - REPRESENTED RUSSIA AT MISS WORLD - 2010 
Sub-ethnic groups
Tatars consist of several sub-ethnic groups - the largest of them are:
Kazan Tatars (Tat. Kazanly) are one of the main groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Kazan Khanate. They speak the middle dialect of the Tatar language.
(GENERAL ARTICLE ABOUT KAZAN - HERE).
Mishari Tatars (Tat. Mishar) are one of the main groups of Tatars, whose ethnogenesis took place on the territory of the Middle Volga, the Wild Field and the Urals. They speak the western dialect of the Tatar language.
Kasimov Tatars (tat. Kachim) is one of the groups of Tatars whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Kasimov Khanate. They speak the middle dialect of the Tatar language.
Siberian Tatars (Tat. Seber) are one of the groups of Tatars whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Siberian Khanate. They speak the eastern dialect of the Tatar language.
Astrakhan Tatars (tat. Әsterkhan) are an ethno-territorial group of Tatars whose ethnogenesis is inextricably linked with the territory of the Astrakhan Khanate.
Teptyari Tatars (Tat. Tiptar) are an ethno-class group of Tatars, known in Bashkortostan.
clothes of Bulgarian girls 
Culture and life
Tatars speak the Tatar language of the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altaic family. The languages (dialects) of the Siberian Tatars show a certain proximity to the language of the Tatars of the Volga and Ural regions. The literary language of the Tatars was formed on the basis of the middle (Kazan-Tatar) dialect. The most ancient writing is the Turkic runic. From the 10th century to 1927, there was writing based on Arabic script, from 1928 to 1936, Latin script (yanalif) was used, from 1936 until the present, writing on the Cyrillic graphic basis has been used, although there are already plans to translate the Tatar script into Latin.
The traditional dwelling of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and the Urals was a log cabin, fenced off from the street by a fence. The outer façade was decorated with multicolored paintings. The Astrakhan Tatars, who retained some of their steppe pastoral traditions, had a yurt as a summer dwelling.
Every nation has its own national holidays. Tatar folk holidays delight people with a sense of gratitude and respect for nature, for the customs of their ancestors, for each other.
Religious Muslim holidays are called by the word gaet (ayet) (Uraza gaet - the holiday of fasting and Korban gaet - the holiday of the sacrifice). And all folk, non-religious holidays in Tatar are called beyrem. Scientists believe that this word means "spring beauty", "spring celebration". 
Religious holidays are called by the word gayot or bayram (Uraza-bairam (Ramadan) - the feast of fasting and Korban-bairam - the feast of the sacrifice). Muslim holidays among the Tatars - Muslims include a collective morning prayer, in which all men and boys participate. Then it is supposed to go to the cemetery and pray near the graves of their loved ones. And the women and the girls helping them at this time prepare treats at home. On holidays (and each religious holiday used to last for several days), they went around the houses of relatives and neighbors with congratulations. It was especially important to visit the parental home. On the days of Korban Bayram, the holiday, the victims tried to treat meat to as many people as possible, the tables remained covered for two or three days in a row, and everyone entering the house, no matter who he was, had the right to be treated.
Tatar holidays 
Boz carau
According to the old, old tradition, Tatar villages were located on the banks of rivers. Therefore, the first beirem - "spring celebration" for the Tatars is associated with ice drift. This holiday is called boz karau, boz bagu - "to watch the ice", boz ozatma - seeing off the ice, zin kitu - ice drift.
All residents, from old people to children, came out to watch the ice drift on the river bank. The youth walked dressed up, with harmonists. Straw was laid out and lit on floating ice floes. In the blue spring twilight, these floating torches could be seen far away, and songs rushed after them.
Younger Yau
Once in early spring, the children went home to collect cereals, butter, eggs. With their calls, they expressed good wishes to the owners and ... demanded refreshments!
With the help of one or two elderly women, children cooked porridge in a huge cauldron from the food collected on the street or indoors. Everyone brought a plate and a spoon with them. And after such a feast, the children played, doused themselves with water.
Kyzyl yomorka
After a while, the day of collecting colored eggs came. The villagers were warned about such a day in advance, and the housewives dyed eggs in the evening - most often in a decoction of onion peel. The eggs turned out to be multi-colored - from golden yellow to dark brown, and in a decoction of birch leaves - various shades of green. In addition, special dough balls were baked in each house - small buns, pretzels, and they also bought sweets.
Children especially looked forward to this day. Mothers sewed bags for them from towels to collect eggs. Some guys went to bed dressed and shod, so as not to waste time getting ready in the morning, they put a log under the pillow so as not to oversleep. Early in the morning, boys and girls began to walk around the houses. The one who came in first brought the chips and scattered them on the floor - so that "the yard was not empty", that is, so that there were a lot of living creatures on it.
The comic wishes of children to the owners are expressed in ancient times - as in the days of great-grandparents. For example, something like this: “Kyt-kytyyk, kyt-kytyyk, are grandparents at home? Will they give you an egg? Let you have many chickens, let the roosters trample them. If you do not give an egg, there is a lake in front of your house, you will drown there! The collection of eggs lasted two or three hours, it was a lot of fun. And then the children gathered in one place on the street and played different games with the collected eggs.
But the spring holiday of the Tatars Sabantuy is becoming widespread and beloved again. This is a very beautiful, kind and wise holiday. It includes various rituals and games.
Literally, "Sabantuy" means "Plow Holiday" (saban - plow and tui - holiday). Previously, it was celebrated before the start of spring field work, in April, now Sabantuy is held in June - after sowing. 
In the old days, preparations for Sabantuy took a long time and carefully - the girls weaved, sewed, embroidered scarves, towels, shirts with a national pattern; everyone wanted her creation to become a reward for the strongest dzhigit - the winner in the national wrestling or in the races. And young people went from house to house and collected gifts, sang songs, joked. Gifts were tied to a long pole, sometimes jigits tied themselves with collected towels and did not take them off until the end of the ceremony.
For the time of Sabantuy, a council of respected aksakals was elected - all power in the village passed to them, they appointed a jury to reward the winners, and kept order during the competitions.
Socio-political movements of the 1980s-1990s
At the end of the 80s of the XX century, there was a period of activation of socio-political movements in Tatarstan. We can note the creation of the All-Tatar Public Center (VTOC), the first president M. Mulyukov, a branch of the Ittifak party, the first non-communist party in Tatarstan, headed by F. Bayramova.
V.V. PUTIN ALSO STATES THAT THERE WERE TATARS IN HIS FAMILY!!! 
SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
http://www.photosight.ru/photos/
http://www.ethnomuseum.ru/glossary/
http://www.liveinternet.ru/
http://i48.servimg.com/
Wikipedia.
Zakiev M.Z. Part two, first chapter. The history of the study of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars // Origin of the Turks and Tatars. — M.: Insan, 2002.
Tatar Encyclopedia
R. K. Urazmanova. Rites and holidays of the Tatars of the Volga region and the Urals. Historical and ethnographic atlas of the Tatar people. Kazan, Press House 2001
Trofimova T. A. Ethnogenesis of the Volga Tatars in the light of anthropological data. — M., L.: Publishing House of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1949, p.145.
Tatars (Series "Peoples and Cultures" RAS). M.: Nauka, 2001. - P.36.
http://firo04.firo.ru/
http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/
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The population of the Volga Federal District is over 32 million people, of which more than 20 million, or 67%, are Russians.
The relevance of the topic of the course work lies in the fact that the ethno-demographic feature of the district is that in the Russian Federation it is one of the most populous (ranks second after the Central District, in which 38 million people), and at the same time it is the lowest in Russia share of Russians. In the North Caucasus, which forms the basis of the Southern District, this share is the same or slightly higher, which is explained by the "transfer" to this district of two Volga regions - Volgograd and Astrakhan regions, predominantly Russian in composition.
The total Russian population of the Okrug grew at a slow pace throughout the 1990s. due to the excess of migration inflow from neighboring countries, primarily from Kazakhstan, over the natural decline, and then was replaced by zero growth.
More than 13% of the population of the district are Tatars, numbering more than 4 million people. The Volga District is home to the largest number of Tatars in the Russian Federation.
Russians and Tatars together are 80% of the total population of the Volga region. The remaining 20% include representatives of almost all ethnic groups living in Russia. Among ethnic groups, however, there are only 9, which, together with Russians and Tatars, make up 97-98% of the population in the district.
There are about 6 million Tatars in Russia. Abroad, 1 million Tatars live in states that were previously part of the USSR (especially many in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan). The ethnonym "Tatars" unites large and small ethnic communities.
Among them, the most numerous are the Kazan Tatars. It is impossible to determine the exact number of Kazan Tatars using the population census data, since all groups, except for the Crimean Tatars, were designated by the same name until the 1994 microcensus. It can be assumed that out of 5.8 million Tatars in the Russian Federation, at least 4.3 million people are Kazan Tatars. The question of the relationship between the ethnonym "Tatars" and the term "Tatar people" is to a certain extent politicized. Some scientists insist that the ethnonym "Tatars" denotes all groups of Tatars as an expression of a single, consolidated Tatar people (Tatar nation). On this basis, even a special term arose in relation to groups of Tatars living outside the Republic of Tatarstan - "internal Russian Tatar diaspora".
The purpose of this course work is to consider the features of the settlement and residence of the Tatars in the Volga region.
To achieve the goal of the course work, consider the following tasks:
In the Volga District, the number of Tatars in the 2000s. slowly increased, primarily due to natural growth (average 0.8% per year).
Most of the Tatars are settled in the Middle Volga region, primarily in the Republic of Tatarstan. Over a third of all Tatars are concentrated there - about 2 million people. The densely populated Tatar area stretches to the neighboring Republic of Bashkortostan (where the Tatars outnumber the Bashkirs) and further to the Chelyabinsk region. Large groups are also settled in the Lower Volga region (Astrakhan Tatars), as well as in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Moscow and the Moscow region. The range of the Tatars extends into Siberia.
According to population censuses, 32% of the Tatar population of Russia live in the Republic of Tatarstan. If we take only Kazan Tatars, then this share will be much higher: most likely it is 60%. In the republic itself, Tatars make up about 50% of all residents.
The basis of the literary Tatar language is the language of the Kazan Tatars, while regional dialects and dialects are preserved at the everyday level. There are three main dialects - Western, or Mishar; medium, or Kazan; Eastern, or Siberian.
Kazan Tatars and Mishars (or Mishars), as well as a small group of Kryashens, are settled in the Volga-Ural region. These groups are divided into smaller territorial communities.
The Mishars, the second major subdivision of the Volga-Ural Tatars, differ somewhat from the Kazan Tatars in terms of language and culture (it is believed, for example, that the Mishars, in their traditions and everyday features, are similar to the neighboring Mordovians). Their range, coinciding with the range of the Kazan Tatars, is shifted to the southwest and south. A characteristic feature of the Mishars is the blurred distinctions between territorial groups.
Kryashen Tatars (or baptized Tatars) stand out among the Volga-Ural Tatars on the basis of confessional affiliation. They were converted to Orthodoxy and their cultural and economic features are connected with this (for example, unlike other Tatars, the Kryashens have long been engaged in pig breeding). The Kryashen Tatars are believed to be a group of Kazan Tatars who were baptized after the Russian state conquered the Kazan Khanate. This group is numerically small and concentrated mainly in Tatarstan. Experts distinguish the following groups of Kryashens: Molkeevskaya (on the border with Chuvashia), Predkama (Laishevsky, Pestrechensky districts), Yelabuga, Chistopolskaya.
A small group (about 10-15 thousand people) of Orthodox Tatars, who call themselves "Nagaybaks", live in the Orenburg and Chelyabinsk regions. It is believed that the Nagaybaks are the descendants of either baptized Nogais or baptized Kazan Tatars.
Neither among researchers, nor among the population itself, there is a consensus on whether all groups of Tatars bearing this name form a single people. We can only say that the greatest consolidation is characteristic of the Volga-Ural, or Volga, Tatars, the vast majority of whom are Kazan Tatars. In addition to them, it is customary to include groups of Kasimov Tatars living in the Ryazan region, the Mishars of the Nizhny Novgorod region, and also the Kryashens into the composition of the Volga Tatars (although there are different opinions about the Kryashens).
The Republic of Tatarstan has one of the highest percentages of local natives in rural areas in Russia (72%), while migrants dominate in cities (55%). Since 1991, cities have been experiencing a powerful migration influx of the rural Tatar population. Even 20-30 years ago, the Volga Tatars had a high level of natural increase, which remains positive even now; however, it is not large enough to create demographic overloads. Tatars are in one of the first places (after Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians) in terms of the share of the urban population. Although among the Tatars there is a significant number of interethnic marriages (about 25%), this does not lead to widespread assimilation. Inter-ethnic marriages are concluded mainly by Tatars living dispersedly, while in Tatarstan and in regions where Tatars are densely populated, especially in rural areas, a high level of intra-ethnic marriage remains.
When writing this term paper, the works of such authors as Vedernikova T.I., Kirsanov R., Makhmudov F., Shakirov R. and others were used.
The structure of the course work: the work consists of an introduction, five chapters, a conclusion, a list of references.
The anthropology of the Volga and Ural Tatars provides interesting material for judgments about the origin of this people. Anthropological data show that all the studied groups of Tatars (Kazan, Mishars, Kryashens) are quite close to each other and have a set of inherent features. According to a number of signs - in terms of pronounced Caucasoidity, in terms of the presence of sublaponoidness, the Tatars are closer to the peoples of the Volga and Ural regions than to other Turkic peoples.
The Siberian Tatars, who have a pronounced sublaponoid (Uralian) character with a certain admixture of the South Siberian Mongoloid type, as well as the Astrakhan Tatars - Karagash, Dagestan Nogai, Khorezm Karakalpaks, Crimean Tatars, whose origin is generally associated with the population of the Golden Horde, are distinguished by their greater Mongoloid from the Tatars of the Volga and Ural regions.
According to the external physical type, the Tatars of the Volga and Ural regions show a long-standing miscegenation of Caucasoid and Mongoloid features. The last signs of the Tatars are much weaker than those of many other Turkic peoples: Kazakhs, Karagash, Nogai, etc. Here are some examples. For Mongoloids, one of the characteristic features is the peculiar structure of the upper eyelid, the so-called. epicanthus. Among the Turks, the highest percentage of epicanthus (60-65%) is in the Yakuts, Kirghiz, Altaians, and Tomsk Tatars. Among the Tatars of the Volga and Ural regions, this feature is weakly expressed (from 0% for the Kryashens and Mishars of the Chistopol region to 4% for the Ar and 7% for the Kasimov Tatars). Other groups of Tatars, not related by their origin to the Volga region, have a significantly higher percentage of epicanthus: 12% - Crimean Tatars, 13% - Astrakhan Karagash, 20-28% - Nogai, 38% - Tobolsk Tatars.
The development of the beard is also one of the important features that distinguish the Caucasoid and Mongoloid populations. The Tatars of the Middle Volga region have a beard growth below the average level, but still more than that of the Nogais, Karagash, Kazakhs, and even the Mari and Chuvash. Considering that the weak growth of the beard is characteristic of the Mongoloids, including the sublaponoids of Eurasia, and also the fact that the Tatars, located in the north, have a much greater growth of hairline than the more southern Kazakhs, Kirghiz, it can be assumed that this was manifested the influence of the so-called Pontic groups of the population, which have a fairly intensive growth of the beard. By the growth of the beard, the Tatars are approaching the Uzbeks, Uighurs and Turkmens. Its greatest growth is noted among the Mishar and Kryashens, the smallest among the Tatars of Zakazan.
They speak the Kazan dialect of the Tatar language of the Kypchak group of Turkic languages. The ethnic basis of the Kazan Tatars was made up of the Turkic (Bulgars, Kipchaks, etc.) peoples, as well as representatives of the Imenkovo culture.
History
Early history
Funeral rite
Many facts of the funeral rites of the Kazan Tatars show complete continuity from the Bulgars, today most of the rites of the Kazan Tatars are associated with their Muslim religion.
Location. The urban necropolises of the Golden Horde were located within the city, as were the burial grounds of the period of the Kazan Khanate. Cemeteries of the Kazan Tatars of the XVIII-XIX centuries. located outside the villages, not far from the villages, if possible - across the river.
Tomb structures. From the descriptions of ethnographers, it follows that the Kazan Tatars used to plant one or more trees on the grave. The graves were almost always surrounded by a fence, sometimes a stone was placed on the grave, small log cabins were made without a roof, in which birch trees were planted and stones were placed, sometimes monuments were erected in the form of pillars.
Burial method. The Bulgars of all periods are characterized by the rite of inhumation (deposition of corpses). The pagan Bulgars were buried with their heads to the west, on their backs, with their arms along the body. A distinctive feature of the burial grounds of the X-XI centuries. is the period of the formation of a new rite in the Volga Bulgaria, hence the lack of strict uniformity in the individual details of the ritual, in particular, in the position of the body, hands and face of the buried. Along with observance of the qibla, in the vast majority of cases there are individual burials facing up or even to the north. There are burials of the dead on the right side. The position of the hands is especially diverse during this period. For necropolises of the XII-XIII centuries. the unification of the details of the rite is characteristic: strict observance of the qibla, the orientation of the face to Mecca, the uniform position of the deceased with a slight turn to the right side, with the right hand extended along the body, and the left, slightly bent and laid on the pelvis. On average, 90% of the burials show this stable combination of features, compared to 40-50% in early burials. In the Golden Horde period, all burials were made according to the rite of inhumation, the body was stretched out on its back, sometimes with a turn to the right side, head to the west, facing south. During the period of the Kazan Khanate, the funeral rite did not change. According to the descriptions of ethnographers, the deceased was lowered into the grave, then laid in a side lining, facing Mecca. The hole was filled with bricks or boards. The spread of Islam among the Volga Bulgars already in pre-Mongol times was very clearly manifested in the rite of the Bulgars of the 12th-13th centuries, during the Golden Horde period, and later in the funeral rite of the Kazan Tatars.
National clothes
The clothes of men and women consisted of wide-leg trousers and a shirt (for women it was supplemented with an embroidered bib), on which a sleeveless camisole was put on. Cossacks served as outerwear, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. The headdress of men is a skullcap, and on top of it is a hemispherical hat with fur or a felt hat; for women - an embroidered velvet cap (kalfak) and a scarf. Traditional shoes are leather ichigi with soft soles, they were worn outside the home with leather galoshes. The women's costume was characterized by an abundance of metal jewelry.
Anthropological types of Kazan Tatars
The most significant in the field of anthropology of the Kazan Tatars are the studies of T. A. Trofimova, conducted in 1929-1932. In particular, in 1932, together with G. F. Debets, she carried out extensive research in Tatarstan. 160 Tatars were examined in the Arsk region, 146 Tatars in the Yelabuga region, and 109 Tatars in the Chistopol region. Anthropological studies have revealed the presence of four main anthropological types among the Kazan Tatars: Pontic, light Caucasoid, sublaponoid, Mongoloid.
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These types have the following characteristics:
Pontic type- characterized by mesocephaly, dark or mixed pigmentation of the hair and eyes, high nasal bridge, convex bridge of the nose, with a lowered tip and base, significant beard growth. Growth is average with an upward trend.
Light Caucasian type- characterized by subbrachycephaly, light pigmentation of hair and eyes, medium or high nose bridge with a straight back of the nose, moderately developed beard, medium height. A number of morphological features - the structure of the nose, the size of the face, pigmentation, and a number of others - bring this type closer to the Pontic.
Sublaponoid type(Volga-Kama) - characterized by meso-subbrachycephaly, mixed pigmentation of hair and eyes, wide and low nose, weak beard growth and a low, medium-wide face with a tendency to flattening. Quite often there is a fold of the eyelid with a weak development of the epicanthus.
Mongoloid type(South Siberian) - characterized by brachycephaly, dark shades of hair and eyes, a wide and flattened face and low nose bridge, often occurring epicanthus and poor beard development. Growth, on a European scale, is average.
The theory of ethnogenesis of the Kazan Tatars
There are several theories of the ethnogenesis of the Tatars. Three of them are described in the scientific literature in the most detail:
- Bulgaro-Tatar theory
- Tatar-Mongolian theory
- Turko-Tatar theory.
see also
Notes
Literature
- Akhatov G. Kh. Tatar dialectology. Middle dialect (textbook for students of higher educational institutions). - Ufa, 1979.
- Akhmarov G. N. (Tatar.)Russian. Wedding ceremonies of the Kazan Tatars// Akhmarev G.N. (Tatar.)Russian Tarihi-documentary җyentyk. - Kazan: “Җyen-TatArt”, “Khater” Nәshriyati, 2000.
- Drozdova G.I. Funeral rite of the peoples of the Volga-Kama region of the 16th-19th centuries: based on archaeological and ethnographic materials / Abstract of the thesis. ... candidate of historical sciences: 07.00.06. - Kazan: Sh. Marjani Institute of History of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Tatarstan, 2007. - 27 p.
