Cheremisy. The Mari are the only people in Europe who have preserved paganism - HALAN

, Orthodoxy

Map of Finno-Ugric tribes before the arrival of the Slavs

Story

The first reliable mention of the Cheremis is found in the Tale of Bygone Years, where they are mentioned among the peoples paying tribute to Russia. It is also said there that the Cheremis live at the mouth of the Oka River. The next mention of the Cheremis is dated 1170 - the princes of Galich hired Cheremis detachments. Russian written sources of the end 12th century indicate that the Cheremis live in the upper reaches of the Vetluga River. There are no mentions of the Cheremis on the territory of the modern Republic of Mari-El in written sources of the 11th-13th centuries. no. Although at that time there were active contacts between Russia and Volga Bulgaria, including an agreement according to which the southern (mountain) bank of the river. The Volga River belonged to the Principality of Vladimir and the northern (meadow) Volga Bulgaria. Archaeologists discovered a large Russian settlement of the 11th-13th centuries (Yuryal village) on the territory of the Gornomariysky region of the Republic of Mari-El (the southern bank of the Volga River) on the northern bank of the Volga River near the regional center of Yurino a Bulgar settlement was discovered. In 1246, the territory was devastated by the Tatar-Mongols. After which, according to archeology and Russian chronicles, this territory was empty. At the beginning of the 14th century, settlements appeared on the territory of the modern Republic of Mari-El that can clearly be identified as Mari. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Mari were part of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. During the hostilities between the Moscow state and the Kazan Khanate, the Mari fought both on the side of the Russians and on the side of the Tatars. After the conquest of the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the Mari lands that had previously depended on it became part of the Russian state. On October 4, the Mari Autonomous Okrug was proclaimed as part of the RSFSR, and on December 5, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Meadow and mountain “Cheremis” (Mari) on the map of Muscovy in 1593

Ethnic groups

• Mountain Mari
  • Forest Mari
• Meadow Mari
• Eastern Mari
  • Pribel Mari
  • Ural Mari
    • Upper Ufa, or Krasnoufimsky, Mari
• Northwestern Mari

Resettlement

The bulk of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El (324.4 thousand people). A significant part lives in the Mari territories of the Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma regions. The largest Mari diaspora is in the Republic of Bashkortostan (105 thousand people). Also, the Mari live compactly in Tatarstan (19.5 thousand people), Udmurtia (9.5 thousand people), Sverdlovsk (28 thousand people) and Perm (5.4 thousand people) regions, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions. They also live in Kazakhstan (12 thousand), Ukraine (7 thousand), and Uzbekistan (3 thousand).

Anthropological type

Yivan Kyrla

Ivan Stepanovich Palantai

The Mari belong to the Suburalian anthropological type, which differs from the classical variants of the Ural race in a noticeably larger proportion of the Mongoloid component.

Language

About 464 thousand or 77% of Mari speak the Mari language, the majority (97%) speak Russian, and Mari-Russian bilingualism is widespread.

Costume

Features of a men's suit

The main parts of ancient men's clothing are a canvas embroidered shirt, canvas trousers and a canvas caftan in summer and a cloth caftan in winter. By the end of the 19th century, blouses began to spread everywhere, replacing the old-style shirt. Embroidery on ancient shirts decorated the collar, chest and front hem.

The pants were made from rough, harsh canvas. They were of the same cut as the Chuvash and Tatar ones, and were held at the waist with ties. Already in the middle of the 19th century, they began to sew pants from motley fabric, usually blue striped. The style was like Russian pants, and instead of strings a belt was sewn on. However, old people continued to wear white canvas pants until the 20th century. Pants were usually tucked into onuchi. Over the shirt and pants in the summer, they wore a canvas caftan (“shovr”, “shovyr”) with ruffles, similar to a Russian poddevka.

Winter clothes were cloth caftans and sheepskin short fur coats. On their heads, the Mari wore a home-made woolen hat, black or white with the brim turned up and sometimes down. In villages near Tatar villages they wore a round oriental hat with a rather wide, upturned brim, similar to the Tatar one. In winter they usually wore a white lambskin hat with a black cloth top.

Leather shoes were put on their feet. Since the 17th century, bast shoes woven from linden flax and white onuchi have become widespread.

Features of a women's suit

The women's suit had more decorations, but basically repeated the elements of the men's suit. Women's headdresses were particularly unique. The main parts of the women's costume were, like the men's, a shirt, richly decorated with embroidery, trousers, a canvas caftan, a headdress and bast shoes. A set of different decorations was put on the costume - chest and waist.

The shirt (“tuvyr”, “tuchir”) served as both underwear and outer clothing, replacing a dress. The shirts differed in embroidery and collar cut. In some places, the Mari made a cut in the middle of the chest, in others they made a cut on the right side, as in men's shirts, and thanks to this, the breast embroidery, located along the cut, was asymmetrical. The hem of the shirt was decorated with a woven pattern or embroidery. The shirts of the Eastern Mari were somewhat different from the meadow and mountain shirts. So, for example, they often sewed a women’s shirt not only from white canvas, but also from motley fabric, and the sleeves were made from factory fabrics. Its cut also reflected the influence of the Tatars and Bashkirs. The chest slit was straight, and the collar was standing, even sometimes turned down. The cut was trimmed in an arc with several strips of colored material and multi-colored ribbons, like the shirts of Tatar and Bashkir women, and the collar was tied with a ribbon. The shirt was often worn without a belt. The embroidery on the Eastern Mari shirts was much less than on the meadow shirts, and it was located on the chest and hem. The embroidery on the shirts of the Perm province was openwork with a clearly defined pattern. The colors were dominated by dark tones - black, dark red, brown.

Mari women wore pants (“yolash”, “polash”) under their shirt. They were sewn from canvas, and in their cut they were similar to the Chuvash ones; strings were sewn to the upper edge of the pants.

Mari women wore an apron (onchylnosakime) over their shirt.

As outer summer clothing, the Mari women used canvas clothing in the form of a swinging caftan (“shovyr”, “shovr”). Among the Eastern Mari women, summer caftans resembled Bashkir and Tatar camisoles; they were sewn at the waist with wedges, sometimes without sleeves.

In the fall, women wore caftans made from homespun canvas in white, gray and brown colors. In winter, Mari women wore a sheepskin coat (“uzhga”) of the same cut as a cloth caftan with folds. The outerwear of the Ural Mari did not differ in cut from the clothing of the Volga Mari. Women sewed swing caftans - “elan”.

The headdresses of married Mari women were very different in their shape and way of wearing. A headdress called “shimaksh” was worn by meadow and eastern Mari women living on the territory of the counties of Urzhum, Elabuga, Birsky, Krasnoufimsky. Along with the usual canvas scarf, they also wore “solyk” - a narrow headband with embroidered ends. Solyk was worn by elderly Mari women when they went to prayer services. The girls walked with their heads open or wore a headscarf and occasionally a taqiyya cap.

Beads, beads, cowrie shells, coins and tokens, beads and buttons were used to make jewelry. Head decorations included braids in the form of pendants made of coins, beads and shells.

Straight weave bast shoes with a small head and bast frills were worn as shoes. The leg was wrapped in foot wraps made of white and black cloth. On holidays they wore onuchi, decorated along the edge of one long side with beads, buttons and plaques. Leather shoes were common until the 17th century, after which only wealthy Mari wore them. Winter shoes were felt boots from local artisans.

Religion

Names

From time immemorial, the Mari had national names. During interaction with the Bulgaro-Tatars, Turkic-Arab names penetrated the Mari, and with the adoption of Christianity - Christian ones. Currently, Christian names are being used more, and a return to national names is also gaining popularity.

Wedding traditions

One of the main attributes of a wedding is the wedding whip “Sÿan lupsh”, which is a symbol of a talisman that protects the road along which the newlyweds must pass.

Mari people of Bashkortostan

Bashkortostan is the second region of Russia after Mari El in terms of the number of Mari residents. There are 105,829 Mari living on the territory of Bashkortostan (2002), a third of the Mari of Bashkortostan live in cities. The resettlement of the Mari to the Urals took place in the 15th-19th centuries and was caused by their forced Christianization in the Middle Volga. The Mari of Bashkortostan for the most part retained traditional pagan beliefs. Education in the Mari language is available in national schools, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions in Birsk and Blagoveshchensk. Mariskoe operates in Ufa public association"Mari Ushem".

Famous Mari

• Bykov, Vyacheslav Arkadyevich - hockey player, coach of the Russian national hockey team
• Vasiliev, Valerian Mikhailovich - linguist, ethnographer, folklorist, writer
• Grigoriev, Alexander Vladimirovich - artist
• Efimov, Izmail Varsonofevich - artist, king of arms
• Efremov, Tikhon Efremovich - educator
• Efrush, Georgy Zakharovich - writer
• Ivanov, Mikhail Maksimovich - poet
• Ignatiev, Nikon Vasilievich - writer
• Iskandarov, Alexey Iskandarovitch - composer, choirmaster
• Yyvan Kyrla - poet, film actor
• Kazakov, Miklai - poet
• Vladislav Maksimovich Zotin 1st President of Mari El
• Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Kislitsyn 2nd President of Mari El
• Kalikaev, Alexander Vladimirovich - oligarch
• Columbus, Valentin Khristoforovich - poet
• Konakov, Alexander Fedorovich - playwright
• Lekain, Nikandr Sergeevich - writer
• Luppov, Anatoly Borisovich - composer
• Makarova, Nina Vladimirovna - Soviet composer
• Mikay, Mikhail Stepanovich - poet and fabulist
• Molotov, Ivan N. - composer
• Mosolov, Vasily Petrovich - agronomist, academician
• Mukhin, Nikolai Semenovich - poet, translator
• Nikolaev, Sergei Nikolaevich - playwright
• Olyk Ipay - poet
• Orai, Dmitry Fedorovich - writer
• Palantay, Ivan Stepanovich - composer, folklorist, teacher
• Prokhorov, Zinon Filippovich - guard lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Pet Pershut - poet
• Savi, Vladimir Alekseevich - writer
• Sapaev, Eric - composer

Mari(Mar. mari, mary, mare, mӓrӹ; earlier: rus. cheremisy, Turkic chirmysh listen)) are a Finno-Ugric people in Russia, mainly in the Mari El Republic. It is home to about half of all Mari, numbering 604 thousand people (2002). The remaining Mari are scattered across many regions and republics of the Volga region and the Urals.

The ancient territory of the Mari was very wide (see the article Mari Territory), currently the main territory of residence is between the Volga and Vetluga rivers.

There are three groups of Mari: mountain (they live on the right and partially left bank of the Volga in the west of Mari El and in neighboring regions), meadow (they make up the majority of the Mari people, occupy the Volga-Vyatka interfluve), eastern (they were formed from settlers from the meadow side Volga to Bashkiria and the Urals) - the last two groups, due to historical and linguistic proximity, are combined into a generalized meadow-eastern Mari. They speak Mari (Meadow-Eastern Mari) and Mountain Mari languages ​​of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic family. Among many Mari, especially those living in Tatarstan and Bashkiria, it is common Tatar language. Most Mari profess Orthodoxy, but some remnants of paganism remain, which, combined with the ideas of monotheism, form a unique Mari traditional religion.

Ethnogenesis

In the early Iron Age, the Ananyin archaeological culture (VIII-III centuries BC) was formed in the Volga-Kama region, the bearers of which were the distant ancestors of the Komi-Zyryans, Komi-Permyaks, Udmurts and partly the Mari. The beginning of the formation of these peoples dates back to the first half of the 1st millennium.

The area of ​​formation of the Mari tribes is the right bank of the Volga between the mouths of the Sura and Tsivil and the opposite left bank along with the lower Povetluga region. The basis of the Mari were the descendants of the Ananyians, who experienced the ethnic and cultural influence of the Late Gorodets tribes (ancestors of the Mordovians).

From this area, the Mari settled eastward all the way to the river. Vyatka and in the south to the river. Kazankas.

Story

Meadow and mountain “Cheremis” (Mari) on the map of Muscovy in 1593

The first mention of Cheremis is found in the 6th century. from the Gothic historian Jordan. The ancestors of modern Mari interacted with the Goths between the 5th and 8th centuries, and later with the Khazars and Volga Bulgaria. Between the 13th and 15th centuries, the Mari were part of the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. During the hostilities between the Moscow state and the Kazan Khanate, the Mari fought both on the side of the Russians and on the side of the Tatars. After the conquest of the Kazan Khanate in 1552, the Mari lands that had previously depended on it became part of the Russian state. On October 4, 1920, the Mari Autonomous Okrug was proclaimed as part of the RSFSR, and on December 5, 1936, the Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

Joining the Moscow state was extremely bloody. Three uprisings are known - the so-called Cheremis Wars of 1552-1557, 1571-1574 and 1581-1585.

The Second Cheremis War was of a national liberation and anti-feudal nature. The Mari managed to raise neighboring peoples, and even neighboring states. All the peoples of the Volga and Urals regions took part in the war, and there were raids from the Crimean and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde and even Turkey. The Second Cheremis War began immediately after the campaign of the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey, which ended with the capture and burning of Moscow.

Ethnic groups

• Mountain Mari (Mountain Mari language)
• Forest Mari
• Meadow-Eastern Mari (Meadow-Eastern Mari (Mari) language)
• Meadow Mari
• Eastern Mari
• Pribel Mari
• Ural Mari
• Kungur, or Sylven, Mari
• Upper Ufa, or Krasnoufimsky, Mari
• Northwestern Mari
• Kostroma Mari

Resettlement

The bulk of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El (324.4 thousand people). A significant part lives in the Mari territories of the Kirov, Nizhny Novgorod and Kostroma regions. The largest Mari diaspora is in the Republic of Bashkortostan (105 thousand people). Also, the Mari live compactly in Tatarstan (19.5 thousand people), Udmurtia (9.5 thousand people), Sverdlovsk (28 thousand people) and Perm (5.4 thousand people) regions, Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, Chelyabinsk and Tomsk regions. They also live in Kazakhstan (4 thousand, 2009 and 12 thousand, 1989), in Ukraine (4 thousand, 2001 and 7 thousand, 1989), in Uzbekistan (3 thousand, 1989 G.).

Anthropological type

The Mari belong to the Sub-Ural anthropological type, which differs from the classical variants of the Ural race in a noticeably larger proportion of the Mongoloid component.

Language

The Mari languages ​​belong to the Finno-Volga group of the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic languages.

In Russia, according to the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, 487,855 people speak Mari languages, including Mari (meadow-eastern Mari) - 451,033 people (92.5%) and Mountain Mari - 36,822 people (7.5%). Among the 604,298 Mari in Russia, 464,341 people (76.8%) speak Mari languages, 587,452 people (97.2%) speak Russian, that is, Mari-Russian bilingualism is widespread. Among the 312,178 Mari in Mari El, 262,976 people (84.2%) speak Mari languages, including Mari (meadow-eastern Mari) - 245,151 people (93.2%) and Mountain Mari - 17,825 people (6 ,8 %); Russians - 302,719 people (97.0%, 2002).

Traditional clothing

The main clothing of the Mari was a tunic-shaped shirt ( Tuvir), trousers ( yolash), as well as a caftan ( seam), all clothing was girded with a waist towel ( solyk), and sometimes with a belt ( ÿshto).

Men could wear a felt hat with a brim, a cap and a mosquito net. Shoes were leather boots, and later felt boots and bast shoes (borrowed from Russian costume). To work in swampy areas, wooden platforms were attached to shoes ( ketyrma).

Women had common waist pendants - decorations made of beads, cowrie shells, coins, clasps, etc. There were also three types of women's headdresses: a cone-shaped cap with an occipital blade; soroka (borrowed from the Russians), sharpan - a head towel with a headband. Similar to the Mordovian and Udmurt headdress is Shurka

Religion

Before converting to Orthodoxy, the Mari people had their own pagan traditional religion, which retains a certain role in spiritual culture today. A small part of the Mari professes Islam. The Mari's commitment to their traditional faith is of keen interest to journalists from Europe and Russia. The Mari are even called “the last pagans of Europe.”

In the 19th century, paganism among the Mari was persecuted. For example, in 1830, on the instructions of the Minister of Internal Affairs, who received an appeal from the Holy Synod, the place of prayer - Chumbylat Kuryk - was blown up, however, interestingly, the destruction of the Chumbylat stone did not have the desired effect on morals, because the Cheremis worshiped not the stone, but the living here to the deity.

Names

From time immemorial, the Mari had national names. During interaction with the Bulgaro-Tatars, Turkic-Arab names penetrated the Mari, and with the adoption of Christianity - Christian ones. Currently, Christian names are being used more, and a return to national names is also gaining popularity.

Wedding traditions

One of the main attributes of a wedding is the wedding whip “Sÿan lupsh”, which is a symbol of a talisman that protects the road along which the newlyweds must pass.

Mari people of Bashkortostan

Bashkortostan is the second region of Russia after Mari El in terms of the number of Mari residents. There are 105,829 Mari living on the territory of Bashkortostan (2002), a third of the Mari of Bashkortostan live in cities.

The resettlement of the Mari to the Urals took place in the 15th-19th centuries and was caused by their forced Christianization in the Middle Volga. The Mari of Bashkortostan for the most part retained traditional pagan beliefs.

Education in the Mari language is available in national schools, secondary specialized and higher educational institutions in Birsk and Blagoveshchensk. The Mari public association “Mari Ushem” operates in Ufa.

Famous Mari

• Bykov, Vyacheslav Arkadyevich - hockey player, coach of the Russian national hockey team
• Vasiliev, Valerian Mikhailovich - linguist, ethnographer, folklorist, writer
• Kim Vasin - writer
• Grigoriev, Alexander Vladimirovich - artist
• Efimov, Izmail Varsonofevich - artist, king of arms
• Efremov, Tikhon Efremovich - educator
• Efrush, Georgy Zakharovich - writer
• Ivanov, Mikhail Maksimovich - poet
• Ignatiev, Nikon Vasilievich - writer
• Iskandarov, Alexey Iskandarovitch - composer, choirmaster
• Yyvan Kyrla - poet, film actor
• Kazakov, Miklai - poet
• Vladislav Maksimovich Zotin - 1st President of Mari El
• Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Kislitsyn - 2nd President of Mari El
• Columbus, Valentin Khristoforovich - poet
• Konakov, Alexander Fedorovich - playwright
• Lekain, Nikandr Sergeevich - writer
• Luppov, Anatoly Borisovich - composer
• Makarova, Nina Vladimirovna - Soviet composer
• Mikay, Mikhail Stepanovich - poet and fabulist
• Molotov, Ivan N. - composer
• Mosolov, Vasily Petrovich - agronomist, academician
• Mukhin, Nikolai Semenovich - poet, translator
• Sergei Nikolaevich Nikolaev - playwright
• Olyk Ipay - poet
• Orai, Dmitry Fedorovich - writer
• Palantay, Ivan Stepanovich - composer, folklorist, teacher
• Prokhorov, Zinon Filippovich - guard lieutenant, Hero of the Soviet Union.
• Pet Pershut - poet
• Savi, Vladimir Alekseevich - writer
• Sapaev, Erik Nikitich - composer
• Smirnov, Ivan Nikolaevich (historian) - historian, ethnographer
• Taktarov, Oleg Nikolaevich - actor, athlete
• Toidemar, Pavel S. - musician
• Tynysh Osyp - playwright
• Shabdar Osyp - writer
• Shadt Bulat - poet, prose writer, playwright
• Shketan, Yakov Pavlovich - writer
• Chavain, Sergei Grigorievich - poet and playwright
• Cheremisinova, Anastasia Sergeevna - poetess
• Eleksein, Yakov Alekseevich - prose writer
• Elmar, Vasily Sergeevich - poet
• Eshkinin, Andrey Karpovich - writer
• Eshpai, Andrey Andreevich - film director, screenwriter, producer
• Eshpai, Andrey Yakovlevich - Soviet composer
• Eshpai, Yakov Andreevich - ethnographer and composer
• Yuzykain, Alexander Mikhailovich - writer
• Yuksern, Vasily Stepanovich - writer
• Yalkain, Yanysh Yalkaevich - writer, critic, ethnographer
• Yamberdov, Ivan Mikhailovich - artist

Wikipedia materials used

Mari

MARI-ev; pl. The people of the Finno-Ugric linguistic group, constituting the main population of the Mari Republic; representatives of this people, the republic.

◁ Mariets, -riytsa; m. Mariika, -i; pl. genus.-riek, date-riikam; and. Mari (see). In Mari, adv.

Mari

(self-name - Mari, obsolete - Cheremis), people, indigenous population of the Mari Republic (324 thousand people) and neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total there are 644 thousand people in Russia (1995). Mari language. The Mari believers are Orthodox.

MARI

MARI (obsolete - Cheremis), people in Russian Federation, the indigenous population of the Mari Republic (312 thousand people), also live in neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals, including Bashkiria (106 thousand people), Tataria (18.8 thousand people), Kirov region (39 thousand people), Sverdlovsk region (28 thousand people), as well as in the Tyumen region (11 thousand people), Siberian Federal District (13 thousand people), Southern Federal District (13.6 thousand people). people). In total there are 604 thousand Mari in the Russian Federation (2002). The Mari are divided into three territorial groups: mountainous, meadow (or forest) and eastern. Mountain Mari live mainly on the right bank of the Volga, meadow Mari - on the left, eastern - in Bashkiria and the Sverdlovsk region. The number of Mountain Mari in Russia is 18.5 thousand people, the Eastern Mari are 56 thousand people.
According to their anthropological appearance, the Mari belong to the sub-Ural type of the Ural race. In the Mari language, which belongs to the Volga-Finnish group of Finno-Ugric languages, mountain, meadow, eastern and northwestern dialects are distinguished. Russian is widely spoken among the Mari. Writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet. After the Mari lands became part of the Russian state in the 16th century, the Christianization of the Mari began. However, the eastern and small groups of meadow Mari did not accept Christianity; until the 20th century, they retained pre-Christian beliefs, especially the cult of ancestors.
The beginning of the formation of the Mari tribes dates back to the turn of the first millennium AD; this process took place mainly on the right bank of the Volga, partially capturing the left bank areas. The first written mention of the Cheremis (Mari) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan (6th century). They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Close ethnocultural ties with the Turkic peoples played a major role in the development of the Mari ethnic group. Russian culture had a significant influence, especially intensified after the Mari joined the Russian state (1551-1552). From the end of the 16th century, the resettlement of the Mari began in the Cis-Urals, which intensified in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The main traditional occupation is arable farming. Of auxiliary importance were gardening, breeding horses, cattle and sheep, hunting, forestry (harvesting and rafting of timber, tar smoking), beekeeping; later - apiary beekeeping, fishing. The Mari have developed artistic crafts: embroidery, wood carving, and jewelry making.
Traditional clothing: richly embroidered tunic-shaped shirt, trousers, swinging summer caftan, hemp canvas waist towel, belt. Men wore felt hats with small brims and caps. For hunting and working in the forest, a headdress like a mosquito net was used. Mari shoes - bast shoes with onuchs, leather boots, felt boots. To work in swampy areas, wooden platforms were attached to shoes. A woman's costume is characterized by an apron and an abundance of jewelry made of beads, sparkles, coins, silver clasps, as well as bracelets and rings.
Women's headdresses are varied - cone-shaped caps with an occipital blade; magpies borrowed from the Russians, head towels with a headband, tall spade-shaped headdresses on a birch bark frame. Women's outerwear - straight and gathered kaftans made of black or white cloth and fur coats. Traditional types of clothing are common among the older generation and are used in wedding rituals.
Mari cuisine - dumplings stuffed with meat or cottage cheese, puff pancakes, cottage cheese pancakes, drinks - beer, buttermilk, strong mead. The Mari families were predominantly small, but there were also large, undivided ones. The woman in the family enjoyed economic and legal independence. Upon marriage, the bride's parents were paid a ransom, and they gave a dowry for their daughter.
Converted to Orthodoxy in the 18th century, the Mari retained pagan beliefs. Public prayers with sacrifices are typical, held in sacred groves before sowing, in the summer and after harvesting. Among the Eastern Mari there are Muslims. Wood carving and embroidery are unique in folk art. Mari music (harp, drum, trumpets) is distinguished by its richness of forms and melody. Among the folklore genres, songs stand out, among which “songs of sadness,” fairy tales, and legends occupy a special place.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

Synonyms:

See what “Mari” are in other dictionaries:

Mari ... Wikipedia

- (self-name of the Mari, obsolete Cheremis), nation, indigenous population of the Mari Republic (324 thousand people) and neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total there are 644 thousand people in the Russian Federation (1992). The total number is 671 thousand people. Mari language... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

- (self-names Mari, Mari, Cheremis) people with a total number of 671 thousand people. Main countries of settlement: Russian Federation 644 thousand people, incl. Republic of Mari El 324 thousand people. Other countries of settlement: Kazakhstan 12 thousand people, Ukraine 7 thousand… … Modern encyclopedia

MARI, ev, units. yets, yitsa, husband. Same as mari (1 value). | wives Mari, I. | adj. Mari, aya, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

- (self-name Mari, obsolete Cheremis), people in the Russian Federation, indigenous population of the Mari Republic (324 thousand people) and neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total there are 644 thousand people in the Russian Federation. Mari language Volga... ...Russian history

Noun, number of synonyms: 2 mari (3) cheremisy (2) ASIS Dictionary of Synonyms. V.N. Trishin. 2013… Synonym dictionary

Mari- (self-names Mari, Mari, Cheremis) people with a total number of 671 thousand people. Main countries of settlement: Russian Federation 644 thousand people, incl. Republic of Mari El 324 thousand people. Other countries of settlement: Kazakhstan 12 thousand people, Ukraine 7 thousand… … Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

Mari- (self-named Mari, obsolete Russian name Cheremisy). They are divided into mountain, meadow and eastern. They live in the republic. Mari El (on the right bank of the Volga and partly on the left mountainous, the rest meadow), in Bashk. (East), as well as in a small number in neighboring republics. and region... ... Ural Historical Encyclopedia

Mari Ethnopsychological Dictionary

MARI- representatives of one of the Finno-Ugric peoples (see), living in the Volga-Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, the Kama region and the Urals and in their national psychology and culture are similar to the Chuvash. The Mari are hardworking, hospitable, modest,... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy

Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”

The multimedia project “Faces of Russia” has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together while remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for countries throughout the post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of different Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs “Music and Songs of the Peoples of Russia” were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs were published to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a snapshot that will allow the residents of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a legacy for posterity with a picture of what they were like.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Faces of Russia". Mari. "Mari El Republic. From Shorunzhi with love"", 2011

General information

MARIANS, Mari, Mari (self-name - “man”, “man”, “husband”), Cheremis (outdated Russian name), people in Russia. Number of people: 644 thousand people. The Mari are the indigenous population of the Republic of Mari El (324.4 thousand people (290.8 thousand people according to the 2010 census)). The Mari also live in the neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. They live compactly in Bashkiria (105.7 thousand people), Tataria (19.5 thousand people), Udmurtia (9.5 thousand people), Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk and Perm regions. They also live in Kazakhstan (12 thousand), Ukraine (7 thousand), and Uzbekistan (3 thousand). The total number is 671 thousand people.

According to the 2002 Census, the number of Mari living in Russia is 605 thousand people, according to the 2010 census. - 547 thousand 605 people.

They are divided into 3 main subethnic groups: mountainous, meadow and eastern. Mountain Mari inhabit the right bank of the Volga, meadow Mari inhabit the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, eastern Mari live east of the Vyatka River, mainly in the territory of Bashkiria, where they moved in the 16-18 centuries. They speak the Mari language of the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic family. The following dialects are distinguished: mountainous, meadow, eastern and northwestern. Writing based on the Russian alphabet. About 464 thousand (or 77%) Mari speak the Mari language, the majority (97%) speak Russian. Mari-Russian bilingualism is widespread. The Mari's writing is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Believers are predominantly Orthodox and adherents of the “Mari faith” (Marla Vera), combining Christianity with traditional beliefs. The Eastern Mari mostly adhere to traditional beliefs.

The first written mention of the Mari (Cheremis) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan in the 6th century. They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. The core of the ancient Mari ethnic group that formed in the 1st millennium AD in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve were the Finno-Ugric tribes. Close ethnocultural ties with the Turkic peoples (Volga-Kama Bulgarians, Chuvash, Tatars) played a major role in the formation and development of the ethnos. The cultural and everyday similarities with the Chuvash are especially noticeable.

The formation of the ancient Mari people occurred in the 5th-10th centuries. Intensive connections with the Russians, especially after the Mari joined the Russian state (1551-52), had a significant impact on the material culture of the Mari. The mass Christianization of the Mari in the 18th and 19th centuries influenced the assimilation of certain forms of spiritual culture and festive family rituals characteristic of Orthodoxy and the Russian population. However, the Eastern Mari and some of the Meadow Mari did not accept Christianity; they still retain pre-Christian beliefs, especially the cult of ancestors, to this day. In 1920, the Mari Autonomous Region was created (since 1936 - the Mari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic). Since 1992 Republic of Mari El.

The main traditional occupation is arable farming. The main field crops are rye, oats, barley, millet, spelt, buckwheat, hemp, flax; garden vegetables - onions, cabbage, radishes, carrots, hops, potatoes. Turnips were sown in the field. Of auxiliary importance were the breeding of horses, cattle and sheep, hunting, forestry (harvesting and rafting of wood, tar smoking, etc.), beekeeping (later apiary beekeeping), and fishing. Artistic crafts - embroidery, wood carving, jewelry (silver women's jewelry). There was otkhodnichestvo for timber processing enterprises.

The scattered layout of villages in the 2nd half of the 19th century began to give way to street layouts: the Northern Great Russian type of layout began to predominate. The dwelling is a log hut with a gable roof, two-partitioned (hut-canopy) or three-partitioned (hut-canopy-cage, hut-canopy-hut). A small stove with a built-in boiler was often located near the Russian stove, the kitchen was separated by partitions, benches were placed along the front and side walls, in the front corner there was a table with a wooden chair for the head of the family, shelves for icons and dishes, on the side of the front door there was a wooden bed or bunks, There are embroidered towels above the windows. Among the eastern Mari, especially in the Kama region, the interior was close to Tatar (wide bunks at the front wall, curtains instead of partitions, etc.).

In the summer, the Mari moved to live in a summer kitchen (kudo) - a log building with an earthen floor, no ceiling, and a gable or pitched roof, in which cracks were left for smoke to escape. In the middle of the kudo there was an open hearth with a hanging boiler. The estate also included a cellar, a cellar, a barn, a barn, a carriage house, and a bathhouse. Characteristic are two-story storage rooms with a gallery-balcony on the second floor.

Traditional clothing - a tunic-style shirt, trousers, an open summer caftan, a hemp canvas waist towel, and a belt. Men's headwear - a felt hat with a small brim and a cap; For hunting and working in the forest, a mosquito net type device was used. Shoes - bast shoes, leather boots, felt boots. To work in swampy areas, wooden platforms were attached to shoes.

A woman's costume is characterized by an apron, waist pendants, chest, neck, and ear jewelry made of beads, cowrie shells, sparkles, coins, silver clasps, bracelets, and rings. There were 3 types of headdresses for married women: shymaksh - a cone-shaped cap with an occipital blade, worn on a birch bark frame; a magpie, borrowed from the Russians, and a sharpan - a head towel with a headband. A tall women's headdress - shurka (on a birch bark frame, reminiscent of Mordovian and Udmurt headdresses) fell out of use in the 19th century. Outerwear was straight and gathered kaftans made of black or white cloth and fur coats.

Traditional types of clothing are partly common among the older generation and are used in wedding rituals. Modernized types of national clothing are widespread - a shirt made of white and an apron made of multi-colored fabric, decorated with embroidery and ribbons, belts woven from multi-colored threads, caftans made of black and green fabric.

The main traditional food is soup with dumplings, dumplings stuffed with meat or cottage cheese, boiled lard or blood sausage with cereal, dried horse meat sausage, puff pancakes, cheesecakes, boiled flatbreads, baked flatbreads. They drank beer, buttermilk, and a strong honey drink. The national cuisine is also characterized by specific dishes made from the meat of squirrel, hawk, eagle owl, hedgehog, grass snake, viper, dried fish flour, and hemp seed. There was a ban on hunting wild geese, swans and pigeons, and in some areas - on cranes.

Rural communities usually included several villages. There were ethnically mixed, mainly Mari-Russian, Mari-Chuvash communities. Families were predominantly small and monogamous. There were also large undivided families. Marriage is patrilocal. Upon marriage, the bride's parents were paid a ransom, and they gave a dowry (including livestock) for their daughter. The modern family is small. Traditional features come to life in wedding rituals (songs, national costumes with decorations, a wedding train, the presence of everyone).

The Mari developed traditional medicine, based on ideas about cosmic life force, the will of the gods, damage, the evil eye, evil spirits, and the souls of the dead. In the “Mari faith” and paganism, there are cults of ancestors and gods (the supreme god Kugu Yumo, the gods of the sky, the mother of life, the mother of water, etc.).

Archaic features of the cult of ancestors were burial in winter clothes (in a winter hat and mittens), taking the body to the cemetery in a sleigh (even in the summer). The traditional burial reflected ideas about the afterlife: nails collected during life were buried with the deceased (during the transition to the next world, they are needed to overcome mountains, clinging to rocks), rosehip branches (to ward off snakes and a dog guarding the entrance to the kingdom of the dead), a piece of canvas (on which, like a bridge, the soul crosses an abyss into the afterlife), etc.

The Mari have many holidays, like any people with a centuries-old history. There is, for example, an ancient ritual holiday called “Sheep's Foot” (Shorykyol). It begins to be celebrated on the winter solstice (December 22) after the birth of the new moon. During the holiday, a magical action is performed: pulling sheep by the legs so that more sheep will be born in the new year. A whole set of superstitions and beliefs was dedicated to the first day of this holiday. The weather on the first day was used to judge what spring and summer would be like, and predictions were made about the harvest.

"Mari Faith" and traditional beliefs in last years are being reborn. Within the framework of the public organization "Oshmari-Chimari", which claims to be the Mari national religious association, prayers began to be held in groves; in the city of Yoshkar-Ola it owns the "Oak Grove". The Kugu Sorta (Big Candle) sect, active in the 19th and early 20th centuries, has now merged with the “Mari faith.”

Development of national self-awareness and political activity Mari people are promoted by the Mari National public organization"Mari Ushem" (was created as the Mari Union in 1917, banned in 1918, resumed activity in 1990).

V.N. Petrov

Essays

Expensive ax of a lost ax

How do people become wise? Thanks to life experience. Well, that's a very long time. And if you need to quickly, quickly gain intelligence? Well, then you need to listen and read some folk proverbs. For example, the Mari.

But first brief information. The Mari are a people living in Russia. The indigenous population of the Republic of Mari El is 312 thousand people. The Mari also live in the neighboring regions of the Volga region and the Urals. In total, there are 604 thousand Mari in the Russian Federation (2002 census data). The Mari are divided into three territorial groups: mountainous, meadow (forest) and eastern. Mountain Mari live on the right bank of the Volga, meadow Mari - on the left, eastern - in Bashkiria and the Sverdlovsk region. They speak the Mari language, which is part of the Volga subgroup of the Finnish group of the Finno-Ugric family of languages. The Mari have a written language based on the Cyrillic alphabet. The faith is Orthodox, but there is also its own, the Mari faith (Marla faith) - this is a combination of Christianity with traditional beliefs.

As for Mari folk wisdom, it is carefully collected into proverbs and sayings.

The ax of a lost ax is precious.

At first glance, this is a strange proverb. If you really regret the lost axe, then regret it as a whole, and not about its individual parts. But folk wisdom- the matter is subtle, not always immediately perceptible. Yes, of course, the ax is also a pity, but the ax handle is more pity. Because it is more dear, we take it with our hands. The hand gets used to it. That's why it's more expensive. And it’s easy to draw conclusions from this proverb. And it's better to do it yourself.

Here are some more interesting Mari proverbs, supported by centuries of folk experience.

A young tree cannot grow under an old tree.

A word will give birth, a song will give birth to tears.

There is a forest - there is a bear, there is a village - evil person There is.

If you talk a lot, your thoughts will spread. (Very useful advice!)

And now, having gained a little Mari wisdom, let’s listen to a Mari fairy tale. More precisely, a fairy tale. It is called:

Forty-one fables

Three brothers were chopping wood in the forest. It's time for lunch. The brothers began to cook dinner: they filled the pot with water, built a fire, but there was nothing to light the fire with. As luck would have it, not one of them took any flint or matches with them from home. They looked around and saw: a fire was burning behind the trees and an old man was sitting near the fire.

The elder brother went to the old man and asked:

- Grandfather, give me a light!

“Tell forty-one fables, I’ll give you,” answered the old man.

The elder brother stood and stood, and didn’t come up with a single fable. So he returned with nothing. The middle brother went to the old man.

- Give me a light, grandfather!

“I’ll give you money if you tell forty-one fables,” the old man replied.

The middle brother scratched his head - he didn’t come up with a single fable and also returned to his brothers without fire. The younger brother went to the old man.

“Grandfather,” says the younger brother to the old man, “my brothers and I got ready to cook dinner, but there is no fire.” Give us fire.

“If you tell forty-one tales,” says the old man, “I will give you fire and, in addition, a cauldron and a fat duck that is boiling in the cauldron.”

“Okay,” agreed the younger brother, “I’ll tell you forty-one fables.” Just don't be angry.

- Who gets angry at fables!

- Okay, listen. Three brothers were born to our father and mother. We died one after another, and there were only seven of us left. Of the seven brothers, one was deaf, another was blind, the third was lame, and the fourth was armless. And the fifth one was naked, he didn’t have a scrap of clothing on him.

One day we got together and went to catch hares. They entangled one grove with threads, but the deaf brother already heard.

“There, there, there’s a rustling noise!” - shouted the deaf man.

And then the blind man saw the hare: “Catch it!” He ran into the ravine!”

The lame man ran after the hare - he was about to catch it... Only the armless man had already grabbed the hare.

The naked brother of the hare put it in his hem and brought it home.

We killed a hare and made a pound of lard from it.

We all had one pair of father's boots. And I began to lubricate my father’s boots with that lard. I smeared and smeared - there was only enough lard for one boot. The ungreased boot got angry and ran away from me. The boot runs, I follow him. He jumped his boot into some hole in the ground. I made a rope out of chaff and went down to get the boot. Here I caught up with him!

I started to crawl back out, but the rope broke, and I fell back into the ground. I’m sitting, sitting in a hole, and then spring has come. The crane built a nest for itself and brought out the baby cranes. The fox got into the habit of climbing after crane babies: today he will drag one away, tomorrow another, the day after tomorrow he comes for the third. I once crept up to a fox and grabbed it by the tail!

The fox ran and dragged me along with it. At the exit I got stuck, and the fox rushed - and the tail came off.

I brought home a fox tail, cut it open, and inside there was a piece of paper. I unfolded the piece of paper, and there it was written: “The old man who is now cooking a fat duck and listening to tall tales owes your father ten pounds of rye.”

- Lies! - the old man got angry. - Fable!

“And you asked for tall tales,” answered the younger brother.

There was nothing for the old man to do; he had to give up both the boiler and the duck.

A wonderful fable! And mind you, not a lie, not a lie, but a story about something that did not happen.

And now about what happened, but in the depths of history.

The first written mention of the Mari (Cheremis) is found in the Gothic historian Jordan in the century. They are also mentioned in The Tale of Bygone Years. Close ties with the Turkic peoples played a major role in the development of the Mari ethnic group.

The formation of the ancient Mari people takes place in centuries.

For centuries, the Mari were under the economic and cultural influence of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria. In the 1230s, their territory was captured by the Mongol-Tatars. Since the century, the Volga Mari were part of the Kazan Khanate, and the northwestern Mari, the Vetluga Mari, were part of the northeastern Russian principalities.

The cult of ancestors has been preserved

In 1551-52, after the defeat of the Kazan Khanate, the Mari became part of the Russian state. In the century, the Christianization of the Mari began. However, the Eastern Mari and some of the Meadow Mari did not accept Christianity; they retained pre-Christian beliefs for centuries, especially the cult of ancestors. Since the end of the century, the resettlement of the Mari to the Urals began, intensifying in -XVIII centuries. The Mari took part in the peasant wars under the leadership of Stepan Razin and Emelyan Pugachev.

The main occupation of the Mari was arable farming. Of secondary importance were gardening, livestock breeding, hunting, forestry, beekeeping, and fishing.

Traditional clothing of the Mari: a richly embroidered shirt, an open summer caftan, a hemp canvas waist towel, a belt, a felt hat, bast shoes with onuchas, leather boots, felt boots. A woman's costume is characterized by an apron, caftans made of cloth, fur coats, headdresses - cone-shaped caps and an abundance of jewelry made of beads, sparkles, coins, and silver clasps.

Traditional Mari cuisine - dumplings stuffed with meat or cottage cheese, puff pancakes, cheesecakes, drinks - beer, buttermilk, strong mead. Mari families are predominantly small. The woman in the family enjoyed economic and legal independence.

Folk art includes wood carving, embroidery, patterned weaving, and birch bark weaving.

Mari music is distinguished by its richness of forms and melody. Folk instruments include: kusle (harp), shuvyr (bagpipe), tumyr (drum), shiyaltish (pipe), kovyzh (two-string violin), shushpyk (whistle). Performed on folk instruments mainly dance tunes. Among the folklore genres, songs stand out, especially “songs of sadness,” as well as fairy tales and legends.

It's time to tell another Mari tale. If I may say so, magically musical.

Bagpiper at a wedding

One cheerful bagpiper was walking at the festival. He went on such a spree that he didn’t even make it home—the drunkenness knocked his quick legs down. He fell under a birch tree and fell asleep. So I slept until midnight.

Suddenly, through his sleep, he hears someone wakes him up: “Get up, get up, Toidemar!” The wedding is in full swing, but there is no one to play. Help me out, my dear.

The bagpiper rubbed his eyes: in front of him was a man in a rich caftan, a hat, and soft goatskin boots. And next to him is a dun stallion harnessed to a black lacquered carriage.

We sat down. The man whistled, whooped and off we went. And here is the wedding: big, rich, guests, apparently and invisible. Yes, the guests are all playful and cheerful - just play, bagpiper!

Toydemar is sweating from such a game, and asks his friend: “Give me, savush, that towel that’s hanging on the wall, I’ll wash my face in the morning.”

And the friend answers:

- Don’t take it, I’d rather give you something else.

“Why doesn’t he allow you to wipe yourself off with this? - the bagpiper thinks. - Well, I’ll try. At least I’ll wipe one eye.”

He wiped his eye - and what does he see? He sits on a stump in the middle of the swamp, and tailed and horned animals are jumping around him.

“So this is the kind of wedding I ended up at! - thinks. “We need to clean up quickly.”

“Hey, dear,” he turns to the main devil. “I need to get home before the roosters.” From the morning to the holiday neighboring village invited.

“Don’t bother,” the devil answers. - We'll deliver it right away. You play excellently, the guests are happy, and so are the hosts. Let's go now.

The devil whistled - a trio of dun ones and a varnished carriage rolled up. This is how a drugged eye sees, but a clean eye sees something else: three black crows and a gnarled stump.

Landed and flew. Before we had time to look around, there was the house. The bagpiper came quickly at the door, and the roosters were just crowing - the tailed ones ran away.

Relatives to him:

- Where have you been?

- At the wedding.

- What kind of weddings are these days? There wasn't one in the area. You were hiding here somewhere. We were just looking out into the street, you weren’t there, and now you showed up.

— I drove up in a wheelchair.

- Well, show me!

- It’s standing on the street there.

We went outside and there was a huge spruce stump.

Since then, the Mari have said: a drunk can get home on a tree stump.

Pulling the sheep by the feet!

The Mari have many holidays. Like any nation with a centuries-old history. There is, for example, an ancient ritual holiday called “Sheep's Foot” (Shorykyol). It begins to be celebrated on the day of the winter solstice (from December 22) after the birth of the new moon. Why such a strange name - “Sheep's Foot”? But the fact is that during the holiday a magical action is performed: pulling the sheep by the legs. So that more sheep are born in the new year.

In the past, the Mari associated the well-being of their household and family, and changes in life, with this day. The first day of the holiday was especially important. Getting up early in the morning, the whole family went out to the winter field and made small piles of snow, reminiscent of stacks and stacks of bread. They tried to make as many of them as possible, but always in odd number. Rye ears were stuck into the stacks, and some peasants buried pancakes in them. Branches and trunks shook in the garden fruit trees and shrubs to reap a rich harvest of fruits and berries in the new year.

On this day, the girls went from house to house, always went into the sheepfolds and pulled the sheep by the legs. Such actions associated with the “magic of the first day” were supposed to ensure fertility and well-being in the household and family.

A whole set of superstitions and beliefs was dedicated to the first day of the holiday. Based on the weather on the first day, they judged what spring and summer would be like, and predicted the harvest: “If the snow pile swept into Shorykyol is covered with snow, there will be a harvest.” “There will be snow in Shorykyol - there will be vegetables.”

Fortune-telling occupied a large place, and the peasants attached great importance to its implementation. Fortune telling was mainly associated with predicting fate. Girls of marriageable age wondered about marriage - whether they would get married in the new year, what kind of life awaited them in marriage. The older generation tried to find out about the future of the family, sought to determine the fertility of the harvest, how prosperous their farm would be.

An integral part of the Shorykyol holiday is the procession of mummers led by the main characters - Old Man Vasily and the Old Woman (Vasli kuva-kugyza, Shorykyol kuva-kugyza). They are perceived by the Mari as harbingers of the future, since the mummers foretell to householders a good harvest, an increase in the number of livestock in the farmstead, a happy family life. Old Man Vasily and the Old Woman communicate with good and evil gods and can tell people that whatever the harvest is, such will be life for each person. The owners of the house try to welcome the mummers as best as possible. They are treated to beer and nuts so that there are no complaints about stinginess.

To demonstrate their skill and hard work, the Mari display their work - woven bast shoes, embroidered towels and spun threads. Having treated themselves, Old Man Vasily and his Old Woman scatter grains of rye or oats on the floor, wishing the generous host an abundance of bread. Among the mummers, Bear, Horse, Goose, Crane, Goat and other animals are often found. Interestingly, in the past there were other characters depicting a soldier with an accordion, government officials and priests - a priest and a deacon.

Especially for the holiday, hazelnuts are preserved and treated to the mummers. Dumplings with meat are often prepared. According to custom, a coin, pieces of bast and coal are placed in some of them. Depending on who gets what while eating, they predict their fate for the year. During the holiday, some prohibitions are observed: you cannot wash clothes, sew or embroider, or do heavy work.

Ritual food plays a significant role on this day. A hearty lunch at Shorykyol should ensure food abundance for the coming year. Lamb's head is considered a mandatory dish. In addition to it, traditional drinks and foods are prepared: beer (pura) from rye malt and hops, pancakes (melna), unleavened oat bread (sherginde), cheesecakes stuffed with hemp seeds (katlama), pies with hare or bear meat (merang ale mask shil kogylyo), baked from rye or oatmeal unleavened dough “nuts” (shorykyol pyaks).

The Mari have many holidays; they are celebrated throughout the year. Let us mention one more original Mari holiday: Konta Payrem (stove festival). It is celebrated on January 12th. Housewives prepare national dishes and invite guests to large, hearty feasts. The feast goes uphill.

It seems to us that the expression “dance from the stove” came into the Russian language from the Mari! From the stove holiday!

Origin of the Mari people

The question of the origin of the Mari people is still controversial. For the first time, a scientifically substantiated theory of the ethnogenesis of the Mari was expressed in 1845 by the famous Finnish linguist M. Castren. He tried to identify the Mari with the chronicle measures. This point of view was supported and developed by T.S. Semenov, I.N. Smirnov, S.K. Kuznetsov, A.A. Spitsyn, D.K. Zelenin, M.N. Yantemir, F.E. Egorov and many others researchers of the 2nd half of the 19th – 1st half of the 20th centuries. A new hypothesis was made in 1949 by the prominent Soviet archaeologist A.P. Smirnov, who came to the conclusion about the Gorodets (close to the Mordovians) basis; other archaeologists O.N. Bader and V.F. Gening at the same time defended the thesis about Dyakovsky (close to measure) origin of the Mari. Nevertheless, archaeologists were already able to convincingly prove that the Merya and Mari, although related to each other, are not the same people. At the end of the 1950s, when the permanent Mari archaeological expedition began to operate, its leaders A.Kh. Khalikov and G.A. Arkhipov developed a theory about the mixed Gorodets-Azelinsky (Volga-Finnish-Permian) basis of the Mari people. Subsequently, G.A. Arkhipov, developing this hypothesis further, during the discovery and study of new archaeological sites, proved that in mixed basis The Mari were dominated by the Gorodets-Dyakovsky (Volga-Finnish) component and the formation of the Mari ethnos, which began in the first half of the 1st millennium AD, generally ended in the 9th - 11th centuries, and even then the Mari ethnos began to be divided into two main groups - mountainous and meadow Mari (the latter, compared to the former, were more strongly influenced by the Azelin (Permo-speaking) tribes). This theory is generally supported by the majority of archaeological scientists working on this problem. Mari archaeologist V.S. Patrushev put forward a different assumption, according to which the formation of the ethnic foundations of the Mari, as well as the Meri and Muroms, took place on the basis of the Akhmylov-type population. Linguists (I.S. Galkin, D.E. Kazantsev), who rely on language data, believe that the territory of formation of the Mari people should be sought not in the Vetluzh-Vyatka interfluve, as archaeologists believe, but to the southwest, between the Oka and Suroy. Scientist-archaeologist T.B. Nikitina, taking into account data not only from archeology, but also from linguistics, came to the conclusion that the ancestral home of the Mari is located in the Volga part of the Oka-Sura interfluve and in Povetluzhie, and the advance to the east, to Vyatka, occurred in VIII - XI centuries, during which contact and mixing took place with the Azelin (Perm-speaking) tribes.

The question of the origin of the ethnonyms “Mari” and “Cheremis” also remains complex and unclear. The meaning of the word “Mari”, the self-name of the Mari people, is derived by many linguists from the Indo-European term “mar”, “mer” in various sound variations (translated as “man”, “husband”). The word “Cheremis” (as the Russians called the Mari, and in a slightly different, but phonetically similar vowel, many other peoples) has a large number of different interpretations. The first written mention of this ethnonym (in the original “ts-r-mis”) is found in a letter from the Khazar Kagan Joseph to the dignitary of the Cordoba Caliph Hasdai ibn-Shaprut (960s). D.E. Kazantsev, following the historian of the 19th century. G.I. Peretyatkovich came to the conclusion that the name “Cheremis” was given to the Mari by the Mordovian tribes, and translated this word means “a person living on the sunny side, in the east.” According to I.G. Ivanov, “Cheremis” is “a person from the Chera or Chora tribe,” in other words, neighboring peoples subsequently extended the name of one of the Mari tribes to the entire ethnic group. The version of the Mari local historians of the 1920s and early 1930s, F.E. Egorov and M.N. Yantemir, is widely popular, who suggested that this ethnonym goes back to the Turkic term “warlike person.” F.I. Gordeev, as well as I.S. Galkin, who supported his version, defend the hypothesis about the origin of the word “Cheremis” from the ethnonym “Sarmatian” through the mediation of Turkic languages. A number of other versions were also expressed. The problem of the etymology of the word “Cheremis” is further complicated by the fact that in the Middle Ages (up to the 17th – 18th centuries) this was the name in a number of cases not only for the Mari, but also for their neighbors – the Chuvash and Udmurts.

Mari in the 9th – 11th centuries.

In the 9th – 11th centuries. In general, the formation of the Mari ethnic group was completed. At the time in questionMarisettled over a vast territory within the Middle Volga region: south of the Vetluga and Yuga watershed and the Pizhma River; north of the Piana River, the upper reaches of Tsivil; east of the river Unzhi, mouth of the Oka; west of Ileti and the mouth of the Kilmezi River.

Farm Mari was complex (agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing, gathering, beekeeping, crafts and other activities related to the processing of raw materials at home). Direct evidence of the widespread spread of agriculture in Mari no, there is only indirect evidence indicating the development of slash-and-burn agriculture among them, and there is reason to believe that in the 11th century. the transition to arable farming began.
Mari in the 9th – 11th centuries. almost all grains, legumes and industrial crops cultivated in the forest belt of Eastern Europe at the present time were known. Swidden farming was combined with cattle breeding; Stall housing of livestock in combination with free grazing predominated (mainly the same types of domestic animals and birds were bred as now).
Hunting was a significant help in the economy Mari, while in the 9th – 11th centuries. fur production began to have a commercial character. Hunting tools were bows and arrows; various traps, snares and snares were used.
Mari the population was engaged in fishing (near rivers and lakes), accordingly, river navigation developed, while natural conditions (dense network of rivers, difficult forest and swampy terrain) dictated the priority development of river rather than land routes of communication.
Fishing, as well as gathering (primarily forest products) were focused exclusively on domestic consumption. Significant spread and development in Mari beekeeping was received, they even put signs of ownership on the beet trees - “tiste”. Along with furs, honey was the main item of Mari export.
U Mari there were no cities, only village crafts were developed. Metallurgy, due to the lack of a local raw material base, developed through the processing of imported semi-finished and finished products. Nevertheless, blacksmithing in the 9th – 11th centuries. at Mari had already emerged as a special specialty, while non-ferrous metallurgy (mainly blacksmithing and jewelry - making copper, bronze, and silver jewelry) was predominantly carried out by women.
The production of clothing, shoes, utensils, and some types of agricultural implements was carried out on each farm in the time free from agriculture and livestock raising. Weaving and leatherworking were in first place among the domestic industries. Flax and hemp were used as raw materials for weaving. The most common leather product was shoes.

In the 9th – 11th centuries. Mari conducted barter trade with neighboring peoples - the Udmurts, Meryas, Vesya, Mordovians, Muroma, Meshchera and other Finno-Ugric tribes. Trade relations with the Bulgars and Khazars, who were at a relatively high level of development, went beyond the scope of natural exchange; there were elements of commodity-money relations (many Arab dirhams were found in the ancient Mari burial grounds of that time). In the area where they lived Mari, the Bulgars even founded trading posts like the Mari-Lugovsky settlement. The greatest activity of Bulgarian merchants occurred at the end of the 10th - beginning of the 11th centuries. There are no clear signs of close and regular connections between the Mari and the Eastern Slavs in the 9th – 11th centuries. has not yet been discovered, things of Slavic-Russian origin are rare in the Mari archaeological sites of that time.

Based on the totality of available information, it is difficult to judge the nature of contacts Mari in the 9th – 11th centuries. with their Volga-Finnish neighbors - Merya, Meshchera, Mordovians, Muroma. However, according to numerous folklore works, tense relations between Mari developed with the Udmurts: as a result of a number of battles and minor skirmishes, the latter were forced to leave the Vetluga-Vyatka interfluve, retreating east, to the left bank of the Vyatka. At the same time, among the available archaeological material there are no traces of armed conflicts between Mari and the Udmurts were not found.

Relationship Mari with the Volga Bulgars, apparently, they were not limited to trade. At least part of the Mari population, bordering the Volga-Kama Bulgaria, paid tribute to this country (kharaj) - initially as a vassal-intermediary of the Khazar Kagan (it is known that in the 10th century both Bulgars and Mari- ts-r-mis - were subjects of Kagan Joseph, however, the former were in a more privileged position in the composition Khazar Khaganate), then as an independent state and a kind of legal successor to the Kaganate.

The Mari and their neighbors in the 12th – early 13th centuries.

From the 12th century in some Mari lands the transition to fallow farming begins. Funeral rites were unifiedMari, cremation has disappeared. If previously in useMarimen often encountered swords and spears, but now they have been replaced everywhere by bows, arrows, axes, knives and other types of light bladed weapons. Perhaps this was due to the fact that the new neighborsMarithere were more numerous, better armed and organized peoples (Slavic-Russians, Bulgars), with whom it was possible to fight only by partisan methods.

XII – early XIII centuries. were marked by a noticeable growth of the Slavic-Russian and the decline of the Bulgar influence on Mari(especially in Povetluzhie). At this time, Russian settlers appeared in the area between the Unzha and Vetluga rivers (Gorodets Radilov, first mentioned in chronicles in 1171, settlements and settlements on Uzol, Linda, Vezlom, Vatom), where settlements were still found Mari and eastern Merya, as well as in the Upper and Middle Vyatka (the cities of Khlynov, Kotelnich, settlements on Pizhma) - on the Udmurt and Mari lands.
Settlement area Mari, compared to the 9th – 11th centuries, did not undergo significant changes, however, its gradual shift to the east continued, which was largely due to the advance from the west of the Slavic-Russian tribes and the Slavicizing Finno-Ugric peoples (primarily the Merya) and, possibly , the ongoing Mari-Udmurt confrontation. The movement of the Meryan tribes to the east took place in small families or their groups, and the settlers who reached Povetluga most likely mixed with related Mari tribes, completely dissolving in this environment.

Material culture came under strong Slavic-Russian influence (obviously through the mediation of the Meryan tribes) Mari. In particular, according to archaeological research, instead of traditional local molded ceramics, dishes made in potter's wheel(Slavic and “Slavonic” ceramics), under Slavic influence the appearance of Mari jewelry, household items, and tools changed. At the same time, among the Mari antiquities XII - beginning of XII I centuries there are much fewer Bulgarian things.

No later than the beginning of the 12th century. The inclusion of the Mari lands into the system of ancient Russian statehood begins. According to the Tale of Bygone Years and the Tale of the Destruction of the Russian Land, the Cheremis (probably the western groups of the Mari population) were already paying tribute to the Russian princes. In 1120, after a series of Bulgar attacks on Russian cities in Volga-Ochye, which took place in the second half of the 11th century, a series of retaliatory campaigns began by the Vladimir-Suzdal princes and their allies from other Russian principalities. The Russian-Bulgar conflict, as is commonly believed, flared up due to the collection of tribute from the local population, and in this struggle the advantage steadily leaned towards the feudal lords of North-Eastern Rus'. Reliable information about direct participation Mari in the Russian-Bulgar wars, no, although the troops of both warring sides repeatedly passed through the Mari lands.

Mari as part of the Golden Horde

In 1236 - 1242 Eastern Europe was subjected to a powerful Mongol-Tatar invasion, a significant part of it, including the entire Volga region, came under the rule of the conquerors. At the same time, the BulgarsMari, Mordovians and other peoples of the Middle Volga region were included in the Ulus of Jochi or Golden Horde, an empire founded by Batu Khan. Written sources do not report a direct invasion of the Mongol-Tatars in the 30s and 40s. XIII century to the territory where they livedMari. Most likely, the invasion affected the Mari settlements located near the areas that suffered the most severe devastation (Volga-Kama Bulgaria, Mordovia) - these are the Right Bank of the Volga and the left bank Mari lands adjacent to Bulgaria.

Mari submitted to the Golden Horde through the Bulgar feudal lords and khan's darugs. The bulk of the population was divided into administrative-territorial and tax-paying units - uluses, hundreds and tens, which were led by centurions and foremen - representatives of the local nobility - accountable to the khan's administration. Mari, like many other peoples subject to the Golden Horde Khan, had to pay yasak, a number of other taxes, and bear various duties, including military. They mainly supplied furs, honey, and wax. At the same time, the Mari lands were located on the forested northwestern periphery of the empire, far from steppe zone, it was not distinguished by a developed economy, so strict military and police control was not established here, and in the most inaccessible and remote area - in Povetluzhye and the adjacent territory - the power of the khan was only nominal.

This circumstance contributed to the continuation of Russian colonization of the Mari lands. More Russian settlements appeared in Pizhma and Middle Vyatka, the development of Povetluzhye, the Oka-Sura interfluve, and then Lower Sura began. In Povetluzhie, Russian influence was especially strong. Judging by the “Vetluga Chronicler” and other Trans-Volga Russian chronicles of late origin, many local semi-mythical princes (Kuguz) (Kai, Kodzha-Yaraltem, Bai-Boroda, Keldibek) were baptized, were in vassal dependence on the Galician princes, sometimes concluding military wars against them alliances with the Golden Horde. Apparently, a similar situation was in Vyatka, where contacts between the local Mari population and the Vyatka Land and the Golden Horde developed.
The strong influence of both the Russians and the Bulgars was felt in the Volga region, especially in its mountainous part (in the Malo-Sundyrskoye settlement, Yulyalsky, Noselskoye, Krasnoselishchenskoye settlements). However, here Russian influence gradually grew, and the Bulgar-Golden Horde weakened. By the beginning of the 15th century. the interfluve of the Volga and Sura actually became part of the Moscow Grand Duchy (before that - Nizhny Novgorod), back in 1374 the Kurmysh fortress was founded on the Lower Sura. Relations between the Russians and the Mari were complex: peaceful contacts were combined with periods of war (mutual raids, campaigns of Russian princes against Bulgaria through the Mari lands from the 70s of the 14th century, attacks by the Ushkuiniks in the second half of the 14th - early 15th centuries, participation of the Mari in military actions of the Golden Horde against Rus', for example, in the Battle of Kulikovo).

Mass relocations continued Mari. As a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion and subsequent raids by steppe warriors, many Mari, who lived on the right bank of the Volga, moved to the safer left bank. At the end of the XIV - beginning of the XV centuries. The left-bank Mari, who lived in the basin of the Mesha, Kazanka, and Ashit rivers, were forced to move to more northern regions and to the east, since the Kama Bulgars rushed here, fleeing the troops of Timur (Tamerlane), then from the Nogai warriors. The eastern direction of the resettlement of the Mari in the 14th – 15th centuries. was also due to Russian colonization. Assimilation processes also took place in the zone of contact between the Mari and the Russians and Bulgaro-Tatars.

Economic and socio-political situation of the Mari as part of the Kazan Khanate

The Kazan Khanate arose during the collapse of the Golden Horde - as a result of the appearance in the 30s and 40s. XV century in the Middle Volga region, the Golden Horde Khan Ulu-Muhammad, his court and combat-ready troops, who together played the role of a powerful catalyst in the consolidation of the local population and the creation of a state entity equivalent to the still decentralized Rus'.

Mari were not included in the Kazan Khanate by force; dependence on Kazan arose due to the desire to prevent armed struggle with the aim of jointly opposing the Russian state and, in accordance with the established tradition, paying tribute to the Bulgar and Golden Horde government officials. Allied, confederal relations were established between the Mari and the Kazan government. At the same time, there were noticeable differences in the position of the mountain, meadow and northwestern Mari within the Khanate.

At the main part Mari the economy was complex, with a developed agricultural basis. Only in the northwestern Mari due to natural conditions (they lived in an area of ​​almost continuous swamps and forests), agriculture played minor role compared to forestry and cattle breeding. In general, the main features of the economic life of the Mari in the 15th – 16th centuries. have not undergone significant changes compared to the previous time.

Mountain Mari, who, like the Chuvash, Eastern Mordovians and Sviyazhsk Tatars, lived on the Mountain side of the Kazan Khanate, stood out for their active participation in contacts with the Russian population, the relative weakness of ties with the central regions of the Khanate, from which they were separated by the large Volga River. At the same time, the Mountain Side was under fairly strict military and police control, which was due to the high level of its economic development, the intermediate position between the Russian lands and Kazan, and the growing influence of Russia in this part of the Khanate. The Right Bank (due to its special strategic position and high economic development) was invaded somewhat more often by foreign troops - not only Russian warriors, but also steppe warriors. The situation of the mountain people was complicated by the presence of main water and land roads to Rus' and the Crimea, since permanent conscription was very heavy and burdensome.

Meadow Mari Unlike the mountain people, they did not have close and regular contacts with the Russian state; they were more connected with Kazan and the Kazan Tatars politically, economically, and culturally. According to the level of their economic development, meadows Mari were not inferior to the mountain ones. Moreover, the economy of the Left Bank on the eve of the fall of Kazan developed in a relatively stable, calm and less harsh military-political environment, therefore contemporaries (A.M. Kurbsky, author of “Kazan History”) describe the well-being of the population of the Lugovaya and especially the Arsk side most enthusiastically and colorfully. The amounts of taxes paid by the population of the Mountain and Meadow sides also did not differ much. If on the Mountain Side the burden of regular service was felt more strongly, then on Lugovaya - construction: it was the population of the Left Bank that erected and maintained in proper condition the powerful fortifications of Kazan, Arsk, various forts, and abatis.

Northwestern (Vetluga and Kokshay) Mari were relatively weakly drawn into the orbit of the khan’s power due to their distance from the center and due to relatively low economic development; at the same time, the Kazan government, fearing Russian military campaigns from the north (from Vyatka) and north-west (from Galich and Ustyug), sought allied relations with the Vetluga, Kokshai, Pizhansky, Yaran Mari leaders, who also saw benefits in supporting the aggressive actions of the Tatars in relation to the outlying Russian lands.

"Military democracy" of the medieval Mari.

In the XV - XVI centuries. Mari, like other peoples of the Kazan Khanate, except for the Tatars, were at a transitional stage of development of society from primitive to early feudal. On the one hand, individual family property was allocated within the land-kinship union (neighborhood community), parcel labor flourished, property differentiation grew, and on the other, the class structure of society did not acquire its clear outlines.

Mari patriarchal families were united into patronymic groups (nasyl, tukym, urlyk), and those into larger land unions (tiste). Their unity was based not on consanguineous ties, but on the principle of neighborhood, and, to a lesser extent, on economic ties, which were expressed in various kinds of mutual “help” (“voma”), joint ownership of common lands. Land unions were, among other things, unions of mutual military assistance. Perhaps the Tiste were territorially compatible with the hundreds and uluses of the Kazan Khanate period. Hundreds, uluses, and dozens were led by centurions or centurion princes (“shÿdövuy”, “puddle”), foremen (“luvuy”). The centurions appropriated for themselves some part of the yasak they collected in favor of the khan's treasury from the subordinate ordinary community members, but at the same time they enjoyed authority among them as intelligent and courageous people, as skillful organizers and military leaders. Centurions and foremen in the 15th – 16th centuries. They had not yet managed to break with primitive democracy, but at the same time the power of the representatives of the nobility increasingly acquired a hereditary character.

The feudalization of Mari society accelerated thanks to the Turkic-Mari synthesis. In relation to the Kazan Khanate, ordinary community members acted as a feudal-dependent population (in fact, they were personally free people and were part of a kind of semi-service class), and the nobility acted as service vassals. Among the Mari, representatives of the nobility began to stand out as a special military class - Mamichi (imildashi), bogatyrs (batyrs), who probably already had some relation to the feudal hierarchy of the Kazan Khanate; on the lands with the Mari population, feudal estates began to appear - belyaki (administrative tax districts given by the Kazan khans as a reward for service with the right to collect yasak from land and various fishing grounds that were in the collective use of the Mari population).

The dominance of military-democratic orders in medieval Mari society was the environment where the immanent impulses for raids were laid. War, which was once waged only to avenge attacks or to expand territory, now becomes a permanent trade. Property stratification of ordinary community members, whose economic activities were hampered by insufficiently favorable natural conditions and the low level of development of the productive forces, led to the fact that many of them began to increasingly turn outside their community in search of means to satisfy their material needs and in an effort to raise their status in society. The feudalized nobility, which gravitated towards a further increase in wealth and its socio-political weight, also sought to find new sources of enrichment and strengthening of its power outside the community. As a result, solidarity arose between two different layers of community members, between whom a “military alliance” was formed for the purpose of expansion. Therefore, the power of the Mari “princes,” along with the interests of the nobility, still continued to reflect general tribal interests.

The greatest activity in raids among all groups of the Mari population was shown by the northwestern Mari. This was due to their relatively low level of socio-economic development. Meadow and mountain Mari those engaged in agricultural labor took a less active part in military campaigns, moreover, the local proto-feudal elite had other ways than the military to strengthen their power and further enrich themselves (primarily through strengthening ties with Kazan)

Annexation of the Mountain Mari to the Russian State

Entry Mariinto the Russian state was a multi-stage process, and the first to be annexed were the mountainousMari. Together with the rest of the population of the Mountain Side, they were interested in peaceful relations with the Russian state, while in the spring of 1545 a series of large campaigns of Russian troops against Kazan began. At the end of 1546, the mountain people (Tugai, Atachik) attempted to establish a military alliance with Russia and, together with political emigrants from among the Kazan feudal lords, sought the overthrow of Khan Safa-Girey and the installation of the Moscow vassal Shah-Ali on the throne, thereby preventing new invasions Russian troops and put an end to the despotic pro-Crimean internal policy of the khan. However, Moscow at this time had already set a course for the final annexation of the Khanate - Ivan IV was crowned king (this indicates that the Russian sovereign was putting forward his claim to the Kazan throne and other residences of the Golden Horde kings). Nevertheless, the Moscow government failed to take advantage of the successful rebellion of the Kazan feudal lords led by Prince Kadysh against Safa-Girey, and the help offered by the mountain people was rejected by the Russian governors. The mountainous side continued to be considered by Moscow as enemy territory even after the winter of 1546/47. (campaigns to Kazan in the winter of 1547/48 and in the winter of 1549/50).

By 1551, a plan had matured in Moscow government circles to annex the Kazan Khanate to Russia, which provided for the separation of the Mountain Side and its subsequent transformation into a support base for the capture of the rest of the Khanate. In the summer of 1551, when a powerful military outpost was erected at the mouth of Sviyaga (Sviyazhsk fortress), it was possible to annex the Mountain Side to the Russian state.

Reasons for the inclusion of mountain Mari and the rest of the population of the Mountain Side, apparently, became part of Russia: 1) the introduction of a large contingent of Russian troops, the construction of the fortified city of Sviyazhsk; 2) the flight to Kazan of a local anti-Moscow group of feudal lords, which could organize resistance; 3) the fatigue of the population of the Mountain Side from the devastating invasions of Russian troops, their desire to establish peaceful relations by restoring the Moscow protectorate; 4) the use by Russian diplomacy of the anti-Crimean and pro-Moscow sentiments of the mountain people for the purpose of directly including the Mountain Side into Russia (the actions of the population of the Mountain Side were seriously influenced by the arrival of the former Kazan Khan Shah-Ali in Sviyaga together with the Russian governors, accompanied by five hundred Tatar feudal lords who entered the Russian service); 5) bribery of local nobility and ordinary militia soldiers, exemption of mountain people from taxes for three years; 6) relatively close ties of the peoples of the Mountain Side with Russia in the years preceding the annexation.

There is no consensus among historians regarding the nature of the annexation of the Mountain Side to the Russian state. Some scientists believe that the peoples of the Mountain Side joined Russia voluntarily, others argue that it was a violent seizure, and others adhere to the version about the peaceful, but forced nature of the annexation. Obviously, both reasons and circumstances of a military, violent, and peaceful, non-violent nature played a role in the annexation of the Mountain Side to the Russian state. These factors complemented each other, giving the entry of the mountain Mari and other peoples of the Mountain Side into Russia an exceptional uniqueness.

Annexation of the left-bank Mari to Russia. Cheremis War 1552 – 1557

Summer 1551 – spring 1552 Russian state exerted powerful military-political pressure on Kazan, the implementation of a plan for the gradual liquidation of the Khanate by establishing a Kazan governorship began. However, anti-Russian sentiment was too strong in Kazan, probably growing as pressure from Moscow increased. As a result, on March 9, 1552, the Kazan people refused to allow the Russian governor and the troops accompanying him into the city, and the entire plan for the bloodless annexation of the Khanate to Russia collapsed overnight.

In the spring of 1552, an anti-Moscow uprising broke out on the Mountain Side, as a result of which the territorial integrity of the Khanate was actually restored. The reasons for the uprising of the mountain people were: the weakening of the Russian military presence on the territory of the Mountain Side, the active offensive actions of the left-bank Kazan residents in the absence of retaliatory measures from the Russians, the violent nature of the accession of the Mountain Side to the Russian state, the departure of Shah-Ali outside the Khanate, to Kasimov. As a result of large-scale punitive campaigns by Russian troops, the uprising was suppressed; in June-July 1552, the mountain people again swore allegiance to the Russian Tsar. Thus, in the summer of 1552, the mountain Mari finally became part of the Russian state. The results of the uprising convinced the mountain people of the futility of further resistance. The mountainous side, being the most vulnerable and at the same time important part of the Kazan Khanate in military-strategic terms, could not become a powerful center of the people's liberation struggle. Obviously, such factors as privileges and all kinds of gifts granted by the Moscow government to the mountain people in 1551, the experience of multilateral peaceful relations between the local population and the Russians, and the complex, contradictory nature of relations with Kazan in previous years also played a significant role. Due to these reasons, most mountain people during the events of 1552 - 1557. remained loyal to the power of the Russian sovereign.

During the Kazan War 1545 - 1552. Crimean and Turkish diplomats were actively working to create an anti-Moscow union of Turkic-Muslim states to counter the powerful Russian expansion in the eastern direction. However, the unification policy failed due to the pro-Moscow and anti-Crimean position of many influential Nogai Murzas.

In the battle for Kazan in August - October 1552, a huge number of troops took part on both sides, while the number of besiegers outnumbered the besieged at the initial stage by 2 - 2.5 times, and before the decisive assault - by 4 - 5 times. In addition, the troops of the Russian state were better prepared in military-technical and military-engineering terms; The army of Ivan IV also managed to defeat the Kazan troops piecemeal. October 2, 1552 Kazan fell.

In the first days after the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV and his entourage took measures to organize the administration of the conquered country. Within 8 days (from October 2 to October 10), the Prikazan Meadow Mari and Tatars were sworn in. However, the majority of the left-bank Mari did not show submission, and already in November 1552, the Mari of the Lugovaya Side rose up to fight for their freedom. The anti-Moscow armed uprisings of the peoples of the Middle Volga region after the fall of Kazan are usually called the Cheremis Wars, since the Mari showed the greatest activity in them, at the same time, the insurgent movement in the Middle Volga region in 1552 - 1557. is, in essence, a continuation of the Kazan War, and the main goal of its participants was the restoration of the Kazan Khanate. People's liberation movement 1552 – 1557 in the Middle Volga region was caused by the following reasons: 1) defending one’s independence, freedom, and the right to live in one’s own way; 2) the struggle of the local nobility to restore the order that existed in the Kazan Khanate; 3) religious confrontation (the Volga peoples - Muslims and pagans - seriously feared for the future of their religions and culture as a whole, since immediately after the capture of Kazan, Ivan IV began to destroy mosques, build Orthodox churches in their place, destroy the Muslim clergy and pursue a policy of forced baptism ). The degree of influence of the Turkic-Muslim states on the course of events in the Middle Volga region during this period was negligible; in some cases, potential allies even interfered with the rebels.

Resistance movement 1552 – 1557 or the First Cheremis War developed in waves. The first wave - November - December 1552 (separate outbreaks of armed uprisings on the Volga and near Kazan); second – winter 1552/53 – beginning of 1554. (the most powerful stage, covering the entire Left Bank and part of the Mountain Side); third – July – October 1554 (the beginning of the decline of the resistance movement, a split among the rebels from the Arsk and Coastal sides); fourth – end of 1554 – March 1555. (participation in anti-Moscow armed protests only by the left-bank Mari, the beginning of the leadership of the rebels by the centurion from the Lugovaya Strand, Mamich-Berdei); fifth - end of 1555 - summer of 1556. (rebellion movement led by Mamich-Berdei, his support by Arsk and coastal people - Tatars and southern Udmurts, captivity of Mamich-Berdey); sixth, last – end of 1556 – May 1557. (universal cessation of resistance). All waves received their impetus on the Lugovaya side, while the left bank (Meadow and northwestern) Maris showed themselves to be the most active, uncompromising and consistent participants in the resistance movement.

The Kazan Tatars also took an active part in the war of 1552 - 1557, fighting for the restoration of the sovereignty and independence of their state. But still, their role in the insurgency, with the exception of some of its stages, was not the main one. This was due to several factors. Firstly, the Tatars in the 16th century. were experiencing a period of feudal relations, they were differentiated by class and they no longer had the kind of solidarity that was observed among the left-bank Mari, who did not know class contradictions (largely because of this, the participation of the lower classes of Tatar society in the anti-Moscow insurgent movement was not stable). Secondly, within the class of feudal lords there was a struggle between clans, which was caused by the influx of foreign (Horde, Crimean, Siberian, Nogai) nobility and the weakness of the central government in the Kazan Khanate, and the Russian state successfully took advantage of this, which was able to win over a significant group to its side Tatar feudal lords even before the fall of Kazan. Thirdly, the proximity of the socio-political systems of the Russian state and the Kazan Khanate facilitated the transition of the feudal nobility of the Khanate to the feudal hierarchy of the Russian state, while the Mari proto-feudal elite had weak ties with the feudal structure of both states. Fourthly, the settlements of the Tatars, unlike the majority of the left-bank Mari, were located in relative proximity to Kazan, large rivers and other strategically important routes of communication, in an area where there were few natural barriers that could seriously complicate the movements of punitive troops; moreover, these were, as a rule, economically developed areas, attractive for feudal exploitation. Fifthly, as a result of the fall of Kazan in October 1552, perhaps the bulk of the most combat-ready part of the Tatar troops was destroyed; the armed detachments of the left bank Mari then suffered to a much lesser extent.

The resistance movement was suppressed as a result of large-scale punitive operations by the troops of Ivan IV. In a number of episodes, insurrectionary actions took the form of civil war and class struggle, but the main motive remained the struggle for the liberation of one’s land. The resistance movement ceased due to several factors: 1) continuous armed clashes with the tsarist troops, which brought countless casualties and destruction to the local population; 2) mass famine and plague epidemic that came from the Volga steppes; 3) the left bank Mari lost the support of their former allies - the Tatars and southern Udmurts. In May 1557, representatives of almost all groups of meadow and northwestern Mari took the oath to the Russian Tsar.

Cheremis Wars 1571 – 1574 and 1581 – 1585. Consequences of the Mari joining the Russian state

After the uprising of 1552 - 1557. The tsarist administration began to establish strict administrative and police control over the peoples of the Middle Volga region, but at first this was only possible on the Mountain Side and in the immediate vicinity of Kazan, while in most of the Meadow Side the power of the administration was nominal. The dependence of the local left-bank Mari population was expressed only in the fact that it paid a symbolic tribute and fielded soldiers from its midst who were sent to the Livonian War (1558 - 1583). Moreover, the meadow and northwestern Mari continued to raid Russian lands, and local leaders actively established contacts with the Crimean Khan with the aim of concluding an anti-Moscow military alliance. It is no coincidence that the Second Cheremis War of 1571 - 1574. began immediately after the campaign of the Crimean Khan Davlet-Girey, which ended with the capture and burning of Moscow. The causes of the Second Cheremis War were, on the one hand, the same factors that prompted the Volga peoples to start an anti-Moscow insurgency shortly after the fall of Kazan, on the other hand, the population, which was under the strictest control of the tsarist administration, was dissatisfied with the increase in the volume of duties, abuses and shameless arbitrariness of officials, as well as a streak of failures in the protracted Livonian War. Thus, in the second major uprising of the peoples of the Middle Volga region, national liberation and anti-feudal motives were intertwined. Another difference between the Second Cheremis War and the First was the relatively active intervention of foreign states - the Crimean and Siberian Khanates, the Nogai Horde and even Turkey. In addition, the uprising spread to neighboring regions, which by that time had already become part of Russia - the Lower Volga region and the Urals. With the help of a whole set of measures (peaceful negotiations with a compromise with representatives of the moderate wing of the rebels, bribery, isolation of the rebels from their foreign allies, punitive campaigns, construction of fortresses (in 1574, at the mouth of the Bolshaya and Malaya Kokshag, Kokshaysk was built, the first city in the territory modern Republic of Mari El)) the government of Ivan IV the Terrible managed to first split the rebel movement and then suppress it.

The next armed uprising of the peoples of the Volga and Urals region, which began in 1581, was caused by the same reasons as the previous one. What was new was that strict administrative and police supervision began to extend to the Lugovaya Side (the assignment of heads (“watchmen”) to the local population - Russian servicemen who exercised control, partial disarmament, confiscation of horses). The uprising began in the Urals in the summer of 1581 (an attack by the Tatars, Khanty and Mansi on the Stroganovs' possessions), then the unrest spread to the left-bank Mari, soon joined by the mountain Mari, Kazan Tatars, Udmurts, Chuvash and Bashkirs. The rebels blocked Kazan, Sviyazhsk and Cheboksary, made long campaigns deep into Russian territory - to Nizhny Novgorod, Khlynov, Galich. The Russian government was forced to urgently end the Livonian War, concluding a truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (1582) and Sweden (1583), and devote significant forces to pacifying the Volga population. The main methods of fighting against the rebels were punitive campaigns, the construction of fortresses (Kozmodemyansk was built in 1583, Tsarevokokshaisk in 1584, Tsarevosanchursk in 1585), as well as peace negotiations, during which Ivan IV, and after his death the actual Russian ruler Boris Godunov promised amnesty and gifts to those who wanted to stop resistance. As a result, in the spring of 1585, “they finished off the Sovereign Tsar and Grand Duke Fyodor Ivanovich of all Rus' with a centuries-old peace.”

The entry of the Mari people into the Russian state cannot be unambiguously characterized as evil or good. Both negative and positive consequences of entering Mari into the system of Russian statehood, closely intertwined with each other, began to manifest themselves in almost all spheres of social development. However Mari and other peoples of the Middle Volga region faced a generally pragmatic, restrained and even soft (compared to Western European) imperial policy of the Russian state.
This was due not only to fierce resistance, but also to the insignificant geographical, historical, cultural and religious distance between the Russians and the peoples of the Volga region, as well as the traditions of multinational symbiosis dating back to the early Middle Ages, the development of which later led to what is usually called the friendship of peoples. The main thing is that, despite all the terrible shocks, Mari nevertheless survived as an ethnic group and became an organic part of the mosaic of the unique Russian super-ethnic group.

Materials used - Svechnikov S.K. Methodical manual "History of the Mari people of the 9th-16th centuries"

Yoshkar-Ola: GOU DPO (PK) With "Mari Institute of Education", 2005

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