2. Chechens or Chechens. Part 2 Arrest, exile and martyrdom

Today a friend called, said that they would soon publish an article on the topic I voiced "". And then I remembered that after that discussion () I wanted to write explanatory material. But I got busy and forgot. Since there will still be an article on this topic, I will not separately unsubscribe the whole material. However, I will outline some points.

Where did the word "Chechen / Chechen" come from? There is no exact version in Russian. The main ones are two. According to the first, the origin of the word is due to the settlement "Chechen-aul". According to the second, the word is a distorted Arabic "shishani" ("Chechen" in Arabic sounds like "shishani").
How the Chechens were called in the old (pre-Soviet) times, again, it is not known exactly. In the literature of those years, there is both a “Chechen” (in Lermontov’s “An evil Chechen crawls ashore”), and a “Chechen” (in the same Lermontov - “An old Chechen - Kazbek Ridges is a poor native, When he saw me through the mountains, About the old days to me told the story ... "; or Zagoskin's "the son of Prince Mamtryuk and the same as him, a Chechen - he would cut everything"). On what basis was it written "Chechen" or "Chechen" (based on the rhyme, or from the prevailing at that time word forms), unknown.In modern dictionaries it is written - "Chechen", outdated.

According to the spelling adopted during the Soviet era, the word "Chechen" was used. So it was written in books and newspapers, so it was said in correct speech, so it was studied at school. Based on what rules of the Russian language, the word "Chechen" was obtained, is unclear. But apparently there were no special rules. Otherwise, it is difficult to reduce in one rule such names as "Ossetian", "Georgian" on the one hand, and "Kabardian", "Dargin" on the other.

However, the word "Chechen" did not go away. It was used in everyday speech to emphasize the dismissive attitude towards the Chechens. Why exactly "Chechen" was dismissive is not clear. But apparently, distorting the name of the nationality itself seemed offensive. An analogy is the use of the disparaging "Armenians" instead of the correct "Armenian".

Why do today's not even always young people know that it was the word "Chechen" that was used? Perhaps for the reason that in the period before the beginning of the 90s in the USSR little was known or heard about the Chechens.

The very peak of the beginning of recognition that there is such a nation as the Chechens fell on the years of the first war (94-96). And I think that it was in those years en masse that it became customary in Russian society to call Chechens Chechens. It went, presumably, to a greater extent from the federal military that fought in Chechnya. It is clear that they used the word "Chechen" among themselves. Then it went exponentially. The soldiers left and spread the word "Chechen" - in their stories, books, songs about the war.

In addition, due to all the well-known events, the number of people who learned that there is such a nation as the Chechens has grown by several orders of magnitude compared to Soviet times. And one of the common expressions about the Chechens was precisely Lermontov's "an evil Chechen is crawling ashore." So in the end, in the minds of many, it became fixed - "Chechen".

In the late 12th or early 13th centuries, Christianity began to spread among the Chechens. His traces are still visible in the ruins of temples, on holidays: Kistins and Ingush celebrate the new year, the day of the prophet Elijah and Trinity Day. In many places they sacrifice rams in honor of the Holy Virgin, St. George and St. Marina.

In the early 18th century, the Chechens converted to Sunni Islam. In their religious customs, in addition to Christian and Mohammedan elements, the Chechens retained many elements of primitive paganism, among other things, the phallic cult. Often found in the country, small bronze naked priapic figurines are worshiped by men as guardians of the flocks, and by women who embrace them, begging for male children.

Among the Kists and Galgai we find an even more interesting custom. A childless woman goes to a hut with two exits, in which a priest, a representative of the matsel (mother of God), sits in one shirt and asks him to give children, after which she leaves through another exit, all the time facing the priest.

During their independence, the Chechens, in contrast, did not know the feudal system and class divisions. In their independent communities, governed by popular assemblies, everyone was absolutely equal.

We are all “bridles” (that is, free, equal), the Chechens say. Only a few tribes had khans, whose hereditary power dates back to the era of the Mohammedan invasion. This social organization (lack of aristocracy and equality) explains the unparalleled stamina of the Chechens in the long struggle against the Russians, which glorified their heroic death.

The only unequal element among the Chechens were prisoners of war who were in the position of personal slaves. They were divided into laevi yasir; the latter could be redeemed and returned to their homeland. The legal system represents the usual features of tribal life. Blood feud until recently was in full force.

The clothes of men are the usual clothes of the highlanders of the Caucasus: chekmen made of yellow or gray home-made cloth, beshmets or arkhaluks of different colors, mostly white in summer, cloth leggings and chiriki (a kind of shoes without soles). The elegant dress is sheathed with a braid. The weapon is the same as that of the Circassians, special attention is paid to its decoration. Women's costume is no different from the picturesque costume of the Tatars.

Chechens live in villages - auls. The houses are turluch, inside they are neat and bright, the houses of the mountain Chechens are stone and less neat. Windows without frames, but with shutters to protect against cold and wind. From the side of the entrance - a canopy to protect from rain and heat. For heating - fireplaces. Each house has a kunakskaya of several rooms, where the owner spends the whole day and returns to his family only in the evening. The house has a fenced-in yard.

In food, Chechens are moderate, content with urek, wheat stew, barbecue and corn porridge. Bread is baked in specially arranged round ovens in the yard.

The main occupations of the Chechens are cattle breeding, beekeeping, hunting and arable farming. Women, whose position is better than that of the Lezgins, are responsible for all household chores: they weave cloth, prepare carpets, felts, cloaks, sew dresses and shoes.

Appearance

Chechens are tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, the Chechens represent a mixed type. Eye color, for example, varies (in equal proportion) from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. The hair color also shows transitions from black to more or less dark blond. The nose is often upturned and concave. The facial index is 76.72 (Ingush) and 75.26 (Chechens).

In comparison with other Caucasian peoples, the Chechen group is distinguished by the greatest dolichocephaly. Among the Chechens proper, however, not only many subrachycephals are found, but also quite a few pure brachycephals with a head index from 84 and even up to 87.62.

Character

Chechens are considered cheerful, witty, impressionable people, but they are less sympathetic than the Circassians, due to their suspicion, inclination to deceit and severity, developed, probably, during the centuries of struggle. Indomitability, courage, dexterity, endurance, calmness in the fight are the traits of the Chechens, long recognized by everyone, even by their enemies.

More recently, the ideal of the Chechens is robbery. Stealing livestock, taking away women and children, even if for this you had to crawl tens of miles underground and risk your life in an attack, is a favorite thing for a Chechen. The most terrible reproach a girl can make to a young man is to tell him: “Get out, you are not even capable of stealing a ram!”

Chechens never beat their children, but not out of particular sentimentality, but out of fear of making them cowards. The deep attachment of the Chechens to their homeland is touching. Their songs of exile (“Oh birds, fly to Little Chechnya, say hello to its inhabitants and say: when you hear a cry in the forest, think of us wandering among strangers without hope of an outcome!” and so on) are full of tragic poetry.

Chechens are a Caucasian people of the East Mountain group, who occupied the territory between the rivers Aksay, Sunzha and the Caucasus Range before the war. Now they live mixed with Russians in the Terek region, east of, between the Terek and the southern border of the region, from the Darial to the source of the Aktash River.
The Sunzha River divides the extremely fertile country of the Chechens into two parts: Greater Chechnya (high) and Lesser (lower). In addition to the Chechens themselves (in the Grozny district), which are divided into several different tribes, they include:

• cysts;
• Galgai;
• Karabulaki;
• The most hostile tribe to us, who completely moved to) and the Ichkerians.

All Chechens, not counting the Ingush, numbered 195 thousand people in 1887. The name "Chechens" originates from the name of the village of Bolshoy Chechen (on the Argun), which once served as the central point for all meetings at which military plans against Russia were discussed. The Chechens themselves call themselves "nakhchi", which translates as "people" or "people". The closest neighbors of the Chechens call them "Misjegs" (and Kumuks) and "Kists" ().

There is no data about the ancient fate of the Chechen tribe, except for fantastic legends about foreigners (Arabs), the founders of this people. Starting from the 16th century, the Chechens consistently fought against the Kumuks and, finally, against the Russians (from the beginning of the 17th century). In our historical acts, the name of the Chechens is found for the first time in the agreement between the Kalmyk Khan Ayuka and the Astrakhan governor Apraksin (1708).

Until 1840, the attitude of the Chechens towards Russia was more or less peaceful, but this year they betrayed their neutrality and, embittered by the demand from the Russians for the issuance of weapons, went over to the side of the famous Shamil, under whose leadership for almost 20 years they fought a desperate struggle against Russia, which cost the latter enormous sacrifices. The struggle ended with the mass emigration of one part of the Chechens to Turkey and the resettlement of the rest from the mountains. Despite the terrible disasters that befell the first immigrants, emigration did not stop.

How to speak correctly? Chechens or Chechens? and got the best answer

Answer from
It will be more pleasant for them if you call them Nokhchi (a Chechen in the Chech language) or Vainakh (they call themselves so proudly since ancient times!
Source: lived in Chechnya for 15 years!

Answer from User deleted[guru]
Chechens

Answer from Michael Sch...[guru]
Chechens are generally accepted, although Chechens were more commonly spoken in the 19th century.

Answer from User deleted[guru]
Ichkerians

Answer from Victoria Volchkova[guru]
Chechens

Answer from Girl_actually[guru]
Chechens are the same as "Niger". That's right, Chechens.

Answer from User deleted[newbie]
Not Russians or foreigners

Answer from Hot_kiss[guru]
Chechens

Answer from NAF[guru]
Citizens of the Free Republic of Ichkeria.

Answer from User deleted[guru]
Chechens, although this is a common name, in fact there are so many nationalities in Chechnya that it is impossible to count.

Answer from Garde[guru]
Ichkerians

Answer from A v[guru]
CHECHEN - obsolete,
The same as: Chechen.

Answer from User deleted[master]
I think the Chechens, they are from Chechnya, and not from Chechnya.

Answer from Viktor Yaroshevsky[newbie]
A Chechen is a resident of Chechnya, regardless of nationality. Chechen is an ethnonym, the name of a people. There are several versions of origin. The most plausible is the following: - CHECHEN - wit, orator, translated from Turkic, as a nickname from neighboring peoples. Similar facts are all the time, for example, crest, katsap, etc.
Collective, generalized names of peoples end with "EC". Example: - CAUCASIAN (resident of the Caucasus), DAGESTANIAN (resident of Dagestan, where there are over 40 nationalities), Azerbaijani (similar picture, resident of the country of Azerbaijan), UKRAINIAN (resident of Ukraine, ethnically diverse (descendants of Slavs, Rus, Turks, Caucasians, Celts (Galicians )), etc. Compare with the more homogeneous population of countries: - Armenian (Armenia, GEORGIA (Georgia), TAJIK, KYRGYZ, BASHKIR, etc.

It is known that the Ingush and Chechens are one people, divided due to historical and socio-political reasons. Nevertheless, for a short period of their disengagement, the Chechens and Ingush managed to accumulate a lot of differences.

origins

In modern ethnology, Chechens and Ingush are usually united by a common term - "Vainakh peoples" (Chech. "Vainakh", Ingush. "Veinakh" - "our people"). This is how representatives of the two Caucasian ethnic groups identify themselves.
Chechens and Ingush did not create their own written language, and therefore their history was studied from the annals of neighboring peoples. Often this information was fragmentary and not always objective. Nevertheless, today scientists can say with full confidence that the Chechens and Ingush are one of the oldest inhabitants of the Caucasus, belonging to the Vainakh language group of the Nakh-Dagestan family.

Historians find the ancestors of the Ingush (self-name Galgai) among the tribal union of the Alans, who participated in the Great Migration of Peoples.

Anthropologist Viktor Bunak is sure that among the Ingush the ancient Caucasian (or Caucasian) type has been preserved "more than among any of the other North Caucasian peoples."

Here is how the Encyclopedic Dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron describes the Ingush: “In appearance, the Ingush is lean, slender, of medium height, with sharp features and quick eyes on a pale, swarthy face; the color of the hair is predominantly black, the nose is aquiline, the movements are hurried and impetuous.

Chechens (self-name Nokhchi), according to one hypothesis, appeared on the historical scene before the Ingush. Some researchers, including anthropologist Valery Alekseev, consider the Chechens to be the descendants of the Hurrians who lived in the 2nd millennium BC in northern Mesopotamia.

In Armenian sources of the 7th century, Chechens are referred to as "Nakhcha Matyan" ("speaking the Nokhchi language"). In the documents of the 16th-17th centuries, one can find the tribal names of the Chechens - Ichkerinians, okoks, shubuts. In Russian, the word "Chechen" has become a transliteration of the terms that existed among neighboring peoples - "tsatsans", "shashens", "chachans".
The appearance of the Chechens, according to the dictionary of Brockhaus and Efron, is as follows: “tall and well built. Women are beautiful. Anthropologically, the Chechens represent a mixed type. Eye color varies from black to more or less dark brown and from blue to more or less light green. In the hair color, transitions from black to more or less dark blond are noticed. The nose is often upturned and concave.

Genetic studies have shown that modern Chechens and Ingush, although they belong to the same haplogroup, are ethnically heterogeneous. Geneticist Hussein Chokaev, based on the latest research data, writes that the common ancestor of a significant part of the Chechen-Ingush ethnic group is a representative of the subgroup J2a4b (M67), which originated on the territory of modern Turkey about 11.8 thousand years ago. The carriers of such a haplotype were, among others, the Carians, Minoans and Pelasgians. But if the Ingush correspond to the J2a4b (M67) group by 87%, then the Chechens only by 58%.

disengagement

Over time, the Chechens mostly settled along the right tributaries of the Sunzha and the Terek. Equally, their places of residence were mountains, foothills and plains. The Ingush concentrated to the west of the Chechen settlements, mainly in the upper reaches of the Sunzha.

The first signs of separation of the single Vainakh ethnic group, according to researchers, emerged after 1770, when the Ingush accepted Russian citizenship. Joining the empire brought its own characteristics to the way of life of this people. The disengagement between the Ingush and the Chechens further intensified during the Caucasian War, which lasted intermittently from 1817 to 1864.

During the war, it was Chechnya that became the main stronghold of resistance and the center of the military-religious movement of Muridism. According to this teaching, the moral and political revival of Islam was possible only after the overthrow of the infidel Russian yoke. The Muridist propaganda of Kazi-Mulla, Gamzat and Shamil gave rich results on Chechen soil, while the Ingush remained aloof from the "war for faith".

After the end of the Caucasian War, the places inhabited by the Ingush for border peace were settled by the Cossacks, who remained there until the arrival of Soviet power in the Caucasus. In 1921, the Gorskaya ASSR appeared on the territory of the former Terek and part of the former Kuban regions of the Russian Empire, and in 1936 the Chechen-Ingush ASSR appeared on the map.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Chechens and Ingush again went their separate ways: radical currents calling for independence became more active in Chechnya, while Ingushetia decided to remain part of Russia. In the new situation, the border between Chechnya and Ingushetia ceased to be conditional and eventually divided the two subjects of the federation - the Republic of Ingushetia and the Chechen Republic.

Religion

The dominant religion of the Ingush and Chechens is Sunni Islam. However, the degree of its influence on both peoples is different. Despite the fact that Islam began to penetrate into the North Caucasus since the time of the invasion of Genghis Khan, most of the inhabitants of Chechnya accepted it only in the 18th century. During the period of the Caucasian wars, through the Muridist movement, Islam became so firmly established in Chechnya that it gave rise to real religious fanaticism there.

In Ingushetia, Islam adapted only by the middle of the 19th century, but did not take deep roots there. Until recently, many Ingush were still dominated by ancient pre-Muslim beliefs, an integral part of which was the cult of the family and ancestors. This cult obliged to honor their shrines, such as the hearth and the chain above the hearth.

Food was cooked near the hearth, important issues were discussed, rituals were performed. The supra-heart chain also retained its connection with traditions. When an outsider entered an Ingush house and grabbed the overhead chain, he fell under the protection of the owner, and if a blood lover touched it, he got rid of revenge.

Modern Ingushetia largely lives in line with political and religious freedom, which also has an impact on religion. If only Sufi Islam is officially recognized in Chechnya, then in Ingushetia there are a large number of supporters of Salafism, which is perceived by many as a radical trend of Islam.

Unlike the Ingush, the religious consciousness of the Chechens was influenced by the tense socio-political situation of recent decades, which is why Salafism did not take root in the public space of the Republic. In turn, especially among young people, there is a growing interest and desire for true Islam, in strict observance of all the prescriptions of the Koran and religious rites.

Traditions

According to ethnographers, the Chechen culture, to a greater extent than the Ingush, has lost touch with the traditional rituals characteristic of the Vainakhs. So, the Ingush are outraged by the Chechen custom of giving soup to a guest, and not a special meat dish of lamb, chicken or turkey meat, which has been practiced for centuries.

The same can be said about family relationships. An Ingush man usually does not meet his mother-in-law, they do not see each other at matchmaking, they do not meet at family celebrations and other events. The Ingush are very proud of this fact and believe that their families are much stronger than the Chechen ones.

There are also differences in wedding ceremonies. For example, if the Chechens, after showing the guests, the bride stays in a separate room all day, then it is customary for the Ingush that the young woman stand in the corner of the main hall until evening and accept gifts. Ingush people often prefer national dresses to a wedding dress, Chechens are more modern in this regard.

The way of life of the Chechens and Ingush is largely determined by the teip (clan) structure. It is also customary to call Ingush teips “surnames”. If the Chechen teip can have hundreds of surnames, then the Ingush teip is most often limited to a few dozen, while the Ingush surnames most often have pre-Islamic roots, while the Chechen ones are predominantly Muslim.

The Ingush teip is usually exogamous. Marriages within the teip certainly occur, but are not welcome. Chechens, on the contrary, prefer to create marriages within their teip in order to more firmly maintain tribal ties.
In Chechnya, teips are subordinate to large military-political associations - tukhums. There are nine in total. The Ingush do not have such a division. In the Vainakh environment, the Ingush are traditionally called the “tenth tukhum”, thereby emphasizing the closeness of the two neighboring peoples.

At the moment there are about 1 million 700 thousand Chechens in the world. In addition to Chechnya, they live in Ingushetia, Dagestan, the Stavropol Territory, the Volgograd Region, Kalmykia, the Astrakhan, Saratov, Tyumen Regions, North Ossetia; abroad, they are most numerous in Turkey, Kazakhstan, France, Austria, and Belgium.
The total number of Ingush is about 700 thousand people. In addition to Russia, they also live in Kyrgyzstan, Ukraine, Belarus, Latvia, Turkey, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon.

The Chechens themselves call themselves Nokhchi. Some translate it as Noah's people. Representatives of this people live not only in Chechnya, but also in some regions of Dagestan, Ingushetia and Georgia. In total, there are more than one and a half million Chechens in the world.

The name "Chechen" appeared long before the revolution. But in the pre-revolutionary era and in the first decades of Soviet power, some other small Caucasian peoples were also often called Chechens - for example, the Ingush, Batsbi, Georgian Kists. There is an opinion that this is essentially one and the same people, separate groups of which, due to historical circumstances, were isolated from each other.

How was the word "Chechen" born?

There are several versions of the origin of the word "Chechen". According to one of them, it is a Russian transliteration of the word "shashan", which was used to designate this people by the Kabardian neighbors. For the first time, it is mentioned as the “Sassan people” in the Persian chronicle of the 13th-14th centuries, authored by Rashid ad-Din, which refers to the war with the Tatar-Mongols.

According to another version, this designation comes from the name of the village of Big Chechen, where at the end of the 17th century Russians first encountered Chechens. As for the name of the village, it dates back to the 13th century, when the headquarters of the Mongol Khan Sechen was located here.

Starting from the 18th century, the ethnonym "Chechens" appeared in official sources in Russian and Georgian, and later it was borrowed by other peoples. Chechnya became part of Russia on January 21, 1781.

Meanwhile, a number of researchers, in particular, A. Vagapov, believe that this ethnonym was used by the neighbors of the Chechens long before the appearance of Russians in the Caucasus.

Where did the Chechen people come from?

The early stage of the history of the formation of the Chechen people remains hidden from us by the darkness of history. It is possible that the ancestors of the Vainakhs (this is how native speakers of Nakh languages, for example, Chechens and Ingush are called) migrated from Transcaucasia to the north of the Caucasus, but this is only a hypothesis.

Here is the version put forward by Georgy Anchabadze, Doctor of Historical Sciences:
“Chechens are the most ancient indigenous people of the Caucasus, their ruler bore the name “Kavkaz”, from which the name of the area originated. In the Georgian historiographic tradition, it is also believed that the Caucasus and his brother Lek, the ancestor of the Dagestanis, settled the then deserted territories of the North Caucasus from the mountains to the mouth of the Volga River.

There are also alternative versions. One of them says that the Vainakhs are the descendants of the Hurrian tribes who went north and settled in Georgia and the North Caucasus. This is confirmed by the similarity of languages ​​and culture.

It is also possible that the ancestors of the Vainakhs were tigrids - a people who lived in Mesopotamia (in the region of the Tigris River). If you believe the old Chechen chronicles - Teptars, the point of departure of the Vainakh tribes was in Shemaar (Shemar), from where they settled in the North and North-East of Georgia and the North Caucasus. But, most likely, this applies only to a part of the tukhkums (Chechen communities), since there is evidence of settlement along other routes.

Most modern Caucasian scholars are inclined to believe that the Chechen nation was formed in the 16th-18th centuries as a result of the unification of the Vainakh peoples, mastering the foothills of the Caucasus. The most important unifying factor for them was Islamization, which took place in parallel with the settlement of the Caucasian lands. One way or another, it cannot be denied that the core of the Chechen ethnic group is the eastern Vainakh ethnic groups.

From the Caspian to Western Europe

Chechens did not always live in one place. Thus, their earliest tribes lived in the area that stretched from the mountains near Enderi to the Caspian Sea itself. But, since they often stole cattle and horses from the Grebensky and Don Cossacks, in 1718 they attacked them, chopped many, and drove the rest away.

After the end of the Caucasian War in 1865, about 5,000 Chechen families moved to the territory of the Ottoman Empire. They began to be called Muhajirs. Today their descendants represent the bulk of the Chechen diasporas in Turkey, Syria and Jordan.
In February 1944, more than half a million Chechens were deported by order of Stalin to the regions of Central Asia. On January 9, 1957, they received permission to return to their former place of residence, but a certain number of immigrants remained in their new homeland - in Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.

The first and second Chechen wars led to the fact that a significant number of Chechens moved to the countries of Western Europe, Turkey and the Arab countries. The Chechen diaspora has grown in Russia as well.