Ancient Bashkirs. Historical information. Territory of settlement. Culture. Bashkir people: culture, traditions and customs

The Russian Federative Republic is a multinational state, representatives of many nations live, work and honor their traditions here, one of which is the Bashkirs living in the Republic of Bashkortostan (capital Ufa) on the territory of the Volga region Federal District. It must be said that the Bashkirs live not only in this territory, they can be found everywhere in all corners of the Russian Federation, as well as in Ukraine, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Bashkirs, or as they call themselves Bashkorts, are the indigenous Turkic population of Bashkiria, according to statistical data in the territory autonomous republic About 1.6 million people of this nationality live, a significant number of Bashkirs live in the territory of Chelyabinsk (166 thousand), Orenburg (52.8 thousand), about 100 thousand representatives of this nationality are located in the Perm Territory, Tyumen, Sverdlovsk and Kurgan regions. Their religion is Islamic Sunnism. Bashkir traditions, their way of life and customs are very interesting and differ from other traditions of the peoples of Turkic nationality.

Culture and life of the Bashkir people

Until the end of the 19th century, the Bashkirs led a semi-nomadic lifestyle, but gradually became sedentary and mastered agriculture, the eastern Bashkirs for some time practiced going on summer nomads and in the summer they preferred to live in yurts, over time, and they began to live in wooden log houses or adobe huts, and then in more modern buildings.

Family life and the celebration of folk holidays of the Bashkirs almost until the end of the 19th century was subject to strict patriarchal foundations, which in addition included the customs of Muslim Sharia. The kinship system was influenced by Arab traditions, which implied a clear division of the line of kinship into maternal and paternal parts; this was subsequently necessary to determine the status of each family member in matters of inheritance. The right of minority was in effect (superiority of the rights of the youngest son), when the house and all the property in it after the death of the father passed to youngest son, the older brothers were supposed to receive their share of the inheritance during the life of the father, when they got married, and the daughters when they got married. Previously, the Bashkirs married their daughters quite early; the optimal age for this was considered to be 13-14 years (bride), 15-16 years (groom).

(Painting by F. Roubaud "Bashkirs hunting with falcons in the presence of Emperor Alexander II" 1880s)

The rich Bashkorts practiced polygamy, because Islam allows up to 4 wives at the same time, and there was a custom of conspiring with children while still in their cradles, the parents drank bata (kumiss or diluted honey from one bowl) and thus entered into a wedding union. When marrying a bride, it was customary to give a bride price, which depended on the financial status of the newlyweds’ parents. It could be 2-3 horses, cows, several outfits, pairs of shoes, a painted scarf or robe; the mother of the bride was given a fox fur coat. In marriage relations, ancient traditions were respected, the levirate rule was in effect ( younger brother must marry the wife of the elder), sororate (a widower marries the younger sister of his late wife). Islam plays a huge role in all spheres of public life, hence the special position of women in the family circle, in the process of marriage and divorce, as well as in inheritance relations.

Traditions and customs of the Bashkir people

The Bashkir people hold their main festivals in spring and summer. The people of Bashkortostan celebrate the Kargatuy “rook holiday” at the time when the rooks arrive in the spring, the meaning of the holiday is to celebrate the moment of nature’s awakening from winter sleep and also a reason to turn to the forces of nature (by the way, the Bashkirs believe that rooks are closely connected with them) with a request for the well-being and fertility of the coming agricultural season. Previously, only women and the younger generation could participate in the festivities; now these restrictions have been lifted, and men can also dance in circles, eat ritual porridge and leave its remains on special boulders for rooks.

The plow festival Sabantuy is dedicated to the beginning of work in the fields; all residents of the village came to the open area and participated in various competitions, they wrestled, competed in running, raced horses and pulled each other on ropes. After the winners were determined and awarded, they were served common table with various dishes and treats, usually it was a traditional beshbarmak (a dish of crumbled boiled meat and noodles). Previously, this custom was carried out with the aim of appeasing the spirits of nature so that they would make the land fertile and it would give a good harvest, but over time it became common spring holiday, marking the beginning of heavy agricultural work. Residents of the Samara region have revived the traditions of both the Rook's holiday and Sabantuy, which they celebrate every year.

An important holiday for the Bashkirs is called Jiin (Yiyyn), residents of several villages took part in it, during it various trade operations were carried out, parents agreed on the marriage of their children, and fair sales took place.

Bashkirs also honor and celebrate all Muslim holidays, traditional for all adherents of Islam: these are Eid al-Fitr (the end of fasting), and Kurban Bayram (the holiday of the end of the Hajj, on which it is necessary to sacrifice a ram, a camel or a cow), and Maulid Bayram (famous for the Prophet Muhammad).

Southern Urals, Southern Pre- and Trans-Urals. Number of people: 1 million 673 thousand people. In terms of numbers, Bashkirs occupy fourth place in the Russian Federation after Russians, Tatars and Ukrainians. They speak Bashkir. Believers are Sunni Muslims.

The great historian S.I. Rudenko, in his fundamental work “Bashkirs,” correlates the Bashkirs with the tribes that lived in the Urals back in the 2nd millennium BC. Judging by written sources, ancient Bashkir tribes lived in the Urals more than a thousand years ago, as evidenced by the reports of travelers. The first written information about the Bashkirs dates back to the 10th century. Around 840, the Arab traveler Sallam at-Tarjuman visited the land of the Bashkirs, who indicated the approximate limits of the country of the Bashkirs. Another Arab author, al-Masudi (died around 956), talking about wars near the Aral Sea, mentions the Bashkirs among the warring peoples. About the Bashkirs as the main population Southern Urals Other authors have also written. Ibn Ruste (903) reported that the Bashkirs are “an independent people who occupied the territory on both sides of the Ural ridge between the Volga, Kama, Tobol and the upper reaches of the Yaik.” Reliable information about the Bashkirs is contained in the book of Ahmed Ibn Fadlan, who in 922 visited Volga Bulgaria as part of the embassy of the Baghdad caliph. He describes them as warlike Turkic people, worshiping various forces of nature, birds and animals. At the same time, the author reports, another group of Bashkirs professed a higher form of religion, including a pantheon of twelve spirit deities led by the heavenly god Tengri.

The territory of modern Bashkortostan was a zone of interaction between Finno-Ugric, Turkic and Indo-European peoples. The most common etymology of the self-name “Bashkort” is from “bash” - “head” and the Turkic-Oguz “gurt”, “kurt” - “wolf” (the influence of Oguz tribes (Pechenegs) in the ethnogenesis of the ancient Bashkirs is undoubtedly). Ibn Fadlan, who left the first reliable information about the Bashkirs, clearly indicates the Turkic affiliation of the Bashkirs.

Age of the Golden Horde

Acceptance of Moscow citizenship

The establishment of Moscow suzerainty over the Bashkirs was not a one-time act. The first (in the winter of 1554) to accept Moscow citizenship were the western and northwestern Bashkirs, previously subject to the Kazan Khan. Following them (in 1554-1557), connections with Ivan the Terrible were established by the Bashkirs of central, southern and southeastern Bashkiria, who then coexisted on the same territory with the Nogai Horde. The Trans-Ural Bashkirs were forced to come to an agreement with Moscow in the 80-90s of the 16th century, after the collapse of the Siberian Khanate. Having defeated Kazan, Ivan the Terrible appealed to the Bashkir people with an appeal to voluntarily come under his highest hand. The Bashkirs also responded to people's assemblies clans decided to come under Moscow vassalage on the basis of an equal agreement with the tsar. This was the second case in their centuries-old history. The first was a treaty with the Mongols (XIII century). The terms and conditions were clearly stated in the agreement. The Moscow sovereign retained all their lands for the Bashkirs and recognized the patrimonial right to them (it is noteworthy: except for the Bashkirs, not a single people who accepted Russian citizenship had a patrimonial right to the land). The Moscow Tsar also promised to preserve local self-government and not to oppress the Muslim religion (“... they gave their word and swore that the Bashkirs professing Islam would never force them into another religion...”). Thus, Moscow made serious concessions to the Bashkirs, which, naturally, met its global interests. The Bashkirs, in turn, pledged to bear military service at your own expense and pay the treasury yasak - land tax.

The collection of taxes from the territory of Bashkortostan was entrusted to the Order of the Kazan Palace. The territory of Bashkortostan in the XVI-XVII centuries. in royal documents it was designated as “Ufa district”, which was divided into Nogai, Kazan, Siberian and Osinsk roads (darugs). Trans-Ural Bashkirs were part of the Siberian Road. The roads consisted of tribal volosts, which, in turn, were divided into clans (aimags or tubes).

In 1737, the trans-Ural part of Bashkortostan was assigned to the newly created Iset province, the territory of which covered the modern Kurgan, northeastern part of Chelyabinsk, southern - Tyumen, eastern - Sverdlovsk regions. In 1744, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna, by her highest decree, ordered “to be in the Orenburg province and be called the Orenburg province and to be the governor of it.” Privy Councilor Neplyuev." The Orenburg province was formed as part of the Orenburg, Ufa and Iset provinces.

Bashkir uprisings

During the life of Ivan the Terrible, the terms of the agreement were still observed, and he, despite his cruelty, remained in the memory of the Bashkir people as a kind, “white” king. With the rise to power of the House of Romanov in the 17th century. The policy of tsarism in Bashkortostan immediately began to change for the worse. In words, the authorities assured the Bashkirs of their loyalty to the terms of the agreement, but in reality they took the path of violating them. This was expressed, first of all, in the theft of Bashkir patrimonial lands and the construction of outposts, forts, settlements, Christian monasteries, and lines on them. Seeing the massive theft of their lands, the violation of ancestral rights and freedoms, the Bashkirs rebelled in 1645, 1662-1664, 1681-1684, 1705-11/25. Royal authorities were forced to satisfy many of the rebels' demands. After the Bashkir uprising of 1662-1664. The government once again officially confirmed the patrimonial right of the Bashkirs to the land. During the uprising of 1681-1684. - freedom to practice Islam. After the uprising of 1705-11. (the embassy from the Bashkirs again swore allegiance to the emperor only in 1725) - confirmed the patrimonial rights and special status of the Bashkirs and conducted a trial that ended with the conviction for abuse of power and the execution of government “profit-makers” Sergeev, Dokhov and Zhikharev, who demanded taxes from the Bashkirs, not provided for by law, which was one of the reasons for the uprising. During the uprisings, Bashkir troops reached Samara, Saratov, Astrakhan, Vyatka, Tobolsk, the outskirts of Kazan (1708) and the Caucasus mountains (with an unsuccessful assault by their allies - the Caucasian highlanders and Russians Cossack schismatics, Terek town, captured and later executed one of the leaders of the Bashkir uprising of 1705-11, Sultan Murat). Human and material losses were enormous.

The heaviest loss for the Bashkirs themselves was the uprising of 1735-1740, during which Khan Sultan-Girey (Karasakal) was elected. According to the calculations of the American historian A. S. Donnelly, every fourth person from the Bashkirs died. The next uprising broke out in 1755. The reason was rumors of religious persecution and the abolition of light yasak (the only tax on the Bashkirs; yasak was taken only from the land and confirmed their status as patrimonial landowners) while simultaneously prohibiting free salt production, which the Bashkirs considered their privilege. The uprising was brilliantly planned, but failed due to the spontaneous premature action of the Bashkirs of the Burzyan clan, who killed a petty official - bribe-taker and rapist Bragin. Because of this ridiculous and tragic accident plans for the simultaneous appearance of the Bashkirs of all 4 roads, this time in alliance with the Mishars, and, possibly, the Tatars and Kazakhs, were thwarted. The most famous ideologist of this movement was the Akhun of the Siberian Road of Bashkiria, Mishar Gabdulla Galiev (Batyrsha). While in captivity, Mullah Batyrsha wrote his famous “Letter to Empress Elizabeth Petrovna,” which has survived to this day as interesting sample analysis of the causes of the Bashkir uprisings by their participants.

The last Bashkir uprising is considered to be participation in the Peasant War of 1773-1775. Emelyan Pugacheva, the hero of this uprising Salavat Yulaev also remained in people's memory.

The result of these uprisings was the establishment of the class status of the Bashkirs.

Bashkirs in the Patriotic War of 1812

Before the start of the war: the 1st Bashkir Regiment was part of the Cossack corps of Ataman Platov, located in the city of Grodno; the 2nd Bashkir Regiment was part of the 1st Brigade of Colonel Ilovaisky of the 12th, 5th Cavalry Division, 2nd Western Army. Teptyarsky Cossack Regiment of Major Timirov became part of the vanguard of the 3rd Infantry Corps of Lieutenant General Tuchkov 1st. Having learned about the beginning of the war, the Bashkirs immediately formed the 3rd, 4th, 5th Bashkir volunteer regiments.

Platov's Cossack Corps, covering the retreat of Bagration's army, took part in the battle near Grodno on June 15 (27), 1812, in which the 1st Bashkir Regiment actively participated. Privates Buranbai Chuvashbaev, Uzbek Akmurzin, captain Ihsan Abubakirov, and cornet Gilman Khudayberdin especially distinguished themselves.

The battle between Platov’s cavalry and the French vanguard on June 17 (July 9) is famous. General Tourneau's brigade of six regiments was completely defeated. In this battle, along with the Don Cossacks, the Bashkir cavalry also fought bravely. The newly distinguished private Uzbek Akmurzin was promoted to private soldier for this battle.

On July 1 (13), Platov's corps arrived in Romanovo. On July 2 (14), seven enemy cavalry regiments were met by Cossacks, Bashkirs, and Kalmyks and, after a stubborn battle, were overturned. Having received reinforcements, the enemy launched a second attack, but, encountering staunch defenses, was forced to retreat again. Again, the distinguished horseman Buranbai Chuvashbaev was promoted to the rank of soldier for his excellent service and courage.

Borodino. The 3rd battalion of the Ufa Infantry Regiment especially distinguished itself.

In Bashkiria and from the Bashkirs of the adjacent counties of the Perm and Orenburg provinces, 28 (including 6 repair) Bashkir, 2 Mishar (Meshcheryak) and 2 Teptyar Cossack regiments were formed.

On August 15, 1812, the Bashkirs, Teptyars and Mishars donated 500 thousand of the then full-value rubles of the royal coinage to the army.

Each regiment had its own banner. The banner of the 5th Bashkir Volunteer Regiment is still sacredly kept in the National Museum of the Republic of Bashkortostan

Bashkir-Meshcheryak Army. Cantonal control system

The most significant of the reforms towards the Bashkirs carried out by the tsarist government in the 18th century was the introduction of a cantonal system of government, which operated with some changes until 1865. By decree of April 10, 1798, the Bashkir and Mishar population of the region were transferred to the military service class and were obliged to carry out border service on the eastern borders of Russia. Administratively, cantons were created. The Trans-Ural Bashkirs found themselves part of the 2nd (Ekaterinburg and Shadrinsk districts), 3rd (Troitsky district) and 4th (Chelyabinsk district) cantons. The 2nd canton was located in Perm, the 3rd and 4th in the Orenburg provinces. In 1802-1803 The Bashkirs of Shadrinsky district were allocated to an independent 3rd canton. In this regard, the serial numbers of the cantons also changed. The former 3rd canton (Troitsky district) became the 4th, and the former 4th (Chelyabinsk district) became the 5th.

Major changes to the cantonal administration system were undertaken in the 30s of the 19th century. From the Bashkir and Mishar population of the region, the Bashkir-Meshcheryak army was formed, which included 17 cantons. The latter were united into trustees. The Bashkirs and Mishars of the 2nd (Ekaterinburg and Krasnoufimsk districts) and 3rd (Shadrinsk district) cantons were included in the first, 4th (Troitsky district) and 5th (Chelyabinsk district) - in the second trusteeship with centers in Krasnoufimsk and Chelyabinsk. Law “On the annexation of Teptyars and Bobyls to the Bashkir-Meshcheryak army.” on February 22, the Teptyar regiments were included in the canton system of the Bashkir-Meshcheryak Army. Later the name was changed to the Bashkir Army by the Law “On henceforth naming the Bashkir-Meshcheryak army the Bashkir army.” October 31st."

Proclamation of the Republic of Bashkortostan and the Agreement on the formation of the BASSR

After the revolutions of 1917, All-Bashkir congresses (kurultai) were held at which a decision was made on the need to create national republic within federal Russia. As a result, on November 16, 1917, the formed Bashkir regional (central) shuro (council) proclaimed the creation of the Orenburg, Perm, Samara, and Ufa provinces of the Republic of Bashkurdistan in territories with a predominantly Bashkir population.

Theories of ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs

The ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs is extremely complex. The Southern Urals and the adjacent steppes, where the formation of the people took place, have long been an arena active interaction different tribes and cultures.

In the 20th century Research by Rudenko, R. G. Kuzeev, N. K. Dmitriev, J. G. Kiekbaev and others substantiates the point of view according to which the decisive role was played in the origin of the Bashkirs and the formation of their ethnocultural appearance Turkic tribes of South Siberian-Central Asian origin with the participation of the local (Ural) population: Finno-Ugric (including Ugro-Magyar), Sarmatian-Alan (ancient Iranian). The ancient Turkic ancestors of the Bashkirs, who experienced the influence of the Mongols and Tungus-Manchus in their ancestral home, before coming to the Southern Urals, wandered in the south of Western Siberia, in Kazakhstan, then in the Aral-Syr Darya steppes, coming into contact with the Pecheneg-Oguz and Kimak-Kypchak tribes. From the end 9 - at the beginning 10th century Bashkirs live in the Southern Urals with steppe and forest-steppe spaces adjacent to the west, south and east. From the 9th century The ethnonym “Bashkort” becomes known. According to many researchers, it originates from the name of the military leader Bashgird, known from written sources, under whose leadership the Bashkirs united into a military-political union and then began to develop the modern territory of settlement. Another name for the Bashkirs (“ishtek”/“istek”) was presumably also an anthroponym. In the Southern Urals, the Bashkirs partly displaced, partly assimilated the aboriginal (Finno-Ugric, Iranian) population, came into contact with the Kama-Volga Bulgarians, settled tribes of the Ural-Volga region and Western Siberia.

Ugric theory

Turkic theory

Complex origin theory

Traditional activities and crafts

The main occupation of the Bashkirs in the past was nomadic (jailaun) cattle breeding; Hunting, beekeeping, beekeeping, poultry farming, and fishing were common. gathering. Crafts include weaving, felt making, production of lint-free carpets, shawls, embroidery, leather working (leatherworking), wood working.

Kurgan Bashkirs

Kurgan Bashkirs are an ethno-territorial group of the Bashkir people, living compactly in the west of the Kurgan region. The total number is 15,470 people. They are settled mainly in Almenevsky, Safakulevsky, Shchuchansky districts of the region. The largest settlements with a predominance of the Bashkir population in the Kurgan Trans-Urals - Tanrykulovo, Sart-Abdrashevo, Sharipovo, Subbotino, Sukhoborskoye, Suleymanovo, Mir, Yulamanovo, Aznalino, Tungui, etc. The vast majority of Kurgan Bashkirs are rural residents. Believers are Muslims (Sunnis)

The language of the Kurgan Bashkirs belongs to the Yalano-Katay dialect of the eastern dialect of the Bashkir language. There are a lot of Russianisms in the agreement. Most Kurgan Bashkirs also speak Russian.

Anthropological types common among the Kurgan (Yalan-Katay) Bashkirs occupy an intermediate place between the Caucasoid and Mongoloid great races (South Siberian, Subural, Pamir-Fergana, Pontic, light Caucasoid)

The folk culture of this group of Bashkirs is characterized by the great preservation of many elements of traditional family rituals, ancient examples of folklore, folk clothes. Characteristic features of traditional clothing are women’s breast ornaments “yaga” and head coverings “kushyauzik”.

Not most of immigrants from the Kurgan Bashkirs are now residents of the cities of Chelyabinsk, Surgut, Yekaterinburg, Kurgan, Tyumen. Some families have also lived in the regions of Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan since the 1960s-1970s (as a result of migrations).

Orenburg Bashkirs

The Bashkirs of the Orenburg region are considered its indigenous inhabitants. According to the 1989 census, Bashkirs live compactly in the following districts - Krasnogvardeisky (5378 people), Gaisky (2734 people), Saraktashsky (1881 people), Kuvandyksky (1864 people). In general, Bashkirs live in all districts of the region, as well as in the cities of Orenburg (6211 people), Orsk (4521 people), Mednogorsk (2839 people), Gai (1965 people), etc. In Orenburg there is a monument to the history and culture of the Bashkir people Caravan -barn (Karauanharay), built in 1838-44 on the initiative of representatives of Bashkir clans under the tutelage of the military governor Vasily Alekseevich Perovsky. The Orenburg region gave the Bashkir people outstanding people- Mukhametsha Burangulov (folk sesen, famous folklorist, who was the first to draw up the manuscript of Bashkir oral folk epics“Ural-batyr”, “Akbuzat”, “Karasakal and Salavat” and others, from the village of Verkhne-Ilyasovo, Krasnogvardeysky district), Daut Yulty (writer, from the village of Yultyevo, Krasnogvardeysky district), Sagit Agish (writer, master short stories, from the village of Isyangildino, Sharlyk district), Ravil Bikbaev (poet, from the village of Verkhne-Kunakbaevo, Pokrovsky district), Gabdulla Amantay (writer, from the village of Verkhne-Ilyasovo, Krasnogvardeysky district), Khabibulla Ibragimov (playwright and composer, from Orenburg), Valiulla Murtazin- Imansky (actor, director and playwright, from the village of Imangulovo, Oktyabrsky district), Amir Abdrazakov (actor and director, from the village of Kaipkulovo, Alexandrovsky district).

Perm Bashkirs

The Bashkir tribal organization Gaina in the 13th century occupied vast territories along the banks of the Kama - from the mouth of the Siva River to the mouth of the Ocher River, and then the border of the land ran along the Sylva River to the upper reaches of the then river. Irginka went to the upper reaches of the Bystry Tanyp River.

After the defeat of Kazan by Tsar Ivan the Terrible in 1552, the Gainin Bashkirs accepted his citizenship in 1557 and received from the tsar a “charter of ownership”, according to which they remained the owners of the lands between the Kama, Sylva and Belaya rivers. Later, they, like the rest of the Bashkirs, were assigned to the military class, like the Cossacks, and paid a small community tax, because they had to guard the border and participate in the wars waged by Russia. When the canton system was established, the Gainin people entered the 1st Bashkir canton. The most famous thing for them was their participation in the war against Napoleon (France). 13 Perm Bashkirs were awarded the silver medal “In Memory of the War of 1812” for their military services in the war.

After the Gainians accepted Moscow citizenship, the government began to pursue a policy of colonization of the region. First, having driven the Gainin people out of their indigenous lands, they built the Novo-Nikolskaya Sloboda, which later turned into the Osinskaya fortress. in 1618, Andrei Krylov built a dacha, which later turned into a village. Krylovo. In 1739, General-in-Chief Alexander Glebov built a copper smelter near the Shermeika River. The Gainin people rose up more than once to preserve their territory, but the uprisings were brutally suppressed. The Gainin people took part in all the Bashkir uprisings. According to Batyrsha, during the uprising of 1735-40. 400 Gainin soldiers destroyed a 1000-strong team of “freemen” with 4 guns and “only after the truce they gave up the guns.” During the uprising of 1755, they were assigned a very important role, but the performance of the Bashkirs of Gaina was nipped in the bud by the powerful Tarkhan of the Gaina Bashkirs, the ore miner and foreman Tuktamysh Ishbulatov (in the future - a deputy from the Bashkirs in Catherine’s Legislative Commission and a Pugachev colonel). The most significant uprising was their participation in the Pugachev uprising of 1773-1775, where more than 9,000 Gainin residents took part. They gave this war 9 colonels, 7 atamans and 16 marching foremen. After this, their lands remained within the Gaininsky volost.

Famous people appeared among the Gainin people of that time. This is Ismail Tasimov, on whose initiative the First Mining School, now the Mining University, was opened. The second prominent representative of the region was Tuktamysh Izhbulatov, who for 20 years was the foreman of the Gaininsky volost, a deputy of the Legislative Commission, drew up the order of the Bashkirs to the Legislative Commission and spoke 3 times at the meetings of the commission. The third representative was Mansur Gata-Khazret, a deputy of the State Duma, who opened a progressive madrasah in the village. Sultanay.

Bashkirs of Samara region

Bashkirs began to settle in the Samara region from the 18th century; they founded villages now located in the territories of the Bolshechernigovsky and Bolsheglunitsky districts of the Samara region (formerly the Imeleevskaya volost of the Samara province). They are also known as Irgiz Bashkirs, since most of their villages are located in the valley of the Irgiz River. Samara Bashkirs, despite their distance from their historical homeland, speak a literary language Bashkir language, since their ancestors come from the southeast of Bashkortostan, and not from the Tatar-speaking northwest. The Samara land gave the Bashkir people a number of famous people. These are writers Rashit Nigmati (1909-1959, from the village of Dingezbaevo, Bolshechernigovsky district), Khasan Bashar (1901-1938, from the village of Utyakaevo, Bolshechernigovsky district), Khadiya Davletshina (1905-1954, from the village of Khasanovo, Bolshechernigovsky district), Gubai Davletshin (1893-1938 , from the village of Tashbulatovo, now Tash-Kustyanovo, Bolsheglunitsky district), his cousin, linguist Gabbas Davletshin (1892-1937, from the same village), participant in the Bashkir national liberation movement, ally of Akhmad-Zaki Validi Kharis Yumagulov (1891-1937, from the village of Khasanovo), Fatima Mustafina (1913-1998, from the village of Dingezbaevo) Minister of Education of the BASSR (1955-1971).

Bashkirs of the Chelyabinsk region

More than 166 thousand Bashkirs live in the Chelyabinsk region. The Bashkir population is represented in most districts of the region. There are compact settlements of Bashkirs in Argayashsky, Kunashaksky, Sosnovsky, Kusinsky, Krasnoarmeysky, Nyazepetrovsky, Oktyabrsky, Kaslinsky, Chebarkulsky, Uysky, Kizilsky, Agapovsky, Ashinsky, Kyshtymsky and some other districts of the region. Before the Great Patriotic War, the Argayash National District existed on the territory of the Chelyabinsk region. Notes

Bashkirs- people in Russia, indigenous population of Bashkiria (Bashkortostan). Number b Ashkir in Russia is 1 million 584 thousand 554 people. Of these, 1,172,287 people live in Bashkiria. live Bashkirs also in Chelyabinsk, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, Tyumen regions and Perm region. In addition, 17,263 Bashkirs live in Kazakhstan, 3,703 in Uzbekistan, 1,111 in Kyrgyzstan and 112 in Estonia.

They say Bashkirs in the Bashkir language of the Turkic group of the Altai family; dialects: southern, eastern, the northwestern group of dialects stands out. Russian and Tatar languages ​​are widespread. Writing based on the Russian alphabet. Believers Bashkirs- Sunni Muslims.
Most Bashkirs, unlike the surrounding population, are descendants of the Paleo-European population Western Europe: the frequency of haplogroup R1b varies widely and averages 47.6%. It is believed that the carriers of this haplogroup were the Khazars , although other evidence suggests that the Khazars carried the haplogroup G.

Proportion of haplogroup R1a among Bashkir is 26.5%, and Finno-Ugric N1c - 17%.

Mongoloidity is more pronounced among the Bashkirs than among Tatars, but less than Kazakhs.
In formation Bashkir a decisive role was played by the Turkic pastoral tribes of South Siberian-Central Asian origin, who, before coming to the Southern Urals, roamed for a considerable time in the Aral-Syr Darya steppes, coming into contact with the Pecheneg-Oguz and Kimak-Kypchak tribes; here they are recorded in written sources in the 9th century. From the late 9th to early 10th centuries they lived in the Southern Urals and adjacent steppe and forest-steppe areas.
Even in Siberia, the Sayan-Altai Highlands and Central Asia, the ancient Bashkir tribes experienced some influence from the Tungus-Manchus and Mongols. Settling in the Southern Urals, Bashkirs partly displaced, partly assimilated the local Finno-Ugric and Iranian (Sarmatian-Alanian) population. Here they apparently came into contact with some ancient Magyar tribes.
In the 10th – early 13th centuries Bashkirs were under the political influence of Volga-Kama Bulgaria, neighbors with the Kipchaks-Polovtsians. In 1236 Bashkir were conquered by the Mongol-Tatars and annexed to the Golden Horde.

In the 14th century Bashkir the nobility converted to Islam. During the period of Mongol-Tatar rule, the composition Bashkir some Bulgarian, Kipchak and Mongolian tribes joined. After the fall of Kazan in 1552 Bashkirs accepted Russian citizenship, retaining the right to have armed forces. It is reliably known about the participation of Bashkir cavalry regiments in battles on the side of Russia since the Livonian War Bashkirs stipulated the right to own their lands on a patrimonial basis, to live according to their customs and religion.

In the 17th and especially the 18th century Bashkirs revolted many times. In 1773-1775, the resistance of the Bashkirs was broken, but patrimonial rights were retained Bashkir on the ground; in 1789 the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Russia was established in Ufa.

By decree of April 10, 1798, the Bashkir and Mishar the population of the region was transferred to the military service class, equated to the Cossacks, and was obliged to carry out border service on the eastern borders of Russia. Bashkiria was divided into 12 cantons, which fielded a certain number of soldiers with all their equipment for military service. By 1825, the Bashkir-Meshcheryak Army consisted of over 345,493 people of both sexes, and about 12 thousand of them were in active service Bashkir. In 1865, the canton system was abolished, and the Bashkirs were equated with rural residents and subordinated them to general provincial and district institutions.
After the February Revolution of 1917 Bashkirs entered into an active struggle for the creation of their statehood. In 1919 the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed.
As a result of the 1st World War and civil war, drought and famine of 1921-22, the number of Bashkirs was reduced by almost half; by the end of 1926 it amounted to 714 thousand people. The number of Bashkirs was also negatively affected by heavy losses in the Great Patriotic War 1941-45, as well as the assimilation of the Bashkirs by the Tatars. The pre-revolutionary number of Bashkirs was reached only by 1989. Bashkirs are migrating outside the republic. The share of Bashkirs living outside Bashkiria was 18% in 1926, 25.4% in 1959, and 40.4% in 1989.
Significant changes have occurred, especially in post-war decades, in the socio-demographic structure of Bashkiria. The share of city dwellers among the Bashkirs was 42.3% by 1989 (1.8% in 1926 and 5.8% in 1939). Urbanization is accompanied by an increase in the number of workers, engineering and technical workers, creative intelligentsia, increased cultural interaction with other peoples, and an increase in the proportion of interethnic marriages. In recent years, there has been an intensification of the national self-awareness of the Bashkirs. In October 1990, the Supreme Council of the Republic adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Bashkir Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In February 1992, the Republic of Bashkortostan was proclaimed.

The traditional type of Bashkir economy is semi-nomadic cattle breeding (mainly horses, but also sheep, cattle, and camels in the southern and eastern regions). They also engaged in hunting and fishing, beekeeping, and collecting fruits and plant roots. There was agriculture (millet, barley, spelt, wheat, hemp). Agricultural tools - a wooden plow (saban) on wheels, later a plow (khuka), a frame harrow (tyrma).
Since the 17th century, semi-nomadic cattle breeding gradually lost its importance, the role of agriculture increased, and apiary beekeeping developed on the basis of beekeeping. In the northwestern regions, already in the 18th century, agriculture became the main occupation of the population, but in the south and east nomadism survived in some places until the beginning of the 20th century. However, here too by this time the transition to integrated farming was completed. The fallow and slash systems are gradually giving way to fallow-fallow and three-field systems, and the plantings of winter rye and flax among industrial crops are increasing, especially in the northern regions. Vegetable gardening appears. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century, factory plows and the first agricultural machines came into use.
Home processing of animal raw materials, hand weaving, and wood processing were developed. Bashkirs they knew blacksmithing, smelted cast iron and iron, and in some places they mined silver ore; Jewelry was made from silver.
In the 1st half of the 18th century, industrial exploitation of the region’s ore deposits began; By the end of the 18th century, the Urals became the main center of metallurgy. However Bashkirs were employed mainly in auxiliary and seasonal work.
IN Soviet period A diversified industry has been created in Bashkiria. Agriculture is complex, agricultural and livestock raising: in the southeast and in the Trans-Urals, horse breeding remains important. Beekeeping is developed.
After joining the Russian state, the social structure of the Bashkirs was determined by the interweaving of commodity-money relations with the remnants of patriarchal tribal life. Based on the tribal division (there were about 40 tribes and tribal groups: Burzyan, Usergan, Tamyan, Yurmat, Tabyn, Kipchak, Katai, Ming, Elan, Yeney, Bulyar, Salyut, etc., many of which were fragments of ancient tribal and ethnopolitical associations of the Eurasian steppes) volosts were formed. The volosts, large in size, had some attributes of political organization; were divided into clan divisions that united groups of related families (aimak, tyuba, ara), inherited from tribal community customs of exogamy, mutual assistance, etc. The volost was headed by a hereditary (elected after 1736) foreman (biy). In the affairs of volosts and aimaks, the leading role was played by tarkhans (an estate exempt from taxes), batyrs, and the clergy; The nobility complained to individual families. In 1798-1865 there was a paramilitary cantonal system of government, Bashkirs were turned into a military service class, among them were canton commanders and officer ranks.
The ancient Bashkirs had a large family community. In the 16th-19th centuries, both large and small families existed in parallel, the latter gradually establishing themselves as predominant. In the inheritance of family property, the minority principle was generally followed. Among the rich Bashkirs, polygamy existed. In marriage relations, the customs of levirate and betrothal of young children were preserved. Marriages were carried out through matchmaking, but bride kidnapping also took place (which exempted them from paying the dowry), sometimes by mutual agreement.

The traditional type of settlement is an aul located on the banks of a river or lake. In conditions of nomadic life, each village had several places of settlement: winter, spring, summer, autumn. Permanent settlements arose with the transition to sedentary life, as a rule, on the sites of winter roads. Initially, a cumulus arrangement of dwellings was common; close relatives settled compactly, often behind a common fence. In the 18th and 19th centuries, street layouts began to predominate, with each kin group forming separate "ends" or streets and neighborhoods.
The traditional Bashkir dwelling is a felt yurt with a prefabricated lattice frame, of the Turkic (with a hemispherical top) or Mongolian (with a conical top) type. In the steppe zone, adobe, stratum, adobe houses were built, in the forest and forest-steppe zones - log huts with canopies, houses with communications (hut - canopy - hut) and five-walled houses, and occasionally (among the wealthy) cross and two-story houses were found. Conifers, aspen, linden, and oak were used for log houses. Plank sheds, wicker huts, and huts served as temporary dwellings and summer kitchens. The construction technology of the Bashkirs was greatly influenced by the Russians and neighboring peoples of the Ural-Volga region. Modern rural dwellings Bashkirs They are built from logs, using timber-framed techniques, from brick, cinder concrete, and concrete blocks. The interior is preserved traditional features: division into household and guest halves, arrangement of bunks.
The folk clothing of the Bashkirs unites the traditions of steppe nomads and local settled tribes. The basis of women's clothing was a long dress cut at the waist with frills, an apron, a camisole, decorated with braid and silver coins. Young women wore breast ornaments made of coral and coins. The women's headdress is a cap made of coral mesh with silver pendants and coins, with a long blade going down the back, embroidered with beads and cowrie shells; girlish - a helmet-shaped cap, also covered with coins; caps and scarves were also worn. Young women wore brightly colored head coverings. Outerwear - swinging kaftans and chekmeni made of colored cloth, trimmed with braiding, embroidery, and coins. Jewelry - various kinds of earrings, bracelets, rings, braids, clasps - were made of silver, corals, beads, silver coins, with inserts of turquoise, carnelian, and colored glass.

Men's clothing - shirts and trousers with wide leg, light robes (straight back and flared), camisoles, sheepskin coats. Headdresses - skullcaps, round fur hats, malakhai covering the ears and neck, hats. Women also wore hats made from animal fur. Boots, leather boots, ichigs, shoe covers, and in the Urals - bast shoes were widespread.
Meat and dairy foods predominated; products of hunting, fishing, honey, berries and herbs were consumed. Traditional dishes are finely chopped horse meat or lamb with broth (bishbarmak, kullama), dried sausage made from horse meat and fat (kazy), various types of cottage cheese, cheese (korot), millet porridge, barley, spelled and wheat groats, oatmeal. Noodles with meat or milk broth and cereal soups are popular. Unleavened bread (flatbread) was consumed; in the 18th and 19th centuries, sour bread became widespread, and potatoes and vegetables became part of the diet. Low-alcohol drinks: kumiss (made from mare's milk), buza (from sprouted grains of barley, spelt), bal (a relatively strong drink made from honey and sugar); They also drank diluted sour milk - ayran.

In wedding rituals, the customs of hiding the bride stand out; on the day of the wedding feast (tui), wrestling competitions and horse racing were held in the bride’s house. There was a custom for a daughter-in-law to avoid her father-in-law. The family life of the Bashkirs was built on reverence for elders. Nowadays, especially in cities, family rituals have become simpler. In recent years, there has been some revival of Muslim rituals.
The main folk holidays were celebrated in spring and summer. After the arrival of the rooks, a kargatuy ("rook festival") was held. On the eve of spring field work, and in some places after it, a plow festival (Sabantuy, Habantuy) was held, which included a common meal, wrestling, horse racing, running competitions, archery, and competitions with a humorous effect. The holiday was accompanied by prayers at the local cemetery. In the middle of summer, jiin (yiyyn) took place, a holiday common to several villages, and in more distant times - volosts, tribes. In the summer, girls’ games take place in the lap of nature, the “cuckoo tea” ritual, in which only women participate. In dry times, a ritual of making rain was carried out with sacrifices and prayers, pouring water on each other.
The leading place in oral poetic creativity is occupied by the epic ("Ural-batyr", "Akbuzat", "Idukai and Muradym", "Kusyak-bi", "Urdas-bi with a thousand quivers", "Alpamysha", "Kuzy-kurpyas and Mayankhylu", "Zayatulyak and Khyukhylu"). Fairytale folklore is represented by magical, heroic, everyday tales, and tales about animals.
Song and musical creativity has been developed: epic, lyrical and everyday (ritual, satirical, humorous) songs, ditties (takmak). Various dance melodies. The dances are characterized by narrative, many ("Cuckoo", "Crow Pacer", "Baik", "Perovsky") have a complex structure and contain elements of pantomime.
Traditional musical instruments - kurai (a type of pipe), domra, kumyz (kobyz, harp: wooden - in the form of an oblong plate and metal - in the form of a bow with a tongue). In the past, there was a bowed instrument called kyl kumyz.
Bashkirs retained elements of traditional beliefs: veneration of objects (rivers, lakes, mountains, forests, etc.) and phenomena (winds, snowstorms) of nature, heavenly bodies, animals and birds (bear, wolf, horse, dog, snake, swan, crane , golden eagle, falcon, etc., the cult of rooks was associated with the cult of ancestors, dying and reviving nature). Among the numerous host spirits (eye), a special place is occupied by the brownie (yort eyyahe) and the water spirit (hyu eyyahe). The supreme heavenly deity Tenre subsequently merged with the Muslim Allah. The forest spirit shurale and brownie are endowed with the features of Muslim shaitans, Iblis, and genies. The demonic characters bisura and albasty are syncretic. The interweaving of traditional and Muslim beliefs is also observed in rituals, especially homeland and funeral rituals.

Introduction 3

1. Historical sketch 4

2. Bashkirs - peoples of the Southern Urals 8

Conclusion 14

List of used literature 15

Introduction

The Turkic peoples (Turks) of the URAL, settled on both sides of the Middle and Southern Urals from the Volga region to the Ob region, constitute the northwestern part of the vast Turkic ethnocultural space limited by the Mediterranean (Turks) and Eastern Siberia (Yakuts).

Along with the Mongolian and Tungus-Manchu peoples, the Türks belong to the Altai language family. The languages ​​of the Kipchak branch of the Turkic group are spoken by the Volga-Ural and Siberian Tatars, Bashkirs, Nogais, Kazakhs; The Chuvash language forms the Bulgar branch of the Turkic group. Many researchers consider the foothills of the Altai and Sayan Mountains to be the ancestral home of the ancient Türks. According to an ancient legend (recorded by Chinese sources of the 6th century AD), the Turkic tribe descended from a quartered boy and a she-wolf who hid him in an Altai cave. There, 10 sons of the she-wolf were born, one of whom was named Ashina or Turk.

1. Historical sketch

Bashkirs (self-name Bashkort) are Turkic-speaking nomads who began their movement to present-day Bashkiria in the 4th century. from the southern steppe strip. The ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs is extremely complex. The Southern Urals and the adjacent steppes, where the formation of the people took place, have long been an arena of active interaction between different cultures and languages. In the 2nd half. 1st millennium BC e. in the south of Bashkiria lived the Iranian-speaking Sarmatian pastoralists, in the north - the agricultural and hunting tribes of the Ananyin culture, the ancestors of the Finno-Ugric peoples. In the 1st millennium AD e. The penetration of Turkic nomads into the Southern Urals begins, towards the end. 1st thousand who occupied all of Bashkiria. Having displaced and partly assimilated the aborigines, the Turk. tribes obviously played a decisive role in the formation of the language, culture and physical appearance of the Bashkirs; the Oguz-Pecheneg tribes, the Volga-Kama Bulgars, and later the Kipchaks (XI-XIII centuries) and some Mongolian tribes (XIII-XIII centuries) participated in the ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs. -XIV centuries). In Arabic sources, the Bashkirs are mentioned in the 9th-10th centuries. under the name “bashgird” (“bashgurd”). Thus, according to Ibn Fadlan, during his journey (922) to Bolgar, having crossed the river. Chagan (right tributary of the Yaik), the embassy ended up “in the country of the Bashgird people.” An Arab geographer and diplomat calls them “the worst of the Turks... more encroaching on life than others.” Therefore, having entered their land, the Arabs sent forward an armed cavalry detachment for safety. In the IX-XIII centuries. The Bashkirs roamed in separate clans in the Cis-Ural region, in the South. The Urals and between the rivers. Volga and Yaik (Ural). They were engaged in nomadic cattle breeding, as well as fishing, hunting and beekeeping. In the X-XIII centuries. among the Bashkirs, the decomposition of tribal relations began, and they began to wander separate groups in 10-30 families. For a long time they maintained patriarchal slavery. At the end of the XII - beginning of the XIII centuries. feudal relations arise. In the X-XIII centuries. Western Bashkirs were subordinate to the Volga-Kama Bulgaria. The Bashkirs were idolaters, from the 10th century. Islam begins to penetrate them from Bulgaria; Believing Bashkirs are Sunni Muslims. In 1229, the Tatar-Mongols invaded the territory of Bashkiria and by 1236 completely conquered the Bashkirs, who entered with their nomads into the ulus of Sheybani, the brother of Batu Khan. In the 2nd half. In the 15th century, after the collapse of the Golden Horde, the southern and southeastern territory of the Bashkir nomads went to the Nogai Horde, the western part to the Kazan Khanate, and the northeastern part to the Siberian Khanate. With the annexation (1552) of the Kazan Khanate to Russia, the Western Bashkirs became subjects of the Russian state. Since 1557 almost all Bashkirs. The nomads began to pay yasak to the Russian Tsar. In con. XVI-- beginning XVII century Eastern Bashkirs also came under Russian rule. In 1586, active colonization of Russian territories by Bashkirs from the northeast and lower reaches of the Yaik began. The Bashkirs “considered themselves descendants of the Nogais, whom they actually resembled in some physical features, but the Kyrgyz called them Ostyaks and considered the Bashkirs as fellow tribesmen of this Siberian people mixed with the Tatars. Among the mountain Bashkirs, who probably preserved the original type in the greatest purity for the longest time, the head was most often small, but very wide; Among them there were tall and strong types with regular facial features, very similar to the Transylvanian Magyars, which is why they were attributed to Ugric origin for quite a long time. Most Bashkirs have a flat, round face, a small, slightly upturned nose, small, gray or brown eyes, large ears, a sparse beard, a kind and pleasant physiognomy. And indeed, ordinary people were very good-natured, friendly, welcoming and received foreigners with the most cordial hospitality, which they often used to harm their owners. Slow in their work, they far surpassed the Russians in accuracy and service. Like the Kazan Tatars, the Bashktri had to buy their wives, but the payment of the kalym could be spread over several years, and often the husband took away his living property after paying only half a vein. During the first year, the young wife did not have the right to talk with her father-in-law and mother-in-law, a custom found on Earth only among the blacks of Equatorial Africa. Many Bashkirs owned fairly large flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, but they gave preference to herds of horses, which served them at the same time as riding, harness, and draft horses; animals gave them meat, milk (from mare's milk they made kumiss - a medicinal and alcoholic drink) and leather, from which they made clothes, wagons, bedspreads, belts, bags, or tursuks. It was not uncommon to meet Bashkirs who counted their fortune in hundreds, even thousands of horses. The Bashkirs (as, indeed, other nomadic peoples and tribes) were unusually dexterous riders; their favorite military exercise was horse racing, which presented an unusually exciting and picturesque spectacle. Beekeeping was also considered one of the most favorite activities of the Bashkirs, so some ethnographers even tried to derive the name of the people - “Bashkurt” from the word meaning the profession of beekeepers. The Bashkirs quite actively resisted the penetration of Russians into their lands, since they immediately began to plow up their pastures and meadows, set up villages on the banks of rivers, dig mines, narrowing the space for pastoral nomads in their centuries-old movement following their flocks and herds. In vain, however, the Bashkirs ravaged and burned Russian villages, even dug up Russian dead from their graves, so that not a single Muscovite person - neither living nor dead - remained in their land. After each such uprising, the Russians came again, and in even greater numbers than before, now by force expelling the Bashkirs from their possessions and building new cities and villages on them. By the middle of the 19th century. The Bashkirs already owned only a third of their former lands.” The gradual reduction of pastures forced the Bashkirs to take up farming: at first they gave their land to Russian peasants (the so-called henchmen) for rent for an annual or one-time payment, and then little by little they themselves began to adapt to the work of the farmer. Numerous local khans became the ancestors of noble and princely families and became part of the Russian Federation. nobility, and the Bashkir princely families of the Aptulovs, Turumbetevs, Devletshins, Kulyukovs and others continued to use Tarkhanism, as before. During the campaigns, the Tarkhans formed special detachments in the Russian army, and they were joined by the militia, recruited from the tax and tribute Bashkirs; They were always commanded by Russian heads. Soon after accepting Russian citizenship, the Bashkirs, not wanting to deliver yasak to Kazan and suffering from raids from neighboring tribes, asked the tsar to build a city on their land that would protect them and where they would take the yasak. In 1586, governor I. Nagoy began the construction of the city of Ufa, which became the first Russian settlement in the Bashkirs, except for Yelabuga, built on the very border of the Bashkirs. lands. In the same 1586, despite the opposition of Nogai. book Urus, Samara was also built. The voivodeship order (1645) mentions the fort of Menzelinsk. In 1658, the city of Chelyabinsk was built to cover the settlements located along the river. Iset (in modern Sverdlovsk region). In 1663, the previously existing Birsk turned into a fortification, standing in the middle of the road from the Kama to Ufa. Simultaneously with the construction of Ufa, the colonization of the region begins: Tatars, Meshcheryaks, Bobyls, Tepteri, Cheremis and other nationalities settle with the Bashkirs as henchmen (Novo-Bashkirs), take land from them for rent, and the Russians first occupy Siberian settlements (in the modern Chelyabinsk region) , and then Vladimir Boguslavsky begins to penetrate into the indigenous lands of Bashkiria. Slavic encyclopedia. XVII century." M., OLMA-PRESS. 2004.

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2. Bashkirs - peoples of the Southern Urals

The autoethnonym “Bashkort” consists of two parts: “main” (bash) and “wolf” (kort), that is, “wolf-leader” and, perhaps, goes back to the totemic hero-ancestor.

Main area of ​​settlement

Most of the Bashkirs live in the Republic of Bashkortostan - 864 thousand people, which is 21.9% of the population of the republic. Bashkirs also live in the Perm, Sverdlovsk, Kurgan, and Tyumen regions. In addition, Bashkirs live in Kazakhstan - 42 thousand people, Uzbekistan - 35 thousand people, in Ukraine - 7 thousand people.

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

Until the 20th century The Bashkirs maintained a tribal division; in total there were about 40 tribes and tribal groups: Burzyan, Usergan, Katai, Ming, etc.

Language

Bashkir: In the Bashkir language, there are southern - Yurmatin and eastern - Kuvakan dialects, as well as a northwestern group of dialects. Among some Bashkirs, the Tatar language is widespread.

Writing

The writing system for the Bashkir language was first created on the basis of Arabic graphics, in 1929 it was transferred to the Latin alphabet, and since 1939 - to the Russian graphic basis.

Religion

Islam: The writing system for the Bashkir language was first created on the basis of Arabic graphics, in 1929 it was transferred to the Latin alphabet, and since 1939 - to the Russian graphic basis.

Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

In the formation of the Bashkirs, the main role was played by the Turkic nomadic tribes, which came in waves to the territory of the Southern Urals from the east, starting from the 4th century AD. Here these tribes interacted with the local Finno-Ugric and Iranian-speaking populations. The movement of the Pecheneg-Oguz population to the Southern Urals in the 8th-10th centuries was of great importance for the ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs, and the appearance of the ethnonym Bashkort was associated with it. It was first mentioned as “al-bashgird” in 922 in the description of the trip to the Volga by the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan. The process of ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs was completed by the beginning of the 13th century. The Bashkirs were an integral part of the population of the Volga Bulgaria, and then the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. In the middle of the 16th century. The lands of the Bashkirs became part of the Russian state. In 1919, the Bashkir ASSR was created as part of the RSFSR. Since 1992, the name of the national statehood of the Bashkir ethnic group is the Republic of Bashkortostan.

Farm

The traditional occupation of the Bashkirs has long been semi-nomadic cattle breeding; they bred mainly horses, as well as sheep, cattle, and camels. In the warm season, pastures were periodically changed; in winter they returned to the villages, but a significant part of the livestock remained on Tebenevka, using their hooves to obtain food from under the snow. Other activities included hunting, fishing, beekeeping. Agriculture at first played a minor role; millet, barley, hemp and other crops were grown. In the forest belt, the slash-and-burn farming system prevailed, in the steppe - fallow farming. The land was cultivated with a sable plow and various types of harrows. The role of agriculture began to increase from the 17th century, and soon it became the main occupation, but nomadism in some areas persisted until the beginning of the 20th century. Fallow-fallow and three-field systems began to predominate in agriculture, with winter rye and flax among the crops. Beekeeping played an important role in the forest zone, and beekeeping played an important role in the mountains - collecting honey from wild bees. Hunting for wolves, moose, hares, martens and other game was widespread. The Bashkirs were engaged in fishing mainly in the northern regions, on Trans-Ural lakes and mountain rivers. Ancillary occupations and crafts were developed - weaving, woodworking, blacksmithing and jewelry. A special role was played by the processing of hides and skins and the manufacture of clothing and shoes from them. Pottery was undeveloped, and the use of leather utensils predominated. The Bashkirs were widely engaged in forestry - timber harvesting, tar racing, tar smoking and charcoal burning.

Traditional clothing

Traditional women's clothing consisted of a long dress cut at the waist with frills, decorated with ribbons and braid, wide-legged pants, an apron, a camisole, decorated with braid and gold coins. Young women wore breast ornaments made of coral and coins. The women's headdress was a coral mesh cap with silver coins and pendants, a blade running down the back, embroidered with beads and cowrie shells. The girls wore helmet-shaped caps covered with coins on their heads. There were other types of women's and girls' headdresses. Women's footwear included leather shoes, boots, and bast shoes. Outerwear there were swinging kaftans and chekmeni made of colored cloth with rich trimmings. There was a variety of women's and girls' jewelry - rings, rings, bracelets, earrings.

The men's suit was of the same type and consisted of a tunic-shaped shirt, wide-legged trousers, over which they put on a short sleeveless vest - a camisole, and when going out into the street a swinging caftan - a Cossack or robe-like beshmet made of dark fabric. In cold weather they wore a sheepskin coat. Men's headdresses were skull caps and various types of fur hats. On their feet, men wore boots, ichigs, shoe covers, and in the Urals, bast shoes.

Traditional settlements and dwellings

The traditional rural settlement of the Bashkirs was the aul. In conditions of nomadic life, his location changed, permanent settlements appeared with the transition to sedentism, as a rule, in the place of winter roads. At first they were characterized by a cumulus layout, then it gave way to a street layout, in which each grouping of related families occupied separate ends, streets or blocks. The number of households varied from several dozen to 200-300 or more; in settlements there were 10-20 households.

In conditions of nomadic life traditional home The Bashkirs had a felt yurt with a prefabricated wooden frame of the Turkic (with a hemispherical top) or Mongolian (with a conical top) type. The entrance to the yurt was usually closed with a felt. There was an open hearth in the center, with smoke escaping through an opening in the dome and through a doorway. To the right of the entrance was the women's half, where utensils were placed and food was stored, to the left was the men's half, there were chests with property, weapons, and horse harness. For semi-nomadic groups, the yurt was a summer home. In mountain forest areas, a burama was built at summer camps - a log hut with an earthen floor without a ceiling or windows, its gable roof was covered with bark. The wagon - tirme - was also known. Stationary dwellings were different: in the steppe zone they were made of adobe, adobe, and slab; in the forest and forest-steppe zones they were log houses; among wealthy families, they had five-walled and cross-walled houses, sometimes two-story houses. The dwellings were divided into front and household halves. Bunks were arranged along the walls, they were covered with felts or woven rugs, in the corner there was a hearth or a Russian oven, and a small fireplace was attached to the side. The courtyard buildings included stables, a barnyard, barns, a bathhouse; they were few in number and located freely.

Food

In the food of the Bashkirs, as they transitioned to agriculture as the main occupation, the importance of flour and cereal dishes grew, but vegetables were almost not consumed until the 20s of the 20th century. Dairy and meat products predominated among nomadic groups. One of the favorite dishes was beshbarmak - finely chopped horse meat or lamb with broth. For future use, dried sausage was prepared from horse meat and fat. There was a variety of dairy dishes - various types of cottage cheese and cheeses. Porridges were made from various grains. Noodles in meat or milk broth and cereal soups were popular. Unleavened bread was first consumed; sour bread began to be included in the diet in the 18th century. The most common drink was ayran - diluted sour milk; among alcoholic drinks - kumiss based on sour mare's milk, buza made from sprouted grains of barley or spelled, bal made from honey or sugar.

Social organization

The Bashkir tribes included clan divisions - aimaks, uniting groups of related families - descendants of one ancestor in the male line; they preserved the customs of exogamy, mutual assistance, etc. In family relations, the large family gradually gave way to the small one, which became the main form of family at the beginning of the 20th century . In inheritance, they mainly adhered to the minority principle, according to which most of the property went to the youngest son, for which he had to support his elderly parents. Marriage relations were characterized by polygamy (for rich Bashkirs), a degraded position of women, and marriages for minors. Until the beginning of the 20th century. the custom of levirate was preserved - the preferential right to marry his wife's sister.

Spiritual culture and traditional beliefs

The religious beliefs of the Bashkirs were characterized by the interweaving of Islam with pagan pre-Islamic ideas. This is clearly seen in the ritual life cycle. So, during difficult childbirth, in order to make it easier, they shot from a gun and scratched the woman in labor on the back with a mink paw. Three days after the birth of the child, a naming celebration was held, which was accompanied by a meal. Marriages were carried out through matchmaking, but bride kidnapping took place, which exempted people from paying the dowry. Its size was discussed during the wedding agreement; the dowry included livestock, money, clothing and other valuables. The wedding was celebrated after payment in the house of the girl’s parents, during which wrestling competitions, horse racing and other entertainment competitions were held. During the funeral, the body of the deceased, wrapped in a shroud, was brought to the cemetery and placed in a niche built in the grave pit. In some areas, log cabins were built over the grave.

Natural objects were revered - lakes, rivers, forests, natural phenomena and some species of animals and birds. There was a belief in lower spirits - the brownie, the water spirit, the goblin, the albasty, as well as the supreme deity Tenre. In the minds of Muslim Bashkirs, Tenre merged with Allah, and the lower spirits merged with Islamic demons - jinn and shaitans. To protect against otherworldly forces, they wore amulets - animal bones and teeth, cowrie shells, coins, as well as notes sewn into a piece of leather or birch bark with sayings from the Koran.

The calendar holidays of the Bashkirs were numerous: kargatuy (“rook holiday”) in honor of the arrival of rooks, during which they treated themselves to ritual porridge, danced in circles, competed in running, the remains of porridge with a spell were left on the field, spring Sabantuy with the ritual slaughter of an animal, a common meal, competitions in running, archery, sack fighting, a gin festival in the middle of summer, common for the whole district, at which important social issues were resolved with feasts, and all-Bashkir gins were held.

In the spiritual life of the Bashkirs, song and musical creativity played an important role: epic tales, ritual, everyday, and lyrical songs were accompanied by playing traditional musical instruments - domra, kumyz, kurai (a type of pipe).

Conclusion

Thus, based on the above, we can conclude that in the formation of the Bashkirs, the main role was played by the Turkic nomadic tribes, who came in waves to the territory of the Southern Urals from the east, starting from the 4th century AD. Here these tribes interacted with the local Finno-Ugric and Iranian-speaking populations. The movement of the Pecheneg-Oguz population to the Southern Urals in the 8th-10th centuries was of great importance for the ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs, and the appearance of the ethnonym Bashkort was associated with it. It was first mentioned as “al-bashgird” in 922 in the description of the trip to the Volga by the Arab traveler Ibn Fadlan. The process of ethnogenesis of the Bashkirs was completed by the beginning of the 13th century. The Bashkirs were an integral part of the population of the Volga Bulgaria, and then the Golden Horde and the Kazan Khanate. In the middle of the 16th century. The lands of the Bashkirs became part of the Russian state. In 1919, the Bashkir ASSR was created as part of the RSFSR. Since 1992, the name of the national statehood of the Bashkir ethnic group is the Republic of Bashkortostan.

In the Russian Federation today people live different nationalities. Each of them has its own traditions and customs. One of the most numerous peoples is the Bashkirs. The people have a rich, centuries-old history and have their own traditions and customs. To get to know a nationality better and begin to better understand its representatives, you need to familiarize yourself with current information on the topic.

A little about Bashkortostan

Monument to Salavat Yulaev

The most numerous of the peoples have their own subjects that are part of Russia. Thus, the Republic of Bashkortostan is located in the Volga Federal District. It belongs to the Ural economic region. On the border with the subject there are:

• regions: Sverdlovsk, Chelyabinsk and Orenburg,
• region: Perm,
• Republics of Udmurtia and Tatarstan.

The city of Ufa was chosen as the capital of Bashkortostan. The subject was allocated within Russia on a national basis, receiving such a right first among similar autonomies. This happened in 1917.

The main population of Bashkortostan are Bashkirs. For them, this republic is the main place of residence in the Russian Federation. However, representatives of the nationality can be found in other parts of Russia and even beyond its borders.

Who are the Bashkirs?

Today, more than 1.5 million ethnic Bashkirs live in Russia. The people have their own language and writing, which until the 20th century. was based on Arabic characters. However, during the Soviet era, the writing was first transferred to the Latin alphabet, and then to the Cyrillic alphabet.

The factor that allows representatives of a nationality to preserve their community is religion. The predominant number of Bashkirs are Suit Muslims.

Let's plunge into the past

Bashkirs are very ancient people. Modern scientists claim that the first representatives of the nationality were described by Herodotus and Ptolemy. In historical records the people are called Argippeans. If you believe the manuscripts, representatives of the nationality dressed like Scythians, but had their own dialect.

Chinese chroniclers interpret the Bashkirs differently. Scientists of the past classified representatives of the nationality as the Huns tribe. The “Book of Sui,” which was created in the 7th century, mentions 2 peoples, which modern experts interpret as the Bashkirs and the Volga Bulgars.

Travelers from Arab states who moved around the world during the Middle Ages made it possible to bring more clarity to the history of the people. So, around 840, Sallam at-Tarjuman came to the homeland of representatives of the nationality and described in detail their life and customs. According to his description, the Bashkirs are a people who lived on both slopes Ural mountains. Its representatives lived between 4 different rivers, among which the Volga was present.

Representatives of the nationality were distinguished by their love of freedom and independence. They were engaged in cattle breeding, but at the same time led a semi-nomadic lifestyle. The Bashkirs of the past were characterized by belligerence.

In ancient times, representatives of the nationality professed animism. In their religion there were 12 gods, the main one of which was the Spirit of Heaven. Ancient beliefs also contained elements of totemism and shamanism.

Moving to the Danube

Gradually, good pastures for livestock became scarce, and representatives of different nations began to leave their usual places, setting out on the road in search of best places for life. The Bashkirs did not escape the same fate. In the 9th century they left their usual places. Initially, the people stopped between the Dnieper and the Danube and even formed a country here, which was called Levedia.

However, the Bashkirs did not spend much time in one place. At the beginning of the 10th century. the people began to move west. The nomadic tribes were led by Arpad. There were also conquests. Having overcome the Carpathians, the nomads managed to capture Pannonia and founded Hungary. However, representatives of different tribes could not act together for long. They separated and began to live on different banks of the Danube.

As a result of the exodus, the faith of the Bashkirs also changed. The people became Islamized back in the Urals. His faith gradually finally gave way to monotheism. The ancient chronicles said that the Muslim Bashkirs settled in the south of the Kingdom of Hungary. The main city for the nationality at that time was Kerat.
However, Christianity has always prevailed in Europe. For this reason, Islam could not survive for long. Over time, many nomads who arrived here and lived in the region changed their faith and became Christians. In the 14th century There are no Muslim representatives left in Hungary.

Faith before the exodus from the Urals: Tengrism

To better understand representatives of a nationality, it is worth paying attention to religion. She bore the name Tengi, which she received in honor of the Father of all things and the supreme god of the sky. According to the ideas of the ancestors of modern residents of Bashkortostan, the Universe was divided into 3 zones:

• Earth,
• everything that is above the ground
• everything that is underground.

Each zone had a visible and an invisible part. Tengri Khan was located on the highest celestial tier. The nomads at that time did not know about the structure of government. However, they already had a clear idea of ​​the vertical power structure. Representatives of the nationality considered the remaining gods to have power over nature and its elements. All gods were subordinate to the supreme deity.

The ancestors of the Bashkir people believed that the soul was capable of resurrection. They had no doubt that the day would come when they would be reborn in the body and continue their journey further in accordance with their usual principles.

How did you connect with the Muslim faith?

In the 10th century Missionaries preaching Islam began to come to the territories where the people lived. The nomads entered the new faith without violent protests and rejection from the common people. The Bashkirs did not resist the teaching due to the fact that their original faith coincides with the concept of one God. Tengri began to be associated among the people with Allah.

However, the Bashkirs continued to honor the “lower gods” for a long time, who were responsible for natural phenomena. The past of the people has left its mark on the present. Today, many connections to the original belief can be found in proverbs and customs.

Features of the adoption of Islam by the Bashkir people

The first Muslim burials that were discovered on the territory of modern Bashkiria date back to the 8th century. However, experts claim that the deceased were not natives of the area. This is evidenced by the objects that were found along with the remains.

The conversion of the Bashkirs to Islam began to occur in the 10th century. During this period, the missionaries of the brotherhoods called Naqshbandiyya and Yasawiyya had a great influence. They came to the lands of the Bashkirs from Central Asia. Most of the immigrants were from Bukhara. Thanks to the actions of the missionaries, it was predetermined what religion the representatives of the nationality profess today.

Most Bashkirs converted to Islam in the 14th century. Religion remains the main one among representatives of the nationality to this day.

The process of connecting with the Russian Federation

The entry of Bashkiria into the Muscovite kingdom occurred when the Kazan Khanate was defeated. The exact moment dates back to 1552. However, the local elders did not completely submit. They managed to come to an agreement and were able to maintain some autonomy. Its presence allowed the Bashkirs to continue living according to their ways. Thus, representatives of the nationality retained their faith and their lands. But it was not possible to maintain final independence. Thus, the Bashkir cavalry took part in battles with the Livonian Order as part of the Russian army.

When Bashkiria officially became part of Russia, cults began to penetrate into the territory of the autonomy. The state sought to take believers under its control. For this reason, in 1782, a mufriyat was approved in the current capital of the republic.
The dominance that occurred in the spiritual life of representatives of the people led to a split in believers, which occurred in the 19th century. Muslims of Bashkiria were divided into:

• traditional wing,
• reform wing,
• ishanism.

Unity was lost.

What faith do modern Bashkirs profess?

Mosque in Kantyukovka

Bashkirs are a warlike people. Representatives of the nationality could not come to terms with the capture. For this reason, from the 17th century. Uprisings begin to take place in the region. Most protests occurred in the 18th century. Attempts to restore former freedom were severely suppressed.

However, the people were united by religion. He managed to defend his rights and preserve existing traditions. Representatives of the nationality continued to practice their chosen faith.

Today Bashkortostan has become a center for all people professing the Muslim faith living in Russia. There are more than 300 mosques in the region and other religious organizations are present.

What do cultural studies say about religion?

It is noteworthy that the beliefs that were present before the adoption of Islam have been preserved by the Bashkirs to this day. If you familiarize yourself with the rituals of representatives of a nationality, you can clearly trace the manifestation of syncretism. Tengri, in whom ancient ancestors once believed, became Allah in the minds of the people.

Idols turned into spirits

An example of syncretism in the religion of the Bashkirs can be amulets. They are made from the teeth and claws of animals, but are often supplemented with sayings from the Koran written on birch bark.

In addition, people celebrate the border holiday Kargatuy. It has retained clear traces of the culture of its ancestors. Many traditions indicating that in the past the Bashkirs professed paganism are also observed during other events occurring in a person’s life.

What other religions are present in Bashkortostan?

Lyalya Tulip Mosque

Despite the fact that the republic received its name due to the predominant people living on its territory, ethnic Bashkirs make up only a quarter of the total population living on its territory. For this reason, in the subject of the Russian Federation there are other beliefs that are professed by other nationalities. Representatives of the following religions live on the territory of the republic:

• Orthodoxy, which came to the subject with Russian settlers,
• Old Believers,
• Catholicism,
• Judaism,
• other religions.

The multinational population of the republic contributed to this diversity. Its indigenous people are very tolerant of other religions, while continuing to honor their traditions. Tolerance allows representatives of different nationalities to coexist peacefully with each other, creating a unique flavor of Bashkiria.

Material prepared: social scientist, candidate of historical sciences Mostakovich Oleg Sergeevich