In medieval Scandinavian sources, the land called Eistland is localized between Virland (i.e. Virumaa in the north-east of modern Estonia) and Livland (i.e. Livonia - the land of the Livs, located in the north-west of modern Latvia). In other words, Estland in Scandinavian sources already fully corresponds to modern Estonia, and Estia – to the Finno-Ugric population of this land. And although it is possible that initially the Germanic peoples called the Baltic tribes “Estonians,” over time this ethnonym was transferred to part of the Baltic Finns and served as the basis for the modern name of Estonia.

In Russian chronicles, the Finno-Ugric tribes living south of the Gulf of Finland were called “Chudyu”, but thanks to the Scandinavians the name “Estonia” (for example, the Norwegian “Estlann” (?stlann) means “eastern land”) gradually spread to all lands between Gulf of Riga and Lake Peipsi, giving a name to the local Finno-Ugric population - “Ests” (until the beginning of the twentieth century), Estonians. Estonians themselves call themselves eestlased and their country Eesti.

The Estonian ethnic group was formed by the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD as a result of the mixing of the ancient aboriginal population and Finno-Ugric tribes that came from the east in the 3rd millennium BC. In the first centuries AD, throughout the modern territory of Estonia, as well as in the north of Latvia, the type of funeral monuments of the Estoli tribes was widespread - stone burial grounds with fences.

In the middle of the 1st millennium, another type of funerary monuments penetrated into the southeast of modern Estonia - long barrows of the Pskov type. It is believed that a population descended from the Krivichi Slavs lived here for a long time. In the northeast of the country at that time there was a population of Votic origin. IN folk culture The population of north-east Estonia shows elements borrowed from the Finns (on the coast of the Gulf of Finland), Vodians, Izhorians and Russians (in the Chud region).

Changing political and ethno-confessional boundaries, origin and population dynamics of the Seto

Setos now live in the Pechora district of the Pskov region (where they call themselves “Seto”) and on the eastern outskirts of neighboring counties of Estonia, which before the 1917 revolution were part of the Pskov province.

Estonian archaeologists and ethnographers H.A. Moora, E.V. Richter and P.S. The Hagu believe that the Setos are an ethnic (ethnographic) group of the Estonian people, which formed around mid-19th century based on the Chud substrate and later Estonian settlers who adopted the Orthodox religion. However, more convincing is the evidence of scientists who believe that the Setos are the remnant of an independent ethnic group (autochthon), like the Vodi, Izhorians, Vepsians and Livs. To confirm this position, it is necessary to consider the dynamics of ethnic, political and confessional borders south of the Pskov-Peipus reservoir, starting from the second half of the first millennium AD. e., having previously divided this time interval into seven historical periods.

I period (before the 10th century AD). Before the advent of the Slavs, the borderlands of modern Estonia and the Pskov land were inhabited by Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. It is quite difficult to draw an exact boundary between the areas of settlement of the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. Archaeological finds indicate the existence of Baltic (in particular, Latgalian) elements south of Lake Pskov until the 10th–11th centuries, when people already lived in this territory Slavic tribes Krivichi.

The settlement of the southern and eastern shores of Lake Pskov by the Slavs supposedly began in the 6th century. At the turn of the 7th–8th centuries they founded the settlement of Izborsk, 15 km south of Lake Pskov. Izborsk became one of the ten oldest Russian cities, the first mention of which dates back to 862. To the southwest of Lake Pskov, where the border of the lands colonized by the Slavs passed, assimilation almost did not affect the local Baltic-Finnish population. Slavic Izborsk turned out to be wedged into the lands inhabited by the Baltic miracle, becoming the westernmost city of the Pskov-Izborsk Krivichi.

The political border, which owes its formation to the creation of the Old Russian state - Kievan Rus, passed somewhat west of the ethnic border. The border between the Old Russian state and the Chud-Estians, which formed under Svyatoslav by 972, subsequently became very stable, existing with minor changes until the beginning of Northern War(1700). However, at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th centuries, the borders of the Old Russian state temporarily moved far to the west. According to ancient sources, it is known that Vladimir the Great, and then Yaroslav Vladimirovich, took tribute from the entire “Lifland miracle”.

II period (X – beginning of the 13th century). This was the initial period of Slavic-Chudi interaction in the presence of political, ethnic and confessional boundaries (Christianity in Rus', paganism among the Chuds). Part of the miracle, which found itself on the territory of the Old Russian state, and then the Novgorod Republic, began to perceive elements material culture neighbors - Pskov Krivichi. But the local Chud remained part of the Chudi-Ests; the opposition of the Pskov Chud to the Ests (Estonians) themselves appears later. During this period, we can rather talk about an enclave of Chud on Russian territory.

The absence of clear ethno-confessional and political barriers during this period allows us to make the assumption that even then there was a Russian-Chud ethno-contact zone to the southwest of Lake Pskov. The presence of contacts between the Chud and the Pskov people is evidenced by the preserved individual elements of early Russian culture in the religious rites of the Setos - the descendants of the Pskov Chud.

III period (XIII century – 1550s). The political events of this period were the formation in the Baltic States in 1202 of the German Order of the Sword, and in 1237 - the Livonian Order and the seizure of all Estonian and Latvian lands by the orders. For almost the entire period, the Pskov Veche Republic existed, which already in the 13th century pursued a foreign policy independent of Novgorod and only in 1510 was annexed to the Moscow state. In the 13th century, the expansion of the Order of the Sword began in the south of modern Estonia, and the Danes began in the north. The Pskovians and Novgorodians, together with the Estonians, tried to resist the aggression of the German knights at the beginning of the 13th century on the territory of modern Estonia, but with the loss of the last stronghold of the Estonians, Yuryev, in 1224, Russian troops left their territory.

By 1227, the lands of the Estonian tribes were included in the Order of the Sword. In 1237, the Order of the Swordsmen was liquidated, and its lands became part of the Teutonic Order, becoming a branch of the latter under the name “Livonian Order”. The Estonians were converted to Catholicism. Groups of German settlers began to settle in the cities of Estonia. In 1238, the northern lands of Estonia passed to Denmark, but in 1346 they were sold by the Danish king to the Teutonic Order, who transferred these possessions in 1347 as collateral to the Livonian Order.

The political border between the Livonian Order and the Pskov land turned into a confessional barrier. On the lands of the Estonians, German knights implanted Catholicism; the fortified city of Izborsk was the western outpost of the Orthodox faith.

A feature of the state and at the same time confessional border was its one-way permeability. Estonians moved from the territory of the Livonian Order to the Pskov land, seeking to escape the religious and political oppression of the German knights. There were also relocations large groups Estonians to Russian lands, for example after the 1343 uprising in Estonia. Therefore, certain elements of the Catholic religion, in particular religious holidays, penetrated the territory inhabited by the Pskov Chud. There were simultaneously three ways of such penetration: 1) through contacts with the related Estonian population; 2) through new settlers from the west; 3) through Catholic missionaries who operated in these lands until late XVI centuries. The northern part of the Pskov Chud, living west of Lake Pskov, was for some time under the rule of the order and was included in the Catholic Church.

Most of The Pskov miracle still retained its pagan faith. Many pre-Christian cultural elements have been preserved by the Seto in our time. The ethno-confessional border between the Pskov Chud and the Russians was not an insurmountable barrier: intense cultural exchange took place between them.

IV period (1550s – 1700s). The first decades of the period were of greatest importance, especially 1558–1583 (Livonian War). At this time, the Pskov Chud finally accepted Orthodoxy, thereby becoming culturally isolated from the Estonians.

As a result of the Livonian War of 1558–1583, the territory of Estonia was divided between Sweden ( Northern part), Denmark (Saaremaa) and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (southern part). After the defeat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the war of 1600–1629, the entire mainland of Estonia went to Sweden, and in 1645 the island of Saaremaa also passed from Denmark to Sweden. To the territory of Estonia, mainly to the islands and coasts Baltic Sea(especially in Läänemaa), Swedes began to move. The population of Estonia adopted the Lutheran faith.

Back in the 70s of the 15th century, the Pskov-Pechersky (Holy Assumption) monastery was founded near the Russian-Livonian border. In the middle of the 16th century, during the Livonian War, the monastery became a fortress - a western outpost of Orthodoxy of the Russian state. At the beginning of the Livonian War, which was successful for the Russian army until 1577, the monastery spread Orthodoxy in the regions of Livonia occupied by Russian troops.

The state attached great importance to strengthening the power of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, providing it with “empty lands”, which, according to the chronicles, the monastery was populated by newcomers - “fugitive Estonians”. There is no doubt that the indigenous population of Pskov Chud also accepted Christianity according to the Greek rite. In addition, there were clearly not enough fugitives to populate all the monastery lands.

However, the Pskov Chud, due to a lack of understanding of the Russian language, for a long time did not know the Holy Scriptures and actually hid paganism behind the external appearance of Orthodoxy. The Russians doubted the truth of the Orthodox faith among the “Pskov Estonians” and it was not by chance that the Setos had long been called “half-believers.” Only in the 19th century, under pressure from church authorities, did ancient communal rituals disappear. At the individual level, pagan rituals began to disappear only at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the spread of school education.

Thus, the main feature that separated the Setos from the Estonians was religion. And although the question of the ancestors of the Setos has been repeatedly debated, most researchers agree that the Setos are the indigenous population, and not alien Estonians from Võru County who fled the oppression of the German knights. However, it was recognized that some of the “half-believers” still trace their origins to settlers from Livonia in the 15th–16th centuries.

At the end of the Livonian War in 1583, the southern part of Livonia became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The state border has once again restored the confessional barrier that was blurred during the war. The exchange of elements of material culture (residential buildings, clothing, embroidery, etc.) intensified between the Seto ancestors and the Russians.

In the first third of the 17th century, a significant part of Livonia (Livonia) passed to Sweden, and Lutheranism was introduced here instead of Catholicism. The Estonians, having adopted the Lutheran faith, lost almost all Catholic rituals, which cannot be said about the Setos, who retained a more significant Catholic element in their rituals. From that time on, the Protestant and Orthodox religions were separated by a virtually impenetrable barrier: researchers noted the absence of elements of Lutheran spiritual culture among the Setos.

Within the ethno-contact zone, starting from the 16th century, and especially in the 17th century, new ethnic components appeared - the first were Russian settlers from the central regions of Russia (as evidenced by the chatter), who fled to the border areas and even to Livonia, fleeing soldiery and serfdom dependencies. They settled on the western coast of the Pskov-Peipus reservoir and were engaged in fishing. Although the first Slavic settlements appeared here in the 13th century, these lands were never colonized by the Russians until the 16th century.

In the second half of the 17th century, after a schism in the Russian Orthodox Church, mass migrations of Old Believers (the Pomeranian and Fedoseev sects) began to the coast of the Pskov-Peipus reservoir. The Seto settlement area was cut off from Lake Pskov by Russian fishermen settlers. From the south, Russian settlements wedged into the Seto territory, almost dividing it into two parts: western and eastern. At the top of the triangle of Russian settlements was the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery.

V period (1700s - 1919). The Northern War (1700–1721) brought significant changes to ethnocultural contacts. During its course, the territory of Estonia became part of Russian Empire. Northern Estonia formed the Estonian province, and southern Estonia became part of the Livonia province. Russians began to intensively move into Estonia, occupying lands along the shores of Lake Peipsi and in the Narva River basin. Here they joined the Russian population groups that settled in the western Chud region in the 16th–17th centuries. However, in the northern Chud region, the long-standing Votic, Izhoran and Russian settlers were by that time almost completely assimilated, creating a group of so-called Iisak Estonians. Most Russian settlements arose in eastern Estonia in the 18th–19th centuries, and the bulk of the Russian old-timer population here were Old Believers who fled persecution by the official authorities.

The elimination of the political border did not lead to the destruction of the religious barrier. It continued to exist, despite the fact that the border between the Livonia and Pskov provinces (provinces, governorships) did not always correspond to it. The main role in maintaining the confessional barrier was played by the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, which supported Orthodoxy in its parishes, regardless of changes in political and administrative boundaries.

However, thanks to the disappearance of the state border, the connections between the Estonians of the two Baltic provinces and the Seto of the Pskov province became significantly easier. However, confessional and cultural differences led to the fact that the Setos were perceived by the Estonians as “second-class people.” Therefore, the penetration of elements of Estonian material culture into the Setomaa region was difficult, but the Setos acted as economic (trading) intermediaries between the Estonian and Russian lands, resale in Russian provinces of rags and old horses bought for next to nothing in the Baltic provinces.

In the middle of the 19th century, the resettlement of Russians to the western coast of the Pskov-Peipus reservoir almost completely stopped. By this time, the Middle Great Russian features in the culture of the settlers were supplanted by the North Great Russian ones thanks to the last settlers from northern Russia and economic ties with it.

After the abolition of serfdom, in the 70s of the 19th century, Latvians and Estonians began to move to Setomaa, to whom the Pskov landowners sold the most inconvenient lands. It was then that farmsteads founded by Latvians and Estonians appeared. Farms of rich Russians and Setos appeared only in the 1920s, while in the 19th century the Setos could not buy even relatively cheap land.

By the end of the 19th century, the process of cultural unification covered the entire Russian and Estonian population of the border regions. The exception was the Setos, who, thanks to a specific combination of ethnic and religious development factors, preserved many archaic forms of material and spiritual culture. For example, the Seto folk calendar is the result of three religious layers; in total, six historical layers can be found in the Seto beliefs.

Centuries-old contacts of the Setos and their ancestors with the Russians led to the borrowing of a significant number of Russian words, but the linguistic influence of the Russians on the Setos was small. The language spoken by the Seto is as close as possible to the South Estonian dialect (Võru subdialect) of the Estonian language, which is noticeably different from the standard Estonian language and has been almost forgotten in Estonia itself. Therefore, the Setos themselves often call their language independent, different from the Estonian language.

At the very beginning of the 20th century, when the Võru subdialect was still spoken in south-eastern Estonia, it was concluded that the language spoken by the Setos was identical with the Estonian language. But when the literary Estonian language began to spread in the south of Estonia, the Setos, retaining the old dialect, began to consider their dialect as an independent dialect of the Estonian language. At the same time, Seto youth, starting from the 20s of the 20th century, preferred to speak the literary Estonian language.

The total number of “half-religionists” in the 80s of the 19th century was estimated at 12–13 thousand. According to the 1897 census, the Seto population was 16.5 thousand. The most rapid growth in the Seto population occurred at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. According to Estonian sources, their number by 1902 was 16.6 thousand, and in 1905 it exceeded 21 thousand, that is, it reached its maximum value for the entire period of existence. As a result of the Stolypin reform, which caused a significant outflow of Setos to the internal provinces of Russia, their number in Setomaa began to decrease. By 1908, the number of Setos in the Pskov province had decreased to 18.6 thousand.

During this period, the Setos founded their colonies in the Perm province and in Siberia - for example, east of Krasnoyarsk (Khaidak, Novo-Pechory, etc.). In 1918, 5–6 thousand Setos lived in the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

VI period (1920–1944). According to the Tartu Peace Treaty between Estonia and Soviet Russia, concluded on February 2, 1920, the entire Pechora region went to Estonia. The county of Petserimaa (from the Estonian name Pechory – Petseri) was created on this territory. Another name for the county that still survives in southeastern Estonia is Setomaa.

Together with the Seto, the entire Russian population of the Pechora region also ended up on the territory of Estonia, since the new border between Estonia and Russia did not correspond to the ethnic one. At the same time, the Russian population of Petserimaa significantly prevailed over the Seto and Estonian ones. According to Estonian scientists, in 1922 there were 15 thousand Setos, that is, a quarter of the population of Petserimaa County. Russians made up 65% of the county's population, and Estonians - 6.5%.

According to the 1926 census, the number of Setos and Estonians was about 20 thousand people, but even then their total share only slightly exceeded a third of the population of Petserimaa. From the 1920s to the 1940s, Estonians attempted to assimilate both Russians and Setos. According to the 1934 census, the total number of Estonians and Setos in Petserimaa County remained almost unchanged compared to 1926, but the number of Setos decreased to 13.3 thousand people (by 22%). At the same time, Estonians made up more than half of the population of Pechora (Petseri), and Setos accounted for less than 3%. Pechory began to be considered as a moderately stoned settlement.

VII period (since 1945). On August 23, 1944, the Pskov Region was created on the basis of the Pskov district of the Leningrad region. On January 16, 1945, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR, the Pechora district, organized from 8 volosts and the city of Pechora, which were previously part of Estonia, entered the Pskov region. The territory of two Estonian volosts became part of the Kachanovsky district, and in 1958, after its liquidation, it was transferred to the Pechora district (see Fig. 1).

The border between the RSFSR and the Estonian SSR divided the area of ​​settlement of the Setos, creating different conditions for cultural development for different Setos groups. The cultural unity of Setomaa was broken. The processes of assimilation of the Setos have accelerated on both sides: on the part of the Estonians - in the northern and western parts, on the part of the Russians - in the eastern and southern parts of Setomaa.

The division of the Seto settlement area into two parts was caused by the desire to draw the border between the RSFSR and the ESSR along ethnicity. But there was no clear ethnic boundary between Estonians (together with Setos) and Russians, as is usually the case in ethnic contact zones. Therefore, the predominance of the Russian population was taken as the basis for drawing the border. But if before 1917 the Russian population predominated in the entire Setomaa region, then during the 1920–1930s the ratio in the northern and partly western parts of Setomaa changed in favor of the Estonian-Setou population. Along with these lands, some Russian settlements located inside ethnic Estonian territories also went to the ESSR. At the same time, some Russian settlements on the coast of Lake Pskov found themselves cut off from Pechory by Estonian territory.

Split into two parts, Setomaa did not receive cultural autonomy, as it had before 1917. In the Pskov part of Setomaa, the number of Setos in 1945 was already less than 6 thousand and began to rapidly decline in the future, including due to the Russification of part of the Setos. At this time, the process of Estonization of the Seto continued in the ESSR.

In Soviet statistics, the Setos were not identified as an independent people, classifying them as Estonians, so the number of Setos can only be judged indirectly, assuming that they made up the overwhelming majority of “Estonians” in the Pechora region. In the mid-1960s, no more than 4 thousand Setos lived in the Pechora district of the Pskov region, and according to the 1989 census, only 1,140 “Estonians”, including supposedly 950 Setos.

After the return of the Pechora region to Russia in 1945, the main factor in the population dynamics of the Setos in the Pechora region was the migration outflow of the Setos to the ESSR. Thus, during the period from 1945 to 1996, the total number of Setos in the region decreased from 5.7 thousand to 720 people, that is, by almost 5 thousand people. At the same time, the total natural decline during this time was only 564 people, that is, the mechanical decline for the entire period was close to 4.5 thousand people.

The greatest decline in Seto numbers occurred at the end of the 1960s and in the 1990s. The migration outflow of Setos from the Pechora region in the period from 1945 to 1959 reached almost 100 people per year, and in the 1960s - already 200 people per year. Obviously, the reasons for the massive outflow of Setos to Estonia at that time were both the difference in the material standard of living and the practice of teaching Setos in schools in Estonian. In the 1970s, the outflow of Setos from the Pechora region began to slow down. Between 1989 and 1996 there was a minimal outflow of Setos from Russia.

The main factor in the sharp reduction in the migration outflow of the Setos in the first half of the 1990s was the establishment of a “barrier-type” state border, which almost completely isolated the Pechora Setos from their relatives in Estonia. However, the formation of the state border led to new production the question of Setu ethnic self-identification. As a result, the choice was made in favor of Estonia, and the period of the first half of the 1990s became only a temporary delay before the start of a new migration wave, the peak of which occurred in 1997–1998.

In absolute values, the migration outflow of Seto from Russia to Estonia in 1998 approached the level of the 1950s, and in its intensity (i.e., the share of those who left to the entire Seto population in the Pechora region) exceeded by about three times even the most unfavorable in this regarding the 1960s.

In general, in last decade In the 20th century, the number of Setos in the Pechora region decreased so much that we can already talk not only about depopulation, but also about the disappearance of the Setos, the loss of the Setos as an ethnocultural unit. At the beginning of 2001, the total number of Estonians and Setos in the Pechora region was 618 people, including the Setos among them could be estimated at no more than 400 people, which barely exceeded 1.5% of the population of the Pechora region.

Table 1 Natural and mechanical movement Seto of the Pechora region in the period from 1945 to 1999 (calculated from: [Historical and ethnographic essays, 1998, p. 296])

The 2002 All-Russian Population Census recorded only 170 Setos, of which 139 people lived in rural areas and 31 people lived in the city of Pechory. However, according to the results of the same census, 494 Estonians live in the Pechora region, of which 317 live in rural areas. It should be taken into account that the Russian population census of 2002 is the first and so far the only census in the world after World War II that recorded the Setos as an independent ethnic group. It is obvious that part of the Seto, according to tradition dating back to Soviet times, considered themselves Estonians. Therefore, the real number of Seto in the Pechora region is slightly larger than the population census showed, and it can be estimated at approximately 300 people. However, it must be recognized that the intense migration outflow of Setos from Russia at the turn of the 20th–21st centuries has already led to the almost complete disappearance of this ethnic group on Russian territory.

Thus, in conclusion of the historical and ethnodemographic review, it should be concluded that by the beginning of the 21st century, the Seto-Russian ethnocontact zone on the territory of the Pechora district of the Pskov region had actually completely dissolved. Only the western segment of the once unified ethno-contact zone has been preserved, now located in Estonia and now representing not the Seto-Russian, but the Seto-Estonian ethno-contact zone. In Estonia, the Seto-Estonian ethno-contact zone covers the territory of the eastern parts of Põlvamaa and Võrumaa counties, which until 1917 was part of the Pskov province. However, according to official statistics, such an ethno-contact zone does not exist, since in Estonia the Setos are considered only as an ethnographic group of the Estonian people.

According to the results of a sociological survey of the population conducted by scientists from the Võru Institute, in the Estonian part of Setomaa in 1997, 39% of local residents called themselves “Seto” and 7% had a more Seto than Estonian identity. Based on these data, the total number of Setos in the Estonian part of Setomaa can be determined to be approximately 1.7 thousand people. Another 12% of respondents had a more Estonian than Seto identity. 33% of local residents called themselves Estonians, 6% – Russians, the remaining 3% of respondents considered themselves to be other nationalities. But it is interesting that every second resident of the Estonian part of Setomaa constantly uses the Seto dialect in everyday life.

Rice. 1. Changes in territory in the 20th century

Setu of the Pechora region: materials of the 1999 expedition

In the summer of 1999, a scientific expedition took place in the Pechora district of the Pskov region with the aim of studying the current socio-demographic situation in the Seto settlement area. The main objectives of the study were the following: 1) identifying changes in the Setu settlement area that occurred in the 90s; 2) assessment of the influence of the migratory mobility factor on the dynamics of the Seto population in the second half of the 20th century, and especially in the 90s; 3) ethnosocial characteristics of Seto generations, which allows us to track changes in the ethnocultural situation in the Pechora part of Setomaa throughout the 20th century. According to the results of ethnodemographic studies conducted by scientists from St. Petersburg University, at the beginning of 1996, 720 Setos lived in the Pechora district, including 570 in rural areas and 150 in Pechory. Between 1996 and 1999 there was a significant migration outflow of Setos to Estonia, reaching its peak in 1998. Thus, according to local authorities, in 1998 the number of Setos decreased from approximately 600 to 500, that is, by 100 people. According to the owner of the Seto Museum in the village of Sigovo, Tatyana Nikolaevna Ogareva, in the Panikovsky volost alone, this year the number of Setos decreased by 51 people.

During an ethnodemographic study in the summer of 1999, lists of Setos were obtained, compiled by the ECOS society (Ethnocultural Society of Setos) for three volosts of the region (Panikovskaya, Pechora and Novoizborskaya) and the city of Pechora. According to official information, the lists were compiled at the end of 1998 (more precisely, as of December 1, 1998). Taking into account additional data for two other volosts of the region (Izborskaya and Kruppskaya), as well as minor additions to the Setu lists in the three previously named volosts (mainly expansion of the lists to include Setu children), the total number of Setos in the rural areas of the region was estimated at approximately 390 Human. It is also only indirectly possible to estimate the number of Setos living in the regional center. The share of Setos in Pechory is about a fifth of all Setos in the region, that is, approximately 110 people. Thus, the total number of Setos in the Pechora region by the beginning of 1999 was about 500 people, which coincides with the estimates of local authorities.

Modern settlement area of ​​the Seto in the Pechora region

In the summer of 1993, according to the results of an ethnogeographical study by St. Petersburg University, Setos lived in 78 settlements in the Pechora region. Six years later, the expedition managed to discover the set in only 50 settlements. Within the traditional settlement area of ​​the Setos, there are only three villages left where the number of Setos exceeded 10 people. In 1993, there were 11 such settlements, including two of them with more than 20 setos. In the summer of 1999, in these two settlements, almost half as many Seto were recorded - their number decreased from 26 to 11 people in Koshelki and from 21 to 12 people in Zatrubie.

Of the settlements located outside the original settlement area of ​​the Setos, Podlesie is especially noteworthy, where the number of Setos has even increased over the past six years - from 22 to 25 people. However, in other settlements where the Setos are “new settlers” (Novoizborsk, Panikovichi, Novye Butyrki, Mashkovo, etc.), their numbers have noticeably decreased.

The modern territory of Setu settlement in the Pechora region is divided into two areas: northern and central (main). The first (northern) settlement area of ​​the Seto is located in the Krupp volost and stretches along the Estonian border, but nowhere adjacent to Lake Pskov. Just over 30 Setos live here in 10 villages, two-thirds of them women. Over half of the local Setos are over 60 years old, every fifth is over 50 years old. There are no young people left here - the Seto children and grandchildren live in Estonia. All local Setos celebrate religious holidays, and to visit Orthodox churches are forced to cross the state border, since the nearest churches are located in Estonia - in Värska and Satseri. Judging by the results of the survey, the most Russified part of the Setos remained in the villages of the Krupp volost; the rest left for Estonia. Half of the Setos living here use Russian (in combination with Seto) in everyday life.

What can be observed now in the Setu villages of the Krupp volost will most likely be repeated in the main area of ​​Setu settlement in the Pechora region in 5–10 years. The future of Setomaa is seen as follows: an extremely small population of Russified Setu pensioners, living 1-3 people in villages remote from roads and not maintaining ethnic contacts with their fellow tribesmen due to old age and the relative isolation of the settlements.

The main array of Seto villages and hamlets in the Pechora region stretches in a southwestern direction from Novy Izborsk to Panikovichi with a small branch towards Pechory. During the 20th century, this area was constantly shrinking, losing settlements (due to their Russification) on the western and eastern outskirts. In the 90s, internal gaps began to be discovered, which had almost split the main settlement area of ​​the Setos into three parts: southern (Panikovskaya), middle (between the Pskov - Riga and Izborsk - Pechory highways) and northern (up to railway Pskov - Pechory). The cores of the middle and northern parts of the main settlement area of ​​the Setos are located in the most isolated areas of the Pechora region - the junction zone of the Panikovskaya, Pechora and Izborskaya volosts, as well as the Pechora, Izborskaya and Novoizborskaya volosts. Setos from the southern part of the ethnic area visit the Panikovskaya Church, the middle part - the Varvarskaya Church and the monastery in Pechory, as well as the Panikovskaya Church, the northern part - the Malskaya Church. In the main settlement area of ​​the Setos, settlements are most often found where there are from 3 to 6 people. Farms with 1-2 Setos are now becoming increasingly rare.

Seto youth are concentrated in Novy Izborsk and Podlesie. Podlesie is a settlement with a number of urban amenities, created almost in the very center of the main Seto ethnic area, and therefore it is a place of attraction for Seto migrants, becoming an alternative to the populated areas of Estonia. The age structure of the Setos living in Podlesie is very specific. Setu over the age of 60 make up only 12% here, and a similar proportion of children under the age of 5, while people aged 20–49 make up about half. Russian is spoken here as a common language (together with the Seto language) twice as often as Estonian. The Setos living in Podlesie do not plan to move to Estonia, which is not typical for the Setos of the Pechora region as a whole.

The role of migration in the population dynamics of Setos in the Pechora region

The migration outflow of Setos from the Pechora region in the period from 1945 to 1959 reached almost 100 people per year (see table 1), and in the 60s - already 200 people per year. However, in the 70s, the outflow of Setos from the Pechora region began to slow down, averaging about 60 people per year, and in the 80s - just over 40 people. In the period from 1989 to 1996, the outflow of Setos from the Pechora region was minimal - an average of 10 people per year.

But this period was only a temporary delay before the start of a new migration wave, the peak of which occurred in 1997–1998. In its absolute values, the migration outflow in 1998 approached the level of the 50s, but in its intensity (i.e., the share of those who left to the entire Seto population in the Pechora region) it exceeded by approximately three times even the most unfavorable 60s in this regard years.

It is not difficult to calculate how many years later (if the current migration outflow continues) all the Setos of the Pechora region may end up on the territory of Estonia. From this point of view, the demographic forecast that was made in 1999 for the next 10 years is interesting, provided that there is no migration outflow of Setos to Estonia. A demographic forecast carried out on the basis of two methods (“age shifting” and extrapolation of vital rates) leads to almost identical results. Within ten coming years in the Pechora district, approximately 25 Setos would be born (including 20 in rural areas and 5 in Pechory), and up to 165 Setos would die (including 130 in rural areas, 35 in the regional center). The natural decline over 10 years would be 140 people (110 in rural areas, 30 in Pechory). That is, the demographic losses of the Setos over a ten-year period are quite comparable to the migration outflow of the Setos from the Pechora region over the course of one or two years.

Modern age-sex structure of Seto

As a result of field research (Set micro-census), in the summer of 1999 it was possible to locate about 250 Setos and Orthodox Estonians at their place of residence. Of these, 200 took part in the socio-demographic survey: 20 Orthodox Estonians and 180 Setos and their children were interviewed. Thus, at least half of the Setos living in rural areas of the Pechora district at the time of the survey took part in the study.

The age and sex structure of Setu respondents differs little from the demographic structure of all Setos living in the Pechora region (for comparison, we used the results of an ethnodemographic study conducted in 1993 by scientists from St. Petersburg University).

The average age of the Setos covered by the microcensus was 54 years, including 60 years for women and 47 years for men. Among the respondents, women made up 55%, which is only slightly higher than their share in the entire Seto population. A significant predominance of women over men occurs in age groups over 60 years old, and in ages over 75 years this preponderance reaches 4–5 times. In general, the proportion of people over 60 years of age among the Setos is more than 47%, three quarters of these people are women. Almost equal (26–27%) are the Setu groups aged 0 to 39 years and from 40 to 59 years. However, in the age groups from 30 to 59 years old men are already clearly predominant, and their advantage over women aged 35 to 54 years old reaches two to three times. The ratio between women and men in the Seto age groups up to 30 years is approximately equal (see Fig. 45).

Interesting results were obtained from the answer to the question of how many children and grandchildren of Seto respondents live in Estonia. Although not all Setos gave comprehensive information about their relatives in Estonia, about 100 children and 120 grandchildren were named. A quarter of Setu children live in Tartu, a tenth in Tallinn, the rest in Võru, Räpina and other settlements in Estonia. Among Setu respondents, only a quarter have Estonian names. Among Seto children living in Estonia, this share reaches half, and among grandchildren - three quarters.

Among Seto relatives over 60 years of age living in Estonia, Russian names clearly predominate. In contrast, almost two-thirds of the 50-year-old Setos living in Estonia have Estonian names. A slight preponderance of Estonian names is also observed among 40-year-old Setos, but among 30-year-olds the ratio of Russian and Estonian names becomes equal. Among young Setos living in Estonia, Russian names predominate, however, many of them consider themselves Russian by nationality.

8% of Seto children living in Estonia consider themselves Russian. 46% call themselves Estonians (mostly those aged over 40). The self-name Setu is retained in Estonia by 47% of the children of Setu respondents (mostly between the ages of 20 and 39).

General results of the ethnosociological survey

In order to distinguish between Setos and Orthodox Estonians, respondents with the official nationality of “Estonians” were asked questions regarding their ethnic self-identification. The Setos, who are officially designated “Russians,” received the same questions. The latter made up 6% of respondents, mostly Russified Seto children (under the age of 29).

83% of Seto respondents called themselves Setos (Seto), 11% - half-religians, 3% - Russians (exclusively young people under 29 years old), 2% - Estonians, 1% - Pskov Estonians. The ethnonym “half-believers” is found in all age groups over 20 years old and slightly more often among Setos aged 70 years or more. No particular predilection for the ethnonym “Seto” was noticed (except for isolated cases) - used in scientific literature The ethnonym “Setu” was named by about half of the respondents.

86% of Seto respondents called their ancestors Seto (Seto), 12% - Half-Estonians, 2% - Estonians. The ethnonyms “Half-Religians” and “Estonians” are more popular among 70–80-year-old Setos, while the ethnonym “Seto” is more popular among respondents over 60 years of age. Young people (up to 29 years old) almost did not use the ethnonym “half-believers.”

75% of respondents named the Seto language as their native language, another 7% named the Seto language in combination with Russian and Estonian. Estonian was recognized as a native language by 13% of respondents, Russian by 5%. Estonian was most often mentioned in the age categories 20–29 years, 40–49 years and over 70 years. Young people consider Seto to speak Russian as their native language – every fourth person under the age of 29 years.

In everyday life, the Seto language is used by 80% of respondents, but in almost half of the cases - together with Russian (22%), Estonian (3%), Estonian and Russian (9%) languages. 11% of respondents use exclusively Russian in everyday life, only Estonian – 4%. Estonian is used in everyday life by all age groups over 20 years of age; Russian is also used by all ages almost equally. However, Seto people over 60 years of age often use the Seto language together with Russian in everyday life, and rarely use the Russian language separately (and vice versa - at ages up to 29 years).

The vast majority of Setos (92%) understand both Russian and Estonian. Only 5% of respondents do not understand the Estonian language, and 4% do not understand the Russian language. At the same time, among the Setos there are a few representatives who understand Finnish (1.5%), Latvian (1%) and German (0.5%) languages. But only 80% of Setos can speak both Estonian and Russian. Every tenth respondent does not speak Estonian, and also every tenth does not speak Russian (to communicate with them, the interviewers had to resort to the services of translators).

Among the Seto respondents, 86% indicated their education. Average level Seto education level is 7 classes, including 6 classes for women and 8 classes for men. Among men, the proportion of people who received secondary specialized (25%) and secondary general (43%) education has increased. Among women, 25% graduated only from primary school (almost all are over 60 years old), another 27% received incomplete secondary education, only 10% received secondary specialized education, but 5% received higher education. Many of the Seto respondents said that they received their education (especially lower secondary education) in Estonian schools.

Nine-tenths of the Setos surveyed consider themselves believers, the rest found it difficult to answer (the share of the latter reaches a third among young people and a fifth among 30-49 year olds). Every tenth respondent calls their religion not Orthodoxy, but Christianity in general. Such answers are especially popular among 40–69-year-old Setos.

Religious holidays are celebrated by almost all Setos (young people and 30–40 year olds are a little less likely), but only two thirds of respondents often attend church, and 5% do not attend at all (mostly young people, and among 10–19 year olds, almost half of them ). 40-49 year olds and many older Setos rarely go to church (mainly due to poor health, because... Orthodox churches located quite far from their places of residence).

An important feature of Seto ethnic self-identification is their awareness of differences from neighboring peoples - Russians and Estonians. The inclusion of these questions in the research program made it possible to trace the ethnocultural situation in different generations of Seto, starting with those born in 1914–1920, that is, during the First World War and the Civil War.

In the 70s E.V. Richter wrote that when asked about ethnic differences between Estonians and Setos, religion comes first, clothing second; between Russians and Seto - the first place is occupied by language, and the second is also clothing. However, our study revealed a slightly different picture.

When it comes to the differences between the Setos and the Estonians, the first place in the number of mentions was taken by language, and the second place by religion. This sequence of differences from Estonians is especially characteristic of young Setos, and at the age of over 40, religion displaces language into second place. Customs and traditions are the third in the number of mentions, and only fourth place is occupied by clothing. Clothing rounds out the top three differences only in some age categories over 50 years old. It is possible that respondents, naming customs and traditions as a distinctive feature, also meant national clothing, but the very fact that clothing dropped out of the main ethnic identifying characteristics deserves special attention. Quite rare were the answers that Setos are no different from Estonians in anything (exclusively over the age of 30), or different in everything (up to 59 years). The remaining answer options were single.

Respondents in all age groups named the language as the main difference between Seto and Russians. The second most popular answer was “nothing” (also in all age categories). Third and fourth places were shared by clothing and traditions (customs). Clothes were most often mentioned in ages over 50. The answer “everyone” is more common among 20–29 year olds and 80–89 year olds.

The reasons for the discrepancies in answers to these questions are best viewed through the prism of the fate of individual generations of Setos, who were subjected to varying degrees of Estonization and Russification depending on political circumstances.

Ethnosocial characteristics of Seto generations

The oldest living generation of Seto (aged 80 years or more) was born before 1920, that is, before the signing of the Treaty of Tartu between Russia and Estonia, according to which Pechora County became part of the Republic of Estonia. All the Setos of this generation received Russian names, but this generation of Setos received school education once they were already on the territory of the Estonian bourgeois republic. The average level of education for this Seto age group is 3rd grade, although some Setos have received 6 years of education (in Estonian).

Putting language in the first place in the differences between Seto and Russians, 80-year-old respondents often also mentioned clothing, customs and traditions as differences. Religion took first place in distinguishing the Setos from the Estonians. This is quite natural, since during the Estonian period of the history of the Pechora region there was no active atheization of the population. Therefore, the 80-year-old Setos consider traditions and customs to be the second (after religion) feature that distinguishes this people.

In the 20s and 30s, the implementation of the policy of Estonization of the Setos began, in particular, the Setos received Estonian surnames. It is no coincidence that among 80-year-old Seto respondents, the language ranked only third in frequency of mentions among differences from Estonians.

Now 80-year-old Setos make up only 9% of all Setos living in the rural areas of the Pechora region. However, among 80-year-old Setos, women make up 80%, which is caused by two reasons: 1) the consequences of the Great Patriotic War, the brunt of which fell precisely on the men of this generation; 2) longer life expectancy for women compared to men. In this age category, the Setos are the least likely to want to move to Estonia, so fate has prepared for this generation to be born and die in Russia.

The largest generation of Seto, now representing 22% of the entire Seto population, was born between 1920 and 1929 (70–79 year olds). In this generation there is also a large preponderance of women over men – approximately 2.5 times. Almost all Setos in this age category received Russian names, since the forced Estonization of Setos was carried out only in the second half of the 1930s and therefore only covered the school period of this generation’s life. The average level of education of 70-year-old Seto is 4th grade. Moreover, among 75–79-year-old respondents, the proportions of those who received no education at all and managed to complete a 6-year school before the war are approximately equal, while among 70–74-year-olds the proportion of those who received secondary general education is higher (probably mainly in the post-war period).

The set of differences between Setos and Russians among 70–79-year-old respondents differs little from those of 80-year-olds. One third of 70–79 year old respondents named clothing as the main difference between Seto and Estonians. Although language and religion have retained their role as the main differentiating features, the mention of clothing is not accidental. After the war, especially in the 50s, the vast majority of Seto women wore national dress on religious holidays. Only 10–20% of Seto women wore urban clothing during festivals (Richter, p. 101). Today's 70–79-year-old Seto women then made up a significant portion of those gathered at religious celebrations.

The second largest generation is the Setu generation, born in 1930–1939 (60–69 years old). Their share among the entire Seto population is 16%, despite the fact that among them there are three times more women than men. A consequence of Estonianization in the 1930s. can be considered the appearance of Estonian names among the Setos, the share of which was 13% in this age group. The generation of the 1930s received their education already in Soviet times, but often in Estonian schools. The average level of education of 60–69 year old Setos is 6 grades. Some of this generation's setos received average special education. This generation has greatly declined in post-war years as a result of migrations to Estonia.

Religion, according to 60–69-year-old Seto respondents, is the main distinguishing feature of Setos from Estonians. However, in terms of the number of references, language is only slightly inferior to religion. Approximately every fourth respondent named clothing as one of the distinctive features, and the same number mentioned traditions and customs. At the same time, for the first time among people of retirement age there were single answers that there are no differences between Seto and Estonians (the result of Estonization). However, more noticeable are the consequences of the Russification of the Setos in the post-war period: 16% of respondents in this age group (mostly men) believe that the Setos are no different from Russians.

The generation of Setos born in 1940–1949 (50–59 years old) is relatively small. The share of Setos in this age group is 14%. At the same time, there is a slight predominance of men over women, especially at the age of 50–55 years. The average level of education of 50–59-year-old Setos is 7 grades, but more than half are already those who have received secondary general education. Most Setos in this age group were educated in Estonian, just like their parents. Estonian names make up over a third of the names of 50–59-year-old Setos.

Religion and language remain the main characteristics that distinguish Setos from Estonians. Clothing ranked third in the responses of respondents who, as children, may have attended religious holidays celebrated by their parents in the 1950s. At the same time, for the first time in this age group, responses were found that the Setos are different from the Estonians in all respects. The ongoing Russification is evidenced by the opinion of 18% of respondents that there are no differences between Setos and Russians.

In the Seto generation born in 1950–1959 (40–49 years old), there is already an almost twofold preponderance of the male population. This age category is numerically slightly inferior to those born in the 40s. (13.5%), which indicates migration losses of this generation in the 1960–1970s. Of course, irrevocable migration to Estonia for study played a leading role in this. The average level of education of 40–49-year-old Setos is 9 grades, including many men who have received secondary specialized education, and women who have received higher education.

This age category closes the groups of older generations in many ethnosocial characteristics: religion is still the main feature that distinguishes Setos from Estonians, and clothing is also often mentioned by respondents. The share of Estonian names among 40–49-year-old Setos is about a third, the same as in the next oldest age category. There remains approximately the same proportion of respondents who do not see any differences between Seto and Russians (about a fifth).

Not in to a lesser extent The Setos generation born in 1960–1969 (30–39 years old) suffered from migration losses. The small number of this age group (9% of all Setos) was affected not only by the departure to Estonia for education, but also by the departure to the neighboring republic in the 1950s–1960s of potential parents of the Setos of this generation. Almost all 30–39-year-old Setos received secondary general education. The most noticeable thing in this generation was the separation of young Setos from Orthodox traditions: every fifth found it difficult to answer the question about faith; religion gave way to the Seto language as the main sign of difference from the Estonians; The number of mentions of clothing as an ethnically differentiating feature has decreased significantly (both in relation to Estonians and Russians).

Based on their names, Seto respondents aged 30–39 turned out to be the most “Estonized” age group: only a quarter of them use Russian name. But other signs indicate more Russification than Estonization of this Seto generation. In particular, almost half of 30–39-year-old respondents use Russian together with Seto in everyday life, and only a few use Estonian.

The smallest age groups in Setos are 20–29 year olds (born in 1970–1979), making up only 6% of all Setos. The reasons for their small numbers should be sought in the demographic history of the Pechora region in the 40–50s, including the mass outflow of Setos to Estonia in the post-war years. All 20–29-year-old Setos received secondary general or secondary specialized education. The share of Estonian names among respondents is almost as high (73%) as among 30–39-year-old Setos.

The attitude towards religion among 20–29 year olds is even cooler than among 30–39 year olds: only two thirds consider themselves believers. Religion was almost half as likely to be mentioned as a distinguishing feature from Estonians. This Seto age group is characterized by both Russification and Estonization. On the one hand, a third of 20–29-year-old respondents are listed as Russian on their passports, two-thirds of them call themselves Russians and use only Russian in everyday life (considering it their native language). On the other hand, more than a third of respondents named Estonian as their native language, which is a consequence of their education in Estonian at school. But in everyday life, the Estonian language is used much less frequently - only by a quarter of respondents, and even then in combination with Russian or Seto languages. The Russified and Estonian respondents gave fundamentally different answers to the question about ethnic differences: the former believe that they are no different from Russians, the latter see only their differences with Russians, but not with Estonians.

The youngest category of Setu respondents (15–19 years old) represents the generation born in 1980–1984. All of them received (or are receiving) secondary general education. Moreover, there is a noticeable reorientation of the set towards the Russian school and Russia as a whole: two-thirds of 15–19-year-old respondents received Russian names, and almost half of them are considered officially Russian by nationality. Every fifth of 15–19-year-old respondents considers themselves Russian, considers Russian both their native and everyday language, and does not speak other languages. During the survey, there was a single case when a young respondent admitted that he would like to learn Estonian in order to be able to communicate with relatives living in Estonia. A third of young respondents do not see any differences between Setos and Russians. About half of young Setos do not consider themselves believers and do not go to church, although almost all celebrate religious holidays with their parents.

A survey among the youngest Seto groups showed that the establishment of a state border with Estonia forces young Setos to make a choice: either in favor of Russia and the Russian language, or in favor of the Estonian language with the aim of subsequent emigration from Russia.

Key findings of the study

1. From 1945 to 1999, the number of Seto in the Pechora region decreased from 5.7 thousand to 0.5 thousand people, that is, 11.5 times.

2. The decline of Setos for the period 1945–1998 amounted to only 0.6 thousand people, and the migration outflow from the Pechora region (mainly to Estonia) was 4.6 thousand people, which provided about 90% of the total reduction in the number of Setos.

3. In the current Seto age structure, people over 50 years old make up 61%, and over 60 years old – 47%.

4. Mortality among Setos since the mid-90s. exceeds the birth rate by 6–8 times, and the natural decline reaches 3% per year.

5. The migration outflow of Setos from the Pechora region to Estonia in 1997–1998 in absolute terms is equivalent to the natural loss of Setos over a ten-year period.

6. If only those Setos whose parents remained in Russia, as well as their children, returned to the Pechora region, the number of Setos in the Pskov region would more than double.

7. Carriers original culture Setu are mainly people over 40 years of age. At the same time, there is a loss of national traditions: even people of retirement age often do not celebrate a number of holidays characteristic of the Seto culture.

8. Currently, among the Setos of the Pechora region there are almost no owners of Estonian ethnic identity left, which is due to the intensive outflow of this category of Setos to Estonia over the past two to three years.

9. A significant part of the Setos under 30 years of age (and especially under 20 years of age) have a bifurcated (Setou-Russian) ethnic identity, which creates the preconditions for their final assimilation.

It should be noted with regret that the socio-demographic study we conducted is one of the last, based on the results of which we can judge the Seto of the Pechora region as a unique ethnic community. If in the 80s it was already possible to speak with confidence about the cessation of the process of cultural reproduction of the Setos in the Pechora region, then in the 90s there was a negative turning point in the demographic reproduction of the Setos. Now, at the turn of the millennium, the last stage of Seto depopulation has begun, which in 5–10 years will lead to the final disappearance of this ethnic community in Russia.

Setu of the Pechora region: materials of the 2005 expedition

According to the results of the 2002 All-Russian Population Census, the number of Setos in the Pechora district of the Pskov region was 170 people, including 31 people in the city of Pechory and another 139 people in the rural areas of the region. However, the actual number of Setos was somewhat larger, since part of the Setos, following a tradition dating back to Soviet times, classified themselves as Estonians. During the census, 324 Estonians (non-Setos) were recorded, 146 of whom lived in Pechory and 178 in rural areas.

In the summer of 2005, in order to identify the real number of Pechora Setos and their modern socio-demographic structure, with the support of the federal news agency REGNUM, the Department of Geography of Pskov State Pedagogical University conducted a scientific expedition. A similar study took place in 1999 (see above), and the results of the new expedition made it possible to analyze changes in the socio-demographic situation in the Russian part of Setomaa over the past six years. A 2005 study interviewed 72 Seto people. The questions asked of Seth were almost identical to those asked of him in 1999, allowing the results of the two studies to be compared.

The objectives of the 1999 and 2005 studies included the following: 1) identifying changes in the Setu distribution area that occurred in 1990–2005; 2) assessment of the factor of migration mobility on the dynamics of the Seto population in the second half of the 20th century, and especially since 1991; 3) ethnosocial characteristics of Seto generations, which allows us to track changes in the ethnocultural situation in the Pechora part of Setomaa throughout the 20th century and in beginning of XXI century.

During a study conducted in the summer of 2005, about 50 settlements with a permanent Seto population were identified in the Pechora region. According to data from 1998–2001, the number of settlements where Setos lived was about 100, that is, over the past years the number of settlements with a permanent Seto population has halved.

The rural settlements of the Pechora district, where the number of Setos in 2005 exceeded 10 people, are: the village of Podlesie (24 people) in the Pechora volost, the village. New Izborsk (14 people) is the center of the volost of the same name, the village of Tryntova Gora (12 people) in the Novoizborsk volost, the village of Zalesye (11 people) in the Panikovsky volost. Only in five rural settlements are the Seto population of five or more people. Thus, in the remaining almost four dozen settlements where Setos still live, there are only from one to four people. Moreover, in 15 settlements there is only one representative of this people.

Over the past six years, the number of Seto in the Pechora region has approximately halved. During a study conducted in the summer of 1999, 390 setos were identified in the rural areas of the Pechora region. Including the Setos living in the city of Pechory, their total number in the Pechora region was estimated at 500 people. A study conducted in the summer of 2005 allows us to estimate the total number of Seto in the Pechora region at 250 people. However, due to the dual ethnic identity of a significant part of the Seto this assessment needs some comments.

During a 2005 study in the rural areas of the Pechora region, 132 people were identified who considered themselves Seto, that is, calling themselves “Seto”, “Seto”, “half-believers”, and who had at least one of their parents belonging to the Seto. Setos with Russian ethnic identity were also identified, that is, those who call themselves Russian, but have Setu parents. Their number was 31 people. In total, the Setos and their Russified children numbered 163 people, which is slightly higher than the number of Setos according to the 2002 census (139 people).

Another 14 people in 2005 called themselves Estonians (or Orthodox Estonians), but they were of Seto origin. Although they now have an Estonian ethnic identity, in terms of their religious affiliation and culture they can be classified as Set. Thus, the total number of Setos, including their Russified children and Orthodox Estonians, in the rural areas of the Pechora region was 177 people.

Rice. 2. Age and sex structure of Setos in rural areas of the Pechora district of the Pskov region in 1999 and 2005.

Based on the 2002 census data, the number of Setos and their Russified children in Pechory can be estimated at 40 people. The number of Orthodox Estonians of Seto origin is approximately the same. Accordingly, the total number of Setos (including their Russified children) in the Pechora region in 2005 can be estimated at 200 people, to which we can add approximately 50 who consider themselves Estonians (Orthodox Estonians), but are of Seto origin. This means that the share of Setos in the population of the Pechora region (about 25 thousand people) has now decreased to 1%. Also, approximately 200–250 people (i.e., about 1% of the population) in the Pechora region are actually Estonians (Lutheran Estonians).

In the modern age-sex structure of the Pechora Setos, there is a clear disproportion between the population at retirement and working age. Thus, 56% are over 50 years old, 40% over 60 years old, 26% over 70 years old. Compared to 1999, this proportion has hardly changed, which indicates that predominantly middle-aged people are involved in the migration outflow to Estonia, and the reduction in the population at retirement age is mainly due to mortality. The Setu pensioners who remained in the Pechora district after the massive migration outflow of the second half of the 1990s are no longer planning to move to Estonia and are planning to live out their lives in native land.

Compared to 1999, in 2005 the share of women in the Seto gender structure decreased - from 48 to 45%, which is quite explainable by the high proportion of women of retirement age and, accordingly, high mortality among women. At the same time, we can note the almost equal participation of both middle-aged women and men in the migration outflow to Estonia: in the middle part of the age-sex pyramid, over the past six years there have been equal losses among both the female and male population.

You should also pay attention to the lack of fertility (at least in 2000–2004) among the Seto of the Pechora region, which is explained by the extremely small number of women of childbearing age. In addition, Seto children born in the 1990s have a Russian ethnic identity: they call themselves Russian, go to Russian schools and are no longer carriers of the Seto national culture. Several people born in the 1970s and 1980s also belong to the same category of “Russian Setos”.

Those born in 1965–1974 (aged 30 to 39 years) belong to the first age category of those who consider themselves to be part of the set proper. Seven such people were interviewed in 2005 (all male). All of them have secondary or secondary technical education. Although now only three of them officially classify themselves as Setos (three more are Estonians, and one is Russian), all of them use the self-name “Seto” or “half-religionists” and consider the Setos to be their ancestors. However, only four of them consider Seto their native language, and two consider Russian as their native language. They understand and speak Seto, Russian and Estonian equally, but in everyday life they use the Russian language more often, the Seto language a little less often, and do not use the Estonian language at all.

All 30-year-old Setos are believers - Orthodox Christians, and often go to church. They consider language to be their main difference from Estonians and Russians. Four of them see religion as one of the most noticeable differences from Estonians, and only two out of seven respondents also named features of the national Seto culture (clothing, songs). Only one of the 30-year-old Setos does not see any differences between his people and the Estonians.

Setu, born between 1955 and 1964 (ages 40 to 49), were interviewed by 9 people: 7 men and 2 women. Five of the 40-year-old Setos have secondary education, two have primary education, one man has secondary technical education, one woman has higher education. Men more often officially identify themselves as Estonians, women – as Setos. But all of them, except one man, have a Seto ethnic identity: they call themselves and their ancestors “Seto” (less often, “Seto” or “half-religionists”). Apart from three men whose native language is Estonian, the respondents consider Seto their native language. All of them equally understand and speak Seto, Russian and Estonian, but in everyday life they often use Russian and Seto.

All 40-year-old Setos are believers and often, except for one of the respondents, go to church. They see their difference from Russians primarily in language, less often in culture (customs, songs) and character. In contrast to the Estonians, language and religion occupy almost equal positions, and the national Seto dress is somewhat inferior to them. One of the respondents, who called himself an Estonian, does not see any differences between his people and Estonians.

Setu, born between 1945 and 1954 (ages 50 to 59), were interviewed by 18 people: 11 men and 7 women. Half of them have incomplete secondary education, the rest have secondary, technical secondary and higher education (one of them is male). Officially, ten of them are considered Estonians (almost all women), the rest are Seto or Russian (one of them is men). At the same time, only two men have Estonian identity; all the rest call themselves and their ancestors “Seto” or “Seto”. Everyone equally understands and speaks Russian, Seto and Estonian, but in everyday life they use Seto and Russian noticeably more often. Three of the respondents use Estonian in everyday life, and they consider Estonian their native language.

Estonianized Setos do not or very rarely attend church, and also note that they do not consider themselves believers. The rest of the 50-year-old Setos are believers and often go to church. They see their difference from Estonians primarily in language and religion. A fairly significant place in these differences is occupied by national culture(customs, clothing). Only one man noted that he was no different from Estonians. In contrast to the Russians, the national Seto culture (customs, clothing, songs) is only slightly inferior to the language - the main distinguishing feature. Three of the 50-year-old Setos surveyed believe that they are no different from Russians.

Setu, born between 1935 and 1944 (aged 60 to 69 years), were interviewed by 16 people: 6 men and 10 women. Ten of them (mostly women) have primary and incomplete secondary education, four have secondary and technical secondary education, two have higher education. All men and most women officially consider themselves Estonians, only three women immediately called themselves “Seto” and one – Russian. However, all respondents in this age category have a Seto ethnic identity: they call themselves and their ancestors “Seto” or, less commonly, “Seto”, “half-religionists”. As in other age categories, all 60-year-old Setos are equally proficient in Seto, Russian and Estonian. But in everyday life they speak Russian a little more often, although Estonian is also used to a greater extent - compared to the Seto belonging to younger age groups. Ten of the respondents have Seto as their native language, two have Russian, and the rest have Estonian.

All 60-year-old Setos are believers and attend church. In contrast to the Russian population, in addition to language, Seto national culture (clothing, songs, customs) occupies a prominent place. Two women believe that they are no different from Russians. Unlike the Estonians, language comes first, but Seto culture (clothing, customs) takes second place, and only third place goes to religion. Three of the 60-year-old Setos believe that they are no different from Estonians.

Sixteen people were interviewed among Setos born between 1925 and 1934 (ages 70 to 79): 3 men and 13 women. More than half of them have primary education, the rest have incomplete secondary education. The majority of Setos in this category of respondents officially considered themselves Estonians, two women called themselves Russians, and only one man was a Seto. Only three women have Estonian identity; they consider themselves and their ancestors Estonians; the rest called themselves and their ancestors “Seto”, less often “Seto”, “half-religionists”.

As in all other age categories, 70-year-old Setos are equally proficient in Russian, Seto and Estonian. At the same time, in everyday life they use the Seto language a little more often, and the other two languages ​​(Russian and Estonian) are used somewhat less frequently in everyday life, but almost equally. Most women and all men named Seto as their mother tongue. At the same time, almost half of the women also consider Estonian their native language, and only one woman considers Russian.

All 70-year-old Setos are believers and often go to church. They see the difference from Russians in language and culture (clothing, customs, songs). Three of the respondents believe that they are no different from Russians. They see differences from Estonians primarily in language and culture (clothing, customs), which are somewhat inferior to religious differences. Only one woman said that she sees no difference between Setos and Estonians.

Setu, born before 1925 (aged 80 years and older), were interviewed by 6 people: 2 men and 4 women. All of them have primary or incomplete secondary education. Although three of them first called themselves Estonians, all of them are carriers of Seto ethnic identity: they consider themselves and their ancestors to be “Seto” or “half-religious”. Equally fluent in Russian, Seto and Estonian, they more often use native language– Seto.

All 80-year-old Setos are believers and, as far as their old age allows, they try to attend church more often. They see the difference from Russians primarily in the language (only one of the women also named national clothing). They see differences from Estonians both in language, religion, and national culture (clothing, customs, songs). Only one man noted that he was no different from Estonians.

The general characteristics of all Seto generations based on the results of a 2005 survey are as follows. Higher education have only 5% setu, secondary technical - every tenth, intermediate - every fourth, intermediate incomplete - about 40%, elementary - every fifth. At the same time, in age groups over 60 years old, which in general constitute 40% of the total Seto population, people with primary and incomplete secondary education predominate.

Almost two-thirds of Setos, according to a tradition dating back to Soviet times, call themselves Estonians at the first meeting, another 7% consider themselves Russians, and only about 30% immediately call themselves Seto. However, 90% of respondents have a Seto ethnic identity: 75% use the self-name “Seto”, 11% use the self-name “Seto”, 4% use the “half-religionist”. The remaining 10% of respondents have Estonian ethnic identity and call themselves and their ancestors Estonians.

All Setos are equally fluent in Seto, Russian and Estonian, but in everyday life they more often use Seto and Russian (about 40% of respondents each), less often - Estonian (20% of respondents). 64% of respondents said their native language was Seto, 28% Estonian and 8% Russian. Almost all Setos over 30 years of age are believers (Orthodox Christians) and often go to church.

Seto respondents see language as the main difference from Russians (this answer was given by 64% of respondents), second place is occupied by Seto national culture, that is, clothing, customs, songs (in total - 19% of responses). 13% of Seto respondents do not see their differences from Russians.

Language also ranks first in differences from Estonians (50%), religion takes second place (24%), and national culture takes third place (20%). 6% of respondents who usually have Estonian ethnic identity do not see themselves as different from Estonians.

As we have already noted, by 2005, compared to 1999, the number of Setos in the Pechora region decreased by approximately half: from 500 to 250 people, including in the rural areas of the region - from 390 to 180 people. The decrease in the Seto population by more than 200 people is explained by the equal effect of two demographic processes: mechanical decline (the Setos emigrated to Estonia) and natural decline (mortality). Mortality over the past six years has led to a decrease in the Seto population by about 100 people, almost the same decline was caused by the continuing outflow of the Pechora Setos to Estonia.

Over the past fifteen years, that is, since the declaration of Estonia’s independence and the establishment of new state borders, dividing the Seto settlement area into two parts, the number of Pechora Setos has decreased by at least four times (from 1 thousand people in 1989–1990), and mainly due to the Setos moving from Russia to Estonia. The natural decline during this time amounted to no more than 200 people, that is, only about a fourth of the total reduction in the number of Pechora Setos. If the noted demographic trend continues in the next five years, then by 2010 the number of Setos in the Pechora region will decrease by another 100–150 people, that is, it will be less than 100 people, and by 2015 only a few representatives of the Setos will remain on Russian territory.

Notes:

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Moora H.A. Questions of the formation of the Estonian people and some neighboring peoples in the light of archaeological data // Questions of the ethnic history of the Estonian people. – Tallinn, 1956. pp. 127–132; Richter E.V. Material culture of the Seto in the 19th - early 19th century. XX century (on the issue of ethnic history of the Setos) // Abstract of dissertation. Ph.D. ist. Sci. – M.–Tallinn, 1961; Hagu P.S. Agrarian rituals and Seto beliefs // Abstract of thesis. Ph.D. ist. Sci. – L.: Institute of Ethnography, 1983.

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Mirotvortsev M. About the Ests, or half-verts, of the Pskov province // Memorial book of the Pskov province for 1860. – Pskov, 1860; Trusman Yu. Half-vertsy of the Psko-Pechora region // Living Antiquity, 1890. Vol. 1. – St. Petersburg. pp. 31–62; Richter E.V. Integration of the Setos with the Estonian nation // Eesti palu rahva maj anduse ja olme arengu-joooni 19. ja 20. saj. – Tallinn, 1979. pp. 90–119.

Trusman Yu. Half-vertsy of the Pskov-Pechora region // Living Antiquity, 1890. Vol. 1. – St. Petersburg. pp. 31–62; Gurt Y. About the Pskov Estonians, or the so-called “Setukezes” // News of the Imperial Russian Society. Volume XLI. 1905. – St. Petersburg, 1906. S. 1–22; Richter E.V. Results of ethnographic work among the Setos of the Pskov region in the summer of 1952 // Materials of the Baltic ethnographic-anthropological expedition (1952). Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography named after. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay. New episode. Volume XXIII. – M., 1954. S. 183–193.

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Gurt Y. About the Pskov Estonians, or the so-called “Setukezes” // News of the Imperial Russian Society. Volume XLI. 1905. – St. Petersburg, 1906. S. 1–22; Hagu P.S. Agrarian rituals and Seto beliefs // Abstract of thesis. Ph.D. ist. Sci. – L.: Institute of Ethnography, 1983.

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Richter E.V. Russian population of the western Chud region: essays on history, material and spiritual culture. – Tallinn, 1976.

Gurt Y. About the Pskov Estonians, or the so-called “Setukezes” // News of the Imperial Russian Society. Volume XLI. 1905. – St. Petersburg, 1906. pp. 1–22.

Richter E.V. Results of ethnographic work among the Setos of the Pskov region in the summer of 1952 // Materials of the Baltic ethnographic-anthropological expedition (1952). Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography named after. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay. New episode. Volume XXIII. – M., 1954. S. 183–193.

Kozlova K.I. Russians of the western coast of Lake Peipsi // Materials of the Baltic ethnographic-anthropological expedition (1952). Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography named after. N.N. Miklouho-Maclay. New episode. Volume XXIII. – M., 1954. P. 152–158.

Hagu P.S. Agrarian rituals and Seto beliefs // Abstract of thesis. Ph.D. ist. Sci. – L.: Institute of Ethnography, 1983; Hagu P.S. Calendar rituals of Russians and Setos of the Pechora region // Archeology and history of Pskov and the Pskov land. – Pskov, 1983. pp. 51–52.

Markus E. Changes of the Esto-Russian Ethnographical Frontier in Petserimaa. Opetatud Eesti Seltsi Aastaraamat 1936. – Tartu: Ilutrukk, 1937.

Administrative-territorial division of the Pskov region (1917–1988).

Manakov A.G. Settlement and population dynamics of Seto in the 20th century // Pskov: Scientific-practical, historical and local history magazine. – Pskov: PGPI, 1995, No. 3. P.128–139.

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Manakov A.G. Setu of the Pechora region at the turn of the millennium (according to the results of a socio-demographic study in the summer of 1999) // “Pskov”: Scientific-practical, historical and local history magazine, No. 14, 2001. - Pskov: PGPI. pp. 189–199.

Nikiforova E. Border as a factor in the formation of an ethnic community? (On the example of the Seto of the Pechora district of the Pskov region) // Nomadic borders: Collection of articles based on the materials of the international seminar. Center for Independent Sociological Research. Proceedings. Vol. 7. – St. Petersburg, 1999. pp. 44–49.

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Eichenbaum K. Rahvakultuuri ja traditsioonide j?rjepidevus // Ajaloolise Setomaa p?lisasustuse s?ilimise v?imalused (Possibilities of preserving the ancient habitations of historical Setomaa). – V?ru: Publications of V?ru Instituut, 1998, no. 2. Lk. 61–76.

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Right there. pp. 285–286.

Manakov A.G., Yatselenko I.V. Modern age-sex structure of Seto in rural areas of the Pechora district of the Pskov region // Problems of ecology and regional policy of the north-west of Russia and adjacent territories. Materials of the socio-scientific conference. – Pskov: Publishing House PGPI, 1999. P. 207–210.

Richter E.V. Integration of the Setos with the Estonian nation. Eesti palu rahva maj anduse ja olme arengujoooni 19. ja 20. saj. – Tallinn, 1979. P. 101.

Manakov A.G. Settlement and population dynamics of Seto in the 20th century // Pskov: scientific-practical, historical and local history journal. – Pskov, 1995, No. 3. P. 128–139.

Troshina N.K. Features of Setu national self-identification in the Russian-Estonian ethnocontact zone // Geosystems of the North. Abstracts of the scientific and practical conference. – Petrozavodsk: Publishing house KSPU, 1998. P. 35–36.

Russia Russia: 214 (2010), 197 (2002)

• • Pskov region :
    123 (2010); 172 (2002)
  • Krasnoyarsk region Krasnoyarsk region :
    75 (2010); 7 (2002)
  • Leningrad region Leningrad region :
    4 (2010); 2 (2002)
  • Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg:
    3 (2010); 5 (2002)
  • Moscow Moscow:
    2 (2010); 3 (2002)
  • Khakassia Khakassia:
    2 (2010)

Number and settlement

It is difficult to establish the exact number of Setos, since this ethnic group, not included in the lists of peoples living in Russia and Estonia, has undergone strong assimilation; an approximate estimate of the number is 10 thousand people. In population censuses, Setos usually recorded themselves as Estonian and Russian.

The largest number of Setos (34 people) in 2002 lived in the city of Pechory.

According to the results of the 2002 population census, out of 172 setos in the Pskov region, 170 are in the Pechora district, including:

• 33 or 34 people lived in the city of Pechory (0.26% of 13,056 inhabitants),
• 13 (or 12) people in the village of Kachevo (46% of 28 inhabitants), 11 (or 10) people in the village of Lykovo (73% of 15), 0 or 7 people in the village of Ugarevo (0 or 33% of 21 inhabitants ); 5 (or 13) people in the village of Trofimkovo (38% of 13 or 52% of 25), 4 (or 6) people in the village of Vruda (100%), 3 (or 0) people in the village of Cheremnovo (33% of 9) , 2 (or 0) people in the village of Kerino (33% of 6) Panikovskaya volost (38 or 48 people in total),
• 10 (or 7) people in the village of Sokolovo (31% of 32), 6 (or 11) people in the village of Makhnovo (86% of 7 or 100% of 11) Novoizborsk volost (16 or 18 people in total),
• 14 people in the village of Podlesie (5% of 257 inhabitants); 0 or 10 people in the village of Zatrubye-Lebedy (0 or 24% of 42 residents); 9 people in the village of Koshelki (30% of 30), 0 or 7 people in the village of Gorokhovo (0 or 23% of 30); 6 (or 4) people in the village of Rysevo (40% of 15), 4 (or 7) people in the village of Grabilovo (80% of 5 or 100% of 7), 4 or 7 people in the village of Smolnik (40% of 10), 3 (or 0) people in the village of Mitkovitskoye Zagorye (50% of 6), 2 (or 0) people in the village of Demidovo (100% of 2), 2 (or 0) people in the village of Sorokino (67% out of 3), 2 (or 0) people in the village of Indovino (67% of 3), 1 (or 0) person in the village of Kherkovo (50% of 2) as part of the urban settlement of Pechory (total 33 ( or 58) people in the territory of the former Pechora volost and 64 (or 92) people in the new (since 2005) boundaries of the urban settlement of Pechora). Most of the Seto youth moved to Estonia.

Origin

The origin of the Seto is controversial among scientists. Some of them believe that the Setos are the descendants of the Estonians who fled from the Livonian yoke to the Pskov land; others believe that the Setos formed by the mid-19th century on the basis of the Chud substrate, including later Estonian settlers who converted to Orthodoxy. There is also an opinion according to which the Seto represent the remnant of an autochthonous ethnic group - once as independent as the Livs, Vods, and Izhorians. Finally, the theory according to which Estonians and Setos equally go back to the ancient miracle, which the Slavs encountered during their exploration of the northwestern lands, is becoming increasingly widespread future Russia(this theory is supported by the presence in the Seto culture of a powerful layer of pagan elements in the complete absence of elements of Lutheranism).

Historical migrations

In the middle of the 19th century, the number of Setos was estimated at 9 thousand people, of which about 7 thousand lived within the Pskov province. Rapid population growth led to the fact that the number of Setos by 1890 was estimated at 12–13 thousand people. The first and only population census in the Russian Empire in 1897 revealed the number of Setos at 16.5 thousand people.

At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century, part of the Setos left the area of ​​traditional settlement and took part in the migration movement to the east, founding several colonies in the Perm province and east of Krasnoyarsk (in 1918, there were 5-6 thousand Setos in the Yenisei province).

Language

Culture and religion

For several centuries, having accepted and observed the rituals of Orthodoxy, the Setos did not have a translation of the Bible. The Russians who lived nearby did not consider the Setos to be full-fledged Christians, calling them “half-believers”; often this name acted as an ethnonym.

The Seto house-building is characterized by a Pskov closed courtyard with high gates; later, two-chamber (and then multi-chamber) houses with a glazed veranda became widespread. Setu settlers brought this type of house to Siberia.

The traditional Seto folk costume differed significantly from the costume of other Estonian groups and included elements of Russian clothing. Women wore a long-sleeve shirt and a slanted sundress, while men wore a Russian kosovorotka. Characteristic is the abundance of knitted woolen items (socks, gloves, mittens) with two-color (white and brown) geometric patterns.

Names

Like the names of representatives of most modern European nations, they consist of two main elements: a personal name and a surname, which appeared without exception during Russian inventories early XIX century. The Seto name traditions were greatly influenced by the border influence of Orthodoxy, Russian language and culture, the border nature of the settlement of the people and their divided status. Thus, according to a 1999 survey, the majority of Setos in the Russian Federation born before 1920 had Russian names and surnames. Between 1920-1934, all Seto lands became part of the Republic of Estonia. During this period, Seto continued to be given to their children Orthodox names, but, given the fact that in the conditions of the closure of many Russian schools, their children received education in Estonian ones, Estonian names became widespread among the Setos during this period. After the dictatorship of Päts was established in the country, forced Estonianization of all Seto names and surnames began in Estonia.

see also

Notes

1. Setomaa.Pskovgrad.ru
2. The Seto people are under the care of UNESCO
3. National composition of the population of the Russian Federation // Information materials on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census on the website of the Federal State Statistics Service. (Retrieved December 27, 2011)
4. National composition of Russian regions // All-Russian Population Census 2010.
5. All-Russian Population Census 2002 (undefined) . Retrieved December 24, 2009. Archived August 21, 2011.
6. Microdatabase of the All-Russian Population Census 2010
7. Data from the 2002 All-Russian Population Census: table 02c, 34r-Pskov M.: Federal State Statistics Service, 2004. (

It’s not easy to believe, but on the territory of Russia there are still peoples who do not have their own written language. Moreover, we are not talking about some tribes in Chukotka or Far East, but about Europe itself. In the Pskov region, on the border with Estonia, there is a small Seto people with a unique culture that has absorbed a lot from Estonians and Russians, but has preserved its customs and traditions from ancient times. In total, 200 people belonging to this nation live in Russia. I recently visited Seto.

2. The Seto estate museum (emphasis on the first syllable) is located in the Pechora district of the Pskov region in the village of Sigovo. Here, in the estate, the life of a farm family from the early 20th century has been preserved.

3. Seto (or setu) - unique people. They are called half-believers or Orthodox Estonians, they acquired their faith in the Pechora Monastery, but there are still a lot of rituals and beliefs in their lives that have remained from ancient times. For example, Seto do not say swear words, believing that this calls dark forces. There are no swear words in the Seto language, the worst word is kure, damn. They also have preserved wooden idols - Peko.
The charming hostess of the Malle estate will tell you about all this and the culture of the Seto people.

4. The Seto were mainly farmers and practiced agriculture. Agricultural tools have been preserved on the territory of the estate.

5. This huge toothed circle is a horse-drawn flax mill. The flax mill was made by Seto men after seeing an advertising picture in a German magazine.

6. This is how the flax mill worked.

7. Let's go into the house. Life was simple and modest. In the women's part of the house there was always a loom; all the girls knew how to knit mittens, weave and embroider.

8. Pagan motifs were used in embroidery. The red color protected from evil spirits and the evil eye.

9. A hanging cradle, a simple bed, photographs of the estate’s residents on the walls.

10. Women's jewelry was made from silver, mainly from coins. In the center of Malle's chest hangs a fibula, a traditional silver decoration. Total weight jewelry on a woman could amount to several kilograms.

11. In front of us, Malle prepared with stories a traditional dish Seto people - warm cheese. It is prepared from milk and cottage cheese. It turns out to be a very tasty and nutritious dish.

Photographs cannot convey a special conversation; here video comes to our aid. Watch this short video, hear, see, and at the same time find out where the expression “like cheese rolling in butter” came from.

12. It is very important that while preparing food no one even accidentally says bad words, otherwise the food will not be tasty.

13. The Seto try to preserve their culture; they hold the “Setommaa” festival. Family Meetings”, which is attended by guests from neighboring Estonia. About 10,000 Seto people live there. One of the customs is the selection of King Seto.

14. We visited a very interesting place. If you are in the Pskov region or somewhere nearby, be sure to visit this estate, you won’t regret it.

Thank you Malle for your hospitality!

Tour partners in the Pskov region:

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| collection website
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| Yu. Alekseev
| A. Manakov
| Setu people: between Russia and Estonia
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The Seto people, closely related to the Estonians, settled on the Pskov land, in an area called Setomaa by these people themselves, long before the first Slavic tribes appeared in these places. Russian scientists attribute the emergence of the first settlements of the peoples of the Finno-Ugric group in the area of ​​the Pskov-Peipus reservoir to the first millennium BC. The emergence of the first Slavic settlements here dates back to the 5th century AD. By the time Russian statehood emerged, the settlements of the Slavs and Finno-Ugric peoples in this region interspersed with each other. Characteristic feature Slavic settlement in the Pskov region was not the squeezing out of the indigenous Finno-Ugric population, but the cohabitation of people of different tribes on the same territory, with numerous contacts, economic ties and the mutual penetration of different cultures. We can say with complete confidence that throughout last millennium Russians and Setos lived together on the territory of the Pskov region.
Until the mid-16th century, the Setos were pagans. The missionary activity of the Pskov-Pechersk Monastery led to the Setos converting to Orthodoxy, although the pagan element in the Setos culture has survived to this day.
It is not for nothing that the generally accepted name for Setos on the Pskov land has become “half-believers”. The Seto economy and culture reached their greatest prosperity at the beginning of the 20th century. The main activity was high-quality processing of flax, which was in great demand in the Scandinavian countries. The number of people, according to the 1903 census, reached its maximum in history and amounted to about 22 thousand people. Prerequisites for the creation of cultural autonomy began to appear.
The fortunes of the Seto people changed dramatically after 1917. In the newly formed state - Republic of Estonia The issue of set was given great importance. With the conclusion of the Tartu Peace Treaty in 1920, the lands on which the people lived were transferred to Estonia for the first time in history. According to experts, the parties had different goals for concluding the agreement. If Estonia wanted to consolidate its status as a newly formed state, then the Bolshevik regime sought, with the help of the Estonians, to put an end to the North-Western Army of General Yudenich, which posed a direct threat to their power in Russia. So we can rightfully say that the international adventurers Adolf Joffe and Isidor Gukovsky, who signed the Tartu Peace Treaty on behalf of the Bolshevik government, paid with the lands of the Seto people for the destruction of this large military formation.
It must be said that Estonians have never treated the Seth as an independent people.

There is still an opinion in Estonian science that the Setos originated from Estonians who fled to Russian territory in the 16th century from forced baptism into the Lutheran faith. Therefore, already in the 20s of the last century, the mass Estonization of Seto began. Before this, for several centuries the Setos bore Orthodox names. Surnames, as in the rest of Russia, were formed by the name of the grandfather. With the arrival of the Estonians, the Setos began to be forced to take Estonian names and surnames. Primary and secondary school education for the Seto people began to be conducted in Estonian. It should be noted that the language of the Seto people has a lot in common with the Estonian language. But still these are two separate languages.
The policy of Estonianization of the Seto became especially obvious in Estonia after 1991. To fulfill the conditions for joining the European Union, the Estonian government needed to show that it had no problems with national minorities. For this purpose, from 1995 to 2000, a special program was carried out to resettle Setos to Estonia. At this time, there was a massive migration of the Seto people from Russia to Estonia. All Setos who arrived there for permanent residence were paid significant amounts of money and were provided with assistance in building houses. These actions were touted as achievements national policy Estonia, against the background of political and national discrimination against the Russian-speaking population of the country. But at the same time, the right to exist of the Seto people as an independent ethnic group was not recognized in Estonia. During the population census carried out in Estonia in 2002, the Setos were not counted as independent people, but the Setos themselves were recorded as Estonians.
For the ruling elite of Estonia, the Seto problem is also convenient because it allows them to put forward territorial claims against Russia. The United States has created from Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia a kind of “Trojan horse” for the European Union and an instrument of constant pressure on Russia. Unfortunately, the Seto people became hostages in a big political game against Russia.
Neither Russia nor Estonia will be able to solve the problems of the Seto people separately. This requires thoughtful and joint actions, and most importantly, a desire to conduct the negotiation process. The Seto people themselves strive, first of all, to preserve their culture and identity, but they have to choose between the current living conditions in Russia and “successful” assimilation in Estonia.
The situation between Russia and Estonia also affects the internal processes occurring among the Setos. Thus, in the 90s, two parallel organizations were created: the Setu Congress (its meetings were held in Estonia) and the Setu ECOS Ethnocultural Society (congresses are held in Pskov Pechory). As can be seen from the documents of these organizations published in this publication, the relationship between them is by no means cloudless.
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The book represents the first attempt at a collection of materials on the history and current state of the Seto people. In the first part, written by professor of Pskov State Pedagogical University A.G. Manakov, examines the question of the origin of the Seto people, and also presents the results of two expeditions, during which the current ethnodemographic processes among this people were examined. Expeditions were carried out in 1999 and 2005 (in 2005 - with the support of the REGNUM news agency). The second part, prepared by REGNUM agency correspondent for the Pskov region Yu.V. Alekseev, consists of interviews with the most prominent representatives of the Setos, as well as materials from the congresses of the Setos people held in the 90s. The appendix contains excerpts from the Tartu World that are directly related to the territory of Seto settlement.

The inhabitants of the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea were first reported by the Roman historian Tacitus in the 1st century AD, calling them Aestii, regardless of their tribal affiliation: Finno-Ugric or Baltic. 500 years later, the Gothic historian Jordanes again mentions this people, calling them Hestii. At the end of the 9th century, the English king Alfred the Great, in the notes to his translation of the works of Orosius, indicated the position of the country of the Estians - Estland (Eastland) near the country of the Wends - Weonodland.
In medieval Scandinavian sources, the land called Eistland is localized between Virland (i.e. Virumaa in the north-east of modern Estonia) and Livland (i.e. Livonia - the land of the Livs, located in the north-west of modern Latvia). In other words, Estland in Scandinavian sources already fully corresponds to modern Estonia, and Estia – to the Finno-Ugric population of this land. And although it is possible that initially the Germanic peoples called the Baltic tribes “Estonians,” over time this ethnonym was transferred to part of the Baltic Finns and served as the basis for the modern name of Estonia.
In Russian chronicles, the Finno-Ugric tribes living south of the Gulf of Finland were called “Chudyu”, but thanks to the Scandinavians the name “Estonia” (for example, the Norwegian “Østlann” means “eastern land”) gradually spread to all lands between Riga gulf and Lake Peipus, giving the name to the local Finno-Ugric population - “Ests” (until the beginning of the twentieth century), Estonians. Estonians themselves call themselves eestlased and their country Eesti.
The Estonian ethnic group was formed by the beginning of the 2nd millennium AD as a result of the mixing of the ancient aboriginal population and Finno-Ugric tribes that came from the east in the 3rd millennium BC. In the first centuries AD, throughout the modern territory of Estonia, as well as in the north of Latvia, the type of funeral monuments of the Estoli tribes was widespread - stone burial grounds with fences.
In the middle of the 1st millennium, another type of funerary monuments penetrated into the southeast of modern Estonia - long barrows of the Pskov type. It is believed that a population descended from the Krivichi Slavs lived here for a long time. In the northeast of the country at that time there was a population of Votic origin. In the folk culture of the population of north-east Estonia, elements borrowed from the Finns (on the coast of the Gulf of Finland), Vodians, Izhorians and Russians (in the Chud region) can be traced.

Setos now live in the Pechora district of the Pskov region (where they call themselves “Seto”) and on the eastern outskirts of neighboring counties of Estonia, which before the 1917 revolution were part of the Pskov province.
Estonian archaeologists and ethnographers H.A. Moora, E.V. Richter and P.S. The Hagus believe that the Setos are an ethnic (ethnographic) group of the Estonian people, which formed by the mid-19th century on the basis of the Chud substrate and later Estonian settlers who adopted the Orthodox religion. However, more convincing is the evidence of scientists who believe that the Setos are the remnant of an independent ethnic group (autochthon), like the Vodi, Izhorians, Vepsians and Livs. To confirm this position, it is necessary to consider the dynamics of ethnic, political and confessional borders south of the Pskov-Peipus reservoir, starting from the second half of the first millennium AD. e., having previously divided this time interval into seven historical periods.
I period (before the 10th century AD). Before the advent of the Slavs, the borderlands of modern Estonia and the Pskov land were inhabited by Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. It is quite difficult to draw an exact boundary between the areas of settlement of the Finno-Ugric and Baltic tribes. Archaeological finds indicate the existence of Baltic (in particular, Latgalian) elements south of Lake Pskov until the 10th–11th centuries, when the Slavic Krivichi tribes already lived in this territory.
The settlement of the southern and eastern shores of Lake Pskov by the Slavs supposedly began in the 6th century. At the turn of the 7th–8th centuries they founded the settlement of Izborsk, 15 km south of Lake Pskov. Izborsk became one of the ten oldest Russian cities, the first mention of which dates back to 862. To the southwest of Lake Pskov, where the border of the lands colonized by the Slavs passed, assimilation almost did not affect the local Baltic-Finnish population. Slavic Izborsk turned out to be wedged into the lands inhabited by the Baltic miracle, becoming the westernmost city of the Pskov-Izborsk Krivichi.
The political border, which owed its formation to the creation of the Old Russian state - Kievan Rus, passed somewhat to the west of the ethnic border. The border between the Old Russian state and the Chud-Estians, formed under Svyatoslav by 972, subsequently became very stable, existing with minor changes until the beginning of the Northern War (1700). However, at the end of the 10th and beginning of the 11th centuries, the borders of the Old Russian state temporarily moved far to the west. According to ancient sources, it is known that Vladimir the Great, and then Yaroslav Vladimirovich, took tribute from the entire “Lifland miracle”.
II period (X - beginning of the XIII century). This was the initial period of Slavic-Chudi interaction in the presence of political, ethnic and confessional boundaries (Christianity in Rus', paganism among the Chuds). Part of the Chud, who found themselves on the territory of the Old Russian state, and then the Novgorod Republic, began to perceive elements of the material culture of their neighbors - the Pskov Krivichi. But the local Chud remained part of the Chudi-Ests; the opposition of the Pskov Chud to the Ests (Estonians) themselves appears later. During this period, we can rather talk about an enclave of Chud on Russian territory.
The absence of clear ethno-confessional and political barriers during this period allows us to make the assumption that even then there was a Russian-Chud ethno-contact zone to the southwest of Lake Pskov. The presence of contacts between the Chud and the Pskov people is evidenced by the preserved individual elements of early Russian culture in the religious rites of the Setos - the descendants of the Pskov Chud.
III period (XIII century – 1550s). The political events of this period were the formation in the Baltic States in 1202 of the German Order of the Sword, and in 1237 - the Livonian Order and the seizure of all Estonian and Latvian lands by the orders. For almost the entire period, the Pskov Veche Republic existed, which already in the 13th century pursued a foreign policy independent of Novgorod and only in 1510 was annexed to the Moscow state. In the 13th century, the expansion of the Order of the Sword began in the south of modern Estonia, and the Danes began in the north. The Pskovians and Novgorodians, together with the Estonians, tried to resist the aggression of the German knights at the beginning of the 13th century on the territory of modern Estonia, but with the loss of the last stronghold of the Estonians, Yuryev, in 1224, Russian troops left their territory.
By 1227, the lands of the Estonian tribes were included in the Order of the Sword. In 1237, the Order of the Swordsmen was liquidated, and its lands became part of the Teutonic Order, becoming a branch of the latter under the name “Livonian Order”. The Estonians were converted to Catholicism. Groups of German settlers began to settle in the cities of Estonia. In 1238, the northern lands of Estonia passed to Denmark, but in 1346 they were sold by the Danish king to the Teutonic Order, who transferred these possessions in 1347 as collateral to the Livonian Order.
The political border between the Livonian Order and the Pskov land turned into a confessional barrier. On the lands of the Estonians, German knights implanted Catholicism; the fortified city of Izborsk was the western outpost of the Orthodox faith.
A feature of the state and at the same time confessional border was its one-way permeability. Estonians moved from the territory of the Livonian Order to the Pskov land, seeking to escape the religious and political oppression of the German knights. There were also resettlement of large groups of Estonians to Russian lands, for example after the uprising of 1343 in Estonia. Therefore, certain elements of the Catholic religion, in particular religious holidays, penetrated the territory inhabited by the Pskov Chud. There were simultaneously three ways of such penetration: 1) through contacts with the related Estonian population; 2) through new settlers from the west; 3) through Catholic missionaries who operated in these lands until the end of the 16th century. The northern part of the Pskov Chud, living west of Lake Pskov, was for some time under the rule of the order and was included in the Catholic Church.
Most of the Pskov miracle still retained the pagan faith. Many pre-Christian cultural elements have been preserved by the Seto in our time. The ethno-confessional border between the Pskov Chud and the Russians was not an insurmountable barrier: intense cultural exchange took place between them.
IV period (1550s – 1700s). The first decades of the period were of greatest importance, especially 1558–1583 (Livonian War). At this time, the Pskov Chud finally accepted Orthodoxy, thereby becoming culturally isolated from the Estonians.
As a result of the Livonian War of 1558–1583, the territory of Estonia was divided between Sweden (northern part), Denmark (Saaremaa) and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (southern part). After the defeat of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the war of 1600–1629, the entire mainland of Estonia went to Sweden, and in 1645 the island of Saaremaa also passed from Denmark to Sweden. Swedes began to move to the territory of Estonia, mainly to the islands and the coast of the Baltic Sea (especially in Läänemaa). The population of Estonia adopted the Lutheran faith.
Back in the 70s of the 15th century, the Pskov-Pechersky (Holy Assumption) monastery was founded near the Russian-Livonian border. In the middle of the 16th century, during the Livonian War, the monastery became a fortress - a western outpost of Orthodoxy of the Russian state. At the beginning of the Livonian War, which was successful for the Russian army until 1577, the monastery spread Orthodoxy in the regions of Livonia occupied by Russian troops.
The state attached great importance to strengthening the power of the Pskov-Pechersky Monastery, providing it with “empty lands”, which, according to the chronicles, the monastery was populated by newcomers - “fugitive Estonians”. There is no doubt that the indigenous population of Pskov Chud also accepted Christianity according to the Greek rite. In addition, there were clearly not enough fugitives to populate all the monastery lands.
However, the Pskov Chud, due to a lack of understanding of the Russian language, did not know the Holy Scriptures for a long time and actually hid paganism behind the external appearance of Orthodoxy. The Russians doubted the truth of the Orthodox faith among the “Pskov Estonians” and it was not by chance that the Setos had long been called “half-believers.” Only in the 19th century, under pressure from church authorities, did ancient communal rituals disappear. At the individual level, pagan rituals began to disappear only at the beginning of the twentieth century, with the spread of school education.
Thus, the main feature that separated the Setos from the Estonians was religion. And although the question of the ancestors of the Setos has been repeatedly debated, most researchers agree that the Setos are the indigenous population, and not alien Estonians from Võru County who fled the oppression of the German knights. However, it was recognized that some of the “half-believers” still trace their origins to settlers from Livonia in the 15th–16th centuries.
At the end of the Livonian War in 1583, the southern part of Livonia became part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The state border has once again restored the confessional barrier that was blurred during the war. The exchange of elements of material culture (residential buildings, clothing, embroidery, etc.) intensified between the Seto ancestors and the Russians.
In the first third of the 17th century, a significant part of Livonia (Livonia) passed to Sweden, and Lutheranism was introduced here instead of Catholicism. The Estonians, having adopted the Lutheran faith, lost almost all Catholic rituals, which cannot be said about the Setos, who retained a more significant Catholic element in their rituals. From that time on, the Protestant and Orthodox religions were separated by a virtually impenetrable barrier: researchers noted the absence of elements of Lutheran spiritual culture among the Setos.
Within the ethno-contact zone, starting from the 16th century, and especially in the 17th century, new ethnic components appeared - the first were Russian settlers from the central regions of Russia (as evidenced by the chatter), who fled to the border areas and even to Livonia, fleeing soldiery and serfdom dependencies. They settled on the western coast of the Pskov-Peipus reservoir and were engaged in fishing. Although the first Slavic settlements appeared here in the 13th century, these lands were never colonized by the Russians until the 16th century.