Where do Crimean Tatars live in Crimea? Report: Crimean Tatars
So, Crimean Tatars.
Different sources present the history and modernity of this people with their own characteristics and their own vision of this issue.
Here are three links:
1). Russian site rusmirzp.com/2012/09/05/categ… 2). Ukrainian site turlocman.ru/ukraine/1837 3). Tatar site mtss.ru/?page=kryims
I will write some material using the most politically correct Wikipedia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krymsky… and my own impressions.
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a people who historically formed in the Crimea.
They speak the Crimean Tatar language, which belongs to the Turkic group of the Altai family of languages.
Overwhelming majority Crimean Tatars- Sunni Muslims, belong to the Hanafi madhhab.
Traditional drinks are coffee, ayran, yazma, buza.
National confectionery products are sheker kyiyk, kurabye, baklava.
The national dishes of the Crimean Tatars are chebureks (fried pies with meat), yantyk (baked pies with meat), saryk burma (puff pastry with meat), sarma (vine leaves stuffed with meat and rice), cabbage), dolma (peppers stuffed with meat and rice) , kobete - originally a Greek dish, as evidenced by the name (baked pie with meat, onions and potatoes), burma (layered pie with pumpkin and nuts), tatar ash (dumplings), yufak ash (broth with very small dumplings), barbecue, pilaf (rice with meat and dried apricots, unlike Uzbek rice without carrots), bakla shorbasy (meat soup with green bean pods seasoned with sour milk), shurpa, kainatma.
I tried sarma, dolma and shurpa. Delicious.
Resettlement.
They live mainly in the Crimea (about 260 thousand), adjacent areas of continental Russia (2.4 thousand, mainly in Krasnodar Territory) and in the adjacent regions of Ukraine (2.9 thousand), as well as in Turkey, Romania (24 thousand), Uzbekistan (90 thousand, estimates from 10 thousand to 150 thousand), Bulgaria (3 thousand). According to local Crimean Tatar organizations, the diaspora in Turkey numbers hundreds of thousands of people, but there are no exact data on its size, since Turkey does not publish data on the national composition of the country's population. The total number of residents whose ancestors immigrated to the country from Crimea at different times is estimated in Turkey at 5-6 million people, but most of these people have assimilated and consider themselves not Crimean Tatars, but Turks of Crimean origin.
Ethnogenesis.
There is a misconception that the Crimean Tatars are predominantly descendants of the Mongols conquerors of the 13th century. This is wrong.
The Crimean Tatars were formed as a people in the Crimea in the XIII-XVII centuries. The historical core of the Crimean Tatar ethnos is the Turkic tribes that settled in the Crimea, a special place in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars among the Kipchak tribes, which mixed with the local descendants of the Huns, Khazars, Pechenegs, as well as representatives of the pre-Turkic population of Crimea - together with them formed the ethnic basis of the Crimean Tatars, Karaites , Krymchaks.
The main ethnic groups that inhabited the Crimea in antiquity and the Middle Ages are Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Bulgars, Greeks, Goths, Khazars, Pechenegs, Cumans, Italians, Circassians (Circassians), Asia Minor Turks. Over the centuries, the peoples who again came to Crimea assimilated those who lived here before their arrival, or themselves assimilated among them.
An important role in the formation of the Crimean Tatar people belongs to the Western Kypchaks, known in Russian historiography under the name of the Polovtsy. Kipchaks from the 11th-12th centuries began to populate the Volga, Azov and Black Sea steppes (which from then until the 18th century were called Desht-i Kypchak - "Kypchak steppe"). From the second half of the 11th century, they began to actively penetrate into the Crimea. A significant part of the Polovtsy took refuge in the mountains of Crimea, fleeing after the defeat of the combined Polovtsian-Russian troops from the Mongols and the subsequent defeat of the Polovtsian proto-state formations in the northern Black Sea region.
By the middle of the XIII century, the Crimea was conquered by the Mongols under the leadership of Batu Khan and included in the state founded by them - the Golden Horde. During the Horde period, representatives of the Shirin, Argyn, Baryn and other clans appeared in the Crimea, who later formed the backbone of the Crimean Tatar steppe aristocracy. The spread of the ethnonym "Tatars" in the Crimea dates back to the same time - this common name was used to call the Turkic-speaking population of the state created by the Mongols. Internal unrest and political instability in the Horde led to the fact that in the middle of the 15th century Crimea fell away from the Horde rulers, and an independent Crimean Khanate was formed.
The key event that left an imprint on the further history of Crimea was the conquest by the Ottoman Empire of the southern coast of the peninsula and the adjacent part of the Crimean Mountains, which previously belonged to the Republic of Genoa and the Principality of Theodoro, in 1475, the subsequent transformation of the Crimean Khanate into a vassal state in relation to the Ottomans and the entry of the peninsula into Pax Ottomana - "cultural space" of the Ottoman Empire.
The spread of Islam on the peninsula had a significant impact on the ethnic history of Crimea. According to local legends, Islam was brought to Crimea in the 7th century by companions of the Prophet Muhammad Malik Ashter and Gaza Mansur. However, Islam began to spread actively in Crimea only after the adoption of Islam by the Golden Horde Khan Uzbek as the state religion in the XIV century.
The vast majority of Crimean Tatars are Sunni Muslims. Historically, the Islamization of the Crimean Tatars took place in parallel with the formation of the ethnic group itself and was very long. The first step on this path was the capture of Sudak and its environs by the Seljuks in the 13th century and the beginning of the spread of Sufi brotherhoods in the region, and the last step was the massive adoption of Islam by a significant number of Crimean Christians who wanted to avoid being evicted from Crimea in 1778. The main part of the Crimean population converted to Islam in the era of the Crimean Khanate and the Golden Horde period that preceded it. Now in Crimea there are about three hundred Muslim communities, most of which are united in the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Crimea (adhere to the Hanafi madhhab). It is the Hanafi direction that is historically traditional for the Crimean Tatars.
Mosque Tahtali Jam in Evpatoria.
By the end of the 15th century, the main prerequisites were created that led to the formation of an independent Crimean Tatar ethnic group: the political dominance of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire was established in Crimea, the Turkic languages (Polovtsian-Kypchak on the territory of the Khanate and Ottoman in the Ottoman possessions) became dominant, and Islam acquired the status of the state religions throughout the peninsula.
As a result of the predominance of the Polovtsian-speaking population called "Tatars" and the Islamic religion, the processes of assimilation and consolidation of a motley ethnic conglomerate began, which led to the emergence of the Crimean Tatar people. Over the course of several centuries, the Crimean Tatar language developed on the basis of the Polovtsian language with a noticeable Oghuz influence.
An important component of this process was the linguistic and religious assimilation of the Christian population, which was very mixed in its ethnic composition (Greeks, Alans, Goths, Circassians, Polovtsian-speaking Christians, including the descendants of the Scythians, Sarmatians, etc. assimilated by the listed peoples in earlier eras), which amounted to the end of the XV century, the majority in the mountainous and southern coastal regions of Crimea.
The assimilation of the local population began in the Horde period, but it especially intensified in the 17th century.
The Goths and Alans who lived in the mountainous part of the Crimea, who began to adopt Turkic customs and culture, which corresponds to the data of archaeological and paleoethnographic studies. On the Ottoman-controlled South Bank, assimilation was noticeably slower. Thus, the results of the 1542 census show that the overwhelming majority of the rural population of the Ottoman possessions in the Crimea were Christians. Archaeological studies of the Crimean Tatar cemeteries on the South Bank also show that Muslim tombstones began to appear en masse in the 17th century.
As a result, by 1778, when the Crimean Greeks (Greeks were then called all local Orthodox) were evicted from the Crimea to the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov by order of the Russian government, there were just over 18 thousand of them (which was about 2% of the then population of Crimea), and more than half of these The Greeks were Urums, whose native language is Crimean Tatar, the Greek-speaking Rumeians were a minority, and by that time there were no speakers of Alanian, Gothic and other languages at all.
Sub-ethnic groups.
The Crimean Tatar people consist of three sub-ethnic groups: the steppe or Nogai (not to be confused with the Nogai people) (çöllüler, noğaylar), the highlanders or Tats (not to be confused with the Caucasian tats) (tatlar) and the South Coast or Yalyboi (yalıboyylular).
South Coast - yalyboylu.
Before the deportation, the South Coast residents lived on the Southern Coast of Crimea (Krymskotat. Yalı boyu) - a narrow strip 2-6 km wide, stretching along the seashore from Balakalava in the west to Feodosia in the east. In the ethnogenesis of this group, the main role was played by the Greeks, Goths, Asia Minor Turks and Circassians, and in the inhabitants of the eastern part of the South Bank there is also the blood of Italians (Genoese). Until the deportation, the inhabitants of many villages on the South Shore retained elements of Christian rituals inherited from their Greek ancestors. Most of the Yalyboys adopted Islam as a religion quite late, compared to the other two subethnoi, namely in 1778. Since the South Coast was under the jurisdiction of the Ottoman Empire, the South Coast never lived in the Crimean Khanate and could move throughout the empire, this is evidenced by a large number of marriages of the South Coasters with the Ottomans and other citizens of the empire. In racial terms, most of the southern coasters belong to the southern European (Mediterranean) race (outwardly similar to Turks, Greeks, Italians, etc.). However, there are individual representatives of this group with pronounced features of the northern European race (light skin, blond hair, blue eyes). For example, the inhabitants of the villages of Kuchuk-Lambat (Cypress) and Arpat (Zelenogorye) belonged to this type. The South Coast Tatars also differ markedly from the Turkic in physical type: they were noted to be taller, lack cheekbones, “in general, regular facial features; this type is very harmoniously complex, which is why it can be called beautiful. Women are distinguished by soft and regular features, dark, with long eyelashes, large eyes, finely defined eyebrows ”(writes Starovsky). The described type, however, even within the small space of the South Bank, is subject to significant fluctuations, depending on the predominance of one or another nationality living here. So, for example, in Simeiz, Limeny, Alupka, one could often meet long-headed people with an oblong face, a long hooked nose and blond, sometimes red hair. The customs of the southern coast Tatars, the freedom of their women, the veneration of certain Christian holidays and monuments, their love for sedentary occupations, compared with their appearance, cannot but convince that these so-called "Tatars" are close to the Indo-European tribe. The South Coast dialect belongs to the Oghuz group of Turkic languages, very close to Turkish. In the vocabulary of this dialect there is a noticeable layer of Greek and a certain number of Italian borrowings. The old Crimean Tatar literary language, created by Ismail Gasprinsky, was based on this particular dialect.
Steppe people - legs.
The Nogai lived in the steppe (Crimean Tat. çöl) north of the conditional line Nikolaevka-Gvardeiskoye-Feodosiya. The main part in the ethnogenesis of this group was taken by the western Kipchaks (Polovtsy), eastern Kipchaks and Nogais (from this the name Nogai came). In racial terms, Nogai and Caucasoids with elements of Mongoloidity (~ 10%). The Nogai dialect belongs to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, combining the features of the Polovtsian-Kypchak (Karachay-Balkarian, Kumyk) and Nogai-Kypchak (Nogai, Tatar, Bashkir and Kazakh) languages.
One of the starting points of the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Tatars should be considered the emergence of the Crimean yurt, and then the Crimean Khanate. The nomadic nobility of Crimea took advantage of the weakening of the Golden Horde to create their own state. The long struggle between the feudal groups ended in 1443 with the victory of Hadji Giray, who founded the virtually independent Crimean Khanate, whose territory included the Crimea, the Black Sea steppes and the Taman Peninsula.
The main force of the Crimean army was the cavalry - fast, maneuverable, with centuries of experience. In the steppe, every man was a warrior, an excellent rider and archer. Beauplan also confirms this: "Tatars know the steppe as well as pilots know sea harbors."
During the emigration of the Crimean Tatars of the XVIII-XIX centuries. a significant part of the steppe Crimea was practically devoid of the indigenous population.
The well-known scientist, writer and researcher of the Crimea of the 19th century, E. V. Markov, wrote that only the Tatars “endured this dry heat of the steppe, knowing the secrets of extracting and conducting water, raising cattle and gardens in places where a German or a Bulgarian would not get along until now. Hundreds of thousands of honest and patient hands have been taken away from the economy. Camel herds have almost disappeared; where thirty flocks of sheep used to walk, there one walks, where there were fountains, there are now empty pools, where there was a populous industrial village - there is now a wasteland ... Pass, for example, Evpatoria district and you will think that you are traveling along the shores of the Dead Sea.
Highlanders - Tats.
Tats (not to be confused with the Caucasian people of the same name) lived before the deportation in the mountains (Crimean Tatar dağlar) and foothills or the middle lane (Crimean Tatar orta yolaq), that is, north of the South Coast and south of the steppes. The ethnogenesis of the Tats is a very complex and not fully understood process. Almost all the peoples and tribes that have ever lived in the Crimea took part in the formation of this sub-ethnos. These are Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians and Alans, Avars, Goths, Greeks, Circassians, Bulgars, Khazars, Pechenegs and Western Kypchaks (known in European sources as Cumans or Komans, and in Russian as Polovtsians). Particularly important in this process is the role of the Goths, Greeks and Kypchaks. From the Kipchaks, the Tats inherited the language, from the Greeks and the Goths - the material and everyday culture. The Goths mainly took part in the ethnogenesis of the population of the western part of the mountainous Crimea (Bakhchisarai region). The type of houses that the Crimean Tatars built in the mountain villages of this region before the deportation is considered by some researchers to be Gothic. It should be noted that the given data on the ethnogenesis of the Tats are to some extent a generalization, since the population of almost every village in the mountainous Crimea before the deportation had its own characteristics, in which the influence of one or another people was guessed. Racially, the Tats belong to the Central European race, that is, outwardly similar to representatives of the peoples of Central and Eastern Europe (some of the North Caucasian peoples, and some of the Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, etc.). The Tats dialect has both Kypchak and Oguz features and is to some extent intermediate between the dialects of the South Coast and the steppe people. The modern Crimean Tatar literary language is based on this dialect.
Until 1944, the listed sub-ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatars practically did not mix with each other, but the deportation destroyed the traditional areas of settlement, and over the past 60 years, the process of merging these groups into a single community has gained momentum. The boundaries between them are already noticeably blurred today, since the number of families where the spouses belong to different subethnic groups is significant. Due to the fact that, after returning to the Crimea, the Crimean Tatars, for a number of reasons, and primarily because of the opposition of local authorities, cannot settle in the places of their former traditional residence, the process of mixing continues. On the eve of the Great Patriotic War, among the Crimean Tatars living in the Crimea, about 30% were South Coast, about 20% - Nogai and about 50% - Tats.
The fact that the word "Tatars" is present in the generally accepted name of the Crimean Tatars often causes misunderstandings and questions about whether the Crimean Tatars are not a sub-ethnic group of Tatars, but the Crimean Tatar language is a dialect of Tatar. The name "Crimean Tatars" has remained in Russian since the times when almost all the Turkic-speaking peoples of the Russian Empire were called Tatars: Karachays (Mountain Tatars), Azerbaijanis (Transcaucasian or Azerbaijani Tatars), Kumyks (Dagestan Tatars), Khakasses (Abakan Tatars), etc. Crimean Tatars have little in common ethnically with the historical Tatars or Tatar-Mongols (with the exception of the steppes), and are descendants of the Turkic-speaking, Caucasian and other tribes that inhabited Eastern Europe before the Mongol invasion, when the ethnonym "Tatars" came to the west .
The Crimean Tatars themselves today use two self-names: qırımtatarlar (literally "Crimean Tatars") and qırımlar (literally "Crimeans"). In everyday colloquial speech (but not in an official context), the word tatarlar (“Tatars”) can also be used as a self-name.
The Crimean Tatar and Tatar languages are related, since both belong to the Kypchak group of Turkic languages, but they are not the closest relatives within this group. Due to quite different phonetics (primarily vocalism: the so-called “Volga vowel break”), Crimean Tatars only understand by ear individual words and phrases in Tatar speech and vice versa. The closest to the Crimean Tatar are the Kumyk and Karachai languages from the Kypchaks, and the Turkish and Azerbaijani languages from the Oguz languages.
At the end of the 19th century, Ismail Gasprinsky made an attempt to create a single literary language for all the Turkic peoples of the Russian Empire (including the Tatars of the Volga region) on the basis of the Crimean Tatar southern coast dialect, but this undertaking did not have any serious success.
Crimean Khanate.
The process of formation of the people was finally completed during the period of the Crimean Khanate.
The state of the Crimean Tatars - the Crimean Khanate existed from 1441 to 1783. For most of its history, it was dependent on the Ottoman Empire and was its ally.
The ruling dynasty in the Crimea was the Geraev (Gireev) clan, the founder of which was the first Khan Hadji I Gerai. The era of the Crimean Khanate is the heyday of the Crimean Tatar culture, art and literature.
The classic of the Crimean Tatar poetry of that era - Ashik Umer.
The main surviving architectural monument of that time is the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai.
From the beginning of the 16th century, the Crimean Khanate waged constant wars with the Moscow state and the Commonwealth (until the 18th century, mainly offensive), which was accompanied by the capture of a large number of prisoners from among the peaceful Russian, Ukrainian and Polish population. Those captured into slavery were sold at the Crimean slave markets, among which the largest was the market in the city of Kef (modern Feodosia), to Turkey, Arabia, and the Middle East. The mountain and coastal Tatars of the southern coast of Crimea were reluctant to participate in the raids, preferring to pay off payments from the khans. In 1571, the 40,000-strong Crimean army under the command of Khan Devlet I Giray, having passed the Moscow fortifications, reached Moscow and, in retaliation for the capture of Kazan, set fire to its suburbs, after which the entire city, with the exception of only the Kremlin, burned to the ground. However, the very next year, the 40,000-strong horde, which, together with the Turks, Nogais, and Circassians (more than 120-130 thousand in total), hoped to finally end the independence of the Muscovite Kingdom, suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Molodi, which forced the khanate to moderate its political claims. Nevertheless, formally subordinate to the Crimean Khan, but in fact semi-independent Nogai hordes, roaming in the Northern Black Sea region, regularly made extremely devastating raids on Moscow, Ukrainian, Polish lands, reaching Lithuania and Slovakia. The purpose of these raids was to capture booty and numerous slaves, mainly for the purpose of selling slaves of the Ottoman Empire to the markets, their cruel exploitation in the khanate itself, and receiving a ransom. For this, as a rule, the Muravsky Way was used, which passed from Perekop to Tula. These raids bled all the southern, outlying and central regions of the country, which were practically deserted for a long time. The constant threat from the south and east contributed to the formation of the Cossacks, who performed guard and sentinel functions in all border areas of the Moscow State and the Commonwealth, with the Wild Field.
As part of the Russian Empire.
In 1736, Russian troops led by Field Marshal Christopher (Christoph) Minich burned Bakhchisaray and devastated the Crimean foothills. In 1783, as a result of Russia's victory over the Ottoman Empire, Crimea was first occupied and then annexed by Russia.
At the same time, the policy of the Russian imperial administration was characterized by a certain flexibility. The Russian government made the ruling circles of Crimea its mainstay: all the Crimean Tatar clergy and the local feudal aristocracy were equated with the Russian aristocracy with all rights reserved.
The oppression of the Russian administration and the expropriation of land from the Crimean Tatar peasants caused a mass emigration of the Crimean Tatars to the Ottoman Empire. The two main waves of emigration came in the 1790s and 1850s. According to researchers of the late 19th century F. Lashkov and K. German, the population of the peninsular part of the Crimean Khanate by the 1770s was approximately 500 thousand people, 92% of whom were Crimean Tatars. The first Russian census of 1793 recorded 127.8 thousand people in Crimea, including 87.8% of Crimean Tatars. Thus, most of the Tatars emigrated from Crimea, according to various sources, up to half of the population (according to Turkish data, it is known about 250 thousand Crimean Tatars who settled in Turkey at the end of the 18th century, mainly in Rumelia). After the end of the Crimean War, in the 1850-60s, about 200 thousand Crimean Tatars emigrated from Crimea. It is their descendants that now make up the Crimean Tatar diaspora in Turkey, Bulgaria and Romania. This led to the decline of agriculture and the almost complete desolation of the steppe part of the Crimea.
Along with this, the development of the Crimea, mainly the territory of the steppes and large cities (Simferopol, Sevastopol, Feodosia, etc.), was intensively taking place due to the attraction of immigrants from the territory of Central Russia and Little Russia by the Russian government. The ethnic composition of the population of the peninsula has changed - the share of Orthodox has increased.
In the middle of the 19th century, the Crimean Tatars, overcoming disunity, began to move from rebellions to a new stage of national struggle.
It was necessary to mobilize the entire people for collective defense against the oppression of tsarist laws and Russian landowners.
Ismail Gasprinsky was an outstanding educator of the Turkic and other Muslim peoples. One of his main merits is the creation and dissemination of a system of secular (non-religious) school education among the Crimean Tatars, which also radically changed the essence and structure of primary education in many Muslim countries, giving it a more secular character. He became the actual creator of the new literary Crimean Tatar language. Gasprinsky began publishing the first Crimean Tatar newspaper "Terdzhiman" ("Translator") in 1883, which soon became known far beyond the borders of Crimea, including in Turkey and Central Asia. His educational and publishing activities ultimately led to the emergence of a new Crimean Tatar intelligentsia. Gasprinsky is also considered one of the founders of the ideology of Pan-Turkism.
At the beginning of the twentieth century, Ismail Gasprinsky realized that his educational task had been completed and it was necessary to go to new stage national struggle. This stage coincided with the revolutionary events in Russia in 1905-1907. Gasprinsky wrote: “The first long period of mine and my “Translator” is over, and the second, brief, but probably more turbulent period begins, when the old teacher and popularizer should become a politician.”
The period from 1905 to 1917 was a continuous growing process of struggle, moving from humanitarian to political. In the revolution of 1905 in the Crimea, problems were raised regarding the allocation of land to the Crimean Tatars, the conquest of political rights, and the creation of modern educational institutions. The most active Crimean Tatar revolutionaries grouped around Ali Bodaninsky, this group was under close attention of the gendarmes. After the death of Ismail Gasprinsky in 1914, Ali Bodaninsky remained as the oldest national leader. The authority of Ali Bodaninsky in the national liberation movement of the Crimean Tatars at the beginning of the 20th century was indisputable.
Revolution of 1917.
In February 1917, the Crimean Tatar revolutionaries observed the political situation with great readiness. As soon as it became known about serious unrest in Petrograd, on the evening of February 27, that is, on the day of the dissolution of the State Duma, the Crimean Muslim Revolutionary Committee was created on the initiative of Ali Bodaninsky.
The leadership of the Muslim Revolutionary Committee offered the Simferopol Council joint work, but the executive committee of the Council rejected this proposal.
After the all-Crimean election campaign conducted by the Musispolkom on November 26, 1917 (December 9, according to a new style), the Kurultai - the General Assembly, the main deliberative, directive and representative body - was opened in the Khan's Palace in Bakhchisarai.
Thus, in 1917, the Crimean Tatar Parliament (Kurultai) - the legislative body, and the Crimean Tatar Government (Directorate) - the executive body, began to exist in Crimea.
Civil War and the Crimean ASSR.
The Civil War in Russia became a difficult test for the Crimean Tatars. In 1917, after the February Revolution, the first Kurultai (congress) of the Crimean Tatar people was convened, proclaiming a course towards the creation of an independent multinational Crimea. The slogan of the chairman of the first Kurultai, one of the most revered leaders of the Crimean Tatars, Noman Chelebidzhikhan, is known - “Crimea is for the Crimeans” (it meant the entire population of the peninsula, regardless of nationality. “Our task,” he said, “is the creation of such a state as Switzerland. The peoples of Crimea represent a wonderful bouquet, and equal rights and conditions are necessary for every nation, for we should go hand in hand.” However, Chelebidzhikhan was captured and shot by the Bolsheviks in 1918, and the interests of the Crimean Tatars during the Civil War were practically not taken into account by both whites and red.
In 1921, the Crimean ASSR was created as part of the RSFSR. The state languages in it were Russian and Crimean Tatar. The administrative division of the autonomous republic was based on the national principle: in 1930, national village councils were created: 106 Russian, 145 Tatar, 27 German, 14 Jewish, 8 Bulgarian, 6 Greek, 3 Ukrainian, 2 Armenian and Estonian. , national districts were organized. In 1930 there were 7 such districts: 5 Tatar (Sudak, Alushta, Bakhchisaray, Yalta and Balaklava), 1 German (Biyuk-Onlar, later Telman) and 1 Jewish (Fraydorf).
In all schools, children of national minorities were taught in their native language. But following a short upswing in national life after the creation of the Republic (opening national schools, theater, newspapers) followed by the Stalinist repressions of 1937.
Crimea under German occupation.
From mid-November 1941 to May 12, 1944, Crimea was occupied by German troops.
In December 1941, Muslim Tatar committees were created in the Crimea by the German occupation administration. In Simferopol, the central "Crimean Muslim Committee" began its work. Their organization and activities took place under the direct supervision of the SS. Subsequently, the leadership of the committees passed to the headquarters of the SD. In September 1942, the German occupation administration banned the use of the word "Crimean" in the name, and the committee began to be called the "Simferopol Muslim Committee", and from 1943 - the "Simferopol Tatar Committee". The committee consisted of 6 departments: for the fight against Soviet partisans; on recruitment of volunteer formations; to provide assistance to the families of volunteers; on culture and propaganda; by religion; administration department and office. Local committees in their structure duplicated the central one. Their activities were terminated at the end of 1943.
The initial program of the committee provided for the creation of a state of Crimean Tatars in Crimea under the protectorate of Germany, the creation of its own parliament and army, the resumption of the activities of the Milli Firka party, banned in 1920 by the Bolsheviks (Crimean Tatar. Milliy Fırqa - national party). However, already in the winter of 1941-42, the German command made it clear that it did not intend to allow the creation of any kind of state entity in the Crimea. In December 1941, representatives of the Crimean Tatar community of Turkey, Mustafa Edige Kyrymal and Mustegip Ulkusal, visited Berlin in the hope of convincing Hitler of the need to create a Crimean Tatar state, but they were refused. The long-term plans of the Nazis included the annexation of Crimea directly to the Reich as the imperial land of Gotenland and the settlement of the territory by German colonists.
Since October 1941, the creation of volunteer formations from representatives of the Crimean Tatars - self-defense companies, whose main task was to fight partisans, began. Until January 1942, this process went on spontaneously, but after the recruitment of volunteers from among the Crimean Tatars was officially sanctioned by Hitler, the solution to this problem passed to the leadership of Einsatzgruppe D. During January 1942, more than 8,600 volunteers were recruited, of which 1,632 people were selected for service in self-defense companies (14 companies were formed). In March 1942, 4 thousand people were already serving in self-defense companies, and another 5 thousand people were in the reserve. Subsequently, on the basis of the created companies, auxiliary police battalions were deployed, the number of which by November 1942 reached eight (from the 147th to the 154th).
Crimean Tatar formations were used in the protection of military and civilian facilities, took an active part in the fight against partisans, in 1944 they actively resisted the formations of the Red Army that liberated the Crimea. The remnants of the Crimean Tatar units, together with the German and Romanian troops, were evacuated from the Crimea by sea. In the summer of 1944, the Tatar Mountain Jaeger Regiment of the SS was formed from the remnants of the Crimean Tatar units in Hungary, which was soon reorganized into the 1st Tatar Mountain Jaeger Brigade of the SS, which was disbanded on December 31, 1944 and transformed into the Krym battle group, which merged into Eastern Turkic connection of the SS. Crimean Tatar volunteers who were not part of the Tatar Mountain Jaeger Regiment of the SS were transferred to France and included in the reserve battalion of the Volga-Tatar Legion or (mostly untrained youth) were enrolled in the auxiliary air defense service.
With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, many Crimean Tatars were drafted into the Red Army. Many of them later deserted in 1941.
However, there are other examples as well.
More than 35 thousand Crimean Tatars served in the ranks of the Red Army from 1941 to 1945. Most (about 80%) of the civilian population actively supported the Crimean partisan detachments. Due to poor organization partisan struggle and the constant shortage of food, medicines and weapons, the command decided to evacuate most of the partisans from the Crimea in the fall of 1942. According to the party archive of the Crimean Regional Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine, as of June 1, 1943, there were 262 people in the partisan detachments of Crimea. Of these, 145 Russians, 67 Ukrainians, 6 Tatars. As of January 15, 1944, there were 3,733 partisans in Crimea, of which 1944 were Russians, 348 Ukrainians, and 598 Tatars. 2075, Tatars - 391, Ukrainians - 356, Belarusians - 71, others - 754.
Deportation.
The accusation of cooperation of the Crimean Tatars, as well as other peoples, with the invaders became the reason for the eviction of these peoples from the Crimea in accordance with the Decree of the State Defense Committee of the USSR No. GOKO-5859 of May 11, 1944. On the morning of May 18, 1944, an operation began to deport peoples accused of collaborating with the German occupiers to Uzbekistan and the adjacent regions of Kazakhstan and Tajikistan. Small groups were sent to the Mari ASSR, to the Urals, to the Kostroma region.
In total, 228,543 people were evicted from Crimea, 191,014 of them were Crimean Tatars (more than 47,000 families). From every third adult Crimean Tatar they took a subscription stating that he had familiarized himself with the decision, and that 20 years of hard labor were threatened for escaping from the place of special settlement, as for a criminal offense.
Officially, the mass desertion of Crimean Tatars from the Red Army in 1941 was also announced as the basis for the expulsion (the number was called about 20 thousand people), a good reception German troops and the active participation of the Crimean Tatars in the formations of the German army, the SD, the police, the gendarmerie, the apparatus of prisons and camps. At the same time, the deportation did not affect the vast majority of Crimean Tatar collaborators, since the bulk of them were evacuated by the Germans to Germany. Those who remained in the Crimea were identified by the NKVD during the “cleansings” in April-May 1944 and condemned as traitors to the motherland (in total, about 5,000 collaborators of all nationalities were identified in Crimea in April-May 1944). Crimean Tatars who fought in the Red Army were also deported after being demobilized and returning home from the front to Crimea. Crimean Tatars were also deported, who did not live in Crimea during the occupation and managed to return to Crimea by May 18, 1944. In 1949, in the places of deportation, there were 8995 Crimean Tatars - participants in the war, including 524 officers and 1392 sergeants.
A significant number of immigrants, exhausted after three years of life in the occupation, died in the places of expulsion from starvation and disease in 1944-45.
Fight for return.
Unlike other peoples deported in 1944, who were allowed to return to their homeland in 1956, during the "thaw", the Crimean Tatars were deprived of this right until 1989 ("perestroika"), despite the appeals of representatives of the people to the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine and directly to the leaders of the USSR, and despite the fact that on January 9, 1974, the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR “On recognizing as invalid some legislative acts of the USSR providing for restrictions on the choice of residence for certain categories of citizens” was issued.
Since the 1960s, in the places of residence of the deported Crimean Tatars in Uzbekistan, a national movement arose and began to gain strength to restore the rights of the people and return to Crimea.
The activities of public activists who insisted on the return of the Crimean Tatars to their historical homeland were persecuted by the administrative bodies of the Soviet state.
Return to Crimea.
The mass return began in 1989, and today about 250 thousand Crimean Tatars live in Crimea (243,433 people according to the all-Ukrainian census of 2001), of which over 25 thousand live in Simferopol, over 33 thousand in the Simferopol region, or over 22% of the region's population.
The main problems of the Crimean Tatars after their return were mass unemployment, problems with the allocation of land and the development of infrastructure in the Crimean Tatar settlements that have arisen over the past 15 years.
In 1991, the second Kurultai was convened and a system of national self-government of the Crimean Tatars was created. Every five years elections of the Kurultai (a kind of national parliament) take place, in which all Crimean Tatars participate. Kurultai forms an executive body - the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people (a kind of national government). This organization was not registered with the Ministry of Justice of Ukraine. From 1991 to October 2013, the chairman of the Mejlis was Mustafa Dzhemilev. Refat Chubarov was elected the new head of the Mejlis at the first session of the 6th Kurultai (national congress) of the Crimean Tatar people, held on October 26-27 in Simferopol
In August 2006, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination expressed concern about reports of anti-Muslim and anti-Tatar statements by Orthodox priests in Crimea.
At the beginning, the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people reacted negatively to the holding of a referendum on the annexation of Crimea to Russia in early March 2014.
However, just before the referendum, the situation was reversed with the help of Kadyrov and Tatarstan State Councilor Mintimer Shaimiev and Vladimir Putin.
Vladimir Putin signed a decree on measures to rehabilitate the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, German and Crimean Tatar peoples living in the Crimean ASSR. The President instructed the government, when developing a target program for the development of Crimea and Sevastopol until 2020, to provide for measures for the national-cultural and spiritual revival of these peoples, the improvement of their territories of residence (with funding), to assist the Crimean and Sevastopol authorities in holding commemorative events for the 70th anniversary of deportation peoples in May this year, as well as to assist in the creation of national-cultural autonomies.
Judging by the results of the referendum, almost half of all Crimean Tatars took part in the vote - despite very severe pressure on them from radicals from their own ranks. At the same time, the mood of the Tatars and the attitude towards the return of the Crimea to Russia is rather wary, not hostile. So everything depends on the authorities and on how Russian Muslims will accept new brothers.
At present, the social life of the Crimean Tatars is undergoing a split.
On the one hand, the chairman of the Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar people, Refat Chubarov, who was not allowed to enter Crimea by prosecutor Natalya Poklonskaya.
On the other hand, the Crimean Tatar party "Milli Firka".
Chairman of the Kenesh (Council) of the Crimean Tatar party "Milli Firka" Vasvi Abduraimov believes that:
"The Crimean Tatars are flesh and blood heirs and part of the Great Turkic El - Eurasia.
We have nothing to do in Europe. Most Turkic Ale today is also Russia. More than 20 million Turkic Muslims live in Russia. Therefore, Russia is also close to us, as well as to the Slavs. All Crimean Tatars speak Russian fluently, were educated in Russian, grew up in Russian culture, live among Russians."gumilev-center.ru/krymskie-ta…
These are the so-called "squatters" of land by the Crimean Tatars.
They simply built several such buildings nearby on the lands that belonged to the Ukrainian State at that time.
As illegally repressed, the Tatars believe that they have the right to seize the land they like for free.
Of course, self-captures do not take place in the remote steppe, but along the Simferopol highway and along the South Coast.
There are few capital houses built on the site of these squatters.
They just staked out a place for themselves with the help of such sheds.
Subsequently (after legalization) it will be possible to build a cafe, a house for children or sell it profitably.
And the fact that squatting will be legalized is already being prepared by a decree of the State Council. vesti.ua/krym/63334-v-krymu-h…
Like this.
Including by legalizing squatting, Putin decided to ensure the loyalty of the Crimean Tatars regarding the presence of the Russian Federation in Crimea.
However, the Ukrainian authorities also did not actively fight this phenomenon.
Since it considered the Mejlis as a counterbalance to the influence of the Russian-speaking population of Crimea on politics on the peninsula.
The State Council of Crimea adopted in the first reading the draft law “On certain guarantees of the rights of peoples deported extrajudicially on a national basis in 1941-1944 from the Autonomous Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic”, which, among other things, provides for the amount and procedure for paying various lump-sum compensations to repatriates. kianews.com.ua/news/v-krymu-d… The adopted bill is the implementation of the Decree of the President of the Russian Federation "On measures for the rehabilitation of the Armenian, Bulgarian, Greek, Crimean Tatar and German peoples and state support for their revival and development."
It is aimed at social protection of the deportees, as well as their children, who were born after the eviction in 1941–1944 in places of deprivation of liberty or in exile and returned to permanent residence in Crimea, and those who were outside Crimea at the time of deportation ( military service, evacuation, forced labor), but was sent to special settlements. ? 🐒 this is the evolution of city tours. VIP guide - a city dweller, will show the most unusual places and tell urban legends, I tried it, it's fire 🚀! Prices from 600 rubles. - will definitely please 🤑
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Crimean Tatars are a nationality that originated on the Crimean peninsula and in southern Ukraine. Experts say that this people came to the peninsula in 1223, and settled in 1236. The interpretation of the history and culture of this ethnic group is vague and multifaceted, which causes additional interest.
Description of the nation
Crimeans, Krymchaks, Murzaks are the names of this people. They live in the Republic of Crimea, Ukraine, Turkey, Romania, etc. Despite the assumption about the difference between the Kazan and Crimean Tatars, experts argue about the unity of the origins of these two directions. Differences arose in connection with the specifics of assimilation.
The Islamization of the ethnic group occurred at the end of the 13th century. It has symbols of statehood: flag, coat of arms, anthem. The blue flag depicts a tamga, the symbol of the steppe nomads.
As of 2010, about 260 thousand are registered in Crimea, and in Turkey there are 4-6 million representatives of this nationality who consider themselves Turks of Crimean origin. 67% live in non-urban areas of the peninsula: Simferopol, Bakhchisaray and Dzhankoy.
Fluent in three Russian and Ukrainian. Most speak Turkish and Azerbaijani. The native language is Crimean Tatar.
The history of the emergence of the Crimean Khanate
Crimea is a peninsula inhabited by Greeks already by the 5th-4th centuries BC. e. Chersonese and Theodosia are large Greek settlements of this period.
According to historians, the Slavs settled on the peninsula after repeated, not always successful, invasions of the peninsula in the 6th century AD. e., merging with the local population - the Scythians, Huns and Goths.
The Tatars began to raid Taurida (Crimea) from the 13th century. This led to the creation of a Tatar administration in the city of Solkhat, later renamed Kyrym. With so began to call the peninsula.
The first khan was recognized as Khadzhi Giray, a descendant of the Khan of the Golden Horde Tash-Timur - the grandson of Genghis Khan. The Gireys, calling themselves Genghisides, laid claim to the khanate after the division of the Golden Horde. In 1449 he was recognized as the Crimean Khan. The capital was the city of the Palace in the gardens - Bakhchisaray.
The collapse of the Golden Horde led to the migration of tens of thousands of Crimean Tatars to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Prince Vitovt used them in military operations and to impose discipline among the Lithuanian feudal lords. In return, the Tatars received land, built mosques. Gradually they assimilated with the locals, switching to Russian or Polish. Muslim Tatars were not persecuted by the church, as they did not prevent the spread of Catholicism.
Turkish-Tatar Union
In 1454, the Crimean Khan signed an agreement with Turkey to fight the Genoese. As a result of the Turkish-Tatar alliance in 1456, the colonies pledged to pay tribute to the Turks and Crimean Tatars. In 1475, Turkish troops, with the assistance of the Tatars, occupied the Genoese city of Kafu (in Turkish, Kefe), after that, the Taman Peninsula, putting an end to the presence of the Genoese.
In 1484, the Turkish-Tatar troops took possession of the Black Sea coast. The state of the Budzhitskaya Horde was founded on this square.
The opinions of historians regarding the Turkish-Tatar alliance are divided: some are sure that the Crimean Khanate has become a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, others consider them equal allies, since the interests of both states coincided.
In reality, the Khanate depended on Turkey:
- the sultan is the leader of the Crimean Muslims;
- the Khan's family lived in Turkey;
- Turkey bought up slaves and loot;
- Turkey supported the attacks of the Crimean Tatars;
- Turkey helped with weapons and troops.
The long military operations of the khanate with the Moscow state and the Commonwealth suspended the Russian troops in 1572 at the Battle of Molodi. After the battle, the Nogai hordes, formally subordinate to the Crimean Khanate, continued to raid, but their number was greatly reduced. Guard functions were taken over by the formed Cossacks.
Life of the Crimean Tatars
The peculiarity of the people was the non-recognition of a settled way of life until the 17th century. Agriculture developed poorly, it was mostly nomadic: the land was cultivated in the spring, the harvest was harvested in the fall, after returning. The result was a small harvest. It was impossible to feed people due to such agriculture.
Raids and robberies remained a source of life for the Crimean Tatars. The Khan's army was not regular, it consisted of volunteers. 1/3 of the men of the khanate participated in major campaigns. In especially large - all men. Only tens of thousands of slaves and women with children remained in the khanate.
Life on a hike
The Tatars did not use carts in campaigns. The carts at home were harnessed not by horses, but by oxen and camels. These animals are not suitable for hiking. Horses themselves found their own food in the steppes even in winter, breaking snow with their hooves. Each warrior took 3-5 horses with him on a campaign to increase speed when replacing tired animals. In addition, horses are additional food for a warrior.
The main weapon of the Tatars is bows. They hit the target from a hundred paces. In the campaign they had sabers, bows, whips and wooden poles, which served as supports for tents. A knife, a flint, an awl, 12 meters of leather rope for prisoners and a tool for orienteering in the steppe were kept on the belt. For ten people, one bowler hat and a drum were taken. Each had a flute for notification and a tub for water. They ate on the campaign oatmeal - a mixture of flour from barley and millet. This was used to make a pexinet drink, to which salt was added. In addition, each had fried meat and crackers. The source of nutrition is weak and injured horses. Boiled blood with flour, thin layers of meat from under the saddle of a horse after a two-hour race, boiled pieces of meat, etc. were prepared from horse meat.
Caring for horses is the most important thing for a Crimean Tatar. The horses were poorly fed, believing that they recuperate on their own after long journeys. Lightweight saddles were used for horses, parts of which were used by the rider: the lower part of the saddle was a carpet, the base was for the head, a cloak stretched over poles was a tent.
Tatar horses - bakemans - were not shod. They are small and clumsy, but at the same time hardy and fast. Rich people used beautiful cow horns for them.
Crimeans in campaigns
The Tatars have a special tactic of conducting a campaign: on their territory, the speed of transition is low, with the concealment of traces of movement. Outside of it, the speed was reduced to a minimum. During the raids, the Crimean Tatars hid in ravines and hollows from enemies, did not make fires at night, did not let the horses neigh, caught tongues to obtain intelligence, before going to bed fastened themselves with lassoes to the horses for a quick escape from the enemy.
As part of the Russian Empire
Since 1783, the “Black Century” for the nationality begins: joining Russia. In the decree of 1784 "On the organization of the Tauride region", the administration on the peninsula is implemented according to the Russian model.
The noble nobles of the Crimea and the supreme clergy were equal in rights with the Russian aristocracy. Massive land acquisition led to emigration in the 1790s and 1860s, during the Crimean War, to the Ottoman Empire. Three-quarters of the Crimean Tatars left the peninsula in the first decade of the Russian Empire. The descendants of these migrants created the Turkish, Romanian and Bulgarian diasporas. These processes led to the devastation and desolation of agriculture on the peninsula.
Life in the USSR
After the February Revolution in the Crimea, an attempt was made to create autonomy. For this, a Crimean Tatar kurultai of 2,000 delegates was convened. The event elected the Provisional Crimean Muslim Executive Committee (VKMIK). The Bolsheviks did not take into account the decisions of the committee, and in 1921 the Crimean ASSR was formed.
Crimea during the Great Patriotic War
During the occupation, since 1941, Muslim committees were created, which were renamed Crimean, Simferopol. Since 1943, the organization was renamed the Simferopol Tatar Committee. Regardless of the name, its functions included:
- opposition to partisans - resistance to the liberation of Crimea;
- the formation of voluntary detachments - the creation of Einsatzgruppe D, in which there were about 9,000 people;
- the creation of an auxiliary police - by 1943 there were 10 battalions;
- propaganda Nazi ideology etc.
The committee acted in the interests of forming a separate state of the Crimean Tatars under the auspices of Germany. However, this was not part of the plans of the Nazis, who envisaged the annexation of the peninsula to the Reich.
But there was also an opposite attitude towards the Nazis: by 1942, a sixth of the partisan formations were Crimean Tatars, who made up the Sudak partisan detachment. Since 1943, underground work has been carried out on the territory of the peninsula. About 25 thousand representatives of the nationality fought in the Red Army.
Cooperation with the Nazis led to mass deportations to Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, the Urals and other territories in 1944. During the two days of the operation, 47,000 families were deported.
It was allowed to take clothes, personal belongings, utensils and food in an amount not exceeding 500 kg per family. In the summer months, the settlers were provided with food on account of the abandoned property. Only 1.5 thousand representatives of the nationality remained on the peninsula.
The return to the Crimea became possible only in 1989.
Holidays and traditions of the Crimean Tatars
The customs and rituals include Muslim, Christian and pagan traditions. Holidays are based on the agricultural work calendar.
The animal calendar, introduced by the Mongols, displays the influence of a particular animal in each year of the twelve-year cycle. Spring is the beginning of the year, so Navruz (New Year) is celebrated on the day of the spring equinox. This is due to the beginning of field work. On the holiday it is supposed to boil eggs as symbols of new life, bake pies, burn old things at the stake. Jumping over the fire, masked trips to houses were organized for young people, while the girls were guessing. To this day, the graves of relatives are traditionally visited on this holiday.
May 6 - Hyderlez - the day of the two saints Hydir and Ilyas. Christians celebrate Saint George's Day. On this day, work began in the field, the cattle were driven out to pastures, the barn was sprinkled with fresh milk to protect it from evil forces.
The autumn equinox coincided with the holiday of Derviz - the harvest. Shepherds returned from mountain pastures, weddings were held in the settlements. At the beginning of the celebration, according to tradition, prayer and ritual sacrifice were held. Then the inhabitants of the settlement went to the fair and dances.
The holiday of the beginning of winter - Yil Gedzhesi - fell on the winter solstice. On this day, it is customary to bake pies with chicken and rice, make halvah, go home dressed up for sweets.
Crimean Tatars also recognize Muslim holidays: Uraza Bayram, Kurban Bayram, Ashir-Kunya, etc.
Crimean Tatar wedding
The wedding of the Crimean Tatars (photo below) lasts two days: first for the groom, then for the bride. The bride's parents are not present at the celebrations on the first day, and vice versa. Invite from 150 to 500 people from each side. Traditionally, the beginning of the wedding is marked by the ransom of the bride. This is a quiet stage. The bride's father ties a red scarf around her waist. This symbolizes the strength of the bride, who becomes a woman and devotes herself to order in the family. On the second day, the groom's father will remove this scarf.
After the ransom, the bride and groom perform the marriage ceremony in the mosque. Parents do not participate in the ceremony. After reading the prayer by the mullah and issuing a marriage certificate, the bride and groom are considered husband and wife. The bride makes a wish while praying. The groom is obliged to fulfill it within the time limits set by the mullah. The desire can be anything: from decorating to building a house.
After the mosque, the newlyweds go to the registry office for the official registration of marriage. The ceremony is no different from the Christian, except for the absence of a kiss in front of other people.
Before the banquet, the parents of the bride and groom are required to redeem the Koran for any money without bargaining from the smallest child at the wedding. Congratulations are accepted not by the newlyweds, but by the bride's parents. There are no competitions at the wedding, only performances by artists.
The wedding ends with two dances:
- the national dance of the bride and groom - haitarma;
- Horan - guests, holding hands, dance in a circle, and the newlyweds in the center dance a slow dance.
Crimean Tatars are a nation with multicultural traditions that go far back in history. Despite assimilation, they retain their own identity and national flavor.
Tatars (self-name - Tatar Tatar, tatar, pl. Tatarlar, tatarlar) - a Turkic-speaking people living in the central regions of the European part of Russia, in the Volga region, the Urals, in Siberia, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, Xinjiang and the Far East.
Language and dialects:
Tatars speak the Tatar language of the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic group of the Altaic family. The languages (dialects) of the Siberian Tatars show a certain proximity to the language of the Tatars of the Volga and Ural regions. The literary language of the Tatars was formed on the basis of the middle (Kazan) dialect.
Writing:
From the 10th century to 1927, there was writing based on Arabic script, from 1928 to 1936, Latin script (yanalif) was used, from 1936 until the present, writing on the Cyrillic graphic basis has been used. There are plans to translate the Tatar script into Latin.
Education:
There is school education in the Tatar language - it is conducted according to the all-Russian program and textbooks translated into the Tatar language. Exceptions: textbooks and lessons of the Russian language and literature, English and other European languages, teams in physical education classes can be in Russian. There is also Tatar-language education at some faculties of Kazan universities and in kindergartens. A secular school with a ten-year period of study began to exist among the Tatars with the introduction of compulsory secondary education for all citizens of the USSR.
Culture:
Housing and life:
The traditional dwelling of the Tatars of the Middle Volga and the Urals was a log cabin, fenced off from the street by a fence. The outer façade was decorated with multicolored paintings. The Astrakhan Tatars, who retained some of their steppe pastoral traditions, had a yurt as a summer dwelling.
National clothes:
The clothes of men and women consisted of trousers with a wide step and a shirt (for women it was supplemented with an embroidered bib), on which a sleeveless camisole was put on. Cossacks served as outerwear, and in winter - a quilted beshmet or fur coat. The headdress of men is a skullcap, and on top of it is a hemispherical hat with fur or a felt hat; for women - an embroidered velvet cap (kalfak) and a scarf. Traditional shoes are leather ichigi with soft soles; outside the home they were worn with leather galoshes. The women's costume was characterized by an abundance of metal jewelry.
Holidays and ceremonies:
Like many other peoples, the rites and holidays of the Tatar people largely depended on the agricultural cycle. Even the names of the seasons were denoted by a concept associated with a particular work: saban өste - spring, the beginning of spring; pehn өste - summer, haymaking time. The ethnographer R. G. Urazmanova, using extensive ethnographic material, divides the rituals of the Tatars into two unequal groups: spring-summer and winter-autumn cycles.
Spring-summer cycle:
- Rites and holidays held before sowing - Sabantuy.
-Rites associated with the beginning of sowing.
-Rites and holidays held after sowing - Jien.
Autumn-winter cycle:
Unlike spring-summer, it does not have a clear division, since it is not tied to the folk calendar, but rather to agricultural life. R. G. Urazmanova highlights the following features of this season:
-Help. Assistance in carrying out particularly difficult work. This was especially noticeable when processing slaughtered geese - kaz өmәse, where people were invited, even if this was not necessary.
- Christmas time. The period of the winter solstice is Nardugan. It was found everywhere in the Volga region, among the Tatars it was common among the Kryashens and Mishars. Divination was a special element of these holidays.
-New Year. This holiday occurred only sporadically.
-Maslenitsa. One of the most common holidays among the Kryashens
Crimean Tatars
Gustav Radde
Foreword
March 3 (16), 2003 marked the 100th anniversary of the death of the famous Russian naturalist, traveler, ethnographer, corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences Gustav Radde.
Gustav Ivanovich (Gustav Ferdinand Richard) Radde was born on November 27, 1831 in the Prussian city of Danzig (now Polish Gdansk) in the family of a teacher. Already in his school years, and later, having joined the city society of naturalists, he studied the local flora and fauna, collected herbariums, collections of insects.
In 1852 he came to Russia. In 1852-1854 he lived in the Crimea.
In 1855 - a member of the famous East Siberian expedition.
In 1857-1859 he traveled across the Amur and the Sayans, visited the Tunkinsky Alps; explored the sources of the Yenisei, Irkut and Ob rivers, Lake Kosogol, observing the autumn migration of birds.
In January 1860 he returned to St. Petersburg. At the request of the Academy of Sciences and the Geographical Society, the now Russian citizen Radde, for his services, received a place in the Moscow Zoological Museum, where he was supposed to sort out his own collections.
In 1863 he married the daughter of Academician F.F. Brandt. The couple settled in Tiflis.
In 1867, with the participation of Radde, the Caucasian Museum of Natural History was opened.
In 1884 Radde was elected chairman of the First International Ornithological Congress in Vienna, and in 1889 he became a corresponding member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. Traveled to India, Indonesia, Ceylon, Mediterranean countries.
In 1900, Radde organized the Caucasian Department at the Paris International Exhibition. The exposition was a huge success, it was noted by a number of awards. Until his death in 1903, Radde worked on the creation of the next volumes of the Collections of the Caucasian Museum. Buried in Likany, near Borjomi (For more on Rudde's biography, see: Russian Odyssey by Gustav Radde
As can be judged by the rich heritage of Radde, he was a multi-talented scientist. Radde the ethnographer is better known in the field of studying the Caucasus and its inhabitants. However, he also wrote a work on the ethnography of the Crimean Tatars - much less known and related to the early period of his activity.
Not much is known about Radda's journey to the Crimea. In the spring of 1852, having received a cash subsidy from the Danzig Society of Naturalists and a pass to Russia, Radde arrived in the Crimea with a trade caravan. The Swiss consul gave him a letter of recommendation to the famous Russian botanist and entomologist, honorary member of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences H.H. Steven, founder of the Nikitsky Botanical Garden in the Crimea. Steven treated the young man favorably, praised his sketches of plants and settled him in his estate near Simferopol.
The young Rudde lived here for three years, from 1852 to 1854, collecting plants in the summer and painting them for Steven in the winter. On foot travels, he traveled the entire Tauride Peninsula. At the same time, he met the farmer and public figure Iosif Nikolaevich Shatilov, at whose invitation he set up a small natural history museum on his estate near Sivash, which was later donated to Moscow University. (Review of the Full Member of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society, Prof. N.I. Kuznetsov on the works of Dr. G.I. Radde. Tiflis, 1899. P.3.). In 1854 Radde went to St. Petersburg with a rich collection.
The results of the study of the flora of the Crimea were presented by Rudde in the work "Experience in characterizing the vegetation of the Crimea" (in German in: Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes. Moscou, 1854). Impressions from a three-year stay in the Crimea, observing the life of the indigenous inhabitants of Crimea - the Crimean Tatars - were summarized by him in a large ethnographic work "Crimean Tatars", published in two issues of the "Bulletin of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society" for 1856, 1857.
This work is largely forgotten today. In Soviet times, it was never reprinted; among the pre-revolutionary period publications, we will name the reproduction of individual chapters of the work in the textbook “Fatherland Studies. Russia according to the stories of travelers and scientific research ”(St. Petersburg, 1866). Meanwhile, this is perhaps the only classical work on the ethnography of the Crimean Tatars of the 19th century, in which the objects of consideration are purely ethnographic (ethnogenesis, language, customs and rituals, religion and education, clothing, national character, etc.).
It is not possible to agree with all the conclusions of the author, there are certain inaccuracies in the work. This is undoubtedly the perception of the Crimean reality and the Crimean Tatars through the eyes of a person of a different culture. In this work, Radde is more of a traveler, sometimes a lyrical writer, than a scholar-researcher. And this is understandable: Radde was neither an orientalist nor a historian of the Crimea, here he is only an observer, though attentive and meticulous, of an alien, rather exotic and, apparently, not quite understandable and close to him reality. Therefore, for all the thoroughness of his approach, this is more a detailed traveler's notes than a specialist's research. However, this does not negate the obvious merits of the work, which undoubtedly include detailed descriptions of the life of the Tatars and the Crimean nature, written by a clearly talented and educated person, albeit not without a touch of subjectivity.
We invite the reader to get acquainted with this rare source on the ethnography of the Crimean Tatars of the 19th century.
Published according to the edition: Gustav Radde. Crimean Tatars // Bulletin of the Imperial Russian Geographical Society: 1856, book. VI, pp. 290-330; 1857, book. I, pp. 47-64.
For ease of reading, the text has been translated into modern Russian with the currently accepted alphabet and grammatical forms.
The publication is illustrated with rare postcards of the 19th century from the collection of the Moscow collector Nizami Ibraimov and scanned photographs from rare books.
Foreword and archaeographic preparation of the text by Gulnara Bekirova.
Introduction
The population of the Crimean peninsula presents a colorful and varied picture, which is difficult to find in another European country. In a small space of 475.60 square meters. miles here, except for Russians, almost all European nations are found: Gypsies, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, and so on. But, no matter how interesting for the researcher this diversity of newcomer tribes, of which Russians, Germans, colonists and Karaite Jews make up the majority, nevertheless, his attention involuntarily rushes to the indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula - the Tatars, who far outnumber all other nationalities combined. , and constitute the main population of the Crimea, extending to 111,000 males.
The Crimean Tatars, although they all belong to the Mongol tribe, did not everywhere, however, retain the primitive type. In appearance, they represent three degrees, quite sharply different from one another. Only in the remnants of the Nogai tribe inhabiting the northern plains of the peninsula and districts on the other side of the Perekop Isthmus, a purely Mongolian type has been preserved, the signs of which are: low and round-shouldered growth; yellowish and dark complexion, often turning into copper-red; dark eyes; the nose is small and almost always flattened; black hair and a very sparse beard. Most striking is the structure of the eyes and temporal bones. The latter protrude far forward, and the eyes, which lie in the depths of the eye sockets thus formed, are narrowed and turned obliquely upwards.
Mountain Tatars, living on the northern slopes of the Crimean mountains, in the steppes and valleys, differ in many ways from the Nogais; they are tall and well built, their complexion is lighter, approaching the color of the Caucasian tribe, their eyes are large and dark, their hair and beard are thick and black. In general, the appearance of the mountain Tatars is beautiful.
The inhabitants of the southern coast, who also practice Islam, are of mixed breed. Much Greek blood flows in their veins; they are tall and strongly built; their complexion is swarthy, but not yellow, like that of the Nogais; the face is long and pleasant; the nose is straight, often Greek or Roman; black hair and eyes.
In general, all the Tatars of the Crimean peninsula noticeably have a special ear structure, which occurs as a result of the habit of constantly wearing a heavy hat made of ram's fur. All Tatars have flattened ears on top and are separated from the head. The width of the ear often exceeds its length. It is also impossible not to notice that the female sex is distinguished by the whiteness of the skin and especially the face, which is rarely found among women of the lower classes in the peoples of the Caucasian tribe. The reason for this lies in the special care with which Muslim women cover their faces while in the fresh air. In addition, this fact can still serve as evidence in favor of the opinion that the dark complexion of the Tatars does not in the least depend on the presence of a coloring pigment in the skin, but rather is a consequence of the influence of climate and air.
Before proceeding to describe the way of life of each of the three Tatar tribes we have cited, it seems necessary to us to mention the customs and customs common to all the inhabitants of the Crimean peninsula and thus uniting three separate branches of the same people into one whole. These customs common to all relate mostly to the religious beliefs of the Tatars and to their civil legislation, which is closely connected with their religious beliefs. The sayings of the Koran serve as the basis for both, and this is the reason why the Muslim Tatars are so attached to their father's traditions and to the teachings of Mohammed, which penetrated into all the details of their civil life.
Map of Crimea.
Chapter I. On the religion of the Crimean Tatars and on the degree of their education
The first duty of every true believer, says the prophet, is prayer, which is always performed after the ablution necessary for reality. The Tatars observe this law very strictly. On certain important occasions, as, for example, before a wedding or after returning from a funeral, washing of the whole body is required; but before the usual daily prayer, most people confine themselves to washing their faces, hands, and feet.
I have repeatedly happened to be a witness to the accuracy with which the Tatars, interrupting their studies and stopping in the middle of business, observe the hours of prayer. In the summer of 1852, I was driving through the Perekop steppe in the company of an old mullah from Bakhchisaray. He stopped in the middle of the steppe, took out majars earthenware mug with water and, having performed ablution, spread a felt carpet on the ground, on which he prayed with his head covered, constantly turning his face to the southeast. After the end of the prayer, he began to unload the wagon, unharnessed the horses and prepared his modest supper.
Another time I hunted for three days in a row in the dense forests of Chatyr-Dag, in the company of 15 Tatars. We spent the night in a cave, many of which are found in the Jurassic limestone that forms the slopes of the Crimean Mountains. In the morning, when setting out on my journey, I was struck by the fact that none of my companions prayed; but soon the reason for this was revealed. After an hour's journey, we met a bright spring, at which our entire company stopped to take a bath. After him, everyone prayed and went on.
Pious and devout Tatars, especially in advanced years, pray with a rosary. Tatar rosary consists of 60 wooden balls strung on a thread. Prayer is performed three times a day, and each time the faithful must sort out the rosary three times; in other words, they recite up to 510 prayers a day.
The rite of washing, based on the words of the prophet: "Cleanliness is the key to prayer," is considered necessary for the validity of prayer. True Muslims extend this law even further: they shave their heads and carefully trim their nails to preserve the purity of the body.
The prophet calls prayer "the key to paradise and the cornerstone of faith" and orders to pray five times a day. In rich villages, where mosques have minarets, the mullah returns to the people every time the hour of prayer comes, and calls the faithful Muslims in a monotonous and dull chant. The first call is given immediately after sunrise, the second at noon, and the third after sunset. Then, at night, the Tatars had to pray two more times, and it often happened to me myself to see how
Saki. Tatars at prayer.
the mullah, in a storm and pouring rain, lighting a lantern, went to the minaret or to the stone porch of the mosque and, despite the night and bad weather, fulfilled the Alkoran's order. However, Tatars only go to the mosque on Fridays to pray, where people also gather on highly solemn days and during fasting. Usually prayer is performed at home or in the field, and only the elderly visit the mosque. On holidays, the mullah, after prayer, ends the divine service with a brief instruction and a common prayer for the welfare and health of the EMPEROR, THE EMPRESS, and all of Their Most August House.
You should also pay attention to the following customs strictly observed by the Tatars during prayer. Firstly, they do not pray otherwise than by removing all ornaments and jewels from themselves and observing extreme simplicity in clothes; secondly, women never meet men in the mosque, but visit it occasionally and only at certain hours. In their mosques, the Tatars also strictly observe cleanliness and tidiness; the walls are always smooth and unadorned; cover the stone floor with pieces of felt. In general, in all interior decoration, the Tatars carefully avoid variegation and architectural decorations.
Alcoran's other decree, almsgiving, seems to have become part of the law. After the death of a Tatar, a third of his property belongs by right to Mecca and to the poor. In general, almsgiving during life is given in money, and not in kind, although there are no laws limiting the generosity of the faithful in this respect.
Fasting, one of the most important requirements of Mohammedanism, is observed very strictly in the Crimea. In the course of a whole month dedicated to the remembrance of a very important event for Muslims, i.e. about the gift of the prophet Alkoran to them, the Tatars do not eat anything until sunset, thus fulfilling, although not completely, the requirements of faith. A true Muslim, in addition to abstaining from food, is obliged to fulfill two more conditions during fasting, i.e. not to sin in word or deed and to abandon all worldly concerns for a more successful rapprochement of the soul with the deity. Since the exact time of the appearance of Alkoran on earth is not known, it is not possible to more accurately determine the era of the celebration of Ramadan, during which there is a fast. To avoid error, Ramadan is celebrated every year one month later than the previous year, and thus during the 12 lunar years, one fast probably falls on the month in which Alkoran was donated to the earth.
The conscientiousness of the Crimean Tatars in the performance of the difficult duties of the post is very remarkable. In the hottest time of the year, during the full height of the field work, when the scorching rays of the sun and hard work exhaust everyone and food becomes necessary for recuperation, not one of them will dare to break the law. With amazing patience they endure the most painful thirst and refuse even their favorite occupation - smoking a pipe. With impatience, the eyes of all are turned to the west and are waiting for the moment when the last ray of the setting sun fades behind the horizon and twilight will cover the plain. The first star that shone in the darkened sky finally allows the weary workers to leave their work and reinforce the exhausted forces. Gathering around the huge bonfires, the Tatars rush to light a pipe, pray, and then sit down to dinner. A cheerful conversation often goes on long after midnight.
Such a way of life and the duration of the fast, however, often have a disastrous effect on health, and only wealthy Tatars have the opportunity to fast without any bad consequences. However, the law allows an exception from the general rule for travelers, young children, sick women and the elderly, unless, indeed, they are able to fulfill all the prescriptions of Alkoran.
It should also be noted that in observing the fasts, the Crimean Tatars do not all follow the same rules. In other places, the Tatars, in addition to abstaining from food, still, during the day, observe deep silence and consider every deed and every work that is not extremely necessary a sin. But at the same time, much is left to the personal arbitrariness of everyone, and only a few conscientiously fulfill all the requirements of such a post, which seems to be the second, highest degree of this religious duty. The third degree of fasting is observed only by the Mohammedan clergy and very few private individuals. Although there are no monastics among them, in the strict sense of the word, many of the mullahs devote their entire lives to prayer and service to Allah, and for this they spend a whole fast on the Koran or on the rosary. For such persons, who wish to completely abandon worldly work, there are special institutions, somewhat similar to our monasteries, with the only difference that only the head of the brethren lives in them, and that they serve as a haven for all monastics in general, who travel in societies around the country, collecting alms from the faithful. After such a journey, the monks live for some time in the monastery and spend days of rest in fasting and prayer. I saw such a monastery, built in an ellipse, of white limestone, with a brick roof, in Bakhchisarai, but I could not get permission to penetrate into its interior, which, in addition to the hall for common prayer, contains many cells for receiving wandering brethren. Its chief, a descendant of Mohammed, enjoyed special reverence among all the inhabitants of the neighborhood. In general, as far as I could see, the only external difference between monastics and secular ones was that the former shaved their mustaches and left only one beard.
Among the religious obligations imposed by the Qur'an on faithful Muslims is also the obligation, at least once in a lifetime, to visit Mecca and bow to the tomb of the prophet. The fulfillment of this duty, associated with the difficulties of a long and dangerous journey, in the Crimea is considered necessary only for spiritual persons, for mullahs, who, after their return from Mecca, receive the title of haji-mullah (a position corresponding to the position of a dean) and the enviable advantage of wearing a green turban, assigned only to the higher clergy and direct descendants of the prophet. *
Traveling from the Crimea to Mecca requires at least a year and a half of time and is associated with huge costs. For permission to enter the temple of Mecca, according to one Crimean mullah, one should pay 200 rubles. silver, for permission to leave from there almost the same amount. In addition, it is necessary to distribute a significant amount to the poor and cover the costs of the journey, so that few in the Crimea are only able to fulfill this prescription of the prophet.
On the way to Mecca, there is a place where anyone who goes to bow to the Kaaba must certainly throw a stone. Regarding this custom, a mullah told me the following legend, which I will try to convey to the reader.
It remains for me to mention some of the precautions of Muslims in the use of food and strong drinks. Although the prohibition of wine applies to everyone and everyone, but the majority of Crimean Tatars are quite convinced that vodka is not wine, and they drink it no worse than giaurs. Young Tatars, who in general do not follow the instructions of the Koran very conscientiously, sin especially much in this regard, and only the presence of old people and clergy keeps them from drinking intoxicating drinks every day. All Tatars in general drink the so-called buza, prepared from Saracen millet and representing a drink of an indefinite sweet and sour taste, containing a small amount of alcohol. The steppe Tatars, however, are an exception; they not only strictly abstain from all strong drinks, but even consider it a sin to use grapes, from which they themselves prepare young wine, which they immediately sell from their hands and sell in Simferopol.
I was told the following legend about the origin of the Tatar custom of not eating pork. In those times, on a dry and hot summer day, a Tatar mullah and a Russian old man walked in the steppe. When the sun began to approach the meridian, the travelers felt intense thirst and began to look in vain for a spring or a well to drink. Finally, the Russian touched the stone with his cane, and immediately clear, transparent water emerged from under it, with which the weary travelers refreshed their hot lips, and then returned home together. Mulla became envious that the Russian had performed such a miracle in his presence, and he thought for a long time about how to repay him and, in turn, surprise the infidel. After much thought, he came up with the following. Having prepared a huge wineskin from buffalo skins, he ordered it to be filled with water and buried slightly in the ground, so that a hole could be easily opened in it; then he invited his friend for a walk, during which he did not fail to lead him to the place where the surprise was prepared. But alas, unfortunately, the mullahs - pigs discovered the presence of a wineskin at night, dug up the ground and at the moment were lying in a freshly formed puddle. In annoyance, the mullah grabbed one of the innocent perpetrators of the failure of the Tatar miracle by the leg and, throwing him into a puddle, cursed his entire family and offspring. Since then, this animal has been considered unclean and not eaten, although some Tatars assured me with regret that if only it were known by which leg the mullah grabbed the guilty specimen, they would gladly agree to consider only this leg cursed and use the rest. for a meal.
The blood of slaughtered animals is never eaten and is strictly prohibited by the Quran. Before the holidays, the mullah is invited to the house and blesses the animals assigned for slaughter, and receives a head and a skin for this. All Tatars are very willing to eat camel meat; but only the steppe Nogais use horse meat, which is cut into long strips and placed under the saddle while riding, instead of being boiled or fried. Tatars are not in the habit of salting meat: they dry it in the sun and store it in this form until consumption.
As for the prohibition of gambling and gambling in general by the Koran, I have repeatedly had the opportunity to make sure that the Crimean Tatars not only do not observe it, but even often indulge in a destructive passion for gambling to such a strong extent that they lose everything to the last thread. . Especially often I saw this in Tatar coffee houses in cities and especially in Simferopol. Tatars who come to the city with goods and raw products are in a hurry to lose the proceeds, often lose other people's money and, despite punishments and solemn oaths not to touch cards or bones, after a short time they again get caught in the same and little by little become notorious scoundrels. and fall into poverty. Unfortunately, this fact, which I do not exaggerate, is repeated too often.
Whoever wants to judge the moral foundation and spiritual education not only of the Crimean Tatars, but also of all the Mohammedan peoples of the East, he must first pay attention to the means that the people own in order to elevate their spiritual qualities. Teaching has the goal of teaching the youth or the whole people the principles of morality; it must salutarily develop and exercise the faculties of the soul in uninterrupted activity, and in this form constitutes the only means for establishing unity of mind and common ideas among the people. The education of youth among the Tatars is very insufficient: they do not have a scientific education, and their women do not have the right to mental development at all.
The Tatars do not have public schools. If a father wants his son to learn something, then he sends his son to a learned mullah and pays him a certain amount of money annually. Mulla persuades to teach the boy to read, write, and, depending on the abilities and successes of the student, the teaching lasts from 2 to 5 and even up to 10 years. Until the age of 13, boys do not study, and if the limited means of the father do not allow giving the son to the mullah, the son remains an ignoramus for life. Of the four large villages here, only Tartar is able to educate his sons. Not only children, but also the elderly, who have a special desire to enter into a spiritual rank, go to study with a mullah who knows the scripture. The whole wisdom of Tatar education is to read the Qur'an and be able to write in (Arabic) Tatar; other information, even the most necessary for public life, is not taught. Very rarely a Tatar knows how to count (I'm not talking about those Tatars who owe their upbringing to Russia), but even these people, who are an exception to the general rule, know only addition and subtraction. We cannot point out traces of other sciences among the Tatars. Crafts and agriculture are studied by the Tatars practically, from their fathers. Since the Tatars do not think about introducing any improvements in their work, they still have it now in the same position as it was in the old days. The Tatars are not successful in any craft - they have eternal stagnation - so that their trade relations with the East are in constant decline.
Chapter II. Civil customs of the Crimean Tatars
1. Tatar wedding ceremonies
The civil family life of the Crimean Tatars, based on their civil legislation, has a great analogy with their religious customs. Its source is Alkoran, which contains the rules for all the most important cases of human life and therefore has a close relationship to civil law.
Tatar family. Bourdier, Raul. Histoire de la Crimee, Paris, 1856
With regard to family life people's marriage laws play an important role. Among the Tatars, as among all Muslims in general, polygamy is consecrated by law. The Alcoran limits the number of legal marriages of each true believer to four; but the majority, especially wealthy people and mullahs, for some unknown reason, prefer the number seven to this number. However, it should be noted that in reality the material means of maintenance and the condition of the Tatars for the most part allow them to marry only two, rarely three wives, of whom, according to the law, each must have a special room and a special table that she prepares herself. The husband visits one or the other. In general, women are considered subordinate beings and have no voice in the face of the law. When the inheritance is divided, they receive only half against the share of men and at the same time play
the most miserable and subordinate role. The wife left after her husband does not dare to appear herself at the division. The relatives of the husband and the qadi (judge) gather in the house of the deceased, eat, drink and divide his property without the wife, who does not even have the right to complain about injustice, but must still make every effort to treat her persecutors decently. During the life of a husband, wives have the most difficult and rude duties. They carry firewood and water, drive out and drive in cattle, pour water over themselves, their spouses and their children, in a word, they alone bear all the burdens of the economy. The divorce of spouses among the Tatars is a very common and consecrated by law, but before committing a divorced husband three times can renounce his wife and drive her out of the house. After a divorce, spouses cannot remarry among themselves, but nothing prevents them from marrying or marrying others. The only right given to the wife by law is that she, if her husband mistreats her, may leave him, but this rarely happens, and most marriages are destroyed at the request of the husbands. A mullah and several most honorable villagers are invited to perform a divorce. The whole ceremony is limited to a few religious rites. The forms and rites to be observed in marriages are prescribed by law, which, however, does not determine the age of the persons entering into marriage. However, men rarely start this important business before the age of thirty, but brides are sometimes 15 or even 13 years old. It rarely happens that the father of the bride agrees to a marriage for her gift: for the most part, he bargains with the groom and takes a ransom from him, the amount of which negotiations drag on for a year or more, and which is paid in cattle or money. During these negotiations, before the marriage ceremony, the groom, even having received the state of his father (the consent of the mother is not asked), is deprived of the right to see his bride. Without her, he goes to the mosque, where he meets the father of the bride, the mullah and several guests and relatives. The mullah says a short prayer and the marriage is considered legal.
Quite often, instead of long negotiations, especially when the requirements of the future father-in-law to the groom seem inappropriate and exaggerated, this latter takes away his beloved at night, without the consent of the parents. In this case, the bride, for the sake of decency, must cry out at least three times and ask for help, and only when this condition is fulfilled is considered right. The groom puts her on a horse, behind him, and at full speed rushes home through the steppe. The next day, the father-in-law makes his demands, and if the groom does not refuse to satisfy them, then the marriage is considered absolutely correct, and the mullah is called to say the usual prayers.
After the marriage ceremony in the mosque, preparations for a real wedding begin. For three days in the groom's house, everything is cleaned and dressed up. His friends gather in the house, where gypsy musicians diligently amuse them with music, and where women constantly treat them to all possible foods and delicacies. On the third day, in the afternoon, everyone mounts their horses and eagerly awaits the arrival of the covered majara (wagon) in which the queen of that day is. If the bride lives in another village, then the groom and all the riders surrounding him, seeing the bride’s train from afar, in front of which two young guys on horseback carry a stretched colorful scarf tied to two long poles, immediately gallop towards him at full speed. From the leading carts, women, mostly old women, give them colorful paper handkerchiefs, which each one ties to the horse's head harness, and about which an argument immediately begins between the riders. On this occasion, young Tatars are happy to show each other their dexterity in riding. The one who receives the handkerchief immediately jumps into the steppe, others chase after him, and finally the handkerchief goes to the one who surpasses his rivals in strength or dexterity.
At the entrance to the village, various intricate jokes begin. At the sound of music, the train stops near the first houses, and the villagers demand a fee to be allowed to enter. An argument begins. Out of 500 silver rubles, after some negotiations, 5 rubles are made, and after paying this amount, the whole wedding finally approaches the groom's house. Madjara, in which the bride is, with 7 or 8 old women, drives up as close as possible to the low doors. All the men leave the house and move aside. The bride, wrapped from head to toe in white cotton veils, lies down on a scarf carried in front of the train, and is taken out of the majara by women, and it often happens that awkward old women bruise her and make her scream in pain. The whole evening the bride does not leave the inner rooms and does not show herself to anyone.
If near the village in which the groom lives there is a landowner's dacha or a manor's house, then the custom requires that the groom invite the landowner to the wedding and in this case give him a gift, consisting either in a scarf embroidered by the bride, or in a tobacco pouch, or even in shirt. In general, the bride is engaged in the preparation of this gift during preparations for the wedding. In general, she is charged with the duty to embroider a certain number of scarves with which the Tatars clean their homes, hanging them on the walls. Some grooms even agree on the number of these scarves before the wedding.
2. Funeral.
The customs observed by the Tatars when burying the dead are closely related to the ideas they have about afterlife at all. Muslims believe that the angel of death, recalling the soul from the mortal body, immediately transfers it to another angel to prepare it for a better life and for the eternal pleasures of paradise. The soul of the righteous leaves the human body quietly and without pain; the souls of the outcasts, on the contrary, struggle for a long time with the fire of death, and only after stubborn resistance, accompanied by torment, do they leave the sinners. Therefore, according to this teaching, the soul remains in the body even after burial all the time necessary for testing and preparing it, which is done by two testing geniuses. In order for the deceased to be able to maintain all the conditions of decency at the same time, a grave is arranged for him so that he can sit in it and answer the questions offered to him regarding his faith and his behavior on earth. If the test ends in favor of the test subject, then his soul immediately flies to heaven, where it remains until the Last Judgment, while the body, meanwhile, tastes, without leaving the grave, all the pleasures and pleasures of the paradise of Mohammed. But if the deceased turns out to be unworthy of a heavenly reward, his body is subjected to terrible torments and poisonous wounds of ninety-nine seven-headed dragons, and the soul returns to earth, where it wanders, finding no rest anywhere, and then falls into the 7th tier of the underworld.
We have already said that the Tatars bury their dead in a sitting position, with the body wrapped in white scarves; put on stockings and shoes; on the head - a yarmulke with a white brush. Near the body, bread, water, a pipe, tobacco and flint are placed in the grave, so that the deceased does not endure need until the appearance of test angels. The grave is up to 8 feet deep and, in addition, a horizontal recess 3 feet long, designated to accommodate the feet of the deceased. When the body has already been lowered into the grave and brought into the proper position, from 4 to 6 poles are placed above it in an inclined position (above the head and up to the knees) and then a hole is dug, so that the body rests in an air-filled space and is in a sitting position. The friends and close associates of the deceased themselves arrange the grave and carry out the body in their arms, followed by his relatives and the mullah, with general weeping and loud sobs, between which the words: “Allah, Allah” are constantly heard. At the grave, everyone moves away from the coffin at a certain distance, and only the mullah remains about ten steps away from him and, leaning face to the ground, prays aloud and then offers the deceased different questions like, “What are you doing? Do you feel good in the grave? Are you satisfied with your funeral? Have you seen such and such? What are they doing? and so on. The mullah answers all these questions himself, in a changed voice, and his answers are accepted as the answers of the deceased, and, depending on their satisfaction, the mullah should more or less pray for the calm of the soul, body of the deceased and receives more or less reward.
Upon returning home, the guests sit down for a dinner prepared in advance and immediately proceed to the division of the remaining property, in accordance with existing laws or with the last will of the deceased. On the 3rd and 9th day, all relatives gather again for dinner and commemorate the deceased. After three months and three years, the same rite is repeated.
It is not superfluous to say here a few words about appearance and arrangement of Tatar cemeteries. Anyone who expects to meet something similar to our Christian ones in such a Mohammedan cemetery is bitterly mistaken. He will not see the right paths, nor densely planted trees, nor the monuments erected by relatives and friends in memory of a friend who has left them. A bare place without shade and greenery receives the remains of the deceased Crimean Mohammedans. The graves are arranged without any order. Irregular piles of stones cover uneven terrain and serve as a sign of the burial place. At the foot of each grave, facing the east, rises a roughly hewn stone, with a twisted end, showing on the side facing the grave an inscription carved on the stone, telling about the name and merits of the deceased. These stones almost always consist of white shell limestone, quarried in large quantities in the vicinity of the village. Badrak. Sometimes they are covered with blue paint, and then the inscription is written on them in red, often gold, letters. The graves of the clergy are not much different from the graves of ordinary Tatars. The tombstone on them, instead of a rounded end, wears a crude image of a turban; and between the stones is fixed a pole, three feet long, at the end of which are hung some rags and a cup for receiving voluntary offerings from the faithful who donate to the clergy and mosques. On fresh graves, I always happened to notice two more small tablets placed at the ends of the grave. The shape of these boards, widening from the base upwards, always represented three or four cuts.
In addition to the annual holidays of the Crimean Tatars, about which I will say a few words below, the Tatars also celebrate the rite of circumcision, probably borrowed from the Jews, but not at all prescribed by the law of Mohammed. This rite, which has great importance because it marks the entry of babies into the society of the faithful Mohammedans and replaces their baptism, it is usually celebrated by an entire village or village. After a general feast, during which the sounds of music are constantly heard, all boys who have reached the age of 5-9 are brought to the mosque, where the ceremony is performed official who, however, do not have a spiritual title. If the boys scream, then they are first spoken to, and they are lightly rubbed on the back with an ordinary tallow candle. Only male relatives are allowed in the mosque. Strangers, especially Christians, are invited only rarely, and then out of special respect. In the latter case, the invitee is obliged to give the child a gift, usually consisting of a young horse. After the ceremony, all those present raise a joyful cry, in which the children themselves often participate, not understanding the reasons for this sudden joy.
The annual holidays of the Crimean Tatars are: 1) Little Bayram, or Orassa-Vairam (Uraza-Bayram), 2) Big Bayram, or Eid al-Adha, and 3) Koterlas-Bayram, or the holiday of the new year.
Little Bairam is celebrated after the month of Ramadan, or after the Great Lent, and lasts three days. This holiday is far from being as noisy as the holiday of great Bairam. In the evening, all the inhabitants gather for a common prayer, after which every family sits down for a feast prepared at home. All three days are spent in mutual visits, feasts, horse races, and so on.
Big, or Eid al-Adha coincides with the time of the annual offerings in Mecca. Depending on the greater or lesser wealth of families, this holiday lasts from 3 to 10 days. Every true believer must slaughter a sheep on the first day. Wealthy Tatars donate up to six, and sometimes a bull. The mullah must bless the animals assigned for sacrifice and receive his head and skin for his labor. In each village, the richest resident goes on the day of the holiday to his neighbor, eats with him, and then goes with him to the third, and so on, until the whole village gathers for the last one, i.e. the one who started these visits. The latter is obliged to feed and drink the whole village, and that is why the richest is usually chosen for this. In the mountains during the big Bairam, swings and other amusements are arranged, probably borrowed from the Russians. Women do not participate in the general fun - they sit at home and dress up all day and receive their relatives and acquaintances who come to visit them.
But on the third holiday, or Bayram of the new year (celebrated a week later than our Easter), women are allowed to go out into the field, where, despite the cold or the weather, they remain all day, spending time in various games and in conversations with men. who, mostly on horseback, may approach them and enter into conversation. This holiday lasts from 2 to 3 days.
Chapter III. Distinctive features in the character of the Crimean Tatars.
The main distinguishing feature of the character of the Crimean Tatars is their unusual calmness and indifference, preserved under all circumstances. All three branches of this tribe have this property equally. If we add to this the fact that they are all content with very little, and that all their demands are very moderate, then one can easily explain to oneself the extraordinary laziness to which they indulge. In the steppe, the shepherd lies all day on the grass, lazily turning from side to side and caring very little about the safety of the flock entrusted to him. When a storm rises, he turns his face to the earth, retaining, however, his position; and his flock seeks a refuge for itself according to its own discretion. To sweep the yard, the Tatar needs at least half a day. Often I happened to see how adult and hefty Tatars were engaged with inexpressible laziness in the easiest and most simple jobs. It is not surprising if, with such carelessness about their own benefits, the economy goes badly. All circumstances contribute to the rapid development of industry and national wealth, and meanwhile, nowhere is there such general poverty as among the Tatars. Of course, their requirements and needs are small; but on the other hand, they rarely try to prepare supplies for the future: a piece of black bread, milk, cheese and tobacco - that's all they need, and as soon as the Tatar is provided with these items for several days, he immediately quits work and indulges in his beloved laziness .
Unusual talkativeness, curiosity is another feature in the character of the Crimean Muslims. Only during work they are silent and gloomy; but when the time comes for rest, their physiognomy revives, everyone gathers in a circle, and endless conversations begin about different subjects. A pipe is a necessary condition for Tatar conversations, which sometimes go on for several hours at a time, and even after a long tiring hunt, despite being tired, they talk until midnight. But this talkativeness appears only in time; if they are busy with business, even the most insignificant, they usually do it in silence, and this calmness during work is, as it were, a distinctive feature of the faces of the local Muslims. Only one Tatar and I happened to meet with a constantly cheerful face. His eyes, very small and crooked, were in constant motion, and a question constantly swirled on his lips. After each answer, he laughed and wrapped his gray beard over his left arm. He was a mullah who had visited Mecca, who could read and write, and even had some knowledge, which is quite rare among his compatriots.
Whatever a Tartar does, he does it with a certain innate dignity; during prayer, he is not distracted by anything; entering a coffee shop, he sits down with his legs crossed, with an important face and a chibouk in his mouth, takes up a small cup of coffee and drinks it in small sips quietly and importantly; if he is engaged in daily work, with strangers, then he also does it calmly and importantly.
Three more qualities constitute a necessary attribute of the Tatar character, namely, special concern for cleanliness in dwellings, honesty among themselves and hospitality for everyone.
By cleanliness one must understand, firstly, the constant order in which the objects in the house are, and, secondly, the neatness in which the walls, floor and ceiling are kept. The houses of the Tatars are very small and usually serve as dwellings for several people, and, despite this, there is very little sewage, the floor is usually covered with felt, on which many pillows are placed at night. In a room that is no longer more than three sazhens long and two wide, usually 6 to 8 people sleep.
Enter the dwelling of the poorest Tatar at any time of the year and day, and you will always find cleanliness and order in it. In relation to the body, the Mohammedans are also very clean, and it is rare to see a torn dress, although very often with patches.
Honesty among themselves is also a distinctive feature of the Tatars, and theft is so rare among them that the doors in the houses remain constantly, even at night, locked, and grain bread buried in the yard remains completely untouched until it is used. But this honesty is observed by the Tatars only in relation to their co-religionists; from other people they steal horses, sheep and cattle very often.
On the contrary, they show hospitality not only to fellow believers, but to anyone who only wishes to enter their house. If the owner of the house, then you can enter the room; if he is not there, then the hostess is waiting for him, and you can enter only when he comes. You can spend the night with the Tatars without any fear for your property, because the Tatar, having received a guest, will not touch anything from his property. Wealthy Tatars immediately prepare dinner for the guest, or at least coffee and treat him with a pipe. The host stays to entertain the guest; women, even before his appearance, retire to their room. The poorest Tatars, who usually have one room near the kitchen, during the stay of a guest, either send their wives and daughters to the kitchen, or send them to a neighbor, and only with the oldest and shortest acquaintances does the custom allow women and girls to remain in the same room with the guest. Several times I happened to see with what friendliness the members of the Tatar family shared a meal among themselves, and no matter how many times I had to catch them at their poor supper, they always invited me to take part in it. If some ordinary conditions are met that a stranger must observe when entering a Tatar dwelling, for example, take off his shoes before entering the house, the Tatar will never refuse to receive a guest, and the wealthy will consider any offer of payment even as an insult; the poor, most importantly, never demand it, but accept gifts consisting of tobacco or money, and from them the guest will almost always hear the words: "give me what you love."
The general character traits of the Tatars, both in men and in women, are exactly the same; but their women are distinguished by a feature that constitutes one of their main characteristics, namely, curiosity. Being confined by law to the narrowest confines of domestic life, they seek every possible means to penetrate into public life, which is an object of surprise for them and has some special charm, so that they look out of the window at the crooked and narrow street all day long, in order to at least somewhat disperse the unbearable boredom of eternally domestic life. Any stranger, approaching the half-open door of the house, will see several red fezzes embroidered with gold coins, from under which countless braids curl luxuriously, but before he has time to take five steps, the vague vision disappears into the inside of the house, and the astonished European is left only in dream to imagine the beauty of oriental women. If it happens that Tatar women come to visit Christian women, then there is no end to their surprise; everything in the rooms attracts their attention; when it comes to dressing up, their amazement is so strong that they stand motionless and only quietly pronounce the word “Alla, Alla!” from time to time. The expression of joy through dance and music is so characteristic of the Tatars that I cannot but expand on this subject. Their movements during the dance are so simple and at the same time original that they, in the full sense of the word, can be called aesthetic. Fast forward for a while to a Tatar dwelling during a holiday: in a very tidy room, near the walls, guests are sitting on soft pillows; a moderate but very pleasant light penetrates through the windows sealed with thin paper. Musicians are placed in the corner by the door (they will be discussed below). First, a melody is heard, and two girls go to the middle of the room, stand one against the other. Their camp is tall and slender, and countless black braids curl over their shoulders. Their faces are modest, almost impassive, and their eyes are fixed downwards. But as soon as the beat accelerates, they begin to move, their arms rise to the shoulders, rarely higher, gracefully bend; they begin to turn on their toes, whirl together and apart, and make different figures, very simple and elegant. But the sounds are heard quieter and slower, and at the same time the dance slows down and stops along with the melody. I once happened to visit a limestone cave, where I have already been warmly received several times. The sentry fire was already dying down, and the walls, at first red from its brilliance, gradually darkened. I have long asked the Murza to make his Tatars sing and dance for me, and in return I promised to introduce him to our melodies. Finally, at his command, two youths emerged from the depths of the cave. The choir began a lingering, slow song, and, to the sounds of it, they began to dance. Their high shadows were reflected on the wall, and their dance seemed to be the dance of spirits, but it was beautiful and had much more meaning in it than in the dances of the cheerful West, in which, instead of high aesthetic pleasure, we see only wild passions and profitable speculation. Children from the age of eight, both boys and girls, also dance, but dancing is allowed for women until the age of forty. Their dances are not devoid of regularity and are performed, like European ones, in accordance with the transitions of the melody. Men never dance with women, and this is the great difference and, one might say, the striking superiority of oriental dances from European ones. The inhabitant of the East dances for the dance itself, and the European almost always dances for the one with whom he dances.
From these native, natural dances should be distinguished others, already borrowed by them from the Europeans. Often the Gypsies play distorted polkas and waltzes for them, and the Tatar shepherds, who were in frequent contact with the cheerful Little Russians, start dancing their favorite Cossack. The melodies of their songs are somewhat livelier and shorter in size; but still the songs are usually slow and monotonous. Their music is sometimes found without singing and dancing, and then its distinguishing feature is that the main instrument is the big drum, and if not, then the tambourine. The nomadic Gypsies are the ordinary musicians of the Tatars; the violinist is always a Gypsy. A full orchestra consists of four people: one plays the violin, the other plays the pipe or clarinet, the third beats the tambourine, and the fourth plays the bass drum; if this does not happen, then for the most part
Types of Crimea. From a postcard from the collection of Nizami Ibraimov.
there are two violins. These violins are three-stringed, and their sound is extremely harsh; during the game they are not rested on the chin, but on the knee, and they are played with a bow of their own product. First, the violins begin, then the clarinet enters, and then the shrill sounds of these two instruments are softened by the noise of the tambourine and drum. The music of the Tatars is not improved at all and terribly tyrannizes the European ear accustomed to harmonious sounds with incessant dissonances. Among Tatars of Nogai origin, all music is concentrated in a pipe and a big drum and is produced as follows: first, the drummer strikes, with very short pauses, from thirty to fifty times, then a pipe is heard for some time; then he strikes the drum with the strongest force once or twice, and if the skin does not burst, then again continues with small shot.
It is much more pleasant to hear the shepherd's sonorous tune at sunset. The northern side of the Crimean Mountains turns from orange to red and then to a superb purple; the air is quiet; the valleys sink into shadows, and the evening mist creeps over them. Then the shepherd's flute is heard loudly and cheerfully and gives the evening a special charm.
Poetry. The time of wealth and splendor of Eastern poetry among the peoples of the Crimea has already passed, and this is proved by the poor remnants of poems that still live among the people, but hardly deserve the name of poetry. Sayings belonging mainly to certain localities are best preserved among the people, and the reason for this lies in the constant desire of the local Mohammedans to repeat the smallest details of life with incredible ease in oral sayings. IN free time they are usually engaged in stories about famous robbers and knights, or chatter about the subjects of ordinary life. Of the correct poems, I know two, of which one is of ancient origin: Bakhchisarai is sung in it, and it is sung at every festival; another work in modern times, and the subject of it was the famous artist Aivazovsky, who, being of Armenian origin and born in Feodosia, knows the Tatar language perfectly and does a lot of good to the poor, for which he is highly respected by the Tatars.
Sayings that are known only to educated Tatars are very intricate. I learned some of them through a lady who knows the Tatar language, from a mullah who lives on the southern coast of the Crimea; they are the following:
1) Whoever fears God should not be afraid of anything.
2) Whoever knows himself knows his Creator.
3) You are a creation, and he is the Creator.
4) As long as the sheep is not fat, the butcher does not touch it.
5) He is wise who speaks once and listens twice.
6) God alone knows the future.
7) Let your eyes be open, otherwise, they will be forcibly opened to you.
8) Scientists are the guides of mankind.
9) Teaching and occupation enlighten the mind.
10) Wealth and happiness make a person generous.
11) The greatness of the soul and justice are signs of a high origin.
12) Sloth and extravagance lead to death.
13) Do not obey everyone.
14) Do not forget the person whose bread you ate.
15) The perfect one recognizes the perfect one.
16) The stone breaks the head.
17) Whoever loves a dervish loves God.
18) Not every beggar dervish.
19) If a dervish has no property, then he has honor.
20) a wise man won't take a step without looking back.
21) If a cat sees meat that it cannot get, then it says: I will wait.
22) Do not expect good from bad people.
23) The more active a person is, the more happiness he acquires.
24) Better to be busy than idle.
25) The well-fed does not understand the hungry.
26) Every rooster crows in his yard.
27) Laziness is the mother of all vices.
28) Mountain does not converge with mountain, but man will converge with man.
29) Every bird praises its nest.
30) Don't buy a house, buy a neighbor.
32) Strike while the iron is hot.
33) It is easy to rake in the heat with the wrong hands.
34) Each bird sings in its own way.
35) As we sow, so shall we reap.
36) Without labor there is no good.
37) The face of a liar turns black on holidays.
38) A smart enemy is better than a stupid friend.
39) He who is not satisfied with a little will lose a lot.
40) A thousand friends are not enough, one enemy is many.
41) Who was not a worker, cannot be a master.
42) He who has lived a lot knows a little; who has traveled a lot knows a lot.
43) The mind is not in years, but in the head.
44) Every compulsion is a teaching.
45) You can't hide an awl in a bag.
Chapter IV. The device of the Tatar dwellings. Home stuff. Construction of other buildings.
In the art of building dwellings, as well as in all household equipment and clothing, all Tatars follow the same custom. We are silent about it here, because we will talk about it below. To the east of the Chongar bridge, in the Melitopol district, between Berdyansk and the Molochai estuary, the Nogais proper live in large villages, whose houses in places adjacent to the German colonies are covered with sharp-angled tiled roofs and have glass windows. Wealthy residents can even find plank, horizontal plaster ceilings, chairs and tables in their rooms. On the contrary, there is nothing of this in the dwelling of a Tatar or Nogai, if its owner follows the ancient customs of his ancestors. The real dwelling of the Nogai is now being built from clay and wood; stones do not go into business, iron is even less used; the roofs are mostly covered with tiles. It must be assumed that for 60 years many Nogais still lived in felt huts, as Kalmyks live today. They usually start building without laying a foundation. The raw brick used for the walls is made from pure clay, found everywhere in the steppes under the black earth. For this purpose, round holes are dug, from 10 to 12 feet in diameter, until they reach the clay. The clay is dug up to a depth of 2 to 3 feet, and loose as it is, piled up in a heap, then a proportionate amount of old straw and a sufficient amount of water are added to it so that from these three substances they form the mass required for a brick, and to knead it, they or make horses gallop over it, or this work is done by people. As soon as the mass is ready, the two are engaged in equalizing it and transferring it to the turf, to the forms, where the other two hold the wooden form at the ready. But the form, which is one foot long, 8 inches wide, and 3 inches high, is wetted on the inside with water. The prepared mass is pressed into it, smoothed with the last hand and then removed from the mold. Four people can make up to 1,000 of these bricks in one day, and 1,000 bricks cost between 5 and 6 silver rubles. In summer, in good weather, the bricks must dry for 4 to 7 days, and if they have been carefully prepared, then for low buildings they represent the most reliable and similar material. At the place where the house is to be built, the sod is cut out, and the building goes on so quickly that in 2 or 3 days there are ready-made walls 5 feet high. The support of the roof consists of thin rafters, which in the dwellings of the mountain Tatars are connected at a very obtuse angle, namely from 130 gr. up to 140 gr. Such rafters go throughout the house, and there are from 6 to 8 of them, they are attached with wooden transfers to the cornice laid on the walls, and the outer ends of the rafter legs are fastened with a wooden crossbar. Wooden, mostly curved, bars are placed on the rafters, of which there are from 3 to 4 on each side; in addition, they supply them with bindings and throw earth on them, which is covered with tiles. When all this is done, the dwelling is almost ready, because the windows are no longer a big deal. They are made without shutters and without frames; and in their hole, which is from 2 to 2 1/2 square feet, from 3 to 5 yards and a half of wooden slats are embedded, and, in addition, thin paper is pasted on the inside. Only in one place of the window can one find either a small hole or an inserted piece of glass so that one can look out through it. The only doors of the house overlooking the steppe are always facing south, and the threshold, 1 foot high, is one of the main needs of the building, following the pattern of all oriental buildings in general. Doors are never higher than 3 or 4 feet, and whoever enters the house, if he does not want to break his legs or his head, must bend them down at the same time. Inside the dwelling of the Tatar is cleanly smeared with clay; the ceiling is not made of plank filing, but is formed by the roof itself. Mountain Tatars often coat their dwellings with white friable. The use of lime among the Tatars is not yet accepted. However, rich murzas, more or less familiar with European customs, order to build walls near their houses according to the Russian model. A Tatar builds a house himself, using no other tools than an ax and a pickaxe, of which the blunt end serves him instead of a hammer.
When you enter the house of a wealthy peasant, you will see on both sides of the room: one of them is assigned to guests and men, and the other to women. The poor Tatars have only one room each, on the right side of the dwelling. At the front wall there is an oven, while the rest of the building is the kitchen. The draft from the kitchen and stove lies at the end of a thin beam that emerges from the wall and is supported by pillars; it starts 2 1/2 or 3 feet from the floor. There is no hearth in the kitchen, but instead, heat is maintained for a long time by coals smoldering on a flat earthen floor. Before going to bed, the hostess puts a new piece of dung on the remains of the fire, and this is enough to keep her warm all night. The draft, built of mud brick, as it approaches the roof, narrows and with its mouth goes into a small pipe, which is woven from brushwood near the mountain Tatars. The room stove, located behind the kitchen and having one draft with the latter, is nothing more than a hexagonal or octagonal space, tapering upward, lined with earthen bricks and having an angular or even dome-like extension. This stove is coated with clay or marl and is as good in a firebox as an oven or fire oven. The device of Tatar stoves and kitchens completely satisfies all the conditions of a good stove. During my three-year stay in the Crimea, I did not see a single fire there, and this phenomenon is all the more surprising for me because in my homeland, in Danzig, in one night I happened to hear the tocsin ringing 4 or 5 times and see in the dark evenings at 2 and 3 glows on the horizon. Thank God that the west of Europe is flooded with institutions that provide the value of the building in case of fire. The stoves of Tatar dwellings quickly heat up and keep warm for a long time, because the window facing north is closed for the winter with a wooden board or stuffed with a pillow, while the south one is plastered over, and pleasant warmth and healthy air are always preserved in the room.
Household items of the South Coast Tatars
in the exposition of the Yalta Historical and Ethnographic Museum.
If we pay attention to the household and kitchen utensils, we will see in front of the house to the right of the door a barrel 2 or 3 feet. height, which is wider at the top than at the bottom, and contains a pile of sour milk, and among the mountain Tatars, sheep's cheese. Behind this barrel or to the side of it is a table, the only one in the whole house. The Mohammedan table is part of the kitchen and appears in the room only when Europeans visit them; it is from 4 to 5 inches high and consists of a round inch board, two feet in diameter and mounted on a thick leg, which is divided into three at the bottom. Raw meat is cut and beaten on the table, dough and noodles are rolled; he has no other purpose. Next we will find a tub of butter, made just like ours, only a little rougher; a few stumps of wood for guests to sit on, one or two cast-iron cauldrons, and maybe we'll find another frying pan and mortar. The mortar is made from a wooden shaft 1/2 foot in diameter, which is hollowed out at the top end; it is only used to grind salt. There are ropes on the walls of the kitchen,
belts and some agricultural tools, such as scythes, sickles, shovels and axes. Clay vessels, which are mostly fired in Karasubazar, are tall, have a narrow belly, a long, straight throat, and are arranged in Tatar cuisine by variety. From the kitchen, doors 3 to 4 feet high, tilting again, enter the room.
If the visitor, in fairness, reveres the sacred custom of a million people, then, following the example of the Mohammedans, entering the room, he takes off his shoes. Every Tatar, even a little boy, walks on the floor covered with felt in stockings. When the village is very dirty, Tatars, in addition to thick shoes, put on skillfully made wooden shoes, which are arranged as follows. From a light wood, usually black poplar, two thick boards are cut, up to six inches in length, which are almost the same shape as that of the sole; and nails were driven into their front parts to make it more convenient to run. The soles are supported on two transverse planks from 3 to 6 inches high; a wide belt is attached to them in the form of a stirrup, and thus the shoe is held on the foot. Wealthy Tatars have shoes that are very beautifully carved, polished and even trimmed with mother-of-pearl notches. This custom of wearing wooden shoes found followers among the poor class of inhabitants in the dirty southern cities of Russia, so that now in Simferopol in autumn and spring one can meet inhabitants walking in such shoes to the market.
In the room, along the cornice, a wooden shelf is hung against the wall, on which more expensive items are stored. There are, for example, old bottles, goblets, boxes, etc.—in a word, things that the East does not produce. Around the shelves, as a special decoration of the room, hang spun, woven and even embroidered scarves, made by the mistress of the house and her daughters. When Tatar girls enter the age of brides, they embroider more or less scarves, depending on the condition, and bring them to the groom's house as a dowry. In the corner of the room, near the stove, where the shelf ends, the Koran is usually kept, if there is a copy of this holy book in the family. Part of the room, behind the stove, is sometimes separated by a partition and assigned to various needs of the female. If the owner of the dwelling is a sufficient person, then across the room, along the walls, there are pillows 1 1/2 or 2 feet wide, making up a soft seat. Pillowcases for pillows are sewn by the hostess herself from homemade cloth, on which the correct patterns of coffee and white are woven. The poorest people only put some of these pillows on the floor during the night; and every morning they carefully stack the pillows one on top of the other in the corner of the room and cover them with blankets that are sewn from various materials: for the rich - from heavy Turkish silk fabric of red or yellow color, and for the poor - from thick paper fabric of Russian origin, with colored straight lines. Sometimes it happens to see simple cotton bedspreads on these pillows. The bedspreads usually lie on one or two boxes, made very roughly of spruce wood. The boxes are smeared with blue or red paint, upholstered in many places with white tin and closed with an iron lock. In cities flourishing with oriental industry, I looked in vain for workshops to find such boxes. They can be found in the ordinary stores of Little Russia, among other Russian works, which is why, it seems to me, it can be safely assumed that the Tatars first borrowed the use of these chests during their dominion over Russia. Walls decorated with paintings, in the Crimea, I met very rarely. These few experiences of the Tatars in the art of drawing probably have a connection with the beliefs of them and in general of all the Mohammedans about the life of paradise. If we look at Tatar drawings, we will always see rather regular, but rough tree-like branches on them, at the ends of which flowers and figures similar to birds are drawn. Other drawings consist of simple rectilinear divorces. The Mohammedans, having the most fantastic ideas about paradise, consider the tree of tuba (happiness) to be its main condition, which should stretch its branches to the dwelling of every righteous person and should be burdened with all kinds of fruits and birds. It can easily be that the Tatars take the expression of these beliefs as the basis of their drawings. On the beams connecting the ends of the rafters in the Tatar hut, there are all kinds of household items: here you see a box with flax, there a basket with plucked wool, then several bundles of tobacco, whips, knives, and so on. The stove is also decorated with a special dress; it cost a coffee service. A yellow copper coffee pot with a lid and a short nose is placed in the middle of a round tin tray, and around it are from 3 to 6 cups, the size of half a goose egg, which have copper wriggling handles and heavy footboards of proportionate size. Of all the utensils that fill Tatarin's room, we have not yet mentioned the spinning wheel and the loom. Both of these devices are so simple that when one compares them with steam machines for yarn and weaving, one is most surprised how any result can be obtained from their operation. Tatar women and girls spin with their hands: they put plucked wool in a cylindrical comb standing on the end of a cane, which is mounted on a round board: with their left hand they pull the wool from the comb, and in their right hand they have a spindle 5 inches long, on the upper thick end which has a bobbin attached to wind the threads. A working woman with her right hand moves the spindle so skillfully in a circular motion that a woolen thread of 3 feet is twisted. If this thread is pulled tight, then it is unhooked, and the speed with which the spindle rotates is enough for the finished thread to be wound on the bobbin. Then the thread is hooked again and the wool is pulled from the comb again, and the spindle is twisted with the thumb and forefinger of the right hand. The loom in its main parts does not differ at all from the European one; it is worked very roughly and is folded only when a piece of cloth has to be woven and when a sufficient amount of yarn has been prepared for this. The two main horizontal beams supporting the entire loom are 4 to 6 feet long, with a front frame 4 and a half feet high and 3 wide. The yarn is fastened on the upper crossbar of the front frame, on which the working woman is placed, and goes obliquely down from here to the opposite end of the loom, where it is wound on a round roll. From the roll, half of the threads are threaded into loops located at equal distances on the other free roll, and forms the upper warp of the fabric; the other half of the threads, distributed in a similar way, constitutes the weft. Both rolls, on which the said loops are located, are hung to the top of the machine and, by means of a special pedal attached at the bottom, move vertically up and down quite far from each other, so that the shuttle can freely pass between them. The newly added threads are attracted to the warp by means of a comb. In order for the threads to be correctly positioned, they are drawn through a narrow frame, in which the upper and lower parts are connected by thin wooden strips. Tatar fabrics are generally very narrow: those woven from linen are not more than one foot wide; the smooth woolen material used for caftans is up to 2 feet wide, and the material with white and brown designs, from which pillowcases are made, is even narrower. The color of wool is still unknown to the Crimean Tatars.
It's winter outside. A terrible blizzard roars in the steppe and sweeps clouds of snow to the modest dwellings of the poor Tatars. At the northern side of each hut lies a white frozen mass of snow, sometimes rising to an unreliable roof. If, tired, we enter the Tatar’s miserable dwelling for rest, we will be received by a warm room and a stove heated by smoldering dung; the hostess immediately removes the pillows, gets up, everyone sits comfortably on the soft felt, lights their pipes and drinks coffee. What a pleasure! And most people say it's too poor. In fact, the Tatar room in winter is a real paradise after the open steppe. The Mohammedans themselves understand this very well, because they do not leave the furnace all winter. Every day, after the morning prayer, the good host lights his pipe and, cross-legged, sits down in front of the stove. A quarter of an hour passes - he says nothing, only blinks his narrow eyes and smokes. When he smokes his pipe, he begins to turn to his dearest half every minute with orders to serve bread, water or curdled milk, which she immediately fulfills. Then he smokes again and silently, with a serious face, sits leaning against the stove. Another half an hour passes - he asks his wife what the cow or horse is doing, and the wife in stormy weather must leave the house to bring the answer to her master, who continues to warm his feet and smoke. For Tatar men, most of the winter passes in such inactivity; Tatars don't even touch household chores in winter. If a Tartar runs out of his entire food supply, he goes to one of his neighbors, mostly to a Russian state peasant, to borrow a quarter of the rye, and repays this debt to him with interest, or work in the summer, or from the collection from the future harvest.
In the yard near the house we find the same cleanliness as in the house. Among the Nogai and among the mountain Tatars living to the north, fences are made either from old brick, built up as a wall, or from earth and weeds; in the latter case, a layer of weeds is placed on top of the soil layer, consisting of the remains of withered conifers, such as Xantium spinosa, from various genera carduus and centaurea orina, and sometimes contains lush Atriplex and Chinopodium. If a lot of layers of earth and weeds are laid, then subsequently a solid hedge is formed from them. Most of the mountain Tatars and those living along the southern coast of the peninsula do not use brick walls for their houses, but wickerwork from shrubs and plastered on the outside with clay or marl. Their fences get better in the fall, when the weeds ripen, that is, when it dries up completely. The upper layer of the fence is usually piled up from the remains of thorny plants so that the cattle cannot cross it, and thus it is kept in the yard. However, it happens that in famine years, in winter, cattle and sheep give out weeds from the walls, especially if both hay and bushes have already been used up. There are very few barns among the steppe Tatars, and they are kept in the most miserable situation. The cattle of the Tatars graze all winter and are not driven out to pasture only when the snow that has fallen during the winter stays in the fields for a long time; horses and bulls remain in the pasture and for the night, while cows and sheep are brought home. In the courtyard of a Tatar dwelling, large heaps of fuel are always visible, which in the steppes can be of two kinds: firstly, weeds are collected from the fields; but this is done only when the best fuel - dung - has already been used up. The latter is carved like peat in the places where sheep and cattle stood in winter. It consists of the excrement of these animals mixed with straw. Both components are trampled down by the feet of the animals themselves so well that the worker only has to cut the finished dung and dry it in the air. In the large, well-organized sheepfolds of European landowners, fresh straw is placed in the stables every two to five days, and in winter so much dung is accumulated in them that in April two or three layers of dung, from 3 to 4 inches thick, are cut off. The poor Tatars must collect the dung of cattle lying on the roads and dry it in the sun, or they first mix it with straw, lay it on the ground, and then cut it half dried into dung. Dung made from sheep excrement is incomparably better than that from cattle: the first grade of dung gives more heat in the firebox than red beech, and over the peat used in the north it has the advantage that stinking, unpleasant smoke does not separate from it during the fire. To dry, fresh dung is folded into pyramids 3 to 4 feet high and empty inside, so that air can freely pass through them. Redbirds are very fond of hiding in these pyramids and seem to build their nests in them. When the dung is dry, it is piled into long oval heaps 6 feet high and smeared on the outside with fresh feces, in order, firstly, to protect the dung from the influence of the atmosphere, and secondly, to prevent the heaps from falling and from the disorder that may result from this. In ordinary times, a cubic sazhen of good dung costs from 10 to 12 rubles. silver, and majara (cart), set out in dung exactly with the edges, costs 2 rubles. silver. In the winter of 1853-1854, in the vicinity of Kerch, prices for dung rose from 20 to 33 and even up to 40 rubles per sazhen. The excellent ash that dung gives during combustion is brought to one place by the villagers, and as it accumulates more and more, after some time, a hillock is usually formed in such a place, no smaller than a house. Such a mound of ash constitutes the precious, but at the same time dead, property of the village. In the village of Kuchalki, which I mentioned above, there is such an ash hill of considerable size. I imagined to Mr. Shatilov, the owner of the lands adjacent to this village, what excellent use this rich pile of ash could bring him if it were used for alkalizing or as fertilizer for the fields. Convinced of the advantages of this calculation, Mr. Shatilov had already agreed to make this purchase; but the Tatars did not want to hear about it. I noticed that the villagers are very attached to these ash hills: in the evenings you can always see that several men are sitting on the hill, smoking tobacco and admiring the distance of the steppe; even the country dog has some habit of these heaps of ashes, on the tops of which they always lie. An elevation of 8 to 12 feet must be of great importance to the poor Tartars, who live in the vast steppes, if this elevation cannot be purchased from them for money.
Near the warehouses of dung in the Tatar courtyard, the famous carriage of the householder is still visible. For poor Tatars, this carriage is simply a two-wheeled cart and is called at-arba, and for sufficient ones it is on 4 wheels and is called majara. There is also little iron in the Tatar cart, as in the Tatar house. Its axles are made of Crimean oak (Quercus pubescens); they are quadrangular, 5 inches thick, rounded cylindrically at the ends, and are sometimes smeared with mutton fat. But for the most part, the Tatars drive without oiling the wheels; therefore, in wet weather and if the cart is loaded, from afar you can find out about its approach by loud crackling and whistling. The circumference of the wheel is made up of 5 or 6 arcs, having from 5 to 6 inches of thickness and 7 inches of height. The best material for making these arcs is red beech wood. Each arc is connected by two spokes to a wheel hub made of maple wood (kar-gach) and consisting of a cylinder from 9 to 11 inches in diameter. The latter is pointed at one end, and its other end, going to the base of the axis, is blunter. The back wheels of the cart are from 4 to 5 feet in diameter, and therefore very high, while the front wheels are somewhat lower. Both axles are connected by three tracks: one of them connects the middle of the axles, and the other two run diagonally along the bottom of the cart. One goes from the right end of the rear axle to the left end of the front axle, and the other goes from the right end of the front axle to the left rear axle. On the machine, which consists of the described parts, a body is placed, lying on two beams attached to the camp by means of a pivot. Among the poor Tatars, the body of the cart is made of wicker walls and without a ceiling; among the rich, it is arranged in the form of a house, with walls woven from hazel twigs, from 2 to 3 feet high, and with a ceiling lying on four standing arches. The ceiling of the cart is made of either canvas or felt. A wall woven from brushwood is attached to the back of the cart, and a high threshold is attached to the front, which cannot be entered directly, but must be climbed. Although such carriages have no springs and other comforts familiar to us, but if they are drawn by bulls or camels, then they are quite pleasant to ride; one should not only sit straight in them, but it is better to follow, in this case, the method of the Tatars who lie in them.
Inside the cart, a thick felt is spread on the road luggage, so that it is just as convenient to lean the head and back on the elevation formed by the luggage, as on a pillow. On the Madjars, I made my travels across the steppes very conveniently and cheaply. (For 100 miles from Simferopol to the Chongarsky bridge, I paid only 70 kopecks in silver.) Madjara's drawbar is either single or double: in the first case, yoke bulls are harnessed to the cart, and in the second case, horses, two on each side, and the outer traces from them are attached to the ends of the front or rear axle.
We have described here everything that is in the clean courtyard of the dwelling. A little further from it, a well is usually arranged. For real Nogais living along the coast of the Sea of Azov, each family has its own special well, and these wells are arranged in them in the same way as in the villages of German colonists, i.e. water is drawn from them by means of a wheel or a pump. On this side of Perekop and Chongar, wheel wells are very rare, and then only on high roads. The Crimean steppe Tatars line the walls of the wells with logs, to which they trample down the earth, so that the hole remains, only 1 1/2 feet, and on it lies a long trough. The use of buckets by the Tatars is still unknown. Instead of buckets, for scooping water, they use bags made of ramskin or simply thick woolen bags one foot deep and 7 to 8 inches in diameter; two sticks are inserted into their hole on the cross so that the wet walls of the bag do not stick together. When you need to draw water from a well, these bags are hung on the poles. Behind the house of the Tatars is the same fenced yard, but surrounded, moreover, by a moat. On it are stocks of hay, straw and rye. Although the harvest for most of the Tatar owners is so bad that the bread is ready for a month even with threshing, however, almost all of them have stocks of milled millet in their yards. This is the state of the economy of the Nogai and mountain Tatars.
If, in addition to simple Tatar huts, we look for other buildings in the village, then first of all our attention will be attracted by a house built of rough limestone and clay, covered with tiles and not surrounded by a courtyard. This place is sacred for the Tatars and is nothing more than a chapel in which the mullah does his prayers on Fridays and during fasts. The chapels of the steppe Tatars are very ugly, for the reason that the parishes are very poor and cannot donate much for the construction of churches. Pious mountain Tatars, on the contrary, donate a lot to prayer houses. On the Tatar temple, a minaret or elevation is always arranged, in the form of a staircase, from which the mullah calls the faithful to prayer.
In addition to the chapel, it remains to mention the village mills, which are of two kinds: wind and earthen. The first lie on a solid foundation built of brick, 5 or 6 feet high, and on this foundation is placed a box from 6 to 7 feet, covered with straw or light wooden planks; and its walls are wicker and plastered. From 6 to 8 wings are attached to the shaft, made of strong rafters; sails are not used on them, but only a few holes are made in them, so that, with a slight wind, the mills stand still. For the manufacture of wheel teeth, a dogwood tree is used, which grows in the mountains. It is very good for this work, in its hardness, and is highly valued. Earth mills are driven by horses, but not in the same way as mills with an inclined plane, and in earth mills a gate with one or two hands is arranged, to which horses are harnessed. Horses are driven around the gate, and thus it is set in a circular motion. The Tatar mill grinds out only ten measures of coarse flour in 24 hours. As proof of the durable structure of these mills, we can cite the fact that during a terrible storm that took place in 1855, on November 2, cracks appeared in Russian windmills and other Crimean buildings; the Tatar mills remained almost without any damage. But this is quite natural, because the walls of windmills and other buildings in the steppes are through, and the wind could freely pass through them. Water mills in the Crimea are found in large numbers on the rivers; but they are the property of the Russians, Armenians and German colonists, and the Tatars take them only at the mercy. The Tatars of the southern coast grind their poor harvest of bread at water mills, arranged by them at forest springs. Everything that we have described above regarding the steppe Tatars applies to the Tatars of the mountains and the southern coast, with the following few changes. Residential buildings in the latter are covered with a flat roof, inclined to one side. It is usually made of wattle, on which a layer of earth of one foot is poured. Their chimneys are also wicker and very wide, but they are only up to 3 feet high. In places abounding in stone, the walls for residential buildings are taken out of rough stone and plastered with clay; fences are made up simply of dry stones, not lubricated by anything. On the south coast, the roofs of the houses, although sloping, are at a very obtuse angle, which is why they look like terraces. It can easily happen that a resident of some other country, having arrived in a Crimean village, by mistake climbs onto the roof of a Tatar dwelling and wanders over the roofs, thinking that he is walking along a country road. In summer, these roofs serve as a dryer for the Tatars, and on them one can often see fruits spread out to dry; and in the evenings men gather on rooftops to chat and smoke.
Near the mountain Tatars, small houses for poultry are also arranged near the dwellings. They are woven from bushes and resemble the fascinated baskets used in our war. They are not more than 4 feet high, and from 2 to 2 1/2 feet in diameter. Their roof is convex and looks like a flat dome. Regarding fences, it should be noted that branches of a plant called Christ's thorn (Paliurus Aculeatus) are poured on top of them. It is very common on the south bank, and fully serves the purpose of guarding the house against thieves and preventing cattle from crossing the fence, which is usually rather low. The mosques of the mountain Tatars, especially in urban parishes, are very beautiful. They are always square, 25 feet high, with a tiled roof rising like a spike. The cornice is wooden, with decorations carved in Turkish style; and on the side where the minaret is arranged, the cornice is completely even. A round staircase leads to the minaret, going all the way to the spitz. The minaret is from 35 to 50 feet high, and its spitz ends in a two-horned moon, a narrow and low door leads from the stairs to the minaret. About 10 feet below the spitz, the minaret is surrounded by a narrow gallery, with stone railings. This part of the building is intended to call the faithful to prayer. The mullah ascends the minaret and slowly walks around the balcony, monotonously calling the inhabitants to prayer. The cornice, both at the balcony and at the roof of the minaret, is either simple, flat, or decorated with gypsum egg-shaped figures. In villages where parishes are poor, instead of minarets, elevations like stairs are made of limestone. On their upper square there is always a turret covered with a crescent moon.
Chapter V. Clothes for men and women
The clothes in the main parts of almost all Tatars are the same. The wide sleeves of a linen shirt either come out from under a narrow jacket to the very elbow, or are not visible at all from under the jacket. However, the first kind of sleeves can be found only among the elderly. Young people wear over their shirts a tight jacket, in which the sleeves consist of little sheathing or reach the elbows, and in the latter case they are fastened with buttons and loops made of lace. From the point where the collar is buttoned, and down to the belly, there is a row of buttons, for the most part covered with the same material from which the jacket is sewn; and rich people have metal and even silver buttons. The jacket is always sewn from expensive materials. Poor Tatars sew jackets for themselves from paper mother with red or blue stripes. Sufficient people sew them from Turkish silk fabric, on which angular yellow patterns or stripes usually run across a bright red field. Very wide bloomers are worn over the jacket and fastened with hooks, and at the top they are tightened with a cord so that they form large folds. In order to tighten their waist, the Tatars wear a belt, which is very wide for old people, and very narrow for young people, and comes in various colors; only the higher clergy have green belts. On top of all this, the working class of the Tatars wear coats of coarse cloth woven by women and dyed dark brown. They are so long that they reach to the knees; their collars are turned down, and the sleeves are very wide. Since the inhabitants of the south coast enjoy a hotter climate, they usually wear only a jacket, and it is very rare to find a short dressing gown (tatt) among them. In summer, Tatars use outerwear instead of bread bags. To put bread in it, the Tatars tie up their sleeves, its upper and lower ends, and thus make something like a bag out of it. They carry such a bag of bread from one place to another, holding it by one of the corners, or put it on a stick and carry it on their shoulders. The steppe Tatars and Nogais wear a sheepskin coat in winter, while the inhabitants of the southern coast and cities put on a fur coat only if the weather is so cold that it is impossible to do without it. Qadis and mullahs wear a thin cloth robe, with a standing low collar of blue or brown color. From the age of four, the Tatars dress boys like adults; and until that time they run just in a shirt and a jacket with narrow sleeves. All Crimean Mohammedans cover their heads with a hat 1 or 1/2 feet high, made of tanned mutton skin; at the bottom of the cap there is either simple smooth leather, or cloth with embroidered figures. Only mullahs have the right to wear a turban, who wind it crosswise around the cap worn on the head in Turkish, and slip its ends inside. The turban is always white, and the cap is of different colors. Shoes for wealthy people consist of woolen stockings, which are worn with yellow lambskin ankle boots or shoes with high heels; and on top of all this, the Tatars also put black strong boots on their feet. All shoes end sharply in front, and the front part of it is bent upwards, in the form of a bird's beak. The working class of the people wraps a piece of woolen cloth on their bare legs up to the knee in winter, and coarse linen in summer, and puts on sandals made of sheepskin over this. A belt is laced into the holes made in the sandal, which is then wrapped around the leg and tied under the knee. This kind of footwear among the Tatars is called kyus.
On a shirt made of coarse homemade cloth, women put on wide colorful woolen trousers, which are pulled together under the knees into large folds by means of a cord threaded through them. The sleeves of the shirt on the side of the opening are wide, like those of men, and reach almost half the arm. Both the shirt and other parts of the female attire leave the neck open to half the chest. The women of the poor Tatar class put on a rough woolen skirt over their trousers, which is pulled together at the waist into folds with a lace threaded through it. In warm weather, Tatars cover their upper body with a paper caftan, with sleeves that do not reach the elbows. The caftan extends to the knees and is hemmed with some colorful material, but never put on cotton wool. Old women, and in cold weather all young women, put on this summer outfit also a caftan, which has the same style as men's caftans; only their sleeves are narrow, with elaborately cut cuffs. On the seam, inside the sleeves, from 6 to 9 small metal buttons are sewn. The collar of the winter caftan is low, standing, and the length of the caftan changes with the years of the person to whom it belongs: for old women, the caftan always reaches the very heels, and for young girls it only reaches the knee. Young married women wear aprons of their own making, but of the worst kindness. Women who grew up in the city and have enough money to dress richly, instead of coarse Tatar fabrics, choose thin materials for aprons.
Types of Tatars in Alupka.
Postcard from the collection of Nizami Ibraimov.
rii, mostly with bright colors and a large pattern. The fashion to sheathe the edges of the dress in several rows with silver and gold laces is equally common in men's clothing, and in women's. The headdress consists of a veil, commonly used in the East and which women do not wear only at home. If a Tatar woman threw her white veil, for example, to go out into the street, then it covers not only her face to the eyes, but her entire figure. Girls under the age of 14 go without a veil, and instead wear a fez, i.e. a cap, 2 or 3 inches high, made of red cloth, with a flat bottom, to the middle of which is hung a long tassel, scattering its threads on the cap in the form of a star. The fez is the main outfit of young Tatar beauties and is left by them only after marriage. Tatar women adorn it with all sorts of gold and other shiny coins (however, never white), which are partly directly hung on the fez, partly strung on laces along its edges. If there are still a few coins left, then they are tied on cross threads and the open part of the chest is covered with such decoration. The hairstyle of Tatar women is of two kinds: married women have one, girls have another. Girls love to braid their dark blond hair into many braids, some of which are placed over their shoulders, while others are thrown behind their backs. Married women collect the front hair in two buns and wrap them at the temples, without using any hairpins and buckles; they stick with a linen coverlet. An unbraided strand of hair hangs down their backs. At home, women cover their heads with a white towel 8 feet long and 1 1/2 feet wide. They tie the upper part of the head with it crosswise and hide the ends of it so skillfully that without any hairpins the headdress is held firmly even during quite a long work. Only one end of the towel hangs down the back to the sacrum and covers the hair. Every time she leaves the house, even if a woman goes to one of the neighboring yards of the same village, she straightens her head. Women's shoes consist of pointed yellow shoes made of sheepskin saffiano leather. When they leave the yard, the women put black shoes on them; if the yard is dirty, then women use wooden galoshes, which we talked about above.
The Nogai women's favorite adornment is a heavy silver ring, 1 1/2 inches in diameter, which they pass through their left nostril. They don't use earrings; on the contrary, rings, bracelets, beads, as well as rich belts with which they tie the waist at the caftan, are in great use among them. If a girl does not wear a silver belt even 1 inch wide and of the simplest work, this already serves as a sure proof of her poverty. Rich girls wear belts of various sizes and shapes. In the middle of the girdle in front is attached a rosette, 4 to 6 inches in diameter, adorned with fake stones of red and green; sometimes it is smooth, sometimes with convex patterns. At the place where the socket is attached, the belt is very narrow, and, bending around the body back, it expands. Rarely it is massive, and for the most part it is woven from twisted silver threads.
There is also a custom among Tatar women to dye their hair and nails with red paint: both girls and women strictly observe this custom; even if the hair has a good dark color by nature, before braiding, Tatarka dyes it red. Old gray-haired women have some special passion for this fashion and consider it absolutely necessary to dye their hair in a bright color of fox fur. To do this, they use a vegetable powder brought from Persia. Judging by its appearance, it is made from the root of a plant. It remains to mention the religious custom, according to which all Tatars, men and women, old and young, each carry their prayer with them, like a saving talisman. These prayers are bought from the clergy. They are written on a triangular piece of paper with cinnabar, hidden in leather bags of the same shape as paper, and the bag is worn on the back; a piece of paper is either completely sewn up in a bag, or the bag is only fastened with a button. Young girls sew their prayers into a triangular piece of leather and braid them into their pigtails; sometimes a girl wears not one, but several braids.
Chapter VI. Cattle breeding. Agriculture. Gardening. Growing tobacco. Forestry and hunting.
In the subsequent presentation, it remains for us to talk about how the steppe Tatars differ from the mountain ones and from the inhabitants of the southern coast. These differences are only in occupation and come from the properties of the soil on which they both live.
The Tauride steppes produce rich vegetation and are therefore excellent for cattle breeding. A favorable climate that persists until late autumn, snowless and warm weather until the end of December, early spring and permanent pastures - all this is most conducive to cattle breeding. As a result, all the steppe Tatars, both pure Nogais and descendants of the mountain Tatars, are engaged in cattle breeding. The Nogai living in Molochna, next to the Mennonite colonies, prompted by the excellent example of the German colonists and the good prices of the Berdyansk merchants, sow grain in significant quantities. In the Crimea, however, all grain is sown in the smallest quantity, compared with that produced by Russian peasants, German colonists and other owners. It is true that the salt contained in the soil along the eastern, northern, and southern coasts of the Crimea hinders the cultivation of corn, but the top layer of soil almost everywhere from 1/2 to 2 feet consists of black soil. Only millet, the most grateful of all breads, requiring the least maintenance and at the same time being the favorite food of the Tatars, is produced by them in significant quantities.
General view of the tannery in Bakhchisarai
Photo from the book
Ordinary sheep, requiring the least care, are the main subject of Tatar cattle breeding. They are subject only to mild illnesses, and, with the most bad care, each head annually brings from 10 to 60 silver kopecks of income. During the winter, the sheep are not put in the barn, as is done in the regular economic households of rich owners; but if snow falls high everywhere, the herds are driven to the dwellings in the evening, or, if the pastures are far from the village, they are driven into special hedges that serve to protect against bad weather. Hedges are made of earth and weeds, 5 feet high,
sometimes angular, sometimes round, and provide the flocks with good shelter during a mild storm. When the snow falls to a height of 1/2 foot, the sheep are not given more hay, but they pluck from under the snow the remnants of the grass and the sagebrush and weeds that dry up during late autumn. In severe, long winters, hay is laid on the sheep twice a day: in the morning and in the evening. Cattle of the Ukrainian breed, which are short and gray in color, are driven out in the steppes to pasture, just like horses, both in winter and in summer. With most of the Tatar dwellings there are no stables at all, and if there are, then only for cows and calves. In some places of the Crimean peninsula, pastures serve only for breeding Chontuk sheep, which are large in stature and have short, coarse chestnut-colored wool; and instead of a long tail they have a forked fat tail. They are very profitable for slaughter (all parts of such a sheep are used, and therefore a lamb from three to four years old costs 4 rubles), but in almost all places of the Crimea this breed of sheep is bred. The Nogai living in Molochna, who are much richer than the Crimean Tatars, follow the example of their neighboring German colonists, raising Spanish sheep, but without caring about improving the breed. In the vicinity of Kerch and Kozlov one can meet light gray, curly sheep of the Astrakhan breed, which are highly valued due to their excellent skin; but in some parts of the Crimean peninsula they degenerate in a short time. Black Hungarian sheep are rare in the Crimea, however, in almost all herds of Tatars one can see not so curly sheep, descended from a mixture with Hungarian sheep. The richest of the Tatar owners (not including the noble murzas) have from two to three thousand sheep, up to 20 heads of cattle and the same number of horses. The latter are small in stature, with a very large head and a long mane. Their hair is shaggy and longer under the knees than on the whole body. Tatar horses are very strong. They make up to nine miles in one day and are content with meager food. Barley in the Crimea and in the East in general serves as a substitute for oats, of which very little is produced here.
Nogais and steppe Tatars use just as little labor to cultivate arable land as they do to care for herds. Under rye and under millet, they almost do not harrow the land. A straight furrow is never seen in a Tatar field; the edges of the field are harrowed very incorrectly, so that the plow either goes 10 steps beyond the field boundary, or 10 steps does not reach it.
The Tatar harrow consists of several cross sticks 6 feet long, with numerous holes, into which reeds 15 inches are stuck. Thus, the reeds make up a wide broom, which, with frequent movement, scatters the seed across the field. The plow of the Tatars is dressed very roughly. It is all made of wood and put on big wheels. All field work is done by the Tatars with the help of bulls; the horse, on the other hand, serves only for riding and is harnessed to a two-wheeled cart. The Nogais also use the horse for carrying heavy loads; sometimes you can see a mountain Tatar riding in a cart drawn by two bulls, in front of which there is another horse. Rich Tatars (but not Murzas) sow no more than 10 quarters of grain, while the poor only one or two measures, and sometimes several owners together sow no more than this amount. Steppe Tatars and Nogais do not deal in vegetables and fruits. The only fruits they grow are watermelons and common melons. The sale of these fruits brings great profits to the steppe inhabitants, and therefore they plant watermelons and melons in large vegetable gardens, which are called chestnuts. Not every soil is suitable for chestnut trees. The old soil is completely unsuitable for them, but the virgin steppe or fertilized fallow soil containing a little salt gives the best fruits and the richest harvest of them. It is very expensive to buy out for the summer land suitable for the length of a bashtan: it is necessary to pay for each tithe from 80 to 120 silver rubles. The earth is bogged under the chestnut tree in autumn, and in the spring in the month of May, seeds are planted at a certain distance from one another so that the branches of the plant on the surface of the earth can freely settle down. At the end of the day, fruits the size of a large apple are already showing. They need a month of time to mature; and after this period, until the very middle of September, the Tatars go daily to the tower to collect ripe fruits. Melons take a little longer to ripen than watermelons; but both of them, with constant good weather, reach an amazing size and ripeness. In order for the fruits to be good, one rain in the middle of May is enough for all the subsequent time. If it rains in July and August, although not more strongly, the fruits grow poorly: they are not juicy, small; and in melons there is not even aroma and sweetness. When the owner comes to the chestnut tree to collect ripened fruits, he shakes his hands with each watermelon and judges its ripeness by the greater or lesser elasticity of the skin of the watermelon. If the fruit is not yet ready, then it remains on the chestnut. They try the fruits in another way, namely, they click on their skin with a fingernail, and if the fruit makes an empty sound, then this means that it has ripened; but this sign is often deceiving. Kherson and Perekop watermelons are known as the best, and from these two places they are brought in whole carts to the bazaars of the surrounding cities. In a fertile year, the majara of watermelons, which includes up to 150 of them, costs one ruble. For one watermelon they pay 2 kopecks. silver, and if the collection was very poor, then from 5 to 10 kopecks. silver. Unripe fruits that remain in August, still on the chestnut tree, can no longer ripen; but the Tatars do not throw them uselessly, but collect and eat raw, instead of cucumbers. Sunflowers and maize are usually planted along the edges of the chestnut tree. In some places, among the melons, Tatars and pumpkins grow.
The usual food of the steppe Tatars is porridge (churba), prepared from millet, and katika (curdled milk). Tatars dine after sunset; and during the day, the poor inhabitant of the Crimea eats only millet or coarse wheat bread. They do not like sour bread, and every morning they bake fresh bread, which is prepared as follows: first, hot coals are raked from the hearth and dough is placed on the red-hot bottom, then the dough is covered with a flat iron cauldron, at the bottom of which several pieces of dung are lit. From this, the upper crust becomes pockmarked, and all the juice collects in the lower part of the bread. If the Tatar does not have porridge and sour milk, he boils flour with water, adds a little salt here, and this is his dinner. The rich eat lamb every day. Tatars especially love mutton fat, which is very tender and does not contain sebaceous particles. The favorite greens of the Tatars are onions and garlic. Wealthy owners deliberately go to the city to pick them up; and the poor can get by without them. There are no vegetable gardens among the steppe Tatars. As the flat Tauride steppes rise to the level of mountains, the way of life of the Tatars living in these places also changes. First of all, we notice the active processing of tobacco in those parts of the mountains where there are sources, for example, on Salgir, Alma, Kach, Belbek, Karasu, and especially where, by arranging dams, the flow of water can be made convenient for tobacco production. In the steppes, although tobacco of the highest quality is not born, they produce tobacco with strong luxurious leaves, which, if it does not have a high price in trade for its quality, nevertheless, brings great profit in a huge amount of sales. Most of the Tatars, living along the southern coast of the peninsula and on the northern slope of the Tauride Mountains, are mainly engaged in breeding tobacco in those places where there is enough water. Coastal Tatars already at the end of March begin to gradually sow tobacco. Among the mountain dwellers, the sowing of tobacco begins only at the end of April or at the beginning of May. Despite this, in the northern valleys and in high places, the first sprouts of tobacco often freeze. Sometimes the inhabitants of these places manage to make three crops in one summer. In this case, the last harvest of tobacco is very late, and it often happens that, due to early frosts, most of it is lost. Nevertheless, the varieties of tobacco grown in these parts of the Crimean peninsula are known for their excellent quality: they are very strong and sold more expensive than the tobacco of the southern coast, coming close to Turkish tobaccos.
For sowing, small oval beds are carefully prepared and fertilized. They are 6 to 9 feet long; 3 feet wide and rising from the ground a few inches. Seeds are sown on a ridge or in narrow rows, or completely wrong - one on top of the other, but always very abundantly, so that many grains do not sprout. At first, when the sprouts dried from the seeds pierce the loose earth, they are carefully protected from the action of the sun's rays, covered with wattle from the bush, and they are diligently observed so that the young seedlings are kept clean. If a young plant in four weeks rises to a height of 4 to 6 inches, then it is transplanted into a field, which for this purpose is dug up in ridges.
The bottoms of dried-up springs, places irrigated with water, and places where dwellings used to be, constitute the best soil for breeding tobacco plantations. In the absence of such land, tobacco growers are content with light, somewhat sandy and clayey or even forest soil, from which the roots are dug up. Tobacco transplantation should be done in a timely manner and as quickly as possible. When tobacco begins to grow in the beds, the field is dug up in the same way as for potatoes, only the furrows are lower, and the space between them is wider, and then it is supplied with channels that carry the water needed for irrigation. Young tobacco trees are planted in furrows at a distance of 1 or 1 1/2 feet from one another and at first are poorly supplied with water. Every evening, small canals are opened, coming from the field and communicating with the general canal. Through them, water passes to each furrow of the field. As soon as the water passes between the furrows to the opposite side of the field, the communication of water with the earth is interrupted. It is only at the end of June, when the plant is 1 or 1 1/2 feet tall, and consequently when the roots of the plant are sufficiently established in the ground, that the water channel is opened twice a day. In a few weeks the plant will rise to a height of 3 feet or more, and at this time the upper and side buds should be cut from it, in order that the leaves might grow better. The inhabitants of the southern coast and the mountains always entrust this work to women and children. However, the wives and daughters of the steppe Mohammedans will not work for any money other than the performance of their household duties. In August, tobacco begins to bloom, and with it, the collection of leaves begins.
Those leaves whose ribs have turned yellow are considered fully ripe: they are cut from the trunk, put together, and while the leaves are still fresh, they are pierced with a needle and put on shoelaces. Laces, with leaves strung on them, are mostly hung on poles and exposed to sunlight. The method of so-called evaporation, which imparts excellent goodness to tobacco, is known here only to a few tobacco growers; and even then it is very rarely successful, because tobacco mostly burns during evaporation. Until October, cyxie leaves remain in the fresh air; when the damp autumn mists begin, from which the dried tobacco shrinks and gets wet, then the leaves are sorted by grade and tied. Tatars do not know how to sort tobacco and very rarely undertake this work, and for the most part they confine themselves to tying it in packs containing from 30 to 50 leaves. Short stems from the leaves are tied with maize leaves twisted together, the ends of which are inserted into the middle of the bundle; and then the bound pack is pressed. These packs are bound again into large bales, weighing from one to three pounds. Three half-inch sticks are placed on each side of the bale, the ends of which are tied together with strong ropes, and the bale thus prepared is sold. Of the lightest and most pleasant tobaccos, the best varieties grow on the southern coast of Crimea, namely in Ursuf and Yalta. They are in all their qualities very close to the tobacco of Trebizond, and there are a lot of them for sale. For a batman (i.e. 18 pounds) of the highest grade tobacco is paid from 4 to 5 rubles in silver, and the worst grades - from 3 to 3 1/2 rubles. that it is very strong, as we have noted above. The first defective variety of this tobacco, which has oblong, blunt leaves of dark chestnut color, is sold for 8 and up to 12 rubles a pood. The second grade, which is rough, sinewy and often very cheese, is sold for 4 and 5 rubles; and the worst of the northern Crimean tobaccos is sold for 2 and 3 silver rubles per pood. The prices of steppe tobacco are generally very diverse. On the Shota estate, which lies on Karasu, 30 versts from the place where this river flows into the Rotten Sea, there lives a German who knows well the evaporation of fresh tobacco leaves and sells tobacco from 5 to 6 rubles. silver for a pud. In general, Crimean tobacco is suitable only for a pipe; and therefore it must be prepared and smoked in Turkish.
The mountain Tatars and the inhabitants of the southern shore cultivate significant orchards and orchards. Although even now in the luxurious valleys, which for a long distance cut both the southern coast and the northern slope of the mountains, the inhabitants are constantly being forced to plant orchards according to the European model, even now the gardening of the Tatars is moving forward slowly, despite the efforts of the government and private individuals. provide them with a rich source of profit for the future, however, many Crimean Muslims are engaged in planting gardens and buying off fruits in such quantities that something can be said about this subject here. When the fruits stop blooming, the Tatar tax-farmers are busy to hire more gardens from the owners for the whole summer. Often, not only gardens are taken at the mercy, but also lands that are planted with fruit trees, at the choice of the farmer. How, despite the unusually high price of the ransom and the risk of the enterprise, the tax-farmers not only settle their accounts, but also enrich themselves, this surprises foreigners and even constitutes a riddle for the Tatars. In the Crimea there are tax-farmers who buy off ten to fifteen gardens for the summer. Each garden counts from 10,000 to 15,000 trees; and therefore they demand from 50 to 70 workers, hired by the day, at 20 and 30 kopecks. In addition, for the farming out of a fairly well-cultivated garden containing 8,000 trees, one must pay from 1,500 to 2,000 silver rubles; and in a good year this amount is even twice as much. Taking all this into consideration, of course, it is difficult to understand at first glance how the tax-farmers can be satisfied with the result of such an undertaking. But here the benefits of both contracting parties are equalized by the fact that Moscow merchants already at the end of August take away all the best Crimean seed fruits. Thus, it is true that tax-farmers pay dearly for farming, but they sell even more expensive fruits from the farmed gardens to visiting merchants. The fruits that remain with the tax-farmers for the winter, if spoiled a little, are sorted and not wasted without use. Summer fruits with stones and bunches of Tatars are left for their own needs. Syrups are made from fruits that are harmful in their raw form, as well as from wild fruits and fruits that are less noble.
As soon as the first seed fruits ripen, immediately in the garden near the house in which the watchman lives, and sometimes the farmer himself, two wooden screw presses are set up: these are simple massive wooden screws that are set in motion by means of a gate. Between the reinforced floor and the pressing board, the fruits are placed and the juice that runs off the press is squeezed, accumulated in a special mug and transferred to a flat pan 3 to 4 feet wide for boiling. The frying pan hangs or is supported on both sides by walls made of several bricks, between which a hole is dug in the ground and a fire is made. The boiling juice is interfered with, and when it becomes dark and thick, fresh foams floating on the surface are added to it, removed and, finally, the finished syrup, while it is still warm, is poured into barrels, in which it is already carried for sale. The syrup prepared in this way has a somewhat burning taste, is known under the name of bekmesh and is very loved by the inhabitants of the East. It is brown in color and very sticky. There are very few dried fruits of the Tatars. Only the inhabitants of the south coast usually gather wild apples, mountain ash (sorbus domestica) and cherries (cornus mascula) and dry these fruits on the flat roofs of their dwellings.
When Crimea is called the garden of Russia, it is given the most appropriate name, for two reasons. First of all, the Crimean mountains and coasts have a special charm and special significance for the traveler, when, immediately upon arrival in the Crimea, during the first walks, the eye is tired of bare views, which are so numerous in the northern region of Pontus. He joyfully welcomes the first trees of the Salgir valley and with an avid gaze embraces the mountain range, which is outlined with a bluish line on the southern side of the horizon, with peaks covered with snow for half a year, and from which the peak of Chatyrdag rises noticeably.
If we go even deeper into the mountains, we will meet more and more delights. A mountain stream quickly runs along a washed-out layer of lime, often forming several cascades. The tops of the luxurious forest stand motionless and present a picture of the repose of majestic nature. Ferns and orchids grow near the roots of old beech trees, through the thick branches of which the bright blue sky shines through in places. The cascades splash, the beech rustles, at times the clever chamois cries, and the echo repeats its cry for a long time.
The steppes do not have such charm, and therefore the name of the garden should belong exclusively to the Tauride Mountains. On the other hand, so many fruit trees grow in the interior of the peninsula and their fruits are so good that the Crimean peninsula can rightly be called the garden of Russia.
Finally, we must mention forestry, an occupation that seems to suit the Tatars, who live in places where there are many forests. Unfortunately, it should be noted that in those places where the Tatars voluntarily engage in forestry, they do it with such negligence and inexcusable frivolity that, not to mention the improvement and increase of forests, for which the Crimea provides excellent means, they do not use their forests. the way it should. If the lack of moist soil in many places of the Crimea serves as the main obstacle to the success of vegetation, then, of course, this evil is further increased by the reckless destruction of vast forests. The reasons why Muslims cut down trees not at the very root, but 2 or 3 feet from the ground, are extremely unfounded, because through this the part of the trunk that remains standing on the root becomes powerless to produce new shoots and is lost without any benefit. If in the Crimea trees are cut down at the very root, then the root remaining in the ground immediately gives rise to many shoots, which, being left without any supervision, grow into a shrub in the course of one year; and if they are properly cleaned, then after a year, large young trees are made of them. But the Tatars never take such measures, and therefore even in cities surrounded by forests, the prices for forest material rise annually. For a good oak or beech trunk, they usually pay from 7 to 9 rubles in silver, including delivery to the place. The price of flowering trees is different, namely from 40 rubles it extends to 80 rubles per tithe, depending on whether the forest is young or old. Rooting is very rare in the Crimea, and I know of only a few places on the southern coast that, having first been cleared of roots, were turned into tobacco plantations. Most of all requirements happen in the Crimea on a walnut tree, as on the most useful. A significant amount of this tree is brought by the Karaites for trade to Evpatoria and Feodosia, from where it is usually sent to Odessa. In addition, a lot of dogwood is required, which is very expensive and is used for the teeth of mill wheels. It comes in 8 to 14 inches in diameter. Straight, non-knotted branches of hazels and cherries, which grow in large numbers on the southern coast, are used for making chibouks. For those engaged in turning, the best material is the evonym tree, of which there are three species in the Crimea: europeus, latifolius and verucosus. For beams, fluffy oak is mostly used on the southern coast, which is very hard and knotty, and on the northern side of the mountains and in the steppes, timber is used, brought from the Dnieper and very expensive, due to the distant delivery.
There are a lot of hunters among the Tatars; but not one of them is engaged in hunting as an exclusive trade. The steppe Tatars are engaged only in falconry, for which they train hawks (Astur palumbarius) and fluffy falcons (Falco lanarius), which are rare in the Crimea. In order to catch a young bird, which is one of these breeds, the Tatar takes a chicken and goes with it to one of the neglected steppe gardens: having arrived there, he ties the chicken to a thin rope and lets it run, while he himself hides in a dense bush and lures birds from there with a whistle . As soon as he sees that a falcon is rushing at a chicken from somewhere, he gives him a minute of time so that the falcon has time to cling to the prey, and therefore runs out to grab it. Rarely does the falcon manage to fly away from the hunter. Hunger is the only way to tame birds to hunt. A falcon caught by the described method is kept at home by the Tatars one summer, and the next they take it with them to hunt. Trained falcons are usually very good at catching glarcall and drachw. I remember that one Tatar caught with his falcon in one morning, at the mouth of the Karassu River, 7 small drakhvs and 10 glarkols. Small drachvas (Otis letrax) are also caught by Tatars with snares, in which oak bark is placed for bait: the birds fly to peck at it and fall into the snares. In the steppes, the baiting of hares by greyhounds is still very common. In the large continuous forests of the mountains and the southern coast, where chamois and deer are found in large numbers, these two animals, foxes, badgers and even wolves, are hunted or poisoned by dogs, or simply shot at, forcing the dogs only to stand. But chamois should not be shot in the Crimean forests, and hunting for them should stop on June 15th. I myself have noticed several times that the Crimean chamois are already bearing children at the end of June.
Chapter VII. About the Tatar cities. Industry of the Tatars. South Coast residents.
Now, in a brief outline, I want to give an idea about the life of the urban Tatars, about the characteristics of their occupations and crafts, and finish my article with a few words about the Tatars of the southern coast. Purely Tatar cities should not be looked for in the steppes. The nomadic Nogaets or the steppe Tatar, accustomed to variable nomadism in the vast steppe, is not at all inclined towards social life. Only in the mountains, content with a small but comfortable piece of land, do the Mohammedans gather in one society and are forced to work to get their own food. Of these cities, Bakhchisarai, the former residence of the khans, has retained its eastern character to this day. In other cities, as, for example, in Simferopol, Karasubazar, Feodosia, and so on, although the majority of the inhabitants are Tatars, we also find in them a significant number of Armenians, Greeks, Karaites and Russians. In Bakhchisarai, located in a narrow, rocky hollow, more and more narrowing to the southwest, the eastern resident remained the same as he was, with all his customs.
In the narrow streets of Bakhchisaray, paved with large limestone, lively activity reigns from early morning until dusk. Eastern industry is highly developed here. In the morning, when the first rays of the rising sun illuminate the calcareous peaks of the mountains located in the west, and when the mullahs from the minarets scattered around the city call the faithful to prayer, first of all, bread crushes open, during which there is a tavern. In a high bakery, built with a vault, the owner sits at the already cooling oven and sells his goods. His clerk, who has worked all night, is located in the opposite corner on the counter and is resting from work. Coal is still smoldering in the furnace. The old owner puts on his head a narrow red cap or a turban, takes out a short chibouk, puts on a pipe, then rakes out the coals and lights the pipe with one of the coals. Having done all this rather slowly, the owner again sits down behind the goods and waits for buyers. Finally, buyers begin to replace one another, each of them throws a copper coin to the owner and takes bread corresponding to this price. Meanwhile, the hearth in the tavern, which occupies the other half of the bakery, is flooded: it is completely sooty from the continuous firebox. The products of Tatar cuisine, which anyone can receive, are of two kinds. For the most part, only shish kebab is prepared and served in taverns. This dish is an Armenian invention and consists in the fact that small pieces of lamb are put on an iron pole, on which they are usually arranged in such a way that a lean piece of meat falls next to a fat one and then they are fried on this pole over a free fire. The ovens in which this food is prepared are arranged as follows - from the base of the oven, which is 3 feet wide, walls rise on both sides, converging upward with a cone or vault; but at the top they do not converge, and between them there is an empty space of one foot, in which fire can play freely. An iron rod runs along the entire length of the oven in the empty space between the walls, on which perches with meat are placed, and, as necessary, they are moved with a fork. The fat dripping from the meat falls into the fire and burns. A well-cooked shish kebab, salted in moderation, from fatty lamb, is very tasty. In autumn, this dish is also served with the fruits of Solannm molongena. Away from the furnace, there is also a cauldron in the shop, lined with stone walls and holding 6 to 8 buckets of water. Sheep heads and legs are boiled in it and sold either warm or cold. The second kind of taverns prepare dishes not so luxurious: in them you can get meat soups and pies with meat or onions, baked in mutton fat. Meat pies are very fatty and are a tasty dish among Mohammedans. The soup pots are copper, tin-plated and hold about a bucket of water. In the hole they are one foot in diameter, then suddenly narrow to 2 inches, so that they form a rim, which they adhere to when hanging in the hearth hole. Most people visit the tavern from 9 to 10 in the morning. At this time, all retail outlets are open. It is not uncommon to see even earlier than this time how a caring craftsman removes large heavy shutters from his shop, which is at the same time a workshop. This is the distinctive character of the Tatar and all Eastern artisans in general, that they work almost on the street, openly before the eyes of passers-by. The master, and if there is an apprentice, sit and work in a shop on a wooden floor, among the things prepared for sale. Workshop, shop, bedroom, dining room - all this in the artisan is in a room that has several square feet. Tatar artisans never make a secret out of their craft, and if the inhabitant of the East were not such that he does not want to take care of anything except the Koran, when he has enough bread and tobacco, then anyone, looking at them, could acquire dexterity in every skill.
Between all the shops we find many cobblers. The yellow color is usually given to mutton skin, from which Tatar shoes are excellently made. Behind them we meet a whole row of saddle shops, in which excellent leather weaving and saddlery goods are made, which go far for sale. In order to hold the leather more comfortably, tanners use a wooden vise, whose rounded plates are compressed by a screw, and these tongs stand on a tripod loom 1 1/2 feet high. The tanneries, on the other hand, stock vast stocks of tobacco bags and pockets to hold tinder, flint, and flint. These things diverge in trade throughout the Novorossiysk Territory. Of the artisans involved in woodwork, there are many excellent turners in the Crimea. With extraordinary dexterity, they control the shaft with their right hand, meanwhile, they guide the chisel with their left and big toes. As a result of this constant exercise, their big toes arch outward and receive the same mobility as the big toes. In addition to many small wooden things, they arrange cradles from several sticks, perpendicularly strengthened at both ends into two horizontal rounded wooden boards. Boards and sticks are decorated with various figures, painted with dry mineral paints and rubbed with oil. The main subject of work of turners is shank, of which the simplest are from 1 to 1/2 f. lengths from the Crimean straight hazel and cost from 1/2 to 1 kopeck in silver. The best chibouks are made of cherry wood, and they cost, depending on their length, from 2 to 6 silver rubles. Of the workers who work in metal things, there are those who make only copper things, for example: kitchen utensils, ladles, etc., which are tinned on a free fire. There are also those that work from one iron; but there are fewer of them, because by forging rough objects in
Tatar forge. Bakhchisaray.
Photo from the book Crimea. Guide. ed. K.Yu. Bumbera, Taurus Printing House. lips. Zemstvos; Simferopol, 1914.
The Gypsies usually hunt in the Crimea. Finally, there are workers who are exclusively engaged in the manufacture of new tools and the correction of the old. It is also worth mentioning the knives manufactured in the Crimea of excellent workmanship and with strong handles and scabbards. These knives are first roughly forged with a hammer, and then polished on a strong sandstone, and this work is done by two workers: one of them quickly turns the shaft on which the whetstone is put on, by either tightening the belt wrapped around the shaft, or releasing it; the other holds the blade of the knife on the stone against its movement. As soon as the movement of the stone is stopped and the knife is taken away from it, turning stops and the sparks cease to sparkle.
Here, by the way, mention the production of smoking pipes. They are prepared very well as in Bakhchisarai,
so in Karasubazar; and the order of preparation is as follows. They take the blue greasy clay, which is quarried in some parts of the peninsula, and dye it red or black, and mix linseed oil into it until it takes on the proper form; then balls weighing from 1 1/2 to 2 lots are rolled from it and laid out in forms. The mold is constructed of strong wood so that it can open and close like a box, and inside it is carved into the shape of a tube, one half cut into the top lid of the mold and the other half into the bottom. When a ball made of clay is placed in such a box and they begin to close it, a wooden cylinder attached to the top lid of the box presses the ball, makes it expand and occupy an empty space that has the shape of a tube and its neck; further, in order to make a hole in the neck, the box is opened and a thin wooden stick is passed through the neck. As soon as the cylinder of the top cover meets the ends of this stick, the finished tube is taken out of the mold, cleaned of roughness with a small knife, and finally fired over high heat. - The preparation of felt is carried out by the Tatars in specially arranged workshops for this purpose and requires a lot of people. It consists in the fact that the plucked wool is evenly laid out on a thin fabric prepared for this; therefore, this fabric is rolled up, so that the inner layers of the felt do not touch one another, but are separated by a fabric, and, finally, such bundles are rolled into linen. Felt during this action is formed because, rolling the bundle, the worker at the same time hits it hard with his hand, and with the other hand presses it hard during the entire movement. As a result, all Tatars involved in the preparation of felt always have thick skin and many calluses on the palms of their hands. As an exclusive trade, many Tatars are engaged only in the fact that they ruffle wool and cotton paper, using special brushes made from dry mutton veins. Only the skill of a tailor, which is of such great importance among all educated peoples, is not found at all among the Tatars. Oriental women, already deprived of the rights enjoyed by women of the West, must not only weave and spin clothing materials, but also sew the clothes themselves. However, only village women are engaged in sewing; rich Tatars living in cities buy their clothes from Turkish Jews. Only in the small town of Karasubazar did I see women sewing in some shops, and I learned that they supply their work to one merchant who sells ready-made clothes.
Although it is clear from what we have said that in the industries mentioned above, the Easterners are far behind us, but in another respect they can serve us as an example from ancient times, namely the methods of bathing they use and everything related to the latter. Tatar barbers deserve special praise. However, let's hurry now from the narrow and crooked city streets to the southern coast of the peninsula, endowed with majestic nature, and to conclude, let's see how its inhabitants spend their day.
Before the rising sun has time to paint the Sudak heights with a pink light, and the calm waters of the Black Sea to reflect the purple brilliance of its rays in the east, the gates begin to open in the villages, and half-asleep women go with stone and copper vessels to splashing fountains. For the south coast dweller, the first labor of the day is to fetch water. When the men have washed and the old men have smoothed their beards with wet hands, they go to the prayer house, following the call of the mullah, who at dawn enters the minaret and in the midst of still dormant nature monotonously sings his appeal to the faithful to go to prayer. After prayer, everyone gets to work and works up to 8 hours. At this time, members of each family gather for breakfast, which consists of bread with onions or garlic. If they have some other fruits or a pot of curdled milk for breakfast, then this is already a luxury. After breakfast, they smoke a few pipes of tobacco and, with their usual laziness, they resume their day's work. Little Muslims up to the age of 8 are very much alive. With cheerful cries they run around the village or play their favorite game, which consists in throwing a round wooden disk to each other. Lacking such a wooden circle, they use round pebbles and knock them out with small sticks. Girls do not interfere in these games, but only look at them. They always escort old women to the fountains for water, or gather under the shade of a spreading hazel.
When the sun reaches its zenith, even in hot summer, the Tatars rest for two hours and instead of dinner they again eat black bread with onions. Pious people do not touch food without washing and praying. With the setting of the sun, the day's work ends, and at this time everyone returns home. What a superb view at this time of the day most of the villages on the south coast! Fast forward for one minute to captivating Partenit, on the eastern side of Ayudag, which, like a broad-shouldered stone colossus, rushed far into the sea waves. The beautifully located Bay of Partenit, which irrigates it with foamy surf of waves, either smoothly running away from the shore, or hitting with a deaf noise on limestone rocks overgrown with moss, receives a pure forest spring, whose banks, decorated with walnuts and vineyards, make up the most beautiful of the Crimean valleys. At the end of this valley, near the sea, lies the village of Partenit, partly in a narrow plain, partly on the eastern mountainous side. Two large cliffs of Yayla, in their fall, reached the very seashore and remained there in place. Several village houses are molded near them. It's already evening. The sun hides behind the high coastal cliffs of Yayla and touches the peaks with its rays, coloring them first orange, then red and finally purple; below everything is already shrouded in twilight. The Sudak mountains are outlined in gray-blue shadows on the horizon of a smooth sea; and in the very distance of the sea you can see the white sail of the ship, dazzlingly brightly illuminated by the sun's rays. By this time, young and old are already gathering in Partenit and going to a branchy hazel tree located in the middle of the village to enjoy the evening coolness and talk while smoking a pipe. Women end their day with the same work they started it with. Meanwhile, everything goes dark. Not the slightest breath of wind interrupts the sleep of nature; only from time to time a blackbird or a small owl will cry, and the splash of the sea is heard, nailing to the shore. Finally, the voice of the mullah calling for prayer is heard, and when the prayer is over, night silence reigns in the low village huts.
Crimean Tatars are a very interesting people that arose and formed on the territory of the Crimean peninsula and southern Ukraine. They are a people with a dramatic and ambiguous history. The article will discuss the number, as well as the cultural characteristics of the people. Who are they - the Crimean Tatars? You can also find photos of this amazing people in this article.
General characteristics of the people
Crimea is an unusual multicultural land. Many peoples left their tangible mark here: Scythians, Genoese, Greeks, Tatars, Ukrainians, Russians... In this article we will focus on only one of them. Crimean Tatars - who are they? And how did they appear in the Crimea?
The people belong to the Turkic group of the Altai language family, its representatives communicate with each other in the Crimean Tatar language. Crimean Tatars today (other names: Crimeans, Krymchaks, Murzaks) live on the territory of the Republic of Crimea, as well as in Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania and other countries.
By faith, most of the Crimean Tatars are Sunni Muslims. The people have their own anthem, coat of arms and flag. The latter is a blue cloth, in the upper left corner of which there is a special sign of nomadic steppe tribes - tamga.
History of the Crimean Tatars
The ethnos is the direct ancestor of those peoples who at different times were associated with the Crimea. They represent a kind of ethnic mix, in the formation of which the ancient tribes of the Taurians, Scythians and Sarmatians, Greeks and Romans, Circassians, Turks and Pechenegs took part. The process of formation of an ethnos lasted more than one century. The cement mortar that held these people together into a single whole can be called a common isolated territory, Islam and one language.
The completion of the formation of the people coincided with the emergence of a powerful state - the Crimean Khanate, which lasted from 1441 to 1783. For most of this time, the state was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, with which the Crimean Khanate maintained allied ties.
In the era of the Crimean Khanate, the Crimean Tatar culture experienced its heyday. At the same time, majestic monuments of Crimean Tatar architecture were created, for example, the Khan's palace in Bakhchisarai or the Kebir-Jami mosque in the historical district, Ak-Mosque in Simferopol.
It should be noted that the history of the Crimean Tatars is very dramatic. Its most tragic pages belong to the 20th century.
Number and distribution
It is very difficult to name the total number of Crimean Tatars. The approximate figure is 2 million people. The fact is that the Crimean Tatars, who left the peninsula in different years, assimilated and ceased to consider themselves as such. Therefore, it is difficult to establish their exact number in the world.
According to some Crimean Tatar organizations, about 5 million Crimean Tatars live outside their historical homeland. Their most powerful diaspora is in Turkey (about 500 thousand, but the figure is very inaccurate) and in Uzbekistan (150 thousand). Also quite a lot of Crimean Tatars settled in Romania, Bulgaria. At least 250,000 Crimean Tatars currently live in Crimea.
The size of the Crimean Tatar population on the territory of Crimea in different years is striking. So, according to the census for 1939, their number in the Crimea was 219 thousand people. And exactly 20 years later, in 1959, there were no more than 200 Crimean Tatars on the peninsula.
The main part of the Crimean Tatars in Crimea lives today in rural areas (about 67%). Their highest density is observed in Simferopol, Bakhchisarai and Dzhankoy regions.
Crimean Tatars are generally fluent in three languages: Crimean Tatar, Russian, and Ukrainian. In addition, many of them know Turkish and Azerbaijani, which are very close to the Crimean Tatar. Over 92% of the Crimean Tatars living on the peninsula consider Crimean Tatar as their native language.
Features of the Crimean Tatar culture
The Crimean Tatars created a unique and original culture. The literature of this people began to develop actively during the Crimean Khanate. Another heyday falls on the 19th century. Among the prominent writers of the Crimean Tatar people are Abdulla Dermendzhi, Ayder Osman, Jafer Gafar, Ervin Umerov, Lilia Budzhurova and others.
The traditional music of the people is based on old folklore songs and legends, as well as the traditions of Islamic musical culture. Lyricism and softness are the main features of the Crimean Tatar folk music.
Deportation of the Crimean Tatars
May 18, 1944 is a black date for every Crimean Tatar. It was on this day that the deportation of the Crimean Tatars began - an operation to forcibly evict them from the territory of the Crimean ASSR. Led the operation of the NKVD on the orders of I. Stalin. The official reason for the deportation was the cooperation of individual representatives of the people with Nazi Germany during the Second World War.
So, in the official position of the State Committee for Defense of the USSR, it was indicated that the Crimean Tatars deserted from the Red Army and joined the Nazi detachments fighting against the Soviet Union. What is interesting: those representatives of the Tatar people who fought in the Red Army were also deported, but after the end of the war.
The deportation operation lasted two days and involved about 30,000 soldiers. People, according to the recollections of eyewitnesses, were given half an hour to pack, after which they were loaded onto wagons and sent in an easterly direction. In total, more than 180 thousand people were taken out, mainly to the territory of the Kostroma region, the Urals, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.
This tragedy of the Crimean Tatar people is well shown in the film "Haytarma", which was filmed in 2012. By the way, this is the first and so far the only full-length Crimean Tatar film.
The return of the people to their historical homeland
Crimean Tatars were forbidden to return to their homeland until 1989. National movements for the right to return to Crimea began to emerge in the 1960s. One of the leaders of these movements was Mustafa Dzhemilev.
The rehabilitation of the Crimean Tatars dates back to 1989, when the Supreme Soviet of the USSR recognized the deportation as illegal. After that, the Crimean Tatars began to actively return to their homeland. To date, there are about 260,000 Crimean Tatars in Crimea (this is 13% of the entire population of the peninsula). However, returning to the peninsula, people faced a lot of problems. The most acute among them are unemployment and lack of land.
Finally...
Amazing and interesting people - the Crimean Tatars! The photos presented in the article only confirm these words. These are people with a complicated history and a rich culture, which, without a doubt, makes Crimea even more unique and interesting for tourists.
