Mari (people)

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Settlement area of ​​the Mari (historical)

The Mari (historically: Cheremiss ) are a people in Russia , u. a. in the Republic of Mari El . You belong to the Volga Finns .

distribution

Proportion of Mari in the population of Bashkortostan according to the 2002 census

About half of the 640,000 members live in the Republic of Mari El. The remaining Mari live scattered in many areas and republics of the Volga - Urals region. Their language is also called Mari . There are also two written languages, both of which are the official languages ​​of Mari El. A distinction is made between the so-called “Mountain Mari”, who live on the high, southern Volgaufer, the “Wald-Mari” of the west, the larger group of the “Wiesen-Mari” on the northern flat Volga and the “Ost-Mari” many live in Bashkortostan .

history

The Mari were first mentioned in the 6th century at Jordanes as sremniscans , a name that is borrowed from the Volga Bulgarian name çеремçин (literally translated as "steppe dwellers", from it "Cheremissi"). The ancestors of the Mari were dependent on the empires of the Khazars and Volga Bulgarians from the 8th century . From the 13th to the 15th century they belonged to the empire of the Golden Horde and the Khanate of Kazan . With the conquest of the Khanate by Ivan IV in 1552, the Mari came under the rule of Russia , which they opposed until the 17th century. On October 4, 1920, an autonomous region was created, with the constitution of 1936 on December 5, 1936 an Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of the Mari ( ASSR of the Mari ), which declared its sovereignty in 1990. Today there are various nationalist Mari organizations, including the Mari Ushem party.

religion

While other peoples subjugated by Ivan IV were evangelized relatively quickly from Novgorod , the Mari opposed Christianization until the 19th century . Many members of the Mari, especially many Eastern Mari (Tschi-Mari, Reine Mari), maintain a traditional nature-related religion to this day , in which the worship of trees plays a role, but which has also experienced Christian and Islamic influences. There are three pagan communities in Mari El. However, most of the religious Mari today belong to the Russian Orthodox Church . There are also many Protestants of various denominations among them .

Well-known Mari

literature

  • Eugen Helimski, Ulrike Kahrs, Monika Schötschel (eds.): Mari and Mordwinen in today's Russia. Language, culture, identity ; Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz, 2005; ISBN 3-447-05166-3

Web links

Commons : Mari people  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files