Setu people
The setos (German also Setu or Seto ; setukesisch setoq , Estonian setud ) are an ethnic minority in the border region between Russia and Estonia . They are considered by some scientists to be an Estonian tribe . They differ from the Russians in their Finno-Ugric language, the Setukesian ( seto kiil´ ). In contrast to the traditionally Lutheran Estonians, the Setukese are primarily of the Orthodox faith . According to estimates, there are still around 10,000 people who profess to be part of the Setukesian ethnic group.
Settlement area
The Setu people traditionally live in the historic Setumaa region in southeast Estonia and northwest Russia near Lake Peipus . Setumaa is located in today's Põlvamaa and Võrumaa counties in Estonia and the Pskov Oblast in Russia. The number of Setu people in Estonia is estimated at around 10,000, of which 3,000 to 4,000 live in southeast Estonia. In the Estonian census of 2000, the ethnicity "Setukese" could not be given. In the 2002 Russian census, only 197 people claimed to be Setuke nationality.
The Setu people historically lived on Lake Peipus and on the Piusa and Mädajõgi rivers , which formed the border between Livonia and Russia. The Piusa flows interrupted by several rapids through a meadow landscape to the Pihkvasee . In the Middle Ages , important trade routes by land and water ran here. Characteristic for the settlement area of the Setu people are sandy and poorly productive soils. The landscape is also characterized by the numerous pine forests .
Larger manors with representative mansions, as they were formative for the German Baltic history of Estonia and Livonia, hardly occur in Setumaa. Most of the land was owned by the state or the monastery of Pechory (German Pechur , Estonian Petseri ), which it leased to local farmers and fishermen. Fortified, closed courtyards with the characteristic high boarded gates and clustered villages dominate the rural culture of the Setu people . They were previously designed as fortified structures to protect against attacks. All buildings are close together.
The center of the Setukesian communities were the Orthodox churches and the small village chapels ( tsässonad ). A tsässon is traditionally made of wood. Inside there are candles and flowers in addition to the obligatory images of saints. There is a small cross on the roof of the house. Each chapel has its own guardian angel or saint.
history
The Setukese probably settled in the area of today's Setumaa before 600 AD. In old Russian chronicles, the Setukese are grouped under the term Tschuden with other Finno-Ugric peoples of the region. From the early Middle Ages onwards, Slavic-speaking tribes increasingly advanced to the northeast. There was a mixture with several ethnic groups and their imaginations. The Finno-Ugric speaking Estonians were converted to Christianity between the 10th and 13th centuries when Catholic Denmark and the Teutonic Order ruled Livonia. In particular, the Catholic diocese of Dorpat with its center in Tartu put pressure on the Setu people to convert to the Catholic faith.
The Setucese, who lived in Novgorod's sphere of influence , initially remained pagans . It was not until the 15th century that the Setu people finally converted to the Orthodox faith. However, they retained numerous pagan customs, so that the religious culture of Orthodoxy initially only had a superficial effect. The contacts between Estonians and Setu people also brought many influences of Catholicism into the Setukese culture.
The Setu people themselves describe their situation in the borderland of the two rival religious and political powers with the famous Setukesian expression katõ ilma veere pääl ("At the border of two worlds"). From 862 to 1920, most of the Setukesian settlement area belonged to the Russian Empire. On February 24, 1918, Estonia declared its independence from Russia in the turmoil of World War I and the Russian Revolution . In the peace treaty of Tartu (German Dorpat ) Setumaa fell to Estonia. It was incorporated into the new Estonian State Association as Petserimaa County . However, the Orthodox Setumaa in Lutheran Estonia remained rather a cultural foreign body.
The first three decades of the 20th century can be described as the heyday of Setuke culture. Around 1905 the number of Setu people probably reached its peak. In the 1934 Estonian census, 15,000 people professed their Setukesian identity. It was not until the 1930s that the Estonian state, which was developing increasingly centralistically and authoritarian, began to exert growing pressure to assimilate to the majority of the Estonian population .
In 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Estonia and ushered in a fifty-year period of repression that affected all minorities in the Soviet Union. The Setukesian culture was now subject to numerous restrictions by the communist regime. Traditional family-owned silver jewelry has been expropriated. Setucese language teaching in schools has been abolished. Setukesian farms were merged into kolkhozes and subjected to the planned economy . Quite a few Setu people were deported to the interior of the Soviet Union during the Stalin era, as was a significant part of the Estonian population . In 1944, the border between the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic and the Russian SFSR was redrawn from Moscow . For the first time in the history of Setumaa, it cut through the Setukesian settlement area. However, the border of the republic within the Soviet Union hardly played a role in the daily life of the Setu people.
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union and Estonian independence was regained in August 1991, the Estonian-Russian state border has divided the traditional settlement area of the Setu people. It makes contact between the Setu people on both sides of the border and access to the cultural sites and cemeteries more difficult. The Republic of Estonia has de facto recognized the 1944 demarcation. However, a corresponding border agreement with Russia has not yet been ratified by the Russian parliament. After Estonia joined the European Union , the state border became an EU and Schengen external border.
Today the cultural and political rights of the Setu people are fully guaranteed in the Republic of Estonia. The greatest challenge of the Setukesian culture today is the increasing globalization and the rural exodus of the younger population, which is more and more depopulating the Setukesian villages. A significant part of the Setu people already live in the two largest Estonian cities, Tallinn and Tartu .
language
Like Estonians , Finns and Hungarians, the Setukese are a Finno-Ugric speaking people . Setukesian belongs to the Baltic Finnish language group. It is closely related to (South) Estonian , which some linguists attribute it to.
Estonians and Setu people understand each other with difficulty. However, all Setu people living in Estonia are proficient in Estonian . Setuce and South Estonian are now taught in 26 Estonian schools. However, the authorities and courts are monolingual Estonian and in Russia monolingual Russian.
Culture
The Setu people have retained their own culture and identity to this day. The traditional Seto art of singing, leelo , was added to the UNESCO list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2009 . The songs are passed on from generation to generation. A Setukesian music festival has existed since 1977.
The Setukesian women wear their colorful costumes especially on festive occasions such as weddings and church celebrations. The rich silver jewelry is striking, often in the form of coins and as a large, conical breastplate ( suur solg ). This is only worn by married women. The pieces of jewelery are passed on from generation to generation within the family. The total weight can be up to 6 kg. The handicrafts of the Setu people are also known with their traditional patterns that adorn the hems of woven belts, headscarves, shawls and traditional women's blouses ( hamõh ). Setukesian men wear the shirts adorned with red ornaments over their trousers. The colorful and richly patterned wool socks are striking.
Traditional costume is worn at the traditional village festivals ( kirmas or kirmask ) with their numerous dances and song performances . The village festivals usually coincide with religious festivals. In the traditional Setuese dance ( kargus ) men and women are strictly separated. Traditional musical instruments such as the bayan and garmon play on, and occasionally the kannel .
In Obinitsa , a museum founded in 1998 is dedicated to the Setukesian culture. A branch office opened in 1974 is located in Saatse . On the Russian side of the border there is a Seto Museum in Sigova ( Pankjewitza municipality , Pskov district ). It is a branch of the Izborsk Fortress Museum .
organization
The Seto Congress meets every three years. It is made up of representatives from the Setukesian villages and organizations. The Seto Congress elects a 13-member council of elders with a rotating chairmanship, which officially represents the cultural, economic and political interests of the Setu people externally. The IX. Seto Congress took place in November 2008 in Värska .
Setumaa has consisted of the newly formed Setomaa municipality since the administrative reform . Before that the 4 municipalities Setumaas Mikitamäe , Värska , Meremäe and Misso were united in the Union of Municipalities of Setumaa (Estonian Setomaa Valdade Liit ). He publishes the Setomaa newspaper, which is published partly in Estonian and partly in Setukesian.
Since 1994, on the kuningrii (“kingdom”), an annual festival, the Setu people have re-elected their spiritual “king” ( sootska ), who represents the affairs of the community as a symbolic cultural leader. This tradition was forbidden during the Soviet era and is now very popular as a festival with song and dance, also among the visitors of Setumaa.
religion
Before the conversion to Christianity, which lasted from the 10th to the 13th centuries, the Setu people - like the other Finno-Ugric peoples - were pagans with a strong belief in nature . The Russian Orthodox Monastery of Pechory, founded in 1473, played a major role in Christian penetration.
In contrast to the Evangelical Lutheran Estonians, the Setukese are of the Orthodox faith. A quiet corner with Orthodox icons and images of saints ( pühasenulk ) characterize every Setukesian household. Ancestral worship is alive. In addition, there is the great importance of the cemeteries and old tombs. In the traditional Setukesian imagination there is no sharp distinction between the real world and the supernatural. The (folk) religion is an inseparable part of communal life and the Setukesian culture.
One of the highest religious festivals of the Setu people, Paasabar , is celebrated annually for three days in Obinitsa near the border with Russia. Setu people from all over Estonia and Russia travel to this. After an Orthodox service, a procession leads to the lake where divine blessings are requested. The following day there will be a memorial service at Obinitsa Forest Cemetery. There the believers eat over the graves of their ancestors and leave food and drink behind.
The veneration of the pagan fertility and harvest deity Peko is of particular importance among the Setu people . It is seen as the national symbol of the Setu people. The Setukesian national epic is named after Peko . It was compiled by the folklorist Paulopriit Voolaine (1899–1985), who drew on the legendary Setuese folk singer Anne Vabarna (1877–1964). Vabarna had a repertoire of around 100,000 lines of verse, but could not write. A monument to Vabarna created by the Estonian sculptor Elmar Rebane stands today in the village of Võpolsova (rural municipality Värska).
literature
- Peko. Setu rahvuseepos. Setukai Epic. The Setu Epic. Laulanut-Laulnud-Sung by Anne Vabarna. Toimittaneet-toimetanud-edited by Paul Hagu & Seppo Suhonen. Kuopio 1995.
Web links
- Setomaa.ee
- Seto Museum in Obinitsa
- Development of the Seto area. (pdf, 1.1 MB) Värska municipality, May 10, 2004, archived from the original on July 10, 2007 (English, Setumaa and the Setu people).
- Seto Kuningriik. In: setomaa.ee. Archived from the original on November 7, 2017 (Estonian, (Seto)).
- In pictures: The Seto people, a border people. In: BBC . (English, photo reportage).
- Mikhail Pavlov: The Setu people. In: Voice of Russia . November 9, 2010, archived from the original on December 22, 2015 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/doc/English/4-1.xls
- ↑ http://www.setoturism.ee/?lang=est&m1=33&obj=120
- ↑ http://www.setoturism.ee/?lang=est&m1=33&obj=118
- ^ Development of the Seto area. (pdf, 1.1 MB) Värska municipality, May 10, 2004, p. 2 , archived from the original on July 10, 2007 ; Retrieved March 18, 2019 (English, Setumaa and the Setu people).
- ↑ http://www.setoturism.ee/?lang=est&m1=18&obj=180
- ↑ http://www.setomaa.ee/index.php?id=6e2713a6efee97bacb63e52c54f0ada0
- ↑ http://www.passportmagazine.ru/article/450/
- ^ Thea Karin: Estonia. Cultural and scenic diversity in a historical borderland between east and west. Cologne 1994 (= DuMont art and landscape guide ) ISBN 3-7701-2614-9 , p. 247