Tschuwaschen
The Tschuwaschen (own name: чăваш / čăvaš , Pl. Чăвашсем / čăvašsem ) are a people of Turkic origin from Eastern Europe. Today they form a special group within the Turkic peoples with around 1.7 million members . They are generally considered as descendants of Onogurs designated Volga Bulgaria .
Geographical distribution
| banner | Republic / Oblast | Share of the total population (as of 2010) |
|---|---|---|
 |
Chuvashia | 67.7% (814,750) |
 |
Tatarstan | 3.1% (116,252) |
 |
Bashkortostan | 2.7% (107,450) |
 |
Ulyanovsk Oblast | 7.7% (94,970) |
 |
Samara Oblast | 2.7% (84,105) |
Half of the Chuvashes live in the Chuvash Republic , a republic of the Russian Federation . There they make up 67.7 percent of the 1.6 million inhabitants. In other Russian republics and administrative areas of the Middle Volga and the Ural Foreland, they are only minorities. About 3.1 percent of the residents of Tatarstan are Chuvash (as of 2010).
Other minorities worth mentioning can be found in Moscow , where around 14,300 Chuvashes live, and in the Oblasts of Tyumen , Kemerovo and Orenburg . Outside of Russia, there are other Chuvash minorities in Ukraine (especially in eastern Ukrainian oblasts such as Donetsk and Lugansk ) and in Kazakhstan (especially in the Karagandy region ).
Ethnic origin and history
The Chuvashes can be regarded as descendants of the Volga Bulgarians , among other things . At the same time, they have a lot in common in their traditional culture with the Mari (Tschermissen), who speak a Volga Finnish language, and other population groups in the Volga-Ural region.
Ethnic classification of the Chuvash
The older ethnology divided the Chuvashes into two territorial groups according to linguistic and cultural aspects. The Wirjalen lived in relation to the course of the Volga upstream (further "above") in the northern and western part of today's Republic of Chuvashia. The Anatri lived more downstream in relation to the Volga. They included the inhabitants in the south of today's republic and in the areas further south and east ( Ulyanovsk Oblast , Samara ) and republics ( Tatarstan , Bashkortostan ). The post-Soviet Russian ethnology names the Anat Jenschi as the third largest group of the Chuvash, which represents a kind of transition between the Wirjalen and Anatri. The east and central areas of today's Chuvash Republic are given as their residential areas.
language
The Chuvash language has been written in Cyrillic since the 18th century . It is influenced by the Finno-Ugric languages and has a special position among the Turkic languages due to its phonetic structure .
Religions
In contrast to almost all other Turkic peoples, most of the Chuvashes were Russian Orthodox as early as the 18th century . Elements of the animistic ethnic religion of the Chuvashes have been preserved to this day in a modified and reduced form. Some Chuvash nationalists have sought the revival and renewal of paganism with some success since the 1990s. Islamic, Jewish and also old Iranian influences can be found in the names of gods, the names of days of the week and individual traditional rituals. Conversions of large groups and individuals to Islam have existed for many centuries until today. Often they also led to a language and culture change towards the Volga Tatars . Atheistic ideas have had an important influence since the beginning of the 20th century and esoteric concepts as well . Today, 80–90 percent of the Chuvash people are likely to be baptized Christian. However, this is not to be equated with an active religious attitude and practice. The number of active churchgoers is as low as in the rest of Russia and, according to various opinions, between 10 and 20 percent.
history
The Chuvashes formed the Greater Bulgarian Empire with other peoples . There they were Islamized in the 8th century . In the 13th century they were subjugated by the Mongols and belonged to the empire of the Golden Horde from 1237 to 1502 and subsequently to the Kazan Khanate .
In 1552 the Chuvashes voluntarily submitted to the protection of the Russian tsar, who then smashed the Kazan Khanate and incorporated it into his empire.
In the 17th / 18th centuries, most of the Chuvashes converted to Orthodox Christianity, believing that as Christians they would now be treated better by the Russian authorities.
The Chuvash Autonomous Oblast was established in 1920 and the Chuvash ASSR in 1924 as part of the Russian Federative Soviet Republic.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union, several national organizations were founded to promote the Chuvash language and culture and reinterpret the history of the Chuvash. In the first presidential election of the year, its most important representative, Atner Chusangai, received almost half of the votes cast, which was not enough. After that, the activities and popularity of the national organizations quickly declined and they no longer play a major role today. Today the Chuvashes are endangered in their ethnic identity and the linguistic Russification is constantly increasing. From 1989, with the beginning of the collapse of the Soviet Union, there was a national reconsideration of the Chuvashes and numerous civil movements emerged, some of which were at odds with the independence movements of the Tatars and Bashkirs . The best known was the nationalist movement Bolgarı Cedıd (New Bolgars), which wanted the Tatars to see themselves as “Bolgars” again and to revisit their role before the Mongol conquest. The Chuvashes also began to consciously feel that they were “Turks” again. From the "Bolgarı Cedıd" movement, the pan-Turkish parties and associations were formed:
- "National Democratic Front of Chuvashia"
- "Chuvash social cultural center"
- "Assembly of the Turkish Peoples"
The above parties and movements are actively supported by Turkey . On the other hand, there is the “Chuvash People's Party”, which is taking a decidedly independent path. She sees herself as the true heir to the Bolgarı Cedıd citizens' movement.
All Chuvash citizen movements and parties send their youth associations to meetings of the “Union of the Turkish World Youth” ( tr. Türk Dünyası Gençler “Birliği” ) organized by Turkey and their congresses (most recently in Comrat in 2010 ).
As of January 1, 2009, there were 79 Chuvash cultural associations in Russia.
gallery
Chuvashin in traditional national dress.
Chuvashes on a Soviet postage stamp from 1933.
literature
- Erhard Stölting: When a world power falls apart . 1990, p. 145-156 .
- Heinz F. Wendt: Fischer Lexicon Languages . 1961, p. 328 .
- Helmut Glück (Ed.), With the collaboration of Friederike Schmöe : Metzler Lexikon Sprache. 3rd, revised edition. Metzler, Stuttgart / Weimar 2005, ISBN 3-476-02056-8 .
- Heinz-Gerhard Zimpel: Lexicon of the world population . 2000, p. 90, 551 f .
- The new Brockhaus . tape 4 , 1938, pp. 484 .
- Andreas Kappeler The Tschuwaschen: A people in the shadow of history . Böhlau 2016, ISBN 978-3-412-50564-6 .
Web links
- The "Eurasian Movement" of Russia
- The Chuvash report of the radio station "Voice of Russia"
Individual evidence
- ↑ Table of contents ( Memento of the original from November 21, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF)
