Tuvinians

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Chinese Tuvinian on a Morj horse .

The Tuvan (Tuvan: Тыва / Tyva in southern Siberia or Dywa in Western Mongolia and Xinjiang ) are a group of related Turkic peoples and the largest ethnic group in the Altai - Sayan -region countries Russia , Mongolia and China . In the Russian Republic of Tuva , the more than 200,000 Tuvins (1989: 198,448; 2010: 249,299) make up the majority of the population (1989: 64.31%; 2010: 81.0%).

The Tuvinian language belongs to the Siberian Turkic languages and is divided into four dialect groups. It shows strong Mongolian influences . It has been written in Cyrillic since 1940 .

The speakers of Tuvinian divide themselves into three different groups: The largest group by far are the Taŋdy Tyvazy / Dyvazy of southern Siberia. The Chomdu Dϊvazϊ / Tyvazy settle in western Mongolia and finally the Aldaj Dϊvazϊ / Altaj Tyvazy high on the Mongolian-Chinese Altai ridge .

Linguistically and culturally, further groups are counted among the Tuwins who have arisen from connections with neighboring ethnic groups; however, their assignment is sometimes difficult and inconsistent.

Because of these complicated family relationships, the Russian ethnologist Sevyan Vainshtein suggested in 1972 that we should instead differentiate between groups based on the type of culture or subsistence strategy . According to this, the various western and northern Turkish and Mongolian- speaking peoples of the region could be divided into the nomadic reindeer herder-hunters of the taiga and the semi-nomadic cattle herders of the steppe .

The traditional forms of farming have largely been replaced by modernized mobile animal husbandry in the steppe . Most of the Taiga Tuwinians are now sedentary, while a small minority still lives completely nomadically from reindeer herding.

Alternative names

In the past, the Tuwins were usually referred to in travel reports and scientific publications with the (Mongolian) foreign name Urianchai (also Uriangkhai , Uryangkhai ). In addition, other names such as Sojonen , Sojoten , Mončak or Gök Mončak can sometimes be found in European literature , although these are actually only the names of individual subgroups (see, for example, Soyotes below).

Other names for the Tuwins are Tyva , Tyvaner , Tuva and Tuvaner ; also diba , tokha or tuba . Tuwinen and Tuwinzen are secondary forms .

Culturally and / or linguistically divergent groups

The ethnogenesis of the various Tuvinian local groups is shaped by the intermingling with neighboring peoples as well as changing borders between Russia, China and Mongolia and makes it difficult to classify and structure them clearly.

This is clear from the example of the approximately 200 Tuvin-speaking Dukha (or Sojon-Urianchai ) who live fully nomadically in Chöwsgöl-Aimag , the northernmost province of Mongolia, and are called " Caatan " or " Tsaatan " (reindeer people) there. The Dukha are divided into two local communities , each with a very different history, despite a common group identity and belonging to the large group of Taŋdy Tyvazy / Dyvazy: One group presumably originated from the Mongolized Soyots of Buryatia . The second dukha group, on the other hand, is closely related to the Todscha-Tuvinians of Russian South Siberia, from whom they were separated in the mid-1950s when the border between Russia and Mongolia was drawn.

Mongolized steppe groups

Despite their Mongolian idiom , the Chalch-Urianchai in western Mongolia and the Darchat in northern Mongolia are counted among the Tuvinians.

Soyotes

The soyotes (also soyons ) in the Eastern Sayan Mountains of southern Siberia were probably created during border conflicts between Russia and China in the 18th century. A Tuvinian group was assimilated (Mongolized) by the Buryats . The Soyotes were reindeer herders and hunters until the Soviet government made them settled in 1963. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, attempts have been made to revitalize the reindeer industry, but this is difficult.

Today the Soyotes have an official status as so-called indigenous peoples of the Russian north .

It should be noted that the terms “Sojoten / Sojonen” are used differently in some (older) scriptures: Sometimes the name is a synonym for all Tuwiner; sometimes the small ethnic group of the Dukha is referred to as "Sojon-Urianchai". On the other hand, some ethnologists do not count the Soyotes among the Tuvinians because of their ethnogenesis .

Todscha

The Todscha (also Tozhu ) in the northeast of Tuwas speak Tuvinian and are mostly attributed to the Tuvinians, although they are also related to the neighboring Tofalars to the north , who also belong to the taiga reindeer herder hunters. Although the ethnic group is much larger than the related dukha in Mongolia, only far fewer people (2012: 37 men) work as reindeer herders.

Like the Soyotes, the Todscha in Russia have acquired the status of a so-called small indigenous people and thus legally separated themselves from their neighbors.

Biltir

The Biltir are made Tuwinern and Khakassians emerged, but it is always assigned to the Khakas.

Religions

Shaman during a fire ceremony at Kyzyl , Tuva , Russia

The so-called "classical shamanism" was the traditional ethnic religion of the Tuwins. The ethnologist Klaus E. Müller speaks of "complex shamanism" and means those forms that have developed a complex ritual culture through contact with other religions and neighboring agricultural societies. There was already a strong intermingling with Lamaism at an early stage . There were different types of shamans , which were broken down according to ancestry and type of calling. Healing and divination are still the most common tasks of the shaman today. Four other types have also been passed down: shamans with jew's harp, with stick, with mirror and those who dared nightly rituals with drums and costumes.

Like the neighboring Mongolians - who have a strong cultural influence on the Tuwians in Mongolia - the Tuwins there officially profess mostly Tibetan Buddhism . In Russia there are also old-believing Orthodox Christians . The old traditional shamanic practices, however, still have a great importance: Tuvinian shamanism was able to save itself even through the Soviet era. The introduction of atheism by the Soviets could not hold its own. However, shamanism changes drastically through contact with western esoteric neo-shamans who have set in motion an intensive exchange. This will possibly distort and superimpose the original traditions of this people. The German-speaking writer and Tuva shaman Galsan Tschinag is a well-known representative of this development.

Culture and way of life

Depiction of traditional Tuvinian clothing
The "reindeer people" also ride the animals

Traditional economic forms of the Tuwins are mobile animal husbandry and supplementary hunting: In the steppe regions, like elsewhere, yak, horse, camel, sheep and goat are kept, today often supplemented by cattle. Among the sedentary people sometimes pigs and poultry too. As a rule, however, livestock farming is semi-nomadic or nomadic . Some members of the reindeer-keeping Dukha in northern Mongolia and the Todscha in the Siberian northeast of the settlement area, both of whom live in the taiga, are fully nomads . While the steppe Tuvins had to return to partial subsistence farming out of necessity after the collapse of the Soviet Union , a few Taiga Tuvins have always lived this way. This makes you one of the very few people on earth who still live from traditional nomadism . The connection to the local money economy is mostly through the sale of furs from hunting.

The traditional culture has been best preserved among the Tuvinians living in the more remote regions of Mongolia (Altai, Sojon), especially among the "reindeer people" of northern Mongolia. On the Russian side, during the Soviet era, there was an aggressive Russification (including forced sedentarism), which led to strong acculturation . Today the influence of the Mongolian and Kazakh culture on the western Mongolian and Chinese settlement areas is greatest.

Tuva belongs to the core area of ​​classical shamanism . The remoteness and independence of some groups has resulted in this worldview being largely preserved to this day. The ritual evocation of spirits as part of the treatment of the sick and intercession for social purposes, as well as the oracle, play an important role here. The Altai shamanism was researched in depth by Leonid Pavlovič Potapov, a Tuvan ethnologist. However, the work of the Tuvinian ethnologist Monguš Borachovič Kenin-Lopsaŋ, who founded the society of shamans “Düngür” after the end of the Soviet era, with the aim of promoting shamanism and animism (“Everything is animated”) in Revive Tuva and train new shamans. However, due to an intensive exchange with western shamans, this causes a clear cultural change from traditional shamanism to esoteric neo - shamanism .

history

Young Tuvins in the style of modern culture

Archaeological finds and Chinese sources suggest that the Tuvins were not the first to colonize Tyva. Several Turkic peoples as well as Turkish Mongols, Samoyed and possibly Ket speakers were involved in their ethnogenesis . In principle, intermingling often took place among the mobile pastoral peoples . According to Chinese sources, they used the ethnonym Tyva as early as the 17th century.

After the end of the Oiraten Empire , the Tuvins belonged to China , were under (east) Mongolian administration and the local upper class was largely Mongolized. The Tuvinians have always been largely independent and withstand foreign influences. Until the 18th century Buddhism was introduced, but it was strongly syncretized with traditional shamanism . In the 19th century the Buddhist belief gradually gained acceptance.

After the Chinese revolution, the tsarist empire established the Urjanchajski Kraj protectorate (Урянхайский край / Region Urjanchai ) on most of the Tuvinian territory . The Russian Revolution in 1917 was followed by a period of occupation by Chinese troops and various Russian civil war parties, and finally in 1921 the establishment of the free " People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva " ( Tuvinian : Tahdy-Tywa Ulus Respublika ). In 1922 the Revolutionary People's Party TARN (Tuvinian: Tywa arattyh revoljustug namy ) was founded. In 1926 it was renamed Tywa Arat Respublika / TAR (Tuvinian People's Republic).

The first "republican" government (1921-1924) led the nobleman Nojan Bujan-Badyrgy , the feudal head of the Choschun (district) Daa ( Mongolian : Nojon Bujan-Badrachuund ). The term of office of the Donduk Kuular government (1924–1929) was characterized by a policy of leaning towards the Mongolian People's Republic and promoting Buddhism. The cultural revolution of 1929/1930 brought Soviet -influenced cadres to power, who initiated a restructuring based on the Soviet model. As the official language, a written Tuvinian language was developed in place of the old Mongolian used until 1940, which was written in Latin letters until 1940.

In 1944 the area of ​​the dissolved People's Republic was annexed to the RSFSR as an Autonomous Oblast , and in 1961 it received the status of an Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic . In 1991 this was transformed into the Republic of Tuva.

Family ties to the Turkic minority in Mongolia

The Dywa , who now live in western Mongolia , were not recognized as a national minority for a long time , as they live in the Kazakh- dominated Bajan-Ölgii-Aimag . The Dywa were sometimes referred to in older sources as Gök Mantschak or Gök Tschuluutan , which goes back to the name of a subgroup, namely Gök Mandchak . Her community in Tsengel-Sum is currently consolidating through the return of families who previously emigrated to Central Mongolia. The number of all Tuvins in Mongolia is likely to be between a few thousand and ten thousand, the various figures are contradictory. The Tuvinian journalist Mongal Sedip even assumes 30,000.

Tuvan minorities in China

Several thousand dywa of the altar direction (Tuvinian: Aldaj dshüktüch dyvasy ) live in the PRC . The name refers to the settlement area of ​​the minority, which is located south to southwest of the Altai ridge. Depending on the source, 2,000 (1989) or 5,000 (1992) people are assumed. Although the Chinese government had offered the Dywa in the early 1950s to recognize them as an independent nationality (" national minority "), this minority still insists on being counted among the Mongols , in this particular case among the Oirats resident here . Unofficially, the reason given was the fear that, as a quantitatively small group, it would not be able to counter the pressure of the also Turkish-speaking but Islamic Kazakhs . To be part of the quantitatively strong group of Mongols, with whom they share religion and way of life and whose language they almost all speak, gives them a feeling of cultural security.

Well-known Tuvinians

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oelschlägel 2004. p. 5.
  2. ↑ Oelschlägel 2004. p. 6.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Jürg Endres: Reindeer keeper. Hunter. Poacher? Practice, change and vulnerability among the Dukha and Tozhu in the Mongolian-Russian border area . Franz Steiner, Stuttgart 2015, ISBN 978-3-515-11140-9 . Pp. 19-21.
  4. ↑ a b c Oelschlägel 2013, pp. 20–22.
  5. ↑ ecoi.net , accessed on November 11, 2019.
  6. ↑ a b c d e f James R. Millar, Sharon L. Wolchik (eds.): The Social Legacy of Communism, Woodrow Wilson Center Press and Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 1994, reprinted 1997, ISBN 0-521-46182-0 . P. 70.
  7. ↑ Klaus E. Müller: Shamanism. Healers, spirits, rituals. 4th edition, CH Beck, Munich 2010 (original edition 1997), ISBN 978-3-406-41872-3 . Pp. 30-33, 41.
  8. ↑ Anett C. Oelschlägel: Plurale Weltinterpretationen - The example of the Tyva of South Siberia. Studies in Social and Cultural Anthropology, SEC Publications / Verlag der Kulturstiftung Sibirien, Fürstenberg / Havel 2013, ISBN 978-3-942883-13-9 . Pp. 31, 60f.
  9. ↑ Heiko Grünwedel: Shamanism between Siberia and Germany: Cultural exchange processes in global religious discourse fields. transcript-Verlag, Bielefeld 2013, ISBN 978-3-8376-2046-7 , p. 232ff.
  10. ↑ Oelschlägel 2013. p. 22.
  11. ↑ Oelschlägel 2004. p. 6.
  12. ↑ Oelschlägel 2013. pp. 21, 26.
  13. ↑ Oelschlägel 2004. pp. 9-16.
  14. ↑ Oelschlägel 2013. P. 31, 60f.
  15. ↑ Oelschlägel 2004. p. 5.
  16. ↑ Oelschlägel 2013. pp. 21, 26.