Wepsen

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
flag

The Wepsen are a Finno-Ugric people of Baltic-Finnish origin in north-western Russia . The area where you live today is between Lake Ladoga , Lake Onega and Lake Vologda . According to the Russian census conducted in 2010, there are 5,936 Wepsen, of which 1,638 call themselves native speakers and 2,362 speak wepsis. The Wepsi language is one of the Finno-Ugric languages .

The Wepsen are divided into three main groups:

  • North Vepsen: in Karelia around Lake Onega , south of the Karelian capital Petrozavodsk
  • Mittelwepsen: mainly around Saint Petersburg , south of Lake Onega and west of Lake Belo-Osero, in the Vologda Oblast and in the Saint Petersburg area
  • Südwepsen: east of the city of Saint Petersburg and in the southeast of the Saint Petersburg region

Language and demographics

The Wepsen language belongs to the Baltic Sea Finnish group of Finno-Ugric languages . Her closest relatives are Karelian , Ischoric and Finnish . The name Wepsen comes from the South Wepsi dialects. In other dialects, the self-designation is t'ähine, t'ägälaine (locals, those who live here).

To the north and east of Lake Onega live the Lüdier ( l'üd'inik , Russian Ljudiki ), who also speak a Karelian language.

Three main dialects can be assigned to the three main groups of Wepsen, of which the Middle Weps dialect is the most widely spoken variety. In the 1930s an attempt was made to develop a literary language from this dialect, but for political reasons only a few text books and grammars were published.

year Number of Wepsen
1897 25,284
1926 32,773
1939 32,000
1959 18,400 (native speakers: 46.1%)
1970 8,281
1979 8,094 (native speakers: 38.4%)
1989 12,501
2010 5,936 (native speakers: 27.6%)

In 1989, only 50% of the 12,000 or so Wepsen spoke the wepsis language, and even fewer stated that they were their mother tongue. In 2002, according to the Russian census, only 8,200 people referred to themselves as Wepsen, of which 69% (5685) spoke Wepsis. The trend is largely down, so at the moment, according to the Russian census, only around 6,000 Wepsen can be assumed, of which just under 2,400 speak the Wepsi language. In Karelia there was a small autonomous district (Vepsän rahvahaline volost ') until the end of 2005 . According to the Russian census of 2002, 3493 people lived in the district, 1202 of whom stated their nationality as wepsis.

history

It is now assumed that the Wepsen are descendants of the Wes tribe, which has been mentioned several times in history . In the Chronicle of the Jordanes the peoples '' Vas '' and '' Vasina '' are mentioned in the 6th century.

Kievan Rus

The Nestor Chronicle reports that in the year 862 the Wes tribe belonged to the founders of the Kievan Rus together with Tschuden , " Slovenes " (Ilmenslawen) and Kriwitschen . In Russian chronicles, the term Wes is used both as a term for a people and for the land they inhabit.

The Wes also remains from grave mounds are assigned to the 950 to 1100 on the southeastern shore of Lake Ladoga and in the region of the river deltas of Volkhov and Svir were created. Scandinavian jewelry found in the graves suggests trade links between the Finno-Ugric peoples and Western tribes.

Between the 10th and 12th centuries the Wes advanced east and south, reaching the eastern shore of Lake Ladoga . The fact that there are loanwords from the Wepsi language in the north-western dialects of the Syrian language could be an indication that there was contact between Wepsen and Syrian from the 8th to 12th centuries .

Shortly after the 12th century, the name Ves disappeared from Russian sources, which led Russian historians to believe that the Wes had assimilated and merged with the Russian population. But the Wepsen were able to maintain their ethnic independence and continued to live in their home region, in the southern part of which they became a minority at the beginning of the 11th century.

Russian colonization

The Christianization set in and monasteries were built. Russian colonization led to local expropriation of the Wepsen and serfdom of the local population. In response, many Wepsen emigrated north and northeast from the 15th century.

Due to the expanding Russian colonization, the Finno-Ugric peoples are mostly settled like islands, including the Wepsen, which at no time represented an independent administrative unit. Many assimilated into the Karelian community and adopted their dialects.

In the middle of the 12th century, the Wepsen paid taxes to the Volga Bulgarians . After the fall of the Principality of Belozersk , the area came under the power of the Grand Duchy of Moscow . The region had to withstand two plague epidemics, which claimed many victims in the population.

19th century

Scientists only became aware of the Wepsen in the 19th century after Andreas Johan Sjögren first wrote about them in 1824. Nevertheless, it would take decades before a clear picture of their country and their living conditions emerged.

Soviet nationality policy

The 20th century began promisingly for the Wepsen in terms of developing a national identity. They were supported by the then official Soviet national policy. 24 administrative units were established, some of which were also divided into two districts. During this time the first wepsis-speaking schools opened. A department for minorities in the Leningrad District Office was charged with translating a written form of Vepsic into the Latin alphabet . The first book in Wepsi was published in 1932. In total, more than 20 books were published between 1932 and 1937; the majority were school books.

The Stalinist policy suppressed the burgeoning aspirations of the wasp. All national and cultural activities were banned, and from 1937 only Russian was the language of culture. Wepsi schools were closed, textbooks burned and wepsi intellectuals persecuted. The national districts were abolished and the Wepsen forced to assimilate into the Russian population.

During the Continuation War in World War II, Finland occupied the Wepsi area on Lake Onega . The Finnish occupiers set up a Finnish administration and education system.

Todays situation

The national self-image of the Wepsen as a separate ethnic group continues to decline, and the continuation of their language and culture remains uncertain. Assimilation with the Russian language, religion and culture is happening everywhere and all Wepsen are bilingual . The Wepsen people are threatened with extinction.

Politically, they belong to the small indigenous peoples of the Russian north, Siberia and the Russian Far East who are organized in the umbrella organization RAIPON .

Traditional clothing

The wepsish women's clothing contains both Russian and Baltic-Finnish elements. The women wear both the Russian sarafan under a white, richly embroidered shirt and a combination of skirt and blouse, complete with a belt and ornamented shawls, which in turn corresponds to the Finnish-Baltic tradition.

Folk art

embroidery

The decorative art of the Wepsen can be seen in embroidered blouses, shirts, skirts, headgear, towels and sheets made of white linen. Old patterns and their later variants persisted into the 19th century, the traditional colors were white and red. The most common motif is a tree and a female figure in the middle, with horses, riders and birds arranged to the right and left . The tree stands as a symbol for life, while the female figure in her posture with raised hands is a symbol of fertility. The horses can be understood as a sign of the sun, the riders represent the gods of nature. Since the 19th century, however, they lost their religious significance and were henceforth represented as abstract geometric patterns.

carving

Like other Finno-Ugric peoples, the Wepsen show a special variety of carving techniques. So they carved jugs in the shape of boats, the handles of which end as a horse or bird's head. These were made in various sizes and were primarily used for drinking beer, but also for funeral rituals. The boat shape here refers to the worldview that the earth is flat and motionless and surrounded by an ocean from which the sun rises and sets. The horses and birds understood the Wepsen as a symbol of the sun and its course. The horse dives into the ocean to transform into a water bird that flies east.

to eat and drink

Wepsi specialties include sourdough bread, fish dishes and various pastries filled with fish. National drinks are beer and kvass .

Festivals and rites

The festivities and rites of the Wepsen overlap with those of the North Russian community. However, some of the original traditions have been preserved. Contrary to Russian custom, marriage proposals are not made during the day, but at night. At the wedding, it is customary for the young couple to try freshly filled pierogi . Funeral rituals also differ from those of Northern Russians. So the deceased is buried singing according to the old Baltic-Finnish tradition, because the belief prevails that otherwise he will not come to the afterlife. There is also the old custom of letting the youngest “entertain” the dead while they are still in the house through dance and music. At the funeral, he is pulled on a sledge and, according to Karelian custom, coins are thrown into his grave to pay for the earth in which he lies.

Faith

Since the Wepsen were Christianized in the 11th and 12th centuries, little of their original spiritual culture has been preserved, which illustrates the role of humans in their environment and the relationship between humans and nature. In this belief in nature the trees had souls. Specially shaped, slightly raised trees were worshiped. Decorated cloths were even hung on the branches as gifts.

As an agricultural people, the Wepsen believed in the divine powers of nature. They worshiped the sun as a source of light and warmth, they believed in nature as the goddess of fertility and the existence of the forest spirit and water spirit. Before the hunt, prayer was made to the forest spirit and feathers, breadcrumbs, gunpowder or nails were brought to him as an offering. He was asked for luck and gave permission to pick berries or cut trees. But if you deliberately violate nature, for example by breaking off branches or trampling on mushrooms, you had to fear the punishment of the forest spirit. The wepsish writer Anatoli Petuhov (* 1934) writes about this belief, conveyed through the stories of his grandmother. For example, if you injure a tree, a root grows in the way or ants get lost under your shirt. The spirit of the water - whose name was forbidden to pronounce - was also given offerings and permission was asked for bathing and fishing. The Wepsen believed in a protective house spirit who watched over the health and happiness of the residents. Fruits and small items were also offered for him. When sick they sought the help of a shamanic healer, the Nojd .

Contemporary culture

Recently there have been renewed efforts with the aim of a general literary language. Wepsisch became the regional language of the Wepsen ethnic area and is taught there in schools. School books in Wepsis have been published since 1991. The most famous Wepsi author was Nikolai Abramov . He published the first volume of wepsi prose. In addition to his work as a writer, he works as a journalist and translator. He writes in wepsish and Russian.

There are also modern musical trends. The band Noid , which consists of four professional musicians from Petrozavodsk , play wepsish songs as world music . Traditional wepsish folk songs are sung in the folk choir, which has existed since 1936 and performs at national and international festivals.

Since 1987 the Elonpu (Tree of Life) festival has been held annually in the village of Vinnici in Leningrad Oblast . Wepsi traditions, crafts, arts, music, dance and cuisine are celebrated here.

Since 1993 the magazine Kodima , the most important mouthpiece of the Wepsen, has been published monthly in Petrozavodsk in Wepsis and Russian . There is also a monthly children's magazine.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Gyula Decsy: Introduction to the Finno-Ugric linguistics . P. 188, Wiesbaden 1965.
  2. ↑ Mauno Jokipii: Itämerensuomalaiset. Jyväskylä 1995, pp. 387-400.
  3. ^ Authors of Karelia: Abramov Nikolai .
  4. ↑ Vepsnoid .
  5. ↑ Znakom tes-Poet vepsskij narodnij .
  6. ↑ vinnici.ru .
  7. ↑ Kodima .
  8. ↑ Kipina

literature

  • Teleki László Foundation (Ed.): The Finno-Ugric World . Budapest, 2004.
  • Kerezsi Ágnes: Az uráli népek néprajza . Budapest, 2009.
  • Csepregi Márta (Ed.): Finnugor kalauz . 1998.
  • Pusztay János: Nyelvével hal a nemzet . Budapest, 2006.

Web links

Commons : Vepsians  - collection of images, videos and audio files