Winter holidays in Chuvash. Summary: Chuvash holidays. Winter solstice
1. Classification of Chuvash holidays and rituals.
2. Chuvash calendar holidays:
a) winter and spring holidays;
b) summer and autumn holidays.
3. Holidays and rituals associated with the economic activities of the Chuvash.
4. Chuvash family and household holidays (birth ceremonies, naming, public assistance - nime, etc.).
5. Chuvash wedding (matchmaking, wedding stages, participants in the wedding ceremony, post-wedding rituals).
1. Calendar holidays are timed to coincide with the main turning points of the astronomical year - the winter and summer solstice (December 21-22, June 21-22), autumn and spring solstice (March 21-22, September 21-22). It is necessary to pay attention to when in the past the ancestors of the Chuvash people celebrated the new year. Students must know the semantic purpose calendar holidays and rites.
2. When considering the holidays and rituals associated with economic activities, it should be borne in mind that they included not only those associated with agriculture, but also with animal husbandry.
3. The originality of ethnic culture is most clearly manifested in the ritual sphere, primarily in the holidays and rituals of the family circle. Family rituals are conservative to a certain extent, in them, due to intimacy, the traditional is preserved longer than in other areas. social sphere. The most ancient elements in family holidays and rituals are highlighted and explained.
4. Before considering the wedding rituals, it is found out where the young people met, at what age they usually got married, what features existed in this regard in the Chuvash community, what restrictions were in place for marriage.
5. When studying a traditional Chuvash wedding, it is necessary to separately consider the preparation in the bride's house, in the groom's house, to get an idea of the rituals observed during the movement of the wedding train.
Sources
1. Mikhailov S.M. Collected works. – Cheboksary, 2004. – P.67–90, 145–160.
2. Failures V.A. Notes about the Chuvashs. Cheboksary: Chuvash. book. publishing house, 2004. - 142 p.
3. Failures V.A. Chuvash in everyday, historical and religious relations: Their origin, language, rituals, beliefs, legends, etc. M .: Type. S. Orlova, 1865. - 188 p. [Electron. resource]. – Access mode http://dlib.rsl.ru/viewer/01003567967#?page=2
Main
1. Culture of the Chuvash region. study guide / V.P. Ivanov, G.B. Matveev, N.I. Egorov and others; comp. M.I. Skvortsov. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. book. publishing house, 1995. - Part I. - 350 p.
2. Salmin A.K. Holidays and rituals of the Chuvash village. - Cheboksary, 2001. - 47 p.
3. Salmin A.K. Chuvash folk rituals. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. humanit. in-t, 1994. - 338 p.
4. Osipov A.A. Chuvash wedding. The rite and music of the wedding is viryal. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. book. publishing house, 2007. - 206 p.
5. Chuvash. History and culture: historical and ethnographic research: in 2 volumes / Chuvash. state in-t humanitarian. sciences; ed. V.P. Ivanova. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. book. publishing house, 2009. - Vol. 2. - 335 p.
Topic 3. Material culture of the Chuvash people
1. Traditional National clothes:
a) underwear;
b) outerwear;
c) hats and jewelry;
d) wedding clothes.
2. Chuvash embroidery and ornament.
3. Culture of traditional food:
a) food of plant origin;
b) food of animal origin;
c) drinks.
4. Settlements and dwellings:
a) settlements
b) types of dwellings, building techniques and building ceremonies;
c) the interior of the dwelling;
d) layout of the yard and outbuildings.
As we all know, the Chuvash culture is famous for its songs, dances, various games and amusements. All these components brightly decorated the rituals and holidays of the Chuvash, whichin the past they were closely connected with their pagan religious beliefs and strictly corresponded to the economic and agricultural calendar.
The cycle of rituals began with a winter holiday asking for a good offspring of livestock - surkhuri (sheep spirit), timed to coincide with the time of the winter solstice.
Surkhuri - it's oldthholiday of the winter cycle, celebrated during the period winter solstice when the day begins to arrive.
Surkhuri is usually celebrated for one week. After acceptance , this National holiday new year coincided with the Christian m( Rashtav ) and continues until I( Kasharni, Shuçi ). During the celebration of surkhuri, rituals are held to ensure economic success and personal well-being of people, a good harvest and livestock in the new year.
Another no less famous holiday of the New Year cycle isnartukan (nartovan) translated from the Turkic word nartukan means "born of the sun" and symbolizes the pagan cult of the Sun. The celebration falls just at the time when daylight begins to grow. The holiday begins on the days of the winter solstice and is celebrated until the celebration of the Nativity of Christ - from December 25 to January 7. We can say that the nartukan is practically the same Svyatki. The main celebrations unfold along with the increase in daylight hours and, accordingly, the strengthening of the sun, when, according to legend, the effect of dark forces weakens. The holiday symbolizes the awakening of nature and the triumph of life. On the holiday, mummers with ritual songs went from house to house, wishing everyone joy, health, prosperity. The mummers were treated, as in Christmas carols. In nartukan there are also divinations typical of Christmas holidays.
One of the biggest and greatest holidays of winter is baptism - 
porridge. Kasharni, in some places kereschenkke, is a holiday of the New Year cycle. It was celebrated by the Chuvash youth during the week from Christmas (Rashtav) to baptism. After the introduction of Christianity, it coincided with Russian Christmas time and baptism. This festival originally celebrated the winter solstice. The word kasharni, apparently, only outwardly resembles Russian baptism (the variant kereshchenkke goes back to it). Literally, kasharni-“ winter week"(cf. Tat. kysh" winter ").
To conduct kasharni, young people hired some kind of house and brewed the so-called girlish beer (hyor sari) in it. case from neighboring villages. The day before the baptism, young girls gathered in this house, brewed beer and cooked pies. In the evening, the whole village, young and old, gathered in the house. The girls first treated the elderly and parents to beer. Having blessed the young for a happy life in the new year, the old people soon went home. The youth spent this evening in amusement. Music and singing sounded all night long, boys and girls danced to ditties. An important place in the celebration of kasharni was occupied by all kinds of fortune-telling about fate.
At midnight, when the village was already asleep, several people went to the fields. Here, at the crossroads, covered with blankets, they listened to who would hear what sound. If someone heard the voice of some domestic animal, they said that he would be rich in cattle, but if someone heard the sound of coins, they believed that he would be rich in money. The ringing of the bell and the music of the bagpipes-shapar predicted the wedding. If these sounds were heard by a guy, then he will certainly get married this year, and if a girl, then she will get married. There were many other fortune-telling that night, but young people more often guessed about marriage and marriage. This is understandable, since according to the Chuvash custom, it was during the New Year period that the parents of the young sent matchmakers. During the celebration of kasharni, mummers walked around the yards. They acted out all sorts of scenes from village life. The mummers certainly visited the house, where the youth celebrated kasharni. Here they showed various comic skits. However, initially the role of the mummers was to expel evil spirits and hostile forces of the old year from the village. Therefore, in the period from Christmas to baptism, in the evenings, mummers walked with whips and imitated the beating of all strangers.
The next morning came the so-called water baptism (tura shiva anna kun). On this day, the baptism of the Lord is celebrated - one of the so-called twelfth holidays of the Russian Orthodox Church. This holiday was established in memory of the baptism of Jesus Christ described in the gospel by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
Then came the holiday of honoring the sun savarni (Shrovetide), when they baked pancakes, arranged horseback riding around the village in the sun. At the end of Maslenitsa week, they burned an effigy of the "old woman of the savarny" 
In the spring, there was a multi-day feast of sacrifices to the sun, god and dead ancestors of the mankun (which then coincided with Orthodox Easter), which began with kalam kun and ended with seren or virem - a rite of expelling winter, evil spirits and diseases. The youth walked in groups around the village with rowan rods and, whipping people, buildings, equipment, clothes, drove out evil spirits and the souls of the dead, shouting “seren!”. Fellow villagers in each house treated the participants of the ceremony with beer, cheese and eggs. At the end of the XIX century. these rituals have disappeared in most Chuvash villages.
The spring holiday of riding Chuvashs, dedicated to the expulsion of the evil spirits of the old year from the villages. Traditionally, this holiday was held on the eve of the great day (). After the spread of Christianity pagan holiday mănkun coincided with Orthodox Easter, and virĕm was timed to coincide with Palm Sunday. In the grassroots, a similar holiday is called.
On the eve of virĕm, annual commemorations of ancestors are held. On the day of virĕm, young guys go to the forest and prepare rowan twigs. After returning from the forest, a door-to-door detour of the village begins. The guys with music, songs and dances go around the whole village in the salting (in the direction of the sun), starting from the extreme eastern house. In each house they are greeted with gifts, invited to the hut and treated to whatever they can. The guys hit the corners and walls of each building with rowan rods to drive out evil spirits. They also hit the owners of the house and the cattle in order to expel any kind of ailment. For this, the owners give them eggs, koloboks, pies, nuts. Having bypassed the whole village in this way, the guys gather in the evening somewhere outside the village, certainly near the cemetery. Several old men who know the ancient rituals and prayers well come to them here. After praying for the health and well-being of the villagers, everyone begins the ritual meal. The leaders of the virĕm holiday distribute eggs and other treats equally to everyone. Children immediately begin to play a special game with the use of boiled eggs.
Late in the evening, in the ravine behind the village, the guys light fires from old bast shoes. When the fire flares up, rowan rods are thrown into the fire. They take off their clothes, hats and throw them up, saying: “Let all wickedness and all sickness leave the village!” Before they go home, they begin to jump over the fire. The one who jumped three times runs to the village with all his might, as it is believed that evil spirits and diseases will stick to the one who last runs to the outskirts. In the village, fun and games continue until late in the evening. Children play various games, sing songs, dance tomusic.
Kalam - one of the traditional holidays of the spring ritual cycle, dedicated to the annual commemoration of the deceased ancestors. Unbaptized Chuvash kalam celebrated before the great day (mankun). Among the baptized Chuvashs, the traditional mankun coincided with Christian Easter, and as a result, kalam coincided with Holy Week and Lazarus Saturday. In many places, kalam merged with mankun, and the word itself was preserved only as the name of the first day of Passover.
Since ancient times, many peoples, including our ancestors, celebrated the new year in the spring. The origins of the spring holidays go back to the New Year celebrations. Only later, due to repeated changes in the calendar system, did the original spring New Year ritual cycle fell apart, and a number of rituals of this cycle were transferred to Shrovetide (savarni) and the holidays of the winter cycle (kasharni, surkhuri). Therefore, many of the rituals of these holidays coincide or have an unambiguous meaning.
The Chuvash pagan kalam began on Wednesday and lasted a whole week until mankun. On the eve of the kalam, a bathhouse was stoked, supposedly for the departed ancestors. A special messenger rode to the cemetery on horseback and invited all the dead relatives to wash and take a steam bath. In the bath, the spirits of the deceased relatives were hovered with a broom, after themselves they left water and soap for them.
The first day of the holiday was called kyo9yon kalam (small kalam). On this day, early in the morning, one guy was equipped as a messenger in each house. He rode a horse around all the relatives. On this occasion, the best horse was covered with a patterned blanket. Multi-colored ribbons and brushes were braided into the mane and tail, the horse's tail was tied with a red ribbon, a leather collar with bells and bells was put on his neck. AT best clothes the guy himself was also dressed, a special embroidered scarf with a red woolen fringe was tied around his neck.
Approaching each house, the messenger thrice banged on the gate with a whip, called the hosts out into the street and invited them in verse to “sit under the candles” for the evening.
Parents at this time cut some living creatures. In the middle of the courtyard there was usually a specially fenced place mankele (the main prayer place).
Mancun - a celebration of the meeting of the spring new year according to the ancient Chuvash calendar. The name mankun translates as "great day". It is noteworthy that the pagan East Slavic tribes also called the first day of the spring new year the Great Day. After the spread of Christianity, the Chuvash mankun coincided with Christian Easter.
According to the ancient Chuvash calendar, mankun was celebrated on the days of the spring solstice. Pagan Chuvashs started mankun on Wednesday and celebrated for a whole week.
On the day of the advance of the mankun, early in the morning, the children ran out to meet the sunrise on the lawn on the east side of the village. According to the Chuvash, on this day the sun rises dancing, that is, especially solemnly and joyfully. Together with the children, old people also went out to meet the new, young sun. They told the children ancient tales and legends about the struggle of the sun with the evil sorceress Vupar. One of these legends tells that during the long winter, evil spirits sent by the old woman Wupar constantly attacked the sun and wanted to drag it from heaven to the underworld. The sun appeared less and less in the sky. Then the Chuvash batyrs decided to free the sun from captivity. A squad of good fellows gathered and, having received the blessing of the elders, headed east to rescue the sun. For seven days and seven nights the batyrs fought with the servants of Wupar and finally defeated them. The evil old woman Wupar with a pack of her assistants ran away to the dungeon and hid in the possessions of Shuitan.
Akatuy holiday is famous for its diversity.
Akatuy - spring holiday Chuvash dedicated to agriculture. This holiday combines a number of ceremonies and solemn rituals. In the old Chuvash way of life, akatuy began before going to spring field work and ended after the sowing of spring crops. The name Akatuy is now known to the Chuvash everywhere. However, relatively recently, riding Chuvashs called this holiday Suhat. (dry "plowing" + tuye "holiday, wedding"), and grassroots - sapan tuye or sapan (from the Tatar Saban "plough"). After the great day (mankun), the Chuvashs began to prepare for the spring field work: they repaired agricultural implements, prepared seeds. In the last days of April, before going out to the arable land, they began to prepare for the celebrations on the occasion of field work. For the ritual part of the akatuy, beer is brewed in advance, food supplies are prepared, and eggs are painted. Akatuya celebration in different houses starts at different days. The holiday lasts a week. Those who have prepared for the holiday on a certain day convene relatives and neighbors. By their arrival, a rich table is laid in the hut. An altar (brother) with beer is placed at the head of the table, in the middle of the table on a special embroidered towel - a dish with a loaf of bread and a circle of cheese. As soon as all the invitees gather, the host appoints one elder who knows the ritual as the leader, and he begins to fulfill his duties. A mug of beer is brought to each of those present, and a piece of edible made from grain and animal products is distributed. Usually it is a slice of kalach with cheese or butter. As soon as the distribution ends, the leader sings the old song "Alran kaimi aki-suhi" (Northing and arable land is our eternal business), and everyone picks up this hymn to agricultural labor. After the completion of the song, under the guidance of the elder, everyone prays, turning, as usual, towards the half-open doors. In the old Chuvash way of life, all the houses in the village were built with doors to the east. Turkic peoples from time immemorial have performed their prayers, turning towards the sunrise. This tradition was held by the Chuvash until the beginning of the 20th century.
At the end of the whole cycle of spring agricultural work, the solemn part of the akatuy holiday was held. In ethnographic literature, the term "akatuy" is often explained as "plow wedding", but this is not entirely true. It would be much more correct to translate "akatuy" as "farming holiday". The whole course of the holiday shows that it is dedicated to the completion of spring field work. For the most solemn final cycle, the Akatuya began to prepare in advance. Youths rode through the streets on horseback. They collected prizes for awarding winners in competitions. The youth rode around the village with a long pole, to which the young women tied their best embroidered towels and woven belts. Others carried wicker bags - pesteri for collecting eggs. In some places, the guys tucked embroidered towels in rows into their belts, so that something like an apron or skirt was formed. Almost every house donated something for akatuy: pieces of cloth, scarves, shirts, towels, eggs, etc. Rich people sometimes donated money for which they bought a ram. Young people prepared horses for participation in the races, generously fed them with oats, others even gave raw eggs. On the eve of the holiday, young people rode horses and held trial competitions "to warm up the horses' legs." On the day of Akatuya, the village took on a festive look, a cheerful animation reigned in the streets. The competition took place in a meadow outside the village. Usually they chose a place next to the river and the forest. Even before noon, the population of the village began to flock to the traditional place for horse racing. Elected elders walked ahead. Together with them, one of the guys rode on horseback, who carried a long pole with a towel tied to the upper end - a kind of emblem of the holiday. Many went to Akatuy on carts, tarantasses. Horses and harness were festively decorated, multi-colored ribbons and tassels were woven into the manes. wool yarn, the arc was wrapped with a colored cloth or towel. At the edge of the forest, old men, members of the commission, sat down in a place of honor. Near them, a long pole with a towel at the upper end was dug into the ground - akatuy yalave (flag of akatuy). When enough people gathered, competitions began: running, jumping, jumping, wrestling, archery at a target, etc. As a rule, the competitions were started by boys. At first they competed in running half a verst. The winners received up to a dozen eggs. Children were replaced by adults, they ran a distance of one to two miles.
The most popular type of akatuya competition is belt wrestling. A towel is used as a belt. Each wrestler holds a towel in his hands, wrapping it around the opponent's waist. The boys also started wrestling, gradually the turn reached the adults. The fighter who remained undefeated received the title of hero (pattar). He was usually rewarded with a ram. One of the central moments in the competitions of the Akatuy holiday was horse racing for three, five, sometimes up to eight miles. The winners of the races were presented with embroidered towels, prizes were usually tied to the necks of horses. The Akatuy holiday was decorated with various comic competitions such as “running in a bag”, “running on three legs”, “breaking a pot”, “young women with a yoke”, etc. Strength and dexterity were shown in such games as a fight with bags on a log, lifting weights, various kinds of pulling, etc.
After the competition, the youth were divided into several age groups, and each of them started their own games. Boys and girls danced and sang songs. The fun continued until late in the evening. Old people and couples returned to the village immediately after the end of the competition. They invited relatives and acquaintances from neighboring villages to their homes and feasted until late. Neighboring villages usually tried to hold akatuy at different times. Therefore, young people, and even adults, had time to take a walk at several holidays in a row: in their own and neighboring villages. Bogatyrs of several villages participated in wrestling competitions, and thus the champion of the entire district was revealed. Such a pattar enjoyed universal respect.
Among the nomadic peoples in the past, competitions in strength, dexterity and accuracy have very ancient origins. Their meaning is not so much sporting as practical, social. At the tribal competitions held in early spring, the strongest, dexterous and well-aimed men were identified. For the period of seasonal summer migrations, these heroes became the head of the whole clan. The well-being of the entire nomadic community depended on their strength, ingenuity, courage, dexterity and accuracy. Who, apart from such a batyr and his retinue, could save the main wealth of the family - his herd - from numerous enemies in the steppe? Therefore, the heroes (pattar, ulap) became the leaders of the clans (ulput). It is no coincidence that in the Chuvash language the word ulap "hero, giant" and ulput "master", "prince", "dignitary person" of the same root. This suggests that among the distant ancestors of the Chuvash, sports competitions during the holidays of the spring-summer cycle were extremely important. They served as the most democratic and effective way choice of leaders of clans and tribes. Even after the almost complete loss of nomadic traditions, these competitions, as an important means of preserving the well-being of the clan, survived, persisted, and organically became part of the agricultural holidays.
A notable feature of the Akatuy holidays in recent years is the awarding of production leaders, concerts of amateur and professional art groups, competitions in modern species sports, traveling trade, etc. In the conditions of a city, a regional center, such a hodgepodge close to the standard of "mass events" almost completely hides the poetry of national specifics. Apparently, akatuy should be carried out, trying to preserve all the best from its traditional ritual.
Zimĕk - a summer holiday dedicated to the commemoration of deceased relatives with a visit to cemeteries. Corresponds to the Christian trinity, also called Semik by the Russians, since in Rus' this holiday was celebrated on Thursday of the seventh week after Easter. The Chuvash çimĕk goes back to this Russian word.
The celebration of çimĕk among the Chuvash spread relatively recently, apparently not earlier than the middle of the 18th century. However, many of the rites and rituals of this holiday date back to hoary antiquity. This is explained by the fact that many ceremonial and ritual actions were transferred to çimĕk, originally associated with kalas and, in part, with yupa. In the ritual and ritual side of the holiday çimĕk, three main lines can be distinguished: ascending to East Slavic paganism, Russian Christianity (in its popular form ) and Chuvash paganism.
Despite the later, in general, Christian origin, çimĕk was widely spread in the life of not only baptized Chuvashs, but also pagans. In some places, unbaptized Chuvashs call this day vile tukhnă kun, i.e. “the day of the departure of the departed (from the graves )". Perhaps this is the old Chuvash name for the holiday, corresponding to the Russian Semik.
The Chuvash çimĕk began seven weeks after Easter, on the Thursday before the Trinity, ended on the Thursday of the Trinity week. The first day of this week was called aslă çimĕk (big semik ), and the last one - kĕçĕn çimĕk (small semik ).
On the eve of aslă çimĕk, women and children went to the forest, tracts and ravines, collected medicinal herbs and roots there. Usually they said: “Seventy and seven types of different herbs must be collected for semik from the edge of seven forests, from the tops of seven ravines.” They returned from the forest with brooms and branches of various trees. These branches were stuck to the windows, gates and doors of buildings. Most often they stuck rowan branches, believing that they protect from evil spirits.
Uyav
- spring-summer period of youth games and round dances. 
The word uyav literally means "observance" (from ya "observe" ). Initially, this word meant simply the observance of traditional ritual life, and later any holiday, any ritual celebration began to be called this way.
In different places, the word uyav has different shades of meaning, and the youth entertainments themselves are held in different ways. Riding Chuvash spent waking in the interval between and . Youth games and round dances here began a week after . During the evening, young people gathered outside the outskirts and arranged round dances with dances, dances, and games. At this time, usually young guys got to know their chosen ones better. By the end of the nineteenth century. seasonal youth round dances among riding Chuvashs began to disappear.
The middle-lower Chuvashs usually held large tribal games in uyav. On a certain day, young people from all the daughter villages gathered in the mother village. Next to each mother village in a meadow, near a grove or in a forest clearing, there was a permanent place for holding gatherings of young people, which were called either simply văyă - "play", or down, tapa - "gathering, assembly". By the day of tapa or văyă, a bench for musicians was arranged in such a place. In treeless places near the bench, several freshly cut trees were dug in and decorated with multi-colored ribbons. Toward noon, young people gathered at this place. Dealers in sweets, small goods, and toys also came. Music played throughout the day until late at night. Musicians gathered from all over the area played in turn. At the same time, several violinists, bubble players, harp players, harmonists, drummers-percussionists performed. This large orchestra was always crowded with guys who played along on wooden pipes, metal and clay whistles, metal triangles.
Zinze - a traditional pre-Christian ritual cycle dedicated to the time summer solstice. This agricultural holiday corresponds to the Russian holiday, known as "Earth - Mother's Birthday" or "Spirits Day".
In the old days, the Chuvash calendar was monitored by elderly, wise people. Before the advent of tear-off calendars, the Chuvash used self-made wooden solar calendars, which quite accurately showed months, weeks, days, longitude of the day, and even hours and minutes. When the length of the day reached 17:00, the venerable elders announced to the whole village that çinçe began on such and such a day. It was celebrated for 12 days and coincided with the time of the flowering of rye. Zinze was not accompanied by special ritual celebrations. This is more likely not even a holiday, but a period of rest and observance of the peace of Mother Earth, which at that time was considered burdened by a ripe harvest. During the Jinçe period, it was strictly forbidden to disturb the earth with anything: it was forbidden to plow, sow, dig the earth, take out manure, throw heavy things on the ground, cut down forest, build houses, climb trees and buildings.
Vyrma - this is a harvest, a harvest harvest. In the old days, bread was harvested by hand - reaped with sickles. It was an exhausting and difficult, at the same time, a very responsible period in the annual labor cycle of a peasant. Bread - the crown of all the labors of the farmer - is already felt real, weighty at the harvest, and not only in dreams. Even a small handful of rye stems cut with a sickle is a good slice of bread. And how many such chunks are in a sheaf, in a heap! One of the many labor rituals was zurla khyvni “zazhinok”. The most agile woman in the family was untying the sickle, which had been tied up last year with the last handful of rye stalks harvested in the field, and cut off the first handful. She mixed old stems with new ones, scattered them in front of her on a field and said a prayer of thanksgiving to the spirits of the earth: "Hey, çĕr ashshĕ, çĕr amăshĕ! Tavah sire kivĕren sĕnne chiper..."
Avan - a polysemantic word. This is “threshing floor, barn, current”, “threshing” and ... “holiday”. This holiday, due to the great importance of threshing bread, was accompanied by many obligatory rituals. He was especially pleasant, solemn for the peasants. The threshing is as exciting a time as the harvest. The barn for drying sheaves, current and threshing on it closed, tied together the annual cycle of field work. From the grain current there is one short road - to the barn and to the mill. But solemnity, true holiness accompanied the grain grower even on this short path. In every little thing, even in the form of bag strings and the creak of carts, a certain magical meaning was seen.
After the harvest, the old people dried the sheaves at night, entertained the youth with fairy tales and jokes, they had fun themselves - they went to scare each other ... They sorted out large luggage (kapan ) and carried the sheaves to the barn (avan ). They were attached to the cone-shaped skeleton of a barn - shishu with ears up and pulled with a rope so that the sheaves would not fall. In the pit under the sheesh, the old men, making a fire, said a prayer addressed to the spirits of fire:
- E, pĕsmĕlle! Tura, zyrlakh! Іră Wut ashshĕ, yră Wut ama! Іră vyrănta larsa tarasarinchchĕ. Măn kapana passa avăna hutămăr, avăn pereketne parasarinchchĕ. Avăn ashne vut hutămăr - vutăran-kăvartan, sikse ÿkes hĕmĕnchen vitse sykhlasa tarasarinchchĕ. Yră Wut ama! Pirĕn ĕçĕmĕre esĕ prasa, esĕ sykhlasa tărsamchchĕ! (Praise the name of God! Have mercy on us, God! Holy spirit Father of fire, sacred Mother of fire! We want you to be in a good place. We sorted out a large load and spread the sheaves on a ram's cone. Turn away the evil fiery force, protect and save from a stray spark. Good Mother of Fire! Beware and preserve our labors! ).
Chakleme - a rite of consecration of a new harvest by sacrificing to the spirits of nature, dead ancestors, accompanied by a treat for all relatives. In late autumn, after the completion of threshing, the Chuvash peasants carefully sorted and distributed the grain: the best - for seeds, the worst - for livestock feed, and this - for flour. The batch destined for flour was dried in barns or ovens and taken to the mill. The eldest woman in the house brewed the malt, germinated the grains, sprinkling them several times from a fresh broom, malted and stirred it. The malt was then taken to a community malthouse to dry. Old people, teenagers, children gathered at the malt house. Here they told different stories, legends, fairy tales. Overnight at the malt barn (lettuce avănĕ ) was remembered by children for life. The finished malt, along with the grain, was taken to the mill. The mill, like the malt house, was a kind of club in the Chuvash life, a place of communication, the focus of news, disputes, and legends. The mill completed a long and sometimes very risky journey of grain. The peasant returned from the mill with a feeling of great satisfaction, full of pride in the results of his hard year-round work. Now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. It was not for nothing that the Chuvashs said: “From the mill, even a crappy horse returns dancing.” Flour was poured into a special wooden chest in the barn. She acted at the full disposal of the mistress of the house.
Preparing for the chokleme ceremony, the hostess brewed beer from new malt. It took about two weeks to prepare the malt, the brewing of the wort took one and a half to two days. The finished wort was poured into oak barrels and placed in cellars. There it wandered for three or four days. On the eve of chÿkleme, the hostess made the dough in the evening, and kneaded it in the morning. As the oven heats up, the dough rises. The hostess took the dough from the sourdough and began to form loaves.
Chaok - the rite of sacrifice to the great Almighty God (çÿlti aslă Tură ), his family and assistants - the guardian spirits of animate and inanimate nature, human society and people. The very word "chÿk" has many meanings. In certain cases, it means both a sacrifice, and a place for performing such a rite, and a certain deity of the highest rank, and is also used as a ritual exclamation addressed to Tură.
According to ancient Chuvash mythopoetic and religious ideas, the Universe as a single and inseparable whole is a unity of nature, society and personality. She was allegedly created by the god Tura with the help of her twin brother Kiremet. However, after the creation of the Universe, Kiremet fell under the influence of evil and Tură was expelled from the upper world. The Almighty Tură makes efforts to keep all three constituent parts of the Universe in constant mutual harmony, and the devil, with the help of the evil forces serving him, tries in every possible way to incite a person to unseemly deeds that ultimately violate the universal harmony. Then Tură sends one of his servants to punish the person and guide him on the right path. All the rites and rituals of the ancient Chuvash life are aimed at maintaining a permanent world order or at restoring broken harmony. The individual was responsible to the society, the society - to nature and Tură.
The mechanism for maintaining universal harmony was carried out through sacrifices. A person who, under the instigation of the devil, violated public order, had to atone for his guilt before Tura by a sacrifice, otherwise his unseemly deeds could lead to the death of society, which, in turn, would cause the destruction of the Universe. Violation of universal harmony is always carried out from the bottom up, from the side of the individual, and the restoration of order - from top to bottom, from the side of Tură. In those cases when a person was guilty, private sacrifices were made. In addition to them, the Chuvash also had large chÿk - calendar-timed public sacrifices performed by the whole society. The pagans annually during the period of bread ripening made măn chÿk, or aslă chÿk - a great sacrifice; kĕsĕn chÿk-small sacrifice, which was also called uy chÿkĕ - field sacrifice, and çumăr chÿkĕ - sacrifice to ask for rain. These great sacrifices were made on behalf of all the villagers and were aimed at ensuring public well-being, at maintaining social and universal harmony. In connection with the strengthening of Christian enlightenment, large sacrifices ruinous for the people fell into oblivion, they began to be performed less often, and in many places the three types of chak merged into one.
Nimes - collective assistance arranged by fellow villagers in the performance of labor-intensive and troublesome work. The nime tradition has very deep historical roots and dates back to the pra-Turkic era. The Chuvash have preserved the custom of neem for several millennia and brought it to us. And Nime saved and preserved the Chuvash. There are many moments in the life of a peasant when collective efforts are required for the timely completion of certain chores. It was necessary to take out the forest, build a house, in time to compress the already crumbling crop - everywhere the custom came to the rescue. It does not have a definite time frame, but most often collective assistance was resorted to when harvesting an overgrown crop. In cases when the shedding of bread threatened, the owner invited one of the respected people to his place and appointed him nime puçĕ - the head of collective assistance.
Kiremet Karti - "kiremetishche", a place for public sacrifices and prayers. Like many terms of the ancient Chuvash religious and mythological sphere, the word "kiremet" has several meanings. This is a deity, the brother of the supreme god Tură, and the head of evil forces, and a place of sacrifice, etc. Different meanings of the word kiremet show the dynamics of the development of ideas about this deity of the pagan pantheon.
Initially, kiremet was considered the twin brother of the supreme god Sÿlti Tur. The ideas about Tură and Kiremet reflected ancient views about the dual beginning of the creator of the Universe: the good beginning was personified in the image of Tură, and the evil one - in the image of Kiremet. Both twins participated in the act of creation of the universe. Initially, Kiremet actively helped Tură in ordering chaos, in obtaining land from under the World Ocean, in creating the earth's firmament, in filling it with natural objects, in creating plants and animals. But in the course of the creation of the Universe, the actions of Kiremet turned out to be more and more unsuccessful and spoiled the original plan of Tură, for which God predetermined a secondary, subordinate position for him.
Initially Tură and Kiremet lived in the upper world, and Kiremet served as an intermediary between God and people. On behalf of Tură, he rode around the earth on a trio of beautiful horses and held court over violators of the established order. Such a subordinate position eventually ceased to suit him, and Kiremet is no longer subordinate. Tură begins to seduce people. For disobedience Tură expels him from the upper world to the earth. On earth, Kiremet began to oppress the Chuvash, took away their wives and girls, and sent diseases and misfortunes to those who resisted. The Chuvashs complained to God, and Tura decided to exile Kiremet to the underworld. But one woman stood up for him, and Tură allowed Kiremet to live in ravines and forests. Kiremet gave birth to many children, and they also settled in ravines and forests...
After Christianization, the baptized Chuvash especially celebrated those holidays that coincide in time with the pagan calendar (Christmas with Surkhuri, Maslenitsa and çăvarni, Trinity with çimĕk, etc. ), accompanying them with both Christian and pagan rites. Under the influence of the church, patronal holidays became widespread in the life of the Chuvash. By the end of the nineteenth - beginning of the twentieth century. Christian holidays and rituals in the life of the baptized Chuvash became predominant.
Let's get acquainted with the holidays and rituals of one of the Russian peoples, namely the Chuvash.
The groom was accompanied to the bride's house by a large wedding train. Meanwhile, the bride said goodbye to her relatives. She was dressed in girl's clothes, covered with a veil. The bride began to cry with lamentations (hyor yorri). The groom's train was met at the gate with bread and salt and beer. After a long and very imaginative poetic monologue of the eldest of the friends (man kyoru), the guests were invited to go into the courtyard at the laid tables. The treat began, greetings, dances and songs of the guests sounded. The next day, the groom's train was leaving. The bride was seated on horseback, or she rode standing in a wagon. The groom hit her three times with a whip to “drive away” the spirits of the wife’s family from the bride (Turkic nomadic tradition). The fun in the groom's house continued with the participation of the bride's relatives. The first wedding night the young people spent in a crate or in another non-residential premises. As usual, the young woman took off her husband's shoes. In the morning, the young woman was dressed in a women's outfit with a women's headdress "hush-pu". First of all, she went to bow and made a sacrifice to the spring, then she began to work around the house, cook food. 
Chuvash wedding
The young wife gave birth to her first child with her parents. The umbilical cord was cut: for boys - on an ax handle, for girls - on the handle of a sickle, so that the children would be industrious. In the Chuvash family, the man dominated, but the woman also had authority. Divorces were extremely rare. There was a custom of a minority - the youngest son always remained with his parents, inherited his father. The Chuvash have a traditional custom of arranging help (ni-me) during the construction of houses, outbuildings, and harvesting. In the formation and regulation of the moral and ethical standards of the Chuvash always big role played the public opinion of the village (yal men drip - "what will the villagers say"). Immodest behavior, foul language, and even more rarely among the Chuvash until the beginning of the 20th century, drunkenness was sharply condemned. : "Chavash yatne an sert" (do not shame the name of the Chuvash). Calendar holidays are timed to coincide with the main turning points of the astronomical year - the winter and summer solstice, autumn and spring solstice. In ancient times, the Chuvash considered the beginning of the year closest to the spring solstice (March 21-22 ) new moon. These days, the Chuvash pagans performed ritual actions dedicated to seeing off the old year (çavarni, kalăm, sĕren, virĕm) and meeting the coming year (mankun). In May, the Akatuy holiday dedicated to agriculture and spring field work was celebrated. summer was the day of commemoration of the dead, similar to the Russian trinity, simĕk.The next important milestone in the ancient calendar was the period of the summer solstice a (June 21 - 22). At this time, the peasants asked God for a good harvest, fat cattle, health for themselves. Young people then began to dance, arranged games in the evenings. On the days of the autumn solstice (September 21-22), completing the annual cycle of economic activity, they held family and tribal celebrations chÿkleme. According to pagan ideas, in spring and summer, the forces of goodness and fertility triumph on earth, so all rituals were aimed at maintaining them. In the autumn-winter period, on the contrary, the destructive forces of evil allegedly dominated. Accordingly, all ritual and ceremonial actions were aimed at getting rid of the machinations of evil spirits and other evil spirits. It was believed that their greatest revelry falls on the days of the winter solstice (December 21 - 22). At this time, the Chuvash celebrated surkhuri: they performed ritual actions in order to expel evil spirits and ensure the well-being of society. Until the period of the spring solstice, this struggle between destructive and creative forces continued. Finally, the annual cycle of rituals was completed, the forces of good finally defeated evil.
Everyday rites
In addition to the holidays, the Chuvash perform a number of different rituals associated with everyday life. Let's single out those that are specifically dedicated to beer. Kĕr sări (kĕrkhi săra "autumn beer", kĕr çurti "autumn candle", avtan sări "rooster beer") - a rite of autumn commemoration of ancestors during which the hyvni ritual was performed. It was held during the holiday of Çimĕk and Mănkun. Saltak sări - soldier's beer served at the farewell of a soldier. Săra chÿkĕ - a rite of beer sacrifice on the holiday of chÿkleme in honor of the harvest of the new crop. Relatives are invited. A table is placed at the door, on which bread and cheese are placed. Then the head of the rite invites everyone to stand up and, after praying, drinks beer from a huge ladle (altar). The ladle of beer is passed to the next and the rite is repeated nine times. Săra parne - a treat with beer - a ritual that was held during all the main holidays of the Chuvash. Tui munchi. Beer is brewed three days before the wedding. Relatives gather to the groom and wash in the bath, after which there is a feast. Young people ask the old people for blessings to start the wedding. Ulah - around October 1, until midnight, girls' gatherings are held with a non-alcoholic feast, dancing and games with ulakh guys. Parents of young people at this time treat themselves to beer at home. Khĕr sări - girlish beer. Girl gatherings held in late autumn. Halăkh sări - (folk beer) was held during Mănkun. Women were not allowed to this ceremony. Hops are bought with the money collected from the people or with the proceeds from renting uncomfortable patches of land. People jointly bring products from this and the name of the rite. Several vats were placed in the brewery: a small vat for kiremet, that is, for the remembrance of ancestors, a large one for Tura. Then all the villagers gathered together and drank beer, after which several old men went to the kiremet. After praying at kiremeti, porridge and beer were sacrificed to the ancestors. 
drinking beer
Winter solstice
Surkhuri - the beginning of the solar cycle of festivities (December 22). Sur khuri (spit on black) denial of sadness. Another understanding of surkhuri is surakh uri (sheep's leg - Chuv.). The local name for the holiday is nartukan. During this holiday, it was customary to guess. Three days before the holiday, two girls go around the house where there is a daughter, the bride (the successor of the family), the village and collect malt and cereals for beer and porridge. In some empty house, all this is cooked. In the evening, young people celebrate in this house. The next morning, the parents of young people come, mostly fathers. They are seated in a place of honor and are treated in turn to beer, joking songs are sung, and bows are bowed to them. On this holiday, girls went into the barn at nightfall and pulled the sheep by the hind legs in order to ensure their fertility and in order to tell fortunes about the future. The main meaning of the holiday was the end of the solar year (the shortest day of the year) and the birth of a new solar year. Apparently, the meaning of the name of the holiday surkhuri has a sacred meaning and is associated with a sacrifice to the gods in the form of a ham, later - a ladle of beer. The Chuvash associated the constellation Ursa Major with the ladle (altăr - çăltăr Chuv. ladle - constellation). Altăr - in Chuvash, literally "arm holder", it was believed that it was this constellation that points to the polar star. 
Per festive table on Surkhuri
In fact, kăsharni or sherni is not an independent holiday, but a part of the holiday, a week after surkhuri. Winter week. During the Chuvash kăsharnikĕr sări girlish beer. Mummers went from house to house and imitated beating all the strangers with a whip. The parents of the young also guessed, they sent matchmakers. the ceremony was performed. Ritually prepared beer is an indispensable attribute of any Chuvash ceremony. And this holiday is no exception. Ordinary beer differs from ritual beer by the observance of a certain rite and the recitation of prayers during its preparation. Kăsharni is the week after December 21st, the date of the winter solstice.
Since the year was divided into only two seasons, çăvarni is a holiday of meeting summer period of the year. “It consists of two parts aslă “older” and kĕçĕn “younger” çăvarni. On the older Shrove Tuesday, a sacral part was held, on the younger one - sleigh rides. On Shrovetide, they rode from the Mount of Olives and rode a sleigh pulled by horses. On the eve of the aslă çăvarni of the “senior butter-house”, a ceremony was held to commemorate the ancestors. In the descriptions of V.K. Magnitsky in the Yadrinsky district, on the eve of Shrovetide Sunday, they put a straw woman on a hill (a symbol of the harvest?) And in the morning they looked to see if the dog had inherited it around her or if the mice had gnawed it, which was a bad omen (a harbinger of a future bad harvest?). There were rituals of burning winter - a straw woman and making fires. Chÿkleme, thanksgiving to God, goes to Shrovetide, therefore it is called çăvarni chÿkleme. The sequence of beer treats here is as follows. First, they drink chÿkleme kurki (ladle chukleme), then - surăm kurki (ladle in honor of the spirit of Suram), the third - savăsh kurki (love ladle). 
On çăvarni
Kallam
Seeing off the old year (March 14 - March 20). Before the celebration of the New Year of the Mănkun Chuvash, a holiday was held to commemorate the ancestors and see off the old year - Kalăm. If we approach strictly, Kalăm is not an independent holiday, but a part of the new year of Mănkun. The celebration lasted for several days. The first day of Kalăm is called "çurta kun" "Candle Day". On this day, the ancestors are commemorated. The day before Mănkun (March 20), a sacrificial ceremony was held at the site of Keremet to the spirits of distant ancestors (khyvni). The rite Kalăm sări “Kalama beer” was performed. Before the commemoration on the next Saturday after death and before the Great Day, the spirits of the ancestors were invited to take a steam bath in the bath after everyone had washed. 
On Calam
Mănkun
New Year(from March 21 to April 1). As the sun rose, people climbed to the tops of the sacred mountains and prayed for prosperity and harvest. Mănkun is one of the most important holidays of the ancient world. It lasted 11 days. On the fifth day of Mănkun, prayers were held, a barrel of new beer was poured into the puchlani. During prayers, “nominal” ladles of beer are presented: savash kurki, sÿre kurki. On Măn kun, towels were hung out all over the hut - surpans, as well as on other holidays they went with their barrel of beer and cottage cheese cheesecakes and barley bread to all relatives. during household prayers, they poured a little beer from a ladle and threw pieces of cakes into the fire of the stove. During this holiday, the ceremony of çuraçma (matchmaking) was held. Matchmakers came to visit with their keg of beer. 
Riding Chuvashs see off uyav in the interval between mănkun and Zimĕk
Hěrlě çyr (flood)
In ancient times, there was another curious holiday associated with the natural cycle - Red Hill, among the Chuvash Khěrlě çyr (red coast). The holiday is held during the flood period on a beautiful hill above the river, called hěrlě çyr. Another esoteric meaning of the Chuvash concept of the expression hěrlě çyr is a red line. A feature of the transition from the world of the absolute to the material world, a feature of the materialization of spiritual energy.
Kurak (time of appearance of the first grass)
In early April, there was a ceremony of collecting the first edible herbs, from which various dishes were prepared, including the national dish salmu soup. In the old days, this happened as follows. In the early morning, girls and boys went to the fields and the forest with the first spring grasses and flowers. It was customary to meet the sunrise already at the place where the flowers were collected. Then the young men began competitions in strength and dexterity. The girls competed in dancing and singing. Then, spreading tablecloths on the grass, they dined with dishes brought from home. In the evening, with music, singing, herbs with bouquets of flowers, they returned home.
Akatuy
The beginning of the agricultural cycle of Chuvash festivities. (The day of the first ritual furrow) One of the oldest agricultural holidays. They prepared in advance for the exit to Akatui, washed in a bathhouse, put on clean festive clothes. Light-colored clothes were a sign of sacred purity. In ancient times, women accompanied the solemn procession and treated everyone to bread and beer. The people who made the furrow were showered with clods of earth. During the "wedding of the field" the horns of a bull plowing were decorated with bread, red shreds, and a red tourniquet from the horn to the neck.
Zinze is the semantic analogue of yav, as a time of inaction. Zinçe (thin, pampered - Chuv. (rest time)) is not a holiday, but a ritualized period after the completion of field work (the time when rye sown in autumn begins to ear) and until June 19, when it was forbidden to disturb the earth and the surrounding nature in any way. In çinçe, people walked only in bright festive clothes, and, if possible, did nothing, as they were afraid to harm young sprouts, hatching chicks and cubs of the animal world. If any festivities were held, then the nature of the dance was as soft as possible, screams and stomping were not allowed. and weddings. The yav begins with the rite of sacrifice for the ichuk. Ichuk is not a ritual and not a deity, it is a place for a ceremony dedicated to a god. On the bank of the river was a clean beautiful lawn. Here were located 5 places for boilers, in which five sacrificial animals were boiled. This sacrifice was intended for the god Tură and the main principles of the universe. Here it was allowed for everyone to gather to make noise and have fun, but only in a kind way. Before the ceremony on the ichuk, going down to the river, they wash their face (rite of purification). Then the ceremony of kalam hyvsa (sacrifice) takes place with a libation of sacrificial beer. After the ceremony, they return home without looking back. In the old days, “during the spring holiday Uyav, the Chuvash king (patsha), according to legend, traveled around his possessions, met with his subjects. A banner fluttered on a high pole, and the Chuvash communities hung out a surpan (a white women's headband with embroideries). The king accepted gifts from the community members. During the meeting with the king, prayers, games with songs and dances were held. In recent years, due to the loss of understanding of the meaning of Uyav, they began to mix it with the holiday of the first furrow - akatuem.
Ziměk is one of the oldest holidays of mankind, and it began three days after the completion of çinçe. This day is also called vile tukhnă kun “the day of the exit of the dead (from the graves)”. Ziměk began on Friday evening - this is due to the fact that among the Chuvash people the countdown of a new day began in the evening. The next day, after washing in the bath, they put on light festive clothes and after dinner they performed a ritual of sacrifice to the spirits of ancestors (çuraçma khyvni), accompanied by a sacrificial libation and the use of beer specially brewed for religious purposes. The houses were decorated with greenery. A rite of remembrance of the ancestors was held at kiremeti. Kiremet is a place where the sacred tree “the tree of life” usually grows, where the spirits of the ancestors of the people of this area live. In Persian, karamat is good, or from the Greek keram mat "sacred land". At the kiremet, they commemorate the spirits of their ancestors and never commemorate the name of a god. Kiremet - personifies the first firmament with the tree of life on it, along which the souls of newborn children descend and near which the spirits of ancestors concentrate. The Chuvashs worshiped the souls of their ancestors in the cemetery, and only the old people at the kiremet commemorated the spirits of their ancestors. Therefore, there can be no concept of evil or good kiremet. The impact of this place on a person depends on the attitude to this person his ancestral spirits. On kiremeti, flour and dairy products were used as sacrifices to the spirits of yikhăraççě ancestors. After worship at the kiremeti, people go to the ichuk and perform a kalam khyvsa (sacrifice) there, drawing the attention of the most important forces of nature and the only god of the Chuvash, Tur. After praying, people drink beer. During the commemoration, sacrificial libations are made with beer. Beer for sacrificial libations is prepared subject to certain rituals and prayers. After sacrificial libations, the remaining beer is drunk, and the ladle with which the commemoration was made is broken, leaving it in place. The holiday belongs to the solar cycle, to which the lunar one is subordinate. This is the summer solstice (June 22). AT ancient world the symbol of çiměk was a swastika rotating against the movement of the sun (like the German fascists. The day marks the beginning of the fading of the sun - the shortening of daytime. After çiměk, the Chuvash women went to round dances. Choirs were preparing for this day at rehearsals săvă kalani (singing songs). So right up until the mid-50s, between the villages of Chăvăsh Zeprel (Chuvashskoe Drozhzhanoye) and Khaimalu, a choir consisting of residents of the surrounding villages gathered at that time. About 300 residents from the surroundings participated in the choir. They sang in the canon, and at dusk the sound of the choir could be heard over tens of kilometers around. In the village of Orbashi, Alikovsky district, a fair was held that day. Flowers were scattered on the square and dancing began here in the evening. The Chuvash people have an opinion that if you dance on çiměk, you won’t get sick all year. Perhaps it was this quality of the holiday that served as the basis for the substitution of the meaning of the festival by Christian missionaries. the version of the name of the holiday is interpreted as the seventh week after Orthodox Easter and çiměk is celebrated on the last Thursday before Trinity. Since çiměk symbolizes the beginning of the period of extinction of the light forces of nature, during the commemoration of the dead, three candles were lit on the edge of the dish with dishes in honor of the demon of the underworld hayamat, for his assistant hayamat chavush and for the souls of deceased relatives. On the day of the summer solstice, it was customary to climb to the tops of the mountains and offer prayers for the preservation of the fields from drought and hail. They also performed a purification ceremony - çěr khaphi (earth gate). 
Măn chÿk
Or pysăk chÿk (chuk çurtri) is celebrated 2 weeks after winter during the ripening of bread. Măn chÿk (uchuk) - Great sacrifice, not a holiday, there are no festivities here. It was held at the sacred place ichuk once every 9 years. The rite was called Tură tărakan chakles. A white bull and accompanying animals were sacrificed - horses, geese, etc. The participants of the ritual thanked for the nine-year harvest Tură. Young people were not allowed to the ceremony. In the sources, we often find the date of the Great Sacrifice on July 12 (among Christians Peter's Day was appointed on this day), among the Mari this ceremony is called Sÿrem or Kyoső. Before the ceremony, they fasted for three days, did not drink and did not smoke. The next day after the rite of purification of the sĕren, a large detachment of horsemen gathered in the villages and drove out the unclean and alien from the villages, making a noise with shouts and mallets. At this time, “meetings of clergymen were organized, at which issues of holding traditional prayers were discussed.
Ilene is a delight. Ritual sacrifice, which marks the end of the summer period and the beginning of the winter period. In August - September, after the removal of honey, beekeepers arranged their feasts with prayers as a token of gratitude to God.
The holiday-consecration of the new harvest - Chÿkleme was held on the day of the autumn solstice as the completion of the annual cycle of economic activities of farmers. In preparation for the holiday, they baked bread, brewed beer from new malt. The villagers gathered in the house of the inviter. Before the start of the prayer, they sang standing, turning to the east, the ancient Chuvash hymn of farmers. Having invited relatives, they hold a short prayer and treat them to beer. They are especially strictly monitored when offering a “love” ladle of savash kurki. It must be drunk to the bottom, without talking and without stopping. Otherwise, the guest faces a fine in the form of three more ladles of beer. The second ladle brings "harrow" - sÿre triggers. 
Kěpe (falling of the first snow)
Obviously, the celebration of Kĕpe was timed to coincide with the fall of the first snow. It was believed that from this time winter colds begin. On this day, all relatives gathered at one of the relatives, performed rituals related to preparation for winter.
Yupa (November)
The month of November is dedicated to ancestors. In ancient Mesopotamia, it was called “the month of the fathers”. This month, stone or wooden pillars are erected on the graves of the dead. After the pillars are erected, the children go around the village in a wagon, inviting them to a commemoration. The rite ends with a treat of beer.
Day of Set - the destructive beginning. The shortest day of the year. This day was considered the time of rampant dark forces. On this day, prayers to household spirits take place. A goose is sacrificed.
Introduction
1. Holidays of the winter cycle
Holidays of the spring cycle
Holidays of the summer cycle
Holidays of the autumn cycle
Conclusion
List of used literature
Introduction
The rituals and holidays of the Chuvash in the past were closely connected with their pagan religious beliefs and strictly corresponded to the economic and agricultural calendar.
Traditional Chuvash youth holidays and amusements were held at all times of the year. In the spring-summer period, the youth of the entire village, and even several villages, gathered in the open air for round dances uyav (vaya, taka, fluff). In winter, gatherings (larni) were arranged in huts, where the senior owners were temporarily absent. At the gatherings, the girls spun, and with the arrival of the young men, the games began, the participants of the gatherings sang songs, danced, etc. In the middle of winter, the festival of hyor sari (literally - girl's beer) was held. The girls pooled together brewed beer, baked pies, and in one of the houses, together with the young men, arranged a youth feast.
After Christianization, the baptized Chuvash especially celebrated those holidays that coincide in time with the pagan calendar (Christmas with Surkhuri, Shrovetide and Savarni, Trinity with Simek, etc.), accompanying them with both Christian and pagan rites. Under the influence of the church in the life of the Chuvash, patronal holidays became widespread. By the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century. Christian holidays and rituals in the life of the baptized Chuvash became predominant.
1. Holidays of the winter cycle
Chuvash holiday ritual entertainment
The Chuvash widely practiced a wide variety of rituals that set up all the significant moments in the life of a family, village, in the calendar cycle, in production activities: Surkhuri; Nartukan (nart ?van); To ?sharni (to? reshchenkke); Kiremet Karti; Ç? varni (Shrovetide); Kal ?m; S?ren; M ?nkun; Aka p ?tti; Akatui; Ç them? to; Uyav; Wyrma; Av ?n; H ÿ cleme; H ÿ to; Nimes; Kiremet Karti.
The ceremonial calendar opened with the holiday of Surkhuri. This is an old Chuvash holiday. In an older version, he had a connection with the worship of tribal spirits - patrons of cattle. Hence the name of the holiday (from "sur ?h yrri" - "sheep spirit"). It was celebrated during the winter solstice, when the day began to arrive. Surkhuri and lasted a whole week. During the celebration, rituals were held to ensure economic success and personal well-being of people, a good harvest and livestock in the new year. On the first day of Surkhuri, the children gathered in groups and went around the village door-to-door. At the same time, they sang songs about the coming of the new year, congratulated fellow villagers on the holiday, invited other guys to join their company. Entering the house, they wished the owners a good offspring of livestock, sang songs with spells, and they, in turn, presented them with food. Later, Surkhuri coincided with the Christian Christmas (Rashtav) and continued until baptism (k? sharny).
One of the holidays of the New Year cycle is nartukan (nart ?van) - common among the Trans-Kama and Ural Chuvash. It began on December 25, on the day of the winter solstice, and lasted a whole week. It corresponds to the holiday of surkhuri - for horsemen and dick with ?ri - grassroots Chuvash.
For the celebration was chosen erected in the past year new house. So that the owner would not refuse, during the construction of the house, the youth arranged collective assistance (nime) - they worked for free on the removal of building materials and the construction of the house. This house was called nartukan ÿ rche - the house where the nartukan was held.
During the nartukan, the children went sledding down the mountains in the morning. At the same time, special verses were sung - nartukan savvisem. With the onset of twilight over the village, here and there, exclamations were heard: “Nartukana-ah! Nartukan-a!”, i.e. “To Nartukan!”. The guys gathered in groups and, having agreed among themselves, went home to dress up as Christmas grandfathers (nartukan old man?) And Christmas grandmothers (nartukan karch ?to?). The guys dressed up mostly in women's clothing, girls - in men's. After a while, the mummers poured out into the street and began to walk from house to house. Among the mummers one could meet: a Tatar merchant, and a comedian with a bear, and a Mari matchmaker, and a camel with a horse, and a gypsy fortune-teller ... Was the old man leading the procession? with a whip and nartukan karch ?to? with a spinning wheel and a spindle... The guys, first of all, were interested in those houses in which their chosen ones live or guests invited to the holiday nartukan from other villages. On ordinary days it was not customary to enter such houses, but on a holiday this could be done under the cover of masquerade clothes.
The procession began at the predetermined houses. In each hut, with different variations, the following funny scene. A guy dressed as an old woman sat down at the spinning wheel and began to spin. A girl disguised as a wanderer, waving a broomstick, began to scold and reproach, threatened to stick the old woman to the spinning wheel. At the same time, she snatched a bottle of water from one of the escorts and poured water onto the hem of the clothes of those present. All this was done with great humour. In the end, all the mummers began to dance to the music and the noisy accompaniment of the stove damper, rattles. The owners of the house, especially girls, were also invited to the dance. Guys in women's costumes and masks tried to look out for the girls-guests, calling them to a dance ... Having amused the hosts enough, the crowd of mummers with dancing and noise went to another house. Even in the afternoon, the guys, through sisters and relatives, invited all the girls to the house chosen for the holiday. The girls came to best outfits and sat along the walls. The best places were given to girls who arrived from other villages. When all the invitees gathered, games, dances and songs began.
Finally, one of the girls reminded that it would be time to go for water and start fortune-telling on the rings. Several guys responded, invited the girls to accompany them to the river. After some persuasion, the girls agreed and left the circle. One of them took a bucket, the other - a towel. The guys took an ax to cut a hole, as well as a bunch of splinters and lit it. By the light of the torches, everyone went to fetch water.
On the river, the guys bought water from the water (shvri) - they threw a silver coin into the hole in the hole. The girls scooped up a bucket of water, threw a ring and a coin into the water, covered the bucket with an embroidered towel, and returned without looking back. At the house, a bucket was handed over to one of the guys, and he, carrying a bucket filled with water on his little finger, brought it into the hut and deftly put it on the place prepared in the middle of the circle. Then one of the girls was chosen as the host. After much persuasion, she agreed and, with a lit candle in her hands, sat down by the bucket. The rest of the girls sat around the bucket, and the guys stood in a circle behind the girls. The presenter checked whether the ring and the coin were in place.
To ?sharni, (in some places k?reschenkke), is a holiday of the New Year cycle. It was celebrated by the Chuvash youth during the week from Christmas (Rashtav) to baptism. After the introduction of Christianity, it coincided with Russian Christmas time and baptism. This festival originally celebrated the winter solstice.
Word to ?sharni, apparently, only outwardly resembles a Russian baptism (the variant k?reschenkke goes back to it). Literally to ?sharni - “winter week” (cf. Tat.: kysh = “winter”).
For holding to ?sharny young people rented some house and brewed in it the so-called girl's beer (x?p ?ri). To do this, they collected purse from the whole village: malt, hops, flour and everything necessary to treat fellow villagers, as well as guests invited on this occasion from neighboring villages.
The day before the baptism, young girls gathered in this house, brewed beer and cooked pies. In the evening, the whole village, young and old, gathered in the house. The girls first treated the elderly and parents to beer. Having blessed the young for a happy life in the new year, the old people soon went home. The youth spent this evening in amusement. Music and singing sounded all night long, boys and girls danced to ditties. An important place in the celebration of ?sharni were occupied with all kinds of divination about fate. At midnight, when the village was already asleep, several people went to the fields. Here, at the crossroads, covered with blankets, they listened to who would hear what sound. If someone heard the voice of some domestic animal, they said that he would be rich in cattle, but if someone heard the sound of coins, they believed that he would be rich in money. Bell ringing and bagpipe music (sh ?P ?p) predicted a wedding. If these sounds were heard by a guy, then he will certainly get married this year, and if a girl, he will get married. There were many other fortune-telling that night, but young people more often guessed about marriage and marriage. This is explained by the fact that, according to the Chuvash custom, it was during the New Year period that the parents of the young sent matchmakers. During the celebration for ?Mummers walked around the yards. They acted out all sorts of scenes from village life. The mummers certainly visited the house where the youth celebrated to ?sharny. Here they showed various comic skits. However, initially the role of the mummers was to expel evil spirits and hostile forces of the old year from the village. Therefore, in the period from Christmas to baptism, in the evenings, mummers walked with whips and imitated the beating of all strangers.
The next morning came the so-called water baptism (tour ? shiva ann ? kun). On this day, the baptism of the Lord was celebrated - one of the so-called twelfth holidays of the Russian Orthodox Church. This holiday was established in memory of the baptism of Jesus Christ described in the gospel by John the Baptist in the Jordan River.
The winter cycle ended with a holiday Ç? Varni (Maslenitsa), which marked the onset of spring forces in nature. In the design of the holiday, in the content of songs, sentences and rituals, its agrarian nature and the cult of the sun were clearly manifested. To speed up the movement of the sun and the arrival of spring, it was customary to bake pancakes on the holiday, to ride a sleigh around the village in the course of the sun. At the end of Maslenitsa week, they burned an effigy of the “old woman ç? varni" (" ç? varni karch ?ke"). Then came the holiday of honoring the sun ç? Varni (Shrovetide), when they baked pancakes, arranged horseback riding around the village in the sun. At the end of Maslenitsa week, they burned an effigy of the “old woman ç? varni" ( ç? varni karch? to?).
2. Holidays of the spring cycle
and in the spring there was a multi-day feast of sacrifices to the sun, god and dead ancestors m ?nkun (which then coincided with Orthodox Easter), which began with kal ?m kun and ended with ren or virem.
Kal ?m - one of the traditional holidays of the spring ritual cycle, dedicated to the annual commemoration of the deceased ancestors. Unbaptized Chuvash Kalam celebrated before the great day (m ?nkun). The baptized Chuvash have a traditional m ?nkun coincided with the Christian Passover, and kal ?m as a result of this - with Passion Week and Lazarus Saturday. In many places, kalam merged with m ?nkun, and the word itself was preserved only as the name of the first day of Easter.
Since ancient times, many peoples, including our ancestors, celebrated the new year in the spring. The origins of the spring holidays date back to the New Year celebrations. Only later, due to repeated changes in the calendar system, the original spring New Year ritual cycle fell apart, and a number of rituals of this cycle were transferred to Shrovetide ( ç? varni) and holidays of the winter cycle (to ?sharni, surkhuri). Therefore, many of the rituals of these holidays coincide or have an unambiguous meaning.
Chuvash pagan cal ?m started on Wednesday and lasted a whole week until m ?nkuna. The day before feces ?Ma stoked the bath supposedly for the departed ancestors. A special messenger rode to the cemetery on horseback and invited all the dead relatives to wash and take a steam bath. In the bath, the spirits of the deceased relatives were hovered with a broom, after themselves they left water and soap for them. The first day of the holiday was called k? ç? n cal ?m (small cal ?m). On this day, early in the morning, one guy was equipped as a messenger in each house. He rode a horse around all the relatives. On this occasion, the best horse was covered with a patterned blanket. Multi-colored ribbons and brushes were braided into the mane and tail, the horse's tail was tied with a red ribbon, a leather collar with bells and bells was put on his neck. The guy himself was also dressed in the best clothes, a special embroidered scarf with a red woolen fringe was tied around his neck.
Approaching each house, the messenger knocked on the gate three times with a whip, called the hosts out into the street and invited them in verse to “sit under the candles” for the evening. Parents at this time cut some living creatures. In the middle of the courtyard there was usually a specially fenced place m ?n to? l? (the main prayer place).
S?ren is a spring holiday of the lower Chuvash, dedicated to the expulsion of evil spirits from the village. And the very name of the holiday means “exile”. S?ren was held on the eve of the great day (m ?nkun), and in some places also before the summer commemoration of the deceased ancestors - on the eve ç them? The youth walked in groups around the village with rowan rods and, whipping people, buildings, equipment, clothes, drove out evil spirits and the souls of the dead, shouting “s?ren!”. Fellow villagers in each house treated the participants of the ceremony with beer, cheese and eggs. At the end of the nineteenth century. these rituals have disappeared in most Chuvash villages.
On the eve of the holiday, all rural youth, having prepared rattles and rowan rods, gathered at the venerable old man and asked him for blessings for a good deed:
bless us grandpa ancient custom celebrate s?ren, ask Tur for mercy and a rich harvest, may he not allow evil spirits, devils to reach us.
The elder answered them:
Good work done, well done. So do not leave the good customs of fathers and grandfathers.
Then the youth asked the elder for land so that they could feed the sheep for at least one night. "0vtsy" in the ritual - children 10-15 years old.
The old man answers them:
I would give you land, but it is dear to me, you do not have enough money.
And how much are you asking for her, grandfather? the guys asked.
For a hundred acres - twelve pairs of hazel grouse, six pairs of rams and three pairs of bulls.
In this allegorical answer, hazel grouse means songs that young people should sing while walking around the village, sheep - eggs, bulls - kalachi, which should be collected by the guys taking part in the ceremony.
Then the old man rolled out a barrel of beer, and as many people gathered here as the yard could accommodate. With such an audience, the old man jokingly interrogated the elected if there was any complaint. The elected officials began to complain about each other: the shepherds guarded the sheep poorly, one of the elected officers took a bribe, embezzled public property ... The old man imposed a punishment on them - a thousand, five hundred or a hundred lashes. The guilty were immediately "punished", and they pretended to be sick. Beer was brought to the sick, and they recovered, began to sing and dance ...
After that, everyone went out to the pasture outside the outskirts, where the whole village gathered.
M ?Nkun is a holiday of meeting the spring new year according to the ancient Chuvash calendar. Name m ?Nkun translates as "great day". It is noteworthy that the pagan East Slavic tribes also called the first day of the spring new year the Great Day. After the spread of Christianity, the Chuvash ?Nkun coincided with Christian Easter.
According to the ancient Chuvash calendar ?Nkun was celebrated on the days of the spring solstice. Chuvash pagans began m ?Nkun on Wednesday and celebrated for a whole week.
On the day of the onset ?Nkun, early in the morning, the children ran out to meet the sunrise on the lawn on the east side of the village. According to the Chuvash, on this day the sun rises dancing, that is, especially solemnly and joyfully. Together with the children, old people also went out to meet the new, young sun. They told the children ancient tales and legends about the struggle of the sun with the evil sorceress Wup ?R. One of these legends tells that during the long winter the sun was constantly attacked by evil spirits sent by the old woman Wup ?r, and they wanted to drag him from heaven to the underworld. The sun appeared less and less in the sky. Then the Chuvash batyrs decided to free the sun from captivity. A squad of good fellows gathered and, having received the blessing of the elders, headed east to rescue the sun. For seven days and seven nights the batyrs fought with the servants of Wup ?and finally defeated them. Wicked Old Woman Woop ?r with a pack of her assistants fled into the dungeon, hid in the possessions of Shuitan.
At the end of spring sowing, they arranged family ritual aka p ?tti (prayer with porridge). When the last furrow remained on the strip and cover the last sown seeds, the head of the family prayed Çÿ lti tour ? about sending down a good harvest. Several spoons of porridge, boiled eggs were buried in a furrow and plowed it.
At the end of the spring field work, the akatuy holiday (the wedding of the plow) was held, associated with the idea of the ancient Chuvash about the marriage of the plow (male) with the earth (female). This holiday combines a number of ceremonies and solemn rituals. In the old Chuvash way of life, akatuy began before going to spring field work and ended after the sowing of spring crops. The name Akatuy is now known to the Chuvash everywhere. However, relatively recently, the riding Chuvashs called this holiday sukhatu (dry “plowing” + tui? “holiday, wedding”), and the grassroots - sapan tui? or sapan (from the Tatar saban "plow"). In the past, akatuy had an exclusively religious and magical character, accompanied by collective prayer. Over time, with the baptism of the Chuvash, it turned into a communal holiday with horse races, wrestling, youth amusements.
The cycle went on ç im?k (festival of the flowering of nature, public commemoration). After the sowing of grain, the time came for waking up (among the lower Chuvashs) and ç in ç e (among the riding Chuvashs), when a ban was imposed on all agricultural work (the land was "pregnant"). It went on for several weeks. It was a time of sacrifices with requests for a rich harvest, the safety of livestock, the health and well-being of the community members. By decision of the gathering, a horse, as well as calves, sheep were slaughtered at a traditional ritual place, a goose or a duck was taken from each yard, and porridge with meat was cooked in several boilers. After the rite of prayer, a joint meal was arranged. It's time to wake up ( ç in ç e) ended with the rite " ç mind ?r chuk ”(prayer for rain) with bathing in water, pouring water on each other.
3. Holidays of the summer cycle
Ç im?k - a summer holiday dedicated to the commemoration of deceased relatives with a visit to cemeteries. Corresponds to the Christian trinity, also called Semik by the Russians, since in Rus' this holiday was celebrated on Thursday of the seventh week after Easter. Chuvash ç im?k goes back to this Russian word.
celebration ç they spread among the Chuvash relatively recently, apparently not earlier than the middle of the eighteenth century. However, many of the rites and rituals of this holiday date back to hoary antiquity. This is explained by the fact that ç they transferred many ceremonial and ritual actions, originally associated with kalam and, in part, with yupa. In the ritual-ritual side of the holiday ç they can be divided into three main lines: ascending to East Slavic paganism, Russian Christianity (in its popular manifestation) and Chuvash paganism.
Despite a later, generally Christian origin, ç it? to widely spread in the life of not only baptized Chuvash, but also pagans. In some places, unbaptized Chuvashs call this day vile tukhn ? kun, i.e. "the day of the exit of the dead (from the graves)". Perhaps this is the old Chuvash name for the holiday, corresponding to the Russian Semik.
Chuvash ç they began seven weeks after Easter, on Thursday before Trinity, ended on Thursday of Trinity week. The first day of this week was called asl ? ç im?k (large semik), and the last one - k? ç? n ç im?k (small semik).
On the eve of asl ? ç to them? To them, women and children went to the forest, tracts and ravines, collected medicinal herbs and roots there. Usually they said: “Seventy and seven types of different herbs must be collected for semik from the edge of seven forests, from the tops of seven ravines.” They returned from the forest with brooms and branches of various trees. These branches were stuck to the windows, gates and doors of buildings. Most often they stuck rowan branches, believing that they protect from evil spirits.
Uyav - the spring-summer period of youth games and round dances. The word uyav literally means "observe" (from uy "observe"). Initially, this word meant simply the observance of traditional ritual life, and later any holiday, any ritual celebration began to be called this way.
In different places, the word uyav has different shades of meaning, and the youth entertainments themselves are held in different ways. Riding Chuvash spent wilting in the interval between m ?nkun and sim?k. Youth games and round dances here began a week after m ?nkun. During the evening, young people gathered outside the outskirts and arranged round dances with dances, dances, and games. At this time, usually young guys got to know their chosen ones better. By the end of the nineteenth century. seasonal youth round dances among riding Chuvashs began to disappear.
The middle-lower Chuvashs usually held large tribal games in uyav. On a certain day, young people from all the daughter villages gathered in the mother village. Next to each mother village in a meadow, near a grove or in a forest clearing, there was a permanent place for holding gatherings of young people, which were called or simply in ?th ? - « games”, or fluff, tapa - “gathering, assembly”. On tapa day or in ?th ? in such a place a bench for musicians was arranged. In treeless places near the bench, several freshly cut trees were dug in and decorated with multi-colored ribbons. Toward noon, young people gathered at this place. Dealers in sweets, small goods, and toys also came. Music played throughout the day until late at night. Musicians gathered from all over the area played in turn. At the same time, several violinists, bubble players, harp players, harmonists, drummers-percussionists performed. This large orchestra was always crowded with guys who played along on wooden pipes, metal and clay whistles, metal triangles.
Ç in ç e - the traditional pre-Christian ritual cycle, dedicated to the time of the summer solstice. This agricultural holiday corresponds to the Russian holiday, known as "Earth - Mother's Birthday" or "Spirits Day".
In the old days, the Chuvash calendar was monitored by elderly, wise people. Before the advent of tear-off calendars, the Chuvash used self-made wooden solar calendars, which quite accurately showed months, weeks, days, longitude of the day, and even hours and minutes. When the length of the day reached 17 hours, the venerable elders announced to the whole village that from such and such a day begins ç in ç e. It was celebrated for 12 days and coincided with the time of the flowering of rye. Ç in ç It was not accompanied by special ritual celebrations. This is more likely not even a holiday, but a period of rest and observance of the peace of Mother Earth, which at that time was considered burdened by a ripe harvest. During the period ç in ç It was strictly forbidden to disturb the earth in any way: it was forbidden to plow, sow, dig the earth, take out manure, throw heavy things on the ground, cut wood, build houses, climb trees and buildings.
4. Holidays of the autumn cycle
Vyrma is harvesting, harvesting. In the old days, bread was harvested by hand - reaped with sickles. It was an exhausting and difficult, at the same time, a very responsible period in the annual labor cycle of a peasant. Bread - the crown of all the labors of the farmer - is already felt real, weighty at the harvest, and not only in dreams. Even a small handful of rye stems cut with a sickle is a good slice of bread. And how many such chunks are in a sheaf, in a heap! One of the many labor rituals was ç urla hivni "zazhinok". The most agile woman in the family was untying the sickle, which had been tied up last year with the last handful of rye stalks harvested in the field, and cut off the first handful. She mixed old stems with new ones, scattered them in front of her on a field and said a prayer of thanksgiving to the spirits of the earth: "Hey, ç? rashsh?, ç? r am ?w?! Tawah sire kiv?ren s?nne chiper..."
Av ?n is a polysemantic word. This is “threshing floor, barn, current”, “threshing” and ... “holiday”. This holiday, due to the great importance of threshing bread, was accompanied by many obligatory rituals. He was especially pleasant, solemn for the peasants. The threshing is as exciting a time as the harvest. The barn for drying sheaves, current and threshing on it closed, tied together the annual cycle of field work. From the grain current there is one short road - to the barn and to the mill. But solemnity, true holiness accompanied the grain grower even on this short path. In every little thing, even in the form of bag strings and the creak of carts, a certain magical meaning was seen.
After the harvest, the old people dried the sheaves at night, entertained the youth with fairy tales and jokes, amused themselves - they went to scare each other ... They sorted out large luggage (kapan) and carried the sheaves to the barn (av ?n). They were attached to the cone-shaped skeleton of a barn - shishu with ears up and pulled with a rope so that the sheaves would not fall. In the pit under the sheesh, the old men, making a fire, said a prayer addressed to the spirits of fire:
E, p?sm?lle! Tour ?, ç yrlakh! bjp ? Wut ashsh?, yr ? Woot ama! bjp ? exp ?nta larsa tarasarinchch?. M ?n kapana passa av ?on the hut ?m ?r, av ?n pereketne parasarinchch?. Av ?nashne wut hut ?m ?r - wut ?run-to ?vartan, sikse ÿ kes h?m?nchen vitse sykhlasa tarasarinchch?. Yr ? Woot ama! Pir? n? ç? m?re es? right, es? dry t ?rsamchch?! (Praise the name of God! Have mercy on us, God! Sacred spirit Father of fire, sacred Mother of fire! We wish you to stay in a good place. We dismantled a large load and laid out sheaves on a sheep cone. Turn away the evil fiery force, protect and save from a crazy spark. Mother of fire, guard and preserve our labors!).
H ÿ kleme - a rite of consecration of the new harvest by sacrificing to the spirits of nature, dead ancestors, accompanied by a treat for all relatives. In late autumn, after the completion of threshing, the Chuvash peasants carefully sorted and distributed the grain: the best - for seeds, the worst - for livestock feed, and this - for flour. The batch destined for flour was dried in barns or ovens and taken to the mill. The eldest woman in the house brewed the malt, germinated the grains, sprinkling them several times from a fresh broom, malted and stirred it. The malt was then taken to a community malthouse to dry. Old people, teenagers, children gathered at the malt house. Here they told different stories, legends, fairy tales. Overnight on a malt barn (salad av ?n?) was remembered by children for life. The finished malt, along with the grain, was taken to the mill. The mill, like the malt house, was a kind of club in the Chuvash life, a place of communication, the focus of news, disputes, and legends. The mill completed a long and sometimes very risky journey of grain. The peasant returned from the mill with a feeling of great satisfaction, full of pride in the results of his hard year-round work. Now you can enjoy the fruits of your labor. It was not for nothing that the Chuvashs said: “From the mill, even a crappy horse returns dancing.” Flour was poured into a special wooden chest in the barn. She acted at the full disposal of the mistress of the house.
Preparing for the ceremony ÿ cleme, the hostess brewed beer from new malt. It took about two weeks to prepare the malt, the brewing of the wort took one and a half to two days. The finished wort was poured into oak barrels and placed in cellars. There it wandered for three or four days. The day before ÿ In the evening, the hostess made the dough for the kleme, and kneaded it in the morning. As the oven heats up, the dough rises. The hostess took the dough from the sourdough and began to form loaves.
Conclusion
The cycle of rituals began with a winter holiday asking for a good offspring of livestock - surkhuri (sheep spirit), timed to coincide with the time of the winter solstice. During the festival, children and youth in groups went around the courtyard of the village, entering the house, wished the owners a good offspring of livestock, sang songs with incantations. The hosts presented them with food.
Then came the holiday of honoring the sun savarni (Shrovetide), when they baked pancakes, arranged horseback riding around the village in the sun. At the end of the Maslenitsa week, the effigy of the "old woman savarni" (savarni karchakyo) was burned. At the end of the spring sowing, a family ritual aka patti (prayer with porridge) was held. A few spoons of porridge, boiled eggs were buried in a furrow and plowed it.
At the end of the spring field work, the akatuy holiday was held (literally - the wedding of the plow), associated with the idea of the ancient Chuvash about the marriage of the plow (male) with the earth (female). In the past, akatuy had an exclusively religious and magical character, accompanied by collective prayer.
The completion of the harvesting of bread was celebrated by praying to the guardian spirit of the barn (avan patti). Before the start of consumption of new crop bread, the whole family arranged a prayer-thanksgiving with avan sari beer (literally - sheep beer), for which all dishes were prepared from the new crop. The prayers ended with a feast of avtan yashki (rooster cabbage soup).
Traditional Chuvash youth holidays and amusements were held at all times of the year. By the end of the XIX - beginning of the XX century. Christian holidays and rituals in the life of the baptized Chuvash became predominant.
List of used literature
1. Korsakova L. E. Fundamentals Orthodox culture: textbook for all specialties of all forms of education / L. E. Korsakova, otv. ed. N. S. Tolstov, Ros. un-t coop., Cheboksary. coop. in-t. - Cheboksary: [b. and.], 2008. - 172 p.
2. Krasnov G. P. On the history of cooperation in the 20s: [Chuvashia] / G. P. Krasnov / / Some aspects of the formation of market relations. Issue. 2 (part 1). Formation of market relations (historical aspect). - Cheboksary, 1991. - S. 7-10.
Osipova N. Yu. Holidays and calendar rituals / N. Yu. Osipova; VG Koshkin / / Youth and cooperation - 2006: abstracts of the XXX final student scientific conference dedicated to the 175th anniversary of consumer cooperation in Russia. - Cheboksary, 2006. - S. 232.
Modern Chuvashia / comp. I. D. Timofeev-Vutlan, V. G. Ignatiev, total. ed. F. I. Sharkov. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. book. publishing house, 1997. - 374 p.
Sorokin V. They fed the whole Akatuy: [in all regions of Chuvashia a song, labor and sports festival "Akatuy-2010" was held] / V. Sorokin / / Russian cooperation. - 1/7/2010. - N 25. - S. 4.
Sorokin V. The holiday of the plow and land - Akatuy: [was held in the Yadrinsky and Batyrevsky regions of the Chuvash Republic] / V. Sorokin, M. Vansyatsky / / Russian cooperation. - 17/7/2008. - N 27. - S. 8.
Stasova M. Holiday of devotees: / M. Stasova / / Soviet Chuvashia. - 27/3/2008. - N 57/58. - S. 2.
Chuvashia. By cities and towns: an illustrated edition for the 80th anniversary of the Chuvash Republic / ed. project I. D. Timofeev-Vutlan, comp. L. M. Kubashina. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. book. publishing house, 2000. - 244 p.
Tutoring
Need help learning a topic?
Our experts will advise or provide tutoring services on topics of interest to you.
Submit an application indicating the topic right now to find out about the possibility of obtaining a consultation.
RED ARMY DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
PARISH IN HONOR OF ARCHANGEL MICHAEL
District Cyril and Methodius Readings
Chuvash holidays
Abstract prepared by:
6th grade student
MOU Chapaevskaya school
Tikhonova Natalia
Scientific adviser:
teacher of Russian language and literature
Ruzova Yu.V.
1. Introduction………………………………………………..page 3
2.Chapter #1
“When the Chuvash became Orthodox”………………...page 4-7
3.Chapter #2
"Chuvash of the Samara Territory"……………………………..page 8
4.Chapter #3
"Peculiarities traditional costume»………………page 9-10
5.Chapter #4
"Chuvash Holidays"……………………………………pp 11-12
6.Chapter #5
"Semik"…………………………………………………..page 13-15
7.Chapter #6
“Uyav”……………………………………………………..page 16
8.Chapter #7
“Semik today”………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….
9.Chapter No. 8
“Conclusion”…………………………………………….page 19
10. List of used literature………………..page 20
11.Appendices…………………………………………...page 21-23
Introduction
Who are we? Where did they come from? Where are our roots? Every nation thinks about these questions. To answer them, you need to more fully and qualitatively study your history. For 400 years, the Chuvash have been living as part of Russia, absorbing the life-giving juices of the richest Russian culture.
My grandparents are from Chuvash villages: Chetyrla and Tolche - Reche. They spent their childhood and youth in their native villages, but then fate threw them into the village of Chapaevsky, where they still live. Grandparents are familiar with Chuvash traditions, rituals, costumes. Chuvash is their native language, they easily communicate with other Chuvashs. My mother does not speak Chuvash, she only understands and knows the traditions and customs poorly, and my brother and I do not know the traditions and customs of the Chuvash people at all and do not speak the Chuvash language, which is our native language. There are many like me and my brother among the Chuvash. It turned out that we were cut off from our roots.
I see the relevance of my topic in the fact that by studying the life, traditions and customs of the Chuvash, I will come into closer contact with the centuries-old history of my native people, because if we know and remember our history, then we Chuvashs will never disappear from the face of the earth. Also, my work will help many to replenish knowledge about their native land and historical roots, and will contribute to the development of interest in the history of their native land.
The purpose of my work: to get acquainted with the history of the culture of the Chuvash people, to study the rites and holidays of religious and everyday traditions that are inextricably linked with our history.
To achieve the goal, I set the following tasks:
1. collect historical information about the Chuvash people;
2. learn about the historical "roots" of the Chuvash of the Samara region.
3. to study the features of the traditional Chuvash costume.
4. A detailed study of the Chuvash holidays associated with Orthodox traditions.
5.promote folk rituals, traditions and customs.
6. summarize the materials and draw conclusions.
Chapter #1
When did the Chuvash become Orthodox?
In the most difficult struggle against the Kazan khans and feudal lords, the eyes of the Chuvash people turned to the great neighbor - the Russian people, who had freed themselves from the Mongol-Tatar yoke back in the 15th century, to the Russian state, which grew stronger every year and decade. As early as the 14th century, the eastern borders of the Russian lands came into contact with Chuvashia. In 1372, the Gorodets prince Boris Konstantinovich, whose specific possession was part of the Nizhny Novgorod principality, founded the city of Kurmysh on the left bank of the Sura. After the annexation of the Nizhny Novgorod principality to the Grand Duchy of Moscow (1392-1393), Kurmysh with all the villages and Algash, located on the right bank of the Sura, belonged to the Moscow Grand Duke Vasily Dmitrievich. In 1523, the city of Vasilsursk was founded by the Moscow ruler at the mouth of the Sura. The Chuvashs began to communicate closely with the Russians, traded with them, established business ties, in the Nizhny Novgorod district, the Russian authorities rented log forests for the collection of honey from wild bees. There was a rapprochement between the Chuvash and the Russian Polonians, who often settled in Chuvash villages to cultivate the Khan's lands. The communication of the Chuvash with the Russians in the XV-XVI centuries also took place during the advance of the Russian troops heading for Kazan through the territory of Chuvashia. Often there were also battles between Russians and Kazan troops. Although, as is known from written sources, until the beginning of the 40s of the 16th century, the Chuvash archer-militias, obeying their centurions, Tarkhans and Murzas, participated in battles against Russian troops, which was reflected in some legends about skirmishes between Russians and Chuvashs, but often Russian regiments, heading for Kazan, did not meet any resistance and opposition from the local population in Chuvashia. In general, in the first half of the 16th century, a Russian orientation was brewing among the masses of the Chuvash people and among some of the feudal lords, the desire to seek help and protection from the Russian state.
The Chuvash servicemen and many yasak people remembered that they lost their national independence and statehood as a result of the Mongol-Tatar conquest, that they were forced to leave their native lands in the Trans-Kama region and the right-bank Middle Volga below the mouth of the Kama, that from a large nationality they became small, retaining, perhaps, only a fifth of the population, which, due to forced Islamization and Tatarization, threatened the complete disappearance of the Chuvash people (many Prikazan and Zakazan Chuvashs were
Tatars). The Chuvash were not an independent people. The transition to Russia did not mean for them the loss of the missing independence. The masses of the Chuvashs could not fail to see that in a strong and populous Russian state, the rules differ in many respects from the harsh khan's regime. In the 16th century, serfdom had not yet been finally established in Russia. In autumn, peasants could move from one feudal lord to another.
After the foundation of Vasilsursk by the Russians, a part of the Sura Chuvash, Mordovians and mountain Mari swore allegiance to Russia and, apparently, was part of it for some time. In 1534, in the war between Russia and Lithuania, along with the Russian regiments, the Kasimov Tatars participated, “yes, Mordovians, but Cheremis, and Chuvashs.”
Interesting in this regard are the legends recorded by K. A. Shulov from the village. Ibresi in 1928 and united under the title "Life of the Chuvash before the capture of Kazan". The occupations of the Chuvash, according to the records, consisted of arable farming, cattle breeding, collecting nuts and acorns, harvesting bast and weaving bast shoes, which came true for Sura. In September, we started catching martens, hares, ferrets, marmots and minks. To do this, they made traps with bait and nets. The villages were small, there were no streets. The windows in the huts were small. The Chuvash bought many necessary products from the Russians outside Sura. “Friendship between Russians and Chuvashs grew more, in their free time they played, fought,” we read in the entry. “The Chuvashs began to go to the Russians for Sura for regular earnings and spent whole years with them. We learned some Russian customs and also to speak Russian.” The Chuvash adopted from the Russians their ancient pagan holiday Semik. And one of the Chuvashs, a rich and noble strongman Kaban, having learned that Russians settled on the Volga; blacksmiths Kuzma and Demyan, went to them, taking with him lagoons of beer and Chuvash sausage sharttan, got acquainted with them, treated them. And the blacksmiths fulfilled the Kaban's order for everything they needed, including making several pood traps and iron pitchforks.
The legends illuminate and motivate the appeal of the representatives of the Chuvash people to the Russian state for protection and help, their readiness to assist the Russian troops in the fight against the Kazan Khanate and the desire to become part of Russia.
After analyzing the historical written sources, I came to the conclusion that the arbiters of the fate of the people in the matter of joining Russia were not princes and murzas, but the masses.
Most of the Chuvash feudal lords, apparently, supported the Khan and the Tatar feudal lords.
The chronicle reports that in May 1551, with a request to accept the Mountain side into the Russian state and attach to Sviyazhsk, the elders and centurions of mountain people (that is, Chuvash, mountain Mari, partly Tatars of the Right Bank of the Volga) turned to the Sviyazhsk governors and the vassal Khan of Kasimov Shah Ali) , who declared that the princes and murzas had fled to Kazan and were under siege.
According to a legend recorded at the end of the 19th century in the village of Shumshevashi in the Yadrinsky district (a niche in the Alikovsky district), the Chuvash as part of the Kazan Khanate had their own chiefs and their own king (apparently, the king means the district prince empu). Piqué was the last Chuvash king. Being subject to the Kazan Khan, from time to time he had to go to the Khan to bow. “Khan every time mocked and mocked the Chuvash king. So, for example, if the khan needed to mount a horse, then he ordered Peak to kneel next to the horse, after which he stepped on Pike's shoulder with one foot and on Pike's head with the other, and then sat on the horse. Pique endured such humiliations for a long time, but then, having lost his patience, he went to the Russian Tsar Ivan the Terrible and convincingly asked him to conquer the Kazan kingdom and thereby save the kings subject to the Khan from ridicule and bullying. Ivan the Terrible sympathetically reacted to this request and conquered the Kazan kingdom.
In a legend relating to the cycle of folk tales recorded by M.P. Arzamasov, it is said that a few years after the death of Urazmed, the ruler and tax collector hated by the Chuvash, the Kazan Khan put Anchik in his place. It was a meek ruler.
He collected taxes from all peoples equally, he rarely went to the khan. “The people were so disposed towards him that they decided to rebel against the Kazan Abdul Khan. The Tatar Khan, having learned about this, sent people to take Anchik and bring him to Kazan. But Anchik ordered the ambassadors to be locked up in an empty barn and burned. Abdul Khan himself came with an army to where Anchik lived, but did not find him. Anchik with his participants went to the Russian Tsar. When the Chuvash reached the Moscow River, the guards mistook them for enemies and did not let them into Moscow. The Chuvashs, in order to show their humility, sat down on their knees and, taking off their hats, bowed to every Russian person. They let the king know about the strangers, and the king went out to them and saw how they bowed obediently. The king asked Anchik if he could rely on them. Anchik replied that not only would they not betray the Russians, but they themselves would take part in the campaign against the Tatars and show the way. He even assured the tsar that the Tatars would also be happy with the Russians, because among them there are many dissatisfied with the khan because his servants, heroic warriors, rob everyone. Then the Russian Tsar Ivan Vasilievich ordered the Chuvash to help, show the roads, and build bridges across the rivers.
The real basis of the above legends is confirmed by the evidence of written sources.
It is known that on December 7, 1546, two representatives of the mountain people arrived in Moscow, sent by the leader of their movement, according to the chronicle, Tugay “with comrades”, and according to the “Discharge Book” - by the centurion Atachik “with comrades”. The name Atachik is close to Anchik from the legend. Apparently they can be identified. The envoys asked Ivan IV to send the Russian governor with troops to Kazan - to displace Safa Giray and replace him with Shah Ali, and assured that "they (mountain people. - V.D.) want to serve the sovereign with the governors." It is quite possible that representatives of the Chuvash people, even before 1546, more than once turned to the Russian authorities and even to Moscow with a request for help and protection, but information about the embassies might not be reflected in written sources.
Sary could also be a real person. S. M. Mikhailov identified him with the Sary-bogatyr, mentioned in Russian chronicles under 1553.
The 16th century is considered the official date for the adoption of Orthodoxy by the Chuvashs, from which part of the Chuvash tribes became Orthodox, but many remained unbaptized until the 18th century.
Chapter #2
Chuvash of the Samara Territory
The Samara Chuvash are the descendants of those who migrated in the 18th century. unbaptized Chuvash, for a long time, and in some villages to the present, who remained committed to the old faith and traditions. Therefore, religion and the ritual culture associated with it represent the most striking feature of the ethnic culture of the Samara Chuvash.
Pagan beliefs, expressed in rituals, have for centuries been a criterion for self-identification for unbaptized Chuvashs: in contrast to baptized Creshens, they call themselves real Chuvashs chan chavash.
The presence in the traditional spiritual culture of the Samara Chuvash of elements of the old faith was reinforced not only by the residence in the region (since the second half of the 19th century - the Samara province) of 5-7 thousand unbaptized Chuvash, but also by the preservation of paganism in the everyday life of even Christian Chuvash.
Unbaptized Chuvashs in some villages up to the present time have preserved the old faith and, accordingly, the traditional ritual in its original form. Thus, among the Samara Chuvashs in relation to the ritual culture, two groups were distinguished, differing in their confessional affiliation - the Chuvash-Christians and the Chuvash-pagans.
The discrepancy between the baptized and unbaptized Chuvashs on the issue of rituals manifested itself in the time and form of the rites. Baptized Chuvash adapted traditional holidays and ceremonies under orthodox calendar and accordingly shifted the timing of traditional Chuvash holidays: munkun - from Wednesday to Sunday, savarni - from Thursday to Sunday, simek - from Thursday to Saturday. Besides, in holiday calendar Samara Chuvash entered Orthodox holidays, many of which were widely observed among the local population, and some of which were predominantly winter holidays- became "throne" holidays of specific Chuvash villages.
More resistant to the influence of the church turned out to be funeral and memorial, marriage, childbirth rites, rites of healing magic, limited to a relatively small circle of participants - mainly a family-related group, and on the other hand, relating to the most significant parties and moments of a person's life: birth, death, marriage, his health.
Chapter #3
Features of the traditional costume
In the manufacture of shirts, as well as other details of the costume, the Samara Chuvash used practically the same materials as those living in the Republic: white canvas shur pir, krashenina, motley ulacha, kumach hamach, factory-made chintz and satin fabrics, woolen and silk dyed threads, silk ribbons, braid, braid, beads, corals, cowrie shells, etc.
From the end of the 19th century embroidery on shirts began to be gradually replaced by stripes from purchased, mostly red, fabrics - satin, chintz, etc. Stripes existed as early as the 18th century, when they were made from canvas strips dyed with madder. With the advent of factory fabrics, it became prestigious and less laborious to replace the embroidery on the chest and back with square and diamond-shaped pusher or chut patches that imitated the embroidery pattern.
On holidays, especially those that had a sacred meaning - simek, munkun - they tried to wear white linen shirts, which were associated in the popular mind with the antiquity of the customs they performed. It was considered almost a sin to appear on a holiday in a motley shirt: "Wearing motley will burn in the fire, and white shirts will go to heaven," said the Chuvash of the Stavropol district.
The Chuvash continued to wear white, and later light-colored calico shirts on holidays - on Trinity, Peter's Day.
Unchanging part women's costume Samara Chuvash had a chersitti apron. But unlike the apron of the right-bank grassroots Chuvash, it was worn without a bib. Chersitti was sewn from the same materials as the shirt, and in its original form it was a piece of white canvas, decorated in the technique of weaving ker sekles sewn to the belt. Similar aprons of polychrome weaving can be found in some Chuvash villages today.
The headdress of the Samara Chuvashs - khushpu contains a number of distinctive features from the khushpu of the lower Chuvashs of the right bank. Zavolzhsky khushpu have a helmet-like shape and combine both coins and corals in the decor. Its frame consists of a hemispherical hat knitted from coarse wool or canvas with an open top, to which a cylindrical leather top is sewn. By appearance Zakamsky khushpu also approach the grassroots right-bank ones, but differ from the latter in the severity of forms, consistency and accuracy in the execution of the decor.
The principle of decorating Zakamsky khushpu is as follows: the top of the khushpu - khushpu tarri - is sheathed in several rows (10-12) with corals and beads, and its base - 3-4 - with rows of silver plates of nukhratok. Further below are several rows of silver coins, the size and value of which increase as the distance from the center goes down. In front, rows of coins are interrupted by coral stripes (6-7 rows), and a hure tail with ruble coins sewn on it, beads, corals is sewn on the back. Ruble coins are also sewn onto the headphones. Pendants made of beads and small coins are placed along the lower edge of the headdress.
The jewelry complex of the Samara Chuvash traditionally included the May sykhkhi (Maya) or misikhkhi neck decoration, the sukha and centerli shoulder decoration, the surpan syakki breast decoration, the sharsya beads, the alka and khalkha tenki head decorations, the sara belt pendants (the Buzuluk Chuvashs also had additional pendants sara summisem and a specific belt decoration made of leather and tubes.
Chapter #4
Chuvash holidays
For 400 years, the Chuvash have been living as part of Russia, absorbing the life-giving juices of the richest Russian culture. This could not but affect the rituals of the Chuvash. They adopted a number of Russian folk calendar holidays - Shrovetide (Savarni), Semik (Simek), Baptism (Kesherni), etc. But these holidays were enriched with traditional Chuvash rituals and sometimes took on a completely different look.
After the conversion of the Chuvash people to Christianity, their ritual repertoire was significantly enlarged, it included such holidays as Christmas (Rashtav), Trinity (Truiski), Spas (Sapas), Peter's Day (Pitrav), Intercession (Pukrav), etc. Many of church holidays rethought and acquired a more "mundane" agricultural character. Traditional folk holidays and rituals are usually divided into calendar ones - related to agricultural work and family and household ones - due to the birth of a person, his transition from one age group to another, marriage, death, etc.
In the calendar rites of the Chuvash of the Samara Trans-Volga region in the XVIII-XIX centuries. The following are the most common rituals:
1) holidays of the winter calendar cycle: Rashtav Christmas, sene sul New Year, Kesherni Baptism, coinciding in time and content with the Russian holy week (December 25 - January 6) (dates hereinafter are given according to the old style). The holidays were accompanied by fortune-telling with the aim of predicting fate, magical tricks aimed at ensuring well-being in business for the next year;
2) ceremonies of the spring-summer period, which began with the savarnya - the Chuvash Shrovetide - and ended at the end of June with the farewell of the games uyav or vaia. Shrovetide began with the Chuvash from the middle of Shrovetide week and thus lasted less than among Russian peasants. Seeing off the period of festivities uyav / vaya was timed by the baptized Chuvash to Peter's Day (June 29). During the spring and summer, the Samara Chuvash celebrated several more holidays: munkun Easter, which corresponded Orthodox Easter and coinciding with it among the baptized Chuvash, among the pagans, the munkun began on Wednesday of Holy Week and ended on Easter Thursday.
Most of the Samara Chuvash celebrated the Trinity, but the celebration began on Thursday with the commemoration of the ancestors of the Simeks. However, the date of these commemorations also shifted under the influence of Christian tradition to Saturday before Trinity or Trinity.
3) the rituals of the autumn cycle were associated with harvesting and were a series of thanksgiving prayers in honor of God and ancestors: kerkhi sara or avtan sari, held on the Thursday before Dmitrievskaya Saturday, that is, at the end of October.
However, the Chuvash were not alien to some Christian autumn holidays dedicated to Christian saints and shrines, for example, in honor of Kozma and Demyan, Archangel Michael, Our Lady of Kazan, etc. Many of them were revered by the inhabitants of individual Chuvash villages as patronal holidays, even if there was no church in the village.
Of the holidays of the winter cycle, the most striking in form and content were the ceremonies dedicated to the meeting of the New Year - surkhuri / sorkhori and sene sul "sheep's leg".
Chapter #5
Semik
After the conversion of the Chuvash people to Christianity, their ritual repertoire was significantly expanded, it included such holidays as Christmas (Rashtav), Trinity (Truiski), Spas (Sapas), Peter's Day (Pitrav), Intercession (Pukrav), etc. Many of the church holidays rethought and acquired a more "mundane" agricultural character.
Simek is a summer holiday dedicated to the commemoration of deceased relatives with a visit to cemeteries. Corresponds to the Christian trinity, also called Semik by the Russians, since in Rus' this holiday was celebrated on Thursday of the seventh week after Easter. Chuvash Simek goes back to this Russian word.
The celebration of Simek among the Chuvash spread relatively recently, apparently not earlier than the middle of the 18th century. This is explained by the fact that many ceremonial and ritual actions, originally associated with the Kalam holiday, were transferred to Simek. In the ritual and ritual side of the Simek holiday, three main lines can be distinguished: ascending to East Slavic paganism, Russian Christianity (in its popular manifestation) and Chuvash paganism.
Despite the later, generally Christian origin, Simek was widely spread in the life of not only baptized Chuvash. But also pagans. In some places, unbaptized Chuvashs call this day vile tukhna kun, i.e. "the day of the exit of the dead (from the graves)." Perhaps this is the old Chuvash name for the holiday, corresponding to the Russian Semik.
Chuvash Simek began seven weeks after Easter, on the Thursday before Trinity, ended on Thursday of Trinity week. The first day of this week was called asla simek (large semik), and the last day was called kesen simek (small semik).
On the eve of asla simek, women and children went to the forest, tracts and ravines, collected medicinal herbs and roots there. They usually said:
“Seventy and seven kinds of different herbs must be collected for a semik from the edge of seven forests, from the tops of seven ravines.” They returned from the forest with brooms and branches of various trees. These branches were stuck to the windows, gates and doors of buildings. Rowan branches were most often stuck. Considering that they protect from evil spirits.
On the eve of Simek, everyone heats a bathhouse, where it was supposed to prepare a decoction “from seventy-seven herbs” and a broom “from seventy-seven branches”.
Dead ancestors were invited to the bath, for which one guy was specially sent to the cemetery. In the bath, they steamed with brooms from different tree species, washed with decoction different types herbs. It was considered a healing agent. Medicinal herbs collected on the Simek holiday were stored throughout the year.
On the eve of the Trinity, the whole world performed a commemoration of the dead. To do this, they brewed beer in advance, on the day of remembrance they baked pancakes, pies and other edibles in the morning. The first three pancakes were taken out into the yard and thrown into a fire made of old bast shoes, lit at the man kele post. They also slaughtered living creatures - usually a bird. They cut at some pole in the household, where no one's foot had set foot. The animal dedicated to the dead was slaughtered on the western side of the courtyard facing the cemetery, on the back. When everything was ready, they put it on the table. The owner of the house or the oldest member of the family lit ritual candles near the wall at the door and around the dishes intended for sacrificial food and drinks. Then he performed a prayer, and the household sat down at the table. At the meal, each member of the family, before tasting this or that dish, had to put aside a small part in a special dish. At the same time, each deceased relative was commemorated by name. According to tradition, it was supposed to commemorate the deceased for as many years as he lived on earth. It should be noted that in the old days, every Chuvash remembered his ancestors up to the seventh generation. And many - up to the ninth and beyond the knees.
After the completion of the home commemoration, everyone walked or drove to the cemetery to “see off the dead”. They rode on tarantasses decorated with green branches. These branches were placed so that the souls of the dead settled on them and did not disturb the living. They took with them a barrel of beer, a loaf of bread, a circle of cheese, pancakes, eggs and other supplies, as well as vessels with sacrificial food and drinks.
At the cemetery, they prayed to the spirits of their ancestors; as a gift to the dead, a new one was hung on the grave pole embroidered towel, shirt, women - surbans and headscarves. A tablecloth was laid on the grave, dishes brought with them were arranged and they were “treated” with beer and wine.
The venerable, respected elders invited to the cemetery performed a common prayer. Together with them, all those present at the cemetery stood up for prayer.
After the completion of the prayer, a common feast began. According to ancient Chuvash ideas, it was impossible to cry for the dead.
There was a belief: if they cry for the dead in this world, then he will also have to cry in the next world. Therefore, music played in the cemetery and a special memorial song sounded. It was a sad, minor melody. After the performance of the ritual memorial song, it was allowed to sing other songs. Usually they sang guest songs, as those who came to the cemetery were, as it were, visiting relatives who had gone to another world. It was also not forbidden to dance. This was somehow supposed to amuse the yearning ancestors. According to legend, fun in the next world was transferred to the next world, to the dead.
After completing the actions prescribed by the ritual, they began to gather home. One colored egg was buried in the soil on the grave. They broke dishes with sacrificial food and, having wished the deceased relatives to live their own lives until the next commemoration and not disturb the living, they went home.
In the old days, the Chuvash - the pagans, commemorated the cemetery in kesen simek and then "escorted" the dead to the cemetery. After the "seeing off" of the deceased relatives, it was possible to have fun, and the youth began to dance. The most fun, festive time of the year was coming - waking up.
Chapter #6
Uyav usually began after Nikola in summer (May 9), and ended with a solemn farewell on Peter's Day (June 29) and thus lasted 7 weeks. The time of the beginning and end of the festive season was also recorded in the texts of uyav yurri - ritual songs performed only during this period.
In many Chuvash villages, there was a custom of meeting and seeing off uyav. To meet him, the youth went to the nearest grove, located to the east of the village, and danced there until late in the evening. The uyav yurri returned to the village with a song, which opened the time for youth festivities and round dances. The songs performed during the wavy differed from the songs of other genres in content and melody.
The culmination of the holiday was the farewell to the dead, which fell on Peter's day.
For seeing off, the entire population of the village gathered on an elevated area on the eastern outskirts. Here, for the last time, they danced, played, guys and men competed in strength and dexterity - arranged races, wrestling, etc. In many songs last day the theme of regret about the departure of this beautiful time was heard.
Before the start of the main celebration, a group of villagers went around the whole village with songs in the direction of the sun. Uyav was seen off already at sunset also with songs: all the participants of the ceremony went to the western outskirts of the village and, having performed uyav yurri here for the last time, returned to the village to the usual drinking song eske yurri.
Uyav completed the cycle of summer holidays, which was followed by a difficult, miserable time - haymaking, harvesting grain, harvesting vegetables, raising fallow and autumn plowing, which continued until deep autumn. Some revival of festive life came after the threshing of bread. One of the first prayers of the autumn cycle was dedicated to the new harvest and was called kerkhi sara "autumn beer" in the northern half of the province, avtan sari "rooster beer" to the south, between the Sok and Kinel rivers, or ker surti "autumn candle". In prayers, the Chuvash thanked the supreme God Turg and at the same time their deceased relatives for their help in harvesting bread, so the holiday was also one of the main days of the autumn commemoration of the ancestors.
Chapter #7
Semik today
How this holiday is celebrated now, my grandmother told me.
Early in the morning on the day of the holiday, baths are heated in the village. Before visiting the cemetery, all family members take a bath and leave water and soap for the deceased relatives after themselves. Housewives bake pies and pancakes in the morning, brew beer and prepare treats for themselves and the departed. With the onset of dinner, the whole family gathers at the cemetery. At the cemetery, relatives gather at one grave, spread tablecloths and lay out treats on them. They open the gates of the fences, distribute treats to the graves. And then the general meal begins. Going home, they close the gates and, having wished the deceased relatives to live their own lives until the next commemoration and not disturb the living, they go home. After visiting the cemetery, people go to the center of the village, gather at the intersection of two streets where the chapel used to be. Here everyone, from young to old, lead a round dance, sing ritual songs, dance to the accordion.
Today, semik has merged with two more Chuvash holidays. This is Asla uchuk (large uchuk) - a rite of sacrifice and a field prayer for a harvest, at a lonely oak in a field, at a spring, a lake. And the second holiday - sumar chuk - a sacrifice to rain or a prayer for rain.
Immediately after the round dances, children and youth walk around the village and collect a little bit of cereals, butter, milk, eggs from the yards and go to the river bank. Several sacrificial cauldrons are brought there, a fire is lit and ritual porridge and milk stew with eggs are boiled. Ritual porridge is cooked by older people, they bake pancakes and perform prayers. All comers are treated to cauldrons.
By this time, the youth of the whole village is gathering with buckets by the water. Having collected young people in buckets of water, they go around the village, pouring water on everyone they meet. Mutual dousing continues until the evening. No one has the right to resist pouring, as it is believed that this can lead to drought. A lot of guys with buckets full of water run through the streets that day, sometimes they even run into houses and pour water on the hidden owners.
While children are pouring water on each other and those they meet, several people ride horses around the village and collect sheep intended for sacrifice on the uchuk. Animals for the ceremony are given by those people who built a new house, often got sick during the year and swore that in case of recovery, they would donate a ram or simply want to thank God for the successes achieved during the year. The place for sacrifices is located at the edge of the forest. Here, on the edge of the ravine, near a lonely old oak tree, old people who know the rite gather together with a few more people. They take with them everything they need, from sacrificial animals to firewood and utensils. Goats are set up at the place of sacrifice and large cauldrons are hung on them, water is poured into them, and firewood is added. One of the more knowledgeable old men stands out as a priest. He, observing all the necessary rituals, is the first to bring water from the spring, the first to pour some water from his boiler into all the cauldrons, and the rest top up. Then, having made a prayer, they slaughter the sacrificial animals, after completing the skinning of the animals, lay the meat in the cauldrons and light a fire under the cauldrons.
The boiled meat is taken out and placed on large wooden dishes, and porridge is cooked on the meat broth. By this time, all the villagers are gathering at the edge of the oak. Those gathered are treated to meat and porridge, pray at the oak, ask for forgiveness of sins and ask for the well-being of all the villagers, a rich harvest, livestock offspring, good luck in beekeeping, health, and so on. Everyone tries to lean against the oak and stand there for a few minutes. It has long been believed that oak gives new energy, gives strength to heal from diseases and takes away negative energy. The skins of sacrificial animals, taken along with the limbs, are stretched on the trunk of an oak tree.
Until late, songs, dances, and fun do not stop at this ritual place.
Chapter #8
Conclusion
Analyzing the results of my work, I came to the conclusion that the centuries-old history of the Chuvash people is very extensive, original and interesting. The past is always worthy of respect. The Chuvash proverb says: “Asun mariine an tunter” - “Do not ruin your father’s oven”, which means do not forget your past, your roots. In the past, we find grounds for pride and delight, but at the same time - for shame and sadness too.
Each nation owns and keeps values, treasures of the past, which were created throughout its centuries-old history. These are also material monuments: cities and villages, monuments of architecture and art, traditions of folk art, labor skills. This is nature, under the influence of which human culture develops. These are such enduring values of the people as their language, wisdom, art, their rules of life, their customs and holidays, fairy tales and legends, favorite dishes and clothes. Now in the present, our goal is to preserve the customs and traditions of our native people in order to pass them on to their descendants in the future. The question arises: "How to do it?" It's very simple, you need to remember your roots, love your land, your people, be interested in its past and present, try to preserve the values that have come down to us.
“... If a people knows and remembers its history, then it also has a future. Such a people will never disappear from the face of the earth, making, like others, their contribution to the treasury of world culture, ”these are the words of the first President of the Chuvash Republic N.V. Fedorov
It is necessary to respect the past in the sense that it is the real soil of the present. It is no coincidence that A. Tvardovsky wrote:
No, you and I are of a different breed,
The past day was not a stranger.
We know those and these years
And we belong to them...
List of used literature
1) Danilov V.D., Pavlov B.I. History of Chuvashia (from ancient times to the end of the twentieth century): Tutorial for educational institutions. Cheboksary: Chuvash. Book. Publishing house.
2) Culture of the Chuvash region. Part I: Study guide /V.P. Ivanov, G.B. Matveev, N.I. Egorov and others / Comp. M.I. Skvortsov. - Cheboksary: Chuv. Book. Publishing house, 1985.
3) Anthology on the culture of the Chuvash region: pre-revolutionary period. - Cheboksary: Chuvash. Book. Publishing house, 2001.
4) Stories of my grandparents.
5) Shuvalov K.A. "The life of the Chuvash before the capture of Kazan" 1928
6)www.samarskie.chuwaschi.ru
7)www.religia.chuwaschej.ru
8)www.odejda.chuvaschej.ru
Applications
Apps #1
My grandmother (on the right) with her own sister in national costumes (1969).
Apps #2
My grandmother at the Christmas tree (1969)
Applications No. 3 
Several people on horseback ride around the village and collect sheep destined for Uchuk - a ritual of sacrifice and a field prayer for a harvest, in a field near a lone oak.
Applications No. 4
Applications No. 5
Here, on the edge of a ravine near a lonely old oak tree, old people who know the rite and a few more people with them, after praying, slaughter the sacrificial animals, after finishing the skinning of the animals, put the meat in cauldrons and light a fire under the cauldrons.