Khakass - history, way of life, ancient customs. Indigenous peoples of Khakassia Khakassia religion
Khakasses- (self-name - "Tadar") - a Turkic-speaking people living in southern Siberia on the left bank of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin. The traditional religion is shamanism, in the 19th century many were baptized into Orthodoxy (often by force).
The Khakass themselves considered themselves born from mountain spirits. The term " Khakass” denotes the medieval population of the Minusinsk basin. Modern Khakasses continue to call themselves "Tadar" in colloquial language. As V. Ya. Butanaev noted, the word "Khakas" is artificial and has not yet taken root in the language of the indigenous population of Khakassia. The term "Khakas" taken from books to refer to the indigenous population of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin was officially adopted in the early years of Soviet power. Until that time, the ethnonym "Tadarlar" (Russian Tatars) was used as a self-name of the indigenous population. The word "Khakas" was absent in the language, toponymy and folklore of the indigenous population of Khakassia. The new term was not immediately and unanimously supported by the bulk of the indigenous population.
The number of the Khakas people
The total number of the Khakas people in Russia, compared with the data of the 2002 census (75.6 thousand people), decreased and amounted to 72,959 people according to the results of the 2010 census.
The Khakass people are divided into sub-ethnic groups :
- kachintsy (haash, haas) - are mentioned in Russian sources for the first time since 1608, when service people went to the land ruled by Prince Tulka;
- koybals (khoybal) - in addition to the Turkic-speaking groups, according to some data, they included groups that spoke the dialect of the Kamasin language, which belonged to the southern subgroup of the Samoyedic group of languages of the Ural language family;
- sagay (sagay) - mentioned for the first time in the news of Rashid ad-Din about the Mongol conquests; the first mentions in Russian documents date back to 1620, when it was indicated that they “have not paid yasak and beat the yasaks”. As part of the Sagais, the Beltyrs (Piltir) are known as an ethnographic group, and earlier the Biryusins (Pӱrӱs) were also distinguished.
- Kyzyl (Khyzyl) - a group of the Khakass people, located in the Black Iyus valley on the territory of the Shirinsky and Ordzhonikidzevsky districts of the Republic of Khakassia;
The Teleuts, Telengits, Chulyms, and Shors are close to the Khakass ethnos in terms of cultural and linguistic features.
History of the Khakass people
Khakassia is located in the valleys of the Yenisei and Abakan rivers. In the northwest it borders on the Kemerovo region, in the south and southwest on Gorny Altai and Tuva. The southern border of Khakassia runs along the ridges of the Western Sayan. The name of the ridge goes back to the Khakassian "Soyan" - "Tuvan" and in translation means "Tuva Mountains". Among the snowy peaks of the Western Sayans, the majestic five-domed Borus stands out - a mountain peak sacred to every Khakass. As the legends say, the prophetic old man Borus lived in ancient times. Anticipating a global flood, he built a ship where he put all the animals and birds. When the water began to subside, Borus landed on land, this was the top of the Sayan Range. The great Yenisei flows through the Khakass-Minusinsk basin, which the Khakass call "Kim".
An excursion into the history of the ethnogenesis of the Khakass people makes it possible to reveal the deep forms of the national culture, determined by the adaptation of the people to the ecological conditions of Siberia. The history of the Khakass ethnic group has its roots far back in time. The territory of Khakassia was inhabited before our era. The ancient population of Khakassia has already reached a very significant cultural level. This is evidenced by numerous mounds, rock paintings, art objects made of gold and bronze, which delight all archaeologists of the world. Excavations of mounds have presented us with objects of the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. Conventionally, individual stages are called by archaeologists the Afanasiev era (III-II millennium BC, the age of the ancient stone and bronze), the Andronov era (mid-II millennium BC). Karasuk era (XIII-VIII centuries BC). Tatar era (VII-II century BC, iron age), Tashtyk era (I century BC-V century AD).
For the first time in the middle of the first millennium BC, ancient Chinese chronicles call the indigenous population of the Yenisei valley Dinlins, describing them as blond and blue-eyed. “The study of information about the Dinlins revealed that data about them appeared in the sources of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. The earliest of these are legendary. These are ideas about eternal horsemen living in the northern lands, as if fused with their horses, about peculiar centaurs.
At the beginning of a new era, the steppe spaces were widely developed as a zone of extensive cattle breeding and irrigated agriculture, which led to the formation of the First and Second Turkic Khaganates of the 6th-8th centuries. By the middle of the 1st millennium of a new era, a nomadic civilization, its material culture, a new complex of spiritual cultural values different from the previous era, where, along with the storage of cultural elements, a new art, a heroic epos, is being formed. During this period of economy and culture in Southern Siberia, on the banks of the Yenisei, in the VI century. the original state of the ancient Khakass (Kyrgyz) was born, which, according to L.R. Kyzlasov, in the VI-VIII centuries. represented the early feudal monarchy. It occupied the entire territory of Southern Siberia: Gorny Altai, Tuva and the Khakass-Minusinsk basin to the Angara in the north. In its heyday, a multi-ethnic population of about two million people lived in it. It was a highly developed state with great economic potential, a stable highly organized social structure. In this it differed from the huge, but rapidly decaying Khaganates of the ancient Turks, Uighurs, Türgesh and others. “This state did not become an ephemeral steppe empire like the Turkic (VI-VIII centuries) or Uighur (VIII-IX centuries) Khaganates. Relying on a solid base of socio-economic and cultural development, it existed for about 800 years, dying under the brutal blows of the empire of the ancient Mongol feudal lords in 1293.
Historians note that complex irrigation systems were used on the territory of modern Khakassia, the inhabitants sowed millet, wheat, Himalayan barley, rye, and oats. In the mountains were located copper, silver and gold mines, iron furnaces. The country was famous for the art of blacksmiths and jewelers. Medieval Khakassia is known for its monumental cities. "The ancient Khakass architectural school was the northern end of the Central Asian branch of the Central Asian medieval architecture." Researcher G. N. Potanin also writes (1877): “The Khakasses had settled settlements with dwellings, they had a lot of gold things, they left a calendar that served as the basis for other calendars. There were probably Tannu or Jirku temples that had granite statues. I saw one on Diangul. Sculpture was, judging by this sample, brought to considerable perfection. There was a huge estate of priests, free from taxes, who owned some secrets of the ore art, divination, knowledge of the heavenly bodies and healing. The Khakass sultans lived north of the Sayan, or at least between the Tannu and the Sayan.
However, the conquests of the ancient Mongol feudal lords broke the chain of progressive development of the historical process. The greatest achievement of culture, the Yenisei runic writing, was lost. As the researcher of the history of Southern Siberia L. R. Kyzlasov writes, not only the progressive movement forward was stopped, but the Sayano-Altai ethnic groups were fragmented and thrown back in their development compared to the cultural level of the state of the medieval Khakass. Consequently, the cultural center of the civilization of Southern Siberia was damaged, which tragically affected the historical fate of the population of the ancient Khakassian state.
In Russian historical documents, Khakasses, called "Yenisei Kyrgyz", are mentioned already at the beginning of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were divided into several small feudal uluses, whose power at that time extended along the Yenisei valley from the Sayan Range in the south to the Big Threshold (below Krasnoyarsk) in the north. The main nomad camps of the Kyrgyz were in the basin of the upper Chulym.
According to the anthropological type, the Khakasses belong to the Mongoloid race, while traces of the influence of Europeans are clearly visible. The appearance of the ancient Khakass heroes is drawn as follows: "having white skin of the face, with black bird-cherry eyes and a round head."
Ethnically, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were a small Turkic-speaking group, descendants of the medieval Yenisei Kyrgyz, whose state was mentioned in the Chinese annals of the Tang dynasty under the name "Khagis".
The political structure of the Kyrgyz at the beginning of the 17th century was characterized by a hierarchical structure: at the head of all uluses was the chief prince, each ulus was headed by its own prince, who had “ulus people” dependent on him. Russian documents name Turkic-speaking Kachins, Agins, Kyzylians, Arguns, Shusts, Sagais, as well as Ket-speaking and Samoyedic-speaking tribes dependent on the Kyrgyz princes.
In social terms, the Kyrgyz were heterogeneous: the bulk of the population were ordinary pastoralists - "ulus peasants". The tribal elite consisted of princes, whose power was hereditary. The princes kept captives captured during raids as slaves. Kyshtymydanniks were subjected to cruel exploitation, and the princely elite was enriched at their expense.
The Yenisei Kyrgyz remained in their places only until the beginning of the 18th century. Since that time, most of them fell under the rule of the Dzungar Khan and were forcibly resettled. Most of the Kyrgyz Kyshtyms, who were in the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, are the closest historical ancestors of the modern Khakass.
The traditional occupation of the Khakas is semi-nomadic cattle breeding. The Khakass kept horses, cattle and sheep, and in some places raised pigs and poultry. A significant place in the economy of the Khakass was occupied by hunting in the taiga, mainly among the Kyzyl people. In the Sayans, they hunted musk deer. In autumn, the subtaiga population of Khakassia was engaged in the collection of pine nuts, berries and mushrooms.
Until the middle of the 17th century, none of the Russian people had any idea either about life along the banks of the Yenisei, or about the indigenous peoples, or about the Khakass-Minusinsk basin with its culture developed for that time. Monuments of this culture - open-air museums - are located throughout the Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia. And although today they are separated by administrative borders, the history and culture of the Siberian land cannot be divided.
Russian development of the Yenisei region began at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries from the northern territories, rich in furs, fish, and forests, and moved towards the south, where there were more favorable climatic and natural conditions. At the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, Russian explorers entered the Yenisei basin. Making their way from the North, from the side of the "gold-boiling Mangazeya", the Cossacks founded the city of Mangazeya in 1601 in the lower reaches of the Taza River. For a short historical time, this city became the center of further penetration of Russians deep into the territory of Siberia. The paths from the city of Mangazeya led to the Yenisei River and its tributaries, which were inhabited by Samoyed tribes (Enets and Nganasans), Yenisei Ostyaks (Kets) and a large group of northwestern Tungus tribes. Over time, Mangazeya, then Turukhansky district was formed in these territories. The last stage in the development of the banks of the Yenisei by the Russians was the exit to the Khakassian steppes and foothills of the Sayans.
The Kirghiz princes organized military raids of the Khakass on the lands of the Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Yenisei districts, killed or took away people as prisoners, and stole cattle. Russian authorities adhered mainly to defensive tactics. Attacks on Russian settlements turned out to be ultimately disastrous for the Khakas, since in the middle of the 17th century, the Mongol khans and Dzungar rulers began to make devastating raids on the lands of the Khakas. Then the Khakass turned to the Siberian governors with a request to set up a prison on their land and found a favorable response from the Russians. The entry of Khakassia into Russia occurred in 1707, when Tsar Peter I signed a decree on the construction of a prison in Khakassia. In August 1707, the service people of Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Krasnoyarsk and Yeniseisk built the Abakan prison (on the site of the now flooded village of Krasnoturansky), in which the military garrison remained. For the first time in the last century, peaceful life began here.
True, the Dzungar rulers still continued to send their tribute collectors, but the Russian government undertook the construction of a defensive line, settling Cossacks on it. In 1718, near the village of Oznachenny (now the city of Sayanogorsk), the Sayan prison was set up - the last stronghold on the thousand-mile path of Russian explorers.
With the construction of several prisons in the Khakass-Minusinsk region, entire systems of settlements began to appear there. The Khakass-Minusinsk Territory includes the territory of modern Khakassia and the southern regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Due to geographical and historical features, this region has always had some cultural specificity, especially in the second quarter of the 18th century, the time of its final annexation to Russia. The peculiarity of the region lies in the fact that its inclusion in the Russian state occurred much later than other Siberian regions. It is also important that this region has its own unique specificity of natural, climatic and landscape conditions, which differs sharply from neighboring territories. It is no coincidence that the term "Minusinsk Territory" was used to designate this part of Siberia until recently. At present, given the political and cultural realities of today, the term "Khakass-Minusinsk Territory" is widely used.
The core of the Russian old-timers in this area, formed in the 18th century, were descendants of immigrants from the northern regions of European Russia. The development of the region by the Russians was relatively peaceful. This, in our opinion, can be explained by the fact that for most of the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups of South Siberia and the Khakass ethnic group in particular, the Russian advancement completely fit into the picture of the universe they adopted, and the first contacts with the Russians did not in the least contradict the Central Asian relations of “subordination-subordination” ". These forms of state dependence have been known throughout Central Asia since ancient times, and in the Russian statehood itself they appeared following the example of the Golden Horde, having acquired a finished form in the Muscovite kingdom.
As a result, already in the second half of the 18th century, entire contact zones of joint settlement of the alien Russian and indigenous Khakass population formed in the region. Due to the more favorable conditions for agriculture on the Right Bank of the Yenisei, by the 19th century, an area of \u200b\u200bprimary Russian settlement was formed here, and the Khakass concentrated on the left bank of the Yenisei. And yet, there were practically no regions with a mono-ethnic composition of the population in the region. This contributed to the emergence of both cultural and kinship relations between Russians and the Khakass.
Russian peasants played a special role in the ethnic interaction between Khakasses and Russians. They arrived mostly without families, so the process of unity took place through interethnic marriages. This type of marriage allowed both Russians and local residents to more successfully solve economic, social and everyday problems. Especially many such marriages took place in the 17th century.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Russian population in the Khakass-Minusinsk Territory increased significantly. In 1762, the replacement of arable land with state tithes and grain dues with cash payments increased the freedom of movement of Siberian peasants. The share of furs in yasak (tax in kind) was also steadily decreasing, which was caused by the predatory extermination of the fur-bearing animal and the deepening of the economic specialization of Khakass farms. With each decade, the unpaid receipt of yasak was ensured not so much by the inviolability of the yasak lands and the absence of Russians in them, but by the proximity of Russian villages, where it was possible to earn the amounts needed for payments or sell the grown cattle (“Tatars often go to Russian villages for periods of time to remove bread and mow sen").
Compared to the first half of the 18th century, the influx of population into the Khakass-Minusinsk region from the northern Siberian districts, especially from the Yenisei, became more noticeable. There, many villages lost most of their inhabitants. Thus, in 1765, the peasants of the village of Tomilovo, Podporozhny, moved to Iyus to the villages of Sosnovaya, Toilutskaya, Amalinsky. By 1769, the inhabitants of only two courtyards remained in the old place.
Since the 70s of the XVIII century, in general, the influx from other places amounted to about 25% of the total increase in the Russian population of the Khakass-Minusinsk Territory.
In a number of areas most suitable for managing, Russians and Khakasses lived in stripes, as the local authorities protected the land interests of the yasaks. The Khakass, as a whole ulus or alone, received official possessory documents for "ancestral" and free land - "data". This contributed to the establishment of economic and ethno-cultural contacts with the Russians.
Thus, the inclusion of Khakassia in the Russian state in the second quarter of the 18th century played a huge role. The deliverance of the Khakass people from devastating wars by the Mongol and Dzungarian feudal lords was progressive. The Khakass gained the opportunity to overcome centuries of fragmentation and unite into a single nation, which received the right to further historical development. Along with the consolidation of the Khakass people in the center of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin on its outskirts, there was a process of partial assimilation of the indigenous population by Russians.
Culture of the Khakass people
Culture of the Khakass people is part of the global heritage. Its historical basis is made up of values created over the centuries. It identified Turkic, Chinese-Confucian, Indo-Tibetan and Russian-European components, indicating active contacts of the Khakas ancestors with other ethnic groups in different periods of history. Shamanism and Christianity played an important role in the formation and development of Khakass culture. They have become part of the identity and mentality of the people. In general, if by its genesis Khakassia is connected with the East, then through the Russian language and Russian culture it is connected with the West.
IN the formation of the Khakass culture a great role was played by the close connection of man with nature, dependence on its forces. The hard life in conditions of isolation and remoteness from others, the struggle for existence in harsh natural and climatic conditions has shaped in people such a character trait as collectivism. Friendship and comradeship have always been highly valued among the Khakass, and loneliness has always been condemned, which is reflected in the following proverbs: “A friendly life is long, an unfriendly life is short”, “Starve together, thirst together, but don’t leave a friend.”
Mutual assistance among the Khakass has always been an important form of communication between people. Its content is quite broad. This is hospitality, which was seen as a source of sympathy, mutual understanding and support, pity for the elderly, small children, orphans, and the poor. Any person is welcomed here as welcome, neighbors always share food with each other, tools, etc. Compliance with the custom of mutual assistance is reflected in the following Khakas sayings: “Give a horse to a man without clothes, give clothes to a man without clothes”, “Death has a duty” (i.e., one who came to help at the funeral, in case of misfortune with him, you need to help), “The name of the guest is connected with the stomach of the neighbors” (i.e. when they feast with guests, they invite neighbors).
Hospitality is of great importance in the etiquette of social life of both Khakasses and Russians. A common feature of the two peoples is an extraordinary cordiality, sometimes reaching the point of self-sacrifice.
Reception and visiting guests are frequent events in the life of the peoples of Siberia. This is due to the mobile nature of the lifestyle of nomads - pastoralists, hunters, reindeer herders. The guest of the Khakass is always a welcome person, since in the past people lived here in very small groups, and there was always a thirst for communication with a “new” person. It in itself often served as the reason that a person "moved" from a place, mounted a horse and went for many tens of miles to visit a friend or relative.
Guests were invited for any occasion: neighbors in case of slaughter, the whole district for a wedding or for holidays. Reception of guests begins with their meeting. The etiquette of all the peoples of Siberia requires the host himself and his closest male relatives to meet guests. Common features of the rite of greeting are the following behavioral elements: a raised right hand, good wishes. A fairly common feature is the salutation with two hands, expressing special respect or warm feelings. Greeting, the Khakass ask: “Are you all right?”, “Are you healthy?”. After these words, it is customary, first of all, to inquire about the health of livestock: “How is your livestock doing?”. Since these peoples were socially differentiated in the past, the position of the interlocutor was always taken into account in the process of communication, which is partly reflected even now in the existence of more respectful and less respectful etiquette formulas. Now respectful turns are addressed to older people - for example, instead of the usual greeting they say: "Let me inquire about your health." Seniors must be addressed to you.
After greetings, it is customary to seat guests in a place of honor, first of all, let them get drunk with koumiss or tea, and be sure to first engage them in a “decent”, that is, uninformative conversation about the weather, the path followed by the arrivals, health, etc. And only after that decency allowed them to start eating.
Hospitality also stood in one of the first places in the village ethics of Russian settlers, so not accepting a guest or refusing an invitation was considered a manifestation of ignorance. “Come, godfather, drink tea”, “you are welcome”, “thanks for the treat” - these are the stable verbal formulas that existed in the Yenisei region. In them, the indispensable observance of courtesy and respect for each other. The guest was offered the best place at the table and the best treat, and he, in turn, should not show arrogance, be moderate in eating and drinking. In the village they said: “For an arrogant guest and the door of the floor”, “A well-fed guest is easy to regale”, “It’s not a shame to leave someone else’s table without eating.” For "bread and salt" it was customary to thank the hostess with a low bow. A characteristic custom for a Russian person is to invite a passer-by and a visitor to the house, feed him and, if possible, calm him down. They did not take money from passers-by; there was a proverb "The bread and salt of the robber wins."
A special place in the psychological characteristics of the Khakass is occupied by the stable traditions of the cult of ancestors, parents, and elders. It should be emphasized that a respectful attitude towards elders is a quality that is especially valued by many Asian peoples. People of venerable age personified wisdom, were the main keepers of worldly wisdom and experience, norms of behavior. Khakass children received the basic principles of the people’s picket, guidance for their future, adult life, from the elders, from proverbs and sayings: “Ask the elder for blessings, the younger for a word”, “Respect the elders, do not offend the younger”, “Respect the oldest - years your debts will be, protect the youngest - your days will be bright.
The above examples show that the behavior of adults towards children was colored with restraint, gentleness, respect, which did not contradict the attitudes towards obedience to adults and respect towards them. According to folk traditions, it is not customary to beat or humiliate children in any other way. Such actions were everywhere perceived as a sign of adult weakness. Among the Khakass, children were forbidden to stand on the threshold, sit with both hands on the ground, lay their hands behind their backs, sit with their legs clasped in their hands, clap their hands (a sign of mourning).
It was customary for the peoples of Southern Siberia to play a game with children, asking the names of their ancestors up to a certain (now up to the seventh, and in the old days up to the twelfth or more) tribe, without fail giving a reward for complete answers. This game has become a kind of etiquette detail of the custom of hospitality and at the same time an effective means of reproducing genealogical memory, which, as you know, is the ideological basis of the social organization of nomads.
The cult of ancestors and parents is closely connected with love for native places, respect for the flora and fauna of the native land. Attachment to them among the Khakass is closely connected with the fact that their life passes in everyday communication with wildlife, without which they do not realize themselves. They worshiped sacred mountains, trees, spreading the “golden rule of morality” to the whole world around them, expressed through certain taboos, which partly had a religious connotation. For example, you can’t make noise in the forest, because he needs silence, cut down a tree at night, because it sleeps, cross a stream or river without permission. It was believed that any violation by a person of harmony, balance in the whole world inevitably entails punishment in the form of loss of crops, failures in hunting, illness, misfortunes in the family, physical death and, worst of all, death of the soul through the extinction of the family.
One of the important values of the traditional culture of the Khakass is the attitude to work: “If you don’t put in work, you won’t have a hat”, “A hardworking person’s children do not go hungry”, “Whoever works well has lips in fat, and a lazy person’s head is in the mud” . By the age of seven, a child was considered mature. From the age of five or six, boys were taught to ride a horse, and from the age of eight he herded cattle. From the age of thirteen, the children participated in harvesting, mowed hay, and from the age of fifteen, the boys went hunting with their father. Girls from an early age were taught to do housework. At thirteen, they knew how to bake bread, and at seventeen, they sewed fur coats, dresses, and shoes on their own.
One of the comparative parameters that most clearly reflects the value orientations of cultures is their relationship to time. Both Russian and Khakass cultures are characterized by adherence to traditions and an appeal to the past as the basis for the present.
Thus, we can note such common value positions of the Khakass culture and the culture of Russian settlers as collectivism, mutual assistance, diligence, hospitality, respect for nature, respect for elders, adherence to traditions. All of these predominant orientations characterize typically Eastern values.
In the cultural tradition of the chaldons of the Khakass-Minusinsk Territory, a certain degree of foreign ethnic influences is manifested. They are especially pronounced in the spiritual sphere of the old-timer culture, namely, in folklore, folk beliefs, and medicine. In addition, many elements of the traditional culture of the old-timers of this region were significantly influenced by the cultural traditions of the indigenous population. Thus, there were processes of intercultural communications, mutual influence of cultures.
In the process of interaction with the Russians, the Khakass learned European agriculture, adopted the technique and system, and planted new crops. So, already in the 17th century, winter and spring rye, barley, oats, wheat, peas, buckwheat, millet, and hemp appeared on the fields. From vegetable crops in vegetable gardens, carrots, cabbage, turnips, onions, garlic, and cucumbers were grown. The ratio of sowing of various crops in percentage terms in the 80-90s of the XVIII century was as follows: spring rye - 33.7%, winter rye - 26.8, wheat - 17.0, oats - 13.6, barley - 6 ,3, flax, hemp and peas - 2.6%. As the land was developed, the proportion of spring crops steadily increased.
Under the influence of the Russians, the Khakass moved from primitive forms of farming to higher and more intensive ones. For cultivating the land, they used a plow with iron coulters. A wooden harrow was used for harrowing. From other inventory, sickles, pink salmon scythes, and axes were constantly used. The condition for the existence of the peasant household was the presence of working cattle. Russians bought horses from the local population.
Until the middle of the 19th century, the most common type of Khakas dwelling was a non-lattice portable yurt, and later - lattice, birch bark, felt. In felt yurts "kiis ib" people lived in winter, and in birch bark "tos ib" - in summer. The portable yurt was the dwelling of pastoralists and had much in common with the yurts of the Kalmyks, Tuvans, Altaians, and Buryats.
During the 19th century, portable yurts were gradually replaced by stationary dwellings - a Russian log cabin and a log polygonal yurta "agas ib", in which people lived in the summer. There was a hearth in the middle of the yurt on the earthen floor. Furniture included beds, shelves, wrought iron chests, and carved cabinets. The yurt was decorated with felt carpets, colorful embroidery, and leather appliqués. Ethnic features are also manifested in the fact that these log cabins from the building were traditionally divided into two halves - male and female. Household items were located on the male (left, southern) half: saddles, lassoes, bridles, leather, etc. The other half (right, northern) was considered female; dishes, utensils, women's and children's accessories were placed on the shelves in it. The dominating type of winter dwelling was the log hut - “tura”, which testified to the strengthening of the settled way of life of the Khakass population. Log houses were of two types: one-room and five-walled with glazed windows. The Khakass made household utensils from wood, birch bark and clay. Later, purchased glass, porcelain and metal utensils and household items that were made by Russians appeared in the life of the Khakass. In the Minusinsk Museum named after N. M. Martyanov, you can see a Khakass yurt, in which a variety of dishes made of colored glass (red, blue), representing the products of the Znamensky factory, located near the city of Minusinsk.
The interior of the yurt, the quantity and quality of household utensils for wealthy and ordinary Khakass differed sharply. The rich man's yurt was furnished with good furniture. Among household items there were many things of Russian production. So, different dishes and caskets were placed on the shelves. A lot of space was occupied by chests decorated with iron plates. The space between the shelves with caskets and chests on the left and right front sides of the yurt was covered with carpets, the table was covered with a tablecloth.
The winter dwelling of the poor Khakasses was a semi-earth hut with windows (chir ib). The walls were made of two rows of birch wattle, the gap between which was covered with earth. Inside the wattle fence was sheathed with boards. The floor was earthen, the roof was flat. In the right rear corner from the door on a hill there was a hearth with an adobe pipe called a chuval (sool). Subsequently, in the process of interaction with Russian settlers, significant changes took place in the design of this type of dwelling. The walls inside and out were covered with clay and whitewashed. They made a gable roof and a wooden floor. Instead of a chuval, a Russian stove appeared. So this dwelling took the form of a Russian hut. Instead of "chir ib" it was called "chir tura" (earthen house).
Another winter dwelling was a quadrangular one-chamber hut with windows, called a sool by the Khakass. The corners were cut into a castle or reinforced in pillars. The floor was earthen, the flat roof covered with earth. The window was covered with the peritoneum (kharyn). Two stoves were placed in the right rear corner from the door. One of them with an open hearth, with a straight chimney, served for heat and light. Another - for cooking, she adjoined the first. Both stoves are called sool, hence the name of the dwelling - sool.
Ethnocultural interaction between the Khakasses and Russian old-timers of the Khakas-Minusinsk region also took place in the field of traditional medicine. Both among the Khakasses and among the Russian old-timers of the Khakass-Minusinsk Territory, traditional medicine was widespread until the beginning of the 20th century. A number of different reasons contributed to this. First of all, the lack of a sufficient number of medical institutions and qualified medical workers in the region influenced. A large number and variety of diseases was due to the hard work of the cattle breeder and farmer, as well as living conditions.
The basis of folk medical knowledge, ideas about diseases and methods of their treatment is not only folk experience, but also religious beliefs. Thus, the basis of the traditional worldview of the Khakass is shamanism. Accordingly, the shamanic mystical treatment of the Khakas was the main one, supplemented by elements of traditional medicine and partly of scientific medicine with its medications.
It can be summarized that in an indirect way - folk medicine of Russian old-timers - the richest centuries-old heritage of the indigenous peoples of the Khakass-Minusinsk region, whose roots go back to ancient times, was perceived.
In general, Russian old-timers, on the one hand, retained the traditional ethnic basis of folk medical knowledge, which was due to the characteristic religious worldview and social conditions of life, on the other hand, they significantly expanded and enriched it through various components of Khakass folk medicine, and indirectly through the latter - due to the medical knowledge of the peoples of the Sayano-Altai and the East.
Assimilation processes took place in the sphere of linguistic relations. The Khakas language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altai language family. It is divided into four dialects: Sagay, Kachinsky, Kyzyl and Shor. On the basis of Kachin and Sagai, a literary language was formed and writing appeared. In the era of the late Middle Ages, they were taught to read and write in Mongolia, Dzungaria, and, possibly, in China. The Russian archives contain Khakas messages of the 17th-18th centuries, written both in Mongolian and “... in their own Tatar scripts.”
In the 30s of the XX century, the Khakass script was created on the basis of the Latin script. Modern Khakass writing was created in 1939 on the basis of Russian graphics.
If at first communication between Russians and Khakasses was difficult, then gradually, as economic and domestic ties strengthened, the Khakass began to master the Russian language. In the 30s of the XIX century in the Minusinsk district, only up to 50 Khakass spoke Russian.
Interaction processes also took place in the sphere of folk art. The archaism of the Khakass language is preserved in the rich Khakass folklore, the genres of which are diverse: fairy tales, legends, heroic tales, legends, proverbs, sayings. The most common genre of Khakass folklore is the heroic epic alypty nymakh. This ancient layer of folk art is a kind of monument that reflects the history of the Khakass people, the features of their worldview and aesthetic ideas.
To a large extent, the development of musical culture was facilitated by the love for music of the Khakas themselves. Academician V.V. Radlov, who arrived in Siberia and led a large Russian academic expedition in 1891 to discover and study runic inscriptions in Khakassia and Tuva, stated that “the penchant for epic poetry was already characteristic of the ancient Khakass.
Heroic tales are a kind of chronicle of the centuries-old history of the Khakass people, their struggle against numerous enemies and oppressors. They enjoyed the greatest popularity, and we find confirmation of this popularity from another collector of oral folk art, V. Verbitsky: “In the ulus, young people crowd into the hut of the old storyteller to listen to the legend to the lulling accompaniment of the chatkhana. But adults also like to listen to a fairy tale. Narrators-singers, these button accordions and homers, own more than one epic epic from the past life of these peoples.
Most of the Khakass heroic tales in their content are truly folk works. In them we find the struggle between good and evil, stories about the life and exploits of heroes. There are a number of legends about heroes, among which the most popular are: "Albynzhi", "Altyn Aryg", "Khara Khushun riding a black horse", "Khan Kichigey" and others.
In the traditional culture of the Khakas, the folk art that synthesizes into a monolithic whole is haiji. Haiji were the keepers and distributors of heroic tales. They awakened vivacity and optimism in their listeners, instilled strength and energy to fight for justice.
The Khakassian culture adopted many elements of the material and spiritual culture of the Russians: agriculture and gardening began to develop actively, the types of dwellings and clothing changed. The adoption of Christianity had a great influence on the Khakas culture. However, the influence of Russian culture as a whole did not change the traditional ways of adapting the Khakass to their natural environment. On the contrary, the Russians in Khakassia tried to adopt them, to adapt them for their rooting here. An example of this is the significant expansion and enrichment of folk medical knowledge through the various components of Khakass folk medicine; borrowing some elements of clothing, methods of harvesting and eating wild herbs and berries.
Khakasses (self-name Tadar) - people in the Russian Federation, the main population of Khakassia (63.6 thousand). In total, there are 72.9 thousand Khakass in the Russian Federation (2010). In pre-revolutionary literature, they were known under the general name of the Minusinsk, Abakan, Achinsk Tatars or Turks, who were divided into five tribal groups (Kachintsy, Sagay, Beltir, Koibal and Kyzyl), within which the division into genera was preserved. These groups became part of the Russian state in the 17th - early 18th centuries. Anthropologically, the Khakass belong to a transitional form from the Ural type to the South Siberian: in the northern groups (Kyzyl, part of the Sagais) the features of the Urals of the race predominate, in the southern (Kachintsy) - of the South Siberian type.
The Khakas language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altaic language family. It is subdivided into four dialects: Sagay, Kachinsky, Kyzyl and Shor, on the basis of Kachinsky and Sagay a literary language was formed and written language was created (in 1928 in Latin, since 1939 in Cyrillic). The Khakass language is considered native by 75% of the Khakass. In 1876, the transfer of the Khakass to the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church was announced, but most of the believers adhere to traditional shamanistic beliefs.
The ethnic composition was formed in the 17th-18th century on the basis of a mixture of the Yenisei Kirghiz with the Turkic, Samoyed and Ket groups. Although the main part of the Kirghiz was withdrawn to the Dzungar Khanate in 1703, the Kirghiz who remained and returned in the second half of the 18th century became the basis for the formation of the nationality. According to the 1897 census, there were 12 thousand Kachins, 13.9 thousand Sagays, 8 thousand Kyzyl (the basis of which were groups of Siberian Tatars and Argyn Kazakhs who settled in the Altysar ulus in the 16th - early 17th century), 4.8 thousand Beltirs (descendants immigrants from Tuva who settled at the mouth of the Abakan, hence their name "Ustyintsy"). The consolidation process, which began in the 18th century, ended in the 20th century, when the Khakass received national autonomy and a common name.
The traditional occupation of the Khakasses is semi-nomadic cattle breeding. The Khakass kept horses, cattle and sheep. A significant place in the economy was occupied by hunting (mainly among the Kyzyl people) in the Sayan taiga (for musk deer). Agriculture (the main crop is barley) becomes the predominant branch of the economy by the end of the 19th century. In autumn, the taiga population of Khakassia was engaged in the collection of pine nuts. In some places, the Khakass began to breed pigs and poultry.
The main type of Khakass settlements were aals - semi-nomadic associations of several households (10-15 yurts), as a rule, related to each other. The main type of dwelling is a non-lattice yurt. The traditional clothing of the Kachins has become widespread among all Khakass. From the beginning of the 20th century, purchased fabrics began to be widely used. Following Russian fabrics, elements of Russian peasant and urban clothing began to penetrate into the Khakas costume, and in areas of close proximity to Russians, the prosperous population completely adopted Russian peasant clothing.
Meat dishes served as the main food in winter, and dairy dishes in summer. The Khakass prepared soups and broths with boiled meat. The most popular was cereal and barley soup. As a festive dish, black pudding is popular. The most common drink was ayran made from sour cow's milk. Ayran was distilled into milk vodka. It was used on holidays, to treat guests and when performing religious rites.
The Khakass attached great importance to public prayers. They prayed to the sky, mountains, water, the sacred tree - birch. Kachintsy prayed to the sky on Mount Saksar in the Abakan steppe. During prayers, an odd number of white lambs with black heads were sacrificed. Women and children were not allowed to the ceremony. The Khakass had a cult of "Tesei" - family and tribal patrons. Most ritual actions were performed with the participation of a shaman.
Khakasses
KHAKASS-ov; pl. The people constituting the main population of Khakassia, partly of Tuva and the Krasnoyarsk Territory; representatives of this people.
◁ Khakas, -a; m. Khakasska, -and; pl. genus.-juice, dates-scam; and. Khakassian, th, th. H. language.
Khakass(self-name - Khakass, obsolete name - Abakan or Minusinsk Tatars), people in Khakassia (62.9 thousand people), total in Russia 79 thousand people (1995). Khakass language. Believers are Orthodox, traditional beliefs are preserved.
KHAKASKHAKAS (self-name - Tadar), people in the Russian Federation, the main population of Khakassia (65.4 thousand people). In total, there are 75.6 thousand Khakass in the Russian Federation (2002). In pre-revolutionary literature, they were known under the general name of the Minusinsk, Abakan, Achinsk Tatars or Turks, which were divided into five tribal groups (Kachintsy, Sagay, Beltir, Koibal and Kyzyl), within which the division into genera was preserved. These groups became part of the Russian state in the 17th - early 18th centuries. Anthropologically, the Khakass belong to a transitional form from the Ural type to the South Siberian: among the northern groups (Kyzyl, some of the Sagais) the features of the Urals of the race predominate, while in the southern (Kachintsy) - the South Siberian type.
The Khakas language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altaic language family. It is subdivided into four dialects: Sagay, Kachinsky, Kyzyl and Shor, on the basis of Kachinsky and Sagay a literary language was formed and written language was created (in 1928 in Latin, since 1939 in Cyrillic). The Khakass language is considered native by 75% of the Khakass. In 1876, the transfer of the Khakass to the bosom of the Russian Orthodox Church was announced, but most of the believers adhere to traditional shamanistic beliefs.
The ethnic composition was formed in the 17th-18th century on the basis of a mixture of the Yenisei Kirghiz with the Turkic, Samoyed and Ket groups. Although the main part of the Kirghiz was withdrawn to the Dzungar Khanate in 1703, the Kirghiz who remained and returned in the second half of the 18th century became the basis for the formation of the nationality. According to the 1897 census, there were 12 thousand Kachins, 13.9 thousand Sagais, 8 thousand Kyzyl (the basis of which were groups of Siberian Tatars and Argyn Kazakhs who settled in the Altysar ulus in the 16th - early 17th centuries), 4.8 thousand Beltirs (descendants immigrants from Tuva who settled at the mouth of the Abakan, hence their name "Ustyintsy"). The consolidation process, which began in the 18th century, ended in the 20th century, when the Khakass received national autonomy and a common name.
The traditional occupation of the Khakasses is semi-nomadic cattle breeding. The Khakass kept horses, cattle and sheep. A significant place in the economy was occupied by hunting (mainly among the Kyzyl people) in the Sayan taiga (for musk deer). Agriculture (the main crop is barley) becomes the predominant branch of the economy by the end of the 19th century. In autumn, the taiga population of Khakassia was engaged in the collection of pine nuts. In some places, the Khakass began to breed pigs and poultry.
The main type of Khakass settlements were aals - semi-nomadic associations of several households (10-15 yurts), as a rule, related to each other. The main type of dwelling is a non-lattice yurt. The traditional clothing of the Kachins has become widespread among all Khakass. From the beginning of the 20th century, purchased fabrics began to be widely used. Following Russian fabrics, elements of Russian peasant and urban clothing began to penetrate into the Khakas costume, and in areas of close proximity to Russians, the prosperous population completely adopted Russian peasant clothing.
Meat dishes served as the main food in winter, and dairy dishes in summer. The Khakass prepared soups and broths with boiled meat. The most popular was cereal and barley soup. As a festive dish, black pudding is popular. The most common drink was ayran made from sour cow's milk. Ayran was distilled into milk vodka. It was used on holidays, to treat guests and when performing religious rites.
The Khakass attached great importance to public prayers. They prayed to the sky, mountains, water, the sacred tree - birch. Kachintsy prayed to the sky on Mount Saksar in the Abakan steppe. During prayers, an odd number of white lambs with black heads were sacrificed. Women and children were not allowed to the ceremony. The Khakass had a cult of "Tesei" - family and tribal patrons. Most ritual actions were performed with the participation of a shaman.
encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .
See what "Khakas" is in other dictionaries:
Tadarlar ... Wikipedia
- (outdated name Abakan or Minusinsk Tatars) people in Khakassia (62.9 thousand people), total in the Russian Federation 79 thousand people (1991). Khakass language. Khakass believers are Orthodox, traditional beliefs are preserved ... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary
- (self-name Tadar, Khoorai) nationality with a total number of 80 thousand people, living mainly on the territory of the Russian Federation (79 thousand people), incl. Khakassia 62 thousand people Khakass language. Religious affiliation of believers: traditional ... ... Modern Encyclopedia
Khakassians, Khakasses, unit Khakass, Khakass, husband. The nationality of the Turkic language group, constituting the main population of the Khakass Autonomous Region; former name Abakan Turks. Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Explanatory Dictionary of Ushakov
KHAKAS, ov, unit ace, a, husband. The people constituting the main indigenous population of Khakassia. | female khakaska, i. | adj. Khakassian, oh, oh. Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 ... Explanatory dictionary of Ozhegov
- (self-name Khakas, obsolete name Abakan or Minusinsk Tatars), people in the Russian Federation (79 thousand people), in Khakassia (62.9 thousand people). The Khakas language is the Uyghur group of Turkic languages. Orthodox believers are preserved ... ... Russian history
Khakass Ethnopsychological dictionary
KHAKAS- the people of our country, since ancient times inhabiting the taiga territories of Southern Siberia in the valley of the Middle Yenisei near the cities of Abakan, Achinsk and Minusinsk. In Tsarist Russia, the Khakasses, like a number of other Turkic peoples, were called Minusinsk, Achinsk and ... ... Encyclopedic Dictionary of Psychology and Pedagogy
Khakass- KHAKAS, ov, mn (ed Khakas, a, m). The people that make up the main indigenous population of the Republic of Khakassia as part of Russia, located in the southeast of Siberia, partly Tuva and the Krasnodar Territory (the old name is Abakan or Minusinsk Tatars); ... ... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns
The people living in the Khakass Autonomous Okrug and partly in the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Number of 67 thousand people. (1970, census). The Khakas language belongs to the Turkic languages. Before the October Revolution of 1917, they were known under the general name ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia
KHAKAS (self-name - Khakass, obsolete name - Abakan or Minusinsk Tatars), people in the Russian Federation (79 thousand people), in Khakassia (62.9 thousand people). The Khakas language is the Uyghur group of Turkic languages. Believers are Orthodox, traditional beliefs are preserved.
Subethnonyms. The Khakass are divided into four ethnographic groups: sagais (sagai), kachintsy (haash, haas), Kyzyl people (Khyzyl), koybals (hoybal).
Anthropologically, the Khakass belong to the variants of transitional forms from the Ural race to the South Siberian: among the northern groups (Kyzyl, part of the Sagais) the features of the Ural race predominate, in the southern (mainly Kachintsy) - South Siberian.
The Khakas language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altaic language family. It is subdivided into 4 dialects: Sagai, Kachinsky, Kyzyl and Shor, the Beltyr dialect is distinguished. On the basis of Kachinsky and Sagay, a literary language was formed and writing was created. Khakass is considered native by 76.6% of Khakass (1989)
Writing
In the early Middle Ages, runic writing was widespread in Khakassia; in the late Middle Ages, the Khorai begs were taught to read and write in Mongolia, Dzungaria, and, possibly, in China. Khakas messages of the XVII-XVIII centuries. were written in both Mongolian and "their own Tatar" scripts. In the 1920s Cyrillic writing was created on the basis of missionary alphabets, which in the 1930s. changed to Latin. Modern writing was created in 1939 on the basis of Russian graphics.
The kinship system is Omaha.
economy
The traditional occupation of the Khakas is semi-nomadic cattle breeding. The Khakass kept horses, cattle and sheep. A significant place in the economy of the Khakass was occupied by hunting (mainly among the Kyzyl people) in the taiga, the Sayan mountains (for musk deer). Agriculture (the main crop is barley) becomes the predominant branch of the economy by the end of the 19th century. (At the beginning of the 20th century, about 87% of the Sagays were engaged in agriculture). In autumn, the subtaiga population of Khakassia was engaged in the collection of pine nuts. In some places, the Khakass began to breed pigs and poultry.
traditional settlements. The main type of Khakass settlements were aals - semi-nomadic associations of several households (10 - 15 yurts), as a rule, related to each other. Traditional clothes. Among the Khakas, the most common was the costume of the Kachins. By the beginning of the XX century. they made extensive use of purchased fabrics. The basis of the costume was a wide (up to 3 m in the hem) shirt made of colorful (calico) fabric, for men it was knee-length, for women it was to the heel. Summer pants were made of dense material, winter ones were made of sheepskin (wool inside) or suede. Outerwear in summer was a cloth open caftan - sikpen, in winter - a sheepskin coat wide at the hem with a large turn-down collar and a wrap on the right side. Rich Khakasses lined it with expensive fur, covered it with colored cloth, and decorated it with embroidery. The women's ceremonial fur coat looked especially elegant. Over a fur coat, women wore a long sleeveless jacket - segedek. A festive headdress (tulgu perik) was a small rounded cap with a tassel, around which a high fox fur band covered it rose. The festive costume of women also included a bib - a pogo - of a semi-oval shape, decorated with buttons, shells, and beads.
Food. The main food of the Khakasses was meat in winter and dairy dishes in summer. The Khakass prepared soups and various broths with boiled meat. The most popular was cereal and barley soup (eel). Of the festive dishes, blood sausage (khan) was and remains one of the favorites. The most common drink was ayran, made from sour cow's milk. Ayran was also distilled into milk vodka. It was used on holidays, to treat guests and when performing religious rites.
Spiritual culture and traditional beliefs
The Khakass attached great importance to public prayers. Prayed to the sky. mountains, water, sacred tree - birch. During prayers, an odd number of white lambs with black heads were sacrificed. Women, shamans and children were not allowed to the ceremony. The Khakassians were especially revered by the patron spirits of pets - Izykhs. Horses were dedicated to Izykh, which were not slaughtered, but were allowed to graze freely. Each seok dedicated a horse of a certain color to the Izykh. Nobody but the owner. couldn't ride it, and women couldn't even touch it. In spring and autumn, the owner washed the mane and tail of the consecrated horse with milk and wove a colored ribbon into the mane.
The Khakass also had a cult of "tesei" - family and tribal patrons, the embodiment of which their images were considered. They prayed to these images and, in order to appease the children, they imitated their feeding. Most ritual actions were performed with the participation of a shaman. The rituals were performed to the sounds of a sacred tambourine, which the shaman beat with a special mallet. The skin of the shaman drum was covered with sacred images. The handle of the tambourine was considered the master spirit of the tambourine.
Officially, all Khakasses were baptized into Russian Orthodoxy in the 19th century. In fact, most of the Khakas believers adhered and adhere to traditional beliefs.
The main small Turkic-speaking indigenous people of Khakassia are the Khakass, or as they call themselves "tadar" or "tadarlar", living mainly in. The word "Khakas" is rather artificial, adopted into official use with the establishment of Soviet power to refer to the inhabitants of the Minusinsk Basin, and did not take root among the local population.
The Khakass people are ethnically heterogeneous and consist of different sub-ethnic groups:
In the notes of the Russians, for the first time in 1608, the name of the inhabitants of the Minusinsk Basin was mentioned as Kachintsy, Khaas or Khaash, when the Cossacks reached the lands ruled by the local prince of the Khakass, Tyulka.
The second isolated sub-ethnic community is the Koibals or Khoybals. They communicate in the Kamasin language, which does not belong to the Turkic languages, but belongs to the Samoyedic Uralic languages.
The third group among the Khakass are the Sagays, mentioned in the chronicles of Rashid ad-Din about the conquests of the Mongols. In historical documents, the Sagays appeared in 1620 that they refused to pay tribute and often beat tributaries. Among the Sagais, the Beltyr and Biryusin peoples are distinguished.
The next isolated group of Khakasses are the Kyzylians or Khyzyl in Black Iyus.
Telengits, Chulyms, Shors and Teleuts are close to the Khakas culture, language and traditions.
Historical features of the formation of the Khakass people
The territory of the Minusinsk Basin was inhabited by inhabitants even before our era, and the ancient inhabitants of this land reached a fairly high cultural level. Numerous archeological monuments, burial grounds and mounds, petroglyphs and steles, highly artistic gold items remained from them.
Excavations of ancient barrows made it possible to discover priceless artifacts of the Neolithic and Eneolithic, Iron Age, Afanasiev culture (III-II millennium BC), Andronovo culture (mid-II millennium BC), Karasuk culture (XIII-VIII centuries BC.). No less interesting are the finds of the Tatar culture (VII-II centuries BC) and the very original Tashtyk culture (I century BC-V century AD).
Chinese chronicles called the population of the upper reaches of the Yenisei in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Dinlins and described them as fair-haired and blue-eyed people. In the new era, the Turkic-speaking peoples began to develop the Khakass lands and pastures, who in the 6th century formed an original early feudal monarchy of the ancient Khakass (Yenisei Kyrgyz), and the 6th-8th centuries. First and Second Turkic Khaganates. At that time, a nomadic civilization with its material culture and spiritual values developed here.
The state of the Khakass (Yenisei Kyrgyz), although it was multi-ethnic in composition, turned out to be stronger than the huge Khaganates of the Türgesh, Turks, Uighurs and became a large steppe empire. It developed a solid social and economic foundation, and a rich cultural development took place.
The state created by the Yenisei Kyrgyz (Khakas) existed for more than 800 years and collapsed only in 1293 under the blows of the ancient Mongols. In this ancient state, in addition to cattle breeding, the inhabitants were engaged in agriculture, sowed wheat and barley, oats and millet, used a complex system of irrigation canals.
Mines were located in the mountainous regions, where copper, silver and gold were mined, the skeletons of iron-smelting furnaces still remain, jewelers and blacksmiths were skilled here. In the Middle Ages, large cities were built on the land of the Khakass. G.N. Potanin mentioned about the Khakas that they had settled large settlements, a calendar and a lot of gold things. He also noted a large group of priests who, being free from taxes to their princes, knew how to heal, guess, and read the stars.
However, under the onslaught of the Mongols, the chain of development of the state was interrupted, the unique Yenisei runic script was lost. The Minusinsk and Sayan peoples were tragically thrown far back in the historical process and fragmented. In yasak documents, the Russians called this people the Yenisei Kyrgyz, who lived in isolated uluses along the upper reaches of the Yenisei.
Although the Khakass belong to the Mongoloid race, they have traces of a clear influence on their anthropological type of Europeans. Many historians and researchers of Siberia describe them as white-faced with black eyes and a round head. In the 17th century, their society had a clear hierarchical structure, each ulus was headed by a prince, but there was still a supreme prince over all uluses, power was inherited. In their submission were ordinary hardworking cattle breeders.
Until the 18th century, the Yenisei Kyrgyz lived on their own land, then they fell under the rule of the Dzungar khans and were repeatedly resettled. The Kyrgyz Kyshtyms became the closest of the ancestors of the Khakass. They were engaged in cattle breeding, the Kyzyl people hunted a lot in the taiga, collected pine nuts and other gifts of the taiga.
Russian explorers began the development of the native places of the Khakas in the 16th century and continued in the 17th century. From Mangazeya, they actively moved south. The princes of the Yenisei Kyrgyz met the newcomers unfriendly, organized raids on the Cossack prisons. At the same time, raids of the Dzungars and Mongols on the land of the ancient Khakass began to become more frequent from the south.
The Khakass had no choice but to turn to the Russian governors with a timely request to help defend themselves from the Dzungars. The Khakass entered Russia when in 1707 Peter I ordered the construction of the Abakan prison. After this event, peace came to the lands of the Minusinsk Territory. The Abakan prison was included in a single defensive line along with the Sayan prison.
With the settlement of the Minusinsk basin by Russians, they mastered the right bank of the Yenisei, favorable for agriculture, and the Khakass lived mainly on the left bank. Ethnic and cultural ties arose, mixed marriages appeared. Khakasses sold fish, meat, furs to Russians, went to their villages to help harvest. The Khakasses got the opportunity and gradually overcame fragmentation and rallied into a single people.
Khakas culture
Since ancient times, Chinese and Confucian, Indian and Tibetan, Turkic, and later Russian and European values have been dissolved in the original culture of the Khakas. The Khakass have long considered themselves people born of the spirits of nature, and adhered to shamanism. With the arrival of Orthodox missionaries, many were baptized into Christianity, secretly conducting shamanistic rites.
The sacred peak for all Khakasses is the five-domed Borus, a snow-covered peak in the Western Sayan Mountains. Many legends tell about the prophetic old man Borus, identifying him with the biblical Noah. Shamanism and Orthodox Christianity had the greatest influence on the culture of the Khakass. Both of these components entered the mentality of the people.
The Khakass highly value comradeship and collectivism, which helped them survive in the harsh nature. The most important feature of their character is mutual assistance and mutual assistance. They are characterized by hospitality, diligence, cordiality and pity for the elderly. Many sayings say that you need to give what you need to a person in need.
The guest is always met by a male host, it is customary to find out about the health of the host, family members, and their livestock. The conversation about business is always conducted respectfully, special greetings should be uttered to the elders. After greetings, the host invites guests to taste koumiss or tea, after an abstract conversation, the hosts and guests start the meal.
Like other peoples of Asia, the Khakass have a cult of their ancestors and simply elders. Old people have always been in any community the keepers of invaluable worldly wisdom. Many Khakas sayings speak of respect for elders.
Khakasses treat children with gentleness, special restraint and respect. In the traditions of the people, it is not customary to punish or humiliate a child. At the same time, every child, as always among nomads, should know their ancestors today up to the seventh or, as before, up to the twelfth generation.
The traditions of shamanism prescribe to carefully and respectfully treat the spirits of the surrounding nature, numerous “taboos” are associated with this. According to these unwritten rules, Khakass families live among virgin nature, honoring the spirits of their native mountains, lakes and river reservoirs, sacred peaks, springs and forests.
Like all nomads, the Khakasses lived in portable birch bark or felt yurts. Only by the 19th century did yurts begin to be replaced by stationary chopped one-room and five-walled huts or chopped yurts.
In the middle of the yurt there was a hearth with a tripod, where food was prepared. The furniture was represented by beds, different shelves, forged chests and cabinets. The walls of the yurt were usually decorated with colorful felt carpets with embroidery and appliqué.
Traditionally, the yurt was divided into male and female halves, respectively. Saddles, bridles, lassoes, weapons, and gunpowder were stored on half of the man. On the half of the woman, dishes, simple utensils, things of the hostess and children were kept. Crockery and necessary utensils, many household items, the Khakass made themselves from improvised materials. Later, dishes made of porcelain, glass and metal appeared.
In 1939, linguists created a unique script for the Khakass based on the Russian Cyrillic alphabet, as a result of the establishment of economic ties, many Khakass became Russian-speaking. There was an opportunity to get acquainted with the richest folklore, legends, sayings, fairy tales, heroic epos.
Historical milestones in the formation of the Khakass people, its formed worldview, the struggle between good and evil, the exploits of heroes are set out in interesting heroic epics "Alyptyg nymakh", "Altyn-Aryg", "Khan Kichigei", "Albynzhi". The guardians and performers of the heroic epics were highly revered in society "haiji".