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Bulletin 12 of Information Center of Indigenous Peoples of the Altai Republic ''Birlik''

Meetings and Opinions of Interns

• Interns took part in the seminar “Development of Ecological Tourism in Altai Republic” organized by Tourism, Enterprise, and Investment Ministry of Altai Republic, Natural Resources Ministry of Altai Republic, “Altaisky” state nature reserve, “Katunsky” state biosphere reserve.
The seminar was aimed to form an integrated conception of elaboration and advancement of ecological tourism products of Altai Republic on the market, to determine interaction of local authorities, specially preserved territories, travel agencies in order to develop ecological tourism. The participants of the seminar came to the conclusion that development of tourism in Altai republic is only possible while preserving unique natural resources as far as they form the basis of recreation. Tourism promotion must bring income to local population including small indigenous peoples. The participants gave special attention to preservation of territories forming part of UNESCO object of World heritage “Altai – Golden Mountains”.

• Interns took part in the seminar “Application for Grant” organized by Society of Disabled since Childhood “Vozrozhdeniye”. Ministry of Culture of Altai Republic and Society of Disabled since Childhood being representatives of Siberian Network of Support Centers of Public Initiatives has been conducting a contest of public projects for registered non-commercial organizations of Altai Republic for several years. The seminar was presented by S.M. Kindikova, executive director of Society of Disabled since Childhood, and N.A. Pushkinova, manager of Society of Disabled since Childhood. Representatives of various public organizations of Gorno-Altaisk, national library named after Chevalkov, Artists’ Union, etc. also took part in the seminar. Presenters of the seminar lectured on basis of social projecting and mechanisms of application for grants.
• Interns had the meeting with M.N. Nikolaeva, head of state government housing certificate department, in the Ministry of Regional Development of Altai Republic. M.N. Nikolaeva told them about rights of people leaving extreme north and equated territories, members of the services, and internally displaced persons to social payments for real property acquisition at the expense of federal budget. Interns learned categories of people who have the right to subsidy and its size, list of necessary documents for application, scheme of priority rating of housing subsidies and certificating procedure. M.N. Nikolaeva answered all interns' relevant questions in detail.
Most applicants on the waiting list in the Altai Republic are from Ulagan and Kosh Agach districts.
This subprogramme is being implemented with the authority of federal statute of the Russian Federation on housing subsidies to people leaving extreme north and equated territories (September 27, 2002), governmental regulation No. 897 concerning registration and calculation of people eligible for social payments for real property acquisition when leaving extreme north and equated territories (December 10, 2002), governmental regulation No. 153 concerning implementation of subprogramme "Fulfillment of Government Housing Obligations to Statutory Categories of People" of federal target programme "Housing" on 2202 – 20010 (March 21, 2006).
Elena Neustroeva
Alan Baidanov
Erkemen Enchinov



Center of Psychological, Medical, and Social Support


Center of Psychological, Medical, and Social Support held a training "Psychological Aspects of Job Placement" for us at the end of the training course. M. V. Ryabova, psychology teacher, played the role of a trainer. She was interesting and had a way with training participants so that after meeting I had the desire to write about the Center in detail.
The Center was found in 1996 and is still the only one in the Altai Republic. N.M. Kazantseva is a director of the Center. Center's specialists are very skilled in pedagogical, psychological, and consultative work and take hold in organization of applied psychology service in the Altai Republic.
The Center is engaged in various kinds of activity needed in educational system of the republic. It requires ability to combine competent occupation of a psychologist with humanity, optimism with rationalism, flexibility with adherence to principles.
Psychodiagnostics is one of the Center's activities. These include in-depth psychological and pedagogical examination of students, definition of individual characteristics and inclinations, personal potential in process of training, education, and occupational choice.
Psychology teachers of the Center apply various methods of diagnostics – observation, survey, experiment, testing. All these methods help to understand someone's problem better and help him in the most effective way. Psychodiagnostics can be either individual or collective.
Specialists of psychological, medical, and pedagogical commission go to all districts of the republic annually to examine children and diagnose breaches of teaching, growth, and social adaptation. During examination specialists give parents advice on brining up children, learning aid, how to observe dynamics of mental development. Commission work in every municipal area is concluded by the meeting with the director of the department of education, where results of diagnostics, given advices, prospects, and ways to satisfy special educational wants of examined children. The Programme of Education Development of the Altai Republic in 2003 – 2008 includes establishment of various municipal Centers aimed to early detection and correction of deviations and psychological, medical, and pedagogical aiding of children and teenagers.
There are classes and groups for children from 3 to 18 in the Center. There are no conditions in the Center for children to stay the whole day long and the more so round-the clock, so specialists organize groups in a different way. They gather groups from among students and pupils of an institution under the contract and implement personality oriented developmental, correcting, and preventive programmes. The institution itself chooses programmes and categories of students. The Center uses programmes of Russian authors and launches its own ones approved by teachers' meeting.
One of the most important activities of the Center is psychological education aimed to form psychological culture and develop psycho-pedagogical competence of students, educational institutions' administration, teachers, and parents. The Center's specialists hold seminars and take part in parents' meetings of educational institutions of the republic. They equip audience with methods and technologies that help to solve actual problems of children's education and upbringing and not just give them some information.
To develop psychological competence of teachers they handle problems of teaching and upbringing of physically challenged and gifted children, health preservation and promotion, prevention of drug abuse, suicides, prevention of stresses at examination.
Consultancy is another important activity of the Center. They may be collective or individual consultations of all participants of educational process. The process of children's and parent's consulting demands privacy, flexibility, ethics, and psychic tension from a psychologist. The Center's specialists face various problems. Difficulties in learning, relations with classmates and adults, juvenile theft and violence including sexual abuse and family violence, phobias, suicides, attempted suicides, runaways, and vagrancy are only half of the list of reasons to address to the Center.
The Center's staff is very creative and constantly aims to personal and occupational perfection. They are quick to response and arrive at adequate solutions and always evoke comfortable work atmosphere.
Dergeley Kordoeva Let's Preserve Altai for the Future

The Ukok Quiet Zone is a historical and cultural site, sacred ancestral lands of Altaians, place of their ancestors' graves, and spiritual symbol of Altai. And now is under the threat of gas pipe laying. But nobody has got the crazy idea to build a railway right through the Holy Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra, for example. I want to ask indigenous people to save our sacred places and they will save us.
Gazprom and Altai Republic Government carry out consecutive and persistent preparatory work on a project of direct gas line to China. Length of the gas line in Altai Republic will make 591 km. the gas line is supposed to lay across the Ukok Quiet Zone, World Heritage Site of UNESCO. The Ukok plateau has highly important stabilizing influence on the nature and is of unique and irreplaceable value to Russia, Altai and the world. Gazprom representatives and state authorities give one-sided information on benefits of the project only. They say that gas line construction will contribute billions of rubles to the budget of the republic. And at the same time they keep silent about construction of a highway.
It's fallacious to believe that there will be no highway. It is necessary to perform maintenance of the gas line. And the highway is a dominant requirement of the Chinese party. China needs not gas, but the highway. They have already built 140 km of the highway on the territory of China.
We clamour against the gas-main pipeline and the highway to China across the Ukok Quiet Zone as we are sure that the republic's economy will get no benefit from them.
Only tourism loss will total several billions of rubles. Project activity will also harm the nature, flora and fauna, and farming. In the future, Chinese market will totally take up Russian market in the region as it happened in Russian Far East. It is fondly to hope that Chinese migration will not harm our future life.
The project will have grave consequences in spite of attractiveness of possible lucre. On August, 26 2006 in Tomsk president V. Putin said that we should do everything to prevent even a tiny contamination hazard of Lake Baikal. And hazard to Altai is not tiny, but it is a real and dangerous one. We should never forget it.
Each inhabitant of the republic should know the aftershock of the project. I believe that Altai republic has every reason to oppose to Gazprom's policy. I wish to make a special emphasis on the fact that for the past years the republic aimed to protection of nature, flora and fauna, and environment.
List of statute-established rights of citizens to participation in making environmentally important decisions (Federal Protection of Small-Numbered Indigenous Peoples' Rights Act, Federal Nature Reserve Act) is rather long in fact and there are ways to exercise many of them. The trouble is that in practice citizens either do not exercise them at all or enjoy them rarely, and public or local authorities do not abide them. This is due both to state policy, dishonesty of officials and the fact that we do not exercise our rights, do not fight for them, and do not have enough courage and patience to push the matter through. And often do not know our rights and methods of their protection.
Dergeley Kordoeva



Great Wisdom of my People


Traditions and customs of the Altaians are very significant. They are unique and various. Poetry, philosophy, religion, ethics of the nation and traditions and customs are interrelated. Traditions helped my Altaian people to get over hard times (wars, famine, etc.) and survive as an ethnic group. Altaian ancestors preserved their land and nature owing to customs. We owe respect for elders and mutual respect to ancient times. But today we are facing a global problem of distorted priorities: money, career, and power are above all. When the grounds of social life collapse and there is a growth of unemployment, alcoholism, and suicide one have but to rely on the bottom of the mind.
Philosophically Altaian people are the source of power that lights up the dark of the world and the sun that shines as a heavenly gift; courage and heroic nobleness which make every soul feel fine. It is philosophy that makes one's life conscious and morally rich.
Scientists and religious figures say and prove that the territory of the Altai Republic is sacred, and for us, indigenes of Kan (Altai), it is the Lord's house where the divine knowledge and wisdom meant for rescue of mankind's future live. Let justice be!
I want this essay to make readers feel interest in Altaian people's philosophical perception of the world and wish for deep investigation of this issue
Alan Baidanov



Kai

Weather green-eyed Katun rolls on with ounce's roar of Argut and bear's roar of Cholushman,
Or upland winds blow and shake venerable cedars –
One can hear kai, ancient and strong, that is heard from the day the universe was born!
(O.A. Adarov)
Kai (deep-throat singing) has a special place in Altaian folklore. Its repertory has been collected for many thousand years. Image of kaichi (performer of kai, deep-throat singer) has always been the image of a spiritual leader. Altaian kaichies are experts at their trade. Many of them studied under their fathers and grandfathers and sometimes other kaichies. Boys of six or seven had to pass serious tests. A youth retired to the mountains and became unsociable and reserved. He returned home in a few days and became kaichi after special rites and rituals.
People gathered at famous kaichies to listen to kai. Kaichies visited all villages to take young pupils and teach them principles of deep-throat singing. Kai is performed mainly to the accompaniment of topshur. It is also performed to the accompaniment of komus and ikili (ethnic instruments).
Special feature of Altaian kai is that kaichi retells the ethnic story of several thousand lines by heart.
Kaichies were prohibited from singing in the daytime; they could sign without ending in extreme cases. They finished singing at dawn. The whole point was in the ending and they could perform it only at night or at dawn.
A highly gifted kaichi who had enormous spiritual riches, wisdom and skill was called "eelu kaichi" and was a real spiritual leader of his people. Various miracles could happen during his singing – the doors could open or close spontaneously or the fire flamed up in hearth. The central character of the epic was a "master" for some singers. He constrained his singer to sing the poem. Kaichies were often blind, cecutient or nervous. Kaichies very seldom had ordinary way of life. They constantly traveled about Altai as they were welcome visitors at weddings, funerals and feasts. Kaichies as well as Kams (shamans) had no case to acquire cattle and family. Kaichies were also experts at getting into contact with other worlds.
Aleksey Kalkin came of a family of kaichies. He was good in memorization of fragments of stories, tales, proverbs, and riddles when a boy and he tried to use them in conversation with other children and his kin. At 16 – 17 he became a mature kaichi and at 19 he became a kaichi of standing reputation and at 40 he was universally recognized, according to I. Shinzhin, People's kaichi of Altai Republic, honored Culture Worker.
Kaichies were always popular with common people. The most famous of them were N. Ulagashev from Elanda, A. Kalkin (Pasparta), T. Chachiyakova (Elo), K. Kokpoeva (Jakonur), Ch. Kuranakova (Anos), etc.
Kai remains a mystery to art historians as well as to musicians, composers, and musicologists.
"Ochy-Bala", "Altai-Buuchai", "Maadai-Kara", "Alyp-Manash" are famous Altaian legends about epical heroes. "Maadai-Kara" legend is named after not main hero but his father as many other Altaian, Turkic, and Mongolian legends. "Maadai-Kara" begins with a song about courage, description of untroubled life in the land of an old hero Maadai-Kara. Maadai-Kara is a hero bearing the title Khaan; he is the head of a tribe (albaty). He never threatens anyone, he is humane and gracious to people. He is people's ideal of a fair ruler.
In "Maadai-Kara" the father has learned about forthcoming invasion and is making a special cradle:
"Kara taiga bu bolgzhin,
Adan bolgoi balam-dedi
Tort kaiyn bu emdi le
Enen bolgoi balam", dedi…
(Maadai-Kara: 1973.87)
"Let this black rock be your father, my child.
Let these four birches be your father, my child", he said…
(Translated by S.S. Surazakov)


An epic hero has to perform a feat himself unaided – it is a compulsory condition of a legend.
When does kai appeared? Who did invent it? Nobody knows where and when did deep-throat singing appeared exactly. Kai is about heroes, their brave deeds, devotion and betrayal, goodness and perfidy, love and jealousy, protection of people and country. One can hear falling raindrops and whistling of wind, hoofbeat and clanging of swords in kai. It makes an unforgettable impression in every listener's heart.
Will our generation know about great and powerful Altaian kai? Will we hear its song, chords of topshur, komus, and ikili at this time of day? Today kai is performed only in a contemporary style. Our modern society unconsciously rejects its culture, traditions, and customs. Why is not kai that gave people courage and heroism heard in the Altai Mountains? That sort of kai where good always overcomes evil? That kai where heroes fought for the sake of their land, people, and love? It is because there are no great kaichies … Perhaps they do exist among us. But they can not revive as kaichies. The question is WHY? Because they have no teachers they can learn from. If we carry on like this we will loose everything – nomism, traditions, culture. Who will we be then? People without kith or kin?.. Perhaps each of us should think of the future of his children and grandchildren…
Natalya Temdekova



Keepers of Great Mystery


There are a lot of religions and clergies in the world. Each of them has its beginning and founder. Each religion has its commandments to keep. For example, there are The Ten Commandments in the Holy Bible, and one of them says, "You shall not kill". These commandments are principal and essential to preserve peace and good in the world, and no mistake. But let's remember hundred years' war by Jerusalem, that, in my opinion, has not finished yet (the Gaza Strip), and numerous crusades. The war… any war is full of victims, murders, marauding, and violence. There are hundreds of desperate mothers, wives, and children … And where is the Bible, the Commandments one should not break? And the word crusade means "to take up the cross"… We should think about it. The Baptism of Rus took place in 988. Then it turns out that that nation had no religion before? It's a different matter why they baptized other peoples. May f cross be not only salvation and saving, but also exclusion? The elders say that in missionaries' times "newcomers" set up a cross in the very middle of the settlement and people had nothing to do but to leave their houses and native heath not to see the cross. Those who stayed were baptized and given other names…
I don't know, maybe it's just as well. This is no accident that we say, "Uze neme uchurlu" (all that unite our people). "Uchur" means "sense, endurance with supreme forces". There is a myth that says that there is a sky layer above other seven ones where fates ("Salym") of all people are written. When somebody falls ill Kam (shaman) goes to these other worlds and looks for his fate to change it. According to legends shaman addresses to spirit and asks them for the fate of the sick. During shamanistic ritual shaman's soul may travel to other unknown to common people worlds. There was a story when a man in a small village Kushmulu had a sick father. That made him go to a Kam. The Kam lived a long way off on the opposite bank of the Katun. When he got to the Kam in a day the Kam said he was waiting for him and told him to go home and rest assured. When the man came home he was surprised to see the Kam drinking tea with his recovered father. I will confine my remarks to one story about this people endued with "magic" powers; otherwise the name of this article will have no sense.
I want to say a few words about the name of the article, by the way. Why is it called "Keepers of Great Mystery"? There is a great mystery indeed. Something that we each have in the heart… Mystery is our traditions, customs, and unwritten laws that pass from father to son, that we owe to our ancestors and have to preserve for the future. Each of us has its mysterious power, most of us are just not aware of it.
Sanat Tydykov



Tengrianism


I first heard about Tengrianism, traditional faith of Altaians, during the training course in Informational Center "Birlik". And later on when I studied literature on this topic I was surprised by depth and striking purity of this creed.
Tengrianism arose in a natural way on the ground of folk world-view that was embodiment of early religious and mythological ideas about people's attitude to the nature and elemental forces. A man lives in natural environment, he accommodates to it, sometimes he opposes and fights with it, but he is fully depending on it.
Close man-environment relationship is a characteristic feature of Tengrianism. Tengrianism is based on idolization of nature and veneration of ancestors' spirits. Altaians worshiped objects and phenomena of nature not for fear of mysterious and terrible elemental forces but in gratitude for nature's frequent kindness and generosity in spite of sudden outbursts of its anger. Tengrianism provided them with skill and knowledge to sense the nature, to comprehend they were part of the nature, to live in harmony with it, to submit to its rhythm, to know how to enjoy its everlasting changeability, and rejoice at its beauty of many faces.
Endless spaces of taiga, the vast of blue sky above steppe, and Altai's sublimity always filled Altaians with respect. So far as local people used to get their living in natural environment they cultivated respect to creatures living close by them though they had sometimes to kill them to maintain life. To exhaust nature was a taboo and was considered an insult to Tengri (the Spirit of Sky) and spirits of nature. People's relations with the nature was rather interdependency than exploitation. That made it possible for people to avoid adverse impact on the environment for thousands of years. According to Tengrianism a man should live in harmony with the world.
Human is not considered to be a unique being, but is only a representation of natural processes. For example, animals and trees are depicted animate in tales. Forest, mountains, lakes, rivers, and trees have their own spirits that one should respect and be grateful for their presents for people – food and refuge.
Tengrianism has no written exposition. It has verbal and visual bases, simple and not numerous essentials. It is simplicity and lucidity that helped Tengrianism to exist for several thousands of years and in one and the same form of rite and religious practice at that.
Close connection with national traditions from childhood enabled Altaians to learn that religion, its traditions and customs, rituals, prayers, and oblations.
Social evolution made social adaptation prevail over contact with nature. Children are prepared to frenzied rhythm of adult life, they are taught all possible sciences, but nobody teach them to listen to the nature, to feel its breath, and make one's thoughts and deeds correspond with it. Lack of knowledge of ecological laws, human's place in biosphere, connection between physiological processes and cosmos in childhood causes contempt for laws of nature. A man becomes deaf to natural rhythm; he seeks to run the given social program. But broken links with the nature do not renew stamina. It causes exhaustion and diseases. It is very likely that there are so many cases of infarction, cerebrovascular accidents, diseases of liver, stomach, etc.
I believe Altaian people who have the most profound knowledge of treatment of the nature should pay more attention to ecological education of children based on Tengrianism doctrine for example.
Yelena Neustroeva



Altaian Wedding

Marriage Proposal

Kudalash, i.e. marriage proposal that was made while in the case of marriage by mutual agreement of parents was, in fact, a continuation of the betrothal and often began with several preliminary visits.
When it was time for a girl to get married (d'op d'etse) bridegroom's relatives made formal marriage proposal. Bride's part held a fete. Bride's parents took their host places and matchmakers took their places of honor by hearth. Bride and bridegroom sat opposite each other: bride sat nearer to the "tor" as a member of the family, and bridegroom sat nearer to the exit. Matchmakers presented drinking bowl with araka to bride's parents time and again and praised and thanked them with songs. Parents gave their blessing and wishes to their daughter. Bridegroom's relatives put the spruce harness on a horse, covered the bride with "kozhogo" (a drape) and took her to the bridegroom to hold the wedding ceremony.
The day the bride was brought bridegroom's relatives held a small festival called "kys ekelgeni" (bride's bringing) where they drank araka.
When the girl was stolen on arrangement the marriage proposal was conducted in the following way. After the girl was betrothed she was taken to bridegroom's ail. His mother gave her milk and that was an expression of her acceptance of her future daughter-in-law. Next morning they sent a special man - "tabysh"(Altai-kizhi), "uguzu" (Telengit) - to the bride's parents, he had to inform them. Bride's parents waited for matchmakers since that moment. Matchmakers ("kuda") should be eloquent, respectable people and good singers.
To make a marriage proposal it was necessary to take juniper twigs, a leather vessel with milk ("emchek tazhuur") and a drinking bowl ("chochoi"). A white ribbon ("d'alama") was tied to the neck of the vessel. Matchmakers also took along vessels with araka.
Matchmakers set out early in the morning and they made stops at every honour place ("d'andaitan d'er") usually at the foot of the mountain ("tuunyn uchy"). They sprinkled the fire of herbs with araka even number of times eastward. If the road went across the pass they had to tie "Kyira" to the birch or young larch from the east side. Those rituals had magical sense and they favoured good luck. Matchmakers had to put down everything they had been doing during that trip.
They should ask in marriage before dark in preference to the morning and not after sunset. Matchmakers came in quietly, knelt down by the threshold, and extended a short greeting. The elder of them, usually bridegroom's uncle ("taai") from his mother's side, poured araka into his bowl (" aiak"), sprinkled the hearth with it in the direction of "d'aiyk" (fetish in yurta), and wished happiness.
After a while matchmakers proceeded to marriage proposal. The elder of them bended his left knee and poured araka into a bowl. He held the bowl in his right hand and gave it to the hosts and made apology for their daughter's stealing. Parents refused the present in the majority of cases.
They carried on next morning. Bridegroom's relatives paid several visits and each time they brought new presents and tazhuurs (vessels) with araka.
Finally bride's relatives gathered together at matchmakers' arrival. Matchmakers bended their knees – that posture expressed their asking the bride's to take a husband. The elder one poured araka into a bowl, sprinkled the fire with it, poured some more araka and presented it to bride's mother. She put her plaits forward and sprinkled them with araka in token of her wish of wellbeing to her daughter. Then she drank from the bowl and gave it back. The elder matchmaker poured some more araka and gave the bowl to bride's father – he took a sip of araka and gave the bowl back. Then they presented the bowl to the rest of bride's relatives anticlockwise as a rule. Each of them acted in the same way. Sprinkling even times has a magical sense and expresses wish of happiness to newlyweds.
To accept matchmakers' present meant to name the day ("d'op"). Matchmakers were told, "Chomchoish d'etken"), i.e. enough of genuflection. Matchmakers thanked bride's mother for daughter's upbringing agn gave her a leather vessel with milk saying, "Emchektin sudin d'andyryp turus", i.e. we return breast milk. Parents asked matchmakers a nominal charge for the bride - a number of tazhuurs with araka and bricks of tea. Parents then asked them to take places of honour thereby they gave their blessing to marriage.

Preparation for Wedding
After making a proposal they kept paying visits and at the same time each family prepared for wedding individually.
They arranged meetings with talks and treat in order to consolidate the future family. That visits were strictly unilateral. Bridegroom's side supplied bride's relatives with cloths, leather, wool, etc. for "shaalta" (dowry) time and again. They also discussed number of livestock.

Wedding
Wedding was in fact a complex of transition rites with newlyweds. "Toi" was the main festival in wedding ceremony.
In case of mutual arrangement of parents wedding reception began with the rite of bride's bringing. At a wedding day bridegroom and two young people went to bride's yurt. They stopped in a hundred steps away from the yurt, dismounted and walked to it singing wedding songs. Bride's parents came out the yurt and welcomed bridegroom at the door. They brought him into the yurt in a grand manner, treated him with araka. Then bride's father passed his daughter to him. Young couple with their relatives went to bridegroom's yurt. Bride took horse harnessed in a special way and rode between two bridegroom's friends. Each of them held a small birch in the saddle in front of them. The drape stretched in front of bride was fastened to the birches.
The wedding began with welcome of the guests ("utkuul"). They played a ritual game "D'yozhyo sadary" (i.e. sale) before bringing dowry into a new ail. Things went for araka, songs, dances, and playing instruments. Then they performed a rite that made newlyweds masters of their hearth – "pash paady" or "alkysh syos". Bridegroom sat in the male side of ail and bride sat in the female side. In some sources "taai" (bridegroom's uncle) in others bride and bridegroom poured oil in the fire. If the flame raised high their married life promised to be solid and happy. Altai-kizhi performed that rite in a different way. Bridegrom's uncle walked round the fire anticlockwise and named one of elder relatives. He usually said, "pash paady akazyna baryp d'at" (pash paady comes to elder brother), or "pash paady ed'ezine baryp d'at" (bashpaady comes to elder sister). He presented the named person with a bowl of araka. He in turn blessed newlyweds, took a sip of araka, and gave it back. Bridegroom's uncle could name up to twenty persons during the rite.
By tradition participants of the rite bended their knees (only old men could cross their legs ("tabylanyp"). After every blessing they said, "Bash la bolzyn! Ondyi la bolzyn!" (Let it be!), and men bared their heads and passed a hand over their hair and women stroke their plaits on breast. Everybody bowed ("bazhyryp") to the fire.
Wedding feast ("kudu-kuree") began after women who plaited bride's hair and youths who held the drape ("kozhogo") got their first dish of mutton ("tosh). By tradition they treated their nephews. That transfer was called "barky". In response they treated them with "chyochyoi" – a bowl with alcoholic beverage araka.
Plenty of food and variety of dishes were characteristic of wedding feast and signified wish for newlyweds' prosperity. By tradition first they treated women from among bride's relatives. They were presented with brisket ("tepshi") on a wooden dish. D'azuchilar (masters of a ceremony) sent meat treatings: shin (d'odo), leg (tyonmyok), pelvis (d'almash) with araka to elders.
Such games as "ail buzar" (word by word – to break ail) and "d'odo chachary" (spellbone throwing) are often described in literature. If bride's relatives won bridegroom relatives were to buy out some thing (usually tazhuur with araka) that symbolized the happy pair and hand it to newlyweds wishing them prosperity.
By Altai-kizi tradition bride's parents or only her mother (by Telengit tradition – her father) were not present at wedding and stayed home. Three or four bridegroom's relatives visited them at the day of wedding. That visit was called either "ucha tuzhirip", "belgenchek tuzhirip" (bringing of back half of a carcass) or "d'odo ekelgeni", "bash d'idireri" (bringing of a carcass, head) depending on a district. Bridegroom's relatives were to bring juniper, a tazhuur with milk and tazhuurs with araka along. When entering ail the elder matchmaker performed ritual sprinkling of hearth and "d'ajyk" with milk blessing bride's relatives.
Matchmakers' visit expressed respect to bride's parents for her upbringing. Bridegroom's relatives brought beforehand warmed up back half of a carcass in and it should be held with its front part to hearth and it should not be turned up. Meet was presented with tazhuur of araka.
Mother was presented with "emchek tazhuur" as during matchmakers' visits/ and father was presented with "mandai tazhuur" – bright tashuur with araka. Hosts treated matchmakers in response and presented them with belts, i.e. acknowledged them.
And at wedding place they kept on treating guests next day. By Altai-kizhi tradition they slaughtered two-year mare ("baytal"), therefore the second wedding day was called "baytal bash" or "bash kyos", "bash cheldesh". They boiled heads of slaughtered cattle and ate meet debris of the previous feast. As well as on the first day special attention was paid to bride's relatives: they were taken by arms, seated into a ring ("kure"). The rest of guests sat down behind them according to their rank. They put meat in front of guests. "Tyosh" and "ucha" were put in front of most honorable matchmakers. They cut off and ate small pieces and right away tabled "d'een" (somebody of nephews) and presented them with a bone of honour.tnen everybody could eat the rest of meat.
Then they saw off bride's relatives. That last weddind rite was performed in the following way: two or three of bridegroom's relatives got on horses and took tazhuur with araka. They and all bride's relatives rode off a verst away and drank araka there. Thus they intimated that treatment was over. Then they stopped at several places, drank, and treated departing guests. So the wedding was over.

After Wedding
Final period of wedding ceremony was devoted to newlyweds' entry into matrimony and strengthening of new relationship.
Newly married couple matured into members of adult category after child's birth. Young family began to do apart from husband's parents. And in a little while usually a year after firstborn's birth husband's parents had to show daughter-in-law's relatives young family and accompany them on the trip.
First after wedding visit of newlyweds was primarily aimed to pay respect to bride's parents, strengthen relationship, and turn bridegroom into son-in-law. The trip was called "baldardy aiyldatyp", i.e. to go out with a young family.
According to a custom of hospitality bride's relatives met guests at tethering post, took bridle reins, supported stirrup, helped relatives to dismount, and armed them into ail. Guests were entertained. Parents of bridegroom glorified bride's parents whose responses signified acceptance of young family and son-in-law.
Bride's parents had to present newlyweds with "enchi" that consisted of various cattle before they left. And they presented their child with a foal or a lamb and other valuable things.
Guests also visited bride's maternal uncle to observe etiquette and to pay tribute. They could not come empty-handed. Having accepted presents hosts entertained guests and belted them before the left. Bride's uncle belted son-in-law in token of acceptance. Young family was presented with "enchi" – several tens of cattle. After first trip newlyweds could independently visit parents and other relatives any time.
Erkemen Enchinov









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Опубликовано на: 2008-09-17 (3119 Прочтено)

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