Popolo Mari - Mari people
In occasione della presentazione del film “Le spose celesti della pianura dei Mari"di
Aleksei Fedorcenko,
al Festival del Cinema di Roma, ho raccolto alcuni video
e articoli sul popolo Mari
In
occasion of the premiere of Aleksei Fedorcenko ‘s movie “Celestial Wives of
Meadow Mari” at the Rome Film Festival I have collected some videos and
articles around Mari people
Index
Italiano
Le spose celesti della pianura dei Mari
English
Celestial
Wives of Meadow Mari
Mari Folk Costume
Site & Video about Maris, Mari El, Finno-Ugric and other Indigenous Peoples of Russia
4 Video
World
Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Russian Federation
Mari Men
and Women as Bearers of the Mari Language and Identity
The
character of Keremet in the Mari mythology
Le spose celesti della pianura dei Mari - Celestial Wives of Meadow Mari
Italiano
English
Maris,
Mari El, Finno-Ugric and other Indigenous Peoples of Russia
World
Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Russian Federation : Mari (www.unhcr.org)
According
to the 2002 national census, there are 604,298 Mari in the Russian Federation.
Mari are distinct from other Finnic peoples of the Middle Volga area because
they never fully converted to Christianity, and retain their shamanist-animist
beliefs. The majority live in the Mari-El Republic, formerly the Mari ASSR,
where they account for approximately 43 per cent of the population.
The Mari
literary language was formed using the Cyrillic script by the Eastern Orthodox
Church in the early to mid-nineteenth century in an unsuccessful attempt to
convert the population to Christianity.
Mari
nationalism since the nineteenth century has been directed towards preserving
their religion. The region was established as an AO in November 1920 and became
the Mari ASSR in December 1936. From the late 1950s to the early 1970s, Mari
lost nearly all of their ethnic privileges; in the 1960s language teaching was
banned. Sovereignty was declared in October 1990 and the name of the republic
was changed to Mari-El. In November 1992 the First World Congress of
Finno-Ugrian peoples took place in the Komi Republic. Delegates called for
self-determination for all indigenous peoples and national minorities and
condemned 'Russian imperialism'. The Second Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples was
held in July 1995 to demand new rights, including property rights in their
traditional areas of settlement and language privileges.
Interethnic
relations in Mari-El deteriorated significantly in 2005 due to allegations of
the repression of Mari identity and ethnic Maris associated with the republican
presidency of Leonid Markelov, and a spate of attacks on activists involved in
Mari ethnic organizations.
In May
2005, the European Parliament adopted a resolution criticizing Russia for
violating the cultural and political rights of the Mari. The resolution cited
the difficulties the Mari people face in being educated in their first
language, political interference by the local administration in Mari cultural
institutions, the limited representation of ethnic Maris in administrative
posts in the Republic and tolerance of attacks on representatives of Mari
national associations. The resolution also lamented the lack of a free press in
the Republic and mentioned the severe beating in February 2005 of Vladimir
Kozlov, editor-in-chief of the international Finno-Ugric newspaper Kudo+Kodu
and director of Merkanash, a national public organization of Mari in Russia.
European parliamentarians linked the repression of Mari culture and
associations with Markelov's presidency, and alleged the firing of large
numbers of ethnic Maris from public sector posts in regions that had voted
against him in elections in autumn 2004. Representatives of Mari ethnic
associations are concerned regarding the state of Mari language teaching in the
republic's national schools, amid reports suggesting that only 20 per cent of
Mari children in Mari-El enjoy native language tuition.
In July
2005 Professor Yurii Anduganov, the president of the Tenth International
Congress of Finno-Ugric Studies, was killed in a car accident which
subsequently became the subject of political speculation. Anduganov had a
history of conflict with President Markelov's administration and had been
forced to temporarily leave the republic three years previously after
criticizing the president. According to reports of foreign scholars attending
the Congress and the Tallinn-based Information Centre of Finno-Ugric Peoples,
the republican authorities impeded contact between Congress delegates and
members of the Mari national movement Marii Ushem.
In
August the ethnic Mari association Mari Ushem staged an unauthorized
demonstration in Yoshkar Ola against President Markelov. On 27 August
unidentified assailants attacked Vasilii Petrov, chair of the Youth
Organization of Finno-Ugric Peoples; he was hospitalized with head injuries and
a broken jaw and arm. In September the son of the chief pagan priest of the
Mari-El Yoshkar Ola traditional religious community was arrested on charges of
organizing a group rape. The father of the accused, Vitalii Tanakov, alleged
that the charges against his son were part of a campaign by local authorities
to intimidate the Mari national intelligentsia. Tanakov had been a vocal critic
of the Mari-El republican administration in the preceding months.
N.Glukhova, V.Glukhov: Mari Men and Women as Bearers of the Mari Language and Identity http://webfu.univie.ac.at
This
topic has not been adequately explored by Mari scholars though several attempts
have been made at studying it. Research on this problem which presents a real
challenge to investigators is very important for the development of the Mari
nation.
According
to the latest population census in 1989 there were 670,868 Maris. 542,160 of
them, or 80.8%, considered Mari their mother tongue. Practically 52% of the
nation live outside the Republic, 18.8% of them did not speak Mari. In the
Republic of Mari El in 1989 there were 11.6% who did not consider Mari their
native language. In 1979 this figure was 6.3%.
The Mari
represent one of the rural nations of the Russian Federation. Only 26.1% of the
Mari population lives in the cities, and in Yoshkar-Ola this figure is even
smaller - 23.4 % (1999) (Sepeyev, 2000:75).
The
Republic and its people have attracted much attention from scholars of different
branches of knowledge as the area with the best preserved language and unique
traditional culture.
Historians
and archaeologists previously wrote that the Mari were formed as a single
nation a thousand years ago, at present some scholars (K. Sanukov, L. Vasikova)
prefer to speak of several distinct sub-ethnoses, differing in certain
characteristics in their identity. In this paper only typical features shared
by all subgroups and distinguishing them from other nations will be discussed.
Psychologists
say that on the personal level the concept of identification takes center stage
in the formation of the self. Identification is the social process whereby the
individual chooses adults as models and attempts to imitate their behavior
(Erikson, 1963). The concept of identification with the role model shows that
this type occurs throughout life because personality continually changes, even
though basic aspects are formed in infancy. The result of this process is the
individual's identity (Kornblum, 1994:153).
Ethnic
identity is considered a basis of ethnic consciousness, a definite set of
behavioral or personal typical distinctive traits (characteristics) by which an
individual is recognized as a member of a group. Identity proceeds from the
process of identification: a person's association with certain qualities,
characteristics and views of another person or a whole group. Conclusive
identity is made if investigated characteristics in their totality and
relationship among themselves are relatively unique.
The findings
of the sociological investigation carried out in the 1970´s, 1980´s andlate
1990´s by Mari scholars showed several basic features of Mari ethnic
consciousness. The questionnaires were different but the majority of questions
in them were nearly the same (Solovyov, 1977; Solovyov, 1987; Solovyov,
Shabykov, Popov, 1999; Shabykov 2000:171-206).
One of
the parameters of national identification was considered to be the age of a
person's own association with a particular nation. These age periods were
defined at 7, 10 and 15 years (going to kindergartens and schools with children
of other nationalities, then continuing their education in secondary schools or
colleges).
The next
question and answers to it confirm the idea of heterogeneity of the Mari as a
nation. Out of 4,000 people interviewed only 7% called themselves
"Mari", 71% considered themselves Midland, or Meadow, Mari, 21.2% -
Lowland, or Hill Mari and 0.08% referred to themselves as belonging to the
Eastern group. These figures show the people's own estimation of their
association with a particular subethnic group (Sharov 1993:32-34).
The
other significant characteristics necessary for the topic of this paper and
taken from several surveys carried out by the workers of the Mari Research
Institute, their articles, and their authors' observations, vary according to
the degree of their importance.
The Mari
think that the most crucial parameters uniting them into a nation are:
- the
language (75%-77.2% of people questioned);
-
traditional culture (61.6%), explained bythe way of life, and clearly shown
inpeople's behavior both in everyday life but especially vividly during the
celebration of numerous holidays and festivities;
- common
historical past (21.6%);
-
religion (15.7%);
-
character features, mental characteristics (15.4%);
-
appearance (10.8%) (Soloviov 2000:20-23; Shabykov 2000:172).
The most
important part in the structure of the national identity, in scholars' and
common people's opinion, constitutes the national language.
The
language situation in the Republic gives a controversial picture. On the one hand,
the nation is "reaping the fruits” of the Communist Party´s debatable
national policy in the course of 70 years. Thus, according to the All-Union
census of population in 1926, 99.3% of the Mari considered Mari their mother
tongue. 63 years later, according to the last census of population in 1989
80.8% called Mari their mother tongue.
The use
of the Mari language as the means of obtaining education was markedly narrowed
in the years of stagnation (1970’s-1980´s), when teaching in the mother tongue
in (incomplete) secondary village schools was stopped. By the beginning of the
1990´s Mari was the language of instruction only in some primary schools. From
the 1960´s till 1990 the rural population in the Republic was drastically
reduced (by 180.000 people). 60% of the Mari village population left were (and
are) women of a retirement age. At present they might be considered the
preservers of the Mari languages and Mari traditional culture.
Before
1995 the Mari language was not taught in town schools at all. It is not used in
government institutions, though formally the Mari languages have always been
the state languages of the Mari Republic.
The Mari
are the least urbanized people in comparison with other Finno-Ugrians in the
European part of the Russian Federation. Only one fourth of the Mari live in
towns (Sepeyev, 2000:74-75). The use of the Mari language in the Republic has
been restricted by the domination of the Russian-speaking population. Political
developments in the former Soviet Union during the periods of
"Perestroika" and "Glasnost” and the first steps of the
democratic process gave rise to a national awakening of the Mari people. It was
reflected in many aspects in the life of the Mari-speaking community.
Fundamental changes in the constitution of the former Soviet Union in 1991 made
it possible to take first steps on the road towards the rebirth of the Mari
culture and language. Since that time some important Republican government
decisions on Mari language functions have been adopted, one of them being the
Constitution of the Republic of Mari El, where the Mari languages were
proclaimed the state languages of the Republic of Mari El together with
Russian. An "Education Law" was adopted which provides for the
restoration of schools with the Mari language as the language of instruction.
Decisions from the ”Conception of Education in Mari El", the program
"National Schools", and the "Language Law" are either under
development or have been implemented.
At
present the Mari languages and literature are being taught in 226 schools (the
Mari languages are studied as their mother tongue by 21.6% of schoolchildren),
the history of Mari culture in 406 schools (93% of all schoolchildren). As the
state languages of the Republic of Mari El, they are taught in 184 Russian
language schools (to 35,126 schoolchildren, 37.1%), in 284 kindergartens, in 10
secondary specialized educational establishments. It is also an optional
subject in secondary schools, in teachers' training colleges, at the college of
arts and culture (Danilova 2000:151-154; Shvetsova, 2002:16-17).
Higher
education in the mother tongue can be obtained only at the History and
Philology Department of the Mari State University and the Philology Faculty of
the Krupskaya Teachers' Training Institute. There, more than half of the
disciplines of the curriculum are taught in Mari.
Despite
certain positive changes, the Mari languages have a relatively restricted use
in the mass media of the Republic. There are 4 national, 13 regional newspapers
and 4 magazines in Mari. Due to economic circumstances there is a considerable
shortage in the circulation of printed mass media. For example, before the
congress of "Mari Ushem" (Mari Union) at the beginning of the 1990´s
its activists organized the publication of the newspaper "Mari Chang"
(Mari Bell) (2,000 issues). The newspaper has been irregularly published since
that time in 1 to 2 issues every year and at certain periods has not appeared
at all. The newspaper "Kugarnya" (Friday) was initiated in 1991 and
since that time has come to its readers regularly once a week, but the number
of its issues has been reduced from 5,000 to 3,500 in January 2000, 3,217 in
2001 and 1,617 at present). The newspaper "Eryk" (Freedom) whose
founder is "Kugezhe Mlande" (Forefathers' Land) appeared in 1993. The
circulation of the first two issues was 1,000 copies. Only a few editions have
been published with a limited number of copies (Efimova 2000:146-147). The
leading national newspaper is "Mari El". This newspaper has continued
the traditions of "Mari Kommuna". At present it has 8,736
subscribers. Regional newspapers such as"Shernur vel" have 1,464
issues, "Morko mlande" - 1,159. Mari readers in Bashkiria subscribe
to the newspaper "Cholman" (4,932 subscribers in 2002). There is
"Gornomariiskaya gazeta" in Russian (2,138) and "Zhera" in
Hill Mari (1908 subscribers in 2002).
The same
situation can be observed in book publication. As of 2000 only fiction has been
published in Mari. Not more than five books in Mari per hundred persons are published
today. In 2000 with the financial help of the Finnish government several
textbooks for schools and higher educational establishments were published.
Nevertheless it is practically impossible to find technical, scientific, or
philosophical books written in Mari. Their lack testifies to the absence of a
scientific-technical style in the system of functional styles of the Mari
languages.
The oral
transmission of information in Mari takes places through radio broadcasts and
TV programs.At present the radio programs in the Mari languages last only 20
hours and 10 minutes and the television programs in Mari 12 hours and 10
minutes per week (Ivanov 2000:158).
The Mari
literary languages are better known by the representatives of town Mari
intelligentsia (born and brought up in villages), both men and women, working
in educational establishments or in governmental bodies. In the countryside
womenare the preservers and disseminators of the languages. The average age of
men in the Russian Federation is 59 years, women live longer - they survive
their male partners by 13 years (72). At present, without the possibility of
sustaining family life at a decent level young Mari men go to the building
sites of Moscow, Kazan, Nizhnii Novgorod, to the Northern regions of Russia
where they are recruited as workers in the gas and oil industries. Thus, men's
role in the development of the Mari languages consists - partly - in their
changing the lexical layer with borrowed words from Russian as at a certain age
they represent the most mobile part of the village population and mix more with
the Russian-speaking population. Educators in kindergartens, the Mari language
school teachers, are mainly women. They know the Mari languages best of all.
As is
well known, language is represented in two forms - oral and written. The
countryside population still prefers to use an oral channel for getting or
exchanging information - radio, television, and direct interpersonal
communication.
Language,
no doubt, helps identify oneself closely with a person or group. But the term
"ethnic consciousness" implies a vast circle of other notions
including not only identification but also certain ideas of typical national
features (ethnic stereotypes), historic past, culture, traditions, behavioral
norms, living in a certain territory under certain geographic and climatic
conditions.
Language,
material and spiritual culture has been better preserved in Mari El than in any
other Finno-Ugric Republic in the Russian Federation due to another factor
determining the identity of the nation - the way of life, which influences
psychological features of the national character, people's tradition and
traditional culture (61.6%).
The
ancestors of the Mari were people of a forest culture. Local forest dwellers
(5.000-3.000 B.C.) in the Neolithic era, especially when metal came into
general use, changed their way of life and along with hunting and gathering
started farming and animal husbandry. The Mari were good hunters, runners and
warriors. In the 15th and 16thcenturies partly because of a swampy territory,
in a forest zone, partly due to lack of roads, different sub-ethnic groups
already lived in different natural-geographical zones and therefore had their
own specialization in economy (Sanukov, 2002:5-8). Where the lands were barren
people went hunting, fishing and gathering, later they traveled to find
different kinds of seasonal work. The traditional types of occupation in other
places were farming and animal husbandry (Molotova, 2000:181-191).
As has
already been mentioned the Mari still live mainly in the countryside. This fact
has historical roots. After the 16th century (following hundreds of years of
war with Rus') the Mari were not allowed to settle in towns nor to use metal in
their work.
By the
end of the 19thcentury and the beginning of the 20ththe Mari were a people with
an incomplete, or underdeveloped social structure, remaining mainly a peasant
nation (Chuzayev, 2000:110), characterized by rustic, or rural mentality. This
type of mentality is aimed at supporting its steady structure, its stability.
Life is ordered by natural rhythms and agrarian labor, ancient customs, which
seem to always exist. A man here does not expect a rapid change of events; the
hunt for variety in life and sensations, typical of life in towns, is alien to
him (Shkuratov, 1994:110-116).
The
majority of psycho-cultural peculiarities of the agrarian Mari civilization of
the period were based on two important factors. It was an ecological community,
sunk into nature, reproducing its rhythm. It was a social environment of
direct, personal communication where people knew each other face to face and
spent their lives in familiar surroundings. With these features the Mari
entered the 20th century.
Social
and political processes among the Mari, as well as among other Finno-Ugric
nations in Russia during the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries.
developed very slowly. The starting point ofthe destruction of a patriarchal
mode of life, the introduction of commodity-money relations, leading to the
emergence of a bourgeois social structure refer only to the end of the 19th and
the beginning of the 20th centuries. Basically it had no serious impact on the
Mari community. At the same time a new social group appeared: it was a small
group of national intelligentsia, who proposed a task of self-determination and
autonomy (Sanukov, 2000:13).
During
the 20th century the nation's way of life did not change very much.
Collectivization, personality cult, post-war policy did not give the Mari a chance
to improve their social and economic position. Even in 1989 at the industrial
enterprises of the Republic only one fourth of the workers were Mari, the
majority of whom were occupied in timber, woodworking, light and food
industries and working there did not demand a high qualification (Popov,
2000b:42). After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 the factories and
plants existing went bankrupt. Their workers were left unemployed.
Any
ethnos as a historical subject differs from others not only by character
features, specific mentality, way of life and system of values, but also by a
selective attitude towards economic and social changes in the society. Mari
historians and sociologists stress the fact that the historically developed
mentality of the Mari interferes with their active participation in on-going
reforms and changes in the economy. There are practically no businessmen of the
Mari nationality worth speaking of (Popov, 2000b:41).
This
fact might be explained by the history of mentalities (Shkuratov,
1994:48-69;110-117). According to it some features of people living now refer
back to a rustic civilization. Adherence to the previous experience hinders
introducing new facts into life, prevents them from orientation towards the
future. People are immersed in the immediate present. The past experience
serves to fit the tasks of socio-cultural stability in the village community.
Life in the village is so difficult that people think only of themes and
problems of everyday life. The principal regulator of interpersonal
relationship is direct communication. Though some people praise the
collectivism of the former Soviet people (the Mari included), rustic
civilization gives birth to absolute egocentrics. People lack individual
self-awareness which is substituted by a set of collective notions, assumptions
and in the long run collective traditions.
Some
other features which can also testify to the previously expressed fact about
the impossibility of the Mari to successfully adapt themselves to new economic
relationships in the country might be shown here. 70% of the contemporary Mari
live in a partly rustic civilization. No wonder that in people's mentality
there are traces of the pre-urban culture. According to the history of
mentalities, the typical features of the peasant civilization all round the
world are the same. They are: an agrarian economy, manual labor, minimum
consumption, simple life, dependence on natural-climatic rhythms, an all-round
animism, adherence to ancient traditions, direct personal communication. It is
also characterized by the absence of a written language as an important channel
of information (Shkuratov, 1994:100).
Of
course, the contemporary technological progress has had a definite impact on
the Mari village. The Mari have two literary languages, different genres of
literature. Mari villages have several modern conveniences, electric devices,
gas. People use modern means of transportation - cars, buses, trains. Most of
the village population wear "town" clothes and footwear, eat
"town" food. Nevertheless the contemporary village Mari, even when
occupied in different sectors of the national economy (working on the
collective farms, in agricultural production cooperatives), have large
individual plots with vegetables and special potato fields for themselves and
their domestic animals. People prefer to live in their own wooden houses thus
retaining some features of the peasant civilization.
The Mari
village intelligentsia finds its place in the educational structure consisting
of kindergartens, schools of different levels, libraries and village colleges
of vocational training. Nearly all the village Mari have relatives in towns
with whom they have very close ties. With their help they sometimes can change
their place of living and the social layer to which they have previously
belonged becoming drivers, builders, nurses, militiamen, clerks in small
offices, shop-assistants, bookkeepers etc.
Some
scholars say that the contemporary level of civilization and technical
progress, high level of urbanization, are harmful to the Mari community, to the
nation's mentality. The most intellectual and communicative part of the
population is being drawn into very intense contacts and assimilation with more
powerful and stronger cultures and is lost to its own nation. Different life
facts show that the Mari at present live in a sort of a transitional period not
only from "developed socialism" to "wild capitalism" but
also from a village life to life in towns, trying to change their traditional
way of life (Solovyov, 2000:15).
Beside
the features enumerated above, in our opinion, the most vivid way of
representing identity is through national holidays, which are part and parcel
of a traditional culture (61.6%). During the holidays the Mari prefer to wear
national clothes, sing national songs, dance national dances, cook national
food, speak Mari with their relatives, neighbors and friends.
As a
part of their cultural heritage traditional Mari holidays and rituals have been
preserved by the nation. The Mari ethnos managed to retain specific features
and functions of several holidays and nowadays they serve as a connecting link
between the past and present. Social changes since 1985 have eased the revival
of traditional holidays and religious rituals. Formerly forgotten festivals
such as Uarnya (shrovetide), Kugeche (in the Christian tradition Easter), Semyk
(in the Christian tradition Whitsunday) (in some places a component part of
Semyk was Agavairem – (Plow Holiday), then Kuso (a summer holiday before the
Petrov day, New Moon), Uginde (Harvest Holiday), Shyzhe Kuso (Autumn Sacrifice
Holiday), Shorykiol (yule-tide, Christmas time) are being actively revitalized
nowadays. The most important holiday was considered Kuso. But since before it
was a ritual of the banishment of evil forces and spirits (surem muzho)
sometimes this holiday was called Surem. It lasted for two weeks. Usually,
calendar holidays were held at regular intervals and they were dependent on the
main cycle of agricultural work. Mari calendar holidays were 'attached' to the
end and /or the beginning of another stage of labor activities. Among the
principal calendar holidays there was, as a rule, a seven week interval. But
between Semyk and Kuso the new moon broke the usual time space for celebration.
Kuso had to be celebrated in the middle of summer. A seven week period of time
was also interrupted between Shorykiol and Uarnya. Such holidays as Agavairem,
Urlyk Lukmash were observed in spring and summer as they should be correlated
with the beginning of spring work in the fields thus correcting the time
interval. The first calendar holiday was Shorykiol (Etnografiya, 2001:106-117;
Prazdniki, 1992).
Since
the 1990’s pagan prayer ceremonies and Agavairem have been celebrated not only
in the villages but also on the territory of the sacred Oak Coppice in
Yoshkar-Ola. Shorykiol which had been widely commemorated in the villages
became quite popular among the town youth. The urban Mari like the gatherings
"Mari Kas” (Mari Evening Party) for different age-groups. Among other
holidays one can name two new national festivity days: "Mari Taleshke
Keche" (National Hero Day) and "Mari Tishte Keche" (Day of the
Mari Written language).
Ethnographers
note with regret that many festivity components constituting the complete
structure of the holidays such as table manners during a festivity or religious
ritual, public merry-making (without excessive drinking) with visiting friends,
relatives and neighbors, youth games, sit-round gatherings known to the
generation of the 1950´s and 1960´s have been lost. The integrity of the ritual
forms has been broken (Kalinina, 2000:104-106). Nevertheless, traditional
holidays and rituals are being gradually re-introduced into a system of the
holidays determining the unigue character of the Mari nation.
The
ideology of a rustic civilization is an all-round animism. It is vividly seen
by the holidays' character. Even when the rural community adopts a monotheistic
religion - Russian Orthodoxy - it appears to be polytheistic. At present there
is a revival of paganism in Mari El, and 15.4% of the Mari consider it to be a
uniting factor in the identity of the nation.
The
village people's outlook showed all nature phenomena as a result of somebody's
activities. Any person could cause an awful cataclysm either by ignorance or
evil will. At present there are different types of praying on the part of pagan
believers. People are still afraid of the evil eye and the evil tongue, and
widely use different types of charms (Glukhova, 1997).
In the Republic
of Mari El there are different confessions. Nonetheless during the last 15
years Mari Paganism has claimed to be a consolidating force for all the Mari.
Mari historians note that under the circumstances of the absence of the
nation's own statehood, of a single administrative unit, of a written language,
in the period of heavy spiritual oppression from the Russian Orthodox Church,
the social and political yoke, it did play a significant role in the nation's
consolidation. This religion had for a long time been a spiritual basis of the
nation (Popov, 2000a:118-131; Chemyshev, 2000:132-137). It was a bulwark
against Christianization and Russification as it helped preserve the national
world view. But, in our time, its integrating function and its role of
expressing the national outlook has lost its former significance. Today the
Mari people have achieved their own statehood, have reached another level of
education and culture, are characterized by another trait of national
self-consciousness that was formed under internationalism in all spheres of the
life. Naturally, Mari spiritual demands and life are not determined by those
values which were important in the epoch of the tribal society and patriarchal
way of life (Solovyov, 2000:22).
Another
constituent of the national identity is a nation's character. The Mari
discussing themselves note such positive character features as perseverance and
patience, industry and diligence, stoicism and fortitude. Such qualities were
born during many years of work on the land. Other positive features which the
Mari possess and ascribe to themselves are: simplicity, sincerity, tolerance
and industry.
Negative
features are: shyness, diffidence, timidity. People describing themselves
indicated the absence of mutual aid (21.5%) and mutual respect, addiction to
alcohol.
In a
word, one may speak of a national inferiority complex (Sanukov, 2002:21) which
includes an unduly low self-appraisal, characterized by a permanent lack of
self-confidence, loss of initiative, indifference, feelings of shame and
anxiety.
The
characteristics enumerated above are unique in their totality and relationship
among themselves, and we can undoubtedly speak of a specific Mari national
identity.
Some
well-known scholars, S. Kapitsa for example, say that history has quickened its
pace, that the speed of historic events has been accelerated. This has
increased the number of events happening in the same unit of time in comparison
with previous centuries. Thus, the identity and mentality of a nation at present
are being more strongly influenced by social and political changes in the
country and the whole world. Thus, it is not enough to raise this question and
consider it settled. It is more important to have a long-term
identity-monitoring project than sporadic articles on the theme.
The character of Keremet in the Mari mythology
Lydia Toidybekova. Yoshkar-Ola, Mari
http://www.folklore.ee
Ghosts
called by the general name Keremet are considered by nearly all researchers to
be evil creatures, whose the aim is exclusively to cause harm to people. It was
not quite so in reality. P. Glezdnev has written in his article: Special
ghosts, called by the general name Keremet, protect the whole family. This was
said about the Maris of Belebeyev region. The idea of Keremet in the other
regions of the Mari Republic was the same. A Mari was very proud of paying
homage to Keremet. There is an example about a Mari boasting to have a Keremet:
“Hey you, what a man are you? You’re lost. Look at me, I have a Keremet! After
these words the other Mari wanted to obtain a Keremet by all means. He built a
fence around the grave and began to make sacrifices” (the village of
Susadi-Abalock, Byrsk).
V.Filonenko
has registered a legend which says that the worship of Keremet was determined
by the god Yumo-Keremet, who was considered to be Keremet’s younger brother who
always resisted him.
But
there existed not a single, but a large number of keremets, each having his own
name. It was Yakovlev
who gave them these names. In honour of those
Keremets there were special groves and mountains (Keremet Arch, Keremet Hill).
With the Chuvash people Keremet was considered to be the elder brother of the
god Suldy-Tora, but people killed him. To beg for mercy for their crime, they
begin to worship him. With some Tatars Keremet was a special sacred place. In
fact, there cannot be simultaneously existing opposite ideas about one and the
same mythological character. The modern idea of the Meadow Mari people about
Keremets as cruel ghosts is not original, but a later one, considering the
alien origin of Keremet. The Eastern Maris were less subjected to Christianity,
and therefore they preserved the original idea of Keremets as guardian spirits
in a number of places up to the present day. This can be proved by the
collected legends. Some time ago a Mari gave his first child to Keremet. Once,
when he was ready to sacrifice his child to Keremet, he turned around and saw a
ram. After that he began to sacrifice domestic animals. From this legend we
come to the conclusion that a Mari had
to sacrifice his first child to Keremet. There is the Mountain of Keremet Bulda
near Byrgynda village, Karakulynski district of Udmurt region. Lush green grass
grows on the mountain. The native inhabitants never mow grass there. An old man
called Nikifor lives in this village. Every year he puts on his white shirt and
trousers, and goes to this mountain to mow grass. But some religious people
worship Bulda; on holidays they go to this mountain to pray together with the
Udmurt people. In this narrative the old man Nikifor has preserved the original
idea of Keremet as a kind of guardian spirit. At the same time, some of the
Meadow and Hill Maris believed the idea of keremet as a cruel ghost. Keremet is
a soul of cruelty on earth. He sends frosts in winter, droughts and storms in
summer, diseases and cattle-plague to people. Here Keremet is identified with
cruel ghosts of natural primordial forces. According to the Chuvash folk
belief, Keremet is either a cruel, hungry ghost, sending people various
troubles, extorting sacrifices, or else, it is a place where people pay homage.
Sometimes he is associated with sacred things, protecting
people
from Keremet’s machinations. Sometimes the Chuvash people imagined him as a
devil.
According
to V. Magnitsky keremets are the ghosts of the people killed violently. Modern
Chuvash esearcher N. Romanov is of the same opinion. In old times God sent
special organisers to all peoples for keeping an eye on, and taking care of,
their lives (ülyshto-vlak, distributors). After fulfilling their task, the
organisers began to disappear; they disappeared from among the Mari people,
too. Once upon a time a Mari saw one of the Keremets by chance and asked his
help in housekeeping. The God’s envoy had promised to help, but did not come.
The next time the Mari saw him near a birchtree, he again asked him to come.
The envoy replied, ‘If you need me, come here and call me.’ After that meeting
the Mari never saw him. The Mari people called such God’s envoys ‘keremets’.
There were as many keremets as there were God’s envoys. (the village of
Ismeyevo, Byrsk region). Thus, the Maris thought that although the organisers
of life called keremets had gone, they continued to help invisibly. There are
quite a lot of stories about it. A Mari from Kaleyevo village, Bashkir region,
while in the army, each day made sacrifices to his Keremet-protector Sherdan
and asked him to save him from the enemy’s bullets. It was therefore, he
believed, that he had managed to avoid all the dangers of the war and survive. Another
Mari from the same village, returning home late at night, was attacked by
runaways who disappeared after a long, vain search.
The
saved Mari stayed in wait for some time, then stepped out on the road. The
runaway people saw him again, but could not catch him. Up to the present time
in the consciousness of religious people Keremet
signifies
a rude and hostile force. The origin of the word ‘keremet’ is not clear,
anyway. Some researchers
associate
the notion with the Islamic ideology, in which Keremet means ‘a miracle’, the
Holy Ghost. Finnish scientist Albert Hämäläinen (earlier, Heikki Paasonen), and
M. Vasilyev are in this opinion. As for V. Sboev, he believes that the Chuvash
‘keremet’ comes from Arab ‘gyuremet’ (protected, holy). According to N. Marr
the word keremet means ‘god’, as the Georgian ‘kerp’, Armenian ‘karapet’, etc. But
Keremet has many images and functions. For example, about Keremet Kürtnovodzhu
it is said that he was a runaway soldier; a Mari from Kozmodemyansk District
says that he used to live with his brother in the forest, robbed a lot and
offended the Mari people. It was difficult to catch them. When at last they
were encircled, they climbed an oak on the bank of the Big Yung river and threw
themselves into the water; but they threatened the Mari people that even after
death they would offend them and cause various diseases. Some years later a
terrible disease appeared, which was regarded as a revenge of the Keremet
brothers. The people began to make sacrifices to do them favour. There were
other keremets, too: Yar-vodozh, Yausho Keremet, who
lived
across the Volga river in the forest, Iksa Keremet, and some others. Yausho
Keremet was also a runaway soldier and a robber. He was shot and before his
death he predicted that people would make sacrifices to him. It came true, as
many of the Mari people who had participated in his beating fell ill.
There is
also a legend about Shurma Keremet. When Pugachov with his men was encircled by
the Russian troops, one of the generals could escape. He rushed out of the
forest, stopped and said, Let Keremet be here. Let the Chuvash people worship
me. The general was caught and hung on the birch at this place. His
horse
was grey and the bridle and horseshoes were silver. The Mari people narrated
that Makar Keremet was a rich farmer. Once he decided to rob the neighbour’s
plot. To succeed he proposed that the Mari
people
ask Mother Earth about the debatable rights. The Mari people agreed and Makar’s
sons, laying hidden in the holes, answered that it was Makar’s plot. Makar
robbed the plot, but lost his sons, who choked to death in these holes. Makar
died at once in grief, but his ghost remained alive on the robbed
plot and
so Makar’s keremet appeared. According to people’s belief, some people do not
calm down even after their death. Instead, they turn into especially harmful
creatures, and for the sake of fear – into sacred ghosts. Besides his life,
Keremet’s appearance and social function also indicate at his human nature. The
Chuvash people believed that Keremet had red clothes and red boots and lay on a
red bed. Palatkon Keremet (Gornomariisk region), as depicted by the Mari
people, is a man in red shirt, sailing on a golden boat along the Sumka River,
near his grave. Kürtno-vodyzh rides a troika of brown horses, clothed like an
inspector. Melin-Huzya sometimes comes to Maslova village to the Chuvash
people, looking like a Tatar with a troika of black horses. Summing it up, we
may draw a conclusion that Keremets were men, they
lived
and died. They were different from each other in character. Therefore after death
they became keremets, benevolent or evil. People were afraid of both, but mostly
evil Keremets preserved their name up to our days, as during their life they
did a lot of harm to people. They were even those in conflict with the whole
world. Among the Keremets you can meet Tatar sheikhs, Mari princes, Chuvash
tarkhans, Russian landowners, runaway soldiers, rich farmers, sorcerers and robbers.
Because of the harm done to people, they turned in people’s consciousness to
evil fairy-tale creatures and idols, with fantastic features
and
mysterious inspired horror. So this dual idea of these characters as, on the
one hand, harmful and
disease-causing,
but, on the other, curing creatures, was transmitted from family to family. But
that was not enough – being afraid of misfortunes or diseases, people began to
appease them with sacrifices.
The Mari
and the Chuvash people, considering that dead people live the same life as the
living and need things which they used during their lives, believed that any
harm done by Keremets expresses their wish to profit by sacrificed animals. A
sacrifice to Keremet was always like a bribe or a ransom, given by a sick
person to be cured. People’s fairy-tales depict Keremet as a creature not only
cruel, but always
hungry,
greedy and vocarious. The following story proves it: ...Keremet sneaked into
the Cheremis house in the image of a Cheremis when nobody was in, and began to
strangle the mistress of the house, demanding that she give her pancakes. What
could she do? The Cheremis cooked the pancakes, but Keremet, having eaten enough
and slept, demanded that a cock be fried for him. She left the house only then
when a horse was slaughtered for him. Only sacrifices could do Keremet favour
and neutralise his anger. Therefore
in older
times beside the holy grove there were single groves or special plots in the
forest, where sacrifices were made when some diseases or epidemics had broken
in. Mountain canyons, ravines, bogs, the wilds which frightened man became the
places where keremets lived. Nowadays there are still places associated
with the
name Keremet . For example, in Berezneki village of Volzhsky region, there
exists Keremet’s ravine (Keremet korem), a curl steep slope. In the middle of
the 19th century the Mari people believed in the existence of a whole hierarchy
of keremets of different significance. Each of the cruel creatures had its own
name and its own field of activity. With the non-religious Mari people the word
‘keremet’ remained as a national expression: on the one hand, Christianity
inspired people that all ancient gods were cruel, and on the other hand a
gradual development of the elementalmaterialistic consciousness formed the
atheistic view on the ancient gods. Genetically, Keremet goes back to cruel
characters – demiurgs – from the
dualistic
myths about the creation of the world, and Keremet was the personification of
the primordial forces of nature. With the consolidation of patriarchal relations
every head of the family became a benevolent guardian spirit keremet in the
form of a sculptured idol after his death. All the oppressors became cruel ghost-keremets.
Here we can agree with N. Nikolsky’s opinion, who saw in the worship of Keremet
a cult of great-grandfathers, fathers and brothers. We may come to the
conclusion that Keremet, historically appearing on the basis of the cult of
natural primordial forces, blends with the cult of benevolent and malevolent
people. That is why the faith in Keremet was more stable and
widespread
than other forms of religious and mythological consciousness.
