Finno-Ugric peoples: history and culture. The people of the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group

Finno-Ugric languages are related to modern Finnish and Hungarian. The peoples who speak them form the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group. Their origin, territory of settlement, community and difference in external features, culture, religion and traditions are subjects of global research in the field of history, anthropology, geography, linguistics and a number of other sciences. Briefly highlight this topic will try this review article.

The peoples of the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group

Based on the degree of proximity of languages, researchers divide the Finno-Ugric peoples into five subgroups.

The basis of the first, Baltic-Finnic, is made up of Finns and Estonians - peoples possessing their own states. They also live in Russia. Setu - a small group of Estonians - settled in the Pskov region. The most numerous of the Baltic-Finnish peoples of Russia are the Karelians. In everyday life, they use three autochthonous dialects, while the literary language they consider to be Finnish. In addition, the Vepsians and Izhorians belong to the same subgroup - small nations that have preserved their languages, and also water (there are less than a hundred people left, their own language has been lost) and Livs.

The second is the Saami (or Lapar) subgroup. Most of the peoples who gave it the name are settled in Scandinavia. In Russia, the Saami live on the Kola Peninsula. The researchers suggest that in ancient times these peoples occupied a larger territory, but later were pushed north. At the same time, their own language was replaced by one of the Finnish dialects.

The third subgroup, which makes up the Finno-Ugric peoples - the Volga-Finnic - includes the Mari and the Mordva. Mari - the main part of the population of the Republic of Mari El, they also live in Bashkortostan, Tatarstan, Udmurtia and a number of other Russian regions. They have two literary languages (with which, however, not all researchers agree). Mordva is an autochthonous population of the Republic of Mordovia; At the same time, a significant part of the Mordvins is settled throughout Russia. In the composition of this people there are two ethnographic groups, each with its own literary written language.

The fourth subgroup is called Permian. It includes Komi, Komi-Permyaks, and also Udmurts. Even before October 1917, according to the level of literacy (though in Russian), the Komi were approaching the most educated peoples of Russia - Jews and Russian Germans. As for the Udmurts, their dialect was preserved for the most part in the villages of the Udmurt Republic. Residents of cities, as a rule, forget the native language and customs.

The fifth, Ugric, subgroup includes Hungarians, Khanty and Mansi. Although the lower reaches of the Ob and the northern Urals separate many kilometers from the Hungarian state on the Danube, these peoples are in fact the closest relatives. Khanty and Mansi belong to the small peoples of the North.

The disappearing Finno-Ugric tribes

The Finno-Ugric peoples included the tribes, whose names are now preserved only in the annals. So, the people measured lived in the interfluve of the Volga and the Oka in the first millennium of our era - there is a theory that it later merged with the Eastern Slavs.

The same thing happened with the muhrom. It is an even more ancient people of the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group, once inhabiting the Oka basin.

The long-disappeared Finnish tribes living along the rivers of Onega and the Northern Dvina, the researchers call a chud (according to one hypothesis, they were the ancestors of modern Estonians).

Commonality of languages and cultures

Declaring Finno-Ugric languages as a single group, researchers emphasize this community as the main factor uniting the peoples speaking to them. However, the Ural ethnoses, despite their similarities in the structure of their languages, still do not always understand each other. So, the Finn, of course, will be able to explain himself with the Estonian, the Erzyanin with the Mokshanin, and the Udmurt with the Komi. However, the peoples of this group, geographically distant from each other, should make quite a lot of efforts to identify in their languages the common features that would help them to conduct the conversation.

The linguistic affinity of the Finno-Ugric people is primarily traced in the similarity of linguistic constructions. This significantly affects the formation of thinking and worldview of peoples. Despite the difference in cultures, this circumstance contributes to the emergence of mutual understanding between these ethnoses.

Simultaneously, the peculiar psychology, conditioned by the thought process in these languages, enriches the universal culture with their unique vision of the world. So, unlike the Indo-European, a representative of the Finno-Ugric people is inclined to treat nature with exceptional respect. Finno-Ugric culture in many ways also contributed to the desire of these peoples to peacefully adapt to their neighbors - as a rule, they preferred not to fight, but to migrate, preserving their identity.

Also characteristic feature of the people of this group is their openness to ethno-cultural interchange. In the search for ways to strengthen relationships with related peoples, they maintain cultural contacts with all those who surround them. In the main, Finno-Ugra managed to preserve its languages, the main cultural elements. The connection with ethnic traditions in this area can be traced in national songs, dances, music, traditional dishes, clothes. Also to this day many elements of their ancient rituals have come: wedding, funeral, memorial.

A Brief History of Finno-Ugrians

The origin and early history of Finno-Ugric peoples to this day remain the subject of scholarly discussions. Among the researchers, the most widely held view is that in antiquity there was a single grouping of people who spoke the general Finno-Ugric proto-language. The ancestors of the present Finno-Ugrians until the end of the third millennium BC. E. Retained a relative unity. They were settled in the Urals and Western Urals, and possibly also in some areas adjacent to them.

In that era, called Finno-Ugric, their tribes were in contact with Indo-Iranians, which was reflected in myths and languages. Between the third and second millennia BC. E. Separated from each other Ugric and Finno-Permian branches. Among the peoples of the latter, settled in the western direction, independent subgroups of languages (Baltic-Finnish, Volga-Finnish, Permian) gradually separated and separated. As a result of the transition of the autochthonous population of the Far North to one of the Finno-Ugric dialects, the Saami formed.

The Ugric group of languages disintegrated by the middle of the first millennium BC. E. The division of the Baltic-Finnish occurred at the beginning of our era. Permian existed somewhat longer - until the eighth century. A major role in the separate development of these languages was played by the contacts of the Finno-Ugric tribes with the Baltic, Iranian, Slavic, Turkic, and Germanic peoples.

Territory of settlement

Finno-Ugric peoples today mostly live in North-Western Europe. Geographically, they are located in a vast territory from Scandinavia to the Urals, Volgo-Kamya, lower and middle Pritobolia. Hungarians are the only people of the Finno-Ugric ethno-linguistic group, who formed their state apart from other tribes related to them - in the Carpathian-Danube region.

Finno-Ugric population

The total number of peoples speaking in the Uralic languages (including the Finno-Ugric with Samoyedic languages) is 23-24 million people. The most numerous representatives are Hungarians. There are more than 15 million people in the world. They are followed by Finns and Estonians (5 and 1 million people, respectively). Most other Finno-Ugric ethnoses live in modern Russia.

Finno-Ugric ethnic groups on the territory of Russia

Russian immigrants massively rushed to the lands of Finno-Ugrians in the 16th-18th centuries. Most often, the process of settling them in these parts was peaceful, but some indigenous peoples (for example, the Mari) resisted for a long time and bitterly their joining the Russian state.

Christian religion, writing, urban culture, introduced by the Russians, eventually began to supplant local beliefs and adverbs. People moved to cities, moved to Siberian and Altai lands - to where the main and general was the Russian language. However, he (in particular his northern dialect) absorbed a lot of Finno-Ugric words - most notably in the field of toponyms and names of natural phenomena.

In some places, the Finno-Ugric peoples of Russia mingled with the Turks, adopting Islam. However, a significant part of them was assimilated by the Russians. Therefore, these peoples nowhere form a majority - even in those republics that bear their name.

Nevertheless, according to the census in 2002, there are very large Finno-Ugric groups in Russia. This Mordva (843 thousand people), Udmurts (almost 637 thousand), Mari (604 thousand), Komi-Zyryans (293 thousand), Komi-Permyaks (125 thousand), Karelians (93 thousand). The number of some peoples does not exceed thirty thousand people: Khanty, Mansi, Veps. Izhores have 327 people, and the people of the water - only 73 people. Hungarians, Finns, Estonians, Saami also live in Russia.

The development of Finno-Ugric culture in Russia

In total, sixteen Finno-Ugric peoples live in Russia. Five of them have their own national-state formations, and two - national-territorial. The rest are scattered throughout the country.

In Russia much attention is paid to the preservation of the distinctive cultural traditions of ethnic groups inhabiting it . Programs are being developed at the national and local level, with the support of which the culture of Finno-Ugric peoples, their customs and dialects are studied.

So, the Sami, Khanty, Mansiysk are taught in the primary classes, and the Komi, Mari, Udmurt, Mordovian languages - in secondary schools in those regions where large groups of relevant ethnic groups live. There are special laws on culture, on languages (Mari El, Komi). So, in the Republic of Karelia there is a law on education, which secures the right of Vepsians and Karelians to study in their native language. The Culture Act defines the priority of developing the cultural traditions of these peoples.

Also in the republics of Mari El, Udmurtia, Komi, Mordovia, in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Area there are own concepts and programs of national development. The Foundation for the Development of Cultures of Finno-Ugric Peoples (on the territory of the Republic of Mari El) has been established and is operating.

Finno-Ugric peoples: appearance

The ancestors of the present Finno-Ugrians have resulted from the confusion of the Palaeo-European and Palaeo-Asiatic tribes. Therefore, in the appearance of all the peoples of this group there are both Caucasoid and Mongoloid traits. Some scholars even advanced the theory of the existence of an independent race - the Urals, which is "intermediate" between Europeans and Asians, but this version has few supporters.

Finno-Ugrians are heterogeneous in anthropological terms. However, any representative of the Finno-Ugric people possesses characteristic "Ural" traits in one way or another. It is usually medium height, very light hair color, snub nose, broad face, thin beard. But these features manifest themselves in different ways. So, mordvins-erzya - tall, owners of light hair and blue eyes. Mordvins-moksha - on the contrary, lower, broad-bodied, with darker hair. Udmurts and Mari often have characteristic "Mongolian" eyes with a special fold at the inner corner of the eye - epicanthus, very broad faces, a thin beard. But thus hair at them, as a rule, light and red, and eyes - blue or gray that is characteristic for Europeans, but in any way not Mongoloids. "Mongolian fold" is also found among the Izhorians, Vodians, Karelians and even Estonians. Komi look different. There, where there are mixed marriages with the Nenets, representatives of this people slit and black-haired. Other Komi, on the contrary, are more like Scandinavians, but more broad-faced.

Finno-Ugric Traditional Cuisine in Russia

Most of the dishes of the traditional cuisines of the Finno-Ugric population of the Urals and the Trans-Ural region, in fact, were not preserved or were significantly distorted. However, ethnographers manage to trace some general patterns.

The main food product of Finno-Ugrians was fish. It was not only processed differently (fried, dried, cooked, sugared, dried, ate raw), but also prepared each kind in its own way, which would better convey the taste.

Before the advent of firearms, the main way to hunt in the forest was snares. Caught mostly forest birds (black grouses, wood grouses) and small animals, mostly rabbits. Meat and poultry were stewed, boiled and baked, much less often - fried.

Vegetables used turnips and radishes, from spicy herbs - growing in the woods zhiruha, cow-grass, horseradish, onions, young pile. The Western Finno-Ugric peoples practically did not eat mushrooms; At the same time for the eastern they were an essential part of the diet. The oldest types of grain known to these peoples are barley and wheat (polba). Of these, porridge, hot jelly, as well as stuffing for home-made sausages were prepared.

The modern culinary repertoire of Finno-Ugrians contains very few national features, as it was strongly influenced by Russian, Bashkir, Tatar, Chuvash and other cuisines. However, almost every people has one or two traditional, ritual or festive dishes that have survived to this day. In sum, they make it possible to draw up a general idea of Finno-Ugric cooking.

Finno-Ugric Peoples: Religion

Most Finno-Ugrians profess the Christian faith. Finns, Estonians and Western Saami belong to the Lutherans. Among the Hungarians, Catholics are predominant, although there are also Calvinists and Lutherans.

The Finno-Ugrians living in the European part of Russia are mostly Orthodox Christians. However, the Udmurts and Mari in some places managed to preserve the ancient (animistic) religion, while the Samoyed peoples and the inhabitants of Siberia are shamanism.