Bashkirs
The Bashkirs ( Bashkir Башҡорт / Baschqort, Башҡорттар / Baschqorttar ) are a Turkic ethnic group in Russia's Ural Mountains. They are the eponymous people of Bashkortostan.
About 68 percent of the Bashkirs live as titular in the Russian autonomous republic of Bashkortostan, the remainder in the adjacent oblasts Chelyabinsk and Orenburg, and in Tatarstan and Siberia, there particularly in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug. Unlike the other Turkic-speaking populations of the region, the Bashkirs, as well as the neighboring Chuvash, not the Volga-Ural Tatars are attributed.
The Bashkirs beginning of the 10th century were already established as nomadic herdsmen between Volga, Kama and Ural and were Islamized prior to the submission by the Mongols in the 13th century. Ibn Fadlan described it as 922 still pagans. From the 16th century they were the conquest of the Mongol Khanate by Ivan IV Russian subjects. In today's Russia, they are the second largest Muslim nation. Together with the Tartars, they were known for their beekeeping. They breed curly ponies Bashkir are called. You use them as riding and draft animals for meat production, a fashion era long to produce foals fur and for milk production.
Size
In total, there are approximately 1.8 million Bashkirs world. Attributable to:
Religion
See Islam in Russia.
History
See History of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Mythology
Subject of systematic investigations of ethnographers was the Bashkir mythology only since the 18th century. Especially valuable are the works of the "father of the Bashkir ethnography " SI Rudenko.
Faith idea
The beliefs of the Bashkir people are a complicated system in which the world of spirits have a special rank. These are still preserved in the consciousness of people living today in a weakened form. Winged horses, water and water-spirits are often associated in the Bashkir mythology together. The water spirits whose clothing and traits is shown in black or white colors are brought into relationship with the world beyond. Black and white are colors that are often characterized in certain religious ideas as colors of nature of the world beyond. After bashkir popular belief every mountain has its host spirit. He appears as a gray-haired old man, or in the shape of animals and loves peace.
Historical aspect
The mythology of the Bashkirs is inseparable from its historical ground. You should also be considered as an expression of ancient social consciousness to concrete historical circumstances.
Bashkir Share
In general, the oral teaching of the word in the form of traditional Bashkir songs or stories takes place. In particular, it should be mentioned that scholars such as PA Gällämov have brought striking similarities between the Bashkir legends and the Sumerian- Akkadian epics in experience. Conclusions from a common ethnic origin were drawn. Archaeological evidence of a cultural connection with the Sumerians could be used from the Central Asian Oxus civilization ( BMAC ), which can be dated to about 2200 BC and 1700 (see Origin of the Sumerians ).
The saga of the Ural Batyr addressed essentially the historical occurrence of the Bashkir people. Also, mountains, lakes and rivers have is a mythological creation process. Moreover, the epics of bashkir Ural Batyr and the Babylonian Epic of Gilgamesh many parallels.
This is particularly evident if one compares the epic legends with matching themes components: The hero of the Bashkir epic Gilgamesh owns as well overpowering physical force, as this destroys the Ural Batyr the terrible monster. Snakes and many-headed dragon shall contain a special place. After Bashkir tradition from the 18th century, the snakes transform into snow-white dragon and thus become a kind of leadership character within their own species. These dragons breed their heads through the intertwining of heroes. Among the dragons themselves also there is a hierarchical order. It is set according to the number of their heads, the larger the number of heads, the higher the rank.
The name of the Urals is also found as a first name in Bashkortostan today and goes back to the legend of the hero Ural Batyr who transformed his defeated opponent in mountains.
Music
The Kurai is the best known and most popular musical instrument of the Bashkirs. The history of the flute extends well over 1000 years. The famous Bashkir folk song "Song of the Cranes ", for example, played only with the Kurai. The most common type of Kurai is also called from the tribe of umbelliferous Ural edgepistil or Kamchatka Pleurospermum ( Pleurospermum uralense ).
The length of the wooden stem of a Kurai is approximately 2-3 meters. It grows in July and dried in August to September. Then the stem is cut and stored in a dry and dark place. The Kurai plant is found mainly in higher geographical locations of the Ural Mountains.
The names of the most outstanding Kurai players are Kubagush - sasan, Baik - sasan, I. Murzakaev, G. Arginbaev, Y. Icyanbaev, I. Dilmukhametov, G. Suleymanov, K. Diyarov, R. Rakhimov, Y. Gaynetdinov and A. Aitkulov.
The Kurai plant is also seen as a national emblem on the national flag of the Republic of Bashkortostan.
Gallery
Bashkir Archer, from: " The German Engraving", 1814.
Bashkir horse, painting by Alexander Osipovich Orlowski, early 19th century
Bashkir sergeant, Orenburg in 1892.
Bashkir riders representation 1840.