M.L. Berezhnova

BOT TALES OF PAST YEARS,
OR WHERE THE CHELDONS COME FROM IN THE SIBERIAN LAND

Chaldon – ‘native Siberian, Russian’, ‘a descendant of Russian settlers of Siberia who married an aborigine (native)’; chaldons, chaldons pl. ‘ native people, natives of Siberia’; the first Russian settlers, old-timers of Siberia; chaldone, chaldone‘illiterate person, vagabond, fugitive, convict’, ‘ swear word for a native Siberian', 'stupid person'. The origin of this word remains unclear. Fasmer's comparison with the written Mongolian and Kalmyk languages ​​in the meaning of 'tramp' looks accidental. It is possible that the word chaldon, like Kerzhak, is associated by origin with some kind of hydronym or toponym. It is worth mentioning the curious folk etymology that interprets the word chaldon as the addition of two hydronyms: there is the river Don and Chal. Exiled and called chaldons .

Anikin A.E. Etymological dictionary of Russian dialects of Siberia: borrowings from the Uralic, Altai and Paleoasian languages

I don't remember where or when I first heard the word 'cheldon'. It is absolutely certain that in student years I didn't see this word in the books I read. In the summer of 1994, for the first time, I led a small traveling group of the Omsk State University ethnographic expedition. In the morning we left the village where the expeditionary detachment was stationed, in the evening we returned. Having finished work in the village, almost every day in a new one, we (three or four people, except for me, all students who graduated from the first year of the history department) had the opportunity to rest somewhere near the surveyed village and discuss the results of the work before returning to the base .

Once, on the banks of the Irtysh, near the village of Shuevo, Bolsherechensky district, Omsk region, people started talking about cheldons. On this day, they were mentioned in several conversations at once. The guys and I discussed the meaning of this word, which is not particularly clear to us. “Cheldon is a person from the Don, and also those who sailed from the Don on canoes, as well as people from places that are located between Chal and Don.” “Cheldons are old-timers,” someone summed up. “But not Kerzhaks (that is, not Old Believers. - M.B.),” added another. Here the conversation was interrupted, because we told each other everything we knew.

Only a few years later Omsk ethnographers began to systematically study the ethno-group structure of Russian Siberians. In this study, chaldons were almost in the spotlight. It turned out that it is quite difficult to find out more than what we once discussed on the shore. The epigraph to this article is taken from the dictionary of A.E. Anikina. Many times I heard the opinion of experts that, in fact, in this short text all the information that modern science has is summarized.

Retreat 1
What is an ethnic group structure?

Everyone knows that all the people of our planet differ from each other in different ways. They speak different languages, run different households, eat differently, greet each other, have fun ... People who have minimal differences in language and culture usually make up one big community, which we call "people" or, according to scientific terminology, "ethnos".

In the 1960s in the USSR, scientists began to study ethnic groups as special kind communities of people. Most common in domestic science received the theory of Academician Yu.V. Bromley. According to it, the signs of an ethnos are a common territory, language, culture, group psychological characteristics and, most importantly, ethnic identity. Ethnic self-consciousness is based, among other things, on the idea of ​​a common origin or the unity of the historical fate of the people who make up the people; it, like language and culture, is transmitted from generation to generation, this ensures the stability of the existence of an ethnos.

Ethnicity changes over time. If it occupies a large territory, then there is a separation of territorial groups. Under influence of natural, political, socio-economic, confessional factors may change culture, way of life and language. Representatives of an ethnic group can marry people belonging to other peoples. However, as long as ethnic self-consciousness persists, ethnos also persists.

Yu.V. Bromley in his writings showed that some peoples have a single culture, language and an integral ethnic identity. But ethnic groups are also known, which are a collection of groups that differ in some way: in culture, religion, social status in society. These groups are formed historically. If the members of the group begin to realize the difference from other groups of their own people, while maintaining a single ethnic identity, then such a group was proposed to be called sub-ethnic. People included in such groups have a double identity: for example, "I am a Russian Cossack." If the peculiarities of culture and language are obvious only to outside observers, usually scientists, and the people in the group are not recognized, then such a group was proposed to be called an ethnographic group. The totality of ethnic and ethnographic groups constitutes the ethno-group structure of a people.

Based on this theory, the Russian population of Siberia, according to the difference in culture and dialects, as well as the time of resettlement in Siberia, can be divided into old-timers and settlers of the second half of XIX- the beginning of the 20th century. Accordingly, Cossacks and Old Believers can be distinguished among the old-timers.

The Cossacks are a group of the population that has developed from people who have hereditary military service, in whose community there have been stable features of culture and life that have been passed down from generation to generation. Representatives of this group had a clearly expressed self-consciousness; for many, the attitude towards the Cossacks was more important than belonging to the Russian ethnic group. Since the Cossacks were an estate in Russian Empire, there are currently two main points of view on the nature of this group. Some scientists believe that the Cossacks are a class group, the other is an ethnic or ethno-class group. The proof of the second point of view is that the Cossacks as an estate have not existed in Russia for almost 100 years, but still many people consider themselves Cossacks by origin, that is, because they were born and raised in a Cossack family.

Old Believers are usually called groups of Russian Siberians, whose commonality is based on their special religion. They adhere to the norms of Orthodoxy and rituals in the form that existed before the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, carried out in the 17th century. Due to different historical reasons Old Believers created closed communities in which a special way of life developed. In Russian ethnography, there is an opinion that the Old Believers are an ethno-confessional group of Russians. In Siberia, Old Believers are often called Kerzhaks.

The main part of the Siberian old-timers by the XIX century. was united in terms of class, they were state peasants. This group of Russian Siberians apparently did not have a group consciousness for a long time. The most important thing for the old-timers was that they were born and lived in one place, feeling the connection of their families and communities with the land on which generations of their ancestors lived and worked. Therefore, people who gave birth and lived in the same place called themselves relatives, local people. The word "old-timers" was used in the language of officials, publicists and scientists; Siberians themselves did not call themselves that. Even today, "old-timer" colloquially refers to a person who is many years old, that is, a long-liver. It does not matter where he was born and how long he lives in some settlement. Old-timers could also be called cheldons.

Settlers are usually understood as those people who began to arrive in Siberia in the second half of the 19th century, as well as their descendants. The attitude towards them was determined by the fact that they had recently arrived in Siberia and were, accordingly, new settlers. In Siberia, this group of the population was called by the common name "Russian", "race".

This structure of Russian Siberians, due to inertia, has been preserved to this day.

There is still no established spelling of the word ‘cheldon’, because it is typical for oral speech. In the Omsk Irtysh region, the first syllable pronounces a sound between [e] and [i], so the article uses the spelling through the letter “e”. When characterizing the views of other scientists on this issue and quoting texts from different authors, I will stick to their writing.

The word ‘cheldon’ (chaldon, choldon) has been found in written texts since the middle of the 19th century. In 1853, A. Borovnikov compiled and published a list of words borrowed "from the Mongols and Kalmyks" that are included in various Russian dialects. The word ‘chaldon’ was also included in this list. The author believed that the word goes back to the Mongolian abusive nickname ‘Sholdon’ – a despised, worthless person.

In 1866, the word ‘cheldon’ was published in the Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language by V.I. Dahl. Where Dahl got this word from is not clear; one can only assume that the word was given to him by a person connected with Transbaikalia, but who had not been (did not live) in other places in Siberia, otherwise this respondent would know that the word is widespread throughout Siberia. Dahl’s dictionary states that ‘cheldon’ is an Irkutsk word borrowed from the Mongolian language and means ‘tramp, fugitive, varnak, convict’, that is, a negative interpretation of the word is given. Dahl's authority is so high that even now, almost 150 years later, for many scientists his opinion is decisive.

In the second half of the XIX century. journalistic notes about Siberia became very popular, many of them withstood several editions. One of the earliest publications in which the word ‘cheldon’ is used is the Siberian essays by S.I. Turbine "Country of Exile and Disappeared People" (St. Petersburg, 1872). The author of this book traveled across Siberia in the 1860s. Describing the Siberian population, he writes in such a way that it could be an excerpt from a modern scientific work: “According to Siberian folk concepts ... people are, firstly, local, that is, Siberian ... old-timers and, secondly, racial.” When the author conveys the conversations that he had in Siberia with local residents, immigrants from the Kursk province, his vocabulary changes:

“I began to ask about life and being, and they told me this:
- Tapericha is nothing, as if they got used to it ...
- What are the neighbors like?
“There are all sorts of things ... At the expense of the Siberian, we tease them with chaldons, they are more engaged in teas, but you don’t want to work.”

At the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, S.Ya. Elpatevsky. He was a populist, exiled to Siberia in 1884 under open police supervision. He spent three years in Yeniseisk, visited Krasnoyarsk. Describing Siberia, Yelpatyevsky mentioned cheldons: “Remarkably characteristic of a Siberian ... a jerky conversation ... A settler ... in his deepest contempt for a“ cheldon ”is based, by the way, on the fact that he, a cheldon, cannot even speak.” Elpatyevsky describes the Siberian quarrel elsewhere in his book: “Scum, yellow-bellied shack!” - scolds the landlady Zhigan (tramp, swindler, hooligan. - M.B.) Vanka.

In 1883, A.A. Cherkesov "From the notes of a Siberian hunter". One of the chapters was devoted to the Nerchinsk region, as the author calls it (the territory of modern Chita region). Here is what the author writes about this place: “The whole Nerchinsk Territory, the common people, and especially the exiles, are called Cheldonia, as a result of which all exiles are called cheldons. Cheldon is a dirty word, and you can pay for it.” By the way, there was more than one "Cheldonia" in Siberia, as other Siberian regions were sometimes called. For example, in 1930, N. Litov published an article “On the Narym Cheldonia” in the journal “Hunter and Fisherman of Siberia”.

Already in the XIX century. an aura of mystery appeared around the cheldons. For example, the newspaper "Yenisei", which was published at the end of the XIX century. in Krasnoyarsk, in 1895 she reported from the words of a local teacher that there was a tribe of cheldons in Eastern Siberia. They are allegedly related to the Abyssinians (as the inhabitants of Ethiopia, that is, Abyssinia, were previously called). It was they who "brought with them the light of Christianity."

In the 19th century local history studies were quite popular, which were carried out by a variety of people in their homeland. Professor of History of St. Petersburg University Kh.M. Loparev wrote and in 1896 published a book dedicated to his native places - "Samarovo, a village in the Tobolsk province and district." It includes a small glossary that states that 'cheldon' is a swear word, the same as 'blockhead'. A. Molotilov, a student from Tomsk, at the beginning of the 20th century. studied dialect speech northern Baraba. According to his dictionary, 'cheldon' is "a derisive name given to 'racial' locals."

AT scientific texts 19th – early 20th centuries the word "cheldon" with a rare, if not the only exception, about which a little later, did not occur. However, some authors have tried to describe Siberian society and even specifically studied the features of the language and culture of Russian Siberians living in different parts of Siberia and resettled here in different time. Describing Russian Siberians, the famous scientist, publicist, public figure of the XIX century. N.M. Yadrintsev wrote about native Siberians, Cossacks, settlers, Russians, Lapotniks, Semeiskys, masons, "tundra" (Russians), Karyms, Maganys, Turukhans, Barabins. These words were common in different parts of Siberia and were not used everywhere, but, nevertheless, Yadrintsev considered it necessary to mention them in his most famous work, Siberia as a Colony. But we do not find the word ‘cheldon’, which is widespread in Siberia, here. Maybe it really was a curse that can neither be written nor pronounced in society, and its rare appearance in journalistic texts is nothing more than an oversight of the editors? No, N.M. Yadrintsev's pseudonym was Chaldon, with which he signed journalistic articles. This means that he knew such a word, and censorship did not forbid writing it.

Perhaps the only pre-revolutionary ethnographer who drew attention to the word ‘chaldon’ was A.A. Makarenko. In his well-known book Siberian Folk Calendar (1913), he wrote that with this word, settlers from among the criminals scold the old-timers, who, in turn, call them “settlement, varnak”.

At the turn of the XIX-XX centuries. the word ‘cheldon’ was also used in fiction. It is found in the story of D.N. Mamin-Sibiryak's "Mischievous" (1896), where the main character scolds his fellow villagers "yellow-nosed sheldons". As a curse, A. Green also used this word in the story "Brick and Music" (1907). The hero of this story teases the factory youth with the words “Chaldon! Where did you leave the snot?” In the story of V.G. Korolenko “Fyodor Homeless” chaldons are indigenous Siberians, the hero of the story, a tramp, went to them for alms: “He knew in which direction the chaldon lives peaceful and soft-hearted ...”. This word is also used in the same sense by Vyach. Shishkov in the story "Vataga". The leaders of the partisan detachment are talking to each other:

“- How many people do you have, Zykov?
- Close to two thousand.
- Come on, are your kerzhaks bigger?
- Everyone. There are many chaldons and runaway soldiers. Convicts and all sorts of punks are also decent. And there aren’t many Kerzhakovs.”

Vsevolod Ivanov’s story “Partisans” not only uses the word ‘chaldon’, but also characterizes some of the features of their culture: “We are told here, two people are plowing – a chaldon and a migrant. Suddenly - lightning, thunder. The settler whispers a prayer, and the chaldon blinks his eyes. Then he asks: “What are you muttering, boy?” - "From lightning, they say, a prayer." - "Teach, - grit, - it may fit." He began to teach: “Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name...” – “No,” the chaldon waves his hand, “it’s long, I don’t want to.”

The list of writers who knew and used the word ‘cheldon’ could go on and on. In the "Poem of 36" by Sergei Yesenin there are the following lines:

"Stupid Siberian
chaldon,
Stingy like a hundred devils
He.
Will sell for a nickel.

It is more difficult to explain what meaning Vladimir Mayakovsky put into these lines of the poem "Soviet Alphabet" (1919):

« H
Chaldon attacked us with military force.
Won't you go back?!"

AT Soviet time the word is found in the works of various authors, including those far from Siberia. Characters nicknamed Chaldon are in the stories "The Son of the Regiment" by V. Kataev and "The Black Candle" by V. Vysotsky and L. Monchinsky. Chaldons, that is, indigenous Siberians, are mentioned by such authors as V. Astafiev and V. Shukshin, although quite rarely. In Siberian literature, two novels with the same name "Chaldons" are also known: A. Chernousova, published in Novosibirsk in 1980, and A. Rusanova, published in Chita in 2002.

In addition, the painting "Chaldon" by the Siberian artist Nikolai Andreev, written in 1923, is known. Now it is kept in the Art Gallery of Novosibirsk. The variety of one of the first Siberian ranets bred by Soviet breeders was named "Yellow cheldon".

These are completely different facts show that in the first half of the twentieth century the word ‘cheldon’, used in written speech, gradually lost its negative meaning, turning into a word meaning something originally Siberian. But this word did not appear in scientific texts at that time. I am aware of only two exceptions.

The well-known Soviet anthropologist V. Bunak prepared the article “Metisation” for the 3rd volume of the Siberian Soviet Encyclopedia (Novosibirsk, 1932). In it, he wrote: “The type of Russian settler “Siberian” - “Cheldon”, according to the descriptions of old travelers, has some similarities with the type of Tatars or the Turkish-Mongolian type, differing markedly from the usual type of Russians in greater broadness and high cheekbones.

Soviet folklorist and literary critic M.K. Azadovsky, in the collection Upper Lena Tales, published in 1938, explained why one fairy tale is sometimes told for two days. “So the calculation of Scheherazade is repeated. It is necessary to build a fairy tale in such a way in order to “get through” the not particularly pliable Siberian-Cheldon, in order to deserve an overnight stay, dinner ... "

In 1964–1973 in Russian was published the four-volume Etymological Dictionary of the Russian Language by M. Vasmer, published in German back in the 1950s. Volume 4 also included the words cheldon, chaldon, chaldon: “In Siberia: a newcomer, a recent immigrant from Russia, also a tramp, a fugitive, a convict ...”. The last interpretation was given with reference to V.I. Dahl. The possibility of borrowing from the Mongolian language was also indicated, but still Vasmer writes in general about the origin of the word: “It is not clear.” Interestingly, in the "Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language" P.Ya. Chernykh (M., 1993) does not have the word "cheldon" at all. But Chernykh himself is a born Siberian, a native of Eastern Siberia!

Since the 1950s Siberian dialectology is rapidly developing. Dictionaries of Russian dialects of almost all regions of Siberia have been published. The word cheldon (chaldon, choldon) was included in all editions. It turned out that in Siberia it is widespread everywhere. Despite the fact that a note was made about the use of the word in a negative sense, the main meaning was nevertheless indicated as ‘a native Siberian, an old-timer’. But the etymology of the word did not arouse interest among linguists. Until now, there is a widespread opinion about its borrowing from the Mongolian language and, accordingly, two stages of its comprehension: the initial - negative, only later changed to the meaning of ‘old-timer’. So, for example, in the preface to Volume 1 of the Dictionary of Russian Dialects of Siberia (Novosibirsk, 1999), editors N.T. Bukharev and A.I. Fedorov write: “In the lexical system of the Russian dialects of Siberia, many words borrowed from aboriginal languages ​​were rethought: the Mongolian “chaldon” - ‘tramp’ in Siberian Russian dialects began to mean ‘a native Siberian, a Russian old-timer’”.

In Siberian ethnography, interest in cheldons appeared only in the 1990s. In 1995, in the monograph of the Tomsk ethnographer P.E. Bardina "Life of Russian Siberians of the Tomsk Territory" published a section devoted to the "composition of the inhabitants" of these places. Almost for the first time in an ethnographic work, attention was paid to chaldons, this word itself was printed and its analysis was carried out.

P.E. Bardina wrote that chaldons or cheldons are Siberian old-timers, as they were called throughout Siberia. Until recently, most old-timers perceived this name as an offensive, unpleasant nickname, especially since it was used most often with offensive epithets “yellow-mouthed” or “yellow-bellied”. To explain the term, folk etymologies are common: settlers from the Chal and Don rivers, from Chaldon Lake. It is also an explanation - the word came from the verb "chalit", that is, to swim, from the Don. The author clarifies: "But all this is nothing more than an attempt to find a suitable and acceptable meaning for a word from one's own language, while, most likely, it comes from a foreign language." Further, the opinion of V.I. Dahl. Then Bardina writes that “chaldon” is not at all the self-name of the old-timers, as they were called by later settlers to Siberia. They used this word, the first meaning of which is ‘tramp, convict, fugitive, varnak’, because they proceeded from the philistine notion, common in European Russia, that all Siberians are former convicts. But over time, concludes P.E. Bardin, the word has lost its former meaning, but acquired a new, positive one. In the Siberian dialects, there were other ways to indicate the prescription of residence in Siberia: the definitions local, natural, indigenous, local were added to the word ‘Russian’. There were also self-names according to the place of residence - Narym residents, Surguts and others.

In 1997, a book by the Novosibirsk ethnographer E.F. Fursova "Traditional clothes of Russian old-timers of the Upper Ob region". It contained the chapter "Ethnocultural groups of Russians in the Upper Ob region". The author characterizes the chaldons as one of these groups. Compared with the text of P.E. Bardina has some additions here. E.F. Fursova cites the stories of old-timers, which say that the chaldons are named after the Chalda River. Many of the interlocutors of this author believed that the chaldons came from the Cossacks: “The songs of the chaldons are so vocal and the motive is the same as Don Cossack". Some believe that along the Don the ancestors of the current chaldons dragged canoes or chals, hence the name. In addition, E.F. Fursova cites stories that earlier the old-timers were called chaldons, "and Siberians were suddenly called."

In the monograph by E.F. Fursova "Calendar customs and rituals of the East Slavic peoples of the Novosibirsk region as a result of interethnic interaction" (Novosibirsk, 2002. - Part 1) is the chapter "Characteristics of ethnographic groups." In fact, it sums up the results of the study by the author of the chaldons of Siberia.

• First, E.F. Fursova writes that not all Siberian old-timers called themselves chaldons.
• Secondly, she notes that in the south of Western Siberia, on the territory of the former Barnaul, Kainsky, Tomsk districts of the Tomsk province, the negative connotation of the term "chaldon" is not recorded. This is due to the fact that the local chaldons represent special group old-timers, they are the descendants of the Cossacks Don origin. Some chaldons of Western Siberia were dark-skinned, with brown eyes, dark hair. These features of appearance, according to E.F. Fursova, and explains the expressive expressions-nicknames with which the “Russians” teased the chaldons: yellow-bellied, yellow-mouthed, yellow-bottomed. True, not all chaldons were "black-haired", and not only Russians teased them. One of the interlocutors E.F. Fursova recalled that in childhood they, the Chaldoon children, were teased by the Tatars as well.
• Thirdly, the widespread use of the term "chaldon" is characteristic of Western Siberia. In Eastern Siberia, according to E.F. Fursova, so called only people from Transbaikalia, most often descendants from Russian-Buryat marriages.

And, of course, the question arises why such different groups population, as the descendants of the Don Cossacks and children from Russian-Buryat marriages, were called the same? And what is this word - "chaldon", which contains so many shades of meaning? E.F. Fursova writes: “In this work, we will not touch on the issue of the origin of the term “chaldons”, since it is quite debatable, ambiguous, and, most importantly, cannot fully reflect the cultural specifics and ethnic history of its bearers.” But she still could not completely bypass this issue and stopped at the consideration of the folk etymology of the word. We note only those versions that we did not mention before:

• The chaldons were also called so where the Chal and Don merge, that is, not in Siberia. They were Cossacks or, according to another version, crests. They were exiled to Siberia.
• “Don was in Europe, Chal was in Siberia. So they were exiled here and they became chaldons. Or, as an option: “A man is from Chalu, or something, and a woman is from Don. So they came together and got a chaldon. It seems like a baby chaldon was born.
• Siberians were called chaldons for their love of tea.

A completely different version of the origin of the cheldons as an old-timer group was developed by the Siberian geographer A.M. Maloletko. He admits that settlers at the beginning of the 20th century called the old-timers Siberians cheldons. “Now this word has almost fallen out of use, and it can only be heard in the remote corners of Siberia,” this author believes. - And ... this word undoubtedly reflects some stage of the settlement of Siberia and is associated with some group of immigrants from the European part of the country.

From other authors, the position of A.M. Maloletko differs in that he proposes to distinguish not two groups of Russians, but three, among which are two groups of old-timers of different times, according to the time of resettlement in Siberia. According to this author, the first Russian inhabitants of Siberia were people from the Don, who founded the Lukomorye colony in the lower reaches of the Irtysh. This colony was even marked on Western European maps. The Russians came from the Samara River. Among them were the Kayalovs, according to family legends, the migrations took place ten generations (200–250 years) before Yermak, that is, approximately in the second half of the 14th century. These Russians established ties with the locals, learned their economic experience and gradually turned into hunters and fishermen.

In the post-Yermakov period, the Russian population of Siberia was replenished with immigrants from the Russian North - this was the second wave of Russians, according to Maloletko's definition, "Cossack". It was they who came up with the offensive nickname "cheldon" and they called earlier settlers, because they saw in them primitive people engaged in hunting and fishing, who had forgotten agriculture. The Cossacks brought this word beyond the Yenisei. And the settlers at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries adopted this nickname and extended it to their predecessors - to the Russian population of the second wave, who invented the word in due time. negative meaning nicknames even intensified, in the Irkutsk province the word "cheldon" began to denote a robber, a vagabond, a robber.

AT last years many works have been published that analyze the features of the history and traditional everyday culture of the cheldons, the origin of their group name. Almost every author has original views not shared by other scientists. But on the whole, it is possible to formulate in this way what is common in these works.

The origin of the word "cheldon" itself is not clear. In general, most scholars share the opinion that the word was borrowed. All attempts to explain its original meaning from other languages ​​are not yet convincing. Attempts to derive meaning from the Russian language belong to the field of folk etymology. term before the 19th century. was unwritten, it is not found in ancient Siberian documents.

The word means Russian old-timers of Siberia. Apparently, the late settlers teased them in this way, that is, the word in his modern meaning no more than 150 years old. During this time, the expressive assessment of the word changed from negative to positive, and the word turned into an ethnonym.

Retreat 2
What are ethnonyms? What groups do they call?

In ethnography, an ethnonym is understood as an ethnic self-name, the proper name of a people. The presence of an ethnonym necessary condition and the prerequisite for the existence of an ethnos, the core element of its collective self-awareness. Ethnonyms are different. There are names by which the people call themselves - endoethnonyms. Many people also have exoethnonyms - names that are given to this people from outside. It is widely known that the Deutsch people are called Germans in Russian, German in English, allemand in French, tedesco in Italian, etc. Ethnonyms may coincide with the name of the territory where this people lives (toponym) or public education, within the boundaries of which the process of ethnogenesis took place (polytonym). Ethnonyms may not denote the whole people, but only part of it - the sub-ethnos.

According to modern ideas, the Russian people include a number of groups distinguished by different features. Pomors are named after their place of residence along the shores of the White and Barents Seas. This is a territorial group. Confessional groups are widely known - Kerzhaks have already been discussed. It is believed that this name was given because on the river. Kerzhenets (the left tributary of the Volga) there were many Old Believer sketes. The Old Believers were called Kerzhaks in the Russian North, in the Volga region, in the Urals, in Siberia. In the south of Russia, odnodvortsy are widely known - the descendants of military people of the lowest rank, settled on southern borders in the XVI-XVII centuries. Thus, odnodvortsy is a group of estate origin. AT social relations odnodvortsy occupied an intermediate position between peasants and small landowners. In the XVIII century. peasants were settled on the lands where the single-palace dwellers lived. Odnodvortsy distinguished themselves from the peasant masses by cultural and everyday features and, most importantly, by their awareness of their position in society (already imaginary at that time). Peasants gave insulting nicknames to separate territorial groups of single-dwellers: galmans (dial. - swearing, stupid), cheeks (from “sche”, which the single-dvorts pronounced instead of “what”). By the beginning of the XX century. some of these nicknames have lost their offensive character. For example, about the Galmans, as a special group, already in the 1920s. wrote scientific papers, and the ethnonym was taken out in the title.

Many scholars believe that the entire diversity of groups of the Russian people, wherever they may have formed - on Russian territory proper, on the newly developed lands of Central Asia, Siberia, the Volga region - can be classified as territorial, confessional, class.

It is not necessary to consider cheldons as a territorial group, they live throughout Siberia. They are not a religious group either. Can they be attributed to the group of estate origin? It has already been pointed out that cheldons in the 19th century. belonged to the estate of state peasants, the addition of which in Siberia falls on the 18th century. Until that time, many Siberian residents were among the service class and were assigned to more than 30 different categories.

Consider the social composition of the population of Siberia in the XVIII century. on the example of the Tara district. The categories to which the local residents belonged at the beginning of this century are known from the Patrol Book of the Tara district of 1701. Then here (without the city of Tara) ruzhniki were taken into account (priests - priests, sextons, sexton), boyar children, ataman of foot Cossacks, Cossacks different lists(Lithuanian, Circassian, foot, horse), archers, gunners, zatins, etc. Among them were also white-located Cossacks, planted on arable land, and peasants. In total, this sentinel book indicated the class affiliation of 738 heads of families. Of these, there were 16 (2.2%) boyar children, 88 (12%) streltsy and streltsy sons, 125 (16.9%) white local Cossacks, 149 (20.2%) peasants, Cossacks of various lists, including 15 retired - 299 (40.5%).

There was a strict hierarchy of these categories, reflected in the patrol: the list was opened by ruzhniki; then the boyar children were recorded, to whom they attributed their courtyards; Cossacks, first the Lithuanian hundreds, then the Circassian, then the horse and foot; archers, Cossack children, then other categories, and peasants completed the lists. Peasants did not live in all settlements. They were assigned to settlements, of which there were only three in the Tara district - Bergamatskaya, Tatmytskaya and Aevskaya, but sometimes they lived in villages located not far from the settlements, apparently with their own arable land. Only the so-called monastic peasants lived in the village of the Spassky Monastery. In the rest settlements the main part of the population was made up of service people - Cossacks, archers, etc.

Whether the "paper" hierarchy was reflected in people's relations is difficult to say. In the village of Evgashtina, Tara district, for example, in 1701, 18 families lived, in which there were 45 men. Among the heads of families were 3 Lithuanian hundreds of Cossacks, 3 Cherkasy hundreds of Cossacks, 1 horse Cossack, 3 archers, 4 foot Cossacks, 4 Cossack sons. The most common surnames are Evgashtins and Shcheglovs - 4 families each. Among the Evgashtins there were 3 Cossacks of the Cherkasy Hundred and a mounted Cossack, among the Shcheglovs there were two archers and two foot Cossacks.

Almost all service people ran their own household - they were engaged in agriculture, bred cattle. But at the same time, they were registered in the service (“and for a full salary of bread they serve from arable land,” as it is written in the Patrol Book) and received a salary. In the 18th century, when the estate of state peasants was being formed, all servicemen were gradually transferred to the taxable estate. So, according to the 1747 census (second revision of the taxable population of the Russian Empire), all residents of the village of Evgashtina were considered raznochintsy (as in Siberia in the middle of the 18th century they called the agricultural population, which was not a direct descendant of plowed and quitrent peasants). In the documents of the 1763 census (III revision), notes were made about the class origin of married women, that is, it is indicated whose daughters they are - raznochinsk, Cossack, noble, coachman. In total, there were 45 married women in Evgashtino. Of these, 34 are recorded as raznochinsk daughters (75.6%), 8 - Cossack (17.8%) and 1 coachman's daughter (2.2%). In addition, 2 women are named noble daughters, which is 4.4%. It is possible that the daughters of courtyard people are named here as noble daughters. Yard people, however, in the Tara district, as in Siberia as a whole, were few, about 1% of the draft population. According to the “Patrol Book of the Tara County” of 1701, they are recorded only in the village of Nyukhalovka and the village. Izyutsky.

Both "noble daughters" lived in the same Rezin family and were mother-in-law and daughter-in-law in relation to each other. The Rezin family is also known from the sentinel book of 1701. Mikhail Andreev (ich) Rezin, whose son and grandson were married to “noble daughters”, was assigned to the “Lithuanian hundreds of Cossacks” - one of the most prestigious categories Siberian population.

How much did you value your social status people XVIII century, hard to say. But it is well known that they were very worried about land rights. And already from the 17th century, the lands could be assigned to themselves by the right of antiquity. The famous Soviet Siberian historian V.I. Shunkov wrote: ““Old” was of primary, decisive importance, being often the only basis for possession, if there were no fortresses.<…>But even in those cases where there are fortresses that confirm possession, “old times” remains as an additional argument that strengthens the fortress.” Of course, under these conditions, the group with the right of antiquity must be singled out from total weight population and, accordingly, somehow named.

In the population revisions of 1782–1795. appeared special category, known, again through women: old peasant daughters. This means that there were also old peasants. And they lived in ancient villages and settlements. In the Tara district, for example, in the documents of the revision of 1782, Tatmytskaya Sloboda, the villages of Kachusova, Byzinskaya, Artynskaya were named old. Considering that the descendants of service people in the middle of the XVIII century. were considered raznochintsy and, on this basis, were separated from the descendants of the peasants, recorded as such in the documents of the beginning of the 18th century, then under the old peasants one can understand the descendants of the peasants. And their social status was, as we have already seen, lowered. How could they be called? The words 'chelyadin', 'chelyadnik' pop up in my memory ...

Retreat 3
Who are the servants and servants?

According to "Materials for the dictionary Old Russian language according to written monuments ”I.I. Sreznevsky, ‘chelyadin, servant’ is translated from Old Russian as slaves, servants. The author of the "Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language" P.Ya. Chernykh points out that in modern Russian dialects, servants are children. Words with this root have a similar meaning in other Slavic languages: Bel. cheladz, Ukrainian servants, Bulgarian servants - offspring, family, children; s.-horv. chyad - family members, domestic. In Czech, celed has two meanings - servants, servants and family (biol.), in Polish czeladz - servants, household members. P.Ya. Chernykh believed that all these words go back to the common Slavic root cel-, he, in turn, to the Indo-European kyel- - crowd, flock, clan, and other Ind. kula-m - clan, family, generation, house, noble family. Most likely, the meaning of the common Slavic celjadъ was a house (in the sense of people who make up something united), a family. M. Vasmer drew parallels between other Ind. kula-m and irl. clan, clan - clan, clan.

Thus, the word ‘servants’ could have two meanings: slaves, servants; household. It is likely that in the Middle Ages these two meanings were close to each other. Subsequently, the word fell out of written (literary) speech, did not enter the category of commonly used words and gradually turned into a dialect. At the same time, both of its meanings have been preserved: household members; servants, workers. IN AND. Dal pointed out that in a number of places (in Voronezh, Saratov, Tambov provinces, that is, in the regions of late development, the borders of Russia in the 15th-16th centuries) ‘manservant’, along with the main meaning, could mean a Cossack, hireling, that is, the word also reflected the social status of a person, which was preserved in the people’s memory until the 19th century.

Judging by the document of 1662, the servants were a special category of the Siberian population: “And according to the Tobol (b) replies sent from Tobol (b) ska to Mangazeya, exile (s) Polish (s) and Lithuanian, and German people: 4 a person (e) for the gentry and 12 people (e) for the servants, and in Mangaz they were ordered by the Great Sovereigns to be in the service. ON THE. Tsomakion, the author of the “Dictionary of the language of the Mangazey monuments of the 17th – the first half of the 18th century”, analyzing the cases of the use of the word ‘chelyadnik’, doubts how to interpret it. She writes in the dictionary entry: “Servant? Household?

In the essay by I. Sokolovsky “Some sources of formation and number of “Lithuania” in Siberia in the 17th century.” (Novosibirsk, 2000) provides a number of information about the servants. From this article it follows that all the Siberian servants were brought from Russia and in one way or another connected with foreigners (this is also noted by N.A. Tsomakion). In 1656–1657 32 exiles were sent to Tomsk, ten of them were written separately in the case of exiles. In particular, it is indicated that these ten people are Lithuanian, the nobility. By royal decree in Tomsk they were turned into boyar children. With them were sent their servants, haiduks and "voit" with his son, a total of 18 people. Information about the servants is recorded as follows: “Mishka Lutzev’s servant of Vasily Korsakov, Grigory Snapkovsky servant of Bogdan Botviniev, Yuri Martynov servant of Timofey Gladkov.” Chelyadnikov, haidukov and voit were ordered to make up into mounted Cossacks. The servants are also mentioned in the salary books of Yeniseisk and Tomsk under 1661-1662. (the same time as in the document from Mangazeya, which mentions the servants!). At the same time, their number is limited - in Yeniseisk, 6 people were recorded as servants (1.2% of the total number of service people), in Tomsk - 2 people (it is impossible to calculate the percentage of all service people).

Actually, the “documentary” history of the servants in Siberia, known to us, ends here. In the XVIII century. after Peter's reforms, the structure of society becomes different, although it was established for a very long time, until the end of this century.

Most likely, the meaning of ‘servant’ of the word ‘servant’ in the 17th century in Siberia was replaced by ‘representative of a special social group population'. Over time, the form of the word also changed. ON THE. Tsomakion in documents of the 16th–17th centuries. finds only the form 'manservant'. I.I. Sreznevsky includes the form ‘chelyadin, chelyad’ in the dictionary. According to Dahl, the possible forms are 'cellar, servant and servant, servant, servant, servant'. In Siberia, not only the form of the word changed (chelady, chelad, cheleda, cheladitsa, cheladishki, cheladnya, etc.), but also its pronunciation.

The word ‘servants’ and derivatives from it are of a collective nature. But what word can be obtained if we assume that it became necessary to name one of the people belonging to the servants? Siberian dialect dictionaries testify to quite high performance formant -on, which gives meaning to singularity: vertebra - vertebra; rut - the distance that a plowman or mower travels before turning into reverse side, the length of the swath in one direction, the measure of the area; booze - a random, quickly organized drinking bout, etc.

There are also borrowed words that also end in -on: naragon - a winter hut, a hut away from the road, othon - the last child in the family, lankhon - an earthenware jug or cone-shaped pot, etc. All these words were recorded in Buryatia or the Chita region, that is, where the Russians have long interacted with the Buryats and Mongols. This form of words is explained by the peculiarities of word formation in the Buryat and Mongolian languages; the very ending -on for the inhabitants of the Baikal region was a sign of borrowed words. Therefore, it was in the Irkutsk province that the locals could mistake the word ‘cheldon’ for a borrowing from the Mongolian language.

Meanwhile, the formant -on is often used in Siberian dialects to form words that characterize people according to some signs: legon - couch potato (from lying down), chepuron - a man who pays a lot of attention to his appearance (from 'chepurate' - to dress up), restless - restless, restless person. The formant -on was also used in the formation of words denoting groups of Russian Siberians, for example, lapoton, a widespread name for peasants-new settlers in Siberia. Note that the Russian dialects of both the European part of Russia and Siberia also know the form ‘bast shoes’ – ‘one who walks in bast shoes; peasant, poor man. It is obvious that many of the above words, especially those denoting people, have a reduced stylistic coloring.

So, a single noun from a cheled, that is, one of them, could sound like a cheledon, from where, when the reduced [e] falls out, - cheldon. It is likely that the word ‘cheldon’ could have been formed not only in Siberia, but also wherever there was a need to nominate a representative of a special group that falls into the category of servants. In any case, it is known that the word ‘cheldon’ is still common in the Urals and the Urals. It is noteworthy that there are cheldons where there is a division of the population into groups according to the time of settlement. The meaning of the word ‘cheldon’ changed from the meaning ‘a representative of a special social group’ to the meaning ‘an old-timer, one of the people who have lived here for a long time’. Apparently, the popular name ‘cheldons’ was supported by the official ‘old peasants’, in any case, this category is indicated in documents IV (1782) and V (1795) of the revisions of the population not only in Siberia, but also in the Urals. By the beginning of the XIX century. the class system was streamlined, and the concept of ‘old peasants’ disappeared from the documents.

I believe that the word 'cheldon' was already outdated by the 19th century, its original meaning - 'representative of a special social group' - and the original form - 'cheledon' from the word 'servants' - were forgotten. Cheldons gradually began to be called Russian old-timers of Siberia. The old-timers themselves, one must think, treated themselves with respect, but those who came later could not appreciate them very highly. The word ‘cheldon’, which apparently had a stylistically reduced meaning before, turned into a nickname. The time has come for folk etymology; consonance gave rise to versions about the canoes and the Don. Most likely, consonance became the basis for another direction of folk etymologization of the word - a comparison of the words ‘cheldon’, on the one hand, and ‘chelpan, chulpan’ and the like, on the other.

According to the famous linguist A.E. Anikina, the Siberian word 'chulpan' (stupid, uneducated person) can go back to 'chelpan' - a separate hill, hill, hill, and also in Russian dialects of the Urals (Arkhangelsk, Vologda, Perm) - a burial mound. The convergence of the semantic pairs 'hill, hill' and 'man with a certain flaw, wonderful' can also be seen on the example of the pair 'boldyr' - hillock, hill, kurgan (Tobolsk) and 'boldyr' - mestizo (Sib., arch., orenb .). Another Siberian link: 'chunar' - an ignorant, illiterate person, the same as an eccentric and 'chunari' - a group of new settlers in Siberia, distinguished by its traditions.

Thus, according to the dictionary materials, a stable semantic link can be traced: a hill, a hillock - a non-Russian person, a non-Russian, a Chud - a stupid person, blockhead. In this case, one of the links in the chain may be missing. This regularity has already been noticed by folklorists who have studied the legends about Chud and searched for the primordial meanings of this word itself.

In the second half of the XX century. in the Kotlassky district of the Arkhangelsk region, a legend was recorded about ‘chaldans’ - small hills: “Burials were made there, the mountain was bulk. Memorabilia was kept in these pods. And then the word was turned into a chaldon. Chaldon is a man who remembers the old, but lives nothing else. This story explains the traditional name of chaldans - mounds with traces of man-made activity of ancient people. It is noteworthy that the concept of ‘chaldon’ is also interpreted in the story as ‘a person who remembers the old’. The story is also notable for the fact that it refers us to certain people who made burials in bulk mountains. Both the builders of the mounds and the mounds themselves are associated by local residents with the Chud, as in many Russian dialects they called a foreign people, non-Russians. Chud in Russian folklore is not so much an indication of representatives of a particular people, as it nominates strangers in general. The word ‘chud’ also has the meaning ‘odd, fool, strange person’. The lexemes ‘chud’ and derivatives from the root alien/chud- (chudki, chudki, eccentrics and other consonant words) are subject to powerful attraction. Eccentrics (fools, people with oddities) are attributed the properties of a chud and vice versa, the whole chud turns into fools. Based on this, we can conclude that chaldon in the sense of a blockhead, a fool is a late comprehension of the word, the result of comparing its sound with words ascending to the root alien/wonderful, which originally meant a stranger, maybe a foreigner.

Retreat 4 and the last
Are there cheldons now?

In 1998–2000 Participants of the Russian detachment of the ethnographic expedition of the Omsk State University conducted a survey of Russian Siberians, during which their ethnic identity was studied. According to a specially designed program, rural residents of the Omsk, Novosibirsk and Tyumen regions were interviewed. A total of 424 people from 43 settlements were interviewed. In the village of Rezino, Ust-Tarsky district, Novosibirsk region, all adult Russians were interviewed, which was facilitated, first of all, by the size of this settlement: about 200 people, a third of whom are Germans by nationality. In other settlements, we asked elderly people to answer the questions of the questionnaire, we often turned to those whom the locals considered the keepers of antiquity.

Among others, there were such questions: do Siberians differ from Russians in European Russia, and do Russian Siberians differ from each other in any way? Those who answered the questions, as a rule, noted that Siberians speak differently, they have more persistent character they are not afraid of frost. As a result, it turned out that 101 people (23.8% of respondents) consider all Russians to be the same, 177 people (41.7%) considered that Russian Siberians are different in some way, and 146 people answered that they did not know or did not think about it ( 34.5%). When discussing whether Russian Siberians are the same, 244 people (57.5%) said that they know different groups of Russians and named their features. 92 people (21.7%) answered that Russians in Siberia do not differ from each other. 88 respondents (20.7%) refrained from expressing any definite opinion.

The respondents most clearly answered the question about their ethnic background. 424 people named 31 groups, one of which included themselves. 112 people (26.4% of respondents) called themselves only Russians (“simply Russians”). Thus, 73.6% of people with multi-level ethnic self-consciousness turned out to be. Most often, the respondents identified themselves as Chaldons and Siberians. There were only 10 Kerzhakovs (2.4%). The total number of Russians according to the results of the survey is 12.5%. The older the people, the more often, naming their ethnic name, they appealed to the history of their family, the origin of their parents. Comparing the results of a survey of the entire group of respondents and people of 1940–1970. birth, we can note the increasing leveling of ethnic self-awareness:

Ethnic groups of respondents	Years of birth
	Abs. number	In % to abs. number	Abs. number	In % to abs. number
Only Russians
Siberians
Russian
Total	424	100	63	100

The survey showed that cheldons are a group of the Siberian population, to which people of different ages belong. A third of the respondents identified themselves as such. According to the results of this survey, there were even more Cheldons than "just Russians."

Respondents who participated in the survey expressed the opinion that residents of rural areas mainly know about cheldons. One of the women, who talked with the participants of the ethnographic expedition of the Omsk State University, said: “Cheldons live only in the village, as soon as they leave for the city, the Russians do it right away.” Categorically, of course, but in general reflects the current situation.

Today, the descendants of Siberian cheldons live throughout Russia and beyond its borders. A significant part of them have long been city dwellers, they know about their Cheldon roots by hearsay. Meanwhile, the memory of ancestors and their own Cheldon origin are very important for many. But they are implemented differently. P.E. Bardin back in the mid-1990s. wrote about the creation of the Narym Society of Chaldons, which, having changed its name somewhat, still exists. On the Internet forums, the topic of cheldons is actively discussed: the issues of their history and name, cultural characteristics, and much more are in the spotlight.

The State Song and Dance Ensemble "Chaldony" operates in Novosibirsk, which is very popular throughout Siberia and tours extensively in Russia and abroad. The ensemble was created in 1989. The name of the group, of course, is not accidental. As the artistic director of the group Svetlana Smolentseva says, the ensemble is named after a special group of Siberians - chaldons. They crossed the Urals along numerous rivers and streams on shuttles from the distant Don steppes and settled in the south and in the central part of Siberia. With them, the Cossacks brought "the culture of their Don ancestors, intertwined with the centuries-old history of the peoples inhabiting the Black Sea region, the North Caucasus and Eastern Ukraine." Therefore, samples of creativity were included in the repertoire of "Chaldonov" different peoples. This version is quite widely replicated, since it is mentioned in publications dedicated to the band, and there are many of them.

Obviously, there is a lack of scientific and popular science literature on cheldons. On the Internet you can find a few scientific materials, as well as journalistic and memoir articles that touch on this topic. Therefore, it is no coincidence that there is a lot of speculation around the history, culture, language of the Chaldoons.

For example, at the beginning of 2005, a discussion of the history of cheldons took place at the Omsk Forum. The discussion was not particularly long, but very heated. It was initiated by the user M_A_X, and the topic was opened in the section "Religion, mysticism, the unknown." In the first message, M_A_X wrote: “Does anyone know who the chaldons are? Modern history is silent on this matter or completely exhausts ... ". It became clear from what follows that M_A_X is familiar with the views of A.M. Maloletko, who believes that the cheldons are the descendants of the pre-Yermakov Russian settlers in Siberia. In addition, in the family of M_A_X, a legend is passed down from generation to generation that the cheldons fled to Siberia, having been defeated in an uprising against the royal power. “Hiding from the tsar’s wrath, they fled to Siberia under a false name and for a long time hid in the taiga in the Bolsheukovsky district Omsk region. And only in 1962 did she find them Soviet authority, moving to a promising village.

M_A_X’s conviction that “history is silent about this, since there is an official history template according to which Siberia was settled after Yermak” is so strong in M_A_X that the participants in the discussion who express more “standard” versions of the origin of chaldons caused him deep irritation. “... there is no need to shove official nonsense, I know this well even without you. It’s better to ask relatives, maybe someone in the family has some information left. Stop being Ivans who do not remember kinship.

One could not quote this discussion, but the view that scientists, at best, hide information or do not own it at all, is strong in certain circles. By and large, the ignorance of many people, combined with an active lifestyle, creates a "nuclear mixture". The most active, based on this, build their life strategies. Again, this is easier to do online. I was amused for a long time by the Siberian Volgota network project, but lately, as passions have been whipped up around it, thoughts have begun to appear that nationalism cannot be funny.

The Siberian Volgota project arose at the beginning of 2005 and was first associated with the names of Dmitry Verkhoturov and samir74 (it is believed on the Internet that this is a pseudonym for Yaroslav Zolotarev). D. Verkhoturov romantically reports that the movement grew out of the studies of Y. Zolotarev, who studied "Siberian old-timer dialects." As a result, it was concluded that the differences between the Siberian dialect and the Russian literary language are so strong that “with relatively little processing, the Siberian dialect can grow into a literary language and be reborn as a language everyday communication, literature, science, business turnover”. A summary dictionary and grammar of the Siberian language have already been compiled, the first translations have been made literary texts into Siberian. All these materials are available on the Internet on the website of the Siberian Volgota.

A noisy and long discussion about the possibility of reviving the Siberian language swept through the pages of the Russian-language Internet. According to D. Verkhoturov, the opponents especially often used the argument that the supporters of the revival of the Siberian language are going to destroy Russia. The project itself, meanwhile, became politicized and acquired the features of a nationalist movement. Verkhoturov and samir74 quarreled, the united movement fell apart. The group, in which samir74 participates, posted on the Internet the “Manifesto of the Siberian Volgota Movement” and is working on organizing the First Khural of the Siberian Volgota in the summer of 2006 (according to Y. Zolotarev, in the Siberian language up to 20% of “Turkic and Mongolian” words, hence , apparently, and the name of the planned forum).

Political games are terribly far from the history and culture of the cheldons, but it is precisely this ethnonym that the “freemen” hide behind. In the manifesto of the movement, drawn up as an official document, the words are used, albeit illiterate, but neutral: “the old-timer people of Siberia”, “Siberian Slavic ethnic group”, “Siberians of all old-timer peoples”. In the conversations that freemen, without hiding, conduct on the forums, the vocabulary is already different. Discussing the program of the movement, samir74 writes in the forum: “... I presented my task simply:
1) it is necessary to inspire the chaldons that they are a separate people;
2) all the Siberian Slavs and mestizos must be chastised, except for the Ukrainians and Belarusians, who already have their own nations;
3) whoever doesn’t go crazy should be thrown out of Siberia.”

Like this! But, tell me, what do those people who consider themselves cheldons have to do with it? Or are they developing a culture of cheldons? Or even those who are trying to solve the riddle of chaldons?

How bizarrely everything is interconnected in history! The Chaldons proved their rights to the land, and one of the evidence was their name - it contained the "right of antiquity." Their numerous descendants do not claim to be exclusive, do not oppose themselves to other Siberians, and, of course, do not raise the question of “chalking”. They honor the memory and try to preserve the culture of their ancestors, with whom, among other things, they are connected by the name - "cheldons". Very few descendants of cheldons, numbering no more than a hundred, prove their superiority in Siberia. Their right of antiquity is a name that they sincerely consider to be purely Siberian. This is how an intangible object - an ethnonym - has been at the center of property and ideological debates for several centuries.

Cheldons are people who, having come from Muscovy or Pomeranian cities, have learned to exist and even flourish in these conditions; the people who arranged Siberia made it our homeland. The cheldons cannot be a banner that is raised to assert the superiority of some over others. On the contrary, cheldons are an example of tolerance and the ability to build relationships with different people: with indigenous Siberian peoples and Cossacks, with visitors who constantly arrived in Siberia, for different purposes and for different purposes. different term. The order and peace in the house depends on the owners. All Siberian old-timers - non-Russians and Russians, Cossacks and cheldons - coped with this historical task. Thank you for Siberia, which has become the homeland for millions of Russians!

References

Bardina P.E. Life of Russian Siberians of the Tomsk Territory. - Tomsk, 1995. - 224 p.

Zhigunova M.A. Ethnocultural processes and contacts among Russians in the Middle Irtysh region in the second half of the 20th century. - Omsk, 2004. - 228 p.

Zverev V.A., Kuznetsova F.S. History of Siberia: Reader on the history of Siberia. Part I: XVII - early XX centuries. - Novosibirsk, 2003. - 296 p.

Maloletko A.M. The first Russian colony in Siberia // Historical experience of economic and cultural development Western Siberia. - Baranul, 2003. - S. 84-90.

Russians in the Omsk Irtysh region (XVIII-XX centuries): Historical and ethnographic essays. - Omsk, 2002. - 236 p.

Russians. - M., 1999. - 828 p. - (Sir. "Peoples and Culture").

Tomilov N.A. Russians of the Lower Tom region ( late XIX- first quarter of the 20th century). - Omsk, 2001. - 198 p.

Fursova E.F. Calendar customs and rituals of the East Slavic peoples Novosibirsk region as a result of interethnic interaction (late 19th–20th centuries). - Novosibirsk, 2002. - Part 1. Customs and rituals of the winter-spring cycle. – 288 p.

Fursova E.F. Traditional clothing of Russian old-timers of the Upper Ob region (late 19th - early 20th centuries). - Novosibirsk, 1997. - 152 p.

Shcheglova T.K. Russian population Altai Territory: Ethnocultural Diversity and Identity // Peoples of Eurasia: Ethnos, Ethnic Self-Consciousness, Ethnicity: Problems of Formation and Transformation. - Novosibirsk, 2005. - S. 111-124.

© M.L. Berezhnova, 2008

In everyday life, the indigenous (rural) population of Siberia had a clear idea of ​​who the chaldons were, which villages were chaldons, and who actually belonged to the chaldons. In contrast to later settlers, for example, fugitives, free settlers, exiles, convicts, serfs landlord peasants and rare Siberian settlers as a result of Stolypin's reforms.

Etymology

The word "cheldon" was first explained in 1866 in the dictionary of V. I. Dahl - vagabond, fugitive, vagrant, convict indicating a borrowing from the Mongolian language.

At present, the history of the origin of the word "chaldon" ("cheldon") is considered unclear and not related to borrowing from the Mongolian language.

The word "chaldon" is not a self-name of Russian old-timers. There are several different self-names of obscure origin among the native Russian Siberians: “Sarmyats” (possibly distorted “Sarmatians”), “Samarans”. The Sarmatians in the past lived in the region of Tobolsk and Ust-Ishim, the Samarans lived near Surgut. There are several hypotheses about the emergence of these self-names among Siberian old-timers: for example, the origin of the self-name “Sarmyats” may be associated with a certain craft of dressing skins (“Sarmyatism” as distorted from “rawhide”), with a nickname given by another people for some similarity with the neighboring people known to him in the past, as well as with the assimilation of one people with another close people while maintaining its self-name; the origin of the self-name "Samarans" may be associated with the place of residence before resettlement in Siberia. Life, traditions and beliefs of chaldons, their differences, on this moment not explored.

The time of the appearance of chaldons in Siberia according to modern scientific historical data is not precisely determined, according to the studies of some historians, many names of rivers and settlements in Siberia have Russian and Slavic roots long before the generally accepted conquest of Siberia by Yermak, and many words still used in everyday life by chaldons date back to the times until the 14th century. For example, outdated and still used by chaldons Slavic word"komoni" (horses), recorded in the "Word of Igor's Campaign" and "Zadonshchina", as well as other typically Slavic Siberian names of rivers and localities, fixed in some Siberian names long before the arrival of the Russian population there after 1587, traditionally cast doubt the accepted story of the appearance of chaldons in Siberia after its conquest by Yermak. Among the chaldons, there are still legends passed down from generation to generation about their life in Siberia before the arrival of Yermak, and the home way of the chaldons is rather typical of the times of the Slavs before the emergence of princely power - the times of the Slavic way of communal land ownership without a clearly defined centralized authority. Data related historical research At present, historians are seriously considering a rather controversial hypothesis about the Slavic origin of the chaldons from Siberian settlers of Aryan and Slavic origin before the Tatars and Mongol tribes came to Siberia.

Some modern Omsk historians put forward a rather dubious version of the origin of the word "chaldon" from the word "chelyad" (servant), which is refuted by the historical location of the Chaldon villages in Siberia, far from power centers, in hard-to-reach places where power management difficult.

Sometimes the word was used with a negative connotation. In this case, apparently, the mutual dislike between the "indigenous", that is, the cheldons, and the new settlers had an effect.

There is a hypothesis that the designation of chaldons came from settlers from the southern borders of Russia - residents who inhabited the area between the river Chalka and Don. Hence the designation - chaldons (chaldons).

"Don" in the Scythian-Sarmatian "River". "Man" - a status in the hierarchy of the Russian community. Accordingly, from the logic of the word formation of the name of the genus according to its specialization “man of the river”, which corresponds to the settlements on the banks of the rivers of the cheldons throughout Siberia. It is known that many settlers were from the Komi-Zyryan people.

In the Komi language there are words: "chal" - finger, and the word "don" - price. Maybe a chaldon is "the price of a finger"? There is also an expression in Russian conversation "not worth a finger", or "the price of his little finger", etc. When bidding, perhaps without knowing the language, the price of the goods was shown on the fingers. [ ]

Dialect and traditions

The speech of cheldons throughout Siberia is correct in comparison with other regional groups. Word "chaldon" traditionally pronounced in everyday speech through A in the Tobolsk and Ishim regions, and to the north (oddly enough - among the most "okay" Russian Siberians), "Choldon" through O and "cheldon" through E - in the Omsk region, in Bashkiria and in Kazakhstan, most often this pronunciation of the word "choldon" is found among Russian refugees from Kazakhstan (in the past, they settled in the Akmola region from the Tobolsk province). Native Russian Siberians pronounce this word with an accent on the second syllable. Pronunciation "cheldon" with an emphasis on the first syllable (cheldon) is characteristic of the Siberian Cossacks and their descendants, who settled Siberia after it turned into hard labor and escorted exiles and convicts to the Tobolsk province. The reason for the difference in the pronunciation of the word "chaldon" and "choldon" ("cheldon") on the basis of the territorial basis of the settlement of Russian Siberians has not yet been established.

In the Novosibirsk region, in the Suzunsky district in the forties of the XX century there were still Chaldoon and "Russian" villages with a mixed population. Each Chaldon family had a bucket samovar. Every Sunday they set it up and drank tea with the whole family in buckets. Therefore, the chaldons were teased with "Siberian water drinks" or "yellow-bellied". And why “yellow-bellied?” - “Because the chaldons drink tea until the navel turns yellow.”

“The incest of Russian Cossacks with the local population, of course, was. Cossack detachments moved to Siberia, probably without women (with the possible exception of chieftains). The Cossacks took wives from the local population.(See Ermak's Siberian Campaign)

Features

To the anthropometric features of the ethnic group chaldons include greater broadness than representatives of the ethnic group of Slavic peoples, a yellowish skin tone, Mongoloid narrow-eyedness in childhood, in old age, despite the characteristic Slavic ethnic features and difference from Mongoloid peoples:

"Not certainly in that way…. I (born and raised in Ukraine) in 1986 were taken around the village of Malyshanka, Golyshmanovsky district ... "yellow-bellied" it did not sound offensive - raising their T-shirt, everyone was glad that the area near the navel is really the darkest ... eyes are green, eyelids are lowered ... mother's father Cherepanov from " chaldons""

In behavioral terms, chaldons are characterized by slowness, conscientiousness, poor ability to memorize, stubbornness, good nature, independence, a tendency to disobey power and the priority of the public, the collective. In the past, chaldons in villages were identified according to the proverb: “The porch shines - chaldons live.”, That is, according to the distinctive features of their performance of any work due to the stubbornness and conscientiousness characteristic of the representatives of this ethnic group.

Demography

Currently, the chaldons are an endangered ethnic group that retains its isolation and traditions only in remote Siberian villages. However, throughout Russia you can meet people from Siberia who, when asked about their origin, will call themselves Cha (e) ldon.

The first Russians, according to classical views on history, came to Siberia with Yermak in the 16th century. However, the time of the appearance of chaldons in Siberia, according to modern scientific historical data, has not been precisely determined. According to the studies of some historians, many names of rivers and settlements in Siberia have Russian and Slavic roots long before the generally accepted conquest of Siberia by Yermak, and many words still used in everyday life by chaldons date back to before the 14th century.

For example, the outdated and still used by the Chaldons Slavic word "komoni" (horses), recorded in the "Tale of Igor's Campaign" and "Zadonshchina", as well as other typically Slavic Siberian names of rivers and localities, which were fixed in some Siberian names long before the arrival of there the Russian population after 1587, cast doubt on the traditionally accepted story of the appearance of chaldons in Siberia after its conquest by Yermak.

Among the chaldons there are still legends passed down from generation to generation about their life in Siberia before the arrival of Yermak, and the home way of the chaldons is rather typical of the times of the Slavs before the emergence of princely power - the times of the Slavic way of communal land ownership without a clearly defined centralized authority . In connection with these historical studies, historians are now seriously considering the hypothesis of the Slavic origin of the chaldons from Siberian settlers of Aryan and Slavic origin before the arrival of the Turks and Mongoloid tribes in Siberia.

Which is not surprising, since the annals record the appearance of the Vyatka-Novgorod ushkuiniks on the Ob in 1363, under the command of the governor Alexander Abakunovich and Stepan Lyapa. From here, their descendants mastered Siberia long before Yermak. What attracted Russians to Siberia? First of all, fur-bearing junk, which in those days was worth its weight in gold. Living in Siberia was comfortable, the enemies were located far away, and the taiga provided everything necessary for life. Recall that serfdom never existed in Siberia.

Over time, after the campaigns of Yermak and the population of Siberia, first Russian Cossacks, and then settlers, native Russians of Siberia, old-timers began to be called chaldons, and self-propelled settlers from all regions of Russia. Chaldons themselves deduce their self-name as between Chalka and Don. “A man from the Don” in Siberia is usually called any representative of the Cossack class, “free people”; and “people from the Chaly River” were figuratively called convicts, exiles and robbers, who were also referred to as “free people”, that is, people who were not inclined to obey the authorities. Hence the prison expression to scowl, i.e. sit in limbo. There is a rational grain in this, the native chaldons were constantly replenished by fugitive and former convicts, who remained free people in their souls, in contrast to the "serfs" - "self-propelled guns". And the Chaldon free traditions of the Ushkuinists and the Cossacks found complete acceptance and understanding among the fugitives.

Chaldons - with their own codes of life, with love for the will and their unwritten laws. Chaldons have many traditions that are specific to them.

Before the “self-propelled vehicles” from “Raseya” arrived in Siberia, chaldons erected houses in Siberia that somewhat resemble bulk dugouts and dugouts dug into the ground, which, if necessary, could be easily and quickly built when relocating the chaldons to a new place or to hunting and fishing areas. At present, all hunters and fishermen, including the Siberian Tatars, have adopted the habit of building such “hunting houses” in hunting and fishing areas, in which it is customary to leave matches, small supplies of food, clothing, and primitive utensils for other hunters and fishermen. Chaldons, in contrast to self-propelled farmers, were mainly hunters, fishermen and fishermen. One more feature chaldons is a large Siberian "chaldon hut", consisting of two parts combined into one house and resembling an "accordion", with a women's kitchen located on the right near the entrance behind the entrance hall and a "deity" in the far, left from the entrance, "red" corner of the hut. The emergence of the tradition of building a large log cabin hut is associated with the arrival in Siberia of Yermak and new Russian settlers, from whom the chaldons adopted log cabins and wooden huts.

An unusual feature of the Chaldoon traditions is the currently rarely observed taboo prohibition of a man entering “the female half” of the hut, including the kitchen, when a man is not allowed to touch anything in the kitchen, “so as not to desecrate”: a man does not have the right to take even mug to drink water. Which, generally speaking, is very inconvenient: if you want to drink, you have to wait for one of the women to pour and serve you water, so they often put a tank of water and a ladle near the kitchen so that a man without a woman can drink.

The right to prepare food, medicinal decoctions, washing dishes and tidying up in the kitchen Siberian chaldons only a woman has, therefore, in order to prevent a man from entering the kitchen, a woman is obliged to feed and drink the man who has come, give him water if he is thirsty. Any man who tries to enter the kitchen will be immediately scolded by women. In turn, a woman should not use “male tools” and go to the household “male half”, usually into a shed with tools: pick up a scythe, a hammer. Thus, despite the “equality” of men and women, when it is not considered reprehensible if girls run along with the boys to fish in the river and graze cattle, and women go hunting, the Chaldon traditions include the distribution of female and male family responsibilities by gender.

In the religious tradition of the Chaldons, there was dual faith, a combination of Christianity with paganism, partly introduced by the Ushkuyns, partly borrowed from the indigenous peoples of Siberia. In everyday life, the “red corner” with icons among the native Russian Siberians is often called the “goddess” - as a relic of Slavic times and the times of “dualism”, when figurines of “gods” stood in the red corner. Dropping an icon is still considered a bad omen - "God will be offended." After the establishment of the power of the Russian tsar in Siberia, pagan chaldons were subject to a double tribute until they converted to Christianity, however, like the Orthodox Christians of the Old Believers (“Kerzhaks”).

Anthropologically and genetically, chaldons are, on the one hand, arithmetic mean Russians, a consequence of a long intermingling of native and fugitive convicts, Cossacks from different Russian lands, etc. However, on the other hand, the way of life of the chaldons suggests their miscegenation with local tribes, although not as significant as it may seem to people who are far from the realities of Siberia. Nevertheless, in many modern chaldons, most likely, the roots of the traditional ethnic groups of Siberia are also found in the maternal genes. However, unfortunately, at present there are no studies of the genetics of the Russian indigenous populations of Siberia.

Well, finally. The stereotype of the Siberian is well-known and very well manifested in the Russian actor Yegor Poznenko. In principle, this is what native Russian Siberians look like.

- vagabond, fugitive, vagrant, convict indicating a borrowing from the Mongolian language.

At present, the history of the origin of the word "chaldon" ("cheldon") is considered unclear and not related to borrowing from the Mongolian language.

The word "chaldon" is not a self-name of Russian old-timers. There are several different self-names of obscure origin among the native Russian Siberians: “Sarmyats” (possibly distorted “Sarmatians”), “Samarans”. The Sarmatians in the past lived in the region of Tobolsk and Ust-Ishim, the Samarans lived near Surgut. There are several hypotheses about the emergence of these self-names among Siberian old-timers: for example, the origin of the self-name “Sarmyats” may be associated with a certain craft of dressing skins (“Sarmyatism” as distorted from “rawhide”), with a nickname given by another people for some similarity with the neighboring people known to him in the past, as well as with the assimilation of one people with another close people while maintaining its self-name; the origin of the self-name "Samarans" may be associated with the place of residence before resettlement in Siberia. Life, traditions and beliefs of chaldons, their differences, have not been studied at the moment.

The time of the appearance of chaldons in Siberia according to modern scientific historical data is not precisely determined, according to the studies of some historians, many names of rivers and settlements in Siberia have Russian and Slavic roots long before the generally accepted conquest of Siberia by Yermak, and many words still used in everyday life by chaldons date back to the times until the 14th century. For example, the obsolete and still used Slavic word "komoni" (horses) by the Chaldons, recorded in the "Tale of Igor's Campaign" and "Zadonshchina", as well as other typically Slavic Siberian names of rivers and localities, which were fixed in some Siberian names long before the arrival of there the Russian population after 1587, cast doubt on the traditionally accepted story of the appearance of chaldons in Siberia after its conquest by Yermak. Among the chaldons, there are still legends passed down from generation to generation about their life in Siberia before the arrival of Yermak, and the home way of the chaldons is rather typical of the times of the Slavs before the emergence of princely power - the times of the Slavic way of communal land ownership without a clearly defined centralized authority. In connection with these historical studies, historians are now seriously considering a rather controversial hypothesis about the Slavic origin of the chaldons from Siberian settlers of Aryan and Slavic origin before the Tatars and Mongol tribes came to Siberia.

Some modern Omsk historians put forward a rather dubious version of the origin of the word "chaldon" from the word "chelyad" (servant), which is refuted by the historical location of the chaldon villages in Siberia, far from power centers, in hard-to-reach places where power management is difficult.

Sometimes the word was used with a negative connotation. In this case, apparently, the mutual dislike between the "indigenous", that is, the cheldons, and the new settlers had an effect.

There is a hypothesis that the designation of chaldons came from settlers from the southern borders of Russia - residents who inhabited the area between the river Chalka and Don. Hence the designation - chaldons (chaldons).

"Don" in the Scythian-Sarmatian "River". "Man" - a status in the hierarchy of the Russian community. Accordingly, from the logic of the word formation of the name of the genus according to its specialization “man of the river”, which corresponds to the settlements on the banks of the rivers of the cheldons throughout Siberia. It is known that many settlers were from the Komi-Zyryan people.

Dialect and traditions

The speech of cheldons throughout Siberia is correct in comparison with other regional groups. Word "chaldon" traditionally pronounced in everyday speech through A in the Tobolsk and Ishim regions, and to the north (oddly enough - among the most "round" Russian Siberians), "Choldon" through O and "cheldon" through E - in the Omsk region, in Bashkiria and in Kazakhstan, most often this pronunciation of the word "choldon" is found among Russian refugees from Kazakhstan (in the past, they settled in the Akmola region from the Tobolsk province). Native Russian Siberians pronounce this word with an accent on the second syllable. Pronunciation "cheldon" with an emphasis on the first syllable (cheldon) is characteristic of the Siberian Cossacks and their descendants, who settled Siberia after it turned into hard labor and escorted exiles and convicts to the Tobolsk province. The reason for the difference in the pronunciation of the word "chaldon" and "choldon" ("cheldon") on the basis of the territorial basis of the settlement of Russian Siberians has not yet been established.

At present, based on anthropometric data that distinguish Siberian peoples as having both Caucasoid and Mongoloid features, and belonging of the Samoyed languages, together with the Finno-Ugric language group, to the Ural language family, scientists, supporters of the theory of the Soviet scientist G. N. Prokofiev, put forward a version of the emergence of Samoyeds as a small race as a result of crossing the local indigenous population of aborigines -Caucasoids who inhabited the North from ancient times with the newcomer Mongoloids, as a result of which the Nenets, Nganasans, Enets, Selkups arose, Siberian Tatars; in connection with which the chaldons may be the remains of Siberian aboriginal Caucasians, however, this version does not yet have sufficient evidence and is controversial.

Opinions and myths of Siberians regarding chaldons and the origin of the word "chaldon" also differ:

“According to my great-grandmother Ermakova Matrena, who was from the chaldons and lived in Urman in the north of the Omsk region, in the Tara district, they were called chaldons because they rode (walked) from the mouth of the Don River. And her ancestors came from the Don to Siberia in the second half of the sixteenth century, fleeing from church reforms, because they were Old Believers. I tend to believe her. You do not lie to your children, descendants about the origin of your family?”(See Kerzhaki)

In the Novosibirsk region, in the Suzunsky district in the forties of the XX century there were still Chaldoon and "Russian" villages with a mixed population. Each Chaldon family had a bucket samovar. Every Sunday they set it up and drank tea with the whole family in buckets. Therefore, the chaldons were teased with "Siberian water drinks" or "yellow-bellied". And why “yellow-bellied?” - “Because the chaldons drink tea until the navel turns yellow.”

“The incest of Russian Cossacks with the local population, of course, was. Cossack detachments moved to Siberia, probably without women (with the possible exception of chieftains). The Cossacks took wives from the local population.(See Ermak's Siberian Campaign)

Features

To the anthropometric features of the ethnic group chaldons include greater broadness than representatives of the ethnic group of Slavic peoples, a yellowish skin tone, Mongoloid narrow-eyedness in childhood, in old age, despite the characteristic Slavic ethnic features and difference from Mongoloid peoples:

"Not certainly in that way…. I (born and raised in Ukraine) in 1986 were taken around the village of Malyshanka, Golyshmanovsky district ... "yellow-bellied" it did not sound offensive - raising their T-shirt, everyone was glad that the area near the navel is really the darkest ... eyes are green, eyelids are lowered ... mother's father Cherepanov from " chaldons""

In behavioral terms, chaldons are characterized by slowness, conscientiousness, poor ability to memorize, stubbornness, good nature, independence, a tendency to disobey power and the priority of the public, the collective. In the past, chaldons in villages were identified according to the proverb: “The porch shines - chaldons live.”, That is, according to the distinctive features of their performance of any work due to the stubbornness and conscientiousness characteristic of the representatives of this ethnic group.

Demography

Currently, the chaldons are an endangered ethnic group, retaining their isolation and traditions only in remote Siberian villages. However, throughout Russia you can meet people from Siberia who, when asked about their origin, will call themselves Cha (e) ldon.

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Notes

An excerpt characterizing the Chaldons

“You said, Mr. Staff Officer,” the colonel continued in an offended tone ...
“Colonel,” the officer of the retinue interrupted, “we must hurry, otherwise the enemy will move the guns to a canister shot.
The colonel silently looked at the officer of the retinue, at the fat officer's staff, at Zherkov, and frowned.
“I’ll light the bridge,” he said in a solemn tone, as if expressing by this that, despite all the troubles that were done to him, he would still do what he had to.
Having struck the horse with his long muscular legs, as if it was to blame for everything, the colonel moved forward to the 2nd squadron, the same one in which Rostov served under the command of Denisov, ordered to return back to the bridge.
“Well, it’s true,” thought Rostov, “he wants to test me! His heart sank and blood rushed to his face. "Let him see if I'm a coward," he thought.
Again, on all the cheerful faces of the people of the squadron, there appeared that serious feature that had been on them while they were standing under the cannonballs. Rostov, without taking his eyes off, looked at his enemy, the regimental commander, wanting to find confirmation of his guesses on his face; but the colonel never looked at Rostov, but looked, as always at the front, sternly and solemnly. The command was heard.
- Live! Alive! Several voices spoke around him.
Clinging to the reins with their sabers, rattling their spurs and hurrying, the hussars dismounted, not knowing themselves what they would do. The hussars were baptized. Rostov no longer looked at the regimental commander - he had no time. He was afraid, with bated breath he was afraid that he would not fall behind the hussars. His hand trembled as he handed the horse to the groom, and he felt the blood rush to his heart with a thud. Denisov, leaning back and shouting something, drove past him. Rostov saw nothing, except for the hussars running around him, clinging to their spurs and jangling their sabers.
- Stretchers! shouted a voice from behind.
Rostov did not think about what the demand for a stretcher meant: he ran, trying only to be ahead of everyone; but at the very bridge, without looking under his feet, he fell into the viscous, trampled mud and, stumbling, fell on his hands. He was run over by others.
“On both sides, captain,” he heard the voice of the regimental commander, who, riding ahead, stood on horseback not far from the bridge with a triumphant and cheerful face.
Rostov, wiping his soiled hands on his trousers, looked back at his enemy and wanted to run further, believing that the farther he went forward, the better. But Bogdanich, although he did not look and did not recognize Rostov, shouted at him:
- Who is running in the middle of the bridge? On the right side! Juncker back! he shouted angrily and turned to Denisov, who, flaunting his courage, rode on horseback onto the boards of the bridge.
- Why take risks, captain! You should get down,” said the Colonel.
- E! he will find the culprit, ”Vaska Denisov answered, turning in his saddle.

Meanwhile, Nesvitsky, Zherkov and the officer of the retinue stood together outside the shots and looked either at this small group of people in yellow shakos, dark green jackets embroidered with cords, and blue trousers, swarming near the bridge, then at the other side, at the blue hoods and groups approaching in the distance with horses that could easily be recognized as tools.
Will the bridge be set on fire or not? Who before? Will they run up and set fire to the bridge, or will the French ride up on a canister shot and kill them? These questions, with bated breath, were involuntarily asked by each of the large number of troops who stood over the bridge and, in the bright evening light, looked at the bridge and the hussars and at the other side, at the moving blue hoods with bayonets and guns.
- Oh! get the hussars! - said Nesvitsky, - no further than a canister shot now.
“In vain did he lead so many people,” said the retinue officer.
"Indeed," said Nesvitsky. - Here they would send two good fellows, all the same.
“Ah, your excellency,” Zherkov intervened, not taking his eyes off the hussars, but all with his naive manner, because of which it was impossible to guess whether what he was saying was serious or not. - Oh, your Excellency! How do you judge! Send two people, but who will give us Vladimir with a bow? And so, even if they beat you, you can imagine a squadron and get a bow yourself. Our Bogdanich knows the rules.
- Well, - said the officer of the retinue, - this is buckshot!
He pointed to the French guns, which were being removed from their limbers and hurriedly drove off.
On the French side, in those groups where there were guns, smoke appeared, another, a third, almost at the same time, and at the moment the sound of the first shot reached, a fourth appeared. Two sounds, one after the other, and a third.
- Oh, oh! gasped Nesvitsky, as if from burning pain, grabbing the arm of the retinue officer. - Look, one fell, fell, fell!
Two, I think?
“If I were a tsar, I would never fight,” said Nesvitsky, turning away.
The French guns were again hastily loaded. Infantry in blue hoods moved to the bridge at a run. Again, but at different intervals, smoke appeared, and grapeshot crackled and crackled across the bridge. But this time Nesvitsky could not see what was being done on the bridge. Thick smoke rose from the bridge. The hussars managed to set fire to the bridge, and the French batteries fired at them, no longer to interfere, but to ensure that the guns were pointed and there was someone to shoot at.
- The French managed to make three shots of grape shots before the hussars returned to the grooms. Two volleys were fired incorrectly, and the buckshot suffered all, but the last shoot fell into the middle of a bunch of hussars and knocked down three.
Rostov, preoccupied with his relationship with Bogdanych, stopped on the bridge, not knowing what to do. There was no one to chop (as he always imagined a battle), and he also could not help in lighting the bridge, because he did not take with him, like other soldiers, a bundle of straw. He stood and looked around, when suddenly there was a crackling sound on the bridge like scattered nuts, and one of the hussars, who was closest to him, fell with a groan on the railing. Rostov ran to him along with the others. Again someone shouted: "Stretcher!". The hussar was picked up by four people and began to lift.
- Oooh! ... Drop it, for Christ's sake, - the wounded man shouted; but they still picked it up and laid it down.
Nikolai Rostov turned away and, as if looking for something, began to look at the distance, at the water of the Danube, at the sky, at the sun. How beautiful the sky looked, how blue, calm and deep! How bright and solemn the setting sun! How softly and glossy the water shone in the distant Danube! And even better were the distant mountains blue beyond the Danube, the monastery, the mysterious gorges, flooded to the tops with fog. pine forests... it’s quiet, happy there ... “Nothing, I wouldn’t want anything, I wouldn’t want anything, if only I were there,” thought Rostov. “There is so much happiness in me alone and in this sun, and here ... groans, suffering, fear, and this vagueness, this haste ... Here they are again shouting something, and again everyone ran somewhere back, and I run with them, and here she is.” , here it is, death, above me, around me ... A moment - and I will never see this sun, this water, this gorge again ”...
At that moment the sun began to hide behind the clouds; ahead of Rostov other stretchers appeared. And the fear of death and the stretcher, and the love of the sun and life - all merged into one painfully disturbing impression.
“Oh my God! He Who is there in this sky, save, forgive and protect me!” Rostov whispered to himself.
The hussars ran up to the grooms, the voices became louder and calmer, the stretcher disappeared from sight.
- What, bg "at, sniffed pog" oh? ... - the voice of Vaska Denisov shouted over his ear.
“It's all over; but I'm a coward, yes, I'm a coward," thought Rostov, and, sighing heavily, he took from the hands of the horseman his Grachik, who had put aside his leg, and began to sit down.
- What was it, buckshot? he asked Denisov.
- Yes, what a! shouted Denisov. - Well done g "worked! And g" work skveg "naya! Attack is a kind deed, g" kill in the dog, and here, chog "does not know what, they hit like a target.
And Denisov rode off to a group that had stopped not far from Rostov: the regimental commander, Nesvitsky, Zherkov and an officer of the retinue.
"However, no one seems to have noticed," Rostov thought to himself. And indeed, no one noticed anything, because everyone was familiar with the feeling that an unfired junker experienced for the first time.
- Here's a report for you, - said Zherkov, - you look, and they will make me a second lieutenant.
“Report to the prince that I lit the bridge,” the colonel said solemnly and cheerfully.
- And if they ask about the loss?
- A trifle! - the colonel boomed, - two hussars were wounded, and one on the spot, - he said with visible joy, unable to resist a happy smile, loudly chopping off a beautiful word on the spot.

Pursued by a hundred thousandth French army under the command of Bonaparte, met by hostile inhabitants, no longer trusting their allies, lacking food and forced to act outside all foreseeable conditions of war, the Russian army of thirty-five thousand, under the command of Kutuzov, hastily retreated down the Danube, stopping where it had been overtaken by the enemy, and fighting back with rearguard affairs, only as much as was necessary in order to retreat without losing burdens. There were cases under Lambach, Amstetten and Melk; but, despite the courage and steadfastness, recognized by the enemy himself, with which the Russians fought, the consequence of these deeds was only an even faster retreat. The Austrian troops, who had escaped capture at Ulm and joined Kutuzov at Braunau, now separated from the Russian army, and Kutuzov was left only to his weak, exhausted forces. It was impossible to think of defending Vienna any longer. Instead of an offensive, deeply thought-out, according to the laws of the new science - strategy, war, the plan of which was transferred to Kutuzov when he was in Vienna as an Austrian gofkriegsrat, the only, almost unattainable goal that now seemed to Kutuzov was that, without destroying the army like Mack under Ulm, to connect with the troops marching from Russia.
On October 28, Kutuzov with an army crossed to the left bank of the Danube and stopped for the first time, putting the Danube between himself and the main French forces. On the 30th, he attacked Mortier's division on the left bank of the Danube and defeated it. In this case, trophies were taken for the first time: a banner, guns and two enemy generals. For the first time after a two-week retreat, the Russian troops stopped and, after a struggle, not only held the battlefield, but drove the French away. Despite the fact that the troops were undressed, exhausted, one-third weakened backward, wounded, killed and sick; despite the fact that on the other side of the Danube the sick and wounded were left with a letter from Kutuzov entrusting them to the philanthropy of the enemy; despite the fact that the large hospitals and houses in Krems, converted into infirmaries, could no longer accommodate all the sick and wounded, despite all this, the stop at Krems and the victory over Mortier significantly raised the spirit of the troops. The most joyful, though unfair, rumors circulated throughout the army and in the main apartment about the imaginary approach of columns from Russia, about some kind of victory won by the Austrians, and about the retreat of the frightened Bonaparte.
Prince Andrei was during the battle with the Austrian general Schmitt, who was killed in this case. A horse was wounded under him, and he himself was slightly scratched in the arm by a bullet. As a sign of the special favor of the commander in chief, he was sent with the news of this victory to Austrian court, which was no longer in Vienna, which was threatened by French troops, but in Brunn. On the night of the battle, excited, but not tired (despite his seemingly slight build, Prince Andrei could endure physical fatigue much better than the strongest people), arriving on horseback with a report from Dokhturov to Krems to Kutuzov, Prince Andrei was sent that same night courier to Brunn. Departure by courier, in addition to awards, meant an important step towards promotion.
The night was dark and starry; the road was blackened between the whitening snow that had fallen the day before, on the day of the battle. Either sorting through the impressions of the past battle, or joyfully imagining the impression that he would make with the news of the victory, recalling the farewell to the commander-in-chief and comrades, Prince Andrei galloped in the mail cart, experiencing the feeling of a man who had been waiting for a long time and, finally, reached the beginning of the desired happiness. As soon as he closed his eyes, the firing of guns and guns was heard in his ears, which merged with the sound of wheels and the impression of victory. Now he began to imagine that the Russians were fleeing, that he himself had been killed; but he hurriedly woke up, with happiness, as if again learning that none of this had happened, and that, on the contrary, the French had fled. He again recalled all the details of the victory, his calm courage during the battle, and, having calmed down, dozed off ... After a dark starry night, a bright, cheerful morning came. The snow was melting in the sun, the horses were galloping fast, and indifferently to the right and to the left, new diverse forests, fields, villages passed.
At one of the stations, he overtook a convoy of Russian wounded. The Russian officer who was driving the transport, lounging on the front cart, shouted something, scolding the soldier with rude words. Six or more pale, bandaged and dirty wounded were shaking along the rocky road in long German bows. Some of them spoke (he heard the Russian dialect), others ate bread, the heaviest in silence, with meek and sickly childish concern, looked at their courier galloping past.
Prince Andrei ordered to stop and asked the soldier in what case they were wounded. “The day before yesterday on the Danube,” answered the soldier. Prince Andrei took out a purse and gave the soldier three gold coins.
“All of them,” he added, addressing the approaching officer. - Get well, guys, - he turned to the soldiers, - there is still a lot to do.
- What, adjutant, what news? the officer asked, apparently wanting to talk.
- Good ones! Forward, - he shouted to the driver and galloped on.
It was already completely dark when Prince Andrei drove into Brunn and saw himself surrounded by tall houses, the lights of shops, windows of houses and lanterns, beautiful carriages rustling along the pavement and all that atmosphere of a big busy city, which is always so attractive for a military man after the camp. Prince Andrei, despite the fast ride and sleepless night, approaching the palace, felt even more animated than the day before. Only the eyes shone with a feverish brilliance, and thoughts changed with extreme rapidity and clarity. All the details of the battle were vividly presented to him again, no longer vaguely, but definitely, in summary, which he did in his imagination to Emperor Franz. He vividly presented himself with random questions that could be made to him, and the answers that he would make to them. He believed that he would immediately be presented to the emperor. But at the large entrance of the palace an official ran out to him and, recognizing him as a courier, escorted him to another entrance.
– From the corridor to the right; there, Euer Hochgeboren, [Your Honor,] ​​you will find the adjutant's wing on duty, - the official told him. “He takes him to the Minister of War.
The adjutant on duty, who met Prince Andrei, asked him to wait and went to the Minister of War. Five minutes later the adjutant wing returned and, leaning especially politely and letting Prince Andrei go ahead of him, led him through the corridor to the office where the minister of war was studying. The aide-de-camp wing, by his refined courtesy, seemed to want to protect himself from the Russian adjutant's attempts at familiarity. The joyful feeling of Prince Andrei weakened significantly when he approached the door of the office of the Minister of War. He felt insulted, and the feeling of insult passed at the same instant, imperceptibly for him, into a feeling of contempt based on nothing. A resourceful mind at the same instant suggested to him the point of view from which he had the right to despise both the adjutant and the minister of war. “It must be very easy for them to win victories without smelling gunpowder!” he thought. His eyes narrowed contemptuously; he entered the office of the Minister of War with particular slowness. This feeling was even more intensified when he saw the Minister of War sitting over big table and the first two minutes did not pay attention to the newcomer. The Minister of War lowered his bald head with gray temples between two wax candles and read, marking the papers with a pencil. He finished reading without raising his head as the door opened and footsteps were heard.
“Take this and pass it on,” said the Minister of War to his adjutant, handing over the papers and not yet paying attention to the courier.
Prince Andrei felt that either of all the affairs that occupied the Minister of War, the actions of the Kutuzov army could least of all interest him, or the Russian courier had to be made to feel this. But I don't care, he thought. The Minister of War moved the rest of the papers, smoothed their edges with edges, and raised his head. He had an intelligent and characteristic head. But at the same moment he turned to Prince Andrei, the intelligent and firm expression on the face of the Minister of War, apparently, habitually and consciously changed: on his face there was a stupid, feigned, not hiding his pretense, smile of a man who receives many petitioners one after another .
- From General Field Marshal Kutuzov? - he asked. “Good news, I hope?” Was there a collision with Mortier? Victory? It's time!
He took the dispatch, which was in his name, and began to read it with a sad expression.
- Oh my god! My God! Schmit! he said in German. What a misfortune, what a misfortune!
Having run through the dispatch, he laid it on the table and looked at Prince Andrei, apparently thinking something.
- Oh, what a misfortune! Deal, you say, decisive? Mortier is not taken, however. (He thought.) I am very glad that you brought good news, although the death of Schmitt is a dear price for victory. His Majesty will certainly wish to see you, but not today. Thank you, take a rest. Be at the exit after the parade tomorrow. However, I will let you know.
The stupid smile that had disappeared during the conversation reappeared on the face of the Minister of War.
- Goodbye, thank you very much. Sovereign Emperor will probably wish to see you,” he repeated and bowed his head.
When Prince Andrei left the palace, he felt that all the interest and happiness brought to him by victory had now been abandoned by him and transferred into the indifferent hands of the Minister of War and the courteous adjutant. His whole frame of mind instantly changed: the battle seemed to him a long-standing, distant memory.

Prince Andrei stayed in Brunn with his acquaintance, the Russian diplomat Bilibin.
“Ah, dear prince, there is no nicer guest,” said Bilibin, going out to meet Prince Andrei. “Franz, the prince’s things in my bedroom!” - he turned to the servant who saw off Bolkonsky. - What, the herald of victory? Perfectly. And I'm sick, as you can see.
Prince Andrei, having washed and dressed, went out into the luxurious office of the diplomat and sat down to the prepared dinner. Bilibin calmly sat down by the fireplace.

Habitat largely determines the features of home life, way of life and ways of managing the economy of people. The climate and natural conditions have a great influence on their life. In Siberia, for example, there is such a small people as the Chaldons. And although its representatives are descendants of Russian settlers, after the move, their customs and traditions began to noticeably differ from those observed by their ancestors. How did people from the European part of our country become chaldons?

Who are they?

Chaldons are the descendants of Russians who arrived in the vast Siberian territories during the period late XVI- XVII century. Currently, representatives of this small ethnic group live in remote villages. And their original culture needs to be preserved. For example, the State Song and Dance Ensemble "Chaldony" operates in Novosibirsk.

It is noteworthy that many representatives of this nation were pagans. The first Russian settlers in the red corners of their huts installed figurines of various gods. Then they massively adopted Christianity under the influence of an increased flow of migrants from Russia.

The gods were replaced by Orthodox icons, but certain remnants of pagan beliefs have been preserved among the first Russian settlers to this day. Perhaps because of constant communication with neighbors - the indigenous peoples of Siberia. Among the icons in the red corners of the Chaldoon huts, many researchers noticed small figurines of idols carved from the bones of various animals.

These people often opposed themselves to the Russians, who moved to Siberia much later than them. They eschewed exiles, convicts, fugitive peasants and other immigrants from European Russia, living their way of life that had been established for centuries.

Strange word "chaldon"

The etymology of the word "chaldon" causes controversy among linguists to this day. The representatives of this nationality themselves name four main versions of the origin of the ethnonym:

• chaldon is a man from the Don;
• chaldons are people who arrived on canoes from the Don;
• chaldon is a man from the river, because the word "don" in translation from the Scythian-Sarmatian language means "river";
• chaldons are people from the area located between the river Chalka (Chala) and the Don.

All versions have the right to exist, especially since the Chaldoon villages really stand on the banks of the rivers.

Some linguists believe that the word "chaldon" has Mongolian origin: borrowed from some local Siberian dialect. For example, the famous philologist Vladimir Ivanovich Dal pointed to this in his explanatory dictionary living Great Russian language.

Other experts believe that the name of the people originated from the word "servants" (servants). They say they are the descendants of runaway serfs.

Origin of the people

The chaldons themselves are sure that they came to their lands earlier than the Cossacks of ataman Ermak Timofeevich (1532-1585), who is called the legendary conqueror of Siberia. Probably, some Russian settlers really migrated beyond the Urals and further to the east in the days of princely Russia. This is indicated way of life people who preserved the pagan faith of distant ancestors, although the influence of Cossack customs on the life and worldview of the chaldons cannot be denied.

Appearance of representatives given people little distinguishes them from the Russians. These are typical Caucasians, they have bright eyes. True, certain features of the indigenous peoples of Siberia in the form of chaldons still appear. It is no coincidence that later settlers ironically called these people "yellow-bellies."

The faces of typical representatives of this people are wider and darker than those of Russians. And their blue and green eyes are narrow in childhood, some Mongoloid features in their appearance appear in their mature years.

Neighbors consider chaldons to be stubborn people. They tend to be slow, conscientious and independent.

According to most scientists, the ethnogenesis of the Chaldons took place on the basis of Russian settlers (pagans and Old Believers), Cossacks of ataman Ermak Timofeevich, fugitive people from the Don and representatives of the indigenous peoples of Siberia.

Customs and traditions

Initially, chaldons were engaged in fishing, hunting and other crafts. It was they who first began to build small houses, the so-called zaimki. There, for random travelers, they left a small supply of provisions and matches so that they could rest and have a bite to eat on the way. Subsequently, the custom of equipping hunting lodges in the taiga was adopted from the chaldons by other peoples of Siberia.

Their unmarried girls wore white and red headscarves, and the women wore black ones with embroidery. It was considered unacceptable to appear in society without a headscarf. And if the hair is not yet braided, then this is already a shame.

It was customary for most peoples of Russia to seat guests in the most honorable places at the table, showing them special respect, but for chaldons, everything is not so. Even if the guest was the chief, his position was lower than that of the owner of the house and a respected member of the local community (neighbor). Probably, such a custom developed due to the rejection by the chaldons of later settlers from Russia, newcomers: convicts and vagrants, who were perceived by the native Siberians as guests on their land.

In general, chaldons live in communities, they are characterized by the priority of collective needs over the private needs of an individual.

One of the most distinctive features of this people is a rigid division of gender roles. A man does not even have the right to enter the female half of the hut, pick up kitchen utensils, so as not to “defile” them with his energy. The same applies to women. They cannot touch hammers, axes, scythes and other items related to male use.

Often, a water tank is installed near the kitchen so that the owner of the house can at least drink on his own. Obviously, this tradition has its origins in the customs of the Cossacks, who also clearly distinguish between household chores for men and women.

Siberian character

Chaldons always emphasize that they have never been serfs. Liberty and personal freedom are the cornerstone of their self-respect. They do not favor those who please the authorities. The saying "Chaldon does not break his hat" appeared for a reason.

If a representative of this people receives an instruction on work from a direct supervisor, then he is in no hurry to carry it out, so as not to humiliate his dignity. Therefore, the impression sometimes created that chaldons are lazy is erroneous.

These native Siberians are proud that they are primordially Russian, that is, the descendants of people who moved to free lands even before the reforms initiated by Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov (1629-1676), as a result of which Russia turned into Russia.