Chamalals or Chamalins belong to the Andean peoples and live in the Chechen Republic and Dagestan. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were 3438 Chamalals in the USSR, in 1967 - 4000 people. According to the 2010 census, only 24 residents of Russia identified themselves as Chamalals. 18 of them live in cities, and 6 live in rural settlements.
Religion and traditions
Chamalals are Sunni Muslims, that is, followers of the most numerous direction in Islam. Sunnis place special emphasis on following the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad (his actions and statements), on loyalty to tradition, on the participation of the community in choosing its head, the caliph. Among the Chamalians there are also those who preach Shafiism. To make a legal decision, the Shafiites use the Koran, the Sunnah of the Prophet Muhammad, the opinion of the companions of the Prophet Muhammad.
Some Chamalals believed in mountain spirits. The people practiced quackery, divination, rituals for calling rain and sun, and magic.
Crafts of the Chamalians
The Chamalals were traditionally engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding. They grew wheat, barley and corn. Horticulture, beekeeping, viticulture were developed. The people produced felt, weaved rugs, made copper utensils, wooden utensils. In our time, the Chamalals are also engaged in animal husbandry, agriculture and gardening (they grow apple trees, pears, plums, apricots).
traditional clothing
The clothes of the Chamalals differed little from the traditional clothes of other Caucasian peoples. Women wore shirts, dark dresses, belted with a long belt of bright colors, pants, sheepskin coats. They put a chuhta on their heads - a cap covering their heads, with a hair bag sewn to it. And over the chuhta they wore a scarf made of homespun cloth.
Traditional men's clothing consisted of trousers, a shirt, a Circassian coat, a beshmet, sheepskin coats, jackets, and a felt cloak. A sheepskin hat of a conical shape was put on the head of a man.
Language and folk art
The Chamalin language belongs to the Andean subgroup of the Nakh-Dagestan language family. It is divided into two dialects: Gakvari, which includes the dialects of the villages of Upper and Lower Gakvari, Agvali, Tsumada, Richaganikh, Gadyri, Kvankhi, and Gigatli - in the villages of Gigatl and Gigatl-Urukh.
It is important that the Chamalals created a rich song folklore. Songs are sung in the Avar language, and the main musical instruments are zurna (a type of pipe), pandur (a stringed instrument with strings made from animal intestines) and a tambourine.
Zurna Photo: Great Russian Encyclopedia
traditional dwelling
Each Chamalin settlement was surrounded by watchtowers. In the village, as a rule, there were 5-12 quarters. Each quarter had its own mosque, and in the center of the village there was a Friday mosque (juma). The foreman of the village was chosen from among the influential tukhums. Tukhums are associations, the union of taips, not related to each other by blood relationship, but united to jointly solve common problems.
The houses of the Chamalins were stone, one-, two- and three-story. The roofs of the houses are adobe, but recently they have been made of slate or roofing iron.
Chamalin cuisine
The traditional dish of the Chamalins is khinkal with meat and garlic. Pieces of dough boiled in meat broth are served with broth, boiled meat and sauce.
However, khinkali should not be confused with Georgian khinkali, which is a different type of dish.
Chamalals eat mostly unleavened bread.
There will be many highlanders in the game. And not only Chechens and Circassians, of course. Basically, during the indicated period, during the most fierce battles of the Caucasian War, Dagestanis, Chechens and Adygs (Circassians) fought against the Russian army.
But no one excludes other representatives of ethnic communities from the game. Ossetians, Kabardians, Georgians, part of the lowland Dagestanis - fought mainly as part of the Russian troops.
And therefore, everyone who wants to belong to the inhabitants of the mountains needs to know the general customs of the peoples of the Caucasus, you need to know what the similarity of cultures and customs consists in.
In this topic, I will spread exactly similar customs.
As for the peculiarities of the Circassians and Chechens, separate topics will be devoted to them.
There is much in common in the social life, traditions and customs of the peoples of the North Caucasus, although, of course, each people has its own differences.
The mountain peoples were at different levels of historical evolution. The Kabardians (our very same Circassians) seem to be the most developed among them, while the Chechens lag behind in their economic and social development, subsequently isolation in the remote highlands and Chechnya's detachment from major routes from north to south - Chechnya is even geographically pushed to the sidelines of history.
Let us briefly dwell on the main features of the social structure, some of the most noticeable traditions common to many nationalities.
rural community
The territorial community is the basis of the social structure of society. It regulated the economic and social life of the mountain village. The board was carried out by the elders, which included the most respected residents. they were chosen at a village meeting, in which all adult men of the village participated. The main selection criterion is an impeccable reputation.
Rural gatherings are a fairly democratic form of public self-government. Without the consent of the gathering, no one could start building a house, field work, the amount of a fine for misconduct, and for serious crimes, the gathering passed a death sentence or expelled from the village, which was actually equal to death. If the disputed issue concerned neighboring villages, intermediary courts were created from representatives of these villages.
But in the process of feudalization, village assemblies gradually come under the control of feudal influential families. For example, princes dominated the Adyghe society, and in Dagestan there are known cases of the appointment of village foremen by feudal rulers, which, of course, made the gathering less democratic.
Religious representations
Until now, in one form or another, pagan beliefs have been preserved among the peoples of the North Caucasus. Even established Islam could not completely supplant paganism. A special place in these cultures was occupied by the worship of the sun, mountains, stones, trees. From time immemorial, cults of fire, the sun, iron, as well as a developed cult of ancestors functioned, which, supposedly, invisibly accompanied the living and could influence them. Ancient pagan rites were also expressed in rites of calling or stopping rain, a rite with animal sacrifice to save crops from drought and hail, with the beginning of plowing, haymaking, harvesting and other events of economic and family life. The Circassians had sacred groves and trees, where solemn social acts, prayers and sacrifices were performed. There were also patrimonial and family shrines.
At the same time, it so happened historically that the North Caucasus was at the junction of two worlds - Christian and Muslim. In Armenia and Georgia, Christianity appears in the 4th century, and in the 6th - among the Adyghe tribes of the North-Western Caucasus (although it does not penetrate deeply into the consciousness of the people). In the XIV centuries, the degradation of Christianity among the peoples of the Caucasus began, but pagan ideas survived.
However, from the 6th century, along with the Arab invasion of the North Caucasus, Islam penetrated. From here, the Muslim faith begins to spread to the surrounding areas.
However, most mountain societies converted to Islam in the 17th and 18th centuries.
The tsarist government and local authorities did not pursue a targeted anti-Muslim policy (despite the fact that the Islamic factor played a significant role in the Caucasian War of 1817-1864), but they made efforts to restore Christianity, primarily among the Ossetians.
However, neither Christianity nor Islam fully suppressed the pagan beliefs of the highlanders. This is a characteristic feature of the ethnopsychology of the peoples of the Caucasus.
Clothing of the North Caucasian peoples
There is much in common in the clothes of the North Caucasian peoples.
Especially common features are inherent in men's clothing, which may be explained by its good adaptability to military and equestrian functions. The latter circumstance also influenced the clothes of the Terek and Kuban Cossacks, who adopted a lot from the highlanders (papakhas, Circassian coats with gazyrs, cloaks, weapons on the belt as an indispensable attribute of the costume).
By the end of the 18th century, a common for the North was formed. Caucasian male costume - beshmet, Circassian, cloak, hood, hat. It is to the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries that the widespread circulation of Circassian with breast cartridges (gazyrs) for charges is attributed. Ceremonial Circassians, decorated with gold or bone gazyrs, spread throughout the Caucasus by the middle of the 19th century.
Women's clothing was a great national and local identity. In terms of cut, the women's dress was similar to the men's suit: a long dress with a slit open on the chest was sewn according to the Circassian cut, a quilted wadded jacket looked like a beshmet. The similarity of shoes is noticed, as well as in other elements of men's and women's clothing.
Adats
Adat is the so-called customary law, established by custom, or a set of traditional norms passed down from generation to generation. Adats are unwritten laws, but their execution was absolutely obligatory, and non-compliance was severely punished by a public village meeting. With the Islamization of the peoples of the North Caucasus, the norms of Muslim theological law, Sharia, began to be added to the adats.
The most striking norm of customary law in the North. In the Caucasus there was widespread blood feud. The reason for blood feud was murder, injury, kidnapping of a girl, seizure of land, insult to a guest, honor, home, etc.
Blood vengeance was allowed between persons of the same class, and for the murder of a slave, the perpetrator paid only a fine. The right and duty to pursue the murderer or to reconcile with him, as a rule, belonged to the closest relative of the murdered. Reconciliation could take place no earlier than a year after the crime, and all this time the killer had to be in exile and hide from revenge. Blood feud was a duty and a matter of honor for all members of the victim's clan, and there were cases when it stopped - in the event of no reconciliation - only after the destruction of one of the clans.
Blood feuds and unauthorized acts were mandatory among families; shame and contempt continued until this duty was fulfilled. Revenge, robbery and murder were considered virtue, as a result of which it was considered glorious to die.
One of the procedures for reconciliation of cowsheds was as follows: both warring parties lined up against each other. Handshakes were first exchanged by the eldest of the warring clans, then by the rest of the men in seniority. If at least one boy did not give a hand, reconciliation could not take place. Further, the bloodlines who have received forgiveness arrange refreshments for everyone.
Many peoples also had another form of reconciliation, when, in order to stop blood feud, from the clan of the murdered to the clan of the murderer, he kidnapped a child and raised him. Then the kidnapper became the foster father of the kidnapped and raised him. By this means the most vindictive families were reconciled. The return of the child a few years later with gifts meant the end of hostility, family relations were established between families and clans.
Customs of hospitality, kunachestvo and brotherhood
The custom of hospitality among all the peoples of the North Caucasus has become widespread.
The traveler is a guest, in addition, he was almost the only herald, an informant about all the incidents and news of the region and beyond. In the house where the guest stayed, men from all the village came not only to pay tribute to him, but also to receive information about the outside world. Dangerous heavy mountain roads, the absence of public and private institutions and enterprises in the form of hotels, or at least inns, gave rise to a tacit, as if tacit agreement, the essence of which is the obligatory, attentive care of the householder about the possible convenience and safety of the guest, once such one has come to him. According to the highlanders, the guest is a sacred person for them.
The duties of hospitality extended to anyone peacefully entering the courtyard of the house or stepping on the land belonging to the owner. The best food, the best bed in the house, was always given to the guest. Wealthy families built a special kunatskaya house for guests in a secluded place in the courtyard, consisting of one or two rooms and a corridor. The best utensils, dishes, bedding, furniture were placed in this house or rooms. In the absence of the guest, the owner rested in the kunatskaya. Older sons also came here with their friends. Any passer-by, visitor, lost was considered a guest. He was greeted cordially, even if he came late at night.
The laws of hospitality also applied to a foreigner. The guest was also considered the one who found himself passing through the village. A person who met a guest unfriendly was condemned, he lost respect and prestige among the people. The house of this family could have been destroyed by the villagers, the family members were cursed and expelled. The curse was often also on all those who, passing by, would not throw a stone at the place where the house of those who violated the laws of hospitality stood before. Whole heaps of stones appeared, called "karlag". A crime for which a karlag could be erected was the murder of a guest or a forgiven blood lover, desecration of the corpse of a murdered enemy, adultery, the murder of a woman out of revenge, theft, etc.
If very respected people or especially revered relatives of the family came to visit (relatives from the side of the son-in-law, daughter-in-law, old relatives from the side of the grandfather, grandmother, father and mother), not knowing that grief befell this family, they were received as if nothing happened. If there was a dead person in the house, he was hidden in a back room or his bed was pushed under the bed, and the guests were greeted with a smile so as not to overshadow their mood. Only after seeing them off with honors, the hosts continued the funeral procession, the memorial service. This was also noted by A. I. Baryatinsky: “... if there is a shroud with the body of the deceased in the house, the mood was not clouded by the guest, he was hidden under the bed, and the guest was met.”
All family members, relatives, as well as neighbors came to greet the kunak. Senior members of the family talked to the guests, young people (male) silently stood at the entrance and were ready to provide all the necessary services: set fire so that the guest could smoke, water so that he could wash his hands, help him take off his boots, bring and carry away "shu" - treats, etc.
As soon as the guest entered the courtyard, the hostess went to the hearth to prepare a treat for him. In order not to embarrass the guests and create an environment for them to relax and rest, the hosts left and left only one relative with them or left them alone. In order to entertain honored guests, they arranged dances, for which they invited young relatives and neighbors. When the guests went to bed, the hostesses (usually daughters-in-law) cleaned their clothes, washed and darned socks, and washed their shoes. After three days of staying at the kunak, the guest or the guest made an attempt to take part in the household affairs. They were usually allowed to do the lightest, most enjoyable types of work. Women, for example, were allowed to sew, embroider, cook sweet dishes.
All members of the family - from young to old - during the stay of the guest gave him every attention. Such a reception evoked friendly feelings in the guest. It was considered the duty of every self-respecting person to maintain and further develop friendly relations.
The custom of the named relationship - kunachestvo - was established by twinning, formalized by a special ritual, which in different versions boiled down to the fact that two men, on the basis of strong friendship, swore to each other in eternal fidelity, mutual support, mutual assistance. As a sign of fidelity to the oath, they cut their hands and bled, exchanged weapons.
Another of the forms of ceremonies for establishing the kunakry of the Caucasians. “To become sworn friends means to become brothers. The ceremony of making brotherhood is the simplest: usually, two new friends drink a glass of milk in half, and a silver or gold coin or ring should be thrown into this glass. The symbolic meaning of this last form of rite is that friendship will not “rust” forever. This coin is thrown into the glass of the one who wants friendship, and it goes to the one who is asked for friendship.
After completing one of these symbolic actions, the named brothers exchanged personal items: sabers, hoods, cloaks, etc., which also symbolized brotherhood.
But if those who were previously enemies for the murder of a brother and, in general, a relative are made friends, then in this case the rite of making brotherhood is changed. All the relatives of the bloodline and he himself go to the grave of the one he killed; after standing at the grave for three days, as if asking for forgiveness from the dead, they go to his relatives. Then several people from the bloodline's relatives and he himself suck the breast of the mother of the one he killed. Then they are made. Families of kunak constantly communicated with each other and were the most honored guests of each other. They took the most active part in each other's affairs: in the case of blood feud, marriage, marriage of members of one of the families, etc., they shared all the hardships and joys. Kunachestvo is revered on a par with kinship. Quite often kunachestvo was consolidated by the establishment of marriage ties between members of their families.
Families and close relatives of both parties were informed about the ceremony of twinning. In honor of this great event, a dinner was arranged at one of the named brothers, where friends of the brothers and members of their families were invited. From that moment on, both parties assumed the traditional duties of true relatives. “The named brothers are closer than any relatives, even closer than half brothers. In the event of the murder of one of them, the other is obliged to avenge his blood as a brother.
Among women, the considered social institutions have not been widely developed. In some cases, two friends declared themselves sisters, exchanged personal items, rings and swore to be faithful for life. As a rule, after the girls got married, such kinship was interrupted, because worries, numerous household duties, and dependence on their husbands prevented them from maintaining relationships. Postestry happens only before marriage. For this, the girls change dresses. Old people remember cases when women of advanced age continued to maintain relations with the named sisters, visiting each other on the occasion of celebrations.
Countess Sofya Stepanovna Razumovskaya, nee Ushakova (September 11, 1746 - September 26, 1803) - maid of honor, metress of Emperor Paul I, from whom she had a son Semyon, wife of Count P. K. Razumovsky.
Sofia Stepanovna Razumovskaya
Sofia Stepanovna was the daughter of the writer Stepan Fedorovich Ushakov, Governor of Novgorod and later of St. Petersburg, and a senator, and his wife Anna Semenovna (maiden name unknown). Anna Semyonovna had a scandalous reputation in the world. She was in her first marriage to Ivan Petrovich Buturlin, and when Ushakov fell in love with her, she left her husband and married her lover, "publicly committing a fornicating and contrary to the church marriage."
In her first marriage, Sofya Stepanovna was married to Major General Mikhail Petrovich Chertoryzhsky, adjutant wing of Peter III, and having been widowed early, she had no children from a sick, consumptive husband.
At court, Sophia was known for her panache, love of light and all kinds of entertainment, and had a reputation as a "little metress".
Before the marriage of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich, when Catherine II had doubts “whether the marriage of the Tsesarevich, due to the weakness of his health, would strengthen the order of succession to the throne in the state, Sophia Stepanovna was entrusted with the task of testing the power of her charms over the heart of the Grand Duke.” In 1772, she had a son, who was named Semyon Afanasyevich the Great, and whom the Empress took to her upbringing.
Shortly after the birth of her son, Sophia married for the second time to Count Peter Kirillovich Razumovsky, chief chamberlain, the hetman's second son. She was five years older than her husband, and Count Kirill Grigorievich Razumovsky was very dissatisfied with this wedding, he greatly disliked his daughter-in-law, whom he called a “cartoise woman,” and reproached her for extravagance. In this, however, she was quite suitable for her husband, and in her indecision and changeable character she was very much like him; therefore, probably, the spouses dearly loved each other and lived very amicably.
Their marriage was childless; very poor health and incurable, according to the old hetman, the disease of the countess (tapeworm) required constant treatment, and the countess lived with her husband almost continuously abroad: in Italy, Switzerland, Holland, as well as in Paris and in the south of France, in Montpellier, fashionable resort at the time. This, in the words of the hetman, "gypsy life" caused huge expenses and constant requests to the father and father-in-law for benefits.
By appointment of Count Peter Kirillovich, during the accession of Paul I to the throne, present in the Senate, the Razumovskys returned to St. Petersburg and settled on the corner of Naberezhnaya and Gagarinskaya streets, in their house, which was decorated with many valuable things bought in France during the revolution. Countess Sofia Stepanovna died here, shortly after her arrival in Russia, on September 26, 1803.
From the will she left (dated November 28, 1802), it is clear that although she was a narrow-minded woman, she was simple-hearted, kind and religious, and before her death she tried to put her affairs in order, making an inventory of her personal debts and appointing monetary payments to her people, whom she asked her husband to set free. At the same time, the very distribution of the things remaining after her among her relatives is curious, “my little treasures,” as she puts it, among which she ingenuously renamed the image and “Madonna” by Carlo Dolci.
Countess S. S. Razumovskaya was buried in the Alexander Nevsky Lavra, at the Lazarevsky cemetery, where a large white marble sarcophagus with the heads of jellyfish and a weeping female figure was erected to her by her husband mourning her; An epitaph is carved on the monuments:
“In the darkness of faith you loved the Savior,
She loved her neighbor, she did not judge the vicious,
You loved me, you loved all people,
Love for the Savior was the light of your ways."
***
NECROPOLIS OF THE HOLY TRINITY ALEXANDER - NEVSKY LAVRA
Razumovskaya (nee Ushakova) Sofia Stepanovna 09/11/1746-09/16/1803
Countess, favorite of Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich (future Emperor Paul I). By her first husband, Countess Czartoryska. In her second marriage, she was married to Count Peter Kirillovich Razumovsky (1751-1823). Daughter of the Privy Councilor, Senator, St. Petersburg Governor-General S.F. Ushakov (1705-?).
Russia. St. Petersburg. Necropolis of the 18th century. Sculptural headstone, unknown master. In the same fence with a monument to her husband. Marble, granite.
The figure of a mourner on her knees, leaning towards the urn, next to which is a bowl, two books and a cross. A pedestal in the form of a sarcophagus with two triangular pediments and acroteria-masks. In the pediments there are reliefs: a coiled snake and two laurel branches. On the sides of the sarcophagus are carved inscriptions: on the side walls framed by lekythos under myrtle branches; at the ends - between lowered torches, in wreaths of roses with ribbons.
On the east side:
In the hope of the resurrection of the dead / Here lies the ashes / of the Lady Real Privy Councilor of the Countess / Sofia Stepanovna Razumovskaya, nee Ushakova / born September 11, 1746, / died September 1803, 16 days.
On the west side:
Grih burdened the soul! the flesh oppressed my spirit,
But you me, my God! I loved you so much!
Under the burden of the cross to you, my God cried out:
Your love from the cross breathed hope into me;
Not appearing your coffin balm, you poured into mine, Savior;
Saved by You, I stand before Your judgment.
On the north side:
In the darkness of faith you loved the Savior,
She loved her neighbor, she did not judge the vicious,
You loved me, you loved all the people,
Love for the Savior was true of your ways ..
O my priceless friend, unforgettable friend of the heart,
The ashes of my dear wife, the precious ashes of the heart!
Accept this monument as a pledge of my love,
Rest until the pipe - live in the dawn of heaven!
On the south side:
Having passed the phenomena of the world, completing your earthly path,
Come to your world of beings, heavenly soul!
Flow to the father of love, through the son is exemplary,
Reign with the Eternal, be blessed forever,
Enjoy with Him in the non-evening days;
What did you reap here in joy!
Thus the orphan prays, the widow calls thus,
Your friend sighs here and sheds tears.
Monuments to S.S. and P.K. Razumovsky are a kind of ensemble, saturated with symbolism, reflected in allegorical reliefs and poetic epitaphs. Peter Kirillovich Razumovsky since 1781 was a member of the St. Petersburg Masonic Chapter of the Phoenix, which, perhaps, explains the mystical nature of the design of the tombstones.
Birthday September 11 (old style).
Memorial Day September 16 (old style).
Simeon (Semyon) Afanasyevich the Great (1772-13 (24) August 1794) - the illegitimate son of Paul I. He served in the Navy, rose to the rank of Lieutenant Commander (1790).
He was the son of the Grand Duke from the former maid of honor (?) Sofya Stepanovna Ushakova (09/11/1746-09/16/1803; in the 1st marriage - for Count Mikhail Chartoryzhsky (Czartorysky), in the 2nd (c. 1770) - for Peter Kirillovich Razumovsky ), daughter of first Novgorod, and then St. Petersburg governor Stepan Fedorovich Ushakov (1705-?). According to the godfather, he received the patronymic of Afanasyevich.
Biography
As historians point out, in the summer of 1771, Grand Duke Pavel Petrovich fell seriously ill. Empress Catherine II and Nikita Panin did not leave the patient, and at the same time, rumors again spread that if the Grand Duke died, the son of Catherine and Orlov, Alexei Bobrinsky, would be proclaimed heir. Since there was no law on succession to the throne in Russia and the age of majority was not precisely determined, it was not clear from what moment Paul could be considered out of childhood. It was obvious, however, that this moment could hardly be delayed long after his 18th birthday in September 1772. It was during this period that Catherine felt a special need to beware of attempts to elevate him to the throne.
At the same time, the health of the Grand Duke remained fragile, so the issue of his marriage became especially acute - it was necessary to take care of the further succession to the throne: “to make sure that he was able to produce an heir, Paul was encouraged to get in touch with a certain docile widow, from whom in 1772 he had a son known as Simeon the Great. Raised by Catherine in her own quarters (unlike Bobrinsky), he entered the service of the Russian and then the British fleet and died in the West Indies in 1794.
It is mentioned that Catherine did not want to give her grandson to her mother, but in the end, at the request of Shuvalov, she gave it away. In 1780, he was placed in a closed Peter and Paul school with orders to give "the best education." After graduating from school with the rank of sergeant of the Izmailovsky regiment, he was transferred to the Naval Cadet Corps, which he graduated in 1789. He began to serve on the ship "Do not touch me" under the command of Captain Travakin. Participated in the war with the Swedes. After the naval battle on June 22, 1790, Semyon the Great was sent with a report to Catherine II. Grandma hasn't seen him for 10 years.
On July 1, 1790, the Empress promoted Semyon the Great to lieutenant commander of the fleet, and on October 17, 1793, a decree of the Admiralty Board was issued, according to which Semyon, along with a group of other naval officers, went to London to the Ambassador Extraordinary Count S. R. Vorontsov to enter the service to the English fleet.
Nikolai Grech wrote about him: “Before the emperor Paul entered into his first marriage, they gave him some kind of maiden to initiate him into the mysteries of Hymen. The student showed progress, and the teacher collapsed. A son was born. I don’t know why, they called him Semyon Ivanovich the Great and brought him up zealously. When he was eight years old, they placed him in the then best St. Petersburg school, the Petrovsky school, with orders to give him the best education, and so that he would not guess the reason for this preference, they gave him children of unimportant faces as comrades; with him studied on an equal footing: Yakov Aleksandrovich Druzhinin, son of a court valet; Fyodor Maksimovich Briskorn, son of the court pharmacist; Grigory Ivanovich Villamov, son of the deceased class inspector of the Petrovsky school; Christian Ivanovich Miller, son of a tailor; and Ilya Karlovich Westman, I don't know whose son. At the end of the course of science at school, Empress Catherine II ordered the young people to be placed in the Foreign Collegium, only one of them, Druzhinin, was taken as a secretary in her own room. The great one announced that he wanted to serve in the navy, entered the Naval Cadet Corps for graduation, was released as a midshipman, received the rank of lieutenant and was going to go on a round-the-world expedition with Captain Mulovsky. Suddenly (in 1793) he fell ill and died in Kronstadt. The “Notes of Khrapovitsky” says: “We have received news of the death of Senyushka the Great.” When he was still at the Petrovsky school, a translation of it was published with the German original, under the title: "Obidag, an oriental story, translated by Semyon the Great, a youth diligent in science." Andrey Andreevich Zhandre, in his childhood, saw the Great in Kronstadt, where he rolled a child on a boat, sitting at the helm ... ".
According to the Naval Ministry, Semyon the Great died on August 13, 1794 in the shipwreck of the English ship Vanguard during a terrible storm near the Antilles (obviously, in the area of the islands of St. Eustatius and St. Thomas, where the storm was noticed). Officially considered missing.
"Return" according to various versions
According to the version put forward by the historian Grand Duke Nikolai Mikhailovich, he was the elder Fyodor Kuzmich.
Grinevich, Gennady Stanislavovich even offers such a version: as if Simeon the Great returned from the sea to St. Petersburg and his father Pavel was struck by his resemblance to his legitimate son Alexander, whom he hated as a favorite of Empress Catherine. According to Gennady Grinevich, Alexander was therefore killed during the life of Catherine. (At that time, the corpse of a man very similar to Alexander the First was caught in the Kronstadt Bay). And under the guise of Alexander I, Simeon the Great came to power, loyal, as expected by Paul to him. With this, allegedly, the spiritual throwing of "Emperor Alexander" and his final departure to the cell under the guise of Fyodor Kuzmich are connected.
Mentioned in the novel by Lazarchuk and Uspensky “Look into the eyes of monsters”: “Officially, midshipman Semyon the Great was considered missing in 1800 in the Antilles during a terrible storm. There really was a storm there, but the Great One himself was already in a completely different place by that time ... For many years he spent as a student, and then as an assistant at the famous ungan le Peletier on the island of Haiti (in fact, that is why he subsequently went to the medical unit) and in the case of Ungan he was very successful; and it was there that the famous Nekron Baron Rudolf von Sebottendorf (who entered Haitian infernal folklore under the somewhat distorted name Baron Saturday) drew attention to him, became friends with him, took him to Europe and introduced him to the right people. Semyon Pavlovich relatively quickly figured out the state of affairs, sent all kinds of knights and Rosicrucians in a direction known to every Russian person - and began to look for his own special path. In these searches, he inevitably stumbled upon Yakov Vilimovich, since all roads in those years led to the Fifth Rome.
