Tuvans (self-name - Tuva, obsolete - Soyots, Uriankhians, Tannu-Tuvans) - a people in the Russian Federation, the main population of Tuva (249 thousand people, 2010), a total of 263 thousand people in the Russian Federation (2010). They also live in Mongolia (25 thousand), in Xinjiang (3 thousand). Believing Tuvans are Lamaists.

In the past, Tuvans were called Soyots, Soyons, Uriankhians, Tannu-Tuvans. Tuvans are divided into two ethnographic groups: western Tuvans (mountain-steppe regions of western, central and southern Tuva) and eastern, or Todzha Tuvans (mountain-taiga part of northeastern and southeastern Tuva). The number of Tuvans-Todzhans is 1.85 thousand people (2010), but in the censuses many of the Todzhans are recorded as Tuvans. Tuvans are characterized by the Central Asian Mongoloid racial type.

The Tuvan language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altaic language family, has dialects: central, western, southeastern, northeastern (Todzha). The writing of the Tuvans was created on the basis of Cyrillic graphics. Believing Tuvans are mostly lamaists, pre-Buddhist cults and shamanism are also preserved. The main type of economic activity was nomadic cattle breeding in the dry steppes of central and southwestern Tuva. Agriculture was practiced as a subsidiary sector of the economy in a limited amount. The Tuvans of the steppe regions raised sheep, cattle, horses, goats and camels.

Among the Tuvans-Todzhans of the northern and northeastern forest regions of Tuva, the predominant sectors of the economy were hunting and related reindeer breeding. Reindeer breeding in the northeastern regions of Tuva was pasture. The main agricultural crop of the Tuvans was millet, which was sown not far from the last winter camp. Fishing was a help in the economy of forest areas. Fish were caught using nets, fishing rods with wooden hooks, and speared.

The Tuvans of the steppe regions used a felt-lattice yurt as their dwelling. The Tuvans of the taiga regions used a conical hut-alachik like a plague as their dwelling. In winter, it was covered with reindeer skins, in summer - with birch bark, pieces of larch bark. The most characteristic part of Tuvan clothing was a long robe with a wrap on the right side and two fasteners (on the shoulder and under the arm), belted with a cloth sash. Men's and women's costumes differed in headdresses and decorations. Among Tuvans-Todzhans, the main material for clothing was skin and suede. In some places, they kept clothes reminiscent of Evenk trade clothes.

In the diet of Tuvans, the main place belonged to lactic acid and meat products. A drink made from fermented cow's milk - "khoyglak", as well as various types of products from curdled milk (cow, deer, sheep, goat) enjoyed special love. Most of the meat was consumed boiled, meat and blood sausages were prepared. In winter, they cooked meat stew, adding millet to the broth. Porridge was cooked from millet, fried millet grains were eaten with tea. Tea was drunk with milk, cream, cheese and salt.

In social life, the so-called aal communities were of significant importance - family-related groups, which usually included from three to five or six families (the family of the father and the families of his separated married sons with children), who roamed together, forming stable groups of aals, and in the summer time they united in larger neighboring communities. The small monogamous family predominated, although before the 1920s there were cases of polygamy among wealthy cattle owners. The institution of kalym was preserved.

In the beliefs of the Tuvans, the remnants of the ancient family and clan cult are preserved, which manifests itself in the veneration of the hearth. The Tuvans preserved shamanism. Shamanistic ideas are characterized by a tripartite division of the world. For a long time, the features of a fishing cult were preserved, in particular, the holding of a "bear holiday" among the Eastern Tuvans.

Tuvans are a people in the Russian Federation, they make up the main population of the Republic of Tuva. The Tuvans themselves call themselves "Tyva", in some villages even more ancient names of the people have been preserved, for example, "Soyots", "Soyons", "Uriankhaians", "Tannu-Tuvans".

Population

More than 206 thousand Tuvans live on the territory of the Russian Federation. About 198 thousand Tuvans live in the Republic of Tuva. In other countries, the percentage of Tuvans is quite high, for example, there are over 40 thousand people in them, in China there are about 3 thousand people.

Tuvans are divided into: Western and Eastern. All of them speak the Tuvan language of the Turkic group of the Altaic family. Dialects: central, western, southeastern, northeastern. Russian is also widespread, in the southern regions - Mongolian. Writing based on Russian graphics. Believing Tuvans are mostly Buddhist Lamaists, pre-Buddhist cults and shamanism are also preserved.

The Tuvan people formed from various Turkic-speaking tribes that came from Central Asia. On the territory of the modern Republic of Tuva, they appeared around the middle of the middle of the first millennium and mixed with the Ket-speaking, Samoyed-speaking and Indo-European tribes.
In the middle of the 8th century, the Turkic-speaking Uyghurs, who created a powerful tribal union (Kaganate) in Central Asia, crushed the Turkic Khaganate, conquering its territories, including Tuva.

We can safely say that the language of the Tuvans was formed as a result of mixing the languages ​​and dialects of the Uyghur tribes with the language of the local residents. The descendants of the Uighur conquerors live in Western Tuva. The Yenisei Kyrgyz, who inhabited, subjugated the Uighurs in the 9th century. Later, the Kyrgyz tribes that penetrated Tuva finally mixed with the local population.

At the end of the thirteenth, beginning of the fourteenth century, several tribes moved to Tuva, which also mixed with the locals. At the end of the first millennium of our era, the Tuba Turkic-speaking tribes, related to the Uighurs, penetrated into the mountainous taiga eastern part of Tuva - into the Sayans (today's Todzha region), previously inhabited by Samoyed, Ket-speaking and, possibly, Tungus tribes.

By the 19th century, all the local tribes, the inhabitants of Eastern Tuva, were completely mixed with the Turks, and "tyva" became the common self-name of all Tuvans. At the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th century, when Tuva was under the rule of the Manchu Qing dynasty, the formation of the Tuvan ethnos was completed.

In 1914 Tuva was accepted by Russia under full protection. In 1921 the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva was proclaimed; from 1926 it became known as the Tuva People's Republic. In 1944, the republic was included in the Russian Federation as an autonomous region, and since 1993 - the Republic of Tuva.

The geographical position of the villages of the eastern and western Tuvans influenced their occupation. For example, the basis of the economy of Western Tuvans until the middle of the 20th century was cattle breeding. They raised small and large cattle, including yaks, as well as horses and camels. At the same time, they led a semi-nomadic lifestyle. On rare occasions, Western Tuvans plowed the land and grew some crops. But agriculture was not practiced on a large scale.

Part of the male population of Western Tuvans was also engaged in hunting. Gathering of fruits and roots of wild plants played a significant role. Crafts (blacksmithing, carpentry, saddlery, and others) were developed. By the beginning of the 20th century, there were over 500 blacksmith-jewelers in Tuva. Almost every family made felt for the yurt, rugs and mattresses.

Traditional occupations of the Eastern Tuvans, who roamed in the mountain taiga of the Eastern Sayan: hunting and reindeer herding. Hunting for wild ungulates was supposed to provide the family with meat and skins throughout the year. They also hunted fur-bearing animals, the skins of which were sold. In late autumn and throughout the winter, men hunted deer, roe deer, elk, wild deer, sable, squirrel, fox, and so on.

An important type of economic activity of hunter-reindeer herders was gathering (bulbs of sarana, the stocks of which reached a hundred or more kg in a family, pine nuts, etc.). In home production, the main ones were the processing of hides and the production of leather, the dressing of birch bark.

According to the old custom among the Tuvans, a small monogamous family prevailed. But even at the beginning of the twentieth century, some rich people could break this custom and marry several girls from different families.
Until now, the institution of kalym has been preserved. The wedding cycle consisted of several stages:

• Collusion. As a rule, the parents of the bride and groom agreed among themselves on the future marriage of their children when the last were eight to ten years old (sometimes even earlier);
• Matchmaking - an analogue of Russian matchmaking or hard drinking;
• A special rite of consolidating matchmaking;
• Marriage;
• Wedding feast.

There were special wedding capes on the head of the bride, a number of prohibitions associated with the customs of avoidance.

Among the traditional holidays among Tuvans, it is worth highlighting the New Year, community holidays on the occasion of the end of economic periods, the wedding cycle, the birth of a child, hair cutting. Not a single significant event in the life of the community took place without sports competitions - national wrestling, horse racing and archery.

The traditional dwellings of the eastern and western Tuvans also differ in structure. For example, among Western Tuvans, the main dwelling was a yurt: round in plan, it had a collapsible, easily folded lattice framework of poles fastened with leather straps. In the upper part of the yurt, a wooden hoop was fixed on sticks, above which there was a smoke hole, which also served as a source of light.
The yurt was covered with felt rugs and, like the skeleton, fastened with woolen belts. The door was made either of wood or a piece of felt, usually decorated with stitching. An open hearth was placed in the center of the yurt. Wooden chests were placed inside the hut, the front walls of which were richly decorated with painted ornaments. The yurt was divided into two halves: the female part was to the right of the entrance, and the male part was to the left of the entrance. The floor in the yurt was made of felt. Quilted rugs were scattered all over the yurt.

The traditional dwelling of the eastern Tuva reindeer herders was the tent, which had a frame of inclined poles. It was covered in summer and autumn with birch bark, and in winter with elk or deer skins sewn together. During the period of the transition to settled life in the newly created collective farm settlements, many eastern Tuvans built permanent tents, which were covered with specially dressed pieces of larch bark, and light frame buildings with four, five or six corners became widespread before the construction of standard houses began. The outbuildings of the Western Tuvans were mainly in the form of quadrangular pens (made of poles) for livestock.

Almost all clothes, including shoes, were made by Tuvans from the skins and skins of mainly domestic and wild animals, from various fabrics and felt. Shoulder clothes were open, sewn in the image of a tunic. Favorite fabric colors are purple, blue, yellow, red and green.

In winter, Tuvans wore long fur coats with a fastener on the right side and a standing collar. In spring and autumn, they wore sheepskin coats with short-cropped wool. Festive winter clothing was a fur coat made of the skins of young lambs, covered with colored fabric, often silk. Summer holiday clothes consisted of a dressing gown made of colored fabric (usually blue or cherry). The floors and gates were sheathed with several rows of strips of colored fabric of various colors.

One of the most common headwear for men and women is a sheepskin hat with a wide domed top with earmuffs tied at the back of the head. They wore spacious felt hoods with an elongated ledge that fell to the back of the head, as well as sheepskin, lynx or lamb skins, trimmed with colored fabric.

The traditional shoes of Tuvans are leather boots with a curved and pointed toe, multi-layered felt-leather soles. The tops were cut out of rawhide of cattle. Festive boots were decorated with appliqués made of multicolored patches. Another type of traditional Tuvinian footwear is soft boots. They had a soft sole made of cowhide without a toe bend and a top made of treated leather of a domestic goat. In winter, Tuvans wore felt stockings with sewn-in soles in their boots.

The clothes of the Eastern Tuvans were somewhat different from the national costume of the Western Tuvans. In summer, “khashton” served as a favorite shoulder garment, which was cut out of worn deer skins or autumn roe deer rovduga. It had a straight cut, widened at the hem, straight sleeves with deep rectangular armholes. Capor-shaped headdresses were sewn from the skins from the heads of wild animals. Sometimes they used headdresses made of duck skin and feathers. In late autumn and winter, high fur boots were used, which were worn with fur outside. Reindeer herders, being on the hunt, girded their clothes with a narrow belt made of roe deer skin with hooves at its ends.

Tuvan women were very sensitive to jewelry of any kind. Rings, rings, earrings, as well as silver bracelets ornamented with chasing were most valued. Silver jewelry in the form of a plate, decorated with engraving, chasing, precious stones, as a rule, was woven into thick braids. Moreover, braids were worn by both women and men. The men shaved the front of the head, and the remaining hair was braided into one braid.

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Hello curious readers!

Today you will learn about Tuvan customs and traditions. Tuvans are an original people who began to live as part of the Russian state at the beginning of the last century. They call themselves "tuva".

Geographical location and employment of the population

There are two equivalent names in our time: the Republic of Tuva and the Republic of Tuva. In its capital - Kyzyl - is the geographical center of Asia, which symbolizes the monument on the banks of the Yenisei.

Monument - the center of Asia

Tyva is located at the source of this river. Its territory is mostly mountainous, covered with forests, and only a fifth of Tuva is plains and steppes. This influenced the occupations of local residents living in different parts of it.

Ethnically they are divided into western and eastern Tuvans, the latter are also called "Todzhans". The Todzhans are engaged in hunting and reindeer herding. Western Tuvans are engaged in nomadic animal husbandry. Priority is given to sheep, horses, goats, camels.

Religion

Tuva is the only Buddhist corner where they speak a language belonging to the Turkic language group - Tuvan.

It developed here in the XVIII-XIX centuries. But the first appearance of the Buddhist teaching dates back to the VIII-IX century, the time of the existence of the Uighur Khaganate.

Before that, the local religion was shamanism. It still exists today, in parallel with Buddhism. Both religions have significantly influenced each other.

An example of such a synthesis is the religious service held every year in the courtyard of the khuree (as the local temples are called) called Tsam.

This event can be called a mystery inspired by ancient shamanistic rituals. , in colorful masks and clothes, in ritual dances they depict the presence of the Buddha on earth and drive away evil spirits from worshipers.

They can improvise, talk to the audience, or, conversely, portray the required plot with the help of pantomime. The spectacle is dedicated to a revered Buddhist character or a religious event.

Both Buddhism and shamanism have greatly influenced local rites and customs and life in general. People also turn to shamans and lamas as skilled healers.

Tuvans and nature

A feature of the Tuvan mentality is that they consider themselves an integral part of nature and believe that everything around happens as a result of the interaction of various spirits. The well-being of a person, according to their ideas, depends on the goodwill of Heaven and the higher deities.

They have a special relationship with trees, especially unusual ones, for example, fused. Ribbons called chalama and other offerings are hung on such trees. Near them you can not make noise, touch and take away what hangs on the branches.

Despite the fact that Tuvans are first-class hunters, they never touch animals with cubs, because they believe that if this happens, then something bad will certainly happen to their own children.

Also, the locals have a reverent attitude towards water and fire. Water sources are not polluted, and sacrifices are made to the fire.

Attitude towards children

And children are the main value for them. It is interesting that not kisses, but ... sniffing are considered the highest manifestation of tenderness for a baby! On the third or seventh day after birth, a celebration of the First Cradle is held for the child.

Until this moment, the baby is not separated from the mother and sleeps with her. He bathes in holy water with juniper and takes his new bed.

His umbilical cord in a special bag is hung at the head and serves as a talisman until the little one grows out of the cradle.

During the shifting of the baby, all women sing a ritual song so that he does not worry. Such a ceremony helps the mother and child to be freed from everything impure, which, according to local ideas, is in childbirth.

Since there are usually more than one child in a family, the cradle then passes to the next child. If a new cradle is needed, then it is made by relatives in the female line. It is made from birch bark.

And at the age of three, counting the time that the baby spent in the womb, his hair is cut for the first time. Adults present him with generous gifts in the form of cattle, clothes, and children entertain the crying baby with songs, dances, and games. This is the transition from infancy to childhood.

Being childless is considered the greatest misfortune according to local beliefs. Childless couples help large families raise children.

Wedding

The wedding among the Tuvans was a bright folk ritual. It began with conspiracy or matchmaking. The groom's relatives came to the bride's parents with gifts.

If the bride's family received them, then the groom was among those present on the next visit. From this visit, a special stage began in the relationship of the future spouses, which was called tukhtep, that is, the consolidation of the agreements reached.

Parents were engaged in preparing new clothes for the bride, shoes, jewelry that she was to wear at the wedding, as well as yurts. In the future, this was the personal property of the bride, and not a dowry. In addition, she was allocated several heads of cattle.

The bride was allowed to meet with her betrothed, which was popularly called "to assess the power of the groom." As a result of these meetings, she could both become pregnant and give birth before marriage.

When the appointed date of the wedding approached, the bride moved to the groom's aal, and a festivity was arranged. Then the young people settled in a yurt, which the bride brought with her, and lived there all their lives.

Shagaa

The most important holiday among Tuvans is Shagaa, the Tuvan New Year. It is celebrated in February or March. On the eve of its offensive, sports competitions in archery, national wrestling Khuresh, and skiing are held.

Festive services are held in all churches from evening until almost morning, and Kamby Lama, the spiritual leader of the Tuvans, also participates in them in the capital.

Kamby Lama, spiritual leader of Tuva

And as soon as it dawns, the ceremony of San-saryly is performed. It is conducted by both shamans and lamas. A traditional bonfire is kindled, since Fire is the younger brother of the Sun, and sacrifices are made to it: they put meat and sweets into the fire.

They also read the scriptures and ask for good luck and prosperity for their people. Only men and boys over nine years of age are allowed to attend.

Naadym

Naadym is a holiday of livestock breeders, celebrated in mid-August. It has a thousand years of history. In ancient times, during this holiday, offerings were made to the spirits of the area and the ancestors who guarded the area.

Now, in addition to the traditional competitions in Khuresh wrestling and archery, competitions are held during the holiday for the best yurt, national costume, horse harness and lifting heavy stones.

During the celebration of Naadym, the International Felt Festival has been held in the republic for about ten years. It gathers not only local craftsmen, but also:

• Khakasses,
• Buryats,
• bashkirs,
• Kazakhs,
• kyrgyz,
• mongols,
• residents of Altai and nearby Siberian regions of Russia.

In severe winter conditions, when -40◦ is a common thing, and sometimes frosts reach up to -60◦, the heat-insulating properties of felt are of decisive importance. Yurts, mattresses, inner stockings and shoe insoles, and even costume jewelry are made from it.

All this, as well as other items of arts and crafts, are sold at the festival. Masters exchange experience, learn about new techniques for making products, conduct master classes in decorating felt products in order to enrich and develop the traditional craft of their ancestors.

The well-known ethnologist from Hungary, Istvan Vidak, who masterfully mastered felting, assessed the painstaking production of felt cloth as follows:

To make felt, you do not need anything but human hands and wool. True, it still takes a lot of work..

Festival Ustuu-Khuree

Ustuu-Khuree is the spiritual center of Tuva. This monastery was built at the beginning of the 20th century.

In Soviet times, Buddhism in Tuva was persecuted and in decline. Attempts were made to destroy its main temple. Still, the adobe walls of Tsogchen, the main building, survived.

In 1999, it was decided to restore the temple. To this end, Igor Dulush, Honored Art Worker of the Republic of Tuva, came up with the idea to hold an international festival of live music and faith, so that the funds raised would be used to restore the spiritual shrine of the Tuvan people.

In 2008, a new building began to be erected next to the dilapidated walls of the temple with the support of the Russian statesman S. Shoigu, who is also from Tyva. Construction was completed in 2012.

A festival dedicated to the shrine is held annually. Any artist or musical group of any genre and style can take part in it on a competitive basis.

The festival has two parts. The part devoted to faith opens the festival with a bright carnival procession of Tsam, which marches through the streets of the city and then enters two Buddhist monasteries. Both artists and spectators participate in the procession.

The musical part consists of four daily concerts. At the end there is a grand gala concert of the winners and at night - a jam session, when the musicians can improvise individually or together about the subject of their meeting.

Conclusion

Tuvans are an amazing people with a hardworking character. The local land is rich in sights and natural wonders, which invariably attract tourists from all over the world.

One of the following articles on the blog will be devoted separately to the national cuisine of Tuvans.

And today we will stop there. We will be grateful to you for the recommendation of the article on social networks.

Tuvans are people. Very different from us, very peculiar.
1.

A wild tribe, plundered for centuries by all newcomers, from the Chinese to the Russians. Naive, like children. Cruel as wolves, descendants of fearless warriors. Lazy like us. Even lazier than the Russians, yes. The villagers went to the canteen and bought whole pots of boiled pasta there, because they were too lazy to cook it themselves. They do not cultivate the land, because it is easier to eat away pensions and meager salaries.
They drink a lot. In a drunken state, they do not control themselves and can easily stab. Every second person here has knives. This one was lying on the street, broken:

2.

As the locals say, when you go to a Tuvan wedding, you never know if you will come back alive. There is some truth in this. Tuva really ranks first in Russia in terms of murders, and no Caucasus can compare with it. Causeless, poorly motivated, cruel. In the morning, the killer, as a rule, throws up his hands and does not remember well what happened. Walking along the streets of Kyzyl, I peered into the faces of people and unconditionally believed the sad statistics.
3.

Lots of homeless people. When you don't understand - still in human form, or already a predatory beast, in search of money for the next bottle. There are, of course, quite normal, ordinary people, as elsewhere, but it is in Tuva that you understand what Russia's ass looks like. Not along the cracks on the facades of houses and not along the street garbage dumps. By facial expressions.
4.


5.

I want to leave immediately. The Russians did just that in the 90s, when, along with the growth of national self-consciousness, clubs and knives appeared in the hands of Tuvans. Then came the sobering. Without Russia, the Tuvans in the 21st century have only one way - to total poverty and oblivion. Or absorption by the ubiquitous Chinese and complete assimilation, the disappearance of the ethnic group. The Chinese, by the way, are already active in Tuva, digging out rare earth metals.
The only thing that gives hope is advanced youth. She has videos and Facebook. Maybe she doesn't want to live in a fucking dull shit like their parents do now.
6.


7.


8.

Some of them will certainly go to civilization, to a beautiful world, to Abakan or even Krasnoyarsk. But someone will remain, and will certainly make sure that electricity appears in the park of the Kyzyl-Jurassic period and the carousel starts working.
9.


10.

The new generation of Tuvans will learn that the railway is very long and real, and not a ten-meter attraction named after a visiting president. An excellent guy named Chingiz will get an education, will not stab anyone, become the head of the Kyzyl-Glavnaya station and will not take bribes. At all. An unheard of thing today.

In the meantime, young people have their own lives in the uncomfortable Kyzyl courtyards, while adults have their own.
11.


12.


13.

Huge steppe eagles fly above all of them. Describe circles over the city, leisurely and majestically. Just as leisurely, I will talk about Kyzyl in the next fragment of Tuvan impressions.

Tuvans (self-name - Tuva, plural - Tyvalar; obsolete names: Soyots, Soyons, Uriankhians, Tannu-Tuvans, Tannutuvins) - people, the main population of Tuva (Tyva).

According to the anthropological type, the Tuvans are Mongoloids. They speak the Tuvan language, which is part of the Sayan group of Turkic languages. They also know Russian. There is a written language based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Believers are Buddhists; traditional cults (shamanism) are also preserved.

Young Tuvan

The total number of Tuvans is from 260 to 300 thousand people.In Russia - about 244 thousand people. (in 1970 - about 140 thousand people), including in the Republic of Tyva - about 235 thousand people.In Mongolia (aimags Uvs, Bayan-Ulgiy, Khuvsgel, Zavkhan, Khovd) - from 12 to 20 thousand people.In China (the villages of Shemirshek and Alagak in the territory subordinate to the city of Altai, the village of Komkanas in the Burchun district, the village of Akkaba in the Kaba district; all in the Altai district of the Ili-Kazakh Autonomous Region of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region) - about 3.3 thousand people.

Tuvans are divided into western (mountain-steppe regions of western, central and southern Tuva), speaking the central and western dialects of the Tuvan language, and eastern, known as Tuvans-Todzhans (mountain-taiga part of northeastern and southeastern Tuva), speaking in the northeastern and southeastern dialects (Tojin language). Todzhans make up about 5% of Tuvans.

The most ancient ancestors of the Tuvans are the Turkic-speaking tribes of Central Asia, who penetrated the territory of modern Tuva no later than the middle of the 1st millennium and mixed here with the Ket-speaking, Samoyedic-speaking and, possibly, Indo-European tribes. Many features of the traditional culture of the Tuvans date back to the era of the early nomads, when Saka tribes lived on the territory of modern Tuva and adjacent regions of the Sayano-Altai (VIII-III centuries BC). Their influence can be traced in material culture (in the forms of utensils, clothing, and especially in arts and crafts).

In the context of the expansion of the Xiongnu at the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. the steppe regions of Tuva were invaded by new pastoral nomadic tribes, mostly different from the local population of the Scythian time, but close to the Xiongnu of Central Asia. Many elements of the traditional material culture of the Tuvans date back to this time (for example, the forms of wooden utensils).

The Turkic tribes that settled in the Tuvan steppes had a significant impact on the ethnogenesis of the Tuvans. In the middle of the 8th century, the Turkic-speaking Uighurs, who created a powerful tribal union in Central Asia - the Uighur Khaganate, crushed the Turkic Khaganate, conquering its territories, including Tuva. Part of the Uighur tribes, gradually mixing with the local tribes, had a decisive influence on the formation of their language.

The descendants of the conquering Uighurs lived in western Tuva until the 20th century (possibly, they include some tribal groups that now inhabit southeastern and northwestern Tuva). The Yenisei Kyrgyz, who inhabited the Minusinsk Basin, subjugated the Uighurs in the 9th century. Later, the Kyrgyz tribes that penetrated Tuva completely assimilated among the local population. In the XIII-XIV centuries, several Mongol tribes moved to Tuva, gradually assimilated by the local population.

Under the influence of the Mongolian tribes, the Central Asian Mongoloid racial type, which is also characteristic of modern Tuvans, developed. At the end of the 1st millennium AD. e. in the mountain-taiga eastern part of Tuva - in the Sayans (today's Todzhinsky kozhuun), previously inhabited by Samoyed, Ket-speaking and, possibly, Tungus tribes, Turkic-speaking tribes of the tuba (dubo in Chinese sources), related to the Uighurs, penetrated. By the 19th century, all non-Turkic inhabitants of Eastern Tuva were completely Turkicized, and the ethnonym Tuba (Tyva) became the common self-name of all Tuvans.

From the end of the 16th century, Tuva was part of the Mongolian state of the Altynkhans, which existed until the 2nd half of the 17th century. In the middle of the 18th century, Tuva was subordinated to the Manchu dynasty of China, which ruled Tuva until 1911. During this period, the formation of the Tuvan people was completed. In 1914, Tuva (Russian name - Uryankhai region) was taken under the protectorate of Russia. On August 14, 1921, the People's Republic of Tannu-Tuva was proclaimed. From 1926 it became known as the Tuva People's Republic. On October 13, 1944, the republic was annexed to the USSR and included in the Russian Federation as an autonomous region, in 1961 it was transformed into the Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, from 1991 - the Republic of Tuva, from 1993 - the Republic of Tyva.

Traditional cuisine

: Western Tuvan food traditions were based on the products of a nomadic pastoral economy, combined with agriculture. In wealthy families, for a significant part of the year they ate dairy products and, to a lesser extent, meat. They also used plant foods, mainly millet and barley, wild. Fish was consumed only by the poor. They ate boiled meat of domestic and wild animals, the most favorite dishes were lamb and horse meat. Not only meat was used for food, but also offal, as well as the blood of domestic animals. Milk was consumed only boiled, and almost exclusively in the form of fermented milk products. They predominated in the diet in the spring and summer. In winter, their role sharply decreased. They used the milk of large and small cattle, horses, camels. Koumiss was prepared from mare's milk.

Tuvinians cattle breeders

Butter and dry cheese (kurut) prepared for the future played an important role in the diet in winter. By distillation of the skimmed fermented milk, milk "vodka" - araka was obtained. An important role in the diet was played by tea, which was drunk salted and with milk. Reindeer hunters in eastern Tuva ate mainly the meat of wild ungulates. Domestic deer, as a rule, were not slaughtered. Reindeer milk was drunk mainly with tea. Vegetable products were also used very sparingly, preparing food from grain or flour only once a day. Sarana bulbs dried on fire were eaten with tea, and a thick porridge-like soup was cooked from crushed ones. They made shish kebab, meat and blood sausages from meat. Fresh byshtak and sour arzhi cheese, butter, fatty foams, sour cream, fermented milk drinks - khoytpak and tarak, koumiss, milk vodka were prepared from milk. They did not use bread, instead they used dalgan - flour made from fried grains of barley or wheat, fried crushed millet. Various cakes, noodles and dumplings were prepared from flour.

The traditional dwelling of the Eastern Tuvan reindeer herders (Todzhans) was a tent, which had a frame of inclined poles. It was covered in summer-autumn with birch bark sections, and in winter - with sections sewn from elk skins. During the period of transition to settled life in the newly created collective farm settlements, many Todzhans built permanent tents, which were covered with pieces of larch bark, and light four-, five- and hexagonal frame buildings became widespread before the construction of standard houses began. The outbuildings of the Western Tuvans were mainly in the form of quadrangular pens (made of poles) for livestock. At the beginning of the 20th century, under the influence of Russian peasant settlers in Western and Central Tuva, they began to build log barns for storing grain near winter roads.

Tuvan dwelling

Traditional clothes, including shoes, were made from the skins and skins of mainly domestic and wild animals, from various fabrics and felt. Shoulder clothing was tunic-shaped swing. The characteristic features of outerwear - a dressing gown - were a stepped cutout in the upper part of the left floor and long sleeves with cuffs that fell below the hands. Favorite fabric colors are purple, blue, yellow, red, green. In winter they wore long fur coats with a fastener on the right side and a standing collar. In spring and autumn, they wore sheepskin coats with short-cropped wool. Festive winter clothing was a fur coat made of the skins of grown lambs, covered with colored fabric, often silk, summer - a dressing gown made of colored fabric (usually blue or cherry). Floors, collars, cuffs were sheathed with several rows of strips of colored fabric of various colors, and the collar was stitched so that the seams formed rhombic cells, meander, zigzag or wavy lines.

Tuvan girls-models in national costumes

One of the most common headwear for men and women is a sheepskin hat with a wide domed top with earmuffs tied at the back of the head and a nape covering the neck. They wore spacious felt hoods with an elongated ledge that fell to the back of the head, as well as hats made of sheepskin, lynx or lamb skin, which had a high crown trimmed with colored fabric. A knob in the form of a braided knot was sewn to the top of the cap, and several red ribbons fell down from it. Fur hoods were also worn.

Shoes are basically of two types. Leather boots kadyg idik with a characteristic curved and pointed toe, multi-layered felt-leather sole. The tops were cut out of rawhide of cattle. Festive boots were decorated with colored appliqués. Soft boots chymchak idik had a soft sole made of cow leather without a cape bend and a boot top made of treated leather of a domestic goat. In winter, felt stockings (uk) with sewn-in soles were worn in boots. The upper part of the stockings was decorated with ornamental embroideries.

The clothing of the Eastern Tuvan reindeer herders had a number of significant features. In summer, khashton, which was cut out of worn deer skins or autumn roe deer rovduga, served as a favorite shoulder garment. It had a straight cut, widened at the hem, straight sleeves with deep rectangular armholes. There was another cut - the camp was cut out from one whole skin, thrown over the head and, as it were, wrapped around the body. Capor-shaped headdresses were sewn from the skins from the heads of wild animals. Sometimes they used headdresses made of duck skin and feathers. In late autumn and winter, they used kamus fur boots with the fur outside (byshkak idik). Reindeer herders, being on the hunt, girded their clothes with a narrow belt made of roe deer skin with hooves at its ends.

The underwear of both Western and Eastern Tuvans consisted of a shirt and short pants. Summer pants were sewn from cloth or rovduga, and winter pants were made from the skins of domestic and wild animals, less often from cloth.

Rings, rings, earrings, as well as silver bracelets ornamented with chasing served as women's jewelry. Braided silver ornaments in the form of a plate decorated with engraving, chasing, and precious stones were highly valued. 3-5 beads and black bundles of threads were hung from them. Both women and men wore braids. Men shaved the front of the head, and the remaining hair was braided into one braid.

Traditional holidays: New Year - Shagaa, community holidays associated with the annual economic cycle, family and household holidays - the wedding cycle, the birth of a child, hair cutting, religious lamaism, etc. Not a single significant event in the life of a community or a large administrative unit took place without sports competitions - national wrestling (khuresh), horse racing, archery, various games. Oral poetic creativity of various genres is developed: heroic epos, legends, myths, legends, songs, proverbs and sayings. To this day, storytellers have survived, performing orally the huge works of the epic of the Tuvans.

A shaman in a Tuvan yurt during the celebration of Shagaa - the New Year

Exogamous clans (söyok) survived until the beginning of the 20th century only among Eastern Tuvans, although traces of tribal division existed among Western Tuvans as well. In social life, the so-called aal communities were of significant importance - family-related groups, which usually included from three to five or six families (the family of the father and the families of his separated married sons with children), who roamed together, forming stable groups of aals, and in the summer time they united in larger neighboring communities. The small monogamous family predominated, although before the 1920s there were cases of polygamy among wealthy cattle owners. The institution of kalym was preserved. The wedding cycle consisted of several stages: conspiracy (usually in childhood), matchmaking, a special ceremony of securing matchmaking, marriage and a wedding feast. There were special wedding capes on the head of the bride, a number of prohibitions associated with the customs of avoidance. Tuvans had rich traditions - customs, rituals, norms of behavior, which are an integral part of spiritual culture.

Musical folk art is represented by numerous songs, ditties. A special place in the Tuvan musical culture is occupied by the so-called throat singing, in which four varieties are usually distinguished and four melodic styles corresponding to them.

Of the musical instruments, the most common were the mouth harp (khomus) - iron and wooden. Bowed instruments (ancient prototypes of the violin) - igil and byzanchy were common.