People in the Russian Federation. The number in the Russian Federation is 417,425 people. They speak the Buryat language of the Mongolian group of the Altai language family. According to anthropological features, the Buryats belong to the Central Asian type of the Mongoloid race.
The self-name of the Buryats is “Buryayad”.
The Buryats live in southern Siberia on the lands adjacent to Lake Baikal and further east. In administrative terms, this is the territory of the Republic of Buryatia (the capital is Ulan-Ude) and two autonomous Buryat districts: Ust-Orda in the Irkutsk region and Aginsky in the Chita region. The Buryats also live in Moscow, St. Petersburg and many other large Russian cities.
According to anthropological features, the Buryats belong to the Central Asian type of the Mongoloid race.
The Buryats emerged as a single people by the middle of the 17th century. from tribes that lived in the lands around Lake Baikal more than a thousand years ago. In the second half of the 17th century. these territories became part of Russia. In the 17th century The Buryats made up several tribal groups, the largest among which were Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khorints and Khongodors. Later, a certain number of Mongols and assimilated Evenki clans became part of the Buryats. The convergence of the Buryat tribes among themselves and their subsequent consolidation into a single nationality were historically conditioned by the proximity of their culture and dialects, as well as the socio-political unification of the tribes after they became part of Russia. During the formation of the Buryat people, tribal differences were generally erased, although dialectal features remained.
They speak Buryat. The Buryat language belongs to the Mongolian group of the Altai language family. In addition to Buryat, the Mongolian language is also widespread among the Buryats. The Buryat language is divided into 15 dialects. The Buryat language is considered native by 86.6% of Russian Buryats.
The ancient religion of the Buryats is shamanism, supplanted in Transbaikalia by Lamaism. Most Western Buryats were formally considered Orthodox, but retained shamanism. Remnants of shamanism were also preserved among the Buryat Lamaists.
During the period of the first Russian settlers in the Baikal region, nomadic cattle breeding played a predominant role in the economy of the Buryat tribes. The Buryat cattle-breeding economy was based on year-round keeping of livestock on pasture for grazing. The Buryats raised sheep, cattle, goats, horses and camels (listed by importance in descending order). Families of herders moved with their herds. Additional types of economic activity were hunting, farming and fishing, which were more developed among the Western Buryats; There was a seal fishery on the coast of Lake Baikal. During the XVII-XIX centuries. Under the influence of the Russian population, changes occurred in the Buryat economy. Pure cattle breeding was preserved only among the Buryats in the southeast of Buryatia. In other regions of Transbaikalia, a complex pastoral-agricultural economy developed, in which only rich pastoralists continued to roam throughout the year, middle-income pastoralists and owners of small herds switched to partial or complete settlement and began to engage in farming. In the Cis-Baikal region, where farming as a subsidiary industry had been practiced before, an agricultural-pastoral complex developed. Here, the population almost completely switched to a settled agricultural economy, in which haymaking was widely practiced on specially fertilized and irrigated meadows - “utugs”, fodder for the winter, and household maintenance of livestock. The Buryats sowed winter and spring rye, wheat, barley, buckwheat, oats, and hemp. The technology of agriculture and agricultural tools were borrowed from Russian peasants.
The rapid development of capitalism in Russia in the second half of the 19th century. also affected the territory of Buryatia. The construction of the Siberian railway and the development of industry in southern Siberia gave impetus to the expansion of agriculture, increasing its marketability. Machine agricultural machinery appears in the economy of the wealthy Buryats. Buryatia has become one of the producers of commercial grain.
With the exception of blacksmithing and jewelry, the Buryats did not know a developed handicraft industry. Their economic and domestic needs were almost completely satisfied by home craft, for which wood and livestock products served as raw materials: leather, wool, hides, horse hair, etc. The Buryats retained the remnants of the “iron” cult: iron products were considered a talisman. Often blacksmiths were also shamans. They were treated with respect and superstitious fear. The blacksmith's profession was hereditary. Buryat blacksmiths and jewelers were distinguished high level qualifications, and their products were widely distributed throughout Siberia and Central Asia.
The traditions of pastoralism and nomadic life, despite the increasing role of agriculture, left a significant mark on the culture of the Buryats.
Buryat men's and women's clothing differed relatively little. The lower clothing consisted of a shirt and trousers, the upper one was a long loose robe with a wrap on the right side, which was girded with a wide cloth sash or belt belt. The robe was lined, the winter robe was lined with fur. The edges of the robes were trimmed with bright fabric or braid. Married women wore a sleeveless vest over their robes - uje, which had a slit in the front, which was also lined. The traditional headdress for men was a conical hat with an expanding band of fur, from which two ribbons descended down the back. Women wore a pointed hat with a fur trim and a red silk tassel running down from the top of the hat. Shoes were low boots with thick felt soles without heels, with toes turned up. Women's favorite jewelry were temple pendants, earrings, necklaces, and medallions. The clothes of wealthy Buryats were distinguished by high quality material and bright colors; they were sewn mainly from imported fabrics. At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Traditional costume gradually began to give way to Russian urban and peasant clothing, this happened especially quickly in the western part of Buryatia.
Dishes made from milk and dairy products occupied a large place in the food of the Buryats. Not only sour milk was stored for future use, but also dried compressed curdled mass - khurut, which replaced bread for cattle breeders. The intoxicating drink tarasun (archi) was made from milk with the help of a special distillation apparatus, which was necessarily a part of the sacrificial and ritual food. Meat consumption depended on the number of livestock owned by the family. In summer they preferred mutton, in winter they slaughtered cattle. The meat was boiled in lightly salted water and the broth was drunk. In the traditional cuisine of the Buryats there were also a number of flour dishes, but they began to bake bread only under the influence of the Russian population. Like the Mongols, the Buryats drank brick tea, into which they poured milk and put salt and lard.
The ancient form of the Buryat traditional dwelling was a typical nomadic yurt, which was based on easily transportable lattice walls. When installing the yurt, the walls were placed in a circle and tied with hair cords. The dome of the yurt rested on inclined poles, which rested on the walls with the lower end, and attached to the wooden hoop, which served as a smoke hole, with the upper end. From above, the frame was covered with felt tires, which were tied with ropes. The entrance to the yurt was always from the south. It was closed wooden door and quilted felt felt. The floor in the yurt was usually earthen, sometimes it was lined with boards and felt. The hearth was always located in the center of the floor. As the herd transitioned to sedentism, the felt yurt fell out of use. In the Cis-Baikal region it disappeared by the middle of the 19th century. The yurt was replaced by polygonal (usually octagonal) wooden log buildings. They had a sloping roof with a smoke hole in the center and were similar to felt yurts. They often coexisted with felt yurts and served as summer homes. With the spread of Russian-type log dwellings (huts) in Buryatia, polygonal yurts were preserved in places as utility rooms(barns, summer kitchens, etc.).
Inside the traditional Buryat dwelling, like other pastoral peoples, there was a custom-defined placement of property and utensils. Behind the hearth, opposite the entrance, there was a home sanctuary, where the Buryat Lamaists had images of Buddhas - burkhanas and bowls with sacrificial food, and the Buryat shamanists had a box with human figurines and animal skins, which were revered as the embodiment of spirits - ongons. To the left of the hearth was the place of the owner, to the right was the place of the mistress. On the left, i.e. the male half, hunting and men's craft supplies were located, on the right - kitchenware. To the right of the entrance, along the walls, there was a place for dishes in order, then wooden bed, chests for household utensils and clothes. Near the bed there was a leaking cradle. To the left of the entrance lay saddles and harnesses, there were chests on which the rolled-up beds of family members, wineskins for fermenting milk, etc. were placed for the day. Above the fireplace, on a tripod tagan, stood a bowl in which meat was cooked, milk and tea were boiled. Even after the Buryats switched to Russian-style buildings and the appearance of urban furniture in their everyday life, the traditional arrangement of things inside the house remained almost unchanged for a long time.
At the turn of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The main form of the Buryat family was a small monogamous family. Polygyny, permitted by custom, was found mainly among wealthy cattle breeders. The marriage was strictly exogamous, and only paternal kinship was taken into account. Despite the weakening of consanguineous and tribal ties and their replacement by territorial production ties, tribal relations played a large role in the life of the Buryats, especially among the Buryats of the Cis-Baikal region. Members of one clan had to provide assistance to relatives, participate in common sacrifices and meals, act in defense of a relative and bear responsibility if relatives committed an offense; vestiges of communal tribal ownership of land also remained. Each Buryat had to know his genealogy, some of them numbered up to twenty tribes. In general, the social system of Buryatia on the eve of the October Revolution was a complex interweaving of remnants of primitive communal and class relations. Both Western and Eastern Buryats had a class of feudal lords (taishi and noyons), which grew out of the tribal aristocracy. Development of commodity relations at the beginning of the 20th century. led to the emergence of a rural bourgeois class.
In the 80-90s. in Buryatia there is a rise in national self-awareness, a movement for the revival of national culture and language is unfolding. In 1991, at the all-Buryat congress, the All-Buryat Association for the Development of Culture (WARC) was formed, which became the center for organizing and coordinating all activities in the field of national culture. National cultural centers were created in the cities. Irkutsk, Chita. There are several dozen gymnasiums, lyceums, and colleges operating under a special program with in-depth study of subjects in national culture and language; universities and secondary specialized educational institutions are introducing extended courses on the history and culture of Buryatia.
Russian Civilization
The Chinese tribes (Shono and Nokhoi) formed at the end of the Neolithic and in the Bronze Age (2500-1300 BC). According to the authors, tribes of pastoralists-farmers then coexisted with tribes of hunters. In the Late Bronze Age, throughout Central Asia, including the Baikal region, lived tribes of the so-called “tilers” - proto-Turks and proto-Mongols. Since the 3rd century. BC. the population of Transbaikalia and Cisbaikalia is drawn into the historical events that unfolded in Central Asia and Southern Siberia, associated with the formation of early non-state associations of the Huns, Xianbei, Rourans and ancient Turks. From this time on, the spread of Mongol-speaking tribes in the Baikal region and the gradual Mongolization of the aborigines began. In the VIII-IX centuries. region a was part of the Uyghur Khanate. The main tribes that lived here were the Kurykans and the Bayyrku-Bayegu.
In the XI-XIII centuries. The region found itself in the zone of political influence of the Mongolian tribes of the Three Rivers - Onon, Kerulen and Tola - and the creation of a unified Mongolian state. The territory of modern Buryatia was included in the indigenous inheritance of the state, and the entire population was involved in the general Mongolian political, economic and cultural life. After the collapse of the empire (XIV century), Transbaikalia and Cisbaikalia remained part of the Mongolian state.
More reliable information about the ancestors appears in the first half of the 17th century. in connection with the arrival of the Russians in Eastern Siberia. During this period, Transbaikalia was part of Northern Mongolia, which was part of the Setsen Khan and Tushetu Khan khanates. They were dominated by Mongol-speaking peoples and tribes, subdivided into the Mongols themselves, the Khalkha Mongols, the Barguts, the Daurs, the Khorins, and others. The Cis-Baikal region was in tributary dependence on Western Mongolia. By the time the Russians arrived, they consisted of 5 main tribes:
- bulagats - on the Angara and its tributaries Unga, Osa, Ida and Kuda;
- ekhirits (ekherits) - along the upper reaches of the Kuda and Lena and the tributaries of the latter, Manzurka and Anga;
- Hongodors - on the left bank of the Angara, along the lower reaches of the Belaya, Kitoy and Irkut rivers;
- Khorin residents are on the western bank and near the river. Buguldeikhi, on Olkhon Island, on the eastern shore and in the Kudarinskaya steppe, along the river. Ude and the Eravninsky lakes;
- tabunuts (tabanguts) - along the right bank of the river. Selenga in the area of the lower reaches of Khilok and Chikoy.
Two groups of Bulagats lived separately from the rest: the Ashekhabats in the area of modern Nizhneudinsk, the Ikinats in the lower reaches of the river. Okie. The ov also included separate groups that lived in the lower Selenga - Atagans, Sartols, Khatagins and others.
Since the 1620s. Russian penetration into Buryatia begins. In 1631 the Bratsk fort (modern Bratsk) was founded, in 1641 - the Verkholensky fort, in 1647 - Osinsky, in 1648 - Udinsky (modern Nizhneudinsk), in 1652 - the Irkutsk fort, in 1654 - the Balagansky fort, in 1666 - Verkhneudinsk - stages colonization of the region. Numerous military clashes with Russian Cossacks and Yasash warriors date back to the 1st half of the 17th century. Prisons - symbols of Russian domination - were especially often attacked.
In the middle of the 17th century. the territory of Buryatia was annexed to Russia, and therefore the territories on both sides were separated from Mongolia. Under the conditions of Russian statehood, the process of consolidation of various groups and tribes began. After joining Russia, they were given the right to freely practice their religion, live according to their traditions, with the right to choose their elders and leaders. In the 17th century The Chinese tribes (Bulagats, Ekhirits and at least part of the Khondogors) were formed on the basis of Mongol tribal groups living on the periphery of Mongolia. The ovs included a number of ethnic Mongols (separate groups of Khalkha Mongols and Dzungar-Oirats), as well as Turkic, Tungus and Yenisei elements.
As a result, by the end of the 19th century. A new community was formed - the Chinese ethnos. The Buryats were part of the Irkutsk province, within which the Transbaikal region was allocated (1851). The Buryats were divided into sedentary and nomadic, governed by steppe dumas and foreign councils.
Soviet sniper, Buryat Radna Ayusheev from the 63rd Marine Brigade during the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation of 1944At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. In Buryatia, a volost reform was carried out, which increased administrative and police oppression. 53% of their lands were confiscated from the Irkutsk people for the colonization fund, and 36% from the Transbaikal ones. This caused sharp discontent and the rise of the national movement. In 1904, martial law was declared in Buryatia.
In 1902-1904, under the leadership of political exiles (I.V. Babushkin, V.K. Kurnatovsky, Em. Yaroslavsky, etc.), social democratic groups arose in Buryatia. One of the active members of the Social Democratic group was the Russian revolutionary Ts.Ts. Ranzhurov. During the Revolution of 1905-1907. The revolutionary movement (railroad workers, miners, workers of gold mines and industrial enterprises and peasants of Buryatia) was led by the Verkhneudinsk and Mysovo groups of Bolsheviks, who were part of the Transbaikal Regional Committee of the RSDLP. Strike committees and workers' squads were created at large railway stations. Russian and Russian peasants seized lands that belonged to monasteries and the royal family (the so-called cabinet lands), and refused taxes and duties. In 1905, congresses were held in Verkhneudinsk, Chita and Irkutsk, demanding the creation of local governments and the return of lands transferred for colonization. The revolutionary uprisings of the working people were suppressed by the tsarist troops.
The social organization of the Mongol period is traditional Central Asian. In the Cis-Baikal region, which was in tributary dependence on the Mongol rulers, the features of tribal relations were more preserved. Divided into tribes and clans, the Cis-Baikal ones were headed by princes of different levels. Transbaikal groups were directly within the system of the Mongol state. After being separated from the Mongolian superethnos, Transbaikalia and Cisbaikalia lived as separate tribes and territorial clan groups. The largest of them were Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khorits, Ikinats, Khongodors, Tabanguts (Selenga “Mungals”). At the end of the 19th century. There were over 160 tribal divisions.
In the XVIII - early XX centuries. The lowest administrative unit was the ulus, governed by a foreman. The union of several uluses constituted a clan administration headed by a shulenga. A group of clans formed a department. Small departments were governed by special councils, and large ones by steppe dumas under the leadership of the taisha. Since the end of the 19th century. The system of volost government was gradually introduced.
Along with the most common small family, there was a large (undivided) family. A large family often formed a farm-type settlement within an ulus. In the family and marriage system important role Exogamy and bride price played.
As the Russians colonized the region, the growth of cities and villages, the development of industrial enterprises and arable farming, the process of reducing nomadism and the transition to sedentary life intensified. The Buryats began to settle more compactly, often forming, especially in Western departments, significant settlements. In the wall departments of Transbaikalia, migrations took place from 4 to 12 times a year; a felt yurt served as a dwelling. There were few log houses of the Russian type. In the South-Western Transbaikalia they roamed 2-4 times, the most common types of housing were wooden and felt yurts. Felt yurt – Mongolian type. Its skeleton was made up of lattice sliding walls from willow branches. “Stationary” yurts are log, six- and eight-walled, as well as rectangular and square in plan, frame-post construction, domed roof with a smoke hole.
Some of the Transbaikal people carried out military service - guarding state borders. In 1851, consisting of 4 regiments, they were transferred to the estate of the Transbaikal Cossack Army. The Buryat Cossacks, by occupation and way of life, remained cattle breeders.
The Baikal ones, who occupied forest-steppe zones, migrated 2 times a year - to winter roads and summer roads, lived in wooden and only partly in felt yurts. Gradually, they almost completely switched to sedentary life; under the influence of the Russians, they built log houses, barns, outbuildings, sheds, stables, and surrounded the estate with a fence. Wooden yurts acquired an auxiliary value, and felt ones completely fell out of use. An indispensable attribute of the courtyard (in Cisbaikalia and Transbaikalia) was a hitching post (serge) in the form of a pillar up to 1.7-1.9 m high, with carved ornaments on the top. The hitching post was an object of veneration and symbolized the well-being and social status of the owner.
Traditional dishes and utensils were made of leather, wood, metal, and felt. As contacts with the Russian population intensified, factory products and items of settled life became increasingly widespread. Along with leather and wool, cotton fabrics and cloth were increasingly used to make clothing. Jackets, coats, skirts, sweaters, scarves, hats, boots, felt boots, etc. appeared. At the same time, traditional forms of clothing and footwear continued to be preserved: fur coats and hats, fabric robes, high boots, women's sleeveless outerwear, etc. Clothing, especially women's, was decorated with multi-colored materials, silver and gold. The set of jewelry included various kinds of earrings, bracelets, rings, corals and coins, chains and pendants. For men, decorations included silver belts, knives, pipes, and flint; among the rich and noyons, there were also orders, medals, special caftans and daggers, indicating a high social status.
Meat and various dairy products were staples in the diet. Varenets (tarag), hard and soft cheeses (khuruud, bisla, hezge, aarsa), dried cottage cheese (airuul), foam (urme), and buttermilk (airak) were prepared from milk. Kumis (guniy airak) was prepared from mare's milk, and milk vodka (archi) was made from cow's milk. The best meat was considered to be horse meat, and then lamb; they also ate the meat of wild goats, elk, hares and squirrels, and sometimes ate bear meat, hog meat and wild waterfowl. Horsemeat was prepared for the winter. For coastal residents, fish was no less important than meat. The Buryats widely consumed berries, plants and roots and stored them for the winter. In places where arable farming developed, bread and flour products, potatoes and garden crops came into use.
Culture
In folk art, a large place is occupied by bone, wood and stone carving, casting, metal chasing, jewelry making, embroidery, wool knitting, making appliqués on leather, felt and fabrics.
The main genres of folklore are myths, legends, stories, heroic epic (“Geser”), fairy tales, songs, riddles, proverbs and sayings. Epic tales were widespread among (especially Western) people - uligers, for example. “Alamzhi Mergen”, “Altan Shargai”, “Aiduurai Mergen”, “Shono Bator”, etc.
Musical and poetic creativity associated with uligers, which were performed accompanied by a two-stringed bowed instrument (khure), was widespread. The most popular type of dance art is the round dance yokhor. There were dance-games “Yagsha”, “Aisukhay”, “Yagaruukhay”, “Guugel”, “Ayarzon-Bayarzon”, etc. There were a variety of folk instruments - strings, winds and percussion: tambourine, khur, khuchir, chanza, limba, bichkhur, sur, etc. A special section is made up of musical and dramatic art for religious purposes - shamanic and Buddhist ritual performances, mysteries.
The most significant holidays were tailagans, which included prayer services and sacrifices to patron spirits, a common meal, and various competitive games (wrestling, archery, horse racing). The majority had three mandatory tailagans - spring, summer and autumn. Currently, tailagans are being revived in full. With the establishment of Buddhism, holidays became widespread - khurals, held at datsans. The most popular of them - Maidari and Tsam - occurred in the summer months. IN winter time The White Month (Tsagaan cap) was celebrated, which was considered the beginning of the New Year. Currently, the most popular traditional holidays are Tsagaalgan ( New Year) and Surkharban, organized on the scale of villages, districts, districts and the republic.
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The name “Buryat” comes from the Mongolian root “bul”, which means “forest man”, “hunter”. This is what the Mongols called numerous tribes that lived on both banks of Lake Baikal. The Buryats became one of the first victims of the Mongol conquests and paid tribute to the Mongol khans for four and a half centuries. Through Mongolia, the Tibetan form of Buddhism, Lamaism, penetrated into the Buryat lands.
At the beginning of the 17th century, before the arrival of the Russians in Eastern Siberia, the Buryat tribes on both sides of Lake Baikal still did not form a single nationality. However, the Cossacks did not soon manage to conquer them. Officially, Transbaikalia, where the bulk of the Buryat tribes lived, was annexed to Russia in 1689 in accordance with the Treaty of Nerchinsk concluded with China. But in fact, the annexation process was completed only in 1727, when the Russian-Mongolian border was drawn.
Even earlier, by decree of Peter I, “indigenous nomads” were allocated for compact settlement of the Buryats - territories along the Kerulen, Onon, and Selenga rivers. The establishment of the state border led to the isolation of the Buryat tribes from the rest of the Mongolian world and the beginning of their formation into a single people. In 1741, the Russian government appointed a supreme lama for the Buryats.
It is no coincidence that the Buryats had the most lively affection for the Russian sovereign. For example, when in 1812 they learned about the fire of Moscow, it was difficult to restrain them from going against the French.
In the years Civil War Buryatia was occupied by American troops, who replaced the Japanese here. After the expulsion of the interventionists in Transbaikalia, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Republic was created with its center in the city of Verkhneudinsk, later renamed Ulan-Ude.
In 1958, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, and after the collapse of the Union - into the Republic of Buryatia.
The Buryats are one of the most numerous nationalities inhabiting the territory of Siberia. Today their number in Russia is more than 250 thousand. However, in 2002, by decision of UNESCO, the Buryat language was listed in the Red Book as endangered - a sad result of the era of globalization.
Pre-revolutionary Russian ethnographers noted that the Buryats have a strong physique, but in general they are prone to obesity.
Murder among them is an almost unheard of crime. However, they are excellent hunters; Buryats boldly go after a bear, accompanied only by their dog.
In their mutual behavior, the Buryats are polite: when greeting each other, they serve each other right hand, and with the left they grab it above the hand. Like the Kalmyks, they do not kiss their lovers, but smell them.
The Buryats had an ancient custom of honoring white, which in their minds personified the pure, sacred, noble. To sit a person on white felt meant to wish him well-being. Persons of noble origin considered themselves white-boned, and those of poor origin considered themselves black-boned. As a sign of belonging to the white bone, the rich people erected yurts made of white felt.
Many will probably be surprised to learn that the Buryats have only one holiday a year. But it lasts a long time, which is why it is called the “white month”. According to the European calendar, its beginning falls on cheese week, and sometimes on Maslenitsa itself.
The Buryats have long developed a system of ecological principles in which nature was considered as the fundamental condition of all well-being and wealth, joy and health. According to local laws, the desecration and destruction of nature entailed severe corporal punishment, including the death penalty.
Since ancient times, the Buryats have revered holy places, which were nothing more than nature reserves in the modern sense of the word. They were under the protection of centuries-old religions - Buddhism and shamanism. It was these holy places that helped preserve and save from imminent destruction a number of representatives of the Siberian flora and fauna, the natural resources of ecological systems and landscapes.
The Buryats have a particularly caring and touching attitude towards Baikal: from time immemorial it was considered a sacred and great sea (Ekhe dalai). God forbid that a rude word should be uttered on its banks, not to mention abuse and quarrel. Perhaps in the 21st century it will finally dawn on us that it is precisely this attitude towards nature that should be called civilization.
It seems that one of the reasons is the openness of the culture of the Mongolian peoples - extroverts by nature - in contrast to, say, the closedness of Muslim culture. The desire to understand the world and modernize forces the Mongols to adopt a lot of new, foreign things to the detriment of their own, traditional ones. It is not without reason that the Mongols, both in China and in Russia, are distinguished by their high educational qualifications.
It is also significant that Buryatia is located on the distant outskirts of Russia, the Mongolian world and Buddhist civilization, which left a certain imprint on the Buryat mentality. The Buryats, like every nation, had and have their own elite. At the turn of the century, this elite consisted of Buryat national democrats. They received their education at leading Russian universities, becoming the first Buryat scientists and educators. At the same time, being subjects of the Russian Empire, they became, willingly or unwillingly, emissaries of tsarist and Soviet policies in Inner Asia.
In the self-awareness and political practice of the elite, there was a synthesis of Western and Eastern pictures of the world. From a certain point, they began to see themselves as the vanguard of an enlightened Europe in sister Asia, a mediator in promoting the global ideological projects of the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. In this I see the beginning of the formation of a certain transnational identity among the Buryats to the detriment of the Buryat proper. This cannot be called a historical and cultural triviality. After all, Tibetans, Chechens and others who are equally introverted, i.e. People focused on their culture are completely indifferent to the outside world, they are self-sufficient in their worldview and being, and therefore they are not threatened with assimilation.
Pan-Mongol identity
The national identity of any people is complex. Several components can be distinguished in the national identity of the Buryats: pan-Mongolian, Russian, Buddhist and Buryat proper. The Buryats are and are essentially integral part pan-Mongolian world. Mongolia for the Buryats is associated with the concepts of purity, ancestral home, great history, great ancestors. Almost all scientific and cultural figures in post-Soviet Buryatia called for the restoration of pan-Mongolian unity, rightly believing that only through realizing themselves as part of the Mongolian world can the Buryats survive as an ethnic group.
However historical fact The separation of the Mongolian peoples took deep roots. In Mongolia, there is often discrimination or denial of Mongols not from Mongolia; in the expressions “Russian Mongols”, “Chinese Mongols” the definition often becomes more important than the word being defined.
In Buryatia, many are not inclined to consider themselves Mongols at all. But this problem of otherness should not be exaggerated. “Haanahibta?” - this is the first question that Buryats ask each other when they first meet, and there’s no getting around it. Of course, the ideas of all-Mongolian unity still feed the spiritual mood of the Mongolian elite and the people of the three countries, for the belief in a single origin and general culture has always been and is the main distinctive feature ethnic identity.
Russian identity
It is probably permissible to say that pan-Mongolian unity belongs to the space of the “ideal”. In contrast to the “ideal” there is a paradigm of reality (realpolitic) - this is the location of ethnic Buryatia as part of the Russian Federation. In the Buryat nationalist discourse, Russian/Soviet acquired a negative connotation: political repression, deprivation of the original name of the republic (Buryat-Mongolia), territorial division, gradual linguistic and cultural assimilation.
At the same time, the paradigm of reality is also all-Russian history, the political realities of Buryatia as a subject of the Russian Federation, deep familiarization with the Russian language and Russian culture, and finally, individual feelings of the Buryats on an everyday level. Pragmatically minded Buryats understand that the “pan-Mongolian project” has little chance, and this dictates the need for them to join the all-Russian processes of integration and modernization. And accordingly, their Russian identity takes precedence over the general Mongolian one; in their minds, the real outweighs the ideal.
My parents were deeply convinced that our Buryat world lies not only in our customs and traditions. No less important for them was unity with the Russian world - modern education and the alignment of our world order with the world order of the empire. But the result is contradictory: we all know the Russian language no worse than Russians, but the language of our ancestors is irretrievably disappearing. I, like almost all urban Buryats, never studied the Buryat language at school, which my fellow foreign scientists cannot believe. What is this: the fault of the people themselves or the result of a deliberate policy? The current activity to revive the Buryat language is long overdue. One can only hope that the Buryat language has not yet crossed the line separating it from being included in the list of dead languages of the world.
Buryat ethnic identity
When speaking about Buryat identity, I mean Buryat traditional culture, based on the principles of tribal society. We all know that the so-called remnants of tribal society are still very strong in Buryat society. Until now, maintaining a close connection with one’s native places is considered the key to a prosperous course of life and spiritual peace. The significance of the ancestral Buryat land, its history, culture and religion has always been extremely important in the discourse of national Buryat identity, as evidenced by the active revival of shamanism that we are currently seeing.
But oddly enough, the revival of tribal and territorial traditions is in conflict with the consolidation of the Buryat people. The biggest problem of the unity of the Buryats to this day remains ethno-local differences and their division into Western and Eastern, shamanists and Buddhists, Russian-speaking and Buryat-speaking. An interesting way out of this situation seems to be the peculiar attempt of modern shamans of the city of Ulan-Ude to consolidate the Buryat people on the basis of tailgans to common Buryat deities - 13 northern noyons, Oikhoni Babai, Barkhan-ula, Tunkinsky huts, etc.
Buddhist identity
Unlike shamanism, the consolidating role of Buddhism is very high. According to sociological surveys, 70% of Buryats consider themselves Buddhists and 18% shamanists. However, to what extent this religiosity relates specifically to Buddhism is difficult to say. The most stable component of the religious complex in ethnic Buryatia is the everyday religious ritual of the Buddhist-shamanic type.
It takes the form of worship of Buddhist and local deities and spirits. All the most popular rituals in Buryatia, such as libation sergem, the cult of veneration of ancestral places o takhilga, worship of local deities hada takhilga, have a syncretic shamanic-Buddhist character. Their essence is the same, only they are performed either in the Buddhist or in the shamanic tradition.
Thus, among the components of the national identity of the Buryats that we have identified, the most important from the point of view of consolidation of the ethnic group include the Buryat proper and religious (Buddhist-shamanic) identities. Currently, only in the Buddhist and traditional Buryat spheres does the Buryat nationalist discourse continue to be preserved, the Buryat language is used, and real support for Buryat culture and sports is provided. The Buryat traditional sangha now openly declares its goals of preserving and developing the national culture of the Buryats.
Discussion about nationalism
I cannot help but express my attitude to the discussion about the Buryat language and Buryat culture. According to Lazar Bartunaev, it is somewhat hysterical in nature and is fraught with the growth of nationalism among the Buryats. It seems that his fears are in vain. To make my position clear, I will cite some excerpts from an article by the famous Chinese scientist, writer and human rights activist Wang Lixiong entitled “Two Imperialisms in Tibet.” He, along with his wife, the famous Tibetan poet Tsering Oser, dedicated their lives to serving the interests of the Tibetan people and protecting the rights of China's national minorities. The important idea of his article is that cultural imperialism is characteristic not only of autocratic, but also of democratic societies, especially those where there is a large difference in the population of the titular nation and national minorities.
They do not need to use political suppression or violence, but instead can simply rely on democratic methods to create a “mainstream”, which in itself can already marginalize minorities and their cultures. The latter, being on the periphery, can gradually weaken or even disappear completely. This is why nationalism is a necessary part of the minority movement for cultural survival.
In fact, a protest against globalization is already a protest against the mainstream, so as long as this nationalism does not take on political forms and becomes violent, it can be constructive. This kind of cultural nationalism must find its reasonable place in an open and just society.
Wang Lixiong emphasizes that in order to be heard by the majority, minorities must learn to “articulate themselves.” Personally, this reminds me of an aphoristic phrase from Gaidaev’s comedy, where, in response to the stupid babble of “packs, packs... like cherubs...” Tsar John reasonably asked: “How can we understand you, boyar, if you don’t say anything?” In our case, the Chinese writer gives an example of the difference between the Uyghurs and the Tibetans. The Uyghurs are much tougher than the Tibetans in defending their rights and resisting the state mainstream. However, they do not bother to articulate their ideas to the Han majority in the cultural sphere.
Uyghur intellectuals refuse to use Chinese in the Chinese media and public sphere. As a result, there is no understanding of the Uyghur issue in Chinese society, there is little interest in Uyghur culture, and the Han people are completely at the mercy of state propaganda on the Uyghur issue. They feel only fear and hostility towards the Uyghurs, which is hardly beneficial for a positive solution to the Uyghur issue. Another thing is the Tibetan issue.
In contrast, the inclusion of the Tibetan religion, its common features with the Chinese, the active efforts of the Dalai Lama to resolve the Tibetan issue with the Chinese, the abundance of Tibetan cultural professionals writing in Chinese (explaining Tibetan culture and establishing close ties between the two cultures) all help Tibetan culture becoming popular and even fashionable in China today. Now there is even a Chinese subculture centered around “Tibetan fever.”
Meanwhile, this cultural articulation on an aesthetic level makes the Tibetan agenda understandable to the Chinese, and it gradually creates understanding and sympathy for the Tibetan position. The strength of the Tibetan movement to use peaceful and flexible means to overcome the dominant force should set an example for other national minorities. Here I think of Genghis Khan and his great military power that no nation could resist. But he did not defeat the Tibetans. On the contrary, the Mongols adopted Tibetan Buddhism. This proves the power of culture.
It is difficult to disagree with Wang Lixiong's point of view. His strong stance on the Tibet issue, as well as large-scale protests in Tibet on the eve of the Beijing Olympics, have generated significant intellectual debate in China regarding the situation in Tibet. And when Wang Lixiong launched a public appeal to the government in March 2008 calling for a review of Tibet policy, it was signed by more than 300 of China's most prominent scholars and intellectuals.
How to evaluate the articulation of the Buryat national question and its effectiveness in this light? Both leave much to be desired. During the Soviet period, speaking Buryat was almost a sign of backwardness. Undertaken in the late 70s. last century, measures to limit the teaching of the Buryat language in secondary schools caused, if not indifferent, then a very weak protest reaction in society. In the post-Soviet period, the republic was unable to regain its original name. It was also unable to defend the Buryat autonomies in the Chita and Irkutsk regions.
Now our parliamentarians, when adopting the language law, did not even understand, as the media reported, that the provision on the compulsory study of the Buryat language in schools was removed from it.
Based on what has been said, it seems to me that Buryats do not need to be afraid of nationalism. After all, throughout the world this concept is understood completely differently than in Russia. It rather means the right to preserve one’s culture and language, one’s ethnic identity and is in no way connected with the infringement of the rights of other peoples, separatism and chauvinism. In this sense, the Buryats should take advantage of the open nature of their culture, the ability to find mutual language with representatives of different nationalities to your advantage.
And no matter how dubious the “code of honor of a true Buryat” may seem, no matter how “hysterical” the conversations and discussions on the question of what it means to be a Buryat and how he should feel in the modern world may seem, the question itself can develop into a new quality: Can the Buryats live with the feeling and awareness that they are bearers of a unique, original and at the same time modern tradition? And if this question has a positive answer, then in relation to them it will be possible to forget about such concepts as “ethnic marginal”, cosmopolitan or the so-called “man of the world”.
