Veps household items. Veps - a small people of Karelia

Who are the Veps?

The Vepsians are a small people living in the adjacent areas of the North-Eastern part of the Leningrad and in the North-Western outskirts of the Vologda regions, as well as on the South-Western coastal strip of Lake Onega within the Republic of Karelia, settled by several groups in strips with the Russian population. Most often, the Vepsians, like some groups of southern Karelians, call themselves "lyadinikad". Only among the southern Karelians, occasionally Shugozero and Oyat Veps, the ethnonym “Bepsya”, “Veps” prevails, under which they have long been known to some kindred peoples (Finns-Suomi, Karelians, Estonians). Before October, the Russians officially called the Veps Chudya, in everyday life - chukhars, kayvans, which have a derogatory connotation.

Origin

When studying the genesis of the Vepsian origin, problems arise, because there are few sources of information about the early settlements that lived on the Vepsian land and also about their lines of communication with the Vepsians. Knowing that the Vepsian language belongs to the Baltic-Finnish branch, it can be determined that the proto-Vepsian tribes formed later than the collapse of the Finno-Ugric community, and moreover, after separation from the main group of Permian and Volga-Finnish tribes. And consequently, those groups of the Baltic-Finnish population that formed the Vepsian community are some kind of aliens in the territory that has become their native region.

The oldest population of the region belonged to the Proto-Loparian, and later to the Lappish tribes; with the advent of the Veps, it underwent assimilation. Nevertheless, it can be assumed that, nevertheless, the initial ethnogenesis coincides with the general formation of all the Baltic-Finnish peoples, which took place outside the Mezhozerye, beyond the Volkhov, closer to the Baltic.

The earliest mention of Vesey dates back to the 6th century AD. The Gothic writer Jordan, when listing many tribes subordinate to the Gothic king Hermanrich, also indicates the Ves tribe. Jordan borrowed most of his history from the writings of Ablabius, and especially Cassiodorus the Senator, included in his writings the entire list of peoples, and everything that he knew about the ethnic composition of the population of the North of what was then Europe. He entered these tribes, namely Chud, Biarmia, Mordova, Merey and Ves, in a certain sequence showing that they are close to each other and reflecting the fact of the kinship of the Finnish peoples. From this follows the conclusion that the Vepsian ethnic formation occupied a middle position between the Eastern Finnish and Western Finnish peoples.

We learn the most complete information about the habitat of Vesi from the chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years", the author of which is the monk of the Pechersk Monastery Nestor. On the very first pages of the chronicle, he reports this to the peoples: “In Afetov, there are parts of Rus, Chud and all languages: Merya, Murom, Ves, Mordova, Zavolochskaya, Chud, Perm, Pechera, Yam, Ugra, Lithuania, Zimegola, Kors, Letgola, Love. When studying all the listed nationalities, one can notice that they all belong to the Volga ethnic groups. Hence the question arises, why is Ves mentioned among these ethnic groups, when it belongs to the middle position between the East Finnish and West Finnish peoples? When studying other sources of information, namely "The Tale of Bygone Years", "Trinity Chronicle" M.D. Priselkov and "Complete Collection of Russian Chronicles" there are messages, thanks to which it is possible to localize the whole on the White Lake: "Veps sits on Beleozero." and moreover, it turns out that this people not only lives in this area, but is also the first inhabitant here: “And the feathers of the inhabitants in Novgorod are Slovene, in Polotsk - Krivichi, in Rostov - Merya, in Belozer - All ... ". Nevertheless, the annals do not limit the location of Vesya only on the White Lake and it is preferable to note that this people lived here already by the time the Slavs appeared, because as soon as they could immortalize them in the annals. The mention of Vesey on the White Lake is only a fixation of one of its parts, a local group, an offshoot of the indicated people. The vesi stretched much more extensively and were not limited to a narrow habitat in Belozerye, they stretched in the western, northern and eastern directions, and there is evidence of this. In the message about the adoption of Christianity by Russia under Vladimir Svyatoslavich, it is said about the baptism of not only Russians, but also other peoples: “Vladimir baptized both Merska and Krivicheska Ves, reksha Belozersk,” therefore, the idea of ​​​​the existence of subgroups of a weighty group is allowed. The Belozerskaya group was the Volga group, which the Novgorodians inscribed on a par with other local peoples and was mentioned by All after Mary. The main Vesi group lived to the west of the White Lake and therefore was often recorded under the pseudonym "Chud", which included a significant number of ethnic formations - Vod, Estonian tribes, Ves. After, All was a rather noticeable political force in the era of the formation of a single ancient Russian state, as proof of this, in the "Tale of Bygone Years" from 882, it is indicated that All took part in Oleg's campaign against Smolensk, Lyubech and further to Kiev: the howl of many, Varangians, Chud, Meryu, All, Krivichi ... ". Therefore, Western European chroniclers also knew about this people, who, it should be noted, paid more attention to the geographical and ethnic features of the Eastern Baltic regions of the Russian state.

So, for example, in the “Danish History” of Saxo Grammar of 1220, and more in the “Description of the Hamburg Bishops” (“Description of the Northern Islands”) by Adam of Bremen in 1070, it is mentioned that Visas (All) are distinguished by some features of their appearance, ethnicity and everyday life: “... they are gray-haired from birth, and their country has an extremely large number of dogs that protect it from attacks,” although he probably guessed that they were gray-haired from birth, this is not true, but the level of ethnographic knowledge in medieval Europe, especially about distant countries, was very low, so writers of that era often wrote awkward things.

The earliest mention of Visu in Arabic sources is found in the work of Ahmed ibn Fadlan about his journey to the Volga in 921-922. He expresses his interest in this people, he writes about the geographical features of this area, about the development of trade. Already after the publication of Ahmed's book, reports of the Visu become commonplace, and this nationality becomes known. It should be noted at first that it seems that Ves and Visu are different peoples, but history finds strong evidence that the Russian Ves, eastern Visu and Western European Visu are one and the same tribe.

Now, having proved the existence of Vesey, it is possible to draw genetic threads to the Vepsians, but this is not so easy to do. In the middle of the last century, A.I. Sjögren discovered the Vepsians, in whose self-name one could see genetic links with the ancient ethnonym Ves. It can be seen that Vesya and Bepsya, according to the law of vowel harmony, were front vowels, i.e. with the final vowel "A" and this is quite natural from the point of view of the Vepsian language, therefore, the above ethnonyms are of true Vepsian origin. These names later settled in the Russian chronicle. It should be pointed out that the ancient layer of the Vepsian language is extremely close to all the Baltic-Finnish languages ​​and is most similar to the South Karelian dialect, and this proves that the Vepsians were the closest neighbors of the Baltic-Finnish tribes. It follows from this that the ancient one began to migrate to the east at the turn of the 1st, 2nd Millenniums, the path that ran south of Lake Ladoga and along the Svir and Oyat rivers.

In the further ethnic history of the Vesi, there is a close connection with the Slavs, and this is proved. The thing is that the resettlement of Ves during the collapse of the ancient Russian state is part of the territorial possessions of Novgorod, only when listing settlements, in written sources Novgorod landlords, one can see their settlement along the Svir, Oyat and Belozarya rivers, and these names are mentioned interspersed with Veps toponymy (evidence of some mixing of the Veps ethnos with Russian and confirmation that in the future the Veps language will partially change its primary coloring). This written fixation of the areas of residence of the Vessi-Vepsians is located within the planned path of the Vepsian people, which we already meet on the territory of the Onega region. A vivid example of this argument is Sheltozero, just at that moment, which was under the influence of the Christmas Ostrechinsky churchyard, in the patrimony of the Novgorod monastery. Here you can already see their evidence of not only their real free-speaking existence, but also the scale of their settlement: “There are 14 settlements in the Sheltozero area and each of them contains a number of villages. In general, it can be said that the Vepsian life on the territory of Sheltozero was not easy: natural disasters, turmoil, robber attacks, simple yards in the village, work at metallurgical enterprises of the manufactory type. High taxes on the part of the landowners, the recruitment of entire gangs of carpenters and stone masters for the construction of Petrozavodsk and St. Petersburg - all this toughened and burdened the life of the Veps. The most offensive thing, they tried to forget the Vepsians, not remembering that the Vepsians played huge role in the formation of the ethnic composition of the population in the northern regions.

Nevertheless, on July 27, 1846, under the leadership of Academician P. I. Keppen, or rather, carried out on the territory of the Olonets province by the OlGor Board, the first reliable census of the Finno-Ugric population took place “Information about the foreigners living in the Petrozavodsk district with an indication of their religion.”

Now we can only continue what P.I. Koeppen and A.M. Sjogren, namely, to gradually revive the Vepsian people until the Vepsians are spoken of as a special world that does not disappear, but which a person himself digs into the ground.

Place of residence

According to modern sources, the following locations of the Veps are known: the most isolated from the rest are the northern (Sheltozero and Prionezhsky) Veps, who inhabit a narrow coastal strip in the southwestern Prionezhye, from south to north from the villages. Gimrek (30 km from the source of the Svir River) to the village of Shoksha (60 km south of Petrozavodsk). The largest points: Shoksha, Sheltozero and Rybreka.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

A significantly large number of villages are located in the upper and middle reaches of the Oyat River, coinciding with the boundaries of the former Vinnitsa district of the Leningrad region. The largest points: Vinnitsa, Lakes, Ladva, Yaroslavichi, Nadporozhye.

To the east, along the border of the Leningrad and Vologda regions, along the northern and eastern slopes of the Veps Upland, from north to south, the largest settlement of Shimozero is determined, but most people moved to the villages of the southern Prionezhye (Oshta, Megra, Voznesenye) and the cities of Posvirya (Lodeynoye Pole, Podporozhye ).

In the upper reaches of the Ivorda River (a tributary of the Megra) there is a small cluster of villages, usually called Belozersky (70 km from White Lake). The largest settlement is Podala.

In the area of ​​​​the source of the Lydia River (a tributary of the Chagodish), on the southern slopes of the Vepsian upland, a settlement is distinguished - Sidorovo (Efimov Vepsians).

In the area of ​​the sources of the rivers Kapsha and Pasha, there are points with a purely Vepsian population - Korvala, Noydala (Shugozero group of Vepsians).

Appearance

The Veps belong to a large Caucasoid race, in which they are subdivided into the East Baltic anthropological type of the White Sea-Baltic race, with an admixture of the Urals, as evidence of this, a small Mongoloid plaque is distinguished from the Veps. Vepsians are small in stature, have an average size of head and slightly flattened face, rounded braincase, low face of medium width, low forehead, extended lower jaw, protruding cheekbones, reduced nose bridge with a well protruding nose, with concave backs, a slight raised tip and base nose, and also they are characterized by a small growth of eyebrows and beards. Vepsians are characterized by blond straight hair, blond, slightly narrowed eyes with a slight crease in the upper eyelid.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

According to anthropological properties, it can be revealed that the Prionezhsky and Belozersky Vepsians most closely communicated with each other. You can learn even more about this nation by studying the material and spiritual culture of the ethnic group, namely their external feature - clothing. However, not much is known about the most ancient Vesi attire, for example, the first mention of the peculiarities of exposing the Vesi, dating back to the 10-13th century, can only be found in the archaeological light and in writing from the stories of foreigners who sailed to the land of Vesi for trade and scientific purposes. , but, as a rule, they paid more attention to fabrics and decorations.

So, for example, in the message of Abu Hamid al-Garnati, it is said that the fur of domestic and wild animals was used to make winter clothes for the Wisu (Ves): “And some of them have fur coats made of excellent skins of beavers, the fur of these beavers is turned outside ... ".

The Vepsians mainly used flax, hemp and sheepskin to make clothes. The material was made at home on a loom and only two methods of weaving were used: linen and twill. Belts, braid, ribbons were woven on a fork or woven on a plank.

During the study of burial mounds A.M. Lenevsky made some conclusions about the ancient Veps clothing: “Outerwear for men and women was made of cloth, usually brown. But there were also cloths of a reddish tone, perhaps this is the result of dyeing cloth made of white wool. Women were girded with woven belts ... A white, very thin cloth was also used. From the mention of the famous trade route“From the Varangians to the Greeks” it was known that some Ves uses silk, this is confirmed by the study of burial grounds, in which researchers found patches of lilac silk with gold embroidery.

Now it becomes known that among the women of the medieval Vesi and until the 19th century, a belt complex of clothing dominated, this is evidenced from the excavations of the Gaigovo burial ground in Oyat. The found fragments of woolen fabrics were located below the belt and were particles of waist clothing. Along with this, a cape - a cloak was also common, this is proved by the numerous paired brooches found in the burial grounds, metal clasps, acting as reinforcements and decorations.

Vepsian women wore jewelry on their chest, belt and arms, which were of both local and foreign origin. It is known from history that fashion, since the Middle Ages, has changed very quickly. So, for example, in the 10th century, iron, bronze or glass torcs from Finland and the Baltic states, beads made of carnelian, glass and paste eye beads, more massive bronze bracelets and paired brooches decorated with duck pendants, bells and knives in sheaths were an obligatory element of the female appearance. . Already in the 11th century, the number of ornaments that performed utilitarian functions increased: kopoushki, or in other words earwigs, fire-cutting chairs, amulets. A special position was occupied by noisy pendants in the form of birds and animals that drive away evil spirits. In the 12th century, under the influence of the Slavs, a new decoration for the head came to Vesi - bronze and silver temporal rings. In the 13th century, numerous ornaments were replaced by noisy conical items: pendants, bracelets, beads with soldered circles and temporal rings. In general, according to researchers, women of the Middle Ages used less jewelry than before.

For men, the main element was a leather belt, decorated with iron or copper buckles, the ends of which were decorated with a ring and a buckle. On the belt, on the right side, they wore knives. The collars of men's shirts were fastened with fasteners with spirally twisted ends.

Over time, namely at the end of the 18th century, the Vepsian costume was influenced by Russian nationality and urban proximity, and therefore, in general, the costumes retained only their age-specific coloration, jewelry and headdresses. Now you can consider each costume separately.

Since the end of the 18th century, the basis of the traditional men's costume of the Veps was a shirt, which was sewn from homespun canvas. The shirt had a tunic-like cut and did not require much effort to manufacture: the cloth panel was bent over the shoulders, a hole was made at the fold for the head, straight sleeves were sewn to the base of the fabric, and gussets were placed under them (quadrangular inserts under the arms). Such a shirt had a straight or oblique cut on the chest and a stand-up collar, it was usually dyed red or blue, it was also made of motley in a blue-white cage. Men wore tunic-shaped shirts loose, girded with a woven, knitted or leather belt. And while working on top, they were dressed in hoodies sewn from white coarse canvas. At wedding ceremonies, brides sewed and embroidered wedding shirts for grooms, and among the southern Veps, their godmothers. These clothes were decorated with rich ornaments, which were embroidered with red cotton threads along the hem, collar and sleeves, and red gussets were sewn under the sleeves.

Veps men's belt clothing was white homespun bottom and top pants, with a narrow step at the waist, which were tightened with a lace threaded in the upper hem. But the most beautiful among the Vepsians were wedding trousers, which did not differ in cut from everyday ones, they were also sewn from white fine cloth, but only along the bottom they were decorated with a wide ornamental strip embroidered with red threads or multi-colored ribbons and fringe.

From the second half of XIX century begins the abundant influence of the city on the external appearance of the Vepsians. For example, in men's waistwear, when sewing overpants, factory-made fabrics of dark or gray color are used. And already at the beginning of the 20th century, a new type of overpants appeared - narrow cloth trousers with a slit and a button closure in front. The traditional festive costume is transformed into a double and triple set, dressed with a chintz or calico shirt.

Vepsian outerwear for men is represented by several types. Summer was a caftan, sewn from gray or dark cloth or semi-cloth. The caftan had a robe-like cut, and the back, floors and sleeves were straight. This type of clothing was sewn without a collar and buttons, but some had one button each, which was located at the neck. The winter type of clothing was a fur coat and sheepskin coat. The fur coat was sewn straight, from sheepskins, and never covered with cloth on top.

A sheepskin sheepskin coat, on the contrary, was made with a collar, and was covered with black or blue fabric on top. Such a sheepskin coat was belted with a red sash with tassels at the ends. It should be noted that the Veps tied the smell of the right hollow to the left. Over time, men's winter outerwear is replenished with a short fur coat with a cut-off back and a pleated bottom sewn to it. The headdress in the winter season was hare or sheepskin earflaps.

In the warmer season, the Veps wore hats with plush cone-shaped rims, as well as purchased caps with a visor. The groom's wedding cap was distinguished by special decorations: a “star” sewn over the crown of multi-colored ribbons or rags, as well as a ribbon with bows and buttons attached to the band. I would like to note that the Vepsian men cut their hair in a “circle” and they did it with a fragment of a braid. Despite the increasingly strong influence of the Russian peoples on the Vepsians, the men retained a peculiar ethnic flavor - neckerchief.

The basis of women's clothing was a sarafan complex, which included: a shirt, a shower jacket, a shugay, an apron, a sundress, borrowed from the Russians. The main type was a sundress, sewn from 4-5 panels of homespun canvas, assembled on a sheathing, with narrow long straps and a small slit on the chest. A frill was sewn to its hem. Everyday sundress had a blue color, and a festive one was sewn from bright purchased fabrics - chintz, silk, cashmere, garus. Women's work clothes were summer coats made of white coarse canvas, very reminiscent of men's overalls.

A sundress was worn on a shirt, which consisted of two parts: a stanushka - the lower part, sewn from four panels of homespun coarse white canvas, and sleeves made from factory fabrics (chintz, calico, eraser). The sleeves were cut wide, sewn to the collar, and gathered at the elbow in a small assembly. Square or diamond-shaped gussets were sewn under the sleeves.

The collar in front was fastened with one button, made round or quadrangular, with ruffles and sheathed with inlay. Depending on the age of the woman, the hem of the shirt was decorated with a certain geometric ornament. Festive shirts were distinguished by special embroidery, so women wearing more than two of them tried to show the ornamental canvas, removing the hem of the sundress. However, along with the sarafan complex, Vepsian women also wore linen skirts decorated with floral patterns, which were worn over embroidered shirts. Also, skirts were sewn from home linen. They were of a straight cut and had two long ties that wrapped around the waist twice and tied in front. It should be mentioned that the women of this nationality had their own special kind of blanket skirt.

An integral part of the clothing was also a shower jacket - a special type of vest that was worn over a shirt and sundress, in cold weather it was replaced by a shugai, which was fastened in the middle.

An apron was tied around the waist over the sundress, the color of which depended on the age of the woman.

In the winter season, the Vepsians wore sheepskin coats and sheepskin coats, and on holidays they wore short hare coats, trimmed with damask on the outside and decorated with numerous patterns.

The wedding attire of the girls consisted of the same elements of clothing, but the apron and jacket, decorated with a bow, were yellow or red. The bride's head was decorated with a wreath. In everyday life, girls wore wide colorful ribbons that were woven into a braid and wrapped around their heads, and covered with a scarf on top. Married women put their hair in two braids, covered it with a warrior, a cap-shaped headdress.

Of the jewelry, they mainly used gold rings, earrings and bright beads. It is also known that young girls used natural cosmetics such as sour cream and milk. In the winter season, the Veps wore felt boots, in other seasons two types of bast shoes were woven: boots with low sides and feet in the form of shoes with high sides, at a later time boots and shoes made of leather were used.

Language features

The Vepsian language belongs to the Baltic-Finnish branch of the Finno-Ugric language family. In general, the sound composition of the Vepsian language approaches Russian and finds kinship with Karelian, especially its southern dialects - Ludikov and Livikov, however, there are some phonetic features, namely the presence of front vowels, stress falling only on the first syllable, the absence of generic endings and prepositions , the originality of the pronunciation of the sounds "g" and "x", "h" and "s". Nevertheless, there are no strong differences in morphology from other Baltic-Finnish languages ​​- it is affected by the fact that the period of formation of the Vepsian community coincides with the period of settlement on the territory of the Baltic-Finnish tribes, but during historical development the Vepsian language acquires a lexical addition to its own linguistic phenomena, such as the initial form of the verb.

Three dialects are distinguished in the Vepsian language: Northern, specific to the Onega and Sheltozero Veps. Southern, belonging to the Efimov Vepsians. The middle one, which is spoken by all other Vepsians, is divided into two dialects - eastern and western. In general, the differences between the dialects are insignificant, they appear only in some phonetic and morphological features, but this does not prevent the Vepsians from freely communicating with each other without misunderstanding. No less important is the information that the Vepsian language is unwritten, therefore, in in public places these people prefer to communicate in Russian.

At one time, they tried to introduce the Vepsian language into general education local schools, therefore, in order to facilitate the educational process and correct pronunciation for teachers, in 1913 the Russian-Chud Dictionary with Some Grammar Instructions was published, authored by P.K. Uspensky.

This first and only dictionary of the Vepsian language using the Russian alphabet includes three sections. The first honor is divided into 25 topics, which include 320 words. The second is devoted to the most used parts of speech and their features. The third contains three stories and two poems.

I believe that it is the lack of writing that brings the Veps people to the point that it ceases to exist, because something cannot change the records that are made, for example, on rock paintings, and therefore the first true information that we see and which is somewhere then they will be immortalized and forever they will already exist for others and evidence of this will be an image and a presentation in writing, and not in oral form, which, passing from generation to generation, can be redone, add something of your own, add events and, as a result, change the characters , facts and main idea significant for posterity.

Customs and traditions

Traditional housekeeping activities

The places of residence of the Veps forced them to adapt to any inconvenience, to master new types of activities most suitable for the viability of the population. Therefore, the peoples of the north had complex types of farms, which were always accompanied by certain customs aimed at preserving and improving the result. Considering the activities of this people, you can see what traditions they had.

The main economic activities of the Vepsians were agriculture and animal husbandry.

In the first and second centuries, arable farming was used, which required physical effort and a large number of workers. From the fifteenth century A.D. e. used the fallow type of agriculture, that is, one or two fields were in a loose and clean state to increase fertility, and most of the arable land was sown with grain crops. This type was carried out with the help of a plow. In the further development of the trade, the Vepsians switched to the slash type - they cut down and burned forests, and then created conditions that protected the soil from erosion.

In the 19th century, the Vepsians began to use the slash-and-burn type of agriculture, in which they used all the main tools of labor: sickles, hoes, iron axes, plows, newly arrived harrows - knots and horses as a traction force. The slash and fire type took place in several stages:

The first consisted in cutting down a section of the forest, the most suitable for sowing grain and vegetable crops on it. The second provided for a uniform distribution of cut rocks on the ground and lasted one year. The third took place in the form of burning a dried forest. The fourth - in the form of plowing the site with the help of a plow. The fifth consisted in loosening the earth with the help of harrows - knots, sowing and covering the seeds.

By tradition, all sowing work began on the day of St. Nicholas and lasted up to ten weeks after the countdown from the start of sowing. Already from Ilyin's day, the collection work began with spring crops, which were ground with the help of flails, and then drying and threshing began to take place in rigs. The resulting crop was stored in barns.

The role of animal husbandry was no less great, because not only large Vepsian families lived on the grown cattle, but also other settlements that bought the meat of these domestic animals, they were mainly: cows, bulls, horses, goats, sheep and pigs, and from birds - hens and roosters.

Usually the annual cycle of cattle care was divided into stall and pasture. The stall began with the cover and lasted until Yegoriev's day, about 8 months. This cycle required large stocks of hay, so the hay season began on St. Peter's Day. All work was carried out with the help of a spit - pink salmon, and in subsequent centuries, spit - "Lithuanian". The pasture cycle was represented by two types of grazing, it depended on the type of livestock and on the presence of a shepherd. For example, goats, calves, sheep grazed alone in a fenced area.

The Vepsians had many signs, prohibitions and rituals for the prosperity of animal husbandry, because their life mainly depended on it. So, for example, they believed that there were mutual obligations between the shepherd and the "owner of the forest" - the spirit: the owner of the forest did not touch the herd if the shepherd gave him one or two cows or someone else as a sacrifice, depending on the type of livestock. Also, there were a number of prohibitions for the shepherd, for example: it was forbidden to break branches in the forest, eat berries and mushrooms, kill birds and animals. For housewives, there were also many prohibitions that were observed from time immemorial in order to have a large milk yield: it was forbidden to wash the outer bottom of the pots in which milk was milked, pour milk onto a spoon, etc.

Fishing, hunting, gathering, as well as domestic and outdoor crafts were developed as ancillary occupations among the Vepsians. In the event of a crop failure or a drop in the number of livestock grown, the peasants were engaged in fishing. This species was especially well developed among the inhabitants of the Onega region, because the largest number of fish species were found in Lake Onega: elk, trout, whitefish, sterlet, vendace, but sometimes residents near the Lid River came across a rare fish - eel.

The main fishing tackle for all Vepsians were: nets, smooth and fixed nets, nets, consisting of two woven hoops made of rods, muzzles that were woven entirely from rods, and sometimes large fish were caught with a spear - a pole with a tip of three or five teeth.

Hunting has always been a kind of support in the life of the Vepsians. Since the Middle Ages, the fur trade was well developed, which was mainly focused on wild animals, the main of which was the river beaver. Until the 20th century, the main objects of hunting were: a hare, a squirrel, a marten, a fox, an otter, a wolf, a bear, an elk, etc. Among the birds, the most in demand were: partridges, black grouse, capercaillie, hazel grouse, ducks, etc. Hunting tools depended on the species catching an animal: passive, in which they used all kinds of traps, traps, specially dug holes, or active, in which the hunter, usually with a dog, tracked the prey and killed it with the help of spears, flint and ramrod guns. Birds were caught using loops of snares, nets, as well as with the help of stuffed animals and traps set around the center with the bait of pointed stakes (2-3 m high).

According to custom, round-ups were held once a year - the hunters chose a lair, carefully explored the area around, in the month of March they brought a group of hunters and woke up a hungry bear, and then killed him with a gun. Among the Shimozero Veps there was a custom of one kopeck.

Crafts and outdoor activities existed as additional work. Handicrafts were divided into domestic, taking place within the family or village, and outhouses, outside the village. Pottery was widespread along the middle course of the Oyati. In Tukshozero, cooperage prevailed. Among the Shimozersky, Oyatsky, Isaevsky Vepsians, rolling was widespread, and along the banks of the Svir, Oyat, Kapsha and Pasha rivers, timber was harvested and rafted. The Onega Vepsians were famous for their kiln skills, and the inhabitants of Shoksha and Rybreki were known even in France for their ability to hew crimson quartzite.

traditional architecture

The Vepsian hut was usually built on a high basement - the lower floor of the hut, which housed the cellar. The walls were made of larch logs. A feature of the Vepsian houses was a t-shaped layout, that is, under one roof, in line with the residential part, a covered two-story courtyard was built. Wealthier Veps could afford to build a house with wide windows, which were slightly pressed into the wall and framed with stepped architraves. From below, the platband had a jagged semicircle, and from above it was decorated with two curls turned towards each other with a figure of a woman between them, the shape of which could be very different. The facade of the hut was always turned towards the road and stood exactly next to the facades of other huts, so the Vepsians always tried to decorate it. For example, a carved balcony was placed under the ridge of the roof, and the slopes of the roof were framed with piers, hence the name of these plates, in which three rows of geometric symbols were cut out, denoting air, rain and earth, and which usually ended with carved suns.

The interior of the hut was divided into two parts. The partition of which was a double-sided cupboard, in which all tea utensils and other household items were stored. The closet was on the same line with the Russian stove, which served not only to heat the room and mark the center of the hut. They slept on the stove, warmed themselves, dried clothes, all household utensils were stored behind the stove, a number of beliefs were associated with it. The Vepsians had a belief that the brownie - "Pertijand" - lives only under the stove.

Diagonally from the stove was a "holy corner" - "yumalchog", in which icons were placed, and in the lower part they kept threads, needles, buttons, bottles of holy water, bundles of salt. For other small items, including storage of wooden and earthenware, a special cupboard was used. The table was located near the wall of the facade, according to the so-called Finnish layout. The room was lit by a kerosene lamp hung above the table. An obligatory part of the Vepsian hut was a cradle made of boards or popular prints. In the female part, where there was a bed, a sofa and a chest, a loom was often installed by the window.

The entire facade of the building and the internal layout of the hut can be correlated with a well-known house - a museum in Sheltozero. That is why the Sheltozero Museum, built in the 19th century by the merchant Melkin, is a value that needs to be protected, because it fully gives a visual representation of the history and culture of the Veps.

ancient rites

wedding ceremony

According to customs, the wedding was held in the winter between baptism and Shrovetide. Before the wedding, the matchmaking took place. If it ended with a refusal, then the girl from the yard threw three logs into the front corner of the hut. If it ended with consent, then the bride's parents went to see the groom's house and household. The next stage of the wedding ceremony was the instruction, which consisted in the lamentation of the bride, during which the girl's friend took her by the arm, at the end of this event the girl gave her lover a neckerchief. Before the wedding, the young received the blessing of their parents. While the bride and groom went to the church and were in it, a candle was supposed to burn all the time, which protected from the evil eye. On the eve of the wedding, the bride's hut was decorated with ribbons, after which a bachelorette and bachelor party took place, and then in the morning, on the wedding day, they washed in a bathhouse. On the day of the wedding, guests gathered in the groom’s house, dined, ate a fishmonger and went to redeem the bride, after which they went to the wedding, after which the ceremony of changing the girl into a woman took place, then they went to the groom’s house, where the guests met the newlyweds with bread and salt and then festivities continued.

In general, the wedding ceremony was similar to the Russian one, but there were some differences, for example, the peculiar combing of the bride's hair, the obligatory eating of a fish fish, and the most significant - magical actions, which existed much more than in Russian weddings.

Funeral and memorial rites consisted of two types. The first was to mourn the dead. He was accompanied by lamentations from women who expressed their sadness at his death. The second consisted in the "fun" of the deceased, that is, they sang funny songs and danced to cheer the dead.

Each type of funeral consisted of three stages. The first is the preparation of the deceased for his funeral: the deceased was dressed in funeral clothes, which depended on his age, laid on a bench standing along the wall, with his head in a red corner, and his feet to the threshold. A towel was hung over the head - a bridge from one life to another, and a glass of clean water was placed near the head - cleansing from earthly sins. The second stage began after three days, the deceased was buried in a hole dug the previous morning. The bottom of the coffin was covered with birch branches, and the top was covered with a white cloth. The deceased was put on a cross around his neck, and a crown on his head. Items were placed in the coffin that corresponded to the gender and age of the deceased.

After, going around every house where the deceased liked to appear, they buried him in the ground. The third stage consisted in the commemoration of the deceased, who then arranged for the ninth, twelfth and fortieth day.

Considering only two of the existing rites, we can conclude that, despite the strong influence of the Russians, the Veps were still able to maintain their ritual borders, even under the condition that they were very poorly visible, and it was practically impossible to distinguish them. impossible.

Knowledge of modern schoolchildren about the Vepsians

After conducting a survey in the eleventh grade, I received some data on the knowledge of modern schoolchildren about this nationality. To the question "Do you know who the Vepsians are?" Yes, 80% of students answered. Of these, some simply answered yes, and some gave a more complete answer; I will give one example: “Vepsians, formed from Vesya, Bepsya. The people living in the territory of Karelia. To the second question: “what do you know?” the same students answered. “Vepsians revered the cult of fire, believed that the mermen descended from drowned people, the theory about birds is known. Supreme gods: Master of the forest, Maidens inhabiting the fields. Vepsians are Orthodox Christians” is one of the best answers among other works. And, finally, to the third question: "What would you like to know more about the Veps?" some answered very casually, showing a lack of any interest in knowing about this people. But still there was an answer that struck me very much and which I did not expect at all: “I want to know them traditional cuisine and did they have rulers?

In general, if we summarize all the answers, it turns out that, in general, we know only superficial information about the Veps, but this is even a very good result. I think if some guys want to know something more about this nationality, then they will find the information that interests them most.

Religion and beliefs

In the 10th century, the Vepsians were baptized and converted to Orthodoxy, therefore, to this day, they show dual faith. All the power that these people believe in can be conditionally divided into 3 groups: the spirits of nature, the spirits of ancestors and evil spirits. Vepsians from time immemorial lived in harmony with all living things, therefore their main cult is nature.

Stone cult

The inhabitants of the Lakes said that a large column of smoke appeared above the forest, and at this place they found a large stone with an imprint of a head in a helmet. Near the stone, apparently of meteorite origin, at the same time they put a chapel where they made sacrifices (money, butter, eggs, bread, towels).

tree cult

All Finnish-speaking peoples had and still have a cult of trees. Many groves in the Northwest were considered sacred, various rituals and prayers were performed there, as well as burials. Spruce, alder, juniper were considered sacred trees among the Vepsians.

There are also enough traces of veneration of trees. In the first place was juniper. In some villages, the juniper tree grew on elevated places, usually on a hill, on the Easter holiday it was decorated with ribbons, which were then sometimes placed on the grave, and sacrifices were made to it, as well as to stones. On the feast day of cattle pasture (in spring), junipers were also decorated and offerings were made. Juniper branches were placed in the house above the door to protect from evil spirits, under the pillow of the newlyweds, in the cradle of the newborn, in the pail to protect livestock.

The birch and aspen were sacred and revered trees, this was mainly associated with the burial rite. Was associated with the spirits of the forest and mountain ash. It was used by shepherds for whipping.

In addition to individual trees, whole groves were revered. Christian churches and chapels were built in spruce and pine groves, using the "holy places" of pagan prayer places. Spruce was considered a talisman, because, according to folk explanations, young needles at the ends of the branches were located in the form of a cross. Spruce was planted near the house to protect the family from various troubles. Also, spruce branches were thrown under the feet of the funeral procession, so that it would be easier for the soul of the deceased to go to another world. A pine tree on the edge of the village is a universal patroness, gifts were brought to her. Long-lived trees were especially revered, they were asked to send down well-being, health for livestock.

But the most popular among the Vepsian host spirits was and remains the "owner" of the forest (mecizhand). The idea of ​​the forest spirit-owner reflected the dual attitude of the Veps to the forest: on the one hand, he was the breadwinner of the peasant, on the other, he hid all sorts of dangers. In order not to anger the forest spirit, every Vepsian peasant in the past knew magical rites in case of meeting him in the forest, when spending the night under the trees, as well as sacrificial rites at the beginning and end of forest fishing activities. So, having finished collecting the "gifts of the forest", it was necessary to make a sacrifice in the form of a part of mushrooms and berries, which were left on a stump, at a roadside cross or at a crossroads.

TO fire ult

An important place in the ancient beliefs of the Veps was occupied by the cult of fire. This was expressed, first of all, in various prohibitions: it was impossible to spit into the fire, trample it underfoot, etc.

Various types of fire (bonfires, a burning torch, a candle) and smoke, which were attributed to cleansing, healing, protective or restorative properties, were widely used in Vepsian rituals and were held with special ceremonies.

To stop the fire, the spirits - the owners of the fire (lyamoin izhand) threw an egg into the fire as a sacrifice and turned to them with a request to stop the raging elements. The cult of fire among the Veps was also expressed in the veneration of the spirit of the hearth - pyachinrahka. Only fragmentary information about him has been preserved. During weddings, a pot of porridge was sacrificed to him, which was placed on the hearth of the stove.

home perfume

In general, home spirits were more benevolent to people than natural ones. The Veps had ideas about mythological creatures inhabiting the house and outbuildings. First of all, it was the "owner of the hut" - Pertinijand, who lived in it with his wife and children. The brownie was the patron of the family. The Vepsian brownie was the main one in housewarming rites. He was asked for permission to settle in a new house, he was asked to move along with people to a new place of residence, and they even performed a ritual: they carried him in a pot of burning coals or in a lapta.

Animal husbandry influenced the development of Vepsian beliefs and rituals associated with barn spirits. The owner of the barn was called the barn, the Spirit of the “owner of the barn” (rigenijand). The “owner of the bathhouse” (Kölbetizhand) also belonged to household spirits. Memories of the forms of veneration of this spirit have been preserved. Before washing in the bath, they asked him for permission. At the end of the bath procedure, it was supposed to thank the hosts.

Now it is clear that, along with Christian customs, for a long time, those beliefs were preserved that were accepted, perhaps, even among the villages, the Veps honored and protected them from the newly adopted Orthodox traditions, this is clearly seen in dual faith.

Famous Vepsians

The well-known saint Alexander Svirsky, after being tonsured, lived for seven years in a cave on a secluded island, now there is the Alexander-Svirsky skete of the Spaso-Preobrazhensky Valaam Monastery. Then, with the blessing of the abbot, he went to the Holy Lake near the Svir River, where he lived in seclusion for 25 years, and so the Svir monastery gradually began to form. Nowadays, people from all cities come to the holy place to pray and venerate the holy relics of St. Alexander of Svir.

The Vepsians are a small Finno-Ugric-speaking people living in Karelia, the Vologda and Leningrad regions in Russia. Since April 2006 included in the List of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East Russian Federation.

Self-name - Veps (Beps), also called Veps and neighboring peoples (f. veps?, Rus. Veps, etc.). The origin of the word is unclear: perhaps we are dealing here with some old ethnonym, dating back to the pre-Vepsian population of Mezhozero. For the first time it is found, as is commonly believed, even at the Jordan (VI century AD, information refers to more early period) in the form of the first part of the mysterious name of the Vasinabroncas people. Other Russian The entire ‘Veps’ is used in The Tale of Bygone Years when describing the events of the 9th century. It is not very clear whether it is necessary to correlate with the Veps the distant people of the Visu, who live to the north of the Volga Bulgaria in the land where there are white nights, about which the writings of Arab and Persian medieval geographers narrate (already by Ibn Fadlan in the beginning of the 10th century). In Western European sources, Vepsians were first mentioned under the name Wizzi by Adam of Bremen (end of the 11th century).

The old Russian names of the Vepsians are: Chud (from about the 12th century it has been used instead of Ves), Chukhari (from Chud) and Kaivans (also the name of the Karelians) - the latter is probably associated with the name of the Finnish-Scandinavian tribal grouping of the Kvens: Rus. (Pomor.) Kayans ‘kvens; Norwegians, f. kainuu).

Judging by the wide popularity of ethno- and toponyms derived from veps in the sources of the 9th-13th centuries, by the role played by Ves in early history Old Russian state, it was a very numerous and strong people. Nestor the chronicler points to Beloozero as the center where the Ves was the original population. Probably, judging by the archaeological sites (the kurgan culture of the Ladoga type) and toponymy, the most ancient territory of the Vepsians was the Mezhozeroje - a triangle between the Ladoga, Onega and White lakes, where, as one should think, they advanced in the second half of the 1st millennium AD. from the west or northwest, displacing or assimilating the older population, which left toponyms that can be considered as Sami. The fairly distant connections of the Vepsians in the past in the east (if not the penetration of some of their groups to the east, perhaps as far as the Northern Dvina and Mezen) are indicated, firstly, by the above-mentioned news about them in the works of Arab geographers who wrote about the Volga Bulgaria: at least Abu Hamid al-Garnati (born in 1070) reports that he personally met a group of merchants from the people of the Visu - white-haired and blue-eyed, dressed in fur clothes and drinking beer, in Bulgar. Secondly, either the former penetration of noticeable groups of the population who spoke the Baltic-Finnish languages, most likely Karelian or Vepsian, or the systematic trade relations of the medieval population of the Mezen, Vashka and Vychegda river basins with these peoples are indicated by quite numerous Baltic-Finnish borrowings. in the Komi-Zyryan dialects, primarily in the westernmost of them, Udor, and the Baltic-Finnish etymology of other Russian. Perm. The possible presence of some relatively large Baltic-Finnish enclaves in the region of the mouth of the Northern Dvina is also evidenced by the reports of the Scandinavian sagas about Biarmia (Bjarmaland), which the Vikings visited during the 9th-13th centuries, and whose localization shifted to the east as they moved further and further east of the Viking campaigns: from the southern coast of the Kola Peninsula in the 9th century to the mouth of the Northern Dvina in a later period.

As already mentioned, All took part in the earliest events of Russian history, in particular in the "calling of the Varangians" in the 9th century. Apparently, from the 11th century, the lands of the Veps began to be seized by the Novgorod feudal lords and Orthodoxy began to spread here. In the 11th-12th centuries, part of the Veps, obviously, mixed with the Karelians who settled in the Onega region, were assimilated by them and became part of the Karelians. The process of assimilation of the Veps by the Karelians in the Onega region continued in later epochs.

From about the 13th-14th centuries, when, on the one hand, the old trade relations of Eastern Europe, in which the Veps played an important role (the route "from the Varangians to the Greeks", trade along the Volga through the Volga Bulgaria), were destroyed due to the Mongol-Tatar invasion, and, on the other hand, a more or less firm state border is established between Novgorod and Sweden, the territory inhabited by the Veps - Mezhozeroje becomes a kind of bearish corner, and the whole ceases to be one of the most important ethnopolitical units of Northern Russia. In the north of their ethnic territory, the Vepsians are gradually included in the composition of the Karelians-Lyukov, a significant part of them, living in busier places along the roads and waterways, apparently assimilated by Russians. All this led, on the one hand, to a reduction in the territory inhabited by Vepsians and their numbers, on the other hand, to the preservation of a more conservative way of life.

The traditional occupation of the Veps - arable farming (three fields with strong remnants of the slash system), animal husbandry and hunting played an auxiliary role. Fishing, as well as picking mushrooms and berries, were of great importance for intra-family consumption. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, otkhodnichestvo developed - logging and rafting, barge work on the rivers Svir, Neva, etc. Pottery was common on the Oyat River. In Soviet times, the industrial development of decorative building stone was developed among the northern Veps, animal husbandry acquired a meat and dairy direction. Many Vepsians work in the logging industry, 49.3% live in cities.

Traditional dwellings and material culture are close to Northern Russian; differences: T-shaped layout of the connection of the residential part with a covered two-story courtyard; the so-called Finnish (near the wall of the facade, and not in the front corner) the position of the table in the interior of the hut. Feature of the female traditional clothes- the existence of a skirt (skirt and jacket) along with a sarafan complex. Traditional food - sour bread, fish pies, fish dishes; drinks - beer (olud), bread kvass.

Until 1917, archaic social institutions- a rural community (suim) and a large family. Family ceremonies are similar to the North Russian ones; differences: night matchmaking, ritual eating of a fish pie by young people as part of a wedding ceremony; two types of funeral - with lamentations and with the "gaiety" of the deceased.

In the 11-12 centuries, Orthodoxy spread among the Veps, however, pre-Christian beliefs persisted for a long time, for example, in brownies (Pertijand), in amulets (one of them was the jaw of a pike); the sick turned to the healer (noid) for help.

In the folklore of the Vepsians, the legends about the ancient Chud are original, the tales are similar to the North Russian and Karelian ones.

TO XIX century The Vepsians were mainly a peasant population (state and landlord peasants), some of them were assigned to the Olonets factories, the Onega Vepsians were engaged in stone-cutting, working as otkhodnik workers both in Finland and in St. Petersburg. Already during this period, in publications about the Vepsians, the decline in the authority of the native language and the spread of Russian, especially among young people, are noted.

In 1897, the number of Veps (Chuds) was 25.6 thousand people, including 7.3 thousand lived in Eastern Karelia, north of the river. Svir. In 1897, the Vepsians made up 7.2% of the population of the Tikhvin district and 2.3% of the population of the Belozersky district of the Novgorod province. Since the 1950s the process of Vepsian assimilation accelerated. According to the 1979 census, 8.1 thousand Veps lived in the USSR. However, according to the estimates of Karelian scientists, the actual number of Vepsians was much larger: about 13 thousand in the USSR, including 12.5 thousand in Russia (1981). About half of the Veps settled in cities. According to the 1989 census, 12.1 thousand Vepsians lived in the USSR, but only 52% of them called the Vepsian language their native language.

The largest part of the ethnic territory of the Veps is located in the Leningrad region at the junction of the borders of three administrative districts (Podporozhsky, Tikhvinsky and Boksitogorsky).

By the name of the former administrative districts, as well as rivers and lakes, Veps are divided into a number of groups: Sheltozero (Prionezhsky) in Karelia, Shimozero and Belozersky in the Vologda Region, Vinnitsa (Oyatsky), Shugozersky and Efimovsky in the Leningrad Region.

The total population in Russia is 8,240 according to the 2002 census, but this figure appears to be an underestimate.
In 1994, the Veps national volost was formed in the Prionezhsky district of Karelia (it was abolished on 01.01.2006). The population of the Veps national volost lives in 14 settlements, united into three village councils. The former center of the volost - the village of Sheltozero - is located 84 km from Petrozavodsk. There is a Society of Veps Culture in Petrozavodsk, which enjoys significant assistance from the authorities of Karelia, and a Veps Society in St. Petersburg.

Veps - Finno-Ugric people of Karelia. In 2006, he was included in the List of Indigenous Peoples of the North, the Far East, Siberia, and the Russian Federation.

Scientists have not fully figured out the origin of the Vepsians. It is assumed that they originated in the process of the formation of other Baltic-Finnish peoples, settled from them and settled in the southeast of the Ladoga region.

Where live

Until the middle of the 20th century, the people inhabited only the southeastern part of the Republic of Karelia. Later, due to migration processes, the number of representatives of the people in the capital of the republic increased dramatically.

Today, the nationality lives in the Russian Federation, mainly on the territory of Karelia. Representatives of the Veps live in the Leningrad, Vologda, Murmansk, Kemerovo regions, St. Petersburg, Ukraine, Estonia, Belarus.

Name

Until 1917, the people were officially called Chud, the ethnonym "Veps" spread much later. In the villages, the Veps jokingly called themselves "Chukhari", "Kaivans". There are 3 ethnographic groups of people:

• southern, live on the southern slopes of the Vepsovskaya Upland;
• northern (Prionega), live in the southwest of Lake Onega;
• middle (Oyat), inhabit the upper, middle reaches of the Oyat River, the areas of the sources of the Pasha and Kapsha rivers.

population

About 5936 Vepsians live in Russia, 3423 of them live in Karelia.

Language

Veps belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch of the Uralic languages, the Baltic-Finnish subgroup. There are 3 dialects in the language:

1. southern
2. average
3. northern

There are transitional dialects in Vepsian. The language is used by the people mainly in everyday life.

In 1932, the Vepsian script was created, which until 1937 existed in the Latin script. In the late 1980s, Cyrillic began to be used as well. Today it is adopted on a Latin basis.

Since the late 1980s, Veps began to be studied in elementary grades in the regions where the people live. Textbooks for grades 1-4, educational Vepsian-Russian dictionary were published. Since 1993, the newspaper Rodnaya Zemlya has been published in Petrozavodsk every month. On mother tongue several books by Vepsian writers were published, translations on Christian literature were published. The Vepsians are bilingual and speak Russian well. The service is held in Russian.

Religion

Orthodoxy among the people spread in the 11th-12th centuries and is today the official religion of the people. For a long time, the Veps retained various pre-Christian beliefs, for example, they believed in the existence of a brownie, they had amulets in the form of a pike's jaw. When they were sick, they went to healers. There were “noida” sorcerers among the people who healed, turned to spirits, and sent damage. Sorcerers were part of ordinary communities, they were credited supernatural abilities. With the advent of churches, monasteries, they gradually disappeared, but healers, sorceresses remained.

The people believed that around them there is a living force with which you need to live in peace. Veps created a whole system of relations to this force in the form of signs, rituals, incantations, spells. Living force in the representation of the people is divided into 3 groups:

• spirits of ancestors;
• spirits of nature;
• alien evil spirits.

The Vepsians still have a combination of two worldviews: Christian and pagan. The most important of all the spirits was the owner of the forest. The Veps believed that he lives with his wife, sometimes with children. He was represented as a tall man, dressed in a hoodie wrapped to the left, belted with a red sash. When the Veps came to the forest, they first made a sacrifice to the spirit. They believed that if this was not done, the spirit would not only bring bad luck, but also lead them into the thicket, from which they could not get out. On the guilty, the spirit sent diseases, wild animals, left without prey on the hunt. Hunters threw into the first bush, located on the left hand, oat grains, feathers, small, not copper coins. In order not to anger the spirit, it was forbidden to swear in the forest, destroy anthills, bird nests, cut bushes and trees unnecessarily. If they went for mushrooms, berries, leaving the forest, they always left for the spirit a part of what they had collected on a stump, at a crossroads.

They also believed in the yard, barn, humous, bathhouse owners. They were all also represented as men who have families. Water was treated as a living being, it was believed that the spirit of water lives there. For disrespect, he could drown, send diseases, not give fish. It was impossible to wash boots in water, to throw objects, garbage there. Before catching fish, an egg was lowered into the water - a sacrifice for the spirit.

Food

Flour products have long been the basis of the diet. Bread was baked from rye flour, sometimes barley, oat flour was added. Various products were made from sour rye dough, kolobs, pomazuha - an open round pie stuffed with semolina with egg, oatmeal. The Vepsians' favorite open pie is wickets. From barley or rye salted dough in sour milk or water, northern Veps baked Skants. Barley porridge, oatmeal porridge with sour cream were used as a filling. Skants were oiled, stuffed, rolled up, eaten with meat. Pancakes were baked from oatmeal, lingonberries, cottage cheese, and salty flakes were used as a supplement for them. The middle Veps made fritters "snowballs" from pea flour whipped with snow. Liquid milk porridge was cooked from oatmeal, barley, buckwheat, oatmeal. Thick porridges were made from barley, rye, they were eaten with curdled milk.

From liquid dishes they eat stews, various soups:

• vegetable
• meat
• mushroom
• fish
• cabbage soup with cereals, potatoes, sorrel.

During the famine, cabbage soup was cooked with nettles. Berries and mushrooms were picked in the forest, and turnips were the most popular vegetables in Vepsian cuisine. They ate it steamed, raw, dried, dried. Since the 19th century, potatoes gradually began to appear in the diet of the people. Veps love fish dishes. It is fried, dried, added to soups. Ukha is cooked only from fresh fish. In winter, soup is prepared from small dried fish sushka.

Meat was rarely eaten, cattle were slaughtered late in the autumn, the meat was salted in barrels. They used the meat of domestic animals, game, obtained during the hunt. Dried meat was stored for up to 2 years, jelly and soup were cooked from it.

At the wake, they prepare kutya, thick oatmeal jelly. Previously, kutya was made from boiled rye, wheat grains with the addition of sugar, today they use purchased rice.

Drinks include kvass, milk, whey, tea. Previously, this drink was drunk only on holidays. Kissel is made from rye and oat bran. On holidays, the Vepsian table is more diverse. Every housewife tries to cook the best dishes. Beer was brewed for every holiday. Among the northern Veps, beer was brewed only for very important occasions, for example, for a wedding. For this, brewers were specially called. Very rarely people used vodka, wine. Breakfast all the women cooked only after the morning care of the cattle. In the morning they ate flour products, cereals. Then the next meal was at 11 o'clock in the afternoon. Lunch after 1-2 hours in the afternoon, dinner in the evening after work. The owner always sits down at the table first, he cuts the bread. If earlier from common dishes. It is strictly forbidden at the table to swear, laugh.

Appearance

Traditional clothing of the 19th and 20th centuries had much in common with the North Russian, Karelian. They sewed things from linen, homespun woolen, semi-woolen fabrics, later they began to use factory-made silk, cotton fabrics.

Girls and women have long worn a shirt with a skirt. The lower part of the shirt (stanushka) was sewn from coarse linen, the hem was decorated with red embroidery. Overskirts were with a striped pattern, a wide colored border, sometimes reaching 2/3 of the entire skirt. The hem of the festive skirt was sometimes tucked into the belt to expose the embroidered part of the stanushka. Aprons and belts were tied over the skirts. Later, women began to wear vat, blue sundresses, a “couple” - a skirt made of factory-made fabric and a Cossack jacket. Vepsian women wore rings, metal earrings, and glass beads among jewelry. Married women wore magpie headdresses, warriors, collections. They were sewn from brocade, decorated with embroidery with gold threads, sequins, beads. Rich embroidery was also applied to other elements of women's clothing.

Men wore a linen shirt-kosovorotka, striped, light pants. A neckerchief was an addition to the costume. The groom wore a white shirt for the wedding, white fringed ports, decorated with red embroidery. Mandatory element The costumes of men and women were braided, woven, long belts with tassels at the ends.

In winter, they wore sweaters, hoodies, caftans, sheepskin coats, zipuns made of half-woolen, woolen fabrics. Warm scarves were worn over the headdress of a woman. From shoes, men and women wore boots, in the summer while working - bast shoes made of birch bark. Vepsian socks and mittens are still knitted in a specific way, with the help of a single needle.

Life

Previously, there were territorial associations, which were replaced by rural communities (suim), the existence of which lasted until 1917. The boundaries of each community coincided with the boundaries of the churchyards. The community owned forests, hayfields, fishing grounds, collective pastures. The community was engaged in the distribution of land, hiring people for work, public construction, repair, and agricultural work. During the gathering, the community elected elders, parish priests, community secretaries, and state tax collectors. Her duties included resolving disputes, helping widows, the poor, and raising money for the needs of the community.

The churchyard community was part of a religious structure, it had its own chapel, church parish, its own cemetery, holidays. The community determined public opinion, religious and moral instructions, ritual and ritual daily behavior of its members.

Until the mid-1930s, the people lived in large generational families, in which the oldest man, father or grandfather, led. His wife looked after all the livestock, except for horses, behind the house, was engaged in cooking, tailoring, weaving. At the beginning of the 20th century, families were mostly small, in some regions undivided large ones continued to exist. The Vepsians had primacy - the reception of an outsider in a peasant household, who was given rights, like all members. This spread mainly in wealthy families, where the position of the Primak was very dependent.

The older sons went to live separately, the younger ones stayed with their parents. Northern Vepsians were often engaged in otkhodnichestvo trades, as a result of which a woman often played an important role in the family.

When a girl got married, she received a dowry from her parents: utensils, clothes, fabrics, livestock. The widow had the right to the return of her dowry, if she had no children, she could receive the elderly - earnings for the years she lived in her husband's family. Together with marriage by matchmaking, there was another form of it - self-propelled guns.

Classes

The traditional occupations of the people are connected with agriculture. Until the 20th century, agriculture was the main activity. They combined the undercut with the three-field. They grew oats, barley, rye, peas, beans, flax, hops, turnips, and a small amount of wheat. Later they began to plant rutabagas, onions, radishes, carrots, potatoes, and cabbages. Animal husbandry, which did not develop much due to the lack of hayfields, played an auxiliary role. The Vepsians bred sheep, cows, horses, fished, and were engaged in gathering.

In the second half of the 18th century, otkhodnichestvo developed. Men went to logging, rafting, engaged in burlachstvo. Pottery was developed on the Oyat River. Oyat ceramics gained great fame in the 19th century, they were even exported to Finland. In Soviet times, they began to engage in the industrial development of building decorative stone, cattle were bred to sell milk and meat. Men made products from birch bark, wood, wove from willow roots, spruce, made kitchen utensils, handicrafts, which were decorated with carvings. Women weaved, sewed, embroidered. There were many skilled artisans among the northern Vepsians. They made silverware, weapons, rifles.

dwelling

In ancient times, they lived in log semi-dugouts with a hearth. Later, they began to build barns for food, outbuildings, a barn for threshing grain, a barn, and a smoke sauna. The baths were built mainly by the northern Veps, the middle and southern ones bathed for a long time, washed themselves in home ovens.

The traditional Veps dwelling is a wooden hut with a stone frame, combined with outbuildings. At the beginning of the 20th century, it became a tradition to make five-walls with a longitudinal cut, to build two-story houses. There are new layout options for the hut. A feature of the Vepsian house is the corner connection of buildings, the absence of an open porch, an even number of windows. In large houses, the upper floor was occupied by a room where hay and various implements were stored. Outside, a log entrance was made to it. Downstairs on the first floor there were living rooms, combined with a dwelling at a right angle, a barn. The roofs were covered with shingles, birch bark, the furnishings inside the house were the simplest. From the furniture there was a wooden table, benches, a bed, a cradle, a Russian stove, a tub with a washstand. A stove was placed to the left or right of the entrance, a boiler was hung over it on a hearth. Near the furnace was the entrance to the underground.

Northern Vepsians decorated the architraves of houses with the image of anthropomorphic female figures- patroness of the house. At the end of the 19th century, shutters and doors began to be painted with oil paints.

culture

Veps folklore in Russian and native languages. Various genres are common:

• fairy tales-jokes;
• magical, legendary tales;
• fairy tales about animals;
• puzzles;
• proverbs;
• legends;
• bylichki;
• nursery rhymes;
• teasers.

There are conspiracies (magic, healing, protective, commercial), during their execution, magical actions were always performed using salt, water, sugar, tobacco, wine, brooms, towels.

In addition to lyrical, wedding, dance, lingering, lullaby, game songs, there are forest, calendar cries, romance songs, short songs.

A specific genre of the Veps is short songs with a four-line verse, with a drawn-out, slow melody. They were usually performed by women, girls in the Vepsian, Russian languages ​​during the harvest of raspberries, in the hayfield. Today, old songs are performed mainly by elderly women, who form ensembles of up to 10 people. Of the musical instruments, the accordion is common, the kantele is a stringed plucked instrument.

In 1967, the Sheltozero Vepsian Ethnographic Museum was founded. This is the only museum in Russia that represents the spiritual, material culture of the people. It is a branch of the Karelian State Museum of Local Lore. The museum fund contains more than 7,000 ethnographic items. The main part is collected in the villages of Karelia, Vepsian villages.

Traditions

The Vepsians have rituals associated with prohibitions for a pregnant woman, protection of a newborn from the evil eye, treatment of children with certain diseases. folk remedies. Conspiracies were carried out using salt, water. Matchmaking is arranged at night; at the wedding, the young people must eat a fish cake.

To this day, burial rites and rituals have been preserved. The dead are buried only in white, washed clothes, with a belt. People believe that red embroidery or an element of this color will lead to the fact that the deceased in the next world will suffer. Fun funerals are common, which are held at the request of the deceased. During the funeral, at the commemoration they play musical instruments, sing the favorite songs of the deceased. On the way to the cemetery with a coffin, the first person they meet is given an offering. If a man has died, they serve the cake on a towel, if a woman - on a scarf. At the beginning of the 20th century, until the 40th day, a stick was stuck into the grave and only then a cross was erected. Among the middle Veps, the grave was sometimes covered with a wide board. The southern ones installed juniper trees instead of crosses on the graves of children.

Beliefs and signs are widespread among the people. Among the trees, the Veps revere spruce, alder, juniper, mountain ash. There are ancient beliefs about a hawk, a swallow, a snipe, a bear, a wolf, a snake of happiness, a pike.

Many beliefs are associated with the construction of a house. The cat was the first to be let into the new dwelling, which spent the first night there, because the Vepsians believed that the one who settles in the dwelling first would die first. Then the head of the family entered the house with an icon, bread in his hands. Behind him was his wife with a cat and a rooster. They were released, if the rooster crowed, this is happy life, silence was regarded as the imminent death of the owner. A pot of burning coals was brought from the old house to the new one. They believed that this way life would be richer, warmer. A house was never built on the trail, it was believed that this was to the death of the owner.

Many elements of the costume had ceremonial functions, belts served as amulets, they were worn all the time. The newlyweds were afraid of spoilage, for protection they girded themselves under their clothes with a fishing net, with a pike jaw wrapped in it. The custom was widespread, during which the young bride is wiped with the hem of her mother-in-law's shirt in order to instill obedience. Newborns are wrapped in a father's or mother's shirt to enhance parental love.

Self-name - Veps (beps), also called the Vepsians and neighboring peoples (f. veps?, rus. Veps etc.). The origin of the word is unclear: perhaps we are dealing here with some old ethnonym, dating back to the pre-Vepsian population of Mezhozero. For the first time it is found, as is commonly believed, even at the Jordan (VI century AD, information refers to an earlier period) in the form of the first part of the mysterious name of the people Vasinabroncas. Other Russian Whole‘Vepsians’ is used in The Tale of Bygone Years when describing the events of the 9th century. It is not very clear whether a distant people should be correlated with the Vepsians visu, living north of the Volga Bulgaria in the land where there are white nights, about which the writings of Arab and Persian medieval geographers narrate (already with Ibn Fadlan in the beginning of the 10th century). In Western European sources, the Vepsians were first mentioned under the name Wizzi by Adam of Bremen (end of the 11th century). A significant part of the Vepsians (mainly northern ones) call themselves l?di or l?dnik(singular), which coincides with the self-name of the Karelians-Lyudik, which, in turn, the northern Karelians can call veps?‘Veps’. This obviously indicates the former participation of the Veps in the formation of the southeastern group of Karelians. Root origin *l?di- should be associated with Russian. people, people(primarily in the meaning of ‘common people, peasantry’). Old Russian names of Vepsians: Chud(from about the 12th century it has been used instead of Whole), Chukhari(from chud) And kayvans(also - the name of the Karelians) - the latter is probably connected with the name of the Finnish-Scandinavian tribal grouping of the Kvens: Rus. (pomor.) kayans‘Kvens; Norwegians", f. kainuu). Judging by the wide popularity of ethno- and toponyms derived from veps in the sources of the 9th-13th centuries, according to the role played by the All in the early history of the Old Russian state, this was a very numerous and strong people. Nestor - the chronicler points to Beloozero as the center where the Veps was the initial population.Probably, judging by the archaeological sites (the culture of the Kurgans of the Ladoga type) and toponymy, the most ancient territory of the Vepsian habitat was the Mezhozerie - a triangle between the Ladoga, Onega and White lakes, where, as it follows to think that they advanced in the second half of the 1st millennium AD from the west or northwest, displacing or assimilating the older population, which left place names that can be considered as Sami. about the penetration of some of their groups to the east, possibly as far as the Northern Dvina and Mezen) indicate, firstly, the above-mentioned news about them in the works of Arab geographers who wrote about the Volga Bulgaria: at least Abu Hamid al-Garnati (genus . in 1070) reports that he personally met a group of merchants from the people visu- white-haired and blue-eyed, dressed in fur clothes and drinking beer, in Bulgar. Secondly, either the former penetration of noticeable groups of the population who spoke the Baltic-Finnish languages, most likely Karelian or Vepsian, or the systematic trade relations of the medieval population of the Mezen, Vashka and Vychegda river basins with these peoples are indicated by quite numerous Baltic-Finnish borrowings. in the Komi-Zyryan dialects, primarily in the westernmost of them, Udor, and the Baltic-Finnish etymology of other Russian. Perm. The possible presence of some relatively large Baltic-Finnish enclaves in the region of the mouth of the Northern Dvina is also evidenced by the reports of the Scandinavian sagas about Biarmia (Bjarmaland), which the Vikings visited during the 9th-13th centuries, and whose localization shifted to the east as they moved further and further east of the Viking campaigns: from the southern coast of the Kola Peninsula in the 9th century to the mouth of the Northern Dvina in a later period. Apparently, from the 11th century, the lands of the Veps began to be seized by the Novgorod feudal lords and Orthodoxy began to spread here. In the 11th-12th centuries, part of the Veps, obviously, mixed with the Karelians who settled in the Onega region, were assimilated by them and became part of the Karelians. The process of assimilation of the Veps by the Karelians in the Onega region continued in later epochs. From about the 13th-14th centuries, when, on the one hand, the old trade relations of Eastern Europe, in which the Veps played an important role (the path "from the Varangians to the Greeks", trade along the Volga through the Volga Bulgaria), were destroyed as a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion, and, on the other hand, a more or less solid state border is established between Novgorod and Sweden, the territory inhabited by the Veps - the Mezhozerie becomes a kind of bearish corner, and the whole ceases to be one of the most important ethno-political units of Northern Russia. In the north of their ethnic territory, the Veps are gradually included in the composition of the Karelians, a significant part of them, living in more busy places along roads and waterways, apparently assimilated by the Russians. All this led, on the one hand, to a reduction in the habitat of the Vepsians and their numbers, on the other hand, to the preservation of a more conservative way of life. . Fishing, as well as picking mushrooms and berries, were of great importance for intra-family consumption. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, otkhodnichestvo developed - logging and rafting, barge work on the rivers Svir, Neva, etc. Pottery was common on the Oyat River. In Soviet times, the industrial development of decorative building stone was developed among the northern Veps, animal husbandry acquired a meat and dairy direction. Many Vepsians work in the logging industry, 49.3% live in cities. Traditional dwellings and material culture are close to those of Northern Russia; differences: T-shaped layout of the connection of the residential part with a covered two-story courtyard; the so-called Finnish (near the wall of the facade, and not in the front corner) the position of the table in the interior of the hut. A feature of women's traditional clothing is the existence of a skirt (skirt and jacket) along with a sarafan complex. Traditional food - sour bread, fish pies, fish dishes; drinks - beer ( olud), bread kvass. Until 1917, archaic social institutions were preserved - a rural community ( suim) and a large family. Family ceremonies are similar to the North Russian ones; differences: night matchmaking, ritual eating of a fish pie by young people as part of a wedding ceremony; two types of funerals - with lamentations and with the “rejoicing” of the deceased. In the 11-12 centuries, Orthodoxy spread among the Veps, however, pre-Christian beliefs remained for a long time, for example, in a brownie (Pertijand), in amulets (one of them was the jaw of a pike); the sick turned to a healer (noid) for help. Veps folklore contains original legends about ancient miracles, fairy tales are similar to North Russian and Karelian ones. , the Onega Vepsians were engaged in stone-cutting, working as seasonal workers both in Finland and in St. Petersburg. Already during this period, publications about the Veps noted a decline in the authority of the native language and the spread of Russian, especially among young people. In 1897, the number of Veps (Chuds) was 25.6 thousand people, including Eastern Karelia, north of the river. Svir. In 1897, the Vepsians made up 7.2% of the population of the Tikhvin district and 2.3% of the population of the Belozersky district of the Novgorod province. Since the 1950s the process of Vepsian assimilation accelerated. According to the 1979 census, 8.1 thousand Veps lived in the USSR. However, according to the estimates of Karelian scientists, the actual number of Vepsians was much larger: about 13 thousand in the USSR, including 12.5 thousand in Russia (1981). About half of the Veps settled in cities. According to the 1989 census, 12.1 thousand Vepsians lived in the USSR, but only 52% of them called the Vepsian language their native language. The largest part of the ethnic territory of the Vepsians is located in the Leningrad Region at the junction of the borders of three administrative regions (Podporozhsky, Tikhvinsky and Boksitogorsky) .According to the name of the former administrative districts, as well as rivers and lakes, Vepsians are divided into a number of groups: Sheltozero (Prionezhsky) in Karelia, Shimozersky and Belozersky in the Vologda Region, Vinnitsa (Oyatsky), Shugozersky and Efimovsky in the Leningrad Region. The total number in Russia is - 8,240 according to the 2002 census, but this figure appears to be an underestimate.
In 1994, the Veps national volost was formed in the Prionezhsky district of Karelia (it was abolished on 01.01.2006). The population of the Veps national volost lives in 14 settlements, united into three village councils. The former center of the volost - the village of Sheltozero - is located 84 km from Petrozavodsk. There is a Society of Veps Culture in Petrozavodsk, which enjoys significant assistance from the authorities of Karelia, and a Veps Society in St. Petersburg.

Faces of Russia. "Living Together, Being Different"

The multimedia project "Faces of Russia" exists since 2006, talking about Russian civilization, the most important feature which is the ability to live together, remaining different - such a motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of various Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs "Music and songs of the peoples of Russia" were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs have been released to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a picture that will allow the inhabitants of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a picture of what they were like for posterity.

~~~~~~~~~~~

"Faces of Russia". Veps. "Chud", 2006

General information

V'EPS, bepsya, veps, vepsya, lyudinikad, tyagalazhet (self-name), people in Russia. They live in groups in the south of the Republic of Karelia (the southwestern coast of Lake Onega), in the eastern regions of the Leningrad and western regions of the Vologda regions. The number is 13 thousand people, in Russia - 12 thousand, of which 6 thousand people live in Karelia.

According to the 2002 population census, the number of Vepsians living in Russia is 8 thousand people.

They speak the Veps language of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural family. The language has three dialects: northern (Sheltozero, southwestern coast of Lake Onega), middle (northeast of the Leningrad region and Babaevsky district of the Vologda region) and southern (Yefimovsky, Boksitogorsk districts of the Leningrad region). In 2009, the Vepsian language was included in the UNESCO Atlas of Endangered Languages ​​of the World as being under serious threat of extinction. The Russian language is also widespread.

Believing Veps are Orthodox, but pagan ideas are also preserved in everyday life. Many rituals associated with fire. It is believed that with the help of fire you can protect from damage. And this was practiced, for example, in wedding ceremony Vepsians. Holding a burning torch in his hands, the sorcerer walked around the bride and groom standing in the pan. Fumigation, as one of the most important disinfectants, was used in many Veps rituals (labor, medical, calendar and family). Before being sent for hunting or fishing, guns and nets were fumigated.

The ancestors of the Vepsians are mentioned in the work of the Gothic historian Jordan (6th century AD), Arabic sources, starting with Ibn Fadlan (10th century), in the Tale of Bygone Years (11th century, all), by Western European authors - Adam of Bremen (end of the 11th century ), Saxo Grammar (early 13th century). Archaeological monuments of the ancient Veps - numerous burial mounds and individual settlements of the 10th - early 13th centuries in the southeastern Ladoga, Onezhye and Belozerye. The Veps played an important role in the ethnogenesis of the Karelians, and also participated in the formation of the northern Russians and the western Komi. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Vepsians were assigned to the Olonetsky (Petrovsky) arms factories and the Lodeynopol shipyard. In the 1930s, an attempt was made to introduce the teaching of the Vepsian language (an alphabet based on Latin script) in primary school. In the late 1980s, teaching of the Vepsian language began again in some schools; The Veps primer was published. The majority speaks Russian, the Vepsian language is considered native by 37.5% of Veps in Karelia and 69.8% in the Leningrad region. In the 1980s, a movement of supporters of the revival of the Vepsian ethnic group and its culture arose.

The traditional occupation - arable farming (three fields with strong remnants of the slash system), animal husbandry and hunting played a secondary role. Fishing, as well as picking mushrooms and berries, were of great importance for intra-family consumption. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, otkhodnichestvo developed - logging and rafting, barge work on the rivers Svir, Neva, etc. Pottery was common on the Oyat River. In Soviet times, the industrial development of decorative building stone was developed among the northern Vepsians, animal husbandry acquired a meat and dairy direction. Many Vepsians work in the logging industry, 49.3% live in cities.

Traditional dwellings and material culture are close to Northern Russian; differences: T-shaped layout of the connection of the residential part with a covered two-story courtyard; the so-called Finnish (near the wall of the facade, and not in the front corner) the position of the table in the interior of the hut.

A feature of women's traditional clothing is the existence of a skirt (skirt and jacket) along with a sarafan complex.

Traditional food - sour bread, fish pies, fish dishes; drinks - beer (olud), bread kvass.
Until 1917, archaic social institutions remained - the rural community (suim) and the extended family.

Family ceremonies are similar to the North Russian ones; differences: night matchmaking, ritual eating of a fish pie by young people as part of a wedding ceremony; two types of funeral - with lamentations and with the "gaiety" of the deceased.

In the 11-12 centuries, Orthodoxy spread among the Veps, however, pre-Christian beliefs persisted for a long time, for example, in brownies (Pertijand), in amulets (one of them was the jaw of a pike); the sick turned to the healer (noid) for help.

In the folklore of the Vepsians, legends about the ancient Chud are original, fairy tales are similar to North Russian and Karelian ones, in folk choreography - a dance with spoons. It has its own intelligentsia.

Known Veps:
Alexander Svirsky - Russian Orthodox saint, revered as a reverend, hegumen Zinaida Strogalshchikova - public figure, representative of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples Nikolai Abramov - famous Vepsian poet, journalist, translator and actor ethnographic museum, writer (wrote in Vepsian and Russian), expert and propagandist of Vepsian culture Anatoly Petukhov - Vepsian writer. He writes in Russian and Vepsian, being in fact the first Vepsian professional writer.

V.V. Pimenov

Essays

History is in a hurry, life is in no hurry

Also in early XIX century in Russia, few people knew about the existence of the Vepsians. Meanwhile, this ancient and independent people was mentioned as early as the 6th century AD by the Gothic chronicler Jordanes. True, under the name vasina. By the end of the first millennium of our era, the Veps had already moved from the Eastern Baltic and settled between the Ladoga, Onega and White lakes. In The Tale of Bygone Years, and this is the 11th century, the Vepsians appear under the name of the whole. Nikolai Karamzin writes in the notes to the first volume of his "History of the Russian State" (out of print in 1818): "Merya, muroma, all have long since turned into Russians" (p. 31, 1988 edition).

From changing the places of the terms

But there were people in the 19th century who did not believe in the version of the famous historian. The Finnish scientist John Andreas (Andrei Mikhailovich) Sjogren in 1824-1829 made a great trip around the Olonets province and revealed the existence of a whole people, proving that this is a special ethnic group with its own language, folklore, and compact living. In fact, this was the second discovery of the ancient people. By the way, until 1917 the Vepsians were called Chud. Andrey Shegren identified four groups of Vepsian settlements: near Belozero, Tikhvin, Lodeynoye Pole and Vytegra. The Finnish scientist determined the number of this people approximately, by eye. In one of his articles, he writes that there are from ten to sixteen thousand Vepsians. And later (four years later) he brought the number of Vepsians to 21 thousand. The academician sent the governor of the Olonets province Khristofor Khristoforovich Povalo-Shveikovsky a corresponding paper with a request to determine the number of non-Russian inhabitants. Six months later, a short answer was sent to the academy that there were no foreign villages and foreigners themselves in the Olonets province. A typical reply from a high-ranking tsarist official. Academician Koeppen was not satisfied with the answer of Povalo-Shveikovsky and sent the governor a second, also official, petition from the Academy of Sciences with a request to provide the required information. After that, the governor, of course, ordered his subordinates to take up the census of the non-Russian population. And the whole process took six years. In the summer of 1846, a list of “tribes of foreigners, cities, counties and villages where they live” was finally compiled, indicating the number of male and female souls, their religion and departmental affiliation. In 1852, the Russian Geographical Society published the first ethnographic study on the non-Russian population of European Russia. The general edition was carried out by academician Peter Koeppen. According to him, there were 7,067 Chuds in the Novgorod province, and 8,550 souls of both sexes in the Olonets province. In total - 15,617. All this "fake-fiction" with the sluggish census of the Veps is very reminiscent of a satirical story in the spirit of Saltykov-Shchedrin. But still, no matter how slowly the process went, at the beginning of the 19th century, the scientific study of the Veps was born. In the 20th century, there were already more Veps specialists. Let's name such scientists as Stepan Makariev, Petr Uspensky, Jussi Rainio, Pertti Virtaranta.

I will find berries, I will get fish

Only at the end of the 1980s did the teaching of the Vepsian language begin again in some schools, and the Vepsian primer was published. Most of the living Vepsians really speak Russian. As for the Vepsian language, it is considered native by 37.5% of Vepsians in Karelia and 69.8% in the Leningrad Region. According to the 2002 census, the number of Vepsians living in Russia is 8 thousand people. In the last twenty years, Vepsian literature and poetry began to develop actively. The first of the Russian writers who turned to Vepsian folklore was Viktor Pulkin. In 1973 he published the book “Veps melodies. Ethnographic short stories”, which became in some way a guide to the Vepsian lands. The complexity of the situation lies in the fact that the very birth of literature occurs in the period of the extinction of linguistic culture. Some researchers seriously believe that in another two or three generations, the Vepsian language, as the national language of live communication, will disappear.

Hold on to the ritual - it will help

Fire appears in the ritual actions of the Veps in the form of a bonfire, a burning torch, a candle, and also smoke. The very actions performed with fire (and these are: running around, jumping, walking around, fumigating) carry a magical charge. It was believed that with the help of fire you can protect people from damage. In many rites of the Vepsians (labor, medical, calendar and family) fumigation was used as one of the most important disinfectants. Before sending the bride and groom to the crown, they were first “fumigated”. Holding a burning torch in his hands, the sorcerer walked around the newlyweds standing in the pan. Interestingly, the Vepsians somehow connected the human soul with fire and smoke. The Vepsians believed that the invisible soul leaves the human body imperceptibly, as if under the guise of fire or smoke. After the funeral, the clothes belonging to the deceased were burned. It was believed that with the help of such actions it would be easier for the soul to get to heaven.

Fight for pure fire

No less interesting are the ideas of the Vepsians about where the fire comes from. Signs testify to the appearance of fire. For example, a red squirrel in some Vepsian villages was considered a harbinger of fire. Back in the twenties of the last century, the Oyat Veps made fire by rubbing a pine torch on a machine for turning spindles from birch bark. And they did it not out of some special love for antiquity. It’s just that fire, obtained in such an antediluvian way, was considered the most effective, healing, protective. The Vepsians believed that a fire could be defeated, neutralized by building a symbolic barrier around it. For example, the Veps believed that fire could stop milk. With him, a three-fold detour around the burning house was made. And then the milk was poured into the fire.

Many good and different words

The newly written Vepsian language has recently been rapidly enriched with new vocabulary. In 1995, the Educational Vepsian-Russian and Russian-Vepsian Dictionary was published under the editorship of Nina Zaitseva and Maria Mullonen. It has already collected many new words that did not previously exist in the language. Even a newly written language cannot be created by direct borrowing from other written cultures. This will destroy its integrity. But in every language there are already well-established rules of word formation, and they must be followed when composing new concepts. It only remains to add that the Veps learn about the new vocabulary first of all from the newspaper KODIMA (Native Land). It has been published since 1994. There is also an online version of this publication. And not so long ago, the Vepsian people also had the Bible in their native language. This great and complex work was done by Nina Zaitseva. But not only professional linguists compose new words. They are born in the thickness of the people. First of all, during work, games, live communication. Lying on the stove, you can’t invent a new word. You have to work hard to find it. How can one not recall the Vepsian proverb “a sleeping cat cannot get a mouse into its mouth”.
***
WATER, vadyalayn (self-name), an ethnic community in Russia, in the Kingisepp district of the Leningrad region. There are no official numbers available. The Vodian language of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural family has two dialects, unwritten. Currently Vod speak Russian.

According to the 2002 Population Census, the number of Vods living in Russia is 100 people.

Vod - the oldest population of the region, occupied the lands from the Narova River and Lake Peipsi in the west and including the Izhora plateau in the east. Later they were part of the Novgorod lands ("Vodskaya pyatina"). Vod experienced a strong Slavic, later Russian influence, converted to Orthodoxy. In Russian chronicles it is known as vozhane, and also under the common name of the Finnish-speaking peoples - Chud. As a result of numerous wars, plagues, crop failures, the number of Vods gradually decreased.

Traditional occupations are arable farming, fishing, forestry. Since the end of the 19th century, otkhodnichestvo to industrial centers has intensified. In traditional material culture, Russian influence is strong (tools, vehicles, buildings).

Until the beginning of the 19th century, a women's costume was preserved with a clear gradation by age groups: underwear sleeveless shoulder clothes, girls had white linen (ami), married women had blue cloth (rukka), over a short jacket (ihad), old women wore clothes like a shirt (ummiko ). Headdresses included hard and towel forms. Characterized by several types of apron (linen and cloth), the simultaneous wearing of several belts, leggings, breastplates (rissico and muetsi), decorated with embroidery, braid, beads, cowrie shells. Priluzhskaya Vod wore an unsewn skirt (khurstut) over a shirt. In the 2nd half of the 19th century, the Russian sundress (ummiko, sinyakko) became common.

Russian influence was also reflected in traditional rituals, in particular wedding rituals. Typical village-wide cult brotherhoods (vaccas) with collective brewing of beer.

Until the 20th century, remnants of pre-Christian beliefs were preserved: cult trees, springs, stones, relics of the cult of a horse, a ram, etc.