The ancestors of the Karelians were the Finno-Ugric tribes of South-Eastern Finland. At the end of the 1st millennium AD. they advanced to the territory of modern Karelia, where they gradually assimilated the local Veps and Saami.
The common self-name of all Karelians is karyalizet. At the same time, Karelians near Ladoga call themselves Ligvilyaine, Livviköy, and those near Onega call themselves Ludilayne, Ludikyoy. The name Karelia most likely comes from the word "karya" - cattle, since the ancient Karelians were cattle breeders.
In ancient Russia, Karelians were called somewhat differently - Korela. Korela was first mentioned in the Novgorod birch bark charter No. 590 dated 1066. This name in Russian existed until the 19th century.
Birch bark certificate No. 590 "Lithuania stood on Korela"
Throughout the Middle Ages, protracted wars between Sweden and Veliky Novgorod went on for the lands of the Karelians. From the end of the 15th century, the Novgorodians were replaced by the Muscovite state. As a result of these wars, a significant part of Karelia became part of Sweden. Russian Karelians were converted to Orthodoxy, Swedish Karelians to Catholicism, and then to Lutheranism. By the second half of the 17th century, all Orthodox Karelians left the Karelian Isthmus. Their exodus was carried out through the lands of the Tikhvin Monastery, where, as they would say now, a “humanitarian corridor” was formed.
In Russia, the Karelians were given land for living in the territory of the modern Tver region in the basins of the Mologa and Medveditsa rivers. Part of the settlers settled in the Novgorod province near the city of Borovichi and in Valdai. These lands were not chosen by chance, during the Time of Troubles they were very desolated, so the Karelians became the predominant population here. By the beginning of the 20th century, the number of Karelians in the Tver province exceeded the number of their fellow tribesmen in the Arkhangelsk and Olonets provinces.
According to other observations, the Karelians have a highly developed intelligence, enterprise, self-esteem. They are extremely tenacious.
Unlike the Russians, the Karelians built their houses directly on the ground, without making any foundation, or on pillars. After 2-3 months, such a house began to bow to passers-by.
Karelian writing was created only in the 1980s. Therefore, the spiritual culture of the Karelians was imprinted in oral poetry. The Karelian epic "Kalevala" is considered one of the most archaic in world folklore. It has 22,795 verses - they were sung to the accompaniment of playing the kantele, a plucked instrument. Kalevala is the name of the epic country where the wise Väinämöinen lives, who produces for his people the magical Sampo mill, which brings wealth and happiness. Today "Kalevala" has been translated into more than 100 languages of the peoples of the world.
The mass baptism of the Karelians took place in 1227 by order of the father of Alexander Nevsky, Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich. Orthodoxy treated the traditions of the Karelians quite carefully. Suffice it to say that it was the Russian Karelians who preserved the Kalevala, and not the Finnish Karelians, who first adopted Catholicism and then Lutheranism.
The most popular saint among the Karelians is Nikola Ugodnik. His miraculous icon from the Nikolo-Terebenskaya desert has become a true national shrine, uniting the Karelian people.
Karely(general self-name - karelian. karjalaizet) - Finno-Ugric people, live mainly in the Republic of Karelia, the Tver region and in eastern Finland. The language is Karelian of the Baltic-Finnish subgroup of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural-Yukaghir family. Believers in Russia are mostly Orthodox, in Finland - Lutherans.
Origin
It is generally accepted that modern Karelians are the result of ethnic contact of the medieval korely with all and lop, during which the latter were largely assimilated, and the Karelians adopted many features of their language and culture.
In addition to the Karelians proper, in the Karelian ethnos there are sub-ethnic groups of livviks (Karel. liügilaizet) and ludiks (Karel. lüüdilaizet), which differ significantly in culture and language (up to differences in alphabets). The majority of Livviks live in Olonets Karelia, while Ludiks live in Prionezhskaya Karelia. The number of both of them significantly decreased over the years as a result of the genocide carried out by the Finnish authorities in the occupied territories and the assimilation policy in Finland itself. Tver Karelians (Karel. tiverin karielaizet) also differ significantly in language, ethnic tradition, and most ethnologists are recognized as a separate sub-ethnos.
Also in the composition of the Karelian ethnos there is a sub-ethnos lappi or Segozero Karelians living in the vicinity of Segozero, which comes from the descendants of the Lapps, assimilated by the Karelians, but retained their self-name. By language and culture lappi differ little from Karelians proper. The second group of Karelians self-named lappi or lappalizet lives on the southern coast of Lake Saimaa in Finland, in the county of Lappee, near the city of Lappeenranta.
Western Karelians, or as they are sometimes illiterately called "Karelian-Finns", were almost completely assimilated and, according to Finnish ethnographers, became part of the Finnish ethnos. At the same time, Karelians officially "do not exist" in Finland, if necessary, indicate their nationality in official documents, Karelians are usually offered to choose some other one, most often - "Finn" or "Russian" (if they disagree to consider themselves a Finn).
Story
The first written mention of the Karelians themselves dates back to the last decades of the 7th century and is associated with the king of the Danes Ivar Shirokiye Obyati, who was defeated and killed in the area called "Karelian bays"(probably meant the skerries of the coast of the Karelian Isthmus). This fact is mentioned in the Acts of the Danes by Saxo Grammaticus and the Ynglinga Saga. By the beginning of the XI century, there is a mention of the Karelian principality in the "Saga of Olaf the Holy", the Norwegian king. The first Russian written source mentioning the korel is the Novgorod birch bark charter No. 590, dated 1066, which refers to the attack of the Lithuanians on the Karelian Principality.
The first written mention of the Karelians-Livviks presumably dates back to the 6th century: in the book of Jordan “On the Origin and Deeds of the Getae”, a number of Baltic-Finnish peoples are listed, conquered by the leader of the Goths Germanaric. Most researchers (Yu. Koskinen, K. Myullenhoff, V. Tomashek and others) reasonably believe that this list was simply borrowed by Jordan from an initerarium that has not come down to us. In this list, along with the Merei and Mordovians, there is a people called Thiudos in Aunxis, that is, according to F. Brown, “Olonets Chud” (in most Karelian and Baltic-Finnish languages, Olonets is still called Aunus).
The first of the written sources about the Ludiks is mentioned by the Bavarian anonymous under the name of the tribe, dating from the first half of the 9th century. liudi or people(lat. liudi, that is, it practically reproduces the self-name in Latin phonetics, this assumption is usually disputed by supporters of the Norman concept, as well as the fact of using the text "Anonymous" as the fundamental basis for the list of tribes in the "Tale of Bygone Years"). Somewhat later, Ahmed ibn Fadlan mentions the Karelians-Ludiki in his book about the journey to the Volga in -922 under the name of the people "luud-aana". An alternative option - they were mentioned by Abu-l-Hasan Ali ibn al-Hussein al-Masudi in the book "Golden Mines" no later than 947, there may once have been a purely physical mixing of sources, when the pages of one book fell into another, in any case, some experts who worked with the editions of Fadlan's original text claimed that this ethnonym was absent in them, while there is a revision of Masudi's text, in which it is also absent; there was a tradition of identifying the "lud-aan" Masudi with the streets, which is of unconditional interest, because in addition to the generally accepted identification of the streets with the late Volynians in the 19th century, there was a tradition to identify the streets with the Volga Uglichs, whose neighbors were just the Tver Karelians-Tivertsy, it is possible that that modern Ludiki are indeed descendants of medieval Uglichs. In medieval Russian sources, Karelians-Ludiki were often referred to under the name people, without correlation with the Karelians (korela). However, even much earlier, at the founding of Novgorod, one of its ends was called "Lyudin" or "Lyudinov", just as the Narevsky end was named after the Narova tribe.
During the Middle Ages, for control over the territory inhabited by Karelians, there were protracted wars between Sweden and Kievan Rus (then Veliky Novgorod, Muscovy), as a result of which the borders changed several times and part of the Karelian lands became part of Sweden. The Karelians of the Russian part retained the Orthodoxy adopted back in the 13th century, the Karelians of the Swedish part in the 16th-17th centuries were converted to Catholicism (later Lutheranism). After the Tyavzinsky and Stolbovsky peace treaties and the year. the lands around Lake Ladoga and at the mouth of the Neva moved from Russia to Sweden, the majority of the local Orthodox Karelian population was forced to move near Tver, in the area of the cities of Likhoslavl, Bezhetsk, Maksatikha, Vesyegonsk. In the year, the areas of the former Tver province, inhabited by Karelians, formed the Karelian National District, which lasted up to a year.
The Finnish authorities organized mass deportations of Karelians twice - in 1919-1920, when about 30,000 Karelians were deported, and in 1944, when about 40,000 Karelians (mostly Livviks) were deported, including those resettled in Karelia from other occupied territories , all deported Karelians were assimilated in Finland. On the Karelian Isthmus (on the territory of Finland), dozens of micro-enclaves with the native Karelian population remained until the mass deportations organized by the shutskor in and years.
For details about the history and archeology of the ancient Karelians, about their interaction with other peoples, see the work of S. V. Kochkurkina “Korela and Rus”.
Anthropological type
The Karelians for the most part belong to the Caucasoid large race, its White Sea-Baltic type, which is characterized by a minimal Mongoloid admixture. The exception is lappies belonging to the laponoid group of the Ural type.
Language
Karelian belongs to the Baltic-Finnic branch of the Finno-Ugric group of languages and is classified as an agglutinative language. Initially, two types of runic writing were used, Cyrillic-based writing appeared no later than the first half of the 11th century, and Latin-based writing was introduced in the 1930s.
resettlement
According to early 21st century censuses, Karelians live in the following regions:
- Republic of Karelia: 65,651 (9.2%), (1939 - 108,571 or 23.2%)
- Finland: Lots of inhabitants of Karelian origin. It is not possible to reliably determine the number of Karelians in Finland, since Karelians in Finland are considered as "part of the Finnish nation". Approximately 25,000 people understand the Karelian language, about 5,000 speak it. According to the Karelian authorities, at least 400,000 Karelians live in Finland.
- Tver region: 14,633 (A large number of people with Karelian roots, since in 1926 the number of Karelians in the region was 140,567 or 6.3% of the population of the entire Tver region)
Dynamics of the number of Karelians in the USSR/Russia
Notable Karelians
Athletes
Politicians, public and church figures
- Prokofiev Pavel Stepanovich (Paavo Prokkonen) - Soviet politician, chairman of the Council of People's Commissars and the Council of Ministers of the Karelian-Finnish SSR (1940-1947, 1950-1956), chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Court of the Karelian ASSR (1957-1979).
- Senkin Ivan Ilyich - the first secretary of the Karelian regional party committee in 1958-1984, in 1984-1986 - chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of the KASSR. Under him, for success in the development of the national economy, the republic was awarded (in 1965 and 1970) the Orders of Lenin and the Order of the October Revolution.
- Bogdanov, Viktor Egorovich - Chairman of the Council of Representatives of the Republican Congress of Karelians, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Representatives of Karelians, Vepsians, Finns of the Republic of Karelia under the Head of the Republic of Karelia.
- Zaikov Pyotr Methodievich (Pekka Zaikov) - Head of the Department of Karelian and Vepsian Languages of PetrSU, Doctor of Philology, Professor. The first chairman of the Karelian regional public organization "Union of the Karelian people". He successfully received Finnish citizenship and a chair at the University of Joensu.
Writers and poets
- Rugoev Yakov Vasilievich (Yaakko Rugoev) is a Karelian poet, writer and publicist.
- Brandoev, Vladimir Egorovich - Karelian poet who wrote in the Livvik dialect of the Karelian language.
- Stepanov Artem Mikhailovich (Ortier Stepanov) is a Finnish-speaking Karelian writer.
- Yakkola Nikolai Matveevich is a famous Karelian prose writer.
- Antti Timonen is a prominent Karelian writer known to Soviet and foreign readers.
- Perttu Petr Alekseevich (Pekka Perttu) is a famous Karelian writer.
- Yakkola Nikolai Matveevich - writer, translator, literary critic, one of the organizers of the Writers' Union of Karelia.
- Gippiev Nikolai Grigorievich (Nikolai Laine) - poet, translator; wrote in Finnish.
Cultural figures
- Daria Kuzminichna Karpova - People's Artist of Russia. She was the first chairman of the Karelian branch of the All-Russian Theater Society. She was awarded the Orders of Lenin and the Red Banner of Labor, many medals. She was elected a deputy of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR and Karelia. Honorary citizen of Petrozavodsk. One of the founders of the National Theater of Karelia.
- Mikshiev Petr Grigorievich (Pekka Mikshiev) - People's Artist of Russia, Honored Artist of the KASSR. One of the leading actors of the National Theater of Karelia. Member of the vocal ensemble "Manok". One of the creators of the Karelian choir Oma Payo. Active board member of the Union of the Karelian people.
- Levkin Ivan Ivanovich - Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR, Honored Artist of the Karelian ASSR. Founder of the oldest folk choirs in Karelia: Petrovsky, Vedloozersky. Poet and composer.
- Sevets Leonid Ivanovich (Leo Sevets) is a Karelian folk musician. Former member of the Karelian rock band Myllärit.
- Santtu Karhu (Alexander Medvedev) is the leader of the Karelian ethno-rock band Santtu Karhu & Talvisovat, performing songs in the Livvik dialect of the Karelian language.
We bake gates in the Karelian village of Kinerma, the most beautiful in Russia. Photo: IA "Republic" / Igor Georgievsky
Immediately dot the ā. Several peoples lived together on the territory of Karelia for many centuries - each of them contributed something of its own to the historical appearance of the republic. The greatest influence (besides Russians) was exerted by Karelians, Vepsians and Finns.
For the last thousand years, they have lived side by side, exchanging cultural achievements, mixing, and as a result, modern Baltic-Finnish peoples have appeared living in our republic. However, within each of them there are separate groups. Sometimes they differ in the dialect of their language, sometimes in their place of residence, and sometimes in both.
We will talk about Veps and Finns in our project a little later, today we are talking about the titular ethnic group: it was the Karelians who gave the name to our republic.
Karely
A few numbers. Today, the compact places of residence of Karelians are Olonetsky (53%), Pryazhinsky (32%) and Kalevalsky (36%) national regions. The share of Karelians in the republic is 7.1% (according to the 2010 census - 45,530 people).
In the Karelian people, scientists traditionally distinguish three groups, which differ primarily in the features of the language and place of residence. Statistics unite them, but on the territory of the present republic live Livviks, Ludiks and Karelians proper.
Proper Karelians
In the north of the republic, for several centuries now, there have been people who call themselves simply “Karels”. Scientists also refer to them as "Karelians proper" or "Northern Karelians". Their language is closest to Finnish, most often it is considered the reference dialect of Karelian.
The Karelians themselves live on the territory of the Kalevalsky, Loukhsky, Belomorsky, Segezhsky, Muezersky, Medvezhyegorsky (formerly Padansky) regions.
Livvik Karelians
Karelians who call themselves Livviks have historically settled in the Olonetsky District and part of the Pryazhinsky District. Living in the Ladoga region, the Livviks had long contact with the Veps and more western tribes of Finno-Ugric origin, so their language is rich in borrowings from Veps and some Western Baltic languages.
Karelian people
In the Pryazhinsky and Kondopozhsky districts live Karelians-lyudiki. Their language was most influenced by the Veps language, and its development was also influenced by the Karelian dialect proper.
Karelians, of course, live not only on the territory of the republic. A significant group settled in the Tver region in the Middle Ages. Their self-name Tver Karelians, and their language is closest to Karelian proper. Karelians live in St. Petersburg, Murmansk and Leningrad regions, in Moscow.
A separate issue is the Karelians in Finland. In the 20th century, most of them were finally assimilated by the Finns, however, according to some estimates, up to 25 thousand Karelians still live in the neighboring country.
Today there are almost 90 thousand Karelians in the world. More than 60 thousand live in Russia, about 25 thousand live in Finland. 45 thousand Karelians live in Karelia, more than 7 thousand live in the Tver region, the rest live in St. Petersburg, Murmansk, Leningrad and Novgorod regions, as well as in Moscow.
Karelian
Natalya Nikolaeva, director of the Olonets Museum of Livvik Karelians, is a Karelian. She speaks the Livvik dialect, although not as fluently as her family used to speak. It's a pity, she thinks, but the living everyday Karelian is leaving the life of the inhabitants of Olonets.
Almost until the end of the twentieth century, people spoke Karelian only at home. In 1940, the language was deprived of official status and forcibly ousted from all areas of application, except for everyday use.
The question was returned only after perestroika. In 1989, the authorities of Karelia officially approved the alphabet of the Karelian (Livvik dialect).
The unified alphabet of the Karelian language was approved by a decree of the government of the republic only in 2007. Seven years later, a change was made to it: the letter Cc was added.
What language do the natives of the republic speak and write today?
In the Kalevalsky and Loukhsky districts - in the proper Karelian, close to Finnish. In the south and in the central part - in the Livvik and Ludik dialects of the Karelian language.
The alphabet is common, the vocabulary is often similar, but southern and northern Karelians speak different dialects.
House of the Karelian language
“My mother was born in neighboring Kinerma,” says Olga Gokkoeva. “Now my sister Nadezhda lives in Kinerma with her family. But we grew up in Petrozavodsk, we came here only for the summer.
I remember, as a child, you ride a bus and hear only Karelian speech. And laughter, constant laughter! It feels like everyone is talking at the same time, no one is listening to each other - everyone is talking and everyone is laughing!
Sisters. Nadezhda Kalmykova and Olga Gokkoeva. Photo: Igor Georgievsky
Olga already learned Karelian (as well as Finnish) at the university. He has been living in Finland for a long time, but he comes to Karelia all the time, and not only to see his sister. Olga built a house in Vedlozero. Not for myself, but for the villagers. House of the Karelian language.
Money for the House of the Karelian Language is collected by the whole world. They help in any way they can: one writes applications for grants, the other bakes gates for tourists.
There is no mandatory rule to speak here only in the native language. But the House of the Karelian Language in Vedlozero has been a real national center of the republic in recent years.
“We have a Karelian (not Livvik!) Language House,” says Olga Gokkoeva. - We do not divide our people into Livviks, Ludiks and Karelians proper. And we work with everyone, we want people to hear each other.
I believe that without a native language and without understanding where you are coming from, it is very difficult to grow up as a harmonious person. For example, I feel good in any country, even if I don't know the language. Because I know who I am, I know where I'm from.
And I always proudly declare my origin. That's why I don't wear national costumes: after five minutes of talking with me, everyone knows that I'm a Karelian!
Olga Gokkoeva. Photo: IA "Respublika" / Igor Georgievsky
Natalya Sparrow. Photo: IA "Respublika" / Nikolai Smirnov
Karelov in the project "100 Symbols of Karelia" is represented by Natalya Vorobey, the chairman of the Union of the Karelian people:
— Today, the Karelian language is moving from the village to the city along with its native speakers. From a simple, everyday language, it turns into a language of communication for the creative intelligentsia, and not only the national one.
Every year, both those who have national roots and those who want to learn more about the history and traditions of our republic are enrolled in the courses of Livvik and Karelian proper. This is not possible without language.
Karelian is adapting to new, modern realities: VKontakte has an interface in Karelian proper, Wikipedia is actively developing in Livvik. We speak Karelian at work and at home. As long as the language is alive, the people also live.
Natalya Vorobey is not a Karelian. Father is Belarusian, mother is Russian, although from the Vepsian village of Revselga. Language ( proper Karelian dialect) Natalia began to study at the Pedagogical College, then continued at the Faculty of Baltic-Finnish Philology and Culture of Petrozavodsk University.
- But I really spoke only when I came to work on television, in the national editorial office. And she went on business trips to the north of Karelia: to Kalevala, to Yushkozero. On business trips, I even see my dreams in Karelian.
And Natalia also speaks her native (already native!) Language with her daughter Tarja.
- Until the age of three, while I was on maternity leave, I spoke with the child only in Karelian. And the first language my daughter spoke was Karelian.
I understand that it can just stay in the family, at the level of "let's have tea / get dressed / let's go." Of course, this is not enough. And I drag her to all national events so that she can hear the speech, so that she has someone to talk to. The child was nine months old when I took her to Lahti, Finland, to the Congress of Finno-Ugric Peoples. Now I look at these photos - well, is a normal mother ?!
Now Tarja is already teaching Karelian to kindergarten teachers. I put the cubes together and explained to everyone what KOTI had built.
Because koti is home.
The project was made by:
Maria Lukyanova, project editor
Elena Fomina, the author of the text
Igor Georgievsky, photographer
Nikolai Smirnov, photographer
Boris Kasyanov, photographer
Vladimir Volotovsky, operator
Ilya Dedyushko, director
Pavel Stepura, layout
Elena Kuznetsova, project consultant
The idea of the project is to write a book together for the centenary of our republic. During the year, 100 reports about 100 symbols of our region will be published on Respublika, in the newspaper Karelia and on the TV channel Sampo TV 360°. The result of this work will be a beautiful gift album "100 symbols of Karelia". What kind of symbols these will be, we decide together - we have already received hundreds of applications. go on
Karelians are one of the indigenous Finnish tribes. The Normans found them here at the beginning of the 9th century, King Eric Emundson (Wetergut), who died in 833, penetrated as far as Karelia in his campaigns, and in 877 Thorolf Kveldufson, governor of King Harold Garfagar, in alliance with the Finnish Kven tribe, broke Karel. Subsequently, the Karelians lost their independence and paid tribute to the Normans.
In Russian history, the Karelians appear for the first time in 1143, when, according to the chronicler, "Korela go to em" - another Finnish tribe. In 1149, the Karelians were mentioned in the troops of Prince. Izyaslav and Rostislav Mstislavich, who helped the Novgorodians in their fight against Prince. Georgy Vladimirovich Suzdalsky. In 1191, the Karelians again fought against the Emyu, together with the Novgorodians. About the baptism of the Karelians into Orthodoxy, the chronicle says: “the same summer (6735 or 1227) book. Yaroslav Vsevolodovich sent many Korel to baptize, not all people. There is reason to believe that many of them had already been baptized by Novgorodians before that time; so in the charter of Svyatoslav, Prince. Novgorod, compiled in 1134, are mentioned, among the payers of the collection in favor of the Novgorod lord, Onega churchyards with Korel names; Obviously, Karelians-Christians lived here. In 1241, the Karelians, under the banner of Prince. Alexander Nevsky, went under Kaporye. “In the summer of 6786 (1278) book. Dmitry and Novgorodians and with all the Nizov land, execute Korela and take their land on a shield. In 1284, the Germans, under the leadership of Trunda, sailed along the Neva and, in order to convert its inhabitants into their tributaries, but were defeated by the Novgorod posadnik Simeon. In 1291, raids on Karelians began from the Swedes, who founded Vyborg in 1293, Kexholm in 1295, and Landskrona in 1300 (on the site of the current suburb of St. Petersburg, Bol. Okhta). Novgorodians in 1301 destroyed Landskrona, and the following year, together with the Karelians, they raided. In 1323, according to the Treaty of Noteborg, the Russians ceded most of Karelia. The Karelians themselves often helped the Swedes against the Russians; the reason for this must be considered bad management, as there is evidence in history. So, under the Grand Duke Mikhail Yaroslavich of Tverskoy, who was also the Prince of Novgorod, the Tver boyar Boris Konstantinovich, who ruled the region extremely arbitrarily, was the Korel governor. In 1350, the Uppsala Bishop Gemming converted many Korels to. For several centuries in a row, Karelia passed from the Swedes to the Russians and back, and its inhabitants themselves helped one or the other, depending on the circumstances.
The resettlement of Karelians into the depths of Russia began under Ivan the Terrible. The Time of Troubles and the pestilence that broke out in the 17th century greatly devastated the Tver region; its population has decreased significantly. Around the same time, according to the Stolbovsky peace (1617), part of Karelia went to Sweden. The inhabitants of the ceded territory were connected with the Russians partly by faith, partly by various economic conditions, as a result of which the emigration of Karelians to Russia intensified. In order to somewhat replenish the ranks of the greatly reduced population, the Moscow government, with promises of good land allotments and all sorts of benefits, attracted some of these emigrants to the Tver Territory. The resettlement of the Karelians was slow and continued until 1678.
The government attributed all the Korel settlers to the "order of the big palace"; but subsequently many of them fell into serfdom to private individuals and nobles. How this happened - you can guess from the petition of the settlers from 1697, which says that “the landowners and patrimonials of the Korelians who live behind them, as they go to auction, catching them on their estates in their Korelian villages, beat and tortured and kept underground, for two or three weeks, and starved to death. The landowners, in their defense, referred to the fact that in former times they were ordered to accept immigrants “from abroad of the Korelians” to the granted lands, and that in 1646-1678. Karelians were recorded after them in the census books. In 1698, the government assigned to the landlords that part of the Karelians who were registered with them according to the census books of 1678, while the majority attributed to the palace department. The last migrations of Karelians to the Russian provinces took place shortly after the Treaty of Nystadt (1721), when all of Karelia was annexed to Russia.
At present, the total number of Karelians in Russia is about 100 thousand people. In addition to Karelia, a large number of them live in the Tver region. Karelians speak the Karelian language, which belongs to the Finno-Ugric group. The main dialects are Karelian proper (middle and northern parts of Karelia), Livvik (Ladoga region), Ludikov (Onezhe region). Finnish and Russian are also widely spoken.
Traditional occupations are three-field and slash-and-slash, animal husbandry, hunting, fishing, forestry, handicrafts, reindeer husbandry. The main agricultural crops are rye, barley, oats, peas, turnips, radishes, swedes, onions, carrots, beets, and potatoes. Other occupations: beekeeping, smoking tar, tar, fishing.
Traditional Karelian crafts: blacksmithing, weapons, cooperage, weaving, embroidery, knitting, gold and pearl embroidery, weaving from straw, birch bark, carving and painting on wood, ceramics, wood and metal processing, jewelry making. Karelian villages are located mainly along the banks of rivers and lakes. The traditional dwelling is close to the North Russian (wooden frame).
Traditional women's clothing: shirts, sundress, jacket with a skirt, scarf, magpie. Men's clothing: shirt with a slanting collar. Shoes made of birch bark, leather, fur, felted. Traditional dishes are fish soup (in the north of Karelia - with flour podboltka, in the south - with potatoes, pearl barley), kolobs, skants, kosoviki, ryadoviki, lean pies, oatmeal pancakes. Traditional drinks are tea, in the north coffee, sometimes salted, in the past - turnip kvass.
In Karelian folklore, the most ancient epic songs (runes) are distinguished, accompanied by playing the folk plucked instrument - kantele. Since XIX, short comic songs like Russian ditties have been common.
Community
Karely
Terveh! Terveh teile! - Hello!
Origin of the ethnonym
The ethnonym of the Karelians is Karialaizet. Actually Karelians - Karjalani, Ladoga - Ligvilyaine, Livvikey, Livviki, Onega - Luyudilaine, Luyudikey, Lyudiki.
Places of residence
Karelians are the indigenous population of the Republic of Karelia. They also live in the Tver region (Tver and Upper Volga Karelians), Leningrad, Murmansk and other regions of Russia. Karelians live in Ukraine, Belarus and Estonia.
History reference
The Karelians were formed on the basis of the aboriginal tribes of South Karelia and southeast Finland. At the turn of the 1st-2nd millennium AD, the ancestors of the Karelians inhabited the northern and northwestern shores of Lake Ladoga. At the beginning of the 11th century, the migration of Karelians to the North, to the territory of Novgorod land, began. Around the XII century, the ancient Karelians are mentioned in Russian chronicles, Scandinavian sagas
Statistical data
According to the 2002 census, 93,344 people live in the Russian Federation.
Religion
Karelians profess Orthodoxy. It is known from chronicles that in 1227 Prince Yaroslav Vsevolodovich “baptized many Karelians”. The Karelians retained elements of paganism: worship of the elemental forces of nature (wind, rain, hail, lightning), belief in the purifying power of fire, subordination of the life cycle to the phases of the moon.
Language
The Karelian language belongs to the Finno-Ugric group of the Uralic family. The languages of such peoples as Veps, Izhora, Vod, Estonians, Finns, Livs are closest to the Karelian language. According to linguists, the Izhorian language, East Finnish dialects of the Finnish language arose from the base language (Old Karelian language).
In the Karelian language, which has passed a long way of historical development, there are Letto-Lithuanian, or Baltic, Germanic, Slavic borrowings. The main dialects are Karelian proper, Livvik, Ludikov. Finnish is also widely spoken.
Writing
Brief Phrasebook
Jiagia tervehekse! - Goodbye!
Passibo! Kiitos! - Thank you!
Huvia paivia! - Good day!
Prostikkua! Andakkua andiekse! - Sorry!
Pagizettogo omua kiedu? - Do you speak Karelian?
Da- Yes.
En - No.
Leibu suolu suojile ! - Bon Appetit!
Encyclopedia of life:
National dress
The ancient Karelian women's costume consisted of a long skirt, often bordered with patterned lace, a linen shirt trimmed with lace with silver threads, an apron decorated with spiral threads along the hem, and a head scarf fastened to the hair with beautiful clasps.
Various ornaments - pendants, medallions, brooches were widely used.
Women's attire was complemented by knives with copper ornamented handles in sheaths, which were attached to one of the chest chains.
Men wore woolen or linen shirts, which were fastened at the collar with a small clasp. To a belt, usually leather, with iron or bronze buckles, a knife in a case, a flint and a bar were hung. In the end??? - beginning?? For centuries, the traditional clothes of the Karelians differed from the North Russian only in details.
Kitchen
Karelians' favorite food is fresh fish soup and fish pies. Salted, dried, dried fish were harvested everywhere.
Despite the importance of fish, grain products have been the basis of food since ancient times. Round-shaped bread was baked from barley, rye and oat flour. Cereals - pearl barley, barley, pea, oatmeal, oatmeal were very popular. Kalitki (open pies) stuffed with barley, millet groats, and mashed potatoes are the most widely used among Karelians. Koloby, skantsy, kosovik, ryadovik, lenten pies are traditional dishes of Sunday and holiday tables.
A significant place in the diet of Karelians was occupied by milk and dairy products - butter, sour cream, curdled milk, baked milk.
Karelian favorite drink is tea.
Settlements and dwellings
Karelian settlements are characterized by coastal (lake or river) location of villages with two main types of settlement: nesting and scattered farms.
Of the many types of settlements, the most common were the village and the churchyard. Forms of settlements (their layout, the orientation of the facades of houses), mainly of three options: random, characteristic of the Baltic-Finnish peoples, coastal-ordinary, when the location of houses determined the landscape of the area, and street, which arose in the 19th century and is associated with the appearance of land roads. The characteristic features of the dwelling of the Karelians were the significant height of the frame of the house (from 14 to 21 crowns) and “solidity”, that is, the combination of housing for the family and buildings for livestock under one roof.
Occupations and trades
Karelians have long been engaged in agriculture, animal husbandry, various household crafts and crafts.
The main occupation is agriculture (arable and slash). Karelia is considered a classic region of slash-and-burn agriculture. In addition to barley, rye and oats, wheat was sown in central and southern Karelia. Turnips, radishes, onions, and peas were grown everywhere.
From ancient times, Karelians were also engaged in animal husbandry: they kept cows, undersized horses, coarse-wooled sheep, in southern and central Karelia - pigs, in a small number of chickens.
The traditional occupations of the Karelians include beekeeping, smoking tar and tar.
social institution
The Karelians had a common neighborhood community. For a long time, a large family of three or four generations of relatives remained.
Folklore:
Ornament
Signs
Songs and dances
Epic and lyrical songs, spells, lamentations, ritual songs were performed in strict accordance with life circumstances.
Epic songs (runes) occupy a special place in Karelian folklore.
Yoigi - wild melodies dedicated to the love affairs of young guys.
Folk dances - "tanhu" - can be divided into three groups: those that existed in South Karelia, Ladoga Karelia and White Sea Karelia.
Karelian dances were influenced by the dances of neighboring peoples. Under Kalevala, lyrical and epic songs they danced in a circle, in a row and in pairs. Round dances were led to songs on rhymed verses. Karelian folk dances are characterized by free improvisation in the rhythm of music. Almost all Karelian dances are based on a step, a run, or a "front" step.
Laconism is characteristic: there is nothing superfluous in dancing. A well-known step is repeated, there are no complex figures. Karelian folk dances often begin and end in a circle.
decorative art
The most common types of peasant everyday art of Karelians have long been embroidery, patterned weaving, knitting. Carving and painting on wood, processing of birch bark and metal.
Holidays and rituals
In the autumn and winter, the Karelians had evening parties - they gathered in the evening in a house, where the girls were engaged in needlework, and the guys sang and accompanied. During the breaks, they all played games together. Usually, when they had supper, they did not dance.
Among family ceremonies, maternity rites were relatively uncomplicated, in which sanitary-hygienic and religious-magic ritual actions predominated. In accordance with popular beliefs, they sought to ensure the health and well-being of new offspring long before the birth itself. For these purposes, the wedding and the wedding night were timed to coincide with the new moon.
A pregnant woman was forbidden to cut her hair so as not to shorten the life of the child, to look in the mirror so that he would be born beautiful. The future woman in labor was protected from fright, advised her to avoid quarrels, forbade her to go to the cemetery, etc. The approach of childbirth was hidden even from close relatives, fearing the evil eye and "damage".
Karelians have a common custom of ritual cattle pasture on the day of Egory (April 23) - the patron saint of cattle. The mistress of the house, wearing woolen mittens, led the cattle so that the animals stepped over the poker, gave them a piece of unleavened cake baked on Maundy Thursday, and uttered a special conspiracy. Holidays with animal sacrifices (rams, bulls, heifers or sheep) were held in July-August. They, according to Karelian beliefs, ensured the growth of livestock, a plentiful harvest, removed the threat of drought and epidemics on animals from the community.
Myths and legends
The Karelian epic is one of the most archaic in world folklore. Epic runes belong to the most valuable folklore heritage of the Karelians.
We list the main epic stories:
1) the emergence of the universe from the egg of a sea hawk or duck;
2) blacksmith Ilmarinen forges the firmament;
3) the contest between Väinämöinen and Joukahainen in singing and the power of magic spells;
4) the birth of fire;
5) the birth of iron;
6) a rune about making Sampo;
7) rune about the Big oak;
8) the release of the sun and the month;
9) the birth of a bear;
10) chasing an elk; etc.
Kalevala is one of the few greatest monuments of human Knowledge that have survived to this day. Kalevala is on a par with such texts as the Tao - Te Ching, the Bible, the Vedas, the Avesta, the Koran. This is the concentrated wisdom of the northern peoples, embodied in the epic. Reading and understanding it means knowing the code of our ancestors' being.
The Lönnrot Kalevala is only 150 years old. Over the years it has been translated into 45 languages. According to researchers, this work is at least 4000 years old and existed long before the formation of the Karelian and Finnish people. It is the land of Karelia that we are grateful for the preservation of this greatest heritage of our ancestors. And this is far from the last intangible value that the inhabitants of the country of sacred lakes have preserved for us.
The Miraculous Birth of Väinämöinen
According to the epic runes, the heroes of Kalevala were born from a miraculous conception. The girl Iro was combing her hair on the seashore. Her crest fell into the sea: Iro searched for her crest for a long time, but found only three hairs. According to popular beliefs, it was impossible to throw away or burn hair - misfortune could happen to the owner of the hair. Iro put the find on her cheek and from this she conceived.
She had three sons, and the maiden decided not to wear them to the priest, but she herself gave them names.
In some runes, children themselves come up with nicknames for themselves. The first was called Väinämöinen, the second - Eukahainen, the third - Ilmarinen.
Väinämöinen's singing art is the art of the caster. His hymns not only created the world: without them, “joy in the world will disappear”, and even cattle will become barren. Väinämöinen also created rocks, reefs, dug out lakes full of fish.
Sources:
- Klementiev E.I. Ethnographic essay "Karely". - Petrozavodsk, 1991.
- Petrukhin V.Ya. Myths of the Finno-Ugric peoples. - M., 2003.
- Uurali keelte sonastik. - Tallinn, 2004.
- "Finno-Ugric and Samoyed peoples of Russia": Statistical collection. - Syktyvkar, 2006.
- "What is Karelia": Union of Karelia. - Helsinki, 1997.