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September 18, 2002
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Chuvash

The Chuvash are a Turkic-speaking people living in the Middle Volga Area. They inhabit the territory of the Chuvash Republic as well as adjoining regions and republics. The 1989 census put their number in the territory of the USSR at 1,773,600, of whom 50.8% are found outside of the Chuvash Republic: in Tataria (7.3% of the overall number of the Chuvash), Bashkiria (6.4%), Samara Region (6.4%), Ulyanovsk Region (6.3%), and other regions and republics. The Chuvash mostly fall into two ethnographic groups: Upper Chuvash (Viryal) and Lower Chuvash (Anatry) speaking different dialects of the Chuvash language and differing in details of material and spiritual culture. The Viryal predominate in northern and north-western areas of Chuvashia, the Anatry in southern and south-eastern ones. There are also the Middle Lower Chuvash (Anat-Yonchi), close to the Viryal linguistically and to the Anatry in dress, wedged in between the two. Besides, ethnographers identify within the Anatry a separate ethnographic group of the Steppe Chuvash (Khirty), who inhabit south-eastern Chuvashia and resemble their neighbors, the Tatars, in material culture.

The Chuvash ethnic history is traceable to the Volga Bulgars, an ancient race originally hailing from Central Asia. Though a Turkic language, Chuvash displays considerable differences from other tongues of the same group - Tatar, Kazakh, Turkish, and others. Like many other peoples possessing an ancient culture, the Chuvash employed, in distant past, a runic alphabet. In the 18th century they were given an alphabet based on the Cyrillic lettering.

The Chuvash religious system is a complex tangle of ancient Turk concepts, Zoroastrianism (borrowed from Iranian tribes), Judaism (borrowed from Khazars), and Islam (borrowed in the Bulgarian period). In terms of its pattern, it is more complicated than any other pagan religion known to the world. The Chuvash religious conceptions and calendar cycle were based on an agrarian cult combining closely the cults of earth, water and vegetation with ancestor worship. The conversion of the Chuvash to Christianity, which was mostly completed by the end of the 19th century, had a noticeable effect on their festivals and rites. The process eventually resulted in the emergence of a syncretic Chuvash religion representing a mix of pagan and Christian traditions. Many pagan festivals were made to coincide with Orthodox ones, with Christian rites substituted for their traditional counterparts. At the present time, the Chuvash are considered to be Orthodox believers, but a definite part of them, predominantly one living outside of Chuvashia, continue to profess the pagan faith.

The political history of the Chuvash is connected with their being subjects, in succession, of Volga Bulgaria, the Golden Horde, and the Kazan Khanate, upon whose downfall they acceded to Russia. In 1920, the Chuvash were granted statehood of their own in the shape of the Chuvash Autonomous Region. In 1925, the latter was converted to the Chuvash Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The latter in turn became the Chuvash Soviet Socialist Republic in 1990, and the Chuvash Republic in 1992.


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