The Mari emerged as an independent people from the Finno-Ugric tribes in the 10th century. Over the millennium of its existence, the Mari people have created a unique and unique culture.

The book tells about rituals, customs, ancient beliefs, folk arts and crafts, blacksmith's craft, the art of songwriters-storytellers, guslars, folk music, includes texts of songs, legends, fairy tales, traditions, poetry and prose of the classics of the Mari people and modern writers, tells about the theatrical and musical art, about the outstanding representatives of the culture of the Mari people.

Includes reproductions from the most famous paintings by Mari artists of the 19th-21st centuries.

Excerpt

Introduction

Scientists attribute the Mari to the group of Finno-Ugric peoples, but this is not entirely true. According to ancient Mari legends, this people in ancient times came from Ancient Iran, the homeland of the prophet Zarathustra, and settled along the Volga, where it mixed with the local Finno-Ugric tribes, but retained its identity. This version is also confirmed by philology. According to the Doctor of Philology, Professor Chernykh, out of 100 Mari words, 35 are Finno-Ugric, 28 are Turkic and Indo-Iranian, and the rest are of Slavic origin and other peoples. Having carefully studied the prayer texts of the ancient Mari religion, Professor Chernykh came to an amazing conclusion: the prayer words of the Mari are of Indo-Iranian origin by more than 50%. It was in the prayer texts that the proto-language of the modern Mari was preserved, not influenced by the peoples with whom they had contacts in later periods.

Outwardly, the Mari are quite different from other Finno-Ugric peoples. As a rule, they are not very tall, with dark hair, slightly slanted eyes. Mari girls at a young age are very beautiful and they can even often be confused with Russians. However, by the age of forty, most of them age very much and either dry out or acquire incredible fullness.

The Mari remember themselves under the rule of the Khazars from the 2nd century. - 500 years, then 400 years under the rule of the Bulgars, 400 years under the Horde. 450 - under the Russian principalities. According to ancient predictions, the Mari cannot live under someone for more than 450-500 years. But they will not have an independent state. This cycle of 450-500 years is associated with the passage of a comet.

Before the beginning of the disintegration of the Bulgar Kaganate, namely at the end of the 9th century, the Mari occupied vast territories, and their number was more than a million people. it Rostov region, Moscow, Ivanovo, Yaroslavl, the territory of modern Kostroma, Nizhny Novgorod, modern Mari El and Bashkir lands.

V ancient times the Mari people were ruled by princes, whom the Mari called Omis. The prince combined the functions of both a military leader and a high priest. Many of them are considered saints by the Mari religion. Saint in Mari - shnuy. It takes 77 years for a person to be recognized as a saint. If after this period, during a prayer appeal to him, healings from diseases, and other miracles occur, then the deceased is recognized as a saint.

Often such holy princes possessed various extraordinary abilities, and were in one person a righteous sage and a warrior merciless to the enemy of their people. After the Mari finally fell under the rule of other tribes, they no longer had princes. And the religious function is performed by the priest of their religion - kart. The supreme kart of all Mari is elected by the council of all karts and his powers within the framework of his religion are approximately equal to the powers of the patriarch among Orthodox Christians.

Modern Mari live in areas between 45 ° and 60 ° north latitude and 56 ° and 58 ° east longitude in several, rather closely related groups. Autonomy, the Republic of Mari El, located along the middle reaches of the Volga, in 1991 declared itself in its Constitution as a sovereign state within the Russian Federation. The proclamation of sovereignty in the post-Soviet era means adherence to the principle of preserving the originality of the national culture and language. In the Mari ASSR, according to the 1989 census, there were 324,349 inhabitants of the Mari nationality. In the neighboring Gorky region, 9 thousand people called themselves Mari, in the Kirov region - 50 thousand people. In addition to these places, a significant Mari population lives in Bashkortostan (105,768 people), Tatarstan (20 thousand people), Udmurtia (10 thousand people) and in the Sverdlovsk region (25 thousand people). In some regions of the Russian Federation, the number is scattered, sporadically living Mari reaches 100 thousand people. Mari are divided into two large dialect-ethnocultural groups: mountain and meadow Mari.

History of the Mari

We learn more and more the vicissitudes of the formation of the Mari people on the basis of the latest archaeological research. In the second half of the 1st millennium BC. BC, as well as at the beginning of the 1st millennium AD. NS. among the ethnic groups of the Gorodets and Azelin cultures, the ancestors of the Mari can be assumed. The Gorodets culture was autochthonous on the right bank of the Middle Volga region, while the Azelin culture was on the left bank of the Middle Volga, as well as along the Vyatka. These two branches of the ethnogenesis of the Mari people clearly show the double connection of the Mari within the Finno-Ugric tribes. The Gorodets culture for the most part played a role in the formation of the Mordovian ethnos, but its eastern parts served as the basis for the formation of the mountain Mari ethnic group. The Azelin culture can be elevated to the Ananyin archaeological culture, which was previously assigned a leading role only in the ethnogenesis of the Finno-Permian tribes, although at present this issue is considered by some researchers differently: perhaps the Proto-Ugric and ancient Marian tribes were part of the ethnoses of new archaeological cultures. successors that arose in the place of the disintegrated Ananyino culture. The ethnic group of meadow Mari is also traced back to the traditions of the Ananyin culture.

The East European forest zone has extremely scanty written information about the history of the Finno-Ugric peoples, the writing of these peoples appeared very late, with few exceptions, only in the modern historical era. The first mention of the ethnonym "Cheremis" in the form "ts-r-mis" is found in a written source that dates back to the 10th century, but dates back, in all likelihood, to a time one or two centuries later. According to this source, the Mari were tributaries of the Khazars. Then the kari (in the form of "cheremisam") mentions compiled in. the beginning of the XII century. Russian annals, calling the place of their settlement of the land at the mouth of the Oka. Of the Finno-Ugric peoples, the Mari turned out to be the most closely associated with the Turkic tribes that moved to the Volga region. These connections are very strong even now. Volga Bulgars at the beginning of the IX century. arrived from Great Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast to the confluence of the Kama with the Volga, where the Volga Bulgaria was founded. The ruling elite of the Volga Bulgars, taking advantage of the profits from trade, could firmly retain their power. They traded honey, wax, furs from the Finno-Ugric peoples who lived nearby. The relations between the Volga Bulgars and various Finno-Ugric tribes of the Middle Volga region were not overshadowed in any way. The empire of the Volga Bulgars was destroyed by the Mongol-Tatar conquerors who invaded from the interior regions of Asia in 1236.

Yasak collection. Reproduction of the painting by G.A. Medvedev

Khan Batu founded a state entity called the Golden Horde in the occupied and subordinated territories. Its capital until the 1280s. was the city of Bulgar, the former capital of the Volga Bulgaria. The Mari were in allied relations with the Golden Horde and the independent Kazan Khanate that separated from it later. This is evidenced by the fact that the Mari had a stratum that did not pay taxes, but was obliged to carry military service. This class then became one of the most efficient military units among the Tatars. Also, the existence of allied relations is indicated by the use of the Tatar word "el" - "people, empire" to designate the region inhabited by the Mari. Marie still call her native land Mari El.

The annexation of the Mari Territory to the Russian state was greatly influenced by the contacts of some groups of the Mari population with the Slavic-Russian state formations ( Kievan Rus- northeastern Russian principalities and lands - Moscow Russia) even before the 16th century. There was a significant restraining factor that did not allow to quickly complete the work begun in the XII-XIII centuries. the process of joining Russia is the close and multilateral ties of the Mari with the Turkic states that opposed the Russian expansion to the east (Volga-Kama Bulgaria - Ulus Juchi - Kazan Khanate). Such an intermediate position, according to A. Kappeler, led to the fact that the Mari, as well as the Mordovians and Udmurts who were in a similar situation, were drawn into neighboring state formations economically and administratively, but at the same time they retained their own social elite and their pagan religion. ...

The inclusion of the Mari lands in Russia from the very beginning was ambiguous. Already at the turn of the XI-XII centuries, according to the "Tale of Bygone Years", the Mari ("Cheremis") were among the tributaries of the ancient Russian princes. It is believed that tributary dependence is the result of military clashes, "torture". True, there is not even indirect information about the exact date of its establishment. G.S. Lebedev, on the basis of the matrix method, showed that in the catalog of the introductory part of the Tale of Bygone Years, "cheremis" and "Mordva" can be combined into one group with all, measure and muroma in four main parameters - genealogical, ethnic, political and moral-ethical ... This gives some reason to believe that the Mari became tributaries earlier than the rest of the non-Slavic tribes listed by Nestor - "Perm, Pechera, Em" and other "yazytsy, who give tribute to Russia."

There is information about the dependence of the Mari on Vladimir Monomakh. According to the "Word about the death of the Russian land", "cheremis ... bourgeois on the prince of the great Volodymer." In the Ipatiev Chronicle, in unison with the pathetic tone of the Lay, it is said that he is “most terrible for the filthy”. According to B.A. Rybakov, the real persecution, the nationalization of North-Eastern Russia began precisely with Vladimir Monomakh.

However, the testimony of these written sources does not allow us to say that all groups of the Mari population paid tribute to the ancient Russian princes; most likely, only the western Mari, who lived near the mouth of the Oka, were drawn into the sphere of influence of Russia.

The rapid pace of Russian colonization provoked opposition from the local Finno-Ugric population, who found support from the Volga-Kama Bulgaria. In 1120, after a series of attacks by the Bulgars on the Russian cities in the Volga-Ochye in the II half of the 11th century, a reciprocal series of campaigns of the Vladimir-Suzdal and allied princes began on the lands, either belonging to the Bulgar rulers, or only controlled by them in the order of collection tribute from the local population. It is believed that the Russian-Bulgarian conflict broke out, first of all, on the basis of the collection of tribute.

Russian princely squads more than once attacked the Mari villages that came across on their way to the rich Bulgar cities. It is known that in the winter of 1171/72. the detachment of Boris Zhidislavich destroyed one large fortified and six small settlements just below the mouth of the Oka, and here even in the 16th century. still lived along with the Mordovian and Mari population. Moreover, it was under the same date that the Russian fortress Gorodets Radilov was first mentioned, which was built slightly above the mouth of the Oka on the left bank of the Volga, presumably on the land of the Mari. According to V.A. Kuchkin, Gorodets Radilov became a stronghold of North-Eastern Russia on the Middle Volga and the center of Russian colonization of the local region.

The Slavic-Russians gradually either assimilated or drove out the Mari, forcing them to migrate to the east. This movement has been traced by archaeologists from about the 8th century. n. NS.; the Mari, in turn, entered into ethnic contacts with the Permian-speaking population of the Volga-Vyatka interfluve (the Mari called them odo, that is, they were Udmurts). An alien ethnic group prevailed in the ethnic competition. In the IX-XI centuries. the Mari basically completed the development of the Vetluzhsko-Vyatka interfluve, displacing and partially assimilating the former population. Numerous legends of the Mari and Udmurts testify that there were armed conflicts, and between the representatives of these Finno-Ugric peoples, mutual antipathy continued for a long time.

As a result of the military campaign of 1218–1220, the conclusion of the Russian-Bulgar peace treaty of 1220 and the founding of the easternmost outpost of Northeastern Russia at the mouth of the Oka in 1221, the influence of the Volga-Kama Bulgaria in the Middle Volga region weakened. This created favorable conditions for the Vladimir-Suzdal feudal lords to conquer the Mordovians. Most likely, in the Russian-Mordovian war of 1226-1232. the “cheremis” of the Oka-Sursk interfluve were also drawn in.

Russian tsar gives gifts to mountain mari

The expansion of both Russian and Bulgarian feudal lords was directed to the Unzha and Vetluga basins, which are relatively unsuitable for economic development. It was mainly inhabited by the Mari tribes and the eastern part of the Kostroma Mery, between which, as established by archaeologists and linguists, there was a lot in common, which to some extent allows us to speak about the ethnocultural community of the Vetlug Mari and the Kostroma Mery. In 1218 the Bulgars attacked Ustyug and Unzha; under 1237, another Russian city in the Trans-Volga region, Galich Mersky, was first mentioned. Apparently, there was a struggle for the Sukhono-Vychegodsky trade and fishing route and for collecting tribute from the local population, in particular, the Mari. Russian domination was established here as well.

In addition to the western and northwestern periphery of the Mari lands, Russians from about the turn of the XII-XIII centuries. they began to develop the northern outskirts - the upper reaches of the Vyatka, where, in addition to the Mari, the Udmurts also lived.

The development of the Mari lands, most likely, was carried out not only by force, military methods. There are such types of "cooperation" between Russian princes and the national nobility as "equal" matrimonial alliances, company, bailout, hostage taking, bribery, "gagging". It is possible that a number of these methods were also applied to representatives of the Mari social elite.

If in the X-XI centuries, as the archaeologist E.P. Kazakov points out, there was "a certain community of Bulgar and Volga-Mari monuments," then over the next two centuries the ethnographic appearance of the Mari population - especially in Povetluzhie - changed. In it, the Slavic and Slavic-Meryan components have significantly increased.

The facts show that the degree of involvement of the Mari population in the Russian state formations in the pre-Mongol period was quite high.

The situation changed in the 30-40s. XIII century as a result of the Mongol-Tatar invasion. However, this did not at all lead to an end to the growth of Russian influence in the Volga-Kama region. Small independent Russian state formations appeared around urban centers - princely residences, founded during the existence of a single Vladimir-Suzdal Rus. These are the Galician (emerged around 1247), Kostroma (approximately in the 50s of the XIII century) and Gorodetsky (between 1269 and 1282) principality; at the same time, the influence of the Vyatka Land grew, turning into a special state formation with veche traditions. In the second half of the XIV century. Vyatka residents have already firmly settled in Srednyaya Vyatka and in the Pizhma basin, displacing the Mari and Udmurts from here.

In the 60s and 70s. XIV century. feudal unrest broke out in the horde, which weakened for a time its military and political power. This was successfully used by the Russian princes, who sought to break out of dependence on the khan's administration and augment their possessions at the expense of the peripheral regions of the empire.

The most notable successes were achieved by the Nizhny Novgorod-Suzdal principality, the successor to the Gorodetsky principality. The first prince of Nizhny Novgorod, Konstantin Vasilyevich (1341-1355) "ordered the Russian people to settle along the Oka and along the Volga and along the Kuma rivers ... wherever anyone would want to," that is, he began to sanction the colonization of the Oka-Sur interfluve. And in 1372, his son Prince Boris Konstantinovich founded the Kurmysh fortress on the left bank of the Sura, thereby establishing control over the local population - mainly Mordovians and Mari.

Soon, the possessions of the Nizhny Novgorod princes began to appear on the right bank of the Sura (in the Zasurye), where the mountain Mari and Chuvashs lived. By the end of the XIV century. Russian influence in the Sura basin increased so much that representatives of the local population began to warn the Russian princes about the upcoming invasions of the Golden Horde troops.

Frequent attacks by ushkuiniks played a significant role in strengthening anti-Russian sentiments among the Mari population. The most sensitive for the Mari, apparently, were the raids carried out by Russian river robbers in 1374, when they ravaged villages along the Vyatka, Kama, Volga (from the mouth of the Kama to Sura) and Vetluga.

In 1391, as a result of Bektut's campaign, Vyatka Land was ruined, which was considered a refuge for the ushkuiniks. However, already in 1392 the Vyatchans plundered the Bulgar cities of Kazan and Zhukotin (Djuketau).

According to the Vetluzhsky Chronicler, in 1394 “Uzbeks” - nomadic warriors from the eastern half of the Jochi Ulus appeared in the Vetluga kuguz, who “took the people for the army and took them along the Vetluga and Volga to Kazan to Tokhtamysh”. And in 1396 the protege of Tokhtamysh Keldibek was elected as a kuguz.

As a result of a large-scale war between Tokhtamysh and Timur Tamerlane, the Golden Horde Empire weakened significantly, many Bulgar cities were devastated, and its surviving inhabitants began to move to the right side of the Kama and Volga - away from the dangerous steppe and forest-steppe zone; in the region of Kazanka and Sviyaga, the Bulgar population entered into close contacts with the Mari.

In 1399, the appanage prince Yuri Dmitrievich captured the cities of Bulgar, Kazan, Kermenchuk, Zhukotin, the annals indicate that "no one remembers only far away Russia fought the Tatar land." Apparently, at the same time the Galich prince conquered the Vetluzhsky kuguz state - the Vetluzhsky chronicler reports this. Kuguz Keldibek acknowledged his dependence on the leaders of the Vyatka Land, concluding a military alliance with them. In 1415 veterinarians and Vyatka residents made a joint campaign to the Northern Dvina. In 1425, the Vetluga Mari became part of the many-thousand-strong militia of the Galich appanage prince, who began an open struggle for the Grand Duke's throne.

In 1429 Keldibek took part in the campaign of the Bulgaro-Tatar troops led by Alibek to Galich and Kostroma. In response to this, in 1431, Vasily II took severe punitive measures against the Bulgars, who were already seriously affected by the terrible famine and the plague epidemic. In 1433 (or in 1434) Vasily Kosoy, who received Galich after the death of Yuri Dmitrievich, physically eliminated the Kuguz Keldibek and annexed the Vetluzh kuguz to his inheritance.

The Mari population had to experience the religious and ideological expansion of the Russian Orthodox Church... The Mari pagan population, as a rule, negatively perceived attempts to Christianize them, although there were also opposite examples. In particular, the Kazhirovsky and Vetluzhsky chroniclers report that the kuguzs of Kodzha-Eraltem, Kai, Bai-Boroda, their relatives and associates converted to Christianity and allowed the construction of churches on the territory they controlled.

Among the friendly Mari population, a version of the Kitezh legend became widespread: supposedly the Mari, who did not want to submit to the “Russian princes and priests,” buried themselves alive right on the bank of Svetloyar, and subsequently, together with the earth that had collapsed on them, slipped to the bottom of a deep lake. The following record, made in the 19th century, has survived: “Among the pilgrims of Sveti Yar you can always find two or three Mariiks dressed in scarpan, without any signs of Russification”.

By the time the Kazan Khanate appeared in the sphere of influence of the Russians state entities the Mari of the following regions were involved: the right bank of the Sura - a significant part of the mountain Mari (this can include the Oksko-Sursk "Cheremis"), Povetluzhie - the northwestern Mari, the basin of the Pizhma River and the Middle Vyatka - the northern part of the meadow Mari. Less affected by Russian influence were the Kokshai Mari, the population of the Ileta River basin, the northeastern part of the modern territory of the Republic of Mari El, as well as Nizhnyaya Vyatka, that is, the main part of the meadow Mari.

The territorial expansion of the Kazan Khanate was carried out in the western and northern directions. Sura became the southwestern border with Russia, respectively, Zassurye was completely under the control of Kazan. During 14391441, judging by the Vetluzhsky chronicler, the Mari and Tatar soldiers destroyed all Russian settlements on the territory of the former Vetluzhsky kuguz state, the Kazan “governors” began to rule the Vetluzhsky Mari. Vyatka Land and Great Perm soon found themselves in tributary dependence on the Kazan Khanate.

In the 50s. XV century Moscow managed to subjugate the Vyatka Land and part of the Povetluzhie; soon, in 1461-1462. Russian troops even entered into a direct armed conflict with the Kazan Khanate, during which the Mari lands of the left bank of the Volga were mainly affected.

In the winter of 1467/68. an attempt was made to eliminate or weaken Kazan's allies - the Mari. For this purpose, two campaigns "to the cheremisu" were organized. The first, the main group, which consisted mainly of selected troops - "the court of the prince of the great regiment" - fell on the left-bank Mari. According to the chronicles, “the army of the Grand Duke came to the land of Cheremis, and there is much evil uchinisha in that land: people were cut out, and some were led into captivity, and others were burned; and their horses and every beast that you cannot bear with you, all of them are cut out; but what was of their belly, then you took all. " The second group, which included the soldiers recruited in the Murom and Nizhny Novgorod lands, "Fighting mountains and barats" along the Volga. However, even this did not prevent the Kazan people, including, most likely, the Mari soldiers, from ravaging Kichmenga with the adjacent villages (the upper reaches of the Unzha and Yug rivers), as well as the Kostroma volosts and twice in a row - the outskirts of Murom in the winter and summer of 1468. Parity was established in punitive actions, which most likely had little effect on the state of the armed forces of the opposing sides. The case boiled down mainly to robberies, mass destruction, taking prisoners of the civilian population - the Mari, Chuvash, Russians, Mordovians, etc.

In the summer of 1468, Russian troops resumed their raids across the uluses of the Kazan Khanate. And this time it was mainly the Mari population that suffered. The rook's army, led by voivode Ivan Run, “fought the cheremisu on Vyatka river”, plundered villages and merchant ships on the Lower Kama, then climbed up to the Belaya river (“White Volozhka”), where the Russians again “fought the cheremisu, and the people fromsekosh and horses and every animal. " From local residents they learned that a detachment of 200 Kazan soldiers was moving nearby up the Kama on ships taken from the Mari. As a result of a short battle, this detachment was defeated. The Russians then followed "to Great Perm and to Ustyug" and further to Moscow. Almost at the same time, another was operating on the Volga. Russian army("Outpost"), headed by Prince Fyodor Khripun-Ryapolovsky. Not far from Kazan, it "beat the Kazan Tatars, the court of the tsars, many good ones." However, even in such a critical situation for themselves, the citizens of Kazan did not abandon active offensive actions. Having introduced their troops into the territory of Vyatka Land, they persuaded the Vyatka residents to neutrality.

In the Middle Ages, there were usually no clearly delineated borders between states. This also applies to the Kazan Khanate with neighboring countries. From the west and north, the territory of the khanate adjoined the borders of the Russian state, from the east - the Nogai Horde, from the south - the Astrakhan Khanate and from the south-west - the Crimean Khanate. The border between the Kazan Khanate and the Russian state along the Sura River was relatively stable; further, it can be defined only conditionally on the principle of payment of yasak by the population: from the mouth of the Sura river through the Vetluga basin to the Pizhma, then from the Pizhma mouth to the Middle Kama, including some areas of the Urals, then back to the Volga river along the left bank of the Kama, without going deep into the steppe, down the Volga approximately to the Samara bow, finally, to the upper reaches of the same Sura river.

In addition to the Bulgaro-Tatar population (Kazan Tatars) on the territory of the khanate, according to A.M. Kurbsky, the Mari (Cheremis), Southern Udmurts (Votyaks, Ars), Chuvash, Mordovians (mainly Erzya), and Western Bashkirs also lived. The Mari in the sources of the 15th – 16th centuries. and in general in the Middle Ages they were known under the name "cheremis", the etymology of which has not yet been clarified. At the same time, under this ethnonym in a number of cases (this is especially characteristic of the Kazan chronicler), not only the Mari, but also the Chuvash and southern Udmurts could be listed. Therefore, it is quite difficult to determine, even in approximate outlines, the territory of the settlement of the Mari during the period of the Kazan Khanate existence.

A number of fairly reliable sources of the 16th century. - the testimonies of S. Gerberstein, the spiritual letters of Ivan III and Ivan IV, the Royal Book - indicate the presence of the Mari in the Oksko-Sursk interfluve, that is, in the region of Nizhny Novgorod, Murom, Arzamas, Kurmysh, Alatyr. This information is confirmed by folklore material, as well as the toponymy of this territory. It is noteworthy that until recently, among the local Mordovians, who professed a pagan religion, the personal name Cheremis was widespread.

The Unzha-Vetluzhsky interfluve was also inhabited by the Mari; written sources, toponymy of the region, folklore material speak about it. There were probably also Mary's groups here. The northern border is the upper reaches of the Unzha, Vetluga, the Pizhma basin, and the Middle Vyatka. Here the Mari contacted the Russians, Udmurts and Karin Tatars.

The eastern limits can be limited to the lower reaches of the Vyatka, but apart - "700 miles from Kazan" - in the Urals there was already a small ethnic group of Eastern Mari; chroniclers recorded it at the mouth of the Belaya River in the middle of the 15th century.

Apparently, the Mari, together with the Bulgaro-Tatar population, lived in the upper reaches of the Kazanka and Mesha rivers, on the Arsk side. But, most likely, they were a minority here and, moreover, most likely, they were gradually otatarized.

Apparently, a considerable part of the Mari population occupied the territory of the northern and western parts of the present Chuvash Republic.

The disappearance of the solid Mari population in the northern and western parts of the present territory of the Chuvash Republic can to some extent be explained by the devastating wars in the 15th-16th centuries, from which the Mountainous side suffered more than the Lugovaya (in addition to the invasions of Russian troops, the right bank was also subjected to numerous raids of steppe warriors) ... This circumstance, apparently, caused the outflow of some of the mountain Mari to the Lugovaya side.

The number of the Mari by the 17th – 18th centuries ranged from 70 to 120 thousand people.

The highest population density was distinguished by the right bank of the Volga, then - the region east of M. Kokshagi, and the least - the area of ​​settlement of the northwestern Mari, especially the marshy Volga-Vetluzhskaya lowland and the Mari lowland (the space between the rivers Linda and B. Kokshaga).

Exclusively all lands were legally considered the property of the khan, who personified the state. Having declared himself the supreme owner, the khan demanded natural and monetary rent for the use of the land - a tax (yasak).

The Mari - the nobility and ordinary community members - like other non-Tatar peoples of the Kazan Khanate, although they were included in the category of the dependent population, were in fact personally free people.

According to the conclusions of K.I. Kozlova, in the 16th century. among the Mari, druzhina, military-democratic orders prevailed, that is, the Mari were at the stage of formation of their statehood. The emergence and development of their own state structures was hindered by dependence on the khan's administration.

The socio-political structure of the medieval Mari society is reflected in written sources rather weakly.

It is known that the family ("esh") was the main unit of the Mari society; most likely, the most widespread were “ large families”, Which, as a rule, consisted of 3-4 generations of close male relatives. The property stratification between patriarchal families was clearly visible back in the 9th-11th centuries. Parcel labor flourished, which mainly extended to non-agricultural activities (cattle breeding, fur trade, metallurgy, blacksmithing, jewelry business). There were close ties between neighboring family groups, primarily economic, but not always consanguineous. Economic ties were expressed in various kinds of mutual "help" ("vyma"), that is, obligatory kindred gratuitous mutual aid. In general, the Mari in the XV-XVI centuries. experienced a kind of period of proto-feudal relations, when, on the one hand, there was a separation of individual family property within the framework of a land-related union (neighboring community), and on the other hand, the class structure of society did not acquire its clear outlines.

Mari patriarchal families, most likely, united in patronymic groups (sent, tukym, urlyk; according to V.N. Their unity was based on the principle of neighborhood, on a common cult, and, to a lesser extent, on economic ties, and even more so on consanguineous relations. Tishte were, among other things, alliances of military mutual assistance. Perhaps the tishtes were territorially compatible with the hundreds, uluses and fifties of the Kazan Khanate period. In any case, the tithe-centennial and ulus system of administration imposed from the outside as a result of the establishment of Mongol-Tatar domination, as is commonly believed, did not conflict with the traditional territorial organization of the Mari.

Hundreds, ulus, fifty and dozens were led by centurions ("shudovuy"), pentecostals ("vitlevui"), foremen ("luvui"). In the 15th – 16th centuries, they most likely did not have time to break with the rule of the people, and, according to K.I. Kozlova, “they were either ordinary foremen of land unions, or military leaders of larger associations such as tribal ones”. Perhaps the representatives of the top of the Mari nobility continued to be called according to the ancient tradition "kugyza", "kuguz" ("great master"), "he" ("leader", "prince", "lord"). Elders - "kuguraks" also played an important role in the public life of the Mari. For example, even Tokhtamysh's protege Keldibek could not become a Vetluzh kuguz without the consent of local elders. The Mari elders are also mentioned as a special social group in the "Kazan history".

All groups of the Mari population took an active part in military campaigns on the Russian lands, which became more frequent under the Girei. This is explained, on the one hand, by the dependent position of the Mari within the khanate, on the other hand, by the peculiarities of the stage of social development (military democracy), the interest of the Mari soldiers themselves in obtaining military booty, in an effort to prevent Russian military-political expansion, and other motives. In the last period of the Russian-Kazan confrontation (1521-1552) in 1521-1522 and 1534-1544. the initiative belonged to Kazan, which, at the suggestion of the Crimean Nogai government group, sought to restore Moscow's vassal dependence, as it was in the Golden Horde period. But already under Vasily III, in the 1520s, the task of the final annexation of the khanate to Russia was set. However, this was only possible with the capture of Kazan in 1552, under Ivan the Terrible. Apparently, the reasons for the annexation of the Middle Volga region and, accordingly, the Mari Territory to the Russian state were: 1) a new, imperial type of political consciousness of the top leadership of the Moscow state, the struggle for the "Golden Horde" inheritance and failures in the previous practice of attempts to establish and maintain a protectorate over the Kazan khanate, 2) the interests of state defense, 3) economic reasons (land for the local nobility, the Volga for the Russian merchants and tradesmen, new taxpayers for the Russian government and other plans for the future).

After the capture of Kazan by Ivan the Terrible, the course of events in the Middle Volga region, Moscow faced a powerful liberation movement, in which both former subjects of the liquidated khanate who managed to swear allegiance to Ivan IV, and the population of peripheral regions, who did not take the oath, took part. The Moscow government had to solve the problem of preserving the conquered not according to a peaceful, but according to a bloody scenario.

The anti-Moscow armed actions of the peoples of the Middle Volga region after the fall of Kazan are usually called the Cheremis wars, since the Mari (Cheremis) were the most active in them. The earliest mention among the sources available in the scientific circulation of an expression close to the term "Cheremis war" is found in Ivan IV's letter of quitrent granted to DF Chelishchev on rivers and lands in Vyatka land dated April 3, 1558, where, in particular, it is indicated that the owners of the rivers Kishkil and Shizhma (near the town of Kotelnich) "in those rivers ... fish and beavers did not catch war cheremis for Kazan and did not pay rent".

Cheremis war 1552-1557 differs from the subsequent Cheremis wars of the second half of the 16th century, and not so much because it was the first of this series of wars, but because it bore the character of a national liberation struggle and did not have a noticeable anti-feudal orientation. Moreover, the anti-Moscow insurrectionary movement in the Middle Volga region in 1552-1557. is, in essence, a continuation of the Kazan War, and the main goal of its participants was the restoration of the Kazan Khanate.

Apparently, for the bulk of the left-bank Mari population, this war was not an uprising, since only representatives of the Prikazan Mari recognized their new citizenship. In fact, in 1552-1557. most of the Mari waged an external war against the Russian state and, together with the rest of the population of the Kazan Territory, defended their freedom and independence.

All waves of resistance movement were extinguished as a result of large-scale punitive operations by the troops of Ivan IV. In a number of episodes, the insurgency grew into a form civil war and the class struggle, but the struggle for the liberation of the homeland remained character-forming. The resistance movement ceased due to several factors: 1) continuous armed clashes with the tsarist troops, which brought innumerable casualties and destruction to the local population, 2) mass famine, an epidemic of plague that came from the Trans-Volga steppes, 3) meadow Mari lost support from their former allies - the Tatars and southern Udmurts. In May 1557, representatives of almost all groups of the meadow and eastern Mari took the oath to the Russian tsar. This was the end of the annexation of the Mari Territory to the Russian state.

The significance of the annexation of the Mari Territory to the Russian state cannot be defined as unequivocally negative or positive. Both negative and positive consequences the entry of the Mari into the system of Russian statehood, closely intertwined with each other, began to manifest itself in almost all spheres of the development of society (political, economic, social, cultural and others). Perhaps the main result for today is that the Mari people survived as an ethnos and became an organic part of multinational Russia.

The final entry of the Mari Territory into Russia took place after 1557, as a result of the suppression of the national liberation and antifeudal movement in the Middle Volga and Ural regions. The process of gradual entry of the Mari Territory into the system of Russian statehood lasted hundreds of years: during the Mongol-Tatar invasion, it slowed down, during the years of feudal turmoil that swept the Golden Horde in the second half of the XIV century, accelerated, and as a result of the appearance of the Kazan Khanate (30-40 e years of the 15th century) stopped for a long time. Nevertheless, starting even before the turn of the XI-XII centuries, the inclusion of the Mari in the system of Russian statehood in the middle of the XVI century. came to its final phase - to the direct entry into the structure of Russia.

The annexation of the Mari Territory to the Russian state was part of overall process the formation of the Russian polyethnic empire, and it was prepared, first of all, by preconditions of a political nature. This is, firstly, the long-term confrontation between the state systems of Eastern Europe - on the one hand, Russia, on the other hand, the Turkic states (Volga-Kama Bulgaria - Golden Horde - Kazan Khanate), and secondly, the struggle for the "Golden Horde inheritance" in the final stage of this confrontation, thirdly, the emergence and development of imperial consciousness in the government circles of Muscovite Russia. The expansionist policy of the Russian state in the eastern direction was also to some extent determined by the tasks of state defense and economic reasons (fertile lands, the Volga trade route, new taxpayers, and other projects for the exploitation of local resources).

The economy of the Mari was adapted to the natural and geographical conditions, in general, met the requirements of its time. Due to the difficult political situation, it was largely militarized. True, the peculiarities of the socio-political system also played a role here. Medieval Mari Despite the noticeable local features of the ethnic groups that existed at that time, on the whole they experienced a transitional period of social development from tribal to feudal (military democracy). Relations with the central government were built primarily on a confederal basis.

Beliefs

The Mari traditional religion is based on the belief in the forces of nature, which a person should respect and respect. Before the spread of monotheistic teachings, the Mari worshiped many gods known as Yumo, while recognizing the supremacy of the Supreme God (Kugu Yumo). In the 19th century, the image of the One God Tun Osh Kugu Yumo (One Light Great God) was revived.

The Mari traditional religion contributes to the strengthening of the moral foundations of society, the achievement of interfaith and interethnic peace and harmony.

In contrast to the monotheistic religions created by one or another founder and his followers, the Mari traditional religion was formed on the basis of an ancient folk worldview, including religious and mythological ideas related to the relationship of man to the surrounding nature and its elemental forces, the veneration of ancestors and patrons of agricultural activities. The formation and development of the traditional religion of the Mari was influenced by the religious views of the neighboring peoples of the Volga and Ural regions, the foundations of the doctrine of Islam and Orthodoxy.

Admirers of the traditional Mari religion recognize the One God Tyn Osh Kugu Yumo and his nine helpers (manifestations), read a prayer three times daily, take part in a collective or family prayer once a year, conduct family prayer with sacrifice at least seven times during their life, they regularly hold traditional commemorations in honor of deceased ancestors, observe Mari holidays, customs and rituals.

Before the spread of monotheistic teachings, the Mari worshiped many gods known as Yumo, while recognizing the supremacy of the Supreme God (Kugu Yumo). In the 19th century, the image of the One God Tun Osh Kugu Yumo (One Light Great God) was revived. One God (God - the Universe) is considered eternal, omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, and all-righteous God. It manifests itself both in material and spiritual guise, appears in the form of nine deities-hypostases. These deities can be conditionally subdivided into three groups, each of which is responsible for:

Calm, prosperity and energizing all living things - the god of the light world (Tynya yumo), the life-giving god (Ilyan yumo), the deity of creative energy (Agavayrem yumo);

Mercy, righteousness and harmony: the god of fate and the predestination of life (Pursho yumo), the all-merciful god (Kugu Serlagysh yumo), the god of harmony and reconciliation (Mer yumo);

All-goodness, rebirth and inexhaustible life: the goddess of birth (Shochin Ava), the goddess of the earth (Mlande Ava) and the goddess of abundance (Perke Ava).

The universe, the world, space in the spiritual understanding of the Mari are presented as a continuously developing, spiritualizing and transforming from century to century, from era to era, a system of different worlds, spiritual and material natural forces, natural phenomena, steadily striving for its spiritual goal - unity with the Universal God, who maintains an indissoluble physical and spiritual connection with the cosmos, the world, and nature.

Tun Osh Kugu Yumo is an endless source of being. Like the universe, the One Light Great God is constantly changing, developing, improving, involving the entire universe, the entire surrounding world, including humanity itself, in these changes. From time to time, every 22 thousand years, and sometimes even earlier, by the will of God, some part of the old world is destroyed and a new world is created, accompanied by a complete renewal of life on earth.

The last creation of the world took place 7512 years ago. After each new creation of the world, life on earth improves qualitatively, and humanity changes for the better. With the development of mankind, the expansion of human consciousness takes place, the boundaries of the world and God perception are expanded, the possibility of enriching knowledge about the universe, the world, objects and phenomena of the surrounding nature, about man and his essence, about the ways of improving human life is facilitated.

All this, ultimately, led to the formation of a false idea among people about the omnipotence of man and his independence from God. The change in value priorities, the rejection of the God-established principles of community life demanded divine intervention in the life of people through suggestions, revelations, and sometimes punishment. In the interpretation of the foundations of knowledge of God and world outlook, saints and righteous people, prophets and God's chosen ones, who in the traditional beliefs of the Mari are revered as elders - terrestrial deities, began to play an important role. Having the opportunity to periodically communicate with God, to receive His revelation, they became the conductors of knowledge, invaluable for the human society. However, they often communicated not only the words of revelation, but also their own figurative interpretation. The divine information obtained in this way became the basis for the emerging ethnic (folk), state and world religions. There was also a rethinking of the image of the One God of the Universe, the feelings of connectedness and direct dependence of people on Him were gradually smoothed out. A disrespectful, utilitarian - economic attitude towards nature or, conversely, reverent reverence for elemental forces and natural phenomena, represented in the form of independent deities and spirits, was asserted.

Among the Mari, echoes of a dualistic worldview were preserved, in which an important place was occupied by belief in the deities of forces and phenomena of nature, in the animality and spirituality of the surrounding world and the existence in them of a reasonable, independent, materialized being - a master - a double (waterj), a soul (chon, ort) , spiritual hypostasis (shirt). However, the Mari believed that the deities, everything around in the world and man himself are part of the one God (Tun Yumo), his image.

Deities of nature in popular beliefs, with rare exceptions, were not endowed with anthropomorphic features. The Mari understood the importance of the active participation of man in the affairs of God, aimed at preserving and developing the surrounding nature, and constantly sought to involve the gods in the process of spiritual ennobling and harmonization of everyday life. Some leaders of the Mari traditional rituals, possessing heightened inner vision, by an effort of their will, could receive spiritual enlightenment and restore the image of the forgotten one God Tun Yumo at the beginning of the 19th century.

One God - the Universe embraces all living things and the whole world, expresses itself in revered nature. The living nature closest to man is his image, but not God himself. A person is able to form only a general idea of ​​the Universe or its part, on the basis and with the help of faith, having cognized it in himself, experiencing a living sensation of the divine incomprehensible reality, passing through his own "I" the world of spiritual beings. However, it is impossible to fully cognize Tun Osh Kugu Yumo - the absolute truth. The Mari traditional religion, like all religions, has only an approximate knowledge of God. Only the wisdom of the Omniscient covers the entire sum of truths in itself.

The Mari religion, being more ancient, turned out to be closer to God and absolute truth. It has little influence from subjective moments, it has undergone less social modification. Taking into account the steadfastness and patience in preserving the ancient religion transmitted by the ancestors, selflessness while observing customs and rituals, Tun Osh Kugu Yumo helped the Mari to preserve true religious ideas, protected them from erosion and thoughtless changes under the influence of all kinds of innovations. This allowed the Mari to preserve their unity, national identity, survive in the conditions of social and political oppression of the Khazar Kaganate, Volga Bulgaria, the Tatar-Mongol invasion, the Kazan Khanate and to defend their religious cults during the years of active missionary propaganda in the 18th – 19th centuries.

The Mari are distinguished not only by divinity, but also by their kind-heartedness, responsiveness and openness, their readiness to come to the aid of each other and those in need at any time. The Mari are at the same time a freedom-loving people who love justice in everything, accustomed to living a calm measured life, like the nature around us.

The traditional Mari religion directly influences the formation of the personality of each person. The creation of the world, as well as of man, is carried out on the basis and under the influence of the spiritual principles of the One God. Man is an inseparable part of the Cosmos, grows and develops under the influence of the same cosmic laws, endowed with the image of God, in him, as in all of Nature, the bodily and divine principles are combined, kinship with nature is manifested.

The life of every child, long before his birth, begins from the celestial zone of the Universe. Initially, it does not have an anthropomorphic form. God sends life to earth in a materialized form. Together with a person, his spirit angels develop - patrons, represented in the image of the deity Vuyimbal yumo, a bodily soul (chon, ya?) And doubles - figurative incarnations of a person ort and shyrt.

All people equally possess human dignity, strength of mind and freedom, human virtue, they contain all the qualitative completeness of the world. A person is given the opportunity to regulate his feelings, control behavior, realize his position in the world, lead a refined way of life, actively create and create, take care of the higher parts of the Universe, protect the flora and fauna, surrounding nature from extinction.

Being an intelligent part of the Cosmos, a person, like the constantly improving one God, in the name of his self-preservation is forced to constantly work on self-improvement. Guided by the dictates of conscience (ar), correlating his actions and deeds with the surrounding nature, achieving the unity of his thoughts with the co-creation of material and spiritual cosmic principles, a person, as a worthy owner of his land, strengthens and diligently conducts his economy with his tireless daily work, inexhaustible creativity, ennobles the world around him, thereby improving himself. This is the meaning and purpose of human life.

Fulfilling his destiny, a person reveals his spiritual essence, ascends to new levels of being. Through self-improvement, the fulfillment of a predetermined goal, a person improves the world, achieves the inner beauty of the soul. The traditional religion of the Mari teaches that for such an activity a person receives a worthy reward: he greatly facilitates his life in this world and his fate in the afterlife. For a righteous life, deities can endow a person with an additional guardian angel, that is, to confirm the beingness of a person in God, thereby ensuring the ability to contemplate and experience God, the harmony of divine energy (shulyk) and the human soul.

A person is free to choose his actions and deeds. He can lead life both in the direction of God, harmonization of his efforts and aspirations of the soul, and in the opposite, destructive direction. The choice of a person is predetermined not only by divine or human will, but also by the intervention of the forces of evil.

The right choice in any life situation can be made only by knowing yourself, by measuring your life, everyday affairs and actions with the Universe - the One God. Having such a spiritual guideline, the believer becomes the true master of his life, gains independence and spiritual freedom, calmness, confidence, insight, prudence and measured feelings, steadfastness and perseverance in achieving the set goal. He is not worried about the hardships of life, social vices, envy, self-interest, selfishness, the desire for self-affirmation in the eyes of others. Being truly free, a person gains prosperity, tranquility, a reasonable life, protects himself from any encroachment from ill-wishers and evil forces... He will not be frightened by the dark tragic sides of material life, the bonds of inhuman torment and suffering, hidden dangers. They will not prevent him from continuing to love the world, earthly existence, rejoice and admire the beauty of nature, culture.

In everyday life, believers of the traditional Mari religion adhere to such principles as:

Constant self-improvement by strengthening the inextricable connection with God, his regular communion with everyone major events in life and active participation in divine affairs;

Aiming at ennobling the surrounding world and public relations strengthening of human health through constant search for and gaining divine energy in the process of creative work;

Harmonization of relations in society, strengthening of collectivism and cohesion, mutual support and unity in upholding religious ideals and traditions;

Unanimous support of their spiritual mentors;

Obligation to preserve and pass on to future generations the best achievements: progressive ideas, exemplary products, elite varieties of grain and livestock breeds, etc.

The traditional religion of the Mari considers all manifestations of life to be the main value in this world and calls for the sake of its preservation to show mercy even in relation to wild animals, criminals. Kindness, kindness, harmony in relationships (mutual help, mutual respect and support for friendly relations), respect for nature, self-sufficiency and self-restraint in the use of natural resources, the pursuit of knowledge are also considered important values ​​in the life of society and in regulating the relationship of believers with God.

In public life, the traditional religion of the Mari strives to maintain and improve social harmony.

The Mari traditional religion unites believers of the ancient Mari (Chimari) faith, adherents of traditional beliefs and rituals who were baptized and attending church services (marla vera) and adherents of the Kugu Sorta religious sect. These ethno-confessional differences were formed under the influence and as a result of the spread of the Orthodox religion in the region. The Kugu Sorta religious sect took shape in the second half of the 19th century. Certain discrepancies in beliefs and ritual practices existing between religious groups do not play a significant impact in the daily life of the Mari. These forms of the traditional Mari religion form the basis of the spiritual values ​​of the Mari people.

The religious life of adherents of the traditional Mari religion takes place within the village community, one or several village councils (secular community). All Mari can take part in the All-Mari prayers with sacrifice, thereby forming a temporary religious community of the Mari people (national community).

The Mari traditional religion until the beginning of the 20th century acted as the only social institution rallying and uniting the Mari people, strengthening their national identity, establishing a national distinctive culture. At the same time, the popular religion never called for artificially separating peoples, did not incite confrontation and confrontation between them, did not affirm the exclusivity of any people.

The current generation of believers, recognizing the cult of the One God of the Universe, is convinced that this God can be worshiped by all people, representatives of any nationality. Therefore, they consider it possible to introduce to their faith any person who believes in his omnipotence.

Any person, regardless of nationality and religion, is part of the Cosmos, the Universal God. In this respect, all people are equal and worthy of respect and fair treatment. The Mari have always been distinguished by their tolerance and respect for the religious feelings of the Gentiles. They believed that the religion of every nation has a right to exist, is worthy of veneration, since all religious rituals are aimed at ennobling earthly life, improving its quality, expanding the capabilities of people and contributing to the introduction of divine powers and divine mercy to everyday needs.

A clear evidence of this is the lifestyle of adherents of the ethno-confessional group "Marla Vera", who observe both traditional customs both ceremonies and Orthodox cults visit the temple, chapels and Mari sacred groves. Often they hold traditional prayers with sacrifices in front of an Orthodox icon specially brought for this occasion.

Admirers of the Mari traditional religion, respecting the rights and freedoms of representatives of other confessions, expect the same respectful attitude towards themselves and the cult actions performed. They believe that worship of the One God - the Universe in our time is very timely and attractive enough for the modern generation of people interested in the spread of the ecological movement, in the preservation of the pristine nature.

The traditional religion of the Mari, including in its world outlook and practice the positive experience of centuries-old history, sets as its immediate goals the establishment of truly fraternal relations in society and the upbringing of a person with an ennobled image, defends itself with righteousness, devotion to a common cause. She will continue to defend the rights and interests of her believers, to protect their honor and dignity from any encroachment on the basis of the legislation adopted in the country.

Adherents of the Mari religion consider it their civil and religious duty to comply with the legal norms and laws of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Mari El.

The traditional Mari religion sets itself the spiritual and historical tasks of uniting the efforts of believers to protect their vital interests, the nature around us, the animal and plant world, as well as achieve material wealth, worldly well-being, moral regulation and a high cultural level of relations between people.

Sacrifices

In the seething Universal cauldron of life, human life proceeds under the vigilant supervision and with the direct participation of God (Tun Osh Kugu Yumo) and his nine hypostases (manifestations), personifying his inherent intelligence, energy and material wealth. Therefore, a person should not only reverently believe in Him, but also deeply revere, strive to earn His mercy, goodness and protection (serlagysh), thereby enriching himself and the world around him with vital energy (shulyk), material wealth (perke). A reliable means of achieving all this is the regular holding in the sacred groves of family and public (village-wide, worldly and all-Aryan) prayers (kumaltysh) with sacrifices to God and his deities of domestic animals and birds.

The Mari ethnos was formed on the basis of the Finno-Ugric tribes that lived in the Volga-Vyatka interfluve in the 1st millennium AD. NS. as a result of contacts with Bulgars and other Türkic-speaking peoples, ancestors of modern Tatars,.

The Russians used to call the Mari Cheremis. The Mari are divided into three main sub-ethnic groups: mountain, meadow, and eastern Mari. Since the XV century. the mountain Mari fell under Russian influence. Meadow Mari, who were part of the Kazan Khanate, for a long time offered fierce resistance to the Russians, during the Kazan campaign of 1551-1552. they sided with the Tatars. Some of the Mari moved to Bashkiria, not wanting to be baptized (eastern), the rest were baptized in the 16th-18th centuries.

In 1920, the Mari Autonomous Region was created, in 1936 - the Mari ASSR, in 1992 - the Republic of Mari El. Currently, the mountain Mari inhabit the right bank of the Volga, meadow ones live in the Vetluzhsko-Vyatka interfluve, the eastern ones - to the east of the river. Vyatka, mainly in the territory of Bashkiria. Most of the Mari live in the Republic of Mari El, about a quarter - in Bashkiria, the rest - in Tataria, Udmurtia, Nizhny Novgorod, Kirov, Sverdlovsk, Perm regions. According to the 2002 census, more than 604 thousand Mari lived in the Russian Federation.

The basis of the Mari economy was arable land. They have long cultivated rye, oats, barley, millet, buckwheat, hemp, flax, turnips. Gardening was also developed, mainly onions, cabbage, radishes, carrots, hops were planted, since the 19th century. potatoes became widespread.

The Mari cultivated the soil with a plow (step), a hoe (katman), and a Tatar plow (saban). Cattle breeding was not very developed, as evidenced by the fact that there was only enough manure for 3-10% of the arable land. Whenever possible, horses, cattle, and sheep were kept. By 1917, 38.7% of the farms of the Mari were tillageless, a large role was played by beekeeping (then apiculture), fishing, as well as hunting and various forest industries: tar-smoking, logging and timber floating, hunting.

During the hunt, the Mari up to mid XIX v. used bows, spears, wooden traps, flintlocks. On a large scale, otkhodniki was developed at woodworking enterprises. Of the crafts, the Mari were engaged in embroidery, wood carving, and the production of women's silver jewelry. The main means of transportation in the summer were four-wheeled carts (oryava), tarantases and wagons, in winter - sledges, logs and skis.

In the second half of the XIX century. the settlements of the Mari were of the street type, a log hut with a gable roof, built according to the Great Russian scheme: izba-canyon, izba-canyon-izba or izba-canyon-cage, served as a dwelling. The house had a Russian stove, a kitchen separated by a partition.

There were benches along the front and side walls of the house, in the front corner there was a table and a chair specially for the owner of the house, shelves for icons and dishes, and on the side of the door there was a bed or bunk. In the summer, the Mari could live in a summer house, which was a log building without a ceiling with a gable or pitched roof and an earthen floor. There was a hole in the roof for smoke to escape. A summer kitchen was set up here. A hearth with a suspended boiler was placed in the middle of the building. The outbuildings of an ordinary Mari estate included a cage, a cellar, a stable, a barn, a chicken coop, and a bathhouse. Wealthy Mari built two-storey storerooms with a gallery-balcony. Food was stored on the first floor, utensils on the second.

Traditional Mari dishes were soup with dumplings, dumplings with meat or cottage cheese, boiled sausage made from bacon or blood with cereals, dried horse meat sausage, puff pancakes, cheese cakes, boiled flat cakes, baked flat cakes, dumplings, pies with fish, eggs, potatoes , hemp seed. The Mari cooked their bread unleavened. The national cuisine is also characterized by specific dishes of squirrel meat, hawk, eagle owl, hedgehog, snake, viper, dried fish flour, hemp seed. From drinks, the Mari preferred beer, buttermilk (eran), mead, from potatoes and grain they knew how to drive vodka.

The traditional clothing of the Mari is considered to be a tunic-like shirt, trousers, a swinging summer caftan, a belt towel made of hemp canvas, and a belt. In ancient times, the Mari sewed clothes from homespun linen and hemp fabrics, then from purchased fabrics.

The men wore small-brimmed felt hats and caps; for hunting, work in the forest, they used a headdress of the type of a mosquito net. Bast shoes, leather boots, felt boots were worn on their feet. For work in swampy areas, wooden platforms were attached to the shoes. Distinctive features women's national costume was an apron, belt pendants, breast, neck, ear ornaments made of beads, cowrie shells, sequins, coins, silver clasps, bracelets, rings.

Married women wore a variety of hats:

• shymaksh - a cone-shaped cap with an occipital lobe worn on a birch bark frame;
• magpie, borrowed from the Russians;
• tarpan - head towel with headdress.

Until the XIX century. The most widespread female headdress was a shurka, a high headdress on a birch bark frame, reminiscent of Mordovian headdresses. Outerwear was straight and assembled caftans made of black or white cloth and a fur coat. Traditional views clothes are still worn by the Mari of the older generation, National costumes often used in wedding ceremonies. Currently, modernized species are widespread national dress- a shirt made of white and an apron made of multi-colored fabric, decorated with embroidery and mites, belts woven from multi-colored threads, caftans made of black and green fabric.

The Mari communities consisted of several villages. At the same time, there were mixed Mari-Russian, Mari-Chuvash communities. The Mari lived mainly in small monogamous families, large families were quite rare.

In the old days, the Mari had small (urmat) and larger (namal) tribal divisions, the latter being part of the rural community (mer). At the time of marriage, the bride's parents were paid a ransom, and they gave a dowry (including cattle) for their daughter. The bride was often older than the groom. Everyone was invited to the wedding, and it took on the character of a general holiday. The traditional features of the ancient customs of the Mari are still present in the wedding rituals: songs, national costumes with decorations, a wedding train, the presence of everyone.

The Mari had a highly developed folk medicine based on the concept of cosmic life force, the will of the gods, corruption, evil eye, evil spirits, souls of the dead. Before the adoption of Christianity, the Mari adhered to the cult of ancestors and gods: the supreme god Kugu Yumo, the gods of the sky, the mother of life, the mother of water and others. An echo of these beliefs was the custom of burying the dead in winter clothes (in a winter hat and mittens) and taking the bodies to the cemetery in a sleigh, even in summer.

According to tradition, nails collected during his life, rosehip branches, and a piece of canvas were buried together with the deceased. The Mari believed that in the next world, nails would be needed in order to overcome the mountains, clinging to the rocks, the wild rose would help drive away the snake and the dog guarding the entrance to kingdom of the dead, and on a piece of canvas, like on a bridge, souls of the dead will go to the afterlife.

In ancient times, the Mari were pagans. They adopted the Christian faith in the 16th-18th centuries, but, despite all the efforts of the church, the religious views of the Mari remained syncretic: a small part of the Eastern Mari converted to Islam, and the rest remain faithful to pagan rites to this day.

The Mari mythology is characterized by the presence of a large number of female gods. There are no less than 14 deities denoting mother (ava), which indicates strong remnants of matriarchy. The Mari performed pagan collective prayers in the sacred groves under the leadership of the priests (cards). In 1870, among the Mari, the Kugu Sorta sect of a modernist-pagan persuasion arose. Until the beginning of the twentieth century. Among the Mari, ancient customs were strong, for example, during a divorce, a husband and wife who wanted to divorce were first tied with a rope, which was then cut. This was the whole rite of divorce.

In recent years, the Mari have been making attempts to revive the ancient national traditions and customs, uniting in public organizations. The largest of them are "Oshmari-Chimari", "Mari Ushem", the Kugu Sorta sect (Big Candle).

The Mari speak the Mari language of the Finno-Ugric group of the Ural family. In the Mari language, mountain, meadow, eastern and northwestern dialects are distinguished. The first attempts to create writing were made in the middle of the 16th century, in 1775 the first grammar in Cyrillic was published. In 1932-34. an attempt was made to switch to the Latin script. Since 1938, a unified graphics in Cyrillic has been adopted. The literary language is based on the language of the meadow and mountain Mari.

The folklore of the Mari is mainly characterized by fairy tales and songs. There is no single epic. Musical instruments represented by a drum, gusli, flute, wooden pipe (bundle) and some others.