 Investigating Terra Incognita: Bashkiria By Anatoly SOROKA |
Having visited Irkutsk and Baikal, we went on to Bashkiria, which is in the southern Urals. Bashkiria is an autonomous republic of Russia. We started investigating our terra incognita with the capital of the republic. There are not too many old buildings preserved in Ufa. Mostly they are from the latter part 19th - the early 20th centuries built in the Eclectic or Classical styles. Now they house different administrative and governmental offices. The city itself looks like a common Russian town. Nevertheless, we wanted to know thief there were any original Bashkir traces left in the republic except the beauty of the nature. All of the architecture even with its different styles comes from Russia. We wanted to see something "genuine Bashkir". Moreover, we wanted to know the answer for the question troubling us: The Bashkirs: who were they? Therefore, we went to the History Museum of Bashkiria which was situated in a late-classical building circa 1860s. In the museum we found that the Bashkirs called themselves "Bashkort". The Kazakhs and some other nations know them as 'Tster or "Ishtek".
The ancestors of the Bashkirs - ancient Turkic tribes - penetrated the Southern Urals by the middle of the first millennium A.D. and maintained ethno-cultural contacts with the region's Finno-Ugric and Iranian population. By the 7th - 9th centuries, ancient Bashkirs had discovered and visited virtually all the now populated territory.
By the 11th century, the Bashkirs presented a fairly numerous, rapidly developing nationality, settled in the Southern Ural Mountains and in the adjacent southern and western steppe regions. They had a common name, their own language, culture, morals and manners, and a system of religious beliefs.
In the 13th century, Bashkortostan was conquered by the Mongol-Tatars and formed part of the Golden Horde. The Bashkirs were compelled to pay a tax ("yasak"), consisting of expensive furs, honey and the like.
In the 15th century, following the disintegration of the Golden Horde, Bashkortostan was torn asunder. The southern Bashkirs fell under the influence of the Nogai Horde. The Transural Bashkirs formed part of the Siberian khanate, and the northern Bashkirs part of the Khazan khanate.
In the 16th century, after the defeat of the Khazan khanate by Russian tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, the Bashkirs overthrew the domination of Nogai rulers and joined Russia.
Subsequently, all the Bashkir tribes became part of Russia in the year 1557. This marked a turning point in the history of the Bashkirs and constituted a progressive event in the people's social and economic development. At the same time, tsarism brought Bashkortostan national and colonial oppression. Later on, the Bashkirs rebelled on many occasions against tsarism. The most active uprisings occurred in the 18th century. In the Peasant War, headed by Yemelyan Pugachov, the serfs of the Urals and the Bashkirs, led by Salavat Yulayev, constituted the main force.
Then followed the so-called "reform period". Bashkiria suffered badly from the plunder of their lands during that time. The lands were sold for fabulously low prices to all sorts of officials; the latter, in turn, resold them in parcels to peasant settlers for prices, which exceeded ten and a hundred times the purchase prices.
A wide resale of plundered lands and the construction of a railway increased the inflow of peasant masses from the central and southern Russian provinces, which were short of arable land. During this time of plunder, timber merchants rushed to the country. They occupied and decimated the forests. On the common background of tsarist Russia, Bashkiria looked like one of the most backward and deprived colonial districts. Consequently, the Bashkir Autonomous Republic was established in 1919. Today it is a part of the Russian Federation.
Having discovered the origin of the Bashkirs and having visited some cities we wanted to see the countryside. We went to the small village of Burzyan which is very beautiful and surrounded by low-forested mountains on all sides. Time seemed to stop for a while here. We felt as if we had come back a hundred years back in time. The villagers cannot imagine life without the forest. It provides them with food and shelter. It is a source of mushrooms, nuts, berries and medicinal plants. They hunt animals and birds in its depths and fish in the swift-flowing rivers that pass through it. And bee keeping is still carried on in the village. Honey is collected from wild forest bees that nest in the hollow trunks of huge trees. The bee-keepers hunt them out and bring a little comfort to their lives, so to speak, by putting frames with honeycombs into the hollows, the same type honeycombs that they have at home in their apiaries. So the wild bees begin to produce their honey for man. And it's very special honey, particular the lime honey, golden and very aromatic. This is not surprising as there are lots of lime trees in the area. The villagers tell us that the lime is considered the best tree for honey making.
In addition, it is the best wood for carving. It is easy to cut and has a most attractive grain. So it's only natural that in any Burzyan house you can see simple wooden spoons which are nearly all carved from lime wood. They also use lime wood to make wooden toys for the children and for use as ornaments. Usually the carvings are in the shape of forest birds and beasts: deer, wood grouse, moose, bears or martens. Before your eyes a block of wood turns into a wooden sculpture. The artisan's tools are simple: the knife, chisel, file, hammers and emery paper. We bought various souvenirs at a souvenir shop. Frankly speaking, we were amazed to see the souvenirs and even the Folk museum in the village! Dwellings, clothes, utensils, the adornments of the Bashkir people vividly reflect their destinies, their attitude towards nature and their relations with other tribes and peoples. Bashkir ancestors were nomads. Not surprisingly art weaving was a highly developed handicraft. The jewellery of Bashkir women, including earrings, rings, bracelets, and head-ware epitomizes their soul, culture and spiritual life. The fantasy adornments seem unlimited in scope.
Nomad festivities were held in mobile dwellings called jurts, where walls and roofs were covered with felt mats. Woollen rugs and large felt mats covered the soiled floor and barred windows. The Bashkir rugs, called "Booy palace", are very festive and merry looking. The long thread carpets are soft and pleasant. The jurt furniture created an indomitable national feature and cosiness. Nowadays the jurt can only be seen during festivities. We had been at one of the festivals before. There we felt quite at home, surrounded in a fairy tale world; we were served fresh mare-milk, called "koumiss" in a fine carved wooden cup with a handle produced in the form of a birdwith a wooden chain dangling, carved apiece with the cup. We listened to the sounds of "kuray" music where a musical folk instrument produced sad, tender, proud and powerful melodies.
Another fascinating thing was the ornamentation of artworks. The adornment of utensils by Bashkirs is linked to pagan prejudices. For example, patterns along the brim of a cover of a vessel protects one from evil forces in nature. When I tasted such national dishes as "ochpochmak", "gubbdia". "kistibuy", "urama", "chackchack" and drank fresh tea with honey and milk served in a carved cup, sitting on homemade rugs, I enjoyed a cosiness and indelible ease that is difficult to describe.
The genuine artistic features and the unique nature of the wooden carved utensils of the Bashkir people relate them to real ancient valuables. Even today, there are handicraft experts, who don't yield to their ancestors in terms of mastery and artistic taste.
The so-called Phillippan mounds, situated on the territory of Bashkiria, are ancient monuments to ancient Sarmatian tribes (V-III cent. B.C.). Archaeologists found here the richest collections of unique jewellery. One collection numbered 600 pieces used for solemn ceremonies. Ancient jewellers managed to skilfully merge features of real animals with stylized creatures and fantastic imaginary images.
The indelible uniqueness of Bashkir nature was reflected in the jewellery. The paints and flower patterns are indicative of the original beauty of the Urals' gem. Silver is the most widely used material in Bashkir jewellery, including rings, bracelets, necklaces, which shine with silvery shades adorned with gems, namely pearls, turquoise, sard and jasper. A traditional national costume in Bashkiria is a genuine piece of art and is very rich in terms of adornment. Everyday attire was sewn as a rule from homespun cloth like flax and broad cloth.
Festive clothes, namely wedding gowns, were made out of expensive material like silk and velvet. Headwear was adorned with coral, shells, mother-of-pearl, silver badges, pearl beads and necklaces.
The musical and poetic creativeness of the Bashkirs is unique and diverse. The professional art of Bashkortostan is in revival and is based on folk's traditions. There is a unique historical building in the downtown of the capital of Bashkiria. It was built early in the 20thcentury, financed by charitable donations, and is called "Aksakov House" in honor of the famous Russian writer of the same name. All connoisseurs pay visits to this mansion which is Renaissance in style and constructed of red bricks. The walls of this house always reverberate to the beautiful sounds of music. For more than half a century the music of Rossini, Verdi, Mozart, Glinka, Tchaikovsky, Borodin and many, many others has been heard within this house. Viewers applaud the gracious mastery of Bashkir ballet dancers and opera singers. The world famous singer Fyodor Chaliapin began his illustrious carrier in a building in front of the opera house. Famous dancer Rudolf Nureyev danced on the stage of the local theatre. Any concert of Bashkir's dancing ensemble is extremely moving. The people's soul is depicted in the bright costumes and in the genuine enthusiasm of the dancers whirling in fantastic vortex. There is a saying: "You won't find a Bashkir, who can't dance!"
The leading National theatre is the Gaffuri Bashkir Academic Drama Theatre, named after the Bashkir writer. It was time to come back home to Ukraine. We were happy with our trip. Especially were we satisfied with the trip to Bashkiria. We started investigating it as terra incognita and by the end of our journey all of us had fallen in love with the place. It had been a really fascinating and memorable trip.
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More in the section:
The Cradle of The A-bomb
A Trip to Siberia
Kyiv Beaches and the "Ukrainian Mentality"
Read also previous issue' articles:
THE EAR: Time to Stop Traffic Terror
The USSR: What was it?
Socialist Realism From One Collector's Viewpoint
Weak Laws Make Ukraine Europe's Dumping Ground
Social Entrepreneurship Expands in Ukraine
Lenin and Ukraine
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