Beautiful Buryat women. Who are the Buryats

15th place: Yulia Zamoeva– ballet dancer of the theater “” (Ulan-Ude), People’s Artist of the Republic.

http://my-buryatia.ru/bur/buryaty-i-buryatiya/">Buryat singer, participant in the “Battle of the Choirs” project on Russia 1 channel. VK page – https://vk.com/id8070133

http://my-buryatia.ru/bur/bajkal/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Baikal ". Toured with the theater in European countries and Russian cities. She was awarded certificates of honor and letters of gratitude from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic. VK page – https://vk.com/id90942937

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11th place: Ayuna Albasheeva– Beauty of Buryatia 2006.

10th place: Alena Albasheeva– Beauty of Buryatia 1999. Alena is the older sister of Ayuna Albasheeva (Beauty of Buryatia 2006).

Alena Albasheeva – Beauty of Buryatia 1999

9th place: Victoria Lygdenova– Beauty of Buryatia 2008. At the age of 17, Victoria received the title “Third Beauty of Russia 2008”, corresponding to 4th place. On March 15, 2013, a 22-year-old girl died from heart disease - cardiomyopathy.

8th place: Evgenia Shagdarova– winner of the “Top Model of Buryatia” competition, participant in the third season of the television project “Top Model in Russian” on the Muz-TV channel. Height 172 cm.

7th place: Oyuna Osodoeva(born August 18, 1992) - Moscow Beauty of Buryatia 2010. VK page - https://vk.com/oyunaos

6th place: Irina Batorova(born December 22, 1978, Ulan-Ude) – ballet dancer of the ““ theater, choreographer, Honored Artist of the Russian Federation. VK page – https://vk.com/id7013273

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4th place: Darima Chimitova– Miss Ulan-Ude 2012. Height 174 cm, measurements 85-59-87. VK page – https://vk.com/darichi

3rd place: Anastasia Tsydenova(born June 10, 1986, Irkutsk), better known under the pseudonym Asia- TV presenter on the Muz-TV channel.

2nd place: Madegma Dorzhieva– Russian singer, composer, professional pianist, producer. Laureate of numerous international competitions and festivals. The repertoire includes both ancient Chinese chants and modern rhythms. She has released three successful solo albums. VK page – https://vk.com/midigma_dorzhieva

http://my-buryatia.ru/bur/buryaty-i-buryatiya/">buryat skom". Height 167 cm, figure measurements 86-60-88. VK page – https://vk.com/maria_shantanova

Buryat Maria Shantanova model. photo

  Number– 461,389 people (as of 2010).

  Language- Buryat language.

  Settlement– Republic of Buryatia, Irkutsk region, Transbaikal region.

(self-name - Buryaad, Buryaad zone, Buryaaduud) - Mongolian people speaking the Buryat language. The most northern Mongolian people.

The Buryats historically formed into a single people in the area of ​​Lake Baikal on the territory of ethnic Buryatia, known from medieval sources as Bargudzhin-Tokum. Currently settled on the lands of their original residence: the Republic of Buryatia, the Irkutsk region, the Trans-Baikal Territory of the Russian Federation and the Hulun Buir urban district of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People's Republic of China.

The active resettlement of Russians and Chinese to these lands since the 17th century, especially in the 20th century, made the Buryats a national minority in all these regions.

The supposed ancestors of the Buryats (Bayyrku and Kurykan) began to develop the lands on both sides of the lake. Baikal since the 6th century. The Kurykans settled in the lands to the west of Lake Baikal, and the Bayyrku settled in the lands from Lake Baikal all the way to the river. Argun. At this time they were part of various nomadic states. The strengthening of the Khitans led to the fact that the core of the Bayyrku settlement shifted from the eastern to the western part of Transbaikalia. This marked the beginning of closer interaction between the bayyrku and the kurykan. Around this time, neighboring peoples began to call the Bayyrku, in the Mongolian manner, Barguts, and the same thing happened with the Kurykans, who were already called Khori in the sources. By the time the Mongol Empire was created, the territory around Lake Baikal already had a single name, Bargudzhin-Tokum, and the bulk of its population had a common supra-tribal ethnonym, Barguts.

  Transbaikal Buryats (Gustav-Theodor Pauli. “Ethnographic description of the peoples of Russia,” St. Petersburg, 1862)

At the beginning of the 13th century, Bargudzhin-Tokum was included in the Mongol state. Probably, at the end of the 13th century, the Barguts were forced to leave their lands to Western Mongolia due to internecine wars in the Mongol Empire. After the collapse of the Mongol Empire, the Barguts, who in Oirat sources are already called Bargu-Buryats, participated in the creation of the Oirat Khanate. In the second half of the 15th century, they moved to Southern Mongolia, where they became part of the Yunshiebu tumen of the Mongols. At the beginning of the 16th century, the Yunshiebu tumen fell apart or was divided into several parts. Probably, in the second half of the 16th century, the Bargu-Buryats began to move in a northwestern direction, returning to their historical homeland by the beginning of the 17th century. But after some time, another Oirat-Khalkha war broke out, the Bargu-Buryats began to be attacked by both the Khalkhas and the Oirats. As a result, part of the Bargu-Buryats was taken into the possession of the Oirat Taishas, ​​and part was forced to recognize the supremacy of the Khalkha khans.

After these events, the Russian state began the conquest of the Buryat land. By the first decade of the 17th century, the Russian state completed the annexation of Western Siberia and already in 1627 began sending detachments to tax the population of the Baikal region. However, faced with resistance from the indigenous population, Russian explorers were forced to slow down their advance in this region and begin building forts and fortified points. By the middle of the 17th century, a network of forts in the Baikal region was built. One part of the Mongol-speaking “tribes” was pacified by the Cossacks, and the other was forced to move to Khalkha. In 1658, due to the actions of Ivan Pokhabov, almost the entire population subordinate to the Balagan fortress migrated to Khalkha. At the same time, a strong Manchu state arose in the Far East, which from the very beginning pursued an aggressive foreign policy towards Mongolia, which was going through a period of fragmentation.

  Dance of the Burkhanovs, 1885

In 1644, Vasily Kolesnikov’s detachment, which penetrated the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, was stopped by the detachment “ big brotherly people"(Trans-Baikal Buryats) and upon returning Kolesnikov decided to attack " Baturin family"in the Baikal region, despite the fact that he had already paid tribute to the Cossacks. This was the reason for the uprising" Korins and Batulins"and their departure from Cisbaikalia in 1645.

In 1646, the troops of Setsen Khan and Tushetu Khan, sent to help the southern Mongolian principality of Sunit, which rebelled against the Manchus, were defeated by Qing troops. Among the troops of Setsen Khan, the Barguts, who were one of his four otoks, are also mentioned. By 1650, Setsen Khan Sholoy died, after which turmoil began in the possessions of Setsen Khan and his vassals, taking advantage of which to “ fraternal people and Tungus“The detachments of Ivan Galkin and then Vasily Kolesnikov begin to attack. In 1650, a detachment of Transbaikal Buryats (“ fraternal Yasash Turukaya herd"), numbering about 100 people, attacked the royal embassy led by Erofei Zabolotsky, confusing it with another detachment of Cossacks attacking the Turukhai uluses. As a result, some of the embassy people were killed, including Zabolotsky himself. The embassy survivors decided to continue their mission. Having reached the possessions of the Setsen Khans, they met with the widow of Sholoy Akhai-Khatun and Turukhai Tabunang, inviting them to accept Russian citizenship, but were subsequently refused by each of them.

In 1654, the Transbaikal Buryats attacked a detachment of Cossacks on the Khilok River led by Maxim Urazov, who was sent by Pyotr Beketov to the Yenisei fort with collected yasak from the Evenks. After this event, mentions of them ceased for a certain time, which indicates their resettlement deep into the possessions of the Khalkhas. About ten years later, the Barguts were mentioned in the Kangxi decree of 1664, where the peoples dependent on the Manchus: the Chakhars, Daurs and Solons were prohibited from trading and having relations with the Khalkhas, Oirats, Tibetans and Barguts. In 1667, some of them returned and began paying tribute to the Nerchinsk fort, but in 1669, Setsen Khan’s troops took them back. In the 1670s, the Barguts were mentioned in the three rivers Arguni, Hailar and Genhe.

Selenga Buryats, (photo taken in 1900)

Around 1675, a group of Transbaikal Buryats appeared at the Nerchinsk fort and asked to be let into their " rock lands"to Baikal and Olkhon, but was detained near Nerchinsk. Despite this, a small part of them voluntarily went to Baikal, the rest were forced to go back due to the atrocities of the Cossacks led by Pavel Shulgin. Where did they begin to attack Russian possessions? But after the arrival of the Russian embassy led by N.G. With Spafariy, they again asked to be allowed into their lands, noting that their overlord Dain-kontaisha, having found out “ about your new, great sovereign, army, he refused them and migrated to distant places and told them that he could not defend them».

When the Transbaikal Buryats returned to their former lands, they found them already occupied by others. So " Korins and Baturins“The Ekhirits were driven out from the western shore of Lake Baikal (Olkhonye) in 1682. After the Ekhirites turned to the Russians with a complaint against them, a long dispute began over these lands. And only after most of the Trans-Baikal Buryats leave the Russian state and the subsequent sending " Korins and Baturins"and the remaining part of the Transbaikal Buryats delegation to Peter I in 1702-1703 with a request to legally assign to them the lands only east of Baikal, this conflict exhausted itself. According to the description of the Nerchinsk district compiled by G.F. Miller in 1739, their number was 1,741 males, while it is indicated that their self-name is Hori, but they are divided into two groups, each of which is governed by different taishas.

In 1766, four regiments were formed from the Buryats to maintain guards along the Selenga border: 1st Ashebagatsky, 2nd Tsongolsky, 3rd Atagansky and 4th Sartulsky. The regiments were reformed in 1851 during the formation of the Transbaikal Cossack Army.

Russian-Buryat school. Late 19th century

Within the framework of Russian statehood, a process of socio-cultural consolidation of various ethnic groups began, historically determined by the proximity of their cultures and dialects. The most important thing for the development of consolidating trends was that as a result of the involvement of the Buryats in the orbit of new economic and socio-cultural relations, they began to develop economic and cultural communities. As a result, by the end of the 19th century, a new community was formed - the Buryat ethnic group.

After the February Revolution of 1917, a national state of the Buryats was formed - the State of Buryat-Mongolia. Burnatsky became its highest body.

  Shaman. Postcard from 1904

In 1921, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Region was formed as part of the Far Eastern Republic. In 1922, the Mongol-Buryat Autonomous Region was formed as part of the RSFSR. In 1923 they united into the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR. In 1937, a number of districts were withdrawn from the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, from which autonomous okrugs were formed - the Ust-Orda Buryat National Okrug and the Aginsky Buryat National Okrug; at the same time, some areas with a Buryat population were separated from the autonomous regions (Ononsky and Olkhonsky). In 1958, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1992, the Buryat Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into the Republic of Buryatia.

The Buryat language is one of the Mongolian languages ​​and has its own literary standard.

Buryat believers predominantly profess Buddhism or are shamanists. Buryat Buddhists are adherents of Northern Buddhism (Mahayana), which is widespread in the regions of East Asia: China, Tibet, Mongolia, Korea and Japan. Shamanism, in turn, is widespread among the Buryats of the Irkutsk region, as well as among the old Barguts of China.

In the main countries of residence, the Buryats are considered either one of the ethnic groups of the Mongols, or an independent nationality separate from them. In the Russian Federation, the Buryats are considered a separate nationality from the Mongols. In Mongolia, they are considered one of the Mongolian ethnic groups, with the Barguts and Buryats being considered different ethnic groups.

Winter yurt. The roof is insulated with turf.
Exhibit of the Ethnographic Museum of the Peoples of Transbaikalia

The traditional dwelling of the Buryats, like all nomadic pastoralists, is the yurt, called ger (literally dwelling, house) among the Mongolian peoples.

Yurts were installed both portable felt and stationary in the form of a frame made of timber or logs. Wooden yurts of 6 or 8 corners, without windows. There is a large hole in the roof for smoke and lighting to escape. The roof was installed on four pillars - tengi. Sometimes there was a ceiling. The door to the yurt is oriented to the south. The room was divided into the right, male, and left, female half. There was a fireplace in the center of the dwelling. There were benches along the walls. On the left side of the entrance to the yurt there are shelves with household utensils. On the right side are chests and a table for guests. Opposite the entrance is a shelf with burkhans or ongons.

Interior of a Transbaikal Buryat yurt. End of the 19th century.

In front of the yurt there was a hitching post (serge) in the form of a pillar with an ornament.

Thanks to the design of the yurt, it can be quickly assembled and disassembled and is lightweight - all this is important when migrating to other pastures. In winter, the fire in the hearth provides warmth; in summer, with an additional configuration, it is even used instead of a refrigerator. The right side of the yurt is the men's side. On the wall hung a bow, arrows, a saber, a gun, a saddle and harness. The left one is for women; here were household and kitchen utensils. In the northern part there was an altar. The door of the yurt was always on the south side. The lattice frame of the yurt was covered with felt, soaked in a mixture of sour milk, tobacco and salt for disinfection. They sat on quilted felt - sherdeg - around the hearth. Among the Buryats living on the western side of Lake Baikal, wooden yurts with eight walls were used. The walls were built mainly from larch logs, while the inside of the walls had a flat surface. The roof has four large slopes (in the form of a hexagon) and four small slopes (in the form of a triangle). Inside the yurt there are four pillars on which the inner part of the roof - the ceiling - rests. Large pieces of coniferous bark are laid on the ceiling (inside down). The final covering is carried out with even pieces of turf.

In the 19th century, wealthy Buryats began to build huts borrowed from Russian settlers, preserving elements of the national home in the interior decoration.

Since ancient times, products of animal and combined animal-plant origin have occupied a large place in the food of the Buryats. Sour milk of a special leaven (kurunga) and dried compressed curdled mass - huruud - were prepared for future use. Like the Mongols, the Buryats drank green tea, into which they poured milk and added salt, butter or lard.

Unlike Mongolian cuisine, a significant place in Buryat cuisine is occupied by fish, berries (bird cherry, strawberries), herbs and spices. Baikal omul, smoked according to the Buryat recipe, is popular.

  Women's national costume. 1856

Each Buryat clan has its own national clothing, which is extremely diverse (mainly among women). The national clothing of the Transbaikal Buryats consists of degel - a kind of caftan made of dressed sheepskin, which has a triangular cutout on the top of the chest, trimmed, as well as the sleeves, tightly clasping the hand, with fur, sometimes very valuable. In summer, the degel could be replaced by a cloth caftan of a similar cut. In Transbaikalia, robes were often used in the summer, the poor had paper ones, the rich had silk ones. In inclement times, a saba, a type of overcoat with a large fur collar, was worn over the degel. In the cold season, especially on the road - dakha, a type of wide robe made from tanned skins, with the wool facing out.

Degel (degil) is tied at the waist with a belt on which a knife and smoking accessories were hung: a flint, a hansa (a small copper pipe with a short chibouk) and a tobacco pouch. A distinctive feature from the Mongolian cut is the chest part of the degel - enger, where three multi-colored stripes are sewn into the upper part. At the bottom - yellow-red (hua ungee), in the middle - black (hara ungee), at the top - various - white (sagaan ungee), green (nogon ungee) or blue (huhe ungee). The original version was yellow-red, black, white.

Tight and long trousers were made of roughly tanned leather (rovduga); shirt, usually made of blue fabric - in order.

Shoes - in winter, high boots made from the skin of foals' feet; in the rest of the year, shoe boots - boots with a pointed toe. In summer they wore shoes knitted from horsehair with leather soles.

Men and women wore round caps with small brims and a red tassel (zalaa) at the top. All the details and the color of the headdress have their own symbolism, their own meaning. The pointed top of the hat symbolizes prosperity and well-being. A silver top of a denze with a red coral on the top of the cap as a sign of the sun illuminating the entire Universe with its rays. Brushes (zalaa seseg) represent the rays of the sun. The semantic field in the headdress was also involved during the Xiongnu period, when the entire complex of clothing was designed and introduced. The invincible spirit and happy destiny are symbolized by the zala developing at the top of the cap. The sompi knot means strength, strength. The favorite color of the Buryats is blue, which symbolizes the blue sky, the eternal sky.

Women's clothing differed from men's in decoration and embroidery. Women's degel is wrapped in a circle with colored cloth, on the back - at the top, embroidery in the form of a square is made with cloth, and copper and silver decorations from buttons and coins are sewn onto the clothes. In Transbaikalia, women's robes consist of a short jacket sewn to a skirt.

Girls wore from 10 to 20 braids, decorated with many coins. Women wore corals, silver and gold coins, etc. around their necks; in the ears there are huge earrings supported by a cord thrown over the head, and behind the ears there are “poltas” (pendants); on the hands are silver or copper bugaks (a type of bracelets in the form of hoops) and other decorations.

According to some Buryat myths about the origin of the world, at first there was chaos, from which water was formed - the cradle of the world. A flower emerged from the water, and a girl emerged from the flower. A radiance emanated from her, which turned into the sun and moon, dispelling the darkness. This divine girl - a symbol of creative energy - created the earth and the first people: man and woman.

The highest deity is Huhe Munhe Tengri (Blue Eternal Sky), the embodiment of the masculine principle. Earth is feminine. Gods live in the sky. During the time of their ruler Asarang Tengri, the celestials were united. After his departure, power began to be contested by Khurmasta and Ata Ulan. As a result, no one won and the Tengris were divided into 55 Western good and 44 Eastern evil, continuing the eternal struggle among themselves.

Dugan of Green Tara

The Buryats were divided into semi-sedentary and nomadic, governed by steppe dumas and foreign councils. The primary economic basis consisted of the family, then interests flowed into the closest relatives (bule zone), then the economic interests of the “small homeland” in which the Buryats lived (nyutag) were considered, then there were tribal and other global interests. The basis of the economy was cattle breeding, semi-nomadic among the western tribes and nomadic among the eastern tribes. It was practiced to keep 5 types of domestic animals - cows, rams, goats, camels and horses. Traditional trades - hunting and fishing - were common.

The entire list of livestock by-products was processed: hides, wool, tendons, etc. The skin was used to make saddlery, clothing (including coats, pinigs, mittens), bedding, etc. Wool was used to make felt for the home, materials for clothing in the form of felt raincoats, various capes, hats, felt mattresses, etc. . Tendons were used to produce thread material used for making ropes and making bows, etc. Jewelry and toys were made from bones. Bones were also used to make bows and arrow parts.

From the meat of the 5 above-mentioned domestic animals, food products were produced and processed using waste-free technology. They made various sausages and delicacies. Women also used the spleen to make and sew clothes as an adhesive material. The Buryats knew how to produce meat products for long-term storage during the hot season, for use on long migrations and marches. A large range of products could be obtained by processing milk. They also had experience in the production and use of a high-calorie product suitable for long-term isolation from the family.

In economic activities, the Buryats widely used available domestic animals: the horse was used in a wide range of activities when traveling long distances, when grazing domestic animals, when transporting property with a cart and sleigh, which they also made themselves. Camels were also used to transport heavy loads over long distances. Emasculated bulls were used as draft power. The nomadic technology is interesting, when a barn on wheels was used or the “train” technology was used, when 2 or 3 carts were attached to a camel. A hanza was installed on the carts to store things and protect them from the rain. They used a quickly erected felt house ger (yurt), where the fees for migration or settling in a new place were about three hours. Also, dogs of the Bankhar breed were widely used in economic activities, the closest relatives of which are dogs of the same breed from Tibet, Nepal, as well as the Georgian Shepherd. This dog shows excellent qualities as a watchman and a good shepherd for horses, cows and small livestock. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. Agriculture began to spread intensively in Transbaikalia.

Yokhor is an ancient circular Buryat dance with chants. Other Mongolian peoples do not have such a dance. Before or after the hunt, in the evenings, the Buryats went out into the clearing, lit a large fire and, holding hands, danced the ekhor all night with cheerful rhythmic chants. In the ancestral dance, they forgot all grievances and disagreements, delighting their ancestors with this dance of unity. In Ulan-Ude, the Ethnographic Museum of the Peoples of Transbaikalia hosts the summer festival Night of Yokhora. Representatives from different regions of Buryatia and the Irkutsk region compete in the competition for the best ekhor. At the end of the holiday, everyone can plunge into this ancient dance. Hundreds of people of different nationalities, holding hands, happily circle around the fire. In 2013, the number of yokhor participants became a record in recent history: the national round dance was danced in 270 Russian cities.

Buryat folklore consists of myths, uligers, shamanic invocations, legends, cult hymns, fairy tales, proverbs, sayings, and riddles.

Topics of proverbs, sayings and riddles: nature, natural phenomena, birds and animals, household and agricultural items.

Buryat folk music is represented by numerous genres: epic tales (uliger), lyrical ritual songs, dance songs (the round dance yokhor is especially popular) and other genres. The modal basis is the anhemitonic pentatonic scale.

BOOKS ABOUT BURYATS

Bardakhanova S.S., Soktoev A.B. System of genres of Buryat folklore. - Ulan-Ude: Buryat Institute of Social Sciences of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1992.

Buryats / Ed. L.L. Abaeva and N.L. Zhukovskaya. - M.: Nauka, 2004.

Buryats // Siberia. Atlas of Asian Russia. - M.: Top book, Feoria, Design. Information. Cartography, 2007.

Buryats // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010.

Buryats // Ethnoatlas of the Krasnoyarsk Territory / Council of the Administration of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Public Relations Department; Ch. ed. R.G. Rafikov; editorial board: V.P. Krivonogov, R.D. Tsokaev. - 2nd ed., revised. and additional - Krasnoyarsk: Platinum (PLATINA), 2008.

Dondokova L.Yu. Status of women in traditional Buryat society (second half of the 19th – early 20th century): monograph. - Ulan-Ude: Publishing House of the Belarusian State Agricultural Academy, 2008.

Dugarov D.S., Neklyudov S.Yu. Historical roots of white shamanism: Based on the material of ritual folklore of the Buryats. - M.: Nauka, 1991.

Zhambalova S.G. The profane and sacred worlds of the Olkhon Buryats (XIX-XX centuries). - Novosibirsk: Science, 2000.

Zalkind E.M. Social system of the Buryats in the 18th - first half of the 19th centuries. - M.: Nauka, 1970.

Historical and cultural atlas of Buryatia. / Scientific ed. N.L. Zhukovskaya. - M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2001.

Peoples of Russia: picturesque album. - St. Petersburg: printing house of the Public Benefit Partnership, 1877.

Nimaev D.D. The beginning of the formation of the ethnic core of the Buryats // Buryats. Series: Peoples and cultures. - M.: Nauka, 2004.

Okladnikov A.P. Essays on the history of Western Buryat-Mongols (XVII-XVIII centuries). - Ulan-Ude, 2014.

Khankharayev V.S. Buryats in the XVII-XVIII centuries. - Ulan-Ude: Publishing house BSC SB RAS, 2000.

Tsydendambaev Ts.B. Buryat historical chronicles and genealogies as sources on the history of the Buryats / Ed. B.V. Bazarova, I. D. Buraeva. - Ulan-Ude: Republican Printing House, 2001.

Buryats ( Buryaaduud,Baryaat) - Mongol-speaking people in the Russian Federation, the main population of Buryatia (286,839 people). In total, in the Russian Federation, according to preliminary data from the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, there are 461,389 Buryats, or 0.34%. In 77,667 people (3.3%). In the Trans-Baikal Territory there are 73,941 Buryats (6.8%). They also live in northern Mongolia and northeastern China. Buryat language. Believers - , .

Buryats. Historical review

Archaeological and other materials suggest that individual Proto-Buryat tribes (Shono and Nokhoi) formed at the end of the Neolithic and the Bronze Age (2500-1300 BC). According to the authors, tribes of pastoralists-farmers then coexisted with tribes of hunters. In the Late Bronze Age, throughout Central Asia, including the Baikal region, lived tribes of the so-called “tilers” - proto-Turks and proto-Mongols. Since the 3rd century. BC. the population of Transbaikalia and Cisbaikalia is drawn into the historical events that unfolded in Central Asia and Southern Siberia, associated with the formation of early non-state associations of the Huns, Xianbei, Rourans and ancient Turks. From this time on, the spread of Mongol-speaking tribes in the Baikal region and the gradual Mongolization of the aborigines began. In the VIII-IX centuries. the region was part of the Uyghur Khanate. The main tribes that lived here were the Bayyrku-Bayegu.

In the XI-XIII centuries. The region found itself in the zone of political influence of the Mongolian tribes of the Three Rivers - Onon, Kerulen and Tola - and the creation of a unified Mongolian state. The territory of modern Buryatia was included in the indigenous inheritance of the state, and the entire population was involved in the general Mongolian political, economic and cultural life. After the collapse of the empire (XIV century), Transbaikalia and Cisbaikalia remained part of the Mongolian state.

More reliable information about the ancestors of the Buryats appears in the first half of the 17th century. in connection with the arrival of the Russians in. During this period, Transbaikalia was part of Northern Mongolia, which was part of the Setsen Khan and Tushetu Khan khanates. They were dominated by Mongol-speaking peoples and tribes, subdivided into the Mongols themselves, the Khalkha Mongols, the Barguts, the Daurs, the Khorins, and others. The Cis-Baikal region was in tributary dependence on Western Mongolia. By the time the Russians arrived, the Buryats consisted of 5 main tribes:

The Buryats, or Buryaad, are the northernmost Mongolian people, the indigenous people of Siberia, whose closest relatives, according to the latest genetic research, are Koreans. The Buryats are distinguished by their ancient traditions, religion and culture.

Story

The people formed and settled in the area of ​​Lake Baikal, where ethnic Buryatia is located today. Previously, the territory was called Bargudzhin-Tokum. The ancestors of this people, the Kurykans and Bayyrkus, began to develop the lands on both sides of Lake Baikal, starting in the 6th century. The first occupied the Cis-Baikal region, the second settled the lands east of Lake Baikal. Gradually, starting from the 10th century, these ethnic communities began to interact more closely with each other and by the time of the creation of the Mongol Empire they formed a single ethnic group called the Barguts. At the end of the 13th century, due to internecine wars, the Barguts had to leave their lands and go to Western Mongolia; in the 15th century, they moved to Southern Mongolia and became part of the Yongshiebu tumen of the Mongols. The Bargu-Buryats returned to their homeland only in the 14th century, after part of the Eastern Mongols moved west to the lands of the Oirats. Later, the Khalkhas and Oirats began to attack them, as a result, some of the Bargu-Buryats came under the influence of the Khalkha khans, and some became part of the Oirats. During this period, the conquest of the Buryat lands by the Russian state began.

Buryats are divided into ethnic groups:

• sartuls
• Uzons
• Transbaikal Buryats (“black mungals” or “brotherly yasashs of the Turukaya herd”)
• shosholoki
• Korins and Baturins
• sharanuty
• tabanguts
• Sagenuts
• cramps
• ikinats
• Hongodors
• bulagaty
• gotols
• ashibagata
• ehirites
• Kurkuta
• Khatagins
• terte
• hello
• Sharaites
• Shurtos
• Atagans

All of them inhabited the territories of ethnic Buryatia in the 17th century. At the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th century, the Songol ethnic group moved to them from other regions of Inner Asia.

From the second half of the 17th to the beginning of the 20th century, there were ethno-territorial groups of Buryats, which were also divided depending on their place of residence.

Barguts (Buryats) of the Qing Empire:

• old barguts or chipchin
• new barguts

Transbaikal Buryats living in the Transbaikal region:

• Khorinsky
• Barguzinsky
• Aginsky
• Selenga

Irkutsk Buryats living in the Irkutsk region:

• Zakamensky
• Alar
• Oka
• Balagansky or Unginsky
• Kudinsky
• Ida
• Olkhonskie
• Verkholensky
• Nizhneudinsk
• Kudarinsky
• Tunkinsky

Where live

Today, Buryats inhabit the lands where their ancestors originally lived: the Republic of Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal Territory of Russia, the Irkutsk Region and the Hulun Buir District, located in the Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia of the People's Republic of China. In the countries where the Buryats live, they are considered a separate independent nationality or one of the ethnic groups of the Mongols. On the territory of Mongolia, the Buryats and Barguts are divided into different ethnic groups.

Number

The total population of Buryats is about 690,000 people. Of these, approximately 164,000 live in the PRC, 48,000 in Mongolia and about 461,389 in the Russian Federation.

Name

To this day, the origin of the ethnonym “buryaad” is controversial and not fully understood. It was first mentioned in the “Secret History of the Mongols” in 1240, the second time this term was mentioned only at the end of the 19th century. There are several versions of the etymology of the ethnonym:

1. from the expression buru halyadg (looking to the side, outsider).
2. from the word bar (tiger);
3. from the word burikha (to evade);
4. from the word storm (thickets);
5. from the ethnonym Kurykan (Kurikan);
6. from the word bu (ancient and old) and the word oirot (forest peoples). In general, these two words are translated as indigenous (ancient) forest peoples.
7. from the word of Khakass origin pyraat, which goes back to the term buri (wolf) or buri-ata (father wolf). Many ancient Buryat peoples revered the wolf and considered this animal their ancestor. The sound “b” in the Khakass language is pronounced like “p”. Under this name, the Russian Cossacks learned about the ancestors of the Buryats, who lived east of the Khakass. Later, the word “pyraat” was transformed into the word “brother”. The Mongol-speaking population living in Russia began to be called brothers, bratskie mungals and fraternal people. Gradually the name was adopted by the Khori-Buryats, Bulagats, Khondogors and Ekhirits as the common self-name “Buryad”.

Religion

The religion of the Buryats was influenced by the Mongolian tribes and the period of Russian statehood. Initially, like many Mongolian tribes, the Buryats professed shamanism. This set of beliefs is also called pantheism and Tengrism, and the Mongols, in turn, called it khara shashyn, which translates as black faith.

At the end of the 16th century, Buddhism began to spread in Buryatia, and from the 18th century Christianity began to actively develop. Today, all three of these religions exist in the territory where the Buryats live.

Shamanism

The Buryats have always had a special relationship with nature, which was reflected in their ancient faith - shamanism. They revered the sky, considered it the supreme deity and called it the Eternal Blue Sky (Huhe Munhe Tengri). They considered nature and its forces - water, fire, air and sun - to be animate. Rituals were performed outdoors near certain objects. It was believed that in this way it was possible to achieve unity between man and the forces of air, water and fire. Ritual holidays in shamanism are called tailagans, they were held near Lake Baikal, in places that were especially revered. The Buryats influenced spirits through sacrifice and observance of special traditions and rules.

Shamans were a special caste, they combined several characteristics at once: storytellers, healers and psychologists manipulating consciousness. Only a person with shamanic roots could become a shaman. Their rituals were very impressive; sometimes a large number of people, up to several thousand, gathered to watch them. When Christianity and Buddhism began to spread in Buryatia, shamanism began to be oppressed. But this ancient faith lies deeply in the basis of the worldview of the Buryat people and cannot be completely destroyed. To this day, many traditions of shamanism have been preserved, and spiritual monuments and sacred places are an important part of the cultural heritage of the Buryats.

Buddhism

The Buryats living on the eastern bank began to profess Buddhism under the influence of the Mongols living nearby. In the 17th century, one of the forms of Buddhism appeared in Buryatia - Lamaism. The Buryats introduced into Lamaism the attributes of the ancient faith of shamanism: the spiritualization of nature and natural forces, the veneration of guardian spirits. Gradually, the culture of Mongolia and Tibet came to Buryatia. Representatives of this faith, called lamas, were brought to the territory of Transbaikalia, Buddhist monasteries and schools were opened, applied arts were developed and books were published. In 1741, Empress Elizaveta Petrovna signed a decree that recognized Lamaism as one of the official religions on the territory of the Russian Empire. A staff of 150 lamas was officially approved, who were exempt from paying taxes. Datsans became the center of development of Tibetan medicine, philosophy and literature in Buryatia. After the revolution of 1917, all this ceased to exist, the datsans were destroyed and closed, and the lamas were repressed. The revival of Buddhism began again only in the late 1990s, and today Buryatia is the center of Buddhism in Russia.

Christianity

In 1721, the Irkutsk diocese was created in Buryatia, from which the development of Christianity in the republic began. Among the Western Buryats, such holidays as Easter, Elijah's Day, and Christmas have become common. Christianity in Buryatia was greatly hampered by the population's adherence to shamanism and Buddhism. The Russian authorities decided to influence the worldview of the Buryats through Orthodoxy, the construction of monasteries began, the authorities also used such a method as getting rid of taxes subject to the adoption of the Orthodox faith. Marriages between Russians and Buryats began to be encouraged, and already at the beginning of the 20th century, of the total Buryat population, 10% were mestizos. All the efforts of the authorities were not in vain and at the end of the 20th century there were already 85,000 Orthodox Buryats, but with the beginning of the 1917 revolution, the Christian mission was liquidated. Church leaders, especially the most active ones, were exiled to camps or shot. After World War II, some Orthodox churches were revived, but the Orthodox Church was officially recognized in Buryatia only in 1994.

Language

As a result of the era of globalization, in 2002 the Buryat language was listed in the Red Book as endangered. Unlike other Mongolian languages, Buryat has a number of phonetic features and is divided into groups:

• Western Buryat
• Eastern Buryat
• Old Bargut
• Novobargutsky

and dialect groups:

• Alaro-Tunik, widespread to the west of Lake Baikal and is divided into several dialects: Unginsky, Alarsky, Zakamensky and Tunkino-Okinsky;
• Nizhneudinskaya, this dialect is widespread in the western territories of the Buryats;
• Khorinskaya, widespread east of Lake Baikal, is spoken by the majority of Buryats living in Mongolia and a group of Buryats in China. Divided into dialects: North Selenga, Aginsky, Tugnuisky and Khorinsky;
• Seleginskaya, widespread in the south of Buryatia and is divided into dialects: Sartul, Khamnigan and Songolian;
• The Ekhirit-Bulagat group predominates in the Ust-Ordynsky district and the territories of the Baikal region. Dialects: Barguzin, Bokhan, Ehit-Bulagat, Baikal-Kudarin and Olkhon.

The Buryats used the old Mongolian script until the mid-1930s. In 1905, Lama Agvan Dorzhiev developed a writing system called Vagindra. It is worth noting that the Buryats are the only indigenous people of Siberia who own literary monuments and founded their own historical written sources. They were called Buryat chronicles and were written mainly in the 19th century. Buddhist teachers and clergy left behind a rich spiritual heritage, their works, translations on Buddhist philosophy, tantric practices, history and Tibetan medicine. In many datsans of Buryatia there were printing houses in which books were printed using woodblock printing.

Housing

The traditional dwelling of the Buryats is the yurt, which many Mongolian peoples call ger. These people had portable yurts made of felt and yurts made of wood, which were built in one place.

Wooden dwellings were made of logs or logs, were 6- or 8-corner, without windows. There was a large hole in the roof designed for lighting and smoke escape. The roof of the dwelling was installed on 4 pillars, called tengi, and large pieces of coniferous bark were placed on the ceiling with the inside down. Smooth pieces of turf were placed on top.

The door to the yurt was always installed on the south side. Inside, the room was divided into two halves: the right was for men, the left for women. On the right side of the yurt, which belonged to a man, a bow, arrows, a saber, a gun, harness and a saddle hung on the wall. Kitchen utensils were located on the left side. There was a fireplace in the middle of the dwelling, and there were benches along the walls. On the left side were chests and a table for guests. Opposite the entrance there was a shelf with ongons and buhrans - Buddhist sculptures. In front of the dwelling, the Buryats installed a hitching post (serge), which was made in the form of a pillar with an ornament.

Portable yurts are lightweight and easy to assemble and disassemble due to their design. This was very important for the nomadic Buryats, who moved from place to place in search of pastures. In winter, a fire was lit in the hearth to heat the home; in summer it was used as a refrigerator. The lattice frame of the portable yurt was covered with felt, soaked for disinfection with a mixture of salt, tobacco or sour milk. The Buryats sat around the fireplace on quilted felt.

In the 19th century, wealthy Buryats began to build huts, which they borrowed from Russian settlers. But in such huts all the decoration of the elements of the Buryat national home was preserved.

Food

Products of animal and animal-plant origin have always occupied an important place in the Buryat cuisine. They prepared sour milk (kurunga) of a special leaven and dried compressed curd mass for future use. The Buryats drank green tea with milk, to which they added salt, lard or butter, and prepared an alcoholic drink from the distillation of kurunga.

In Buryat cuisine, a significant place is occupied by fish, herbs, spices, strawberries and bird cherry. A very popular dish of national cuisine is smoked Baikal omul. The symbol of Buryat cuisine is buuza, which Russians call poses.

Character

By nature, Buryats are distinguished by their secrecy; they are usually peace-loving and meek, but vindictive and angry if offended. They are compassionate towards relatives and never refuse help to the poor. Despite their outward rudeness, love, justice and honesty towards their neighbors are very developed among the Buryats.

Appearance

The skin color of the Buryat is brown-bronze, the face is flat and wide, the nose is flattened and small. The eyes are small, slanted, mostly black, the mouth is large, the beard is sparse, and the hair on the head is black. Medium or short height, strong build.

Cloth

Each Buryat clan has its own national clothing, which is very diverse, especially for women. The Transbaikal Buryats have a national dress called degel - a type of caftan made from dressed sheepskin. At the top of the chest there is a pubescent triangular notch. The sleeves are also pubescent, narrowing at the wrist. Various types of fur were used for trimming, sometimes very valuable. The caftan was tied at the waist with a belt. A knife and smoking accessories were hung on it: a pouch with tobacco, a flint and a hansa - a small copper pipe with a short chibouk. Three stripes of different colors were sewn into the chest part of the degel: yellow-red at the bottom, black in the middle, and various at the top: green, white, blue. The original version was yellow-red, black and white embroidery.

In bad weather, a sabu was worn on top of the degel; this is a type of overcoat with a large fur collar. In cold weather, especially if the Buryats went on the road, they wore a wide dakha robe, which was sewn with the wool outward from tanned skins.

In summer, degel was sometimes replaced with a caftan made of cloth of the same cut. Often in Transbaikalia in the summer they wore robes, which were made from paper by the poor Buryats and from silk by the rich.

Buryats wore long and narrow pants, made of rough leather, and a shirt made of blue fabric. In winter, high boots made from the skin of foals' legs were worn as footwear; in spring and autumn, boots with pointed toes, called shoe boots, were worn. In summer they wore shoes knitted from horsehair with leather soles.

As headdresses, women and men wore round hats with small brims and a red tassel at the top. The color and details of the dress have their own meaning and symbolism. The pointed top of the cap is a symbol of well-being and prosperity, the silver top of the denze with red coral on the top of the cap symbolizes the sun, which illuminates the entire Universe with its rays. The brushes represent the rays of the sun. The zalaa fluttering at the top of the cap means an invincible spirit and a happy destiny, the sompi knot symbolizes strength and strength. Buryats are very fond of the color blue; for them it is a symbol of the eternal and blue sky.

Women's clothing differed from men's clothing in embroidery and decorations. The female degel is surrounded by blue cloth, and at the top in the back area it is decorated with embroidery in the form of a square. Decorations made of copper and silver buttons and coins are sewn onto the degel. Women's robes consist of a short jacket sewn to a skirt.

As a hairstyle, girls wear braids, braid them in quantities from 10 to 20 and decorate them with a large number of coins. Women wear gold or silver coins and corals around their necks, and huge earrings in their ears, which are supported by a cord thrown over their heads. Polta pendants are worn behind the ears. They wear copper or silver bugaks on their hands - bracelets in the form of hoops.

Men belonging to the clergy cut their hair on the front of their heads and wore a braid at the back, into which horsehair was often woven for thickness.

Life

The Buryats were divided into nomadic and sedentary. The economy was based on cattle breeding; they usually kept 5 types of animals: rams, cows, camels, goats and horses. They were also engaged in traditional crafts - fishing and hunting.

The Buryats were engaged in processing animal wool, skins and tendons. The skins were used to make bedding, saddlery and clothing. Felt, materials for clothing, hats and shoes, and mattresses were made from wool. Tendons were used to make thread material, which was used in the manufacture of ropes and bows. The bones were used to make toys and jewelry, and were used to make arrows and bows.

The meat was used to prepare food, processed using waste-free technology, and made into delicacies and sausages. The spleen of animals was used by women when sewing clothes as an adhesive material. Various products were made from milk.

Culture

Buryat folklore consists of several directions:

• legends
• uligers
• shamanic invocations
• sayings
• fairy tales
• puzzles
• legends
• proverbs
• cult hymns

Musical creativity is represented by various genres, some of them:

• epic tales
• dance songs (the round dance yokhor is especially popular)
• lyrical ritual

Buryats sing various songs of a lyrical, everyday, ritual, table, round dance and dance nature. The Buryats call improvised songs duunuud. The modal basis belongs to the anhemitonic pentatonic scale.

Traditions

The only public holiday in the Republic of Buryatia, when the entire population officially rests, is the first day of the New Year according to the Lunar calendar - the White Month holiday called Sagaalgan.

Other holidays are also celebrated in Buryatia in accordance with religious and national traditions:

• Altargana
• Surkharban
• Yordyn games
• Ancient City Day
• Ulan-Ude Day
• Baikal Day
• Hunnic New Year
• Zura Khural

According to tradition, Buryats invite close neighbors to eat fresh food when they slaughter a ram, bull or horse. If a neighbor could not come, the owner sent him pieces of meat. Days of migration are also considered solemn. On this occasion, the Buryats prepared milk wine, slaughtered sheep and held festivities.

Children occupy an important place in the life of the Buryats. Having many children has always been revered. Parents who have many children enjoy great respect and respect. If there were no children in the family, this was considered a punishment from above; to remain without offspring means the end of the family line. If a Buryat died childless, they said that his fire had gone out. Families in which children often got sick and died turned to shamans and asked them to become godfathers.

From an early age, children were taught knowledge of customs, their native land, traditions of their grandfathers and fathers, and they tried to instill in them work skills. Boys were taught to shoot a bow and ride a horse, girls were taught to take care of babies, carry water, light a fire, wrinkle belts and sheepskin. From an early age, children became shepherds, learned to survive the cold, slept in the open air, went hunting and stayed with the herd for days.

Glossary of Buryat words

ORIGIN AND SETTLEMENT OF THE BURYATS

V. A. Ryazanovsky in his book “Mongolian Law” sets out his version of the origin of the Buryats as follows:
“The first historical information about the Buryats apparently dates back to the 12th century. The chronicles of Yuan-chao-mi-shi, Sanan-Setzen and Rashid Eddin mention the subjugation of the Buryat tribes living beyond Lake Baikal to Genghis Khan. Thus, the chronicle of Sanan-Setzen under 1189 speaks of the Buryat leader Shikgushi, who presented Genghis Khan with a falcon (hawk) as a sign of submission to the Buryat people living at that time near Lake Baikal. The chronicle of Rashid Eddin under 1188 reports the victory of Genghis-Khan. Khan over the Taijiyuts near the Ingoda River, on whose side the leader of the Khori tribe, Sumaji, fought, and under 1200-1201 (594 GE) it is said that Van Khan defeated Tukhta, who went to a place called “Bargudzhin”; “ this place beyond the Selenga River to the East of Mongolia, to a certain tribe of the Mongols, which is called Bargut, this name was adopted for the reason that they lived in this Bargudzhin; and they are still called by this name"). Thus, according to the most ancient historical information that has come down to us, the Buryats originally lived in Transbaikalia, from where they apparently moved south under Genghis Khan). Internal strife in Mongolia, external attacks on it, and the search for new pastures forced the Khalkha Mongols to move north and settle along the river. Selenge, o. Baikal and beyond Baikal (XV-XVII centuries). Here, new newcomers displaced some local tribes, conquered others, mixed with others and formed the modern Buryats, among whom two branches can be distinguished - one with a predominance of the Buryat type - the Buryat-Mongols, ch. arr. northern Buryats, others with a predominance of the Mongolian type—Mongol-Buryats, predominantly southern Buryats. »
On Wikipedia we learn that:
“Modern Buryats were formed, apparently, from various Mongol-speaking groups on the territory of the northern outskirts of the Khanate of Altan Khans, which formed at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. By the 17th century, the Buryats consisted of several tribal groups, the largest of which were the Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khorins and Khongodors. »
“The pastures east of Lake Baikal have been the home of pastoral nomads since time immemorial and, in fact, Genghis Khan was born on the Onon south of the modern Russian border. (Onon (Mong. Onon gol) is a river in northeastern Mongolia and Russia. Upper reaches Onon is one of the supposed places where Genghis Khan was born and raised. According to legend, he is buried here. Wikipedia) Thus, this fact gives the Buryats living in the east of Lake Baikal reason to consider themselves “pure Mongols.” These tribes included "the Tabanut, Atagan and Khori" - the latter also lived on the western shore of Lake Baikal and on the large island "Oikhon" (in Russian Olkhon). Other Mongol tribes - "the Bulagat, Ekherit and Khongodor" - settled around Lake Baikal and near the valley of the Angara River which flows from the southern end of the lake. Here and in the neighboring valleys reaching the headwaters of the Lena River they found meadow steppes that could be used as pasture for their horses and cattle. These Mongols, who settled in Tungussk and other forest inhabitants, became the Western Buryats. "₁

In his book, “La chasse à l’âme” dedicated mainly to Buryat shamanism, Roberte Hamayon talks about the first mentions of the Buryats:
« p.44 Sources anciennes
The names of the tribes that would later form the Buryat ethnos appear in the Secret History of the Mongols “Histoire secrète des Mongols” (we are talking about a text produced in the Mongolian environment, but known only from Chinese transcription dated 1240 (...) The tribe ekires or ikires appears in this text , part of which had long since joined the future Chinggis Khan, this part of the tribe was included in 1206, along with the Bulugan people (Bulugan (la tribu bulagazin?)) in the federation of tribes of felt tents (tribus aux tentures de feutre), the ancestors of the Ekhirites and Bulagatov of the Baikal region; the "qori-tümed" tribe, mentioned among the "forest people" who conquered in 1207, whose descendants are the Khori of Transbaikalia; as well as the Buriyad tribe (burijad), also included in the "forest people" and conquered in 1207, historically different from the previous ones), a genealogical narrative about the family of Genghis Khan. This chronicle is believed to contain data on the relations between tribes and clans in the pre-imperial era, on relations of cooperation and revenge that fit into the frame of shamanic actions, and which are found in a similar form in the Baikal region of the 19th century. During this era, the Mongol court favorably accepted all foreign religions, while at the same time trying to curb the shamans, no longer wanting to allow a division of power with them (a division of power that would turn out to be characteristic of shamanism, and therefore incompatible with state centralization); The Mongol court was tolerant of marginalized people, but Genghis Khan, during his rise to supreme power, eliminated the shaman Kököcü, nicknamed Teb Tengeri, who intended to use his powers.
The tribes mentioned were forgotten until their entry into the Russian Empire in the mid-17th century.

LIFE BEFORE THE ARRIVAL OF THE RUSSIAN COLONIZERS

The Buryats in eastern Lake Baikal have retained the traditional Mongolian lifestyle based on raising horses and livestock, roaming between pastures and living in portable felt-lined tents [yurts]. On the western shore of the lake, however, some of them adopted a sedentary lifestyle, learning to build wooden houses - octagonal with a smoke hole in the center of the pyramidal roof - and cultivate dry fodder and crops such as millet, barley and buckwheat. Hunting played a significant role in the life of all Mongols; it is known that the Buryats organized large joint hunts with several clans. In the relatively advanced Buryat culture, the use of iron was an important feature from ancient times, and as in other Siberian communities, the blacksmiths who forged weapons, axes, knives, pots, harnesses and silver jewelry enjoyed an almost supernatural status.
Like all Mongols before the 16th century, the Buryats were shamanists. However, this took a more complex form compared to other Siberian communities, since they not only revered spirits related to natural phenomena (in honor of which they built cairns (oboo) in sacred places) but also had a polysyllabic pantheon consisting of 99 deities as well as their many progenitors and offspring. In highly developed mythology, fire was especially revered. The shamans themselves—mainly a hereditary caste—were divided into two types: “white” shamans who served heavenly deities, and “black” shamans who served the gods of the underworld. The Buryat shamans differed from the Tungus and Ket shamans in that their ecstatic dance was not accompanied by a tambourine; they used a small bell and a wooden hobby horse in their rituals. The central ritual in the religious practice of the Buryats, like all Mongolian shamanists, was a blood sacrifice to the heavenly god Tengri, during which a horse (usually white) was killed and its skin was hung on a long pole. Shamanism, the religion of Genghis Khan, persisted until the end of the 16th century, when Buddhism from Tibet quickly spread among the Mongols. The Buryats, be that as it may, abandoned their ancestral religion only a century later, and in fact the Buryats living on the eastern shore of Lake Baikal adopted Buddhism, while the forest Buryats to the west remained faithful to shamanism.
Living on the border between the northern forests and the steppes of Inner Asia, the Buryat Mongols were intermediaries in barter trade, exchanging their cattle, hardware and grain for furs (from the Tungus and other forest dwellers), these goods were in turn exchanged for Chinese textiles, jewelry and silver.
The Buryats were a large people (at least 30,000 people in the 17th century) unlike most of the aborigines of Siberia. Their social organization was also highly developed. Clan heads (khans or taishis) formed a hereditary aristocracy that wielded considerable power over ordinary clan members; a class of wealthy pastoralists (noyons) also existed, especially in eastern Buryatia. However, rights to pastures and meadows were considered common, and a system of mutual aid operated within the clan (Russian Marxist writers argued that this was just a pretext for the exploitation of the poor by the rich). In the 17th century, differences had already developed in the social structure of the Western Buryats, which contained many traditional tribal characteristics; as for the eastern Buryats, their connection with the Mongols led them to the road of feudalism
As Mongol tribes, the Buryats were part of the borders of the empire of Genghis Khan in the 13th century, but historians disagree about the participation of the Buryats in the campaigns of the army of Genghis [yet, it seems to me, the more popular opinion is that the Buryats were among the Mongols in position of vassals, like the Russians]. What is clear is what they shared. Even in the west, however, hereditary clan heads used their power to subjugate neighboring tribes, forcing the latter to pay tribute. Buryat clan heads also formed armed men from their vassals in case of war. Thus, before the arrival of the Russians, many tribes of the Tungus, Samoyeds and Kets living between Lake Baikal and the Yenisei were in the position of subjects of the peoples, either the Buryat Mongols or the Kyrgyz Turks.
the Mongol tradition of military organization, effective cavalry tactics and the use of the bow and arrow. As a result, they represented a much more formidable enemy for the Russians than the primitive tribes of Central Siberia. At a certain point during the Russian war against the Buryats, the servicemen in the Verkholensk fortress were so besieged that they wrote a letter to Tsar Mikhail: “Spare us, your slaves, lord, and command that in the… fort two hundred mounted men be garrisoned…(… )…because, lord, the Buryats have many mounted warriors who fight in armor…and helmets, while we, lord, your slaves, are ill-clad, having no armours...”[couldn’t find the original in Russian] from “Colonial Policy” in Yakutia."

BURYAT AND MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES

The Buryat language belongs to the Mongolian family. The Mongolian language is currently based on the Khalkha dialect. Many words are identical in Buryat and Khalkhas, such as gar "hand", ger "house", ulaan "red" and khoyor "two", but there are also some systematic sound differences. For example, water in the Buryat language is uha, while in Mongolian it is us. Other similar differences:
Hara month sar
Seseg flower tsetseg
Morin horse mor
Üder day ödor
In the grammar of the Buryat language, personal verb endings have been preserved, for example. Bi yabanab, shi yabanash, tere yabna "I go, you go, he goes", whereas Mongolian has only one form yabna for "I go, you go, he goes".
The Buryat language contains many Turkic words (the result of long contact with the Turkic peoples of Inner Asia and Western Siberia), as well as borrowings from Chinese, Sanskrit, Tibetan, Manchu and other languages.
FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT BURYATS AMONG THE RUSSIANS
The first rumors among Russians about the Buryats appeared in 1609. The Russian expedition to Tomsk was sent to subjugate the tribes on the eastern bank of the Yenisei and impose tribute on them. The Russians learned from the Kets and Samoyeds that they had already paid yasak to the Buryats, who lived over the mountains in the Ida valley and sometimes came for tribute. Therefore, the Russians met the Ida Buryats only 20 years later.[The Buryats must have even been rumored to be a serious enemy to the Russians]
In 1625, Russians from Yeniseisk, taking yasak from the Tungus, first heard about the Buryat Mongols in this region.
The so-called They decided to explore and conquer this land.
Buryat wars - a series of campaigns, raids and counter-attacks. The main incentive for the Russians to conquer the Buryat lands was the rumor of silver deposits
The first meeting between Russians and Buryats took place in 1628 at the mouth of the river in this area.
Okie
[Forsyth]. At that time, the Russians did not receive tribute from the Buryats, but defeated them, taking their wives and children as prisoners. The following year, the Cossack commander Beketov (having advanced far along the Oka) successfully took the dues from the Buryats. By the end of the capture of the Angara valley by the Russians, forts had already been founded: Bratsk (from the word “brother”), Idinsk, Irkutsk (founded in 1652 as a yasak outpost).
Buryat resistance continued in other territories. On the Angara, the main anti-Russian campaigns took place in 1634 (when the brotherly fort was burned), they continued throughout 1638-41.
The largest Buryat uprising occurred in 1644. The Russian newcomers were robbers and marauders. A large riot occurred across the Buryat territories in 1695-1696, when Irkutsk was besieged.
Because In the 1640s, the hope of expelling the Russians evaporated, some of the Ekhirit Buryats moved down Lake Baikal to Mongolia. In 1658, Russian settlers defeated the Amekhabat Buryat tribes, forcing them to leave the territory now occupied by the Russians. In the same year, most of the Bulagat Buryats also moved to Mongolia
The Russian occupation of the Trans-Baikal lands forced the indigenous inhabitants (those who did not want to pay yasak) to leave their territory.
Numerous Hori Buryat tribes, after several years of struggle with Russian gangs, were forced in the early 1650s. leave their lands on both sides of Lake Baikal and move to northern Mongolia. Unfortunately, at that time Mongolia was not a hospitable refuge.

GETTING IN CONTACT WITH THE RUSSIANS

In the west, the Ekhirit-Bulagati, seeing them as invaders at first during the first meetings in 1627-1628, received them poorly and made the life of the Cossacks quite difficult. They will organize uprisings against their presence, such as on the Lena in 1644-1665. They are in the very dawn, they live by hunting, they have horses that allow them to increase the profitability of their raids. They keep the small peoples of the Tofalars, Kets, and Tungus in obedience. Therefore, they perceive the Russians as rivals. In addition, the Angara valley, in which the Bulagats reigned, is valuable for its fertile land. This attracts Russian settlers. Ehirit Bulagati began paying taxes in 1662, and after 2 years they were declared as subordinates, although they themselves recognized this only in 1818.
On the contrary, the Khori, who want to protect themselves from the Mongols, receive the first Cossacks quite kindly; the Russian presence is less dense than in the Baikal region and the weight of it is felt more slowly.
Ryazanovsky's version looks a little different:
“They came at the beginning of the 17th century. In eastern Siberia, the Russians found the Buryats in modern places. The Russians received the first information about the Buryats in 1609 from the “desar people” who paid yasak to the “brotherly people”. In 1612, the Buryats attacked the Arin tribe, which had submitted to the Russians. In 1614, among other native tribes besieging Tomsk, “brothers” were also mentioned. In 1621, we also find mention of the Buryats harassing the Tomsk service people. By 1622, there was information that the Buryats were among 3 thousand people, not counting the tributaries, went to war against the Arinians and other Kansk foreigners. Thus, the Buryats represented a warlike and numerous people, which the Russian conquerors could not help but pay attention to. In 1628, centurion Pyotr Beketov from Yeniseisk with 30 Cossacks "He reached the mouth of the Oka River and took the first tribute from the Buryats living here. From that time on, the gradual subjugation of the Buryat tribes to Russian power began. This subordination did not happen immediately and rarely voluntarily."

FIGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIANS

But despite the resistance of local residents, the Russians stubbornly move further east
“For half a century (and even longer), the warlike Buryats stubbornly resisted the conquerors. They entered into open battles, refused to pay tribute, the defeated rebelled again, often provoked by the cruelty and robbery of the conquerors, attacked the Russians, besieged the forts, sometimes destroyed them, went to new places, and finally went to Mongolia. However, the Russians, although slowly, gained superiority over the Buryats and subjugated them.
In 1631, Ataman Perfilyev built the first fort on Buryat land, called “brotherly”, which, however, was destroyed by the Buryats in 1635 and restored again in 1636; in 1646, Ataman Kolesnikov reached the Angara and at the mouth of the river Osy built a fort; the Balagansky fort was built in 1654, and the Irkutsk fort in 1661. Almost simultaneously with the described advance, the Russians began advancing beyond Baikal from Yakutsk, which arose in 1632 and soon became an independent voivodeship. In 1641 . the Verkholensky fort was built, in 1643 the Russians reached Baikal and occupied the island of Olkhon, in 1648 the boyar's son Galkin reached the mouth of the Barguzin River and built the Barguzinsky fort here, which became a stronghold of the Russians in Transbaikalia In 1652 Pyotr Beketov from Yeniseisk he reached the Selsiga river and founded the fort of Ust-Prorva, in 1653 he reached Khilk and Irgen and built the Irgen fort, and then Nerchinsky. However, the next year he was forced to leave his occupied places. But the Russian advance to the east continued . In 1658, the Telembinsky fort was built and the Nerchinsky fort, burned by the Tungus, was again restored, in 1665 - Udinsky, Selenginsky and others. Gradually, the entire Transbaikalia was subordinated to the Russians - with all the Buryat, Tungus and other native tribes living there. But in Transbaikalia, the Russians met a new enemy, faced with the rights of the Khalkha princes, who had long considered Transbaikalia their possession and made repeated attempts to drive the Russians out by force. In 1687 the Mongols besieged the Selenginsky fort, and in 1688 the Verkholensky fort, but in both cases they suffered a severe failure. After this, a number of Mongolian taishas and sites became Russian subjects. In 1689, steward Golovin concluded the Treaty of Nerchinsk with China, according to which the entire Transbaikalia with all immigrants from Mongolia was recognized as Russian possession. As for the isolated Tunka region, its annexation occurred somewhat later. The Tunkinsky fort was built in 1709 and the region was subordinated to Russian influence in the half of the 18th century. »
Ryazanovsky further notes:
“When the Russians conquered eastern Siberia, the Buryats were divided into three main tribes: the Bulagats, who lived mainly in the area of ​​the river. Angaras, ekhirits - in the area of ​​the river. Lena and Khorin people - in Transbaikalia. This division continues to this day. The tribes, in turn, are divided into clans. In addition, here there are groups of clans who migrated from Mongolia (along the Selenga River, in Tunka and other places), mixed with the local Buryats, some of them still retain a certain isolation. “[sometimes it seems to me that various “divisions” are a kind of Buryat hobby. Many Buryats know what clan they come from].

ETHNONYM BURYATS

Explanations of the ethnonym "Buryat" are numerous and sometimes unconvincing.
According to Zoriktuev, the Baikal Buryats were called buraad from buraa, forest, with the suffix d, which means a group of people, hence buraad
Egunov puts forward another version, according to which the self-name is “forest people”.
Buryaad comes from the Turkic word “bürè”
Only since the 19th century have the name “Buryats” been regularly used in official Russian documents. The first Cossack registers called them "brothers" or "brotherly" and called their land fraternal land. " (wolf). The wolf was the totem of some Western Buryat clans.
[For some reason, the “kangaroo” story comes to mind: Russian Cossacks, having met representatives of one of the Baikal tribes, ask who they are. To which the Baikal residents respond that they live in the forests, “buraa”. Russians, for better memorization, look for a consonant and, most importantly, simple word in their vocabulary. And this is where the “brothers” came from.]
At least only in the face of the dangers of colonization, because the Baikal groups prioritize their clan identity, there is rivalry between the clans, and therefore often the adoption of a “common” name is only for show.
This name has survived over time, and through the vicissitudes of colonization, as well as linguistic proximity, serves to create a common identity among previously isolated groups (and sometimes enemy tribes), and later this name will help to form an ethnic group.
Even the Hori will take this name, which will allow them to distinguish themselves from the Mongols and will contribute to their integration into the Russian Empire, granting them the legal personality already received by the Baikal Buryats.
For everyone, this name concretizes the sense of identity that emerged for some from opposition to Russian penetration, for others it is opposition to the claims of Mongol suzerainty.
Buryats call Russians in everyday life "mangad" this term in the epic designates the enemy of the hero, the one who occupies his territory, appropriates his property, his wife, and who for this harm caused to him is punished to be defeated, although he is stronger, but in return he is awarded a posthumous the cult of "bon mâle" because in battle he showed himself to be brave (or honest).[This is the most common version, although some Buryats do not agree with this.
In the end, all names, etc. can be interpreted in different ways, fortunately there is abundant material: legends, songs, written narratives, in which words consonant with this appear. ]

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