Population The population of the region is 202.9 thousand people. National composition: Russians – 60%, Altaians – approx. 30% (mainly in Ulagansky, Ust-Kansky, Ongudaysky districts), Kazakhs - approx. 6% (mainly in the Kosh-Agach region), as well as Old Believers, recognized as indigenous in the republic

Abakan is the capital of the Republic of Khakassia, which is a subject Russian Federation. The main industrial, financial, political, cultural and scientific centers of the entire republic are located within the city limits. The population of Abakan makes up 35% of the entire Khakassia. It is diverse and unique in its own way ethnic composition. This city is one of the examples of international cohesion and friendship, which unites more than 100 nationalities.

Historical reference

According to scientists, the first settlements on the territory of the republic arose more than 300 thousand years ago. Khakassia is known throughout the world as the site of many ancient finds and archaeological sites. More than one developed here. Bloody wars were fought on the territory, including the Mongol invasion.

At the end of the 17th century, the fate of Khakassia was more or less determined. Russian pioneers built the Abakan fort, which dates back to 1675. From this moment the history of the city begins. The population of Abakan at that time consisted of those who participated in the construction of the fort. Under Peter I, Khakassia finally became part of Russia. Its lands gradually began to be developed and populated. The main occupation of peasants during this period was agriculture.

Abakan in the 19th-20th centuries

Mineral deposits have been found on the territory of Khakassia, which leads to the development of industry in this region. However, production in the current capital of the republic began a century later. At the beginning of the 1800s, the population of Abakan increased to 90 settlements. Despite the nascent development, the level of medicine and education left much to be desired, which directly affected the demographic situation.

At the beginning of the 20th century, before the October Revolution, Khakassia had a unique economy, which included several political structures mixed with each other. The arrival of Soviet power played a major role in the development of this city: a decision was made on the strategic and economic transformation of the village of Ust-Abakanskoye into the center of Khakassia. A path was passed from the settlement to the administrative center of the second level. The historical name of the village was preserved, renaming the city Abakan. New ones have started to open here educational establishments, cultural centers. Industry and the agricultural sector were actively developing.

Geographical location and climate

Abakan is the center of the Asian continent, located in Southern Siberia. The city is located between the confluence of the Yenisei and Abakan rivers. The territory is 250 meters above sea level. Time zone is +8 UTC, the difference with Moscow is +4 hours. The climate is continental, but under the influence of hydroelectric power stations and industrial enterprises it is more mild in the city. Temperatures in winter can drop to 30 degrees below zero, but generally do not exceed -20. In summer the thermometer reaches +30.

The city is interesting for its unique nature. Tourists come to admire the mountainous terrain. Non-residents enjoy exploring caves, conquering ridge tops and exploring plains.

Population of Abakan: national composition

During the birth of the capital, the territory was developed by Russian pioneer workers. Their numbers reached more than 50% of the total ethnic composition. The population of the city of Abakan, in addition, consisted of indigenous people - Khakassians. This is a people with deep Turkic roots. Historians call them “Yenisei Tatars.” The population of the city of Abakan, accounted for by Khakass during its formation, was about 40%. The rest, 1-2%, came from other nationalities. These included:

• Ukrainians;
• Belarusians;
• Poles;
• Germans;
• Chuvash and others.

Over the years, the composition of the population has undergone changes. Currently, more than 80% of the total population of the republic are Slavs. The indigenous population has decreased significantly: their share does not exceed 20%.

Demographic situation in 2000

From the end of 1900 to 2006, the population of Abakan remained virtually unchanged and amounted to 166.2 thousand people. Compared to 1993, the number of residents has increased. Although at the beginning of the second millennium the demographic situation in the republic worsened: birth rates fell, the number of pensioners increased, and the total number decreased by several hundred people.

If we evaluate the population census figures for 2000 and 2010, the population of Abakan gradually declined, losing about 3 thousand people over the decade. The main reasons for this situation are reduced life expectancy and low birth rates.

Factors of population decline

The decline in the number of citizens at the beginning of 2000 is associated with an increase in mortality due to diseases and causes of a violent nature. There was a reduction in life expectancy to 60 years. Diseases that claim a large number of lives every year include the following pathologies:

• of cardio-vascular system;
• injuries incompatible with life;
• malignant neoplasms.

Approximately 20% of the total population decline is attributed to violent death. Of these, about half are associated with road accidents, and the rest are crimes: murder and serious injury. In addition, the composition of the population was not updated enough: the birth rate decreased. With the development of medical technologies and the improvement of the quality of life in the city, indicators began to rise.

City population in 2010-2015

Statistics from the second decade of 2000 indicate changes in the demographic situation in the country. The city of Abakan was also included in these statistics. The population in 2010 was 165.2 thousand people, and after five years the figures increased by 11 thousand.

The changes are due not only to an improvement in the birth rate and the quality of medical care, but also to the development of the capital. More and more people are purchasing real estate here and getting jobs. The city is becoming one of the main cultural, political and economic centers of the Republic of Khakassia, which certainly attracts residents.

Population for 2016

The demographic situation continues to grow: in January of this year, census data indicate an increase in citizens. Abakan significantly improves its indicator. The population is approaching 180 thousand. The average increase in one year was 2,950 people. The population density per square meter is 1,562 inhabitants. At the moment we can talk about a positive demographic situation.

Overall, these are very good data for a second-level administrative unit. Every year the capital is developing more and more, which contributes to the influx of population from other regions of the Russian Federation. At the moment, it is known that Abakan is inhabited by many nationalities, among which the bulk are Russians and Khakass.

Religious views

The indigenous inhabitants - the Khakass - had cults of shamanism during the founding of the city. The main deities were: fire, sky, sun, motherhood. Ancestors, their culture and way of life were highly revered. The main traditions of the Khakass people were associated with elements of clothing and culinary preferences. Over time, most of the population accepted the Orthodox faith.

Nowadays, many nationalities that belong to different faiths are concentrated in Abakan. Of course, the majority of residents adhere to Christianity. About 10 Orthodox churches were built in the city. There are also religious buildings for Catholics. About a thousand Muslims are eagerly awaiting the completion of the mosque within the city.

Abakan is a developed administrative center of Khakassia, which has a centuries-old history and unique nature. Since the formation of the fort, the population mixed, the number was constantly changing. The fate of the city was largely determined by the decisions of the Soviet government to turn it into the center of Khakassia. This, of course, had a positive impact on the demographic situation not only in the country, but also in the capital itself.

Khakassians- (self-name - “Tadar”) - a Turkic-speaking people living in Southern Siberia on the left bank of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin. The traditional religion is shamanism; in the 19th century many were baptized into Orthodoxy (often by force).
The Khakass themselves considered themselves born from mountain spirits. The term " Khakassians" denotes the medieval population of the Minusinsk basin. Modern Khakassians continue to call themselves spoken language"tadar". As V. Ya. Butanaev noted, the word “Khakas” is artificial and has not yet taken root in the language of the indigenous population of Khakassia. The term “Khakas”, taken from books, to designate the indigenous population of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin was officially adopted in the first years of Soviet power. Until this time, the ethnonym “tadarlar” (Russian Tatars) was used as the self-name of the indigenous population. The word “Khakas” was absent from the language, toponymy and folklore of the indigenous population of Khakassia. The new term was not immediately and unanimously supported by the bulk of the indigenous population.

Number of Khakass people

The total number of Khakass people in Russia compared to the 2002 census data (75.6 thousand people) decreased and amounted to 72,959 people according to the results of the 2010 census.

The Khakass people are divided into subethnic groups :

• Kachins (Haash, Khaas) - mentioned in Russian sources for the first time since 1608, when service people entered the land ruled by Prince Tulka;
• Koibals (Khoibal) - in addition to the Turkic-speaking groups, according to some data, they included groups that communicated in the dialect of the Kamasin language, which belonged to the southern subgroup of the Samoyed group of languages ​​of the Ural language family;
• Sagais (sagai) - mentioned for the first time in the news of Rashid ad-Din about the Mongol conquests; The first mentions in Russian documents date back to 1620, when it was stated that they “had an order not to pay yasak and to beat yasak people.” Among the Sagais, the Beltyrs (Piltir) are known as an ethnographic group; previously, the Biryusinians (Purus) were also distinguished.
• Kyzyls (Khyzyl) - a group of Khakass people located in the Black Iyus valley on the territory of the Shirinsky and Ordzhonikidze districts of the Republic of Khakassia;
  The Teleuts, Telengits, Chulyms, and Shors are close to the Khakass ethnic group in terms of cultural and linguistic characteristics.

History of the Khakass people

Khakassia is located in the valleys of the Yenisei and Abakan rivers. In the north-west it borders with the Kemerovo region, in the south and south-west with the Altai Mountains and Tuva. The southern border of Khakassia runs along the ridges of the western Sayan. The name of the ridge goes back to the Khakass “soyan” - “Tuvian” and translated means “Tuva Mountains”. Among the snowy peaks of the Western Sayan Mountains, the majestic five-domed Borus stands out - a mountain peak sacred to every Khakass. As legends say, in ancient times there lived the prophetic old man Borus. Anticipating a global flood, he built a ship where he put all the animals and birds. When the water began to subside, Borus landed on land, this was the top of the Sayan ridge. The great Yenisei, which the Khakass call “Kim,” flows through the Khakass-Minusinsk basin.
An excursion into the history of the ethnogenesis of the Khakass people makes it possible to identify the deep forms of national culture, determined by the adaptation of the people to the environmental conditions of Siberia. The history of the Khakass ethnic group goes back far into the past. The territory of Khakassia was inhabited before our era. The ancient population of Khakassia had already reached a very significant cultural level. This is evidenced by numerous burial mounds, rock paintings, and artistic items made of gold and bronze, which delight all archaeologists in the world. Excavations of burial mounds have given us objects from the Stone, Bronze and Iron Ages. Conventionally, individual stages are called by archaeologists the Afanasyev era (III-II millennium BC, Old Stone and Bronze Ages), Andronovo era (mid-II millennium BC). Karasuk era (XIII-VIII centuries BC). Tatar era (VII-II centuries BC, Iron Age), Tashtyk era (I century BC-V century AD).
For the first time in the middle of the first millennium BC, ancient Chinese chronicles call the indigenous population of the Yenisei Valley Dinlins, describing them as blond and blue-eyed. “The study of information about the Dinlins revealed that data about them appeared in sources of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. The earliest of them are legendary. These are ideas about living in northern lands eternal horsemen, as if fused with their horses, about peculiar centaurs.”
At the beginning of the new era, there was a widespread development of steppe spaces as a zone of extensive cattle breeding and irrigated agriculture, which led to the formation of the First and Second Turkic Khaganates of the 6th-8th centuries. By the middle of the first millennium of the new era, a nomadic civilization was emerging, its material culture, a new complex of spiritual cultural values, different from the previous era, where, along with the storage of cultural elements, a new art and heroic epic were emerging. During this period of economics and culture in Southern Siberia, on the banks of the Yenisei, in the 6th century. the original state of the ancient Khakass (Kyrgyz) was born, who, according to L.R. Kyzlasov, in the VI-VIII centuries. represented the early feudal monarchy. It occupied the entire territory of Southern Siberia: the Altai Mountains, Tuva and the Khakass-Minusinsk basin to the Angara in the north. During its heyday, it was home to a multi-ethnic population total number about two million people. It was a highly developed state with great economic potential, a stable, highly organized social structure. In this way it differed from the huge but quickly disintegrating khaganates of the ancient Turks, Uyghurs, Turgeshes and others. “This state did not become an ephemeral steppe empire like the Turkic (VI-VIII centuries) or Uyghur (VIII-IX centuries) Khaganates. Relying on a solid base of socio-economic and cultural development, it existed for about 800 years, dying under the brutal blows of the empire of the ancient Mongol feudal lords in 1293.”
Historians note that complex irrigation systems were used on the territory of modern Khakassia; residents sowed millet, wheat, Himalayan barley, rye, and oats. Copper, silver and gold mines and iron-making furnaces were located in the mountains. The country was famous for the art of blacksmiths and jewelers. Medieval Khakassia is famous for its monumental cities. “The ancient Khakass architectural school was the northern end of the Central Asian branch of Central Asian medieval architecture.” Researcher G.N. Potanin also writes (1877): “The Khakass had settled settlements with dwellings, they had a lot of gold things, they left a calendar, which served as the basis for other calendars. There were probably temples of Tannu or Jirku, which contained granite statues. I saw one on Diangul. Judging by this example, the sculpture was brought to considerable perfection. There was a huge class of priests, free from taxes, who owned some secrets of mining art, fortune telling, knowledge of the heavenly bodies and healing. The Khakass sultans lived north of Sayan, or at least between Tannu and Sayan.”
However, the conquests of the ancient Mongol feudal lords opened the chain of progressive development of the historical process. The greatest cultural achievement was lost - the Yenisei runic writing. As L. R. Kyzlasov, a researcher of the history of Southern Siberia, writes, not only the forward movement was stopped, but the Sayan-Altai ethnic groups were fragmented and thrown back in their development compared to the cultural level of the state of the medieval Khakass. Consequently, the cultural center of civilization in Southern Siberia was damaged, which tragically affected the historical fate of the population of the ancient Khakass state.
In Russian historical documents, the Khakass, called “Yenisei Kyrgyz,” are mentioned already at the beginning of the 17th century. At the beginning of the 17th century, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were divided into several small feudal uluses, whose power at that time extended along the Yenisei valley from the Sayan ridge in the south to the Bolshoi Rapid (below Krasnoyarsk) in the north. The main nomadic areas of the Kyrgyz were in the upper Chulym basin.
According to the anthropological type, the Khakass belong to the Mongoloid race, while traces of the influence of Europeans are clearly visible. Appearance ancient Khakass heroes are depicted as follows: “having white skin, with black bird cherry eyes and a round head.”
Ethnically, the Yenisei Kyrgyz were a small Turkic-speaking group, descendants of the medieval Yenisei Kyrgyz, whose state was mentioned in the Chinese chronicle of the Tang dynasty under the name "Hagis".
The political structure of the Kyrgyz at the beginning of the 17th century was characterized by a hierarchical structure: at the head of all uluses was the chief prince, each ulus was headed by its own prince, who had “ulus people” dependent on him. Russian documents name the Turkic-speaking Kachins, Agins, Kyzyls, Arguns, Shusts, Sagais, dependent on the Kyrgyz princes, as well as Keto-speaking and Samoyed-speaking tribes.
IN socially The Kyrgyz were heterogeneous: the bulk of the population were ordinary cattle breeders - “ulus men”. The tribal elite consisted of princes, whose power was hereditary. The princes kept prisoners captured during raids as slaves. The Kyshtymydanniks were subjected to cruel exploitation, and the princely elite enriched themselves at their expense.
The Yenisei Kyrgyz remained in their places only until the beginning of the 18th century. From that time on, most of them fell under the rule of the Dzungar Khan and were forcibly resettled. Most of the Kyrgyz Kyshtyms, who were in the stage of decomposition of the primitive communal system, are the closest historical ancestors of modern Khakass.
The traditional occupation of the Khakass is semi-nomadic cattle breeding. The Khakass kept horses, close-up cattle and sheep, and in some places they raised pigs and poultry. Hunting in the taiga, mainly among the Kyzyls, occupied a significant place in the economy of the Khakass. In the Sayan Mountains they hunted musk deer. In autumn, the subtaiga population of Khakassia collected pine nuts, berries and mushrooms.
Until the middle of the 17th century, none of the Russian people had any idea about life along the banks of the Yenisei, or about the indigenous peoples, or about the Khakass-Minusinsk basin with its developed culture for that time. Monuments of this culture - open-air museums - are located throughout the territory Krasnoyarsk Territory and Khakassia. And although they are today separated by administrative boundaries, the history and culture of the Siberian land cannot be separated.
Russian development of the Yenisei region began at the turn of the 16th and 17th centuries from the northern territories, rich in furs, fish, forests and moved towards the south, where more favorable climatic and natural conditions. At the turn of the 16th-17th centuries, Russian explorers entered the Yenisei basin. Making their way from the North, from the direction of “gold-boiling Mangazeya,” the Cossacks founded the city of Mangazeya in 1601 in the lower reaches of the Taza River. For a short historical time, this city became the center of further penetration of Russians deep into the territory of Siberia. The routes from the city of Mangazei led to the Yenisei River and its tributaries, which were inhabited by Samoyed tribes (Enets and Nganasans), Yenisei Ostyaks (Kets) and a large group of northwestern Tungus tribes. Over time, Mangazeya and then Turukhansk districts were formed in these territories. The last stage of Russian development of the banks of the Yenisei was access to the Khakass steppes and the foothills of the Sayan Mountains.
The Kyrgyz princes organized military raids of the Khakass on the lands of the Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, and Yenisei districts, killed or took people captive, and stole livestock. The Russian authorities adhered mainly to defensive tactics. Attacks on Russian settlements were ultimately disastrous for the Khakassians, since in the middle of the 17th century the Mongol khans and Dzungar rulers began to carry out devastating raids on the lands of the Khakassians. Then the Khakass turned to the Siberian governors with a request to build a fort on their land and found a favorable response from the Russians. Khakassia became part of Russia in 1707, when Tsar Peter I signed a Decree on the construction of a fort in Khakassia. In August 1707, servicemen from Tomsk, Kuznetsk, Krasnoyarsk and Yeniseisk built the Abakan fort (on the site of the now flooded village of Krasnoturanskoye), in which a military garrison remained. For the first time in the last century, peaceful life began here.
True, the Dzungar rulers still continued to send their tribute collectors, but the Russian government undertook the construction of a defensive line, settling Cossacks on it. In 1718, near the village of Oznachenny (now the city of Sayanogorsk), the Sayan fort was erected - the last stronghold on the thousand-mile journey of Russian explorers.
With the construction of several forts in the Khakass-Minusinsk region, entire systems began to emerge there settlements. The Khakass-Minusinsk Territory includes the territory of modern Khakassia and the southern regions of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Due to geographical and historical features this region has always had some cultural specificity, especially in the second quarter of the 18th century - the time of its final annexation to Russia. The peculiarity of the region lies in the fact that its inclusion in the Russian state occurred much later than other Siberian regions. It is also important that this region has its own unique specific climatic and landscape conditions, which differ sharply from neighboring territories. It is no coincidence that the term “Minusinsk region” was recently used to designate this part of Siberia. Currently, given the political and cultural realities of today, the term “Khakass-Minusinsk region” is widely used.
The core of Russian old-timers in this area, formed in the 18th century, were descendants of immigrants from the northern regions of European Russia. The development of the region by Russians was relatively peaceful. This, in our opinion, can be explained by the fact that for most of the Turkic-speaking ethnic groups of Southern Siberia and the Khakass ethnic group in particular, Russian advancement completely fit into their accepted picture of the universe, and the first contacts with the Russians did not in any way contradict the Central Asian relations of “citizenship - subordination” " These forms of state dependence have been known since ancient times throughout Central Asia, and in Russian statehood itself they appeared following the example of the Golden Horde, acquiring a complete form in the Muscovite kingdom.
As a result, already in the second half of the 18th century, entire contact zones of joint settlement of the newcomer Russian and indigenous Khakass populations emerged in the region. Due to more favorable conditions for farming on the Right Bank of the Yenisei, here 19th century an area of ​​predominantly Russian settlement was formed, and the Khakass concentrated on the left bank of the Yenisei. And yet, areas with a monoethnic composition of the population practically did not exist in the region. This contributed to the emergence of both cultural and kinship relations between the Russians and the Khakass.
Russian peasants played a special role in the ethnic interaction between Khakassians and Russians. They arrived mostly without families, so the process of unification took place through interethnic marriages. This type of marriage allowed both Russians and local residents to more successfully solve economic, social and everyday problems. Especially many such marriages took place in the 17th century.
In the second half of the 18th century, the Russian population in the Khakass-Minusinsk region increased significantly. The replacement of arable land with government tithes and grain dues with cash payments in 1762 increased the freedom of movement of Siberian peasants. The share of furs in yasak (tax in kind) also steadily decreased, which was caused by the predatory extermination of fur-bearing animals and the deepening economic specialization of Khakassian farms. With each passing decade, the milk-free supply of yasak was ensured not so much by the inviolability of yasak lands and the absence of Russians in them, but by the proximity of Russian villages, where it was possible to earn the amounts necessary for payments or sell the raised livestock (“Tatars often go to Russian villages for periods of harvesting and mowing sen").
Compared to the first half of the 18th century, the influx of population into the Khakass-Minusinsk region from the northern Siberian districts, especially from the Yenisei district, became more noticeable. There, many villages lost most of their inhabitants. Thus, the peasants of the village of Tomilovo of the Podporozhny court in 1765 “for lack of arable land” moved to Iyus in the villages of Sosnovaya, Toilutskaya, Amalinskaya. By 1769, only two courtyards remained in the old place.
Since the 70s of the 18th century, in general, the influx from other places amounted to about 25% of the total increase in the Russian population of the Khakass-Minusinsk region.
In a number of areas most suitable for farming, Russians and Khakass lived alternately, as local authorities protected the land interests of yasak people. The Khakass, as a whole ulus or individually, received official ownership documents for the “ancestral” and free land - “data”. This contributed to the establishment of economic and ethnocultural contacts with the Russians.
Thus, the inclusion of Khakassia into the Russian state in the second quarter of the 18th century played a huge role. Progressive was the deliverance of the Khakass people from devastating wars by the Mongol and Dzungar feudal lords. The Khakassians gained the opportunity to overcome centuries of fragmentation and unite into a single nation, which received the right to further historical development. Along with the consolidation of the Khakass people in the center of the Khakass-Minusinsk basin, on its outskirts there was a process of partial assimilation of the indigenous population by Russians.

Culture of the Khakass people

Culture of the Khakass people- part of the world heritage. Its historical basis consists of values ​​created over centuries. It identified Turkic, Sino-Confucian, Indo-Tibetan and Russian-European components, indicating active contacts of the ancestors of the Khakass with other ethnic groups in various periods of history. In the formation and development of Khakass culture important role played by shamanism and Christianity. They became part of the self-awareness and mentality of the people. In general, if by genesis Khakassia is connected with the East, then through the Russian language and Russian culture it is connected with the West.
IN formation of Khakass culture A major role was played by the close connection of man with nature and dependence on its forces. A difficult life in conditions of isolation and distance from others, the struggle for existence in harsh natural and climatic conditions has formed in people such a character trait as collectivism. Among the Khakass, friendship and camaraderie have always been highly valued, and loneliness has always been condemned, which is reflected in the following proverbs: “A friendly life is long, an unfriendly life is short,” “Starve together, thirst together, but do not abandon a friend.”
Mutual assistance among the Khakass has always been an important form of communication between people. Its content is quite broad. This includes hospitality, which was seen as a source of sympathy, mutual understanding and support, pity for the elderly, small children, orphans, and the poor. Any person here is greeted as welcome; neighbors always share food with each other, tools, etc. Compliance with the custom of mutual assistance is reflected in the following Khakass sayings: “Give a horse to a man without a horse, give clothes to a man without clothes,” “Death has a duty” (i.e., the one who came to help at a funeral, in case of an accident with him, must be helped), “The name of the guest is connected with the stomach of the neighbors” (i.e. when feasting with guests, neighbors are invited).
In the etiquette of public life of both Khakassians and Russians great importance has hospitality. A common feature of the two peoples is extreme cordiality, sometimes reaching the point of self-sacrifice.
Reception and visiting are frequent events in the everyday life of the peoples of Siberia. This is caused by the mobile nature of the lifestyle of nomads - cattle breeders, hunters, reindeer herders. A guest among the Khakassians is always a welcome person, since in the past people here lived in very small groups, and the thirst for communication with a “new” person always existed. She in itself often served as the reason for a person to “get up” from his place, get on a horse and go many dozens of miles away to visit a friend or relative.
Guests were invited for any occasion: neighbors in the event of livestock slaughter, the entire neighborhood for a wedding or holidays. Reception of guests begins with their meeting. The etiquette of all the peoples of Siberia requires the host himself and his closest male relatives to greet guests. General features The greeting ritual includes the following behavioral elements: raised right hand, good wishes. A fairly common feature is the two-handed greeting, expressing special respect or warm feelings. When greeting, Khakassians ask: “Is everything okay with you?”, “Are you healthy?” After these words, it is customary, first of all, to inquire about the health of the livestock: “How are your livestock doing?” Since these peoples in the past were differentiated socially, the position of the interlocutor was always taken into account in the process of communication, which is partly reflected today in the existence of more respectful and less respectful etiquette formulas. Now respectful phrases are addressed to older people - for example, instead of the usual greeting they say: “Allow me to inquire about your health.” Elders must always be addressed as you.
After greetings, it is customary to seat guests in a place of honor, first of all let them drink kumis or tea, and be sure to first engage them in a “decent”, that is, uninformative conversation about the weather, the route that the arrivals followed, health, etc. And only after that Decency allowed us to begin the meal.
Hospitality also occupied one of the first places in the village ethics of Russian settlers, so not accepting a guest or refusing an invitation was considered a manifestation of ignorance. “Come, godfather, to drink tea”, “you are welcome”, “thank you for the treat” - these are the stable verbal formulas that existed in the Yenisei region. They invariably observe courtesy and respect for each other. The guest was offered the best place at the table and the best treat, and he, in turn, should not show arrogance and be moderate in food and drink. In the village they said: “For an arrogant guest, even the door is floored,” “It’s easy to treat a well-fed guest,” “It’s not a shame to leave someone else’s table without eating.” It was customary to thank the hostess for “bread and salt” with a low bow. A characteristic custom for Russian people is to invite passers-by and visitors into the house, feed him and, if possible, calm him down. They did not take money from passers-by; There was a proverb: “Bread and salt wins the robber.”
A special place in the psychological characteristics of the Khakass is occupied by the stable traditions of the cult of ancestors, parents, and elders. It should be emphasized that respect for elders is a quality especially valued by many Asian peoples. People of venerable age personified wisdom and were the main guardians of worldly wisdom and experience, and norms of behavior. Khakass children received the basic principles of the people's picket for their future adult life from elders, from proverbs and sayings: “Ask the elder for blessings, the younger for the word”, “Respect the elders, do not offend the younger”, “Revere the oldest - years your debts will be, protect the youngest - your days will be bright.”
The above examples indicate that the behavior of adults towards children was colored by restraint, gentleness, and respect, which did not contradict the attitudes of subordination to adults and respect towards them. According to folk traditions, it is not customary for children to be beaten or humiliated in any other way. Such actions were everywhere perceived as a sign of adult weakness. Among the Khakass, children were forbidden to stand on the threshold, sit with both hands on the ground, put their hands behind their backs, sit with their arms wrapped around their legs, or clap their hands (a sign of mourning).
Among the peoples of Southern Siberia, it was customary to play a game with children, asking the names of their ancestors up to a certain (now up to the seventh, and in the old days up to the twelfth or more) generation, always presenting a reward for complete answers. This game has become a kind of etiquette detail of the custom of hospitality and at the same time effective means reproduction of genealogical memory, which, as is known, is the ideological basis of the social organization of nomads.
The cult of ancestors and parents is closely connected with love for native places, caring attitude towards the flora and fauna of the native land. The Khakass's attachment to them is closely connected with the fact that their life is spent in daily communication with living nature, without which they do not recognize themselves. They worshiped sacred mountains and trees, spreading the “golden rule of morality” to the entire world around them, expressed through certain taboos, which partly had a religious overtones. For example, you cannot make noise in the forest, as it needs silence, cut down a tree at night, as it is sleeping, or cross a stream or river without permission. It was believed that any violation by a person of harmony, balance in whole world inevitably entails punishment in the form of loss of harvest, hunting failures, illness, family misfortunes, physical death and, worst of all, the death of the soul through the extinction of the race.
One of the important values ​​of the traditional culture of the Khakass is the attitude towards work: “If you don’t put in the work, you won’t get a hat”, “A hardworking person’s children don’t go hungry”, “He who works well has grease on his lips, but a lazy person has dirt on his head” . By the age of seven, the child was considered mature. Boys from the age of five or six were accustomed to horses, and from the age of eight he tended cattle. From the age of thirteen, children participated in harvesting, mowing hay, and from the age of fifteen, boys went hunting with their father. Girls with early age trained to do housework. At the age of thirteen they knew how to bake bread, and at seventeen they sewed fur coats, dresses, and shoes on their own.
One of the comparative parameters that most clearly reflects the value orientations of cultures is their attitude to time. Both Russian and Khakass culture are characterized by adherence to traditions and an appeal to the past as the basis for the present.
Thus, we can note such common value positions of Khakass culture and the culture of Russian settlers as collectivism, mutual assistance, hard work, hospitality, careful attitude to nature, respect for elders, adherence to traditions. All of the listed prevailing orientations characterize typically Eastern values.
In the cultural tradition of the Chaldons of the Khakass-Minusinsk region, a certain degree of foreign ethnic influences is evident. They are especially clearly manifested in the spiritual sphere of old-timer culture, namely, in folklore, folk beliefs, medicine. In addition, many elements of the traditional culture of the old residents of this region were significantly influenced by the cultural traditions of the indigenous population. Thus, processes of intercultural communications and mutual influence of cultures took place.
In the process of interaction with the Russians, the Khakass learned European agriculture, adopted technology and systems, and sowed new crops. Thus, already in the 17th century, winter and spring rye, barley, oats, wheat, peas, buckwheat, millet, and hemp appeared in the fields. Vegetable crops grown in the gardens included carrots, cabbage, turnips, onions, garlic, and cucumbers. The ratio of sowing of various agricultural crops as a percentage in the 80-90s of the 18th century was as follows: spring rye - 33.7%, winter rye - 26.8, wheat - 17.0, oats - 13.6, barley - 6 ,3, flax, hemp and peas - 2.6%. As the land was developed, the share of spring crops steadily increased.
Under the influence of the Russians, the Khakass moved from primitive forms of farming to higher and more intensive ones. To cultivate the land, they used a plow with iron coulters. A wooden harrow was used for harrowing. Other equipment they constantly used were sickles, pink salmon scythes, and axes. The condition for the existence of a peasant household was the presence of draft animals. The Russians bought horses from the local population.
Until the half of the 19th century, the most common type of Khakass dwelling was a non-lattice portable yurt, and later - a lattice, birch bark, felt one. People lived in felt yurts “kiis ib” in winter, and in birch bark “tos ib” in summer. The portable yurt was the dwelling of cattle breeders and had much in common with the yurts of the Kalmyks, Tuvans, Altaians, and Buryats.
During the 19th century, portable yurts were gradually replaced by permanent housing - the Russian log hut and the log polygonal yurt "Agas Ib", in which people lived in the summer. In the middle of the yurt there was a fireplace on the earthen floor. The furniture included beds, shelves, forged chests, and carved cabinets. The yurt was decorated with felt carpets, colorful embroidery, and appliqués on leather. Ethnic characteristics are also manifested in the fact that these log houses were traditionally divided into two halves from the beginning - male and female. On the male (left, southern) half there were household items: saddles, lassos, bridles, leather, etc. The other half (right, northern) was considered female; the shelves contained dishes, utensils, women's and children's accessories. The dominant type of winter dwelling became the log hut - “tura”, which indicated the strengthening of the settled way of life of the Khakass population. Log houses were of two types: one-room and five-walled with glazed windows. The Khakass themselves made household utensils from wood, birch bark and clay. Later, purchased glass, porcelain and metal dishes and household items appeared in the everyday life of the Khakass, which were made by Russians. In the Minusinsk Museum named after N.M. Martyanov you can see a Khakass yurt, in which there is a variety of colored glassware (red, blue), representing the products of the Znamensky plant, located near the city of Minusinsk.
The interior furnishings of the yurt, the quantity and quality of household items differed sharply between wealthy and ordinary Khakassians. The rich man's yurt was furnished with good furniture. Among the household items there were many things made in Russia. So, various dishes and boxes were placed on the shelves. Chests decorated with iron plates took up a lot of space. The space between the shelves with boxes and chests on the left and right front sides of the yurt was covered with carpets, and the table was covered with a tablecloth.
The winter home of the poor Khakass was a half-earth hut with windows (chir ib). The walls were made of two rows of birch fence, the gap between which was filled with earth. The inside of the fence was lined with boards. The floor was earthen and the roof was flat. In the right rear corner of the door, on a raised platform, there was a fireplace with an adobe pipe called a chuval (sool). Subsequently, in the process of interaction with Russian settlers, significant changes occurred in the design of this type of housing. The walls, inside and out, were thickly coated with clay and whitewashed. They made a gable roof and a wooden floor. Instead of the chuval, a Russian stove appeared. So this dwelling took the form of a Russian hut. Instead of “chir ib” they began to call it “chir tura” (earth house).
Another winter dwelling was a quadrangular, single-chamber hut with windows, called a sool among the Khakass. The corners were cut into a castle or strengthened into pillars. The floor was earthen, the flat roof was covered with earth. The window was covered with peritoneum (kharyn). Two stoves were placed in the right rear corner of the door. One of them with an open hearth and a straight chimney served for heat and light. The other was for cooking, it was adjacent to the first. Both ovens are called sool, hence the name of the dwelling - sool.
Ethnocultural interaction between the Khakass and Russian old-timers of the Khakass-Minusinsk region also took place in the sphere traditional medicine. Both among the Khakassians and among the Russian old-timers of the Khakass-Minusinsk region, traditional medicine was widespread until the beginning of the 20th century. This was facilitated by a number of different reasons. First of all, it was influenced by the lack of a sufficient number of medical institutions and qualified medical workers in the region. A large number of and the variety of diseases was due to the hard work of the pastoralist and farmer, as well as living conditions.
The basis of folk medical knowledge, ideas about diseases and methods of treating them is not only folk experience, but also religious beliefs. Thus, the basis of the traditional worldview of the Khakass is shamanism. Accordingly, shamanic mystical treatment among the Khakass was the main one, supplemented by elements of traditional medicine and partly scientific medicine with its medications.
It can be summarized that in an indirect way - the traditional medicine of Russian old-timers - the rich, centuries-old heritage of the indigenous peoples of the Khakass-Minusinsk region, whose roots go back to ancient times, was perceived.
In general, Russian old-timers, on the one hand, preserved the traditional ethnic basis of folk medical knowledge, which was determined by the characteristic religious worldview and social conditions of life, on the other hand, they significantly expanded and enriched it through the various components of Khakass folk medicine, and indirectly through the latter - due to the medical knowledge of the peoples of Sayan-Altai and the East.
In the sphere of linguistic relationships, processes of assimilation took place. The Khakass language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altai language family. It is divided into four dialects: Sagai, Kachin, Kyzyl and Shor. Based on Kachin and Sagai, it was formed literary language and writing appeared. In the late Middle Ages, literacy was taught in Mongolia, Dzungaria, and, possibly, in China. Russian archives contain Khakass messages of the 17th-18th centuries, written both in Mongolian and “...in their own Tatar scripts.”
In the 30s of the 20th century, Khakass writing was created based on Latin script. Modern Khakass writing was created in 1939 on the basis of Russian graphics.
If initially communication between Russians and Khakass was difficult, then gradually the Khakass, as economic and everyday ties strengthened, began to master the Russian language. In the 30s of the 19th century in the Minusinsk district, only up to 50 Khakass spoke Russian.
Processes of interaction also took place in the sphere of folk art. The archaic nature of the Khakass language is preserved in the rich Khakass folklore, the genres of which are diverse: fairy tales, legends, heroic tales, legends, proverbs, sayings. The most widespread genre of Khakass folklore is the heroic epic of the alypt nymakhs. This ancient layer of folk art is a unique monument that reflects the history of the Khakass people, the peculiarities of their worldview and aesthetic ideas.
The development of musical culture was greatly facilitated by the love of the Khakassians themselves for music. Academician V.V. Radlov, who came to Siberia and led a large Russian academic expedition in 1891 to discover and study runic inscriptions in Khakassia and Tuva, stated that “a penchant for epic poetry was already characteristic of the ancient Khakassians.
Heroic tales are a kind of chronicle of the centuries-old history of the Khakass people, their struggle against numerous enemies and oppressors. They enjoyed the greatest popularity, and we find confirmation of this popularity from another collector of works of oral folk art, V. Verbitsky: “In the ulus, young people are packed to capacity in the hut of the old storyteller to listen to the legend to the soothing accompaniment of the chatkhan. But adults also love to listen to fairy tales. The storytellers-singers, these button accordions and homers, own more than one epic from the past life of these peoples.”
Most of the Khakass heroic tales are authentic in their content. folk works. In them we find the struggle between good and evil, stories about the lives and exploits of heroes. There are a number of legends about heroes, among which the most popular are: “Albynzhi”, “Altyn Aryg”, “Khara Khuskhun riding a black horse”, “Khan Kichigei” and others.
In the traditional culture of the Khakass, the folk art that synthesizes into a monolithic whole is haiji. The haiji were the keepers and disseminators of heroic tales. They awakened cheerfulness and optimism in their listeners, instilling strength and energy to fight for justice.
Khakass culture adopted many elements of the material and spiritual culture of the Russians: agriculture and gardening began to actively develop, the types of housing and clothing changed. The adoption of Christianity had a great influence on Khakass culture. However, the influence of Russian culture as a whole did not change the traditional ways of adapting the Khakass to their natural environment. On the contrary, the Russians in Khakassia tried to adopt them and adapt them for their roots here. An example of this can be the significant expansion and enrichment of folk medical knowledge due to the various components of Khakass folk medicine; borrowing some elements of clothing, methods of harvesting and consuming wild herbs and berries.