The Buryats are the most ancient people of Baikal. The most beautiful Buryats Famous Buryats
The name "Buryats" comes from the Mongolian root "bul", which means "forest man", "hunter". So the Mongols called the numerous tribes that lived on both banks of Lake Baikal. The Buryats were among the first victims of the Mongol conquests and paid tribute to the Mongol khans for four and a half centuries. Through Mongolia, the Tibetan form of Buddhism, Lamaism, penetrated into the Buryat lands.
At the beginning of the 17th century, before the arrival of the Russians in Eastern Siberia, the Buryat tribes on both sides of Lake Baikal still did not constitute a single nationality. However, the Cossacks did not soon succeed in subduing them. Officially, Transbaikalia, where the bulk of the Buryat tribes lived, was annexed to Russia in 1689 in accordance with the Nerchinsk Treaty concluded with China. But in fact, the process of accession was completed only in 1727, when the Russian-Mongolian border was drawn.
Even earlier, by decree of Peter I, “indigenous nomad camps” were allocated for the compact residence of the Buryats - territories along the rivers Kerulen, Onon, Selenga. The establishment of the state border led to the isolation of the Buryat tribes from the rest of the Mongolian world and the beginning of their formation into a single people. In 1741, the Russian government appointed a supreme lama for the Buryats.
It is no coincidence that the Buryats had a lively attachment to the Russian sovereign. For example, when in 1812 they learned about the fire of Moscow, they could hardly be kept from a campaign against the French.
During the Civil War, Buryatia was occupied by American troops, who replaced the Japanese here. After the expulsion of the interventionists in Transbaikalia, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Republic was created with its center in the city of Verkhneudinsk, later renamed Ulan-Ude.
In 1958, the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR was transformed into the Buryat ASSR, and after the collapse of the Soviet Union, into the Republic of Buryatia.
The Buryats are one of the most numerous nationalities inhabiting the territory of Siberia. Today their number in Russia is more than 250 thousand. However, in 2002, by decision of UNESCO, the Buryat language was listed in the "Red Book" as endangered - a sad result of the era of globalization.
Pre-revolutionary Russian ethnographers noted that the Buryats have a strong physique, but in general they are prone to obesity.
Murder among them is an almost unheard-of crime. However, they are excellent hunters; the Buryats boldly go for a bear, accompanied only by their dog.
In mutual treatment, the Buryats are courteous: when greeting, they give each other their right hand, and with their left they grab it higher than the hand. Like the Kalmyks, they do not kiss their lovers, but sniff them.
The Buryats had an ancient custom of honoring the white color, which, in their view, personified pure, sacred, noble. To put a person on white felt meant to wish him well-being. Persons of noble origin considered themselves white-boned, and the poor - black-boned. As a sign of belonging to the white bone, the rich set up yurts made of white felt.
Many will probably be surprised when they find out that the Buryats have only one holiday a year. But on the other hand, it lasts a long time, which is why it is called the “white month”. According to the European calendar, its beginning falls on the cheese week, and sometimes on Shrovetide itself.
For a long time, the Buryats have developed a system of ecological principles, in which nature was considered as a fundamental condition for all well-being and wealth, joy and health. According to local laws, the desecration and destruction of nature entailed severe corporal punishment, up to and including the death penalty.
From ancient times, the Buryats revered holy places, which were nothing more than nature reserves in the modern sense of the word. They were under the protection of age-old religions - Buddhism and shamanism. It was these holy places that helped preserve and save from inevitable destruction a number of representatives of the Siberian flora and fauna, the natural resources of ecological systems and landscapes.
The Buryats have a particularly careful and touching attitude towards Baikal: from time immemorial it has been considered a sacred and great sea (Ehe dalai). God forbid on its shores to utter a rude word, not to mention abuse and quarrel. Perhaps in the 21st century we will finally realize that it is precisely this attitude towards nature that should be called civilization.
Glossary of Buryat words
LIFE BEFORE THE COMING OF THE RUSSIAN COLONIZERS
BURYAT AND MONGOLIAN LANGUAGES
THE FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT THE BURYATS AMONG THE RUSSIANS
GETTING INTO CONTACT WITH THE RUSSIANS
Two main Buryat tribes
Different attitudes towards Russian colonizers
FIGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIANS
ETHNONYM OF BURYATS
Buryat-Mongols in 1700-1907
RUSSIAN POLICY TOWARDS THE BURYATS
Charter of 1822 on the management of foreigners Speransky
BURYATS PROTECT THE BORDER
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN EASTERN AND WESTERN BURYATS
RELIGIOUS QUESTION (2 CHURCHES)
LAMAISM
CULTURE AND EDUCATION
Literacy among Western and Eastern Buryats
EARLY 20TH CENTURY
REVOLUTION
SOCIALISM
Buryats after World War II
Bibliography
Glossary of Buryat words
Ajl house, yurt, family, group of yurtsAjmak Mongolian province
Ajrag fermented milk (often mares)
Arxi Milk-based alcohol
Burxan spirit, sometimes Buddha
Duun song
Ëxor Buryat dance around
Taabari mystery
Mangadxaj antihero, evil zoomorphic creature
Nojon Mongolian aristocrat
Oboo place of worship (holy places). A heap of stones or bundles of brushwood, often at the foot of a hill
Serzem the liquid offered during the sacrifice
Surxarban summer Buryat games
Tajlgan summer shaman ritual
Ul'ger Buryat epic
Ulus family, yurt, house, group of yurts
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 annals of Yuan-chao-mi-shih, Sanan-Setsen and Rashid Eddin mention the subjugation of the Buryat tribes living beyond Baikal to Genghis Khan. So, in the annals of Sanan-Setsen, under 1189, it is said about the leader of the Buryats, Shikgushi, who brought a falcon (hawk) to Genghis Khan as a sign of obedience to the Buryat people, who lived at that time near Lake Baikal. khan over the Taijiuts near the Ingoda River, on whose side the leader of the Khori tribe Sumaji fought, and under 1200-1201 (594 gezhdra) it is said that Van Khan defeated Tukhta, who went to a place called "Bargudzhin"; this is a place across the Selenga River to the East of Mongolia, to a tribe of Mongols 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, the search for new pastures forced the Mongols of Khalkha to move north, to settle along the river. Selenge, about. Baikal and beyond Baikal (XV-XVII centuries). Here, newcomers displaced some local tribes, conquered others, mixed with others and formed the modern Buryats, among which 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 are Mongol-Buryats, mainly 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 Altan-Khan Khanate, which took shape at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th centuries. By the 17th century, the Buryats consisted of several tribal groups, the largest among which were Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khorints and Khongodors. »
“The pastures east of Lake Baikal have been the home of pastoral nomads since time immemorial and indeed 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. Onona is one of the alleged places where Genghis Khan was born and grew up. According to legend, he was buried here. Wikipedia) Thus, this fact gives the Buryats living in the east of Baikal reason to consider themselves "pure Mongols". These tribes included "the Tabanut, Atagan and Khori" (Tabanuts, Atagans 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" (Bulagats, Ekhirits and Khongodors) - 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 up to the headwaters of the Lena River, they found meadow steppes that could be used as pastures for their horses and cattle. These Mongols, who settled in Tungussk and other inhabitants of the forests, became the Western Buryats. »₁
In his book, "La chasse à l'âme", devoted mainly to Buryat shamanism, Roberte Hamayon tells about the first mention of the Buryats:
p.44 Sources anciennes
The names of the tribes that later form the Buryat ethnos appear in the Secret History of the Mongols “Histoire secrète des Mongols” (we are talking about a text made in the Mongolian environment, but known only from Chinese transcription dated 1240 (...) The tribe ekires or ikires appears in this text , part of which joined the future Genghis Khan for a long time, 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 submitted in 1207, whose descendants are the Khori of Transbaikalia; as well as the Buriyad (burijad) tribe, also ranked among the “forest people”, and submitted in 1207, historically different from the previous ones), a genealogical narrative about the clan of Genghis Khan. This chronicle is considered to contain data on the relations between tribes and clans in the pre-imperial era, on the relations of cooperation and revenge, which fit into the frame of shamanic actions, and which are found in a similar form in the Baikal region of the 19th century. In this era, the Mongol court favorably accepted all foreign religions, while at the same time striving 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 marginals, but Genghis Khan, during his rise to supreme power, eliminated the Kököcü shaman, nicknamed Teb Tengeri, who intended to use his powers.
The mentioned tribes are forgotten before their entry into the Russian Empire in the middle of the 17th century.
LIFE BEFORE THE COMING OF THE RUSSIAN COLONIZERS
The Buryats in the east of Lake Baikal have preserved the traditional Mongolian lifestyle based on horse and cattle breeding, 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 hole for smoke in the center of the pyramidal roof - and to 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 culture of the Buryats, the use of iron has been an important feature since ancient times, and like other Siberian communities, 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 on a more complex form compared to other Siberian communities, as 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 numerous 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 served the heavenly deities, and "black" ones, who served the gods of the underworld. The Buryat shamans differed from the Tungus and Ket ones in that their ecstatic dance was not accompanied by a tambourine, they used a small bell and a wooden horse (hobby horse) in their rituals. The central ritual in the religious practice of the Buryats, like all Mongols-shamanists, was the blood sacrifice "blood sacrifice" to the heavenly god Tengri, during this sacrifice 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, however, left their ancestral religion only after a century, 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 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, in turn, were exchanged for Chinese textiles, jewelry and silver.
The Buryats were a numerous people (at least 30,000 people in the 17th century), unlike most of the natives 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. Nevertheless, the rights to pastures and meadows were considered common, and a system of mutual assistance 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, in the social structure of the Western Buryats, which contained many traditional tribal properties, differences had already developed; as for the Eastern Buryats, their connection with the Mongols led them to the road of feudalism
Being 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 [and yet, it seems to me, the more popular opinion is that the Mongols had Buryats in position of vassals, like the Russians]. It is clear that they shared. Even in the west, however, hereditary clan chiefs used their power to subdue neighboring tribes, forcing the latter to pay tribute. The 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 among the Buryat Mongols or the Kyrgyz Turks.
the Mongol tradition of military organization, efficient mounted 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 some point during the Russian war against the Buryats, the service people 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 armour…and helmets, while we, lord, your slaves, are ill-clad, having no armours…" [could not find the original in Russian] from Colonial Politics 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 ödör
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, Manchurian, and other languages.
THE FIRST INFORMATION ABOUT THE BURYATS AMONG THE RUSSIANS
The first rumors among Russians about the Buryats appeared in 1609. A 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 beyond the mountains in the Idin valley and sometimes came for tribute. Therefore, the Russians met the Ida Buryats only 20 years later.
In 1625, Russians from Yeniseisk, having taken yasak from the Tungus, first heard about the Buryat Mongols in this region.
Followed by 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 a rumor about silver deposits.
The first meeting of the Russians with the Buryats took place in 1628 at the mouth of the river in this area.
Oki
[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 quitrent 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 (was 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 fraternal fort was burned), they continued during 1638-41.
The largest Buryat uprising took place in 1644. Russian aliens were robbers and marauders. A great rebellion took place in 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 the Baikal to Mongolia. In 1658, Russian settlers defeated the tribes of the Amekhabat Buryats, 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 people (those who did not want to pay yasak) to leave their territory.
Numerous tribes of Khori Buryats, 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 haven.
GETTING INTO CONTACT WITH THE RUSSIANS
Two main Buryat tribesDifferent attitudes towards Russian colonizers
In the west, the Ekhirit-Bulagaty, seeing them as invaders at first during the first meetings in 1627-1628, received them poorly and made the life of the Cossacks rather 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 rounds. They keep the small peoples of the Tofalars, Kets, 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. Ekhirit Bulagaty began to pay tribute in 1662, and after 2 years they are declared as subordinates, although they themselves recognize this only in 1818.
On the contrary, Khori, who want to defend themselves from the Mongols, are quite kindly accepting the first Cossacks, the Russian presence is less dense than in the Baikal region and the weight from 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. thousand people, not counting tributaries, went to war against the Arins 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 Peter Beketov from Yeniseisk with 30 Cossacks reached the mouth of the Oka River and took the first yasak from the Buryats living here. Since that time, the gradual subordination of the Buryat tribes to Russian power begins. This subordination did not happen immediately and rarely voluntarily. "
FIGHT AGAINST THE RUSSIANS
But despite the resistance of the locals, the Russians stubbornly move further east.
“For half a century (and even longer) the warlike Buryats put up stubborn resistance to the conquerors. They entered into open battles, refused to pay yasak, the vanquished rebelled again, often provoked by the cruelty and robbery of the conquerors, attacked the Russians, besieged prisons, sometimes destroyed them, left for new places, and finally left for Mongolia. However, the Russians, albeit slowly, but gained an advantage over the Buryats, subordinated them to themselves.
In 1631, ataman Perfilyev built the first prison on Buryat land, called "fraternal", which, however, was destroyed by the Buryats in 1635 and renewed again in 1636; in 1646, ataman Kolesnikov reached the Angara and at the mouth of the river Osy built an ostrog, in 1654 the Balagansky ostrog was built, and the Irkutsk ostrog in 1661. Almost simultaneously with the described advance, the Russian advance beyond Baikal began from Yakutsk, which arose in 1632 and soon became an independent voivodeship. The Verkholensky prison was built, in 1643 the Russians reached Baikal and occupied the island of Olkhon, in 1648 the boyar son Galkin reached the mouth of the Barguzin River and built the Barguzinsky prison here, which became a stronghold of the Russians in Transbaikalia In 1652, Pyotr Beketov from Yeniseisk he reached the river Selsiga and founded the prison of Ust-Prorva, in 1653 he reached Khilok and Irgen and built the Irgen prison, and then Nerchinsk. . In 1658, the Telembinsky prison was built and the Nerchinsk prison, burned by the Tungus, was restored again, in 1665, Udinsky, Selenginsky and others. Gradually, all of Transbaikalia was subordinated to the Russians - - with all the Buryat, Tungus and other native tribes living there. But in Transbaikalia, the Russians met with a new enemy, faced with the rights of the Khalkha princes, who for a long time considered Transbaikalia their possession and made repeated attempts to drive the Russians away by force. In 1687, the Mongols besieged the Selenginsky prison, in 1688 Verkholensky, but in both cases they suffered a severe setback. After that, a number of Mongolian taishas and sites passed into Russian citizenship. In 1689, the stolnik Golovin concluded the Nerchinsk treaty with China, according to which all of Transbaikalia with all immigrants from Mongolia was recognized as a Russian possession. As for the Tunkinsky region, which stands apart, its annexation took place somewhat later. The Tunkinsky prison was built in 1709 and the region was subject to Russian influence in the middle of the 18th century. »
Ryazanovsky further remarks:
“When the Russians conquered eastern Siberia, the Buryats were divided into three main tribes: the Bulagats, who lived mainly in the region of the river. Angara, Ekhirity - in the area of the river. Lenas and Khorintsy - in Transbaikalia. This division continues to this day. The tribes are in turn divided into tribes. In addition, here there are groups of clans - migrants from Mongolia (along the Selenga River, in Tunka and other places), mixed with 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 kind they come from].
ETHNONYM OF BURYATS
Explanations for the ethnonym "Buryats" 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 "fraternal" and called their land fraternal land. " (wolf). The wolf was the totem of some clans of the Western Buryats.
[For some reason, the story of the "kangaroo" comes to mind: Russian Cossacks, having met representatives of one of the Baikal tribes, ask about who they are. To which the Baikal people answer that they live in the forests, "buraa". Russians, for better memorization, are looking for a consonant and most important simple word in their vocabulary. And that's where the "brothers" came from.]
At least only in the face of the dangers of colonization, because the Baikal groups primarily put their clan identity, there is rivalry between clans, therefore often the adoption of a "common" name only for the species.
This name has survived over time, and through the vicissitudes of colonization, as well as due to 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 ethnos.
Even the Khori will take this name, which will allow them to distinguish themselves from the Mongols and facilitate their integration into the Russian Empire, granting them the legal personality already received by the Baikal Buryats.
For all, 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.
The Buryats call the Russians in everyday life "mangad" this term in the epic denotes the enemy of the hero, the one who occupies his territory, appropriates his property, his wife, and who is punished for this harm caused to them 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, since there is abundant material: legends, songs, written narratives, in which words consonant with this appear. ]
Part two -->
In terms of language and culture, the peoples include Mongols and Kalmyks.
Believers confess and.
The following are the most beautiful, according to the author, known ki.
20th place: Anna Markakova(born April 8, 1992) - Miss 2011, Beauty of Buryatia 2011. Represented Buryatia at the Miss Russia 2011 contest. Height 178 cm, figure parameters 86-60-89. VKontakte page - https://vk.com/anna_mark
Buryat Anna Markakova Miss 2011, Beauty of Buryatia 2011
19th place: Dulma Sunrapova(b. November 15, 1985, the village of Tsokto-Khangil, Trans-Baikal Territory) - Skye singer. VK page - https://vk.com/dulmasunrapovahttp://www.theatre-baikal.ru/repertoire/"> Buryat State National Theater of Song and Dance “” (Ulan-Ude), People's Artist of the Republic. Toured in South Korea , Taiwan, UAE, Greece, Spain, Germany, Poland, Holland Page in Odnoklassniki - http://www.odnoklassniki.ru/profile/194241150705
img" class="aligncenter" src="http://top-antropos.com/images/20/Burjatki/%D0%95%D0%BB%D0%B5%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0 %9C%D0%B0%D1%80%D0%B4%D0%B0%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%20%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE.jpg " alt="beautiful Buryat woman Elena Mardaeva
16th place: Natalya Zhamsoeva- winner of the Moscow Beauty of Buryatia 2007 contest, representative of Buryatia at the Beauty of Russia 2008 contest. Height 168 cm, figure parameters 83-64-92. VK page - https://vk.com/id144218255
15th place: Julia 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 of 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“. She toured with the theater in Europe and Russian cities. She was awarded diplomas and letters of thanks from the Ministry of Culture of the Republic. VK page - https://vk.com/id90942937
img" class="aligncenter" src="http://top-antropos.com/images/20/Burjatki/%D0%90%D1%80%D1%8E%D0%BD%D0%B0%20%D0 %91%D1%83%D0%B1%D0%B5%D0%B5%D0%B2%D0%B0%20%D1%84%D0%BE%D1%82%D0%BE.jpg" alt=" Arjuna Bubeeva Beauty of Buryatia 2010, Miss Asia Alma Mater 2012 photo" border="0">!}
11th place: Ayuna Albasheeva- Beauty of Buryatia 2006.
10th place: Alena Albasheeva- Beauty of Buryatia 1999. Alena is the elder 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 the 4th place. On March 15, 2013, a 22-year-old girl died from heart disease - cardiomyopathy.
8th place: Evgenia Shagdarova- the winner of the competition "Top Model of Buryatia", a participant in the third season of the TV 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, parameters 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.
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2nd place: Madegma Dorzhieva is a singer, composer, professional pianist, producer. Winner of numerous international competitions and festivals. The repertoire includes ancient 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 parameters 86-60-88. VK page - https://vk.com/maria_shantanova
Buryat Maria Shantanova model. photo
Buryats (self-name - buryaad, buryaaduud)
A look from the past
"Description of all the peoples living in the Russian state" 1772-1776:
The Buryats and Tungus worship the sun, the moon, fire, etc. as lower deities. They also have various idols of both sexes, which they recognize as household gods - this is similar to the primitive religion of all Siberian peoples. Lamas, who are also doctors, although they do not heal with anything other than spells, form a special hierarchy and are subordinate to the supreme lama in Transbaikalia (in Russian, lord lamait). The Buryats have no holidays in the proper sense of the word, the only solemn day they celebrate is the beginning of summer. Lamaism was brought to the Buryats by the Mongols, who in 1689 accepted Russian citizenship, and since 1764 the supreme lama of Transbaikalia became independent.
"Peoples of Russia. Ethnographic essays" (publication of the journal "Nature and People"), 1879-1880:
The Buryats, like the Mongols, have a brown-bronze skin color, a wide and flat face. the nose is small and flattened; their eyes are small, obliquely located, mostly black, their ears are large and far from the head; big mouth; sparse beard; the hair on the head is black. Those belonging to a spiritual rank cut their hair on the front of the head, and wear a braid in the back, into which, for greater density, horse hair is often woven. Buryats are of medium or small height, but strongly built.
Hamnigans are a Buryat sub-ethnos, formed with the participation of the Tungus tribes.
The nature of the Buryats is secretive. They are usually peaceful and meek, but angry and vindictive when offended. In relation to their relatives, they are compassionate and will never refuse to help the poor. Despite outward rudeness, love for one's neighbor, honesty and justice are highly developed among the Buryats; and although this is often limited only to the boundaries of their family and tribal community, there are also such individuals among them in whom these excellent qualities extend to all people without exception, no matter what nation they belong to.
According to the way of life, the Buryats are divided into sedentary and nomadic. There are no more than 10% of settled Buryats. They have adopted many Russian customs and differ little from them in their way of life. Nomads live differently. 
The Buryats adhere to the primitive tribal community. Groups of octagonal-round yurts are scattered across the wide steppe as oases. All around are pole fences, and in the fences there are all yurts, barns and various other buildings. Each ulus usually consists of several low pole fences, representing the appearance of a circle. In each such fence there are one, two, three or more yurts with different outbuildings. In one of these yurts lives the eldest in the Buryat family, an old man with an old woman, sometimes with some kind of orphan relatives. In another nearby yurt lives the son of this old man with his wife and children. If the old man still has married sons, then they also live in special yurts, but all in the same common fence, on both sides of the father's yurt. All this family and tribal circle has arable land, mowing, livestock - everything in common. All members of the fence work together. Sometimes they even have lunch together. At every gathering of guests, everyone participates like one family.
The only wealth of the Buryats is cattle breeding. Herds of cows, horses and sheep graze in the steppe both in summer and winter. Only young cattle remain in yurts with their owners during the harsh season. The Buryats have almost no pigs and poultry, for which it would be necessary to prepare winter supplies.
The Trans-Baikal Buryats rarely engage in agriculture, but if they have small shares, they irrigate them artificially, from which they get good harvests, while the Russians often complain about crop failures due to drought. The Buryats on this side of Lake Baikal do a lot of farming, which they learned from the Russians.
Men look after grazing cattle, build yurts and make household items - arrows, bows, saddles and other parts of horse harness. They are skilful blacksmiths, they themselves finish metals in small hand furnaces and rather dapperly clean horse harness with them. Women are engaged in the manufacture of felt, leather dressing, weaving ropes from horsehair, making threads from veins, cutting and sewing all kinds of clothes for themselves and their husbands, skillfully embroider patterns on clothes and shoes.
The situation of women among the Buryats is the saddest: in the family, she is a purely working animal, therefore, healthy ones are rarely found among them. A wrinkled face, bony hands, an awkward gait, a dull expression in her eyes and braids hanging down with dirty lashes - this is her usual look. But girls enjoy special love, honor, gifts and are sung in songs.
The dwellings of most of the Buryats consist of felt yurts. They range from 15 to 25 feet across and are most often pointed in shape. These yurts are made of poles stuck into the ground, the ends of which converge at the top. The poles are covered inside with several rows of felt. At the top there is a smoke hole, which can be closed with a lid. The entrance to the yurt, a narrow wooden door, always faces south. The floor of this dwelling is the land cleared of grass. In the middle of the yurt, under the smoke hole, there is a hearth, usually consisting of a quadrangular wooden box lined with clay inside. There is an elevation along the walls, on which the inhabitants of the yurt sleep and there are various household items, chests and cabinets. There is always a small sacrificial table on which they put the image of the gods, sacrificial vessels, incense candles. 
The original religion of the Buryats is shamanism, belief in spirits called "ongons", who rule over the elements, mountains, rivers and patronize a person. Buryat shamanists believe that shamans achieve knowledge of the secrets of ongons and can predict the fate of each person. At the end of the XVII century. the Trans-Baikal Buryats adopted Buddhism; part of the Buryats living on this side of Lake Baikal remained faithful to shamanism.
In addition to their pagan holidays, the Buryats celebrate St. miracle worker Nicholas with no less solemnity, because this saint is deeply revered. The Buryats especially revere St. Nicholas in the days of memory of this saint on December 6 and May 9.
After the festive service, a festivities begin, during which the burner flows like water. The Buryats suck up the passion for vodka almost with their mother's milk and are ready to drink it at any time, and on such a day as the feast of St. Nicholas, they even consider it as a sin for themselves not to drink an extra cup of araki. Buryats drink not from glasses, but from red wooden Chinese cups that look like saucers. In such a cup can fit from 3 to 5 of our glasses. A cup of Buryat is always drained in one gulp in two steps. Since St. Nikolai is honored by both Russians and Buryats, the feast in honor of this saint is common. As for drinking vodka, the Russian falls down from four cups, but the Buryat, who has consumed twice as much vodka, never, and no matter how drunk he is, it’s hard for him to drag himself to his horse, on which he fearlessly swings from side to side. side, but without losing balance, rushes to his yurts, where a feast begins in a few hours. This is how the feast of St. Nicholas by the Buryat Lamaists.
Contemporary sources
Buryats are a people, the indigenous population of the Republic of Buryatia of the Irkutsk region and the Trans-Baikal Territory of Russia.
There is a division according to ethno-territorial basis:
Aginskiye,
Alar,
Balaganskiye
Barguzinsky,
Bokhanskie,
Verkholensky,
Zakamensky
idinsky
Kudarinsky
Kudinsky
Kitoi
Nukut,
Okinsky
Osinsky,
Olkhonskiye,
Tunkinsky,
Nizhneudinskiye,
Khorinsky,
Selenginsky and others.
Some ethnic groups of the Buryats are still divided into clans and tribes.
Number and settlement
By the middle of the 17th century, the total number of Buryats was, according to various estimates, from 77 thousand to more than 300 thousand people.
In 1897, on the territory of the Russian Empire, 288,663 people indicated Buryat as their native language.
Currently, the number of Buryats is estimated at 620 thousand people, including:
In the Russian Federation - 461,389 people. (census 2010).
In Russia, the Buryats live mainly in the Republic of Buryatia (286.8 thousand people), Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug (54 thousand) and other districts of the Irkutsk Region, Aginsky Buryat Okrug (45 thousand) and other regions of the Trans-Baikal Territory.
In northern Mongolia - 80 thousand, according to 1998 data; 45,087 people, 2010 census.
Most of the Buryats in Mongolia live in the aimags of Khuvsgel, Khentii, Dornod, Bulgan, Selenge and the city of Ulaanbaatar.
In the northeast of China (Shenehen Buryats, mainly in the Shenehen area, Hulun-Buir district, Inner Mongolia - about 7 thousand people) and Barguts: (old) Huuchin barga and (new) Shine barga.
A certain number of Buryats (from two to four thousand people in each country) live in the USA, Kazakhstan, Canada, and Germany.
Number according to the All-Union and All-Russian censuses (1926-2010)
|
USSR |
Census |
Census |
Census |
Census |
Census |
Census |
Census |
Census |
|
237 501 |
↘224 719 |
↗252 959 |
↗314 671 |
↗352 646 |
↗421 380 |
|||
|
RSFSR/Russian Federation |
237 494 |
↘220 654 |
↗251 504 |
↗312 847 |
↗349 760 |
↗417 425 |
↗445 175 |
↗461 389 |
The origin of the ethnonym "Buryat"
The origin of the ethnonym "buryaad" remains largely controversial and has not been fully elucidated.
It is believed that the ethnonym "Buryat" (buriyat) was first mentioned in the "Secret History of the Mongols" (1240).
The second mention of this term appears only at the end of the 19th century. The etymology of the ethnonym has several versions:
From the word burikha - to evade.
From the ethnonym Kurykan (Kurikan).
From the word bar - tiger, which is unlikely.
The assumption is based on the dialectal form of the word buryaad - baryaad.
From the word storm - thickets.
From the Khakas word piraat, which goes back to the term buri (Turk.) - wolf, or buri-ata - wolf-father, suggesting the totemic nature of the ethnonym, since many ancient Buryat clans revered the wolf as their progenitor.
In the Khakass language, the common Turkic sound b is pronounced as p.
Under this name, the ancestors of the Western Buryats, who lived to the east of the ancestors of the Khakass, became known to the Russian Cossacks.
Subsequently, piraat was transformed into the Russian brother and was transferred to the entire Mongol-speaking population within the Russian state (brothers, brotherly people, brotherly mungals) and then adopted by the Ekhirits, Bulagats, Khongodors and Hori-Buryats as a common self-name in the form of Buryaads.
From the expression buru khalyadg - third-party, looking to the side.
This option comes from the Kalmyk layer in the semantic concept, the same as the burikh and khalyadg (khalmg) applied specifically to them after their resettlement from Dzungaria.
From the words bus - gray-haired, figuratively old, ancient and oirot - forest peoples, generally translated as ancient (indigenous) forest peoples.
The tribes involved in the ethnogenesis of the Buryats
Traditional Buryat tribes
Bulagaty
Khongodori
Khori Buryats
Ehirites
Tribes that came out of Mongolia
Sartuly
Tsongols
Tabanguts
Tribes of non-Mongol origin
soyots
hamnigans
Buryat language
Buryat-Mongolian language (self-name Buryaad-Mongol helen, since 1956 - Buryaad helen)
Belonging to the northern group of Mongolian languages.
The modern literary Buryat language was formed on the basis of the Khori dialect of the Buryat language.
Allocate dialects:
western (ekhirit-bulagatsky, barguzinsky);
eastern (Khorinsky);
southern (Tsongo-Sartul);
intermediate (Hongodor);
Barga-Buryat (spoken by the Barguts of China).
The Nizhne-Udin and Onon-Khamnigan dialects stand apart.
In 1905 Lama Agvan Dorzhiev developed the vagindra script.
Buddhist priests and mentors of those times left behind a rich spiritual heritage of their own works, as well as translations of Buddhist philosophy, history, tantric practices and Tibetan medicine.
In most datsans of Buryatia, there were printing houses that printed books in a xylographic way.
In 1923, with the formation of the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR, the Buryat-Mongolian language, which existed on the basis of the vertical Mongolian script of the old Mongolian script, was declared the official language.
In 1933, he was outlawed, but despite this, he still continued to officially bear the name Buryat-Mongolian.
In 1931-1938. The Buryat-Mongolian language was translated into the Latin script.
The situation began to change in 1939 with the introduction of the Cyrillic alphabet, which brought out the dialectical differences of the Buryats.
Only the colloquial form was adopted as the basis of the literary written language, in which all printed publications in the Buryat language were printed in the subsequent period.
The Latin script for the first time clearly showed the dialectal differences of the Buryats, but at the same time, the Buryat language, written in the Latin alphabet, still continued to retain its Mongolian basis of the language: vocabulary, grammar rules, style, etc.
Religion and beliefs
For the Buryats, as well as for other Mongolian peoples, a complex of beliefs is traditional, denoted by the term Pantheism or Tengrianism (bur. hara shazhan - black faith).
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 appeared from the water, and a girl appeared 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: a man and a woman.
The highest deity is Huhe Munhe Tengri (Blue Eternal Sky), the embodiment of the male principle. The earth is feminine.
The gods live in the sky, during the time of their ruler Asarang-tengri the celestials were united. After his departure, Khurmasta and Ata Ulan began to challenge the power.
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.
From the end of the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelugpa school (Bur. Shara Shazhan - yellow faith) became widespread, largely assimilating pre-Buddhist beliefs.
A feature of the spread of Buddhism among the Buryats is the greater proportion of pantheistic beliefs compared to other Mongolian peoples who accepted the teachings of the Buddha.
In 1741 Buddhism was recognized as one of the official religions in Russia.
At the same time, the first Buryat stationary monastery, the Tamchinsky datsan, was built.
The spread of writing, the development of science, literature, art and architecture are connected with the establishment of Buddhism in the region.
It has become an important factor in shaping the way of life, national psychology and morality.
From the second half of the 19th century, the period of rapid flowering of Buryat Buddhism began.
Philosophical schools worked in datsans; here they were engaged in book printing, various types of applied art; theology, science, translation and publishing, and fiction developed.
Tibetan medicine was widely practiced.
In 1914, there were 48 datsans in Buryatia with 16,000 lamas, but by the end of the 1930s, the Buryat Buddhist community ceased to exist.
Only in 1946, 2 datsans were reopened: Ivolginsky and Aginsky.
The revival of Buddhism in Buryatia began in the second half of the 1980s.
More than two dozen old datsans have been restored, new ones have been founded, lamas are being trained in Buddhist academies in Mongolia and Buryatia, and the institution of young novices at monasteries has been restored.
Buddhism became one of the factors of national consolidation and spiritual revival of the Buryats.
Since the second half of the 1980s, the revival of Pantheism also began on the territory of the Republic of Buryatia.
Western Buryats living in the Irkutsk region positively perceived the trends of Buddhism.
However, for centuries, among the Buryats living in the Baikal region, pantheism has remained a traditional religious trend, along with Orthodoxy.
The Orthodox include a part of the Buryats in the Irkutsk region, whose ancestors were baptized Orthodox in the 18th-19th centuries.
Among the Buryats there is a small number of followers of Christianity or the Russian faith - "the tribe of shazhans".
The Irkutsk diocese, founded in 1727, launched a wide range of missionary activities.
Until 1842, the English Spiritual Mission in Transbaikalia operated in Selenginsk, which compiled the first translation of the Gospel into the Buryat language.
Christianization intensified in the second half of the 19th century.
At the beginning of the 20th century, 41 missionary camps and dozens of missionary schools functioned in Buryatia.
Christianity achieved the greatest success among the Western Buryats.
This was manifested in the fact that Christian holidays became widespread among the Western Buryats: Christmas, Easter, Ilyin's day, Christmas time, etc.
Despite superficial (sometimes violent) Christianization, the majority of Western Buryats remained pantheists, while Eastern Buryats remained Buddhists.
According to ethnographic studies, in relation to individuals, until the 20th century, part of the Buryats (in the Ida and Balagan departments) practiced the rite of air burial.
Economic structure
The Buryats were subdivided into semi-sedentary and nomadic, ruled by steppe councils and foreign councils.
The primary economic basis consisted of the family, then the interests poured into the closest relatives (bule zon), then the economic interests of the “small homeland” where 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 and nomadic among the eastern tribes.
The keeping of 5 types of domestic animals was practiced - cows, rams, goats, camels and horses. Traditional crafts were widespread - hunting and fishing.
The entire list of by-products of animal husbandry was processed: skins, wool, tendons, etc.
The skins were used to make saddlery, clothes (including dokhas, pinigi, 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.
The tendons were used to make thread material, which was used to make ropes and in the manufacture of bows, etc.
Jewelry and toys were made from bones.
Bones were also used to make bows and arrow parts.
From the meat of 5 of the above domestic animals, food was produced with processing using waste-free technology.
They made various sausages and delicacies.
women also used the spleen for the production and sewing of clothes as a sticky material.
The Buryats knew how to produce meat products for long-term storage in the hot season, for use on long migrations and marches.
A large list of products was able to obtain during the processing of 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 activity, the Buryats widely used available domestic animals: the horse was used in a wide range of activities when moving over long distances, when grazing domestic animals, when transporting property with a cart and with sledges, which they also made themselves.
Camels were also used to transport heavy loads over long distances. The emasculated bulls were used as draft power.
The technology of nomadism 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 (a box measuring 1100x1100x2000) was installed on the carts to store things and protect them from rain.
They used a quickly erected felt house ger (yurt), where fees for migration or settling in a new place were about three hours.
Also in economic activities, Banhar dogs were widely used, the closest relatives of which are dogs of the same breed from Tibet, Nepal, as well as the Georgian Shepherd Dog.
This dog shows excellent watchdog qualities and a good shepherd for horses, cows and small livestock.
national dwelling
The traditional dwelling of the Buryats, like all nomadic pastoralists, is a yurt, called ger among the Mongolian peoples (literally, dwelling, house).
Yurts were installed both portable felt and stationary in the form of a frame made of timber or logs. 
Wooden yurts, 6 or 8 coal, without windows, a large hole in the roof for smoke and lighting.
The roof was installed on four pillars - tengi, sometimes a ceiling was arranged.
The door to the yurt is oriented to the south, the room was divided into the right, male, and left, female, half.
In the center of the dwelling there was a hearth, along the walls there were benches, on the right side of the entrance to the yurt, shelves with household utensils, on the left side - chests, a table for guests.
Opposite the entrance - a shelf with burkhans or ongons, in front of the yurt they arranged a hitching post (serge) in the form of a pillar with an ornament.
Thanks to the design of the yurta, it can be quickly assembled and disassembled, it is light in weight - all this is important when moving to other pastures.
In winter, the fire in the hearth gives warmth, in summer, with an additional configuration, it is even used instead of a refrigerator.
The right side of the yurt is the male side, a bow, arrows, a saber, a gun, a saddle and a harness hung on the wall.
The left one is female, there 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 - sherdag - 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 inner part 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 rests - the ceiling. Large pieces of coniferous bark are laid on the ceiling (with the inside down).
The final coating is carried out with even pieces of turf.
In the 19th century, wealthy Buryats began to build huts borrowed from Russian settlers, with elements of the national dwelling preserved in the interior decoration.
Black and white blacksmiths
If in Tibet blacksmiths were considered unclean and settled far from the villages, then among the Buryats the blacksmith-darkhan was sent by Heaven itself - he was revered and feared no less than a shaman.
If a person was sick, then a knife or an ax made by the hands of the darkhan was placed near his head.
This protected from evil spirits that sent diseases, and the patient was cured.
The gift of darkhan was passed down from generation to generation - the succession came from a heavenly blacksmith named Bozhintoy, who sent his children to earth.
They gave this divine craft to the Buryat tribes and became the patrons of this or that blacksmith's tool.
Blacksmiths were divided into black and white. Black darkhans forged iron products.
Whites worked with non-ferrous and precious metals, mainly with silver, so they were often called mungen darkhan - a silver master.
Black smiths bought raw materials in Mongolia or mined and smelted iron themselves in small forges.
After the Buryats accepted Russian citizenship, ferrous metal began to be taken from Russian industrialists.
The art of the Buryat blacksmiths was considered more perfect than that of the Tungus masters, although their work was also highly valued.
Buryat iron products with a silver notch were known in Russia as “fraternal work” and were valued along with Dagestan and Damascus products.
Darkhans forged stirrups, bits, horse harness, traps, sickles, scissors, boilers and other items for household needs.
But in the Great Steppe, first of all, they became famous for the manufacture of weapons and shells that could not be pierced by a bullet from squeakers.
Knives, daggers, swords, arrowheads, helmets and armor went to Mongolia.
White blacksmiths created real decorative works.
Most iron products were decorated with silver - there was a special method for welding these metals, which was distinguished by an exceptional strength of the connection. Masters often decorated silver and gold jewelry with multi-colored corals.
The recognized masters were darkhans Zakamna, Djid, Tunka, Oki.
Darkhans of Eravna were known for the technique of silvering iron products.
Kizhinga was famous for its saddle makers, the Tugnuiskaya valley for skillful casting.
Folklore
Buryat folklore consists of myths about the origin of the universe and life on earth, uligers - epic poems of large size: from 5 thousand to 25 thousand lines, etc.
Among them: "Abai Geser", "Alamzhi Mergen", "Ayduurai Mergen", "Erensei", "Buhu Khaara".
More than two hundred epic tales have been preserved in the memory of the Buryat people.
The main one is the epic "Abay Geser" - "Iliad of Central Asia", well-known in Mongolia, China and Tibet.
The Uligers sang recitatives by Uligershin narrators, who memorized epics in hundreds of thousands of lines about celestials and heroes).
Three-part fairy tales - three sons, three tasks, etc.
The plot of fairy tales with gradation: each opponent is stronger than the previous one, each task is more difficult than the previous one.
Topics of proverbs, sayings and riddles: nature, natural phenomena, birds and animals, household items and agricultural life.
National clothes
Each Buryat clan has its own national dress, which is extremely diverse (mainly for women).
The national dress of the Trans-Baikal Buryats consists of degel - a kind of caftan made of dressed sheepskins, which has a triangular notch on the top of the chest, pubescent, as well as sleeves tightly wrapped around the hand brush, with fur, sometimes very valuable.
In summer, the degel could be replaced by a cloth caftan of the same cut.
In Transbaikalia, dressing gowns were often used in the summer, for the poor - paper, and for the rich - silk.
In rainy times, a saba, a kind of overcoat with a long kragen, was worn over the degel.
In the cold season, especially on the road - daha, a kind of wide dressing gown, sewn from dressed skins, with wool outward.
Degel (degil) is pulled together at the waist with a belt sash, on which a knife and smoking accessories were hung: a fire starter, a ganza (a small copper pipe with a short shank) 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 (nogoon ungee) or blue (huhe ungee).
The original version was - yellow-red, black, white.
Narrow and long trousers were made of roughly dressed leather (rovduga); a shirt, usually made of blue fabric - in order.
Shoes - in winter, high fur boots made from the skin of foals' legs, in the rest of the year, gutals - boots with a pointed toe.
In summer they wore shoes knitted from horsehair with leather soles.
Men and women wore small-brimmed round hats with a red tassel (zalaa) at the top.
All the details, the color of the headdress have their own symbolism, their own meaning.
The pointed top of the hat symbolizes prosperity, well-being.
Silver pommel denze with red coral at the top of the cap as a sign of the sun, illuminating the entire Universe with its rays, and brushes (zalaa seseg) denote 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 implemented together.
An invincible spirit, a happy fate is symbolized by the hall 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 decorations and embroidery.
For women, the degel is turned around with colored cloth, on the back - at the top, embroidery in the form of a square is made with cloth, and copper and silver jewelry from buttons and coins are sewn onto clothes.
In Transbaikalia, women's dressing gowns consist of a short jacket sewn to a skirt.
Girls wore from 10 to 20 braids, decorated with many coins.
Around their necks, women wore corals, silver and gold coins, etc.; in the ears - huge earrings supported by a cord thrown over the head, and behind the ears - "polty" (pendants); on the hands are silver or copper bugaks (a kind of bracelets in the form of hoops) and other jewelry.
Dance
Yokhor is an ancient Buryat circular dance with chants.
Each tribe had its own specifics.
Other Mongolian peoples do not have such a dance.
Before the hunt or after it, in the evenings, the Buryats went out to the clearing, kindled a large fire and, holding hands, danced yokhor all night long with cheerful rhythmic chants.
In the tribal dance, all grievances and disagreements were forgotten, delighting the ancestors with this dance of unity.
National holidays
Sagaalgan - White Month Holiday (New Year according to the Eastern calendar)
Surkharban - Summer holiday
Eryn Gurbaan Naadan (lit. Three games of husbands) is an ancient holiday of the Buryat tribes, its roots go back thousands of years.
At this holiday, where representatives of different tribes gathered, agreed on peace, declared war.
Two names are used. "Surkharban" - from the Buryat language means archery and "Eryn Gurbaan Nadaan" - actually the Three games of husbands.
At this festival, mandatory competitions are held in three sports - archery, horse racing and wrestling.
They prepare for the competition in advance, the best horses are selected from the herd, archers train in target shooting and hunting, wrestlers compete in the halls or in nature.
The victory at Surkharban is always very prestigious for the winner and for his whole family.
Traditional cuisine
From time immemorial, foods of animal and combined animal and vegetable origin have occupied a large place in Buryat food: -bүheleor, shүlen, buuza, khushuur, hileeme, sharbin, shuhan, khime, oreomog, khoshkhonog, zөhei-salamat, khүshөөһen, үrme, arbin, sүmge , zөөheitei zedgene, gogkhan.
As well as drinks үhen, zutaraan sai, aarsa, khүrenge, tarag, horzo, togoonoy archi (tarasun) - an alcoholic drink obtained by distilling kurunga). For future use, sour milk of a special sourdough (kurunga), dried compressed curd mass - khuruud was prepared.
Like the Mongols, the Buryats drank green tea, into which they poured milk, put salt, butter or lard.
The symbol of Buryat cuisine is buuzy, a steamed dish that corresponds to the Chinese baozi.
Story
Starting from the Xiongnu period, the proto-Buryats entered the union as the Western Xiongnu.
With the collapse of the empire, the Xiongnu, under pressure from the Xianbei, move away from the Chinese border to their ancestral lands called (according to Chinese sources) the Northern Xiongnu.
Later, the Proto-Buryats became part of the Syanbei, Juzhan, Uighur and Khitan states, the Mongol Empire and the Mongol Khaganate, remaining on their territories.
The Buryats were formed from various Mongolian-speaking ethnic groups that did not have a single self-name, on the territory of the Dobaikalia and central Transbaikalia.
The largest of them were the western ones - Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khongodors and the eastern ones - Hori-Buryats.
In the 18th century, the Khalkha-Mongolian and Oirat clans, mainly Sartuls and Tsongols, came to the southern Transbaikalia within the borders of Russia, becoming the third component of the current Buryat ethnos, which differs in many respects from the northern indigenous tribes.
By the beginning of the 17th century, the Russian state approached the northern borders of Mongolia, by that time sparsely populated and only nominally recognizing the power of the khans.
Faced with the resistance of the indigenous population of the middle reaches of the Angara, they were forced to slow down their advance in this region and start building fortresses and fortified points in the Baikal region.
At the same time, a strong Manchu state arose in the Far East, which seized China (in 1636, it took the name Qing), which led an aggressive foreign policy towards Mongolia, which was going through a period of fragmentation.
Thus, the latter turned out to be the object of the predatory interest of Russia and the Manchu Empire.
Taking advantage of internecine conflicts between the sovereign noyons of Mongolia, Russia and the Qing signed treaties in 1689 and 1727, according to which the Baikal and Transbaikal regions became part of tsarist Russia, and the rest of Mongolia became a province of the Qing empire.
Until the 17th century, Mongolian tribes roamed freely across the territory of the modern state of Mongolia, Inner Mongolia, from Khingan to the Yenisei: Barguts, Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khongodors, Khori-Buryats, Tabanguts, Sartuls, Daurs, etc.
Some of them, due to the nomadic way of life, ended up in the period of the annexation of the territory of Buryatia to Russia in this region, which determined the presence of various dialects of the Buryat language, differences in clothing, customs, etc.
After the Russian-Chinese border was drawn at that time in 1729, the above-mentioned Mongolian tribes, being cut off from the bulk of the Mongols (except for the barg), began to form into the future Buryat people.
The process of consolidation that started earlier has intensified since then.
In the XVIII-XIX centuries, there was a significant movement of the indigenous population of the Baikal region.
Part of the Ekhirites and Bulagats moved in several waves, crossing the ice of Baikal, in Transbaikalia to the Kudarinskaya steppe further up the Selenga up to Gusinoye Lake, forming a territorial group of the Severelenginsky Buryats, which absorbed some eastern (Khori-Buryat) and southern elements.
Part of the Ekhirites moved to the Barguzin valley, forming a group of Barguzin Buryats with the Khori-Buryats.
In many ways, these ethnic groups retain their connection with the pre-Baikal ancestral home, which is reflected in the language and elements of culture.
At the same time, part of the Khori-Buryats went east to the Aginsk steppes, becoming the main population here - the Aginsk Buryats.
In the west of ethnic Buryatia, the Tunkin Khongodors, having crossed the Khamar-Daban, settled the mountain-taiga region of the present Zakamna, and part of their tribal groups settled the mountainous Oka in the Eastern Sayan Mountains.
Because of this, and also because of the lack of its troops in the proximity of large Mongol khanates and the Manchu state, Russia, one way or another, from the first years of Buryat citizenship, used them in various military clashes and in protecting borders.
In the extreme west of ethnic Buryatia, in the basins of the Uda and Oka rivers, the Buryats of two strong groups - Ashabagat (Lower Uda) and Ikinat (lower reaches of the Oka) were attracted by the administration of the Yenisei and Krasnoyarsk prisons for campaigns.
The enmity between these groups (beginning even before the arrival of the Russians in Buryatia) served as an additional incentive for their participation in Russian enterprises, and later overlapped with the enmity between Yenisei and Krasnoyarsk.
The Ikinats took part in Russian campaigns against the Ashabaghats, and the Ashabaghats took part in military operations against the Ikinats.
In 1688, when the tsarist embassy led by Fyodor Golovin was blocked by the Mongols of Tushetu Khan Chikhundorzh in Selenginsk, letters were sent throughout the Russian-controlled territory of Buryatia demanding to gather armed Buryats and send them to the rescue of Golovin.
Among the Ekhirites and the eastern part of the Bulagats, who lived near Lake Baikal on its western side, detachments were gathered, which, however, did not have time to approach the places of hostilities.
The troops of Tushetu-khan were partly defeated, partly retreated to the south before the approach of the Buryat detachments from the west.
In 1766, four regiments were formed from the Buryats to keep guards along the Selenga border: the 1st Ashebagat, 2nd Tsongo, 3rd Atagan and 4th Sartul.
The regiments were reformed in 1851 during the formation of the Trans-Baikal Cossack Host.
By the end of the 19th century, a new community was formed - the Buryat ethnos, which included the so-called traditional tribes - eastern and western, and southern - separate Khalkha, Oirat and South Mongolian groups, as well as Turkic-Samoyed and Tungus elements.
The Buryats were settled on the territory of the Irkutsk province, which included the Trans-Baikal region (1851).
After the February Revolution of 1917, the first national state of the Buryats, Buryaad-Mongol Uls (State of Buryat-Mongolia), was formed. Burnatsky became its supreme body.
In 1921, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Region was formed as part of the Far Eastern Republic, then as part of the RSFSR in 1922, the Mongolian-Buryat Autonomous Region.
In 1923 they merged into the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR.
In 1937, a number of districts were withdrawn from the Buryat-Mongol ASSR, from which the Buryat autonomous okrugs—Ust-Orda and Aginsky—were formed; at the same time, some areas with a Buryat population were separated from the autonomies (Ononsky and Olkhonsky).
In 1958, the Buryat-Mongolian ASSR was renamed the Buryat ASSR, which led to a change in the self-name of the Buryats.
In 1992, the Buryat ASSR was transformed into the Republic of Buryatia.
Wedding ceremony in the picture
For several centuries, the Buryats have been living side by side with the Russians, being part of the multinational population of Russia. At the same time, they managed to preserve their identity, language and religion.
WHY ARE THE BURYATS CALLED "BURYATS"?
Scientists are still arguing about why the Buryats are called "Buryats". For the first time this ethnonym is found in the Secret History of the Mongols, dated 1240. Then, for more than six centuries, the word "Buryats" was not mentioned, reappearing only in written sources of the late 19th century.
There are several versions of the origin of this word. One of the main ones raises the word "Buryats" to the Khakass "pyraat", which goes back to the Turkic term "storms", which translates as "wolf". "Buri-ata" is respectively translated as "wolf-father".
This etymology is due to the fact that many Buryat clans consider the wolf totem animal and their progenitor.
It is interesting that in the Khakass language the sound "b" is muffled, pronounced as "p". The Cossacks called the people living to the west of the Khakass "pyraat". In the future, this term was Russified and became close to the Russian "brother". Thus, “Buryats”, “brotherly people”, “brotherly mongals” began to be called the entire Mongol-speaking population inhabiting the Russian Empire.
Also interesting is the version of the origin of the ethnonym from the words "bu" (gray-haired) and "Oirat" (forest peoples). That is, the Buryats are the indigenous peoples for this area (Baikal and Transbaikalia).
TRIBES AND RELATIONS
The Buryats are an ethnic group formed from several Mongolian-speaking ethnic groups living in the territory of Transbaikalia and the Baikal region, which did not then have a single self-name. The process of formation went on for many centuries, starting with the Hunnic Empire, which included the Proto-Buryats as Western Xiongnu.
The largest ethnic groups that formed the Buryat ethnos were the western Khongodors, Bualgits and Ekhirites, and the eastern ones - the Khorints.
In the 18th century, when the territory of Buryatia was already part of the Russian Empire (according to the treaties of 1689 and 1727 between Russia and the Qing dynasty), the Khalkha-Mongolian and Oirat clans also came to southern Transbaikalia. They became the third component of the modern Buryat ethnos.
Until now, tribal and territorial divisions have been preserved among the Buryats. The main Buryat tribes are Bulagats, Ekhirits, Khori, Khongodors, Sartuls, Tsongols, Tabanguts. Each tribe is further divided into clans.
According to the territory, the Buryats are divided into the Lower Narrow, Khorin, Agin, Shenekhen, Selenga and others, depending on the lands of the clan.
BLACK AND YELLOW FAITH
The Buryats are characterized by religious syncretism. Traditional is a complex of beliefs, the so-called shamanism or Tengrianism, in the Buryat language called "hara shazhan" (black faith). From the end of the 16th century, Tibetan Buddhism of the Gelug school - “shara shazhan” (yellow faith) began to develop in Buryatia. He seriously assimilated pre-Buddhist beliefs, but with the advent of Buddhism, Buryat shamanism was not completely lost.
Until now, in some areas of Buryatia, shamanism remains the main religious trend.
The arrival of Buddhism was marked by the development of writing, literacy, book printing, folk crafts, and art. Tibetan medicine has also become widespread, the practice of which exists in Buryatia today.
On the territory of Buryatia, in the Ivolginsky datsan, there is the body of one of the ascetics of Buddhism of the 20th century, the head of Siberian Buddhists in 1911-1917, Khambo Lama Itigelov. In 1927, he sat in the lotus position, gathered his students and told them to read a well-wishing prayer for the deceased, after which, according to Buddhist beliefs, the lama went into a state of samadhi. He was buried in a cedar cube in the same lotus position, having bequeathed before his departure to dig out the sarcophagus in 30 years. In 1955, the cube was lifted.
The body of the Khambo Lama turned out to be incorruptible.
In the early 2000s, a study of the llama's body was carried out by researchers. The conclusion of Viktor Zvyagin, head of the Personal Identification Department of the Russian Center for Forensic Medical Examination, was sensational: “By permission of the highest Buddhist authorities of Buryatia, we were provided with approximately 2 mg of samples - these are hair, skin particles, sections of two nails. Infrared spectrophotometry showed that protein fractions have in vivo characteristics - for comparison, we took similar samples from our employees. An analysis of Itigelov's skin, conducted in 2004, showed that the concentration of bromine in the llama's body exceeded the norm by 40 times.
CULT OF WRESTLING
The Buryats are one of the most wrestling peoples in the world. National Buryat wrestling is a traditional sport. Since ancient times, competitions in this discipline have been held as part of surkharban, a national sports festival. In addition to wrestling, participants also compete in archery and horseback riding. Buryatia also has strong wrestlers, sambists, boxers, track and field athletes, and speed skaters.
Returning to wrestling, it must be said about perhaps the most famous Buryat wrestler today - Anatoly Mikhakhanov, who is also called Aurora Satoshi.
Mikhakhanov is a sumo wrestler. Aurora Satoshi is translated from Japanese as "Northern Lights" - this is Shikonu, the professional alias of a wrestler.
The Buryat hero was born quite a standard child, weighed 3.6 kg, but after the genes of the legendary ancestor of the Zakshi family, who, according to legend, weighed 340 kg and rode two bulls, began to appear. In the first grade, Tolya already weighed 120 kg, at the age of 16 - under 200 kg with a height of 191 cm. Today, the weight of the eminent Buryat sumo wrestler is about 280 kilograms.
HUNTING FOR THE HITLERS
During the Great Patriotic War, the Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic sent more than 120 thousand people to defend the Motherland. The Buryats fought on the fronts of the war as part of three rifle and three tank divisions of the Trans-Baikal 16th Army. There were also Buryats in the Brest Fortress, the first to resist the Nazis. This is reflected even in the song about the defenders of Brest:
Only stones will tell about these battles,
How the heroes stood to death.
Here Russian, Buryat, Armenian and Kazakh
They gave their lives for their country.
During the war years, 37 natives of Buryatia were awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union, 10 became full holders of the Order of Glory.
Buryat snipers were especially famous in the war. Not surprisingly, the ability to shoot accurately has always been vital for hunters. Hero of the Soviet Union Zhambyl Tulaev destroyed 262 fascists, a sniper school was created under his leadership.
Another famous Buryat sniper, senior sergeant Tsyrendashi Dorzhiev, by January 1943, destroyed 270 enemy soldiers and officers. In the June 1942 report of the Sovinformburo, it was reported about him: “Comrade Dorzhiev, the master of super-precise fire, who destroyed 181 Nazis during the war, trained and educated a group of snipers, on June 12, comrade Dorzhiev’s student snipers shot down a German plane.” Another hero, the Buryat sniper Arseniy Etobaev, during the war years, destroyed 355 Nazis and shot down two enemy planes.
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