Chuvash people

Not to be confused with Chumash people.

Chuvash
Чăваш

Chapayev File:Famous Chuvash 1.png N. Bichurin File:Famous Chuvash 2.png I. Yakovlev File:Famous Chuvash 3.png N. Nikolsky File:Famous Chuvash 4.png K. Ivanov File:Famous Chuvash 5.png Şeşpĕl Mišši File:Ovchinnikov.jpg N. Ovchinnikov File:Lenin CL.jpg Lenin (grandfather) File:Famous Chuvash 6.png A. Nikolayev File:Famous Chuvash 7.png G. Aygi File:Famous Chuvash 8.png N. Pavlova
Regions with significant populations
Russia	1,637,094
Kazakhstan	22,305
Ukraine	10,593
Uzbekistan	10,074
Turkmenistan	2,281
Belarus	2,242
Moldova	1,204
Kyrgyzstan	848
Georgia	542
Latvia	534
Azerbaijan	489
Estonia	357
Languages
Chuvash Russian (as second language)
Religion
† Orthodox Christianity
Related ethnic groups
Suvars Volga Tatars, Volga Bulgars

Chuvash diaspora in Volga Federal District

The Chuvash people (Chuvash: Чăваш; Russian: Чуваши) are a Turkic ethnic group, native to an area stretching from the Volga Region to Siberia. Most of them live in Republic of Chuvashia and surrounding areas, although Chuvash communities may be found throughout the Russian Federation.

Etymology

There is no universally accepted etymology of the word Chuvash, but there are three main theories that try to explain it:

• Suvar, according to one theory, "Chuvash" is a Shaz-Turkic adaptation of Lir-Turkic Suvar, an ethnonym of people that are widely considered to be the ancestors of modern Chuvashes. Compare Lir-Turkic [huran] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help) to Shaz-Turkic [qazan] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help) (cauldron).
• Jăvaš, another theory suggests that the word "Chuvash" may be derived from Common Turkic jăvaš ("friendly", "peaceful") as opposed to şarmăs ("warlike").
• Tabghach (Tuoba in Chinese) an old Xianbei clan and founders of the Northern Wei dynasty in China. The name Tabghach was also used by some Inner Asian peoples to refer to China long after this dynasty. Gerard Clauson has shown that through regular sound changes, the clan name Tabghach may have transformed to the ethnonym Chuvash. See Gerard Clauson, Studies in Turkic and Mongolic Linguistics. Routledge, 2002, p. 23.

Origin

There are rival schools of thought on the origin of Chuvash people. One is that they originated from a mixing between the Turkic Suar and Sabir tribes of Volga Bulgaria with local Mari tribes and also the Uralic population of the Volga Basin. Another is that the Chuvash are a remainder of the pre-Volga Bulgar population of the Volga region, merged with Scythians, Volga Bulgars and Mari.

Subgroups

Chuvash people are divided into two main groups: Virjal or Turi (Chuvash: вирьял, тури; upper) and Anatri (Chuvash: анатри; lower). The latter also have their own subgroups: Anat jenci (Chuvash: анат енчи; mid-lower) and Hirti (Chuvash: хирти; steppe).

History

Main article: History of Chuvashia

The Turkic ancestors of the Chuvash people are believed to have come from central Siberia, where they lived in the Irtysh basin (between the Tian Shan and Altay) from at least the end of the third millennium BC. In the beginning of the first century AD, the Bulgars started moving west through Zhetysu and the steppes of modern-day Kazakhstan, reaching the North Caucasus in 2nd-3rd centuries AD. There they established several states (Old Bulgaria on the Black Sea coast and the Suvar Duchy in modern-day Daghestan) and came into contact with various Iranian peoples. There is also reason to believe that they were the central element of the Hun Empire under Attila.

Old Bulgaria broke up in the second half of the 7th century after a series of successful Khazar invasions. Some of its population fled north, to the Volga-Kama region, where they established Volga Bulgaria, which eventually became extremely wealthy; its capital being the 4th largest city in the world. Shortly after that, the Suvar Duchy was forced to become a vassal state of Khazaria. About half a century later, the Suvars took part in the Khazar-Arab Wars of 732-737.

Culture

They speak the Chuvash language and have some pre-Christian traditions. In addition to the Chuvash language, many Chuvash people also use the Russian and Tatar languages.

Religion

Chuvash people took great care of preserving their beliefs, their god being Tura. To prevent an onslaught of Orthodox Christianity and Islam, they separated themselves from other surrounding ethnic groups, which brought on several centuries of endogamy. Today Chuvash people are partially Orthodox Christians and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. They retain some pre-Christian (or pagan) traditions in their cultural activities. A Pagan revival has taken place since the fall of the Soviet Union under the name Vattisen Yaly.

Gallery

• 
  Performing Chuvashes at Russian Winter Festival.
• 
  Chuvash female dancer.
• 
  Portrait of Chuvashes during a festival.
• 
  Chuvashes at the court with traditional dress.
• A Chuvash woman in traditional dress.
  A Chuvash woman in traditional dress.

See also

• List of Chuvashes
• Chuvash Wikipedia
• ChuvashTet