In addition to the official history set forth in authoritative scientific works, each nation has information about the other, secret, side of life. These are legends about gods and spirits, legends about powerful sorcerers and stories from the recent past, confirming that there is still a lot of inexplicable in the world. These stories are passed by word of mouth, from generation to generation, and are usually not trusted on paper. It is this kind of secret history that is unusually rich among the Komi people.
From the banks of the Kama
Science claims that the distant ancestors of the modern Komi settled on the banks of the Kama in the III millennium BC and got their name from this river. The Komi people belong to the Finno-Ugric group, although they live rather far from their “relatives”: Finns, Karelians, Estonians and Hungarians. History is silent about the time when the meeting between Russians and Zyryans (the old name of the Komi) took place. It is only known that by the beginning of the XII century Novgorod, Suzdal and Rostov trade caravans were already in full swing in the Komi lands. A century later, these lands joined the Novgorod Republic, and at the end of the 15th century they became part of the growing Moscow state. Today, the Komi Republic occupies an area in the north-eastern part of the Russian Federation, from the Pechora and Mezensko-Vychegodskaya lowlands to the western slopes of the Ural Mountains. The total number of modern Komi is more than 300,000 people, of whom 292,000 live in their republic, and the rest are scattered across the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Sverdlovsk and other regions.
If we talk about the contribution of the Komi to the common cultural heritage of the peoples of Russia, then we can mention, for example, the original national cuisine. Do you like dumplings, for example? Why, what Russian does not like them! Meanwhile, this dish got on the hospitable Russian table precisely because of the Komi, as evidenced by its name ("pelnian" in the local dialect means "ear of bread"). It was on the banks of the Kama that they decided to designate one of the dumplings "happy" (to put some kind of surprise in it). Shangi with potatoes, salted mushrooms with sour cream, radish with kvass and radish with carrots, the Russians also borrowed from the Komi culinary customs.
Well, as they say, a man does not live by a dumpling alone. The Komi land was most likely the birthplace of skiing. As a result of excavations in the area of Lake Sindor, a ski fragment was found, crowned with a carved elk head. The age of this smart (probably female) ski is set: about 8000 years. This find, however, with a trick - the Komi began to settle on the shores of Lake Sindor several millennia later than the time when the world's oldest ski was made. Just before the arrival of the Komi, the land was by no means a deserted desert.
Who is she, white-eyed chud?
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Until the second half of the XIV century, the Zyryans did not have their own written language, but this did not prevent them from preserving the legends about the creation of the world, about the struggle between good and evil, and about the predecessors of the Komi - a mysterious white-eyed Chud who lived on their land since time immemorial. It is said about this mysterious people that they not only spoke a special language, but only half belonged to the world of people, and their second hypostasis belonged to the world of spirits. Legends describe the Chudins as squat creatures with very light eyes, reminiscent of the gnomes from European mythology. Nevertheless, the Chud, without a doubt, really existed: references to it can be found in the "Tale of Bygone Years" and in some other Russian chronicles.
When settlers appeared in the original lands of Chud, the tribe did not want to endure this neighborhood and left their native places. Where it went is still unknown. One of the legends says that the freaks dug deep holes in the ground and hid there, blocking the passage behind them. They may have taken refuge in underground caves. Another legend claims that the Chud went to one of the parallel worlds, since only she knew the way there. One way or another, but sometimes the oddities briefly returned to the human world. Many cases have been described when short, light-eyed men, appearing as if from under the ground, helped travelers find their way, lost in the forest. Having done a good deed, the chudins, according to eyewitnesses, returned under their "stone sky". At this moment in the grief, as if there was an opening, like a door,and as soon as the chudin went deep into the mountain, the entrance to the unknown world disappeared right before the eyes of the shocked observer.
Legends say that the Chud could not take all their wealth underground, so they hid them on the Komi lands. These treasures are protected by a special spell, and they will be revealed only to those who know the cherished words. The Russian mystic philosopher Nicholas Roerich, who was very interested in the Chudi heritage, wrote in his book "The Heart of Asia" that the mysterious tribe would return to earth. This will happen when certain great teachers from the magical land of Belovodye appear to people and bring their secret knowledge with them. Then there will again be a place on earth for a small white-eyed people.
Don't sneeze loudly
In addition to the Chudi that has gone into a different reality, an unimaginable number of otherworldly entities have long been found in the Komi lands: spirits of the forest, mountains and rivers, the spirits of diseases, as well as the ghosts of the dead, who for some reason continue to wander in the world of the living. For the Komi people, all these creatures seem like old neighbors, with whom you need to find a common language in order to avoid trouble. It is believed that when meeting spirits, the main thing is to remain calm and behave emphatically detached, because too pronounced emotions can just attract unnecessary attention of representatives of the other world. It is believed that a spirit can take over even in someone who just sneezed loudly.
However, every entity acts in its own way, seeking to get from a person what it needs. For men who go to the forest for a long time to hunt, forest spirits are dangerous, turning into phantom wives. They say that they overhear the thoughts of hunters about their spouses and bring them a long-term and dangerous haze: the trapper suddenly finds his wife on the banks of the river or at the edge of the forest, whom he takes with him and lives with her while hunting the animal. In fact, his wife is waiting for him at home, and the phantom, who has taken someone else's place, drinks the hunter's life force, deprives him of his mind. The only defense recommended in such cases by the old Komi is not to believe their eyes and firmly remember that the wife is waiting for her husband where she should be, that is, at home.
My own submarine
Either the magical heritage of the Chudi was the reason, or the forced need to interact with otherworldly forces, but perhaps the main place among the legends is occupied by stories about sorcerers, or tuna. It was believed that all knowledge and magical power came to them from the other world.
According to the legends, a medieval tun named Tuve possessed absolutely fantastic skills. He was the head of a hunter's artel and is said to have often used magic for public benefit. When the artel could not overcome the shallow river water by boats, Tuve made it rain until the water level in the river rose. If competing fishers wandered into the forest lands chosen by hunters, the sorcerer "stole" their way - the hunters circled endlessly through the forest, constantly returning to their original place.
And once the tun put a magic wall against the rats on the Nivshera river - as soon as the ships entered the waters of this river, the rats instantly left the board. It is interesting that rats are not found in those places to this day.
Another mighty tun named Shypicha lived in the place of the present Syktyvkar. He was famous for his ability to overcome long distances under water without surfacing. In general, a submarine for himself … And when the robber Yelik began to misbehave in the district, the tun with the help of spells burned the villain in his own house. At the end of his life, Shypich, apparently, decided to join his ancestors, since he dug a large hole in the mountains, went there with his whole family and blocked the entrance.
Sorcerers have surprised people with their talents in the very recent past. Eyewitnesses say that an old tun lived in the village of Kortkeros, who freely commanded not only people and elements, but also mechanisms. If he was going to travel by water, he never rushed to the pier - he said that the steamer would wait for him. And so it was: one or the other breakdown prevented the ship from going on the road. But as soon as the sorcerer climbed aboard, all malfunctions disappeared as if by magic.
Magazine: Secrets of the 20th century №8 Ekaterina Kravtsova