Traditionally, the Mari lived between the Volga and Vetluga rivers. Today there are about half a million of them. Most of the Mari are concentrated in the Republic of Mari El, but some have settled in many areas of the Volga region and the Urals. Surprisingly, the small Finno-Ugric people managed to preserve their patriarchal faith to this day …
Although the Mari identify themselves as the people of the city halls, in Russia they were better known under the name "Cheremis". During the Middle Ages, the Russians strongly pushed the local tribes that lived in the Volga-Vyatka region. Some went into the forests, others moved to the east, to the right bank of the Volga, from where they first came to the lands of the Slavs. According to the Mari legend, the town of Moscow was founded not by the boyar Kuchka, but by the Mari, and the name itself retained a supposedly Mari trace: Mask-Ava in Mari means "bear" - her cult has long existed among this people.
Defiant Cheremis
In the XIII-XV centuries, the people of the mayor's offices were part of the first Golden Horde, and then the Kazan Khanate. Since the 16th century, the active advance of the Muscovites to the east began, and clashes with the Russians resulted in fierce resistance of the Mari, who did not want to submit. No wonder Prince Kurbsky expressed such an opinion about them: "The Cheremian people are extremely bloodsucking." They constantly made predatory raids and haunted the eastern border. Cheremis were considered perfect savages. Outwardly, they strongly resembled the Turkic-speaking peoples - black-haired, with Mongoloid features and dark skin, accustomed to riding and shooting a bow from childhood. They did not calm down even after the conquest of the Kazan kingdom by the Russians in 1552. For almost a century, riots and uprisings blazed in the Volga region. And only by the 18th century it was possible to baptize the Cheremis somehow,to impose the Russian alphabet on them and announce to the world that the process of the formation of this nation is complete. True, outside of the view of the state people, it remained that the Cheremis remained deeply indifferent to the new faith. And even if they went to church, it was out of habit that grew out of the previous compulsion. And their faith remained their own, the Mari.
Faith for the ages
The Mari were pagans and did not want to change paganism to Orthodoxy. Moreover, their paganism, although it had an ancient background, managed to absorb elements of Turkic Tengrianism and Khazar polytheism. The Mari did not have cities, they lived in villages, and their whole life was associated with agriculture and natural cycles, so it is not surprising that the forces of nature turned into personified deities, and forests and rivers into pagan temples. They believed that, like spring, summer, autumn and winter are constantly born, die and return to the human world, the same happens with people themselves: they can be born, die and return to earth again, but the number of these returns is finite. - seven. For the seventh time, the deceased no longer turns into a person, but into a fish. And as a result of the last death, he loses his body shell, but remains the same person,that he was during his life, and continues to remain it in the afterlife. The world of the living and the world of the dead, earthly and heavenly, in this faith are closely linked and intertwined. But usually people have enough earthly concerns, and they are not too open to manifestations of heavenly power. Such a gift is given only to a special category of tribesmen - priests, sorcerers, healers. By the power of prayers and conspiracies, they maintain balance in nature, guaranteeing peace and tranquility to people, relieve from misfortunes and natural disasters. By the power of prayers and conspiracies, they maintain balance in nature, guaranteeing peace and tranquility to people, relieve from misfortunes and natural disasters. By the power of prayers and conspiracies, they maintain balance in nature, guaranteeing peace and tranquility to people, relieve from misfortunes and natural disasters.
Promotional video:
All events on earth are governed by numerous yumo - deities. The Mari recognized the main god of the pagan pantheon as the good Kugu Yumo, the god of daylight, who protects people from all evil and darkness and from themselves. Once, say the Mari myths, Kugu Yumo quarreled with people because of their disobedience, and then the evil god Keremet appeared in the world of people, and with him misfortunes and illnesses. Kugu Yumo constantly fights with Keremet for the souls of people. As long as people respect patriarchal laws and observe prohibitions, as long as their souls are full of goodness and compassion, natural cycles are in balance, a good god triumphs. But one has only to succumb to evil, stop adhering to the usual rhythm of life, become indifferent to nature, Keremet triumphs, who causes everyone a lot of evil. Keremet is a cruel and envious creature. He was the younger brother of Kugu Yumo,but he did so many misfortunes that the good god sent him to the underworld. Keremet still did not calm down, and when a son was born to Kugu Yumo, he killed the young man and scattered parts of his body in the world of people. Where the dead flesh of the son of a good god fell, birches and oaks immediately grew. It was in oak and birch groves that the Mari set up their temples. The Mari revered the good Kugu Yumo, but prayed to him and the evil Keremet. In general, they tried to please the good deities and appease the evil ones. You cannot live in this world otherwise.but they prayed to him and to the evil Keremet. In general, they tried to please the good deities and appease the evil ones. You cannot live in this world otherwise.but they prayed to him and to the evil Keremet. In general, they tried to please the good deities and appease the evil ones. You cannot live in this world otherwise.
Mighty pantheon
Everything that exists in nature - plants, trees, streams, rivers, hills, clouds, celestial phenomena such as rain, snow, rainbows, etc. - were endowed with a soul and received divine status by the Mari. The whole world was inhabited by spirits or gods. Initially, none of the gods had supreme power, although the Mari felt sympathy for the god of daylight. But when a hierarchy appeared in their society and when they experienced the influence of the Tengrian peoples, the god of daylight received the status of the main deity. And having become the main deity, he also acquired the supreme power over other gods. At the same time, Kugu Yumo had several more hypostases: as Tul-on was the god of fire, as Surt was the god of the hearth, as Saksa was the god of fertility, as Tutyra was the god of fog, etc.
The Mari considered the god of fate, the heavenly shaman Purysho, to be very important, on whom it depended whether a person would be happy or he would get a bad lot.
The starry sky was directed by the god Shudyr-Shamych Yumo, it depended on him whether the starlight would light up at night or it would be dark and scary. The god Tunya Yumo was no longer occupied with people, but with the management of the endless universe. Tylze Yumo was the god of the moon, Uzhara Yumo was the god of the morning dawn, Tylmache was the mediator between heaven and earth. Tylmache's function was to follow people and convey heavenly decrees to them.
The Mari also had the god of death Azyren. They imagined him as a tall and strong peasant who appeared at the hour of death, pointed at the unfortunate finger and said loudly: "Your time has come."
And in general it is quite amusing that there were no goddesses in the Mari pantheon. Their religion took shape in the era of the triumph of patriarchy, there was no place for women. Later, attempts were made to cram goddesses into their religion, but although the spouses of the gods are present in myths, they never became full-fledged goddesses.
The Mari prayed and offered sacrifices in temples dedicated to one or another god. By the 19th century, for the most part, these were the temples of Kugu Yumo or Keremet, since the first personified all the forces of good, and the second - all the forces of evil. Some temples were of national importance, others were clan or family. On holidays, people gathered in sacred groves, made sacrifices to God and offered prayers there. Horses, goats, and sheep were used as victims. They were skinned right in front of the altar, and the meat was placed in cauldrons and boiled. Then they took a dish of meat in one hand, and a bowl of honey in the other and threw it all into the flame of the fire, saying: "Go, convey my desire to God." Some temples were located near the rivers they worshiped. Some are on hills that were considered sacred. The pagan festivals of the Mari were so massivewhich sometimes gathered more than 5 thousand people!
The tsarist government in every possible way fought against the manifestation of Mari paganism. And, of course, the sacred groves were the first to be hit. Many priests, healers, and prophets went to prisons. However, this did not prevent the Mari from continuing to practice their religious cult. In the spring they had a sowing festival, during which they lit candles in the field and put food for the gods there. In the summer they celebrated the generosity of the sun, in the fall they thanked the gods for a good harvest. Exactly the same honors were given to the evil Keremet in his groves. But unlike the kind Kugu Yumo, they brought bloody sacrifices to Keremet, sometimes even human ones.
Nikolay KOTOMKIN