Tuva is located in the very center of Asia and is practically isolated from the world. Thanks to this, the land of Scythian burial mounds, Chinese palaces, shamans and strange customs has managed to preserve its unique identity.
Center of Asia
The Tuva Republic is one of the most picturesque places in Russia. It presents a wide variety of landscapes: from mountains to steppes, from taiga to semi-deserts. The nature of Tuva has healing powers. Residents of the republic use cold and hot mineral springs for medicinal purposes, as well as water from salt steppe lakes.
In the north and east, it is skirted by the ridges and spurs of the Sayan Mountains. The Altai Mountains are located in the west, among which is the highest point of Tuva - Mount Mongun-Taiga, which means "Silver Mountain".
In the capital of Tyva, Kyzyl, there is the Center of Asia, marked by an obelisk. Back at the end of the 19th century, an English traveler, whose name remained unknown, determined from the maps available at that time the place where the geographical center of Asia is located, and installed a modest stone pillar there. Later, this point was clarified, and the pillar was moved 25 kilometers downstream of the Yenisei, to Kyzyl. In Soviet times, it was replaced by a concrete obelisk, and today it is planned to erect a new monument in its place, crowned with a Scythian golden deer.
Indians with Caucasoid features
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In pre-revolutionary Russia they were called Uryankhai, they themselves call themselves Tyvalar, but we are used to calling them Tuvans. Surprisingly, this people is genetically close to the American Indians, scientists even suggest that the ancient ancestors of the Tuvans participated in the colonization of America.
Nomads lived on the territory of the Tyva Republic, whose weapons and horse harness are similar to the Scythian. Compared to other inhabitants of Asia, Tuvans have a rather large admixture of European blood. There is even an assumption that in ancient times they were dominated by European features, but with the invasion of the nomadic cultures of Central Asia, including the Xiongnu conquerors, the locals became closer to the Mongoloid race. They spoke (and continue to speak) the language of the Turkic language family.
The immediate ancestors of the Tuvans - the Uighurs - were a fairly developed people. In the Middle Ages, they had their own runic writing. In 1207, Mongol troops invaded the territory of Tya. They are headed by the eldest son of Genghis Khan - Jochi. He meets fierce resistance from the warlike Tuvans. After these lands were conquered, the khan's tax collectors demanded the most beautiful girls from them for their rulers. This deeply offended the Tuvans, and an anti-Mongol uprising broke out that engulfed the entire Minusinsk Basin, the territory of Tuva and Altai.
Even in ancient times, the Tuvan tribes switched to a nomadic way of life, since their main occupation was cattle breeding. They settled on the ground only in the middle of the 20th century.
Scythian gold
Tuva is rich not only in natural resources, but also in historical monuments. In the valley of the Uyuk River, there is a unique mound complex, which is sometimes called the Valley of the Kings for its wealth and scale (some mounds reach 100-120 meters in diameter). The most famous is a group of mounds with the common name "Arzhan". Kurgan Arzhan-1 was explored in the 70s of the XX century. Unfortunately, it was plundered in antiquity, but archaeologists still got the richest and most amazing material. An elderly man was buried in Arzhan-1, most likely the leader of the tribe. Besides him, the bodies of 16 people and 160 horses were in the mound. One of the symbols of Tuva originates from this mound - a golden panther coiled into a ring.
Even more unique finds were made in the Arzhan-2 mound, which is known as an archaeological sensation of the 20th century. In this huge burial mound with a diameter of 80 meters, scientists discovered about 20 kilograms of gold items: dishes, jewelry, religious items.
Due to the permafrost, the remains and skins of animals, felt carpets, clothes and shoes are surprisingly well preserved in the mounds, and people buried there were naturally mummified. All this can be seen in the National Museum of Tuva and in the State Hermitage.
Palace in the steppe
Another archaeological site of Tuva is Por-Bazhyn. Imagine a lake in the steppe, smooth as a mirror. In its center there are several islands, where an ancient fortress rises on the largest of them. This is Por-Bazhyn, translated from Tuvan - "clay house". It was really made of clay, or rather, of adobe brick. Por-Bazhyn covers an area of more than 3 hectares and is surrounded by walls, which even in a destroyed state reach ten meters, and once were even higher.
The fortress was built in the 8th century AD. There is no other similar building in Tuva, but they are typical for China. Where did the “clay house” come from in the middle of the steppe?
According to legend, one of the Uyghur khans helped the Chinese emperor suppress the uprising on the border of the state. For this, the emperor gave his daughter to the khan. It was not easy for the princess to travel to foreign barbarian lands, so she took with her craftsmen from China, who erected for her and her husband a traditional palace with a tiled roof, dragon muzzles, “masks” and frescoes on the walls. But the nomadic nature of the Uighur Khan still won, or maybe he was afraid that sitting in one place would attract the attention of enemies. One way or another, he left Por-Bazhyn quite quickly, the fortress was practically uninhabited.
At the crossroads of religions
Tuva found itself at the crossroads of several worlds and religions; Buddhists, shamanists and Christian Old Believers peacefully coexist here.
Buddhism appeared in Tuva in the 13th century, when it became part of the Mongol Empire, but the real spread of this religion took place only in the 18th century, when Tuva fell under the subordination of China and Mongolian lamas began their missionary activities there. Buddhist monasteries become not only cultural centers, but also large feudal farms. They own land, conduct trade, and many peasants work for them.
Buddhism had a great influence on the traditional religion of Tuvans - shamanism, especially on the rituals of the life cycle: weddings, childbirth and burial ceremonies. Today, among the inhabitants of Tuva, syncretic views are widespread (that is, uniting both religions). With some problems they go to the shamans, with others - to the Buddhist lama.
Tuvans resort to the help of shamans on different occasions, but most often during illness. The shaman serves as a mediator between the world of people and the world of spirits; he can, with the help of a special rite-ritual, return a person's soul to its place and expel disease from his yurt. Coming out of a trance, during which the shaman wanders in the world of spirits, he told those gathered around about what he had seen during his journey.
The Old Believers of Tuva are a closed group of people living compactly in the most inaccessible places of the republic - the upper reaches of the Yenisei. Even their exact number is unknown - according to rough estimates, from 500 to 1000 people. Where did they come from in Southern Siberia? They moved here at the end of the 19th century. At that time, Tuva was a foreign territory, abroad, and the Old Believers hoped to find salvation here from tsarist extortions and military service. But besides this, they were attracted to the north by the search for the legendary Belovodye, a place where the supposedly Christian faith was preserved in its unspoiled state. It is not known whether they found it or not, but they found a new home for many years.
Throat singing
"Khoome" - Tuvan throat singing is directly associated with shamanism. Its uniqueness is that the performer plays two, or even three notes at once, forming a polyphonic solo. Tyvin's throat singing was first recorded in 1865 and made a splash among European listeners. Currently, many performers and groups perform in the khoomei technique, one of the most famous is the Huun-Huur-Tu group.
Salty tea and the feast of love
The first thing anyone who comes to Tuva is faced with is the local hospitality. The guest will certainly be treated to tea, and to the surprise of an untrained person, the tea will turn out to be … salty! And even with milk and butter. This traditional drink is made from compressed green tea, it better quenches thirst in the heat and maintains salt balance. In addition, due to the addition of animal fat, the tea turns out to be very satisfying, it recovers after hard work, and in the cold it helps to avoid colds.
Another strange custom of the Tuvans was described in his article by the Soviet ethnographer Sevian Weinstein. As in any traditional society, the customs in Tuvan families were strict. But once a year, during the holiday, young men and women were allowed to love each other freely. The young men took their chosen ones to the steppe and stuck an uruk in the chosen place - a long pole of horse breeders. The pole warned from afar that this was the territory of love. If after the holiday children were born, they were adopted by the girl's family, and she herself could get married. The husband's family, on the other hand, was happy with such a daughter-in-law, because it was already known that she could give birth to a healthy heir. In addition, Weinstein notes an interesting detail - there were no kissing on the lips in traditional Tuvan culture - this is all our Western influence.
