Eskimos, Nanais, Khanty are the indigenous peoples of Siberia. However, few people know that there are also Chulyms - a small people who have Turkic roots and are estimated by literally a few representatives, of whom today, according to some information, 656 people, according to others - 742.
14-18 century
Chulym Turks move and actively populate the Chulym river basin, their culture is saturated with echoes of Khakass, Tatar and even Mongol traditions. Their main occupation is considered to be fishing and hunting for the fur direction, in which the indigenous population of Siberia, I must say, has succeeded significantly.
Today Chulyms live in the Tomsk region, in the Krasnoyarsk and Altai regions, in the Altai Republic.
The Chulyms are a people far from typical housekeeping, cattle breeding, and even more so agriculture, is not their strong point. But the gathering and stocking of valuable berries and herbs is a characteristic feature of this hardworking people, which reached its maximum number in the 18th century and amounted to almost 4 thousand people.
Culture
Traditional Chulyms live in villages in dugouts and yurts with open clay stoves, numerous shops and chests, prefer simple canvas clothes, dresses, caftans, adorn themselves with beads, earrings and rings. In winter, they change into high fur boots or hunting boots. They prefer meat and dried fish dishes. Dairy dishes, like the tradition of eating pork and mushrooms, came later and were mainly imposed by the influence of Russian traditional cuisine, as well as borscht, kvass and beer.
Chulym residents are quite careful about nature and even have their own development in relation to all kinds of environmental protection measures.
For many centuries, it was censured to marry women of a different nationality, thanks to this endogamy, this people probably survived. The wife was chosen by the father of the family, only the mother could challenge the choice, but, as a rule, this was rare. To be fair. It is worth noting the fact that there was no totalitarianism in families, and therefore the decision on marriage was made exclusively by mutual consent. Today, of course, Chulym people marry anyone, but ethnic marriages are still frequent.
20th century
Despite the fact that Chulym residents are considered Orthodox Christians up to the 30s of the 20th century, shamanism, worship of spirits and forces of nature are preserved in individual villages. Paganism can also be traced in numerous rituals and traditions, for example, despite the outwardly quite Christian funeral, the Chulym people put the attributes of his earthly life to the deceased, make funeral fires.
Today the Chulyms are identified as the indigenous people of the Russian Federation, the Tomsk region is considered their main habitat. Recent years have been characterized by an active rise in the self-awareness of such a small but optimistic people, who prefer to observe traditions and observe the peculiarities of the conclusion of marriages between “their own”. The Chulym residents not only believe in their strength, which allowed them not to sink into oblivion in difficult times of assimilation, but also continue to observe rituals, holidays and beliefs.