Russia is
my homeland

Peoples of Russia

Tatars

Their self-designation is Tatarlar. In the Russian Federation they are the second largest ethnic group (5,554.6 thousand people) after the Russians. They also live in Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, China and many other countries of the world.

Language

The Tatar language belongs to the Kipchak-Bulgarian subgroup of the Kipchak group of the Turkic branch of the Altai linguistic family and has three main dialects: Western (Mishar), Middle (Kazan Tatar) and Eastern (Siberian Tatar). The language standard was formed based on the Kazan Tatar dialect with some influence of the Mishar. The writing system is based on the Cyrillic alphabet.

Ethnic groups

The Tatar ethnos is divided into three ethnic-territorial groups: Volga-Ural Tatars, Astrakhan Tatars and Siberian Tatars. The Siberian Tatars, due to the particularities of their culture and ethnic history, are often identified as a separate ethnos. The largest Volga-Ural Tatar group includes the ethnic groups of Kazan Tatars, Mishars and Kasimov Tatars. The ethnic communities of the Kazan, Kasimov Tatars and Mishars were formed in the 14^th-mid-16^th century. The Kazan Tatars as a people took shape in the Kazan khanate (1438-1552), which was one of the significant political centers of Eastern Europe. The ethnic characteristics of the Mishars and the Kasimov Tatars were formed in the Kasimov khanate (mid-15^th century - 1680s), dependent on Muscovy; the Kasimov Tatars, which had some specific ethnocultural characteristics, were in fact the highest ranks of the khanate and formed a group that was transitional between the Kazan Tatars and the Mishars. In the second half of the 16^th-18^th century, due to mass migrations of the Tatars in the Volga-Ural region, further convergence of Kazan, Kasimov Tatars and Mishars took place, which led to the formation of the Volga-Ural Tatars.

The Astrakhan Tatars are the descendants of the Golden Horde groups and the earlier components of a Khazar and Kypchak origin; in the 15^th-17^th century they populated the Astrakhan khanate, partly the Nogai Horde and other Nogai principalities, and have experienced significant influence of the Nogai. There are other components in this ethnos: Tatarized Tats, Indians, Middle-Asian Turkomans.

Since the 18^th century the interaction between the Volga-Ural and the Astrakhan Tatars (as well as the Siberian ones) is growing, a single Tatar ethnos is being formed.

Dwellings

The prevailing type of the traditional dwelling is a wooden izba (log cabin). The rich peasants had a multichamber one, out of several log structures connected by seni anterooms. The courtyard was usually divided into a forecourt (the dwelling and the outbuildings) and a backyard (the kitchen garden and the barnyard).

Food

The food intake is based on meat and plant food as well as dairy products. Liquid hot dishes are very important. Soups with flour filling (tokmach, etc.) are fairly typical. Popular dishes include various gruels, leavened bread, dough and meat articles: pelmeni dumplings (which are made not only with meat but also with peas, hemp seed, curd), belyash (belesh) pasties, triangles with fatty meat and onions (ochpochmak), a kind of custard pasty with cooked meat filling (peremyachi). Cured geese are a traditional festive dish.

Occupations

The basis for the traditional economy of the Volga-Ural Tatars in the 19^th-early 20^th century was plough farming. The farming crops included fall rye, oats, barley, lentils, millet, spelt, linen, hemp. Market gardening and melon growing were also practiced. The pasture-stable animal breeding in some traits was similar to the nomadic one. For example, at some districts the horses were at grass the whole year through. Only the Mishar hunted seriously. Artisanal and manufacturing production reached a high level (jewellery, felting, furriery, weaving and gold embroidery), tanneries and wool factories were operating, trade was well-developed.