Russia is |
Peoples of Russia
Maris
Their self-definition is Mari or Mariy (from “man” or “human” in the Mari language). An exoethnonim registered in a Khazar written monument back in the 10th century is Cheremis (in Russian chronicles the name of Cheremis was also used for the Chuvash and Southern Udmurts). They populate the Republic of Mariy El.
Language
The Mari language, which belongs to the Volga-Finnish group of the Finno-Ugric languages, included the Mountain, Meadow, Eastern and Northwestern dialects. The use of the Russian language is also common. The writing system was created based on the Cyrillic script.
Ethnic groups
There are three main groups of the Mari: the Mountain Mari (the right bank of the Volga river), the Meadow Mari (the Vetluga-Vyatka interstream) and the Eastern Mari (Bashkiria and other territories to the east of Vyatka where they moved in the 16th-18th centuries).
Dwellings
By the early 20th century, the Eastern Mari people already predominantly had individual nuclear families consisting of 2-3 generations of patrilineal relatives. Together with it, a large unseparated family existed, which included old people, their married sons (at times even married grandsons) with children. For intrafamily relationships, patriarchal traditions were characteristic. In 1989, the average size of a Mari family was 3.7 people.
Food
The main traditional food includes vareniki dumplings with meat or curd filling, cooked sausage made from grease or blood with grits, layered pancakes, curd croquettes and such drinks as: beer (pura), buttermilk, a strong honey drink (pu..ro.., shorva), bread kvass (shovo), ayran (yyra), etc.
Occupations
The main traditional occupation is plough agriculture. Vegetable gardening, breeding horses, cattle and sheep, forest enterprises (timber harvesting and rafting, tar distillation, etc.), wild-honey farming and later beekeeping, fishing were of subsidiary significance. The artistic crafts are also developed: embroidery, woodcarving, jewelry.
