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Peoples of Russia
Tubalars
The Tubalars are a native small-numbered Turkic-speaking people living in the northern part of the Republic of Altai. Their self-designation is Tuba (Tuva) Kizhi, Tubalar as well as Yiysh Kizhi (“forest people”). In 2000, they were given the status of native small-numbered people. Previously they were classed as a part of the Altaians.
Language
The Tubalar language belongs either to the Northern Altai group of languages or to the Kyrgyz-Kipchak (Khakas) subgroup of the Kipchak group (Turkic branch of the Altai languaga family). Officially the Tubalars and the Tubalar language are acknowledged as a separate people and language. However, according to the new classification, the ethnographers tend to class them as a part of the Northern Altaian (Kumandy-Chelkan) language (as a Tubalar subdialect) or as a part of the Southern Altaian (Altaian proper) language.
Dispersion
The most compact settlements of the Tubalars are located in the Republic of Altai, in the villages of the Turochak and Choy districts. The traditional places of settlement and natural resource use of the Tubalars are located on the left bank of the river Biya, along the rivers Big Isha, Small Isha, Sary Koksha, Kara Koksha, Pyzha, Uymen, along the northwestern bank of the Teletsky lake and the adjoining territory. In the 1960s, during the era of enlargening and abolishment of the so-called unpromising villages, most Tubalar villages have disappeared.
Traditional occupations
The main economical occupation of the Tubalars was hunting. They practiced various forms of collective hunting, including battues for elks and roes as well as bears. Individually the Tubalars mostly hunted small furry animals. Tubalars practiced farming, mostly hoe farming. The crop they raised was mostly barley. The most ancient method for threshing was charring the spikes. Cattle breeding by Tubalars had some common features with cattle breeding as done by Southern Altaians. They mostly raised horses and cows. They used milk to make sour cheese saturated by smoke, milk vodka, etc. As for other economic occupations, the most significant ones were fishing, gathering cedar nuts, wild honey farming, beekeeping, gathering roots, berries, wild hemp that was used to make sackcloth. Since ancient times, Tubalars mined iron ore, smelting and casting iron, processing wood and currying. The main material to make home utensils and dishes was birch bark. Tubalars also knew weaving.
Dwellings
The most widespread type of Tubalar dwelling were four-, six- and eight-cornered wooden yurts made from thick logs. Such a yurt had a roof in the shape of a conic pole hut covered with birch bark. The Tubalar settlements usually consisted of three to five yurts. The traditional types of dwellings include a four-cornered balagan with a gabled roof, made from boards standing up and covered with birch bark, and a conical hut made from poles placed in a circle which was covered with birch bark or larch bark. Such dwellings had no windows. The smoke from the hearth came out of a special opening on the roof.
National costume
The Tubalar clothing was mostly made from sackcloth. Robes, shirts, trousers and hats were made from it. Tubalar women wore colored shirts with a wide ruffle on the hem and a decorated collar. In winter, they wore quilted coats from felt covered with sackcloth which were belted with wool belts decorated with geometric ornaments.
Food
The traditional structure of the Tuba diet includes plant, meat and dairy food. Their sources were hunting, fishing, foraging, hoe farming and cattle breeding. However, already by the first half of the 20th century the character of the Tuba diet was determined by the production of the farming and cattle breeding industries. This is evident by the presence of various dishes and products from flour, oatmeal, grits and milk.
