Russia is |
Peoples of Russia
Kajtak people
The Kajtaks are Dargins (an ethnic group). Sometimes they may be viewed as a separate people.
Language
They speak the Kajtak language of the Dargin branch of the Nakh-Dagestan family; the standard Dargin language is also widespread.
Dispersion
They mostly live on the territory of the Kajtak district of Dagestan, some live on the plains and in the cities (Makhachkala, Derbent, Izberbash, etc.).
Traditional occupations
The Kajtaks practiced silkworm breeding since the 19th century; wool, hemp, cotton and silk weaving was well-developed, as well as wood and stone carving, smithing and embroidery. The traditional occupations of the Kajtak people were agriculture and cattle breeding. As for subsidiary occupations, hunting was widespread.
Dwellings
The houses of the Kajtaks are most often built from stone. The houses with a veranda along the sun-facing facade are typical.
Clothes
The traditional Kajtak clothes are similar to the Dargin clothes. Men’s clothes are: tunic-style shirt, trousers, beshmet jacket, chokha, sheepskin overcoats, burka cloak, sheepskin tall hats; well-to-do Kajtaks wore karakul hats, bashlyk hoods and felt hats. The footwear consisted of wool socks, puttees, morocco boots (with sewn and unsewn bootlegs), galoshes (kalush) and step-in shoes on a thick leather or wooden sole (the top is made from rawhide or morocco leather), dirikhs and other footwear. The male costume was decorated with silver belts, daggers, flint pistols with a fully silver-black coating, a sabre, etc. Smart chokhas were edged with galloon. The traditional female costume consisted of two types of trousers (wide and narrow), tunic-style shirts in vivid colors (red, yellow, green, orange, etc.), arkhaluk jackets, dresses similar to the Kumyk polush (a type of closed dress) and shirt dresses with cutoff waist, sheepskin overcoats. The headcovers were chukhta, the large ashmag veil, various headscarves.
Food
Their diet includes meat and dairy dishes (including poultry and game), dough articles, edible wild herbs. Typical traditional dishes are crepes (burshchina), corn flour pies (ava mucheri), chicken pie (arqvalla batsbik), fancy bread in the shape of a partridge with an egg baked into it (qaqba), khalva (the flour one is called arbish and the nut one, metukh). A widespread drink is the musti wine made from boiled grape juice.
