Consultation for parents.
Folk wisdom in pOslowitzOhand sayingOh.
Sayings and proverbs are short sayings containing conclusions from observations of the environment. They are more understandable to elders children - six to seven years old. In a saying or proverb, their content is important. They were formed on the basis of vast life experience. Proverb - belonging to adult speech. Children can hardly use it yet and are only just being introduced to this form of folklore. However, individual proverbs addressed to children can instill in them some rules of behavior, for example: “If you hurry, you will make people laugh.” It is most correct to use proverbs and sayings at the moment when circumstances clearly illustrate the proverb.
In adults, a stock of proverbs and sayings is usually created as a result of listening and reading fairy tales, folk epics, fiction, and under the influence of the speech of others. It is bad if they “plan” in advance the use of proverbs and sayings. Folk expressions are alive only when they are said at the right time and place. Never from children should not be sought so that they use these expressions or, even worse, memorize them. It’s good if children catch humor in an adult’s speech and understand the edification in a proverb. If a saying or a separate expression, taken from a fairy tale or from an adult’s speech, occasionally flashes into a child’s speech, this will be a reward for his efforts, but the child should not be deliberately challenged to do this.
Life is given for good deeds.
Without roots, wormwood does not grow.
Take care of your dress again, and take care of your honor from a young age.
Wear a dress - don’t take it off, endure grief - don’t tell it.
It will be busy, but it will also be quiet.
Spark the carcass before the fire, avert trouble before the impact.
Grandmother said in two words: either it will rain or it will snow, either it will happen or it won’t.
God, God, and don’t be bad yourself.
To be afraid of misfortune is to see no happiness.
Either the chest is covered in crosses, or the head is in the bushes.
You'll go through the whole world by lying, but you won't come back.
Youth is a bird, and old age is a turtle.
The Russian does not joke with the sword or the roll.
He who eats quickly works quickly.
Everyone is the smith of his own happiness.
See the tree in its fruits, and the man in his deeds.
Plowing is not playing the pipe.
Trying is not torture, and demand is not a problem.
Darn the hole while it's small.
Without taking up an ax, you cannot cut down a hut.
What is the master, so is the matter.
Where there is will, there is ability.
Know how to start, know how to finish.
The end is the crown of the matter.
Like the spinner, so is the shirt.
Leni is too lazy to take a spoon, but Leni is not too lazy to eat dinner.
“Shark, what are you sewing?” –
“And I, mother, will still flog you!”
Knocked it down, knocked it together, here's the wheel!
I sat down and drove off - oh, good!
I looked back - only the knitting needles were lying there.
Stupid and lazy - he does one thing twice.
A big talker is a bad worker.
If you don’t have a friend, look for him, but if you find him, take care of him.
Even a wolf does not take a willing herd.
Together - not burdensome, but apart - at least drop it.
For a dear friend and an earring.
For a friend, even seven miles is not a suburb.
Where there is harmony, there is treasure.
You will not get to know your friend without trouble.
A bird has wings, and a man has a mind.
And strength gives way to the mind.
You won't be smart with someone else's mind.
Don't ask the old, ask the experienced.
To be in an intelligent conversation is to gain intelligence, but to be in a stupid conversation is to lose yours.
Don't rush to answer, hurry to listen.
A long rope is good, but a short speech is good.
Don't be quick with your words, be quick with your actions.
Bragging - don't mow, your back doesn't hurt.
Empty vessels make the greatest sound.
Don't teach a fish to swim.
In the desert, Thomas is a nobleman.
In the wrong hands the piece is big.
He was drowning - he promised an ax, but when they pulled him out, he was sorry for the axe.
Slander is like coal: if it doesn’t burn, it gets dirty.
Every song has its end.
Consideration of proverbs and sayings of the Crimean Karaites, including currently unused concepts and cultural features that have become a thing of the past. A study of various beliefs in folk aphorisms. Ethnic culture of the Crimean Karaites in different periods of time.
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Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”
The multimedia project “Faces of Russia” has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together while remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for countries throughout the post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of different Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs “Music and Songs of the Peoples of Russia” were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs were published to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a snapshot that will allow the residents of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a legacy for posterity with a picture of what they were like.
~~~~~~~~~~~
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On this topic:
General information
KARA'IMS, people. They live in the cities of Ukraine (in Crimea - 1404 people), in Lithuania (289 people) and in Russia, mainly in Moscow and St. Petersburg (680 people). The total number in the countries of the former USSR is 2602 people (1989). Small groups of Karaites in Poland and France; the largest number (about 25 thousand) concentrated in Israel by the mid-1980s. They speak the Karaite language of the Turkic group of the Altai family, dialects: Crimean, Trakai (northern), Galich (southern). The religion of the Karaites is Karaiteism, based on the Old Testament.
According to the 2002 Population Census, the number of Karaites living in Russia is 400 people, according to the 2010 census. - 1 thousand 927 people.
The ethnonym Karaites (Hebrew, literally “readers”) goes back to a Jewish sect that arose in Baghdad at the beginning of the 8th century, the doctrine of which is based on the recognition of the sole source of faith in the Bible and the denial of the rabbinic-Talmudic tradition. In the 13th century, a significant number of Karaites, mainly from the Byzantine Empire, settled in Crimea. In the capital of the Crimean khans, Solkhat (modern Old Crimea), the Karaite community existed in the 14th century. Many legends are associated with the origin of the Karaite community in the city of Chufut-Kale (which the Karaites called “Jewish Rock”) (in the 19th century the population of Chufut-Kale consisted mainly of Karaites). According to Karaite legends, the Lithuanian prince Vytautas, having defeated the Crimean Tatars in 1392, stole captives, among whom were several Karaite families. They were settled in Troki (Trakai, near Vilnius), in Lutsk, Galich, near Lvov (Red Island), and later began to settle in other cities of Lithuania, Volyn, and Podolia. During the Jewish pogrom of 1648 in Ukraine, most of the Karaites shared the fate of the Jewish rabbis, and (until the end of the 18th century) the administrative authorities of various countries, as a rule, did not distinguish between the Karaite communities and the Jewish communities. In 1495, the Karaites were expelled from Lithuania.
With the inclusion of Crimea (1783) and Vilna (1795) into the Russian Empire, the position of the Karaites changed. In 1795, Catherine II freed the Karaites (whose number reached 2,400 people in Russia) from paying the double tax imposed on the Jews of Russia, and allowed them to acquire land property. The Karaites were farmers who owned tobacco and fruit plantations and salt mines. In 1837, in the Tauride province, the Karaites received the rights of religious self-government (like the Crimean Muslim clergy). The residence of the hakham (khakham, head of the Karaite clergy) was Evpatoria, where the Karaite printing house was located. In 1863, the Karaites were completely equal in rights with the residents of Russia.
After 1917, part of the Crimean Karaites emigrated from Russia to Poland, France, Germany, and Turkey. The number of Crimean and Polish-Lithuanian Karaites decreased as a result of assimilation. In 1926, 9 thousand lived in the USSR, 5 thousand lived outside it; in 1932 - in the USSR (mainly in Crimea) about 10 thousand and 2 thousand - mainly in Poland and Lithuania, as well as in Turkey (Istanbul), Egypt (Cairo), Iraq. After World War II, the process of assimilation of the Karaites in Russia continued. If in 1897 the total number of Karaites in Russia was 12.9 thousand people, then in 1959 - 5.7 thousand, in 1970 - 4.6 thousand, in 1979 - 3.3 thousand (16% of them indicated Karaite language as a native language). In 1989 - 10.3% of Karaites indicated the Karaite language as their native language (within the former Union - 19.3%).
Essays
And in family albums there is the history of an entire people...
Family albums... Many of us keep them for years and even decades. And if we want to tell about the history of our family line, then family albums will help us with this.
Do other nations also have family albums? Of course have. For example, mejuma. These are handwritten family collections. The Karaites (Karaites) have an ancient tradition of keeping such albums.
Legends and fairy tales, proverbs and sayings, songs, riddles, facts of family life in the form of chronicles were recorded in mejuma.
In mejuma one can find references to unusual natural phenomena (earthquakes, eclipses of the sun and moon), as well as significant historical events. It is important to note that the mejuma were passed down from generation to generation. Often Karaite families had several collections that made up a single chronological series.
Along with the Old Testament, Majuma Bibles were among the most valuable family heirlooms. Before the Great Patriotic War, almost all Karai (Karaite) families in Crimea had them. Nowadays, only a few copies have survived. Records in mejuma were kept in the Karaite language, mainly in “Karaite cursive” - cursive writing, based on the square Aramaic font. Sometimes they used Arabic script. In some mejuma of the early 20th century there are records in Cyrillic in the Karai (Karaite) language.
Medjuma - an inexhaustible storehouse of folk wisdom - are written monuments of folk art not only of the Crimean Karaites. In addition to Karai itself, they contain ancient Turkic material, folklore common to related indigenous peoples of the peninsula, and works that existed among different peoples of Crimea.
Majuma karai have not been systematically studied. The contents of one collection were presented by academician Vasily Radlov in “Samples of folk literature of the northern Turkic tribes.” This work contains 470 proverbs and sayings, 343 songs of different genres, 200 riddles, 105 signs and fortune-telling by trembling body parts, 20 fairy tales and legends.
Let's listen to one of the fairy tales right now, or rather, read it.
About how happiness and power argued
This fairy tale is interesting for many reasons, including the fact that there are, as it were, two groups of heroes. There are concrete heroes and... abstract ones. On the one hand, the abstract heroes are happiness and power, and on the other hand, the poor man, who became the object of the application of forces in this fundamental dispute.
Once upon a time happiness and power met. Power says to happiness:
- I'm stronger than you. If I want, I will give a person a lot of property.
Happiness is his answer:
- No, I'm stronger than you. True, you give property, but if I don’t help, then the property you give will not be useful - it will be lost.
And they made a bet among themselves.
They went to the market together and saw a poor man standing in one corner selling old things.
We approached him. Power says to the poor man: “What use is this junk to you?” The ragman answers:
- What should I do? If I give up this activity, we will all die of hunger. But I can’t do anything else.
Power takes out one hundred gold pieces and gives them to the poor man:
Go and live in peace.
The beggar took one hundred gold pieces, joyfully got into the boat and went home. But the boat capsized, and one hundred pieces of gold along with the wallet fell into the water.
The poor man went home with gasps and sighs.
Morning came, and he again went to sell old things.
Again, happiness and power came to visit him, and they saw that the poor man was again selling old things.
Power says to the beggar:
—Are you selling old things again?
And he responded:
- And so it happened, the gold ones fell into the sea.
Power again gave him one hundred gold coins with the parting words:
- Keep them well!
The poor man took the gold home.
There was one tree growing in his yard. He took out a purse of gold and hid it in this tree.
When the poor man left, a crow flew out of the hollow of the tree, grabbed the purse of gold and flew away.
In the morning, getting ready to go to the market, a poor man came to the tree to look at his gold. Lo and behold, there is no gold.
Sighing and sighing, the poor man went back to the market to sell old things.
And again happiness and power come. Happiness says to the poor:
- Why are you selling old things again? What did you do with one hundred gold pieces?
The poor man told everything as it happened. Power gave him one hundred gold coins this time too.
The beggar took the gold and went home. To prevent his wife from finding out, he hid the money in a salt shaker.
Meanwhile, a neighbor came asking for salt. The poor man's wife, suspecting nothing, gave the salt shaker with gold to her neighbor, saying:
- Take as much as you want!
A neighbor took a salt shaker, brought it home, and looked at it - and at the bottom there was a wallet with gold. He kept the gold for himself, exclaiming: “God gave!”, and returned the salt shaker back to its owner.
The poor man decided to see how his gold was doing. He sees that there is nothing in the salt shaker. Immediately he asked his wife:
— There were a hundred gold pieces in the salt shaker. Where are they? And the wife answers:
— I gave the salt shaker to the neighbors. They probably took it. The poor man went to his neighbors and asked if they had found any gold.
“No, we didn’t see it,” they say.
What should a poor man do?
In the morning I went to the market again to sell old things.
Happiness and power came again.
Power asked:
- What happened this time? Why are you selling old things again?
The poor man told everything as it happened. Happiness to power and says:
- Now do you see that I am stronger than you?
Then the power answers him:
“Come on, let’s unite and together we’ll help that poor man.”
And so they did. And the beggar became rich.
Words from fathers for all occasions
Folk wisdom played no less a role in the life of the Karaites than religious prescriptions. She served as a guide in relationships and helped in difficult times. Proverbs and sayings (“words of the fathers”) occupied a special place. There were many sayings, for all occasions. They often had a poetic form with rhyme and rhythm.
“Words of the Fathers” reflect the attitude of the Karaites to their native land, friendship, work, and neighbor. There are a lot of edifications and aphoristic sayings, often with humor, unexpected epithets, and comparisons. Typical examples:
The foreign land is clay, and the Motherland is gold.
He who gives is pleasing to God.
Let your word match the amount donated.
They give little from the heart, but a lot from wealth.
God willing, pray, but if he doesn’t bring it home, work.
Like pearls and lal (ruby) the words of a wise man, only the words of a fool cause pain.
With a lion, be a lion, with a lamb, be a lamb, but with a donkey, don’t be an ass.
You are a khan, I am a khan, and there is no one to give hay to the horses.
He who exalts himself to the heavens will fall to the ground.
The backside is bare, and there is a bunch of cornflowers on the head.
A fool can harness a horse, but a smart wind harnesses it.
Your soul is a soul, and mine is an eggplant, or what?
In the past, the Karaites played a curious game. Its participants took turns exchanging proverbs and sayings. Anyone who could not remember the proverb was out of the game. The verbal battles continued long after midnight. It is interesting that the winner of such competitions enjoyed honor and respect.
Karaites often competed in song improvisation. Songs like ditties (chyny) and more extensive yyrs were successful. These songs were quickly created and quickly forgotten. More complex and longer-living songs of the “Türkü” genre were passed down through generations, including ritual and heroic songs (destans). Among the most ancient songs, a lullaby has been preserved about the beast Butakhamor, standing on the ice, about the sun that melted the ice, about the cloud that covered the sun...
The folk calendar of the Karaites is also interesting, especially if you compare it with the calendar that we use now.
The month of adding days, it is also cold or thin - March-April. The month of haymaking is April-May. The month of earing of crops is May-June. Summer month - July-August. The month of lambs is August-September. Rotten (rainy) month - September-October. The harvest month is October-November. Autumn month - November-December. The month for cutting (slaughtering) livestock and preparing meat is December-January. Winter month - January-February. The month of difficult (black, snowy) winter is February-March. The joyful month is March-April. In the Karaite calendar there is also (“artykh-ai”) an additional (thirteenth) month.
As we were able to notice, the Karaite calendar is quite regulated. It clearly shows when and what to do.
And if a girl or guy decided to arrange their life, in the sense of getting legally married, what was required for this? What conditions had to be met?
I'll come to my senses and get married!
To get married, the following requirements were required: adulthood, mutual consent, common ethnicity, and the absence of forbidden kinship. They tried to marry representatives of distant clans. In the past, interbreeding with Turkic tribes of similar blood was allowed, subject to acceptance of the faith. Marriage was preceded by betrothal. Interestingly, after the engagement, the bride was not allowed to say the groom's name. This was followed by preliminary gifts (khonja) and an evening of cutting the trousseau in the bride's house. The wedding lasted seven days. This also included a bachelorette party at the bride's house and a bachelor's party at the groom's. As well as bathing the bride, visiting the bathhouse by the groom; drawing up a marriage contract; dressing the bride and groom. And the wedding itself.
The groom and his friends shaved their heads. The bride's hair and nails were painted with henna, and curls (zilif) were laid out, which distinguished the wife from the girl and the widow. The rituals were accompanied by music, songs, food, and fundraising for the poor. On the seventh day after the wedding, on the evening of gifts, the young husband kissed his mother’s hand and gave her a fur coat.
In the groom's departure to the bathhouse on horseback, returning in battle formation with shooting and racing, echoes of the ancient ritual of “kidnapping the bride” are visible.
Nowadays, weddings have become simpler. However, the custom of placing the young ones on the skin and covering them with coins and grain has been preserved.
There were hundreds of superstitions
How did the Karaites deal with superstitions? We know that custom is something to be followed and superstition is something to be feared.
Once upon a time, the Karaites had hundreds of superstitions. Dozens of them are actively living now. As a rule, one or another ritual is associated with one or another superstition.
To protect yourself from enemies in the house, at the threshold, in the floor, you need to stick a dagger. A knife with a black handle buried in front of the house also protects from the enemy.
Anyone who sneezed at the mention of a dead person should be hit on the shoulder three times.
If a dog howls, turn men's shoes face down - this will ward off trouble.
In the kitchen of the house they keep a horse shoe for good luck, but not a new one, but a found one.
The broom is placed with the handle down only when they want the uninvited guest to leave quickly.
Even an enemy must be treated to a meal in the house, if he has wandered in... But you cannot eat with him. After leaving the enemy’s house, they threw a pebble after him with the words: Yolı tash bolsyn - May your path be a stone!
Previously, it was believed that most diseases were caused by the evil eye and fear. They burned cloves (karanfil - patlama) to fight the evil eye, and the remaining ash was used to smear the forehead against the disease.
When planning to do something, they added the proverb Kysmet bolsa - If fate wills it. It is interesting that this proverb echoes the famous abbreviation of Leo Tolstoy EBZH (if I live). The writer often ended his letters with this short phrase.
To fulfill your wishes, you must promise to do something for the poor and fulfill your promise.
You cannot stitch or sew anything on a person, and if you have to, you must name the names of the seven widows; spit or urinate on fire, water, ash. You cannot put a glass or glass on a plate (only at a wake). You can't hit someone with a broom; scatter cut nails (need to be buried discreetly); throw away combed hair (must be wrapped in paper and burned in the oven); discard and turn bread over, bottom crust facing up.
Bread crumbs should not be thrown away (they must be eaten or given to birds). You cannot give a dagger or other sharp things without taking a symbolic payment for them, at least a penny. You cannot sew or buy new things for a sick person; sit at the feet of the patient's bed; giving and taking something over a threshold.
A portion of any profits must be given to the poor.
It is imperative to fulfill the wishes of the person who made a terrible vow: Olum iyla, karam kyy - Mourn my death and mourn for me. These words were uttered only as a last resort, when other arguments had been exhausted and the request did not find a response.
Anyone who begins to sweep away garbage must remove it himself. You should finish the work you start yourself, otherwise others will interfere with your destiny.
Those who have recently lost their parents from Friday evening until the end of Saturday should not spin, sew or process threads, as this may prevent the souls of the departed from flying away and praying.
Let's talk in more detail about the burial ritual.
“As you came in the flesh, so you will have to leave”
Karaites are buried in a wooden coffin. The deceased's arms should be extended along the body. Following the words “as you came in the flesh, so you must leave,” no valuables were placed in the coffin.
At night, candles burned near the coffin. The funeral service was held with the coffin closed. The relatives did not touch the deceased. At home and in the cemetery, the gazzan (clergyman) sang mourning songs (kyna) and funeral prayers in his native (Karaite) language. Everyone had their heads covered.
The Karaite grave is oriented from north to south. On its sides they hammered stakes (kazyk), an analogy for which we find among other Turkic and Mongolian peoples. On the day of the funeral and during subsequent visits to the cemetery, pebbles were placed on the grave at the feet.
At the wake, men and women sat separately. Mandatory funeral dishes: funeral kara-halva, baked eggs with pepper, pies with cheese, raisins, vodka. Only at wakes were glasses placed on plates. The closest ones did not participate in the meal, and after the guests left, they performed the ritual of ayak-ichmek (drinking from a cup) and plunged into deep mourning. The clergyman stood on black felt or skin, and the rest were located around according to the degree of kinship according to the movement of the sun. After the blessing, those present walked around a cup of wine and bread according to the movement of the sun.
For seven days they did not eat meat and did not take anything out of the house. A repeated ritual on black felt completed the deep mourning. This is followed by the ritual of et-ashi (meat food) and everyday food is allowed. On the 40th day, Khazar halva of consolation is served. After 11 months, the mourning ends with the last wake with white halva.
For those buried in a foreign land, a graveless monument was erected - yolji-tash (traveler's stone).
An ancient custom prescribed dismounting from a horse at the graves of rulers as a sign of deep respect for their memory.
Kirk Yera Gardens
Talking about the Karaites, about their affairs, customs, I would like to remember the main hobby of the Karaites - gardening. Until recently, the favorite pastime of the Karaites in the Crimea was gardening, and in the western provinces, vegetable gardening.
Karai gardens were located in places of traditional residence, in the Kyrk Yera district (between the Alma and Kachi rivers). These lands are noted in the labels of the Crimean khans and in ancient times belonged to the inhabitants of Calais. Gardeners also lived in Tarkhanlar, Khanyshkoy, Kojak-Eli, Golyumbey, Duvankoy, Shuryu, Topchikoy, Aksheikhe, Tatarkoy, Tostop, Kosh-Kermen, Bi-Eli, Azek, Aysunki and other villages in the river basins of southwestern Crimea, near Bakhchisarai .
With a total population of less than 0.5% of the total population of Crimea, the Karaites made up about ten percent of the full members of the Simferopol department of the Imperial Russian Society of Gardeners and at the anniversary exhibition in 1908 received twenty percent of all awards.
Solomon Krym, Abraham Pastak, Saduk Shakai and other specialists made a significant contribution to the development of horticulture, including industrial gardening. They created model farms and fruit nurseries. They proposed new methods for storing and fire drying fruits, controlling pests, and recommended the advanced methods of caring for gardens at that time.
Alas, after the revolution of 1917, gardening ceased to be one of the main occupations of the Crimean Karaites, as the people were deprived of property and gardens, cultivated by many generations of their ancestors.
Even under these conditions, many karai made a significant contribution to the development of horticulture. Among them are Kalfa, Kiskachi, Bakkal. Abraham Pastak, one of the best agrochemists in France, a holder of the Legion of Honor and other highest awards, has achieved great success abroad. By the way, while still living in Russia, Abraham Isaakovich Pastak became famous throughout the world for his fruit nursery, which was located in the village of Mirnoye near Simferopol. Fruits from this nursery received gold medals at exhibitions in Paris and Turin and were awarded the Persian Order of the Lion and the Sun.
And our fatherland is Crimea...
Karaites are one of the few peoples for whom Crimea is the only Fatherland. And therefore, it is not accidental, but quite natural, that it is in Crimea that the International Karaite Labor Camp operates every summer (for 15 years now). The main goal of the camp is the preservation and revival of the ethnocultural heritage of the Karaites, acquaintance and communication of Karaites from different regions of Ukraine and other countries on the basis of the “ancestral nest” of the Karaites - the fortified city of Kyrk-Er (Chufut Kale).
What do the young people who come to this camp do? They study the history and culture of the Crimean Karaites, clean the Balta Tiimez cemetery-sanctuary, and monitor the safety of monuments and the condition of the cemetery. They restore order in hydraulic structures and clean wells and streams in the area. They are also working to improve Chufut Kale. It is interesting that the transfer of knowledge from the older generation to the younger occurs in a playful way (conversations, contests, quizzes, competitions).
The number of camp participants is growing from year to year. For example, in 1997, 30 people gathered for the first time, and in recent years (2011) - about 150. Karaites from Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Lithuania, Poland and even far abroad come to the labor camp. Up to 30 children rest in the camp. Participants' ages range from one year to 83 years. A native language teaching school has been operating since 2008. In fact, the Karaite labor camp is the only opportunity for the younger generation to learn their native language, culture and history from primary sources.
The Krymkaraylar association and its member national-cultural societies, individual citizens and organizations provide great assistance in holding the camp. Thanks to their contribution to the common cause, many cultural and historical values of the Karaite people have been preserved and appreciated. The management of the Bakhchisarai Nature Reserve also provides financial and technical support to the camp.