Coastal culture. Pomeranian customs. A Brief History of Pomerania

Stones must be chosen carefully. You can not step where the algae, so as not to slip. It is better not to jump from stone to stone, some of them are wobbly. In two hours they will all hide under the rising tide.

She is clean. In the Kandalaksha Bay, the White Sea is not white at all, but transparent. White all around. And there are white ice floes on which seals bask.

The White Sea becomes truly white in winter, when the lips and bays are frozen over. The Barents Sea, which is to the north, beyond the Arctic Circle, does not freeze, it is warmed by the warm North Atlantic Current. Nothing warms the White Sea. In the south, there is the warm Black Sea, like a twisted mirror image of the White. They say that historical justice has triumphed on the Black Sea. Much is said about justice in the White Sea.

Between high tide and low tide, you can go to bask in the tone. Tonya (with an emphasis on the last syllable; a place in a pond where they fish with a seine or other fishing gear) is the essence of Pomeranian life, a fishing hut located on the very shore of the sea, from which Pomors gathered for crafts: to fish and hunt for whites.

Tonya Tetrina on the Tersky coast, in the Kandalaksha Bay - this is Alexander Komarov's life's work.

It can be called an open-air museum, although Tony Tetrin does not have an official status and no definitions other than the main one - ton - are applied. On the site located on the Arctic Circle, on the very shore of the White Sea, Alexander Komarov is reviving the Pomeranian culture with his own hands. In Ton Tetrina you can understand how the Pomors lived, how they worked, to feel what a warm hut means when there is knee-deep snow and an angry frost outside the window.

Tonya Tetrina as a place tells the story of what was. Most people talk about Pomors in the past tense. They came, they were, they developed their culture, they were engaged in crafts, went to the sea for fish and hunted for seals. Today, some questions arise about Pomors. Are there still such people? Who are they? How do they live? What are they doing?

SEA SEA

There are many disagreements about the origin of the Pomors.

For some researchers, this is an ancient people, formed long before the emergence of the Russian state or individual Russian principalities. According to this vision, the Pomors are the descendants of the Finno-Ugric population of the White Sea coast, mixed with the Varangians (whose ethnicity and origin are also explained by different, sometimes opposite theories) and Russian aliens. Among the Pomors themselves, the most common version is that their ancestors came from the lands of Veliky Novgorod and the Suzdal Principality and settled along the White Sea coast, where they were engaged in crafts - primarily fishing, hunting and salt production. This was in ancient times.

Alexandra Demyanchuk, a Pomorka from the Karelian village of Nyukhcha, says that these people were then looking for a better place to live and found the White Sea.

Is it better here? - you can be surprised, remembering that somewhere it has long been spring, and here the snow is knee-deep.

Alexandra Demyanchuk

I like it here,” she says proudly. She also mentions Martha the mayor, the wife of the Novgorod mayor Isaac Boretsky. At the end of the 15th century, Marfa Boretskaya opposed the unification of the Novgorod lands with the Moscow principality, but her struggle ended in defeat for the city, and for her in death. You can learn about all this from Nikolai Karamzin's story "Martha the Posadnitsa, or the Conquest of Novgorod." According to Alexandra Demyanchuk, this was the moment when, dissatisfied with the new situation, that is, dependence on Moscow, the Novgorodians went north to look for a new land for themselves.

Over several centuries of presence on the White Sea, the newcomers from the Russian principalities, mixing with the indigenous population, built a rich, original culture, a reflection of which was the perception of themselves (and, accordingly, their perception by others) as some separate, peculiar and original group. Already in the 17th-18th centuries, the people belonging to it were defined in the written documents of that time as Pomors or Pomortsy.

Pomors lived on traditional crafts. Until now, on the White Sea, everyone repeats the phrase "the sea is our field." To be a Pomor means to live and feed on the sea. The cold and dangerous sea, but it allowed to live, over the centuries developed economic and cultural relations with neighboring peoples, primarily with Norway, the best proof of which is Russenorsk - a pidgin [a simplified language that develops as a means of communication between two or more ethnic groups ], where the Pomors communicated with their Norwegian neighbors.

The revolution changed everything. The Soviet government chose Pomorie as a place of repression. The first Gulag camp was founded on the Solovetsky Islands, and the construction of the White Sea Canal soon followed, which cost the lives of thousands of prisoners. Pomors suffered the same fate as other residents of the country - repression, collectivization, which went against the traditional way of life based on personal labor and personal responsibility. Collective farms were created - both fishing and agricultural, and the latter - often in defiance of nature. Then the war came. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, it is more than difficult to recreate the traditional activities of the Pomors, the time is not right.

Such is the story. Pomor traditions are captured in several museums scattered in the cities of the entire White Sea coast.

For example, in a small museum in Kandalaksha, in a school hall reserved for the museum in Chupa, in a rather large and serious museum of Pomeranian culture in Kem, in the Trash Shed built mainly on the enthusiasm of its leader in Nyukhcha. Tonya Tetrina is also, in a certain sense, a museum, only under the open sky.

POMORY - A REGIONAL BRAND

In Arkhangelsk, somewhere at the beginning of the 2000s, Pomor culture went beyond the scope of local history museums. Then a group of people united, interested not only in the preservation of the Pomeranian culture, but in its development and promotion. Thus, the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region was created. Its initiators were Ivan Moseev and Vadim Medvedkov, organizations for 10 years already. One of its members is Arkhangelsk journalist Anatoly Bednov.

Anatoly Bednov

Anatoly Bednov in the last census recorded himself as a Pomor.

Pomors are people who live along the shores of the White Sea and the rivers flowing into it, those whose way of life and culture are connected precisely with the sea and whose economy is primarily marine and river fishing, says Bednov.

When in a conversation it turns out that he himself is not engaged in fishing, Bednov still defines himself as a Pomor:

A fisherman is a profession, and a Pomor is an ethnic factor here. It's more than just a fisherman.

The goal of the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region, as Anatoly Bednov says, is “the revival of traditional culture already in modern conditions”, both material culture, that is, crafts, crafts, fishing, hunting, and spiritual.

These are Pomeranian tales, songs, costumes, holidays, features of the language, dialect. Plus, customs, rituals, everything that distinguishes us from the southern or Central Russian population, that is, what is specifically local, he lists.

At the same time, Bednov is convinced that the Pomors are not a separate people:

Russian Pomors. It's like a people within a people. Part of the Russian people, with its own characteristics that distinguish us from other peoples.

The Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region has rather standard goals: the revival of traditional culture, its promotion and propaganda, attracting tourists on this basis, and the formation of regional brands.

To position the region against the background of others. Not just an ordinary territory at number 29, not an ordinary region, but a region with its own distinctive face, different from neighboring regions, - says Anatoly Bednov.

All this seems very understandable and justified - the development of the region, based on its cultural difference. This is not a new move at all, this strategy is popular all over the world. But something did not work with the Pomors. At a certain moment, the first rapid development of the “Pomor idea” and the promotion of local culture, as Antalii Bednov calls it, began to decline:

At the beginning of the 2000s, when the Pomor theme was very active and discussed even up to the level of the governor, then people signed up more [in Pomors]. But this, apparently, is such a general trend that manifested itself in various regions somewhere by the beginning of the 1990s. Somewhere in the Far East there were such sentiments, and in the south of Russia too.

During the 2002 census, even the then governor Anatoly Efremov signed up for the Pomors, setting an example for other regional officials. Then, as a result, 6,571 people signed up as Pomors. It turned out that a new nationality appeared in the north of Russia, and not everyone liked it.

Critical articles about the Pomors and the “Pomor idea” began to appear in the Regnum news agency, accusations of separatism and work for the benefit of hostile forces, in an effort to destroy Russia, were heard in them. On this wave, which was picked up by other media, local authorities began to treat the Pomors more coolly. The Pomor New Year - a major city event that took place in Arkhangelsk on the night of September 14-15 for several years in a row - was canceled.

The authorities began to be more wary in terms of financial support, too, allocating grants for some projects, under the pretext that there is not enough money, ”recalls Bednov.

At that time, another local organization joined the Pomors' initiatives - the National-Cultural Autonomy of the Pomors. Their positions, one might say, were more radical than those of the Association, and Anatoly Bednov believes that this fact also influenced the curtailment of Pomor projects.

They had a bias towards paganism, and this also had a very negative impact, they began to accuse that Orthodoxy was here, but here everything is going in that direction,” he says. Bednov believes that this arose primarily on economic grounds: - Economic organizations are probably afraid that if people are defined as a people, they will demand certain rights both to land and to resources. And we are not interested in this at all. I just wish someone would control mining.

How it is possible to make friends with the Pomor idea of politics so that no one is afraid, Bednov does not yet know. But he is sure that the region needs to develop, and ideologically too, otherwise it will become (and most likely is already becoming) unattractive for young people, and the outflow of the population from Pomorye will only increase.

In the next census in 2010, the number of Pomors decreased significantly. Then only 3,113 people signed up for the Pomors. Media publications critical of the Association of Pomors continue, they often include Norway as the country that finances the “Pomor idea” and Pomor organizations. Of course, in order to tear off the northern territories from Russia.

These raids in the media are constant, we are already used to it, every six months some kind of publication appears, - says Bednov and calls all the information about Norwegian support for Pomeranian organizations a fairy tale.

The Norwegians did not allocate any grants at all, there was nothing from Norway, that is, even from a formal point of view, we could not be considered “foreign agents”. For all these years not a single ruble, not a single crown has been received. In fact, the same Murmansk region is more actively working with Norway than the Arkhangelsk region, there are more international projects there, since they are geographically bordering.

Despite the fact that the regional authorities have stepped back from serious support for Pomor projects, neither Bednov nor his colleagues from the Association give up and continue their work.

If you do not take any measures, then the Pomors will simply dissolve, - Bednov worries. Threats to Pomeranian culture and its preservation are all around. First of all, globalization. Mass culture levels out regional diversity; on this basis, what Bednov calls “pseudo-folklore” arises.

It is necessary to focus on identity, otherwise there will be confusion - the bird-happiness is decorated like Gzhel, and this is already called kitsch. There are, for example, pop groups that supposedly work under folklore, including northern folklore, which can replace traditional culture, and if there is no real support from the authorities, then with all the enthusiasm and with all the efforts, everything can wither. Local and state authorities should show interest.

OSHKUY. WHAT IS REMAINING OF THE POMORSKY SPEAK

While members of the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk region are trying to develop Pomor culture in Arkhangelsk, many others along the White Sea coast are trying to preserve it. The name of Ivan Moseev, the founder of the Association, is well known among these people. He is the author of numerous publications on the Pomeranian dialect, in this regard, few people like him have preserved what is certainly considered the most valuable in any culture - language.

Alexandra Demyanchuk (Ukrainian surname, after her husband) from the village of Nyukhcha gladly responds to sing Pomeranian songs and insists that they sing along with her. She is a fairly well-known character in the Nyukhcha. She worked here as a teacher for several years, today, despite her age, and she is 80 years old, she leads an active lifestyle, mainly in the field of culture - she sings in a local ensemble, goes on tour with it and thus contributes to the preservation of Pomeranian culture. Her Pomor songs - perhaps the only time we heard for all our acquaintance with the Pomors Pomeranian speaking. That is how they call their own, very ancient, dialect of the Russian language in Pomorie.

Pomeranian speaking more actively than in oral speech, lives on paper. In the publications of Ivan Moseev. Thick Russian-Pomor dictionaries are impressive. Today, it is difficult to meet Pomeranian speakers, the linguistic leveling of the Soviet era has borne fruit. Alexandra Konstantinovna worked as a teacher in Soviet times and does not hide the fact that the Russian language was then the only one and there was no place at school for speaking.

Wherever and to whom one goes, moving along the coastline, every lover of the Pomeranian culture will find a book that at one time caused a serious scandal. We are talking about the collection "Pomorskie Skaski" published by Ivan Moseev. It is difficult to read “Pomorskie skaski” in Pomorskie, especially if your native language is not Russian. But you can compare it with the Russian version and understand at least that the Pomeranian polar bear is oshkuy. That is a villain. The tales are printed in three languages: Russian, Pomeranian and Norwegian. And if the first two options probably would not have attracted attention, then the Norwegian in the Pomor context alarmed the conservative environment, becoming for its representatives proof that the Association of Pomors of the Arkhangelsk Region, which Moseev headed, works in favor of the “enemy”, that is Norway. Moseev was accused of separatism and cooperation with Norway to separate Pomorie from Russia.

In 2012, a criminal case was opened against Moseev, he was accused of inciting ethnic hatred after a comment he left in a public post on the VKontakte website. In it, he allegedly called the Russian people cattle, in contrast to decent coast-dwellers. The case is very murky, and among Pomor activists there is a belief that all this was fabricated. But the court found Moseev guilty and fined him.

HUNTING FOR YOUNG POMOR

There are Pomors in Kandalaksha, and in Nyukhcha, and in Chupa. They have one feature that unites them. The fact that they are Pomors without any doubt is recognized by those who are older.

Here you go into the house in Chupa, and there is Ivan Mekhnin with his wife. They are Pomors. Why? Because they live here and were engaged in crafts, at least they caught fish. They are here, they are local, they are from here. Or you meet Galina Ivanovna in the Chupin library. Yes, she's a wimp. Father is Russian, mother is Karelian, she is from here, and the sea is the main thing for her. But young Pomors do not seem to exist in nature.

Vasily Efimov still lives in Chupa, he is young, and all the information about him speaks in favor of the fact that he is a Pomor. But Vasya is not easy to talk to. It's like a fish - you have to catch it first. Suppose, somehow by chance, to be near him, in which his wife, Yulia Suprunenko, helps. She grew up in Ashgabat, but changed warm Turkmenistan for life in the harsh homeland of her husband. Yulia worked at WWF (World Wildlife Fund), through his projects she got to the White Sea and fell in love. In the sea and in Vasya.

Ivan Mekhnin

Vasily Efimov

Vasya is going somewhere, dressed in winter hunting overalls. I sat down on a stool to answer a few questions. Does he die?

I don’t know who it is, how to understand who is a Pomor, who is not a Pomor, - he answers calmly. - In my understanding, Pomors are those who live on the coast of the White Sea, fish and live by fish, fishing, forest.

His wife Julia emphasizes that Vasya was born here in Chupa and grew up here. His dad is from Pulonga. This evokes memories for Vasya, he talks about his parents and his childhood:

Yes, they were constantly at sea and they took me, from the age of three I began to go to sea with them.

Julia tells even more about Vasya: quiet, calm and not speaking Vasya, when he goes out to sea, turns into a sea wolf. He is in the sea like a fish in water, he steers the boat without error, he knows all the bays, bays and currents by heart.

Many young people from the White Sea coast think that their place is not here, that they need to run away from here, go to big cities to study, work, earn money, make a career, be happy. Exactly the same way it seemed to Vasya at a certain time. But if you are a Pomor, then there can be no other happiness than here, on the White Sea. Julia and Vasya know about this, since for some time they lived together in Moscow.

Vasya, until he left for the metropolis, he did not understand. Until he realized there that it was in general ... That he would not survive there, that he felt bad there. In the city, he does not orient himself in the same way as he orients himself in the sea. He was there like a fish on land, he suffocated in it. He lay down straight on the floor and kicked his legs, saying: “I won’t live here, I can’t live here,” Yulia recalls.

Pomors have a hard time outside their natural habitat.

The locals do understand that they live in a unique place; if you walk around the city, ask people, they don't like to live in these panel houses, they don't like to live in apartments, they like to live on the ground, they leave for the whole summer in Keret, in Pulonga. They understand that they will never buy this for themselves in any metropolis. They began to move here from big cities, they come here to live. A lot of families come here, they want to live here, because we have everything we need here: a hospital, a kindergarten, and a school. There was even a lyceum before that. And the metropolis is strangling them, - says Yulia.

Her words are confirmed by the pomorka Alexander Demyanchuk from Nyukhcha, 450 kilometers away from Chupa.

So I can’t be in the city,” she says.

Julia and Vasya moved to live in Chupa. Together they develop the tourism business. Julia is actively involved in the "Basin Council" - an organization established in 2003 on the initiative of the then head of the WWF marine program and director of the biological station of Moscow State University. In their plans for the conservation of the White Sea nature, they paid attention to local residents, and the Basin Council develops its projects in such a way that they will be beneficial for people. That is, before announcing the opening of a natural park, they discuss it with people, try to find their understanding for this or that idea.

We try to preserve nature, taking into account the interests of local residents - this is how Julia formulates the main goal of the organization.

Soon, the "Basin Council" began to engage in other work, not only nature. The organization included local businessmen interested in the development of the region, and fishermen. Especially for the latter, when they acted on behalf of a rather large association, challenging the new fishing regulations became more effective. Increasingly, tourism development is on the agenda of the Basin Council. Only the White Sea is not the Black Sea, and there are no ordinary resort towns here and cannot be.

BELOMORSKY TOURISM

Tourism is different. We are also trying to approach this very carefully, so that it is socially responsible, so that it is reasonable. The nature of the Arctic is very vulnerable, if you trample a piece of earth under a tent, then nothing will grow there for three years. The North cannot love a large number of people. So many people will never come to us as, conditionally, to the Crimea, - Yulia Suprunenko believes. - They want to build hotels here. It's something I wouldn't want, but one small hotel would be nice. The most simple, elementary, hostel type. And so, I would like to see more go to rural, traditional tourism, so that the locals pass on to tourists what they can teach, what they have. But such people who can do it, unfortunately, leave every year. Of course, there may be those who draw it from books, light up and transmit it, such enthusiasts, this is also possible.

From her words it follows that tourists coming to the White Sea can be divided into two groups. The first ones are not classic Muscovites who just come in large numbers, build dachas and take their children there - no, they go there "to save it all." These are lovers, some are in love, like Yulia, some, like Vasya, have roots here. But there are others. Those who buy land, build "estates", restrict access to local residents, and those who, it would seem, just like Pomors, love to go to sea, but their manners are not at all Pomors.

These are people who come in very cool cars, on very cool boats. They throw them into the sea, these boats of their own, and just drive on crazy motors. No Rybnadzor can keep up with them. And sometimes they shoot at animals. Once a walrus came to us shelled, he did not die, but there were traces on him. And what to do with them? We do not have such equipment, no one here has such equipment to catch up with them and punish them. Although we will be doing raids this year with the Basseinov Council. If there are not enough opportunities for different bodies, either there is not enough fuel, or there is no such equipment, then we are ready to provide them with our help. We arrange raids, somehow help, fine. Or fires. We have extinguished fires here more than once on our own, with our own people. Of course, we call the services, but until they arrive ... And of course, mostly tourists call them, these fires, - says Yulia.

And yet, many Pomor activists see a chance in tourism. Although Pomorie clearly lacks tourism infrastructure. Finding a place to stay is just the beginning of the problems a tourist faces. There is a question of transport. You can travel between large settlements by train or electric train, but many places on the White Sea are simply inaccessible, especially in cold weather. To get to the old Pomeranian villages, you need to hire a car, and it's expensive. And, of course, this is not always possible in winter.

You have to get to Toni Tetrina in winter by snowmobile. There is another factor. The appeal of the stunning beauty of the Russian North is greatly reduced by the restrictions on stay for foreigners. Not every foreign tourist is ready to communicate with the FSB, even if this communication is very polite. The very fact that a foreigner needs to declare to the security service about his intention to visit the White Sea may cause rejection among many potential guests.

In this ancient Pomeranian village, you can still see how powerful and rich the Pomeranian culture was. Huge wooden merchant houses testify to how well the Pomors lived thanks to crafts and trade. In one of these two-story wide houses, which was built back in 1903 and belonged to the merchant Ponamarev before the revolution, and then performed various state functions (there was an administration, a first-aid post and even a maternity hospital), today there is a "Trash Shed". Nadezhda Semenova left the official name, which arose spontaneously, even before the museum was formally founded.

People get rid of rubbish, and I dragged everything to myself, ”she says. - I work at a school, we began to engage in research activities.

Nadezhda Sergeevna and shows the first exhibit:

This is the pillowcase that was given to the groom. The girl gave it to him.

She began collecting unnecessary "trash" back in 2006. There were more and more exhibits, and it was not entirely clear what to do with them.

At first we did not take much because there was no space, and then I began to put it all in the shed.

MOSCOW STATE SOCIAL UNIVERSITY

INSTITUTE OF SOCIOLOGY AND SOCIAL INFORMATION

Essay on ethnology.

Theme: "Pomors"

Moscow, 2002

Plan

1. A Brief History of Pomerania…………………………………………………….…………………………………..1

2. Cultural traditions and customs of Pomors……………………………………………………………..2

2.1. Pomors…….…………………………………………………………………….2

2.2. Contacts with the West…………………………………..………………………….……………………………….2

2.3. Travelers and Merchants…………………………………………………………………………….3

2.4. Pomor fishing…………………………………………………….……………………………………...4

2.5. Customs associated with fishing and water……………………………….………………….6

2.6. Rooks of Pomors………………………………………………………………………………………………………..7

2.7. Panka - a wooden doll of Pomors………………………………………….……………………..9

2.8. Pomor dwelling……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2.9. Toponyms of Pomorye……………………………………………………………………………………………..10

2.10. Language features .............................................................................................................. 16

3. Pomors now…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………17

A Brief History of Pomorie.

The Belomorsky region is located in the northeastern part of the Republic of Karelia. The border of the region in the east runs along the White Sea.

Located at the mouths of numerous rivers flowing into the White Sea, settlements - the city of Belomorsk, the villages of Sumsky Posad, Shueretskoye, Nyukhcha and others - have a long history.

Even before the Slavs, the Finno-Ugric peoples moved to the Russian North from the Urals and the Volga-Oka interfluve (for Novgorodians, the collective name of these peoples is Chud Zavolotskaya); em - on the banks of the rivers Vaga, Emtsa and the adjoining part of the Northern Dvina; pin - on the banks of the Pinega; all (Vepsians) - to the southern coast of Lake Onega; men ("chud white-eyed") - in the lower reaches of the Northern Dvina, on the banks of the Mezen River and the eastern shores of the White Sea; Yugra - to the delta of the Northern Dvina; Saami - on the shores of the lakes of Karelia and the northwestern coast of the White Sea. Part of the peoples of the Zavolotsk Chud, oppressed by the Novgorod-Ushkuiniki, moved accordingly: em - to Finland, pin - to the tributary of the Mezen - Vashka, men - to the Izhma River (the Izhma people still differ from the Komi-Zyryans). The assimilation of the Slavs and the above peoples occurred in the X-XVI centuries.

More than 5,000 years ago, the Saami (Lapps, in Swedish - Finns) were the first to settle Pomorie after the glacier melted. Probably, it was their ancestors who left rock paintings of animals and life of people of the Stone Age on the eastern shore of Lake Onega, on the banks of the Vyg River, on the western shore of the White Sea and Kiy-island. On the islands of the White Sea, their ritual stone labyrinths have been preserved.

The first Slavs - residents of Novgorod and the northeastern principalities appeared on the White Sea shores as early as the 9th century. From the 14th century written sources record permanent Russian settlements on the western coast of the White Sea, and the region itself is called "Pomorie". Gradually, a special group of the Russian-speaking population was being formed in Pomorie. The Russians who settled the coastal territories, unlike the inhabitants of central Russia, practically did not engage in agriculture. "Pomor", "pomorets" - so, starting from the 16th century, they began to call people living on the western coast of the White Sea and leading a marine fishery. Later they began to live near the Barents Sea. Now they live in the coastal regions of modern Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions.

Moving forward and settling in unfamiliar lands, they set up fortified churchyards - towns with garrisons. The churchyard usually became the administrative center of the surrounding villages; parish churches were built near it and cemeteries were created. Under the protection of fortified settlements, the Pomors are building a rook fleet.

From the 14th century, the growing Moscow principality began to wage an energetic and intelligent struggle for the annexation of the Pomeranian lands, especially after an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Dvina land by force in 1397. The center of the struggle was the Belozersky principality, which became dependent on Moscow under Ivan Kalita. Monasteries began to be built in Belozerye - in 1397 Kirillov, in 1398 - Ferapontov, then Voskresensky-Cherepovetsky and many others. Monasteries, being faithful conductors of the policy of Moscow princes and tsars, were at the same time centers of education, arts and crafts.

The Novgorodians created the monasteries of the Archangel Michael (now Arkhangelsk) in the 12th century, then Nikolo-Korelsky at the mouth of the Dvina (Severodvinsk), Antonievo-Siysky on the Northern Dvina near the stone fortress Orletsy, Spaso-Prilutsky (XIV century) in Vologda and others.

After the capture of Veliky Novgorod by Ivan III, Pomorie became the property of the sovereign and was forced to pay quitrent to the Muscovite state in money and furs. At the end of the 15th century, the troops of Ivan III completed the conquest of the Russian North.

Cultural traditions and customs of Pomors.

Contacts with the West have been commonplace for the Pomors since ancient times. Willingly or unwittingly, connections with Western countries, knowledge of the European order and communication with Europeans supported democratic traditions and even to some extent substantiated their existence. Since ancient times, the proximity of the Russian North to the Scandinavian countries has played an important role in spiritual life. One of the most striking examples of interaction between the Pomors and the West is the neighborhood and cooperation of the two peoples - the Pomors and the "Norwegians" - on the sea. The completely unique special relationship between the Russians and Norway, it would seem, was based on differences alone, since the “Norwegians” did not understand the unsettled life of the North Russian, the irrationality in the behavior of the Pomors during a storm at sea (they tried to be thrown ashore), the Pomors did not hurried to surround their northern minds with European comfort and amazed the Norwegians with their attitude to the land and to faith. The Pomors were wanderers, and the Norwegians were rational users at sea, but it was not for nothing that they began to be called the “Russians of Scandinavia”: “the Russophilism of the Norwegians, reaching their “Russian-likeness”, is absolutely consonant with the counter “Norwegophilism” (Normanism) of the Russian soul. ... The originality of the North Russian maritime culture lay in the fact that in it the generic image of the mother of the damp earth was transferred to the originally alien area of \u200b\u200bthe space of the sea ... "

Pomors have long been distinguished by a special religious feeling, completely different from the peasant one - they combined love of freedom and humility, mysticism and practicality, a passion for knowledge, Westernism and a spontaneous sense of a living connection with God. Writer Mikhail Prishvin, during his trip to the North, was surprised to learn that “until now, Russian sailors do not take into account the scientific description of the Arctic Ocean. They have their own sailing directions… the description of the sailing by the Pomors is almost a work of art. On one side is reason, on the other is faith. While signs are visible on the shore, the Pomor reads one side of the book; when the signs disappear, and the storm is about to break the ship, the Pomor turns the pages and turns to Nikolai Ugodnik ... ".

"The sea is our field," the Pomors used to say. Local residents went to Murman and Novaya Zemlya to fish and look for sea animals, reached the coast of Norway, and stopped on islands in the White, Barents and Kara Seas. Thus, the Pomors played a special role in the development of the northern sea routes and the development of shipbuilding. The well-known Russian admiral Litke aptly dubbed them "eternal sailors".

Known as conquerors of the seas, successful fishers, skillful shipbuilders, the inhabitants of the western coast of the White Sea were also "trading people". In the markets of Novgorod, Moscow, in the port cities of Norway and Sweden, one could find goods from Pomerania: fish, salt boiled from sea water, valuable walrus tusks, mica. For a long time, settlements on the coast were the possessions of the Solovetsky Monastery, which had a great influence on the development of the region.

Life associated with the sea, sea fishing seasons, left its mark on the culture of the Pomors. Their residential and outbuildings, clothing, economic calendar, customs, rituals and even speech - everything has its own characteristics. A peculiar psychological type of a person has also developed here - a Pomor, accustomed to harsh climatic conditions, to a changeable, dangerous sea. The courage, enterprise, and openness of the Pomors were noted by many travelers and researchers.

"Tersky coast" is the traditional name of the southern coast of the Kola Peninsula. Permanent commercial fishing settlements of Russian Pomors appeared here in the 14th century. Over the centuries, they have created a unique system of management and interaction with the harsh nature of the White Sea. Pomors are an original ethnic group. Much in their traditions echoes the customs of the neighboring Finno-Ugric peoples of the North - the Saami and Karelians.

Pomor fishing.

The peculiarity of the trade (sea hunting and gathering) allowed the Pomors to use the landscape inherited from the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples with virtually no changes.

One of the species for many Pomor villages at the beginning of the century was cod, or otherwise "Murmansk", fishing. It was visited by Pomors from many coastal villages and villages. In the spring, huge shoals of fish moved from the Atlantic to Murman. Fishing arose in Murman in the middle of the 16th century. At the beginning of the season, cod was caught off the coast of the Motka Peninsula, which received a new name - Rybachy. In July-August the fishery moved to the east, to Teriberka. People engaged in fishing and fur trade at sea were called "industrialists", regardless of who they were: "masters" (owners of ships and camps) or their employees. The industrialists who went to Murman were called "murmans". Only rich Pomors and monasteries could start a fishing camp on Murman. Ordinary Murmansk workers received everything they needed from their "owners" and worked in the fields, usually for 1/12 of the cost of the extracted products.

Publications in the Traditions section

"Father Ocean, Icy Sea". Pomor traditions in fairy tales and epics

Pomors have long inhabited the coast of the White Sea. They were skilled shipbuilders and sailors and, according to legend, were the first to reach the polar archipelago of Svalbard. Their whole life is connected with the sea: crafts, traditions and folklore.

We read northern epics and fairy tales to find out how the Pomors lived and what they said about justice, fishing and their wives.

"I'll wash everything from the sea"

Vasily Perepletchikov. Pomors enter the port of Arkhangelsk. 2nd half of the 19th century

The boat with the people of Willem Barents passes along the Russian ship. Engraving from 1598

Mitrofan Beringov. Pomor fisherman with sea bass. Year unknown. Photo: goskatalog.ru

The life of the Pomors was built around sea crafts. During the voyages, they caught fish and seals, mined pearls. The old proverbs say: “Our field is the sea”, “And joy and sorrow - I will eat everything from the sea”, “We live by the sea, we feed on the sea, the sea is our nurse”. Maritime stories also appeared in ritual folklore - for example, traditional fairy tales and epics. They were told during hard monotonous work or on winter evenings while mending fishing nets.

“The North has played an outstanding role in Russian culture. He saved us from oblivion Russian epics, Russian ancient customs, Russian wooden architecture, Russian musical culture, Russian labor traditions.
Dmitry Likhachev, philologist and academician

Many fairy tales about sea trips began with a description of the scene - the coast: "That was a long time ago. Three brothers lived on the shores of the White Sea". The Pomors considered swimming a test, from which the worthy return home victorious, and those who gave in to the elements perish. But they were not talking about “drowned”, but “the sea took”. It was not accepted to condemn such “decisions”: the sea personified justice.

“He menacingly stretched out his bloody hands to the sea and shouted with a strong cry:
- Father Ocean, Icy Sea! Judge me and my brother even now!
Like thunder, the Ocean thundered in response to Goreslav. Wrath perpetrated in the sea. A gray-haired exorbitant wave soared over the boat, picked up Likhoslav and carried him into the abyss.
An excerpt from the Pomeranian legend "Anger" (Boris Shergin. "There were also Pomeranian legends")

According to legend, the owner of the sea - "Nikola - the god of the sea" - also loved fairy tales. Pomors often took an experienced storyteller on a campaign. The luck of the fishermen depended on him: if he manages to lull the owner, the fish will be left unattended and fall into the net. Therefore, the storyteller spoke in a singsong voice, softly and monotonously.

“For songs and fables, from the age of eighteen I had a name with a patronymic. They did not give any work in the field. Food from the kitchen, firewood from an ax - know, sing and speak ... In the evening, the people will gather, I say. The peasants are crowded, there is nowhere to hurry, there are no taverns. The evening is not enough - we will take the night ... Then one by one they will begin to fall asleep. I will ask: “Sleep, baptized?” - “We do not sleep, we live! Keep talking."

From fish to pearls - Pomeranian crafts

Nicholas Roerich. Pomeranians. Morning. 1906

Valentin Serov. Pomors. 1894

Clement Redko. Pomors spit out cod. 1925

The inhabitants of the White Sea called themselves "cod eaters": fish was the basis of their diet, and fishing- the main industry. In fairy tales, adventures often began with a trip to the tonya - that was the name of the place of seasonal fishing.

“We went to the sinking, swept this seine, and when they began to pull it to the shore, it turned out that the seine was full of fish. The brothers spent the whole day fumbling around, pulling fish out of the skein, and in the evening, tired, they say: Well, it's a miracle, this has never happened before. On the day they untied the net, on the second they untied it, but there were never so many fish!”
An excerpt from the Pomeranian fairy tale "Nikifor's Miracle"

In February, hired workers went to the tony. Four people “spun” on each ship, the main one was the feeder. He had to know the fishing grounds, be able to butcher and salt the fish. The feeder received a high salary and a significant part of the production.

Harp seals and walrus have long been harvested on the coast of the White Sea. For hunting Pomors united in an artel of 5–7 people or in a larger group, which was controlled by an ataman. In the Pomeranian tale, "animal catches" were a test - both physical and moral qualities.

“In the month of February, industrialists go to sea to hunt wild animals. Kirik dressed up with a twist. He says to his brother:
- Oleshenka, we have an oath to listen to each other: get ready for fishing!
Olesha did not utter a word, he quickly coped. The anchors were rolled out, the sails were opened ... The foremother of the sea fair wind was merciful to Kirik. Day and night - and Animal Island in the eyes. Ice island circle. On the ice floes there are seals. Dvinyan men made concession with the beast, taught to beat.
An excerpt from the Pomeranian legend "Love is stronger than death" (Boris Shergin. "Dvina Land")

Pomors constantly improved in shipbuilding. They were skilled sailors: they went fishing in Norway and Eastern Siberia. Pomors built kochi - light sailing ships for sailing in the northern seas. The special shape made them maneuverable, and the kochi almost never died in the ice. The skill of shipbuilders was a frequent motif of northern fairy tales, songs and epics.

... And everyone at the feast is drunk and cheerful,
And everyone at the feast began to brag.
Fishermen-Pomors with good craftsmanship:
What is in the mother in the quiet in the Dvinskaya lip,
In the rich in the wide Nizov land
Lowlands, fishing mouths
They make and equip ships - trading boats.
Boris Shergin, excerpt from the book "Dvina Land"

Industrial salt mining Pomeranians took up around the XII century. "Pomorka" from the coast of the White Sea was considered the cleanest and highest quality. The royal charter of 1546 stated: “Which de salt the Dvina carry from the Dvina, in that salt kardehi [crushed stone] and the admixture does not live at all”. Salt of the highest quality was obtained from underground "brine beds", which were not easy to find. If the hero of a Pomeranian fairy tale met a salt spring, this, as a rule, meant good luck and soon wealth.

“Whether it is close, far, low, high, and they see: the mountain is white, like grains. Approached - salt mountain. We went into the harbor and began to roll salt in barrels. Rolled up a full hatch.
An excerpt from the Pomeranian fairy tale "Salt"

pearl fishing began in the Pomeranian villages with the beginning of summer. Men dived into the sea for shells, while women and children collected them in baskets from drying up rivers. Pomors wove beads and “butterfly” earrings from pearls, decorated belts and headdresses with precious embroidery. They had a proverb: "A woman in a dress is a man who earns her money."

“- Well, Ivan, merchant's son, what do you need as a reward - gold or silver?
“I don’t need either gold or silver,” says Ivan. "Give me one bag of pearl sand."
An excerpt from the Pomeranian fairy tale "Pearl Sand"

Pomeranian "big"

Alexander Borisov. Spring polar night. 1897

Mitrofan Beringov. Pomors. Illustration. 1928

Arkhangelsk province. Pomeranian village. Postcard. 1912. Photo: goskatalog.ru

Mutual respect was valued in the family life of the Pomors. Spouses had almost equal rights. When the husband went on a campaign for a long time - to the Murmansk Strada, to the Kedovsky Way, to the Norwegian voyages - the wife became the head of the family. Pomors called such a hostess "big".

Often the wives themselves went to sea. Some women became feeders in the fisheries and led the men's brigades.

From a steep bank
The boat has departed
You tell dear
That she went fishing.
Pomeranian ditty

The woman was the main character of many Pomeranian legends. A faithful friend helped her husband, passed all the tests on a par with him, and sometimes even surpassed him in endurance, strength or courage.

Not a prince, not an ambassador, not a warrior -
A woman from Ryazan, an orphan,
Crossed forests and deserts
Climbing pushing mountains,
Fearlessly appeared in the Horde...
Take your brother and husband,
Take your sweet son with you.
Return to Russia and brag
That she didn’t go to the Horde in vain.
Gay, Ryazan husbands and wives,
What are you standing, covered with longing?
Why are you looking at Avdoty's joy?
I release you all to Russia.
Gay wife Avdotya Ryazanka!
Lead the whole Ryazan out of the crowd,
And be you campaign governor.
An excerpt from the Pomeranian legend "About Avdotya Ryazanochka"

Women on the coast of the White Sea were more independent than in other regions of pre-revolutionary Russia. One of the Pomeranian legends told about a woman who sailed alone to visit her husband. On a large seaworthy boat - karbas - Pomorka rounded the coast of the White Sea, went to the Barents and got to her husband.

Watch the fairy tale about the Pomors of the film studio "Soyuzmultfilm" (1987)

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Russian Pomors: life, traditions and customs

1. Brief history of the seaside

2. Who are Pomors

3. Cultural traditions and customs of Pomors

4. The language of the Pomors - "speaking Pomeranian"

5. Pomor dwelling

6. Pomor fisheries

7. Customs related to fishing and water

8. Rooks of Pomors

9. Toponyms of Pomorie

10. Influence of economic and political factors on the ethnos

Conclusion

Literature

1. A Brief History of Pomorie

The Belomorsky region is located in the northeastern part of the Republic of Karelia. The border of the region in the east runs along the White Sea.

Located at the mouths of numerous rivers flowing into the White Sea, settlements - the city of Belomorsk, the villages of Sumsky Posad, Shueretskoye, Nyukhcha and others - have a long history.

From the 14th century, the growing Moscow principality began to wage a vigorous struggle for the annexation of the Pomeranian lands, especially after an unsuccessful attempt to seize the Dvina land by force in 1397. The center of the struggle was the Belozersky principality, which became dependent on Moscow under Ivan Kalita. Monasteries began to be built in Belozerye - in 1397 Kirillov, in 1398 - Ferapontov, then Voskresensky-Cherepovetsky and many others. Monasteries, being faithful conductors of the policy of Moscow princes and tsars, were at the same time centers of education, arts and crafts.

2. Who are the Pomors?

In the publications of newspapers and magazines, one can find information about Russian ethnic groups - about Cossacks, about Great Russians, Little Russians, Belarusians and Rusyns. But very little is told about the ancient and heroic Russian ethnic group - Pomors. But the Pomors have done and are doing a lot for the Russian state. Such famous people as M. Lomonosov, a scientist, F. Shubin, a sculptor, A. A. Baranov, the permanent ruler of Alaska, Ermak, Dezhnev, Khabarov, Stadukhin, Atlasov and many other explorers, who penetrated long before the Cossacks, came out of the Pomors. beyond the Urals and mastered the Siberian lands, and later led the development of the Far East and Alaska. For information - the current city of Sitka (Alaska) used to be called Novoarkhangelsk. Also from the Pomors came - Stefan of Perm - the closest associate of Sergius of Radonezh in the unification of Russia, John of Kronstadt and many other great people of the Russian land.

What territory did Pomorie cover? In order not to go into the enumeration of lakes, rivers and cities that were on the territory of Pomorie, it can be designated by the boundaries of the current territorial-administrative entities. The territory of Pomorie is the former Arkhangelsk, Olonets, Vologda provinces, as well as Vyatka and Perm. If you look at a modern map, these are the territories of the Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Vologda, Perm, Vyatka and part of the Leningrad region, as well as two national-territorial formations artificially created by the Bolsheviks: Karelia and Komi.

What influenced the formation of the Pomeranian ethnic group? After the baptism of Russia in 988, Russians who did not accept Christianity left here. Until the 19th century, there were settlements in Pomorie where they professed the pre-Christian faith. And after the split of the Orthodox Church in the 17th century, people who did not accept Nikon's innovations left here. Moreover, a powerful Old Believer movement unfolded in Pomorie. The Solovetsky monastery resisted the tsarist troops for more than 7.5 years. Over time, these factors formed the Old Russian Pomeranian Orthodox Church. The next condition that influenced the formation of the Pomor ethnic group was that the Pomors did not know serfdom and the Mongol-Tatar yoke. The following facts speak of the love of freedom and independence of the Pomors: the tsarist officials addressed the Pomors only by their first and patronymic names, while in the rest of Russia people were called by diminutive nicknames. Even Ivan the Terrible did not dare to cancel the decisions of the "Pomorsky World" (something like the Cossack Circle, but with greater powers). And in 1589, in contrast to the Sudebnik of 1550, designed for serfdom, the Pomeranian Sudebnik was developed, in which a special place was given to the Articles on dishonor.

Ethnically, the Pomors were formed from the local Finno-Ugric tribes and the newcomer Slovenes of the Ilmens, and later the Novgorodians. This led to the emergence of the Pomeranian language (“Pomor speaking”), different from the rest of Russia. Due to the close connection of the Pomors with Norway and the fact that the Pomors lived in northern Norway and on the Grumant Islands (Svalbard), the Rusnorg language was formed (70% Pomeranian words, the rest - Norwegian). Rusnorg was banned for use by the Bolsheviks in 1917.

E These conditions contributed to the fact that the ethnonym "Pomors" arose already in the XII century. Note that neither Russia nor Russians existed at that time, and the name "Great Russians" arose only in the 19th century.

The signs of the ethnic community of Pomors are: ethnic (national) self-consciousness and self-name (ethnonym) "Pomors", common historical territory (Pomorye), common culture of Pomorye, common language (Pomor "speaking"), ethnic (national) character, ethnic religious worldview ( Pomeranian Old Orthodox Church), community of traditional economy and other factors.

Until the 15th century, the territory of Pomorye was part of Novgorod Rus. At the beginning of the 16th century, after the war between Novgorod and the Moscow principality, Pomorie was annexed to Muscovy. Even before Peter I, the Pomors had their own merchant and fishing fleet, on whose ships, boats and boats, they went west - to Norway, to Grumant, and east - to Matka (New Earth). Later, the Pomors were the first to trade with England, Holland and other European countries.

3. Cultural traditions and customs of Pomors

Contacts with the West have been commonplace for the Pomors since ancient times. Willingly or unwittingly, connections with Western countries, knowledge of the European order and communication with Europeans supported democratic traditions and even to some extent substantiated their existence. Since ancient times, the proximity of the Russian North to the Scandinavian countries has played an important role in spiritual life. One of the most striking examples of interaction between the Pomors and the West is the neighborhood and cooperation of the two peoples - the Pomors and the "Norwegians" - on the sea. The completely unique special relationship between the Russians and Norway, it would seem, was based on differences alone, since the “Norwegians” did not understand the unsettled life of the North Russian, the irrationality in the behavior of the Pomors during a storm at sea (they tried to be thrown ashore), the Pomors did not hurried to surround their northern minds with European comfort and amazed the Norwegians with their attitude to the land and to faith. The Pomors were wanderers, and the Norwegians were rational users at sea, but it was not for nothing that they began to be called the “Russians of Scandinavia”: “the Russophilism of the Norwegians, reaching their “Russian similarity”, is absolutely consonant with the counter “Norwegophilism” (Normanism) of the Russian soul. The peculiarity of the North Russian maritime culture lay in the fact that in it the generic image of the mother of the damp earth was transferred to the originally foreign area of \u200b\u200bthe space of the sea ... "

4. The language of the Pomors - "speaking Pomeranian"

"Speaking Pomorska" - the language of the indigenous ethnic community of the Pomors

Soviet dialectology called a dialect "a variety of a given language used as a means of communication by persons connected by a close territorial, social or professional community." However, when the factor of “ethnic self-consciousness” and the distinctive “self-name of an ethnic community” appear, it is customary to talk not about a dialect, but about an independent language. (So, for example, the Serbo-Croatian language is common to two independent peoples - Serbian and Croatian, and, depending on who speaks it, is called the Serbian or Croatian language). And Ukrainian (Little Russian), Russian (Great Russian), Belarusian and Pomeranian (Northern Russian) languages can be considered as dialects of the East Slavic or Old Russian language. Thus, the decisive distinguishing factor of closely related languages from dialects of the same language is the ethnic factor, which takes into account "a common self-consciousness, and local self-consciousness of speakers of local language units."

Russian (Great Russian), Ukrainian and Belarusian languages separated in the 14th-15th centuries from the disintegrated Old Russian language, as a result of differences in phonetics and morphology. The same differences in phonetics and morphology from the "Great Russian language" exist in the "Pomor dialect".

It should also be noted that the erroneous attribution of “speak” to “Great Russian dialects” caused enormous harm to the Pomeranian culture, since Soviet linguistics believed that “under socialism, dialects turn into a remnant category,” and the remnants were fought at the state level. Obviously, such a destruction of the language of the indigenous population is completely unacceptable in a state governed by the rule of law.

Considering that ethnic self-consciousness is decisive in classifying a language system as a dialect or language, having documented evidence of ethnic self-consciousness among Pomors (in the form of population census results), given the desire of the indigenous ethnic community of Pomors to preserve and develop the linguistic traditions of their ancestors, it should be recognized that Pomor "speaking" is de facto the ethnic language of the Pomor community and needs legal protection.

5. Pomor dwelling

Consider what the houses of the Pomors were like on the example of the estate of an ordinary peasant: Tretyakov's house-yard from the village of Gar, XIX century. In such houses, the living part is very small. As a rule, one large room in which the stove is located, and from there a passage to the "kitchen". In one room they ate and slept, and received guests. They usually slept on a bench, which is located almost around the entire perimeter of the room. Less often - on the stove, when they were not heated. The fact is that the smoke during the fire of a large adobe stove rose under a high vaulted ceiling, descended on the voronets running along the perimeter of the entire hut, and then pulled out through a carved smoker on the roof. This is called drowning in black, which is why the hut is called black or chicken. The houses had very narrow windows. This was done so that it was not cold. Pieces of transparent ice were inserted into such narrow windows. It melted and formed a strong connection with the logs.

The front, residential part of the house on a high basement is connected by a vestibule with a massive two-story courtyard. On the first floor there was a barn for cattle, and on the second floor they kept hay, household equipment, spun yarn, sewed clothes, and ground grain. Opposite the house is a barn built, like the house, without nails. A hole was cut in the front door especially for the cat: so that it could freely enter - to catch mice.

The way of life, the traditions of this sea people are peculiar and very curious. It was in the traditions of the Pomors to use improvised natural materials for their household needs, primarily wood. The Pomeranian world was almost completely deprived of metal products. For example, the famous Assumption Church of the 17th century in Varzuga was built by master Klement without a single nail, without a single iron bracket.

6. Pomor fisheries

Since time immemorial, the main occupation of the population of the Pomeranian North has been animal and fishing trades. On the seashores and along the banks of the rivers, fish were scattered everywhere, from which the majority of the population of this vast region was fed. Each salmon pit, each fishing camp - "skeya" or hunting site had its own indigenous owners, who could sell their possessions, mortgage them in whole or in shares, rent them out and bequeath them to their descendants or monasteries.

The main document that protected the rights of private owners and owners of the Pomeranian fish and fur trade was the Sudebnik of 1589, written by the "worldly" judges of the Dvina volosts of Pomorie. It differed significantly from the Russian Sudebnik of 1550, since it did not contain the norms of serfdom and was focused on free (black-haired) peasants and industrialists. The Pomeranian quitrent lands from Vaga to Kola, which once belonged to the Novgorod boyars (up to the annexation of Pomorie to Moscow), in the 15th century became the property of the Grand Duke of Moscow. But in essence, the Pomeranian peasants remained the owners of fish and animal industries, who paid a tax (tithe) to the state and disposed of the fishing grounds at their own discretion. This continued until the end of the 16th century, until it seemed to some of the city officials that such a taxation system was not effective enough.

The peculiarity of the fishery allowed the Pomors to use the landscape inherited from the ancient Finno-Ugric peoples with virtually no changes.

We set off at the beginning of March. Cod fishing was carried out by artels. Four people worked on the ship - "shnyak"; one (usually a teenager, sometimes a woman) worked on the shore: he cooked food, cleaned gear from mud and prepared them for the next launch at sea, and prepared firewood. For fishing in the sea, a very long tackle (several versts) was used - longline. This is a rope with many branches - strings with hooks at the ends, on which the bait was mounted, most often capelin. The longline was taken out for shnyak 6 or 12 hours after the launch, at the ebb of sea water. On the shore, the fish were butchered; the liver was removed for rendering fat, the rest of the entrails were thrown away. While it was cold, all the fish went to dry - hung on poles, laid out on stones, and when it got warmer, they were folded into skei and sprinkled with salt.

In addition to the Murmansk cod, Belomorka herring has traditionally been harvested off the coast of the White Sea. It was actively used by Pomors in their own households (including for livestock feed), and was also sold to Arkhangelsk industrialists.

Pomors had a very special attitude to water. And it is no coincidence that the whole life of the village depended on salmon fishing and pearling. It is known that both salmon and pearl shell can live only in perfectly clean water. Therefore, it was in the interests of the Pomors to preserve their river.

In Varzuga, fishing was based on salmon entering the river, in Kashkarantsy - on herring and cod. Both trades coexisted in Kuzomen. From Kuzomen and Kashkarantsev in some years they went to the hummock - to hunt sea animals on the ice in the vicinity of the "throat" of the White Sea.

But it would be wrong to say that the Pomors were engaged only in sea fishing, sea trade and were engaged in land exploration only by sea routes. Long before Yermak's campaigns to the east, to Siberia, the Pomors, advancing by land and rivers, explored the Yugra lands beyond the Stone (Ural) along the entire course of the Ob up to the Tobol River. In the economy, in addition to fur, sea crafts and trade, Pomors mined amber, pearls, and were engaged in metallurgical production. They produced not only iron household equipment and copper, tin, brass utensils, but also received state orders. So, for example, in 1679 Kholmogory gunsmiths received an order from Moscow for the manufacture of 2,000 Scottish-style gun locks. Pomors knew how to cast copper bells and cannons.

In the XV-XVII centuries, one of the most important industries was salt production. They provided salt for themselves and the entire state. Pomors were also engaged in leather and rigging production. Rigging was produced according to European standards and exported to Western Europe. In addition, the Pomors were engaged in agriculture: they sowed rye, flax, oats and other crops. An interesting fact - watermelons, peaches, tangerines, grapes were grown on Solovki. The Pomors, engaged in animal husbandry, bred the famous Kholmogory breed of cows and the Mezen breed of horses. Five times a year, 1,500 heads of cattle were sent to St. Petersburg alone.

It is no secret that the development of the Pomeranian crafts required a large number of products made of iron, copper, tin and other metals. At the same time, it should be noted that for a long time the increased demand was successfully satisfied not at the expense of imported goods, but thanks to the local production of metal and products from it. Thus, metal things and tools made in Pomorye are a separate and bright chapter in the history and culture of our region, which, alas, has not yet been fully reflected in any of the museum expositions in Arkhangelsk.

Korelian way

From time immemorial, the greatest demand among the local population of the European North was iron, extracted from swamp ore. So, for example, even the "Chud" tribes, who lived along the banks of the Northern Dvina, mined iron ore in the swamps of the Vaga, and representatives of the "Korela" tribe, which led the traditional mining of marsh iron in the vicinity of Sumy Posad, were considered among the best ore miners among northerners from time immemorial. It is no coincidence that the Pomors called such iron the “Korelian way”. It is also known that there were also sources of swamp iron in other regions of Pomorie. So, 90 versts from Arkhangelsk, on the right bank of the Northern Dvina, local residents mined iron ore until the middle of the 17th century.

Due to the high carbon content and the resulting poor malleability of the metal, the quality of the “Korelian way”, by modern standards, can be called low. However, it is precisely this iron that historical Pomorie owes to the rapid development of its industry in the 15th-17th centuries. Indeed, despite all its shortcomings, swamp iron was distinguished by increased hardness and was successfully used not only for the manufacture of various household products (axes, knives, hooks, gaffs, etc.), but also in the production of tools for industrial work - “napariev” (iron borers), which were used in the extraction of salt. In addition, it was from this iron that a huge number of salt pots - “tsrens” were forged, which was of great importance for the industrial development of the entire historical Pomorie.

DIY craftsmen

By the will of historical fate, Pomorye did not become a major center of gunsmiths (like Tula, for example), but northerners should know that long before the first arms factories appeared, our region was famous for the art of its gunsmiths. It is curious that the Pomeranian "left-handers" learned how to make firearms on their own back in the 17th century and supplied their fellow countrymen with muskets of their own manufacture that were not bad at that time (in Pomeranian - "self-propelled guns"). So, for example, in 1611, the local "blacksmith Sava" forged 5 "samopals" with weapon locks and five "machine tools for self-propelled guns" for the Solovetsky Monastery. In addition, in the same year, the same blacksmith forged ten more self-propelled guns for local "musketeers", as well as three iron "naparya", which were widely used at that time for drilling work in the extraction of salt.

Especially famous for their muskets were the Kargopol "self-made craftsmen", who were even taken to Moscow, where they made firearms for the tsarist archers. As the Dvina Chronicle mentions, in 1679 Kholmogory gunsmiths received an order from Moscow to make 2,000 (!) Shkotsky (Scottish) weapon locks. For their work, they received "five altyns from the castle." In addition, Pomeranian craftsmen made a huge variety of locks of intricate design for doors, chests and boxes.

It is worth mentioning such a curious fact: Pomeranian blacksmiths even made “combat watches”, which were placed on towers in almost all major cities of Pomorie. There were tower clocks in Arkhangelsk and Kargopol, and even in Kholmogory (on the Preobrazhenskaya bell tower). The description of the Kholmogory clock in the inventory of 1761 is curious: “On the outside of the bell tower, on an octagon from the north and south, there are two wooden circles with arrows, on the south - Latin, on the north - Russian, indicating the course of the clock.”

Of particular note is the Pomor "left-handed" master-Ustyuzhan Shumilo Zhdanov Vyryacheva, who was summoned to Moscow by special decree to build chimes on the famous Frolovskaya tower of the Moscow Kremlin.

copper traditions

Until recently, in the peasant life of Pomorie, in addition to iron household equipment, there were a lot of copper, tin and brass utensils. Even to this day, in the homes of the indigenous inhabitants of the Arkhangelsk region, you can find traditional red-copper washstands, pot-bellied beer bowls - “brothers”, brass crosses, as well as folds of “Pomor casting”. Unfortunately, over the past decade, a lot of this cultural heritage has been lost, becoming either the prey of numerous "lovers of antiquity" or turned into non-ferrous scrap. Nevertheless, one can imagine the scale of the once rapid development of the copper industry in Pomorie. Thus, the census of the beginning of the 18th century notes that, for example, in Kargopol copper workers worked not only in the city itself, but also in four suburban volosts. Moreover, the census notes the division of labor into simple artisans, masters of "petty necessary work" and "masters of a large article." Each Pomor town had its own coppersmiths, including Arkhangelsk and its environs.

Bells and cannons

Pomors were also able to cast copper bells. So, in the income and expense book of the Kholmogory bishop's house for 1694-1695, Fyodor Raspopin, a Kholmogory resident of Glinsky Posad, “poured his bishop's patrimony on Vaga in the Voznesensky volost to the newly built Ascension Church, a bell from the broken bell copper sent from the former Ascension Hermitage, and from the rest of castings of Chukhchenemsky volost of copper bells, and from the cathedral everyday bell from broken off ears. And that bell weighed eighteen pounds and half a pound. From the casting of that bell, Fyodor was given to him in a row of ten altyns from a pood. In total, fifteen altyns were given.”

But, perhaps, the most curious thing is that the Pomeranian casters were even able to cast cannons. So, according to the inventory of the property of Bishop Athanasius (Lubimov), by order of the Kholmogory Bishop's House, “three cannons copper brownies, his bishop's casting, one was three-quarters of an arshin long, the other ten vershoks, the third half an arshin on wooden machines, bound with iron.”

Earth steel

Interestingly, the Pomors have long been able to recognize and search for ore deposits. The Moscow government has repeatedly received news about the found deposits of copper, silver and even gold ores found in Pomorie. In confirmation of this fact, in the treasury of Patriarch Nikon, a stone of silver ore “delivered from the Matka” (Novaya Zemlya. - Auth.) was kept.

“Pomors are the steel of the Russian land,” Count S. Yu. Witte once said. As you can see, these words have a double meaning - the Pomors were not only distinguished by iron resistance, but also knew how to mine and skillfully process metals.

This is only a small part of what the Pomors were doing. Pomors heroically participated in all the wars of the Russian state. There is evidence that in the 9th-10th centuries the Normans raided the territory of the White Sea. But, having met the stubborn resistance of the local residents, they could not seize these lands. This struggle was reflected in Pomeranian stories and legends. In troubled times, as the historian Platonov writes, the Pomeranian cities were the first, even before the militia of Minin and Pozharsky, to offer organized resistance to the Polish-Lithuanian invaders. During the time of Peter I, Pomors participated in all naval battles, since they formed the basis of the Peter's fleet. On the Borodino field, the main blow of the Napoleonic troops was taken up by the Arkhangelsk and Dvinsk regiments, which consisted of Pomors. During the Crimean War, on their own, without the participation of regular troops, they prevented an attempt by the Anglo-French fleet to land troops on the coast of the White Sea. It makes no sense to list all the wars and battles in which the Pomors proved themselves.

7. Customs related to crafts and water

There was a very complex system of fishing associated with the life cycles of salmon entering Varzuga, sea fish and sea animals.

The custom of seeing the river off during an ice drift, words when crossing a stream, thanksgiving crosses for pearls, worship of springs and many other customs testify to this "cult of water". Water was worshiped, water fed and healed... So, for example, it is already a tradition not to throw garbage into either the river or the sea.

The places of fishing were also treated differently. On each tone - a hut on the sea or river, where a family or several families lived and hunted in the summer - there was a cross "for prey" - so that fish could be caught better. The passer-by must have prayed. During the summer fishing, when families "sat" on the tone, any passer-by was met by the hostesses and fed to satiety. To treat a random person is a blessing, it was not only a manifestation of hospitality, but also a spell of good luck and prosperity.

Tonya is a holy place, you need to come there with a pure soul. The guests said in the hallway: "Lord, bless!" They were answered: "Amen!" Only then should you enter.

Special ceremonies are dedicated to the departure of hunters for dangerous hunting. In the church they ordered a prayer service "for health", they baked and gave with them special food "Uzhnu" and "Teschnik". The presence of a special name and its connection with tribal traditions (“teshchnik” was baked by the mother-in-law) most likely testifies to the ritual meaning attached to this food.

Memories of hunting were preserved in lullabies: a cat is promised "a white squirrel for a hat, a sesame testicle for a toy" for cradling a baby. A sea animal was called a kunzhui, and a seal cub was called a squirrel.

The brightest and most expressive stories are dedicated to the Dog Stream in Varzuga. It has long been very popular among the inhabitants of the Tersky coast. It is located approximately three kilometers from Varzuga. It is interesting that the system of worshiping the spring is very similar to the rituals in the Mari pagan prayer groves.

About a kilometer from the Dog Creek, you still can’t talk and laugh, you can only go there in the first half of the day ...

The road to the spring is well-groomed, bridges are thrown across the forest rivers, that is, the state of the source is monitored. It is considered indecent to go there in large crowds, and the group should consist of no more than two or three people. The spring itself is a small lake with underwater springs. In front of him is a small wooden flooring, so that it is convenient to scoop up water. Nearby stands the cross of those who were healed (the man promised to put up a cross in case of recovery) and a stand with ladles hanging on it.

Interestingly, the source also performs a fortune-telling function. By how hard the springs beat, the visitor learned about his health and the health of his loved ones.

The keys were in all the villages. Previously, spring water was used only for cooking, well water was used for household needs. The old people do not drink even now from the wells.

There was a custom, as the ice drift begins, to go ashore - to shoot from guns. In spawning, the rest of the salmon was protected. When the fish went to spawn, the oarlocks near the boat were wrapped with a rag so as not to frighten the fish. In the summer they tried not to hunt, they took care of them until they grow up.

8. Rooks of Pomors

As already mentioned, the entire culture of the Pomors is connected with the sea. Pomors built ships. Rooks - sea and river vessels of Ancient Russia - are mentioned in chronicles along with ships.

Slavic boats reached a length of twenty, and a width of three meters. They controlled the boat with the help of one oar, located along the board in the stern. Occasionally a sail was used. "Packed" boats were distinguished by their low weight and draft, which allowed them to pass through the rapids. For dragging through portages, the boats were equipped with rollers and wheels.

The northern boats were somewhat different from the eastern ones. Initially, the Pomors built two types of boats: "overseas" - trading, on which long-distance voyages were made to the Baltic and the North Sea, and "ordinary" - for swimming in the White Sea. Both types of ships were flat-bottomed, but differed in size and hull contours, as well as sailing weapons. "Ordinary" boats were built, like the eastern ones, from a single tree trunk and built up with sides, but they differed from the eastern ones in that they had a solid deck that did not allow water to enter the vessel. The shallow draft made it possible to come close to the unexplored shores. When sailing in the ice, they did not need special harbors to shelter from the storm or spend the winter.

Under difficult circumstances, the Pomors pulled the boats onto the ice or onto the shore. "Overseas" boats in the XIII - XV centuries reached a length of twenty-five and a width of eight meters.

9. Toponyms of Pomorie

There are a lot of toponyms in Pomorie, which owe their formation to the Pomors.

On Cape Budrach in the Kandalaksha Bay, an ivy-like plant still grows, which is called Budra among the Pomors. The Khibiny tundras in the 17th century were called Budrinsky, probably after this plant.

One of the capes in the Screw Bay of Lake Bolshaya Imandra is called Risnyark, in Russian - Vichany Navolok (from the Russian word vitsa). In the basin of the same lake there is the river Risoik, its name is translated into Russian as Vichanaya. On the southern coast of the Motovsky Bay there is a small Vichany sponge. But what does this name say? Probably, in this sponge there should be some kind of thickets, which the Pomors would call Vichany.

In the old days, boards in the hulls of Pomeranian ships were not connected with nails, but were sewn together with threads - processed juniper roots (for "sewing" large boats, threads from the trunks of young fir trees up to two meters high were used, but such boats were sewn at large shipyards like Solovetskaya). Now the origin of the names Vichany Navolok, Vichany Sponge, as well as Vichany Lake and Vichany Stream are clear.

Juniper Pomors called heather. Nine toponyms captured this shrub. The names containing the word veres in their basis indicate that near rivers and lakes, on pillowcases and islands, good material for building ships grows in the bays: Veres-guba, Veres-tundra, Veres-pillowcase are located near Lake Kolvitsky; Veresovaya Bay - a bay on the Tuloma River; on the shore of Lake Gremyakhi between the rivers Tuloma and Kola stands Mount Veresuyv - Veresovaya peak.

Pomors noticed that especially good raspberries ripen on the slopes of one of the varaks near the Kolvitskaya Bay in the Kandalaksha Bay - and they called this varak Raspberry Hill. Cloudberry-rich swamp became Cloudberry.

And the toponymy of the Kola Peninsula has numerical names. If you sail on a boat from the village of Kandalaksha towards the Straits, then, just halfway through, two moons will meet - Big and Small Half. The toponym Polovinnitsy (sometimes these luds are called so), like a road sign, informed the Pomors that they had passed half the way. And this was especially important when the main mover of the karbas and the boat was the oar, and with a fair wind - the sail. The meaning of the toponym will be well understood by those who at least once had to row twenty kilometers against the wind.

Half Mountain, standing on the left bank of the Voronya River, Half Creek - a tributary of the Chavanga, Half Lake from the Varzuga River system, probably received names similar to the Polovinnitsy luds: they were located on the half of a certain path of the original names.

The numeral one is quite rare in toponyms (and even then not in its pure form). An example is the name of the toni Odinchakha near Kandalaksha. They say that on this tone only the first sighting was with a good catch, and with repeated sightings, the net came empty. Thus, the toponym warned: swords net once, and if you want to catch fish again, wait.

Or maybe the reason for the appearance of the toponym lies not in this. At the bottom of the Odinchikha sponge there are several large stones, which the Pomors called Odintsy. Perhaps these stones gave the name to the sponge. And the toponym is, as it were, a warning: the net could catch on the stones - lonely.

The Miracle River, which flows into Lake Umbozero, flows out of a cascade of lakes bearing the names - First, Second and Third Miracle, or Chudozero. In the Iokangsky Bay, two islands are named - the First Osushnaya and the Second Osushnaya (the word dry pomors denoted islands that connect to the mainland at low tide).

Various information about the life of the Pomors is brought to us by a large group of toponyms, which are based on the word cross. Behind each of them are some events, tragic or joyful: vows given in a difficult hour of life. The cross was usually cut from logs, and when installed, it was oriented strictly to the cardinal points, regardless of whether it was a votive cross or just a nautical sign. The cross was positioned so that the person praying, standing facing the inscription on the cross, thereby turned his face to the east, and the ends of the crossbar indicated the direction of north and south.

Peter I, on one of his trips along the White Sea (1684), on his way to the Solovetsky Monastery, got into a strong storm. The ship was so shaken that everyone on it considered themselves dead. Only the skill and dexterity of the pomoral pilot saved the ship. Peter, in gratitude, gifted the pilot and cut down the cross with his own hand and put it up. At the same time, Peter I cut down a cross in Solovki on the occasion of a successful arrival.

Pomors will take an unusually rich catch, miraculously survive in a storm - and thanks to Nicholas the Wonderworker they put an end to it.

Vow crosses were installed either in the place near which the event occurred, or in another, but in such a way that everyone could see it. This is how crosses appeared on the tops of mountains, on moons and islands, sometimes nameless. And with the advent of the cross, a mountain, an island, a sponge became Cross. This is how one of the high mountains opposite Kandalaksha got its name. Indeed, this Mount of the Cross is clearly visible from all sides: from the sea, from the surrounding mountains, from Kandalaksha. Cross names can be found both along the coast of the peninsula and inside it. For example, the Sami name of the isthmus in Ekostrovskaya Imandra Rystkutsket, translated into Russian, means the Isthmus of the Cross.

There are several types of toponyms with the basis of the cross. There are Krestovye Islands, and Krestovaya Tundra, and Krestovaya Bay, and several Krestovye Capes, and Krestovsky Stream, and Krestovskaya Mountain.

The name of the cape, which lies between Nokuevsky Bay and Savikha Bay, not far from Cape Vzglavye, is interesting. It is called Ivan's Crosses. There are no crosses on this cape at all. F.P. Litke, describing the Lapland coast in 1822-1823, did not find them. However, the toponym testifies that there were crosses here, and Litke confirms that "there used to be a lot of crosses here."

In the cadastral books, Alai Mikhalkov described in detail all the lands, tonya, meadows, rivers, rivers and streams. In the inventory of the Pechenga Bay, he reports that "on the river on Knyazhoy ... beavers beat." In the list of tons of the Pechenga churchyard, Prince Lake is mentioned. In the lake Ekostrovskaya Imandra, one of the lips is called the Prince's lip, and along it - the Prince's (Prince's) pillow. The strait connecting Lake Babinskaya Imandra with Lake Ekostrovskaya Imandra is again called Knyazhaya Salma.

The Kongasuy Stream flows into the Babinskaya Imandra Lake - in Russian, the Knyazhy Stream. To some extent, the origin of all the listed names depends on the word prince. Either in these places there were fishing grounds belonging to some prince, or he visited these places. And it is not at all necessary that this person should be a prince, it is important that he was from the "masters", possessed wealth and had a squad.

There is an old legend about the origin of the name Knyazhaya Bay in the Kandalaksha Bay, written down in 1565 by the Dutch merchant Salingen.

According to the legend, the Swedes who came to the White Sea were forced to hide from the Russians on Kuzov Island in the Kemskaya Bay in the camp, which is named in connection with this German, and the island - German Kuzov. Driven to despair, the Swedes tried in cloudy weather with heavy rain to go home through the Kandalaksha Bay, but they were overtaken by the Russian princes and destroyed in a small sponge between Kovda and Kandalaksha. In honor of the victory of the Russian princes over the Swedes, the bay was named the Prince's Guba.

A significant group of toponyms comes from the Pomor dialect of the Russian language. In the previous chapters, we met with them quite often. In this chapter, we would like to consider individual Pomeranian words denoting certain geographical concepts and parts of the relief. Necks, Pomors usually denoted a part of the lake at the source of the river or a body of water at the mouth. And to clarify, then each source of a river or stream, and in some cases the mouth, is also a neck.

The Kolvitsa River originates from a bay called Zasheek, that is, the Source. The village of Zasheyka, which stands near the source - the neck of the Niva, was given its name by the neck lip of Lake Ekostrovskaya Imandra, on the banks of which the village stands, and the lip was named after the neck of the Niva River.

Taybola station, located 78 kilometers south of Murmansk, as well as the Taybol rapids on the Voronya River above the confluence of the Umba River, contain in their names the ancient Pomor word taybola, which means an isthmus between lakes, along which one could either drive on a reindeer team, or drag the boat, karbas, shnyak. This word was borrowed by the Pomors from the Finnish and Karelian languages, where taipale, taival is translated as a road, a path. For example, the Taibol rapids on the Voronya River could be bypassed by boat or karbas only by land, by dragging. This is what the toponym Taibol informs us about. A lot of Taibol is scattered along the coast of the peninsula: the Malaya Pitkulya Bay, lying near Kandalaksha, is connected to the Bolshaya Pitkulya Bay by an isthmus - Taybola. The northern and Letnyaya (Southern) bays of the Ryashkov Island in the Kandalaksha Bay are also interconnected by Taibola.

The last name has not yet grown to a microtoponym, although the old people often called the isthmus - Taybola on Ryashkovo. In microtoponyms, the Pomeranian term suzemok is quite widely used, meaning a dense coniferous forest.

The Pomor term luda usually refers to small islands, usually treeless or with sparse vegetation, in combination with a certain word (Krestovaya luda, Kiberenskie ludy, Saddle luda, etc.) or simply Luda, Ludka (the island of Ludka at the entrance to the Western Nokuevskaya Bay, the islet of Ludka at the mouth of the Varzuga).

Stones standing separately in the water, near the shore, are called pomors detachments, and somewhat distant from the shore - baklysh. But small granite islands are often also designated as baklys. The term detachment lives only in microtoponymy, the term baklysh entered toponymy: Baklysh island at the entrance to the Poryu Bay, three Baklysh islets at the entrance to the Ryndu Bay. Baklyshi, which cormorants liked to sit on, are called cormorants, or cormorants. And this word is found in toponymy: Cormorant Island, or Baklanets, near the mouth of Voronya, which is part of the group of islets of Voronya Ludka.

Pomors called small lakes lambins. In the course of the book we have already met this term repeatedly in combination with other words. However, it is also used on its own. For example, the Kalozhnaya River from the Pirenga River system passes through the lake called Lambina.

Pomors call small pebbles arstnik, but this name applies only to pebbles no larger than a walnut. This term is rare in toponymy. An example is the name of a small sponge Areshnya, or Areshnya-lukht, in the Vochelambina Bay of Lake Ekostrovskaya Imandra.

And the pebble is larger than the areshnik. name is chevruy, or chevray. Cape Chevrui, separating the bays of Sayda and Olenya in the Kola Bay, and Cape Chevrai, protruding into the sea at the eastern end of the Kildin Strait, indicate by their names the presence of large pebbles here.

To designate the south, the Pomors widely used the word summer. The north was designated by the word winter. The use of the word summer as a southern one should not be confused with its other meaning - a summer camp. For example, Lake Summer, connected by a stream with Notozero, clearly got its name as a lake of summer camps. Also in the Letnaya Bay, which lies to the west of the mouth of the Kharlovka, the original names were probably only in the summer.

But the Summer Bay on the islands of Telyachye and Ryashkovo and the Summer (Karelian) coast in the Kandalaksha Bay are named according to their position.

As we have repeatedly mentioned, the names of objects appeared in different ways. Some were translated from another language, that is, tracing, others, on the contrary, were used without translation in another language (for example, Lake Yavr, the Yok River. If you translate these names, you get - Lake Lake, River River). In addition, many names such as Stream, Lake, etc. are assigned to objects that are very far from such names.

Several lakes and rivers are named Buttermilk. Pomors so called a sheer cliff. In this case, lakes and rivers are located near a good landmark - buttermilk or, as the Pomors would say, under buttermilk. And the word is not yet a toponym, just like the name of one of the rivers flowing around buttermilk, and the other - flowing out of Lake Buttermilk.

Pomors and Saami have a common custom of naming rivers, lakes, tonis and islets by the names of people who drowned in or near these reservoirs. For example, between the Small and Bolshoy Berezovy Islands in the Kandalaksha Bay there is a small corga named Borisova in connection with the fact that the old Pomor Boris Artamonovich Polezhaev died here in a boat, having gone to catch herring.

10. The influence of economic and political factors on the ethnic group

Pomors - a distinctive self-name (ethnonym) of the ethnic community of the indigenous population of the European North of Russia - Pomorie. Despite numerous attempts to assimilate the Pomors and present this ethnic community only as an integral part of the Great Russian ethnos (in various sources, the Pomors are called an ethnographic group, sub-ethnos, population, estate, type of professional activity, etc.), the Pomors have retained their ethnic identity and consider themselves as a separate indigenous people, as evidenced by the results of the 2002 census. In the course of all previous censuses, Pomors without their consent were recorded simply as "Russian-Great Russians", since pre-revolutionary Russian, and later Soviet ethnography denied the existence of Pomors, as well as a number of other indigenous small-numbered ethnic groups in Russia (for example, Kryashens, Besermians, etc.) . The non-recognition of the Pomors led to the fact that a comprehensive study of this ethnic community was never carried out, and the first scientific attempt to systematize knowledge about the Pomors was made only in the 70s of the XX century in the work of T. A. Bernshtam "Pomors". However, in this case, only one Pomeranian ethnographic group was considered - the population living on the shores of the White Sea, while other Pomeranian ethnographic groups were excluded from the study.

It is curious that in the process of the assimilation of Pomors carried out by the Russian centralized state, the population of Pomorye was actively inspired with the false idea that only those who live directly by the sea and are engaged in marine (fishing and Salt making, bone carving, carpentry, agriculture, and a number of other crafts are crafts. Nevertheless, in the 90th century, the Russian authorities began to replace the former name of the Pomorye region with the name Russian North in most official documents (although this name is very controversial, given that the ethnic composition of the population is not homogeneous and, in addition to Russians, Karelians, Saami, Veps, Nenets live here , Komi and other indigenous peoples). The Pomor population of the region, in the 90th century, began to be called "Northern Great Russians", which did not correspond to their real self-consciousness, but on the other hand, corresponded to the ideology of assimilation, the dissolution of Pomors into the nation of Great Russians. At the end of the 90th and beginning of the 20th centuries, the substitution of the concepts of Pomorye and Pomors was reduced to the fact that official sources began to call Pomors exclusively "industrialists of the Arkhangelsk province, engaged in fish and animal trades on Murman" (such a definition, in particular, gives the Brockhaus dictionary). Despite the obvious absurdity of this interpretation, it was developed, and in the Soviet years of the 20th century, only collective farm fishermen living directly on the coast of the White Sea were officially called Pomors.

In the opinion of the indigenous Pomors themselves, whose interests, since 1992, have been officially represented by the Pomorskoye Revival National Cultural Center (the oldest ethnic Pomor public organization in Russia), the ethnogenesis of the indigenous population cannot be regarded as a completed, static phenomenon. The modern surge of ethnic self-consciousness of the Pomors must be considered from the standpoint of the dialectical development of this ethnic community. And if, until recently, the Pomors agreed with a dual ethnic self-identification (the people are Pomors, the nation is Russian-Great Russians), today it is not difficult to see that the ethnic community "Russians-Great Russians" is no longer a nation by definition, since a modern nation, as known to be called "Russians". At present, dual self-identification deprives the Pomors of their rights as the indigenous people of the North, harms their original culture, and serves to replace cultural concepts. Great Russians today are only one of the nationalities within the nation of Russians, but unlike most other nationalities of Russia, they do not officially have their own ethnic territory, which they could dispose of as an indigenous people. In the USSR, the Great Russians did not have their own national republic (the RSFSR, unlike other Soviet republics, was never a national "Russian" republic). As a result, Russian-Great Russians today do not even have their own ethnic territory within the modern Russian Federation, where they could be considered the titular indigenous people. Thus, the abandonment of their self-name "Pomors" in favor of the ethnonym "Russians-Great Russians" for the indigenous population would mean an unjustified rejection of the rights of the indigenous people in their historical homeland. Representatives of the indigenous people of the Pomors cannot agree with such a prospect, and today they are actively seeking the inclusion of their ethnic community in the "List of Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Russian Federation" from the legislative and executive branches of power.

Coastal culture. Pomeranian customs. A Brief History of Pomerania

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"I'll wash everything from the sea"

From fish to pearls - Pomeranian crafts

Pomeranian "big"

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1. Brief history of the seaside

2. Who are Pomors

3. Cultural traditions and customs of Pomors

4. The language of the Pomors - "speaking Pomeranian"

5. Pomor dwelling

6. Pomor fisheries

7. Customs related to fishing and water

8. Rooks of Pomors

9. Toponyms of Pomorie

3. Cultural traditions and customs of Pomors

5. Pomor dwelling

6. Pomor fisheries

9. Toponyms of Pomorie

There are a lot of toponyms in Pomorie, which owe their formation to the Pomors.

On Cape Budrach in the Kandalaksha Bay, an ivy-like plant still grows, which is called Budra among the Pomors. The Khibiny tundras in the 17th century were called Budrinsky, probably after this plant.

Pomors noticed that especially good raspberries ripen on the slopes of one of the varaks near the Kolvitskaya Bay in the Kandalaksha Bay - and they called this varak Raspberry Hill. Cloudberry-rich swamp became Cloudberry.

Half Mountain, standing on the left bank of the Voronya River, Half Creek - a tributary of the Chavanga, Half Lake from the Varzuga River system, probably received names similar to the Polovinnitsy luds: they were located on the half of a certain path of the original names.

Pomors will take an unusually rich catch, miraculously survive in a storm - and thanks to Nicholas the Wonderworker they put an end to it.

There are several types of toponyms with the basis of the cross. There are Krestovye Islands, and Krestovaya Tundra, and Krestovaya Bay, and several Krestovye Capes, and Krestovsky Stream, and Krestovskaya Mountain.

There is an old legend about the origin of the name Knyazhaya Bay in the Kandalaksha Bay, written down in 1565 by the Dutch merchant Salingen.

The last name has not yet grown to a microtoponym, although the old people often called the isthmus - Taybola on Ryashkovo. In microtoponyms, the Pomeranian term suzemok is quite widely used, meaning a dense coniferous forest.

Pomors called small lakes lambins. In the course of the book we have already met this term repeatedly in combination with other words. However, it is also used on its own. For example, the Kalozhnaya River from the Pirenga River system passes through the lake called Lambina.

Pomors call small pebbles arstnik, but this name applies only to pebbles no larger than a walnut. This term is rare in toponymy. An example is the name of a small sponge Areshnya, or Areshnya-lukht, in the Vochelambina Bay of Lake Ekostrovskaya Imandra.

And the pebble is larger than the areshnik. name is chevruy, or chevray. Cape Chevrui, separating the bays of Sayda and Olenya in the Kola Bay, and Cape Chevrai, protruding into the sea at the eastern end of the Kildin Strait, indicate by their names the presence of large pebbles here.

But the Summer Bay on the islands of Telyachye and Ryashkovo and the Summer (Karelian) coast in the Kandalaksha Bay are named according to their position.

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