Ethnology 

Bakieva G.T., Timofeeva A.M. (Tyumen, Russian Federation)

The paper makes an attempt to highlight the most important concepts for the Siberian Tatars and to characterize a set of ethical rules and regulations specific to their culture on the basis of the analysis of their proverbs because they define the foundation of the national picture of the world, the philosophy of life. More than four hundred proverbs of the Siberian Tatars collected and published by one of the authors of the article were the source of the study. Those proverbs and sayings were collected during long-term expedition trips, in places of compact residence of the Siberian Tatars, mainly in villages in the South of Tyumen region. The proverbs were recorded as they sounded in the living speech of the Tatar speakers, thus they preserved phonetic, lexical and grammatical peculiarities of the people's spoken language. It was found out that special attention in the Siberian Tatar proverbs is paid to family, work, knowledge, friendship, fate, homeland, faith. There are a lot of proverbs which regulate relationship between a husband and a wife, parents and children, and determine rules of behavior among them. A Siberian Tatar woman was a keeper of the family foundations, she was responsible for peace and joy in the family, a husband was the undisputed family head, and the children were its main wealth. Proverbs on the topic «work — laziness» have a special place in the paremial fund of the Siberian Tatars. For them, an ability to work hard is an important, inalienable human quality; it is work that brings income. The people's wisdom teaches us not to be afraid of any work, we can judge a person looking at the results of the work he or she did. The topic «knowledge — ignorance» is of high importance in the proverbs of the Siberian Tatars. All the examples address the importance and benefits of knowledge for humans. The topic «poverty — wealth» is also central to the paremial fund. Many Tatar families had a hard life in the harsh climate of Siberia, it was difficult to earn means of living. As a result, we can find far more proverbs and sayings about poverty. As for human relations, the Siberian Tatars valued restraint, perseverance, hospitality, kindness, modesty. Excessive talkativeness, meanness, indifference, curiosity, greed, hypocrisy, envy were subject to condemnation and rejection.

Key words: Siberian Tatars, national picture of the world, folklore, proverbs, culture, philosophy, ethics, people's experience.

DOI: 10.20874/2071-0437-2017-36-1-118-126

20.03.2017

G.T. Bakieva

Institute of the Problems of Northern Development, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Malygina st., 86, Tyumen, 625026, Russian Federation

E-mail: gulsifa-bakieva@yandex.ru

A.M. Timofeeva

Tyumen Industrial University, Volodarskogo st., 38, Tyumen, Russian Federation

E-mail: am_timofeeva@mail.ru