Ethnology 

Temporary summer dwellings of the Bashkirs of the Inzer River basin in the late 19^th — early 21^st centuries

Khasanova Z.F. (Ufa, Russian Federation)

Temporary summer dwellings of the Bashkirs of the Inzer River basin in the late XIX — early XXI century are analyzed. Data from the State Archive of Orenburg region (Orenburg) and the Scientific Archive of the Ufa Scientific Center of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ufa) are used, as well as information gathered by the author during expedition trips in 2010–2011, 2016 to the villages of Gabdiukovo, Zuiakovo, Assi, Novokhasanovo, Usmangali, Inzer, Azikeevo, Aznalkino, Khusainovo, Sermenovo, Utkalevo, Uziannbash, Shigaevo of Beloretsky District, Republic of Bashkortostan. The Bashkir population, which for a long time had led a nomadic and semi-nomadic way of life, had temporary and permanent settlements: the first ones included spring, summer and autumn sites, the second ones are represented by winter camps, on the basis of which auls (villages) appeared. On the cusp of the XIX–XX centuries, the Bashkirs of the Inzer River basin kept on following a semi-nomadic cattle breeding way of life, raising large numbers of horses, sheep, cows and a small number of goats. They made hay and did forestry (wood logging and transportation, they prepared firewood for factories, produced bast and tar, etc.). Mass departures to summer camps in mountainous areas stopped before the Civil War and the crop failure of 1921–1922, but some families continued to migrate in summer until the collectivization of the early 1930s. At the end of the XIX century, mainly wealthy families went to the summer pastures, and some Bashkirs, who tended cattle or were hired for work, went with them. The places of seasonal camps and dwellings in them remained traditional for a long time. Three types of temporary summer dwellings got widespread at the end of the XIX century: a hut (burama) and two kinds of cottages, which differ in form, material, and size. A hut was made of logs, cottages were made of bark, (linden bark), laths, branches. Up to date, cottages are preserved in the area under consideration, they are mounted during haymaking as an overnight stops and for storing food and clothes. Burama as a temporary dwelling during haymaking is scarcely used today.

Key words: the Bashkirs, Inzer River basin, Beloretsk district of the Republic of Bashkortostan, cattle breeding, summer dwellings, nomadic camps, burama, huts.

DOI: 10.20874/2071-0437-2017-37-2-127-136

07.06.2017

Z.F. Khasanova

R.G. Kuzeev Institute of Ethnological studies, Ufa Scientific Centre, Russian Academy of Sciences, K. Marks st., 6, 450077, Ufa, Russian Federation

E-mail: Zifa.83@mail.ru