Prince Chumbylat by unknown artist
"The Mari are perhaps the only people in Europe who have preserved their ancient Pagan religion in such a volume both in content and in its observance. Nowadays, almost every village has sacred groves - kysoto. Despite the fact that the Christianization of the Mari population has been going on for five centuries, the ancient religion of the ancestors is preserved in the soul of the majority of the Mari, and recently it has been reviving even in those regions where, it would seem, the Mari began to fully profess Orthodoxy.
For example, this year in the village of Yashnur, Medvedevsky district, not far from Yoshkar-Ola, where it would seem that only baptized Mari live, for the first time in many decades, autumn prayers were held. Curiously, the Orthodox missionaries, having learned about the upcoming prayers, carried out intensified propaganda among the population and even exerted pressure on the head of the Prigorodny state farm, who promised to provide a donation to the believers. As a result, he reneged on his promise. Despite this, the believers went out to pray, but not in such numbers as they could in reality, if there were no counter-propaganda from the church.
Despite the paucity of written documents, the Mari believe in the existence of statehood among their ancestors. One of the first Onavui or Kugyza (in the Russian sense - sovereign or tsar) of the Mari is now Chumbylat, who lived approximately in the 12th century. The fact that the Mari had such a leader is confirmed by two important points. On the territory of the present-day Kirov region, there is Chumbylata Mountain, which has always been a sacred place. According to legend, this Kugyza was a beloved and respected leader of the Mari. In a short time, he could gather a large army to protect his lands from the invasion of enemies who were advancing at that time on the Mari lands of the Novgorod ushkuiniks - the advanced robber detachments of the Russian princes.
In 1181, the ushkuyniks for the first time managed to cunningly encircle the ancient capital of the Mari Kokshar (now Kotelnich) on the Viche (Vyatka) river. After a violent confrontation, they managed to bankrupt her. The Mari built a new capital on the high bank of the Pizhma River at the confluence of the Vyatka and named it Kukarka (now the city of Sovetsk). From here it was convenient to predict possible attacks by foreigners and to make preventive forays. So, under the leadership of Chumbylat, an attack was made on the fortified centers of the ushkuyniks Kotelnich and Khlynov (now Kirov), as a result of which they were wiped out. They say that for a long time, divine services were held in Orthodox churches on this occasion twice a year. Apparently, Chumbylat lived a long life. Before his death, he bequeathed to be buried on the top of a mountain on the banks of the Nemda River. According to legend, he bequeathed to his people in case of great trouble to come to his grave and ask for help. And, as the popular rumor tells, he helped people in difficult times. But, as always, there was a villain among them who decided to check whether Chumbylat would rise from the grave. The prince was offended by the unbeliever and no longer stood up to help. Despite this, the people continued to go to the mountain to pray Osh Poro Kugu Yumo and Chumbylatu, who later became known in prayers as Kugu Kuryk Kugyza (King of the Big Mountain). The Mari believed that Chumbylat helps the Mari to pray, brings their prayers to the highest God. the people continued to go to the mountain to pray Osh Poro Kugu Yumo and Chumbylatu, who later became known in prayers as Kugu Kuryk Kugyza (King of the Big Mountain).
Prayers at the mountain were held regularly even after the conquest of the Mari lands by the Russians. This, of course, greatly worried the leaders of the Orthodox Church, and at the direction of the Moscow Metropolitan at the beginning of the 19th century, blasphemy was committed against the ancient Pagan religion, which, in the opinion of many present-day believers, duly turned into the Orthodox Church with great destruction during the years of Stalinism (“don't bad for others. "...) In 1831, accompanied by armed guards, dozens of Russian peasants arrived on the Chumbylat mountain on carts. Under the leadership of the Vyatka gendarme bailiff, they made three undermines under a huge stone at the grave of Chumbylat, laid ten barrels of gunpowder and blew it up. But this did not stop the believers, the Mari continued to pray on their sacred mountain. In order to prevent them from going there, armed posts were set up around the mountain. Then the believers continued to pray on another mountain a few kilometers from Chumbylat. To prevent this, the authorities within a radius of twenty kilometers from the villages evicted all unbaptized Mari and settled the vacated dwellings with settlers. For this reason, at present, many villages near the mountain bear Mari names, and the predominant population in them is Russian-speaking ...
Large prayers on Mount Chumbylat resumed in 1993, although ceremonies involving a limited number of people were held from time to time in the past. Every three years people come here from different regions of the Mari residence. This year, on July 16, representatives from Bashkortostan and Tatarstan took part in the prayers, and the main organizers were religious communities from the Sernur district of Mari El, neighboring Chumbylat, headed by M. Shilyaev. In total, about 100 people arrived in several buses and cars, among them a lot of young people.
An interesting fact - there were almost no Mari believers from the Kirov region itself. It was unexpected for everyone how the local authorities reacted to this event: the direct path to the place of prayer was blocked on the eve of the day of prayers with a whole barricade of huge boulders.
The fact is that in the neighborhood of Chumbylat at the foot of another mountain there is a stone quarry, from there they carry rubble for the construction of roads, it’s easy to guess: a few mining dump trucks will be enough to block the road to a Pagan sacred place. As a result, the pilgrims had to travel along another bumpy road, lengthening their path by several kilometers ... Three years earlier, a similar case had occurred. At dawn on the day of prayers, a violent explosion was made to extract the stone. Because of him, rubble rained down on the mountain, where there were already organizers of prayers who had arrived here the day before.
The place where the Mountain is located is very beautiful. The Nemda River flows through the mountain range. A forest rises to the sky on the Chumbylat mountain. At the highest point on the slope, huge stones whiten - fragments of a cliff blown up more than a century and a half ago. To the place of prayers, you need to go down the mountain, holding onto the trunks of trees. On the other hand, you cannot go to the mountain, since the road is blocked by a quarry located behind the forest. At the foot of the mountain there is a green meadow and a river bank overgrown with bushes. A path leads to it. An amazing corner of the sacred mountain - a powerful spring flows right from the foot and after three steps flows into Nemda. A special boiler is placed under the tap. Everyone who comes to prayers first goes here, throws coins there, washes, drinks from the palm three times,
This year, at the foot of the mountain, near three trees, three bonfires were made for three Gods: Kugu Kuryk Kugyza (Chumbylat), Mer Yumo (God of the people) and Shochyn Ava (Birthing Mother). When the sun rose over the forest, prayers began at three long wooden tables specially arranged near the sacred trees - steps. On them are plates of comanmelna (puff pancakes) and melna (pancakes), peremech (thick pancakes with a potato or curd layer on top), bread baked in the morning, tuar curd buns, tuesca with pura (kvass). The owner of each dish comes to the leading karta (priest) and he says a prayer at his request. A piece of the dish is thrown into the fire so that the Gods, along with the owners, taste it. At this time, the kart assistants take out the sacrificial meat from the cauldrons, separate it from the bones. Then the main prayers begin, at which all those present kneel on specially brought linen canvases. Complete silence, only the birds are chirping above and the sacred words of the kart are deposited in the memory of everyone present.
After the end of the main prayers, everyone tastes the prepared food with the irrefutable certainty that he is performing this rite together with nature, TOGETHER with the GODs and with OSH PORO KUGU YUMO in HIS UNIVERSE, at the same time feeling that he is HIS creation and HIS particle.
This year, not only the Mari expressed their gratitude to the Gods. To see this sacred rite and participate in it, a traveler and photographer from Suomi Raks Rinnekangas came along with the Mari, who put his nadyr (contribution) and a sheep was bought for it. There were also a representative of the indigenous religion from Estonia Anzori Barkalaya, Erzyan woman Tatyana Mikhailova, who also made their own nadyr."
-taken from suri.ee link below
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| Prince Chumbylat by unknown artist. |
Source:
https://visit-mariel.ru/interests/traditions/mariyskie-natsionalnye-geroi/
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