Distribution of Mari languages at the beginning of the 20th century[10][11]
There are two main ethnographic subgroups of Mari people:Meadow Mari, who live on the right bank of the Volga river, andHill (or Mountain) Mari, who live on the left bank. Theethnogenesis of these two subgroups, and formation of distinct dialects, probably took place in the 14th century. Meadow Mari comprise the majority of Mari, andtheir language variety is more widespread than theHill Mari language.[12] The 1995 Law on the Languages of the Republic and the Mari El constitution designate the Hill and Meadow varieties to be, along with Russian, the state languages of the republic.[13][14]
Since the 19th century a third subgroup has been identified, theEastern Mari. The Eastern dialect has been considered a variant of the Meadow dialect.[15] Eastern Mari comprise the Mari populations living east of theVyatka and in theUral region, particularly inBashkortostan as well asSverdlovsk Oblast andPerm Krai.[16][7] This diaspora group formed after theCheremis Wars in the 16th century, which caused migration to the east.[17]
Some scholars consider the speakers ofNorthwestern Mari dialects inKirov andNizhny Novgorod Oblasts a separate ethnographic group.[17] The number of Northwestern Mari was estimated to be over 7700 people in 2011. In recent decades, assimilation processes have proceeded quickly among this group, and in 2022 only 58.5% of the Mari in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast spoke the Mari language.[18] According to Saarinen (2022), there are only a few hundred Northwestern Mari speakers.[17]
Some scholars have proposed that two tribes mentioned by the Gothic writerJordanes in hisGetica among the peoples in the realm of Gothic kingErmanaric in the fourth century AD can be equated with the Mari people.[19] However, the identification of theImniscaris (orSremniscans) with "Cheremis", andMerens with "Mari" is controversial.[20]: 38–42 As a result, there is no consensus among scholars.[19] The first safely attested mention of the Mari people comes fromKhazar sources from the 10th century, where they appear by the exonymtsarmis.[19] The old Russian name for the Mari (Cheremis) is derived from this.[21] At that time, the Mari settlement area was along the Volga. Mari folkore mentions a legendary hero named Chotkar and the semi-legendary king Chumblat, who ruled around the year 1100.[21] The Russians first encroached on Mari lands in the 12th century, whenNovgorod seized the stronghold of Koksharov in 1174.[21] Around 1200,Vladimir-Suzdal gradually took control of theVolga valley down to the mouth of the riverVetulga, and pressure intensified after the founding ofNizhny Novgorod in 1221.[21] The eastern Mari remained subjects ofVolga Bulgaria.[21]
Following theMongol invasions in the 13th century, the Mari fell under the influence sphere of theGolden Horde.[21] Many Bulgars moved north, and so Bulgar influence on the Mari grew.[21] The new Bulgar capital,Kazan, was founded on ancient Mari lands.[21] In the 14th century, Russian pressure grew with increased raids, while the Mari responded with attacks on territories includingVyatka and evenUstyug.[22] As early as 1372, the Russians established an outpost atKurmysh.[23] In 1443, the Mari became subjects of theKazan Khanate. During this time, the Mari experienced some cultural convergence with the rulingTatars and theVolga Bulgars, which is also seen in Turkic lexical and grammatical influence on theMari language. The founding of the Russian fortress ofVasilgrad in 1523 exposed the Hill Mari to the Russians directly, while language differences weakened their cooperation with the Meadow Mari.[23]
In 1552, the territory of the Mari was incorporated into the Russian state with theRussian conquest of Kazan underIvan the Terrible.[23] The Hill Mari assisted with the Russian conquest, while most of the Meadow Mari continued to back the Kazan Tatars.[23] Mari resistance continued in what is known in Russian historiography as the "Cheremis Wars", which lasted until 1584.[23] The heaviest periods of fighting occurred during 1553–1557, 1570–1572 and 1581–1584.[23] In 1572, the last Siberian khan,Kuchum, sent an army consisting ofBashkirs,Khanty,Mansi and Mari vassals to carry out reconnaissance into the lands held by theStroganovs and to devastate the settlements there.[24] By the end of the 16th century, resistance was finally quelled, leaving a heavy toll on the Mari population. As a result of the ensuing influx of Russian settlers, and to escape forced Christianization (starting fromc. 1700), the Mari started to settle further east in present-dayBashkortostan. In the following centuries under tsarist Russia, the Mari were able to retain their ethnic and cultural identity, reinforced by repeated waves of returning to theirtraditional pre-Christian religion.[25]
During the Soviet Era, the Mari Section was set up under the auspices ofNarkomnats, thePeoples Commissariat fornationalities. Its task was to facilitate the close union of the Mari people with other people, to abolish anti-Russian mistrust and to raise the "class consciousness" of Mari workers. In practice this involved facilitating grain requisitions by the Soviet state, the recruitment of soldiers for theRed Army and the implementation ofBolshevik control of the society.[26][page needed]
Until the 1930s, the Mari people had no cultural ties to Russia and were able to maintain its own culture and identity, as cultural interaction with Russia was "limited to the payment of tributes and taxes". However, intensiveRussification policies were introduced during the Soviet era - theMari language was eliminated from schools and only Russian was taught instead, many Mari people were resettled and sent to work in remote parts of the Soviet Union, and Mari communities were forcibly enlarged under the Soviet policy of eliminating "unpromising villages", leading to Russian settlement and greatly disempowering the indigenous population.[27] TheMari Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was subjected to one of the harshest Russification measures in the USSR.[28] Furthermore, Bolshevik policies officially aimed at combating undue influence of nationalism in a multi-nation union, resulted in the murder of leading Mari figures, such asSergei Čavajn andOlyk Ipai and other teachers, scientists, artists, as well as religious and community leaders.[29][30]
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the newly created republic ofMari El saw a revival of Mari culture and language. However, following the appointment ofLeonid Markelov asHead of the republic in 2001, the government of Mari El has pursued a policy of intenseRussification in the region. According to Vasily Pekteyev of the Mari National Theater in Yoshkar-Ola, "[Markelov] hated the Mari people". He noted that the Mari language is no longer taught in villages or schools and that the republic of Mari El "has already ceased to be an ethnic republic in anything but name. We are just anotheroblast."[31] In 2005, theEuropean Commission expressed its concern over reports of repression against ethnic Mari opposition figures, journalists, and government officials that promoted Mari culture and opposed Markelov's reappointment as head of the republic that year.[32]
Maris have traditionally practiced ashamanistic faith that closely connected the individual with nature. According to those beliefs, nature exerts an influence over people. Nature is seen as a sacred, powerful, and living being with which people are fully intertwined. Nature also serves as a source of absolute good who always helps humans as long as they refrain from harming or opposing it.[34] The indigenous religion of the Mari people is the most important element of their national identity and tradition; speaking of their faith, many Mari intellectuals concluded that "to kill our faith means to kill us".[35]
TheMari native religion also possesses a pantheon of gods who reside in the heavens, the most important of whom is known as the Great White God (Ош Кугу Юмо,Osh Kugu Yumo). Other lesser gods include the god of fire (Тул Юмо,Tul Yumo) and the god of wind (Мардеж Юмо,Mardezh Yumo). The Mari also believe in a number of half-men, half-gods (керемет,keremet) who live on earth. The most revered of these isChumbulat (Чумбулат), or Chumbylat (Чумбылат), a renowned leader and warrior.[36] Attempts to convert the Maris to Christianity began in the 16th century after their territory was incorporated into the Russian state during the reign ofIvan IV ("the Terrible"). Pressure to convert to Christianity and adopt Russian culture by the tsarist authorities in the 17th and 18th century led to backlash by the Maris as they faced persecution to conform.[37] While the Mari people nominally converted to Russian Orthodoxy in the 16th century, in practice they kept to their old practices relatively unhindered, and the interaction with Christianity spurred growth of syncretic form of religions where Christian system of belief is combined with pagan traditions and rituals.[35] The Eastern Mari in particular were able to preserve the Mari religion due to them living in isolated communities.[38]
Many Mari today still practice paganism insyncretic forms, or purer forms adhering to organizedneopagan Mari traditional religion organizations.[35] While most Mari today are members of theRussian Orthodox Church, pagans still comprise a significant minority of around 25%. Mari paganism is divided into three groups -Chimari who are non-baptized Mari pagans and try to distance themselves from Christian traditions in favour of mainly pagan traditions,Marla Vera (also known as "dual faith") consisting of baptized Mari who follow pagan traditions while also attending Christian services and celebrating Christian feasts.[35] Lastly, there is a neopagan revivalist movement calledKugu Sorta which rejects Christianity altogether in favour of "pure" pagan faith. About 60% of Mari pagans belong to the syncreticMarla Vera group, while the remaining 40% is composed ofChimari andKugu Sorta pagans.[35]
Mari culture has a many-stringedzither called thekusle and abagpipe called theshyuvr.[38] Mari musical traditions include lyrics that mention the Volga and reflect the Mari adoration of nature, especially forests and rainbows.[38]
PCA and genetic distances of Uralic-speaking populations
The most commonY-chromosomal haplogroup among Mari people isN, which is frequently found withinUralic-speaking peoples and has its roots in East Eurasia. According to the data gathered by Kristiina Tambets and others in their 2018 study, 46.4 percent of Mari men haveN-M178, and 8.2 percent belong to the subcladeN-P43.R1a is a clearly less yet the second most common Y-DNA haplogroup for Maris, as it is carried by 22.7 percent of them.[39]
A 2002 study aboutmtDNA haplogroups in the Volga-Ural region found that 40 percent of the Maris belong to thehaplogroup H. About one in four carry thehaplogroup U (14 percent have the subcladeU5 and about 10 percent haveU4).[40]
Autosomally, Mari people stand out as an ethnic group in Europe by having a high level ofSiberian-related admixture.[41] Tambets and others estimated that it is 35 percent of their ancestry. ThisNganasan-like Siberian component is typical for Uralic-speaking groups.[39]
^Parpola, A.; Carpelan, C. (2005). "The cultural counterparts to Proto-Indo-European, Proto-Uralic and Proto-Aryan: Matching the dispersal and contact patterns in the linguistic and archaeological record". In Bryant, E. F. (ed.).The Indo-Aryan controversy: Evidence and inference in Indian history. London:Routledge. p. 119.ISBN9780700714636.
^Markelov, Leonid, ed. (2009). "Mariitsy severo-zapadnye [Northwestern Mari]".Entsiklopediya Respubliki Mariy El [Encyclopedia of the Republic of Mari El]. Yoshkar-Ola. pp. 519–524.ISBN978-5-94950-049-1.{{cite encyclopedia}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
^Shkalina, Galina (2000). "Язычество народа мари — феномен европейской культуры" [Paganism of the Mari People — a Phenomenon of European Culture].Этносфера (in Russian).
^abcdeKnorre, Boris (2014). "Neopaganism in the Mari El Republic". In Aitamurto, Kaarina; Simpson, Scott (eds.).Modern Pagan and Native Faith Movements in Central and Eastern Europe.Routledge. pp. 249–265.doi:10.4324/9781315729008.ISBN9781315729008.
^Bermisheva, M. A.; Tambets, K.; Villems, R.; Khusnutdinova, E. K. (2002). "Diversity of Mitochondrial DNA Haplogroups in Ethnic Populations of the Volga–Ural Region".Molecular Biology.36 (6):802–812.doi:10.1023/A:1021677708482.S2CID16959586.
