Ateip (alsotaip,tayp,teyp;Chechen andIngush: тайпа, romanized:taypa[ˈtajpə],lit.family,kin,clan,tribe[1]) is aChechen andIngushtribal organization orclan, self-identified through descent from a commonancestor or geographic location. It is a sub-unit of thetukkhum andshahar. There are about 150 Chechen and 120 Ingush teips. Teips played an important role in the socioeconomic life of the Chechen and Ingush peoples before and during theMiddle Ages, and continue to be an important cultural part to this day.
Common teip rules and some features include:[2]
Teips, as sub-units of tukkhums, are traditionally thought to have members who descend from a common ancestor and are thus considered distant blood relatives. Teip names were often derived from an ancestral founder.[3] As is true for many other North Caucasian peoples, Chechen and Ingush men were traditionally expected to know the names and places of origin of their ancestors on their father's side, tracing back many generations, with seven generations being the most commonly recognized.[3] Many women also memorized this information, and more dedicated individuals could often recite their maternal ancestral line as well.[3] The memorization of this information serves as a way to instill clan loyalty in younger generations.[3] Among thepeoples of the Caucasus, large-scale land disputes were traditionally sometimes resolved through mutual knowledge of where and when ancestors had resided.[3]
A teip's ancestral land was held sacred because of its close connection to teip identity. It was typically marked by clan symbols, including the clan cemetery, tower, and sanctuary.[3] Due to the scarcity of land in mountainous Ingushetia and Chechnya, after the feudal system was overthrown, each teip claimed a specific area of land.[4] Land boundaries were marked by stones with specific markings pointing to a local place of worship.[4] Initially, land was owned collectively, but individual cultivation ultimately became the norm.[4] In old Chechen and Ingush tradition, women were allowed to own land.[4] The vehement Ingush and Chechen opposition to Sovietcollectivization has been explained by the threat it posed to the traditional customs of land allotment.[4]
Eachteip had an elected council of elders, a court of justice, and its own set of customs. The civilian chief, referred to as thethamda orkh'alkhancha, chaired the council of elders. Thebaechcha, meanwhile, was the military leader.[3]
The teip has its own subdivisions, in order of their progressive nesting, thevaer, thegar, and theneqe. Theneqe consists of households sharing the same family name, while thegar is a number ofneqe units that together form a common lineage, however that is not always the case.[5] The basic social unit, meanwhile, was the household, consisting of the extended family spanning three or four generations, referred to as the ts'a or thedözal, with married daughters usually living with in the household of their spouse. Brothers would share the same land and livestock.[5]
The number of teips has been unstable in recent history. While there were 59 Chechen and Ingush teips in the early 19th century, this swelled to a hundred by the mid-19th century, and today there are about 170.[3] New teips could be founded when a largegar broke off and claimed the title of a full-fledged teip.[5]
Below is a list of teips with the Chechentukkhum to which it may belong.
As well as a list of teips included in the ethno-territorial Ingush societiesShahar
