Chud white-eyed

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

One of the main postulates of opponents of the placement of the ancient ancestral home of the Indo-Europeans in the Russian North is the assumption of its original Finno-Ugric population. An indication of the absence of such in the White Sea basin is met with objection in the form of the presence of the Finno-Ugric people of Chud in antiquity. Despite the numerous materials of the legends about Chudi collected over the past 200 years, ethnographically this issue was not considered, although the materials were also found and published long ago.

Priest A. Grandilevsky, narrating in 1910 about the homeland of M. V. Lomonosov, cites legends about the sanctuary of the "Chud idol of the god Yomalli or Yumala", known from the descriptions of the 11th century, in connection with the city of Burma, located on the banks of the Dvina and which was a trade center the edges. Legend says that in the middle of the rich cemetery “there was an idol of the god Yomalla or Yumalla, made very skillfully from the finest wood: the idol was decorated with gold and precious stones … On Yumalla's head shone a golden crown with twelve rare stones, his necklace was valued at 300 marks (£ 150) gold. On his knees was a golden bowl filled with gold coins, a bowl so large that four people could drink from it to their fill. His clothing exceeded the value of the cargo of the richest ships. " The Icelandic chronicler Shturleson, as A. Grandilevsky notes, “describes the same thing, mentions a silver cup; the scientist Kostren confirms the story outlined with folk legends about the treasures of the glorious people.

One of these legends, recorded in the memorial book of the Kurostrovskaya church (for 1887, sheet 4), says: "The idol of Yumala was cast from silver and attached to the largest tree." The very name Yumala, Yomalla or Yamal, is surprisingly close to the name of the Vedic god of death Yama (Yima); the possibility of such parallels is convinced by the presence of the idol in the cemetery and the fact that it was "attached to the largest tree." Here it is probably appropriate to recall the words of one of the texts of the Rig Veda, namely, “Conversation of a boy with his deceased father:

I. Where, under a wondrous-leaved tree, Yamanash, the parent, the boss, passes the path of the ancestors with all the gods. We, however, honor this abode of Yamy with a dwelling in a reed pipe and decorate it with laudatory singing.”(RW. X.13)

And since “the temple of Yumala was revered as a“dwelling of the gods,”there is nothing surprising in the fact that“a miracle, coming to pray, donated silver and gold in a bowl”and that“neither money nor an idol could be stolen, God, there were always sentries around him, and so that they would not let any thieves in, there were springs near the idol, who would touch the idol, although with one finger, now the springs will play, ring all kinds of bells and here you will not go anywhere …”.

Note that in the legends about her, a chud is constantly called "white-eyed", which does not at all indicate the classic Finno-Ugric character of appearance, but on the contrary emphasizes the specific, inherent in northern Caucasians, exceptional light-eyed.

A. Grandilevsky notes that in the memorial book of the Kurostrovskaya church it is written: “Even recently, this spruce forest was the subject of many superstitions … past the spruce, especially at night, they were afraid to drive and pass, and the schismatics considered it a sacred grove and until 1840 they buried there of the dead . Thus, the spruce forest was considered sacred until 1840.among the Old Believers, which is generally not characteristic of the specifically Finno-Ugric sanctuaries.

It must be said that A. Grandilevsky, nevertheless, draws the following conclusion: “In cultural terms, the ancient Zavolotsk chud, when it became historically known, hardly differed much from the Kiev or Novgorod Slavs, it could hardly have been in the category of semi-savages, in the strictest sense of the word, because its development far outstripped all other tribesmen … she lived sedentary, having a capital … serf suburbs, churchyards and large settlements … her own religious ritual … had princes, to protect against enemies she erected quite good urban or fortified embankments … from prehistoric times of time had a very wide trade with the Scandinavians, Anglo-Saxons, with all Chud and Finnish peoples,.. Already Shturleson, the Spanish chronicler wrote about the fabulous riches of Yumalla, the Norwegians were even interested in agriculture, which had taken root in the life of the Zavolotsk Chudi, and talked about it as a subject, worth special attention … Dvinskoe Zavolochye was the center of general attention and it was so exclusively up to the first quarter of the 11th century”.

A. Grandilevsky deduces from the "Chud native dialect" such names as Dvina, Pechora, Kholmogory, Ranula, Kurya, Kurostrov, Nalostrov, etc. But today we know that such hydronyms as Dvina and Pechora are of Indo-European origin; Rakula - finds parallels in Sanskrit, where - Ra - possessor, facilitator, and kúla - flock, clan, flock, crowd, multitude, family, noble family, noble family, union, economy, dwelling, house. As for Kurya, Kur-islands and Nal-islands, their names are close to the names of the ancestors of the "northern Kurus" of the "Mahabharata" - Nalya and Kuru.

It makes sense to cite the text of A. Grandilevsky, who admirably described these lands: “And so, says one legend, in the area where the city of Kholmogory and its suburbs are now, a half-savage man named Chur came, with him his mother, and, probably, wife and some of their relatives or tribesmen. The newcomers really liked the delightful terrain of the future Kholmogory; everything here was the best for them. A whole network of straits from Dvina and Dvina, wonderful high dry forests on the hills with open views of the surroundings, many lakes, magnificent spruce groves and impenetrable thickets of black forests, gloomy wooded ravines, grassy islands provided the most convenient places for animal hunting and fishing., and for hunting birds, and for peaceful domestic affairs, and for protection from the enemy. Here, both in summer and in winter, the expanse of water opened up beautiful paths anywhere; in a word, whatever the half-wild son of nature wished for himself, ready-made stocks were everywhere opened for him. Huge herds of wild elk and deer ran here; bears, wolves, foxes, ferrets, martens, ermines, polar foxes, lynxes, wolverines, squirrels, hares, in countless numbers lived here all the time; ducks, geese, swans, pockmarks, black grouse, cranes, partridges, etc.; did not hatch from here; rivers and lakes were teeming with fish; an immense variety of mushrooms and berries were born. In deep hollows, there could be natural and convenient corrals for catching animals, for baiting moose and deer. In countless lake reservoirs, in straits and bays, there were splendid places for catching fish with fences, peaks and just for jamming with anything, and catching water or forest birds with a snare naturally suggested itself to any savage, as the easiest occupation … The brave Chicken was not horrified loneliness; he liked the new locality so much that he decided to stay here forever, not inviting anyone except a few of his companions. And so he occupied a high round hill in the bend of the Dvinsky Strait, which since then, together with the hill, received his name. Kur lived with his mother and others until his own family grew up; then the children remained with their father, and their grandmother and those who had come with him earlier moved to the west to the high hills beyond the Bystrokurka River,how the folk tradition explains the origin of the Matigorsk region … Thanks to the special amenities of life, and moreover, the Chud tribe has never been exterminated here, as happened in neighboring regions, it has never been displaced from here by anyone, has never waged wars, kept a sedentary working life, - the future Kholmogory district was quickly filled with population, which grew into a whole independent powerful semi-savage people - Chud Zavolotskaya."

It should be noted that further A. Grandilevsky describes this "semi-wild" people in such a way that this definition becomes completely inappropriate. He writes: “He became so isolated among his fellow tribesmen both by a separate way of life, and by a noticeable increase in mental development, and a prominent authority in the field of religious worship, that without any struggle he took a weighty advanced place and, spreading his borders along the entire Dvina coast from the lower reaches to Vagoy river, represented such an impressive force, which even the wild Yugra, countless for that time, did not dare to measure against”.

The desire to show the Zavolotskaya Chud as a semi-savage Finnish tribe, which was then assimilated by the Dnieper and Novgorod Slavs at a higher cultural level, so characteristic of the authors of the beginning of this century, often leads to glaring contradictions. So Grandilevsky writes that according to legends, the descendants of the Kur (Kuru) were a powerful people ("representing an impressive force") and at the same time, speaking of stone arrows, knives and axes found in the region of Arkhangelsk and Kholmogor, he concludes that a miracle "She had nothing but stone tools."

For us today, these stone tools testify that man (“in the initial stage of development of the Zavolotskaya Chud” according to A. Grandilevsky) inhabited these lands in the Stone Age, and an educated Orthodox priest in 1910 believed that: “Perhaps this helplessness (among the people, with whom their neighbors did not dare to measure their strength?) developed in the Zavolotskaya Chudi that amazing cunning, about which all sorts of stories circulate among the masses, was not this need prompted by a small tribe (“spreading - its limits throughout the Dvina from the lower reaches and ending with R. Vagoy “) to live, straining their forces in the struggle for self-preservation, was it not she who tempered their bodies into such a powerful nature that among the people they are still amazed at stories about the heroic strength of the Zavolotsk Chudi, and these stories, one must assume, have a grain of truth.

And further: “… legends point to the heroic growth and strength of the ancient Chudi and attribute to her the ability to talk to each other at great distances; from Kurostrov to Matigory, to Ukht-island, from there to Chukhchenemu."

We must pay tribute to A. Grandilevsky, he was somewhat puzzled that the description of the heroic appearance of Chudi did not correspond to what he saw among the Kholmogory peasants - "dark brown eyes, black hair, sometimes, like pitch, a swarthy complexion and, moreover, usually short stature" … One can agree with him that “the Finnish origin of the Chud tribes does not speak at all in favor of mighty growth”, but it is difficult to imagine that “Chud Zavolotskaya herself could have fallen into special conditions as an accidental exception, which, however, were not included into a positive law for posterity."

Indeed, the shifts of the Early Iron Age, when in the second half of 1 etc. AD. The climate of the North of Eastern Europe has changed dramatically and deciduous and mixed forests are being replaced by dark coniferous taiga and tundra, the composition of the population has changed somewhat, and newcomers from beyond the Urals - Finno-Ugric tribes - are more intensively involved in the process of ethnogenesis.

“The Finns, as it should be supposed, came out of Asia: even in the time of Cyrus, they lived along the eastern side of the Ural Mountains to the Caspian Sea; then, some time before R. Kh. they crossed the Urals, to Europe, to the banks of the Volga and Kama. From there, little by little, they moved north and west, and finally, in the IV century after A. D. settled in those countries where their descendants still exist, i.e.in the Grand Duchy of Finland, in the provinces of Estland, Livland, Courland, Arkhangelsk, Olonets, Vologda, Tver, Moscow and some other places (V. Vereshchagin. Essays on the Arkhangelsk province. St. Petersburg. 1847, pp. 104-105). This description coincides with the modern description of the settlement of the Sarmatian tribes in Eastern Europe.

But you can’t say that in the Russian North (and especially among the Pomors) the very type of “lotus-blue-eyed, reed-haired, light-bearded” heroes, praised by the “Mahabharata” or “golden-haired, blue-eyed Arimasps of the ancient Greeks, that is so close to the descriptions of the mighty“white-eyed "Chudi Zavolotskaya Russian chronicles and folk legends. "Chud" (wonderful, wonderful, miracle) - nothing in this name speaks of the Finno-Ugric affiliation of this people, it only indicates that he aroused surprise among his neighbors, seemed "wonderful" or "wonderful" to them. A. Grandilevsky writes further: “There are no direct indications of the mental strength of the prehistoric Chud in the popular rumor, for that more solid dates can already be said than the legends that Zavolotskaya Chud initially declared itself human idol sacrifices, fierce cruelty to enemies, inability to invent more the best adaptations for domestic life and work, but on the other hand, it is nowhere seen that she also had sympathy for a wandering life, or did not allow open relations with other peoples, or did not have the inclinations for the early assimilation of the principles of cultures, it is not visible in her conquering aspirations, but there is evidence hinting at her special aspirations for better public improvement, which later gave her extraordinary stability and wide popularity."

Richard James in the 17th century, wrote that a Chud lived in Kholmogory "before, and she spoke a language different from the language of the Lapps and Samoyeds, but now she is no longer there." The Kurostrovsky branch of the Dvina near the village of Kur is known; Kholmogory has the Kuropolka river. In the old days, the settlement itself and the settlement of Kholmogor were called Kuropol. In the 19th century. he was considered chud.

In the Arkhangelsk province, according to the calculation of 1850. Chudi was not, although 25 Roma, 1186 Germans and 570 Jews were noted.

According to the lists of settlements in the Arkhangelsk province, 1861. (information from parish lists) Chud lived with the Russians in Arkhangelsk, Kholmogorsk and Pinezhsky districts.

In the Arkhangelsk district in the villages - Bobrovskaya (Bobrovo), Emelyanovskaya (Arkhangelsko), Stepanovskaya (Kumovskaya, Kukoma), Savinskaya (Zarechka), Tsinovetskaya (Tsenovets), Filimonovskaya (Abramovshina), Uvarovskaya (Uarovskaya), Samyshevskaya (Boloto) Peshkovo), Durasovskaya 1 (Malgina Gora), Durasovskaya 2, Chukharevskaya (Chukarenskaya), Kondratievskaya, Aleksandrovskaya, Eletsovskaya, Ustlyyadovskoye (Amosovo), Nefedievskaya, Burmachevskaya, Olodovskaya (Gorka), Mitrofanovskaya, Chukhchinskaya, Patrakyevskaya.

In the Kholmogorsk district in the villages - Annina Gora (Vavchugskaya, Belaya Gora), Rogachevskaya (Surovo), Tikhanovskaya (Tikhnovskoye, Shubino), Matveevskaya (Neverovo), Marikovskaya (Marilov Pogost), Perkhurovskaya (Pergurovskaya, Shagino), Petrovskaya (Petrovo), Danilovskaya (Churkino), Kosnovskaya (Puginy), Trekhnovskaya (Kuchin pillowcase), Boyarskaya, Andriyanovskaya (Tyshkunovo), Verkhnemategorskiy-Emetskiy, Shiltsova (Shaltsova), Kozhevskaya Gora (Kozhina Gora), Khvosty, Korchovskaya, Goronchobitskaya Sukhareva, Zapolye, Oseredskaya, Andreyanovskaya, Bereznik, Zaozerskaya, Filippovskaya, Perdunovskaya (Chasovenskaya-Kuznetsovka), Karzevskaya, Terebikha, Oshchepova (Yakimovskaya), Gorka (Zinovievskaya), Terentyeva, Nizhniy Konec (Polumovskaya), Brosachevskaya (Brosachikha), Kul'm'yarminovskaya -Kurya, Kurostrovka, Emtse, Dvina, Vaimuga, Lake Kulmino).

Antsiferovskaya, Vakhromeevskaya, Rassadovskaya (Khodchegory), Berezninskaya, Obukhovskaya, Nizhnematigorskaya (Borisoglebskoye, Demidovskoye), Demidovskaya (Pogostskaya), Tyumshenskaya 1 (Tyushmenevskaya, Davydovskaya-2 … Even then, attention was drawn to the fact that areas inhabited only by Chudyu bore exclusively Russian names.

In the Pinezhsky district, a chud place with the Russians lived in the villages of Verkhnekonskaya and Valtegorskaya (Valteva) (along the rivers Nemnyuga, Ezhuga and Pinega).

The Chud villages did not stand out in the Shenkur district, but in the 14th century its entire territory with Verkhovazhye was considered Chud. Chud in Shenkursk was taken into account until the 16th century.

It should be noted that the Chud stood out together with the settlers from Novgorod. In areas where there were no Novgorodians, Russians are indicated instead of Chudi. In Arkhangelsk, Russian Old Believers were considered chudyu.

At the mouth of the Pechora, in Pustozersk and villages according to the descriptions of Lepekhin 1774. there were 632 inhabitants who descended from Chud. According to other sources, the entire population of Pustozersk was made up of Russian Old Believers. Similarly, the origin of the Komi-Izhemtsy was associated with the Chud. Now they are considered Russian assimilated Komi-Zyryans.

List of populated areas of the Vologda province in 1859. indicates the presence of Chudi as an ethnic group in the province, different from the Russians and the Komi-Zyryans. Although the metropolitan scientists considered her Finns, and in the parish lists - partly Belarusians.

According to the parish lists, there was a chud in the Nikolsky, Solvychegodsky and Ustysysolsky districts in the neighboring areas in 62 villages (4234 people).

In Nikolsky district (1630 people): Vymol, Lychenitsa, Pogudino, Seno, Kurilovo, Alferova Gora, Myateneeva Gora, Zavachug, Sushniki, Kayuk, Kobylino-Ilyinskoye, Spitsino, Ploskaya, Kobylkino, Navolok, Gorka, Gorbunovskaya, Pavlovo, Zavachug, Manshino (along the rivers Sherduga, Zhidovatka, Berezovaya, Zavachug, Ishenga, Kokoshiha, Imzyuga, Yugu).

In the Solvychegodsky district (2938 people): Astafyeva Gora, Pozharishche, Zmanovsky repair (Zmanovo), Mishutino, Leunino, Eremina Gora (Okolotok), Lisya Gora, Kuryanovo, Yaruny (Yartsevo), Goncharovo (Gondyukhiny) (Gushutiukhiny) (Gushutiukhiny), Mishutiukhin, Potanin repairs (Prislon), Pozdeev repairs (Omelyanikha), Naked Hill, Bull, Goryachevo, Konischevo, Vyatkina Gora, Verkholalsky churchyard, Knyazha, Stroykovo, Popov exhibition (Navel), Tokarevo Zholtikovo, Pryanovskaya (Byzovy), Vasilievskaya, Frolov Zuikha), Tregubovskaya, Varzaksa, Novikovskaya (Kuliga), Grishanovskaya (Balushkiny), Rychkovo, Konstantinovskaya (Fedyakovo), Fedyakovo, Teshilova Gora (Kushikha), Novoselova Gora (Novoselka), Kochurinskaya, Zarignoyevskaya, Kalini Makarovskaya (Komarovo), Ustye, Selivanovskaya (Isakovs), Nechaevskaya (Mezhnik), Ryabovo, Koneshevskaya (Butoryana), Sludka, Deshlevskaya (Koshary), Matyukovskaya (Balashovs), Chernyshevskaya (Artemyevshina), Prialelitsa, Zadorikha, Berezik, Varzakse, Tornovka, Osokorov, Chakulka, Mezhnik, Podovin, Doro vice, Vychegda).

In the Ustysolsk district (749 people): Mishinskaya (Podkiberie), Spirinskaya (Zanulie), Rakinskaya (Bor), Shilovskaya (Zarodovo), Garevskaya (Trofimovskaya), Bor-Nadbolotomskaya (Keros), Urnyshevskaya (Verkhniy End), Matveyevskaya Porub), Karpovskaya (Gavrilova), Kulizhskaya (Chinicheva), Raevskaya (Ostashevskaya), Podsosnovskaya

(Lobanova), Nelitsovskaya (Shmotina), Trofimovskaya (Poryasyanova) (along the rivers Nevle, Nyula, Shore, Luza, Poruba, Bube).

In the Kargopol district, the Chud population was noted in 1316. along Lekshmozero (Chelmogora), 53 km. from Kargopol. In 1349. Roman Lazar noted the presence of chudi and lopa in Obonezhie near the Murmansk monastery.

In the Olonets province, according to information from 1873. It was considered Chudi - 26172 people (Chudi the Russified 7699 people). Finns - 3,775 people, Lapps - 3,882 people, Karelians - 48,568 people were considered separately from it. Chud was located in Lodeynopolsky district (7447 people), Olonetsky district (1705 people), Vytegorsky district (6701 people), Petrozavodsk district (10,319 people).

But most of the ethnic group in the Olonets province had a different self-name. The name Chud was attributed to him, because of the academician Shegren (1832), who indicated that people lived in the Belozersk and Tikhvin districts of the Novgorod province, who, under the influence of the Novgorodians, called themselves “Zjudi (Juudi)”. The Novgorodians also distinguished groups of Kolbyags (Tikhvin) and Varangians (Ilmen). Why the St. Petersburg scientists decided that the "Jews" who called themselves "Ljudi (Ljudi)" are a chud, and for example not the descendants of the Novgorod "Jews", is not entirely clear. Most likely, there was a mistake. The handwritten L looks like a handwritten capital Z, when the manuscript was published in German, it was read as Z, and then when Sjogren's work was republished in Russian, the name of the people was read as a chud. And under the authority of the academician, who did not write this at all, they began to call the Veps people - chudyu. After 1920 this people began to be called by the self-designation of most of it Vepsians, and then, to a large extent, they were recorded as Karelians.

The Russified Chud lived separately from the rest of the Olonets Chud (Vepsians) in the east, in the Vytegorsky district along the border with the Kirillovsky and Kargopol districts. The population of these places itself and none of the ethnographers belong to the Russified Vepsians.

The Russified Chud lived in 118 villages of the Vytegorsky district: Pesok, Venyukova, Vasilievskaya (Ishukova), Bobrova, Nikiforova, Zaparina, Ukhotsk pogost (Ilyina), Klimovskaya (Tobolkina), Efremova, Popad'ina, Niz, Mechevskaya, Ereminova, Leontyeva, Bryukhova, Kobylina, Prokopyeva, Ermolina, Pankratova, Kopytova, Mishutkina, Kazulin, Vasilyeva, Moseevskaya (Chernitsina), Poganina, Yurgina (Yurkina), Ambrosova (Obrosova), Sergeeva, Saustova, Likhaya Shalga (Shalkhateva);

Surminskaya (Teryushina), Emelyanovskaya (Sharapova), Patrovskaya, Filosovskaya, Ignatovskaya (Shilkova), Demidovskaya (Zapolye), Duplevskaya (Zapolye), Ermakovskaya (Zapolye), Budrinskaya (Kromina), Prokopinskoye, Antipinskaya (Gorka), Grigorievskaya), Tikhmangsky Pogost (Danilovo), Vakhrusheva, Palovsky Pogost (Dudino), Aksenova, Klepikova, Fatyanova, Fedorova, Burtsova, Demina, Rukina, Novoye Selo, Trofimovskaya (Chasovina), Oryushinskaya (Vydrina), Murkhonskaya, Lavnrovskaya) (Petrovskaya (Tsanina), Fedotovskaya (Pavshevo), Feofilatovskaya (Rubyshino), Ryabovskaya (Simanova), Mininskaya (Berezhnaya), Kirshevskaya (Kruganova), Dalmatovskaya (Savina), Tretiakovskaya (Manylova), Mukhlovskaya (Knigina), Ferkarevskaya (Vaneva), Kosh (Filina), Iarakhivskaya (Parakeevna, Slasnikova), Sidorovskaya (Davydova), Eltomovskaya (Upper), Mikhalevskoe (Vypolzovo), Guevskaya (Fokino), Manuilovskaya, Zheleznikovskaya (Gurino), Kashinskaya (Upper), Kuromskaya (End), Gorlovskaya (Malkova), Ilyinskaya Sloboda (along the Tikhm River ange);

Antonovskaya (Baranova), Mokievskaya (Rusanova), Muravyevskaya, Gorbunovskaya (Pustyn), Fominskaya (Gorka), Fedosyevskaya (Matyushina), Kuznetsovskaya (Kirilovschina), Kachalovskaya (Privalova), Vershininskaya Pustosh (Vershinina), Isakovskaya Pustosh (Povin) Aleksinskaya (Gurino) Davydovskaya (Maksimova) (along the Shalgasu river);

Perkhina (Antipina), Pashinskaya (Beregovskaya), Antipina (Antipa, Perkhina, Malaya Kherka), Fedorovskaya (Khaluy), Antsiferova (Khaluy) (along the Indomanka river);

Swan Wasteland (along the Pustynny stream);

Deminskaya (Dubininskaya), Matveevskaya (Procheva) (along Shey-stream);

Falkov (at Ukhtozero);

Antsiferovskaya (Bereznik, Khaluy), Krechetova (Pankratova), Agafonovskaya (Bolshaya), Rakovskaya (Coal) (near Lake Antsiferovskoye);

Borisova Gora (Gora), Mitina, Pankratovo (Matveevo, Isaevo), Ivanova (Kiryanova), Blinova (Gorka), Elinskaya (Kropacheva, Novozhilova, Ermolinskaya) (near Lake Isaevskoye);

Antsiferovskaya (Ananyina, Puzhmozero), Ermolino (Novozhilovo) (near Puzhmozero).

In 1535. the population of Toldozhsky, Izhersky, Dudrovsky, Zamoshsky, Yegoryevsky, Opoletsky, Kipensky, Zaretsky graveyards in the Novgorod lands was attributed to Chudi.

List of populated areas of the Sankpeterburgskaya province in 1864. attributed to Chud, on the basis of the opinion of St. Petersburg scientists - Vod, whose name (Vatia-Layzet) was derived from the word "Vaddya", the meaning of which is not known. This people is closer to Estonians than to Karelians. Vod lived in Peterhof and Yamburg districts. At the same time, in the parish lists, some of its settlements are called Izhora.

In addition, some of the settlements lying in the Russian regions along the Luga River - Pulkovo, Sola (Sala), Nadezhdina (Blekigof), Mariengof, Koshkino, Zakhonye, Sveysko, Zhabino, Kalmotka, Verino (Nikolaevo), Kuzmino, Yurkino, Kepi, Hill, Podoga, Lutskaya, Lutskoe.

Official statistics separated the Chud from the Votes and Estonians. According to the census of 1897. in the Yamburg district (except for Vodi and Estonians), 303 people were counted who spoke the Chud language. Veps were not there

In the 19th century, scholars indiscriminately called the peoples of the Permian group Chudyu, and Vod, and Chukhonts, and Karelians, and Estonians. Although then it made no sense to talk about the mono-ethnic composition of the population of Estonia. There was a merger of several nationalities (including the Krivich Slavs and the Danish Germans) into one Estonian people. Considering the massive decline in the population of the Novgorod regions at the end of the 16th century and the beginning of the 18th century, as well as the resettlement from Finland, Estonia and Livonia in the 17th century, one can assume the assimilation of the local population by settlers. Therefore, it can be assumed that the name Chudi was given to the Finnoized part of the local population by Novgorodians, and from them by St. Petersburg scientists. In other localities, the presence of the Finno-Ugric composition of the Chudi was not recorded. There was no Estonian Chud on the territory of the Novgorod and Pskov lands up to Lake Peipsi.

The Vyatka chronicler mentioned the Chud and Ostyak peoples on the Chepets. According to legend, in these places there were Chud settlements, and it is here that bronze objects are found, united by the name "Perm Animal Style". Experts have always recognized the Iranian influence on the art of the "Perm Animal Style".

The Sami, who knew the Chud well, did not mix them with the Karelians. According to the legends of the Karelians and Sami Chud - "fierce murderers", every summer they came from the mountains and killed many people. Sami "chute, miracle" - "pursuer, robber, enemy."

In the legends of the Sami, it is indicated that in ancient times a white-eyed strange came to their lands. She wore iron armor over her clothes, and iron horned helmets on her heads. Their faces were covered with iron nets. Enemies were terrible, they killed everyone in a row. A similar form of the Scandinavian Vikings took place only from the 13th century.

The Finno-Ugric peoples have always talked about the Chuds as about some other people. Komi-Zyryans and Permians distinguished themselves from the "real Chudi". The reason is the neighborhood, they knew the creep. For the Permian Komi and Udmurts, there is an ethnos completely alien to them in language, who, like Novgorodians and Vyatchans, took part in inter-tribal strife and wars.

Descriptions of the Komi speak of an unusually large growth of the Chudi representatives. In addition to the Chudi giants, the Perm Komi distinguish another people of small stature - miracles.

Legends about miracles are associated with legends about the people of Sirta (Sikhirta, Sirchi), who lived in the tundra before the arrival of the Nenets. According to legend, the Sirta were small, they spoke with a slight stutter, and they wore beautiful clothes with metal pendants. They had white eyes. High sandy hills served as homes for the Sirte, they rode dogs and grazed mammoths. Just like the Chud, Sirta were considered skillful blacksmiths and good warriors. There are references to military clashes between the Nenets and Sirta. There are known cases of Nenets marrying Sirta women. The Nenets distinguished the Sirta from themselves, the Khanty and the Komi.

Academician I. Lepekhin wrote in 1805: “The entire Samoyed land in the Mezen district is filled with desolate dwellings of the once ancient people. They are found in many places: near lakes, on the tundra, in forests, near rivers, made in mountains and hills like caves with holes like doors. Stoves are found in these caves and fragments of iron, copper and clay household items are found."

For the first time, the Nenets legends about Sirta, who spoke a language other than Nenets, were written down by A. Shrenk in 1837. in the Bolshezemelskaya tundra. The Nenets were convinced that the last Sirta even 5 generations before the 19th century met on Yamal, and then finally disappeared.

The original meaning of the word Chud is supposed to be “Germans”, from the Gothic “Tsiuda” - “people”. How this corresponds to the Finno-Ugric ethnos is unclear. But the Chud (Thiudos) is mentioned among other peoples annexed to the Gothic state of the 4th century and therefore not German. Jordan wrote: “Germanarich, the noblest of the Amals, who conquered many very warlike northern tribes and forced them to obey their laws. Many ancient writers have compared him at its true worth with Alexander the Great. He conquered the tribes: Golteskifs, Chiyud, Inaunks, Vasinobronk, Meren, Morden, Imniskar, Rogas, Tazan, Ataul, Navgo, Bubegen, Cold. (Golthescytha, Thiudos, Ina unxis, Vas ina broncas, Merens, Mordens, Imnisscaris, Rogas, Tadzans, Athaul, Navego, Bubegenas, Coldas).

In the Puranas, the peoples of Kurus and Chedyas are indicated next to Vatsa, in the "Mahabharata" the name of the Chedi people is used.

Thus, the image of the people grows - a mighty, wealthy, independent, distinguished by a heroic physique, possessing sacred knowledge and amazing abilities. Part of it gave rise to the country Rusia Alba (White Russia), and part went to new lands, and not only in the north. In Pomorie (in Kem), it was believed that the chud had a red skin and left here to live in Novaya Zemlya. It is pertinent to recall that the inhabitants of ancient Egypt (whose self-name was the Country of Kem) considered themselves red-skinned settlers from the country of Upper Kem.