About Barguzin Old Believers

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

Last year, fate brought me to Baikal from the side of Buryatia. I am a hydrographer, and we worked on the Barguzin River. Almost untouched nature, clean air, good common people - everything was delightful. But most of all I was struck there by the settlements of the "Semeiski". At first we could not understand what it was. Then they explained to us that these were Old Believers.

Semeiskie live in separate villages, they have very strict customs. To this day, women wear sundresses up to their toes, while men wear blouses. They are very calm and benevolent people, but they behave in such a way that you can't go to them again. They will not just chat, we have never seen such a thing. These are very hard-working people, they never sit around. At first it was somehow annoying, then we got used to it. And later we noticed that they were all healthy and beautiful, even the elderly. Our work took place exactly on the territory of their village, and in order to disturb the residents as little as possible, we were given the help of one grandfather, Vasily Stepanovich. He helped us take measurements - it is very convenient for us and the residents. For a month and a half of work, we became friends, and my grandfather told us a lot of interesting things, and showed us too.

Of course, they also talked about health. Stepanich repeated more than once that all diseases are from the head. Once I stuck to him with a demand to explain what he meant by that. And he answered this: “Let's take you five men. Yes, I will tell you what you think one smell of your socks! It became interesting to us, and here Stepanich simply dumbfounded us. He said that if a person's legs smelled strongly, then his strongest feeling is the desire to postpone all matters later, to do them tomorrow or even later. He also said that men, especially modern ones, are lazier than women, and therefore their legs smell stronger. And he added that there was no need to explain anything to him, but it was better to honestly answer to himself, whether it was so or not. This is how it turns out that thoughts affect a person, and their legs too! My grandfather also said that if the legs of old people start to smell, then it means that a lot of garbage has accumulated in the body and one should starve or strictly fast for six months.

We began to torture Stepanich, and how old is he. He kept denying it, and then he said: "This is how much you give - so much will be." We began to think and decided that he was 58-60 years old. Much later, we learned that he was 118 years old and that it was for this reason that he was dispatched to help us!

It turned out that all Old Believers are healthy people, they don't go to doctors and they treat themselves. They know a special belly massage, and everyone does it for himself. And if malaise begins, then the person understands together with his loved ones what thought or what feeling, business could cause illness. That is, he is trying to understand what is wrong in his life. Then he begins to starve, pray, and only then drinks herbs, infusions, is treated with natural substances.

Old Believers understand that all the causes of illness in a person are in the head. For this reason, they refuse to listen to the radio, watch TV, believing that such devices clog their heads and make a person a slave: because of these devices, a person stops thinking for himself. They consider their own life to be the greatest value.

The whole way of life of Semeiski made me reconsider many of my views on life. They do not ask anyone for anything, but live well, with prosperity. Each person's face glows, expressing dignity, but not pride. These people do not offend anyone, they do not offend, no one swears at anyone, they don’t make fun of anyone, they don’t gloat over anyone. Everyone works - from small to large.

Special respect for the elderly, the young do not contradict the elders. They especially hold in high esteem cleanliness, and cleanliness in everything, starting with clothes, at home, ending with thoughts and feelings. If you could only see these extraordinarily clean houses with crisp curtains on the windows and valances on the beds! Everything is washed and scrubbed clean. Their animals are all well-groomed. The clothes are beautiful, embroidered with different patterns, which are protection for people. They simply do not talk about the betrayal of a husband or wife, because there it is not and cannot be. People are driven by a moral law that is not written anywhere, but everyone honors and observes it. And for the observance of this law, they received health and longevity as a reward, and what!

When I returned to the city, I very often recalled Stepanich. It was difficult for me to link together what he said and modern life with its computers, airplanes, telephones, satellites. On the one hand, technical progress is good, but on the other hand … We really lost ourselves, do not understand ourselves well, shifted the responsibility for our lives onto our parents, doctors, and the government. Maybe that's why there were no really strong and healthy people. What if we really die out without understanding? We imagined that we became smarter than everyone else, because our technology is unusually diverse. But it turns out that because of technology we are losing ourselves.

These Old Believers shocked me a lot. They wiped our nose with their strength, balance of character and gentleness, their health and hard work.

Kunitsyn. V. K. - All diseases from the head (about the Barguzin Old Believers)

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