The Devil's Fort: an empty town of the old Bulgars on the Kama
Editorial contextThe author describes an empty little town on the high bank of the Kama, which the Russians called the 'Devil's gorodishche'. A demon lived there, answering questions through soothsayers, and people of the Kazan land came to sacrifice; travellers on the river threw it some of their goods or risked drowning. He credits the ruin to the 'old Bulgars', whose sacrificial prayer-place it had been. Several manuscripts call it a 'small stone town'.
there is an empty little town standing on the high bank of the river Kama, which the Rus call the Devil's Fort, in which a demon lived, working illusions for many years; and it was a sacrificial prayer-place of the old Bulgars.
Working translation
Original wording
имать градецъ пустъ, на брезе высоцѣ Камы реки стоя, его же Русь имянуетъ Бесовское городище, въ немъ же живяше бѣсъ, мечты творя отъ многа лѣтъ; и то бѣ еще старыхъ Болгаръ молбище жертвеное.
About Kazan Tatars, Cheremis and their soothsayers; the 'old Bulgars'
Keep in mind
The identification with the stone 'Devil's Fort' at Yelabuga is by later scholars; the demon oracle is the author's Christian reading of a local shrine.
Paying the bride price by instalments
Editorial contextA Tatar groom had to pay a bride price (kalym). If he could not pay at once, the bride stayed with her father until the whole sum was paid off bit by bit, but meanwhile the groom could visit her secretly, a custom called 'going to the bosom', with strict limits. Lepekhin adds that these visits let the groom get to know his bride and, if he found something amiss, cancel the match and recover part of the price. The mullah then completes the marriage by asking set questions three times, answered by the groom's helper and the matchmaker.
otherwise the bride stays with her father until the groom has paid off the whole sum little by little. Meanwhile the groom has the right to visit his bride secretly from time to time, which they call 'going to the bosom' … for the groom's liberty may extend only as far as the bride's bosom, and no further.
Working translation
Original wording
widrigenfalls bleibt die Braut so lange bey dem Vater, bis der Bräutigam die ganze Summe nach und nach abgezahlet hat. Indessen hat der Bräutigam das Recht, seine Braut insgeheim von Zeit zu Zeit zu besuchen, welches bey ihnen an den Busen gehen heißt … denn nur bis auf den Busen der Braut, aber weiter nicht, darf sich die Freyheit des Bräutigams erstrecken.
About Volga Tatars
Continue in this sourceLepekhin's journal of the Volga and Ural journey1768 to 1770 · 14 passagesWhite rooms and windows made of ox bladder
Editorial contextLepekhin compares the timber farmhouses of three peoples living side by side. The Chuvash and Mordvins have 'black' rooms (smoke-filled, without a proper chimney), but the Tatars have 'white' rooms with well-built stoves, and real windows rather than sliding shutters. Since glass was scarce, the Tatars made their window panes from ox bladder, or near the Volga from the skin of catfish or beluga sturgeon. On the same page he praises Tatar feather beds, clean dishes and hospitality.
The rooms of the Chuvash and Mordvins are black, but those of the Tatars are white, and their stoves are also built with a particular convenience. … the Tatars, however, have proper windows, and because glass is lacking in this country they make the panes of ox bladder, and in the districts nearest the Volga of the skin of the catfish or the beluga sturgeon.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Stuben sind bey den Tschuwaschen und Morduanen schwarz, bey den Tatarn aber weis, deren Oefen zugleich mit einer besondern Bequemlichkeit angelegt sind. … bey den Tatarn aber sind ordentliche Fenster, und weil es hier zu Lande an Glas fehlt, machen sie die Scheiben aus Rindsblase, in den zunächst an der Wolga liegenden Gegenden aber, aus der Haut vom Wels, oder vom Hausen.
About Volga Tatars, compared with Chuvash and Mordvin villagers
Continue in this sourceLepekhin's journal of the Volga and Ural journey1768 to 1770 · 14 passagesA mosque in every village, plain inside
Editorial contextEvery Tatar village Lepekhin saw on the Cheremshan had its own mosque (metschet) and clergyman, and larger villages two or three. The mosques were bare of ornament except for a carpet on the wall and another on the floor at the place of the akhun, the senior cleric. He goes on to explain the ranks of Tatar clergy (akhun, mullah and abyz, muezzin), how only the akhun may wear the turban, and how the clergy judge quarrels and punish offenders by the Koran.
The Tatars who live on the Cheremshan are, as far as I have seen of them, all of the Mohammedan religion, and every village has its mosque and its clergyman … In their mosques there is nothing ornamental to be seen, except at the place of the chief clergyman, the akhun.
Working translation
Original wording
Die Tatarn, welche am Tscheremschan wohnen, sind, so viel ich ihrer habe zu sehen bekommen, alle mohamedanischer Religion, und jedes Dorf hat seine Metschet und seinen Geistlichen … In ihren Metscheten ist nichts von Zierrathen zu sehen, außer an dem … Platz des vornehmsten Geistlichen des Achun.
About Volga Tatars (Muslim farming villages)
Keep in mind
Marginal headings printed beside the text break into the OCR line; they are left out with ellipses.