Steppe houses dug into the ground
Editorial contextOn the treeless steppe, Holderness says, Tatar houses were often dug down into the earth so deeply that they needed only a roof. She notes they were warmer in winter and cooler in summer than the usual plastered wooden huts.
The houses of the Stepp Tatars are often dug in the ground, to such a depth as to require only roofing to complete them. These being impervious to the air, are warmer in winter, and cooler in summer, than the usual huts, which are built of wood and plastered.
About Steppe Tatars of northern Crimea
A vanished Tatar village turned into an orchard
Editorial contextHolderness's own estate was a huge wild orchard made from the lands of a Tatar village of 1,700 people that had emptied after the Russian conquest. Only foundations, wells, the ruins of a Tatar bath and a mosque with its minaret remained. She is explicit that these ruins were a recent Tatar village, not something ancient or mysterious.
The village of Karagoss, at the time of the subjugation, contained 1700 inhabitants … Not a single house now remains within its circuit, though the foundations of them are to be found in every part … also the ruins of a Tatar bath, and a Tatar metchet, or mosque, the minaret of which, seen from all parts of the estate, embowered in wood, has a remarkably picturesque appearance
About Crimean Tatars
Keep in mind
The population figure at the conquest is presumably what she was told.
A bride carried home unseen
Editorial contextHolderness, often invited to village weddings, describes how the bride travelled in a curtained cart and was kept from every eye: she was given sherbet and a lamb at her new door, then, behind screens of blanketing, wrapped in a sheet and carried into the house by her brother.
When she reaches the door of her new prison, sherbet is brought her to drink, and some kind of sweetmeat is given with it. She is next presented with a lamb, which is actually put into the carriage with her … wrapped in a sheet, she is carried by her brother into the house.
About Crimean Tatars
Keep in mind
'New prison' is Holderness's own judgement.
Passports for the dead
Editorial contextAt an old woman's burial in Karagoss, Holderness watched the body laid in a side niche of the grave with papers written by the mulla: one on the breast describing the dead woman's character, one in the hand as a passport at the gates of Heaven, and one above the head warning the Evil One away. Stakes, hay, earth and stones then sealed the grave.
some papers written by the Mulla were disposed about it; one being placed on the breast, expressive of the character of the deceased; another in the hand, intended likewise as a sort of passport at the gates of Heaven; and a third above the head, which is said to be an intimation to the Evil One to refrain from disturbing the bones of a true believer.
About Crimean Tatars
Keep in mind
The meaning of each paper is what she was told; the Arabic texts were never translated for her.
Crimean Tatars deny ever eating horse
Editorial contextA striking correction to older European books: Holderness says the Crimean Tatars of her day did not eat horse meat and denied that they ever had. Seventeenth century writers such as Chevalier had made horse-flesh the signature Tartar food.
The custom of eating horse-flesh is not in use among the Crim Tatars of the present day, and they indeed deny that it was ever their practice.
About Crimean Tatars
Sheepskins, a knife and a pipe, but no guns
Editorial contextHolderness describes the Tatar winter outfit of felt cloak, sheepskin pelisse and lamb's-wool cap, with a knife, tobacco pouch, flint and steel. Under Russian rule they were not allowed firearms, and few still owned the bows of their forefathers; a local noble, Maksout Murza, had one made entirely of bone.
The sheep-skin pelisses and lamb's-wool caps, which are assumed by the Tatars in winter, increase not a little their savage looks … The use of fire-arms is not allowed them, and few remain possessed of the bows and arrows which were the national weapons of their forefathers. Maksout Murza has a bow which is formed entirely of bone.
About Crimean Tatars under Russian rule
The Nogays, a wandering horde made to settle
Editorial contextHolderness explains who the Nogay Tatars were: the old nomads of 'Nogay Tatary', who had roamed the steppes north of Crimea with tents, flocks and herds for ages. By her time the Russian government had gathered them into villages and pushed them to farm, though they still preferred grazing and horses.
The Nogay Tatars, if not the original inhabitants of the country, at least wandered over the immense Stepps of New Russia, with their tents, flocks, and herds, at the time of the Russian Conquest, and for ages before: this remnant of the Nomades of Nogay Tatary, are now collected together in a number of villages
About Nogay Tatars
Keep in mind
On the next page she describes the Nogays' moral character in very hostile terms, reflecting settler prejudice.
Walking dead for forty days
Editorial contextHolderness reports a startling belief: the spirits of wicked people walk for forty days after death, and then the grave must be opened and the corpse shot, beheaded or have its heart removed. She follows it with a Tatar neighbour's gentle answer on why every dead person got a good 'passport'.
The Tatars believe that the spirits of the bad walk for forty days after death. In this case, they say, it is requisite to uncover the grave, and either shoot the dead body, cut off its head, or take out its heart.
About Crimean Tatars
Keep in mind
Reported belief; she does not say she saw a grave opened.
Horse skulls against witchcraft
Editorial contextTatars and Bulgarian settlers alike stuck a horse's skull up near their houses to ward off witchcraft. Holderness links it, on hearsay, to the ancient Taurians, said to have used human skulls. On the same page a hired Tatar driver refuses to start a journey on a Tuesday, an unlucky day.
It is a very common custom in the Crimea, with the Tatars as well as the Bulgarian settlers, to stick up a horse's skull near their houses, in order to preserve them from witchcraft.
About Crimean Tatars and Bulgarian settlers
Keep in mind
The Taurian comparison is secondhand ('I am told').