What kind of child comes from a Tajik. Children about the friendship of the peoples of the Samara region
09:59:00 Children of Tajikistan
If anyone, by the title of the topic, has already imagined that we will talk about hard workers, immigrants from Tajikistan who work for pennies throughout the CIS and especially in Moscow, who have already become a kind of symbol of unskilled labor, then I hasten to disappoint you - we will talk about the most ordinary children, what we were many years ago, but who, in the vast majority, have much less than we once had.
Tajikistan is one of the poorest countries not only on the entire Eurasian continent, but also in the world, and I had the opportunity to be convinced of this during last year's summer cycling trip around the country for a month. However, with my post, I do not want to touch on the topic of troubles and wanderings of the Tajik people, the monstrous deprivation of their children, and so on, because in my opinion these people do not live as badly as we all think. Do not believe?! And you try to understand this not by comparing Tajikistan with other countries, but plunge into the atmosphere of this semi-wild mountainous country, its traditions and way of life. But alas, for this you need to go there and see it all.
There are a lot of children in Tajikistan! This is amazing, but during its independence, the number of inhabitants has increased by one and a half times, and the average age of the population was 23-25 years, and this is if we take into account the civil war of the 90s and mass emigration.
Large families (up to 10 or even more people) in Tajikistan will not surprise anyone, just as you will not surprise anyone with mass, by our standards, child mortality: almost a hundred children out of a thousand do not live to be 5 years old.
Also early children start to work. According to the stories of the head of the family of one of the high-mountain villages, the child is involved in domestic work from the time he "begins to eat a cake." It is common to meet a boy of 7 years old, herding a small herd of goats, or collecting apricots.
So let's move on to the kids.
These three were so surprised by my stop that instead of fleeing into the yard, they froze in place against the backdrop of a textured barn.
These two shots are a vivid confirmation of how difficult it is sometimes to photograph children over 10-12 years old.
This is especially true for girls and girls: before you even blink an eye, they will turn their backs on you, cover their faces with their hands (with a handkerchief), or even run away. The shot, where three girls are strolling along a mountain valley, was given to me only at a distance, when they forgot to even think about me.
And this lively guy almost hit me on the hump with his stick because I did not understand in time that his mother was not at all delighted with my shooting. (Usually I ask permission to take pictures, but this time I just didn't recognize the polite "no").
Girls fetching water from a well
(After this shot, I had to pick up the bucket and load the donkey to the fullest. There was a slight embarrassment when I, inexperienced, first filled one can, and the poor animal began to roll heavily and fall on its side ...)
Bandit girl (do you really have the same associations too?!).
By the way, impressions are impressions, and our leader, who was sick with a stomach, crawling to the pass and pulling a loaded bicycle with a bag, lost his map and personal hygiene first aid kit from the top valve on his backpack.
Little Tajik
A jigit on a horse even as a minor looks great, but when he volunteers to help, taking half the load, when you try to conquer a 4-kilometer pass on a bicycle, you simply start to admire the jigit passionately! Thank you Gulmahmad!
Mom and daughters
I really hope that these (and some more) photos reached this wonderful family from the village of Khayrabot, whom we, exhausted, met on the descent from the most difficult pass of the hike, who fed and gave us a wonderful drug to drink, the origin of which we still do not know .
Two sisters if I'm not mistaken
and three more grimy sisters
We met these lovely guys when leaving the mountainous and wild Tajikistan. All their relatives lived at their summer cottage in the mountains (about twenty children of all ages and two adults
As in many other cultures, the birth of a child in a Tajik family is the most joyful event and a child, as a continuation of the family, is considered the meaning of life. All family traditions associated with the upbringing of the child were aimed at educating him: spiritual, physical and cultural. That is why family members try in all cases and situations to protect a pregnant woman so that she gives birth to a healthy child. She must eat the best food, a man, a future father, tries to fulfill any whim of his wife, she is protected from doing hard work around the house and in general, she is prescribed to always be in a good mood, not to leave the house unaccompanied. Both future parents try to do only good deeds.
Newborn and mother protection
Despite the emergence of new modern views and traditions, Tajiks still adhere to the traditions, customs and beliefs of their ancestors in different parts of the country. Tajiks believe that in the first year of life, the child should be protected, especially at first, therefore, special periods and ways to protect the child from everything are distinguished:
forty days; the first forty days after birth, a newborn and his mother are considered vulnerable: they are not left alone, they try to let fewer people in so that they are not exposed to the evil eye or simply to the influence of negative energy.
amulets; amulets that protect, according to beliefs, a child can be amulets, with special dua written by a priest, a rag amulet inside of which there are 15 pieces of gray or blue needles from the evil eye, sharp objects under the pillow, pods of hot red pepper and garlic tied to the cradle to protect the child from the influence of evil forces
the use of two names for the child; in order to hide the child from evil spirits, in a family where children were often lost, at first they call the child by a different name so that the “evil spirit” does not guess about the birth of the child, this can be the name of a fruit, household item or natural phenomenon, and upon reaching a certain age the child receives a normal name.
Important events for the newborn and family
Tajik families are happy to celebrate events that happen for the first time in a child's life with rituals.
Baby's first bed in the cradle
On a certain auspicious day, the child is placed in the cradle by the eldest woman in the family. After that, this event is celebrated together with relatives, friends and neighbors at the dastarkhan, and the ceremony is called "gakhvorabandon" - laying in the cradle.
First shirt
In many regions, the first shirt is put on only three days after the birth of a child; the shirt is taken from an old person so that the child's life is also long. Sometimes a knife with a wooden handle is passed through a shirt before dressing, wishing the child to grow up strong and healthy.
First haircut
Muysargiron is a ceremony of cutting a child's hair for the first time, upon reaching one year. Festivities and rituals are held only for boys, for this a clergyman or an elderly man is invited, who is the first to cut the child's hair so that he has a long life.
Do not be rude, do not allow yourself too much and be faithful to the end - these are the pillars on which the majority of Tajik families rest. Thanks to the preserved traditions, house building still reigns in Tajikistan with rather strict rules, which in many respects are similar to the traditions in other countries of Central Asia.
In honor of the International Day of the Family, which is celebrated today, May 15, our partner Open Asia Online talks about the main rules of behavior in Tajik families.
RESPECT FOR ELDERS
This is the basis of the foundations of all Tajik families, on which everything else is built. Any act or intention must be agreed with the head of the family. The choice of a profession, a long trip and especially the creation of a family are possible only after the approval of the father.
The situation in which a 40-year-old son is not allowed to go to work abroad, and he refuses to travel, is completely standard in Tajik society. And it does not matter at all whether this family lives in a city or a village.
SEARCH FOR THE BRIDE
Even the most advanced young Tajiks, when the time comes, turn to their parents with a request to pick up a bride. Moreover, in the north of Tajikistan, the guys do not dare to directly ask their parents about finding a bride, and in order to demonstrate their readiness for the wedding, they throw carrots in their parents' shoes.
Situations when a man finds his wife on his own, now, of course, also occur, but most often the choice of a future daughter-in-law falls on the parents. And they are looking: they ask acquaintances, consult with relatives. Often, the betrothed is among the closest relatives: for example, she may even be the groom's cousin. Although they are trying to fight this tradition in Tajikistan.
As for the choice of a groom for a girl, it is still more difficult here: matchmakers can be refused, no matter what, and an obedient daughter must agree with the family's decision.
PARENT CARE
In Tajikistan, there are practically no examples of an elderly mother and father left alone. Parents are not abandoned here, moreover, they are not taken care of at a distance - the children are always nearby.
For example, according to tradition, the youngest son stays in his father's house, brings his wife there and looks after his parents. Therefore, when all the children still live together, the elders take care of the youngest son very reverently, because it is he who will subsequently be responsible for caring for the parents. However, this does not mean that other children will not take care.
FAMILY LOYALTY
Second cousins or sisters, and even fourth cousins - in Tajik families not only know about their existence, but also try to keep in touch. Relatives are sacred, no matter if they are distant or close.
For example, several people can come to relatives from a village to the city and settle in their apartment for a couple of weeks, or even months. And no one will dare to say, they say, it's time and honor to know: they will feed, drink and endure - these are relatives.
MAN'S RESPONSIBILITY
A lot falls on the shoulders of a Tajik man, even going to grocery markets. Ask any Tajik about the cost of food, and he will give you an alignment no worse than a professional statistician. Naturally, to go to the markets, you need to earn.
This is the direct duty of the Tajik man, and women here very rarely earn more or even on an equal footing with their husbands. And even more often they do not earn at all, because they sit at home and do housework. But only for those domestic issues that are within the boundaries of the house, the husband is responsible for everything else. And after all this, how not to refer to him exclusively as “you”?
Of course, all these rules are far from the know-how of Tajiks. But it is in this republic that they are still obeyed as laws, and perhaps that is why there is an average of only one divorce per thousand marriages in the country.
Photo: Nozim Kalandarov, Evgenia Kutkova
Let's fast forward to distant, hot Tajikistan and see how the family of the most ordinary guest worker Davladbek lives, who works as a welder at a construction site in Yekaterinburg for nine months a year and sends money to his homeland to support his family.
If we forget for a moment about the images of Ravshan and Dzhamshut, who are firmly entrenched in the Russian mass consciousness, and think about the question “Who are these Tajiks?”, then most Russians will have approximately the same answer. I'll try to guess. Tajiks are people from Tajikistan who work in Russia as migrant workers at construction sites, traders in stalls, posters of advertisements, car mechanics in garages, janitors and drivers of minibuses. Tajiks live in decrepit dormitories, in basements, in cramped rented apartments for a hundred people, or even worse - in abandoned houses ...
All this may be so. Today I wanted to talk about something else.
(Here it is worth making a clarification that this happened in October 2014, when the ruble was already depreciating, but not so rapidly.)
1. We were running out of water supplies. Nearby, the Pyanj River roared and seethed, but its waters were painfully muddy. And besides, we were told that it is better not to approach the river - after all, the border with Afghanistan.
2. In a small village, we stopped at an inconspicuous and only store in the hope of finding at least some water for sale. But the store sold everything wrong - carpets, mattresses and kurpachi. They also sold washing powder and toothpaste, but there was no water. Behind the counter stood and was embarrassed, lowering her black eyes, a girl of about thirteen, who spoke Russian very poorly.
We had a dialogue like this:
Where can you buy drinking water in your village?
Water is possible, a stream - and the girl showed her hand somewhere to the northeast.
Quite logical. Water is not for sale because there are mountain streams. Why didn't we think of it right away?
Do you have a canteen or cafe where you can eat?
Eat? Can! Dad is coming to eat!
3. The girl confidently led me through the gate into the yard. She walked and looked back all the time, smiled embarrassedly and seemed to be afraid that I would stop following. We passed some vegetable gardens, a field with potatoes, a large parking lot with a ditch and an old UAZ car under a tree. At the end of a large lot that was larger than a standard football field was a whitewashed one-story house.
4. The girl went into the house and called the father of the family - Davladbek Bayrambekov. Davladbek spoke Russian well, so our conversation began traditionally:
Where are you from Moscow, what area? I went to Red Square, I remember it was cold.
It is worth noting here that all adult Tajik men with whom we communicated anywhere - everyone has been to Moscow at least once and everyone has worked somewhere. Everything! The statistic is 100%. That is, they were our guests, even if we are not famous for hospitality. And we don't have them.
We met, began to talk about our journey, and that we were looking for water in the store in the village. Davladbek laughed, invited us to the house for tea and explained that we no longer needed to go that day, because his wife was already preparing dinner, and after dinner the weather would deteriorate and it would rain. And that sleeping in tents in the rain is a dubious pleasure.
Of course, we agreed to tea, but we politely refused to stay the night, citing a strong delay in the travel schedule.
5. After our trip, I can responsibly declare that Tajiks are very hospitable people. In Russia, they are completely different from those at home. In Moscow, these quiet and sometimes downtrodden guys behave quieter than water, lower than grass, but at home everything is different - a guest is always a great joy for them. Any owner of the house considers it his duty to accept and tasty treat the guest.
Each house has a large room called "Mehmonhona", designed specifically for receiving guests. Family holidays and weddings are also celebrated here.
6. A tablecloth called “dostarkhan” is laid on the floor. Tea plays a big role in feasts. The youngest man pours it. They drink, as is customary, from a bowl, which must be taken only with the right hand, and the left hand should be kept on the right side of the chest.
An interesting fact is that the pourer pours the first bowl of any drink not to someone, but to himself. All this is just a custom, so that others are convinced that there is no poison in the drink. In ordinary everyday life, the eldest of the family takes food first, but when there is a guest in the house, this honor is given to the guest.
7. Tajiks sit on the floor, covered with beautiful carpets and mattresses stuffed with cotton or cotton, which are called kurpaches. According to their rules, you can not sit with your legs extended forward or to the side. Lying down is also indecent.
8. Portrait of a young Davladbek during his service in the Soviet army.
9. The main cell that forms a person is the family. Tajik families are large, with an average of five or six or more people. Children are taught unquestioning obedience and respect for elders and parents.
In rural areas, girls do not complete more than eight grades. After all, according to tradition, a woman does not need to be educated at all. Her destiny is to be a wife and mother. For Tajik girls, it is very scary and shameful to be a "peregrine". Not getting married on time is worse than the worst nightmare.
Household work is also done by women. It is shameful for a man to do such work. Traditionally, for the first six months, a young wife cannot leave her husband's house and cannot visit her parents.
We talked over tea. Davladbek said that Tajiks love Russians, and Russians treat them well. Then we asked about work. It turns out that in the mountainous villages of Tajikistan there is no work for money at all. Well, except for doctors and teachers, although their salaries are ridiculous. Every doctor and teacher has his own garden and keeps cattle to feed his family - there is no other way. In order to somehow live, all adult men go to work on the "mainland".
So we smoothly switched to the topic of the mechanism for delivering guest workers to Russia. After all, the entire male population of a sunny country cannot take and go to work with us when they don’t even have money for a ticket ...
Davladbek told us about the “companies”. Representatives of large “companies” (which we did not understand exactly) regularly come to all villages, even the most distant ones, who recruit representatives of various professions to work in Russia. Each candidate signs a contract. Then these same “companies” send Tajiks to Russia for their own money and get them a job. But at the same time, for the first month, each guest worker does not receive any money - he gives his entire salary to the same “company” for his transfer to Russia.
Tajiks spend their last month's salary on a ticket home to their family. Because of this, it turns out that going for less than a year does not make sense.
Davladbek is a professional welder. He officially works at a construction site in Yekaterinburg, has all the necessary documents, registration, permits and certificates. In 2014, his salary was 25,000 rubles, of which about 19,000 went for housing, food and travel. Davladbek sent about $200 monthly to his family in Tajikistan, and this was quite enough for his family to buy everything they needed, which is not possible to produce on their own in the village.
10. Having enjoyed tea and refreshments, we were about to go further, but Davladbek suggested going to the water mill, which he built himself. We became interested, and we went somewhere up the mountain stream.
The metal structure in the photograph is part of a ditch that circles the hills and runs through the villages downstream of the Pyanj. A fragment of a huge irrigation system built back in the days of the Soviet Union and still operating today. Excess water from the canal system is discharged into mountain streams using manual metal gates.
11. And here is the mill. Although it is not as beautiful as we imagined, it is a real technology museum. The design of the mill is the same as it was a thousand years ago!
12. Water from a mountain stream enters the mill through a wooden canal.
13. Water transfers hydropower to the water wheel and spins it. Thus, a large round stone is spun, into the center of which grain is fed through a mechanical separator. The grain falls under the stone and is ground, and the centrifugal force pushes the finished product - flour - to the consumer.
14. Residents from neighboring villages come to Davladbek's mill. They bring their grain and also make flour from which they then bake bread. Davladbek does not take money for this. Residents themselves, as they see fit, leave a small amount of flour in gratitude. The door to the mill is always open.
15. Here it is, an ingenious hydraulic structure of the XXI century!
Davladbek was right. Heavy, gray clouds hung from the gorge, and soon we were chased away by the gathering pace of rain. The fog descended almost to the very village, it became dank and chilly. The thought of spending the night in a tent set off a chain reaction of pimply goosebumps all over my body.
Don't stop, go through the house. Dinner is ready, - Davladbek said - spend the night at home today. Get enough sleep. Tomorrow morning with the sun, you will go well.
16. Davladbek was right once again. We stayed overnight. I would like to say a huge thank you to Davladbek and his entire family for giving us shelter! In the morning it froze well, and until the sun rose, it was quite chilly. I was able to get a good feel for this by running in a T-shirt to the toilet, which was located in the far corner of a huge area.
18. We had breakfast. Davladbek's children said goodbye to us and ran off to school. The school was in a neighboring village.
20. Upstream of the river, fifteen kilometers from Ishkoshim were the ruins of an old fortress dating back to the 3rd century. Until recently, there was a frontier post in the ruins of an old fortress.
21. Davladbek showed us the way to the fortress and arranged a short excursion there. Panorama of Afghanistan.
24. Afghan houses and fields can be seen to the left behind the narrow gorge of the river.
25. Outwardly, the life of the Afghans is no different from the Tajik side. Unless there are paved roads. Previously, these lands belonged to one people.
28. Do not assume that all Tajiks live like the heroes of our reportage. We lived in a Pamiri house, a hundred meters from the border, far from major cities. In the modern world, the inhabitants of Tajikistan began to build their lives in the image of the West. However, there are still many families that value their traditions.
29. Recently I called Davladbek and congratulated him on the New Year. He asked how his health and family were when he was going to visit us in Russia in Yekaterinburg again. I thought of visiting him there, bringing photographs from the Pamirs, seeing how he lives with us in Russia, and comparing. Davladbek said that now a visa to Russia has become even more expensive, and work has become cheaper, and so far he cannot say when he will come again. But he promised that he would definitely come back)
30. Tajiks come to us not from a good life. It seems to me that no Pamiri would ever trade his mountains for dusty Moscow. Going to work, they do not see their relatives, their children for months and sometimes years.
Now I often pay attention to the Tajiks in Moscow. I immediately remember Davladbek, his house, his family, his hospitality and his mill. I'm talking to my janitors and vendors in the tent. At first they look away in disbelief, as they are used to being noticed only by the police, but then they are very happy when they find out that I have been to their homeland, which I really liked there. And then it's my turn to ask:
Where are you from, what area?
31. Thank you for your attention!
