The Caucasus, which has never lived without small or large military conflicts, naturally acquired the corresponding traditions, customs and even holidays, not to mention the characteristic architecture of battle towers and the cult of cold weapons. Of course, the forced belligerence was reflected in our beautiful female halves. While the men were on a campaign or a banal paramilitary robbery raid, women were left alone and themselves became easy prey, for example, for a neighboring village, with which feud could go on for decades.
Contrary to the prevailing stereotype about a mountain woman, who is packed from head to toe in an impenetrable cloth and does nothing but bake cakes, the female role in the Caucasus was extremely ambiguous. There were women warriors, and women who ruled entire khanates, determining the future of their people for centuries to come, and even entire matriarchal villages.
Of interest is the fact that many ancient authors settled Amazons on the Caucasian coast of the Black Sea. Myths are myths, but Herodotus, for example, pointed out that among the Scythian-Sarmatian tribes, a woman participated both in public life and in the hostilities of the tribe. Moreover, the famous Greek historian noted that Scythian and Sarmatian women "ride horseback hunting with and without their husbands, go to war and wear the same clothes as men." It was also believed that no girl gets married until she has killed the enemy. Verily, the keeper of the hearth.
However, you can not go so deeply into the antiquity of this region to find the warlike "Amazons". In Armenia, at the end of the 19th century, a powerful national liberation movement of fidais (fedayin, which translates from Arabic as “donators”), appeared, opposing the genocide of Armenians by the Ottoman Empire. The Fidais included many women who were very dexterous in handling small arms. Strange as it may seem, but this "practice" survived the 20th century, therefore, during the terrible Karabakh war, women were also present in the ranks of the Armenian military formations.
The militancy of women in some regions and even in individual auls, which took shape over centuries of bloody winds of civil strife, is also emphasized in folklore. So, in Rugudzha, a Dagestan village famous for its warlike and wayward women, there is a funny proverb: "Hey, wife, there is a fight, why are you sitting at home?"
Waiting for the holiday is better than the holiday itself
One of the most unique once traditional holidays that exist in the Caucasus, or rather, in Ingushetia, and give fertile soil for the legends about the Amazons and the assumptions about the extensive spread of matriarchy, is Tsey (also called Sesary Tsey). Some authors also call this holiday the day of the Amazons. Tsey was intended only and exclusively for women, men were not allowed to the celebration under any circumstances.
Preparing for the holiday almost all year long, preparing secretly. This was not about fine clothes or gastronomic delights, although this was also present, but skills from a completely different field. Girls who wanted to participate in Tse learned to shoot from a bow, confidently stay in the saddle and even master the skills of hand-to-hand combat. Often the girls were secretly taught military art by their brothers, including horse riding. These trainings took place secretly, and they were required because the holiday was far from well-known on March 8th. The most far-sighted relatives understood perfectly well that, despite a certain secrecy of the holiday, the rumor about how this or that participant showed herself would quickly fly around the district. And, consequently, the neighbors will draw far-reaching conclusions about the whole family and most of all about the girl's brothers: if they could not teach her, then the warriors themselves are bad. It was not only humiliating, but also dangerous.
At the festival, the girls had to show themselves in the best possible light. They had to cook well and behave competently, be neatly dressed and confidently hold a bow, reins and edged weapons in their hands. But all this is somewhat vague. What did the holiday look like in practice?
Tsey: contractions and a lot of beer
Cei holiday was celebrated annually in the second half of September. Around the holiday there is a dispute between historians and ethnographers, who either consider it an echo of matriarchal communities, or attribute it to the traditions of the Amazon tribe, whoever is hiding under it. On this day, from early morning, women were vested with exclusive rights. From the very morning they could openly contradict and scold her husband for their pleasure, even in the presence of strangers. The husband, on the other hand, had to listen to everything that the faithful had accumulated for a whole year, but that was not the essence of the holiday.
The celebration itself took place far from men's eyes in mountain meadows or distant glades, so soon whole lines of women of the most diverse, including very old age, were drawn away from the villages. Elegantly dressed, they carried bundles and knapsacks in their hands, someone led the assembled horses, and some even rode on horseback, not paying attention to the mocking looks of the men.
By noon, all the participants were assembled. The celebration began with the women gathered to elect the queen. She became a strong business lady with an impeccable reputation. Often she became the wife of an elder, chief or owner of an aul. After that, the "queen" personally chose her retinue, divided into close advisers and guards. Counselors are omniscient friends or young ladies who have proven their sharpness of mind in ordinary life, guards are clever, strong women who can fight back even some men.
The holiday continued with songs and round dances and, of course, a plentiful feast. In order to demonstrate their culinary skills, women put the most exquisite food and drinks on improvised tables in the middle of the meadows, framed by picturesque mountains. The young ladies drank all day … beer, which in those days, and even now, for example, among the Ossetians, was a ritual drink. But no one got drunk, because the behavior of each was closely watched by her friends and the "queen" herself.
But the holiday was not limited to this either. Without fail, during Tsey, a kind of Olympiad was held, which was more like a review of troops. Young girls competed in archery and horse riding. Our halves also converged in fierce hand-to-hand combat. The course of the struggle and the results were closely followed by both the queen and all those present.
This amazing holiday did not find much reflection in the literature, for the most part everything was transmitted orally. However, there is an extremely flamboyant description of it in Idris Bazorkin. Bazorkin was a Soviet writer of Ingush origin. His ancestors served the Russian Empire as career officers, and his grandfather, Bunukho Fedorovich Bazorkin, was one of the first major generals of Russia from among the Ingush. Idris was actively fond of ethnography, since he received a versatile education (gymnasium, madrasah, technical school and the North Caucasian Pedagogical Institute), and in 1968 his novel "From the Darkness of Ages" was published, which reflected many phenomena of the mountain life, including the holiday of Tsey:
- Put on the ground the fruits of the land that you got and brought here! - ordered the king.
From her feet and further on, on shawls, on shawls, on woolen capes, women placed the brought food, jugs with arak, beer, mash, wooden glasses and bowls and filled them …
- To the dregs! - Aiza shouted and, having drained her horn, threw it away.
The women followed her order. The feast began. Jokes, laughter, and cheerful conversation were heard from all sides. Now everyone knew that Aizu had learned these words by her grandmother. And she spent the holidays more than once. Eiza sat on a pile of clothes that the girls put under her, and towered over everyone. She remained without a headscarf, and this emphasized her singularity. She wore an ankle-length black dress with a golden scarf on her shoulders under her braids.
“I don’t see my warriors!” - exclaimed the king. - To the horses!
Girls and young women rushed noisily over the nearest hill. After a while, a detachment of thirty "youths" in battle armor left from there …
Horse riding began to the music. "Young men" showed their ability to own a horse. Then there were races, and the winners were awarded prizes. To whom a glass of beer, to whom a pancake, who received a piece of halva. The tsar announced the big races as the last game …"
The social and defensive function of holiday fun
Unbeknownst to those around, this triumph of female "independence" solved several important problems. Firstly, it was a kind of bridal show for future brides. Senior matrons could appreciate young girls in business, and marriage in the Caucasus was an extremely important business. He could stop childbirth hostility, unite the family into a more viable community, etc.
Secondly, given the traditionally acutely hostile environment and the risk of being left without men during the war or campaigns, women could evaluate their strengths at the holiday, prepare and develop a specific command structure and the team spirit itself. And if such a "detachment" could not cope with the enemy's military party, then it could well give a worthy rebuff to the gang of armed abreks. And such cases took place. Women's defensive detachments in small skirmishes sometimes even captured prisoners, on whose heads, of course, eternal shame fell.
Thirdly, the structure of social relationships that developed during the festival was tacitly present in the village throughout the year. The "queen" maintained universal respect, settled quarrels, gave advice and monitored the surrounding hostile environment, preparing for a possible disaster.
Tsey began to lose ground from the beginning of the expansion of Islam with its laws and traditions. By the middle of the 19th century, Tsey was celebrated once every 5 years, and the revolution of the early 20th century completely erased this unique militarized women's celebration. The first President of the Republic of Ingushetia, Hero of the Soviet Union and Lieutenant General Ruslan Aushev tried to revive the holiday. On September 16, 1998, near the Abi-Guv mound (southeastern outskirts of Nazran on the border of the village of Nasyr-Kort near the P-217 road), skilled riders, archers, performers of folk songs and craftswomen from all over the republic gathered for the celebration of Tsey. The winner got an expensive kurkhas (female headdress). After Tsey, they celebrated several more times at the republican level and a couple of times independently, but globalization, apparently, finally put an end to the ancient custom. And now there are not many girls who can equally confidently pull the bowstring and bake chapilgash - thin dough cakes with different fillings.
