Volga Tatars (Bulgars) -- Tatarstan - Suas El
Kazan Tatars /
Volga Tatars.
Kazan Tatar song "
Tuhan yak".
Republic of Tatarstan of
Russian Federation.
Music and culture of Kazan Tatars.
Tatarstan is one the most powerful republics of
Russia with the great degree of autonomy. Kazan Tatars, formerly known as Bulgars (Bulghars) speak
Turkic language of Qipchak group, very similiar to
Crimean Tatar (spoken in south
Ukraine),
Nogai (ancient Cumans of south Ukraine and of
Hungarian puszta / Kunsag province),
Turkish,
Kazakh, Bashqir,
Azeri, Uzbek. Unlike
Turks,
Tatars use
Cyrillic script. Most of Volga Tatars are Moslems but many are
Orthodox Christians. Kazan Tatars consists of 2 groups:
Mishars and Teptiars.
Modern Kazan Tatars are great mixture of peoples (ancient Bulgars &
Qipchaq Turks (
East Kazakh Tatars & north Kazakh Madiars).
Ancient Bulgars spoke
Oghur Turkic (
Chuvash) language (not
Oghuz as now).
Oghuz Turkic language was imposed on Bulgars during invasion of Qipchaq (Tatars & Madiars (all from
Kazakhstan) were among them) hordes. So in a way, neighboring Chuvash are more Bulgars, at least lingistically. Important: The Chuvash still refer to
Kazan Tatarstan as "
Suas" El (
Land of Suas). Su-as (
Water Asses) - Asses (
Jass, As) are selfname of
Alans &
Sarmatians (
Ossetians,
Alan Jasses (Jasz/ Jaszok) of
Hungary, extinct
Burtas (Burt-as / beehive asses) of
Volga). All these were
Sarmatian (Alan /
Scythian) tribes who spoke N.
Eastern Iranian language (close to extinct Sogdian, Yaghnobi,
Avestan). Thats why some Bulgars have pure
Iranic looks (like
Alsu, famous Kazan Tatar singer, pop star in Russia). Oghuz tribe / Qipchaq (Kazakh) tribe of Madiars picked up
Ugrians on the way during their migraion. Madiars with Ugrians settled
Pannonia (Hungary). Bulgars of
Bulgaria and
Macedonia come from
Old Bulgaria (Ukraine) not from
Kazan Volga. Kazan Bulgars moved to north also from Old Bulgaria (Ukraine).
Grave of
Great Bulgar king
Kubrat is in Ukraine (in
Poltava region). Kubrat was of Dulo clan that was
Scythian / Sarmatian (
Iranian) royal line.
As a nation, Kazan Tatars are a great mixture of peoples (they say the very name "Bulgar" means "mixed") and officially consist of two major subgroups:
1-st subgroup of Volga Tatars: western Mishars (Mazhars-Meshchera) - remnants of turko-ugric
Magyars (Magyars were originally Turkic tribe from north Kazakhstan who mixed with Ugrians coming from northerly
Perm region). These Mishars also absorbed a number of local warlike scytho-sarmatian
Burtasses (
Beehive Alans / Ossetians) and Suasses (
River Alans / Ossetians) who lived along
Volga basin - that's why they have a lot of paternal R1a group. The dominant were Turkic (Qipchak) speaking
Magyar tribe (Magyar tribe of north Kazkahstan are quite mongoloid) and their language is a modern western
Tatar (
Mishar) dialect. 80% of Tatars who live in
Moscow are mainly Mishars. Mishars also have some admixture from
Volga Finns (
Mordvin related tribe) evident in birch weaven artefacts.
2-nd subgroup of Volga Tatars: Teptiars / eastern Kazan Tatars (Bulgars proper) who are the dominant group. It is believed that Bulgars were originally also a Scytho-Sarmatian tribe, later tatarized / turcosized. Thats why many Tatars have pure
European look and paternal R1a goup (Tatar women clothing is very similiar to
Gilakis of north
Iran and Lemkos of Ukraine, all of same scytho-sarmatian stock), while others have mongoloid features (from invading
Ugrian & Turco-Magyar tribes in 8th cen., and later again 12th cen from powerful
Mongol invasion who formed
Golden Horde centered on Volga.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Modern Russia (originally Muscovite tsardom) is often regarded as successor of
Golden horde politically. But ethnically and genetically just
Russians of
Ivanovo and
Ryazan regions (historic Meshchera, original home of
Mishar Tatars) are related to Mishar Tatars (and
Hungarians themselves, having the most similar genetic Slavic-Mishar pool).
Modern Hungary, however was inhabited by
Slavic tribes (
Great Moravia) before arrival of turco-ugrian Magyars (Mazhars) from Volga, these Pannonian
Slavs never moved but became part of Hungarian nation. Thats why they look European.
Similiar case was in Bulgaria where
Volga Bulgars settled too mixing with Slavs and adopting their language.
Otherwise said -original
Bulgarians are related to eastern Tatars (Bulgars), while original Hungarians are related to western Tatars (Mishars / Mozhars).
Ukrainians too absorbed much of Qipchak culture by assimilating Torks (bearers of
Ukrainian last name Torchenko are clear mongoloids) and many Cumans (much evident in cossack culture) related tribes of Qipchak tongue, as Ukrainian
Crimean Tatars speak same Qipchak tongue as Kazan Tatars).
Paternal genetics: Tatars have haplogroups I, J2, G and plenty of R1a (Scytho-Sarmatian /
East Slavic) and even L.
Maternal genetics:
http://mbe.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/
2010/05/10/molbev.msq065.short?rss=1