The Tatars Culture~

Fancy some tartar sauce, anyone ?

Have you ever heard of a well-known sauce called “Tartar Sauce”? This special sauce is widely consumed as condiment and additional flavour in various dishes such as chicken or tuna salad. Even though tartar(e) sauce was evidently originate from France, the sauce was actually named after the Tatars. Many of us may have never heard of the Tatars people, yet we are constantly consuming products which can possibly be derived back to the Tatars

HISTORY & BACKGROUND

The Tatars are a very diverse group, both geographically and ethnically. With the estimated population of 6.6 million, the Tatars are Turkic-speaking ethnic group and native to the Kazan region in Russian Federation. They founded their settlements along the banks of Volga River, which is considered as the native homeland for the Tatars.

Tatarstan in Russian Federation

The Tatars are also one of the most populous ethnic groups living throughout the Russian Federation after Russians and Ukrainians. Most of the Tatars are Muslims, while the rest are usually Russian Orthodox Christians, Protestants and Jews. Some people considered the Tatars as the ‘most northern frontier between Muslim and Orthodox Christian cultures’.

Painting of a tatar women

 

CUISINES

What I found to be the most interesting aspect of the Tatars culture is their abundance of original food recipes, which indirectly affect the development of many cuisines from other cultures globally.

 Did you know that there is actually a dish called “Chebureki” which in my opinion resembles the same style as our Malaysian’s “karipap” (curry puff) ? But instead of curried mashed potatoes, they use deep fried meat and onions as fillings. I have been to Russia before, and the taste of “chebureki” is simply delicious and amazing!

'Karipap' ? No, its Chebureki !

Tatars people are quite famous with their pastry skills. They like to invent various types of pies and breads, just to show the creativity of their innovative skills. Ever heard of “Gubaidia”? It is actually a festive Tatar pie, and believe it or not, the Tatars made the pie as their ‘signature wedding cake’. So, instead of a 10-foot tall creamy wedding cake, they serve this delicate pie as a replacement for it. Imagine how awesome that is!

Gubaidia, a festive Tatar pie

Everybody loves popcorn, regardless of the culture and nation they came from. This is probably why the Tatars made their own version of popcorn. They called it “Chak-chak”, which is actually fried dough drenched in honey and sugar. They also looked like “Cheetos”. Other than that, they also love to make sweets and confectionery as desserts and snacks.

The famous Chak chak !

"Tukmyach/Tuqmac"

Looking for something heavier as your main course? Not to worry as the Tatars got you covered with these delicate cuisines; “Tukmyach” – homemade noodles with meat and vegetables, or “plov” – rice with beef, which looks similar to our famous ‘briyani rice’ in Malaysia. If you are more into dough-based dishes, they also got qistibi, pilman and ocpocmaq.

Plov - looks similar to 'Briyani Rice'

TRADITIONAL CLOTHES

Enough with all the mouth-watering food! How about the clothes and attire of the Tatars people? What do the Tatars usually wear to symbolize their pride and ethnicity? What are the distinctive features that made them special and unique?

 

For those that are living in big metropolitan cities such as Moscow or Kazan, they wore similar clothes as other urban people, but sometimes with extra features which belongs to Tatars such as tyubeteika, shawl or cotton headshawl.

"Tyubeteika"

The traditional clothes on the other hand are pretty unique and artistic. Most of the arts and patterns are greatly influenced by their Islamic belief and attributes. The traditional costume of men consisted of a broad and long shirt sleeve (kyul’mek), easy with straight backs dressing gowns or vests (yshtan), and a camisole (kamzun). They usually wear round fur caps, and tyubeteika on their head.

Female clothes had a lot in common with men’s traditional clothing. Their clothes are richly decorated with beautiful trim and embroidery. They wore camsoles and apron, alongside a special feature called kalphak. They also like to wear leather boots (kata, chuck) and ornaments made from coins and corals.

Men's traditional dress

Women's traditional dress

Young Tatar women

  

MUSIC & DANCES

What good are traditional costumes without native music and dances, right? The cultural life of the Tatars is colourful and soulful. Their music has wonderful rhythm, and varieties of musical instruments are used such as “kurie” (wooden flute), the “kebisi” (harmonica) and a unique 2-stringed violin. 

They love to dance especially on special occasions such as wedding or festivals. The men use many leg movements like leaping and kicking, while the women move their waists and arms more. Their dance styles combine a lot of interesting features of the Russian and Uzbek dances, yet still able to instil their own fresh characteristics into the mix.

I personally think that the Tatars had a lot of interesting cultures and customs to offer the world.The Tatars people are truly remarkable and creative, especially when it comes to developing cultural cuisines, clothing, music and dances. So yes, the next time you spread that delicious tartar sauce on your tuna salad, do not forget to embrace the cultural richness and greatness of the Tatars too!

Prepared by : Muhd. Hazim Bin Dahuli / Group 5 / FIA July 2013

References :

1. http://www.everyculture.com/wc/Norway-to-Russia/Tatars.html

2. http://ridgewater.areavoices.com/2013/04/15/russias-tatar-culture/ 

3. http://rbth.ru/arts/2013/02/14/exploring_the_tatar_cuisine_22881.html 

4. http://luiza-m.narod.ru/smi/eng/tatar-slothes.htm 

5.http://www.tatarstan.eu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=544:traditional-tatar-clothes&catid=72:tatars&Itemid=343