Russians in Bolivia deserve close attention for at least two reasons. Firstly, the Russian community appeared there not in the turbulent 1990s, but back in the 19th century. Secondly, unlike other Latin American countries, Russians in Bolivia practically did not assimilate. Moreover, being citizens of this country, they consider Russia to be their homeland, which they have not even seen on TV screens: after all, they do not favor TVs.
"Oh, frost, frost" under the palm trees
These women wear long sundresses, men - shirts with belts. They go down the aisle early: girls are already at 13, guys at 16; they give birth a lot, so even ten children in a family are not uncommon. The names of all are Russian, but old, which you will not hear now: Mamelfa, Agapit, Kipriyan, Inafa, Elizar.
All are peasants. They live by selling the fruits of their labor; On Sunday they rest, go to church. It seems like an ordinary Russian village of the late 19th century, but around - not fields with birches, but the Bolivian selva, and the peasants grow not turnips with cabbage, but bananas with pineapples (however, wheat is also held in high esteem).
Everyone speaks Russian clearly, without a hint of an accent, but with occasional splashes of Spanish words. The merits of the Bolivian authorities are not in this: public schools in the country are only Spanish-speaking. The Russian language is kept and instilled by the family, and children are taught to read not only in Russian, but also in Old Church Slavonic, because main book in every family - the Bible - is written in this language. There are about 2,000 such Old Believer peasants in Bolivia. Their villages are located in the tropical departments of the country - Santa Cruz, Cochabamba, Las Paz, Beni.
Despite the steadfast observance of traditions that differ sharply from the local culture, and external dissimilarity, the Russian Old Believers never had any conflicts with the Bolivians. They live amicably with their neighbors, understand each other perfectly (all Old Believers know Spanish well), but they don’t want to get close and marry only with their own, and not within the village (this is forbidden), but by writing brides from afar. Thankfully, in Latin America Enough old people.
Keeping the faith
The community was formed gradually, the Old Believers arrived in "waves". The first of them dates back to the second half of the century before last, when part of the Siberian Old Believers, tired of persecution, began to look for a place on the map where they could safely profess their faith. Such a point (or rather, a continent) was Latin America in general and Bolivia in particular. The first settlers were attracted by the fertile lands and the liberal policy of the local authorities.
If the first wave of immigrants came to Bolivia directly, then the second wave was very difficult. First, in the turbulent years of the civilian Old Believers fled to Manchuria. They seem to have taken root, a new generation was born - and then a revolution broke out already in China. I had to flee again, this time to British Hong Kong. From there, part of the Old Believers moved to Australia, and part to Brazil. Not everyone liked Brazil - they decided to move to Bolivia. But it is possible that the Russians in Bolivia are waiting for a new resettlement.
Back to the Motherland
For the first time in many years, Russian Old Believers had problems with the authorities in the early 2010s. It is not their fault: the leftist government of Evo Morales simply came to power, which took care of the fate of the Indian lands where the Old Believers live and work. Some of them thought about returning to their homeland, especially since these plans were actively supported by the Russian authorities.
In 2011, about 30 people came to Russia from Bolivia, followed by others. Contrary to forecasts, no one returned back, although it was not easy: for example, almost no one remained in the areas allocated to him, they dispersed in all directions. Will the rest of the Russians in Bolivia follow suit? Only time can answer this question.
Today, many are interested in what they were. Really interesting story.
, Paraguay, Argentina, Chile, but Peru, like Paraguay, has no access to the sea. Bolivia is an amazing country of contrasts, where voodoo cults and Christianity coexist peacefully with a very devout local population. In Bolivia, a real cult of death, skulls can be found on every house, effigies of thieves and criminals hang on the streets of cities, reminding local residents what will happen if they commit an offense, perhaps more recently, thieves really hung on poles instead of stuffed ones. Every family in Bolivia has a skull, it is not clear where they come from, so every year on November 8 this skull must be taken to the church and drunk with wine. In the old days, the Mayan cult flourished in Bolivia, which was based on various sacrifices, the more serious the sacrifice to the gods, the higher it is valued and the higher the gratitude of the gods, today sacrifices in their price have dropped to animals and various trinkets. However, the sacrifice is held every first Friday of the month. The symbol of life in Bolivia is the llama, Bolivians buy a dried llama embryo in souvenir shops and put it in a wicker basket along with sugar, then they burn the basket. The church needs to highlight any major purchase.
The locals in Bolivia are very specific, they are all descendants of the Mayan Indians with a characteristic appearance, they are very knocked down and short in stature, women wear dozens of skirts and English men's bowlers at the same time, but they are slightly smaller; they cannot be pulled over their heads, but only put on their heads is amazing as they do not fly off while walking.
Living standards and poverty in Bolivia
All the cities of Bolivia are not expressive and more like slums, the local climate is sometimes harsh and cold, so villages or plywood houses are not built here, as in Central America, the houses are an unusual mixture of brick and clay building materials, it can be assumed that at first the houses they started to build from clay, then bricks began to appear on sale and with it money from local citizens, so clay buildings began to be completed with bricks, in general, few buildings in Bolivia were completed and brought to mind, building a house is a very costly thing and in one generation the Bolivians cannot finish it, the house started by the grandfathers can be completed by the grandchildren. Bolivia has a poorly developed infrastructure, the cities are very dirty, there are very few rich people among the locals, there are no oligarchs like in Ukraine, therefore only the poor live in the mountains and in the valleys, unlike neighboring countries, for example, Argentina, where only the very rich can be seen in the mountains at home, while the poor live in the lowlands and in the center of the city. Mount La Paz in the capital strongly resembles similar mountains in Rio, built up with shacks. high fences and barbed wire they remind you that crime is very high in Bolivia, any things that are poorly welcomed will be stolen
Jobs and salaries in Bolivia
The average salary in Bolivia is about $375 per month, but not everyone can get that kind of money. The unemployment rate is officially 8.5%, but in fact this figure can be twice as high, 60% of the population is below the poverty level. Half of the population is employed in the service sector, it also brings half of GDP, agriculture is developed in rural regions, it brings 11% of GDP and 40% of the population is employed in it, industry 37% of GDP and 17% of workers, primarily oil and tin developed tobacco industry and food production.
Men and women in Bolivia
In Bolivia, gender inequality is pronounced, as male literacy is on average for South America, but for women this figure is much lower, there is little chance for a woman to get a job, but the weight changes when looking at an average life expectancy of 64 years for men and 70 years for women, in this respect Bolivia is very similar to Russia or Ukraine, where men do not live very well, they are exploited, they drink a lot, smoke and have a very low social culture.
Maxim Lemos, a professional cameraman and director who lives in Latin America and periodically takes our tourists to the Old Believers.
Let me tell you how I first got there. I accompanied the tourists, we drove by car to different cities of Argentina and Uruguay. And we decided to visit the Old Believers. There is very little information about the Old Believers on the Internet, there are no clear coordinates, it is not clear where to look for them, and it is generally not clear how relevant the information is. There was only information that the colony of Old Believers is located near the city of San Javier. We arrived in this city, and I began to find out from the locals where to find Russians. “Aaah, barbudos!?” - said in the first shop. Barbudos is Spanish for bearded men. “Yes, they live nearby. But they won’t let you in, they are aggressive,” the San Javiers told us. This statement is a bit disturbing. But still, I figured out how to get there by country dirt roads. The Uruguayans said that the "barbudos" do not accept anyone and do not communicate with anyone. Fortunately, this turned out not to be the case. Surprisingly, many "Russian" San Javiers don't really know anything about their Russian neighbors. And everything that is incomprehensible and different, a person, as you know, is afraid. Therefore, there is no special friendship between the former Russian San-Javiers and the Russian Old Believers.
We were about to set off to search for the village, but at that moment one of the San Javierans called us, pointing at the ATM. “This is just one of them,” he said. A strange-looking man in a green shirt lined with a rope belt and with a beard stepped out of the bank. A conversation ensued. In Russian. The man turned out to be not at all aggressive, but on the contrary, kind and open. The first thing that struck me was his language, his dialect. He spoke in a language that I only heard in movies. That is, it is our Russian language, but many words are pronounced differently there, and there are many words that we don’t use at all anymore, for example, they call the house a hut, instead of saying strongly “very much”. They don’t say “you know”, but “know”, “you like”, “understand” ... Instead of “stronger”, they say “more”. They say not “it happens” but “it happens”, not “can” but “can”, not “you will start” but “you will begin”, not “others” but “others”. How, evshny, back and forth, beside ... Having talked so sensitively, we asked if it was possible to look at how they live there. The Old Believer agreed, and we went to pick up our car. We were lucky that we met him, without him, according to the scheme drawn by the San Javierians, we certainly would not have found anything. And so we arrived at the village ...
Getting to the village of Old Believers for the first time, you experience a shock. It feels like you are in the past in a time machine. This is exactly what Russia once looked like... We enter a village, a house, in the yard a woman in a sarafan milks a cow, barefoot children in shirts and sarafans run around... This is a piece of old Russia that was taken out of it and transferred to another, alien world. And since the Russians did not integrate into this foreign world, this allowed this piece of old Russia to survive to this day.
It is strictly forbidden to take pictures in this colony. And all those pictures that you will see below were taken with the permission of the Old Believers. That is, group, “official” shots are possible. You can not without asking, secretly photograph their life. When finding out why they dislike photographers so much, it turned out that journalists were sneaking up to them under the guise of tourists. Filmed them, and then exhibited in the form of clowns for ridicule. One of these stupid and meaningless reports made Uruguayan TV hidden camera
Their technology is very advanced. All owned. There are also trucks, and combines, and various sprinklers, sprinklers.
Arriving in the village, we met one of the elders, and he told us about the life of this piece of old Russia ... Just as they are interesting to us, we are interesting to them. We are part of that Russia that they somehow imagine in their heads, with which they have lived for many generations, but which they have never seen.
The Old Believers do not beat the buckets, but work like Carlo's dads. They own about 60 hectares, and they rent about 500 more hectares. Here, in this village, about 15 families live, about 200 people in total. That is, according to the simplest calculation, each family has an average of 13 people. So it is, seven big ones, a lot of kids.
Here are some “official”, authorized photos. Those who are without beards are not Old Believers - this is me and my tourists.
And here are some more photographs taken with the permission of the Old Believers by a man who worked for them as a combine operator. His name is Glory. A simple Russian guy traveled for a long time to different Latin American countries and came to work for the Old Believers. They accepted him, and for 2 whole months he lived with them. After that, he chose to quit. He is an artist, that's why the photos turned out so good.
Very atmospheric, like in Russia ... before. Today in Russia there are no combine harvesters and no tractors either. Everything is rotten, and the villages are empty. Russia was so carried away by getting up from its knees by selling oil and gas to gay Europeans that it did not notice how the Russian village died. But in Uruguay, the Russian village is alive! This is how it could be in Russia now! Of course, I'm exaggerating, somewhere in Russia, of course, there are combine harvesters, but I have seen with my own eyes many dead villages along the main Russian highways. And it's impressive.
Let's very delicately, with great respect, look behind the curtain of the private life of the Old Believers. The photos I post here were taken by them. That is, these are official photos that the Old Believers themselves posted in the public domain in social media. And I just collected from Facebook and reposted these photos here for you, my dear reader. All photos here are from different South American Old Believer colonies.
In Brazil, the Old Believers live in the state of Mato Grosso, 40 km from the city of Prmiavera do Leste. In the state of Amazonas near the town of Humaita. And also in the state of Parana, next to Ponta Grossa.
In Bolivia, they live in the province of Santa Cruz, in the settlement of Toborochi.
And in Argentina, the Old Believer settlement is located under the town of Choele Choel.
And here I will tell everything that I learned from the Old Believers about their way of life and traditions.
Strange sensations when you start to communicate with them. At first it seems that they must be something completely different, “not of this world”, immersed in their religion, and nothing earthly can interest them. But when communicating, it turns out that they are the same as us, only a little from the past. But this does not mean that they are some kind of aloof, and they are not interested in anything!
These costumes are not some kind of masquerade. This is how they live, they walk in this. Women in sundresses, men in shirts tied with a rope belt. The women sew their own clothes. Yes, of course, these photos are mostly from the holidays, so the clothes are especially elegant.
But as you can see, in Everyday life Old Believers dress in old Russian.
It is impossible to believe that all these people were born and raised outside of Russia. Moreover, their parents were also born here, in South America…
And pay attention to their faces, they are all smiling. Still, this is a strong difference between our Russian believers and the South American Old Believers. For some reason, with all the talk about God and religion, the face of Russian Orthodox becomes mournfully tragic. And the stronger the modern Russian believes in God, the sadder his face. For the Old Believers, everything is positive, and religion too. And I think in old Russia it was the same as theirs. After all, the great Russian poet Pushkin joked and mocked the "priest-oatmeal forehead", and it was then in the order of things.
The Old Believers have been living in South America for almost 90 years. In the 1930s, they fled the USSR, as they sensed the danger from the new Soviet government in time. And rightly so, they would not have survived. They fled first to Manchuria. But over time, the local communist authorities began to oppress them there, and then they moved to South-North America and Australia. The largest colony of Old Believers is in Alaska. In the US, they also live in the states of Oregon and Minnesota. The Old Believers, whom I visit in Uruguay, first lived in Brazil. But there they became uncomfortable, and in 1971 many families moved to Uruguay. They chose the land for a long time, and finally settled next to the “Russian” city of San Javier. The Uruguayan authorities themselves advised the Russians this place. The logic is simple, those Russians are these Russians, maybe together is better. But Russians do not always like Russians, this is our national feature, therefore, Russian San Jovierians did not develop a special friendship with the Old Believers.
We arrived at an empty place. They began to build everything, to settle in an open field. Amazingly, the Uruguayan colony had no electricity until 1986! They lit everything with kerosene stoves. Well, they adapted to live in the sun. Therefore, the Uruguayan colony is the most interesting, because only 30 years ago they were completely cut off from the rest of the world. And life then was really like in the century before last in Russia. Water was carried by yokes, the earth was plowed on horses, the houses then were wooden. Different colonies lived differently, some are more integrated into the country where they are located, for example, the American colonies. Some colonies do not have much reason to integrate, for example, the Bolivian colony. After all, Bolivia is a rather wild and backward country. There, outside the colony, there is such poverty and devastation, what is it, this integration! 
The names of the Old Believers are often Old Slavonic: Afanasy, Evlampey, Kapitolina, Martha, Paraskoveya, Efrosinya, Uliana, Kuzma, Vasilisa, Dionysius ...
In different colonies, the Old Believers live differently. Someone is more civilized and even rich, someone is more modest. But the way of life is the same as in old Russia.
The observance of all the rules is jealously monitored by the elders. Young people are sometimes not very motivated by faith. After all, there are so many interesting temptations around ...
Therefore, the old people have a difficult task to answer the growing young to many questions. Why can't they drink alcohol? Why can't they listen to music? Why is it not necessary to learn the language of the country in which you live? Why can't they use the Internet and watch movies? Why can't you go and see some beautiful city? Why can't they communicate with the local population and enter into any bad relations with the locals? Why do you need to pray from three to six in the morning, and from six to eight in the evening? Why fast? Why get baptized? Why observe all the other religious rituals?… As long as the elders somehow manage to answer all these questions…
Old people can't drink. But if you pray and be baptized, then you can. Old Believers drink brew. They prepare it themselves. She was also fed to us. And quite persistently, according to the Russian tradition, practically pouring it inside, glass after glass. But the brew is good and the people are good, why not drink something!
The Old Believers most of all like to work on the ground. They cannot imagine themselves without it. And yes, they are generally very hardworking people. Well, who will argue that this is not Russia?!
At first I did not understand why the Old Believers of Uruguay, to whom I go, call the Uruguayans “Spaniards”. Then I realized: they themselves are also citizens of Uruguay, that is, Uruguayans. Uruguayans are called Spaniards because they speak Spanish. In general, the distance between the Uruguayans and the Old Believers is huge. It's quite different worlds, which is why the Uruguayans of San Javier told us about the “aggressiveness” of the Old Believers. The Old Believers, on the other hand, characterize the “Spaniards” as lazy bums who do not want to work, suck their mate and always complain about the government and the state. The Old Believers have a different approach to the state: the main thing is not to interfere. The Old Believers also have a number of claims against the Uruguayan government. For example, recently a crazy law was passed in Uruguay, according to which, before sowing the land, you need to ask the authorities what you can sow there. The authorities will send chemists, they will analyze the soil, and issue a verdict: plant tomatoes! And with tomatoes, the business of the Old Believers will burn out. They need to plant beans (for example). Therefore, the Old Believers are beginning to think about whether they should start searching new country? And they are keenly interested in how they treat the peasant in Russia? Is it worth moving to Russia? What would you advise them?
The theme of harvesters, irrigation, plowing and sowing occupies one of the main places in the life of the Old Believers. They can talk about it for hours!
Boundless Brazilian Russia…
Technique: combines, irrigators, seeders, etc., the Old Believers have their own. And each harvester (which, by the way, costs 200-500 thousand dollars), the Old Believers are able to repair themselves. They can disassemble and reassemble each of their harvesters! The Old Believers own hundreds of hectares of land. And further more land they rent.
The families of the Old Believers are large. For example, the head of the Uruguayan community, to which I sometimes take tourists, has as many as 15 children, and he is only 52 years old. There are many grandchildren, he does not remember exactly how many, he has to count, bending his fingers. His wife is also a young and quite earthly woman.
IN official schools children are not given away. Everything is very simple: if children learn the language of the country where they live, then it is very likely that they will be tempted by the bright life around them and choose it. Then the colony will dissolve, and the Russians will dissolve in the same way as in 10 years the Russians from the city of San Javier turned into Uruguayans. And there was already such an example, in the Brazilian colony, children began to go to an ordinary Brazilian school, which was in the neighborhood. And almost all of the kids, when they grew up, chose the Brazilian life instead of the Old Believer. I'm not talking about the Old Believers of the United States. There, in many families, the Old Believers communicate with each other in English.
Senior Old Believers from all the colonies are well aware of the risk of dissolution of the colony in the country, and resist it with all their might. Therefore, they do not send their children to public schools, but try to educate them themselves as much as possible.
Most of the time, kids are taught at home. Learn to read in Church Slavonic. All the religious books of the Old Believers are written in this language and they pray in this language daily from 3 to 6 in the morning and from 18 to 21 in the evening. At 9 pm, the Old Believers go to bed in order to get up at 3, pray and go to work. The daily schedule has not changed for centuries and is adjusted to daylight hours. To work while it's light.
In the colonies of Brazil and Bolivia, local teachers are invited to the school for children, who teach them respectively Portuguese and Spanish. But the Old Believers see an exclusively practical meaning in teaching the language: it is necessary to do business with the locals. Old Believer children play traditional Russian games, bast shoes, tags and many others, with purely Russian names.
Most of the photographs that you see here are from Old Believer holidays, most often from weddings. Girls get married most often at the age of 14-15. Guys at 16-18. All traditions with matchmaking have been preserved. The wife of the son should be chosen by the parents. They try to pick up from another colony. That is, a bride from a Bolivian or Brazilian colony is brought to a groom from a Uruguayan colony and vice versa. Old Believers try very hard to avoid incest. Do not think that poor underage children are left with no choice. Formally, parents should choose, but in practice everything happens quite gently and naturally, and of course the opinion of a teenager is taken into account. No one is forced to marry anyone. Yes, you probably see for yourself from these photographs that there is no smell of any violence against a person here.
But of course you have a legitimate question - get married at 14??? Yes exactly. And yes, by doing so they violate the laws of the countries in which they live. They noisily celebrate the wedding, after which they live together, and are considered husband and wife. And when they turn 18, they register their marriage with official bodies.
By the way, the Old Believers have a completely different chronology. But what a “worldly” year it is, they also know: they also have to understand all the documents about the lease of land, the purchase of soybeans, and the payment of bills.
By the way, Old Believers call Jews Jews. At first I thought it was their terry anti-Semitism. But then I realized that they pronounce this word without any negative at all. After all, that was the name of the Jews in the old days ...
See, in the photo everything is like a selection, in the same sundresses? The fact is that clothing and its color play a huge role in the life of the Old Believers. Yellow pants - two times ku. For example, at a wedding, all guests from the bride's side dress in one color, and from the groom's side - in another. When a society does not have a color differentiation of pants, then there is no goal, and when there is no goal ...
The Old Believers do not have log houses, but concrete ones, built in the traditions of the construction of the place where they live. But our whole way of life is old Russian: canopies, littered quarters, sitting places for women with children while the men are at work.
But there are still Russians inside the house! Old Believers sheathe the house inside with wood. So much more alive. And they call the house a hut.
Babs and girls (as female individuals are called here) do not work on the ground, but are busy with housework. They cook food, take care of the kids... The role of a woman is still a little crippled, somewhat reminiscent of the role of a woman in Arab countries, where a woman is a dumb animal. The men are sitting and eating. And Marfa with a jug, at a distance. “Come on, Martha, bring some more of this and that, and let's get some tomatoes back and forth!”, and the silent Martha rushes to complete the task ... Somehow embarrassing even for her. But not everything is so harsh and tough. You see, the women are also sitting there, resting and using smartphones.
The men are engaged in hunting and fishing. Quite a busy life. Yes, and we have nature here, I'll tell you!
In addition to brew, they also drink beer. However, I have not heard of alcoholics. Like everything is in business. Alcohol does not replace their life.
Here are collected photos from different colonies. And each of them has its own rules, somewhere tougher, and somewhere softer. Cosmetics are not allowed for women. But if you really want to, then you can.
Interestingly, the Old Believers talk about picking mushrooms. Naturally, they do not know about boletus, boletus and white. Slightly different mushrooms grow in this area, they look like our butter mushrooms. Picking mushrooms from the Old Believers is not a mandatory attribute of life. Although they listed some names of mushrooms, and they are Russian, although they are not familiar to me. About mushrooms they say something like this: “sometimes someone who wants to collects. Yes, but sometimes they gather the bad ones, then the stomachs hurt ... ”. And trips in jeeps to nature, and grilled meat, and all the other attributes of picnics so familiar to us, they also have.
And they even know how to joke. By the way, they also have a sense of humor.
In general, you see for yourself, the most ordinary people.
Old Believers greet with the word "Healthy!". Neither "hello" nor "hello" they use. In general, the Old Believers do not have the address “You”. Everything is on "you". By the way, they call me “leader”. But the leader is not in the sense of the main one. And in the sense that I drive people. Guide, so be it.
By the way, did you feel one striking discrepancy between Russianness? What's wrong with those smiles? Do you feel that when photos with smiles, something is subtly not ours? They smile with teeth. Russians usually smile without showing their teeth. Americans and other foreigners smile with their teeth. Here is a detail from somewhere appeared in this parallel little Russia.
Although you probably noticed even in these photos how many people have positive on their faces! And this joy is not feigned. Our people have more than some kind of longing and hopelessness.
Old Believers quite often use the Latin alphabet for writing. But the Cyrillic alphabet is not forgotten either.
For the most part, the Old Believers are wealthy people. Of course, as in any society, someone is richer, someone is poorer, but on the whole they live very well.
Here, in these photos, mainly the life of the Brazilian, Argentinean and Bolivian colonies. There is a whole report about the Bolivian colony of Old Believers, where the rules are not as strict as in the Uruguayan colony, and filming is sometimes allowed there.
Our usual wedding, our house in the background. Only two palm trunks make it clear that this is not Russia
Old Believer youth loves football. Although they consider this game “not ours”.
Do the Old Believers live well or badly? They live well. In any case, the Uruguayan and Bolivian Old Believers live better than the average Uruguayans and Bolivians. Old Believers drive jeeps for 40-60 thousand dollars, they have smartphones of the latest models ...
The main written language of the Old Believers is in Latin and Spanish. But many people know Russian too.
But there are many restrictions imposed on the Old Believers. Televisions are prohibited, computers too. Yes, and about phones, the Old Believers say that it's all from the devil. But it's okay, there is. Televisions would also appear, but they are not needed. The Old Believers got used to living without them for many generations, and no longer understand what they are for. Computers are prohibited in some colonies, in others they are used. Yes, and in modern smartphones there is mobile Internet ...
There are even homemade comics on the Facebook of the Old Believers. This one did not really understand him: “I love her”, “I want to hug him”, “I want to sleep!”. By the way, on Facebook, the Old Believers often correspond in Portuguese and Spanish. Those who somehow received a local education are enrolled. They were taught to write in Spanish-Portuguese. And they don’t know how to speak Russian, only to speak. Yes, and they do not have a Russian keyboard.
The Old Believers are very interested in today's Russia. Many of them are grandfathers who fled from Soviet Russia In the 1930s, they were ordered to return to Russia without fail when conditions were right. So for almost a century, the Old Believers lived in foreign lands in anticipation of a favorable moment for returning. But this moment did not come: Stalin began to drive the people into camps, and most importantly, what was important for the Old Believers, he strangled the village with his insane collectivizations. Then Khrushchev came, who began to take away livestock from the people, and forcibly introduce corn. Then the country began to engage in various arms races, and from abroad, especially from here, from South America, the USSR seemed to be a VERY strange and exotic country. Then perestroika began and poverty set in in Russia, and, finally, Putin came ... And with his arrival, the Old Believers started up. It began to seem that perhaps the right moment had come to return. Russia turned out to be a normal country, open to the rest of the world, without exotic communisms and socialisms. Russia began, indeed, to take steps towards Russians living in other countries. Appeared " Government program about returning home”, came to the Old Believers Russian ambassador in Uruguay and began to make friends with them. With the Brazilian and Bolivian Old Believers, conversations also began with the Russian authorities, and in the end, a small group of Old Believers moved to Russia and settled in the village of Dersu in the Primorsky Territory. And this is a Russian TV report:
Reporters in this report tell the official version regarding the traditions of the Old Believers. But there is no need to think that the Old Believers have such a strictly regulated, and such an iron routine. To reporters and various visitors, visitors whose reports can be found on the Internet, the Old Believers tell how it SHOULD be. But in order for this to happen, people must not be people, but machines. They try to stick to their rules. But they are living people, and the American infection in the form of globalization and other dirty tricks is actively introduced into their lives. Step by step, little by little. But it's hard to resist...
Everything is ours! Selfie on a smartphone with lips in a bow ... Still, native roots! …..Maybe this American influence got here?
…no answer…
In general, it is customary to think that any orthodox believers are incomprehensible and very strange people. I don’t know how strongly the Old Believers believe, but they are absolutely normal, earthly, their own people. With humor, and with all the same desires and desires that we have with you. They are nothing holier than us. Or we are no worse than them. All are good in general.
And even though the guys grew up on another continent, but everything is ours: both plastic bags and sitting like a kid ...
Well, who will say that this is not an average Russian picnic?
Oh, Uruguayan Russia! ...
In the 20th century, the Russian Old Believers, who reached the eastern borders of Russia after 400 years of persecution, had to finally become emigrants. Circumstances scattered them across the continents, forcing them to establish a life in an exotic foreign land. Photographer Maria Plotnikova visited one of these settlements - the Bolivian village of Toborochi.
Old Believers, or Old Believers, is a common name for religious movements in Russia that arose as a result of the rejection of church reforms in the 17th century. It all started after the Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, change of rites). Archpriest Avvakum united those dissatisfied with the "antichrist" reforms. The Old Believers were subjected to severe persecution by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside Russia, fleeing persecution. Both Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like the stubborn ones. In Bolivia, a three-hour drive from the city of Santa Cruz, in the town of Toborochi, 40 years ago, the first Russian Old Believers settled. Even now, this settlement cannot be found on maps, but in the 1970s there were absolutely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle.
Fedor and Tatyana Anufriev were born in China, and went to Bolivia among the first settlers from Brazil. In addition to the Anufrievs, the Revtovs, the Murachevs, the Kaluginovs, the Kulikovs, the Anfilofievs, and the Zaitsevs live in Toborochi.
The village of Toborochi consists of two dozen households located at a decent distance from each other. Most of the houses are brick.
There are thousands of hectares of agricultural land around the settlement. The roads are only dirt roads.
Santa Cruz has a very hot and humid climate, and mosquitoes pester all year round. Mosquito nets, so familiar and familiar in Russia, are placed on windows and in the Bolivian wilderness.
Old Believers carefully preserve their traditions. Men wear shirts with belts. They sew them themselves, but they buy trousers in the city.
Women prefer sundresses and dresses to the floor. Hair grows from birth and is braided.
Most Old Believers do not allow strangers to photograph themselves, but there are family albums in every home.
Young people keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Many electronic devices are formally banned in the village, but progress cannot be hidden even in such a wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines, microwaves and TVs, adults communicate with distant relatives via mobile Internet (in the video below, Martyan says that they do not use the Internet).
The main occupation in Toborochi is agriculture, as well as the breeding of Amazonian pacu fish in artificial reservoirs. Fish are fed twice a day - at dawn and in the evening. The feed is produced right there, in a mini-factory.
In the vast fields, the Old Believers grow beans, corn, wheat, in the forests - eucalyptus. It was in Toborochi that the only variety of Bolivian beans that is now popular throughout the country was bred. The rest of the legumes are imported from Brazil.
At the village factory, the harvest is processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers. Bolivian land bears fruit up to three times a year, and fertilization began only a couple of years ago.
Coconut plantations grow several varieties of coconut.
Women are engaged in needlework and housekeeping, raise children and grandchildren. Most Old Believer families have many children. Names for children are chosen according to the Psalter, according to the birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life. The names of the Toborochins are unusual not only for the Bolivian ear: Lukiyan, Kipriyan, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena, Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palageya, Mamelfa, Stefan, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimiya, Elizar, Inafa, Salamania, Selivestre.
Watermelon, mango, papaya, pineapple grow all year round. Kvass, mash, jam are made from fruits.
Villagers often encounter wildlife: rhea, poisonous snakes, and even small alligators that love to eat fish in the lagoons. For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun ready.
Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell cheese, milk, pastries. Cottage cheese and sour cream did not take root in Bolivia.
To work in the fields, the Russians hire Bolivian peasants, who are called Kolya.
There is no language barrier, since the Old Believers, in addition to Russian, also speak Spanish, and the older generation has not yet forgotten Portuguese and Chinese.
Residents move around the village on mopeds and motorcycles. In the rainy season, the roads become very limp and a pedestrian can get stuck in the mud.
By the age of 16, boys gain the necessary experience in the field and can get married. The Old Believers strictly forbid marriages between relatives up to the seventh generation, so they are looking for brides in other villages of the South and North America. Rarely get to Russia.
Girls can get married at the age of 13.
The first "adult" gift for a girl is a collection of Russian songs, from which the mother takes another copy and gives it to her daughter for her birthday.
All girls are big fashionistas. They design their own style and sew their own dresses. Fabrics are purchased from major cities- Santa Cruz or La Paz. The average wardrobe has 20-30 dresses and sundresses. Girls change outfits almost every day.
Ten years ago, the Bolivian authorities financed the construction of the school. It consists of two buildings and is divided into three classes: children 5-8 years old, 8-11 and 12-14 years old. Boys and girls study together.
The school is taught by two Bolivian teachers. Main subjects - Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, drawing. Russian is taught at home. In oral speech, Toborochintsy are accustomed to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words have completely replaced Russian ones. So, gasoline in the village is called nothing more than "gasolina", the fair - "feria", the market - "mercado", garbage - "basura". Spanish words have long become Russified and are inclined according to the rules mother tongue. There are also neologisms: for example, instead of the expression “download from the Internet”, the word “descargar” is used from the Spanish descargar. Some Russian words commonly used in Toborochi have long gone out of use in modern Russia. Instead of “very”, the Old Believers say “very much”, the tree is called “forest”. The older generation mixes Portuguese words of the Brazilian spill with all this diversity. In general, there is a whole book of material for dialectologists in Toborochi.
Primary education is not compulsory, but the Bolivian government encourages all students in public schools: once a year, the military comes and pays each student 200 bolivianos (about $30).
It is not clear what to do with the money: there is not a single store in Toborochi, and no one will let children go to the city. You have to give back what you earn to your parents.
Old Believers attend church twice a week, not counting Orthodox holidays: services are held on Saturday from 17:00 to 19:00 and on Sunday from 4:00 to 7:00.
Men and women come to church in all clean clothes, wearing dark clothes over them. The black cape symbolizes the equality of all before God.
Most of the South American Old Believers have never been to Russia, but they remember their history, reflecting its main moments in artistic creativity.
The Old Believers carefully keep the memories of their ancestors, who also lived far from their historical homeland.
Sunday is the only day off. Everyone visits each other, men go fishing.
The boys play football and volleyball. Football is the most popular game in Toborochi. The local team won the school amateur tournaments more than once.
It gets dark early in the village, they go to bed by 10 pm.
The Bolivian selva became a small homeland for the Russian Old Believers, the fertile land provided everything they needed, and if it were not for the heat, they could not have wished for a better place to live.
(Copy-paste from lenta.ru)
Article in "AiF"
(Unique in that it grows from year to year without external inflow)
Sundresses under coconuts
The Arguments and Facts columnist came to Russia, where jaguars live in the forests, pineapples are planted in vegetable gardens, and indigenous Siberians do not know what snow looks like. And he didn't get it!
-Oh, are you going to our village, good sir? But in vain. Nonecha heat, and such a dusty, such a dusty one stands on the path - you will swallow plenty! - a woman in a blue sundress spoke in a patter with a clear Siberian accent, and I could hardly understand her melodious words. After showing them the best way to get to the village, Stepanida turned and walked on, towards a coconut grove rustling with leaves. Beside her, a boy in a loose shirt and cap picked a mango from a nearby tree and followed his mother, brushing off the mosquitoes.
"Chrysanthus! I heard a stern voice. “How many times have I told you, fool, don’t eat manga, they’re so green, then raid at night!”
“You won’t go to the forest for mushrooms - and there are no mushrooms, and they will eat you yourself”
... THE FIRST Russian villages in the small South American state of Bolivia appeared a very long time ago. When exactly - the locals do not even remember. It seems that the very first settlers arrived already in 1865 (the authorities then distributed arable land to the colonists for free), and seventy years later a whole crowd of Siberian and Ural peasant families who had to flee Russia after the Bolshevik revolution. Now, two hundred kilometers from the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, three large villages of Russian immigrants are located at once, where about two thousand people live. To one of these villages - Taboroche - we drove along a dusty road along the endless Bolivian fields overgrown with Russian sunflowers.
... The door of the house of the village head Martyan Onufriyev was opened by his daughter, a gray-eyed shy beauty in a sundress. “Aunties are gone. They left for the city on business. Yes, you do not stand on the threshold, go into the hut. "Izboy" is a strong stone house with a tiled roof, in the manner of those that are built in Germany. At first, Russian men in Bolivia sawed elephant palms and made houses from logs, but they quickly abandoned this idea: in conditions of tropical humidity and the ubiquitous termites, the dwelling immediately began to rot and soon turned into dust. It is impossible to describe the Russian village in Bolivia in words - it simply must be seen. Dogs in booths (which shocks the Bolivians - why does a dog need a separate house?!) and lowing cows grazing in the shade of banana palms. In the gardens, people with the song "Oh frost, frost!" weeds pineapples. Bearded men in embroidered shirts, belted with sashes, smartly drive Japanese jeeps, talking on mobile phones, and girls in sundresses and kokoshniks rush to the field and back on Honda motorcycles. Impressions in the first five minutes were enough so that the mouth could hardly be closed.
Now they have begun to live well, thank God, - says 37-year-old peasant woman Natalya, who also invited me to the “hut”. - And for the first time, as people arrived, they didn’t have tractors, they didn’t have horses - they plowed earth on women. Someone got rich, and someone did not, but we all live together. Mama used to say that in Russia the poor are jealous of the rich. Is that how it is for him? After all, God created people unequal. It is not worth envying someone else's wealth, especially if people are at work. Who's stopping you? Take it and make money!
Natalya was born in one of the Russian Old Believer villages, deep in the jungles of Brazil. She moved here when she got married - at the age of 17: she got used to living, but she still doesn’t speak Spanish: “I don’t even know how to count in their language. Why should I? So, a little, if I go to the market. Her father was taken out of the Khabarovsk province at the age of five, now he is over eighty. Natalya has never been to her father's homeland, although she really wants to go. “Tya talks very beautifully about Russia - my heart aches agio. Oh, he says, nature is so beautiful. And you will go to the forest, there are so many tama mushrooms - you will pick up full baskets. And then don’t go, don’t go, don’t go, yes, God forbid, and the narvessi jaguar - they got into the habit, accursed, to go to the watering hole.
Cats are bred in houses specifically to catch lizards
To be honest, I simply did not expect that I would hear Russian speech in Taboroch. At work, I had to communicate a lot with the children of the White Guards, who had grown old in France and the USA - they all spoke Russian quite well, but noticeably distorted the words. But here a surprise awaited me. These people, who have never been to Russia, and many of their fathers and grandfathers were born on the soil of South America, communicate in Russian in the same way as their ancestors a hundred years ago. This is the language of the Siberian countryside, without the slightest accent, melodious and affectionate, replete with words that have long been out of use in Russia itself. In Taboroch they say “wish” instead of “want”, “wonderful” instead of “amazing”, “very much” instead of “very”, they do not know the words “five-year plan” and “industrialization”, they do not understand Russian slang in the form of “well, damn it” and "don't give a damn about yourself." Here, near the rainforest entwined with lianas, pre-revolutionary Russia, which we no longer remember, has been preserved in some incredible way. And the thought arises: maybe this is exactly what the Russian village would be like now (of course, with the exception of pineapples in the garden), if October had not happened?
Six-year-old Evdokia, sitting on the threshold, plays with a grown kitten. - Unlike Russia, the cat, for lack of mice, catches lizards in the house. A red parrot flies past, but the girl, accustomed to them, does not pay attention to the bird. Evdokia speaks only Russian: up to the age of seven, children are brought up in the village, in the home world, so that they memorize the language, and then they are sent to school to learn Spanish. Mothers tell their children fairy tales that they pass on from generation to generation: about Ivan the Fool, Emelya and the pike, the Humpbacked Horse. The settlers have practically no books, and where in the Bolivian wilderness can you get a collection of Russian fairy tales. Men speak Spanish without exception, but women - not so much. “What does a girl need to know Spanish? - says Natalya's neighbor, portly Theodosia. - She will marry, the children will go there - you have to manage the housework and bake pies, and let the peasant plow his field.
“You speak wrong, you wear the kokoshnik crookedly, you cook bad cabbage soup!”
AFTERNOON the inhabitants of Taboroche and Vera can easily be found in the field. They grow everything they can: corn, wheat, sunflowers. “Only that which you cannot plant does not grow in this land!” - jokes one of the bearded men, sitting astride a tractor. One of the Old Believers, even last year, was awarded an article in the local newspaper - he collected the largest crop of soybeans and ... pineapples. “There were those who saved up some money and went to see Russia,” says Terenty. They returned so wonderful - all eyes clap-clap. They say: in the villages in Siberia, people are starving and drinking vodka, but for some reason they can’t plow the land. I say: yes, how is it - how much land is there, take it and grow bread, or what else! Yes, they are lazy, they say. What a disaster, Lord - what did the Bolsheviks do to poor Russia! And it was also wonderful to him that everyone around him spoke Russian - he just couldn’t believe it. We are accustomed here that if you ask a person what is on the street, he will answer in Spanish. I listened to him and I am also saving money for the trip - if God grants, I will definitely come in a couple of years.
Russian peasants go to Santa Cruz to sell what they have grown. Arriving, they settle in such hotels so that there is no TV and radio (this is a sin), they take dishes with them - “to not get dirty with them.” But no one leaves the village to live in the city. “I myself have six children,” says 40-year-old Terenty. - And in Santa Cruz there are many demonic temptations: nothing good will come of life there. Sons will marry Bolivian women, girls will marry Bolivian women, but this is in vain - they don’t even know how to cross their foreheads in our opinion.
Bolivian, as well as other men and women, in principle, can marry the inhabitants of Russian villages, but on one condition - they should be baptized in the "Russian faith", dress, read and speak Russian. There were two such marriages, and both fell apart. The Bolivian girl who "went" for a Russian guy could not stand the constant skirmishes with her mother-in-law: you wear a kokoshnik crookedly, and you speak Russian incorrectly, you cook bad cabbage soup, and you pray to God unzealously. As a result, the young wife ran away, and the husband, to the delight of his mother, went to Uruguay for a Russian bride. Another citizen of Bolivia (by the way, an Aymara Indian), who married a Russian girl, was received in Taboroche with caution - “all black, like a black man, as if the girl couldn’t find a lighter one,” but later the whole village condemned his divorce from his wife: “ Avon, they already have five children - they sit on the benches, wipe their snot. If you have done a drain - be patient, and do not leave the woman with them. But such "international" weddings are rare, which is why almost all the villagers of Taboroch have blue eyes, noses like potatoes, freckles all over their faces, and blond or wheaten hair on their heads. Alcohol (even harmless beer) is strictly prohibited, smoking is also: but for all the time in the village not a single person drank himself drunk and did not die of lung cancer. But the craving for civilization takes its toll - some peasants quietly keep small portable TVs under their beds, which, after muffling the sound, watch at night. However, no one admits this openly. On Sunday, everyone must go to church and read the Bible with the children at home.
“What is the black cobra afraid of? He gave a heel on the head - she and a skiff.
ABOUT twenty families have recently moved to Bolivia from the USA. “It’s hard for the Americans for the Russians,” explains the former resident of Alaska, Eleutherius, stroking his beard. - They have everything tacos built so that all Americans are, they are blurring us. Many of our children no longer speak Russian, although they are all baptized and wear embroidered shirts - just grief. So they came here so that the children would not start speaking American and would not forget God.
None of the inhabitants of Taboroche, born in Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay and holding national passports, do not consider these countries their homeland. For them, their homeland is Russia, which they have never seen. “Well, I was born in Bolivia, well, I have lived here all my life, so why am I somehow a Bolivian? Ivan is surprised. “I am a Russian person, a believer in Christ, and I will remain so.” The migrants were not used to the amazing heat (in January in the Santa Cruz region, plus 40 degrees), “What a horror! You stand at Christmas in the church, praying - the floor is all wet, the sweat is flowing from everyone. But they ask with interest about the snow: what does it look like? What does it feel like? You can’t express how you feel when you explain to hereditary Siberians about snow and frost, and they look at you with round eyes and repeat: “Yes, it can’t be!” Russian peasants no longer take any tropical diseases - among the very first settlers who drained the swamps in the jungles of Bolivia and Brazil, there were many deaths from yellow fever, and now, as the residents say phlegmatically, “we don’t see that fever.” Only mosquitoes irritate, but they are fought in the old fashioned way - they are driven away, fumigating with smoke. Dangerous snakes, including a black cobra spitting poison, also crawl from the jungle onto the village mounds. But the Old Believers easily manage with them. “What about a snake? - Chrysanthus, who is chewing mango, boasts again secretly from his mother. - He gave a heel on the head - she and a skiff. Ivan's wife, the 18-year-old freckled beauty Zoya (her native village is in the state of Goias in Brazil), also speaks of poisonous reptiles with Olympic calm: . So through that hole the cobra will jump to the floor at night! I slapped her on the head with the handle of a broom - and killed her.
The settlers know little about modern political life in Russia (you can’t watch TV, you can’t get on the Internet - it’s also a sin), but they heard about Beslan and served a prayer service in the church for the repose of the souls of “children killed by infidels”. They feel their homeland in their soul. The owner of the optical salon in the center of Santa Cruz, a former resident of the Kuban, Lyuba told me how the settler Ignat came to her and she showed him a photo album about Russian nature published in Moscow. Not at all surprised, Ignat shrugged his shoulders and said: “It is strange, but I have already seen all this. I dream of churches and fields all the time at night. And I also see my grandfather’s village in my dreams.”
…IN Lately Russian colonists began to leave Taboroche - land rent rose in price. “We are like gypsies,” Feodosia laughs. - A little bit, we’re filming and we’re going. ” new land they rent it to the south, across the river - it's cheaper there, and the grown corn is transported to Brazil for sale. Being forced to leave Russia for various reasons, these peasants built themselves a new island of their former, familiar life in exotic Bolivia, creating their own Russia here with coconut palms and jaguars in the forest. They do not keep any resentment or anger at their homeland, they do not wish her any troubles, thereby radically different from many modern Russian emigrants. Having preserved their identity, language and culture in the depths of the Bolivian jungle, these people remained truly Russian - both in character, in language, and in style of thinking. And there is no doubt that these small islands of old Russia in Latin America will exist in a hundred or two hundred years. Because people live there who are proud to be Russian.
MOST Russian villages in Brazil: about ten, about 7 thousand people live there. For the first time in South America, Russian settlers appeared in 1757, founding a Cossack village in Argentina. In addition to the above countries, there are now Russian Old Believer settlements in Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay. Some of the settlers also left for Africa, creating Russian colonies in the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia. But the “white emigration” of 1917–1920 was almost completely “blurred” - very few of the descendants of 5 million (!) Nobles who then settled in Paris bear Russian names and speak Russian: according to experts, this happened because for the fact that the Russians in Paris lived "non-compact".
George ZOTOV, Taboroche - Santa Cruz
"Arguments and Facts" original with pictures here.
