Ethnic groups of Russia: Chuvash

More than a million representatives of this Turkic ethnic group live in Russia, primarily in the Chuvash Republic. According to the most widely accepted theory, the Chuvash people are descended from the ancient Turkic-speaking Bulgars, who migrated from the Black Sea region to the Middle Volga region in the 7th century.

The Chuvash language is the last surviving representative of the Bulgar group of Turkic languages. It’s related to the extinct languages ​​of the powerful Khazars and Huns. Over the centuries, runes, Arabic script and the Latin alphabet have all been used to write Chuvash and, today, the Cyrillic alphabet is used.

The Chuvash are an agricultural people and one of their main holidays is ‘Akatuy’ (‘Plow Festival’). It commemorates the end of spring field work. The celebration includes sports competitions, exhibitions, fairs and parades of traditional costumes.

Chuvash cuisine is famous for its variety of soups: meat, fish and mushroom broths, green cabbage soup, milk-based soups and cold soups. Pies filled with cereals, vegetables, cottage cheese, meat or berries are also very popular. One of the main dishes is ‘shartan’ – baked lamb stomach stuffed with lamb meat and garlic.