The village of Russian Old Believers Toboroch in Bolivia (27 photos). Moving for permanent residence and obtaining Bolivian citizenship How Old Believers live in Bolivia

Article in "AiF"
(Unique in that it grows from year to year without external influx)

Sundresses under coconuts

The Arguments and Facts columnist found himself in Russia, where jaguars live in the forests, pineapples are planted in gardens, and native Siberians do not know what snow looks like. And he didn’t dream it!
-Oh, are you coming to our village, good sir? But in vain. It’s so hot, and it’s so dusty, there’s so much dust standing on the path - you’ll swallow your fill! - the woman in a blue sundress spoke quickly with a clear Siberian accent, and I barely had time to understand her melodious words. Having shown the best way to get to the village, Stepanida turned and walked further, towards the coconut grove rustling with leaves. A boy standing next to her in an untucked shirt and cap picked a mango from a nearby tree and followed his mother, swatting away mosquitoes.
“Chrysanthus! - I heard a stern voice. “How many times have I told you, you fool, don’t eat manga, they’re too green, then run into the issi at night!”

“If you don’t go into the forest to pick mushrooms, there are no mushrooms, and they will eat you”

…THE FIRST Russian villages in the small South American state of Bolivia appeared a very long time ago. When exactly, local residents don’t 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 arrived from China, who had to flee Russia after the Bolshevik revolution. Now, two hundred kilometers from the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, there are three large villages of Russian immigrants, where about two thousand people live. We drove to one of these villages - Taboroche - along a dusty road along endless Bolivian fields overgrown with Russian sunflowers.

...The door of the house of the village elder Martyan Onufriev was opened by his daughter, a grey-eyed, shy beauty in a sundress. “The kids are gone. They went to the city on business. Don’t stand on the threshold, go into the hut.” A “hut” is a strong stone house with a tiled roof, similar to those built in Germany. At first, Russian men in Bolivia sawed down ivory palm trees and made houses from logs, but quickly abandoned this idea: in conditions of tropical humidity and ubiquitous termites, the home immediately began to rot and soon turned into dust. It is impossible to describe the Russian village in Bolivia in words - you simply have to see it. Dogs in kennels (which shocks Bolivians - why does a dog need a separate house?!) and mooing cows grazing in the shade of banana palms. In the gardens there are people singing “Oh frost, frost!” weeds pineapples. Bearded men in embroidered shirts, belted with sashes, dashingly drive Japanese jeeps, talking on cell phones, and girls in sundresses and kokoshniks rush to the field and back on Honda motorcycles. There were enough impressions in the first five minutes that it was hard to close my mouth.

Now they are living well, thank God,” notes 37-year-old peasant woman Natalya, who also invited me to the “hut.” - And the first time people arrived, they didn’t have tractors or horses - they used women to plow the land. Some got rich, some didn’t, but we all live together. Mama said that in Russia the poor envy the rich. And according to him? After all, God created people unequal. It is not good to envy someone else's wealth, especially if people are working. Who's stopping you? Take it yourself and earn it!

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 can’t even count in their language. Why should I? So, a little bit, if I go to the market.” Her father was taken from 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. “My dad will tell you so beautifully about Russia - it makes my heart ache. Well, he says, nature is so beautiful. And you go into the forest, there are so many mushrooms, they say, and you will pick baskets full. And here, don’t go - no, no, yes, God forbid, and the jaguar narvessi - the damned ones got into the habit of going to a watering hole.”
Cats are kept in houses specifically to catch lizards.

I'LL BE HONEST - I simply didn't expect to hear Russian speech in Taboroch. As part of my work, I had to communicate a lot with the children of White Guards who grew old in France and the USA - they all spoke Russian well, but noticeably distorted their 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 did a hundred years ago. This is the language of the Siberian village, without the slightest accent, melodious and affectionate, replete with words that have long fallen out of use in Russia itself. In Taboroch they say “wish” instead of “want”, “wonderful” instead of “amazing”, “very” instead of “very”, do not know the words “five-year plan” and “industrialization”, do not understand Russian slang in the form of “well, damn” and “Wow.” Here, near a tropical forest entwined with vines, it has somehow incredibly preserved pre-revolutionary Russia, which we no longer remember. And the thought arises: maybe this is exactly what the Russian village would be like now (with the exception of the pineapples in the garden, of course) if October had not happened?

Six-year-old Evdokia, sitting on the threshold, plays with a grown-up 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: until the age of seven, children are raised in the village, in a small home, so that they remember the language, and then they are sent to school to learn Spanish. Mothers tell their children fairy tales that are passed down from generation to generation: about Ivan the Fool, Emelya and the Pike, and the Little Humpbacked Horse. The settlers have practically no books, and where in the Bolivian wilderness can you get a collection of Russian fairy tales? Most men speak Spanish, but women, not so much. “What does a girl need to know Spanish for? - says Natalya’s neighbor, portly Feodosia. “When she gets married, the children go there, she needs to manage the housework and bake pies, and let the man plow his own field.”
“You speak incorrectly, you wear the kokoshnik crookedly, you cook bad cabbage soup!”

IN THE DAY, the residents of Taboroche can easily be found in the fields. They grow everything they can: corn, wheat, sunflowers. “The only thing that doesn’t grow in this land is what you don’t plant!” - 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 harvested the largest harvest of soybeans and... pineapples. “There were those who saved some money and went to see Russia,” says Terenty. They came back so wonderful - all their eyes clap-clap. They say: in the villages of Siberia, people are starving and drinking vodka, but for some reason they can’t plow the land. I say: how can it be - there’s so much land, take it and grow bread, or else! They're too lazy, they say. What a misfortune, Lord, are these the Bolsheviks with poor Russia done! And it was also strange to him that everyone around him spoke Russian - he really couldn’t believe it. We are accustomed here that if you ask a person what is happening on the street, he will answer in Spanish. I listened to him and am also saving money for the trip - if God willing, I’ll definitely come in a couple of years.”

Russian peasants go to Santa Cruz to sell what they grow. When they arrive, they check into hotels where there is no TV or radio (this is a sin), and they take dishes with them - “so you don’t 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 marry Bolivian women, girls marry Bolivian women, but that’s in vain - they don’t even know how to cross their foreheads in our way.”

Bolivian, as well as other men and women, in principle can marry residents of Russian villages, but under one condition - they must cross themselves into the “Russian faith”, dress, read and speak Russian. There were two such marriages in total, and both fell apart. The Bolivian girl who “married” a Russian guy could not stand the constant clashes with her mother-in-law: you wear the kokoshnik crookedly, you speak Russian incorrectly, you cook bad cabbage soup, and you don’t pray to God diligently. 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, the Aimara Indian, who married a Russian girl, was accepted in Taborocha, “black, like a black man, as a cattle, could not find a lighter girl, but later his divorce with his wife condemned:“ ““ ““ ““ “ Avon, they already have five children - they sit on benches, wiping snot. If you make a waste, be patient, and don’t leave the woman with them.” But such “international” weddings are rare, which is why almost all the villagers of Taboroch have blue eyes, potato noses, freckles all over their faces, and the hair on their heads is brown or wheat. Alcohol (even harmless beer) under strict ban, smoking too: but during all the time in the village not a single person became an alcoholic and died from lung cancer. But the craving for civilization takes its toll - some peasants secretly keep small portable TVs under their beds, which they watch at night with the sound muted. However, no one admits this openly. On Sunday, everyone always goes to church and reads the Bible at home with their children.

“Why be afraid of a black cobra? Hit her head with a heel and that’s it.”

ABOUT twenty families recently moved to Bolivia from the United States. “It’s difficult for the Americans for the Russians,” explains former Alaska resident Elevferiy, stroking his beard. - They have everything built so that all Americans are there, they wash us away. Many of our children no longer speak Russian, although they are all baptized and wear embroidered shirts - it’s simply unfortunate. So we came here so that the children don’t start speaking American and don’t forget God.”

None of the residents of Taboroch, born in Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay and holding national passports, consider these countries to be their homeland. For them, their homeland is Russia, which they have never seen. “Well, I was born in Bolivia, well, I’ve lived here all my life, so why am I a Bolivian? - Ivan is surprised. “I am a Russian person, a believer in Christ, and I will remain so.” The settlers never got used to the amazing heat (plus 40 degrees in the Santa Cruz area in January): “What a horror! You’re standing in church on Christmas Day, praying, and the floor is all wet, and everyone’s sweat is flowing.” But they ask with interest about snow: what does it look like? What does it feel like? You can’t describe how you feel when you explain to your descendants of Siberians about snow and frost, and they look at you with round eyes and repeat: “It can’t be!” No tropical diseases affect Russian peasants anymore - among the very first settlers who drained the swamps in the jungles of Bolivia and Brazil, there were many deaths from yellow fever, but now, as the residents phlegmatically say, “we don’t even see that fever.” Only mosquitoes irritate us, but we fight them the old fashioned way - we drive them away by fumigating them with smoke. Dangerous snakes, including a black cobra that spits venom, crawl from the jungle onto the village ruins. But the Old Believers easily deal with them. “What about the snake? - Chrysanth, chewing a mango, boasts again in secret from his mother. “If you hit her in the head with a heel, that’s it.” Ivan’s wife, 18-year-old freckled beauty Zoya (her home village is in the state of Goiás in Brazil), also talks about poisonous reptiles with Olympian calm: “The window in our hut broke, and my dad was too lazy to cover it with a pillow - and so they say, it’s hot . So through that hole the cobra will jump onto the floor at night! I hit her on the head with the handle of a broom and killed her.”

About modern political life in Russia, the settlers know little (you can’t watch TV, you can’t go on the Internet - that’s also a sin), but they heard about Beslan and served a prayer service in the church for the repose of the souls of “the children killed by the infidels.” They feel their homeland in their souls. The owner of an optical salon in the center of Santa Cruz, a former resident of Kuban, Lyuba told me how settler Ignat came to see her and she showed him a photo album published in Moscow about Russian nature. Not at all surprised, Ignat shrugged and said: “It’s strange, but I’ve already seen all this. I always dream about churches and fields at night. And I also see my grandfather’s village in a dream.”

…IN Lately Russian colonists began to leave Taboroche - land rent became more expensive. “We are like gypsies,” Feodosia laughs. “Soon enough, we’ll film and go.” New land they rent further south, across the river - it’s cheaper there, and the corn they grow is taken to sell to Brazil. Having been forced to leave Russia for various reasons, these peasants built themselves a new island of their old, familiar life in exotic Bolivia, creating here their own Rus' with coconut palms and jaguars in the forest. They do not hold any grudges or anger towards their homeland, they do not wish it 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 their 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 of being Russian.

THE MOST Russian villages are in Brazil: about ten, about 7 thousand people live there. Russian settlers first appeared in South America 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. And here " white emigration"1917–1920 was almost completely “eroded” - very few of the descendants of the 5 million (!) nobles who settled in Paris at that time bear Russian names and speak Russian: according to experts, this happened due to the fact that the Russians in Paris they lived “uncompactly”.

Georgy ZOTOV, Taboroche - Santa Cruz
"Arguments and Facts" original with pictures here.

Now I periodically take our tourists to the Old Believers; we have a good relationship with one of the main and respected people there. I'll tell you how I got there for the first time. I accompanied tourists; we drove by car to different cities in Argentina and Uruguay. And we decided to visit the Old Believers. There is very little information about 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 was 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. "Ahhh, barbudos!?" - they said in the first store. "Barbudos" in Spanish means bearded men. “Yes, they live nearby. But they won’t let you in, they are aggressive,” the San Javiers told us. This statement was a little alarming. But still, I figured out how to get there using country dirt roads. The Uruguayans said that the "barbudos" did not accept anyone and did 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, as you know, people are afraid of everything incomprehensible and other things. Therefore, there is no special friendship between the former Russian Sanjaviers and Russian Old Believers.

We were getting ready to hit the road in search of the village, but at that moment one of the San Javiers called out to 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 goatee came 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 a language that I had only heard in movies. That is, this is our Russian language, but many words there are pronounced differently, and there are many words that we no longer use at all, for example, they call a house “izbo”, instead they say “shibko”. They don’t say “you know”, but “you know”, “you want”, “you understand”... Instead of “stronger” they say “more powerful”. They say not “it happens” but “it happens”, not “can” but “can”, not “you will start” but “you will begin”, not “others” but “friends”. How many, evoshny, back and forth, near... After talking so briefly, we asked if it was possible to see how they live there. The Starover agreed, and we went to pick up his car. We were lucky that we met him; without him, according to the diagram drawn by the San Javiers, we definitely would not have found anything. And so we arrived at the village...

When you first enter the village of Old Believers, you experience shock. It feels like you've gone back in time 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 sundress is milking a cow, barefoot children in shirts and sundresses are running 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 alien world, this allowed this piece of old Russia to survive to this day.

It is strictly forbidden to take photographs in this colony. And all the pictures that you will see below were taken with the permission of the Old Believers. That is, group, “official” photographs are possible. You cannot secretly photograph their lives without asking. When we found out why they didn’t like photographers so much, it turned out that journalists were making their way to them under the guise of tourists. They filmed them and then showed them off as clowns for ridicule. One of these stupid and meaningless reports was made by Uruguayan TV with a hidden camera

Their technology is very serious. Everything is owned. There are trucks, combines, and various irrigators and 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 the 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 waste their time, but work like Papa Carlo. They own about 60 hectares, and rent about another 500 hectares. Here in this village live about 15 families, about 200 people in total. That is, according to the simplest calculation, each family has an average of 13 people. So it is, seven are big, a lot of kids.

Here are some "official", authorized photos. Those without beards are not Old Believers - that’s me and my tourists.

And here are more photographs taken with the permission of the Old Believers by a man who worked for them as a combine operator. His name is Slava. A simple Russian guy traveled for a long time to different Latin American countries and came to work with the Old Believers. They accepted him, and he lived with them for 2 whole months. After which he still 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 has rotted and the villages are empty. Russia was so busy getting up from its knees by selling oil and gas to 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 saw with my own eyes many dead villages along the main Russian highways. And that's impressive.

Let us 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 themselves. That is, these are official photos that the Old Believers themselves posted publicly in social media. And I just collected from Facebook and reposted these photos here for you, my dear reader. All photographs here are from different South American Old Believers colonies.

In Brazil, 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, near Ponta Grossa.

In Bolivia they live in the province of Santa Cruz, in the settlement of Toborochi.

And in Argentina, a settlement of Old Believers is located near the town of Choel Choel.

And here I will tell you everything that I learned from the Old Believers about their way of life and traditions

It’s a strange feeling when you start communicating 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 somehow detached and are not interested in anything!

These costumes are not some kind of masquerade. This is how they live, this is how they walk. Women in sundresses, men in shirts tied with a rope belt. Women sew their own clothes. Yes, of course, these photos are mostly from holidays, so the clothes are especially elegant.

But as you can see, in Everyday life Old Believers dress in Old Russian style.

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, Russian Orthodox Christians, with all their talk about God and religion, have a mournfully tragic face. And the more a modern Russian believes in God, the sadder his face. For the Old Believers, everything is positive, and so is religion. And I think in old Russia it was the same as with them. After all, the great Russian poet Pushkin joked and mocked the “pop-cloth forehead,” and this was in the order of things then.

Old Believers have been living in South America for almost 90 years. In the 30s, they fled from the USSR because they sensed danger from the new Soviet government in time. And they did the right thing, 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 USA they also live in the states of Oregon and Minnesota. The Old Believers I visit in Uruguay first lived in Brazil. But they became uncomfortable there, and in 1971 many families moved to Uruguay. They spent a long time choosing land, and finally settled next to the “Russian” city of San Javier. The Uruguayan authorities themselves recommended this place to the Russians. The logic is simple, those Russians are those Russians, maybe together they are better. But Russians do not always love Russians, this is our national peculiarity, so the Russians of San Hovier did not develop any special friendship with the Old Believers.

We arrived to an empty place. They began to build everything and settle in an open field. Amazingly, there was no electricity in the Uruguayan colony until 1986! Everything was lit with kerosene lamps. Well, we’ve adapted to living in the sun. Therefore, the Uruguayan colony is the most interesting, because just 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 with rockers, the land was plowed on horses, and houses were made of wood back then. Different colonies lived differently, some were more integrated into the country where they were located, for example, the American colonies. There is no particular reason for some colonies 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 about this integration!

The Old Believers often have Old Slavonic names: Athanasius, Evlampeya, Capitolina, Martha, Paraskovea, Euphrosyne, Ulyana, Kuzma, Vasilisa, Dionysius...

In different colonies, Old Believers live differently. Some are more civilized and even rich, others are more modest. But the way of life is the same as in old Russia.

The elders zealously monitor compliance with all rules. Young people are sometimes not very motivated by faith. After all, there are so many interesting temptations around...

Therefore, old people have a difficult task to answer many questions for growing young people. 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 you live in? 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 other religious rituals?... While the elders somehow manage to answer all these questions...

Old Believers are not allowed to drink. But if you pray and get baptized, then you can. Old Believers drink brew. They prepare it themselves. We were also treated to it. 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 it!

Old Believers love to work on the land most of all. They cannot imagine themselves without this. And in general they are quite hard-working people. Well, who can argue that this is not Russia?!

At first I didn’t 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. And Uruguayans are called Spaniards because they speak Spanish. In general, the distance between the Uruguayans and the Old Believers is enormous. This is completely different worlds, that is why the Uruguayans of San Javier told us about the “aggressiveness” of the Old Believers. Old Believers characterize the “Spaniards” as lazy slackers who don’t 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 complaints against the Uruguayan government. For example, recently an insane law was passed in Uruguay, according to which, before sowing the land, you need to ask the authorities what can be sown there. The authorities will send chemists, they will do a soil analysis, and give a verdict: plant tomatoes! And with tomatoes, the Old Believers’ business will fail. They need to plant beans (for example). Therefore, the Old Believers begin to think about whether they should start looking for a new country? And they are keenly interested in how they treat the peasant in Russia? Is it worth moving to Russia? What advice would you give them?

The theme of combines, irrigation, plowing and sowing occupies one of the main places in the life of Old Believers. They can talk about this for hours!

Boundless Brazilian Rus'...

Equipment: combines, irrigators, seeders, etc., the Old Believers have their own. And the Old Believers know how to repair each harvester (which, by the way, costs 200-500 thousand dollars) themselves. They can disassemble and reassemble each of their harvesters! The Old Believers own hundreds of hectares of land. And they rent even more land.

Old Believers have large families. 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 doesn’t remember exactly how many, he has to count by bending his fingers. His wife is also a young and completely down-to-earth woman.

Children are not sent to official schools. It’s all very simple: if children learn the language of the country where they live, then there is a very high probability that they will be tempted by the bright life around them and will 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 a Brazilian colony, children began to go to a regular Brazilian school, which was in the neighborhood. And when almost all of the children grew up, they chose the Brazilian life instead of the Old Believers. I'm not even talking about the Old Believers in the USA. There, in many families, Old Believers already communicate with each other in English.

Senior Old Believers from all colonies are well aware of the risk of the colony dissolving into the country, and are resisting this with all their might. Therefore, they do not send their children to public schools, but try to educate them themselves as best they can.

Most often, children are taught at home. They learn to read Church Slavonic. All the religious books of the Old Believers are written in this language, and in this language they pray daily from 3 to 6 am and from 6 to 9 pm. At 21:00 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 still light.

In the colonies of Brazil and Bolivia, local teachers are invited to school for children and teach them Portuguese and Spanish, respectively. But Old Believers see an exclusively practical meaning in learning a language: it is necessary to do business with the locals. Old Believer children play Russian traditional games, lapta, tag and many others, with purely Russian names.

Most of the photographs you see here are from Old Believer holidays, most often from weddings. Girls most often get married at 14-15 years old. Guys at 16-18. All traditions with matchmaking have been preserved. Parents should choose a wife for their son. They try to select from another colony. That is, a bridegroom from a Uruguayan colony is brought a bride from a Bolivian or Brazilian colony and vice versa. Old Believers try very hard to avoid incest. Don't think that poor underage kids are left with no choice. Formally, parents must choose, but in practice everything happens quite softly and naturally, and of course the teenager’s opinion is taken into account. No one is forced to marry anyone. Yes, you can probably see for yourself from these photographs that there is no sign of violence against the individual here.

But of course you have a legitimate question - get married at 14 years old??? 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 the official authorities.

By the way, the Old Believers have a completely different calendar. They live according to the Israeli calendar. They think that he is the right one. But they also know what kind of “worldly” year it is: they must understand all the documents about leasing land, purchasing soybeans, and paying bills.

By the way, the Old Believers call Jews Jews. At first I thought it was pure anti-Semitism. But then I realized that they pronounce this word without any negativity at all. After all, that was the name of the Jews in the old days...

Do you see in the photo that everything looks like a match, in identical sundresses? The fact is that clothes and their color play a huge role in the life of Old Believers. Yellow pants - two times ku. For example, at a wedding, all guests on the bride’s side dress in one color, and on the groom’s side, in another. When a society has no color differentiation of pants, then there is no goal, and when there is no goal...

The Old Believers have houses not of logs, but of concrete, built in the traditions of the construction of the place where they live. But the whole way of life is ours, old Russian: canopy, rubble, sitting for women and children while the men are at work.

But there are still Russians inside the house! Old Believers line the inside of the house with wood. It's more alive. And they call the house a hut.

Women and girls (as females are called here) do not work on the land, but are busy with housework. They prepare food, look after the children... The role of women is still slightly downtrodden, in some ways even reminiscent of the role of women in Arab countries, where a woman is a dumb animal. Here are the men sitting, eating, drinking beer. And Martha with a jug, at a distance. “Come on, Marfa, bring some more mash, and give some tomatoes back and forth!”, and the silent Marfa rushes to complete the task... It’s somehow awkward even for her. But not everything is so harsh and tough. You see, the women are also sitting, relaxing and using their smartphones.

The men do both hunting and fishing. Quite a busy life. And we have nature here, I’ll tell you!

In addition to beer, they also drink beer. However, I have never heard of drunks. Everything seems to be working. 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 acceptable for women. But if you really want to, then you can.

The Old Believers talk interestingly about picking mushrooms. Naturally, they don’t know about boletus, boletus and boletus. Slightly different mushrooms grow in this area; they are similar to our boletus mushrooms. Among the Old Believers, picking mushrooms is not an obligatory attribute of life. Although they listed some names of mushrooms, and they are Russian, although not familiar to me. About mushrooms they say something like this: “sometimes whoever wants to pick them. But sometimes they pick up bad ones, then their stomachs hurt...”. They also have jeep trips into nature, grilled meat, and all the other attributes of picnics that are so familiar to us.

And they even know how to joke. By the way, they also have a good sense of humor.

In general, you see for yourself, the most ordinary people

The Old Believers greet themselves with the word “Healthy!” They don’t use “hello,” much less “hello.” In general, Old Believers do not have the address “You”. Everything is on "you". By the way, they call me “leader”. But the leader is not the main one. And in the sense that I lead people. A guide, then.

By the way, did you feel one glaring discrepancy with Russianness? What's wrong with these smiles? Do you feel that when there are photographs with smiles, something is subtly not ours? They smile with teeth. Russians usually smile without showing their teeth. Americans and other foreigners smile with teeth. This detail appeared from somewhere in this parallel little Russia.

Although you probably noticed even in these photographs how many positive people have on their faces! And this joy is not feigned. Our people have more of a kind of melancholy and hopelessness.

Here is a report from Brazilian TV about Brazilian Old Believers. Please note that many people speak Portuguese, or as the Old Believers say, “Brazilian”.

Old Believers quite often use the Latin alphabet for writing. But they don’t forget the Cyrillic alphabet either.

For the most part, Old Believers are wealthy people. Of course, as in any society, some are richer, some are poorer, but on the whole they live very well.

Here in these photos are mainly the life of the Brazilian, Argentine and Bolivian colonies. There is a whole report about the Bolivian colony of Old Believers, the rules there are not as strict as in the Uruguayan colony and filming is sometimes allowed there

An ordinary wedding for us, our house in the background. Only two palm trunks make it clear that this is not Russia

Old Believer youth love football. Although they consider this game “not ours.”

Do Old Believers live well or poorly? They live well. In any case, the Uruguayan and Bolivian Old Believers live better than the average Uruguayans and Bolivians. Old Believers drive jeeps worth 40-60 thousand dollars, they have the latest model smartphones...

The main writing of the Old Believers is in Latin and Spanish. But many people also know Russian.

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But many restrictions are imposed on the Old Believers. Televisions are prohibited, computers too. And about telephones, Old Believers say that it’s all from the devil. But okay, there is and there is. Televisions would also appear, but they are not needed. Old Believers have become accustomed to living without them for many generations, and no longer understand why they are needed. Computers are prohibited in some colonies, and in others they are used secretly from the elders. Yes, and modern smartphones have mobile Internet...

There are even homemade comics on Old Believers’ Facebook pages. This one didn’t really understand him: “I love her,” “I want to hug him,” “I want to sleep!” By the way, on Facebook, Old Believers often correspond in Portuguese and Spanish. Those who in one way or another received a local education are corresponding. They were taught to write in Spanish and Portuguese. But they don’t know how to speak Russian, just talk. And they don’t have a Russian keyboard.

Old Believers are very interested in today's Russia. Many of them were told by their grandfathers who fled Soviet Russia in the 1930s to return to Russia when the conditions were right. Thus, for almost a century, the Old Believers lived in foreign lands, waiting for a favorable moment to return. But this moment still did not come: Stalin began to drive the people into camps, and the main thing that was important for the Old Believers was to strangle the village with his insane collectivizations. Then Khrushchev came, who began to take away the people’s livestock and forcefully introduce corn. Then the country began to engage in various arms races, and from abroad, especially from here, from South America, the USSR seemed like 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 perked up. It began to seem that maybe this was the right moment to return. Russia turned out to be a normal country, open to the rest of the world, without exotic communisms and socialisms. Russia has, indeed, begun to take steps towards Russians living in other countries. A “state program on returning to the homeland” appeared, the Russian ambassador to Uruguay came to the Old Believers and began to make friends with them. The Russian authorities also began talking with the Brazilian and Bolivian Old Believers, and in the end, a small group of Old Believers moved to Russia and settled in the village of Dersu, Primorsky Territory. And a Russian TV report about this:

The reporters in this report tell the official version regarding the traditions of the Old Believers. But you shouldn’t think that among the Old Believers everything is so strictly regulated and there is such an ironclad 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 being introduced into their lives. Step by step, a little bit at a time. But it's too hard to resist...

Everything is our way! Selfie on a smartphone with lips in a bow... Still, native roots! .....Or maybe this American influence has reached here?

No answer...

In general, it is common 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, down-to-earth, down-to-earth people. With humor, and with all the same desires and desires that you and I have. They are no holier than us. Or we are no worse than them. All good, in general.

And even though the guys grew up on another continent, everything is ours: the plastic bags, and they sit like boys...

Well, who can say that this is not a central Russian picnic?

Eh, Uruguayan Rus'!...

Want to see Uruguay with your own eyes? I can be your guide to Uruguay.

If you are going to Montevideo and want to stay in a good place, choose a hotel to your liking on booking, and send me its address by e-mail. And I will tell you whether it is located in a good place, whether it is safe there, whether it is beautiful and how far it is from there to get to interesting places.

In the twentieth century, Russian Old Believers, who had reached the eastern borders of Russia after 400 years of persecution, had to finally become emigrants. Circumstances scattered them across continents, forcing them to establish a life in an exotic foreign land.
Old Believers, or Old Believers - 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 Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of liturgical books, changes in rituals). Those dissatisfied with the “anti-Christ” reforms were united by Archpriest Avvakum. Old Believers were subjected to severe persecution by both ecclesiastical and secular authorities. Already in the 18th century, many fled outside of Russia to escape persecution. Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like stubborn people. In Bolivia, a three-hour drive from the city of Santa Cruz, in the town of Toborochi, the first Russian Old Believers settled 40 years ago. Even now this settlement cannot be found on maps, but in the 1970s there were completely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle

Old Believer village in the jungle of Bolivia. There, women wear woven sundresses and embroider shirts for their husbands. They weed gardens that grow pineapples, not radishes or potatoes. They are exceptionally well adapted to local conditions.
Many men are millionaires, great entrepreneurs who combine peasant acumen with an incredible sense of the new. Thus, the Old Believers in Bolivia have modern equipment in their fields with a GPS-based control system - that is, the cars drive without a driver, receiving commands from a single center. At the same time, Old Believers do not use the Internet, do not watch TV, are afraid of banking transactions, preferring cash...+

These are the descendants of those few surviving strong peasant families who were massacred after the Jewish revolution of 1917.

A version of this film that also contains an interview with a priest and a short official history Old Believers in Russia:

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Recently, the Russian government has begun to actively support the return to their homeland of compatriots and their descendants who emigrated abroad. As part of this policy, the resettlement of Old Believers from Bolivia and Uruguay to Russia began several years ago. Publications and stories dedicated to these issues periodically appear in the domestic media. unusual people. They look like they come from either Latin America, either from our pre-revolutionary past, but at the same time retained the Russian language and ethnic identity.

Russian diaspora in the Americas: numbers, brilliance and rapid assimilation

The successful preservation of one’s language and culture on foreign Latin American soil is very a rare event for Russian dispersion. In the first half of the 20th century, hundreds of thousands of Russian refugees and settlers moved to the New World - white emigrants, religious sectarians, seekers of a better life and refugees of the Second World War fleeing return Soviet power to German-occupied territories.

Among them were famous technical specialists who made a huge contribution to the development of their new homeland, for example, Igor Sikorsky, Vladimir Zvorykin or Andrei Chelishchev. There were famous politicians like Alexander Kerensky or Anton Denikin, famous figures culture, like Sergei Rachmaninov or Vladimir Nabokov. Even military leaders like the chief were present General Staff Army of Paraguay General Ivan Belyaev or Wehrmacht General Boris Smyslovsky, adviser famous president Argentina Juan Peron on issues of anti-guerrilla operations and the fight against terrorism. On the ground North America It turned out to be a center of Russian Orthodoxy independent of communism, which fervently preserved the pre-revolutionary tradition.

Not so long ago, Russian speech was common in San Francisco or Buenos Aires. However, today the situation has changed radically. The task of preserving national identity turned out to be beyond the capabilities of the overwhelming majority of Russian emigrants to the New World.

Their descendants in the second, or at most, third generation assimilated. At best, they managed to preserve the memory of their ethnic roots, culture and religious affiliation, resulting in the emergence of figures like the famous Canadian political scientist and politician Michael Ignatieff. This rule is also true for the Old Believers from European Russia (merchants and townspeople), who also quickly disappeared among the population of the New World. Against the background of the general fate of Russian emigration, the situation of the Siberian Old Believers communities in Latin America, who are returning to Russia today, seems unusual and surprising.

From Russia to Latin America: the path of the Old BelieversLatin American Old Believers are the descendants of those who were saved in - XVIIIXIX centuries from religious persecution Russian state. In these regions, many Old Believer settlements were created, in which ancient religious traditions were preserved. The majority of local Old Believers belonged to a special branch of the Old Believers - the so-called “chapels”. This is a special compromise direction, dogmatically equidistant from both the priests and the non-priests.

In chapels, the functions of spiritual leaders are performed by elected lay mentors (“until the true Orthodox clergy appears”). Living conditions in the vastness of Siberia hardened them, forced them to live exclusively on their own farms and made them more closed and conservative than other Old Believers. If at the cinema or fiction They depict the Old Believers as some kind of forest hermits, then their prototype is precisely the chapels.

The revolution and mainly collectivization led to the flight of the Old Believers-chapels from Russia. In the 1920s and early 1930s, some of them moved from Altai to Chinese Xinjiang, while others moved from the Russian Amur to Manchuria, where the Old Believers settled mainly in the Harbin region and created strong peasant farms. Arrival in 1945 Soviet army turned into a new tragedy for the Old Believers: most of the adult men were arrested and sent to camps for “illegally crossing the border,” and the farms of their families remaining in Manchuria were subjected to “dekulakization,” that is, actually plundered.

After the victory of the Communists in China in 1949, the new authorities began to unequivocally push the Old Believers out of the country as an undesirable element. In search of a new refuge, the Old Believers ended up in Hong Kong for a while, but in 1958, with the help of the UN, one part of them went to the USA, and the other to Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Chile and Brazil. In the last of these countries, with the help of the World Council of Churches, the Old Believers received 6 thousand acres of land 200 miles from Sao Paulo.

Exploration of South America

Ultimately, separate Old Believers communities were founded in a number of Latin American countries. Many families of Old Believers managed to live in more than one country until, in the 1980s, most of them finally settled in Bolivia. The reason for this was the warm welcome from the government of this country, which allocated land to the Old Believers. Since then, the Old Believer community in Bolivia has become one of the strongest in all of Latin America.

These Russians adapted to the South American reality very quickly, and now they treat it with imperturbable calm. Old Believers bravely endure the heat, despite the fact that they are not allowed to open their bodies. They are already accustomed to jaguars, they are not particularly afraid of them, they only protect their domestic animals from them. The conversation with snakes is short - a boot to the head, and cats are bred not to hunt mice, but to catch lizards.

In Bolivia, Old Believers are mainly engaged in agriculture and animal husbandry. Of the most popular crops they grow, corn, soybeans and rice rank first. At the same time, it should be noted that the Old Believers succeed in this better than many Bolivian peasants who have lived on these lands for several centuries.

Unlike Uruguay, where the descendants of Russian sectarians live in the settlement of San Javier, the Bolivian Old Believers were able to preserve not only their religion and the way of life that developed several centuries ago, but also the Russian language. Although some of them went to big cities, such as La Paz, most Old Believers prefer to live in quiet villages. Children in big cities they are released reluctantly, because, according to the parents, to whom it is customary to listen, there are a lot of demonic temptations.

It is noteworthy that, being at such a distance from their historical homeland, the Bolivian Old Believers have preserved their cultural and religious customs even better than their co-religionists living in Russia. Although, perhaps, the distance from the Russian land was the reason that these people fight so fiercely for their values ​​and traditions.

The preservation of traditional values ​​is greatly facilitated by the fact that Latin American Old Believers do not allow their children to marry people of a different religion. And since there is this moment There are about 300 Russian Old Believer families with at least 5 children; the younger generation has quite a large choice. At the same time, it is not prohibited to marry a native Latino, but he must definitely learn the Russian language, accept the faith of his spouse and become a worthy member of the community.

Old Believers in Bolivia are self-sufficient communities, but they are not cut off from the outside world. They were able to perfectly establish not only their everyday life, but also their cultural life. For example, holidays are celebrated there very solemnly with dances and songs, but with songs that do not contradict their religion. Despite the fact that television, for example, is prohibited, they are never bored and always know what to do in the evening. free time. Along with studying at a local school, where all classes are held in Spanish and where they communicate with the local population, they also study with their teachers, who teach them Old Church Slavonic and Russian, because the holy books are written in them. It is interesting that all Old Believers living in Bolivia speak without a Spanish accent, although their fathers and even grandfathers were already born in Latin America. Moreover, their speech still bears clear features of the Siberian dialect.

Leaving Latin America

During the stay of the Old Believers in Bolivia, many presidents changed in this country, but the Old Believers never had any difficulties in relations with the authorities. Serious problems for the Bolivian Old Believers began with the coming to power of President Evo Morales, one of the main figures of the “left turn” in Latin America and the first leader of Bolivia to visit Russia. This politician acts as a champion of the ideas of socialism, anti-imperialism and defender of communities in which many Indian tribes continue to maintain their way of life since ancient times.

At the same time, Morales is an Indian nationalist who, based on the ideas of Latin American pochvennichestvo, seeks to expropriate and squeeze out all “alien elements” from the purely Indian state he is creating, including foreigners and white Bolivians, which include Russian Old Believers. It is not surprising that under Morales, “problems” suddenly appeared with the land of the Old Believers.

It was after this that the process of the return resettlement of Old Believers to Russia intensified, first from Bolivia, and then, following their example, from other Latin American states, primarily those where left-wing populists are in power, who are members of the “Bolivarian Alliance” or sympathize with it. Today, the Russian Foreign Ministry is helping the process of repatriation of Old Believers, although many of them prefer to go not to Russia, but to their fellow believers in the United States.

Having little idea of ​​the realities of Siberia and naively taking domestic officials at their word, many Latin American Old Believers found themselves in a very difficult situation during the first stage of resettlement in 2008-2011. As a result, not all repatriates remained in Russia. However, the repatriation process has gradually improved, and today we can hope that for the majority of these Old Believers, their odyssey will sooner or later end in their historical homeland.

There are polar opinions about the chapel Old Believers living in both Americas, and even in Russia itself. Some consider them archaic Russian Amish, others see in their communities a fragment of the bygone “Holy Rus'” and therefore choose their way of life as an object to emulate.

Of course, comparing the descendants of Siberian Old Believers in Latin America with the Amish is incorrect. Absolutely all Russian Old Believers use technology, electricity and even the Internet as needed. In Bolivia, for example, none of the chapel Old Believers would have thought of giving up tractors and combines; the only prohibited piece of equipment remains, perhaps, the television.

The idealization of this group of Old Believers is also not justified. The opinion of the author of this article, based on personal communication with Latin American Old Believers, is that these people are simply a copy of the beginning of peasant Russia that has survived to our timeXXcentury with all its good and bad qualities. If to positive traits can be attributed to hard work, a focus on preserving one’s identity and commitment family values, To negative traits - low level education and narrow outlook, which very often prevents the Old Believers of Latin America from making adequate decisions in modern world.

Lives in a special dimension where the connection between man and nature is unusually strong. In the extensive list of amazing phenomena that travelers encounter in this incomprehensible, mysterious country, occupy a significant position Russian Old Believer settlements. The village of Old Believers in the middle of the South American jungle is a real paradox, which does not prevent Russian “bearded men” from living, working and raising children here. It should be noted that they managed to organize their lives much better than most of the indigenous Bolivian peasants who have lived in these parts for many centuries.

Historical reference

Russians are one of the ethnic communities of the South American republic. In addition to family members of Russian embassy employees living in Bolivia, it includes about 2 thousand descendants of Russian Old Believers.

Old Believers or Old Believers is the common name for several Orthodox religious movements that arose in Russia as a result of the non-acceptance of church reforms by believers (17th century). Moscow Patriarch Nikon, “Great Sovereign of All Rus'” from 1652 to 1666, started church reforms, aimed at changing the ritual tradition of the Russian Church in order to unify it with the Greek Church. The “Antichrist” transformations caused a split in the first, which led to the emergence of the Old Believers or Old Orthodoxy. Those dissatisfied with Nikon’s reforms and innovations were united and led by Archpriest Avvakum.

Old Believers, who did not recognize the corrected theological books and did not accept changes in church rituals, were subjected to severe persecution by the church and persecution by government authorities. Already in the 18th century. many fled from Russia, at first they took refuge in Siberia and the Far East. The stubborn people irritated Nicholas II, and subsequently the Bolsheviks.

The Bolivian Old Believer community was formed in stages, as Russian settlers arrived in the New World in “waves”.

Old Believers began to move to Bolivia in the 2nd half of the 19th century, arriving in separate groups, but their massive influx occurred between 1920 and 1940. - in the era of post-revolutionary collectivization.

If the first wave of immigrants, attracted by fertile lands and the liberal policies of local authorities, came to Bolivia directly, then the path of the second was much more difficult. First in years civil war Old Believers fled to neighboring Manchuria, where a new generation had time to be born. The Old Believers lived in China until the early 1960s, until the “Great Great Patriotic War” broke out there too. cultural revolution", led by the "great helmsman", Mao Zedong. The Russians again had to run away from the construction of communism and the mass herding into collective farms.

Some of the Old Believers moved to and. However, exotic countries, full of temptations, seemed to the orthodox Old Believers unsuitable for a righteous life. In addition, the authorities allocated them lands covered with wild jungle, which had to be uprooted by hand. In addition, the soil had a very thin fertile layer. As a result, after several years of hellish labor, the Old Believers set out in search of new territories. Many settled in, some went to the USA, others went to Australia and Alaska.

Several families reached Bolivia, which was considered the most wild and backward country on the continent. The authorities gave the Russian wanderers a warm welcome and also allocated them areas overgrown with jungle. But the Bolivian soil turned out to be quite fertile. Since then, the Old Believer community in Bolivia has become one of the largest and strongest in Latin America.

Russians quickly adapted to South American living conditions. The Old Believers endure even the sweltering tropical heat, despite the fact that it is not permissible for them to expose their bodies excessively. The Bolivian selva has become a small homeland for the Russian “bearded men”, and fertile land provides everything necessary.

The government of the country willingly meets the needs of the Old Believers, allocating land for their large families and providing preferential loans for agricultural development. The settlements of the Old Believers are located far from large cities on the territory of the tropical departments (Spanish: LaPaz), (Spanish: SantaCruz), (Spanish: Cochabamba) and (Spanish: Beni).

It is interesting that, unlike communities living in other countries, Old Believers in Bolivia practically did not assimilate.

Moreover, being citizens of the republic, they still consider Russia to be their real homeland.

Lifestyle of the Old Believers of Bolivia

Old Believers live in remote, quiet villages, carefully preserving their way of life, but not rejecting the rules of life of the world around them.

They traditionally do the same thing that their ancestors lived in Russia - agriculture and animal husbandry. Old Believers also plant corn, wheat, potatoes, and sunflowers. Only, unlike their distant, cold homeland, here they also grow rice, soybeans, oranges, papaya, watermelons, mangoes, pineapples and bananas. Labor on the land gives them a good income, so basically all Old Believers are wealthy people.

As a rule, men are excellent entrepreneurs who combine peasant acumen with an incredible ability to grasp and perceive everything new. Thus, in the fields of the Bolivian Old Believers, modern agricultural equipment with a GPS control system is used (that is, the machines are controlled by an operator transmitting commands from a single center). But at the same time, Old Believers are opponents of television and the Internet; they are afraid of banking transactions, preferring to make all payments in cash.

The Bolivian Old Believers community is dominated by strict patriarchy. A woman here knows her place. According to Old Believer laws, the main purpose of the mother of the family is to maintain the home. It is not appropriate for a woman to expose herself, they wear dresses and sundresses down to their toes, cover their heads, and never use makeup. Some relaxation is allowed for young girls - they are allowed not to tie a headscarf. All clothing is sewn and embroidered by the female part of the community.

Married women are prohibited from using birth control, which is why Old Believer families traditionally have large families. Babies are born at home, with the help of a midwife. Old Believers go to the hospital only in extreme cases.

But one should not think that Old Believers are despots who tyrannize their wives. They are also required to follow many unwritten rules. As soon as the first fluff appears on a young man’s face, he becomes a real man who, along with his father, is responsible for his family. Old Believers usually cannot shave their beards, hence their nickname - “bearded men”.

The Old Believer way of life does not provide for any social life, reading “obscene” literature, cinema or entertainment events. Parents are very reluctant to let their children go to big cities, where, according to adults, there are a lot of “demonic temptations.”

Strict rules prohibit Old Believers from eating food purchased in a store, and, moreover, from visiting public eating establishments. They usually only eat what they have grown and produced themselves. This setting does not apply only to those products that are difficult or simply impossible to obtain on your own farm (salt, sugar, vegetable oil, etc.). Being invited to visit by local Bolivians, Old Believers eat only the food they brought with them.

They do not smoke, do not tolerate chewing coca, and do not drink alcohol (the only exception is homemade mash, which they drink with pleasure on occasion).

Despite the outward dissimilarity with the locals and strict adherence to traditions that are very different from Latin American culture, the Russian Old Believers never had conflicts with the Bolivians. They live amicably with their neighbors and understand each other perfectly, because all Old Believers are fluent in Spanish.

Toborochi

You can find out how the life of the Old Believers in the country turned out by visiting a Bolivian village Toborochi(Spanish: Toborochi).

In the eastern part of Bolivia, 17 km from the city, there is a picturesque village founded in the 1980s. Russian Old Believers who arrived here. You can feel the real Russian spirit in this village; Here you can relax your soul from the bustle of the city, learn an ancient craft, or just have a wonderful time among amazing people.

As a matter of fact, an Old Believer settlement in the vast expanses of Bolivia is an unrealistic spectacle: a traditional Russian village of the late 19th century, which is surrounded not by birch groves, but by the Bolivian jungle with palm trees. Against the backdrop of exotic tropical nature, these fair-haired, blue-eyed, bearded Mikuly Selyaninovichs in embroidered shirts and bast shoes walk around their well-groomed domains. And rosy-cheeked girls with wheaten braids below the waist, dressed in long, colorful sundresses, sing soulful Russian songs at work. Meanwhile, this is not a fairy tale, but a real phenomenon.

This is Russia, which we lost, but which has survived far across the ocean, in South America.

Even today this small village is not on maps, but in the 1970s there was only impenetrable jungle. Toborochi consists of 2 dozen courtyards, quite distant from each other. The houses are not log houses, but solid brick ones.

The families of the Anufrievs, Anfilofievs, Zaitsevs, Revtovs, Murachevs, Kalugins, and Kulikovs live in the village. Men wear belted embroidered shirts; women wear cotton skirts and floor-length dresses, and their hair is tied under a “shashmura” - a special headdress. The girls in the community are great fashionistas; each has up to 20-30 dresses and sundresses in her wardrobe. They come up with the styles themselves, cut and sew their new clothes. The elders buy fabrics in the cities of Santa Cruz or La Paz.

Women traditionally do handicrafts and run the household, raising children and grandchildren. Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell milk, cheese, and baked goods.

Old Believer families are mostly large - 10 children are not uncommon here. As in the old days, newborns are named according to the Psalter according to the date of birth. The names of the Toborochin people, unusual for the Bolivian ear, sound too archaic for the Russian person: Agapit, Agripena, Abraham, Anikey, Elizar, Zinovy, Zosim, Inafa, Cyprian, Lukiyan, Mamelfa, Matryona, Marimia, Pinarita, Palageya, Ratibor, Salamania, Selivester, Fedosya, Filaret, Fotinya.

Young people strive to keep up with the times and are mastering smartphones with all their might. Although many electronic devices are formally prohibited in the village, today even in the remotest wilderness it is not possible to hide from progress. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines, microwaves, and in some - televisions.

The main occupation of Toboroch residents is Agriculture. Around the settlement there are well-groomed agricultural lands. Of the crops grown by the Old Believers in vast fields, the first place is occupied by corn, wheat, soybeans and rice. Moreover, the Old Believers succeed in this better than the Bolivians who have lived in these parts for centuries.

To work in the fields, the “bearded men” hire local peasants, whom they call Kolya. At the village factory, the harvest is processed, packaged and distributed to wholesalers. From the fruits that grow here all year round, they make kvass, mash, jam and preserves.

In artificial reservoirs, Tobor residents breed the Amazonian freshwater fish pacu, the meat of which is famous for its amazing softness and delicate taste. Adult pacu weigh more than 30 kg.

The fish are fed 2 times a day - at dawn and at sunset. The food is produced right there, in the village mini-factory.

Here everyone is busy with their own business - both adults and children, whom early years trained to work. The only day off is Sunday. On this day, community members relax, visit each other and always attend church. Men and women come to the Temple in elegant light-colored clothes, over which something dark is thrown. The black cape is a symbol of the fact that everyone is equal before God.

Also on Sunday, men go fishing, boys play football and volleyball. Football is the most popular game in Toboroch. The local football team has won amateur school tournaments more than once.

Education

The Old Believers have their own education system. The very first and main book- the alphabet of the Church Slavonic language, which children are taught from an early age. Older children study ancient psalms, and only then - modern literacy lessons. Old Russian is closer to them; even the little ones can read Old Testament prayers fluently.

Children in the community receive a comprehensive education. More than 10 years ago, the Bolivian authorities financed the construction of a school in the village. It is divided into 3 classes: children 5-8 years old, 8-11 and 12-14 year olds. Bolivian teachers regularly come to the village to teach Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, and drawing.

Children learn Russian at home. In the village they speak only Russian everywhere, with the exception of school.

Culture, religion

Being far from their historical homeland, Russian Old Believers in Bolivia preserved unique cultural and religious customs better than their co-religionists living in Russia. Although, perhaps, it is the distance from native land was the reason that these people so protect their values ​​and passionately defend the traditions of their ancestors. Bolivian Old Believers are a self-sufficient community, but they do not oppose the outside world. The Russians were able to perfectly establish not only their way of life, but also their cultural life. They never experience boredom; they always know what to do in their free time. They celebrate their holidays very solemnly, with traditional feasts, dances and songs.

Bolivian Old Believers strictly observe strict commandments regarding religion. They pray at least 2 times a day, morning and evening. Every Sunday and on religious holidays the service lasts several hours. Generally speaking, the religiosity of South American Old Believers is distinguished by fervor and steadfastness. Absolutely every village has its own house of worship.

Language

Not knowing about the existence of such a science as sociolinguistics, Russian Old Believers in Bolivia intuitively they act in such a way as to preserve their native language for posterity: they live separately, honor centuries-old traditions, and speak only Russian at home.

In Bolivia, Old Believers who arrived from Russia and settled far from large cities practically do not marry with the local population. This allowed them to preserve Russian culture and Pushkin's language much better than other Old Believer communities in Latin America.

“Our blood is truly Russian, we have never mixed it, and have always preserved our culture. Our children do not learn Spanish until they are 13-14 years old, so as not to forget their native language,” say the Old Believers.

The language of the ancestors is preserved and instilled by the family, passing it on from the older generation to the younger. Children must be taught to read in Russian and Old Church Slavonic, because in every family the main book is the Bible.

It is surprising that all the Old Believers living in Bolivia speak Russian without the slightest accent, although their fathers and even grandfathers were born in South America and have never been to Russia. Moreover, the speech of the Old Believers still bears shades of the characteristic Siberian dialect.

Linguists know that in case of emigration, people lose their native language already in the 3rd generation, that is, the grandchildren of those who left, as a rule, do not speak the language of their grandparents. But in Bolivia, the 4th generation of Old Believers is already fluent in Russian. This is an amazingly pure, dialectal language spoken in Russia in the 19th century. It is important that the language of the Old Believers is alive, it is constantly developing and enriching. Today it represents a unique combination of archaism and neologisms. When Old Believers need to designate a new phenomenon, they easily and simply invent new words. For example, Toborsk residents call cartoons “jumpers”, and light bulb garlands – “beggings”. They call tangerines “mimosa” (probably because of the shape and bright color of the fruit). The word “mistress” is alien to them, but “suitor” is quite familiar and understandable.

During the years of living in a foreign land in oral speech Old Believers included many words borrowed from Spanish. For example, their fair is called “feria” (Spanish: Feria – “display, exhibition, show”), and the market is called “mercado” (Spanish: Mercado). Some spanish words the Old Believers “Russified”, and a number of outdated Russian words used by the residents of Toboroch are now unheard of even in the most remote corners of Russia. So, instead of “very”, the Old Believers say “very”, the tree is called “forest”, and the sweater is called “kufaika”. They have no respect for television; bearded men believe that television leads people to hell, but they still occasionally watch Russian films.

Although the Old Believers communicate exclusively in Russian at home, everyone speaks Spanish sufficiently for trouble-free living in the country. As a rule, men know Spanish better, because the responsibility to earn money and provide for their family rests entirely with them. The task of women is to run the household and raise children. So women are not only housekeepers, but also guardians of their native language.

It is interesting that this situation is typical for Old Believers living in South America. While in the USA and Australia the second generation of Old Believers has completely switched to English.

Marriages

Closed communities are usually characterized by closely related unions and, as a result, an increase in genetic problems. But this does not apply to Old Believers. Our ancestors also established the immutable “rule of the eighth generation,” when marriages between relatives up to the 8th generation are prohibited.

Old Believers know their ancestry very well and communicate with all their relatives.

Mixed marriages are not encouraged by the Old Believers, but young people are not categorically prohibited from starting families with local residents. But only a non-believer must certainly accept Orthodox faith, learn Russian (reading holy books in Old Slavonic language), observe all the traditions of the Old Believers and earn the respect of the community. It is easy to guess that such weddings do not happen often. However, adults rarely ask their children’s opinion about marriage - most often, parents themselves select a spouse for their child from other communities.

By the age of 16, young men acquire the necessary experience in working in the fields and can already get married. Girls can get married at the age of 13. My daughter’s first “adult” birthday gift was a collection of old Russian songs, painstakingly copied by hand by her mother.

Back to Russia

In the early 2010s. For the first time in many years, Russian Old Believers began to have friction with the authorities when the leftist government (Spanish Juan Evo Morales Ayma; President of Bolivia since January 22, 2006) began to show increased interest in the Indian lands on which Russian Old Believers settled. Many families are seriously thinking about moving to their historical homeland, especially since Russian government V last years actively supports the return of compatriots.

Most South American Old Believers have never been to Russia, but they remember their history and say that they have always felt homesick. Old Believers also dream of seeing real snow. The Russian authorities allocated land to those who arrived in the regions from which they fled to China 90 years ago, i.e. in Primorye and Siberia.

The eternal problem of Russia is roads and officials

Today, Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia alone are home to approx. 3 thousand Russian Old Believers.

As part of the program for the resettlement of compatriots to their homeland in 2011-2012. Several Old Believer families moved from Bolivia to Primorsky Krai. In 2016, a representative of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church reported that those who had moved had been deceived by local officials and were on the verge of starvation.

Each Old Believer family is capable of cultivating up to 2 thousand hectares of land, as well as raising livestock. Land is the most important thing in the lives of these hardworking people. They call themselves in the Spanish manner - agricultors (Spanish Agricultor - “farmer”). And local authorities, taking advantage of the settlers’ poor knowledge of Russian legislation, allocated them plots intended only for haymaking - nothing else can be done on these lands. In addition, after some time, the administration raised the land tax rate for the Old Believers several times. The approximately 1,500 families remaining in South America who are ready to move to Russia fear that they will not be welcomed “with open arms” in their historical homeland either.

“We are strangers in South America because we are Russians, but in Russia we are not needed by anyone either. Here is paradise, the nature is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. But officials are a complete nightmare,” the Old Believers are upset.

The Old Believers are concerned that over time all barbudos (from Spanish - “bearded men”) will move to Primorye. They themselves see the solution to the problem in control by the Russian Presidential Administration over the implementation of the federal program.

In June 2016, the 1st international conference “Old Believers, State and Society in the Modern World” was held in Moscow, which brought together representatives of the largest Orthodox Old Believers’ agreements (Consent is a group of associations of believers in the Old Believers - editor’s note) from Russia, near and far abroad. The conference participants discussed “the difficult situation of Old Believers families who moved to Primorye from Bolivia.”

There are, of course, plenty of problems. For example, children attending school is not included in the centuries-old traditions of the Old Believers. Their usual way of life is work in the fields and prayers. “It is important for us to preserve traditions, faith and rituals, and it will be a great shame that in a foreign country we preserved this, but in our own country we lose it”, says the head of the Primorye Old Believer community.

Education officials are confused. On the one hand, I don’t want to put pressure on original migrants. But according to the law on universal education, all Russian citizens, regardless of their religion, are obliged to send their children to school.

Old Believers cannot be forced to violate their principles; for the sake of preserving traditions, they will be ready to take off again and look for another refuge.

"Far Eastern Hectare" - for bearded men

The Russian authorities are well aware that the Old Believers, who managed to preserve the culture and traditions of their ancestors far from their homeland, are the Golden Fund of the Russian nation. Especially against the backdrop of the unfavorable demographic situation in the country.

The plan for the demographic policy of the Far East for the period until 2025, approved by the Government of the Russian Federation, provides for the creation of additional incentives for the resettlement of compatriots-Old Believers living abroad to the regions of the Far East. Now they will be able to receive their “Far Eastern hectare” at the initial stage of obtaining citizenship.

Today at Amur region and the Primorsky Territory are home to about 150 families of Old Believers migrants who arrived from South America. On Far East Several more families of South American Old Believers are ready to move; land plots have already been selected for them.

In March 2017, Cornelius, Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, became the first Old Believer primate in 350 years to be officially accepted by the President of Russia. During a detailed conversation, Putin assured Cornelius that the state would be more attentive to compatriots who want to return to their native lands and look for ways to best resolve emerging problems.

“People who come to these regions...with a desire to work on the land, to create strong large families“Of course, it is necessary to support,” V. Putin emphasized.

Soon a working trip to South America took place for a group of representatives of the Russian Agency for the Development of Human Capital. And already in the summer of 2018, representatives of Old Believer communities from Uruguay, Bolivia and Brazil came to the Far East to familiarize themselves with the conditions for the possible resettlement of people.

Primorye Old Believers are looking forward to their remaining overseas relatives moving to Russia. They dream that their many years of wandering around the world will finally end and they want to finally settle here - albeit on the edge of the earth, but in their beloved homeland.

Curious facts

• The traditional Old Believer family is based on respect and love, about which the Apostle Paul said this in his letter to the Corinthians: “Love endures for a long time, is merciful, love does not envy, does not boast, ... does not act outrageously, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; love covers everything, believes everything, ... endures everything.”(1 Cor. 13:4-7).
• There is a popular proverb among Old Believers: “The only thing that doesn’t grow in Bolivia is what isn’t planted.”.
• When it comes to driving, men and women have equal rights. In the Old Believer community, a woman driving is quite commonplace.
• The generous Bolivian soil produces crops up to 3 times a year.
• It was in Toborochi that a unique variety of Bolivian beans was developed, which is now grown throughout the country.
• In 1999, city authorities decided to celebrate the anniversary of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Pushkin, and a street named after the great Russian poet appeared in the administrative capital of Bolivia.
• Bolivian Old Believers even have their own newspaper - “Russkoebarrio” (Spanish “barrio” - “neighborhood”; La Paz, 2005-2006).
• Old Believers have a negative attitude towards all barcodes. They are sure that any barcode is a “sign of the devil.”
• The brown pacu is famous for its eerie teeth, which are strikingly similar to human teeth. However, human teeth are not capable of inflicting such terrible wounds on the victim as the jaws of a predatory fish.
• For the most part, Toborsk residents are descendants of Old Believers from Nizhny Novgorod province, who fled to Siberia under Peter I. Therefore, the ancient Nizhny Novgorod dialect can still be traced in their speech today.
• When asked who they consider themselves to be, Russian Old Believers confidently answer: "We are Europeans".