Tuvans+-+Russia+-+FA11

Brian Sloan, Adam Kunkel

Language - The Tuvan language is in the Northern or Siberian branch of the Turkic family. Of this language their are four dialects: Central, Western, Southeastern and Northeastern part of Russia. This language is based on the Cryillic alphabet. The Central dialect is the basis of the literary language and includes Ovyur and Bii-Khem sub-dialects. Western can be found spoken near the upper Khemchik River. Northeastern can be found in the Bii-khem River. It contains a large vocabulary related to hunting. Southeastern is influeneced by the mongolian Language. There are still small groups of people that live in the People`s Republic of china and in Mongolia and they speak the language.

Beliefs - The Tuvans have mainly shamanistic beliefs. Their main religions are Siberian shamanism and Tibetan Lamaism.Tibetan Lamaism comes from a form of Buddhism and mainly involves prayers, ritual dances and the exorcism of devils. This is a combination of magic and nature worship. Tuvans also have a strong belief in reincarnation, and karma influences this greatly.A funeral is always held in under five days after a person dies. This is influenced by shamanism in that after seven days, the soul is believed to depart for the kingdom of the dead, which it reaches on the forty-ninth day. They do not decorate the dead or the grave, for they believe the body returns to the Earth.

Values - The Tuvans greatly value their ancestery. They also value their nomadic and rural heritage, which can be seen in the many wild landscapes dotted with monuments. Males are more valued in this culture, which can be seen in the fact that Tuva has always been ruled by Uriankhai Mongol princes, and Borjigit Mongol princes. Also, the khoomei (throat-singing), an important part of Tuvan culture, is practiced almost exclusively by men. It is important because it expresses their beliefs in spirits by imitating sounds in nature.

Behaviors - One of the behaviors of that the tuvans loved to do was music, sing and dance. Some of the most famous musical groups are called Huun-Hurr-Tu and the Alash Ensemble. A unique form of music in Tuva is khoomei or “throat” singing. This is also important to their spiritual beliefs, because it is supposed to imitate sounds of the spirits. Where they are located is a big matter as well because if they are high altitudes they would play special songs about the environment that they were in. If they were in low altitudes they would have special songs about that. There were songs for everything in their culture just like any other culture is today. Another important behavior about them was how they hunted. They would train ride horses and ride hundreds of miles to kill a single animal for their tribe because they were always looking for food. In doing this they might sometimes run into other people and they would share their technology and all of their ideas with the new people. This would show how they were sharing theirt culture with other people. Most Tuvans are nomadic, and as such usually have sheep or cattle herds which they tend to. They traditionally live in yurts, which are like large portable tents covered in felts. A popular sport in Tuva is Khuresh, a form of wrestling.

Factors of cultural change - In 1931, there were more than 4,000 lamas and two dozen lamaseries in Tuva. In the late 1930’s however, most of the lamas were killed, and nearly all of the lamaseries were destroyed by purges instigated by graduates of the KUTV. After this a Buddhist community was officially registered in Tuva. Tourism is also starting to change Tuva. The country is gaining in tourism but many Tuvans don't want that. They want to remain with their ancesteral values. Tourism is also causing environmental problems. Tuvans culture changed greatly when the Soviets repressed them around 1929.

SOURCES: Primary: "Religion and Expressive Culture - Tuvans." //Countries and Their Cultures//. Web. 30 Aug. 2011. < [] >. This was a good source because it is based on an essay written for the Encyclopedia of World Cultures. This also gives us easy to use information because it gives us a lot of detail in the beliefs of their culture.

"Tuvan Throat Singing - YouTube." //YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.// Web. 30 Aug. 2011. < [] >. This is a primary source because it is an example of Tuvan throat singing. This is a unique form of Tuvan art and is important to their culture.

Secondary: Sinor, Denis. "Tuvans." //Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia//. Web. 30 Aug. 2011. < [] >. This secondary source has a lot of information and can be found reliable when verified with other sources. As well as this gave us lots of information about their music, language, religion and the history of their culture.

Print source: //The World's Great Religions.// New York: Time, 1957. Print. This print source was good because it provides very detailed information about different religions. This was also good because they had lots of visualization and this make you picture their religion and how it worked.