Kriashen Tatars

ETHNONYMS: Kräshenlär, Kreshchenye Tatary, Starokreshchenye Tatary

Settlements

There are very few sources that discuss the nature of Kriashen villages, and even their precise locations are unclear. Kriashens appear to have traditionally located themselves near streams or springs, building one-or two-story houses along narrow, straight streets. Their houses were for the most part wooden and had elaborately carved facades. In front of the houses were carved picket fences and low gates.

Bibliography

Bekteeva, E. A. (1902). "Nagaibaki (Kreshchenye tatary orenburgskoi gubernii)" (Orenburg government Tatar baptism). Zhivaia Starina 2:165-181.

Bennigsen, Alexandre, and S. Enders Wimbush (1986). Muslims of the Soviet Empire: A Guide. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

Mukhametshin, Iu. G. (1967). Tatary srednego Povolzh'ia i Priural'ia (Tartars of the middle Volga provinces and the Preurals). Moscow: Nauka.

Mukhametshin, Iu. G. (1977). Tatary Kriasheny (Kriashen Tatars). Moscow: Nauka.

Vaiazitova, F. S. (1986). Govory Tatar-Kriashen v sravnitel'nom osveshchenii (Tatar-Kriashen speech in a comparative light). Moscow: Nauka.

ALLEN J. FRANK