“Here, in Bolivia, the Old Believers perfectly preserve the Russian language”

This is just a photojournalist's dream: the jungle, "many, many wild monkeys" and against this outlandish background - she, a blue-eyed girl in a sundress and with a blond braid to the waist.

And here is the village, where blond boys in embroidered shirts run through the streets, and women always put their hair under shashmura - a special headdress. Unless the huts are not log, but instead of birch palm trees. Russia, which we lost, was preserved in South America.

There, after long wanderings, the Old Believers found refuge in their desire to preserve the faith and life principles of their ancestors. As a result, they managed to save not only this, but also the Russian language of the past centuries, for which, like a treasure, linguists go to South America. Senior Research Fellow at the Russian Language Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences Olga Rovnova recently returned from another, already the ninth expedition to South America. This time she visited Bolivia, in Toborochi village founded by the Old Believers in the 1980s. The linguist told the Russian Planet portal about the life of the Russian language on the other side of the earth.

Tell us in a nutshell, how did the Old Believers end up in South America?

Their ancestors fled from Russia in the late 1920s and early 1930s to China from Soviet rule. In China, they lived until the end of the 1950s, until they began to build communism there and drive everyone to collective farms.

The Old Believers again took off and moved to South America - to Brazil and Argentina.

Why did they move to Bolivia?

Not everyone was able to take root in Brazil on the lands that the government allocated to them. It was a jungle that had to be uprooted by hand, plus the soil had a very thin fertile layer - hellish conditions awaited them. Therefore, after a few years, part of the Old Believers began to look for new territories. Some went to Bolivia and Uruguay: here they were also offered jungle plots, but the soil in Bolivia is more fertile. Someone found out that the United States is also selling land in the state of Oregon.

They sent a delegation for reconnaissance, they returned with the most favorable impressions, and some of the Old Believers moved to Oregon. But since the families of the Old Believers are large and they need a lot of living space, they eventually went from Oregon to Minnesota and further to Alaska, where a certain amount of the Russian population has long lived. Some even went to Australia. The proverb "The fish is looking for where it is deeper, and the man - where it is better" is very suitable for our Old Believers.

What are they doing in their new places?

In Bolivia and in Latin America as a whole, agriculture. In the village of Toborochi, where we were this year, they grow wheat, beans, corn, and in artificial ponds they breed Amazonian pacu fish. And you know, they're good at it. Labor on the ground gives them a good income. Of course, there are different situations, but mostly Latin American Old Believers are very wealthy people. In the United States, the situation is slightly different - there, part of the families work in factories and in the service sector.

What is it, the Russian language of the Latin American Old Believers?

It is a living dialectal Russian language that was spoken in Russia in the 19th century. Clean, without an accent, but this is a dialect, not a literary language. There is a rare situation: linguists are well aware that in the case of emigration, people lose their native language already in the third generation. That is, the grandchildren of those who have left usually no longer speak the native language of their grandparents. We see this in the examples of both the first and second waves of emigration. And here, in Bolivia, the Old Believers perfectly preserve the language: the fourth generation speaks pure Russian. This time we recorded a boy of 10 years old. His name is Diy, he studies Spanish at school, but at home he speaks a Russian dialect.

At the same time, it is important that the language of the Old Believers is not preserved. He is alive, he is developing. True, in isolation from Russia, it develops in a different way. In their speech there are a lot of words borrowed from Spanish. But they build them into the system of the Russian language - lexically, morphologically. For example, they call a gas station "gasoline" from the Spanish word gasolinera. They do not have the phrase "agriculture", so they say to themselves: "We are engaged in agriculture, we are agriculturalists." And these borrowings are mixed in their speech with obsolete words that are no longer found in our language. For example, their tree is a forest.

This situation is typical for all Old Believers living in South America. While in the USA or Australia the situation is reversed. There, the second generation is completely switching to English. For example, if a grandmother lives in Bolivia, and a grandson lives in Oregon or Alaska, then they can no longer communicate directly.

And why is the Russian language better preserved in South America than in North America?

There is a general trend: the richer the country, the stronger the influence it has on the Old Believers - both economic and linguistic.

In the same Oregon, women are involved in economic activities. As a rule, they work - in the service sector or in production. And, of course, they themselves actively learn the language of the host country. Children go to an English-speaking school, watch TV in English. The native language is gradually disappearing.

Not so in Latin America. The task of making money lies entirely with the man. Women are not required to work and therefore have less contact with the local population. The task of a woman is to run a household and raise children. They are not only the guardians of the hearth, but also the guardians of the language.

The locality where the Old Believers live is also important. Here, in Bolivia, the Old Believers live in their village, completely in their own environment. Their children attend a school where they are taught in Spanish, but what is typical: in both Bolivia and Brazil, the Old Believers are trying to build a school in their village - often with their own money - and agree that teachers would go to them, instead of send children to a strange village or city. Therefore, the children are constantly in the village, in which - with the exception of the school - everywhere they speak only Russian. By the way, rural women are the guardians of dialects in Russia. Men lose their dialect much faster.

Still, the dialect of which particular area do the Old Believers speak?

Basically, they took with them the language of the area from which they fled abroad. For example, in Estonia, on the shores of Lake Peipus, live Old Believers who once came from the Pskov region. And the Pskov dialect is still traced in their speech.

The Bolivian Old Believers entered China through two corridors. One group came to Xinjiang Province from Altai. The second group fled from Primorye. They crossed the Amur and settled in Harbin, and there are differences in their speech, which I will talk about a little later.

But what is interesting is that both Xinjiang and Harbin people, as they call themselves, in their bulk are Kerzhaks, descendants of the Old Believers from the Nizhny Novgorod province. Under Peter I, they were forced to flee to Siberia, and the dialect of the Nizhny Novgorod province can be traced in their speech.

What is this dialect?

I will have to tell you literally in a couple of words about Russian dialects. There are two large groups of dialects - the Northern dialect and the Southern dialect. The most famous differences in pronunciation are as follows: in the north they “okayut”, and in the south - “akayut”, in the north the sound [r] is explosive, and in the south it is fricative, in a weak position it is pronounced like [x]. And between these two dialects there is a wide band of Central Russian dialects. They are very colorful, but each took something from the Northern dialect, and something from the Southern. For example, the Moscow dialect, which formed the basis of the Russian literary language, is also a Central Russian dialect. It is characterized by a southern "akanye" and, at the same time, a northern explosive [r]. The dialect of the South American Old Believers is Central Russian, but it differs from Moscow.

They also “kayat”, but from the northern dialect they took, for example, the so-called contraction of vowels, that is, they say “So beautiful girl”, “I took such a beautiful girl as my wife”.

Are there differences in language among different communities of American Old Believers?

There is. And these differences are due not to who lives in what area now, but to which part of China they left for America. Although their speech is very similar, there are still features in the speech of the Xinjiang people that make Harbin people smile. For example, the Xinjiang people say [s] instead of the sound [ts]. Instead of a chicken, they have “syplyok”, “sar” instead of a king. And [h] they pronounce as [u]: son, kennel, shopkeeper. It hurts the ear a lot, especially at the beginning of communication. And the residents of Harbin, who do not have all this, consider their speech to be more correct, more similar to Russian. In general, it is very important for the Old Believers to be aware of their closeness to Russia.

By the way, what do the Old Believers think about our Russian language?

They are very worried about him. They do not understand many words that have appeared in Russia in recent years. A typical example, we were in the same house, and there relatives from Alaska came to the owners. One of them asks what language is spoken in Russia now. In Russian, I answer. “What kind of Russian language is this if they call a kufayka sweater!”

The Old Believers are not fond of TV, but they still watch Russian films, and then they start asking me questions. One day they ask me: “What is a mistress?”. I explain to them, and they say: “Ah! So this is our "boyfriend"! Or a girl who loves to cook, after looking at our culinary forums, asks me what cakes are - “I know cakes, and pies, but I don’t know cakes.”

Indeed, it would seem that the Old Believers should avoid all these modern technologies, but do they even use the Internet?

It's not encouraged, but it's not forbidden either. They use modern equipment in their work: they use John Deer tractors and combines in their fields. And at home - Skype, with the help of which they keep in touch with their families around the world, and also find brides and grooms for their children - in both Americas and in Australia.

I just wanted to ask about marriages, because closed communities are characterized by closely related unions and, as a result, an increase in genetic problems.

This is not about old believers. Without knowing genetics, their ancestors established the rule of the eighth tribe: marriages between relatives up to the eighth tribe are prohibited. They perfectly know their pedigree to such a depth, all their relatives. And the Internet is important for them in order to find new families in the conditions when the Old Believers settled all over the world.

However, they also allow marriages with strangers, provided that they accept the faith and learn the prayers. On this visit, we saw a young man from the locals who was courting a girl from the village. He speaks very interestingly: in dialectal Russian with a Spanish accent.

And to what extent do the Old Believers themselves speak Spanish?

Enough to live in the country. As a rule, men speak the language better. But when I went into the store with one of the women and realized that my Spanish was clearly not enough to communicate with the saleswoman, my companion turned out to be a very lively translator.

What, in your opinion, is the future fate of the Russian dialect language in South America? Will he live on?

I would very much like to come to them in 20 years and see what their Russian language will become. Of course it will be different. But you know, I have no worries about the Russian language in Bolivia. They speak without an accent. Their dialect is extremely tenacious. This is a completely unique combination of archaic and innovative. When they need to name a new phenomenon, they easily invent new words. For example, they call cartoons the word "jumping", garlands of light bulbs - "blinks", a headband on the hair - "clothes". They know the word "loan", but they themselves say "to take on payment."

Old Believers very widely use metaphors to refer to new objects or concepts. For example, I show a boy to a tree in their village - it's a big tree with large fragrant bright red clusters of flowers. I ask: what is it called? “I don’t know, my sister calls me a lilac,” the boy answers me. Other flowers, a different fragrance, but a similar shape of clusters - and here's a lilac for you. And they call tangerines "mimosa". Apparently, for their round shape and bright color. I ask the girl where her brother is. "Fadeyka something? They'll clear the mimosa." Vaughn, peeling tangerines ...

Knowing nothing about such a science as sociolinguistics, the Old Believers in Bolivia do exactly what needs to be done to preserve the language. They live apart and demand that in the village, at home, only Russian be spoken. And I really hope that the Russian language will be heard in Bolivia for a long time to come.

Interviewed by Milena Bakhvalova

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 arrived from China, 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 in Russia itself have long been out of use. 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 a tropical forest covered with lianas, pre-revolutionary Russia, which we no longer remember, has somehow been preserved in an 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.”

... Recently, Russian colonists began to leave Taboroche - land rent has risen in price. “We are like gypsies,” Feodosia laughs. - A little bit, we’re filming and we’re going. ” The new land is leased to the south, across the river - it is 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.

He lives in a special dimension, where the connection between man and nature is unusually strong. In the vast list of amazing phenomena that travelers encounter in this incomprehensible, mysterious country, a significant position is occupied by Russian Old Believer settlements. The village of Old Believers in the middle of the South American selva 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 arrange their lives much better than most of the indigenous Bolivian peasants who have lived in these parts for many centuries.

History 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 2,000 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 rejection of church reforms by believers (XVII century). Patriarch Nikon of Moscow, the "Great Sovereign of All Russia" 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. "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 headed by Archpriest Avvakum.

The Old Believers, who did not recognize the corrected theological books and did not accept changes in church rites, were subjected to severe persecution by the church and persecution by state authorities. Already in the XVIII century. many fled from Russia, at first they fled to Siberia and the Far East. Stubborn people irritated Nicholas II, and later the Bolsheviks.

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

The Old Believers began to move to Bolivia as early as the 2nd half of the 19th century, arriving in separate groups, but their massive influx occurred in the period 1920-1940. - 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 second wave was much more difficult. First, during the years of the civil war, the Old Believers fled to neighboring Manchuria, where a new generation had time to be born. In China, the Old Believers lived until the early 1960s, until the “Great Cultural Revolution” broke out there, led by the “great pilot”, Mao Zedong. The Russians again had to run away from the construction of communism and the mass drive to the 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 gave 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 off in search of new territories. Many settled in, someone left for the USA, someone went to Australia and Alaska.

Several families made their way to Bolivia, which was considered the wildest and most backward country on the continent. The authorities gave the Russian wanderers a warm welcome and also gave them plots overgrown with jungle. But the Bolivian soil was 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 exhausting tropical heat with firmness, despite the fact that it is not permissible for them to open their bodies excessively. The Bolivian selva has become a small homeland for the Russian "bearded men", and the fertile land provides everything necessary.

The country's government willingly meets the needs of the Old Believers, allocating land for their large families and providing soft loans for the development of agriculture. 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 curious 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 in Bolivia

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

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

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

A strict patriarchy prevails in the community of Bolivian Old Believers. The woman here knows her place. According to the laws of the Old Believers, the main purpose of the mother of the family is to preserve the hearth. It is unsuitable for a woman to flaunt herself, they wear dresses and sundresses to the toes, cover their heads, never use cosmetics. Some indulgence is allowed for young girls - they are allowed not to tie their heads with a scarf. All clothes are sewn and embroidered by the female part of the community.

Married women are forbidden to protect themselves from pregnancy, so Old Believer families traditionally have many children. Children 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 Believer men are despots who tyrannize their wives. They also have to follow many unwritten rules. As soon as the first fluff appears on the young man’s face, he becomes a real man who, along with his father, is responsible for his family. Old Believers are usually not allowed to shave their beards, hence their nickname - "bearded men".

The Old Believer way of life does not provide for any secular life, reading "obscene" literature, cinema and 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 forbid the Old Believers to eat food bought in the store, and, moreover, visit 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 farm (salt, sugar, vegetable oil, etc.). Being invited to visit by local Bolivians, the Old Believers eat only food brought with them.

They do not smoke, do not chew coca, do not drink alcohol (the only exception is home-made mash, which they drink with pleasure on occasion).

Despite the external dissimilarity with the locals and the strict observance of 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 the Old Believers are fluent in Spanish.

Toborochi

How the life of the Old Believers in the country developed can be found by visiting the Bolivian village Toborochi(Spanish: Toborochi).

In the eastern part of Bolivia, 17 km from the city, there is a colorful village founded in the 1980s. Russian Old Believers who arrived here. In this village you can feel the real Russian spirit; 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, the Old Believer settlement in the open spaces 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 selva with palm trees. Against the backdrop of exotic tropical nature, a sort of fair-haired, blue-eyed, bearded Mikuls Selyaninovichs in embroidered shirts-kosovorotkas and in bast shoes are walking around their well-groomed possessions. And ruddy girls with wheaten braids below the waist, dressed in long-sleeved colorful sundresses, sing heartfelt Russian songs at work. Meanwhile, this is not a fairy tale, but a real phenomenon.

This is Russia, which we have lost, but which has been preserved far beyond the ocean, in South America.

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

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

Women are traditionally engaged in needlework and housekeeping, raising children and grandchildren. Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell milk, cheese, pastries.

Most Old Believer families have many children - 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 Toborochins, which are unusual for a Bolivian, and for a Russian person sound too archaic: Agapit, Agripena, Abraham, Anikey, Elizar, Zinovy, Zosim, Inafa, Cyprian, Lukiyan, Mamelfa, Matrena, Marimiya, Pinarita, Palageya, Ratibor, Salamania, Selyvestre, Fedosya, Filaret, Fotinya.

Young people strive to keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Although many electronic devices are formally banned in the countryside, today even in the most remote wilderness one cannot hide from progress. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines, microwave ovens, and some have TVs.

The main occupation of the inhabitants of Toboroch is agriculture. Around the settlement 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 been living 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, packed and sold to wholesalers. From the fruits that grow here all year round, they make kvass, mash, make jams and jams.

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

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

Here everyone is busy with their own business - both adults and children, who are taught to work from an early age. The only day off is Sunday. On this day, members of the community have a rest, go to visit each other and attend church. Men and women come to the Temple in elegant light clothes, over which something dark is thrown over. 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 Toborochi. 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 is the alphabet of the Church Slavonic language, according to which children are taught from an early age. Older children study ancient psalms, only then - the lessons of modern literacy. Old Russian is closer to them, even the smallest fluently read the Old Testament prayers.

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 years old. Bolivian teachers regularly come to the village to teach Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, and drawing.

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

Culture, religion

Being far from their historical homeland, the Russian Old Believers in Bolivia have preserved their unique cultural and religious customs better than their co-religionists living in Russia. Although, perhaps, it was the remoteness from their native land that caused these people to protect their values ​​​​and ardently defend the traditions of their ancestors. The Bolivian Old Believers are a self-sufficient community, but they do not oppose the outside world. The Russians were able to perfectly organize not only their way of life, but also their cultural life. Boredom is unknown to them, 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 for several hours. Generally speaking, the religiosity of the South American Old Believers is characterized by zeal and steadfastness. Absolutely in each of their villages there is a prayer house.

Language

Unaware of the existence of such a science as sociolinguistics, Russian Old Believers in Bolivia intuitively act in such a way as to preserve their native language for posterity: they live apart, honor centuries-old traditions, at home they speak only Russian.

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

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

The language of ancestors is kept 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 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 the 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 a surprisingly pure, dialectal language that was spoken in Russia in the 19th century. At the same time, it is important that the language of the Old Believers is alive, it is constantly developing and enriching itself. Today it is a unique combination of archaism and neologisms. When the Old Believers need to designate a new phenomenon, they easily and simply invent new words. For example, Toboro residents call cartoons "jumping", and lamp garlands - "blinks". They call tangerines "mimosa" (probably because of the shape and bright color of the fruit). The word “lover” is alien to them, but “boyfriend” is quite familiar and understandable.

Over the years of living in a foreign land, many words borrowed from Spanish have entered the oral speech of the Old Believers. For example, they call the fair "feria" (Spanish Feria - "show, exhibition, show"), and the market - "mercado" (Spanish Mercado). Some Spanish words among the Old Believers have become “Russified”, and a number of obsolete Russian words used by the inhabitants of Toborochi are now not heard even in the most remote corners of Russia. So, instead of “very”, the Old Believers say “very much”, the tree is called “forest”, and the sweater is called “kufayka”. They don't have television, the bearded men believe that television leads people to hell, but still they occasionally watch Russian films.

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

Interestingly, 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 the Old Believers. Even the ancestors established the immutable "rule of the eighth tribe", when marriages between relatives up to the 8th tribe are prohibited.

The Old Believers are well aware of their ancestry and communicate with all relatives.

Mixed marriages are not encouraged by the Old Believers, but young people are not categorically prohibited from creating families with local residents. But only a non-believer must by all means accept the Orthodox faith, learn the Russian language (it is obligatory to read the sacred books in the 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 occur infrequently. However, adults rarely ask the opinion of children about marriage - most often, parents themselves choose a spouse for their child from other communities.

By the age of 16, young men acquire the necessary experience in the field and can already get married. Girls can get married at the age of 13. The daughter's first "adult" birthday present is a collection of old Russian songs painstakingly handwritten by her mother.

Back to Russia

In the early 2010s For the first time in many years, Russian Old Believers had 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 where Russian Old Believers settled. Many families are seriously thinking about moving to their historical homeland, especially since the Russian government has been actively supporting the return of compatriots in recent years.

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

The eternal misfortune of Russia - roads and officials

Today only in Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia lives 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 were 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. The earth is the most important thing in the life of these hardworking people. They themselves call themselves in the Spanish manner - agricultors (Spanish Agricultor - "farmer"). And the 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, some time later, the administration raised the land tax rate for the Old Believers several times. Approximately 1,500 families left 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.

“In South America, we are strangers, because we are Russians, but nobody needs us in Russia either. Here is paradise, the nature is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. But officials are a real nightmare, ”the Old Believers are upset.

The Old Believers make sure that over time all barbudos (from Spanish - “bearded men”) move to Primorye. They themselves see the solution to the problem in the control by the administration of the President of Russia over the implementation of the federal program.

In June 2016, Moscow hosted the 1st International Conference “Old Believers, the State and Society in the Modern World”, which brought together representatives of the largest Orthodox Old Believer concords (Consent is a group of associations of believers in the Old Believers - ed.) from Russia, near and far abroad. The participants of the conference discussed "the difficult situation of the families of the Old Believers who moved to Primorye from Bolivia."

Problems, of course, abound. For example, attending school by children is not included in the age-old traditions of the Old Believers. Their usual way of life is to work in the field and pray. “It is important for us to preserve traditions, faith and rituals, and it will be very disappointing that we have saved this in a foreign country, but we will lose it in our own country”, - says the head of the seaside Old Believer community.

Education officials are confused. On the one hand, I do not want to put pressure on the original migrants. But under the law on universal education, all citizens of Russia, regardless of their religion, are required to send their children to school.

The Old Believers cannot be forced to violate their principles, for the sake of preserving traditions they will be ready to break away again and look for another haven.

"Far Eastern hectare" - 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 background of the unfavorable demographic situation in the country.

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

Today, about 150 families of Old Believer settlers who arrived from South America live in the Amur Region and Primorsky Territory. Several more families of South American Old Believers are ready to move to the Far East; land plots have already been selected for them.

In March 2017, Kornily, Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, became the first Old Believer primate in 350 years to be officially received by the President of Russia. During a lengthy conversation, Putin assured Kornily that the state would be more attentive to compatriots wishing 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, create strong families with many children, of course, need to be supported,” Vladimir Putin emphasized.

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

Primorsky Old Believers are very much looking forward to moving to Russia for their relatives who have remained overseas. They dream that long-term wanderings 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 in his letter to the Corinthians: “Love endures for a long time, is merciful, love does not envy, does not exalt itself, ... does not act outrageously, does not think evil, does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; love covers everything, believes everything, ... endures everything "(1 Cor. 13:4-7).
• There is a popular proverb among the Old Believers: “In Bolivia, only what is not planted does not grow”.
• 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 land yields up to 3 crops per year.
• It was in Toborochi that a unique variety of Bolivian beans was bred, which is now grown throughout the country.
• In 1999, the city authorities decided to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Pushkin's birth, and a street named after the great Russian poet appeared in the administrative capital of Bolivia.
• The Bolivian Old Believers even have their own newspaper - "Russkoebarrio" (Spanish "barrio" - "neighborhood"; La Paz, 2005-2006).
• Old Believers have a negative attitude towards any barcodes. They are sure that any barcode is a "devil's mark".
• The brown pacu is "famous" for its creepy teeth, which are strikingly similar to human ones. However, human teeth are not capable of inflicting such terrible wounds on the victim as the jaws of a predatory fish.
• In their bulk, Toboro residents are descendants of the Old Believers from the Nizhny Novgorod province, who fled to Siberia under Peter I. Therefore, the old Nizhny Novgorod dialect can be traced in their speech today.
• When asked who they consider themselves to be, the Russian Old Believers confidently answer: "We are Europeans".

Many travelers often call Bolivia one of the most attractive and interesting countries: here you can find unusually beautiful places, strange-looking plants and animals. Everyone who comes to Bolivia certainly becomes a hostage to their own unforgettable experiences. But what really awaits the one who decided not only to drive through the impressive environs of Bolivia, but also to stay in a country that is often called the "Tibet" of South America.

To begin with, I would like to note that about 50% of the total population are Indians, who have preserved most of their folk traditions until the 21st century. They do not care about high technology and many signs of civilization - they feel quite well without hot water and a comfortable toilet. That is precisely why one can often find statements that Bolivia is a country where a high percentage of the population lives below the poverty line, does not have a stable income and access to the basic benefits of a developed state. But for many Bolivians, it is enough that they have a roof over their heads, arms and legs to work, and food to live on.

Bolivia is a country with a developed industry, but a low standard of living - any foreigner with a sum of several tens of thousands of dollars can freely plunge into a rich life by local standards.

Bolivia is also known to many thanks to coca freely growing throughout the country. It is grown in whole plantations and freely sold and bought literally on every corner. It is believed that chewing coca leaves has a tonic effect on the whole body, although all tourists are strongly advised to be as careful as possible about the use of coca, especially within the highlands. In addition to the fact that coca is grown under absolutely legal conditions, the production of drugs in this country is one of the most profitable activities, although it is still a shadow industry in the Bolivian industry.

About adaptation in Bolivia

Interestingly, those few who, having visited Bolivia as a tourist-traveler, having seen enough of its beauty and decided to settle here for permanent residence, later regret their choice. Although this does not mean that it is really difficult to exist in this country normally, it is not for nothing that there is a proverb “everywhere it is good where we are not”, and tourism and emigration should not be confused.

The Bolivians themselves, despite the very significant number of emigrants who have settled here since time immemorial, do not really favor visitors. Among such vivid examples are the Old Believers, who preserved the traditions and customs of their Russian ancestors, creating their own tiny states on the territory of Bolivia, which Bolivians sometimes even perceive as foreign, often without even looking at their places of settlement.

For the indigenous people of this country, that the Mennonites, that the Old Believers, that the Japanese are strangers, for a strange reason living in Bolivia. By the way, for example, the Old Believers, having a Bolivian passport, and therefore citizenship, speaking Spanish, often giving work to people around them and participating in the economy, do not consider themselves Bolivians, so such an attitude towards them is quite natural.

A real Bolivian, in fact, can be considered one who, among other things, was born in Bolivia and loves the country in which he lives, rightly calling it his homeland. Moreover, it does not matter at all what color his skin is - there are a lot of “white” indigenous people in this country.

Today's immigrants often say that even after several years of legal residence in Bolivia, they feel more like tourists than residents. The fact that many Russians complain of bouts of disgust and discontent can also be attributed to the negative factors and difficulties in adapting to a new country. It is possible that the reasons for such an attitude will seem insignificant to someone, but this is only until you plunge into this yourself.

Living in La Paz, many emigrants recall the bread sold in vacuum packs in their hometowns and countries - in Bolivia, one can often see an unflattering picture when splashes of mud from puddles, exhaust fumes from rudimentary buses fly onto lying bread, and dirty the hands of the loader, literally throwing loaves on the pitiful-looking counters.

Reflections on poverty in Bolivia

As mentioned above, Bolivia and Bolivians in particular cannot be called poor. In this context, this word is somewhat inappropriate, if only because there are practically no starving people among them.

Travelers unfamiliar with the local way of life can be amazed by the fact that a completely beggar-looking bomb with a bowler hat in his hands can afford to go to a restaurant to taste hot soup. By the way, it should be noted that there are practically no beggars here, or they look quite wealthy - with gold teeth and a lot of tasteless jewelry.

In Bolivia, even the poorest Indian family allows themselves the first, second and third courses at the table. Of course, this does not mean that they live well, but if a person is not hungry, then his existence, perhaps, can be considered acceptable.

A feature of the “common people” (that is, the majority, since in Bolivia most of the population is a category of people belonging to the middle class - they are not rich and not poor) is that in ordinary everyday life they look bad because of the shapeless, patched and dirty national clothes. Here it is not customary to dress up when going to the market. All the best clothes and jewelry are saved for the carnival - then brocade skirts and other attributes are fished out "to the light".

The same applies to basic living conditions - electricity, hot water, a toilet in the house, etc. Not every peasant who is able to improve his living conditions will go for it. For a Bolivian, this is not usual, and therefore not necessary.

It also speaks in favor of Bolivia that most of the buildings are fundamental brick structures with a good roof and windows. Here you will not find shacks built from improvised materials (cardboard, plywood) and more reminiscent of dog kennels than normal housing for a civilized person. True, along with this you will not find supermarkets and megacenters.

As one Russian emigrant who lived in Bolivia for more than three years said: “I returned to Russia with a light heart and soul. I rejoiced at this event like a child. I thought that after living in Bolivia, my former life would seem like paradise to me. But I was bitterly disappointed and suddenly I was drawn back .... To the country of color, vivid impressions and too simple-hearted inhabitants.

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, microwave ovens 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 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 in large 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. The main subjects are 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 been Russified and are inclined according to the rules of their native language. 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)