#kabardian

[songs-of-the-east]

Kabardian Girl Weaving a Traditional Ardzhen (Арджен)

Ardzhen is a traditional woven mat of the Circassian people, made from flexible natural materials, primarily marsh grass. Traditionally, ardzhen mats served both practical and symbolic purposes, used as floor coverings, bedding, or decorative elements, and woven by women to demonstrate skill, patience, and readiness for marriage. In the early 21st century, the craft experienced a revival thanks to the efforts of cultural enthusiasts.

[postcard-from-the-past]

Kabardian woman from the Caucasus, Russia

Russian vintage postcard

[spinninggaround]

circassian miku for all my circassian babies out there

[sartorialadventure]

Ilona Zhilova, Miss Russian Radio 2004, from the Kabardino-Balcarian region. She is Kabardian.

The Kabardino-Balkarian Republic (Russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рская Респу́блика, Kabardino-Balkarskaya Respublika; Kabardian: Къэбэрдей-Балъкъэр Республикэ, Ķêbêrdej-Baĺķêr Respublikê; Karachay-Balkar: Къабарты-Малкъар Республика, Qabartı-Malqar Respublika) or Kabardino-Balkaria (Russian: Кабарди́но-Балка́рия, Kabardino-Balkariya), is a federal subject of Russia (a republic) located in the North Caucasus. As of the 2010 Census, its population was 859,939 on 12,500 square km. Its capital is Nalchik. The area contains the highest mountain in Europe, Mount Elbrus, at 5,642 m. Mount Elbrus has 22 glaciers that feed three rivers — Baksan, Malka and Kuban. The mountain is covered with snow year-round.

Kabardino-Balkaria includes two major ethnic communities, the Kabardins (Circassians), who speak a North-West Caucasian language, and the Balkars who speak a Turkic language. Kabardins make up the bulk of the republic's population, followed by Russians and Balkars. Other groups include Ossetians, Turks, Ukrainians, Armenians, Koreans, Chechens. 

The Kabardians (Highland Adyghe: Къэбэрдей адыгэхэр; Lowland Adyghe: Къэбэртай адыгэхэр; Russian: Кабардинцы), or Kabardinians, are the largest of the twelve Adyghe (Circassian) tribes (sub-ethnic groups). They are also commonly known by the plural terms Kabardin, Kebertei, or Kabarday. Along with the Besleney tribe, they speak a distinctive dialect of the Adyghe language. Historically the Kabardians lived in Kabardia, a region of the north Caucasus. In modern times the Kabardians live mostly in the Russian republic of Kabardino-Balkaria, which partly corresponds to the historic region.

[gwendolynlerman]

Writing systems

Cyrillic (Кириллица)

The Cyrillic script is in honor of Saint Cyril, a Byzantine missionary who, along with his brother, Saint Methodius, created the Glagolitic alphabet in 863. Modern Cyrillic alphabets are descended from the Early Cyrillic script, which was created by two of their disciples in the 9th century in the First Bulgarian Empire during the reign of Tsar Simeon I the Great.

The Early Cyrillic script was based on the Greek uncial script, with ligatures and additional letters from the Glagolitic script for sounds not used in Greek.

Notable features

Script type: alphabet

Writing direction: left-to-right in horizontal lines

Number of characters: 29 common letters (22 consonants + 7 vowels). Most languages use more letters, which may be additional letters (26 possible letters) or ligatures (19).

Languages: Abaza, Abkhaz, Adyghe, Aghul, Akhvakh, Altai, Alyutor, Andi, Archi, Avar, Azerbaijani, Bagvalal, Balkar, Bashkir, Belarusian, Bezhta, Botlikh, Bulgarian, Buryat, Central Siberian Yupik, Chamalal, Chechen, Chelkan, Chukchi, Chuvash, Crimean Tatar, Dargwa, Dolgan, Dungan, Enets, Erzya, Even, Evenki, Gagauz, Godoberi, Hinukh, Hunzib, Ingush, Interslavic, Itelmen, Judeo-Tat, Kabardian, Kalmyk, Karaim, Karakalpak, Karata, Kazakh, Ket, Khakas, Khanty, Khinalug, Khwarshi, Kildin Sámi, Komi, Koryak, Krymchak, Kubachi, Kumyk, Kurdish, Kyrgyz, Lak, Lezgian, Macedonian, Mansi, Mari, Moksha, Moldovan, Mongolian, Montenegrin, Nanai, Nenets, Nganasan, Nivkh, Nogai, Old Church Slavonic, Ossetian, Pontic Greek, Russian, Rutul, Selkup, Serbian, Shor, Shughni, Soyot, Tabasaran, Tajik, Talysh, Tat, Tatar, Tindi, Tofa, Tsakhur, Tsez, Turkmen, Tuvan, Udege, Udi, Udmurt, Uilta, Ukrainian, Ulch, Urum, Uyghur, Uzbek, Votic, Wakhi, Yaghnobi, Yakut, Yazghulami, and Yukaghir (110)

The cursive handwritten forms of many letters are very different from their upright forms.

Iotation—a form of palatalization that occurs when a consonant comes into contact with a vowel preceded by /j/—was indicated by ligatures formed with the letter і: ꙗ, ѥ, ю (ligature of і and оу), ѩ, and ѭ. Ы is the ligature of ъ and і.

Modern Cyrillic alphabet

Non-Slavic letters

[filmsinayear]

Теснота (Tesnota “Closeness”), Kantemir Balagov, 2017

[inlanguagewedontsay]

In Circassian we don’t say “rabbit” we say “тхьакlумкlьхь (tehakouma keh)“ which translates to “long ears” and I think that’s pretty accurate.

Submitted by @bonjour-baguette-bitch 

[fishstickmonkey]

Female belt

Kabardians, Northern Caucasus, 1880s

This belt made of galloon ribbon on a silk base, decorated with massive gild silver two-part buckle with pinned lock. Craftsmen of the decorative metal-work worked with old technologies in combined technique: chasing with engraving, niello with granulation. 

Russian Museum of Ethnography