Old Believers in Uruguay through the Eyes of a Latin American. Old Believers in Latin America Old Believers in Latin America

Many Russians are now interested in the question of how to obtain Bolivian citizenship. Acquisition of a second citizenship is a question that currently worries many residents of our country. And this is not just about moving or the possibility of an indefinite vacation outside of Russia, we are talking about business immigration.

View of the capital of Bolivia - La Paz

Latin America is a promising direction. It is clear that the best countries for immigration are considered here, Panama. But it is quite difficult to obtain citizenship of these countries, and in a short period this cannot be done in any way (except in this country it is carried out on an expedited basis).

Location of countries South America on the map

Due to the fact that in these promising countries, obtaining citizenship is a complicated procedure, you should pay attention to a country like Bolivia.

Bolivian citizenship actually provides a lot of advantages that a few people in the know do not even know about.

Bolivia and Spain have an agreement providing for dual citizenship for residents of these countries(if desired, a citizen of Bolivia in an accelerated mode, in about 2 years, may, therefore, with all the ensuing consequences).

There is a real opportunity to live in this country. Bolivia is not an expensive country by Russian standards, and a person, even with a small capital, will be able to get a job here with comfort.

Average price of staple foods in Bolivia

If we talk about the cons, then the Bolivian passport does not belong to the so-called good travel documents. Bolivians visit almost all countries of the world on a visa.

Citizenship can be obtained on the basis of origin, on the basis of residence in the country for 2 years. For some categories of citizens, this period is reduced to one year. Those who have:

spouse (spouse) - a citizen of Bolivia;
children - citizens of Bolivia;
special education and work in Bolivia in education, science, technology, industry or agriculture;
right to military service(or someone who carries out military service in the ranks of the Bolivian army);
thanks for the services to the Republic.

What documents must be provided to obtain Bolivian citizenship

To obtain citizenship, you must provide the following documents:

a foreign passport of the Russian Federation (or a birth certificate of the Russian Federation);
on the territory of the Russian Federation;
photographs (here you will need not only standard, but also photographs of the right and left profile, they are taken in La Paz, the capital of the state);
fingerprints of both hands.

At the time of obtaining citizenship, a person (or a whole family) must be on the territory of Bolivia. The registration procedure as a whole can take from 6 to 9 months. The cost of the procedure is 50-90 thousand dollars. All documents of the Russian Federation must be translated into Spanish and notarized.

Pay attention to the video: preparation of documents for residence in Bolivia for permanent residence.

Living standards in Bolivia

All interested are concerned with the following questions:

real estate in Bolivia: prices, opportunities for buying, renting;
what language do the Bolivians speak and who they are;
transport in Bolivia: how best to move around the country, how much does it cost to buy a private car, how much does gasoline cost;
work in Bolivia for Russian immigrants;
prices for food, clothing, personal belongings, treatment, utilities.

It is clear that life in Bolivia bears little resemblance to a fairy tale, because Latin America is not North America after all. On the other side, knowledgeable people For a long time this country has been called Latin American Tibet, since it is highly isolated from the rest of Latin America, and this, oddly enough, is a big plus. Neighboring greater Brazil, Paraguay, and Argentina is really little good.

The population of Bolivia is Indians and mestizos. Moreover, in terms of the number of Indians, Bolivia is the leader among Latin American countries. They speak a mixture of local dialects and Spanish. The state language is Spanish.

Typical Indians of the country

Public transport in Bolivia is poorly developed, and not everyone has private cars.

Although you can buy any model, prices in Bolivia are low by European and Russian standards. Petrol is cheap, but the roads are not very good. The best choice is an SUV, especially if you live in a rural area.

Bolivia is a small country, landlocked, surrounded by the Andes, so with real estate in Bolivia, especially in large cities, the situation is not easy. But a house in the countryside is quite possible to buy. It will not cost much (by Russian standards).

Rental prices in Bolivia

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, they occupy a significant position 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 the Russian "bearded men" from living here, working and raising children. 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 employees of the Russian embassy living in Bolivia, it includes about 2 thousand descendants of Russian Old Believers.

Old Believers or Old Believers is the general name for several Orthodox religious movements that arose in Russia as a result of the rejection of believers church reforms(XVII century). Moscow Patriarch Nikon, " Great Sovereign All Russia ”from 1652 to 1666, initiated 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 who were dissatisfied with the "Nikon reforms" and innovations were united and headed by Archpriest Avvakum.

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

The Bolivian Old Believer community was formed in stages, since Russian settlers arrived in New World"Waves".

Old Believers began to move to Bolivia in the second 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 policy of local authorities, came to Bolivia directly, the second was much more difficult. First in years civil war Old Believers fled to neighboring Manchuria, where a new generation was born. The Old Believers lived in China until the early 1960s, when the Great Cultural Revolution broke out there, led by the “great helmsman,” Mao Zedong. The Russians again had to flee from the building of communism and the mass drive into collective farms.

Some of the Old Believers moved to and. However, exotic countries full of temptations seemed unfit for the orthodox Old Believers 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, someone left for the USA, someone went to Australia and Alaska.

Several families made it 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 allocated them areas overgrown with jungle. But 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.

The Russians quickly adapted to South American living conditions. The Old Believers endure even the exhausting tropical heat staunchly, 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" people, and the fertile land provides everything necessary.

The government of the country willingly meets the Old Believers halfway, 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 the big 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 their real homeland.

The way of life of the Old Believers of Bolivia

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

As a rule, men are excellent entrepreneurs who combine a peasant acumen with an incredible ability to grasp and perceive new things. So, in the fields of the Bolivian Old Believers, modern agricultural machinery 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, Old Believers are opponents of television and the Internet, they are afraid of banking operations, preferring to make all payments in cash.

The community of Bolivian Old Believers is dominated by a strict patriarchy. The woman here knows her place. According to Old Believer laws, the main purpose of the mother of the family is to preserve the home. It is useless for a woman to flaunt herself, they wear dresses and sundresses up to the toes, cover their heads, and never use makeup. Some indulgence is allowed for young girls - they are allowed not to tie their head 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, therefore Old Believer families are traditionally large. 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, too, are required to follow many unwritten rules. As soon as the young man has the first fluff on his 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 and entertainment. Parents are very reluctant to let their children go to big cities, where, according to adults, is full of "demonic temptations."

Strict rules prohibit Old Believers from eating groceries bought in the store, and, even more so, from visiting public catering establishments. Usually they 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 bring with them.

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

Despite the outward dissimilarity with the local 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 good at Spanish.

Toborochi

How the life of Old Believers in the country developed, you can get acquainted 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 Bolivia is an unrealistic sight: a traditional Russian village of the late 19th century, which is surrounded not by birch groves, but by a Bolivian selva with palm trees. Against the background of exotic tropical nature, a sort of fair-haired, blue-eyed, bearded Mikuly Selyaninovich in embroidered kosovorotki shirts and in bast shoes are pacing their well-groomed estates. And the ruddy girls with wheat braids below the waist, dressed in long-length colorful sundresses, sing soulful 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 survived 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 here. Toborochi consists of 2 dozen courtyards, quite distant from each other. The houses are not log houses, but solid brick houses.

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

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

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 Toborochins, unusual for the ear of a Bolivian, and for a Russian person sound too archaic: Agapit, Agripena, Abraham, Anikey, Elizar, Zinovy, Zosimus, Inafa, Cyprian, Lukian, Mamelfa, Matrena, Marimia, Pinarita, Palagea, Salybania, Ratibania Selivester, Fedosya, Filaret, Fotinya.

Young people strive to keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Although many electronic devices in the village are formally prohibited, today, even in the most remote wilderness, it is impossible to hide from progress. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines, microwaves, and some also have TVs.

The main occupation of Toborochi residents is Agriculture... Well-groomed agricultural lands are spread around the settlement. Among 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 doing this better than the Bolivians who have been living in this area for centuries.

To work in the fields, the "bearded men" hire local peasants, whom they call Kolya. In the village factory, the harvest is processed, packed and handed over to wholesalers. Kvass, home brew, preserves and jams are made from fruits that grow here all year round.

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

Fish are fed 2 times a day - at dawn and dusk. The feed is produced right there, in the village mini-factory.

Here everyone is busy with their own business - both adults and children, who early years accustom to work. The only day off is Sunday. On this day, members of the community have a rest, visit each other and always attend church. Men and women come to the Temple in elegant light clothes, over which something dark is draped 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 many amateur school tournaments.

Education

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 old psalms, only then - lessons in modern literacy. They are closer to Old Russian, even the smallest fluently read 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. The village is regularly visited by Bolivian teachers who teach Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, drawing.

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

Culture, religion

Far from their historical homeland, Russian Old Believers in Bolivia have preserved their unique cultural and religious customs better than their fellow believers living in Russia. Although, perhaps, it is precisely the distance from native land served as the reason that these people so protect their values and earnestly defend the traditions of their ancestors. Bolivian Old Believers are a self-sufficient community, but they do not resist outside world... The Russians were able to perfectly establish not only their way of life, but also their cultural life. They do not know boredom, they always know what to do in their free time. They celebrate their holidays very solemnly, with traditional feasts, with dances and songs.

Bolivian Old Believers adhere to strict religious precepts. They pray at least 2 times a day, morning and evening. The service lasts several hours every Sunday and on religious holidays. Generally speaking, the religiosity of South American Old Believers is distinguished by earnestness and steadfastness. Absolutely each of their villages has its own prayer house.

Language

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

In Bolivia, 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 have always preserved our culture. Our children up to 13-14 years old do not learn Spanish so as not to forget their native language, ”the Old Believers say.

The language of the 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 in Old Church Slavonic, because in every family the main book is the Bible.

It is surprising that all 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 has shades of a characteristic Siberian dialect.

Linguists know that in the event of emigration, people lose their native language already in the 3rd generation, that is, the grandchildren of those who have left, as a rule, do not speak the language of their grandparents. But in Bolivia, the 4th generation of Old Believers is fluent in Russian. It is an amazingly 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. Today it represents a unique combination of archaic and neologisms. When Old Believers need to define a new phenomenon, they easily and simply invent new words. For example, Toborochane people call cartoons "skipping", and lamp garlands - "little wisps". They call tangerines "mimosa" (probably for the shape and bright color of the fruit). The word "mistress" 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 poured into the oral speech of the Old Believers. For example, their fair is called "feria" (Spanish Feria - "show, exhibition, show"), and the market - "mercado" (Spanish Mercado). Some Spanish words among the Old Believers "became Russified", and a number of outdated Russian words used by the inhabitants of Toborochi cannot be heard now even in the most remote corners of Russia. So, instead of “very,” the Old Believers say “awfully”, the tree is called “forest”, and the sweater is called “kufayka”. They have no honor for television, the bearded men believe that television leads people to hell, but still they watch Russian films from time to time.

Although at home Old Believers communicate exclusively in Russian, everyone speaks Spanish to a sufficient degree for 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 manage 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 alliances and, as a result, an increase in genetic problems. But this does not apply to Old Believers. Even the ancestors established the immutable "rule of the eighth tribe", when marriages between relatives up to the 8th tribe 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 strictly prohibited from creating families with local residents. But only a non-believer must certainly accept the Orthodox faith, learn the Russian language (it is compulsory to read sacred books in the Old Church 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 for their opinion on marriage - more often than not, 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 rewritten by her mother by hand.

Back to Russia

In the early 2010s. For the first time in many years, Russian Old Believers faced friction with the authorities when the left government (Spanish: Juan Evo Morales Ayma; President of Bolivia since January 22, 2006) began to show an 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 in last years actively supports the return of compatriots.

Most of the 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 the newcomers in those regions from which they fled to China 90 years ago, i.e. in Primorye and Siberia.

The eternal trouble of Russia - roads and officials

Today, only in Brazil, Uruguay and Bolivia, 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. The earth is the most important thing in the life of these hardworking people. They themselves call themselves in the Spanish manner - agriculturalists (Spanish Agricultor - "farmer"). And the local authorities, taking advantage of the poor knowledge of the settlers of the 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 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 Russians, but in Russia, too, no one needs. Here is paradise, nature is so beautiful that it takes your breath away. But officials are a real nightmare, ”the Old Believers are upset.

The Old Believers are concerned that over time, all barbudos (from Spanish - "bearded") 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 Belief, State and Society in modern world", Which brought together representatives of the largest Orthodox Old Believers' accords (Consent - a group of associations of believers in the Old Believers - ed.) From Russia, near and far abroad. The conference participants discussed "the difficult situation of the families of Old Believers who moved to Primorye from Bolivia."

Of course, there are plenty of problems. For example, school attendance by children is not included in the age-old traditions of the Old Believers. Their habitual way of life is work in the field and prayer. “It is important for us to preserve traditions, faith and rituals, and it will be a shame that in a foreign country we have saved it, but in our own country we will lose it”, - says the head of the Primorsky Old Believer community.

Officials from education 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 citizens of Russia, 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 scramble again and look for another refuge.

"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 compatriot 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 in the Amur Region and the Primorsky Territory there are about 150 families of immigrant Old Believers who arrived from South America. On the 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, Korniliy, Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Old Believer Church, became the first in 350 years an Old Believer primate who was officially adopted by the President of Russia. During a detailed conversation, Putin assured Cornelius that the state would be more attentive to compatriots wishing to return to their homelands and look for ways to best resolve the emerging problems.

“The people who come to these regions ... with a desire to work on the land, to create strong large families, of course, need to be supported,” Vladimir Putin stressed.

Soon a working trip to South America of a group of representatives of the Russian Agency for the Development of Human Capital took place. 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 on the spot with the conditions for a possible resettlement of people.

Primorsk Old Believers are looking forward to the move to Russia of their relatives who remained overseas. They dream that long-term wanderings around the world will finally end and they want to finally settle here - albeit at the end 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 the Epistle to the Corinthians: “Love endures for a long time, is merciful, love does not envy, does not boast, ... does not rage, does not think evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; love covers everything, believes everything, ... endures everything "(1 Cor. 13: 4-7).
The Old Believers have a popular proverb: "Only what is not planted does not grow in Bolivia".
As for driving, men and women have equal rights. In the Old Believer community, a woman driving is quite common.
The generous Bolivian land produces crops up to 3 times a 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” - “neighborhoods”; La Paz, 2005-2006).
Old Believers have a negative attitude to all barcodes. They are sure that any barcode is a "devilish sign".
Brown pacu is "famous" for its creepy 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, Toborochans are descendants of Old Believers from the Nizhny Novgorod province, who fled to Siberia under Peter I. Therefore, even today the old Nizhny Novgorod dialect can be traced in their speech.
When asked who they consider themselves to be, Russian Old Believers confidently answer: "We are Europeans".

Now I periodically take our tourists to the Old Believers, we have good relations 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 rode by car in different cities of Argentina and Uruguay. And we decided to stop by 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 Old Believers' colony 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 the Russians. "Aaaa, barbudos !?" - said in the first shop. "Barbudos" in Spanish means bearded men. "Yes, they live nearby. But they won't let you in, they are aggressive," the San Javierians told us. This statement was slightly alarming. But still, I figured out how to get there by dirt dirt roads. The Uruguayans said that the "barbudos" did not accept anyone and did not communicate with anyone. Fortunately, this was not the case. Surprisingly, many "Russian" San Javierians do not really know anything about their Russian neighbors. And as you know, a person is afraid of everything incomprehensible and different. Therefore, there is no special friendship between the former Russian Sanhaviers and Russian Old Believers.

We were about to hit the road in search of a village, but at that moment someone from San Javier called us, pointing to the ATM. “This is just one of them,” he said. A strange-looking man in a green shirt lined with a rope belt with a beard 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 was his language, dialect. He spoke the language that I only heard in the 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 the house izba, instead of strongly say "helluva lot". They say not "you know", but "you know", "like", "understand" ... Instead of "stronger" they say "more". They say not "happens" but "byvat", not "can" but "mogёt", not "start" but "conceive", not "others" but "others". How much, evoshny, tudy-syudy, beside ... After talking a little, we asked if it was possible to see how they live there. Starover agreed, and we went to get the evoshny car. We were lucky that we met him, without him, according to the scheme drawn by the San Javierians, we would definitely not have found anything. And so we drove up to the village ...

Getting into the village of Old Believers for the first time, you experience a shock. A complete feeling that I got into the past in a time machine. This is exactly how Russia looked at that time ... We enter the village, a house, in the courtyard a woman in a sundress milks 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 in this foreign world, this allowed this piece of old Russia to survive to this day.

It is strictly forbidden to take pictures in this colony. And all those pictures that you will see below were taken with the permission of the Old Believers. That is, group, "official" photographs are possible. It is impossible to secretly photograph their lives without asking. When finding out why they do not like photographers so much, it turned out that journalists were making their way to them under the guise of tourists. Filmed them, and then exhibited in the form of laughing clowns. One of such stupid and meaningless reports was made by Uruguayan TV with a hidden camera.

Their technique is very serious. All owned. There are trucks, combines, and various irrigators, watering pans.

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 we are interested in them, we are interesting for them. We are a part of that Russia, which they somehow imagine in their heads, with which they live for many generations, but which they have never seen.

Old Believers do not beat the thumbs up, but work like dads Carlo. They own about 60 hectares, and they also rent about 500 hectares. Here, in this village, about 15 families live, about 200 people in total. That is, according to the simplest estimate, each family has an average of 13 people. So it is, seven big, a lot of kids.

Here are some "official", approved photos. Those without beards are not Old Believers - they are me and my tourists.

And here are some 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 for the Old Believers. They accepted him, and for 2 months he lived with them. After which he still preferred to quit. He's an artist, that's why the photos are so good.

Very atmospheric. like in Russia ... before. Today in Russia there are no harvesters and no tractors either. Everything has rotted and the villages are empty. Russia was so carried away by getting up from its knees by selling oil and gas to the 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 harvesters, but I saw with my own eyes many dead villages along the main Russian highways. And this is impressive.

Let's look very delicately, with great respect, behind the curtain of the private life of Old Believers. The photos that I post here were taken by them themselves. That is, these are official photos that the Old Believers themselves posted in open access v social networks... And I just collected from Facebook and re-posted these photos here for you, my dear reader. All photographs here are from different South American colonies of Old Believers.

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, the settlement of the Old Believers is located near the town of Choele Choel.

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

Strange sensations when you start communicating with them. At first it seems that they should be some kind of completely different, "out 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 they 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. The women make their own clothes. Yes, of course, these photos are mostly from the holidays, so the clothes are especially smart.

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

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 South American Old Believers. For some reason, the face of Russian Orthodox Christians becomes mournful and tragic for all the talk about God and religion. And the more a modern Russian believes in God, the sadder his face. For Old Believers, everything is positive, and so is religion. And I think in old Russia it was the same as in theirs. After all, the great Russian poet Pushkin joked and mocked the "pop-oat forehead", and that was then in the order of things.

Old Believers have been living in South America for almost 90 years. In the 30s, they fled from the USSR, as they sensed the danger from a new Soviet power... 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 located in Alaska. In the United States, they also live in the states of Oregon and Minnesota. The Old Believers I visit in Uruguay first lived in Brazil. But there they became uncomfortable, and in 1971 many families moved to Uruguay. For a long time they chose the land, and finally settled down next to the "Russian" city of San Javier. The Uruguayan authorities themselves advised the Russians about this place. The logic is simple, those Russians - these Russians, maybe it's better together. But Russians do not always love Russians, this is our national peculiarity, therefore, the Russian San Jovierians did not develop a special friendship with the Old Believers.

We arrived at an empty place. They began to build everything, settle in an open field. Amazingly, the Uruguayan colony had no electricity until 1986! They lit everything with kerosene stoves. Well, they have adapted to live by the sun. Therefore, the Uruguayan colony is the most interesting, because only 30 years ago they were completely cut off from the rest of the world. And then life was really like in the century before last in Russia. Water was carried with rocker arms, the land was plowed on horses, houses were then wooden. Different colonies lived in different ways, some are more integrated into the country where they are located, for example, the American colonies. Some colonies have no particular reason 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 that well, this integration!

Old Believers often have Old Slavic names: Athanasius, Evlampeya, Kapitolina, Martha, Paraskoveya, Efrosinya, Ulyana, Kuzma, Vasilisa, Dionysius ...

In different colonies, Old Believers live in different ways. Someone is more civilized and even wealthy, someone is more modest. But the way of life is the same as in old Russia.

Elders are jealous of the observance of all the rules. Young people are sometimes not very motivated by faith. After all, there are so many interesting temptations around ...

Therefore, the old people have a difficult task, to answer the growing young on many questions. Why shouldn't they drink alcohol? Why can't they listen to music? Why is it not necessary to learn the language of the country in which you live? 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 pray from three to six in the morning, and from six to eight in the evening? Why Fast? Why be baptized? Why observe all other religious rituals? ... While the elders somehow manage to answer all these questions ...

Old Believers cannot drink. But if you pray and be baptized, then you can. Old Believers drink beer. They prepare it themselves. We were also treated to her. And quite persistently, according to the Russian tradition, practically pouring it inside, glass by glass. But the brew is good and the people are good, why not drink that!

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

At first I did not 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 Uruguayans and Old Believers is enormous. This is absolutely different worlds that's why the Uruguayans of San Javier told us about the "aggressiveness" of the Old Believers. The Old Believers, on the other hand, characterize the "Spaniards" as lazy loafers who do not 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 about the Uruguayan government. For example, recently in Uruguay a crazy law was passed, according to which, before sowing land, you need to ask the authorities what you can sow there. The bosses will send chemists, they will analyze the soil, and give a verdict: plant tomatoes! And with tomatoes, the Old Believer business will burn out. They need to plant beans (for example). Therefore, Old Believers are beginning to think about whether they should start searching for a new country? And they are keenly interested in how they treat the peasant there in Russia? Should you move to Russia? What advice would you give them?

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

Endless Brazilian Russia ...

Technique: combines, irrigators, seeders, etc., the Old Believers have their own. And each harvester (which, by the way, costs 200-500 thousand dollars), Old Believers know how to repair 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, as many as 15 children, and he is only 52 years old. There are many grandchildren, he does not remember exactly how many, he has to count, bending his fingers. His wife is also a young and quite earthly woman.

Children are not sent to official schools. Everything is very simple: if children learn the language of the country where they live, then there is a very high probability that they will be seduced by the bright surrounding life 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 such an example has already been, in the Brazilian colony, children began to go to an ordinary Brazilian school, which was next door. And almost all of the kids when they grew up chose the Brazilian life instead of the Old Believer. I'm not talking about the US Old Believers. There, in many families, Old Believers communicate with each other in English.

Senior Old Believers from all colonies are well aware of the risk of the dissolution of the colony in the country, and they resist it with all their might. Therefore, they do not send their children to public schools, but try to teach them themselves whenever possible.

Most often, children are taught at home. They learn to read in Church Slavonic. All are written in this language religious books Old Believers and in this language they pray daily from 3 to 6 in the morning and from 18 to 21 in the evening. At 21 o'clock, Old Believers go to bed in order to get up at 3 o'clock, pray and go to work. The day schedule has not changed for centuries and is adjusted to the daylight hours. To work while it's light.

In the colonies of Brazil and Bolivia, local teachers are invited to school for children, who teach them Portuguese and Spanish, respectively. But the Old Believers see language teaching as an extremely practical sense: it is necessary to do business with the locals. Old Believer children play traditional Russian games, rounders, 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 get married most often at the age of 14-15. Guys at 16-18. All traditions with matchmaking have been preserved. A wife to a son should be picked up by parents. They try to pick from another colony. That is, a bride from a Bolivian or Brazilian colony is brought to a groom from a Uruguayan colony and vice versa. Old Believers try very hard to avoid incest. Do not think that poor underage children are left with no choice. Formally, parents should choose, but in practice everything happens quite softly and naturally, and of course the teenager's opinion is taken into account. No one forcibly marries anyone. Yes, you yourself can see from these photographs that there is no smell of violence against a person here.

But of course you have a legitimate question - getting married at the age of 14 ??? Yes exactly. And yes, by doing so they violate the laws of the countries in which they live. They celebrate their wedding noisily, after which they live together, and are considered husband and wife. And when they turn 18, they register their marriage with the official bodies.

By the way, Old Believers have a completely different chronology. They live according to the Israeli calendar. It is believed that it is he who is correct. But what a "worldly" year is now, they also know: they must understand all the documents on land lease, purchase of soybeans, payment of bills.

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

See, in the photo everything is as if on selection, in the same sundresses? The fact is that clothing and its color play a huge role in the life of Old Believers. Yellow pants - twice ku. For example, for a wedding, all guests from the side of the bride dress in one color, and from the side of the groom in another. When a society does not have a color differentiation of pants, then there is no goal, and when there is no goal ...

Old Believers have not log houses, but concrete houses, built in the tradition of building the place where they live. But the whole way of life is ours, old Russian: canopy, heaps, sittings of women with children while the men are at work.

But inside the house there are still Russians! The Old Believers sheathe the house inside with wood. It's livelier. And they call the house a hut.

Women and girls (as the female is called here) do not work on the land, but are busy with the household. They cook food, keep an eye on the kids ... The role of a woman is still slightly knocked down, somewhat reminiscent of the role of a woman in Arab countries, where a woman is a dumb animal. Here the men are sitting, eating, drinking beer. And Martha with a jug, at a distance. “Come on, Martha, bring some more mash, but let's get some tomatoes here!”, And the soundless Martha rushes to carry out the task ... It’s somehow awkward even for her. But not everything is so harsh and tough. You see, the women over there are also sitting, resting and smartphones.

The men are also engaged in hunting and fishing. Quite a busy life. Yes, and we have nature here, I can tell you!

In addition to mash, they also drink beer. However, I have not heard of drunks. As it is, everything is in business. Alcohol does not replace their life

Here are collected photos from different colonies. And each of them has its own rules, somewhere tougher, and sometimes softer. For women, cosmetics are unacceptable. But if you really want to, then you can.

Old Believers tell interesting stories about mushroom picking. Naturally, they do not know about boletus, boletus and white. In this area, slightly different mushrooms grow, they are similar to our boletus. Gathering mushrooms from Old Believers is not an obligatory attribute of life. Although they listed some names of mushrooms, and they are Russian, although they are not familiar to me. About mushrooms, they say something like this: "sometimes someone wants to collect. But sometimes they will gather up bad ones, then their stomachs ache ...". They also have trips to nature by jeeps, 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 can see for yourself, the most ordinary people

Old Believers greet with the word "Healthy!" They do not use "hello", much less "hello". In general, Old Believers do not have the address "you". Everything is "you". By the way, they call me "leader". But the leader is not the main one. And in the sense that I drive people. Guide, therefore.

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

Although you probably noticed even in these photos, 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 Brazilian TV report about Brazilian Old Believers. Pay attention, many people know Portuguese, or as the Old Believers say "Brazilian".

Old Believers quite often use the Latin alphabet for writing. But the Cyrillic alphabet is not forgotten either.

Most of the Old Believers are wealthy people. Of course, as in any society, someone is richer, someone is 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 it is sometimes allowed to shoot there

Our usual wedding, 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 badly? They live well. In any case, the Uruguayan and Bolivian Old Believers live better than the average Uruguayans and Bolivians. Old Believers drive jeeps for 40-60 thousand dollars, they have smartphones of the latest models ...

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

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

There are even self-made comics on Facebook of Old Believers. This one did not quite 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 have received a local education in one way or another are rewritten. They were taught to write in Spanish-Portuguese. And they cannot speak Russian, only speak. And they don't have a Russian keyboard either.

Old believers are very interested in present-day Russia. Many of them were told by their grandfathers who fled Soviet Russia in the 1930s to return to Russia when conditions were right. So for almost a century, the Old Believers lived in foreign lands, expecting that a favorable moment would come for their return. But this moment did not come: Stalin began to drive the people into the camps, and the main thing that was important for the Old Believers was strangling the village with his insane collectivizations. Then Khrushchev came, who began to take cattle from the people, and forcibly introduce corn. Then the country began to engage in various arms races, and from abroad, especially from here, from South America, the USSR seemed 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 started up. It began to seem that maybe the very right moment to return has come. Russia turned out to be a normal country, open to the rest of the world, without exotic communisms and socialisms. Russia began, in fact, to take steps towards Russians living in other countries. Appeared " Government program about returning home ", came to the Old Believers Russian ambassador in Uruguay and began to make friends with them. The Russian authorities also started talking with 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 Krai. And about this the report of Russian TV:

Reporters in this report tell the official version regarding the traditions of the Old Believers. But one should not think that the Old Believers have so rigidly regulated everything, and such an iron order. Old Believers tell reporters and various newcomers, visitors whose reports can be found on the Internet, how it SHOULD be. But for this to be so, 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, little by little. But it’s too hard to resist ...

Everything is ours! Selfie on a smartphone with a bow sponges ... Still, native roots! ..... Or maybe this American influence got here too?

No answer...

In general, it is customary to think that any orthodox believers are incomprehensible and very strange people. I do not know how strongly Old Believers believe, but they are absolutely normal, earthly, people of their own. With humor, and with all the same desires and wants that we have with you. They are no holier than us. Or we are no worse than them. All are good, in general.

And even though the guys grew up on another continent, but everything is ours: both plastic bags, and sit like a boy ...

Well, who can say that this is not a mid-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 the booking, and send me its address by e-mail. And I will tell you whether it is in a good place, whether it is safe there, whether it is beautiful and whether it is far from there to get to interesting places.

Maxim Lemos, a professional cameraman, director who lives in Latin America and periodically takes our tourists to the Old Believers.

I'll tell you how I got there for the first time. I accompanied tourists, we rode by car in different cities of Argentina and Uruguay. And we decided to stop by 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 Old Believers' colony 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 the Russians. "Aaaa, barbudos !?" - said in the first shop. “Barbudos” in Spanish means bearded men. “Yes, they live nearby. But they will not let you in, they are aggressive, ”the San Javierians told us. This statement was slightly alarming. But still, I figured out how to get there by dirt dirt roads. The Uruguayans said that the "barbudos" did not accept anyone and did not communicate with anyone. Fortunately, this was not the case. Surprisingly, many "Russian" San Javierians do not really know anything about their Russian neighbors. And as you know, a person is afraid of everything incomprehensible and different. Therefore, there is no special friendship between the former Russian Sanhaviers and Russian Old Believers.

We were about to hit the road in search of a village, but at that moment someone from San Javier called us, pointing to the ATM. “This is just one of them,” he said. A strange-looking man in a green shirt lined with a rope belt with a beard 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 was his language, dialect. He spoke the language that I only heard in the 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 the house izba, instead of strongly they say “helluva lot”. They say not “you know”, but “you know”, “you like”, “understand” ... Instead of “stronger” they say “more”. They say not “happens” but “happen”, not “can” but “can”, not “start” but “conceive”, not “others” but “others”. How much, evoshny, tudy-syudy, near ... After talking a little, we asked if it was possible to see how they live there. Starover agreed, and we went to get the evoshny car. We were lucky that we met him, without him, according to the scheme drawn by the San Javierians, we would definitely not have found anything. And so we drove up to the village ...

Getting into the village of Old Believers for the first time, you experience a shock. A complete feeling that I got into the past in a time machine. This is what Russia looked like once ... We enter the village, a house, in the courtyard a woman in a sundress milks 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 in this foreign world, this allowed this piece of old Russia to survive to this day.

It is strictly forbidden to take pictures in this colony. And all those pictures that you will see below were taken with the permission of the Old Believers. That is, group, “official” photographs are possible. It is impossible to secretly photograph their lives without asking. When finding out why they do not 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 exhibited in the form of clowns to ridicule. One of such stupid and meaningless reports was made by Uruguayan TV with a hidden camera.

Their technique is very serious. All owned. There are trucks, combines, and various irrigators, watering pans.

Here are some “official”, approved photos. Those without beards are not Old Believers - they are me and my tourists.

Very atmospheric, like in Russia ... before. Today in Russia there are no harvesters and no tractors either. Everything has rotted and the villages are empty. Russia was so carried away by getting up from its knees by selling oil and gas to gay 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 harvesters, but I saw with my own eyes many dead villages along the main Russian highways. And this is impressive.

Let's look very delicately, with great respect, behind the curtain of the private life of Old Believers. The photos that I post here were taken by them themselves. That is, these are official photos that the Old Believers themselves have posted publicly on social networks. And I just collected from Facebook and re-posted these photos here for you, my dear reader. All photographs here are from different South American colonies of Old Believers.

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

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

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

Strange sensations when you start communicating with them. At first it seems that they must be 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 they are not interested in anything!

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

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 South American Old Believers. For some reason, the face of Russian Orthodox Christians becomes mournful and tragic for all the talk about God and religion. And the more a modern Russian believes in God, the sadder his face. For Old Believers, everything is positive, and so is religion. And I think in old Russia it was the same as in theirs. After all, the great Russian poet Pushkin joked and mocked the “pop-oat forehead”, and that was then in the order of things.

Old Believers have been living in South America for almost 90 years. In the 30s, they fled from the USSR, as they sensed the danger from the new Soviet regime 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 located in Alaska. In the United States, they also live in the states of Oregon and Minnesota. The Old Believers I visit in Uruguay first lived in Brazil. But there they became uncomfortable, and in 1971 many families moved to Uruguay. For a long time they chose the land, and finally settled next to the "Russian" city of San Javier. The Uruguayan authorities themselves advised the Russians about this place. The logic is simple, those Russians - these Russians, maybe it's better together. But Russians do not always love Russians, this is our national peculiarity, therefore, the Russian San Jovierians did not develop a special friendship with the Old Believers.

Old Believers often have Old Slavic names: Athanasius, Evlampeya, Kapitolina, Martha, Paraskoveya, Efrosinya, Ulyana, Kuzma, Vasilisa, Dionysius ...

In different colonies, Old Believers live in different ways. Someone is more civilized and even wealthy, someone is more modest. But the way of life is the same as in old Russia.

Elders are jealous of the observance of all the rules. Young people are sometimes not very motivated by faith. After all, there are so many interesting temptations around ...

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

At first I did not 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 Uruguayans and Old Believers is enormous. These are completely different worlds, which is why the Uruguayans of San Javier told us about the “aggressiveness” of the Old Believers. The Old Believers, on the other hand, characterize the “Spaniards” as lazy loafers who do not 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 about the Uruguayan government. For example, recently in Uruguay a crazy law was passed, according to which, before sowing land, you need to ask the authorities what you can sow there. The bosses will send chemists, they will analyze the soil, and give a verdict: plant tomatoes! And with tomatoes, the Old Believer business will burn out. They need to plant beans (for example). Therefore, Old Believers are beginning to think about whether they should start searching for a new country? And they are keenly interested in how they treat the peasant there in Russia? Should you move to Russia? What advice would you give them?

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

Endless Brazilian Rus ...

Senior Old Believers from all colonies are well aware of the risk of the dissolution of the colony in the country, and they resist it with all their might. Therefore, they do not send children to public Schools, and try to teach them themselves as far as possible.

Most often, children are taught at home. They learn to read in Church Slavonic. All religious books of the Old Believers are written in this language, and in this language they pray daily from 3 to 6 in the morning and from 6 to 21 in the evening. At 21 o'clock, Old Believers go to bed in order to get up at 3 o'clock, pray and go to work. The day schedule has not changed for centuries and is adjusted to the daylight hours. To work while it's light.

By the way, Old Believers have a completely different chronology. But what a worldly year is now, they also know: they must understand all the documents on land lease, purchase of soybeans, payment of bills.

But inside the house there are still Russians! The Old Believers sheathe the house inside with wood. It's livelier. And they call the house a hut.

Women and girls (as the female is called here) do not work on the land, but are busy with the household. They cook food, keep an eye on the kids ... The role of a woman is still slightly knocked down, somewhat reminiscent of the role of a woman in Arab countries, where a woman is a dumb animal. Here the men are sitting, eating. And Martha with a jug, at a distance. “Come on, Martha, bring this-and-that, yes, let’s let the tomatoes go!”, And the soundless Martha rushes to carry out the task ... It’s somehow awkward even for her. But not everything is so harsh and tough. You see, the women over there are also sitting, resting and smartphones.

The men are also engaged in hunting and fishing. Quite a busy life. Yes, and we have nature here, I can tell you!

In addition to mash, they also drink beer. However, I have not heard of drunks. As it is, everything is in business. Alcohol does not replace their life.

Old Believers tell interesting stories about mushroom picking. Naturally, they do not know about boletus, boletus and white. In this area, slightly different mushrooms grow, they are similar to our boletus. Gathering mushrooms from Old Believers is not an obligatory attribute of life. Although they listed some names of mushrooms, and they are Russian, although they are not familiar to me. About mushrooms, they say something like this: “sometimes who wants to collect. But sometimes they will gather up bad ones, then stomachs ache ... ”. They also have trips to nature by jeeps, 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 can see for yourself, the most ordinary people.

Old Believers greet with the word "Healthy!" They don't use "hello", much less "hello". In general, Old Believers do not have the address “you”. Everything is “you”. By the way, they call me "leader". But the leader is not the main one in the sense. And in the sense that I drive people. Guide, therefore.

Although you probably noticed even in these photos, 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.

Old Believers quite often use the Latin alphabet for writing. But the Cyrillic alphabet is not forgotten either.

Most of the Old Believers are wealthy people. Of course, as in any society, someone is richer, someone is 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, where the rules are not as strict as in the Uruguayan colony and it is sometimes allowed to shoot there.

Our usual wedding, 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”.

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

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

There are even self-made comics on Facebook of Old Believers. This one did not quite 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 have received a local education in one way or another are rewritten. They were taught to write in Spanish-Portuguese. And they cannot speak Russian, only speak. And they don't have a Russian keyboard either.

Old believers are very interested in present-day Russia. Many of them were told by their grandfathers who fled Soviet Russia in the 1930s to return to Russia when conditions were right. So for almost a century, the Old Believers lived in foreign lands, expecting that a favorable moment would come for their return. But this moment did not come: Stalin began to drive the people into the camps, and the main thing that was important for the Old Believers was strangling the village with his insane collectivizations. Then Khrushchev came, who began to take cattle from the people, and forcibly introduce corn. Then the country began to engage in various arms races, and from abroad, especially from here, from South America, the USSR seemed 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 started up. It began to seem that maybe the very right moment to return has come. Russia turned out to be a normal country, open to the rest of the world, without exotic communisms and socialisms. Russia began, in fact, to take steps towards Russians living in other countries. A “state program on returning home” appeared, the Russian ambassador to Uruguay came to the Old Believers and began to make friends with them. The Russian authorities also started talking with 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 Krai. And about this the report of Russian TV:

Everything is ours! Selfie on a smartphone with a bow sponges ... Still, native roots! … ..Maybe this American influence got here too?

…no answer…

And even though the guys grew up on another continent, but everything is ours: both plastic bags, and sit like a boy ...

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

Eh, Uruguayan Rus! ...

In the twentieth century, Russian Old Believers, who reached the eastern borders of Russia in 400 years of persecution, had to finally become emigrants. Circumstances scattered them across the continents, forcing them to establish their life in an exotic foreign land.
Old Believers, or Old Believers, is a common name for religious movements in Russia that arose as a result of rejection of church reforms in the 17th century. It all began after the Moscow Patriarch Nikon undertook a number of innovations (correction of service books, change of rituals). Those who were dissatisfied with the "anti-Christ" reforms were united by the archpriest Avvakum. The Old Believers were severely persecuted by both the church and secular authorities... Already in the 18th century, many fled outside Russia, fleeing persecution. Nicholas II and, subsequently, the Bolsheviks did not like the stubborn ones. The first Russian Old Believers settled in Bolivia, a three-hour drive from the city of Santa Cruz, in the town of Toborochi 40 years ago. Even now, this settlement cannot be found on maps, and in the 1970s there were absolutely 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 the gardens where pineapples grow, not radishes or potatoes. They are extremely well adapted to local conditions.
Many men are millionaires, great entrepreneurs who combine peasant acumen with an incredible sense of the new. For example, Old Believers in Bolivia use modern machinery with a GPS-based control system in their fields - that is, 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 operations, 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, which also contains an interview with a priest and a short official history of the Old Believers in Russia:

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