Tatyana Dzhambinova, My Book About Kalmyk Women

• Main Author: Terbish, Baasanjav
• Format: Moving Image (Video)
• Language: unknown
• Published: Apollo - University of Cambridge Repository 2018
• Subjects: Women; book; Baldwin; khanty; Siberia
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.17863/cam.42474; https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/295419

Tatyana’s story:I was born on 14 April 1957 in Khanty-Mansiysk, when my parents lived in exile. My father is Lidzhiev Nikolai Bovaevich and my mother Zolvanova Roza Alexandrovna. Since everything starts in the family, the moral compass and love for work that I have comes from my parents. My father was a hardworking man, he was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor. My mother, too, was an honorary health worker. I wrote a book titled Kalmyk Women, which I dedicated to my family. My mother is an amazing woman who has a deep philosophy. In this book, I tried to collect valuable bits of folk pedagogy. Today the preservation of the family is a global problem. Sometimes it seems to me that we understand ‘freedom’ as limitless permissiveness. As a result it is families that suffer first, because the role of families diminish, intergenerational ties loosen, and children grow up without the attention of their grandparents. My book is about values and about the importance of knowing one’s roots. Globalization has both positive and negative consequences. It levels many things up, and makes them homogenous. As a result, we lose our uniqueness. Each culture has delicate details, and I do not want our people to forget our culture. In my book, my informants are my mother, my grandmothers, and scholars. In my book I also researched ‘Ik Zaajin Bichig’ (Steppe Code adopted in 1640), which has 22 articles concerning women. As a researcher I made my own conclusions regarding this law. I think our ancestors were very wise. All nations show respect to pregnant women. People try not to offend pregnant women and satisfy their wishes. In Kalmyk culture, if a pregnant woman miscarries as a result of conflict, the guilty person pays a certain number of animals as a compensation depending on the woman’s pregnancy level. For example, if a woman in her 9th month of pregnancy miscarries, she is paid 81 animals by the guilty side. That is what the Steppe Code stipulates. Another interesting fact about this Code is a passage saying that during a difficult childbirth men held the woman’s back and pushed her belly to stimulate the process. Although it was a highly paid role, not many men wanted to perform this because it was believed that such an activity negatively affected masculine strength. For newborn babies people used a thin lamb skin as a diaper. It dried quickly, and kept the baby warm. I think that today the family has handed over many of its functions to other social institutions. We are less involved with our children. I am proud of Kalmyk literature and folklore. Sometimes I read the epos ‘Jangar’ with a specific purpose. Although in the epos a woman’s beauty is seen in her white skin and white teeth, her main virtue is her skill and hardworking disposition. I recall how my grandmother, who was born in 1898, used to say that women should always learn new skills. My mother and I wrote a short article about how sewing skills were obligatory for Kalmyk women. Kalmyk men chose their brides by looking at their needlework. My mother-in-law, Ekaterina Angayevna, was a very skillful person. Women from our family did a lot of sewing when in Siberia. I also know how to sew and spin. Every woman should be able to do this. My paternal grandmother used to cure people. My brother today keeps her rosary. Every family should keep sacred objects at home. When I was born in 1957, my parents bought me a wooden baby cot. We still keep it in our family. Many children in my family have grown up in it. My book is about self-education. It also contains passages about religion. I collected all the information in my book from the older generation. This is my little contribution to the preservation of some aspects of the culture of our people. : Sponsored by Arcadia Fund, a charitable fund of Lisbet Rausing and Peter Baldwin