Today it is no longer possible to find out why and at what time such a system as Chechen teips was established. It is known that already in the middle of the eighteenth century, the Nokhchi (Chechens), having united with the Ingush, completely laid down their ethnic group. And until that time, it is not known how long a kind of military-economic unions, that is, Chechen teips, were formed.
Legend
Legends say that the ancestors of the Chechens had a bronze cauldron with the names of the first twenty teips forged on it, but the cauldron that was not included in this list was melted down. Nevertheless, the names of the original twenty survived: Sesankhoy Ilyesi-nekye, Benoy, Mlli-nekye, Yubak-nekye, Tsentoroy and the other fifteen.
Chechen teips united with each other. These large formations were called tukhums. Already in the middle of the nineteenth century, nine tukhums united Chechen teips, of which there were one hundred and thirty-five. Today there are more of them, and they are divided into mountainous ones, of which there are more than a hundred, and plains, of which there are about seventy. Each teip inside is divided intobranches and surnames (gars and neki). The head is the council of elders of the teip, where the most experienced and respected representatives make the law, in addition, the position of a byachcha - military leader is obligatory.
Pure and mixed
Chechen teips were named, the list of which will be presented as complete as possible, according to the area where the clan lived, or the business that the clan was engaged in. For example, teip Kharachoy (translated into Russian - "cave") or teip Sharoy (translated - "glacier") are clearly named after the first type, but teip Peshkhoy is the teip of stove-makers, teip Khoi is guards, teip Deshni is gold jewelers.
There are pure and mixed teips. Nokhchmakhoy - this is the name of any pure teip - formed purely from Chechens, other blood was mixed with the rest. Guna, for example, is related to the Terek Cossacks, Kharacha - to a large extent with Circassian blood, Dzumsa - with Georgian, and Arsala - with Russian. Thus, mixed Chechen teips are distinguished. Their list is more extensive than nokhchmakhoy.
The main thing for teip is the beginning
Since this is a tribal union, the personality of every Chechen is formed here and all moral and moral norms are instilled in him. Postulates these Chechens call beginnings. Total started twenty-three. Some will be listed here. The inviolability and unity of customs for all members of the teip, without exception, is the first beginning. The second gives the right to land ownership on a communal basis. The third law is unlikely to correspond to the ideas of the rest of the civilized world - itprescribes blood feud for the murder of a teip relative, and this does not even depend on the proximity of kinship. To this day, pure Chechen teips are zealous about the established beginnings.
The fourth principle forbids incest, that is, marriage between members of the teip is impossible. Fifth - for mutual assistance, if necessary, the entire teip is obliged to provide assistance to its representative. At the sixth beginning, the Chechens call to honor the dead: if a member of the teip dies, everyone wears mourning for a certain period of time, holidays and entertainment are prohibited. The seventh principle is about the council of elders, the eighth is about the choice of a leader and commander, not a single position is inherited. The ninth beginning is about representation, which is also decided by the council of elders, and the tenth is that positions in the council of elders are for life, however, the history of Chechen teips also tells about cases of removal of a representative.
Blood feud
The third principle, which is practiced by Chechen teips and tukhums, requires a wider disclosure. So, chir is a blood feud for any person from the representatives of this genus. This is a custom with unusually deep roots. Even in the recent past, in the event of a murder, the whole family, and sometimes the teip, was forced to flee to foreign lands. Qi - blood - passed for many decades from generation to generation, until the last representative of a given surname, branch or teip was killed.
In later times, blood passes only to one family, but earlier the boundaries of the chir were determined by the council of elders of neutral teips.
Immediately afterCouncils of elders gathered for murders both in the teip where the misfortune happened, and in the one through whose fault it happened. In the first, they made a decision on revenge, and in the second, they looked for opportunities for reconciliation. Further negotiations followed. If the teip of the deceased did not agree to reconciliation, then neutral councils of elders were involved. If they did not win peace, then they began to work out the conditions for revenge: how widely revenge would spread, with what weapons. Under no circumstances should you kill a blood lover in the back and without warning, in the holy month of Ramadan, as well as on other holidays, you should not kill in a crowded place and, even more so, at a party.
The beginning of the decomposition of the system
Civilization takes its toll. Researchers are sure that today the teip system in Chechnya is gradually dying. Large teips - for example, Tsentaroy and Benoy - have grown so much that even blood relationship is forgotten and marriages within teips are possible. Many of them are gradually divided into an increasing number of genera, and the original teip becomes a tukhum.
Many Chechens remember the time when the youngest of them could name more than twenty tribes of their own direct ancestors. Now, not every young Chechen will even answer about belonging to a teip. Adults and elderly people are visibly worried, because kinship in Chechen society is a fundamental value. People without a clan-tribe cannot be Chechens.
Noble Chechen teip
Yalkhoy, or rather, Yalkhoroy, a very famous teip. It was from him that the surname Dudayev came, as well asthis is one of the few teips in which alien hired workers existed, and according to other sources - slave labor. The origin is connected with the caste professional organization, the warriors of Yalkhoroi even earned money by guarding the borders of other teips.
They lived in the village of the same name, as well as throughout Chechnya and Ingushetia, where they founded the village. The Yalkhoroians were the most faithful supporters of Dzhokhar Dudayev. Until now, this clan has a cult of militancy and many other purely mountainous values: hospitality, reverence for women. They have a resolute disposition and in their ancestors consider themselves to be people of princely dignity.
Only some Chechen teips have been studied quite well. Their origin is established and confirmed by numerous studies of scientists. Much less is known about the rest, and the information varies due to the fact that they are collected most often from oral legends and traditions.
Chechen teip Line (Chartoy)
This is an extremely interesting clan, most notable for the fact that the Chartoys practically never fought, but on the contrary, they were peacekeepers and often acted as mediators in any intra-Chechen affairs. He was either with himself or in the tukhum of Nokhchmahkahoy - the information varies.
They had a family village in Chechnya - Chartoy-Yurt, but also lived in a dozen other places in Chechnya and in Georgia. Among the well-known representatives was the naib of Imam Shamil and a colonel in the guards of Alexander the First. According to Chechen teips - only teip Chartoy is of Jewish origin, this explains many differences between this clan and others.
Belgatoy, Belta (Biltoy) and Cherma
The Belgatoy teip, which is quite large and well-known throughout Chechnya, once existed as part of the Beltoy teip. The legend of origin is very beautiful. Once upon a time, it happened that an epidemic wiped out almost the entire Belgata, but a few survivors multiplied again and made their family even more successful than it was before. This is confirmed by the name itself: bel - "to die", gatto - "to resurrect". Among Chechens, Belgatoys are considered very energetic and efficient people.
Beltoy (or Biltoy) is also a numerous and well-known clan. From here came the politician Beybulat Taimiev, a contemporary of Pushkin, about whom the poet wrote during his trip to Arzrum. The people of Beltoy are settled everywhere, and in the old days they lived in the Nozhayyurt district, in the east of Chechnya. A well-known family that the entire Chechen Republic knows. It is inhabited by various teips, but the most prominent political figure and oilman Tapa Chermoev came from here. They settled mainly in the Mekhkets and near the Chermoy-Lam ancestral mountain, and in ancient times, as legend has it, all Chermoy people lived deep in the mountains.
Chechen teip Alleroy (Aleroy)
The name of this teip was kept on the legendary bronze cauldron brought by the ancestors to Nakhsha. It was here, in a settlement scattered throughout the country, but rooted in Eastern Chechnya, it was in this clan that Aslan Maskhadov, the ex-president who became a bandit, was born. This tape is clean, along with others written inbronze cauldron is included in nakhchmakhkahoy. Settles in Nozhai-Yurt and Shali districts.
The story of the Alleroi has existed since about the fifteenth century, after the invasion of Khan Timur, who killed many local residents and left his deputies in Chechnya from the Kabardian princes, Takrov, Nogai, Jai murz and khans. The Chechens quickly multiplied and began to make daring attacks on the Timur vassals, trying to make a reconquista - to win back their lands. The first Aller founded the aul of the Alleroi, united the compatriots who remained after the invasion of the Tatar-Mongols in order to defend their lands. Alleroy is divided internally into five more teips, since the genus has become numerous, and it is still considered pure.
Benoy
This must be the most numerous of the teips in Chechnya, at least in second place in terms of numbers. Benoy billionaire Malik Saydullayev claims that out of the million remaining Chechens, three hundred and sixty thousand belong to the Benoy teip. They are settled throughout the republic, divided into nine genera. In all wars they took an active part, where they won unfading glory. For example, Baysangur Benoevsky did not leave Shamil until the very end, despite the military success that turned away from the hero.
A huge number of Benoites live in the diasporas of Western Asia, from where terrorism is spreading throughout the world. And in Chechnya, on the contrary, the Benoyites are considered clumsy and cunning in a rural way. However, even here they are fearless, true to their word and duty. Many centuries ago, they formed the backbone of the peasant strata of the people, who overthrew powerDagestan and Kabardian rulers. These are the fathers of mountain democracy, which became the foundation of the ethnic mentality. Among the clans of teip Benoy there are both Russian and Georgian blood.
Gendargenoy
Teip is also extremely numerous and famous, moreover - the center, from the historical Nokhchiymokhk, widely settled in Chechnya. Diplomat and politician Doku Zavgaev is from here. Here is a granary for Chechnya, and for Dagestan, and much more remote places. It was here that the pre-Islamic Nashkha existed as a cultural, political, ritual and religious center.
The Country Council (Mehk Khelov) was based here, from where pure Chechen teips appeared, among which, of course, Gendargenoy, whose representatives in the entire history of the country occupied one of the most prominent places. The Soviet government allowed the Gendargenoi to study, which they did with greater success than members of other clans. That is why this teip gave the country many leaders, party members and business executives.
Kharachoy and Deshni
This teip is famous for its representatives - Zelimkhan Kharachoevsky and Ruslan Khasbulatov, who lived in different centuries, but gained approximately equal fame. Information about this clan got into written Russian documents very early, and the Chechens say that it was the Kharachois who were the first to marry Russians, which did not prevent Zelimkhan from becoming an outstanding fighter against the royal power when the Caucasus was conquered. Chechnya respects this teip very much, considers it the most intelligent.
Deshni - mountain clan, south-east of the country, refers toto pure teips. Princely families are still preserved here. One of those wearing this many years ago was able to marry a Georgian princess, passing off Mount Deshni-lam, which belongs to the entire teip, as his own. Now Deshni live everywhere, even in Ingushetia.
Nashkhoy and Zurzakhoy
Nashkho - the birthplace of pure teips, is the entogenetic center of the Nokhchimatiens of the Middle Ages, which are mentioned by Armenian geographers of the nineteenth century. They lived in the southeast of the country. Some researchers classify the entire population of this area as one teip. Others subdivide.
Zurzakhoy is a teip from the original, even in its name it retained a medieval ethnonym - dzurzuk, as the ancestors of the Chechens and Ingush called themselves. This teip was not included in the tukhums, always occupying an independent position. He was not alone like that, even Sadoy, Peshkhoy, Maysta.
