Shred Of Dernier
"Shred of Dernier" is a documentary about vanishing Karelian language and their culture in Tver Oblast, Russia. These small villages in Russia have their very own language, but without political autonomy their cultural traditions are fading away and one nationality is inevitably merged with another. This situation reflects the problems faced by many other similar nations as they deal with the same fundamental issues caused by changes in their society and environment.
Extract from "Shred of Dernier", 2009.
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Nationality is the relationship between a person and their state of origin, culture, association, affiliation and/or loyalty.
Nationality affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the state.
However, personal identification of one's nationality and loyalty towards it creates a contradiction when a state, which presents its citizen comes into play. Namely – a state might not represent a person of the given nationality.
At this point we have to ask the following question: What is decisive in defining the national identity of an individual? Is it one's personal loyalty towards belonging somewhere or the loyalty of the given society towards the individual? And how extensive is the influence of society on ethnopsychology?
Tver Karelians illustrate such questions and the contradiction deriving from them very well. They are one of the least noticed people among the Finno-Ugric movement and their population is decreasing at an enormous rate.
Tver Karelians left their historic homeland in Karelia in the 17th century to retain their Orthodox tradition at a time when Lutheran Sweden had come to power. In this process they reached the vicinity of Moscow – Tver Oblast, where they again lost territorial autonomy. This is definitely one of the main factors influencing both cultural views as well as nationality in general. Because of losing territorial autonomy, language has become the foundation of national cohesion.
There are two major groups within the Finno-Ugric languages: the Finnic languages and the Ugric languages. Finnish is the main language of the Finnic branch, with more than 5.5 million speakers. Then comes Estonian that is spoken by over 1 million people. Smaller language groups are spoken mainly in Russia and the most widespread of them is Karelian with more than 100 000 speakers in the Republic of Karelia and in the Tver Karelian villages. Karelian language has many dialects.
However, the locals mix Karelian with Russian, which produces a unique fusion that is not easily understood by strangers.
Not so long ago, in Soviet times, many Karelians denied their real nationality facing the bureaucratic machinery. Therefore the official data about the number of Karelian population is inaccurate to this day. On the other hand, today there are a number of persons whose ancestors are of Karelian origin but who are lacking command of language and cultural heritage from childhood. Most people using Karelian language as an everyday language are already elderly. Younger people only remember a few poems and songs.
Video still from "Shred of Dernier", 2009.
„Our children are Russians!“ they say.
In 1926 the number of Karelians in Tver Governorate was close to 140 000 while by 2002 it was only 15 000. Although the actual number of Karelians might be higher than the official data indicates, it is evident that this is a massive decrease.
In addition to linguistic deprivation, the small amount of handicraft and various traditional old items among Tver Karelians is surprising. The locals admit that the items they once owned have been lost in turmoil during war times. Another characteristic factor is the general miserable condition of small villages with their enormous, but uncultivated fields, shabby stores and collapsed kolkhoz buildings, not to mention the once blossoming and now decayed churches – the theme that had once initiated the migration from homely Karelia.
Those who retain the language are mostly village drunks while the intellectual elite cannot find the words to express themselves as their ancestors.
The situation in Karelian villages reflects the problems faced by many other similar places, as they deal with the same fundamental questions.
The video material is collected from the 31st Fenno-Ugric expedition during July 2008 in villages in Lihhoslavl District, Tver Oblast, Russia.
M.L. Murusalu, 2009.