Komi is a people living in endless forests in the northeast of the European part of Russia. Its main ethnographic groups are Vymchi, Upper Vygorye, Pechora, Izhemtsy, Udora, Sysols. The predecessor of the Komi Republic is Perm Vychegodskaya.
Traditional crafts
Since ancient times, the most common among these people were crafts related to the processing of wood. In the villages it was impossible to find a peasant who could not make any household item from this material. Izhma Komi is a people whose, in addition to this, suedelic was very well developed. Leather dressing was done in specially built houses for this purpose - “suede huts”. In the Sysol and Nizhnevychegodsk regions, such a craft as making felt boots was once widespread.
Another ancient Komi occupation was pottery. Mainly women were engaged in the manufacture of tableware for the home. The potter’s wheel was practically not used. It appeared with the Komi in the XV century, but it did not receive much distribution. The dishes were made in the oldest tape-tow way. The fashioned blanks were burned in a Russian oven.
Traditional food
The traditions of the Komi people, who for centuries have lived next to the Russians, are similar to ours in food. The main meal of the peasants was porridge. As for the first courses, most often the housewives cooked soups and all kinds of stews, including meat. Liquid food was eaten mainly in the summer. Komi had a very varied fish menu. The fish was cooked, fried, salted, baked pies with it. Among the northern peoples, roast of game was often seen on the table. As for vegetables, in the gardens grew turnips, radishes, onions, rutabaga. Since the XIX century. potatoes are very common.
Baking was very popular with Komi, for which barley and rye flour was mainly used. Round bread was served daily. On holidays, the hostesses baked Sochi, kalachi, pies, pancakes, etc. Pancake pancakes were also very popular.
Agriculture
The agricultural customs of the Komi peoples are also very closely associated with the Russians. However, the most common grain crop they had was not wheat, but barley. Until the 11th century, the land was cultivated manually. In the XII century. plowing and harrowing began using the draft power of cattle. Mostly men engaged in plowing with Komi. They also forced to harrow, like the North Russian peoples, most often teenagers. Barley stings in early August. This work was considered female. Often, because of the early frosts, the bread was still green.
Threshed the crop using a special tool - flail. Its construction was extremely simple: a long wooden handle and a rawhide strap connected to it short beat.
Livestock
Komi is a people with the most ancient traditions in terms of cattle breeding. The fact that settled animal husbandry existed in the Kama region already in the II – I millennium BC. e., evidence of archaeological sites discovered here. In the basin of the Vychegda River, cattle began to breed, most likely, somewhat later - in the 1st millennium AD. Scientists have discovered the bones of domestic animals in the monuments of Vymsk culture of the XI – XII centuries. In antiquity, Komi were bred mainly cattle. Sheep and horses were also kept in households. Wool, milk and meat were not sold, but used personally for themselves.
