For several centuries, Russian Old Believers could not find peace in their native land, and in the 20th century, many of them finally moved abroad. It was far from always possible to settle somewhere close to the Motherland, and therefore today Old Believers can be found in a distant foreign land, for example, in Latin America. In this article, you will learn about the life of Russian farmers from the village of Toborochi, Bolivia.
Old Believers, or Old Believers - a common name for religious movements in Russia,
resulting from the rejection of church reforms in 1605-1681. It all started 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. Old Believers were severely persecuted
from both ecclesiastical 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. In Bolivia, three hours from the city of Santa Cruz,
the first Russian Old Believers settled in Toborochi 40 years ago. Even now, this settlement cannot be found on the maps,
and in the 1970s there were completely uninhabited lands surrounded by dense jungle.
Fedor and Tatiana Anufrievs were born in China, and went to Bolivia among the first immigrants from Brazil.
In addition to the Anufrievs, the Revtovs, Murachevs, Kaluginovs, Kulikovs, Anfilofievs, Zaitsevs live in Toborochi.
The village of Toborochi consists of two dozen courtyards located at a decent distance from each other.
Most of the houses are brick.
Santa Cruz has a very hot and humid climate, and mosquitoes pester all year round.
Mosquito nets, so familiar and familiar in Russia, are placed on windows and in the Bolivian wilderness.
Old Believers cherish their traditions. Men wear shirts with belts. They sew them themselves, but they buy trousers in the city.
Women prefer sundresses and floor-length dresses. Hair is grown from birth and is braided.
Most Old Believers do not allow strangers to photograph themselves, but family albums are in every home.
Young people keep up with the times and master smartphones with might and main. Many electronic devices in the village are formally prohibited.
but progress cannot be hidden even in such a wilderness. Almost all houses have air conditioners, washing machines,
microwaves and TVs, adults communicate with distant relatives via the mobile Internet.
The main occupation in Toborochi is agricultureand also breeding of Amazonian pacu fish in artificial reservoirs.
Fish are fed twice a day - at dawn and in the evening. The feed is produced right there in the mini-factory.
Old Believers grow beans, corn, wheat in vast fields, and eucalyptus in the forests.
It was in Toborochi that the only Bolivian bean variety that is now popular throughout the country was bred.
The rest of the legumes are imported from Brazil.
In the village factory, the crops are processed, bagged and sold to wholesalers.
Bolivian soil bears fruit up to three times a year, and fertilization began only a couple of years ago.
Women are engaged in needlework and housekeeping, raising children and grandchildren. Most of the Old Believer families have many children.
The names of the children are chosen according to the Psalter, according to the birthday. A newborn is named on the eighth day of his life.
The names of Toborochins are unusual not only for the Bolivian ear: Lukiyan, Cyprian, Zasim, Fedosya, Kuzma, Agripena,
Pinarita, Abraham, Agapit, Palageya, Mamelfa, Stephen, Anin, Vasilisa, Marimia, Elizar, Inafa, Salamania, Selivester.
The villagers often encounter wildlife: monkeys, ostriches,
poisonous snakes and even small crocodiles that love to feast on fish in the lagoons.
For such cases, the Old Believers always have a gun at the ready.
Once a week, women go to the nearest city fair, where they sell cheese, milk, pastries.
Cottage cheese and sour cream never caught on in Bolivia.
To work in the fields, the Russians hire Bolivian peasants called Kolya.
There is no language barrier, since the Old Believers, in addition to Russian, speak Spanish,
and the older generation has not yet forgotten Portuguese and Chinese.
By the age of 16, boys have acquired the necessary field experience and can get married.
The Old Believers strictly forbid marriages between relatives up to the seventh generation, so they look for brides in other villages.
South and North America... They rarely get to Russia.
Girls can get married at the age of 13.
The first "adult" gift for a girl - a collection of Russian songs, from which the mother removes
another copy and gives her daughter for her birthday.
Ten years ago, the Bolivian authorities financed the construction of the school. It consists of two buildings and is divided into three classes:
children 5-8 years old, 8-11 and 12-14 years old. Boys and girls study together.
The school is taught by two Bolivian teachers. The main subjects are Spanish, reading, mathematics, biology, drawing.
Russian is taught at home. In oral speech, Toborochins are used to mixing two languages, and some Spanish words and
completely ousted by the Russians. So, gasoline in the village is called nothing else as "gasoline", the fair - "feria", the market - "mercado",
garbage - "basura". Spanish words have long been Russified and are inclined according to the rules of the native language. There are also neologisms: for example,
instead of the expression "download from the Internet" the word "descargarit" is used from the Spanish descargar. Some Russian words
ubiquitous in Toborochi, have long gone out of use in modern Russia... Instead of "very", Old Believers say "awfully"
the tree is called "forest". The older generation mixes all this variety with Portuguese words of the Brazilian style.
In general, the material for dialectologists in Toborochi is a whole book.
Primary education is not compulsory, but the Bolivian government encourages all students
public schools: once a year, the military comes, paying each student 200 boliviano (about $ 30).
Old Believers attend church twice a week, not counting Orthodox holidays:
services are held on Saturday from 17 to 19 hours and on Sunday from 4 to 7 in the morning.
Men and women come to church in everything clean, wearing dark clothes over them.
The black cape symbolizes the equality of all before God.
Most of the South American Old Believers have never been to Russia, but they remember their history,
reflecting its main moments in artistic creation.
Sunday is the only day off. Everyone goes to visit each other, men go fishing.
It gets dark early in the village, go to bed by 10 pm.
Three women with completely different fates. Nana, Sveta and Natasha.
RTW 2006-07: 18-19.04 sucre
Uyuni with a salt lake - Potosi with dynamite - and we arrived in Sucre, a city with a Russian hairdresser.
It's warm here. The height is only 2000 m. Above sea level.
In the whole city I remember most of all central market... An enormous indoor space filled to overflowing with trays of fresh fruit, fruit cocktails, salads, juices and cakes. A mug of fruit cocktail with juice costs 4.5 rubles, a cup of fruit salad - 3.5 rubles. Lunch - $ 2 for two, with meat and soup.
But our acquaintances became much more significant. In Sucre, we met three Russian women who had been living in Bolivia for a long time.
Three women with completely different fates.
Natashin the phone was given to us by friends from Moscow. She met us in her own car, with two children. Natasha is married to a Bolivian. He works in La Paz, but she does not like the noisy and dirty city, and they live in a pleasant and clean Sucre with her husband's parents. She just opened her furniture showroom. She dreams of creating a Russian settlement (Russian region). She also publishes a newspaper in Russian and sends it to the Russian embassy.
We sat first in the ice cream park, then in Natasha's salon. Sveta looks great, she has enough money to implement a wide variety of ideas. Yet she did not come across as a happy woman. Maybe it just seemed to us, but everything in her stories looked "seemingly not bad." I don't even know how to describe it. No, she wasn't trying to look very successful and unnaturally content. Rather, on the contrary, she seemed to be quite honest about everything. And some kind of slight dissatisfaction showed through in all the stories.
Asking Natasha for advice on where to get a haircut, we immediately found the next friend. Light... Sveta is studying to be a hairdresser and working in a salon. Rather, there is only one real salon in Sucre. But the one where Sveta works will soon be equipped with equipment, and there will be a second salon in the city.
On the way, the taxi driver asked us what to see in Russia, if he ever gets there, whether he can work there, and whether it is necessary to speak Russian (is Russian and Spanish so different? They won't understand me there? speak Spanish?).
Sveta is Natasha's friend. She is also married to a Bolivian. He studied in Ukraine, so he brought his wife with him. It was very difficult for Sveta there and it was not clear how to be and what to do next. So she actually ran away. It's not easy here either. Not much money. If Natasha can afford to open a furniture salon that is not yet profitable, she has to study and work about Sveta. In the words of Sveta, uncertainty shines through. Perhaps something would have worked out at home? Or maybe it would be worse. She doesn't look very happy either. Not unhappy - no. But not entirely happy either. The most difficult thing in Sveta's life is her relationship with her husband's parents. Natasha is also not perfect in this regard, although she completely voluntarily lives in Sucre with her husband's parents.
We spent the evening with new friends in the Joyride cafe in the very center of the city. Cool place. Good and not cheap. Or rather, not cheap by local standards. For us, $ 1.50 for an alcoholic cocktail ... well, you get the idea.
In general, in Bolivia, we feel very strange. We look like hippie bums in our clothes worn out during the journey, in old shoes, with backpacks torn apart by travels. And yet we can easily afford to pay for well-dressed local girls. We are even uncomfortable with the realization that here we can afford everything. Land and apartments in Bolivia cost almost nothing. But this is nothing very difficult to earn here. We honestly told Natasha and Sveta that in 8 months we had saved up $ 20,000 for a trip at home, and in 6 months on the road we spent $ 12,000. And they were the first to marvel at these amounts. Rather, until now everyone was also amazed, but in the spirit of "you spent so little." Now the situation was reversed.
We go to the hotel again by taxi. Bargaining is easy here.
You sit in a taxi and start a dialogue on the way:
-How much will you take?
-4 boliviano per person ($ 0.5).
-Can it be for 3? Oh please!
-Maybe for 3.
Here I will also tell you about Nane, owner of a Georgian cafe in the town of Oruro... Nana is from Tbilisi, but has been living in Bolivia for 11 years. I came here for my daughter after the death of her husband. The daughter is married to a Bolivian. Nana's good relationship with the family of her husband's daughter. But, of course, she misses Tbilisi - you can even see it in her eyes. It's hard to get used to the new rules. But he does what he can. So, she opened a cafe, from 5 to 9 pm she bakes cakes and eclairs, pancakes and khachapuri here.
Nana, Sveta and Natasha. Very pleasant and not very happy. I would like to believe that they simply do not know how to settle in life very well, and that it would be a good way out for them to be in Bolivia, and it would be harder at home.
But back to the city of Sucre. Sucre is the official capital of Bolivia.
Its real capital is business, noisy and dirty La Paz. Sucre is more like the village seat of government. Historic, sophisticated, green, with wooden balconies and light houses. With one supermarket for the whole city back in 2007.
The main attraction of the surroundings is dinosaur footprints.
Sometime not far from Sucre, cement began to be mined and a seam with dinosaur footprints was dug up. 68 million years ago it was the bottom of the lake. But then, due to tectonic processes, the lake reared up, and now its bottom has turned into a wall of a quarry.
The workers were driven away and the tourists were caught up. Made something like a park. Very weak park. With a couple of dinosaur figures, a 15-minute excursion and ice cream.
Article in "AiF"
(Unique in that it grows from year to year without external influx)
Sundresses under coconuts
The columnist for "Arguments and Facts" ended up in Russia, where jaguars are found in the forests, pineapples are planted in the gardens, and the indigenous Siberians do not know what snow looks like. And he didn't dream about it!
-Oh, why are you going to our village, good sir? But in vain. It's hot, and it's so dusty, it's so dusty on the path - you will swallow enough! - a woman in a blue sarafan spoke quickly with a clear Siberian accent, and I barely had time to understand her melodious words. Having shown how best to get to the village, Stepanida turned and walked on, towards the coconut grove rustling with leaves. A boy standing next to her, wearing a shirt outside and a cap, plucked a mango from a nearby tree and followed his mother, brushing off the mosquitoes.
“Chrysanthus! - I heard a stern voice. - How many times have I told you, you fool, - don't eat manga, they are too green, then raid at night! "
"You won't go to the forest for mushrooms - and there are no mushrooms, and they will eat themselves"
… THE FIRST Russian villages in the small South American state of Bolivia appeared a long time ago. When exactly - the locals do not even remember. It seems that the very first settlers arrived already in 1865 (the authorities then distributed arable land to the colonists for free), and seventy years later, a whole crowd of Siberian and Ural peasant families arrived from China, who after the Bolshevik revolution had to flee Russia. Now, two hundred kilometers from the Bolivian city of Santa Cruz, three large villages of Russian settlers are located at once, where about two thousand people live. In one of these villages - Taboroche - we drove along a dusty road along the endless Bolivian fields overgrown with Russian sunflowers.
... The door of the village headman Martyan Onufriev's house was opened by his daughter, a gray-eyed shy beauty in a sarafan. “Tyatinki are not present. They went to the city on business. Don't stand on the doorstep, go into the hut. " "Izboy" is a solid stone house with a tiled roof, in the manner of those built in Germany. At first, Russian peasants in Bolivia sawed elephant palms and made houses from logs, but they quickly abandoned this venture: in conditions of tropical humidity and ubiquitous termites, the dwelling immediately began to rot and soon turned into dust. It is impossible to describe the Russian village in Bolivia in words - it is simply a must see. Dogs in the booths (which shocks the Bolivians - why does a dog need a separate house ?!) and mooing cows grazing in the shade of banana palms. People in the gardens with the song "Oh frost, frost!" weeds pineapples. Bearded men in embroidered shirts, belted with sashes, famously drive Japanese jeeps, talking on cell phones, and girls in sundresses and kokoshniks rush to the field and back on Honda motorcycles. The impressions in the first five minutes were enough for my mouth to close with difficulty.
Now they began to live well, thank God, ”notes the 37-year-old peasant Natalya, who also invited me to the“ hut ”. - And the first time people arrived, they didn’t have tractors, they didn’t have horses - they plowed the land on the broads. Some have become rich, and some have not, but we all live together. Mamma said that in Russia the poor are envious of the rich. Why so? After all, God created people unequal. It is useless to envy someone else's wealth, especially if people are at work. Who's stopping you? Take it yourself and earn!
Natalia was born in one of the Russian Old Believer villages, deep in the jungle of Brazil. She moved here when she got married - at the age of 17: she got used to living, but she doesn't speak Spanish: “I can't even count in their own way. Why should I? So, a little, if I go to the market. " Her father, at the age of five, was taken out of the Khabarovsk province, now he is more than eighty. Natalia has never been to her father's homeland, although she really wants to go. “Tyatya is talking about Russia very beautifully - my heart aches with agio. Oh, he says, nature is so beautiful. And you will go to the forest, tama mushrooms, they say, so many - you will collect full baskets. And then don't go - nooo, yes, God forbid, and the jaguar narvessi - accustomed, accursed, to go to the watering place.
Cats in homes are bred specifically to catch lizards
I will tell you honestly - I simply did not expect to hear Russian speech in Taboroche. At work, I had to communicate a lot with the children of the White Guards who had grown old in France and the United States - they all spoke Russian well, but they noticeably distorted the words. But here I was in for a surprise. These people, who have never been to Russia, and many of their fathers and grandfathers were born on the land of South America, communicate in Russian in the same way as their ancestors a hundred years ago. This is the language of a Siberian village, without the slightest accent, melodious and affectionate, replete with words that in Russia itself have long gone out of use. In Taboroche they say “want” instead of “want”, “wonderful” instead of “amazing”, “helluva lot” instead of “very,” they don't know the words “five-year plan” and “industrialization”, they don't understand Russian slang in the form of “well, damn it” and "Not a fig for myself." Here, near the rainforest entwined with vines, somehow incredibly preserved pre-revolutionary Russiathat we no longer remember. And the thought arises: maybe this is exactly what now (of course, with the exception of pineapples in the garden) and the Russian village would have been if October had not happened?
Six-year-old Evdokia, sitting on the doorstep, plays with a grown-up kitten. - Unlike Russia, a cat, for lack of mice, catches lizards in the house. A red parrot flies by, but the girl accustomed to them does not pay attention to the bird. Evdokia speaks only Russian: up to the age of seven, children are brought up in the village, in their home world, so that they memorize the language, and then they are allowed to go to school to learn Spanish. Mothers tell their children fairy tales that they pass from generation to generation: about Ivanushka the Fool, Emelya and the pike, the Humpbacked Horse. The settlers have practically no books, and where in the Bolivian wilderness you can get a collection of Russian fairy tales. Men speak Spanish without exception, but women do not. “Does the girl know how to speak Spaniard? - says Natalia's neighbor, burly Feodosia. "She will marry, the children will go there - you have to manage the housework and bake pies, and let the peasant plow himself in the field."
"You say it wrong, you wear a kokoshnik crookedly, you cook bad cabbage soup!"
In the afternoon, the inhabitants of Taboroche can be easily found in the field. They grow everything they can: corn, wheat, sunflowers. "Only that which you cannot plant does not grow in this land!" - jokes one of the bearded men, sitting astride a tractor. One of the Old Believers even last year was honored with an article in a local newspaper - he gathered the largest harvest of soybeans and ... pineapples. “There were those who saved up some money and went to see Russia,” Terenty says. They returned so wonderful - all with their eyes clap-clap. They say: in the villages of Siberia, people are starving and drinking vodka, but for some reason they cannot plow the land. I say: how can it be - how much earth is there, take it and grow bread, or is it INTO! Yes, they are too lazy, they say. What a misfortune, Lord - what did the Bolsheviks do with poor Russia! And it was also wonderful to him that everyone around him spoke Russian - he just couldn't believe it. We are accustomed here that if you ask a person what is on the street, he will answer in Spanish. I listened to him and also save money for the trip - if God willing, in a couple of years I will definitely come. "
In Santa Cruz, Russian peasants go to sell what they have grown. Arriving, they settle in such hotels, so that there is no TV and radio (this is a sin), they take dishes with them - "their shtob does not become defiled." But no one leaves the village to live in the city. “I myself have six children,” says 40-year-old Terenty. - And in Santa Cruz there are many demonic temptations: nothing good will come of life there. Sons marry Bolivians, girls will marry Bolivians, but ethno in vain - they don't even know how to cross their foreheads like we do. ”
Bolivians, as well as other men and women, in principle, can marry residents of Russian villages, but on one condition - they should be baptized in the "Russian faith", dress, read and speak Russian. There were two such marriages in total, and both fell apart. The Bolivian girl who "went" for a Russian guy could not stand the constant clashes with her mother-in-law: you wear a kokoshnik crookedly, and you speak Russian incorrectly, you cook bad cabbage soup, and you pray to God without zeal. As a result, the young wife fled, and the husband, to the delight of his mother, went to Uruguay for the Russian bride. Another citizen of Bolivia (by the way, an Indian of the Aymara tribe), who married a Russian girl, was received in Taboroche with caution - “all black, like a Negro, as if the girl couldn't find a lighter one,” but later the whole village condemned his divorce from his wife: “ Avon, they already have five children - they are sitting on the benches, wiping snot. If you've made a drain, be patient, don't leave the woman with them. " But such "international" weddings are rare, which is why almost all the villagers of Taboroche have blue eyes, noses - potatoes, freckles all over their faces, and their hairs are light brown or wheat. Alcohol (even harmless beer) is strictly prohibited, and smoking is also prohibited: but for all the time in the village, not a single person drank or died of lung cancer. But the craving for civilization takes its toll - some peasants secretly keep small portable TVs under their beds, which, muffling the sound, watch at night. However, no one openly admits this. On Sunday, everyone must go to church and read the Bible with the children at home.
“Why be afraid of a black cobra? He kicked him in the head with a heel - and a skiff.
ABOUT twenty families have recently moved to Bolivia from the USA. “It’s difficult for the Americans for the Russians,” explains former Alaska resident Eleutheriy, stroking his beard. - They have all the tacos built so that all the Americans are, they erode us. Many of our children no longer speak Russian, although all baptized people wear embroidered shirts - it's just grief. So the syuds came so that the children would not start speaking American and would not forget God. ”
None of the residents of Taboroche, who were born in Bolivia, Brazil and Uruguay and hold national passports, consider these countries as their homeland. For them, their homeland is Russia, which they have never seen. “Well, I was born in Bolivia, well, I've been living here all my life, so what am I from this Bolivian? - Ivan is surprised. - I am a Russian person, a believer in Christ, and so will remain. The settlers were not used to the stunning heat (in January in the Santa Cruz area plus 40 degrees): “What a horror! You stand in church at Christmas, you pray - the floor is so wet, sweat from everyone is dripping. " But they ask with interest about the snow: what does it look like? How does it feel? You cannot convey what you feel when you explain to hereditary Siberians about snow and frost, and they look at you with round eyes and repeat: "Yes, it can't be!" Russian peasants no longer take any tropical diseases - among the very first settlers who drained the swamps in the jungles of Bolivia and Brazil, there were many deaths from yellow fever, and now, as residents phlegmatically say, "we don't see the fever." Only mosquitoes irritate, but they are fought with in the old fashioned way - they drive them away, fumigating them with smoke. Dangerous snakes, including the black cobra spitting venom, also crawl from the jungle to the village rubble. But Old Believers are easy to manage with them. “What about a snake? - Chrysanth, chewing mango, is bragging again secretly from his mother. - He gave a heel in the head - she and a skiff. Ivan's wife, 18-year-old freckled beauty Zoya (her native village is in the state of Goias in Brazil), also speaks of poisonous reptiles with Olympic calmness: “The window in our hut was broken, and my aunt was too lazy to plug him up with a pillow - and so they say, it's hot ... So through that hole the cobra will jump to the floor at night! I slapped her on the head with the handle of a broom and killed her.
The settlers know little about modern political life in Russia (you can't watch TV, you can't go to the Internet - it's also a sin), but they heard about Beslan and served in the church a prayer service for the repose of the souls of “children killed by the boors”. They feel their homeland with their souls. The owner of the optical salon in the center of Santa Cruz, a former resident of the Kuban, Lyuba, told me how the settler Ignat came to her and she showed him a photo album about Russian nature published in Moscow. Not at all surprised, Ignat shrugged his shoulders and said: “Strange, but I've already seen it all. I dream of churches and fields all the time at night. And I also see my grandfather's village in my dreams.
…IN recent times Russian colonists began to leave Taboroche - land rent went up. “We are like gypsies,” laughs Theodosia. - Just a little, we are filming and going. " New land they rent to the south, across the river - there are cheaper, and the grown corn is transported to Brazil to sell. Forced to leave Russia for various reasons, these peasants built for themselves a new island of their former, familiar life in exotic Bolivia, creating here their own Russia with coconut palms and jaguars in the forest. They do not harbor any resentment or anger at their homeland, do not wish her any troubles, thereby radically differing from many modern Russian emigrants. Having preserved their identity, language and culture in the depths of the Bolivian jungle, these people remained truly Russian - both in character, and in language, and in style of thinking. And there is no doubt that these small islands of old Russia in Latin America will exist in a hundred and two hundred years. Because people live there who are proud to be Russian.
The MOST Russian villages are in Brazil: about ten, about 7 thousand people live there. For the first time in South America, Russian settlers appeared in 1757, founding a Cossack village in Argentina. In addition to the above countries, there are now Russian Old Believer settlements in Uruguay, Chile and Paraguay. Some of the settlers also left for Africa, creating Russian colonies in the Union of South Africa and Rhodesia. But the "white emigration" of 1917-1920 almost completely "eroded" - very few of the descendants of the 5 million (!) Nobles who settled in Paris then bear Russian names and speak Russian: according to experts, this happened because of for the fact that the Russians in Paris lived "non-compact".
George ZOTOV, Taboroche - Santa Cruz
"Arguments and Facts" original with pictures here.
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 South American countries 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 who are not familiar with are aware of.
Bolivia and Spain have an agreement providing for the dual citizenship of 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 documents for travel. 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 the one who carries 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:
- russian foreign passport (or RF birth certificate);
- on the territory of the Russian Federation;
- photographs (here you will need not only standard, but also right and left profile photographs, 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 be 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, purchase opportunities, rent;
- what language 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 gasoline costs;
- 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 still not North America. On the other hand, knowledgeable people have long called this country Latin American Tibet, since it is highly isolated from the rest of Latin America, and this, oddly enough, is a big plus. In the neighborhood of greater Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina, there 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, it is underdeveloped, 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 the situation with real estate in Bolivia, especially in large cities, 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 extremely 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.
Historical 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 believers' rejection of church reforms (17th century). The Moscow Patriarch Nikon, the “Great Sovereign of 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 XVIII century. many fled from Russia, at first they fled to Siberia and the Far East. The obstinate 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 fell on 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, during the civil war, the 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 mass deportation into collective farms.
Some of the Old Believers moved to and. However, exotic countries full of temptations seemed unsuitable for a righteous life to the orthodox Old Believers. In addition, the authorities gave 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 a few 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 steadily, despite the fact that it is not permissible for them to open their bodies excessively. The Bolivian selva has become a small homeland for Russian "bearded men", 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 at a distance from the big cities on the territory of the tropical departments (Spanish LaPaz), (Spanish SantaCruz), (Spanish Cochabamba) and (Spanish Beni).
Curiously, unlike communities 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 what 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, watermelon, mango, pineapple and banana 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 capture and accept everything new. So, in the fields of the Bolivian Old Believers, modern agricultural equipment with a GPS control system is working (that is, the machines are controlled by an operator who sends 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 the 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, 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, in the opinion of adults, there are many "demonic temptations."
Strict rules prohibit Old Believers from eating store-bought food, and even more so from visiting public catering establishments. They usually eat only what they have grown and produced themselves. This setting does not apply only to those products that are difficult or simply impossible to obtain in your household (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 homemade mash, which they drink with pleasure on occasion).
Despite the outward dissimilarity with the local and strict adherence to traditions that are very different from the 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 find out 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. by the Russian Old Believers who arrived here. This village has a real Russian spirit; here you can rest 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, the 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 backdrop of exotic tropical nature, a sort of fair-haired, blue-eyed, bearded Mikuly Selyaninovich in embroidered kosovorotki shirts and in bast shoes are walking around their well-groomed estates. And 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 in their wardrobe has up to 20-30 dresses and sundresses. They come up with styles themselves, cut and sew new clothes for themselves. Seniors buy fabrics in cities - Santa Cruz or La Paz.
Women traditionally do handicrafts and housekeeping, raise 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 Toborochints, 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, Salyboria, 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 banned, today even in the most remote wilderness it is impossible to hide from progress. Almost all houses have air conditioning, washing machines, microwaves, and some also have TVs.
The main occupation of the inhabitants of Toborochi 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 lived in this region for centuries.
To work in the fields, the "bearded men" hire local peasants, whom they call Kolya. In the village factory, the crop 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 at 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 smart 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 soccer team has won many amateur school tournaments.
Education
Old Believers have their own education system. The very first and main book is the ABC church Slavonic, according to which children are taught from an early age. Older children study ancient 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 aged 5-8, 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, except for 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 was precisely the remoteness from their native land that caused these people to protect their values \u200b\u200bso much 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 strictly 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. Each village 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, at home they speak only Russian.
In Bolivia, Old Believers who arrived from Russia, settled far from major 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 bears the 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 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, the Toborochane call cartoons "skokakushki", 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 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 occasionally.
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 ancestors established an 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 (reading sacred books in the Old Church Slavonic language), observe all the traditions of the Old Believers and earn the respect of the community. It's easy to guess that such weddings do not happen often. However, adults rarely ask their children for their opinion about marriage - most often, parents themselves select 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 russian government in recent years has been actively supporting 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.
Within the framework 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 breeding 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 Russian legislation, allocated them plots intended only for haymaking - nothing else can be done on these lands. In addition, after a while, 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, ”Old Believers are upset.
The Old Believers are concerned that over time, all barbudos (from Spanish - "bearded men") will move to Primorye. They themselves see the solution to the problem in the control by the Russian presidential administration over the implementation of the federal program.
In June 2016, Moscow hosted the I 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 saved it, but in our own country we will lose it”, - says the head of the Primorye 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 jump again and look for another haven.
"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 until 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, about 150 families of immigrant Old Believers who have arrived from South America live in the Amur Region and the Primorsky Territory. On 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, 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 Human Capital Development Agency took place. And 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.
Primorsky 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 want to finally settle here - albeit on the edge 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 letter to the Corinthians: “Love endures for a long time, is merciful, love does not envy, does not exalt, ... 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 - "neighborhood"; 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 terrible 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 the descendants of Old Believers from the Nizhny Novgorod province, who fled to Siberia under Peter I. Therefore, the old Nizhny Novgorod dialect can be traced in their speech today.
- When asked who they consider themselves to be, Russian Old Believers confidently answer: "We are Europeans".