The Chechens are one of the most ancient nations of the world with its original and distinctive culture. It is the biggest — about 1 million people — nation in the Northern Caucasus.

Neighboring Ingushs are very close to the Chechens in their culture and religion. Together they form a nation of Vainakhs with joint history, territorial, economic and cultural relationships. The Chechen society is polyethnical — it has been constantly accumulating different features of neighboring highland tribes.
The history of Chechnya is a non-stop struggle for freedom and independence against enemies. Ascensions and collapses came one after another. In the early Middle Ages (IV-XII centuries) the Chechens were against Rome, Iran, the Arabs, and for about 10 centuries against Russia.

The Chechen Society

Individualism and cult of freedom have always been very strong amongst the Vainakhs. Very often these tendencies were the drawbacks to the formation of the united nation, as the Chechen tribes always compete with each other. It is not surprising, since all highlanders in the world are known as being very martial and freedom-loving. In the mountains, the interests of the family and clan dominate over the interests of the nation.

That was possibly one of the reasons why the Chechen society has always been not the ‘state’, but rather ‘ethnical’ one. There was a tradition of holding general public meetings to elect temporary governors for the war periods or solving important problems, however there were no Tsars and kings.

Constant internal frictions and external threats contributed to the impossibility of Chechen society consolidation. The Vainakhs had long had the institutes of clan and military democracy and held community meetings. As the country is not rich, class and property differences were not big. The conflicts in the Chechen society were regulated by tribal and religious norms. The Chechens live in self-governing clans called teips and do not have feudalism in it’s traditional form.

Every clan lived in it’s own territory and all problems were solved by the elders. State power was given to the national council that could elect a temporary military governor, when necessary. It is typical for the Chechen society to have more power on the local level than on the national level. Prevalence of honour, collectivism, social equality and justice are the main feature of the society.

Islam in Chechnya

Islam first came to Chechnya in the XIII century and united the nation that become the nation of ‘the Muslim brothers’.

Islam became the official religion in the Simsim kingdom located on the South-East of Chechnya in the Golden Horde dominance era. When the kingdom collapsed, Islam had already spread over the territory. The Muslim norms of the Shariat Law were accepted by the Chechens even more readily than the clan laws because some of the rules norms are the same.

Economic, cultural and political relations of Chechnya with Turkey and Persia intensified introduction of Islam among the Chechens. Termola, Bata, Bersa were the first Islam preachers.

The ultimate phase of Islam introduction was connected with strengthening of the national freedom movement. The first leader of the war for national freedom against non-Muslims called Gazavat in 1780s was shepherd Ushurma (known also as Sheikh Masur which means Winner) from a small Chechen village. On the place of the village Grozny fortress was soon erected (that became the capital of Chechnya). In 1834 a freedom fighter Shamil succeeded in implementation of the idea of Sheikh Mansur and created an imam (Islamic) state that existed for 27 years. Shamil united highlanders of the Northern Caucasus to fight against Russian invasion.

Presently Islam is a dominant religion in Chechnya and accepted by the majority of Chechens.

Code of Honour

The Traditional Chechen code of honour says that the Chechens should always communicate with people without demonstrating their excellence, trying to be considerate and polite even if they are in the more favourable position. For example, a man on the horse should be first to greet the pedestrian. If the pedestrian is older, the horseman should dismount. Friendship for a highlander is sacred. The Chechens should respect every person.

In the times when the guest, if not allowed in the house, could freeze to death in the cold mountains, traditional Chechen hospitality was born. Until the present days, the law of hospitality was strictly obeyed, especially in rural villages. Each house had the special room for a guest, and it was prohibited for children to enter the room. Clean bed and some food should always be prepared for a guest. The tradition says that the Chechens should protect life and property of their guests even if they risk their own life. Guests should not offer a payment for the stay, but can make presents to the host’s children. The same rules apply for guests of different nationality.

Respect to the elderly is one of the key things in the Chechens lifestyle. To express respectful attitude, a man dismounts horse entering the village where his relatives live. Mutual help is an old tradition in the Chechen society. It was formed by the centuries of hard labour.
Traditionally the Chechens should take care of their relatives, especially parents. Parents live with one of the sons. Their wives and children respect them. Children call grandfather ‘big father’ and grandmother is called ‘mother’. Children can disobey mother or father, but can not disobey grandfather or grandmother. It is not allowed to sit if an older person is present in the room.
The Chechens usually have many children. Very often several families (for example, families of brothers and their parents) live together. Older man or woman resolves all conflicts in the family.

A handsome man in Chechens’ view is a slim and tall man with wide shoulders and chest, thin waist, quick step and a moustache.

The Chechens associate the number 7 with men and number 8 with women. A woman should know 8 generations of ancestors while a man should know only 7. 7 is made up of seven 1, while 8 is comprised of 4 pairs which reflects maternity and birth. The Chechens pay a lot of attention to ancestors on the mother’s side. Even today Chechen man can marry woman of any nationality while Chechen women are not encouraged to marry foreigners. The woman who has children has a special social status: “Man is only a host in the house while woman keeps the fire”.

Only a woman can stop the fight between men. The woman can stop the fight if she throws her headscarf between the men. If one of the men touches the dress of a woman, he is under her protection and can not be harmed. Having touched a woman’s breast with his lips, he becomes the son of this woman.

Under Chechen tradition, a man always comes first to protect a woman. The routes of the habit come back to the past – mountain paths were very narrow and the first man could face more dangers. Chechens stand up when greeting women. If a woman is old, any Chechen should stand up and greet the woman first.

Actions and behavior of a person translates to the whole family. Traditional Chechen moral is aversion to any violence. From the early years, Chechen men are brought up as warriors and defenders. The most ancient greeting of the Chechens translates as ‘Come free’. The Chechens have an internal feeling of freedom and strong desire to save and protect it.

The most important things for the Chechens are – briefness, deliberation, concise utterance and firmness.
The customs do not allow Chechen men to smile at their wives, play with children or compliment members of the family if a stranger might oversee it. Wives are not allowed to take on any of men,s responsibilities.

In the case of an insult, clan will do everything to take revenge, and blood feud would often take place. If a woman was insulted, her whole clan usually swore to fight against the whole clan of insulters, because it was a matter of clan honour. Until the insulted took revenge, he was considered stained by the others. Although vendetta is not as widespread today as before, the custom is still very much alive.

If a man expectorates when going towards the other man, it is considered a very strong insult. The same applies for the situation when during a conversation one of the men abruptly touches the dagger. The Chechen understand it as a threat.

Swear words are the biggest insult for Chechen man, especially if it affects a woman.
For faithlessness and betrayal women could be executed.

Behavior of the Caucasus highlanders is often considered strange. Differences in attitudes to honour and life in general became the reasons for many conflicts between highlanders and other nations. The Chechens often interpret swear words as insulting and demand satisfaction.

It is interesting that in Chechnya the difference between people living in mountains and in the cities is quite big, with customs and traditions being stricter in the former.

However in the case when a common enemy comes to the country, collective mechanisms come in place. Both highlander and urban Chechens would fight to protect their native land and their honour.

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Evgeniya Stroganova