Technology and Practice of the Udmurt Kumyshka Brewing in 19th – Early 20th Century According to Archival Sources
| 27 March 2025
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Publication of archival documents
Pislegin N.V., Izhevsk, Russian Federation
Technology and Practice of the Udmurt Kumyshka Brewing in 19th – Early 20th Century According to Archival Sources
Abstract
The article highlights some aspects of history and culture of everyday life associated with an alcoholic beverage kumyshka and with its process brewing. Kumyshka was produced by the Udmurts and neighboring peoples. The chronological framework of the study is 19th – early 20 century. It is of prime importance to turn to the relatively little-studied by ethnographers pre-reform period. The article describes the pattern of the populace everyday resistance to authorities’ attempts to limit the production of kumyshka or ban it (before 1802, in 1818–1827 and after 1890). It describes devices and processes of its brewing by distillation of grain mashing. Restrictions must have been one of the reasons for the lack of tradition of manufacturing quality alcohol in the Udmurt Kama region. The peoples’ first priority was to get around the prohibitions. Even now country people in Udmurtia use the same basic devices to manufacture the brew as before. The mashing is boiled in a vessel, and then hot vapors pass through a cooling apparatus. Despite the prohibitions the making of kumyshka was widespread among the Russians, Maris, Tatar-Kryashens and probably other peoples of the region. Among them, as well as among Udmurts, kumyshka may have been used as a ceremonial drink in Pagan, Orthodox or Syncretic rites. Archival documents indicate that even in early 19th century the Orthodox holidays were accompanied by ceremonial drinking. Although the Udmurts were baptized en masse in the middle of 18th century, they adhered to traditional beliefs. At the same time, in the author’s opinion, the role of kumyshka as an accompaniment holidays prevailed over its ritual importance. It should also be noted that occasional punishment of the local self-government representatives for "indulgence" for kumyshka manufacturers was one example of duality in their position “between a rock and a hard place”, that is, between the government and the people.
Keywords
Archive, source, Kumyshka; ceremonial drink; alcohol; archival documents; Udmurt people; peoples of the Udmurt Kama region
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About the authors
Pislegin Nikolai Viktorovich, PhD in history, associate professor, senior researcher of the historical research department of the Udmurt Institute for History, Language and Literature of the Ural Brunch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Izhevsk, Russian Federation, +7-904-314-64-61, This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it