The Chak-Chak


Chack-Chack (чак-чак) - the Chuvash's dessert for the Easter holiday.
This name chak-chak means in Chuvash - little by little or a little bit.

Small fried pieces of dough are mixed with honey syrup. Such a sticky substance can be given any shape. Chuvashes call it dessert more frequently as - йăва - a yava, java. This means - a nest, namely a bird house the nest, where birds lay their eggs.

Chuvash chak-chak - a nest

Since ancient times, the Chuvashs have been preparing this 'chak-chak' dish for their spring holiday - Мăнкун - Mongun (the Magn-Koun), which means - the Great Day, from Chuvash. These improvised "yeva" a nests from chak-chak Chuvashes were decorated with painted, elegant eggs. Well, just like the birds with their nests, only much more beautiful.

The ancestors of the Chuvash were the oldest nomads. It's strange now, but it's true.
You can read about the early history of the ancient ancestors of the Chuvashs at this link:
Chuvash History by Shooroomboos >>

In ancient times, the ancestors of the Chuvashs, from their wintering grounds, gathered in the spring for nomadic pastures, where in the summer, in the free and great steppes (prairie), they grazed their herds. By this event, they held a folk festivities and various games. Such a spring day named a Great Day - Мăнкун (MagnQun).
With the adoption of Christianity and the current settled life, which has lasted for almost a millennium and a half, the descendants of the ancient nomads - the Chuvashs, they began to call as a Great Day - the Holy Easter, the Day of the Resurrection of the Savior Christ.

That's how the current "nest" appeared - a real Chuvash chak-chak, with beautiful eggs in it - in the nest. The true incarnation of the origin and resurrection of the life itself.

The Chuvashs, from their most ancient ancestors, have gone through a very long crusade to Christ.
From Attila in the 5th century - God's punishment to sinful Europeans, and the Hunnic king Grod in the 6th age, to the most Christian sovereign-elteber Alp in the 7th - the Holy Mountaineer - Svyatogor-Bogatyr, is the Chuvash's titanic legend - Ulp (Улăп).
The Chuvashs also had a Christian caesar Kubrat the Wise, and a merchant Ibrahim from Volga Bulgaria, who became the holy martyr Abraham of Bulgaria.
Of course, the most holy in the hearts of the Chuvash will always come the educator of the nation - Ivan Yakovlev, the true apostle of the Chuvashs, the patriarch of his most kindest people.

Chuvash's ancient saints
Chuvash's ancient saints: Alp, Kubrat and Abraham of Bulgaria (Old Chuvashia)

Chuvash apostle Ivan Yakovlev
Chuvash apostle Ivan Yakovlev among priests and clergymens, in Simbirsk (Ulyanovsk) end XIX c.

Chuvash chicks of Yakovlev's nest
chicks of Yakovlev's nest in the Simbirsk, figures of Chuvash culture, students of Yakovlev's Chuvash Teachers' Seminary in Simbirsk


Happy upcoming Holy Easter Day to you friend !!!

<< to main articles



copyright © Alexander Zaryanin, 2022