Mordvinian tribes DEMO!
[Dyrin]
Juri Dyrin -- Sweet Dreams
During the first millennium AD, patriarchal kin relations were characteristic of Mordvinian tribes. According to current research data, every Mordvinian tribe (the total number is not known exactly) consisted of several patriarchal kin groups, which, in their turn, included several patriarchal families, whose head was usually kudatya (mdE kudo, mdM kud +atya 'old man'). Kin group or several kin groups formed a village mdE&M vele. The chief of a tribe was tyushtya (mdE&M tyoksh 'highest, top', atya 'old man'), a leader elected by the elders of kin groups.

Until the beginning of the XX century, the traditional socio-normative institution shaping the ethnic type of thinking and behaviour of the Mordvinians was the village community. According to common law, this regulated the economic, social and cultural everyday life of the Mordvinian peasantry. Village community was, in its turn, divided into family groups who all originated from different ancestors. For example, the community in a Moksha-Mordvinian village Volgapino in Penza guberniya, Krasnolobodsk volost, is divided into eleven such groups, ranging from ten to more than forty families (The Russian National Ethnographical Museum archives, bank 1, register 1, file 253, page 137). Social functions of such family groups have so far not been studied much. It is possible that they were patronymias or their remainders.

Village communities were conducted by elders pryavts (mdE&M prya 'head'), who were elected at the general meeting of the representatives of farms mdE&M velen' promks (from the words vele 'village', promks 'body, meeting'). The closest assistant of the pryavti was mdE&M velen' atyat or MDE pokshtyat (from the words vele 'village', atya 'old man', poksh 'big'), without his consent the pryavti could not make any important decisions. Old village men also had a certain judicial power, based on common law. The village assembly also elected the tax collectors who made special marks on wooden sticks or boards which were still used until the XX century. They kept an account of the number of farms in the village and the number of inhabitants and live stock in every family, and also of the size and return of taxes.

The village community regulated the carrying out of rites, especially the ones connected with the agrarian sphere, as business activities of the society depended on this. Together they fixed the days of common worship, the precentor and the preparers of worship dishes. Sacrificial animals were also obtained at the expense of the community.