Kryvichies

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About 700 years BC on the territory of future Polatsk principaliity the bronze age succeeded to iron age. Those times the Baltic tribes lived there. About one and a half millenium ago,  during the Migration Period the powerfull tribe of the Kryvichies came from the West and settled in the upper reaches of the Nioman, Western Dvina, Dniepr and Volga rivers. Those Kryvichies which settled near the Palata river founded the town there with the same name and were called "palachans". (The Doctor of Historical Sciences Heorhi Shtykau thinks that the word "palachans" is only the name of Polatsk Principality inhabitants, in other words it is a politonym but not an ethnonym).

Recently the prevailing view is that "Kryviches" is a general naming of a big tribe union, where Smolensk, Izborsk together with Polatsk Kryviches were in. Let's notice that according to the old records the Slavic tribes can be divided into two main groups: the first had suffix "-an-" "-jan-" (Belarusian: "palianie, dzieraŭlianie, sieviaranie, bužanie") in their names, and the second had suffix "-ič-" [- ɪtʃ -] (belarusian: kryvičy, dryhavičy, radzimičy, viacičy, liucičy). The records tell that namings of Radzimiches and Viatiches came from the names of their princes Radzim and Viatka. Drygaviches had Drygavit, Liutiches had Liut. Most likely the same pattern can be applied to Kriviches too. Their initiator could be Kryw, whose name moved to the whole tribes union later.

The genealogy of Belarusian folk and the history of our statehood and culture begins from Kryviches. The Belarusian historian, the author of the book "Ancient Belarus" Mikola Ermalovich has analysed primary sources, archeological, linguistic and other information and concluded that Kryviches, together with Drygaviches had played the primary role in the foundation of the Belarusian folk. With no doubt these two were the biggest among all Eastern Slavic tribes. They lived on a huge area: from the upper and probably the middle reaches of the Nioman to the Kostroma Volga region, and from Pskov lake to upper reaches of the Sozh and Dziasna. M. Ermalovich has supported and promoted the hypothesis which was firstly introduced in 1920 by the great activist of Belarusian rebirth,  the national idea martyr Vaclau Lastouski. According to his ideas the Great Kryvia existed before the Polatsk pricipality. Its area was from the Westerrn Biarezina up to Dzitva river in the South and up to the Vilia river in the North, including the area where the cities Kreva and Vilnia were founded and where the Kriviches toponims are concentrated.

The clear leadership of Kryviches and their followers in our history had become the reason for the Polatsk-Kryviches conception of Belarusian statehood and culture to appear. V. Lastouski confirmed that at the level of scientific publications and artistic intuition. The philosopher Uladzimir Konan had  noticed how the idea of the Great Kryvia as an archetype of  belarusian statehood, culture and language appears in the titles of the magazine "Kryvich" issued by V. Lastouski, and also his famous books "Russian-Kryvian (Belarusian) dictionary" and "The history of Belarusian (Kryvian) book".

In the forwards to his books named "Sialianskiya piesni z-nad Niomna i Dzviny" Jan Chachot named our folk Kryviches and the language and poetry - Kryvian. Also among his masterpieces are "Kryvian prykazki i prymauki"  and "Kryvian phrases dictionary". The excellent Belarusian folklorist and lexicologist  Ivan Nasovich (his "Belarusian language dictionary", in my opinion, every Belarusian literator should have on his bookshelf) and his younger contemporary  Kazimir Savich-Zablotski (more famous as Gauryla Polatski and Graph Sulima z Belaj Rusi) also felt, asociated themselves with Kryviches.

In today's Belarusian media one can find quite serious proposals to name Belarusians as Kryviches, and give Belarus the name Kryvia. But one should remember that even Vaclau Lastouski didn't find certainty in that. In 1926 he wrote: "Kryvia, Rus, Litva — the triple knot, the three-storeyed labyrinth in which our national "Me" wandered and is still wandering... The names "Kryvia", "Kryviches" move away but don't dissapear... Somewhere in the past and also deep in the folk's consciousness lives and suffers waiting the day of rebirth the almost mystical name "Kryvia", which is destined to close the time's circle in the nation's history, to be the purifying fire, a magical way-sign, a healing  water of the nation's rebirth".

It would be a great mistake to forget "the Kryvian theory". Doesn't it proove the centuries-existed tradition of Belarusian statehood? And isn't it the thing which makes explorers to dive into Belarusian historical and cultural retrospective.