What is "kryashens"

Kryashens (Kryashen: кряшенняр, Standard , , ; sometimes called Baptised or Christianized Tatars is a sub-group of the Volga Tatars, frequently referred as one of the minority ethnic groups in Russia. They are mostly found in Tatarstan and in Udmurtia, Bashkortostan and Chelyabinsk Oblast. They are considered different to the larger group of Tatars that have converted to Christianity.

Kryashens are Orthodox Christians and some of them regard themselves as being different from other Tatars even though the most Kryashen dialects differ only slightly from the Central Dialect of the Tatar language.

The 2010 census recorded 34,882 Kryashen in Russia.

Kryashens ethnogenesis is very difficult problem. According to the researcher from St. Petersburg Evgeny Barkar kryashens are the descendants of not Islamized kipchaks. Part of kipchaks which didn't take islamic religion become ancestors kryashens.