Votians

Votians, also referred to as Votes, Vots and Vods (Votic: vađđalaizõd; Russian: водь; Estonian: vadjalased; Finnish: vatjalaiset) are a Finnic ethnic group native to historical Ingria, the part of modern-day northwestern Russia that is roughly southwest of Saint Petersburg and east of the Estonian border-town of Narva. The Finnic Votic language spoken by Votians is close to extinction. The language is still spoken in three villages of historical Votia and by an unknown number of speakers in the countryside. The villages are Jõgõperä (Krakolye), Liivcülä (Peski), and Luuditsa (Luzhitsy). In the Russian 2020 census, 99 people identified as Votian. Votians were one of the founding people of Veliky Novgorod. In 2002–2005, within the framework of the activities of the Votian Cultural Society, modern symbols of Votes were developed: a coat of arms and a flag. The Votian flag is a wedge-shaped white field with a red cross and two blue triangles on the edges. The white wedge symbolizes the land of Votians, and the blue triangles the waters of Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland, between which the Votian land was located. The red cross on the white wedge symbolizes the memory of the ancestors.