Kryashens (baptized Tatars) live in the Pestrechinsky district which contains one Kryashen church the temple of St. Nicholas in the village of Kryash-Serda. The culture of the Kryashens of Zakazania and the Pestrechinsky region is considered the standard of the Kryashen folk tradition. The ancestors of the Kryashens of the Pestrechinsky district were old-baptized Tatars and retained pagan beliefs even into the 19th century. At the same time, from the 16th to the beginning of the 20th centuries, the Kryaschens adopted many Christian beliefs which began combine with their old traditions to create their unique traditions. In the post-Soviet period, the religious, cultural, and everyday distinctiveness of the Kryashens from the Muslim Tatars became the reason for a number of Krashen organizations to demand recognition of the status of an independent people. The most famous district Kryashen is the Hero of the Soviet Union Pyotr Gavrilov, the defender of the Brest Fortress. Another well-known native of the area is the honored test pilot of the USSR Avdeev, Ivan Yegorovich from the village of Priyutovo.