The most interesting facts about the Chukchi. Traditional Chukchi culture

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY

HISTORY DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Essay on ethnology

Traditional Chukchi culture

Irkutsk, 2007

Introduction

Ancestral homeland and resettlement of the Chukchi

Main activities

Social order

Life of the Chukchi

Beliefs and rituals

Conclusion

Chukchi, (self-name, “real people”). Number of people in the Russian Federation is 15.1 thousand people, indigenous people Chukotka Aut. districts (11.9 thousand people). They also live in the north of the Koryak Autonomous Area. district (1.5 thousand people) and in the Lower Kolyma region of Yakutia (1.3 thousand people), they speak the Chukchi language.

The first mentions of the Chukchi, in Russian documents - from the 40s of the 17th century, divide them into "reindeer" and "foot". Reindeer herders roamed the tundra and on the coast of the Arctic Ocean between Alazeya and Kolyma, at Cape Shelagsky and further east to the Bering Strait. The settlements of the “foot” Chukchi, sedentary sea hunters, were located together with the Eskimos between Cape Dezhnev and the Bay of the Cross and further south in the lower reaches of Anadyr and the Kanchalan River. The number of Chukchi at the end of the 17th century. was about 8-9 thousand people.

Contacts with the Russians initially remained mainly in the lower Kolyma. Attempts to impose tribute on the Lower Kolyma Chukchi and military campaigns against them in the mid-17th century did not bring results. Due to military conflicts and the smallpox epidemic, the number of Lower Kolyma Chukchi decreased sharply, and the remainder migrated to the east. After the annexation of Kamchatka to Russia, the population of the Anadyr fort, founded in 1649, began to grow, which

Since the end of the 18th century, trade contacts between the Chukchi and the Russians intensified. According to the “Charter on the Administration of Foreigners” of 1822, the Chukchi did not bear any duties; they contributed yasak voluntarily, receiving gifts for it. The established peaceful relations with the Russians, Koryaks and Yukagirs, and the development of herding reindeer herding, contributed to the further expansion of the Chukchi territory to the west. By the 1830s, they had penetrated the river. Bolshaya Baranikha, by the 1850s - in the lower Kolyma, by the mid-1860s - in the area between the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers; to the south - the territory of the Koryaks, between Penzhina and Korfu Bay, where the Koryaks were partially assimilated. In the east, the assimilation of the Chukchi - Eskimos - intensified. In the 1850s American whalers entered into trade with the coastal Chukchi. The expansion of the territory inhabited by the Chukchi was accompanied by the final identification of territorial groups: Kolyma, Anyui, or Malo-Anyu, Chaun, Omolon, Amguem, or Amguem-Vonkarem, Kolyuchino-Mechigmen, Onmylen (inner Chukchi), Tumansk, or Vilyunei, Olyutor, Bering Sea ( Sea Chukchi) and others. In 1897, the number of Chukchi was 11,751 people. Since the end of the 19th century, due to the extermination of sea animals, the number of coastal Chukchi fell sharply, by 1926 it amounted to 30% of all Chukchi. Modern descendants Coastal Chukchi live in the villages of Sirenki, Novo Chaplino, Providence, Nunligran, Enmelen, Yanrakynnot, Inchoun, Lorino, Lavrentiya, Neshkan, Uelen, Enurmino on the eastern coast of Chukotka.

In 1930, the Chukotka National Okrug was formed (since 1977 - Autonomous Okrug). The ethnic development of the Chukchi in the 20th century, especially during the period of consolidation of collective farms and the formation of state farms from the 2nd half of the 50s, was characterized by consolidation and overcoming the isolation of individual groups

The Chukchi were divided into reindeer - tundra nomadic reindeer herders (self-name Chauchu - "reindeer man") and coastal - sedentary hunters of sea animals (self-name Ankalyn - "coastal"), living together with the Eskimos. These groups were connected by kinship and natural exchange. Self-names based on place of residence or migration are common: uvelelyt - “Uelenians”, “chaalyt” - “Chukchi wandering along the Chaun River”. These self-names are preserved, even among residents of modern enlarged settlements. The names of smaller groups within the settlements: tapkaralyt - “living on the spit”, gynonralyt - “living in the center”, etc. Among the Western Chukchi, the self-name Chugchit (probably from Chauchu) is common.

Initially, the ancestral home of the Chukchi was considered to be the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, from where they moved north, assimilating part of the Yukaghirs and Eskimos. According to modern research, the ancestors of the Chukchi and related Koryaks lived in the inner regions of Chukotka.

Occupying the area inhabited by the Eskimos, the Chukchi partially assimilated them and borrowed many features of their culture (fat lamps, canopies, the design and shape of tambourines, fishing rituals and holidays, pantomime dances, etc.). Long-term interaction with the Eskimos also affected the language and worldview of the indigenous Chukchi. As a result of contacts between land and sea hunting cultures, the Chukchi experienced an economic division of labor. Yukaghir elements also took part in the ethnogenesis of the Chukchi. Contacts with the Yukaghirs became relatively stable at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, when the Yukaghirs, under the influence of the Evens, moved east to the Anadyr River basin. Reindeer husbandry developed among the tundra Chukchi, apparently under the influence of the Koryaks, shortly before the appearance of the Russians.

The main occupation of the tundra Chukchi was nomadic reindeer herding, which had a pronounced meat-hide character. Sled reindeer were also used. The herds were comparatively large in size; the deer were poorly accustomed and were grazed without the help of dogs. In winter, the herds were kept in places sheltered from the wind, migrating several times during the winter; in the summer, men went with the herd into the tundra, women, old people and children lived in camps along the banks of rivers or the sea. The reindeer were not milked; sometimes the shepherds sucked the milk. Urine was used to lure deer. Deer were castrated by biting the sperm ducts.

The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting sea animals: in winter and spring - seals and seals, in summer and autumn - walruses and whales. They hunted seals alone, crawling up to them, camouflaging themselves and imitating the movements of the animal. The walrus was hunted in groups of several canoes. Traditional hunting weapons - harpoon with float, spear, belt net, from the 2nd floor. 19th century Firearms became widespread and hunting methods became simpler. Sometimes they shot seals at high speed from sleds.

Fishing, except for the basins of Anadyr, Kolyma and Sauna, was poorly developed. Men were engaged in fishing. Fish were caught with a net, a fishing rod, and nets. In summer - from a kayak, in winter - in an ice hole. Salmon was stored for future use.

Before the advent of firearms, wild deer and mountain sheep were hunted, which were subsequently almost completely exterminated. Under the influence of trade with the Russians, the fur trade spread. To this day, bird hunting has been preserved using “bolas” - throwing weapons made of several ropes with weights that entangled a flying bird. Previously, when hunting birds, they also used darts with a throwing plate and trap loops; eiders were beaten in the water with sticks. Women and children also collected edible plants. To dig up roots, they used a tool with a tip made of horn, and later - iron.

Traditional crafts include fur dressing, weaving bags from fireweed and wild rye fibers for women, and bone processing for men. Artistic carving and engraving on bone and walrus tusk, applique of fur and sealskin, and embroidery with deer hair are developed. The Chukchi ornament is characterized by a small geometric pattern. In the 19th century, artisanal associations emerged on the east coast to produce carved walrus ivory items for sale. In the 20th century Thematic engraving on bone and walrus tusk developed (works by Vukvol, Vukvutagin, Gemauge, Halmo, Ichel, Ettugi, etc.). The center of bone carving art was a workshop in the village of Uelen (established in 1931).

In the 2nd half. 19th century many Chukchi began to be hired on whaling schooners and gold mines.

Social order

The social system of the Chukchi, at the beginning of contacts with the Russians, was characterized by the development of a patriarchal community into a neighboring one, the development of property, and differentiation. Deer, dogs, houses and canoes were privately owned, pastures and fishing grounds were communally owned. The main social unit of the tundra Ch. was a camp of 3-4 related families; among the poor, the camps could unite unrelated families; their workers and their families lived in the camps of large reindeer herders. Groups of 15-20 camps were connected by mutual assistance. Primorye Ch. united several families into a canoe community, headed by the owner of the canoe. Among the reindeer Ch., there were patrilineal kinship groups (varat), bound by common customs (blood feud, transfer of ritual fire, common signs on the face during sacrifices, etc.). Until the 18th century Patriarchal slavery was known. The family in the past was a large patriarchal one, to the end. 19th century - small patrilocal. Traditionally wedding ceremony, the bride, accompanied by relatives, came to the groom on her reindeer. At the yaranga, a deer was slaughtered and with its blood the bride, the groom and their relatives were marked with the groom's family marks on their faces. The child was usually given a name 2-3 weeks after birth. There were elements of group marriage ("variable marriage"), labor for the bride, and among the rich - polygamy. Many problems in reindeer Ch. arose with disproportion in the sex structure (there were fewer women than men).

Life of the Chukchi

The main dwelling of the Chukchi is a collapsible cylindrical-conical tent-yaranga made of reindeer skins for the tundra, and walrus for the coastal ones. The vault rested on three poles in the center. Inside, the yaranga was partitioned with canopies in the form of large blind fur bags stretched on poles, illuminated and heated by a stone, clay or wooden fat lamp, on which food was also prepared. They sat on skins, tree roots or deer antlers. Dogs were also kept in yarangas. The yaranga of the coastal Chukchi differed from the dwellings of the reindeer herders in the absence of a smoke hole. Until the end of the 19th century, the coastal Chukchi retained a semi-dugout, borrowed from the Eskimos (valkaran - “house of whale jaws”) - on a frame made of whale bones, covered with turf and earth. In summer it was entered through a hole in the roof, in winter - through a long corridor. The nomadic Chukchi camps consisted of 2-10 yarangas, stretched from east to west, the first yaranga from the west was the head of the community. The settlements of the coastal Chukchi numbered up to 20 or more yarangas, randomly scattered.

The tundra Chukchi moved on reindeer sleds, while the coastal Chukchi rode on dogs. In the middle of the 19th century, under the influence of the Russians, the East Siberian sled and train teams spread among the coastal Chukchi, before which dogs were harnessed with a fan. They also used walking racket skis, and in Kolyma they used sliding skis borrowed from the Evenks. They moved on the water in kayaks - boats that could accommodate from one to 20-30 people, made of walrus skins, with oars and a slanting sail.

Traditional clothing is made from the skins of deer and seals. Men wore a knee-length double tunic shirt, belted with a belt from which they hung a knife, pouch, etc., narrow double trousers, short shoes with fur stockings. Among the coastal Chukchi, clothing made from walrus intestines was common. Headdresses were rarely worn, mainly on the road. Women's clothing - fur overalls (kerker), double in winter, single in summer, knee-length fur shoes. They wore bracelets and necklaces, and facial tattoos were common: circles along the edges of the mouth for men and two stripes along the nose and forehead for women. Men cut their hair in a circle, shaving the crown, women braided it in two braids.

The main food of the “reindeer” Chukchi is venison, while that of the coastal Chukchi is the meat of sea animals. The meat was consumed raw, boiled and dried.

During the mass slaughter of deer, the contents of deer stomachs (rilkeil) were stored for future use, boiled with the addition of blood and fat. The coastal Chukchi prepared the meat of large animals - whale, walrus, beluga - for future use, fermenting it in pits (kopal-gyn), sewing it into skins. They ate the fish raw, and in Anadyr and Kolyma they made yukola from salmon.

Dwarf willow leaves, sorrel, and roots were prepared for future use - frozen, fermented, mixed with fat, blood, and rilkeil. Koloboks were made from crushed roots with meat and walrus fat. They cooked porridge from imported flour and fried cakes in seal fat. Seaweed and shellfish were also consumed.

Christianization practically did not affect the Chukchi. At the beginning of the twentieth century, about 1.5 thousand Chukchi were considered Orthodox. Belief in spirits was widespread. Diseases and disasters were attributed to the action of evil spirits (kelet), hunting for human souls and bodies and devouring them. Among the animals, the polar bear, whale, and walrus were especially revered. Each family had a set of sacred objects: a bunch of amulets, a tambourine, a device for making fire in the form of a board of a rough anthropomorphic shape with recesses in which a bow drill rotated; fire obtained in this way was considered sacred and could only be passed on among relatives along the male line. The dead were burned at the stake or left in the tundra, before which they were dressed in burial clothes, usually made from white skins. Old people, as well as in cases of serious illness, grief, resentment, etc. voluntary death at the hands of a relative was often preferred; it was believed to ensure a better posthumous fate. Shamanism was developed. Shamans imitated the voices of animals, accompanied their actions by playing tambourines, singing or reciting, and dancing. Male shamans, who were likened to women, were especially revered, and vice versa. The shamans did not have a special costume.

Traditional holidays were associated with farms and cycles: among the “reindeer” Chukchi - with the autumn and winter slaughter of reindeer, calving, migration of the herd to the summer camp and return from there. The holidays of the coastal Chukchi are close to the Eskimos. In the spring, there is a kayak festival on the occasion of the first trip to sea. In summer there is a festival of goals to mark the end of the seal hunt. In autumn there is a sacrifice to the sea, in late autumn there is the holiday of Keretkun, the owner of sea animals, depicted as a wooden figure, which is burned at the end of the holiday. The holidays were accompanied by dancing with a tambourine, pantomime, and sacrifices. Among the “reindeer” Chukchi, deer, meat, figurines made of fat, snow, wood, etc. were sacrificed; among the coastal Chukchi, dogs were sacrificed.

Chukchi folklore includes cosmogonic myths, mythological and historical legends, tales about spirits, animals, the adventures of shamans, tales, etc. Mythology has common features with the myths of the Koryaks, Itelmens, Eskimos and North American Indians: a plot about Raven - a trickster and a demiurge, etc.

Traditional musical instruments - jew's harp (khomus), tambourine (yarar), etc. - were made of wood, bone, and whalebone. In addition to ritual dances, improvised entertaining pantomime dances were also common. The typical dance is pichainen (literally “throat singing”), accompanied by throat singing and shouting from the dancers.

The differences in the culture of the tundra and coastal Chukchi are gradually disappearing. At present, in the Shmitovsky, Beringovsky, Chaunsky and Anadyrsky districts they have practically disappeared. This was facilitated by the emergence and development of writing, from 1931 on the basis of Latin, and from 1936 - on the basis of Russian graphics. The first book in the Chukchi language is the primer by V.G. Bogoraz and I.S. Vdovin's "Red Letter" (1932), the first literary work is "Tales of the Chauchu" by Tynetegyn (Fedora Tinetev, 1940). Famous prose writers V. Yatyrgin, Yu. Rytkheu, poets V. Keul-kut, A. Kymytval, V. Tyneskin and others.

The first Chukotka school was created in Uelen in 1923. Pedagogical personnel are trained by: Anadyr Pedagogical School of the Peoples of the North, Khabarovsk Pedagogical Institute, and others educational establishments. The Chukchi language is taught in schools, radio and television broadcasts are conducted in it, and literature is published in Magadan. In Anadyr and in many villages there are local history museums. Traditional dances Chukchi songs are preserved in the performance of professional groups.

In the east of Chukotka, where hunting traditions are preserved, the acculturation of the coastal Chukchi is slower. Contacts with Russians and other peoples are expanding, and the number of mixed marriages is growing. Children in mixed marriages usually choose Chukotka nationality

Since the 1990s The Association of the Peoples of Chukotka is dealing with the problems of reviving the traditional culture of the Chukchi.

They did not bear any obligation; they paid tribute voluntarily, receiving gifts for it. The established peaceful relations with the Russians, Koryaks and Yukaghirs, the development of herding reindeer herding contributed to the further expansion of the Chukchi territory by 3: by the 1830s. they entered the river. Bolshaya Barani-kha, by the 1850s - to the lower Kolyma, to the middle. 1860s - in the area between the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers; to the south - to the territory of the Koryaks between...

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The manuscript by K. G. Merck, dedicated to the Chukchi, was acquired by the Imperial Public Library in 1887 and is still kept in its manuscript department. These notes about the campaign through the Chukotka Peninsula (from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Nizhe-Kolyma fort) represent a description of the region and the ethnography of the peoples inhabiting it.

The manuscript by K. G. Merck, dedicated to the Chukchi, was acquired by the Imperial Public Library in 1887 and is still kept in its manuscript department. These notes about the campaign through the Chukotka Peninsula (from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the Nizhe-Kolyma fort) represent a description of the region and the ethnography of the peoples inhabiting it.

We bring to your attention only selected excerpts from the researcher’s manuscript.

The Chukchi are divided into reindeer and sedentary. Reindeer live all summer until autumn in several families together, near the sedentary camps, and drive their herds to pastures closer to the seashore, several days' journey from their temporary settlements. […] Those of the reindeer Chukchi who settle near the sedentary ones feed all summer only on the meat of sea animals, thereby preserving their herds. The Chukchi store for the winter meat and fat (blub) of sea animals, as well as their skins, whalebone and other things they need. […] Although the reindeer Chukchi give the sedentary people, for the supplies they receive from them, the meat of deer, which they slaughter especially for them, this, in fact, is not an exchange, but rather a kind of compensation at their discretion. […]

The sedentary Chukchi also differ in language from the reindeer Chukchi. The language of the latter is close to Koryak and only slightly differs from it. The settled Chukchi, although they understand the Koryak language, have their own, divided into four dialects and completely different from the Koryak. […]

As for God, they believe that a deity who used to be on earth lives in the sky; they make sacrifices to the latter so that it will keep earthly devils from harming people. But they, in addition, make sacrifices for the same purpose to the devils themselves. However, their religious concepts are very incoherent. You can be more misled by asking the Chukchi about this than by observing their life with your own eyes. However, it can be argued that they fear devils more than they trust any higher being. […]

As for sacrifices, the reindeer Chukchi sacrifice deer, and the sedentary Chukchi sacrifice dogs. When stabbing, they take a handful of blood from the wound and throw it towards the sun. I have often seen such sacrificial dogs on the seashore, lying with their heads towards the water, with the skin left only on the head and legs. This is the gift of the sedentary Chukchi to the sea for the sake of its pacification and a happy voyage. […]

Their shamans perform shamanism by nightfall, sitting in their reindeer yurts in the dark and without much clothing. These activities should be considered as a winter pastime during leisure hours, which, by the way, some women also indulge in. However, not everyone knows how to shamanize, but only some of the reindeer Chukchi and a few more of the settled ones. In this art, they are distinguished by the fact that during their actions they know how to answer or force others to answer in an altered or someone else's dull voice, by which they deceive those present, pretending that the devils answered their questions with their own lips. In case of illness or other circumstances, when they are contacted, shamans can direct the imaginary predictions of the spirits in such a way that the latter always demand a sacrifice of one of the best deer of the herd, which becomes their property with skin and meat. The head of such a deer is put on display. It happens that some of the shamans run around in a circle in a trance, hitting a tambourine, and then, to show their skill, they cut their tongue or allow themselves to be stabbed in the body, not sparing their blood. […] Among the sedentary Chukchi I came across the fact, according to them not so rare, that a male shaman, completely dressed in women’s clothing, lived with a man as a good housewife.

Their dwellings are called yarangas. When the Chukchi stay longer in one place in summer and winter, the yarangas have a larger volume and correspond to the number of canopies that fit in them, which depends on the number of relatives living together. During migrations, the Chukchi divide the yaranga into several smaller parts to make it easier to install. […] For their warm canopies, the Chukchi use six or eight, and the wealthy use up to 15 reindeer skins. The canopies are an uneven quadrangle. To enter, lift the front part and crawl into the canopy. Inside you can kneel or bend over, why only sit or lie in it. […] It cannot be denied that even in simple canopies, in the coldest weather, you can sit naked, warming yourself from the warmth of the lamp and from the fumes of people. […]

In contrast to the yarangas of the reindeer Chukchi, the yarangas of the sedentary Chukchi are covered with walrus skins. The warm canopies of the sedentary Chukchi are bad, and there are always insects in them, since the Chukchi cannot often renew the canopies, and sometimes they are forced to use already abandoned ones.

Chukchi men wear short hair. They moisten them with urine and cut them with a knife, both in order to get rid of lice and so that the hair does not interfere with the fight.

As for men's clothing, it fits snugly to the body and is warm. The Chukchi renew it mostly by winter. […] The Chukchi usually wear trousers made of seal skins, less often of processed deerskin, with underpants, mostly from the skins of young deer. They also wear pants made from pieces of skin from wolf paws, which even have claws left on them. Chukchi short stockings are made of seal skins and the Chukchi wear them with the wool inside until it is cold. In winter, they wear stockings made of long-haired camus. In the summer they wear short boots made of seal skins with the hair facing inward, and against dampness - made of deer skins. In winter, they mostly wear short boots made of camus. […] As insoles in boots, the Chukchi use dry soft grass, as well as shavings from whalebone; Without such insoles, boots do not provide any warmth. The Chukchi wear two fur coats; the lower one remains with them throughout the winter. […] The Chukchi head is often left uncovered all summer, autumn and spring, if the weather permits. If they want to cover their heads, they wear a bandage that goes down to the forehead with a rim of wolf fur. The Chukchi also protect their heads with malakhai. […] over the malakhai they put on, especially in winter, a hood that lies rounded over the shoulders. However, they are worn by younger and wealthier men in order to give themselves a more beautiful view. […] Some Chukchi also wear on their heads, instead of malakhai, the skin torn from the head of a wolf with a muzzle, ears and eye sockets.

In rainy weather and damp fog, which they experience most In the summer, the Chukchi wear raincoats with hoods over their clothes. These raincoats are rectangular pieces of thin skin from the intestines of whales sewn crosswise and look like a folded bag. […] In winter, the Chukchi are forced to beat out their clothes every evening with a mallet cut from horns before entering the yurt in order to clear it of snow. They carry the mallet with them on the sledge. In their tight-fitting clothes that cover all parts of the body well, the Chukchi are not afraid of any cold, although due to their severe frosts, especially with the wind, they freeze their faces. […]

The occupations of men among the reindeer Chukchi are very limited: watch their herd, guard the animals night and day, drive the herd after the train during migrations, separate the sled reindeer, catch the last ones from the circle, harness the reindeer, drive the reindeer into the corral, smoke tobacco, build a weak fire , choose a convenient place for migration. […]

One-year-old reindeer, which the Chukchi destined for harness, are castrated in various rather primitive ways. When sucklings are slaughtered in the fall, the females still have some milk for three to four days. The Chukchi milk was brought to us in a tied intestine. They milk the females by sucking, since they do not know any other way of milking, and this method reduces the taste of the milk. […]

The Chukchi also accustom their riding reindeer to urine, just like the Koryaks. Deer love this drink very much, they allow themselves to be lured by it and thereby learn to recognize their owner by his voice. They say that if you feed reindeer moderately with urine, they become more resilient during migrations and get less tired, which is why the Chukchi carry with them a large basin made of leather to urinate in. In the summer, deer are not given urine, as they have no desire for it. In winter, the deer want to drink urine so much that they must be restrained from drinking it in large quantities at a time when women pour out or expose vessels with urine early in the morning from their yarangas. I saw two deer that had drunk too much urine and were so intoxicated that one of them looked like a dead one... and the second, who was very swollen and could not stand on his feet, was first dragged by the Chukchi to the fire so that the smoke would open his nostrils, then they tied him up with belts, buried him up to his head in the snow, scratched his nose until it bled, but since all this did not help at all, they stabbed him to death.

The Chukchi's reindeer herds are not as numerous as those of the Koryaks. […] The Koryaks are also better at hunting wild deer and elk. As for arrows and bows, the Chukchi always have them with them, but they do not have the dexterity of hitting, since they almost never practice this, but are content with how it comes out. […]

The occupations of the sedentary Chukchi consist mainly of hunting sea animals. At the end of September, the Chukchi go hunting for walruses. They kill so many of them that even polar bears are not able to devour them all over the winter. […] The Chukchi go at the walruses together, several people at a time, run at them screaming, throw a harpoon with a throw, while others pull on a five-fathom-long belt attached to the harpoon. If a wounded animal manages to go under water, the Chukchi overtake it and finish it off in the chest with iron spears. […] If the Chukchi slaughter an animal on the water or if a wounded animal throws itself into the water and dies there, then they take only its meat, and the skeleton remains mostly with fangs and is immersed in the water. Meanwhile, it would be possible to pull out a skeleton with fangs and exchange it for tobacco, if the Chukchi did not spare the labor for this. […]

They hunt bears with spears and claim that polar bears, which are hunted on the water, are easier to kill than brown bears, which are much more agile. […]

About their military campaigns. The Chukchi direct their raids mainly against the Koryaks, with whom they still cannot forget their enmity, and in former times they opposed the Yukaghirs, who with their help were almost destroyed. Their goal is to rob deer. Attacks on enemy yarangas always begin at dawn. Some throw lassoes at the yarangas and try to destroy them, pulling out the posts, others at this time pierce the canopy of the yaranga with spears, and still others, quickly driving up to the herd on their light sledges, divide it into parts and drive away. […] For the same purpose, that is, robbery, sedentary Chukchi move on their canoes to America, attack camps, kill men and take women and children as prisoners; As a result of the attack on the Americans, they partially receive furs, which they exchange with the Russians. Thanks to the sale American women Reindeer Chukchi and other trade transactions, sedentary Chukchi turn into reindeer Chukchi and can sometimes roam with the reindeer, although they are never respected by the latter.

Among the Chukchi, Koryaks and isolated Yukaghirs are also found as workers. The Chukchi marry them to their poor women; and the settled ones also often take captive American women as wives. […]

The woman's hair is braided on the sides into two braids, which they mostly tie at the ends at the back. As for their tattoos, women tattoo with iron, some with triangular needles. Elongated pieces of iron are pierced over the lamp and shaped into a needle, dipping the point into boiled moss from lamps mixed with fat, then into graphite rubbed with urine. The graphite with which the Chukchi rub the threads from the veins when tattooing is found in abundance in pieces on the river near their Puukhta camp. They tattoo with a needle with dyed thread, which leaves blackness under the skin. The slightly swollen area is smeared with fat.

Even before the age of ten, they tattoo girls first in two lines - along the forehead and along the nose, then a tattoo follows on the chin, then on the cheeks, and when the girls get married (or around 17 years old), they tattoo the outside of the forearm to the neck with various linear figures. Less often they indicate a tattoo on women’s shoulder blades or pubic area. […]

Women's clothing fits the body, falls below the knees, where it is tied, forming, as it were, pants. They put it on over the head. Her sleeves do not taper, but remain loose. They, like the neckline, are trimmed with dog fur. This clothing is worn double. […] over the above-mentioned clothing the Chukchi wear a wide fur shirt with a hood, reaching to the knees. They wear it on holidays, when traveling to visit, and also during migrations. They put it on with the wool on the inside, and the more prosperous also wear a second one - with the wool on the outside. […]

Women's occupations: caring for food supplies, processing hides, sewing clothes.

Their food comes from deer, which they slaughter in late autumn, while these animals are still fat. The Chukchi save reindeer meat in pieces as a reserve. While they live in one place, they smoke meat over smoke in their yarangas, eat the meat with ice cream, breaking it into small pieces on a stone with a stone hammer. […] They consider bone marrow, fresh and frozen, fat and tongue the most delicious. The Chukchi also use the contents of a deer’s stomach and its blood. […] For vegetation, the Chukchi use willows, of which there are two types. […] In willows of both species they rip off the bark of the roots, and less often the bark of the trunks. They eat bark with blood, whale oil and the meat of wild animals. Boiled willow leaves are stored in seal bags and eaten with lard in winter. […] To dig up various roots, women use a hoe made from a walrus tusk or a piece of deer antlers. The Chukchi also collect boiled seaweed, which they eat with sour lard, blood and stomach contents of reindeer.

Marriage among the Chukchi. If the matchmaker has received the consent of the parents, then he sleeps with his daughter in the same canopy; if he manages to take possession of her, then the marriage is concluded. If the girl does not have a disposition towards him, then she invites several of her girlfriends to her place that night, who fight the guest with female weapons - arms and legs.

A Koryak woman sometimes makes her boyfriend suffer for a long time. For several years the groom tries in vain to achieve his goal, although he remains in the yaranga, carries firewood, guards the herd and does not refuse any work, and others, in order to test the groom, tease him, even beat him, which he patiently endures until the moment female weakness does not reward him.

Sometimes the Chukchi allow sexual relations between children who grow up with parents or relatives for later marriage.

The Chukchi do not seem to take more than four wives, more often two or three, while the less wealthy are satisfied with one. If a wife dies, the husband takes her sister. Younger brothers marry the widows of their elders, but it is contrary to their customs for the elder to marry the widow of the younger. A barren Chukchi wife is soon kicked out without any complaints from her relatives, and you often meet young women who are thus given to their fourth husband. […]

Chukotka women do not have any help during childbirth, and, they say, often die in the process. During menstruation, women are considered unclean; men refrain from communicating with them, believing that this results in back pain.

Wife Exchange. If husbands conspire to seal their friendship in this way, they ask the consent of their wives, who do not refuse their request. When both parties have agreed in this way, the men sleep without asking, interspersed with other people’s wives, if they live close to each other, or when they come to visit each other. The Chukchi exchange their wives for the most part with one or two, but there are examples when they receive such a relationship with ten at the same time, since their wives, apparently, do not consider such an exchange undesirable. But women, especially among the Reindeer Chukchi, are less likely to be prone to betrayal. They usually do not tolerate other people's jokes on this matter, they take everything seriously and spit in the face or give free rein to their hands.

The Koryaks do not know such an exchange of wives; They are jealous and betrayal of their husband was once punished by death, now only by exile.

In this custom, Chukchi children obey other people's fathers. As for mutual drinking of urine during the exchange of wives, this is a fiction, the reason for which could be washing the face and hands with urine. During the scanty autumn migrations, such a guest often came to our hostess, and her husband then went to the latter’s wife or slept in another canopy. Both of them showed little ceremony, and if they wanted to satisfy their passions, they would send us out of the canopy.

Sedentary Chukchi also exchange wives among themselves, but reindeer do not exchange wives with sedentary ones, and reindeer do not marry the daughters of sedentary people, considering them unworthy of themselves. The wives of the reindeer would never agree to an exchange with the settled ones. However, this does not prevent the Reindeer Chukchi from sleeping with the wives of the settled ones, which their own wives do not look askance at, but the Reindeer Chukchi do not allow the settled ones to do the same. The settled Chukchi also provide their wives to foreigners, but this is not proof of their friendship for them and not out of a desire to receive offspring from foreigners. This is done out of self-interest: the husband receives a pack of tobacco, the wife a string of beads for her neck, several strings of beads for her hand, and if they want to be luxurious, then also earrings, and then the deal is concluded. […]

If Chukchi men feel the approach of death, they often order themselves to be stabbed - the duty of a friend; both brothers and sons are not upset by his death, but rather rejoice that he found enough courage not to wait female death, as they put it, but managed to escape the torment of the devils.

The Chukchi corpse is dressed in clothes made of white or spotted deer fur. The corpse remains in the yaranga for 24 hours, and before it is taken out, they try the head several times, lifting it until they find it light; and while their head is heavy, it seems to them that the deceased has forgotten something on the ground and does not want to leave it, which is why they put some food, needles and the like in front of the deceased. They carry out the corpse not through the door, but next to it, lifting the edge of the yaranga. When carrying out the deceased, one goes and pours the remaining fat from the lamp that burned for 24 hours near the corpse, as well as paint from alder bark, onto the road.

To be burned, the corpse is taken several miles from the yaranga to a hill, and before burning it is opened in such a way that the entrails fall out. This is done to make burning easier.

In memory of the deceased, they cover the place where the corpse was burned in an oval shape with stones, which should resemble the figure of a person; at the head and at the feet, they place a larger stone, of which the top one lies to the south and should represent the head. […] The deer on which the deceased was transported are slaughtered on the spot, their meat is eaten, the head stone is coated underneath with bone marrow or fat, and the antlers are left in the same heap. Every year the Chukchi remember their dead; if the Chukchi are nearby at this time, then they slaughter deer at this place, and if far away, from five to ten sledges of relatives and friends go to this place every year, make a fire, throw bone marrow into the fire, and say: “Eat this.” , help themselves, smoke tobacco and place cleaned antlers on a pile.

The Chukchi mourn their dead children. In our yaranga, shortly before our arrival, a girl died; her mother mourned her every morning in front of the yaranga, and the singing was replaced by howling. […]

To add something more about these natives, let us say that the Chukchi are more often than average in height, but it is not so rare to find Chukchi who reach six feet in height; they are slender, strong, resilient and live to a ripe old age. Sedentary animals are not much inferior to reindeer animals in this regard. The harsh climate, the severe frosts to which they are constantly exposed, their partly raw, partly lightly cooked food, which they almost always have in abundance, and physical exercise, which they do not shy away from almost every evening, as long as the weather permits, are their few activities. give them the advantage of strength, health and stamina. Among them you will not find a fat belly, like the Yakuts. […]

These men are brave when confronted by the masses, less afraid of death than of cowardice. […] In general, the Chukchi are free, they engage in exchanges without thinking about politeness; if they don’t like something or what is offered in exchange seems too insignificant, then they easily spit on it. They achieved great dexterity in theft, especially the sedentary ones. To be forced to live among them is a real lesson in patience. […]

The Chukchi seem kind and helpful and demand in return everything they see and want; they do not know what is called swinishness; they relieve their need in their curtains, and what is most unpleasant about this is that they force strangers, often even with a push, to pour urine into a cup; they crush lice with their teeth in a race with their wives - men from their pants, and women from their hair.

A little more about Chukotka beauties. Women of the Reindeer Chukchi are chaste by habit; Sedentary women are the complete opposite of them in this, but nature has provided the latter with more beautiful features. Both of them are not very shy, although they do not understand it. In conclusion, another addition about the Koryaks. These natives are unsightly, small, and even their secret machinations are reflected on their faces; They forget every gift immediately upon receipt - they insult with death, like the Chukchi, and in general this seems more characteristic of Asia. We must always be in accordance with their mood, so as not to make them enemies; you won’t get anything from them with orders and cruelty; if they are sometimes punished by beatings, then you will not hear any screams or requests from them. The Reindeer Koryaks consider a blow worse than death; For them, taking their own life is the same as going to sleep. […] These natives are cowardly; They not only left the Cossacks of the local forts to the mercy of fate, who were in trouble when the latter were more than once forced to act against the Chukchi because of the Koryaks, but even in those cases when the Cossacks had to flee with them, the Koryaks cut off their fingers, so that the Cossacks could not hold on to the sledges. According to written evidence, in general, the Koryaks killed many more Cossacks while sleeping than the Chukchi during the day with their arrows and spears.

However, is not the reason for their behavior that the Cossacks of these remote regions consider them more as slaves created for them than as subjects standing under the scepter of the greatest monarchy, and treat them accordingly. Thoughtful bosses would have to discourage this if they did not think it would be easier to satisfy their own interests.

Their women apparently never comb their hair. The soiling of their clothes should seem to serve as a guarantee of their chastity for jealous husbands, although their face, which can rarely claim even a shadow of charm, never smiles when looking at a stranger.

K. G. Merck translation from German by Z. Titova

The northernmost region of the Far East is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Its territory is home to several indigenous peoples who came there thousands of years ago. Most of all in Chukotka there are Chukchi themselves - about 15 thousand. For a long time, they roamed throughout the peninsula, herding deer, hunting whales and living in yarangas.
Now many reindeer herders and hunters have turned into housing and communal services workers, and yarangas and kayaks have been replaced by ordinary houses with heating.
Cucumbers for 600 rubles per kilogram and a dozen eggs for 200 – modern consumer realities in remote areas of Chukotka. Fur production is closed, as it does not fit into capitalism, and the extraction of venison, although still going on, is subsidized by the state - deer meat cannot compete even with expensive beef, which is brought from the “mainland”. A similar story is with the renovation of housing stock: it is not profitable for construction companies to take on repair contracts, since the lion's share of the estimate is the cost of transporting materials and workers off-road. Young people leaving villages and serious problems with health care - Soviet system collapsed, but a new one has not really been created.

The ancestors of the Chukchi appeared in the tundra before our era. Presumably, they came from the territory of Kamchatka and the current Magadan region, then moved through the Chukotka Peninsula towards the Bering Strait and stopped there.

Faced with the Eskimos, the Chukchi adopted their marine hunting trade, subsequently displacing them from the Chukotka Peninsula. At the turn of the millennium, the Chukchi learned reindeer husbandry from the nomads of the Tungus group - the Evens and Yukaghirs.

“Now it is no easier to get into the reindeer herders’ camps of Chukotka than in the time of Tan Bogoraz (the famous Russian ethnographer who described the life of the Chukchi at the beginning of the 20th century).
You can fly to Anadyr and then to national villages by plane. But then from the village to get to a specific reindeer herding brigade in right time very difficult,” explains Puya. Reindeer herders' camps are constantly moving, and over long distances. There are no roads to get to their camp sites: they have to travel on tracked all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles, sometimes on reindeer and dog sleds. In addition, reindeer herders strictly observe the timing of migrations, the time of their rituals and holidays.

Vladimir Puya

Life of reindeer herders

But the Soviet government, which came to Chukotka in the 30s of the last century, was dissatisfied with the “uncontrolled” movement of people. The indigenous people were told where to build new – semi-permanent – ​​housing. This was done for the convenience of transporting goods by sea. They did the same with the camps. At the same time, new jobs arose for indigenous residents, and hospitals, schools, and cultural centers appeared in the settlements. The Chukchi were taught writing. And the reindeer herders themselves lived almost better than all other Chukchi - until the 80s of the 20th century.

Now residents of Konergino send letters at the post office, shop in two stores (Nord and Katyusha), call “the mainland” from the only landline telephone in the entire village, sometimes go to the local cultural club, and use the medical outpatient clinic. However, the residential buildings in the village are in disrepair and are not subject to major repairs. “Firstly, they don’t give us much money, and secondly, due to the complex transport scheme, it is difficult to deliver materials to the village,” said the head of the settlement, Alexander Mylnikov, several years ago. According to him, if previously the housing stock in Konergino was repaired by utility workers, now they have neither building materials nor labor. “It is expensive to deliver construction materials to the village; the contractor spends about half of the allocated funds on transportation costs. The builders refuse, it is not profitable for them to work with us,” he complained.

About 330 people live in Konergino. Of these, there are about 70 children: most go to school. Fifty local residents work in housing and communal services, and the school, together with the kindergarten, employs 20 educators, teachers, nannies and cleaners. Young people do not stay in Konergino: school graduates go to study and work in other places. The depressive state of the village is illustrated by the situation with the traditional crafts for which the Konergins were famous.

“We no longer have marine hunting. According to capitalist rules, it is not profitable,” says Puya. “The fur farms closed, and the fur trade was quickly forgotten. In the 90s, fur production in Konergino collapsed.” All that remains is reindeer husbandry: in Soviet times and until the mid-2000s, while Roman Abramovich remained as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, it was successful here.

There are 51 reindeer herders working in Konergino, 34 of whom work in brigades in the tundra. According to Pui, reindeer herders' incomes are extremely low. “This is an unprofitable industry, there is not enough money for salaries. The state covers the lack of funds so that the salary is higher than the subsistence level, which in our case is 13 thousand. The reindeer farm that employs the workers pays them approximately 12.5 thousand. The state pays up to 20 thousand extra so that the reindeer herders don’t die of hunger,” complains Puya.

When asked why it is impossible to pay more, Puya replies that the cost of producing venison on different farms varies from 500 to 700 rubles per kilogram. And wholesale prices for beef and pork, which are imported “from the mainland,” start at 200 rubles. The Chukchi cannot sell meat for 800-900 rubles and are forced to set the price at 300 rubles - at a loss. “There is no point in capitalist development of this industry,” says Puya. “But this is the last thing left in the national villages.”

Evgeny Kaipanau, a 36-year-old Chukchi, was born in Lorino into the family of the most respected whaler. “Lorino” (in Chukchi – “Lauren”) is translated from Chukchi as “found camp”. The settlement stands on the shore of Mechigmenskaya Bay of the Bering Sea. Several hundred kilometers away are the American islands of Krusenstern and St. Lawrence; Alaska is also very close. But planes fly to Anadyr once every two weeks - and only if the weather is good. Lorino is covered from the north by hills, so there are more windless days here than in neighboring villages. True, despite relatively good weather conditions, in the 90s almost all Russian residents left Lorino, and since then only Chukchi have lived there - about 1,500 people.

The houses in Lorino are rickety wooden buildings with peeling walls and faded paint. In the center of the village there are several cottages built by Turkish workers - insulated buildings with cold water, which in Lorino is considered a privilege (if you run it through ordinary pipes). cold water, then in winter it will freeze). There is hot water in the entire settlement, because the local boiler house is working all year round. But there is no hospital or clinic here - for several years now people have been sent for medical care by air ambulance or on all-terrain vehicles.

Lorino is famous for its marine mammal hunting. It’s not for nothing that the documentary film “Whaler” was filmed here in 2008, which received the TEFI prize. Hunting sea animals is still an important activity for local residents. Whalers not only feed their families or earn money by selling meat to the local trapping community, they also honor the traditions of their ancestors.

Since childhood, Kaipanau knew how to properly slaughter walruses, catch fish and whales, and walk in the tundra. But after school he went to Anadyr to study first as an artist and then as a choreographer. Until 2005, while living in Lorino, he often went on tour to Anadyr or Moscow to perform with national ensembles. Due to constant travel, climate change and flights, Kaipanau decided to finally move to Moscow. There he got married, his daughter was nine months old. “I try to instill my creativity and culture in my wife,” says Evgeniy. “Although many things seemed wild to her before, especially when she found out the conditions in which my people live. I instill traditions and customs in my daughter, for example, showing national clothes. I want her to know that she is a hereditary Chukchi.”

Evgeny now rarely appears in Chukotka: he tours and represents the Chukchi culture around the world together with his ensemble “Nomad”. In the ethnopark “Nomad” of the same name near Moscow, where Kaipanau works, he conducts thematic excursions and shows documentaries about Chukotka, including Vladimir Pui.

But living far from his homeland does not prevent him from knowing about many things happening in Lorino: his mother remains there, she works in the city administration. Thus, he is sure that young people are drawn to those traditions that are being lost in other regions of the country. “Culture, language, hunting skill. Young people in Chukotka, including young people from our village, are learning to catch whales. Our people live with this all the time,” says Kaipanau.

IN summer season The Chukchi hunted whales and walruses, and in winter, seals. They hunted with harpoons, knives and spears. Whales and walruses were hunted together, but seals were hunted individually. The Chukchi caught fish with nets made of whale and deer tendons or leather belts, nets and bits. In winter - in an ice hole, in summer - from the shore or from kayaks. In addition, before early XIX centuries, with the help of bows, spears and traps, they hunted bears and wolves, rams and moose, wolverines, foxes and arctic foxes. Waterfowl were killed with a throwing weapon (bola) and darts with a throwing plank. From the second half of the 19th century, guns began to be used, and then whaling firearms.

Products that are imported from the mainland cost a lot of money in the village. “They bring “golden” eggs for 200 rubles. I’m generally silent about grapes,” adds Kaipanau. Prices reflect the sad socio-economic situation in Lorino. There are few places in the settlement where one can show professionalism and university skills. “But the situation of the people is, in principle, normal,” the interlocutor immediately clarifies. “After Abramovich’s arrival (from 2001 to 2008), things became much better: more jobs appeared, houses were rebuilt, and first aid stations were established.” Kaipanau recalls how whalers he knew “came, took the governor’s motor boats for free and left.” “Now they live and enjoy,” he says. The federal authorities, according to him, also help the Chukchi, but not very actively.

Kaipanau has a dream. He wants to create educational ethnic centers in Chukotka, where indigenous peoples could relearn their culture: build kayaks and yarangas, embroider, sing, dance.
“In the ethnopark, many visitors consider the Chukchi to be an uneducated and backward people; They think that they don’t wash and constantly say “however.” Sometimes they even tell me that I am not a real Chukchi. But we are real people.”

Every morning, Natalya, a 45-year-old resident of the village of Sireniki (who asked that her last name not be used), wakes up at 8 a.m. to go to work at the local school. She is a watchman and technical worker.
Sireniki, where Natalya has lived for 28 years, is located in the Providensky urban district of Chukotka, on the shores of the Bering Sea. The first Eskimo settlement appeared here about three thousand years ago, and in the vicinity of the village remains of the dwellings of ancient people are still found. In the 60s of the last century, the Chukchi joined the indigenous people. Therefore, the village has two names: from Ekimo it is translated as “Valley of the Sun”, and from Chukchi – “Rocky Terrain”.
Sireniki is surrounded by hills, and it is difficult to get here, especially in winter - only by snowmobile or helicopter. From spring to autumn, sea vessels come here. From above, the village looks like a box of colorful candies: green, blue and red cottages, an administration building, a post office, a kindergarten and an outpatient clinic. Previously, there were many dilapidated wooden houses in Sireniki, but a lot has changed, says Natalya, with the arrival of Abramovich. “My husband and I used to live in a house with stove heating; we had to wash dishes outside. Then Valera fell ill with tuberculosis, and his attending physician helped us get a new cottage due to his illness. Now we have a European-quality renovation.”

Clothing and food

The shepherd always had to protect the number of deer, so livestock breeders and families ate vegetarian food in the summer, and if they ate deer, then it was completely, right down to the antlers and hooves. They preferred boiled meat, but often ate it raw: the shepherds in the herd simply did not have time to cook. The sedentary Chukchi ate the meat of walruses, which were previously killed in huge quantities.

How do they live in Sireniki?

Dome

The woman knows little about production, salaries and investments in the region, but often repeats: “The Dome helps us.” The fact is that the Canadian company that owns the field created the Social Development Fund back in 2009; it allocates money for socially significant projects. At least a third of the budget goes to support the indigenous peoples of the Autonomous Okrug. For example, Kupol helped publish a dictionary of the Chukchi language, opened courses in indigenous languages, and built a school for 65 children and a kindergarten for 32 in Sireniki.

“My Valera also received a grant,” says Natalya. – Two years ago, Kupol allocated him 1.5 million rubles for a huge 20-ton freezer. After all, the whalers will get the animal, there is a lot of meat - it will spoil. And now this camera is a lifesaver. With the remaining money, my husband and his colleagues bought tools to build kayaks.”

Natalya, a Chukchi and hereditary reindeer herder, believes that the national culture is now being revived. He says that every Tuesday and Friday the local village club holds rehearsals for the Northern Lights ensemble; courses of Chukchi and other languages ​​are opening (albeit in the regional center - Anadyr); competitions like the Governor's Cup or the Barents Sea regatta are held. “And this year our ensemble is invited to a grandiose event - international festival! Five people will fly on dance program. It will all be in Alaska, she will pay for the flight and accommodation,” says the woman. She admits that Russian state supports national culture, but she mentions the Dome much more often. Natalya does not know of a domestic fund that would finance the peoples of Chukotka.

Another key issue is healthcare. In Chukotka, as in other northern regions, says Nina Veisalova, a representative of the Association of Small Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (AMKNSS and FERF), respiratory diseases are very common. But, according to available information, tuberculosis dispensaries are closing in ethnic villages. There are many cancer patients. The previously existing health care system ensured the identification, observation and treatment of sick people from among small peoples, which was enshrined in law. Unfortunately, such a scheme does not work today. The authorities do not answer the question about the closure of tuberculosis dispensaries, but only report that in every district and settlement of Chukotka hospitals, medical outpatient clinics and medical and obstetric centers have been preserved.

There is a stereotype in Russian society: the Chukchi people drank themselves to death after they came to the territory of Chukotka " a white man” – that is, since the beginning of the last century. The Chukchi never drank alcohol, their body does not produce an enzyme that breaks down alcohol, and because of this, the effect of alcohol on their health is more detrimental than that of other peoples. But according to Evgeniy Kaipanau, the level of the problem is greatly overestimated. “With alcohol [among the Chukchi], everything is the same as everywhere else. But they drink less than anywhere else,” he says. At the same time, says Kaipanau, the Chukchi actually did not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the past. “Now, although the enzyme has been developed, people still do not drink as the legends say,” sums up the Chukchi.

Kaipanau’s opinion is supported by Doctor of Medical Sciences GNICP Irina Samorodskaya, one of the authors of the report “Mortality and the share of deaths in economically active age from causes related to alcohol (drugs), MI and IHD from all deaths aged 15-72 years” for 2013. According to Rosstat, the document says, the highest mortality rate from alcohol-related causes is indeed in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - 268 people per 100 thousand. But these data, Samorodskaya emphasizes, apply to the entire population of the district. “Yes, the indigenous population of those territories are the Chukchi, but they are not the only ones who live there,” she explains. In addition, according to Samorodskaya, Chukotka is higher in all mortality indicators than other regions - and this is not only alcohol mortality, but also other external causes. “It is now impossible to say that it was the Chukchi who died from alcohol, this is how the system works. First, if people do not want an alcohol-related cause of death on their deceased relative's death certificate, it will not be listed. Secondly, the vast majority of deaths occur at home. And there, death certificates are often filled out by a local doctor or even a paramedic, which is why other reasons may be indicated in the documents - it’s easier to write that way.”

Finally, another serious problem in the region, according to Veisalova, is the relationship between industrial companies and the indigenous local population. “People come like conquerors, disturbing the peace and quiet of the local residents. I think there should be regulations on the interaction between companies and peoples,” she says.

Language and religion

The Chukchi have long believed that the world is divided into upper, middle and lower. At the same time, the upper world (“cloud land”) is inhabited by the “upper people” (in Chukchi - gyrgorramkyn), or “people of the dawn” (tnargy-ramkyn), and the supreme deity among the Chukchi does not play a serious role. The Chukchi believed that their soul was immortal, they believed in reincarnation, and shamanism was widespread among them. Both men and women could be shamans, but among the Chukchi the shamans of the “transformed sex” were considered especially powerful - men who acted as housewives, and women who adopted the clothes, activities and habits of men.

Time and the Chukchi themselves will draw all the conclusions.

Part 5. Chukchi Arctic

The ancient Arctic Chukchi live on the Chukotka Peninsula. Unlike other indigenous peoples of Siberia, they were never conquered by Russian troops. Their environment and traditional culture suffered greatly during the years of Soviet rule due to industrial pollution and continuous testing of new weapons.

“How you treat your dog in this life determines your place in heaven.”

Due to the harsh climate and difficulties of life in the tundra, hospitality and generosity are highly valued among the Chukchi. They believe that all natural phenomena are spiritualized and personified. The Chukchi still maintain a traditional way of life, which is nevertheless subject to the influence of modern civilization.

Arctic tundra, Vankarem, Chukotka

Ancient legends and archaeological data suggest that the Chukchi settled Chukotka in a far from peaceful manner.

Unlike other native inhabitants of Siberia, they were fiercely warlike and were never conquered by Russian troops. Under Soviet rule, the population of Chukotka experienced massive purges and the destruction of their traditional culture.

People from the Second Brigade

The Chukchi are an ancient Arctic people living mainly on the Chukotka Peninsula. They differ from other peoples of the North by the presence of two different cultures: nomadic reindeer herders Chauchu, living in the interior of the peninsula, and sedentary coastal sea hunters Ankalyn, who live along the shores of the Arctic Ocean, as well as the Chukchi and Bering seas.

Vladilen Kavri

The by-products consumed by the inhabitants of the peninsula are supplied by reindeer herders: boiled venison, deer brains and bone marrow, and deer blood soup.

One traditional dish, rilkeil, is made from semi-digested moss from the stomach of a dead deer, mixed with blood, fat and pieces of boiled deer intestine. The diet of the coastal Chukchi includes boiled walrus meat, seal, whale meat/blubber, and seaweed. Both groups eat frozen fish and edible leaves and roots.

Traditional cuisine is now complemented by canned vegetables and other food products purchased in stores.

Folk art

Sculpture and carving of bone and walrus tusk are the most developed forms folk art among the Chukchi. Traditional themes are landscapes and scenes from Everyday life: hunting trips, reindeer husbandry and indigenous animals of Chukotka. In accordance with tradition, only Chukchi men can engage in this activity. Chukotka women are masters of sewing and embroidery.

Second brigade of reindeer herders

Although both sexes share responsibility for running the household, the tasks they face are different.

Chukchi men ride reindeer in search of vegetation, and also visit the edge of the taiga to hunt marine mammals and collect firewood and fish.

Women's work includes cleaning and repairing the yaranga, cooking, sewing and repairing clothes, and preparing reindeer or walrus skins.

Chukotka

The coastal Chukchi, like their Eskimo neighbors, love to throw each other into the air on blankets of walrus skins. Chukchi of all ages traditionally love to sing, dance, listen folk tales and say tongue twisters.

Chukotka traditions

The traditional dress of Chukchi women is the “kerker” - a knee-length jumpsuit made from deer or seal skins and embroidered with fox, wolverine, wolf or dog fur. On holidays and on special occasions, women wear robes made of fawn skins, decorated with beads, embroidery and fur trim.

During important traditional events, men wear loose shirts and trousers made from the same material.

Vyacheslav and Olesya

Pollution, military testing, mining, overuse of industrial equipment and Vehicle inflicted great harm nature of Chukotka. The traditional way of life and activity of the Chukchi is in danger of extinction.

Yaranga - second brigade

For several hundred years, the cone-shaped yaranga remained traditional home Chukchi reindeer herders. It takes about 80 reindeer skins to make a yaranga. Currently, fewer and fewer Chukchi live in yarangas. The coastal Chukchi traditionally use dog sleds and leather boats for transportation, while inland the Chukchi travel on reindeer-drawn sleighs. These traditional methods of transportation are widespread, but are increasingly being supplemented by air transport, motor boats and snowmobiles.

Second Brigade, Chukotka

The Chukchi, who call themselves Lygoravetlat – “true people” – currently number just over 15 thousand. Their territory is mostly treeless tundra. The climate is harsh, winter temperatures sometimes drop to -54°C. Summer in Chukotka is cool: temperatures fluctuate around + 10°C.

Chukchi

Traditional Chukchi sports are reindeer and dog sled racing, wrestling and running. Sports competitions are often accompanied by deer sacrifices in the mainland regions of Chukotka and offerings to the sea spirit among the Chukchi coastal region.

Mystery

Chukchi beliefs and practices are a type of shamanism. Animals, plants, celestial bodies, rivers, forests and other natural phenomena are endowed with their own spirits. During their rituals, Chukchi shamans fall into a trance (sometimes with the help

hallucinogenic mushrooms) and communicate with spirits, allowing the spirits to speak through them, predict the future and cast various spells.

The most important traditional holidays The Chukchi have festivals during which sacrifices are made to the spirits responsible for the well-being and survival of the people.

Chukotka traditions

Due to the harsh climate and difficulties of life in the tundra, hospitality and generosity are highly valued among the Chukchi. You cannot deny shelter and food to anyone, even a stranger.

The community is obliged to provide for orphans, widows and the poor.

Stinginess is considered the worst human flaw.

Oral folk art.

Chukchi folklore includes myths about the creation of the Earth, Moon, Sun and stars, tales about animals, anecdotes and jokes about fools, stories about evil spirits responsible for illness and other misfortunes, and stories about shamans with supernatural powers.