home
Psychosomatics
Chukchi traditions and customs in brief. History and culture of the Chukchi in the 17th - early 20th century

Chukchi traditions and customs in brief. History and culture of the Chukchi in the 17th - early 20th century

10.04.2019

Canoes holiday

According to the ancient ideas of the Chukchi, everything that surrounds a person has a soul. There is a soul by the sea, there is a canoe, a boat covered with walrus skin, on which, even today, sea Arctic St. John's wort fearlessly go out into the ocean. Until recently, every spring, in order for the sea to accept the canoe, hunters arranged a special holiday. It began with the fact that the boat was solemnly removed from the pillars of the jawbones of the bowhead whale, on which it was stored during the long Chukchi winter. Then they sacrificed to the sea: they threw pieces of boiled meat into the water. The canoe was brought to the yaranga - the traditional home of the Chukchi - and all the participants of the holiday went around the yaranga. The oldest woman in the family went first, then the owner of the canoes, the helmsman, rowers, and the rest of the participants in the holiday. The next day, the boat was transferred to the shore, again they made a sacrifice to the sea, and only after that the canoe was launched.

whale festival

At the end of the fishing season, in late autumn or early winter, the coastal Chukchi held a whale festival. It was based on a rite of reconciliation between hunters and dead animals. People dressed in festive clothes, including special waterproof raincoats made from walrus intestines, asked for forgiveness from whales, seals, and walruses. “It wasn't the hunters who killed you! The stones rolled down the mountain and killed you!” - sang, referring to the whales, the Chukchi women. Men arranged wrestling matches, performed dances that reproduced scenes of hunting sea animals full of mortal danger.
At the festival of the whale, sacrifices were certainly made to Keretkun, the owner of all sea animals. After all, it was from him, the inhabitants of Chukotka believed, that success in hunting depends. In the yaranga, where the holiday was held, a network of Keretkun woven from deer tendons was hung out, and figurines of animals and birds carved from bone and wood were installed. One of the wooden sculptures depicted the owner of the marine animals himself. The culmination of the holiday was the lowering of whale bones into the sea. In the sea water, the Chukchi believed, the bones would turn into new animals, and next year whales would appear again off the coast of Chukotka.

Young Deer Festival (Kilway)

Just as solemnly as the whale festival among coastal residents was celebrated in the continental tundra Kilvei - the festival of a young deer. It was arranged in the spring, during calving. The holiday began with the fact that the shepherds drove the herd to the yarangas, and the women laid out the sacred fire. Fire for such a fire was obtained only by friction, as people did many hundreds of years ago. Deer were greeted with loud cries and shots to scare away evil spirits. This purpose was also served by tambourines-yarars, which were alternately played by men and women. Often, along with reindeer herders, residents of coastal villages took part in the holiday. They were invited to Kilway in advance, and the more prosperous the family was, the more guests came to the holiday. In exchange for their gifts, the inhabitants of the coastal villages received deer skins and venison, which was considered a delicacy among them. At the festival of the young deer, they not only had fun on the occasion of the birth of deer, but also performed important work: they separated the female with calves from the main part of the herd in order to graze them on the most abundant pastures. During the holiday, some of the adult deer were slaughtered. This was done in order to prepare meat for the future for women, the elderly and children. The fact is that after Kilvei, the inhabitants of the camp were divided into two groups. Elderly people, women, children stayed at winter camps, where they fished and picked berries in summer. And the men went with deer herds on a long journey, to summer camps. Summer pastures were located north of the winter nomad camps, not far from the coasts of the polar seas. The long journey with the herd was difficult, often dangerous. So the holiday of a young deer is also a farewell before a long separation.

Chukchi or luoravetlans(self-name - ԓygyoravetԓet, oravetԓet) - a small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyui rivers. The number according to the All-Russian population census of 2002 is 15767 people, according to the All-Russian population census of 2010 - 15908 people.

Number and settlement

The number of Chukchi in Russia:

The number of Chukchi in settlements (2002)

Srednie Pakhachi village 401

Origin

Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, is adapted in the 17th century. Russian explorers Chukchi word chauch[ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), what name do Chukchi reindeer breeders call themselves, as opposed to the Chukchi seaside - dog breeders - ankalyin(seaside, coasts - from anky(sea) . Self-name - oravetԓet(people, singular oravetԓien) or ԓygyoravetԓet [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt] (real people, singular ԓygyoravetԓen [ ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in the Russian transmission luoravetlan). The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukagirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the coast of the Bering Strait).

The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the life of the deer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog team. The final solution of the question of ethnographic origin depends on a comparative study of the Chukchi language and the languages of the nearest American peoples. One of the experts on the language, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, according to the language of the Chukchi, they were classified as Paleo-Asiatic, that is, a group of marginal peoples of Asia, whose languages are completely different from all other linguistic groups of the Asian mainland, forced out in very remote times from the middle of the mainland to the northeastern outskirts.

Anthropology

History

Voluntary death is a common occurrence among the Chukchi. A person who wants to die declares this to a friend or relative, and he must fulfill his request ... I know of two dozen cases of voluntary death ... [So] one of those who arrived after visiting the Russian barracks felt a stomachache. During the night, the pain intensified so much that he demanded to be killed. His companions granted his wish.

Anticipating many speculations, the ethnographer writes:

The reason for the voluntary death of the elderly is by no means the lack of a good attitude towards them on the part of relatives, but rather the difficult conditions of their life. These conditions make life completely unbearable for anyone who is unable to take care of himself. Not only old people resort to voluntary death, but also those suffering from some incurable disease. The number of such patients who die a voluntary death is not less than the number of old people.

Folklore

The Chukchi have rich oral folk art, which is also expressed in the art of stone bone. The main genres of folklore: myths, fairy tales, historical legends, legends and everyday stories. One of the main characters was a raven - Kurkyl, culture hero. Many legends and fairy tales have been preserved, such as "Keeper of Fire", "Love", "When do the whales leave?", "God and the Boy". Let's take an example of the latter:

One family lived in the tundra: father, mother, and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy looked after the deer, and the girl helped her mother with the housework. One morning, the father woke up his daughter and ordered her to build a fire and make tea. A girl came out of the canopy, and God caught her and ate her, and then ate her father and mother. The boy from the herd has returned. Before entering the yaranga, I looked through the hole to see what was going on there. And he sees - God sits on an extinct hearth and plays in the ashes. The boy shouted to him: - Hey, what are you doing? - Nothing, come here. The boy went into the yaranga, they began to play. The boy plays, and he looks around, looking for relatives. He understood everything and said to God: - Play alone, I'll go before the wind! He ran out of the yaranga. He untied the two most evil dogs and ran with them into the forest. He climbed a tree, and tied the dogs under a tree. He played, God played, he wanted to eat and went to look for the boy. He goes, sniffing the trail. I got to the tree. He wanted to climb a tree, but the dogs caught him, tore him to pieces and ate him. And the boy came home with his herd and became the owner.

Historical traditions have preserved stories of wars with neighboring Eskimo tribes.

Folk dances

Despite the difficult living conditions, the people also found time for holidays, where the tambourine was not only a ritual, but also just a musical instrument, the melodies of which were passed down from generation to generation. Archaeological evidence suggests that dances existed among the ancestors of the Chukchi as early as the 1st millennium BC. e. This is evidenced by petroglyphs discovered beyond the Arctic Circle in Chukotka and studied by archaeologist N. N. Dikov.

A striking example of ceremonial and ritual dances was the celebration of the “First Slaughter of a Deer”:

After the meal, all the tambourines belonging to the family, hanging on the poles of the threshold behind a curtain of raw skins, are removed, and the ceremony begins. The tambourines are beaten throughout the rest of the day in turn by all family members. When all the adults have finished, the children take their place and, in turn, continue to beat the tambourines. While playing the tambourines, many adults invoke "spirits" and try to encourage them to enter their body... .

Imitative dances were also widespread, reflecting the habits of animals and birds: “Crane”, “Crane looks out for food”, “Crane flight”, “Crane looks around”, “Swan”, “Dance of the seagull”, “Raven”, “Bull (deer) fight )”, “Dance of ducks”, “Bullfight during the rut”, “Looking out”, “Running of a deer”.

Trading dances played a special role as a type of group marriage, as V. G. Bogoraz writes, they served on the one hand as a new connection between families, on the other, the old family ties are strengthened.

Language, writing and literature

Notes

Official website of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. Information materials on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census
All-Russian population census 2002. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
[http://std.gmcrosstata.ru/webapi/opendatabase?id=vpn2002_pert Microdatabase of the 2002 All-Russian Population Census
V. G. Bogoraz. Chukchi. Part 1. Leningrad 1934 p.3
MONGOLOID RACE
Chukchi letter
Yakut army
Description of the haplogroup N1c1-M178
TSB (2 edition)
Dishes from Chukchi cuisine
Food for northerners in love
Chukchi sailor
V. G. Bogoraz. Chukchi. Part 1. Leningrad 1934 pp. 106-107
Ibid pp. 107-108
Chukchi Fairy tales and legends
Ethnography of Kamchatka
Chukchi, songs and dances
also found the name seaside Chukchi
See further: N. N. Cheboksarov, N. I. Cheboksarova. Peoples, races, cultures. Moscow: Nauka 1971
V. G. Bogoraz. Chukchi and religion. Glavsemorputi L., 1939 p.76
Folklore sector
Ibid p. 95

Gallery

Links

Chukchi, Chukot or Luoravetlans. A small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyui rivers. The number according to the All-Russian population census of 2002 is 15767 people, according to the All-Russian population census of 2010 - 15908 people.

Origin

Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, is adapted in the 17th century. Russian explorers, the Chukchi word chauchu [ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), by what name do the Chukchi reindeer herders call themselves, as opposed to the Chukchi seaside - dog breeders - ankalyn (seaside, pomors - from anka (sea)). The self-name is oravetԓet (people, in the singular oravetԓen) or ԓgygoravetԓet [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt] (real people, in the singular ԓgygoravetԓen [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in the Russian transmission luoravetlan). The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukagirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the shores of the Bering Strait).

The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the life of the deer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog team. The final solution of the question of ethnographic origin depends on a comparative study of the Chukchi language and the languages of the nearest American peoples. One of the connoisseurs of the language, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, according to the language of the Chukchi, they were classified as Paleo-Asiatic, that is, a group of marginal peoples of Asia, whose languages are completely different from all other linguistic groups of the Asian mainland, forced out in very remote times from the middle of the mainland to the northeastern outskirts.

Anthropology

The type of Chukchi is mixed, generally Mongoloid, but with some differences. The racial type of the Chukchi, according to Bogoraz, is characterized by some differences. Eyes with an oblique incision are less common than those with a horizontal incision; there are individuals with dense facial hair and with wavy, almost curly hair on the head; face with a bronze tint; body color is devoid of a yellowish tint; large, regular facial features, forehead high and straight; the nose is large, straight, sharply defined; the eyes are large and widely spaced. Some researchers noted the height, strength and broad-shouldered Chukchi. Genetically, the Chukchi reveal their kinship with the Yakuts and Nenets: Haplogroup N (Y-DNA) 1c1 is found in 50% of the population, Haplogroup C (Y-DNA) (close to the Ainu and Itelmen) is also widespread.

History

The modern ethnogenetic scheme makes it possible to evaluate the Chukchi as natives of continental Chukotka. Their ancestors formed here at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. The basis of the culture of this population was hunting for wild deer, which existed here until the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries in fairly stable natural and climatic conditions. The Russian Chukchi encountered for the first time back in the 17th century on the Alazeya River. In 1644, the Cossack Mikhail Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsky prison. The Chukchi, who at that time roamed both east and west of the Kolyma, after a bloody struggle, finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing the Eskimo tribe of Mamalls from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Bering Sea during their retreat. Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between the Russians and the Chukchi have not stopped, whose territory bordered on the Russian along the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur Territory (for more details, see Joining Chukotka to Russia).

In 1770, after a series of military campaigns, including the unsuccessful campaign of Shestakov (1730), the Anadyr prison, which served as the center of the struggle between the Russians and the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhnekolymsk, after which the Chukchi became less hostile to the Russians and gradually began to join with them in trade relations. In 1775, on the Angarka river, a tributary of the Great Anyui, the Angarsk fortress was built, where, under the protection of the Cossacks, an annual fair for barter with the Chukchi took place.

Since 1848, the fair has been moved to the Anyui fortress (about 250 km from Nizhnekolymsk, on the banks of the Small Anyui). Until the first half of the 19th century, when European goods were delivered to the territory of the Chukchi by the only land route through Yakutsk, the Anyui fair had turnovers of hundreds of thousands of rubles. The Chukchi brought for sale not only the ordinary products of their own production (clothing made of deer furs, deer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs - sea otters, martens, black foxes, blue foxes, which the so-called nasal Chukchi exchanged for tobacco among the inhabitants of the shores of the Bering Sea and the northwestern coast of America.

With the appearance of American whalers in the waters of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean, as well as with the delivery of goods to Gizhiga by ships of the voluntary fleet (in the 1880s), the largest turnovers of the Anyui fair ceased, and by the end of the 19th century it began to serve only the needs of the local Kolyma trading, having a turnover of not more than 25 thousand rubles.

economy

Initially, the Chukchi were simply reindeer hunters, over time (shortly before the appearance of the Russians) they mastered reindeer husbandry, which became the basis of their economy.

The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting for sea animals: in winter and spring - for seals and seals, in summer and autumn - for walrus and whale. The seals were hunted alone, crawling up to them, disguised themselves and imitated the movements of the animal. The walrus was hunted in groups of several canoes. Traditional hunting weapons are a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, firearms have spread since the second half of the 19th century, and hunting methods have become simpler.

Life of the Chukchi

In the XIX century, the Chukchi reindeer herders lived in camps in 2-3 houses. Migrations were made as deer fodder was depleted. In the summer, some go down to the sea. The Chukchi clan is agnatic, united by a community of fire, consanguinity in the male line, a common totem sign, tribal revenge and religious rites. Marriage is predominantly endogamous, individual, often polygamous (2-3 wives); among a certain circle of relatives and brothers, mutual use of wives is allowed, by agreement; levirate is also common. Kalyma does not exist. Chastity for a girl does not play a role.

The dwelling - yaranga - is a large tent of irregular polygonal shape, covered with panels of reindeer skins, with fur outside. Stability against the pressure of the wind is given by stones tied to the poles and the cover of the hut. The fire is in the middle of the hut and is surrounded by a sleigh with household supplies. The actual dwelling, where the Chukchi eats, drinks and sleeps, consists of a small quadrangular fur tent-canopy, strengthened at the back wall of the tent and tightly sealed from the floor. The temperature in this cramped room, heated by the animal warmth of its inhabitants and partly by a fat lamp, is so high that the Chukchi strip naked in it.

Until the end of the 20th century, the Chukchi distinguished between heterosexual men, heterosexual men who wore women's clothes, homosexual men who wore women's clothes, heterosexual women and women who wore men's clothes. At the same time, wearing clothes could mean the performance of appropriate social functions.

Chukchi clothing is of the usual polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men it consists of a double fur shirt (the lower fur to the body and the upper fur out), the same double trousers, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a female bonnet. Women's clothing is quite peculiar, also double, consisting of one-piece sewn trousers along with a low-cut bodice, pulled together at the waist, with a slit on the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which the Chukchi women easily free their hands during work. Summer outerwear is hoodies made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamlikas made of thin-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. The baby's costume consists of a reindeer bag with deaf ramifications for the arms and legs. Instead of diapers, a layer of moss with reindeer hair is placed, which absorbs the feces, which are taken out daily through a special valve fastened to the opening of the bag.

Women's hairstyles consist of braids braided on both sides of the head, decorated with beads and buttons. Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown of the head.

Wooden, stone and iron tools

In the XVIII century. stone axes, spear and arrowheads, bone knives were almost completely replaced by metal ones. Utensils, tools and weapons are currently used mainly European (metal boilers, teapots, iron knives, guns, etc.), but there are still many remnants of recent primitive culture in the life of the Chukchi: bone shovels, hoes, drills, bone and stone arrows, spearheads, etc., a compound bow of the American type, slings made of knuckles, shells made of leather and iron plates, stone hammers, scrapers, knives, a primitive projectile for making fire through friction, primitive lamps in the form of a round flat a vessel made of soft stone filled with seal fat, etc. Their light sledges, with arched supports instead of spears, adapted only for sitting on them astride, have survived primitive. The sled is harnessed either by a pair of deer (among the reindeer Chukchi), or dogs, following the American model (among the Primorye Chukchi).

With the advent of Soviet power, schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions appeared in settlements. Created writing for the language. The level of literacy of the Chukchi (the ability to write, read) does not differ from the average for the country.

Chukchi cuisine

The basis of the diet of the Chukchi was boiled meat (deer, seal, whale), they also ate leaves and bark of the polar willow (emrat), seaweed, sorrel, mollusks and berries. In addition to traditional meat, blood and the insides of animals were used as food. Raw-frozen meat was widely used. Unlike the Tungus and Yukagirs, the Chukchi practically did not eat fish. Of the drinks, the Chukchi preferred decoctions of herbs such as tea.

A peculiar dish is the so-called monyalo - half-digested moss, extracted from a large deer stomach; various canned food and fresh dishes are made from monyal. A semi-liquid stew made from monal, blood, fat and finely chopped meat was the most common type of hot food until very recently.

Holidays

Reindeer Chukchi held several holidays: slaughter of young deer in August, installation of a winter dwelling (feeding the constellation Pegyttin - the star Altair and Zore from the constellation Eagle), breaking up herds in the spring (separation of the females from young bulls), the festival of the horns (Kilvey) in the spring after the calving of the females, sacrifices to fire, etc. Once or twice a year, each family celebrated Thanksgiving.

Religion of the Chukchi

Religious representations of the Chukchi express amulets (pendants, bandages, necklaces in the form of straps with beads). The painting of the face with the blood of the murdered victim, with the image of the hereditary-ancestral sign - the totem, also has ritual significance. The original pattern on the quivers and clothes of the Primorye Chukchi is of Eskimo origin; from the Chukchi, he passed to many polar peoples of Asia.

According to their beliefs, the Chukchi are animists; they personify and deify certain areas and natural phenomena (masters of the forest, water, fire, sun, deer, etc.), many animals (bear, crow), stars, sun and moon, they believe in hosts of evil spirits that cause all earthly disasters, including illness and death, have a number of regular holidays (the autumn holiday of slaughtering deer, the spring holiday of horns, the winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, commemoration of the dead, votive services, etc.). Each family, in addition, has its own family shrines: hereditary projectiles for obtaining the sacred fire by friction for certain festivities, one for each family member (the lower plank of the projectile represents a figure with the head of the owner of the fire), then bundles of wooden knots of "disasters of misfortunes", wooden images of ancestors and, finally, a family tambourine, since the Chukchi rituals with a tambourine are not the property of only specialist shamans. The latter, having felt their calling, experience a preliminary period of a kind of involuntary temptation, fall into deep thought, wander without food or sleep for days on end until they receive real inspiration. Some are dying from this crisis; some receive a suggestion to change their sex, that is, a man must turn into a woman, and vice versa. The Transformed adopt the clothes and lifestyle of their new sex, even getting married, getting married, etc.

The dead are either burned or wrapped in layers of raw reindeer meat and left in the field, having previously cut through the throat and chest of the deceased and pulled out part of the heart and liver. Previously, the deceased is dressed, fed and fortune-telling over him, forcing him to answer questions. Old people often kill themselves in advance or, at their request, are killed by close relatives.

Baidara - a boat built without a single nail, effective in hunting sea animals.
Most of the Chukchi by the beginning of the 20th century were baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, however, among the nomads there are remnants of traditional beliefs (shamanism).

Voluntary death

Difficult living conditions, malnutrition, led to such a phenomenon as voluntary death.

Anticipating many speculations, the ethnographer writes:

The reason for the voluntary death of the elderly is by no means the lack of a good attitude towards them on the part of relatives, but rather the difficult conditions of their life. These conditions make life completely unbearable for anyone who is unable to take care of himself. Not only old people resort to voluntary death, but also those suffering from some incurable disease. The number of such patients who die a voluntary death is no less than the number of old people.

Folklore

The Chukchi have rich oral folk art, which is also expressed in the art of stone bone. The main genres of folklore: myths, fairy tales, historical legends, legends and everyday stories. One of the main characters was a raven - Kurkyl, a cultural hero. Many legends and fairy tales have been preserved, such as "Keeper of Fire", "Love", "When do the whales leave?", "God and the Boy". Let's take an example of the latter:

One family lived in the tundra: father, mother, and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy looked after the deer, and the girl helped her mother with the housework. One morning, the father woke up his daughter and ordered her to build a fire and make tea.

A girl came out of the canopy, and God caught her and ate her, and then ate her father and mother. The boy from the herd has returned. Before entering the yaranga, I looked through the hole to see what was going on there. And he sees - God sits on an extinct hearth and plays in the ashes. The boy shouted to him: - Hey, what are you doing? - Nothing, come here. The boy entered the yaranga and they began to play. The boy plays, and he looks around, looking for relatives. He understood everything and said to God: - Play alone, I'll go before the wind! He ran out of the yaranga. He untied the two most evil dogs and ran with them into the forest. He climbed a tree, and tied the dogs under a tree. He played, God played, he wanted to eat and went to look for the boy. He goes, sniffing the trail. I got to the tree. He wanted to climb a tree, but the dogs caught him, tore him to pieces and ate him.

And the boy came home with his flock and became the master.

Historical traditions have preserved stories of wars with neighboring Eskimo tribes.

Folk dances

Despite the difficult living conditions, the people also found time for holidays, where the tambourine was not only a ritual, but also just a musical instrument, the melodies of which were passed down from generation to generation. Archaeological evidence suggests that dances existed among the ancestors of the Chukchi as early as the 1st millennium BC. This is evidenced by petroglyphs discovered beyond the Arctic Circle in Chukotka and studied by archaeologist N. N. Dikov.

All dances can be divided into ritual-ritual, imitative-imitative dances, dramatization dances (pantomime), game and improvisational (individual), as well as deer and coastal Chukchi dances.

A striking example of ceremonial and ritual dances was the celebration of the “First Slaughter of a Deer”:

After the meal, all the tambourines belonging to the family, hanging on the poles of the threshold behind a curtain of raw skins, are removed, and the ceremony begins. The tambourines are beaten throughout the rest of the day in turn by all family members. When all the adults have finished, the children take their place and, in turn, continue to beat the tambourines. While playing the tambourines, many adults invoke "spirits" and try to encourage them to enter their body....

Language, writing and literature

Main article: Chukchi script
By origin, the Chukchi language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of Paleo-Asiatic languages. The closest relatives: Koryak, Kerek (disappeared at the end of the 20th century), Alyutor, Itelmen, etc. Typologically, it belongs to incorporating languages (the word-morpheme acquires a specific meaning only depending on the place in the sentence, while it can be significantly deformed depending on conjugation with other members of the sentence).

In the 1930s The Chukchi shepherd Teneville created an original ideographic script (samples are stored in the Kunstkamera - the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences), which, however, did not come into wide use. Since the 1930s the Chukchi use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Chukchi literature is mainly written in Russian (Yu. S. Rytkheu and others).

Chukchi (self-name - lygyo ravetlan) - a distorted Chukchi word "chavchu" (rich in deer), which the Russians and Lamuts call the people living in the extreme north-east of Russia. The Chukchi were subdivided into deer - tundra nomadic reindeer herders (self-name chauchu - "deer man") and seaside - sedentary hunters of sea animals (self-name ankalyn - "coastal"), living together with the Eskimos.

The Russian Chukchi encountered for the first time back in the 17th century. In 1644, the Cossack Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsky prison. The Chukchi, who at that time roamed both east and west of the Kolyma River, after a stubborn, bloody struggle, finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing the Mamalla tribe from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to.

Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between the Russians and the Chukchi, whose territory bordered on the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur Territory, did not stop. In 1770, after the unsuccessful campaign of Shestakov, the Anadyr prison, which served as the center of the struggle between the Russians and the Chukchi, was destroyed and his team was transferred to Nizhne-Kolymsk, after which the Chukchi became less hostile to the Russians and gradually began to enter into trade relations with them.

In 1775, the Angarskaya fortress was built on the Angarka River, where, under the protection of the Cossacks, an annual fair for barter with the Chukchi took place. Since 1848, the fair has been moved to the Anyui fortress (250 versts from Nizhne-Kolymsk, on the banks of the Small Anyui). The Chukchi brought here not only the ordinary products of their own production (clothing made of deer furs, deer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs (beavers, martens, black foxes, blue foxes), which the so-called nasal Chukchi exchanged for tobacco among the inhabitants of the shores of the Bering Sea and the northwestern coast of America.

By the end of the 18th century, the territory of the Chukchi stretched from Omolon, Bolshoi and Maly Anyuev in the west to the Penzhin and Olyutor camps in the southeast. Gradually, it increased, which was accompanied by the allocation of territorial groups: Kolyma, Anyui, or Maloanyui, Chaun, Omolon, Amguem, or Amguemo-Vonkarem, Kolyuchi-Mechigmen, Onmylen, Tuman, or Vilyunei, Olyutor, Bering Sea and others. In 1897, the number of Chukchi was approximately 11 thousand people. In 1930, the Chukotka National Okrug was formed, and since 1977 it has been an autonomous okrug. According to the 2002 census, the number of Chukchi was 16 people.

The main occupation of the tundra Chukchi is nomadic reindeer herding. Deer give the Chukchi almost everything they need: meat for cooking, skins for clothing and housing, and are also used as draft animals.

The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting for sea animals: in winter and spring - for seals and seals, in summer and autumn - for walrus and whale. At first, traditional hunting weapons were used for hunting - a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, but in the 19th century, the Chukchi began to use firearms more often. So far, only hunting for birds with the help of the "bol" has been preserved. Fishing is developed only among some Chukchi. Women and children also collect edible plants.

Traditional Chukchi dishes are mainly made from venison and fish.

The main dwelling of the Chukchi is a collapsible cylindrical-conical yaranga tent made of deer skins among the tundra and walrus - among the coastal Chukchi. The arch rests on three poles located in the center. The dwelling was heated with a stone, clay or wooden fat lamp, on which food was also cooked. The Yaranga of the coastal Chukchi differed from the dwellings of reindeer herders by the absence of a smoke hole.

The type of Chukchi is mixed, generally Mongoloid, but with some differences. Eyes with an oblique incision are less common than those with a horizontal incision; the width of the cheekbones is less than that of the Tungus and Yakuts, and more often than that of the latter; there are individuals with thick hair on the face and wavy, almost curly hair on the head; complexion with a bronze tint.

Among women, the type is more common, with wide cheekbones, a swollen nose and twisted nostrils. The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the life of the deer and coastal Chukchi.

Chukchi winter clothes are of the usual polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men it consists of a double fur shirt (the lower fur to the body and the upper fur out), the same double trousers, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a female bonnet. Women's clothing is quite original, also double, consisting of one-piece sewn trousers along with a low-cut bodice, pulled together at the waist, with a slit at the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which the Chukchi easily free their hands during work.

Summer outerwear is robes made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamlikas made of fine-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. Most of the Chukchi jewelry - pendants, bandages, necklaces (in the form of straps with beads and figurines) - have a religious significance, but there are also real jewelry in the form of metal bracelets and earrings.

The original pattern on the clothes of the Primorsky Chukchi is of Eskimo origin; from the Chukchi, he passed to many polar peoples of Asia. Hair dressing is different for men and women. The latter braid two braids on both sides of the head, decorating them with beads and buttons, sometimes releasing the front strands on the forehead (married women). Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown of the head.

According to their beliefs, the Chukchi are animists; they personify and deify certain areas and phenomena of nature (masters of the forest, water, fire, sun, deer), many animals (bear, crow), stars, sun and moon, they believe in hosts of evil spirits that cause all earthly disasters, including diseases and death, have a number of regular holidays (autumn holiday of slaughtering deer, spring holiday of horns, winter sacrifice to the star Altair) and many non-regular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, commemoration of the dead, votive services).

Folklore and mythology of the Chukchi are very rich and have much in common with those of the American peoples and Paleo-Asians. The Chukchi language is very rich in both words and forms; the harmony of sounds is quite strictly carried out in it. Phonetics is very difficult for the European ear.

The main mental traits of the Chukchi are extremely easy excitability, reaching a frenzy, a tendency to kill and commit suicide at the slightest pretext, love for independence, perseverance in the fight; along with this, the Chukchi are hospitable, usually good-natured and willingly come to the aid of their neighbors, even Russians, during hunger strikes. The Chukchi, especially the coastal ones, became famous for their sculptures and carvings from mammoth bone, striking in their fidelity to nature and bold poses and strokes and reminiscent of the wonderful bone images of the Paleolithic period. Traditional musical instruments are vargan (khomus), tambourine (yarar). In addition to ritual dances, impromptu entertaining pantomime dances were also common.

The northernmost region of the Far East is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. On its territory there are several indigenous peoples who came there millennia ago. Most of all in Chukotka there are Chukchi themselves - about 15 thousand. For a long time they roamed all over the peninsula, herded deer, hunted whales and lived in yarangas.
Now many reindeer herders and hunters have turned into housing and communal services workers, and yarangas and kayaks have been replaced with ordinary houses with heating.
Cucumbers for 600 rubles per kilogram and a dozen eggs for 200 are modern consumer realities in remote areas of Chukotka. Fur production is closed, as it did not fit into capitalism, and the extraction of venison, although it is still going on, is subsidized by the state - reindeer meat cannot compete even with expensive beef, which is brought from the "mainland". A similar story is with the repair of housing stock: it is unprofitable 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 the villages, and serious problems with health care - the Soviet system collapsed, and the new one was not really 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 sea animal hunting, subsequently driving them out of the Chukchi Peninsula. At the turn of the millennium, the Chukchi learned reindeer husbandry from the nomads of the Tungus group - Evens and Yukaghirs.

“Now it is not easier to get into the camps of the reindeer herders of Chukotka than in the time of Tan Bogoraz (a 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 the national villages by plane. But then from the village it is very difficult to get to a specific reindeer herding team at the right time,” explains Puya. Reindeer herders' camps are constantly moving, and over long distances. There are no roads to get to their places of parking: they have to move on caterpillar all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles, sometimes on reindeer and dog teams. In addition, reindeer herders strictly observe the dates of migrations, the time of their rituals and holidays.

Vladimir Puya

Hereditary reindeer herder Puya insists that reindeer herding is a “calling card” of the region and the indigenous people. But now the Chukchi basically do not live the way they used to: crafts and traditions are fading into the background, and they are being replaced by the typical life of remote regions of Russia.
“Our culture suffered a lot in the 1970s when the authorities felt it was expensive to run high schools with full staff in every village,” says Puya. – Boarding schools were built in regional centers. They were classified not as urban institutions, but as rural ones - in rural schools, salaries are twice as high. I myself studied at such a school, the quality of education was very high. But the children were torn away from life in the tundra and the seaside: we returned home only for the summer holidays. And so they lost their complex, cultural development. There was no national education in boarding schools, even the Chukchi language was not always taught. Apparently, the authorities decided that the Chukchi are Soviet people, and we don’t need to know our culture.”

The life of reindeer herders

The geography of the Chukchi at first depended on the movement of wild deer. People wintered in the south of Chukotka, and in the summer they left the heat and midges to the north, to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The people of reindeer herders lived in a tribal system. They settled on lakes and rivers. The Chukchi lived in yarangas. The winter yaranga, which was sewn from reindeer skins, was stretched over a wooden frame. Snow from under it was cleaned to the ground. The floor was covered with branches, on which skins were laid in two layers. An iron stove with a chimney was installed in the corner. They slept in yarangas in animal skins.

But the Soviet government, which came to Chukotka in the 30s of the last century, was dissatisfied with the "uncontrolled" movement of people. Indigenous people were told where to build a new - semi-stationary - dwelling. This was done for the convenience of transporting goods by sea. The same was done with the camps. At the same time, new jobs arose for the indigenous people, and hospitals, schools, and houses of culture 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 XX century.

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

About 330 people live in Konergino. Of these, about 70 children: most go to school. Fifty local residents work in the housing and communal services, and 20 educators, teachers, nannies and cleaners work at the school, along with the kindergarten. 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 that the Konergins were famous for.

“We no longer have sea hunting. According to capitalist rules, it is not profitable,” says Puya. - The fur farms closed, and the fur trade was quickly forgotten. In the 1990s, fur production in Konergino collapsed.” Only reindeer breeding remained: in Soviet times and until the mid-2000s, while Roman Abramovich remained as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District, it was successful here.

There are 51 reindeer herders in Konergino, 34 of them in teams in the tundra. According to Puyi, the incomes of reindeer herders are extremely low. “This is a loss-making industry, there is not enough money for salaries. The state covers the lack of funds so that the salary is higher than the subsistence minimum, which is 13,000 in our country. The reindeer farm, in which the workers are, pays them about 12.5 thousand. The state pays up to 20,000 extra so that the reindeer herders do not starve to death,” Puya complains.

When asked why it is impossible to pay more, Puya replies that the cost of venison production in 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 the level of 300 rubles - at a loss. “There is no point in the capitalist development of this industry,” says Puya. “But this is the last thing left in the national villages.”

Eugene Kaipanau, 36-year-old Chukchi, was born in Lorino in the family of the most respected whaler. "Lorino" (in Chukchi - "Lauren") is translated from Chukchi as "found encampment". The settlement stands on the shore of the Mechigmen Bay of the Bering Sea. A few 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 then only if the weather is good. Lorino is covered from the north by hills, so there are more calm days here than in neighboring villages. True, despite the relatively good weather conditions, in the 90s, almost all Russian residents left Lorino, and since then only the Chukchi live there - about 1,500 people.

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

Lorino is known for its sea animal hunting. It is not for nothing that in 2008 the documentary film "Whaler" was filmed here, which received the TEFI prize. Hunting for a sea animal is still an important occupation for local residents. Whalers not only feed their families or earn money by donating meat to the local community of hunters, they also honor the traditions of their ancestors.

From childhood, Kaipanau knew how to 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 traveling, climate change and flights, Kaipanau decided to finally move to Moscow. There he married, his daughters are nine months old. “I strive to instill my creativity and culture in my wife,” says Evgeny. “Although a lot of things seemed wild to her before, especially when she found out in what conditions my people live. I instill traditions and customs in my daughter, for example, I show national clothes. I want her to know that she is a hereditary Chukchi.”

Evgeny now rarely appears in Chukotka: he tours and represents the culture of the Chukchi around the world together with his ensemble "Nomad". In the eponymous ethnic park "Nomad" near Moscow, where Kaipanau works, he conducts thematic excursions and shows documentaries about Chukotka, including those by Vladimir Puyi.

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

In the summer season, the Chukchi hunted whales and walruses, in the winter - seals. They hunted with harpoons, knives and spears. Whales and walruses were caught all together, and seals - one by one. The Chukchi fished with nets of whale and deer tendons or leather belts, nets and bits. In winter - in the hole, in summer - from the shore or from kayaks. In addition, until the beginning of the 19th century, with the help of a bow, spears and traps, they hunted bears and wolves, sheep and elks, wolverines, foxes and arctic foxes. Waterfowl were killed with a throwing weapon (bola) and darts with a throwing board. From the second half of the 19th century, guns began to be used, and then firearms for whaling.

Products that are imported from the mainland cost a lot of money in the village. “They bring “golden” eggs for 200 rubles. I generally keep quiet about grapes,” adds Kaipanau. Prices reflect the sad socio-economic situation in Lorino. There are few places in the settlement where you can show professionalism and university skills. “But the situation of the people is, in principle, normal,” the interlocutor immediately clarifies. “After the arrival of Abramovich (from 2001 to 2008), things got much better: more jobs appeared, houses were rebuilt, medical and obstetric stations were established.” Kaipanau recalls how whalers he knew “came, took motor boats from the governor for free for fishing and left.” “Now they live and enjoy,” he says. The federal authorities, he said, 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 re-learn their culture: build kayaks and yarangas, embroider, sing, and dance.
“In the ethnopark, many visitors consider the Chukchi an uneducated and backward people; they think they don't wash and say "however" all the time. They even sometimes tell me that I am not a real Chukchi. But we are real people.”

Every morning, Natalia, a 45-year-old resident of the village of Sireniki (who asked not to be named), wakes up at 8 am to go to work at a local school. She is a watchman and a technical worker.
Sireniki, where Natalya has been living for 28 years, is located in the Providensky urban district of Chukotka, on the coast of the Bering Sea. The first Eskimo settlement appeared here about three thousand years ago, and the remains of the dwellings of ancient people are still found in the vicinity of the village. In the 60s of the last century, the Chukchi joined the indigenous people. Therefore, the village has two names: from the Ekimos it is translated as "Valley of the Sun", and from the Chukchi - "Rocky Area".
Sireniki are surrounded by hills, and it is difficult to get here, especially in winter - only by snowmobile or helicopter. From spring to autumn, ships come here. From above, the village looks like a box of colorful candies: green, blue and red cottages, administration building, post office, kindergarten and dispensary. There used to be a lot of 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 the dishes outside. Then Valera fell ill with tuberculosis, and his attending physician helped us to get a new cottage due to illness. Now we have a renovation.”

Clothes and food

Chukchi men wore kukhlyankas made of double reindeer skin and the same trousers. They pulled a bag made of kamus with sealskin soles over siskins - stockings made of dog skins. A double fawn hat was bordered in front with long-haired wolverine fur, which did not freeze from human breath in any frost, and fur mittens were worn on rawhide straps that were drawn into the sleeves. The shepherd was as if in a spacesuit. Clothing on women fit the body, below the knees it was tied, forming something like pants. They put it on over the head. Over the top, women wore a wide fur shirt with a hood, which they wore on special occasions like holidays or migrations.

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

How do people live in Sireniki?

According to Natalia, it's normal. There are currently about 30 unemployed people in the village. In summer they gather mushrooms and berries, and in winter they catch fish, which they sell or exchange for other products. Natalia's husband receives a pension of 15,700 rubles, while the cost of living here is 15,000. “I myself work without part-time jobs, this month I will receive about 30,000. We, no doubt, live averagely, but somehow I don’t feel that wages are rising,” - the woman complains, recalling the cucumbers brought to Sireniki at 600 rubles per kilogram.

Dome

Natalya's sister works on a rotational basis at the Dome. This gold deposit, one of the largest in the Far East, is located 450 km from Anadyr. Since 2011, 100% of Kupol's shares have been owned by the Canadian company Kinross Gold (ours is not up to such trifles).
“My sister used to work there as a maid, and now she gives out masks to miners who go down into the mines. They have a gym and a billiard room there! They pay in rubles (the average salary at Kupol is 50,000 rubles - DV), they transfer it to a bank card, ”says Natalia.

The woman knows a 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 deposit created the Social Development Fund back in 2009, which 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 1.5 million rubles to him for a huge 20-ton freezer. After all, the whalers will get the beast, there is a lot of meat - it will go bad. And now this camera saves. With the rest of the money, my husband and his colleagues bought tools for building kayaks.”

Natalya, a Chukchi and a hereditary reindeer herder, believes that the national culture is now being revived. He says that every Tuesday and Friday at the local village club rehearsals of the Northern Lights ensemble are held; courses of Chukchi and other languages are being opened (albeit in the district center - Anadyr); competitions are held like the Governor's Cup or a regatta in the Barents Sea. “And this year our ensemble is invited to a grand event - an international festival! Five people will fly to the dance program. It will all be in Alaska, she will pay for the flight and accommodation, ”the woman says. She admits that the Russian state also supports the 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 Veysalova, a representative of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (AMNSS and Far East of the Russian Federation), respiratory diseases are very common. But, according to available information, TB dispensaries are closing in national settlements. Lots of 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, today this scheme does not work. The authorities do not answer the question about the closure of TB dispensaries, but only report that hospitals, outpatient clinics and feldsher-obstetric stations have been preserved in every district and locality of Chukotka.

There is a stereotype in Russian society: the Chukchi people drank themselves after the "white man" came to the territory of Chukotka - that is, from the beginning of the last century. The Chukchi have never drunk 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 Yevgeny 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 really did not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the past. “Now, although the enzyme has been developed, the people still don’t drink like the legends say,” sums up the Chukchi.

The opinion of Kaipanau is supported by Irina Samorodskaya, Doctor of Medical Sciences of the State Scientific Research Center for Criticism, one of the authors of the report “Mortality and the proportion of deaths in the economically active age from causes related to alcohol (drugs), myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease from all deaths aged 15-72 years” for 2013. According to Rosstat, the document says, the highest death rate from alcohol-related causes is indeed in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - 268 people per 100,000. But these data, emphasizes Samorodskaya, refer to the entire population of the district. “Yes, the indigenous people of those territories are the Chukchi, but not only they live there,” she explains. In addition, according to Samorodskaya, Chukotka is higher in all indicators of mortality than other regions - and this is not only alcohol mortality, but also other external causes. “It’s impossible to say that it was the Chukchi who died from alcohol right now, this is how the system works. First, if people don't want their deceased relative's death certificate to show an alcohol-related cause of death, it won't be shown. Second, the vast majority of deaths occur at home. And there, death certificates are often filled out by a district 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 Veysalova, is the relationship between industrial companies and the indigenous local population. “People come as conquerors, disturbing the peace and tranquility of the locals. I think that there should be a regulation on the interaction of companies and nations,” she says.

Language and religion

The Chukchi living in the tundra called themselves "chavchu" (reindeer). Those who lived on the shore - "ankalyn" (pomor). There is a common self-name of the people - "luoravetlan" (a real person), but it did not take root. About 11,000 people spoke Chukchi 50 years ago. Now their number is decreasing every year. The reason is simple: in Soviet times, writing and schools appeared, but at the same time, a policy of destroying everything national was pursued. Separation from their parents and life in boarding schools forced Chukchi children to know their native language less and less.

The Chukchi have long believed that the world is divided into upper, middle and lower. At the same time, the upper world (“cloudy land”) is inhabited by the “upper people” (in Chukchi - gyrgorramkyn), or the “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, believed in reincarnation, and shamanism was widespread among them. Both men and women could be shamans, but among the Chukchi shamans of the “transformed sex” were considered especially strong - men who acted as housewives, and women who adopted the clothes, activities and habits of men.