STILL THERE IS NO ONE OPINION AMONG SCIENTISTS REGARDING their origin and distribution. There is an assumption that the current Eskimos are descendants of a people that arose in the third millennium BC. and that they come from the Pacific coast of East Asia, from where the ancestors of the Eskimos reached the Bering Sea through Kamchatka. Then, in the first millennium of our era, they settled in Chukotka and along the Arctic coast of America to Greenland. Their main self-name is Inuit (in Canada) and Yupigyt (in Siberia). The Chukchi call them "ankalyn", which means "Pomors".
The Eskimo language belongs to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. The Eskimos are divided into 15 ethnic and cultural groups: the Eskimos of Alaska, the Siberian Eskimos, the Eskimos of Canada, Greenland, etc. By the middle of the 20th century. four independent communities were formed: the Eskimos of Greenland, Canada (Inuit), Alaska, Asian (Siberian).
Greenland has two official languages - Eskimo and Danish. The writing of the Greenlandic Eskimos has existed since the 18th century. This is due to the activities of Danish and German missionaries and the colonial administration. During the twentieth century. Greenlandic Eskimo writers created a very significant amount of fiction in various genres. Most of the population of modern Greenland is a mixed Mongoloid-Caucasoid type (from white men and Eskimo women). Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the island consider themselves Greenlanders (kalatdlit), and not Eskimos, which emphasizes their difference from the Eskimos of Canada and Alaska, and also indicates the fact of the emergence of a new people in Greenland. Canadian Eskimos have their own written language based on the Canadian syllabary. However, English and French are also widely spoken.
The Eskimos of Canada have their own autonomous territories within the northwestern regions of the country and certain parts of the Labrador Peninsula. The Eskimos of Alaska are distinguished by the greatest degree of preservation of their language along with knowledge of English. In Russia in 1848, the Russian missionary N. Tyzhnov published an ABC book of the Eskimo language. Modern writing based on the Latin script was created in 1932 (the first Yuite primer). In 1937, the writing of the Russian Eskimos was transferred to the Russian graphic basis. In the modern language of the Russian Eskimos, the influence of vocabulary, elements of morphology and syntax of the Chukchi and Koryaks living next to them is felt. They also speak Russian and Chukchi. There is modern Eskimo prose and poetry.
TODAY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ESKIMOS IN THE WORLD IS 170 thousands of people. Of these, about 56,000 people live in the United States (48,000 in Alaska, the rest in California and Washington), just over 50,000 in Canada, about 50,000 in Greenland, and about 19,000 more on the Jutland Peninsula. In Russia, mainly in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Magadan Region, mixed or in close proximity to the Chukchi - just over 1,700 people.
Eskimos are unusually adapted to life in the Arctic. They invented a turnable harpoon for hunting sea animals, a kayak, an igloo snow house, special clothes made of fur and skins, adopted from the Chukchi the art of building a house from skins - yaranga.
The Eskimos believe in spirits living in various natural phenomena, they see the connection of a person with the surrounding world of objects and living beings. In their opinion, there is a single creator Silya, and the mistress of sea animals Sedna endows the Eskimos with all the riches of the sea. Bears are owned by Nanuk, deer by Tekkeitsertok. The Eskimos greatly revere the killer whale, the patroness of sea hunting. In the view of the Eskimos, evil spirits are incredible and terrible creatures. Every Eskimo village has a shaman, and the tambourine is considered a sacred object.
The Eskimos have their own funeral ritual. When the Eskimo died, he was buried immediately, after being wrapped in the skins on which he slept, and additional clothes were added so that the soul of the deceased would not freeze. Then the body was tied up with a rope and dragged head first from the dwelling of the deceased to a place where many stones can be found to cover the body. The corpse was surrounded by a sufficient number of stones to protect it from dogs, arctic foxes and crows. This was the end of the burial, because in permafrost conditions it is almost impossible to dig a hole of sufficient depth. Near the grave (stone mound) they usually left the things of the deceased that he might need in the afterlife - a sled and a kayak, along with weapons, if the deceased was a hunter; a lamp, a needle, a thimble and other accessories for sewing, a little fat and matches if a woman was dying.
There is every reason to recognize the Eskimos as the most peaceful people. According to custom, disputes between them are resolved, so to speak, by a "vocal competition" - whoever sings better is right.
Among the Eskimos, there was a custom of working for a wife, a custom of wooing children, marrying a boy to an adult girl, the custom of "partnership in marriage", when two men exchanged wives as a sign of friendship. In wealthy families there was polygamy.
THE MAIN ACTIVITY OF THE ESKIMOS TODAY IS THE HUNT OF THE SEA BEAST - THE WARALUS AND THE SEAL. Until the middle of the XIX century. they were also engaged in the extraction of whales, hunted reindeer and mountain sheep, and from the middle of the 19th century. They began to earn their living by hunting fox and fox. They are also engaged in fishing and gathering (collect tubers, roots, stems, algae, berries). Eskimos breed sled dogs. Carving on walrus bone and whalebone is developed. Today, many Eskimos work in construction, in mines, oil fields, in Arctic trading posts, etc. The Greenlanders and Alaska Eskimos have a wealthy stratum and a national intelligentsia.
Eskimos are surprisingly tactful. In the relationship between a man and a woman, there is a special respect for the hunter, who provides food for the family at a constant risk to life. Perhaps it was this perception of a man, combined with the peculiar beauty and sophistication of national clothes, that often attracted European travelers who willingly married Eskimos.
The Eskimos have their own traditional diet, which is dominated by the meat of walruses, seals, whales. An obligatory element of the diet is seal blood. Venison is especially valued - the meat is tasty, but dryish, devoid of fat, as well as the meat of polar bears and musk oxen. Seasoning for meat are seaweed, shellfish. They believe that meat warms and gives strength. Rotten seal fat with cloudberries is considered a delicacy. Eskimos also eat birds, bird eggs. Traditionally, meat was eaten raw, dried, frozen, dried, boiled, or prepared for the winter: it was fermented in pits and eaten with fat, sometimes semi-cooked. Revered raw whale fat with a layer of cartilaginous skin. The fish was dried and dried, and in winter they were eaten fresh-frozen.
Previously, the Eskimos lived in large settlements in semi-dugouts. In the XVII - XVIII centuries. they adopted from the Chukchi the method of constructing frame yarangas covered with reindeer skins, and they became the main type of dwelling for them. Until the beginning of the nineteenth century. the Eskimos retained communal houses - large semi-dugouts in which several families lived, meetings and holidays were held.
The Eskimos built the igloo house from snow blocks. Inside the igloo was covered, and sometimes the walls were covered with the skins of marine animals. The dwelling was heated with fat pans. The inner surfaces of the walls melted as a result of heating, but the walls did not melt, because. snow easily absorbed excess moisture.
Today, the life of the Eskimos has changed in many ways. They gained access to the benefits of civilization. However, life in the Arctic requires courage and constant composure from them. You can’t relax, the North does not forgive this. The courage of the Eskimos deserves special respect. This is life in constant struggle, overcoming difficulties and finding harmony with harsh nature.
Number - 1718 people. The language is the Esco-Aleut family of languages. Settlement - Chukotka Autonomous District of the Magadan Region.
The most eastern people of the country. They live in the north-east of Russia, on the Chukchi Peninsula. Self-name - yuk - "man", yugyt, or yupik - "real person". The Eskimo languages are divided into two major groups - Yupik (Western) and Inupik (Eastern). On the Chukchi Peninsula, Yupik is divided into Sirenik, Central Siberian, or Chaplin and Naukan dialects. The Eskimos of Chukotka, along with their native language, speak Russian and Chukchi.
The origin of the Eskimos is debatable. The Eskimos are the direct heirs of an ancient culture spread from the end of the first millennium BC. along the shores of the Bering Sea. The earliest Eskimo culture is the ancient Bering Sea (until the 8th century AD). It is characterized by the extraction of marine mammals, the use of multi-seat leather canoes, complex harpoons. From the 7th century AD until the XIII-XV centuries. there was a development of whaling, and in the more northern regions of Alaska and Chukotka - hunting for small pinnipeds.
The main type of economic activity was marine hunting. Until the middle of the XIX century. The main hunting tools were a spear with an arrow-shaped double-edged tip (pan), a rotary harpoon (ung'ak') with a detachable tip made of bone. They used canoes and kayaks to navigate the water. Baidara (anyapik) - light, fast and stable on the water. Its wooden frame was covered with walrus skin. The canoes were of different types - from single to huge 25-seater sailboats.
On land they moved on arc-dusty sleds. Dogs harnessed "fan". From the middle of the XIX century. the sledges were pulled by dogs harnessed by a train (a team of the East Siberian type). Short dustless sleds with runners made of walrus tusks (kanrak) were also used. On the snow they went on "racket" skis (in the form of a frame of two planks with fastened ends and transverse struts, intertwined with sealskin straps and lined with bone plates from below), on ice with the help of special bone spikes mounted on shoes.
The way sea animals were hunted depended on their seasonal migrations. Two seasons of whale hunting corresponded to the time of their passage through the Bering Strait: in spring to the north, in autumn v to the south. Whales were shot with harpoons from several canoes, and later with harpoon guns.
The most important object of the fishery was the walrus. From the end of the 19th century new fishing weapons and equipment appeared. Hunting for fur-bearing animals spread. The extraction of walruses and seals replaced the whaling industry, which had fallen into decay. When there was not enough meat from sea animals, they shot wild deer and mountain sheep, birds, and fished with a bow.
The settlements were located in such a way that it was convenient to observe the movement of the sea animal v at the base of pebble spits protruding into the sea, on elevated places. The most ancient type of dwelling is a stone building with a floor deepened into the ground. The walls were made of stones and whale ribs. The frame was covered with deer skins, covered with a layer of turf, stones, and again covered with skins on top.
Until the 18th century, and in some places even later, they lived in semi-underground frame dwellings (today). In the XVII-XVIII centuries. frame buildings appeared (myn`tyg`ak), similar to the Chukchi yaranga. The summer dwelling is a quadrangular tent (pylyuk), shaped like an obliquely truncated pyramid, and the wall with the entrance was higher than the opposite one. The frame of this dwelling was built of logs and poles and covered with walrus skins. From the end of the 19th century light wooden houses with a gable roof and windows appeared.
The clothes of the Asian Eskimos are deaf, made of deer and seal skins. Back in the 19th century They also made clothes from bird skins.
They put on fur stockings and seal torbasas (kamgyk) on their feet. Waterproof shoes were made from dressed seal skins without wool. Fur hats and mittens were worn only when moving (roaming). Clothing was decorated with embroidery or fur mosaics. Until the 18th century the Eskimos, piercing the nasal septum or lower lip, hung walrus teeth, bone rings and glass beads.
Male tattoo - circles in the corners of the mouth, female - straight or concave parallel lines on the forehead, nose and chin. A more complex geometric ornament was applied to the cheeks. They covered with a tattoo their arms, hands, forearms.
Traditional food is the meat and fat of seals, walruses and whales. The meat was eaten raw, dried, dried, frozen, boiled, harvested for the winter: fermented in pits and eaten with fat, sometimes in a semi-cooked form. Raw whale fat with a layer of cartilaginous skin (mantak) was considered a delicacy. The fish was dried and dried, and freshly frozen in winter. Reindeer meat was highly valued, which was exchanged among the Chukchi for the skins of marine animals.
The kinship account was kept on the paternal line, the marriage was patrilocal. Each settlement consisted of several groups of kindred families, who occupied a separate semi-dugout in winter, in which each family had its own canopy. During the summer, families lived in separate tents. The facts of working off for a wife were known, there were customs to woo children, marry a boy to an adult girl, the custom of "partnership in marriage", when two men exchanged wives as a sign of friendship (hospitable hetaerism). There was no marriage ceremony as such. In wealthy families there was polygamy.
The Eskimos were practically not Christianized. They believed in spirits, the masters of all animate and inanimate objects, natural phenomena, localities, wind directions, various states of a person, in the family relationship of a person with any animal or object. There were ideas about the creator of the world, they called him Sila. He was the creator and master of the universe, followed the observance of the customs of the ancestors. The main sea deity, the mistress of sea animals was Sedna, who sent prey to people. Evil spirits were presented in the form of giants or dwarfs, or other fantastic creatures that sent diseases and misfortunes to people.
In each village there lived a shaman (usually it was a man, but female shamans are also known), who was an intermediary between evil spirits and people. Only the one who heard the voice of the helper spirit could become a shaman. After that, the future shaman had to meet alone with the spirits and conclude an alliance with them about mediation.
Fishing holidays were dedicated to the extraction of a large animal. Especially famous are the holidays on the occasion of whale hunting, which were held either in the fall, at the end of the hunting season - "seeing off the whale", or in the spring - "meeting the whale". There were also holidays for the beginning of sea hunting, or "launching canoes into the water" and a holiday for "walrus heads" dedicated to the results of the spring-summer fishery.
Eskimo folklore is rich and varied. All types of oral creativity are divided into unipak - "message", "news" and unipamsyuk - stories about events in the past, heroic legends, fairy tales or myths. Among the fairy tales, a special place is occupied by the cycle about the crow Kutkh, the demiurge and the trickster, who creates and develops the universe.
The earliest stages in the development of the Eskimo Arctic culture include bone carving: a sculptural miniature, and artistic bone engraving. The ornament covered hunting equipment, household items; images of animals and fantastic creatures served as amulets and decorations.
Music (aingananga) is predominantly vocal. Songs are subdivided into "large" public - songs-hymns, which are sung by ensembles and "small" intimate - "songs of the soul". They are performed solo, sometimes accompanied by a tambourine.
The tambourine is a personal and family shrine (sometimes used by shamans). It is central to music.
Bibliography
For the preparation of this work, materials from the site http://russia.rin.ru were used.
Jack London called them "Children of the Frost". Eskimos are a group of indigenous peoples of Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Chukotka. There are about 150,000 of them left on Earth. "My Planet" - about the differences between cultures and the paradoxes of national identity.
They can borrow someone else's wife
If the permanent wife is sick or has a small child, it is convenient to change her for a young and strong woman who is easier to move around with. After all, on the way, a woman should not only fulfill her marital duty, but cook food, help the head of the family in every possible way and share the hardships of the road. For the exchange of wives for several days, there is a special term - "areodyarekput".
They call internet travel
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Eskimos got acquainted with the Internet, and this term needed to be translated into their language. The experts chose the word ikiaqqivik - "travel through the layers". Previously, this was the name of the shaman's ritual, which, in search of an answer to any question, "traveled" through time and space.
They sniff each other when they meet
The traditional Eskimo greeting, used mostly by relatives or lovers, is called "kunik". It looks like this: one of the greeters presses his nose to the forehead or cheeks of the second and draws in air - as if sniffing, inhaling a familiar smell. They said that the custom arose because lips freeze in severe frost - you can’t kiss, and they even called it an Eskimo kiss. In fact, this greeting is purely friendly and is due to the fact that those who meet in the cold can have the lower part of the face covered.
They compete in pulling the thread with their ears
The program of the World Eskimo Olympic Games includes a special competition - pulling the thread with the ears. Loops are made at the two ends of the thread. Opponents sit face to face, a loop is put on each ear. And as others pull the rope with their hands, they try to pull the thread with their ears (or rather, with their heads and even torso tilts), until someone refuses to continue the competition because of pain. I must say, not every ear is able to withstand such a struggle.
They risk their lives for a handful of mussels
Monotonous food is sometimes so annoying that the Eskimos decide on an extremely dangerous event - collecting mussels under the ice. There is a thick layer of ice on the surface of the Arctic seas almost all year round. You need to catch a short time of low tide, when a hollow space forms under a huge ice layer, cut a hole in it, go down and harvest mussels from it.
This is a really risky business. The collectors have no more than half an hour to leave the ice cave before the wave arrives - if you do not have time, death is inevitable. In addition, the ice, hanging almost in the air at low tide, can collapse on desperate collectors. And all for the sake of a handful of mussels, which are eaten in one sitting.
Their women use moss and algae instead of pads.
Eskimo women use the skins of fur-bearing animals, moss-moss and thin wood shavings made from alder as means of protection on critical days. Those who live near the sea prefer algae.
Their children are afraid of Kalupiluk
Every culture has its own specific monsters and monsters that scare children if they don't go to bed now. Eskimos are afraid of Kalupiluk (Qalupalik or Kallupilluk) - a ghost that is just waiting to drag careless people under the ice, to the bottom of the sea.
They put players on the graves
The custom of leaving the deceased his favorite things exists among many northern peoples. Sending the deceased to the "upper people", the living "sent" with him everything that, in their opinion, could be useful in another life. Before it was knives, walrus tusk crafts, now it is modern household appliances. Most often - video cassettes and players.
In the customs of the Eskimos, which will seem strange to us ...
Jack London called them "Children of the Frost". Eskimos are a group of indigenous peoples of Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Chukotka. There are about 150,000 of them left on Earth. "My Planet" is about the differences between cultures and the paradoxes of national identity.
They can borrow someone else's wife
If the permanent wife is sick or has a small child, it is convenient to change her for a young and strong woman who is easier to move around with. After all, on the way, a woman should not only fulfill her marital duty, but cook food, help the head of the family in every possible way and share the hardships of the road. For the exchange of wives for several days, there is a special term - "areodyarekput".
They call internet travel
At the beginning of the 21st century, the Eskimos got acquainted with the Internet, and this term needed to be translated into their language. The experts chose the word ikiaqqivik - "journey through the layers." Previously, this was the name of the shaman's ritual, which, in search of an answer to any question, "traveled" through time and space.
They sniff each other when they meet
The traditional Eskimo greeting, used mostly by relatives or lovers, is called "kunik". It looks like this: one of the greeters presses his nose to the forehead or cheeks of the second and draws in the air - as if sniffing, inhaling a familiar smell. They said that the custom arose because lips freeze in severe frost - you can’t kiss, and they even called it an Eskimo kiss. In fact, this greeting is purely friendly and is due to the fact that those who meet in the cold can have the lower part of the face covered.
They compete in pulling the thread with their ears
The program of the World Eskimo Olympic Games includes a special competition - pulling the thread with the ears. Loops are made at the two ends of the thread. Opponents sit face to face, a loop is put on each ear. And as others pull the rope with their hands, they try to pull the thread with their ears (or rather with their heads and even tilts of their bodies) until someone refuses to continue the competition because of pain. I must say, not every ear is able to withstand such a struggle.
They risk their lives for a handful of mussels
Monotonous food is sometimes so annoying that the Eskimos decide on an extremely dangerous event - collecting mussels under the ice. There is a thick layer of ice on the surface of the Arctic seas almost all year round. You need to catch a short time of low tide, when a hollow space forms under a huge ice layer, cut a hole in it, go down and harvest mussels from it.
This is a really risky business. The collectors have no more than half an hour to leave the ice cave before the wave arrives - if you do not have time, death is inevitable. In addition, the ice, hanging almost in the air at low tide, can collapse on desperate collectors. And all for the sake of a handful of mussels, which are eaten in one sitting.
Their women use moss and algae instead of pads.
Eskimo women use the skins of fur-bearing animals, moss-moss and thin wood shavings made from alder as means of protection on critical days. Those who live near the sea prefer algae.
Their children are afraid of Kalupiluk
Every culture has its own specific monsters and monsters that scare children if they don't go to bed now. The Eskimos are afraid of Kalupiluk (Qalupalik or Kallupilluk) - a ghost that is just waiting to drag careless people under the ice, to the bottom of the sea.
They put players on the graves
The custom of leaving the deceased his favorite things exists among many northern peoples. Sending the deceased to the "upper people", the living "sent" with him everything that, in their opinion, could be useful in another life. Previously, it was knives, walrus tusk crafts, now it is modern household appliances. Most often - video cassettes and players.
05/07/2018 Sergey Solovyov 2632 views
Eskimo plague. Photo: Konstantin Lemeshev / TASS Russian Eskimos live in the Chukotka Autonomous District of the Magadan Region. Less than two thousand Eskimos live in Russia.
The origin of the Eskimos is not known for certain. Some researchers consider them to be the heirs of an ancient culture that was spread as early as the first millennium BC along the shores of the Bering Sea.
It is believed that the word "Eskimo" comes from "eskimantsik", that is, "raw foodist", "chewing raw meat, fish." Many hundreds of years ago, the Eskimos began to settle in vast territories - from Chukotka to Greenland. At present, their numbers are small - around 170 thousand people around the world. This people has its own language - Eskimo, it belongs to the Esko-Aleut family.
The historical connection of the Eskimos with other peoples of Chukotka and Alaska is obvious - it is especially noticeable with the Aleuts. Also, the proximity to another people of the North - the Chukchi - had a great influence on the formation of the Eskimo culture.
Eskimos traditionally hunt fur-bearing animals, walruses and gray whales, handing over meat and fur to the state. Photo: Konstantin Lemeshev / TASS
The Eskimos have long been engaged in whaling. By the way, it was they who invented the rotary harpoon (ung`ak`), the bone tip of which is separated from the shaft of the spear. For a very long time, whales were the main source of food for these people. However, gradually the number of marine mammals decreased markedly, so the Eskimos were forced to "switch" to the extraction of seals and walruses, although they, of course, did not forget about hunting for whales. The Eskimos ate meat both in ice cream and salted form, it was also dried and boiled. For a long time, the harpoon remained the main weapon of this people of the North. It was with him that the Eskimo men went on a sea hunt: in kayaks or on the so-called canoes - light, fast and stable boats on the water, the frame of which was covered with walrus skins. Some of these boats could carry twenty-five people or about four tons of cargo. Other kayaks, on the contrary, were built for one or two people. As a rule, the prey was divided equally among the hunters and their numerous relatives.
On land, the Eskimos traveled on dog sleds - the so-called arc-dust sleds, in which the dogs were harnessed with a "fan". In the 19th century, the Eskimos slightly changed the technique of movement - they also began to use short, dust-free sleds, in which the runners were made from walrus tusks. To make it more convenient to walk in the snow, the Eskimos came up with special “racquet” skis, which were a small frame with fixed ends and transverse struts intertwined with leather straps. From below they were lined with bone plates.
Indigenous inhabitant of Chukotka. Photo: Konstantin Lemeshev / TASS
The Eskimos also hunted on land - they mainly shot reindeer and mountain sheep. The main weapon (before the advent of firearms) was a bow with arrows. For a long time, the Eskimos were not interested in the production of fur-bearing animals. He was mostly beaten in order to make clothes for himself. However, in the 19th century, the demand for furs increased, so the “chewing raw meat”, who by that time had firearms, began to actively shoot these animals, and exchange their skins for various goods that were brought from the mainland. Over time, the Eskimos turned into unsurpassed hunters, the fame of their accuracy spread far beyond the borders of the places where they lived. The Eskimos' methods of hunting arctic fox and fox are very similar to those used by the Chukchi, who are also excellent hunters.
Back in the 18th century, the Eskimos “peeped” from the Chukchi on the technology of building frame yarangas. Previously, they lived in semi-dugouts with a floor deepened into the ground, which was lined with whale bones. The frame of these dwellings was covered with deer skins, then it was covered with turf, stones, and the skins were again laid on top. In the summer, the Eskimos built light quadrangular buildings with shed roofs on wooden frames, which were covered with walrus skins. At the very end of the 19th century, the Eskimos had light wooden houses with gable roofs and windows.
It is believed that it was the Eskimos who were the first to build snow huts - igloos, domed buildings with a diameter of two to four meters and a height of about two meters from compacted snow or ice blocks. Light entered these structures either directly through the snow blocks of the walls, or through small holes that were closed with dried seal guts.
The Eskimos also adopted the style of clothing from the Chukchi. In the end, they stopped sewing clothes from bird feathers and began to make better and warmer things from deer skins. Traditional Eskimo shoes are high boots with a false sole and a slanting top, as well as fur stockings and seal torbasa (kamgyk). Eskimo waterproof shoes were made from seal skins. The Eskimos did not wear fur hats and mittens in everyday life, they were worn only during long journeys or wanderings. Festive robes were decorated with embroidery or fur mosaics.
Eskimos speak to members of the Soviet-American expedition "Bering bridge" on the island of Little Diomede (USA). 1989 Photo: Valentin Kuzmin/TASS
Modern Eskimos still honor the old traditions, deep down believing in spirits, the kinship of man with animals and objects that surround him. And shamans help people communicate with this world. Once upon a time, each village had its own shaman, but now there are fewer people capable of penetrating into the worlds of spirits. Living shamans enjoy great respect: they are brought gifts, they are asked for help and well-being, they are the main figures at almost all festive events.
One of the most revered animals among the Eskimos has always been the killer whale, she was considered the patroness of sea hunters. According to the beliefs of the Eskimos, the killer whale could turn into a wolf, helping hunters in the tundra.
Another animal that the Eskimos treated with special respect is the walrus. Around the middle of summer, a period of storms set in, and hunting at sea was temporarily stopped. At this time, the Eskimos held a holiday in honor of the walrus: the carcass of the animal was pulled out of the glacier, the shaman began to frantically beat the tambourine, calling all the inhabitants of the village. The culmination of the holiday is a joint feast, where walrus meat was the main dish. The shaman gave part of the carcass to the spirits of water, calling them to join the meal. The rest went to the people. The skull of a walrus was solemnly placed on a sacrificial place: it was assumed that this was a tribute to the main patroness of the Eskimos - the killer whale.
Many fishing holidays have been preserved among the Eskimos to this day - in the fall, for example, "seeing off the whale" is celebrated, in the spring - "meeting the whale." The folklore of the Eskimos is quite diverse: all oral creativity is divided into two types - unipak and unipamsyuk. The first is directly “news”, “news”, that is, a story about recent events, the second is heroic legends and stories about events of the distant past, fairy tales and myths.
The Eskimos also love to sing, and their chants are also divided into two types - public hymn songs and "songs for the soul", which are performed individually, but always accompanied by a tambourine, which is considered a family heirloom and is passed down from generation to generation - until until it completely fails.
