MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION
IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY
HISTORY DEPARTMENT
DEPARTMENT OF ARCHEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
Essay on ethnology
Traditional culture of the Chukchi
Irkutsk, 2007
Introduction
Ancestral home and resettlement of the Chukchi
Main occupations
social order
Life of the Chukchi
Beliefs and rituals
Conclusion
Introduction
Chukchi, (self-name, "real people"). The number in the Russian Federation is 15.1 thousand people, the indigenous population of the Chukotka Aut. districts (11.9 thousand people). They also live in the north of the Koryak Aut. districts (1.5 thousand people) and in the Nizhne-Kolymsky district of Yakutia (1.3 thousand people), they speak the Chukchi language.
The first mention of the Chukchi, in Russian documents - from the 40s of the 17th century, subdivide them into "deer" and "foot". Reindeer herders wandered in the tundra and on the coast of the Arctic Ocean between Alazeya and Kolyma, at Cape Shelagsky and further east to the Bering Strait. The settlements of the "pedestrian" Chukchi, sedentary sea hunters, were located together with the Eskimos between Cape Dezhnev and the Gulf of the Cross and further south in the lower reaches of the Anadyr and the Kanchalan River. The number of Chukchi in the late 17th century. was about 8-9 thousand people.
Contacts with the Russians were originally preserved mainly in the lower Kolyma. Attempts to impose yasak on the Lower Kolyma Chukchi, military campaigns against them in the middle of the 17th century did not bring results. Due to military conflicts and a smallpox epidemic, the number of the Lower Kolyma Chukchi decreased sharply, the rest migrated to the east. After the annexation of Kamchatka to Russia, the population of Anadyr Ostrog, founded in 1649, began to grow, which
From the end of the 18th century, trade contacts between the Chukchi and the Russians intensified. According to the "Charter on the management of foreigners" of 1822, the Chukchi did not carry duties, they paid yasak voluntarily, receiving gifts for this. The established peaceful relations with the Russians, Koryaks and Yukagirs, the development of pastoral reindeer husbandry, contributed to the further expansion of the territory of the Chukchi to the west. By the 1830s, they penetrated the river. Bolshaya Baranikha, by the 1850s - to the lower Kolyma, by the mid-1860s - in the interfluve of the Kolyma and Indigirka; to the south - the territory of the Koryaks, between Penzhina and Korfa Bay, where they were partially assimilated by the Koryaks. In the east, the assimilation of the Chukchi - the Eskimos - intensified. In the 1850s American whalers joined the trade with the coastal Chukchi. The expansion of the territory inhabited by the Chukchi was accompanied by the final allocation of territorial groups: Kolyma, Anyui, or Maloanyui, Chaun, Omolon, Amguem, or Amguemo-Vonkarem, Kolyuchi-Mechigmen, Onmylen (internal Chukchi), Tuman, or Vilyunei, Olyutor, Bering Sea ( sea Chukchi) and others. In 1897, the number of Chukchi was 11,751 people. Since the end of the 19th century, due to the extermination of the sea animal, the number of coastal Chukchi has fallen sharply, by 1926 it amounted to 30% of all Chukchi. Modern descendants of the coastal Chukchi live in the village of Sirenki, Novo Chaplino, Providence, Nunligran, Enmelen, Yanrakynnot, Inchoun, Lorino, Lavrentiya, Neshkan, Uelen, Enurmino on the eastern coast of Chukotka.
In 1930, the Chukotka National Okrug was formed (since 1977 - an auth. Okrug). The ethnic development of the Chukchi in the 20th century, especially during the consolidation of collective farms and the formation of state farms from the 2nd half of the 50s, is characterized by the consolidation and overcoming of the isolation of individual groups
Ancestral home and resettlement of the Chukchi
The Chukchi were divided into deer - tundra nomadic reindeer herders (the self-name chauchu - "deer man") and coastal - settled hunters of sea animals (the self-name ankalyn - "coastal"), living together with the Eskimos. These groups were connected by kinship and natural exchange. Self-names are widespread according to the place of residence or wandering: uvelelit - "Uelentsy", "chaalyt" - "Chukchi roaming along the Chaun River". These self-names are preserved, even among the inhabitants of modern enlarged settlements. The names of smaller groups within the settlements: tapkaralyt - "living on the spit", gynonralyt - "living in the center", etc. Among the western Chukchi, the self-name chugchit (probably from chauchu) is common.
Initially, the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk was considered the ancestral home of the Chukchi, from where they moved north, assimilating part of the Yukagirs and Eskimos. According to modern research, the ancestors of the Chukchi and their kindred Koryaks lived in the inner regions of Chukotka.
Occupying the habitat of the Eskimos, the Chukchi partially assimilated them and borrowed many features of their culture (fat lamps, curtains, the design and shape of tambourines, fishing rites and holidays, pantomime dances, etc.). Long-term interaction with the Eskimos also affected the language and worldview of the indigenous Chukchi. As a result of contacts between the land and sea hunting culture, the Chukchi had an economic division of labor. Yukagir elements also took part in the ethnogenesis of the Chukchi. Contacts with the Yukaghirs became relatively stable at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, when the Yukaghirs, under the influence of the Evens, moved eastward, into the basin of the Anadyr River. Reindeer husbandry developed among the tundra Chukchi, apparently under the influence of the Koryaks, shortly before the appearance of the Russians.
Main occupations
The main occupation of the tundra Chukchi is nomadic reindeer husbandry, which had a pronounced meat-skin character. They also used riding reindeer in harness. The herds were comparatively large in size, the deer were poorly trained, they grazed without the help of dogs. In winter, the herds were kept in places sheltered from the wind, migrating several times during the winter; in the summer, men went with the herd to the tundra; women, old people and children lived in camps along the banks of rivers or the sea. The deer were not milked, sometimes the shepherds sucked out the milk. Urine was used to lure deer. Deer were castrated by biting the seed canals.
The main occupations of the coastal Chukchi are 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, several canoes each. Traditional hunting weapons - a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, from the 2nd floor. 19th century firearms spread, hunting methods became simpler. Sometimes seals were shot at high speed from a sled.
Fishing, except for the Anadyr, Kolyma and Sauna basins, was poorly developed. Fishing was done by men. Fish were caught with a net, milk, nets. In summer - with a canoe, in winter - in the hole. Salmon was harvested for the future.
Before the advent of firearms, wild deer and mountain sheep were hunted, which were subsequently almost completely exterminated. Under the influence of trade with the Russians, the fur trade spread. Until now, hunting for birds with the help of "bol" has been preserved - throwing tools from several ropes with loads that entangled a flying bird. Previously, when hunting birds, they also used darts with a throwing board, loop-traps; eiders were beaten with sticks in the water. Women and children also collected edible plants. To dig out the roots, they used a tool with a tip made of horn, later - iron.
Traditional crafts are fur dressing, weaving bags from fireweed and wild rye fibers for women, bone processing for men. Artistic carving, and engraving on bone and walrus tusk, appliqué made of fur and sealskin, embroidery with deer hair are developed. The Chukchi ornament is characterized by a small geometric pattern. In the 19th century, artisanal associations arose on the east coast to produce walrus ivory carvings for sale. In the 20th century plot engraving on bone and walrus tusk developed (works by Vukvol, Vukvutagin, Gemauge, Khalmo, Ichel, Ettugi, etc.). The workshop in the village of Uelen (founded in 1931) became the center of bone carving art.
In the 2nd floor. 19th century many Chukchi began to be hired on whaling schooners and gold mines.
social order
The social system of the Chukchi, by the beginning of contacts with the Russians, was characterized by the development of a patriarchal community into a neighboring one, the development of property, and differentiation. Deer, dogs, dwellings and canoes were in private ownership, pastures and hunting grounds were in communal ownership. The main social unit of the tundra Ch. was a camp of 3-4 related families; the camps of the poor could unite unrelated families, and their workers lived with their families in the camps of large reindeer herders. Groups of 15-20 camps were connected by mutual assistance. Primorsky Ch. united several families into a canoe community, headed by the owner of the canoe. The reindeer Ch. had patrilineal related groups (varat) connected by common customs (blood feud, transmission of ritual fire, common signs on the face during sacrifices, etc.). Until the 18th century patriarchal slavery was known. The family in the past is large patriarchal, to the con. 19th century - small patrilocal. According to the traditional wedding ceremony, the bride, accompanied by relatives, came to the groom on her deer. At the yaranga, a deer was slaughtered and the bride, groom and their relatives applied the groom's birth marks on their faces with its blood. The name of the child was usually given 2-3 weeks after birth. There were elements of group marriage ("variable marriage"), work for the bride, the rich - polygamy. Many problems in deer Ch. arose with a disproportion in the sexual structure (there were fewer women than men).
Life of the Chukchi
The main dwelling of the Chukchi is a collapsible cylindrical-conical tent-yaranga made of deer skins in the tundra, and walrus skins in the seaside. The arch rested on three poles in the center. Inside, the yaranga was partitioned off with curtains in the form of large deaf fur bags stretched on poles, illuminated and heated by a stone, clay or wooden fat lamp, on which food was also cooked. They sat on skins, tree roots or deer antlers. Dogs were also kept in the yarangas. The Yaranga of the Primorsky Chukchi differed from the dwelling of reindeer herders by the absence of a smoke hole. Until the end of the 19th century, the coastal Chukchi retained a semi-dugout, borrowed from the Eskimos (valkaran - "house from the jaws of a whale") - on a frame of whale bones covered with turf and earth. In summer it was entered through a hole in the roof, in winter - through a long corridor. The camps of the nomadic Chukchi consisted of 2-10 yarangas, they were stretched from east to west, the first from the west was the yaranga of the head of the community. The settlements of the coastal Chukchi numbered up to 20 or more yarangas, randomly scattered.
Even in ancient times, Russians, Yakuts and Evens called reindeer herders Chukchi. The name itself speaks for itself "chauchu" - rich in deer. Deer people call themselves that. And dog breeders are referred to as ankalyns.
This nationality was formed as a result of a mixture of Asian and American types. This is even confirmed by the fact that the Chukchi dog breeders and the Chukchi reindeer breeders have a different attitude to life and culture, various legends and myths speak about this.
Until now, the exact linguistic identity of the Chukchi language has not been determined, there are hypotheses that it is rooted in the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, and the ancient Asian languages.
Culture and life of the Chukchi people
The Chukchi are accustomed to living in camps, which are removed and updated as soon as the reindeer food is over. In summer they descend closer to the sea. The constant need for resettlement does not prevent them from erecting sufficiently large dwellings. The Chukchi erect a large polygonal tent, which is covered with deer skins. In order for this structure to withstand strong gusts of wind, people support the entire hut with stones. At the back wall of this tent, a small structure is installed in which people eat, rest and sleep. In order not to get tired in their room, they undress almost naked before going to bed.
National Chukchi clothes are comfortable and warm attire. Men wear a double fur shirt, double fur trousers, also fur stockings and boots of identical material. The men's hat is somewhat reminiscent of a women's bonnet. Women's clothing also consists of two layers, only the pants and the upper part are sewn together. And in the summer, the Chukchi dress in lighter clothes - overalls made of deer suede and other bright fabrics. Beautiful ritual embroidery is often found on these dresses. Little children, newborns are dressed in a bag made of deer skins, in which there are slits for arms and legs.
The main and daily food of the Chukchi is meat, both cooked and raw. In its raw form, brains, kidneys, liver, eyes and tendons can be consumed. Quite often you can meet families where roots, stems and leaves are happy to eat. It is worth noting the special love of the Chukchi people for alcohol and tobacco.
Traditions and customs of the Chukchi people
The Chukchi are a people who keep the traditions of their ancestors. And it doesn't matter what group - reindeer breeders or dog breeders - they belong to.
One of the national Chukchi holidays is the Baydara holiday. Since ancient times, the kayak has been a means of obtaining meat. And in order for the waters to accept the Chukchi canoe for the next year, the Chukchi arranged a certain ceremony. The boats were removed from the jaws of the whale, on which she had lain all winter. Then they went to the sea and brought him a sacrifice in the form of boiled meat. After that, the canoe was placed near the dwelling and the whole family walked around it. The next day, the procedure was repeated and only after that the boat was lowered into the water.
Another Chukchi holiday is the Whale Festival. This holiday was held in order to apologize to the killed marine animals and to make amends with Karetkun, the owner of marine life. People changed into smart clothes, waterproof clothes made from walrus intestines and apologized to walruses, whales and seals. They sang songs that it was not the hunters who killed them, but the stones that fell from the rocks. After that, the Chukchi made a sacrifice to the master of the seas, lowering the skeleton of a whale into the depths of the sea. People believed that in this way they would resurrect all the animals they had killed.
Of course, one cannot fail to mention the deer festival, which was called Kilvey. He settled in the spring. It all started with the fact that deer were driven to human dwellings, yarangas, and at that time women kindled a fire. Moreover, the fire had to be produced, as well as many centuries ago - by friction. The Chukchi met the deer with enthusiastic cries, songs and shots in order to drive away evil spirits from them. And during the celebration, men slaughtered several adult deer to replenish food supplies intended for children, women and the elderly.
Tundra dwellers save guests from frost with the help of their naked wife
What have we heard about the Chukchi and about the northern peoples in general, except for anecdotes? Yes, practically nothing! However, there are people who thoroughly understand the topic. In particular, a world-famous scientist, Professor Sergei ARUTYUNOV, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, who conducted ethnographic field work in Japan, Vietnam, India, the Caucasus, as well as the Far North and Siberia, including Chukotka. Although jokes are also information!
"Chukchi, go to the shower, wash yourself!" - “It is impossible, however! Woe will be! Washed for the first time - the war began. The second time I washed myself - Stalin died. At all
woe!"
All the same, they drove the Chukchi into the shower. After a couple of minutes, a joyful exclamation: “Hurrah! Found the shirt! - "Where?!" - “I was under a sweatshirt!”
- Sergey Alexandrovich, why are there so many jokes about the Chukchi?
- For the same reason that in India they tell jokes about the Sikhs, in the UK - about the Scots, and all over Europe - about the Belgians. It is in human nature to choose some kind of victim for ridicule. Despite the fact that everyone understands - these peoples are no worse than others. By the way, the Chukchi also have jokes about Russians. For example like this. A young Russian comes to Chukotka for the first time. He is taken, of course, with vodka - they drink one bottle, the second, the third ... Finally, he asks: "How to become one of your own in Chukotka?" - "We need to sleep with a Chukchi woman and shake the bear's paw." The Russian staggers out. He returns in the morning, all tattered: “Well, I slept with a bear, now let’s have a Chukchi woman - I’ll shake her hand!” In general, the Chukchi are very hospitable people and are also ready to laugh at themselves.
What shocked you the most about the customs of the northern peoples?
- I am an ethnographer, accustomed to everything. But there were also funny moments. One of the visits of the Chukchi family about 50 years ago is very memorable. We came to the yaranga, the home of the Chukchi. It is cold in it, so in the center there is also a fur canopy made of deer skins ...
- Is it warm underneath?
- Certainly! People heat up the space with their breath so much that they undress to their underwear. Nomadic Chukchi are very fond of silk underwear. And not for the sake of beauty, but because lice do not start in it - it is often problematic to wash under such conditions.
So here we are, waiting for food. And then the baby cried - he wanted to use the potty. The hostess takes off his warm fur overalls, a diaper made of dried moss and gives him the opportunity to relieve himself in a wooden dish. Then this dish is exposed behind the canopy - in the cold space of the yaranga, where the dogs are. A few seconds - and the dogs lick it all to a shine. The hostess returns the dish and quite calmly begins to cut cold venison on it. We ate it with tea. By the way, she didn't forget to thoroughly wipe the cups with a towel... In fairness, I'll say that now, of course, the situation with hygiene has changed dramatically.
fly agaric
Chukcha says to Russian:
- Guess how many deer I have, I'll give them both!
- Two.
- Wow, shaman!
- In one of the interviews, you said that the Chukchi do not recognize mushrooms.
- Yes, they disdain them, they call them the feces of the devil. This is primarily due to the fact that mushrooms are a threat to lose deer. Deer all the time experience protein starvation. And the mushroom is the source of this very protein. So if a mushroom place comes across on the way of deer - that’s it, you can’t gather a herd anymore, it will simply disperse. Therefore, as they approach the mushroom places, the Chukchi begin to yell, throw sticks, set dogs on fire - in a word, do everything so that the herd slips past as soon as possible.
- But they still have respect for one mushroom.
- If you mean fly agaric, then yes. Among the Chukchi, fly agaric is common as a hallucinogen. And in order not to get poisoned, young people drink the urine of old people who use fly agaric, accustoming themselves to this "delicacy". I just urge you not to practice this in any case, the consequences can be fatal!
- Does this happen today?
- Even 20 years ago, young people actively joined the fly agaric. That is, now they are people of about 40 years old. As in our time - I do not know. Still, in recent years, a new generation has grown up with a more urbanized, urban mentality. Almost all receive a secondary education. Although they certainly retain their Chukchi psychology.
- And what does it consist of, this psychology?
- Do not strain. Not with anything. Including in sexual relations.
One for two
The Russian asked the Chukchi for a loan of fox skins for sale. He gave. The second time he asked - he gave. The Chukchi sees - for the third time a Russian comes to him. He says: “Wife, tell me that I’m on the hunt, otherwise I’ll beg for skins again!” And he is under the bed. The Russian comes in, the wife and says: “He is on the hunt!” - "What a pity! And I brought the money with interest. Well, let's celebrate the deal!" They drank and went to bed. And the Chukchi lies under the bed and thinks: “You need to take the money, you need to shoot the Russian, you need to beat your wife. And, as luck would have it, I'm on the hunt!
- How do the Chukchi, in principle, relate to sexual intimacy?
- Easy enough. For example, in the past it often happened that a person who got lost in the taiga came across a nomad camp. How to save him from hypothermia? A naked guest was laid with the naked wife of the owner of the house. And then - how will it go ... By the way, in 1977, a swimmer from the United States was saved from certain death in the same way, who swam from an American island to a Soviet one in the Bering Strait area. She was carried away by the current, she was very cold. And the Russian doctor, familiar with the life of the Chukchi, undressed and climbed into her sleeping bag. Everything worked out.
 |
In folklore, Chukchi women often sleep with Russians. To what extent can a Chukchi woman be attractive to a white man?
- Many of them are pretty, by our standards. Not without reason all the polar explorers had representatives of the northern peoples in their mistresses or temporary wives. For example, the legendary American Admiral Robert Peary, who first reached the North Pole at the beginning of the 20th century, had an Eskimo woman in his "field wives". The archives preserved her photograph in the nude, a very spectacular woman. And then his legal wife Josephine came to Piri. The ladies met and quite got along with each other.
- Well, in principle, how important is marital fidelity for the Chukchi?
- Eskimos in Canada and Alaska still have a tradition of changing wives when their families go hunting in the summer. This usually happens between friends and very often at the initiative of women. In Soviet times, communist morality still prevailed in our country, so the Chukchi never advertised such behavior. But the women there are very proud and freedom-loving. I knew one Chukchi family. His name was Robton, he was a whaler and a drunkard. And now his wife named Ani was tired of his endless drinking.
“So it is,” she said. - I am your wife, I will wash your underpants, put grass in torboza (such fur boots) so that you do not freeze, but as a husband there is no sense from you. Therefore, at such and such a time, leave, and the store manager will come to me.
He seemed to calm down. But when the store manager was at Anya's, Robton came and told him: "Come on the bottle!" A bottle of vodka, I mean. He gave. He comes for the second time: “Give me a bottle!” And then an angry Ani jumped out into the corridor to them. “Who gave you the right to buy me for a bottle?!” she called out to the store manager. And she said this to her husband: “I am a free woman and I myself decide with whom to sleep!” With these words, she slashed him on the nose with a semicircular butcher knife. And he, pressing the tip of his nose, ran to the paramedic. Barely, this nose was sewn on to him. In general, it is not uncommon that Chukchi women have lovers, and husbands take this calmly.
Like Jews
The Chukchi got rich and bought a car. A month later, they ask him: “Well, how?” - “Good, however! Only the deer get very tired and the roof is slippery, I fall all the time!”
- Sergei Alexandrovich, are there any rich Chukchi?
- In Soviet times, the Chukchi could earn eight thousand a year on whaling and arctic fox trade. And even more! By Soviet standards - a lot of money. But there were few such drummers, and they drank everything on drink. The situation changed somewhat under Gorbachev. During the fight against alcoholism, many stupid things were done, but for the Far North it was a boon. After all, the physiology of the Chukchi is such that they get drunk from the first glass. Having lost the opportunity to drink freely, they are so elated! And household appliances appeared (for those who lived in the villages), and they began to go to resorts.
A Chukchi friend said: “I was in the Crimea. I liked it, only very hot - plus 13 - 15 degrees! He also bought a Moskvich. True, he went fishing from his village only about once a week, and then in the season - 12 kilometers. “But what about the tundra?” I ask him. “Snowmobiles are bought from us for this, but many are still on dogs.” - "Why?" - “What if there is a snowstorm and you will get stuck there for a long time? You leave with 12 dogs, you come back with four. Eight will go to feed the rest and eat yourself. You can't eat a snowmobile!"
And with the advent of capitalism, the "new Chukchi" appeared?
- There are still non-drinking guys who earn two or three million rubles a year. Mostly fishing. Once, an Eskimo friend tried to explain to me how they differ from the Chukchi. “You know, for us, the Chukchi are like Jews for Russians. Compared to us, they are more sneaky, commercially successful, cunning.” However, the "new Chukchi" will never appear. In general, there are few Chukchi, only 14 thousand, most of whom live in Chukotka. But everyone has nephews, cousins, uncles ... “You get so much, but you don’t treat us!” - that's what a successful Chukchi hears. And - treats, so it is accepted. Until the money runs out.
- And how many Eskimos?
- There are more than a hundred thousand of them, although only 1800 live in Russia. But there are even smaller peoples. For example, Wilta - there are only 300 of them left on Sakhalin. Or Enets - only 250 in Taimyr.
You are a great guardian of small nations. What can the state do for the same Chukchi? Take care of them more? Or, on the contrary, do not interfere?
- Do not interfere, do not climb! I think it would be right to put them on a reservation. And this is not an insult at all. Vice versa! In America, when entering an Indian reservation, an announcement: “By crossing the red line, you agree to obey all decisions of the local tribal council!” If you look at the map of the United States, it is covered with reservations like a rash. They have their own laws. Unless, of course, God forbid, there is some kind of confusing murder, the investigation will be led by an FBI officer. But all the “everyday life” is sorted out by local authorities. Of course, everyone is free to choose - to live with his own or in another place.
- But what is it for? So that the Chukchi retain their identity?
- First of all, to gain self-respect and survive. And then it is quite likely that drunkenness, to which nine-tenths of the Chukchi are subject, will finally be finished.
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. Natalya'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 Natalya.
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.
All conclusions will be drawn by time and the Chukchi themselves.
The manuscript of K. G. Merck, dedicated to the Chukchi, was acquired in 1887 by the Imperial Public Library and is still kept in its manuscript department. These notes about the campaign through the Chukotka Peninsula (from St. Lawrence Bay to the Nizhne-Kolyma prison) are a description of the region and the ethnography of the peoples inhabiting it.
The manuscript of K. G. Merck, dedicated to the Chukchi, was acquired in 1887 by the Imperial Public Library and is still kept in its manuscript department. These notes about the campaign through the Chukotka Peninsula (from St. Lawrence Bay to the Nizhne-Kolyma prison) are a description of the region and the ethnography of the peoples inhabiting it.
We bring to your attention only selected excerpts from the researcher's manuscript.
The Chukchi are divided into deer and settled. All summer long, until the very autumn, deer live in several families together, near the settled camps, and their herds are driven to pastures closer to the sea coast at a distance of several days from their temporary settlements. […] Those of the reindeer Chukchi who settle near the settled ones eat all summer only the meat of sea animals, thereby saving their herds. The Chukchi store meat and fat (blubber) of marine animals for the winter, as well as their skins, whalebone and other things that they need. […] Although the reindeer Chukchi give deer meat to the settled for the supplies received from them, which they slaughter especially for them, however, this, in fact, is not an exchange, but rather some kind of compensation at their discretion. […]
In language, the settled Chukchi also differ from the deer. The language of the latter is close to Koryak and only slightly differs from it. The settled Chukchi, although they understand the Koryak language, have their own language, divided into four dialects and completely different from Koryak. […]
As for God, they believe that a deity lives in the sky, which used to be on earth, to the latter they make sacrifices so that it keeps earthly devils from harming people. But they also make sacrifices for the same purpose to the devils themselves. However, their religious concepts are very incoherent. One can rather fall into error by asking the Chukchi about this than by observing their life with one's own eyes. However, it can be argued that they fear devils more than they trust any higher being. […]
As for sacrifices, the reindeer Chukchi sacrifice deer, and the sedentary Chukchi sacrifice dogs. When stabbed, they take a handful of blood from the wound and throw it towards the sun. Often I met such sacrificial dogs on the seashore, lying with their heads to the water, with the skin left only on the head and legs. This is a gift of the settled Chukchi to the sea for the sake of its appeasement and getting a happy voyage. […]
Their shamans shaman by night, sitting in their reindeer yurts in the dark and without much clothing. These activities must be regarded as a winter pastime during leisure hours, which, by the way, some women indulge in. However, not everyone knows how to shaman, but only some of the reindeer Chukchi and a few more of the settled ones. In this art, they are distinguished by the fact that during their actions they know how to answer or force others to answer in a changed or someone else's muffled voice, by which they deceive those present, portraying as if the devils answered their questions with their own lips. In case of illness or other circumstances, when they are addressed, shamans can direct the imaginary predictions of the spirits in such a way that the latter always demand one of the best deer of the herd as a sacrifice, which becomes their property with skin and meat. The head of such a deer is put on display. It happens that some of the shamans run in a circle in a trance, hitting a tambourine, and then, to show their skill, they cut their tongue or allow themselves to be stabbed in the body, not sparing their blood. […] Among the settled Chukchi, I met with the fact, according to them not so rare, that a male shaman, completely dressed in women's clothes, lived with a man as a good housewife.
Their dwellings are called yarangas. When the Chukchi stay longer in one place in summer and winter, the yarangas have a larger volume and correspond to the number of canopies that fit in them, which depends on the number of relatives living together. During migrations, the Chukchi divide the yaranga into several smaller parts to make it easier to install. […] For their warm canopies, the Chukchi use six or eight, and the wealthy up to 15 deer skins. The canopies are an uneven quadrilateral. To enter, lift the front part and crawl into the canopy. Inside you can kneel or bend over, why they only sit or lie in it. […] It cannot be denied that even in simple canopies, in the most extreme cold, you can sit naked, warming yourself from the heat of a lamp and from the vapors of people. […]
In contrast to the yarangas of the reindeer Chukchi, the yarangas of the settled Chukchi are covered with walrus skins. The warm curtains of the settled Chukchi are bad, and there are always insects in them, since the Chukchi cannot often renew the curtains, and sometimes they are forced to use already abandoned ones.
Chukchi men wear short hair. They wet them with urine and cut them with a knife, both in order to get rid of the lice and so that the hair does not interfere with the fight.
As for the clothes of men, they fit snugly to the body and are warm. The Chukchi renew it for the most part by winter. […] The Chukchi usually wear trousers made of seal skins, less often of processed deer skin, with under trousers, mostly from the skins of young deer. They also wear pants sewn from pieces of skin from wolf paws, on which even claws remain. Chukchi short stockings are made of sealskins and the Chukchi wear them with the wool inside until it's cold. In winter, they wear long-haired kamus stockings. In summer, they wear short boots made of seal skins with hair inside, and against dampness - from deer skins. In winter, they mostly wear short boots made of skins. […] As insoles in boots, the Chukchi use dry soft grass, as well as shavings from a whalebone; Without such insoles, boots do not give any warmth. The Chukchi wear two fur kukhlyankas, the lower one remains with them for the whole winter. […] The head of the Chukchi is often left uncovered all summer, autumn and spring, if the weather permits. If they want to cover their heads, they wear a bandage that goes down to the forehead with a fringe of wolf fur. The Chukchi also protect their heads with Malachai. […] over the malachai they put on, especially in winter, a hood that lies rounded over the shoulders. However, they are worn by younger and wealthier men to give themselves a more beautiful look. […] Some Chukchi also wear on their heads, instead of malachai, a skin torn from the head of a wolf with a muzzle, ears and eye sockets.
In rainy weather and damp fog, which they experience most of the summer, the Chukchi wear raincoats with hoods over their clothes. These raincoats are quadrangular pieces of thin skin from the intestines of whales sewn across and look like a pleated bag. […] In winter, the Chukchi are forced to knock out their clothes every evening with a mallet carved from horns before entering the yurt in order to clear it of snow. They carry the beater with them in the sled. In their tight-fitting and well-covering clothes, the Chukchi are not afraid of any cold, although due to the severe frosts they have, especially with the wind, they freeze their faces. […]
The occupations of men among the reindeer Chukchi are very limited: to watch their herd, protect animals night and day, drive the herd behind the train during migrations, separate draft deer, catch the last ones from the circle, harness deer, drive deer into corals, smoke tobacco, make a weak fire , choose a convenient place for migration. […]
The one-year-old deer, which the Chukchi destined for the team, they castrate in various rather primitive ways. When suckers are slaughtered in autumn, females have a little milk for another three to four days. Chukchi milk was brought to us in a tied intestine. They milk the females by sucking, since they do not know any other method of milking, and this method reduces the taste of milk. […]
The Chukchi also teach their riding deer to urine, like the Koryaks. Deer are very fond of this drink, they allow themselves to be lured by it and by this they are taught to recognize their master by voice. They say that if you moderately water the deer with urine, then they become more enduring during migrations and get less tired, which is why the Chukchi carry a large basin made of leather with them to urinate into it. In summer, deer do not drink urine, as they do not have a desire for it. In winter, however, the deer are so eager to drink urine that they must be restrained from consuming it in large quantities at a time when women pour or expose vessels of urine early in the morning from their yarangas. I saw two deer that had drunk too much urine in such intoxication that one of them looked like a dead one, .. and the second, which was very swollen and could not stand on its feet, was first dragged by the Chukchi to the fire so that the smoke unclenched its nostrils, then they tied it straps, buried up to his head in the snow, scratched his nose until it bled, but since all this did not help at all, they stabbed him.
Among the Chukchi, herds of deer are not as numerous as among the Koryaks. […] The Koryaks are also better at hunting wild deer and elk. As for arrows and bows, the Chukchi always have them with them, but they do not possess the dexterity of hitting, since they almost never practice this, but are content with how it comes out. […]
The occupations of the settled Chukchi are mainly hunting for marine animals. At the end of September, the Chukchi go hunting for walruses. They kill so many of them that even polar bears are not able to devour them all during the winter. […] On the walruses, the Chukchi go together by several people, run at them with a shout, throw a harpoon with the help of a thrower, while others pull a belt five fathoms long attached to the harpoon. If a wounded animal manages to go under water, the Chukchi overtake him and finish him in the chest with iron spears. […] If the Chukchi slaughter an animal on the water, or if a wounded animal rushes into the water and dies there, then they take only its meat, and the skeleton remains for the most part with fangs and sinks into the water. Meanwhile, it would be possible to pull out the skeleton with fangs and exchange it for tobacco, if the Chukchi did not spare labor for this. […]
They hunt bears with spears and claim that polar bears hunted on the water are easier to kill than brown ones, which are much more agile. […]
About their military campaigns. The Chukchi direct their raids mainly against the Koryaks, with whom they still cannot forget the enmity, and in former times they opposed the Yukaghirs, who with their help were almost destroyed. Their goal is to rob deer. Attacks on enemy yarangas always begin at dawn. Some rush with lassoes at the yarangas and try to destroy them, pulling out the racks, others at this time pierce the canopy of the yaranga with spears, and still others, quickly driving up to the herd on their light sleds, divide it into parts and steal it. […] For the same purpose, that is, robbery, settled Chukchi move to America on their canoes, attack camps, kill men and take women and children as prisoners; as a result of the attack on the Americans, they also receive part of the furs that they exchange with the Russians. Through the sale of American women to the Reindeer Chukchi and other trade deals, the settled Chukchi become Reindeer and may sometimes roam with the Reindeer, although they are never respected by the Reindeer.
There are also Koryaks and individual Yukaghirs among the Chukchi as workers. The Chukchi marry them to their poor women; and the settled also often take captive American women as wives. […]
The woman's hair is braided on the sides in two braids, which they mostly tie at the ends at the back. As for their tattoos, women tattoo with iron, partly triangular needles. Elongated pieces of iron are pierced above the lamp and given the shape of a needle, lowering the point into the moss from the lamps boiled and mixed with fat, then into graphite rubbed with urine. Graphite, with which the Chukchi rub the threads from the veins when tattooing, they find in abundance in pieces and on the river near their camp Puukhta. Tattooed with a needle with a dyed thread, as a result of which blackness remains under the skin. Slightly swollen place smeared with fat.
Even before the age of ten, they tattoo girls first in two lines - along the forehead and along the nose, then a tattoo follows on the chin, then on the cheeks, and when the girls get married (or about 17 years old), they tattoo the outside of the forearm to the neck with various linear figures. Less often denote a tattoo in women on the shoulder blades or on the pubis. […]
Women's clothing fits the body, falls below the knees, where it is tied, forming, as it were, pants. They put it on over the head. Her sleeves do not taper, but remain free. They, like the neckline, are trimmed with dog fur. This garment is worn double. […] Over the mentioned clothes, the Chukchi wear a wide fur shirt with a hood, reaching to the knees. They put it on on holidays, when visiting, and also during migrations. They put it on with the wool on the inside, and the more prosperous also wear the second one with the wool on the outside. […]
Women's occupations: taking care of food supplies, processing skins, sewing clothes.
Their food is from deer, which they slaughter in late autumn, while these animals are still fat. The Chukchi keep deer meat in pieces in reserve. While they live in one place, they smoke meat over the smoke in their yarangas, eat meat and ice cream, breaking it into small pieces on a stone with a stone hammer. […] Marrow fresh and frozen, fat and tongue they consider the most delicious. The Chukchi also use the contents of the stomach of a deer and its blood. […] Of the vegetation, the Chukchi use willows, of which there are two types here. […] In willows of both species, they rip off the bark of the roots, less often the bark of the trunks. They eat the bark with blood, whale oil, and wild meat. Boiled willow leaves are kept in sealsacks and eaten with bacon in winter. […] To dig up various roots, women use a walrus tusk hoe or a piece of deer antlers. The Chukchi also collect seaweed, which is eaten boiled with sour fat, blood and stomach contents of deer.
Marriage among the Chukchi. If the wooer has received the consent of the parents, then he sleeps with his daughter in the same canopy; if he manages to take possession of her, then the marriage is concluded. If the girl does not have a disposition towards him, then she invites several of her girlfriends to her that night, who fight with the guest with female weapons - arms and legs.
Koryachka sometimes makes her boyfriend suffer for a long time. The groom has been trying in vain for several years to achieve his goal, although he remains in the yaranga, carries firewood, guards the herd and does not refuse any work, and others, in order to test the groom, tease him, even beat him, which he patiently endures until the moment female weakness does not reward him.
Sometimes the Chukchi allow sexual relations between children who grow up with parents or relatives for further marriage.
The Chukchi do not seem to take more than four wives, more often two or three, while the less prosperous are satisfied with one. If the wife dies, the husband takes her sister. Younger brothers marry the widows of older brothers, but it is contrary to their customs to take the widow of the younger brother to the elder. The barren wife of the Chukchi is soon expelled without any claims from her relatives, and you often meet women who are still young, who in this way already got the fourth husband. […]
During childbirth, Chukchi women do not have any help, and, they say, often die during this. During menstruation, women are considered unclean; men refrain from communicating with them, believing that this results in back pain.
Wife Exchange. If the husbands agree in this way to seal their friendship, then they ask the consent of the wives, who do not refuse their request. When both sides have agreed in this way, the men sleep without asking, interspersed with other people's wives, if they live close to each other, or when they come to visit each other. The Chukchi exchange their wives for the most part with one or two, but there are examples when they receive such a relationship simultaneously with ten, since their wives, apparently, do not consider such an exchange undesirable. But women, especially among the reindeer Chukchi, are less likely to be prone to treason. They usually do not tolerate other people's jokes about this, take everything seriously and spit in the face or give free rein to their hands.
The Koryaks do not know of such an exchange of wives; they are jealous and betrayal of her husband was once punished by death, now - only by exile.
The children of the Chukchi, with this custom, obey other people's fathers. As for the mutual drinking of urine during the exchange of wives, this is a fiction, the reason for which could be the washing of the face and hands with urine. During the meager autumn migrations, such a guest often came to our hostess, and her husband then went to the wife of the latter or slept in another canopy. Both of them showed little ceremony, and if they wanted to satisfy their passions, they would escort us out of the canopy.
The settled Chukchi also exchange wives among themselves, but the deer do not exchange wives with the settled, and the deer do not marry the daughters of the settled, considering them unworthy of themselves. The wives of the deer would never agree to an exchange with the settled. However, this does not prevent the Reindeer Chukchi from sleeping with the wives of the settled, which their own wives do not look askance at, but the Reindeer Chukchi do not allow the settled to do the same. The settled Chukchi also provide their wives to strangers, but this is not proof of their friendship for them and not out of a desire to receive offspring from strangers. This is done out of self-interest: the husband gets a pack of tobacco, the wife gets a string of beads around her neck, a few strings of beads on her hand, and if they want to be luxurious, they also get earrings, and then the deal is made. […]
If Chukchi men feel the approach of death, they often order themselves to be stabbed to death - the duty of a friend; both brothers and sons are not upset by his death, but rather rejoice that he has found in himself enough courage not to expect a woman's death, as they say, but managed to escape from the torment of devils.
The corpse of the Chukchi is dressed in clothes made of white or spotted deer fur. 24 hours the corpse remains in the yaranga, and before it is taken out of there, they try several times the head, raising it until they find it light; and while the head is heavy, it seems to them that the deceased has forgotten something on the ground and does not want to leave it, which is why they put some food, needles and the like in front of the deceased. They take out the corpse not through the door, but next to it, raising the edge of the yaranga. When the deceased is carried out, one goes and pours the remaining fat from the lamp, which burned for 24 hours near the corpse, onto the road, as well as paint from alder bark.
For burning, the corpse is taken several miles from the yaranga to a hill, before burning it is opened in such a way that the insides fall out. This is done to facilitate combustion.
In memory of the deceased, they surround the place where the corpse was burned, in the form of an oval with stones, which should resemble the figure of a person, they put a larger stone at the head and at the feet, of which the upper one lies to the south and should represent the head. […] The reindeer, on which the deceased was taken, is immediately slaughtered on the spot, their meat is eaten, the head stone is smeared from below with bone marrow or fat, and the antlers are left in the same heap. Every year the Chukchi remember their dead; if the Chukchi are nearby at this time, then they slaughter deer at this place, and if they are far away, from five to ten sleds of relatives and acquaintances go annually to this place, make fire, throw bone marrow into the fire, and say: “Eat this” , help themselves, smoke tobacco and put peeled horns on a pile.
Chukchi mourn for their dead children. In our yaranga, a girl died shortly before our arrival; her mother mourned her every morning before the yaranga, and the howling replaced the singing. […]
To add something more about these natives, let us say that the Chukchi are more often of medium height, but it is not so rare to find Chukchi whose height reaches six feet; they are slender, strong, hardy and live to a ripe old age. The settled in this respect are not much inferior to the deer. The harsh climate, the severe frosts to which they are constantly exposed, their partly raw, partly slightly cooked food, which they almost always have in abundance, and physical exercise, from which they do not shy away from almost an evening, as long as the weather permits, their few occupations give them the advantage of strength, health and stamina. Among them you will not find a fat belly, like the Yakuts. […]
These men are brave when opposed by the masses, less afraid of death than cowardice. […] In general, the Chukchi are free, they exchange, not thinking about politeness; if they don't like something or what is offered in exchange seems too insignificant, then they easily spit on it. In theft, they have achieved great dexterity, especially settled ones. Being forced to live among them is a real school of patience. […]
The Chukchi seem amiable and helpful and demand in return everything they see and want; they do not know what is called disgusting; they send their need in their canopies, and what is most unpleasant about this is that they also force strangers, often even with a push, to pour urine into a cup; they crush lice with their teeth in a race with their wives - men from trousers, and women from hair.
A little more about the Chukchi beauties. Reindeer Chukchi women are chaste by habit; women of the sedentary represent them in this the complete opposite, but nature has provided the latter with more beautiful features. Both those and others are not very shy, although they do not understand this. In conclusion, another addition about the Koryaks. These natives are unattractive, small, and even on their faces their secret machinations are displayed; they forget every gift immediately upon receipt - they insult with death, like the Chukchi, and in general this seems more characteristic of Asia. One must always conform to their mood, so as not to make them enemies; you will not get anything from them by orders and cruelty; if they are sometimes punished with beatings, then you will not hear from them either cries or requests. Reindeer Koryaks consider a blow worse than death; taking their own life is like going to bed for them. […] These natives are cowardly; they not only left the Cossacks of local prisons to the mercy of fate, who got into trouble when the latter were more than once forced to act because of the Koryaks against the Chukchi, but even in those cases when the Cossacks had to flee with them, the Koryaks chopped off their fingers, so that the Cossacks could not hold on to the sledges. According to written evidence, in general, the Koryaks killed many more Cossacks sleeping than the Chukchi during the day with their arrows and spears.
However, is it not the reason for their behavior that the Cossacks of these remote regions consider them more as slaves created for them than as subjects under the scepter of the greatest monarchy, and treat them accordingly. Thoughtful bosses would have to prevent this if they did not think it easier to satisfy their own interests.
Their women apparently never comb their hair. The soiledness of their clothes should seem to serve as a guarantee of their chastity for jealous husbands, although their face, which can rarely lay claim to even a shadow of charm, never smiles when looking at a stranger.
K. G. Merck translated from German by Z. Titova
