At the end of May, I was lucky to escape from Krasnoyarsk and fly to the north of our region to Evenkia. I stayed there for almost a week - filming, talking to people. For two days we rode a motorboat up the Podkamennaya Tunguska. During this trip, I had a chance to look at how people live far from civilization, how they earn a living and what problems they have to face. But about everything in order, for now I will tell you about the village of Baykit.
1. First, a few photos from the flight. Podkamennaya Tunguska river.
2. The end of May, and in some places there is still snow in the Taiga.
3. This is how Baykit looks from the plane. Because of the turbidity of the glass, I had to make such an effect. 
4. Baikitik river.
5. Now about 4,000 people live in the village.
6. Airport. The plane flies to Krasnoyarsk three times a week.
8. The distance to Krasnoyarsk by air is 670 km, to Tura, the administrative center of the EMR, 350 km.
9. This is how the hotel we lived in looks like.
10. The hotel is far from luxurious. Double room cost 800 rubles / day per person.
11. The village was founded in 1927. Before the active development of the territory, a few indigenous peoples of the Evenks and Kets lived here. Now a little more than 400 Evenks live in Baykit.
12. Secondary school. The only one within a radius of several hundred kilometers.
13. Along many streets there are wooden decks for pedestrians. Thanks to them, residents can afford to go to work in something other than rubber boots.
14. The village stretched for almost 5 kilometers from the so-called "Kolkhozka" which is near the airport to "Mamaevka" (Builder microdistrict). The hilly terrain makes it very difficult to move around the village, so most families have a car.
15. Most cars are SUVs, but this is by no means a luxury, but a necessity - there are no good roads either in Baykit itself, or even more so in the region. If winter roads save you in the cold season, then in the summer you can’t go to many places even on an SUV.
16. Therefore, the majority have boats - Podkamennaya Tunguska is a more reliable transport highway than roads through the taiga. But without a car, again, nowhere, because the boat must at least be delivered to the shore on something.
17. Roads in Baikit are only gravel. Asphalt is promised to be laid a long time ago, but no one knows when this will finally happen. Locals are jealous of Ture - not so long ago asphalt appeared on several streets. In the summer there is dust from the roads, so sometimes a car passes by, pouring water on the roads.
19. There is running water in the village. But the water in the houses of the inhabitants comes in summer only cold, in winter only hot.
20. And here she is.
21. WWII Memorial.
22. There is public transport in Baykit, represented by one route from Kolkhozka to Mamaevka through the center. The bus runs about once an hour and costs 12 rubles.
23. Majority local residents engaged in hunting and fishing, although many work in a hospital, school and other institutions.
26. Construction of the temple. The opening is planned for this year.
27. The climate here is harsh, in winter it often freezes over forty degrees. Locals are accustomed to frost and do not complain, they say good frost invigorates. In general, residents are not accustomed to complaining.
28. Baikites rarely keep dogs on a chain. A lot of them run through the streets. But these are mutts. Real hunting likes are very much appreciated, they say that now good dog very hard to find. Therefore, they are not allowed to roam the streets.
29. Everything is bad with the Internet in Baykit. Now a 1 Mbps channel has been allocated to the entire village. The Internet is supplied via a satellite channel. There is no need to dream of any "unlimited" - as a rule, all office workers are allocated 100 MB per month. Recently they began to connect individuals - for them, the Internet costs from 2.3 rubles / megabyte.
30. Despite the harsh climate, almost everyone has their own garden. True, almost everything grows only in greenhouses and greenhouses.
31. In addition to private houses, there are many apartment buildings in the village. In such houses there is water everywhere, but all amenities are outside.
32. Improvised playground.
33. Public toilet.
36. Evenks, like most indigenous peoples of Siberia, quickly get used to alcohol. This woman could not pronounce her name, but she was able to offer me to buy her vodka. "I'll show you Evenkia!" she repeated.
39. Electricity is very expensive, as the fuel for the diesel station is supplied by the river. There are frequent power outages. There was an attempt to create an oil refinery in Baykit to provide cheaper electricity to the residents of the village. The administration bought an American installation, the installation was tested, and trial products were received. However, it turned out that American oil differs from Evenk oil - the presence of sulfur and salts in it did not allow to continue exploitation.
40. There are many abandoned, crumbling houses in the village. Children often play with them.
41. Although there are several well-maintained playgrounds for children.
42. One of two kindergartens.
43. Second kindergarten. On the one hand, everything looks good. Money for repairs is allocated annually.
44. On the other hand, they go nowhere. Repairs have to be done constantly, as the building itself is dilapidated.
45. There is not enough space in the kindergarten.
46. Head Elena Yurievna shows a veranda that has retreated 10 centimeters. Children are not allowed here - they are afraid that at any moment everything can collapse.
47. In the hospital, the situation is similar - the main problem this is a dilapidated building. Of course, there are many other problems, such as attracting young professionals. For example, there is currently no ophthalmologist in the hospital. There are few who want to go to work to the north, even taking into account the increased salary. Another reason is the difficulty of obtaining housing for visitors. After all, no new municipal houses are being built in Baykit.
48. Therapist receives a patient.
49. Chief Physician Marina Algisovna.
50. KGBU NPO Professional Lyceum No. 91. This the only place where the youth can get at least some professional education without going to the mainland. Here, school graduates can become power line fitters, cooks, assistant drillers.
51. Head teacher Zhanna Viktorovna says that for many children this is the only opportunity to learn a profession. People come here to study neighboring villages, there is a hostel for them. But the salary of teachers is small - about 15 thousand rubles.
52. Employment center. It is located in a private house, which is rented out. Prior to this, workers had to work from home for several months. Youth without education in Baykit have nowhere to work. You can get a profession at a local vocational school, but most prefer to go to study in Krasnoyarsk. Some people get a job on a rotational basis for oil wells. However, they are reluctant to take locals there. Paradoxically, it is more expensive to bring them to the place, because it is easier to gather people from the south and put them on one plane than to transport several residents from each village by helicopter, the distances between which are very significant. Plus, residents of the EMR are supposed to pay a northern salary supplement.
53. Anna Olegovna - works in the Baykit branch of the Evenk local history museum, works as a teacher at the school.
54. Prices in stores are slightly higher than in Krasnoyarsk. Of course, this is due to the poor transport accessibility of the village. Products that can be stored for a sufficiently long time are not much more expensive, but the prices for milk, gingerbread and everything that quickly deteriorates are much higher.
55. Most of the products are delivered to stores twice a year - at the end of spring, while on Tunguska " big water"and a winter road.
56. The rest, what has to be brought in by plane, is much more expensive.
57. A bottle of beer from 50 rubles.
59. Fruit rarely appears on the shelves. Although they are imported regularly, residents quickly buy everything.
60. High school students all say that they want to go to university and leave Baykit. They do not see any prospects for themselves here.
Such is the completely civilized northern village of Baykit. In the following posts I will talk about how they live in more remote villages and how hunters go to hunt.
The next day after arriving in Baikit, we went up the Podkamennaya Tunguska and the Kamo River to learn about how people live in Evenk settlements remote from civilization.
1. Early in the morning we move to the Podkamennaya Tunguska embankment.
2. We load things into a motor boat and set sail.
3. We are accompanied by a local hunter and fisherman Vitaly Anatolyevich.
4. All the way in one direction took us the whole day. On the way, we met only one village - Kuyumba and several small settlements. However, occasionally hunting huts come across along the coast. Hunters sometimes go fishing for several weeks, or even months. The territory of their plots is huge, so you have to build several huts. There is always the main one, in which the hunter spends most of his time. Such huts are called "bases".
5. On the way we come across mostly ships loaded with oil. Until the oil pipeline is built, "black gold" is exported only along the river. In general, the Kuyumbinskoye and Yurubcheno-Tokhomskoye fields are among the most promising for development in the next 10 years.
6. The so-called "port" of Slavneft. The well itself is located a few kilometers from the shore.
7. After a couple of hours we reach Kuyumba.
8. One of the abandoned houses near the river.
9. There are several new houses built with government support.
10. The population of Kuyumba is approximately 150 people. There is a school, a kindergarten, a shop here. There is no cellular connection. Almost all residents are engaged only in hunting and fishing, there is almost nowhere to work in Kuyumba. Some get a job on a rotational basis for oil wells, which are located nearby.
11. Well, almost everyone has their own household. Someone keeps cows.
12. Local roads can only be driven by such vehicles.
13. Except by boat, you can also get to Kuyumba by helicopter, which makes a flight every 1-2 weeks.
16. Village administration.
18. The first borehole of the Kuyumbinskoye field. Drilled back in 1973.
19. Diesel.
22. Nikolai (left) - a native of Kuyumba. Engaged in the manufacture of wooden boats. He promised to make boats to many, this is hindered by constant binges.
23. On the shore we met with local hunters.
24. Hunters say that gasoline has become too expensive, and motor boats need a lot of it - a boat engine consumes much more than any car.
25. Laws are scolded for the fact that cutting clearings up to 4 meters wide is not prohibited for geo-exploration. After cutting down, the hunter does not receive any compensation, although the animal is afraid of people and leaves.
26. Despite this, the places for preparing firewood for them are very far from the village. Sometimes you have to travel more than 100 kilometers and spend a lot of fuel for delivery.
29. About 50 kilometers from Kuyumba there is a lumber camp. 20 people work here. They live in trailers and huts.
30. Carry out orders both municipal and private. Up to 20 cubic meters of wood are harvested per shift.
31. The workers are mostly from Osharovo, a village about 150 kilometers away.
32. Vitaly Anatolyevich says that they often drink. Because of this, there is no discipline, and there is no one to control them, the work gets up.
34. Sawmillers meet us quite good-naturedly and offer us a bite to eat and drink tea - hospitality is accepted among people here, otherwise it is sometimes difficult without help, because the distances between the settlements are rather big.
35. Son of Vitaly Anatolyevich.
36. Alexey keeps order in the hut, prepares food.
38. And again a few hours along Tunguska and we turn right - the Kamo River.
39. Nature around is sometimes mesmerizing.
40. Although this happens. Fires happen and extinguishing them in such a vast territory as Evenkia is not easy.
41. We make a stop in another hut.
42. Here we meet Nicholas. The fishermen call him Burbot. As Vitaly Anatolyevich says - Nikolai good hunter but a big drinker. In general, among hunters it is not customary to drink a lot, because it interferes with fishing.
44. Ilyaz. Born in Kazakhstan. As a child, he moved to Kuyumba with his parents. He works at a diesel station, and of course, like everyone else in Kuyumba, he is engaged in hunting and fishing - one salary is not enough to feed his family. Been to different cities, I saw how people live there, but is not going to leave anywhere. Vitaly Anatolyevich asked him to be our guide along the Kamo River. The river is not as full-flowing as the Tunguska, in order to drive a motorboat at this time, you need to know how to go around rapids and shallows.
45. In the evening we finally get to the place of lodging for the night - one of the hunting huts on the Kamo River.
46. Nature around.
49. Moss moss grows here - the so-called deer moss. But deer are not bred among the taiga, they are only in the north of the district in Surinda. Although wild deer are found.
50. For dinner, a soup of pasta and stew was quickly prepared. Vitaly Anatolyevich took out the smoked taimen and dried reindeer meat taken on the road.
51. The next day, at a halt, they saw an elk approaching the river from the other side. Attempts to shoot him were unsuccessful, he was too far away.
54. The next day, the water in the river fell heavily. An Evenk tradition is to throw coins into the river in front of the threshold. It is believed that this way you can appease the spirit of the river. So we did together with our guides.
55. Sailing to the mouth of Kamo. Here since here in 1952 there is a weather station.
56. Claudia. Tells that Lately bears often come. They don't have weapons, they're not supposed to. Dogs chase bears. Since weapons are not allowed, they do not hunt, they only fish.
57. 3 people work. 2 times a year they are supplied with food - canned food, cereals and other essentials. Growing tomatoes and cucumbers in greenhouses.
58. Tunguska in the vicinity of Kuyumba.
59. Not far from here is a small settlement where Alexander lives with his family.
60. In addition to them, four more people live here. Alexander says that gasoline has become very expensive, and sable, the only thing that brings income to his family, costs very little. It is almost unprofitable to sell meat and fish, because the cost of transportation is very high.
63. This is how people live away from paved roads and cell phone base stations. It cannot be said that they live badly, everyone who is not lazy can secure a normal life for themselves. Most local residents do not care who sits in the Kremlin. If only the state did not interfere in their lives with new laws restricting their crafts.
64. And finally, I would like to show a few photos of the endless expanses of Evenkia from a height.
Evenkia is the heart of the north. These are harsh and long winters, seasoned and industrious inhabitants, hot summer days with a unique picturesque nature around. I present a photo project by Lithuanian photographer Žilvinas Vasiliauskas.
The population density in these lands is one person per 50 km², one of the lowest in the world.
In Evenkia, winter is the longest and coldest season
Wild deer migrate out of the country, but then return - each time to the same place.
One of the main industries here is deer hunting.
One deer is 50–70 kg of meat. And deer tongue is a local delicacy.
The wild deer population is approximately 1 million individuals.
The weight of a wolf can reach up to 80 kg
The Putorana Plateau covers most of the territory of Evenkia. Putorana means "flat as a table" in the local language.
Working in the cold requires a lot of preparation. Every step must be calculated
Each cut hole in the ice is an hour of hard work.
Organic dinner. This taimen, representative of the large family in the salmon family, could grow up to 2 m in length and become someone's desired catch
Most hunters have separate lodges in the area where they hunt.
Each house of about 30 m² is equipped with a stove
Labas is the name of a hut built on piles. This was done to prevent wild animals from entering the house.
The most valuable part of the deer skin is the fur from his legs, it is called kamus and is sold for $10 each.
The Mi-8 helicopter makes flights every two weeks - this is the only way to get out of the settlement
Oleg Timofeevich is the last one living on Lake Dipkun. When their children were small, Oleg lived with his wife Katerina. However, when they reached school age, Katerina moved to the capital of Evenkia - Tura, so that they could attend school
Chirinda village. nearest big road passes 1000 km from here
Spiridon and his younger sister Alina. A 12-year-old boy is deaf and mute, he does not go to school and usually plays alone or with a dog
Alexander, former artist, now - the caretaker of the gas station. Alexander suffered severe frostbite on his hands and lost all his fingers, but he has to work, as six children are waiting for him at home
The water that was used to extinguish the fire shackled the house in Tours. This is a common occurrence in harsh winter conditions.
During the polar night, the northern lights become an additional source of light
Hunters often have to travel long distances, sometimes more than 100 km from home
In the coldest months of the year - from November to May - a system of winter roads operates in the region. The total length of ice roads and crossings in Evenkia is about 4000 km
The K-700 tractor, also known as Kirovets, which has been out of production for a long time, still serves and performs the functions of a grader thanks to an impromptu blade from an old caterpillar
published “Photo sketches from the life of the life of the Evenks in the Irkutsk province in 1900-1930”, however most of these photos captured the Buryats and even Russians, who already densely lived in the territory, in those years inhabited mainly by the Buryat-Mongols. However, the images are historical value and tell what people really were different peoples that once formed one large state.
1. Evenki women
Two Evenki women in national costumes.
Evenks are one of the most ancient indigenous peoples Eastern Siberia, says "Culturology". According to one version, their ancestral home was in the region of southern Baikal, where their culture developed from the Paleolithic era and spread to the east and west. Cults of the Evenks are of great importance. So, the cult of the bear, the owner of the taiga, obliged each hunter to kill only a strictly limited number of bears - for exceeding this number, the greedy could pay with his life.
Today, the Evenks live mainly in the Irkutsk and Amur regions, Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where there are 36 thousand people. In addition to Russia, quite a lot of Evenks live in Mongolia and China. In our review, photographs illustrating village life in the Irkutsk province in 1900-1930.
2. Buryats in national clothes
Traditions in national clothes The Buryats are primarily associated with a nomadic way of life and a harsh continental climate, with sharp temperature fluctuations.
3. Buryat
The national clothes of the Buryats are made of fur, wool, leather, silk, and paper fabrics.
4. Buryat family
Buryat clothing for both men and women is intended primarily for nomadic life in the saddle.
5. Men in winter
In winter, the Buryats wore two-layer or one-layer clothes made of deer and dog skins.
6. Buryat woman in national winter clothes
The main material for winter women's clothing there was sheepskin, which was edged with velvet and other fabrics.
7. Woman in winter clothes
Women's winter clothing was found in the form of a padded stitched dressing gown with a small collar and a wrap to the right.
8. Peasant family
A large family of a Russian peasant.
9. Hunter with prey
Buryat with prey from the pit on the wolves. Along with traps, many wolf hunters use various self-traps to prey on wolves: pits, loops.
10. Buryat, gathered to hunt
Hunter before going to the forest to hunt.
11. Evenk family
Evenks belong to the small peoples of Siberia and the Far East.
12. Evenk children
Children of the taiga and tundra.
13. Pride of the Village
Pioneer students.
14. Evenks in their home
The main dwelling of the deer Evenks was a conical tent. A place of honor in the chum for a guest or for the owner was right in front of the entrance.
15. Man and woman in winter national costumes
The parka was very popular among the Trans-Baikal Evenki - winter outerwear made of deer skins with fur outside. It was worn by both men and women.
In addition to the traditional duties of a guardian hearth- raising children, cooking, maintaining cleanliness and creating comfort in the home, the Evenk woman easily coped with many completely unfeminine, in the understanding modern man, occupations.
She was engaged in dressing skins and sewing outerwear, fur boots and hats from them, collecting and processing birch bark, from which she also made dishes and vices (covering for boats and tents from birch bark boiled in fresh water). Among the descendants of foot Evenks, women took care of deer, and among Amur horse hunters, they took care of horses.
Also, the woman loaded the caravan and led it along a certain route to the place of the camp. For such a journey, it was necessary for her to have good skills in orienteering in the area. In winter, she had to independently clear the area from snow, chop poles for the plague and firewood for the hearth.
Women hunters
In small families, in addition to household chores, women and girls hunted fur-bearing animals. In his monograph, the researcher Vasilevich describes cases when women hunted bears, elks and deer. She also talks about the fact that among the Evenks of the Yenisei and Manchuria basins, she observed women engaged in such a difficult trade until the advanced age of seventy or eighty years as fur hunting up to 100 years.
By the end of the 19th century, women began to bring cash income into the house. The high furrier skills of the Evenki made it possible to receive orders for the manufacture of fur products. Pine cones and berries were also a popular commodity with Russian neighbors.
Evenk hunters, as a rule, entered into marriages with adult girls. Wife with experience household with a "good finger", has always enjoyed well-deserved respect. The influence of the matriarchal foundations of the maternal-tribal system, in which the authority of a woman in the community was indisputable, was leveled over time. After all, the man was not only the main earner in the family, but also the protector.
The man is a protector
Until the 20th century, armed clashes with warring tribes periodically arose over territorial and property disputes. There were many other reasons why the conflict could flare up. For example, blood feud, the accusation of a shaman from a strange family in the death of a relative or an unsuccessful matchmaking. The woman did not participate either in military conflicts or in litigation. She could not be either a judge or a defendant.
Among the taiga Evenks, polygamous marriages were often encountered, in which the undoubted advantage belonged to the first wife. The second and subsequent wives were, as a rule, additional assistants for housekeeping. The researcher Tretyakov wrote: "Tungus - pagans, depending on their condition, sometimes have 2 and 3 wives, who, out of jealousy, are constantly at enmity against each other, and through this they sometimes force the Tungus to beat them mercilessly." And Stepanov in his observations noted that the Tungus "have many wives and live like friends - they often offer a wife to another hunter for hunting."
Many different duties that lay on women's shoulders made the Evenki woman more independent. Relations between spouses were usually built on friendship, mutual support and respect.
Independent Evenki
If they lived in the husband's family, then the woman could call his younger relatives by name and joke with them, but there were restrictions when communicating with the elders. She was not supposed to look directly at them, call them by name, touch their things. The woman had to hide her hair and exposed parts of her body.
Despite many prohibitions, the Evenk woman has always been a full participant in the discussion of family affairs. As a rule, the heads of families were elderly women who enjoyed special respect and authority. It should be emphasized that the restrictions, including those related to female physiology, were aimed at preserving the health of the Evenk woman and her offspring, as well as at preventing hunting troubles.
For example, during " critical days» It was forbidden for a woman to step over the place where the beast was skinned, as well as to butcher the prey herself. Among the Evenks, who were engaged in fishing, during this period a woman could neither take part in fishing nor cross the river nearby. The husband had to pass the fish from hand to hand to his wife, because she was forbidden to touch the common catch.
Vasilevich noted: “It was forbidden for a pregnant woman to touch the hanging hook for the boiler so that the child would not be a fool ... After childbirth, it was forbidden to eat ... fish so that the child would not be drooling, the head of a black grouse so that the child would not shake his head, meat from the head of a bear so that the child would not bite, loon meat so that his nose does not look like a loon's beak, hare meat so that the child does not have "hare" bulging eyes. The child, while he did not speak, was not allowed to suck the hamstring of a deer (indyken) so that his knees would not hurt, and the meat of a bear, so that he would not become numb.
The main deity is also a woman
The strong influence of matriarchy was reflected in the role of women in religious rituals. After all, the main deity, the whole visible world- Buga (Buva, Boa) seemed to the Evenks to be a good-natured elderly hunched woman. There were other stable visual incarnations female image in a religious cult. For example, it was believed that the mistresses of life and death were two women - the sun and the moon.
Among the Ilimpi Evenks, the sun was considered the mistress of the sky, and the moon - her younger brother. Along with men, a woman could become a clergyman, an intermediary between the world of people and spirits - a shaman. From time immemorial, a woman was considered the keeper of the hearth, so it was she who performed the ritual of feeding the fire - imty. The deified spirit of fire was presented to the Evenks as a benevolent creature in the form of an old woman - "grandmother" (Enike).
He was a link in communication with the spirit - the owner of the taiga, which influenced domestic and wild animals and determined human destiny. Before each meal, the first best piece was thrown into the fire with the words: "Send the same one." After that, each hunter "shared" food from his plate with the fire. It was impossible to leave a knife, a needle with a point to the fire, so as not to injure the legs of “grandmother”, and throw sharp objects into the fire so that “grandmother would not choke.”
The rite of gift-ulganni, the sacred subtext of which is to strengthen the soul and destiny of a person through the natural world. It is performed mainly by women, tying rag ribbons to tree branches. A woman has always been associated with the beginning of a new life. That is why she was a key figure in the ritual of meeting and seeing off migratory birds. It was associated with the endless change of life and death - the cycle in nature.
The Evenks, whose history dates back more than one millennium, still try to adhere to the rules established by their ancestors.
