Descendant of Russians and Eskimos scanword. Eskimos of Chukotka: the smallest people in Russia
Help me find a short story about the Eskimos (where they live, what they eat, what they move on) it needs to be in English but it’s possible and I got the best answer
Answer from Igor Somov[expert]
Eskimos, ethnic community, group of peoples in the USA (in Alaska - 38 thousand people), in the north of Canada (28 thousand people), in Denmark (Greenland island - 47 thousand) and the Russian Federation (Chukchi Autonomous Okrug of the Magadan Region - 1, 5 thousand people). The total number is 115 thousand people. The languages of the Eskimo-Aleut family are divided into two groups: Inupik (closely related dialects of the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, northern Alaska and Canada, Labrador and Greenland) and Yupik - a group of three languages (Central Yupik, Siberian Yupik and Sugpiak, or Alutiiq) with dialects spoken in western and southwestern Alaska, St. Lawrence Island, and the Chukchi Peninsula.
They formed as an ethnic group in the Bering Sea region until the end of the 2nd millennium BC. In the 1st millennium AD, the ancestors of the Eskimos, carriers of the archaeological Thule culture, settled in Chukotka and along the Arctic coast of America to Greenland.
The Eskimos are divided into 15 ethnocultural groups: the Eskimos of southern Alaska, on the coast of Prince William Sound and Kodiak Island, were subject to strong Russian influence during the period of the Russian-American Company (late 18th - mid-19th centuries); the Eskimos of western Alaska preserve their language and traditional way of life to the greatest extent; Siberian Eskimos, including the Eskimos of St. Lawrence Island and the Diomede Islands; the Eskimos of northwest Alaska, living along the coast from Norton Sound to the US-Canadian border and in the interior of northern Alaska; The Mackenzie Eskimos are a mixed group on the northern coast of Canada around the mouth of the Mackenzie River, formed in the late 14th and early 20th centuries. from indigenous people and Nunaliit Eskimos - settlers from northern Alaska; Copper Eskimos, named for tools made of native copper, made by cold hammering, live on the northern coast of Canada along Coronation Sound and on Banks and Victoria Islands; Netsilik Eskimos in Northern Canada, on the coast of the Boothia and Adelaide peninsulas, King William Island and in the lower reaches of the Buck River; closely related to them are the Igloolik Eskimos - inhabitants of the Melville Peninsula, the northern part of Baffin Island and Southampton Island; Caribou Eskimos living in the interior tundra of Canada west of Hudson Bay mixed with other Eskimos; the Eskimos of Baffin Island in the central and southern parts of the island of the same name; The Eskimos of Quebec and the Eskimos of Labrador, respectively, in the north - northeast and west - southwest, up to the island of Newfoundland and the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the coast of the Labrador Peninsula, in the 19th century participated in the formation of the mestizo group of "settlers" (descendants from marriages between Eskimos women and white hunters and settlers); Eskimos of western Greenland - the largest group of Eskimos, from the beginning of the 18th century they were subjected to European (Danish) colonization and Christianization; the Arctic Eskimos are the northernmost indigenous group on Earth in the far north-west of Greenland; The Eskimos of eastern Greenland, later than others (at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries), encountered European influence.
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Eskimos, which translated into Russian means “those who eat raw meat,” prefer to call themselves Inuit, since this is how the phrase “real people” sounds in their dialect.
Having chosen as their habitat the most extreme point of the Chukotka Peninsula, the island of Greenland and the coldest regions of the USA and Canada, this small indigenous people of the north has a number of original traditions that surprise and sometimes shock representatives of the civilized world.
Greeting - slap on the head
Before starting to communicate with a stranger, Eskimos, according to local etiquette, greet the newcomer. To do this, all the men of the community line up and, in turn, approach the guest, slap him on the head, expecting the same answer from him.
The spanking of each other continues until someone from the “delegation” falls to the ground. The Eskimos, considered a very peace-loving and friendly people, with this sacred ritual do not want to offend the guest at all, but on the contrary, they try to expel from his soul evil spirits that can cause harm both to the person himself and to the home where a warm northern welcome awaits him.
Kiss with noses
The Inuit greet people they know much more tenderly, for which they traditionally rub the tips of their noses together, while inhaling the familiar smell of the interlocutor. The “Eskimo kiss”, known throughout the world, is called “kunik” in the local language and is carried out between close people, regardless of gender.
Trying to find an explanation for this strange custom, ordinary people from the mainland assumed that smacking your lips in the bitter cold could cause them to freeze. However, the solution turned out to be simpler, but also related to extreme weather conditions: due to constant gusts of wind and low temperatures, the outer clothing of the Eskimos is cut in such a way that it covers all parts of the body, except for a small area of the face limited by the nose and eyes.
Ear competitions
Another important sensory organ of the “children of the frost” is the ears, which participate in the thread-pulling competitions held as part of the annual World Eskimo-Indian Olympic Games.
The essence of this bloody competition is as follows: a loop made of a special waxed thread is put on the ears of two combatants sitting opposite each other, and at the referee’s signal, the athletes begin to forcefully tilt their heads and torsos back.
Since such a load causes hellish torment to the ear, the struggle, which involves both men and women, usually lasts only a few seconds. The loser in the fight is the athlete whose ear the noose falls off, or the one who gives up because he can’t stand the pain. But there were cases when capitulation occurred not because of torment, but simply because of a torn ear.
Several times the organizers of the games tried to ban this shocking competition, but the Eskimos were adamant because they consider it a test of pain tolerance in the harsh polar conditions of life.
For the same reason, the Eskimo sport of lifting weights with the ears is popular. According to the rules, the winner of this competition is the one who overcomes the 600-meter distance the fastest with a 5-kilogram weight earring attached to each ear.
Home clothes
The extreme climate forces the Eskimos to spend the whole day in warm, but very heavy clothes, which they take off only in the evening, going to spend the night in a snowy dwelling - an igloo. Moreover, both men and women take off almost all their clothes, remaining in tiny leather-fur “naatsit” panties, which are the prototype of modern thongs.
When it comes time to sleep, members of the Eskimo family cover themselves with animal skins and get rid of even this simple linen, since by pressing their naked bodies against each other they improve the circulation of heat.
Wives for rent
In Eskimo society, a woman is the keeper of the home, without whose help it is very difficult for men to cope with household chores and the hardships of the road. But sometimes it happens that the “legal” wife, due to illness or caring for an infant, cannot move with her husband across the vast expanses, and then his sworn brother or best friend comes to the man’s rescue, who simply lends him his healthy wife.
The rented wife stays next to the new husband until he returns to the campsite, while on the way she not only looks after him, but also shares the marital bed with him.
Eskimos take adultery lightly; in their society, the concepts of jealousy and an illegitimate child are absent, since it does not matter who the father of the child is, the main thing is that offspring are reproduced.
Eskimo cuisine
The basis of the Eskimo diet is meat obtained during sea fishing and hunting, as well as bird eggs. Carcasses of whales and walruses, seals and deer, musk oxen and polar bears are consumed both fresh and after processing, such as drying, drying, freezing, pickling and cooking.
An essential component of Eskimo cuisine is seal blood, which, according to local beliefs, nourishes human blood, making it stronger and healthier. In their opinion, rancid seal fat consumed with cloudberries, as well as raw whale fat, have a similar effect on the body.
The dish “kiviak”, a seal carcass stuffed with seagulls, is considered a special delicacy. Typically, the preparation of this delicacy requires about 400 birds, which are placed in the belly of the mammal without cleaning, that is, along with feathers and beaks. At the next stage, all the air is squeezed out of the seal, coated with a thick layer of fat, and the resulting semi-finished product is placed under stones for a period of 3 to 18 months.
During this time, a fermentation process will occur inside the carcass, during which the birds will acquire a unique taste.
Having adapted to the poor plant conditions of the environment, Eskimos replenish their reserves of vitamins A and D from fish and animal liver, and vitamin C is obtained from algae, seal brain, and whale skin.
Addiction to tobacco
In Eskimo society, tobacco is considered an integral attribute of existence, necessary not only for imaginary pleasure, but also for treatment.
Men, as usual, are poisoned by nicotine through smoking, and women and even children by chewing shag. Moreover, Eskimos use tobacco chewing gum to soothe a crying baby.
Stone graves
Since the Eskimos live in a permafrost zone, their cemeteries are stone mounds, under which lie the bodies of the deceased wrapped in skins. Next to each such mound are things that belonged to the deceased, which he may need in the afterlife.
05/07/2018 Sergey Soloviev 5979 views
Eskimo chum. Photo: Konstantin Lemeshev/TASS Russian Eskimos live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug of the Magadan Region. Less than two thousand Eskimos live in Russia.
The origin of the Eskimos is not known for certain. Some researchers consider them the heirs of an ancient culture that was widespread in the first millennium BC along the shores of the Bering Sea.
It is believed that the word “Eskimo” comes from “Eskiman”, that is, “raw food eater”, “chewing raw meat and fish.” Many hundreds of years ago, the Eskimos began to settle in vast territories - from Chukotka to Greenland. Currently, their numbers are small - approximately 170 thousand people worldwide. This people has its own language - Eskimo, it belongs to the Esk-Aleut family.
The historical connection of the Eskimos with other peoples of Chukotka and Alaska is obvious - it is especially noticeable with the Aleuts. Also, the neighborhood with another people of the North - the Chukchi - had a great influence on the formation of Eskimo culture.
Eskimos traditionally hunt fur-bearing animals, walruses and gray whales, donating meat and fur to the state. Photo: Konstantin Lemeshev/TASS
The Eskimos have long been involved in whaling. By the way, it was they who invented the rotating harpoon (ung`ak`), the bone tip of which is separated from the spear shaft. For a very long time, whales were the main source of food for these people. However, gradually the number of marine mammals decreased noticeably, so the Eskimos were forced to “switch” to hunting seals and walruses, although they, of course, did not forget about hunting whales. Eskimos ate meat both frozen and salted; it was also dried and boiled. The harpoon remained the main weapon of this people of the North for a long time. It was with him that Eskimo men went sea hunting: in kayaks or so-called canoes - light, fast and stable boats, the frame of which was covered with walrus skins. Some of these boats could carry twenty-five people or about four tons of cargo. Other kayaks, on the contrary, were built for one or two people. As a rule, the spoils were divided equally between the hunters and their numerous relatives.
On land, the Eskimos moved on dog sleds - the so-called arc-dust sledges, into which the dogs were harnessed in a “fan”. In the 19th century, the Eskimos slightly changed their movement technique - they also began to use short, dustless sleighs, in which the runners were made from walrus tusks. To make it more convenient to walk on snow, the Eskimos came up with special “racket” skis, which were a small frame with fixed ends and transverse struts intertwined with leather straps. From below they were lined with bone plates.
Native inhabitant of Chukotka. Photo: Konstantin Lemeshev/TASS
The Eskimos also hunted on land - they mainly shot reindeer and mountain sheep. The main weapon (before the advent of firearms) was a bow and arrows. For quite a long time, the Eskimos were not interested in the production of fur-bearing animals. Mostly he was beaten in order to sew clothes for himself. However, in the 19th century, the demand for fur increased, so the “raw meat chewers,” who by that time had acquired firearms, began to actively shoot these animals, and exchange their skins for various goods that were brought from the mainland. Over time, the Eskimos turned into unsurpassed hunters, and the fame of their accuracy spread far beyond the borders of the places where they lived. The Eskimos' techniques for hunting arctic foxes and foxes are very similar to those used by the Chukchi, who are also excellent hunters.
Back in the 18th century, the Eskimos “spied” on the Chukchi technology for constructing frame yarangs. Previously, they lived in half-dugouts with a floor sunk into the ground, which was lined with whale bones. The frame of these dwellings was covered with deer skins, then it was lined with turf and stones, and the skins were laid on top again. In the summer, the Eskimos built light, quadrangular buildings with pitched roofs on wooden frames, which were covered with walrus skins. At the very end of the 19th century, the Eskimos began to have light plank houses with gable roofs and windows.
It is believed that the Eskimos were the first to build snow huts - igloos, dome-shaped buildings with a diameter of two to four meters and a height of about two meters from compacted snow or ice blocks. Light entered these structures either directly through the snow blocks of the walls, or through small holes that were closed with dried seal intestines.
The Eskimos also adopted their clothing style from the Chukchi. Eventually, they stopped making clothes from bird feathers and began making better, warmer clothes from deer skins. Traditional Eskimo shoes are high boots with inserted soles and slanted shafts, as well as fur stockings and seal boots (kamgyk). Eskimo waterproof shoes were made from seal skins. Eskimos did not wear fur hats and mittens in everyday life; they were worn only during long journeys or migrations. Festive robes were decorated with embroidery or fur mosaics.
Eskimos perform for members of the Soviet-American Bering Bridge expedition on Little Diomede Island (USA). 1989 Photo: Valentin Kuzmin/TASS
Modern Eskimos still honor old traditions, deep down believing in spirits, the kinship of man with animals and the objects that surround him. And shamans help people communicate with this world. Once upon a time, each village had its own shaman, but now there are fewer people capable of penetrating the worlds of spirits. Living shamans are greatly respected: they are given gifts, they are asked for help and well-being, they are the main figures at almost all festive events.
One of the most revered animals among the Eskimos has always been the killer whale; it was considered the patroness of sea hunters. According to Eskimo beliefs, the killer whale could turn into a wolf, helping hunters in the tundra.
Another animal that the Eskimos treated and still treat with special respect is the walrus. Around mid-summer, a period of storms began, and hunting at sea temporarily ceased. At this time, the Eskimos held a holiday in honor of the walrus: the carcass of the animal was pulled out of the glacier, the shaman began to frantically beat the tambourine, calling all the inhabitants of the village. The culmination of the holiday is a joint feast, where the main dish was walrus meat. The shaman gave part of the carcass to the water spirits, inviting them to join the meal. The rest went to the people. The walrus skull was solemnly placed on the sacrificial place: it was assumed that this was a tribute to the main patron of the Eskimos - the killer whale.
Many fishing holidays have been preserved by the Eskimos to this day - in the fall, for example, they celebrate “seeing off the whale,” and in the spring, “meeting the whale.” Eskimo folklore is quite diverse: all oral creativity is divided into two types - unipak and unipamsyuk. The first is directly “message”, “news”, that is, a story about recent events, the second is heroic legends and stories about events of the distant past, fairy tales and myths.
Eskimos also love to sing, and their chants are also divided into two types - public songs-hymns and “songs for the soul”, which are performed individually, but certainly accompanied by a tambourine, which is considered a family heirloom and is passed on from generation to generation - until until it fails completely.
