Social system of the Yakuts. Early Forms of Religious Beliefs

Introduction

Chapter 1. Traditional culture of the peoples of Yakutia.

culture of the peoples of Yakutia in the XVII-XVIII centuries. and the spread of Christianity……………………………………………………2

Yakuts………………………………………………………………………………4

Chapter 2. Beliefs, culture, life.

2.1. Beliefs…………………………………………………………………………………12

2.2. Holidays………………………………………………………………………………17

2.3. Ornaments……………………………………………………………...18

2.4. Conclusion……………………………………………………………..19

2.5. Used literature……………………………………………………………...20

Traditional culture of the peoples of Yakutia inXVII- XVIIIbb

In the traditional culture of the peoples of Yakutia until the end of the 18th century. no significant changes occurred. Taking this into account, this section provides a general description of the culture of the indigenous peoples of the region in the 17th – 18th centuries.

The peoples of the entire Lena region are beginning to change their way of life and type of activity, there is a change in language and traditional culture. The main event in this change was the collection of yasak. Most of the indigenous population abandon their main occupations and switch to fur hunting. The Yukaghirs, Evens and Evenks switch to fur farming, abandoning reindeer husbandry. By the middle of the 17th century, the Yakuts began to pay Yasak, and by the 80s. In the same century, the Evens, Evenks and Yukaghirs began to pay yasak, the Chukchi began to pay taxes by the middle of the 18th century.

There is a change in everyday life, houses of the Russian type (izba) appear, the premises for livestock become a separate building, buildings of economic importance appear (barns, storage rooms, bathhouses), the clothing of the Yakuts changes, which is made from Russian or foreign cloth.

Spread of Christianity.

Before the adoption of Christianity, the Yakuts were pagans, they believed in spirits and the presence of different worlds.

With the advent of the Russians, the Yakuts began to gradually convert to Christianity. The first to convert to the Orthodox faith were women marrying Russians. Men who accepted new religion, they received a gift of a rich caftan and were freed from yasak for several years.

In Yakutia, with the adoption of Christianity, the customs and morals of the Yakuts change, such concepts as blood feud disappear, and family relations weaken. Yakuts are given first and last names, and literacy is spreading. Churches and monasteries became centers of education and book printing.

Only in the 19th century. Church books appear in the Yakut language and the first Yakut priests appear. The persecution of shamans and persecution of supporters of shamanism begins. Shamans who did not convert to Christianity were exiled away.

Yakuts.

The main occupation of the Yakuts was breeding horses and cattle; in the northern regions they practiced reindeer husbandry. Cattle breeders made seasonal migrations and stored hay for their livestock for the winter. Fishing and hunting remained of great importance. In general, a very unique specific economy was created - settled cattle breeding. Horse breeding occupied a large place in it. The developed cult of the horse and the Turkic terminology of horse breeding indicate that horses were introduced by the southern ancestors of the Sakhas. In addition, studies conducted by I.P. Guryev, showed the high genetic similarity of Yakut horses with steppe horses - with the Mongolian and Akhal-Teke breeds, with the Kazakh horse of the Jabe type, partly with the Kyrgyz and, what is especially interesting, with Japanese horses from the island of Cherzhu.

During the period of development of the Middle Lena basin by the South Siberian ancestors of the Yakuts, there was a particularly large economic importance there were horses that had the ability to “go dark”, rake snow with their hooves, break the crust of ice with them, and feed themselves. Cattle are not suitable for long-distance migrations and usually appear during the period of semi-sedentary (pastoral) farming. As you know, the Yakuts did not roam, but moved from the winter road to the summer road. The Yakut dwelling, turuorbakh die, a wooden stationary yurt, also corresponded to this.

According to written sources of the 17th-18th centuries. It is known that the Yakuts lived in yurts “covered with earth” in winter, and in birch bark yurts in summer.

An interesting description was compiled by the Japanese who visited Yakutia at the end of the 18th century: “A large hole was made in the middle of the ceiling, on which a thick ice board was placed, thanks to which it was very light inside the Yakut house.”

Yakut settlements usually consisted of several dwellings, located one from another at a considerable distance. Wooden yurts existed almost unchanged until the middle of the 20th century. “For me, the inside of the Yakut yurt,” wrote V.L. Seroshevsky in his book “Yakuts,” “especially at night, illuminated by the red flame of the fire, made a slightly fantastic impression... Its sides, made of round standing logs, seem striped from the shaded "

The doors of Yakut yurts were located on the eastern side, towards the rising sun. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. the fireplaces (kemuluek ohoh) were not broken with clay, but smeared with it, and were lubricated all the time. Khotons were separated only by a low pole partition. Dwellings were built from small trees, because they considered it a sin to cut down a thick tree. The yurt had an odd number of windows. The sunbeds running along the southern and western walls of the dwelling were wide and lay across. They had different heights. The lowest oron was placed on the right side, next to the entrance (uηa oron), and the higher one was the host’s, “so that the happiness of the owner would not be lower than the happiness of the guest.” The orons on the western side were separated from each other by solid partitions, and in front they were climbed upright with racks, leaving only an opening for a small door, and were locked from the inside at night. The partitions between the orons on the southern side were not continuous. During the day they sat on them and called them oron oloh “sitting”. In this regard, the first eastern bunk on the southern side of the yurt was called in the old days keηul oloh “free sitting”, the second - orto oloh, “middle seat”, the third bunk at the same southern wall - tuspetiyer oloh or uluutuyar oloh, “steady seat”; first oron on west side yurts were called kegul oloh, “sacred seat”, the second oron was called darkhan oloh, “seat of honor”, ​​the third on the north side near the western wall was kencheeri oloh “children’s seat”. And the bunks on the northern side of the yurt were called kuerel oloh, beds for servants or “pupils”.

For winter housing, they chose a lower, inconspicuous place, somewhere at the bottom of the alas (elani) or near the edge of the forest, where it was better protected from cold winds. The northern and western winds were considered to be such, so the yurt was placed in the northern or western part of the clearing.

In general, it should be noted that when choosing a place to live, they tried to find a secluded happy corner. They did not settle among the old mighty trees, for the latter had already taken the happiness and strength of the earth. As in Chinese geomancy, the choice of place to live was given exceptional importance. Therefore, pastoralists in these cases often turned to the help of a shaman. They also turned to fortune telling, for example, fortune telling with a kumiss spoon.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries. large patriarchal families (kergen as a Roman "surname") were housed in several houses: urun die, " White House" occupied by the owners, in the next - lived married sons and in the Khara Die “black, thin house” servants and slaves were housed.

In the summer, such a large rich family lived in a stationary (not collapsible) birch bark urasa of a cone shape. It was very expensive and had significant dimensions. Back in the 18th century. Most of the summer homes of wealthy families consisted of such birch bark yurts. They were called "Us kurduulaakh mogol urasa" (with three belts, large Mongolian urasa).

Uras with smaller diameters were also common. Thus, a medium-sized urasa was called dalla urasa, low and wide in shape; Khanas urasa, high urasa, but small in diameter. Among them, the largest was 10 m in height and 8 m in diameter.

In the 17th century The Yakuts were a post-tribal people, i.e. a nationality defined in the conditions of an early class society on the basis of the existing remnants of the tribal organization and without a formed state. In socio-economic terms, it developed on the basis of patriarchal-feudal relations. Yakut society consisted, on the one hand, of a small nobility and economically independent ordinary members of the community, and on the other, of patriarchal slaves and bonded people.

In the XVII - XVIII centuries. There were two forms of family - a small monogamous family, consisting of parents and mostly minor children, and a large patriarchal family, an association of consanguineous families headed by a patriarch-father. At the same time, the first type of family prevailed. S.A. Tokarev found the presence of a large family exclusively in Toyon farms. It consisted, in addition to the toyon himself, of his brothers, sons, nephews, fosterlings, serfs (slaves) with their wives and children. Such a family was called aga-kergen, and the word aga literally translated is “senior in age.” In this regard, aga-uusa, a patriarchal clan, could originally designate a large patriarchal family.

Patriarchal relations predetermined marriage with the payment of dowry (sulu) as the main condition for marriage. But marriage with bride exchange was rarely practiced. There was a custom of levirate, according to which, after the death of the elder brother, his wife and children passed into the family of the younger brother.

At the time under study, Sakha Dyono had a neighboring form of community, which usually arises in the era of the decomposition of the primitive system. It was a union of families based on the principle of territorial-neighborhood ties, partly with joint ownership of the means of production (pastures, hayfields, and fishing grounds). S.V. Bakhrushin and S.A. Tokarev noted that hay cuttings among the Yakuts in the 17th century. were rented, inherited, sold. It was a private property and part of the fishing grounds. Several rural communities made up the so-called. "volost", which had a relatively constant number of farms. In 1640, judging by Russian documents, 35 Yakut volosts were established. S.A. Tokarev defined these volosts as tribal groups, and A. A. Borisov proposed to consider the early Yakut ulus as a territorial association consisting of clans or as an ethno-geographical province. The largest of them were Bologurskaya, Meginskaya, Namskaya, Borogonskaya, Betyunskaya, which numbered from 500 to 900 adult men. The total population in each of them ranged from 2 to 5 thousand people. But among them there were also those where total the population did not exceed 100 people.

The underdevelopment and incompleteness of the Yakut community were dictated by the specifics of the farm type of farms settled over a vast territory. The absence of community government bodies was compensated by the presence of postnatal institutions. These were the patriarchal clan -aga-uusa "father's clan". Within its framework, the unification of families took place along the line of the patriarch father, the founder of the clan. Within the 17th century. There was a small form of Aga-Uus, consisting of fraternal families up to the 9th generation. In subsequent times, a large segmented form of patriarchal gens prevailed.

The Aga-Uusa consisted not only of individual monogamous (small) families, but also of families based on polygamy (polygamy). A wealthy cattle breeder maintained his large farm on two to four separate alas-elans. Thus, the farm was scattered over several alas, where the cattle were kept by individual wives and servants. And because of this, descendants from one father, but from different wives (sub-households), subsequently branched out, forming a category of related families called ie-uusa “mother’s clan”. Before the segmentation of a single paternal household, this is a polygamous family with a filiation (daughter) structure. Subsequently, the sons started their own families and formed separate lines of maternal filiation from one father-ancestor. Therefore, many Aga-Uusa in the 18th centuries. consisted of a combination of individual ie-uusa. Thus, Ie-uusa was not a relic of matriarchy, but was a product of a developed patriarchal society with elements of feudalism.

Structurally, the Yakut rural community consisted of incomplete poor and rich Bai and Toyon aristocratic families.

The prosperous layer of Yakut society in Russian documents of the 17th century. was designated by the term "best people". The bulk of the direct producers constituted the category of “ulus peasants.” The most exploited stratum of community members were people living “next to”, “near” the Toyon and Bai farms. In a position of varying degrees of patriarchal dependence on the Toyons were the “zarebetniki” and “nursemen”.

Slaves were mainly supplied by the Yakut environment itself. But a small part of them were Tungus and Lamut. The ranks of slaves were replenished by military conquest, the enslavement of dependent community members, self-enslavement due to poverty, and the surrender of slaves in the form of capitulation to a place of blood feud. They formed part of the direct producers on the farms of wealthy families and toyons. For example, according to V.N. Ivanov, who specifically dealt with this problem, the Nama prince Bukey Nikin in 1697 mentioned 28 slaves for whom he paid yasak. Toyon of the Boturussky volost Molton Ocheev left behind 21 serfs, which were divided among his heirs.

In the 17th century the process of class formation accelerated due to the introduction of the yasak regime, but was never completed by the end of the time under study. One of the reasons for a certain stagnation of the social organization of Yakut society was its economic basis - unproductive natural resources. Agriculture, which could not ensure rapid population growth. And the development of socio-economic relations largely depended on the level of population density.

In the 17th century Each ulus (“volost”) had its own recognized leaders. These were among the Borogonians - Loguy Toyon (in Russian documents - Loguy Amykaev), among the Malzhegarians - Sokhkhor Duurai (Durei Ichikaev), among the Boturusians - Kurekay, among the Meginians - Borukhay (Toyon Burukhay), etc.

In general, in the 17th century. (especially in the first half) the Yakut population consisted of an association of neighboring communities. In their social essence, they apparently represented a transitional form of rural community from primitive to class, but with an amorphous administrative structure. With all this, in social relations there were elements, on the one hand, of the era of military democracy (Kyrgys uyete - centuries of wars or Tygyn uyete - the era of Tygyn), on the other - feudalism. The administrative term “ulus” was apparently introduced into Yakut reality by the Russian authorities. It is first found in the yasak book of I. Galkin from 1631/32, then after the 1630s. the term fell out of use, replaced by the word “volost”. It resurfaced in the 1720s. Thus, in the 17th century. large uluses apparently consisted of conditionally united rural communities, which included patriarchal clans (patronymy - clans).

The question of the Yakut system of kinship and properties has not been clearly and independently subjected to detailed research in comparison with the terminology of kinship. In general, it is generally accepted that kinship terminology belongs to the most archaic layers of vocabulary of any language. Therefore, among many peoples there is a discrepancy between the system of kinship relations preserved from ancient times, the terminology of kinship and the existing form of the family. This phenomenon is also typical for Turkic peoples, especially the Yakuts. This can be seen from the following terms of Yakut kinship by blood and marriage.

Beliefs.

In accordance with the ideas of the Sakha of that time, the Universe consists of three worlds: Upper, Middle, Lower. The upper world is divided into several (up to nine) tiers. The sky is round, convex, its edges along the circumference touch and rub with the edges of the earth, which are curved upward, like Tunguska skis; When they rub, they make noise and grinding noises.

The upper world is inhabited by good spirits - aiyy, who patronize people on earth. Their patriarchal way of life reflects the earthly way of life. Aiys live in heaven on different tiers. The topmost one is occupied by Yuryung Aiyy Toyon (White Creator), the creator of the universe. This supreme deity was apparently a personification of the sun. Other spirits live on the next tiers of the sky: Dyylga Khaan - the identity of fate, who was sometimes called Chyngys Khaan - the name of the half-forgotten deity of time, fate, winter cold; Sjunke haan Xuge is the deity of thunder. According to Yakut beliefs, he cleanses the sky of evil spirits. Ayyhyt, the goddess of childbirth and the patroness of women in childbirth, Ieyehsit, the patroness of people and animals, and other deities also live here.

Cattle breeding, the main type of economic activity of the Sakhas, also influenced the images of the good Ayys who patronize horse breeding and cattle breeding. The givers and patrons of horses Kieng Kieli-Baaly Toyon and Dyehegey live in the fourth heaven. Diehegey appears in the form of a loudly neighing light stallion. The giver and patroness of cattle, Ynakhsyt-Khotun, lives under the eastern sky on earth.

Inter-tribal wars are reflected in the images of the warlike demigods-half-demons Uluu Toyon and the gods of war, murder and bloodshed - Ilbis kyyha and Ohol uola. Uluu Toyon is depicted in the epic as the supreme judge and creator of fire, the souls of people and shamans.

The middle world of Yakut mythology is a land that seems flat and round, but crossed by high mountains and cut by high-water rivers. A poetic evocation of the everlasting vegetation on earth is the huge sacred tree Aal Luuk Mas. In one olonkho such a tree is located on the land of every hero-ancestor. The middle world is inhabited by people: Sakha, Tungus and other peoples.

Beneath the Middle World is the Nether World. It is a dark country with a damaged sun and moon, gloomy skies, swampy terrain, thorny trees and grass. The lower world is inhabited by one-eyed and one-armed evil creatures abaasy. When the Abaas sneak into the Middle World, they do a lot of harm to people, and the fight against them is the main plot of Olonkho.

Many mythological animals were highly revered; in some Olonkho you can hear about a fantastic two- or three-headed bird, yoksyokyus, with iron feathers and fiery breath; Bogatyrs often turn into such birds and overcome enormous distances in this form. Of the real animals, the eagle and the bear were especially revered. Once upon a time, people worshiped a god named Kiis

Tangara (Sable God), who, unfortunately, is now forgotten. One researcher notes the totemistic ideas of the Sakha at the beginning of the 18th century: “Each clan has and keeps as sacred a special creature, such as a swan, goose, raven, etc., and that animal that the clan considers sacred, it does not eat, but others they can eat it."

The content of olonkho, as well as the content of ritual songs that accompanied every significant event in economic, social and family life Yakuts, is associated with mythological ideas, which reflected both the peculiar features of everyday life and social order Yakuts, as well as some features common to the mythology of the Turkic and Mongolian peoples who stood at a similar stage of social development. Some legends and stories reflect real historical events, indicating the place and time of actions of real people. There were legends and traditions about the first ancestors Elley and Omogoy, who arrived from the south to the middle Lena; stories about the tribes of the North, about the relationship between the Yakuts and the Tungus before and after the arrival

Russian move.

In other cases, contemporaries and participants in the events talked about inter-tribal wars, about the warlike Kangalas ancestor Tygyn and the brave Borogon strongman Bert Khara, about the Baturus ancestor Omoloon, the Borogon Legey, the Tattin Keerekeen, the Bayagantays, the Meginians, etc. People of that time should have been interested in legends and stories about distant outskirts, about the abundance of animals and game there, about the wide expanses suitable for horse breeding and cattle breeding in those parts. The descendants of the first inhabitants of the outskirts composed legends about their ancestors who migrated from central Yakutia.

Around the same time, a legend arose about the arrival of Russian Cossacks and the founding of the city of Yakutsk. They say that one day two fair-haired and blue-eyed people arrived in the lands of Tygyn. Tygyn made them workers. After a few years they disappeared. People saw them sailing on a boat up the Lena. Three years later, many people similar to those who ran away from Tygyn arrived on large rafts. The arrivals asked Tygyn for land the size of one oxhide. Having received permission, they cut the skin into thin threads and traced a large area, stretching the thread over pegs. An entire fortress was soon built on this site. Tygyn realized that he had made a mistake; he wanted to destroy the fortress together with his son Challaai, but he could not do it. This is how Yakutsk was founded. The Yakuts tried to attack the fortress, but to no avail. After this they submitted to the Russian Tsar.

Olonkho verse is alliterative. The size of the verse is free, the number of syllables in a line ranges from 6-7 to 18. The style and figurative system are close to the epic of the Altaians, Khakassians, Tuvinians, and Buryat Uligers. Olonkho is widely used among the Yakut people; the names and images of their favorite heroes have become household names.

For science, the Yakut olonkho was discovered by academician A.F. Middendorf during his trip to Siberia in 1844. Awakened in the middle of the night by loud singing from a nearby Yakut hut, he immediately noted that this singing was very different from what he had heard before, for example, from shamanic rituals. At the same time, the first recording of the Yakut olonkho (“Eriedel Bergen”) was made. It was Middendorf who conveyed the results of his observations to the Sanskritologist O.N. Bertling, who needed a little-studied non-Indo-European language to test his linguistic concept. This is how another record of the Yakut olonkho (Er Sogotokh) appeared, recorded from Bertling’s informant V.Ya. Uvarovsky.

In the second half XIX century Professional folklorists, political exiles I.A. began recording the olonkho. Khudyakov and E.K. Pekarsky, the latter began to involve the Yakut intelligentsia in the work.

This is how the monumental “Samples of Yakut Folk Literature” appeared in three volumes (1907-1918), where, among other things, 10 olonkhos were published in full. After the revolution, recording olonkho was carried out almost exclusively by Yakut scientists, first by figures of the Sakha Keskile (Yakut Revival) society, and since 1935 by employees of the Institute of Language and Culture at the Council of People's Commissars of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The peak of interest in Olonkho occurred in the early 1940s, when the idea appeared that it was possible to create a consolidated text

Yakut epic.

As a result, more than 200 independent plots were recorded. In the same era, the Yakut Lenrot appeared - Platon Alekseevich Oyunsky (1893–1939), who created a consolidated version of the olonkho about Nyurgun Bootur - “Nyurgun Bootur the Swift”.

Very big place in Everyday life Sakha was occupied by the cult of fire - Wat ichchite (spirit of sacred fire). In the minds of the people, he had a heavenly origin and was considered the son of Yuryung Ayyy toyon, the sun deity. The hearth where fire once descended from heaven is the sanctuary. People's prayers and sacrifices to deities were carried out through fire.

The universe “with eight fiery rays of light” was associated with the image of a beautiful powerful stallion, “aygyr silik”. The cultivated image of the horse is clearly manifested in its connection not only with the sky (sky-horse), but also with the sun: the first horse was lowered to earth by Yuryung Ayyy toyon himself.

In the religious views of the Yakuts, one of the main places was occupied by ideas about the soul. It consisted of three elements - salgyn kut (air-soul), ie-kut (mother-soul), buor kut (earth-soul). Sur, the spirit of man, his mental structure in these ideas, occupied a significant place. At the birth of a child, these souls and sur were united by the goddess Ayysyt. According to the same ideas, ie-kut lives near the heart (has White color), buor kut is located in human ears (has a brown color). And salgyn kut is colorless.

Holidays.

The main holiday is the spring-summer koumiss festival (Ysyakh), accompanied by libations of koumiss from large wooden cups (choroon), games, sports competitions, etc. Shamanism was developed. Shamanic drums (dyunpor) are close to Evenki ones. Traditional musical instruments – harp (khomus), violin (kyryimpa), percussion. The most common dances are the round dance - osuokhai, play dances and etc.

Folklore. In folklore, the heroic epic (olonkho) was developed, performed in recitative by special storytellers (olonkhosut) in front of a large crowd of people; historical legends, fairy tales, especially tales about animals, proverbs, songs. Olonkho consists of many tales that are close in plot and style; their volume varies - 10-15, and sometimes more than thousands of poetic lines, interspersed with rhythmic prose and prose inserts.

Olonkho legends, which arose in ancient times, reflect the features of the patriarchal clan system, inter-tribal and inter-tribal relations of the Yakuts. Each legend is usually called by the name of the main hero-hero: “Nyurgun Bootur”, “Kulun Kullustuur”, etc.

The plots are based on the struggle of heroes from the Ayyy Aimaga tribe with the evil one-armed or one-legged monsters Abaasy or Adyarai, the defense of justice and peaceful life. Olonkho is characterized by fantasy and hyperbole in the depiction of heroes, combined with realistic descriptions of everyday life, and numerous myths of ancient origin.

Ornaments.

Yakut folk art is a significant phenomenon in the culture of the peoples of Siberia. Its originality in various forms of existence is generally recognized. Ornament is the basis of decorative and applied art of any people, therefore Yakut folk art appears to us primarily as ornamental. The Yakut ornament, associated with the way of life and the traditional way of life of the people, is an integral part of its material and spiritual culture. It plays a significant role in both everyday and ritual settings. The study of the process of formation and development of the Yakut ornament, the problems of its classification is facilitated by the analysis of the works of Yakut folk craftsmen XIX century.

P The problem of classification of ornament is as ambiguous and debatable as the question of determining the boundaries and specifics of ornamental art. Historians and ethnographers have dealt with this quite a lot, identifying the main groups in the ornamental creativity of the peoples of our country.

Conclusion

There are many peoples living in Yakutia and they all have a similar culture, way of life, beliefs and way of life, which has changed over time and begins to change with Yakutia joining the Russian state. The Russians are introducing legal norms, universal rules, yasak payment, and a new religion. The spread of Christianity leads to changes in the customs and way of life of the aborigines of Yakutia, the disappearance of the concepts of kinship and blood feud.

The Chukchi's main occupation remains reindeer herding and sea fishing. There are no fundamental changes in culture and way of life, but additional activities appear that gradually become dominant - fur farming.

Among the Evens, reindeer herding, fishing and hunting continue to be the main activity, which becomes the second most important. The Evens change their clothes, introducing Russian style.

Yukaghirs. The main occupation remains reindeer herding and dog breeding. Semi-nomadic lifestyle. The Yukaghirs have two types of housing:

Traditional housing………………………………………………………………………………………….……64 Religious beliefs... in the 19th century from Yakutia northern Yakuts-reindeer herders. Final design... could be various... culture no one has people ...

By the time the Russians appeared, the Yakuts retained remnants of tribal relations (for example, communal land use), with sharp social and property differentiation. The tribal nobility, the so-called toyons, as well as wealthy cattle owners, kept poor relatives (ku-malans), as well as patriarchal slaves (bokams, kuluts), in dependence.

Another evidence of tribal relations is the custom of supplying all neighbors with parts of the meat of freshly slaughtered cattle, sharing the fish catch with them, sharing delicacies with everyone present, and allowing beggars unable to work to the table on an equal basis with family members. According to the concepts, every visitor has the right to enter any house at any time of the day or night and sit there to drink tea, cook food or spend the night. With the development of commodity relations (mid-nineteenth century), the toyons turned into a kind of feudal aristocracy, from whose midst the first cadres of the national intelligentsia mainly emerged.

Robbery and theft within the clan did not exist due to the community of property. Murder was an exceptional phenomenon; for murder outside the clan, the perpetrators suffered clan revenge or paid vira. Family feud, which previously aroused family wars, later expressed itself in intrigues, denunciations, gossip, and trials. Until recently, many, even criminal cases, were decided by clan boards that did not have the legal right to do so.

When the Russians met the Yakuts, the Yakut clan system had reached a significant degree of development. Its weakening began, apparently, with the introduction of cattle, which, unlike herds of horses, could be kept independently and in small numbers. Nowadays, along with the surviving term “dzhon” (clan), the Yakuts are also divided into uluses and naslegs. This division is officially accepted and is artificial, alluvial; even the words ulus and nasleg are not of Yakut origin.

There is no doubt, however, that many uluses and naslegs are based on former clan alliances. Land management of the Yakuts was carried out in the sixties of the 18th century by a special commission, and it was based on the Russian community. In the 19th century uluses, naslegs, clans - actual land communities; each lower degree is an indecomposable element of the highest. Characteristic feature the Yakut community are redistributions and partial leveling of lands; Even the territories of the uluses are subject to these redistributions. Mainly hay lands are divided. The right of the land owner to further ownership of the plot he has developed is established depending on whether he has managed to cover the labor and expenses spent on it.

Yakut family

The Yakut clan is apparently based on the concept of consanguinity. It is called agausa - from clan: aga - father, usa - clan. When I asked what usa actually means, the Yakuts found it difficult to answer, and only once did I receive the following definition: “If you take all the branches, all the twigs, leaves and buds growing from one root, you get usa” (Namsk st. , 1891). Instead of mustache, the Yakuts often use t ordo, which means origin, root. “Our man, a man of our blood,” they also often express themselves about their relatives. That this opinion in many cases implies real kinship, we are convinced not only by various oral, more or less reliable traditions and genealogies, but also by the sometimes striking family resemblance. In the Kolyma ulus, when I still knew very little about childbirth, at one wedding I was struck by the similarity in appearance of some groups when they sat in known order. Subsequently I found out that they were relatives. In the south, in the Yakutsk and Olekminsky districts, it is not so easy to notice something similar. Here the crossing occurs incomparably more energetically, the genera are much more ancient, the choice of women is more diverse, nevertheless, if you look closely, then in most genera you can find some characteristics: a humped nose, a low forehead, excessively lagging ears and other differences - clearly proving their common origin. This similarity, of course, is most striking in clans that have recently separated from a common root, or where there has been an admixture of blood so alien to the Yakut type that it, like bright paint splashed into the fabric, is noticeable in the smallest and most distant branches of the clan. An example is the so-called “Russian clans” of Nuccia-aga-usa. There are plenty of them in almost every ulus. All the more strange are the contradictory, often confusing answers of the Yakuts about the origin of the family. “Aga usa are not relatives,” Namsk Yakut Konstantin Zharkov explained to me. “You have merchants, Cossacks, townspeople, and we have clans. It’s like a rank, chinnakh buolbut (Namsk. St., 1891). “Although and of the same origin, but not relatives by blood and body" (kan-et uruta suoh), - I received most often in response (Bayag. St., Namsk. St., West. Kangal. St.). I tried to reconcile these contradictions my neighbor, an eighty-year-old old man named Semyon, nicknamed Gyn-nattah (Winged), as follows: “I, a Russian, will tell you how the birth took place. Let us suppose that some ancient Yakut had two or three sons. They grew up, got married, separated. Before there was a lot of land, the Yakuts also kept a lot of livestock and therefore lived alone to have more space. Having dispersed, they multiplied. Meanwhile, the old man was dying, his siblings were dying, the kinship of blood and body was disappearing.

Toyon family. Yakutia

The ancient Yakuts only considered kinship up to the ninth generation, and then came the Sygan, about whom the proverb says: “If I fell into the water, I wouldn’t worry - that’s what we are, relatives!” Sygan of the ninth generation are already considered people of a different kind and can marry among themselves. Each clan took the name of one of the old man’s sons, and all together were called by the name of himself: here are the clans, here we go!.. We have Kusagan-yel (Evil Neighbors) from the evil old woman, Nam from the old man Nam, there is Byyuget, There are many others... And all from people - from the Yakuts! Where do the uluses come from - I don’t know, I haven’t heard of it! Maybe the “revision” arranged for them, ongostobut, or maybe they got their name from the people, from the heroes, like we, the Yakuts, are all considered to be of heroic origin, we are all considered to be the children of heroes” (Namsk. St., 1891. This is how the intelligent Yakuts explain the origin of their communal system, and according to this type, it is possible that it was built in the near future. But I have already pointed out the vagueness of some people’s consciousness of the very essence of the clan; now I will point out other contradictions known to me. There are many clans , according to legend, originating from women, although now childbirth is considered in the male line. Then: if the principle of blood division were strictly applied, then the childbirth would be approximately the same size and there would be countless numbers of them. Meanwhile, there are far from so many genera, and they They vary so much in size that it involuntarily calls one to think. There are clans, such as the Omeko-Borogonsky (1414 souls) of the Bayagantai ulus, the 2nd Neryukteysky of the Suntarsky ulus (901 souls), two Yusalsky of the Verkhoyansk ulus (1st - 905 and 2nd - 703 souls) and many others, reaching several hundred, even thousands of souls, and there are no less than that, consisting of only a few dozen souls. It turns out that the recognized limits of consanguinity, sygan, are an extremely unclear and flexible concept. According to one indication, sygan is the name of the children cousins, according to others - the sons of two sisters; others, finally, argued that these were generally “distant relatives.” “Sy (g”) - they repeated, obviously surprised at my lack of understanding, “we say sy (g), it’s the same: you can get married” (Namsk. St., 1891). “Sy (g), and from this sygan - sons two sisters who married into someone else's clan" (Zap. Kangal St., 1892). No one could list all the degrees of kinship included in the concept of sy (g), and indicate exactly in which generation they begin. All those asked according to , but they unfoundedly asserted: “sygan is the ninth degree, this is the degree (uru) that it is not a sin not to pull out of the water!” (Namsk. St., 1892). In the female line, sygan is not difficult to find; it begins already in third generation and is defined in more detail by various prefixes. In the male line... to the dozens of answers I wrote down, I couldn’t even find two similar ones. There were those who directly denied the existence of sygans within their paternal clan on the grounds that “marriage within it is not allowed.” This is consistent, but not in accordance with reality.The Yakut clans were not necessarily split up at this supposed ninth facet; many of them include all possible degrees of kinship, as it is now understood, or even form groups that are not connected by anything except a very distant, obscure tradition.

Ysyakh 1900. Yakutia

If the syg is attributed to the female line, then strict blood restrictions for the Yakut clan as an exogamous one fall by themselves. In reality they don't exist. The ancestral connection exists everywhere as a vague consciousness and comes out only when the gens receives an economic impulse strong enough for division. Obeying him, and only him, the clan begins to disintegrate, and here only blood concepts make themselves felt to a certain extent. So: two siblings, and especially father and son, cannot fall into two different clans; cannot get into them during their lifetime: grandfather and grandson, uncle and nephew in the male line in the first degree. But grand-brothers may already belong to different clans, especially if the grandfather has died. The enormous importance of economic motives in the division of Yakut clans and the insignificant one - blood ones are especially convenient to observe in clans that are still intact, but where new clan centers have already emerged. Of those known to me, I will give as an example: Kaska and its division Shotyo, the clan of Betyunsky nasleg of Namsky street, the clan of Arching and its division of Khar, the same ulus, Khatyngarinsky nasleg, and finally, the clan of Kangalas of Kolymsky street, nicknamed Kylgas (short), where two centers clearly emerged: one on Yengzhe, the other on Andylakh, distinguishing themselves in relations, but not yet assigning any special names to themselves (Kolym Street, 1883). All of them are separated by more or less large distances, and their land and a significant part of the property: houses, hedges, hay supplies, small valuable household utensils - in the event of the death of the owners, have some value only for members of this group. It is impossible or not worth transporting them, and selling them, due to the lack of a market, is impossible. In the past, when the main wealth of the Yakuts consisted of herds of horses, the size and conditions of fragmentation of clan groups and their unions were completely different. In this distant time, one must think, the real lining of the clan was the joint consumption of products obtained from herds and hunting. There are many vestiges that point to this. “If a Yakut kills cattle, then he divides the entrails, fat, and blood-filled intestines into portions of different sizes and denominations and distributes them to neighbors, who, having learned about such an event, usually take turns visiting him. At the very least, he must feed the meat to the visitors” (Verkhoyan ul., 1881).

Holiday. Yakutia

This custom exists everywhere, and no one dares to break it without fear of unpleasant consequences. I remember how angry my neighbors were in Bes-an (Pine tract) above Aldan, how they complained for a long time about the rich man Semyon, calling him almost a thief because he secretly, at night, killed his own bull and ate it without sharing with them" (Baigan. st., 3rd Bayagan. nasleg, 1885). "It is enough, having killed cattle, to bypass one of the neighbors with a gift in order to acquire an enemy" (Namsk. st., 1888). Deliberate a detour is tantamount to a challenge; it usually begins the open cessation of friendly relations between families. Even people who are secretly at war, since they live close, exchange similar gifts, and they even send them to their more beloved and respected neighbors at home, several miles away (Namek, st., 1889). This custom extends to everyone living in the neighborhood. If we take into account that in the past only relatives or allies (the same relatives included by agreement) roamed together, then the tribal character of this archaic remnant will become clear. That it is ancient , legend and its extinction at the present time, almost disappearing in more cultural areas, convince us of this, that it is ancestral - certain rituals during weddings and world transactions convince us. “One of the essential parts of a Yakut wedding is the exchange of meat. The wedding feast usually lasts three days, wedding dishes are mainly meat. Even the poorest Yakut considers it necessary to kill cattle for this purpose. During the feast, the bride and groom exchange the finest pieces of meat from the portions allocated to them At the same time, solemn speeches are usually made, appropriate to the occasion, with a reminder that “we are now our own people” (Kolym. St., 1883). The Yakut wedding is of a tribal nature, the relatives of those entering into marriage mainly gather for it, and celebrate In the old days, her relatives helped the poor (Namsk St., 1890, Kolym St., 1883). “Like you share vodka, we share cattle meat and bones as a sign of friendship and kinship!..” - they explained Yakuts have the custom of exchanging meat (Namsk. St., 1891). In connection with this, there is a ritual of concluding peace - “payment for shame”, saat telyubra, as the Yakuts say. Now peace in most cases is carried out according to Russian custom: they pay a certain amount money and treat him to vodka. In the old days it was done differently. “Let him give 25 rubles of money and kill the cattle,” the rich Yakut Kusagannelsky demanded from the Russian who wanted to make peace with him. Why will I kill? I have enough meat!.. I’ll give him money, and let him come - I’ll treat him properly!” was the answer. “No! It is forbidden! You must, in our way, in the Yakut way, kill for him especially... It’s not proper for him to eat ordinary meat, Connor, putting up with it: he’s honorable!”

Hood. Sivtsev. Struggle. Yakut graphics

The intermediaries explained this requirement by the fact that “in peace, as well as when treating a famous shaman, whole, uncut shin bones are needed” (Namsk St., 1887). The same bones at rich weddings are inevitably placed during a feast in front of people of a foreign family and are used in exchange (Kolymskaya St., 1883). Every peace ceremony is partly of a tribal nature; the relatives of those making peace come together and enjoy the treats. Of course, if cattle were killed for this purpose, then the treat is more plentiful. This is the custom. Traces of shared food consumption are also noticeable in the recognition of the right of those present to a share in the fishery. In the Kolyma ulus, when ducks are divided, tens of thousands are caught by common efforts, every member of the clan receives a share on an equal basis with others, even every stranger present at the scene, even if a person wandered here by chance and did not take part in the fishing (Kolyma street, 1883 .). “God gives happiness (prey) to all people,” say the Yakuts as a lesson to those who do not want to share their catch (Namsk St., 1887). We observe the same thing in the south when dividing up crucian carp caught by seine (Bayagan St., Namsk St., Batumi St.). Every passer-by has the right to a share, not only in the artel fishery, but also in the individual fishery. If a Kolyma or Verkhoyansk Yakut pulls out a net with fish in the presence of a guest, he will definitely offer him part of the catch. On the Lena, fishermen who catch sterlet with nets consider it their duty to provide fish, or at least feed, to every visitor. (Namsk. st., 1890). This custom is at times so burdensome that because of it, fishermen often throw away abundant catches if the latter are in too lively a place, and go to hard-to-reach wilds (Namsk. St., 1890). Stingy people often try to circumvent this custom, but in vain. In the Kolyma ulus I witnessed the following incident. One rich but greedy Yakut somehow caught a lot of fish. It was an unimportant fish, a dace, like a roach; but the catch happened in the spring, at the height of the hunger strike, and the 7 horses of the cargo that it made up represented high value. Nevertheless most the residents of this tract dismantled it for free, without showing any special gratitude to the owner.

The miser, and especially his wife, grumbled and complained, but they did not dare refuse, much less even mention the payment (Kolym St., Andylakh, 1883). In the same area of ​​the Kolyma ulus, I observed another proof of the power of the described custom, namely: the joy of one loser, who until now had been receiving more and more and suddenly accidentally drove a fat wild deer into the lake and, in turn, could bestow gifts on his neighbors. Nothing could compare with the self-satisfaction of this man when he finally presented “his spoils” to others. He left almost nothing for himself (Kolym St., Andylakh, 1883).

Slaughter of livestock. Yakutia

Not only part of freshly killed cattle or hunting spoils is subject to division, but to some extent everything that is doomed to be consumed immediately and can be divided into small parts is subject to it. Especially the treats. If a Yakut receives a piece of sugar, gingerbread or other “rarity”, he will definitely break it into as many pieces as there are those present and distribute it to them. The size and quality of the pieces depend on the arbitrariness of the donor, but even the most unimportant of those present will consider himself offended since he was bypassed. Among the gifted, there will always be a compassionate one, who in turn will share with the offended. Vodka is shared positively among everyone, and even small children are given a few drops. Snuff and smoking tobacco represent objects of the same public consumption, and it is enough to take out the snuff box or light a pipe for the hands of those present to immediately reach out to them with the usual bieris (share). If a Yakut happens to eat separately from others, he will certainly give at least a piece to those around him who, in his opinion, are especially hungry. Giving little to a rich man and at the same time a lot to a poor man is considered a violation of Yakut etiquette (Bayag. st., 1886). In the north, everyone who is in this moment is located in a yurt (Kolym Street, 1883). This custom was so powerful and general that even ancient name one of the phases of the moon bears traces of it. Namely: “The third day of damage is called kyube or kubete - ascending, when Cruel person puts the pot, which means, as they explained to me: rising so late that the stingy, hard-hearted owner can not be afraid of the arrival of guests and cook dinner" (Namsk street, 1891). In the same Namsky ulus I was told that "in the old days the rich never sat down to dine alone..." (Namek. street, 1892). "The father of the current head (ulus) Everstov, Mikhailo Everstov, was a terribly good head for the poor. When he would come to spend the night with a rich man, there would certainly be something prepared: two buckets of vodka, he wouldn’t agree to anything less, two legs of mare’s meat, two legs of cow’s meat. Tomorrow he'll get up a little, already full house people, and when they heard it, not only the poor, but also the average people came. On the table in front of Everstov, as if in front of a matchmaker at a wedding: all four legs of boiled meat! He distributes everything: what is fattier - to the poor, what is worse - to the wealthy..." (Namsk. St., 1891). If a Yakut chops a new rack of meat, the neighbors will definitely come to him, and he must feed everyone present. If whoever the cow calved earlier than others, custom requires that he share cream and milk with those of his neighbors who do not have it at other times (Namsk. St., 1887).All this makes clear the interest with which the Yakuts calculate and they will find out which of the rich people is running out of meat, when a new carcass should be cut, and during the spring dairy-free periods - which cow has calved.

Art. Munkhalov. Celebration of summer. Yakutia

This also explains how the poor manage to survive the hungry months. With a certain equality of property, which can be observed in some tracts of the Kolyma ulus, all the above-described customs are not at all burdensome. They are willingly supported and implemented, especially by people of middle income. They didn’t want to believe me that in my homeland there were populous rich cities in which people were starving and, sometimes, dying of hunger. “Does everyone die like this?” they asked. They could not understand my explanations and began to laugh: “What fools!.. Who would die when you can go eat with your neighbors!..” (Kolym. St., Andylakh, 1882 Almost everywhere in the Yakut region, the custom has been preserved that housewives visit each other at the beginning of summer with a cup, into which the one whose cows have calved and are milking well pours a little cream. After visiting two or three neighbors, the cup is usually filled. This is called " "The wives of wealthy Yakuts have made a source of income for themselves in some areas from this custom: they visit their neighbors, but they themselves repay them very sparingly. However, in the same Kolyma ulus, I witnessed the usual trickery in the southern uluses in order to hide the time of chopping meat and get rid of from the obligatory treat. One evening, many guests gathered at the Yakut with whom I lived. As usual, they were given tea and fish, but they still did not leave. Finally, on the faces of the family, I noticed hidden annoyance and impatience. Dinner was given in due course, and I was about to go to bed, when suddenly the guests got up and left. The owner immediately kept me from lying down, and as soon as the last guest left, they brought in a leg of meat, began to chop it and cook it. “You see,” the slightly embarrassed owner explained to me, “I don’t have much meat, but there were a lot of people gathered, they would all eat it. Tomorrow is a holiday, it’s not good to go to sleep without meat. They found out that I still have a leg, so they came (Kolym. st., Engzha, 1883). Subsequently, I more than once observed various tricks for the sake of hiding interesting moment chopping meat: sometimes they chop it early in the morning, not in the evening, sometimes a few days ahead of schedule; If a guest appears, more than once the already thawed leg is taken to the barn. A Yakut who notices preparations for chopping meat or slaughtering cattle will never leave, will sit for half a day and even spend the night. Middendorf noted the same thing about the Tungus. In the south, it is already becoming a custom to sell food to passers-by, even to neighbors, but in the north, in many places, such trade is still considered shameful; Even an extremely poor person will consider an offer to accept money for an overnight stay or for food eaten as an insult. If a traveler has little food, he will be fed there, no matter how long he lives. He may even demand it.

Meginsky ulus. Yakutia

Yakuts never take provisions with them on the road if they travel through populated areas. Those driving through meadows past haystacks in winter have the right to feed the cattle, as long as they do not take the seed with them (Verkh, st., 1882). “Those who pass (there) eat, the tired bask, the hungry get fat, the stuck get fat...” - the hospitable house is described in the fairy tale. All these customs give the scattered and small Yakut communities some coherence and stability. A traveler, hunter, or merchant can set off on a long journey lightly, confident that they will not die of hunger once they reach residential areas. In case of misfortune, they boldly turned to their neighbors for everything they needed. The custom created something like mutual insurance against hunting and everyday failures. The crippled, the frail, the sick could count on a certain amount of care. From time immemorial, caring for them was considered the responsibility of the clan. Itymni, kumulan - this is how the Yakuts call those dependent on the clan - an ancient clan institution. Already Krivogornitsyn, in his inventory of arrears for 1671, mentions old women “wandering between yurts.” Itimni and kumulans are lonely children and old people unable to work, or ruined, completely poor families. The latter are given help at home, the former go and now, as in the old days, “between the yurts” and are allowed to eat the same as those at home. They are assigned to do some small household chores. Poor and average owners, according to my observations, treated them better than rich ones; they feed them poorly and treat them arrogantly. According to Yakut concepts, it is a sin to despise itimni. “Itymni should be helped and pitied; anyone can become one. The children of the rich become itymni more than once, and, on the contrary, many of the present rich people were itymni, and now they feed others” (Namsk. St., 1890). The Yakuts apparently make a distinction between itimni and a professional beggar who lives from alms - mandys. "Itimni is not like mandys. Mandys is rarely deprived of everything; he has something; often he not only has food, but also livestock, a house, and dishes. Mandys doesn’t have enough - so he asks. Sometimes he he asks out of greed. Itimni really needs it, and he has nowhere to get it from. Mandys can be given, or not given, and itimni must be helped, otherwise the person will die. The rich give it to Mandys, and society gives itimni" (Namsk. St., 1891). All this care for the poor, however, is quite scanty among the Yakuts. The clan primarily pursued other goals, namely the organization of equal and equal persons. There is no doubt that many of the views and customs I have cited were formed under the influence of the habit of consuming food together, as a whole horde, be it game prey or products from herds. There was a moment in the development of the Yakuts when this was beneficial for them, even inevitable, and these conditions arose again, in all likelihood for the second time, with their transition to the north, where they lost small livestock, if they had any (sheep), and where at first their number of cattle greatly decreased due to their inability to collect hay. Herds of horses required frequent and rapid movement for grazing. Kumis is no good as milk osprey; in winter it deteriorates from frost, in summer - from heat; besides, it is bulky. The Yakuts do not know how to cook meat for future use (dry or smoke it) and never have. It was extremely convenient for them to live in groups of such size that kumis obtained from herds and the meat of such large animals as horses could be consumed quickly. One must think that in ancient times such groups represented the primary and indecomposable element of the Yakut family. Hence the exchange of meat and the treatment of kumis as a sign of peace, friendship, and familiarity with the clan.

Girl by the fireplace. Yakutia

Such groups, which we hesitate to call families, lived in one large uras or in several nearby. Right private property to the house, apparently, was absent from the ancient Yakuts. And now they are not particularly strong, and now they are inclined to look at housing as some kind of public property. Anyone who enters it can sit and stand there as long as they like. A traveler has the right, according to Yakut concepts, to enter every house at any time of the day or night, sit there to drink tea, cook food or spend the night. The owner does not dare remove even a person he dislikes from his home without sufficiently valid reasons (Kolyma St., 1883). One of the most offensive expressions is: ker-bar-takhys “go away!”, sometimes pronounced in Russian “pshel” (Bayag. st., 1885). In the past, the Yakuts had almost no permanent dwellings. They were constantly nomadic; Only the sticks of the frame remained in place, and the Uras took the birch bark cover with them. Anyone who had previously migrated to this place could use sticks; the land was no man's (Georgi, 176 art.). Herds were considered the property of each individual nomadic group. Nominally the owner was recognized as the head of the group, falsely called by the Cossacks in old replies the “ancestor”. At the time when the Russians met the Yakuts, the Yakut clan system had already reached high degree development, and the founder, bis - usa toyono, was a special position, apparently exclusively military and judicial. Groups, both large and small, both complex and individual, were identical in their design, which we still see in Yakut clans. Elected representation was even more nominal than it is now. All issues, both economic and legal, were resolved peacefully, by the council of the elders: fathers, uncles, older brothers. And now, still an adult, separated, completely legally independent, the Yakut owner avoids producing major changes in his own household, costs and sales without “father’s, uncle’s or brother’s advice” (Bayag. ulus, 1885). Custom finds this behavior praiseworthy; Even such minor issues as the sale or slaughter of livestock, the hiring of meadows, the awarding of contracts, the purchase of hay, etc., the Yakuts like to discuss with their close friends, relatives and more respected neighbors (Nams. St., 1888). In the past, this collective power was stronger and the council of elders actually controlled all the community wealth. Young people were considered poor. “In the old days, young people did not have livestock, they lived by fishing, prey, only when they got old, they asked their fathers: “I have grown old, my hair has turned white, my strength has shortened, give me cattle!” (Namsk.ul., 1891). Allusion to We find a similar order of ownership in the well-known saga “Elley and Onokhoy.” “Elley gives everyone a separate house, gives a woman, cattle, dishes to whom he helps: with him everyone becomes an owner... But with Onokhoy, even if you live for a century, you are still a worker !.." - the defectors explain their betrayal of the former leader. The strong fragmentation of property and, as a consequence, the fragmentation of internal clan groups became possible only with the gradual introduction of cattle, which can be kept independently and in small quantities. A horse herd of two or three pieces unthinkable: such horses will definitely join the herds wandering in the neighborhood. No precautions and distance will prevent them. Then a herd of ten heads, which can be considered extremely small in size, cannot feed the extremely small Yakut group - a family of four. Meanwhile, the time required for constant migrations, protection and care of such a small herd is no less than if it were twice or three times as large. One can take it as a rule that the larger the herd, the more energy the community that owns it frees up for extraneous activities: hunting, fishing, crafts. The social habits of horses, which love to live in large communities, made the unions of their shepherds natural. Even separate schools of horses with stallions hostile to each other try to graze close, apart, but in sight of each other. The size of complex herds depends, one must think, only on the size and quality of pastures, and both of them in the Yakut region are extremely diverse.

It is truly Arctic - to live in the Far North in everyday and spiritual balance with the outside world. Therefore, the life of an Arctic man in a rapidly changing world remains just as original.

And the Arctic always reciprocates those who comply with the code of Arctic behavior in the Far North. Look at the life of northerners today without embellishment. And try to understand where the indigenous peoples of the North find happiness for themselves and their children. And a story from Yakutia will help you with this.

The Evenki clan community of the Shadrins grazes its small herd in the vastness of the Zhigansk forest-tundra. It is sometimes more difficult to roam in such conditions than in the “Arctic desert”. Here the deer run wild and get lost. Snowmobiles or hunting skis help.

In order to preserve the work of their ancestors, the family of Alexander Prokopievich migrated from the slopes of the Verkhoyansk ranges towards the forest, closer to civilization. Dramatic changes have affected the number of deer. Now the herd numbers only hundreds of animals.

Of course, there is plenty of extreme sports here. Especially in winter time: you get a portion of adrenaline, and sometimes fear, already during the journey: by plane, motor transport and snowmobile. You experience most of it after meeting with the reindeer herders.

First a horse riding lesson, then an introduction to the life of reindeer herders, which we continued in the tent. According to the owners, their traditional home, in fact, has not changed at all over time.

A homemade stove, bunks around the chum and a table in the center of the dwelling - in the chum there is only everything you need. The only reminder of civilization here is the mini-station that provides electricity. “Deer are the meaning of our lives. My husband and I have been early childhood We work in a herd. It wasn’t easy with money before, but we didn’t give up our business and won’t. But now, because of meager salaries, our children do not want to roam the tundra, and we understand them,” shared the reindeer herder of the Baakhynai tribal community of the Zhigansky Evenki national district, Zoya Appollonova.

Reindeer herders maintain contact with the outside world using a homemade walkie-talkie. This is how they learn about the weather and news about their relatives; the owners are especially interested in the grandchildren who live in the village.

North, Arctic. For most of us, these concepts are primarily associated with polar nights, endless tundra, deer and harsh nature. But the main wealth of these places is people. People are unique and real. People who have maintained a connection with nature and their native land. People who love life.