Traditional household items of the Chukchi people. Customs and holidays of the Chukchi

The manuscript by K. G. Merck, dedicated to the Chukchi, was acquired by the Imperial Public Library in 1887 and is still kept in its manuscript department. These notes about the campaign through the Chukotka Peninsula (from the Bay of St. Lawrence to the Nizhe-Kolyma fort) represent a description of the region and the ethnography of the peoples inhabiting it.

The manuscript of K. G. Merk, dedicated to the Chukchi, was acquired by the Imperial Public library and is still kept in her manuscript department. These notes about the campaign through the Chukotka Peninsula (from the Bay of St. Lawrence to the Nizhe-Kolyma fort) represent a description of the region and the ethnography of the peoples inhabiting it.

We bring to your attention only selected excerpts from the researcher’s manuscript.

The Chukchi are divided into reindeer and sedentary. Reindeer live all summer until autumn in several families together, near the sedentary camps, and drive their herds to pastures closer to the seashore, several days' journey from their temporary settlements. […] Those from reindeer Chukchi, who settle near sedentary ones, feed all summer only on the meat of sea animals, thereby preserving their herds. The Chukchi store for the winter meat and fat (blub) of sea animals, as well as their skins, whalebone and other things they need. […] Although the reindeer Chukchi give the sedentary people, for the supplies they receive from them, the meat of deer, which they slaughter especially for them, this, in fact, is not an exchange, but rather a kind of compensation at their discretion. […]

The sedentary Chukchi also differ in language from the reindeer Chukchi. The language of the latter is close to Koryak and only slightly differs from it. The settled Chukchi, although they understand the Koryak language, have their own, divided into four dialects and completely different from the Koryak. […]

As for God, they believe that a deity who used to be on earth lives in the sky; they make sacrifices to the latter so that it will keep earthly devils from harming people. But they, in addition, make sacrifices for the same purpose to the devils themselves. However, their religious concepts are very incoherent. You can be more misled by asking the Chukchi about this than by observing their life with your own eyes. However, it can be argued that they fear devils more than they trust any higher being. […]

As for sacrifices, the reindeer Chukchi sacrifice deer, and the sedentary Chukchi sacrifice dogs. When stabbing, they take a handful of blood from the wound and throw it towards the sun. I have often seen such sacrificial dogs on the seashore, lying with their heads towards the water, with the skin left only on the head and legs. This is the gift of the sedentary Chukchi to the sea for the sake of its pacification and a happy voyage. […]

Their shamans perform shamanism by nightfall, sitting in their reindeer yurts in the dark and without much clothing. These activities should be considered as a winter pastime during leisure hours, which, by the way, some women also indulge in. However, not everyone knows how to shamanize, but only some of the reindeer Chukchi and a few more of the settled ones. In this art, they are distinguished by the fact that during their actions they know how to answer or force others to answer in an altered or someone else's dull voice, by which they deceive those present, pretending that the devils answered their questions with their own lips. In case of illness or other circumstances, when they are contacted, shamans can direct the imaginary predictions of the spirits in such a way that the latter always demand a sacrifice of one of the best deer of the herd, which becomes their property with skin and meat. The head of such a deer is put on display. It happens that some of the shamans run around in a circle in a trance, hitting a tambourine, and then, to show their skill, they cut their tongue or allow themselves to be stabbed in the body, not sparing their blood. […] Among the sedentary Chukchi I came across the fact, according to them not so rare, that a male shaman, completely dressed in women’s clothing, lived with a man as a good housewife.

Their dwellings are called yarangas. When the Chukchi stay longer in one place in summer and winter, the yarangas have a larger volume and correspond to the number of canopies that fit in them, which depends on the number of relatives living together. During migrations, the Chukchi divide the yaranga into several smaller parts to make it easier to install. […] For their warm canopies, the Chukchi use six or eight, and the wealthy use up to 15 reindeer skins. The canopies are an uneven quadrangle. To enter, lift the front part and crawl into the canopy. Inside you can kneel or bend over, why only sit or lie in it. […] It cannot be denied that even in simple canopies, in the coldest weather, you can sit naked, warming yourself from the warmth of the lamp and from the fumes of people. […]

In contrast to the yarangas of the reindeer Chukchi, the yarangas of the sedentary Chukchi are covered with walrus skins. The warm canopies of the sedentary Chukchi are bad, and there are always insects in them, since the Chukchi cannot often renew the canopies, and sometimes they are forced to use already abandoned ones.

Chukchi men wear short hair. They moisten them with urine and cut them with a knife, both in order to get rid of lice and so that the hair does not interfere with the fight.

As for men's clothing, it fits snugly to the body and is warm. The Chukchi renew it mostly by winter. […] The Chukchi usually wear trousers made of seal skins, less often of processed deerskin, with underpants, mostly from the skins of young deer. They also wear pants made from pieces of skin from wolf paws, which even have claws left on them. Chukchi short stockings are made of seal skins and the Chukchi wear them with the wool inside until it is cold. In winter, they wear stockings made of long-haired camus. In the summer they wear short boots made of seal skins with the hair facing inward, and against dampness - made of deer skins. In winter, they mostly wear short boots made of camus. […] As insoles in boots, the Chukchi use dry soft grass, as well as shavings from whalebone; Without such insoles, boots do not provide any warmth. The Chukchi wear two fur coats; the lower one remains with them throughout the winter. […] The Chukchi head is often left uncovered all summer, autumn and spring, if the weather permits. If they want to cover their heads, they wear a bandage that goes down to the forehead with a rim of wolf fur. The Chukchi also protect their heads with malakhai. […] over the malakhai they put on, especially in winter, a hood that lies rounded over the shoulders. However, they are worn by younger and wealthier men to give themselves a more beautiful appearance. […] Some Chukchi also wear on their heads, instead of malakhai, the skin torn from the head of a wolf with a muzzle, ears and eye sockets.

In rainy weather and damp fog, which they experience most of the summer, the Chukchi wear raincoats with hoods over their clothes. These raincoats are rectangular pieces of thin skin from the intestines of whales sewn crosswise and look like a folded bag. […] In winter, the Chukchi are forced to beat out their clothes every evening with a mallet cut from horns before entering the yurt in order to clear it of snow. They carry the mallet with them on the sledge. In their tight-fitting clothes that cover all parts of the body well, the Chukchi are not afraid of any cold, although due to their severe frosts, especially with the wind, they freeze their faces. […]

The occupations of men among the reindeer Chukchi are very limited: watch their herd, guard the animals night and day, drive the herd after the train during migrations, separate the sled reindeer, catch the last ones from the circle, harness the reindeer, drive the reindeer into the corral, smoke tobacco, build a weak fire , choose a convenient place for migration. […]

One-year-old reindeer, which the Chukchi destined for harness, are castrated in various rather primitive ways. When sucklings are slaughtered in the fall, the females still have some milk for three to four days. The Chukchi milk was brought to us in a tied intestine. They milk the females by sucking, since they do not know any other way of milking, and this method reduces the taste of the milk. […]

The Chukchi also accustom their riding reindeer to urine, just like the Koryaks. Deer love this drink very much, they allow themselves to be lured by it and thereby learn to recognize their owner by his voice. They say that if you feed reindeer moderately with urine, they become more resilient during migrations and get less tired, which is why the Chukchi carry with them a large basin made of leather to urinate in. In the summer, deer are not given urine, as they have no desire for it. In winter, the deer want to drink urine so much that they must be restrained from drinking it in large quantities at a time when women pour out or expose vessels with urine early in the morning from their yarangas. I saw two deer that had drunk too much urine and were so intoxicated that one of them looked like a dead one... and the second, who was very swollen and could not stand on his feet, was first dragged by the Chukchi to the fire so that the smoke would open his nostrils, then they tied him up with belts, buried him up to his head in the snow, scratched his nose until it bled, but since all this did not help at all, they stabbed him to death.

The Chukchi's reindeer herds are not as numerous as those of the Koryaks. […] The Koryaks are also better at hunting wild deer and elk. As for arrows and bows, the Chukchi always have them with them, but they do not have the dexterity of hitting, since they almost never practice this, but are content with how it comes out. […]

The occupations of the sedentary Chukchi consist mainly of hunting sea animals. At the end of September, the Chukchi go hunting for walruses. They kill so many of them that even polar bears are not able to devour them all over the winter. […] The Chukchi go at the walruses together, several people at a time, run at them screaming, throw a harpoon with a throw, while others pull on a five-fathom-long belt attached to the harpoon. If a wounded animal manages to go under water, the Chukchi overtake it and finish it off in the chest with iron spears. […] If the Chukchi slaughter an animal on the water or if a wounded animal throws itself into the water and dies there, then they take only its meat, and the skeleton remains mostly with fangs and is immersed in the water. Meanwhile, it would be possible to pull out a skeleton with fangs and exchange it for tobacco, if the Chukchi did not spare the labor for this. […]

They hunt bears with spears and claim that polar bears, which are hunted on the water, are easier to kill than brown bears, which are much more agile. […]

About their military campaigns. The Chukchi direct their raids mainly against the Koryaks, with whom they still cannot forget their enmity, and in former times they opposed the Yukaghirs, who with their help were almost destroyed. Their goal is to rob deer. Attacks on enemy yarangas always begin at dawn. Some throw lassoes at the yarangas and try to destroy them, pulling out the posts, others at this time pierce the canopy of the yaranga with spears, and still others, quickly driving up to the herd on their light sledges, divide it into parts and drive away. […] For the same purpose, that is, robbery, sedentary Chukchi move on their canoes to America, attack camps, kill men and take women and children as prisoners; As a result of the attack on the Americans, they partially receive furs, which they exchange with the Russians. Thanks to the sale of American women to the reindeer Chukchi and other trade transactions, the sedentary Chukchi turn into the reindeer Chukchi and can sometimes roam with the reindeer Chukchi, although they are never respected by the latter.

Among the Chukchi, Koryaks and isolated Yukaghirs are also found as workers. The Chukchi marry them to their poor women; and the settled ones also often take captive American women as wives. […]

The woman's hair is braided on the sides into two braids, which they mostly tie at the ends at the back. As for their tattoos, women tattoo with iron, some with triangular needles. Elongated pieces of iron are pierced over the lamp and shaped into a needle, dipping the point into boiled moss from lamps mixed with fat, then into graphite rubbed with urine. The graphite with which the Chukchi rub the threads from the veins when tattooing is found in abundance in pieces on the river near their Puukhta camp. They tattoo with a needle with dyed thread, which leaves blackness under the skin. The slightly swollen area is smeared with fat.

Even before the age of ten, they tattoo girls first in two lines - along the forehead and along the nose, then a tattoo follows on the chin, then on the cheeks, and when the girls get married (or around 17 years old), they tattoo the outside of the forearm to the neck with various linear figures. Less often they indicate a tattoo on women’s shoulder blades or pubic area. […]

Women's clothing fits the body, falls below the knees, where it is tied, forming, as it were, pants. They put it on over the head. Her sleeves do not taper, but remain loose. They, like the neckline, are trimmed with dog fur. This clothing is worn double. […] over the above-mentioned clothing the Chukchi wear a wide fur shirt with a hood, reaching to the knees. They wear it on holidays, when traveling to visit, and also during migrations. They put it on with the wool on the inside, and the more prosperous also wear a second one - with the wool on the outside. […]

Women's occupations: caring for food supplies, processing hides, sewing clothes.

Their food comes from deer, which they slaughter in late autumn, while these animals are still fat. The Chukchi save reindeer meat in pieces as a reserve. While they live in one place, they smoke meat over smoke in their yarangas, eat the meat with ice cream, breaking it into small pieces on a stone with a stone hammer. […] They consider bone marrow, fresh and frozen, fat and tongue the most delicious. The Chukchi also use the contents of a deer’s stomach and its blood. […] For vegetation, the Chukchi use willows, of which there are two types. […] In willows of both species they rip off the bark of the roots, and less often the bark of the trunks. They eat bark with blood, whale oil and the meat of wild animals. Boiled willow leaves are stored in seal bags and eaten with lard in winter. […] For digging different roots Women use a hoe made of walrus tusk or a piece of deer antlers. The Chukchi also collect boiled seaweed, which they eat with sour lard, blood and stomach contents of reindeer.

Marriage among the Chukchi. If the matchmaker has received the consent of the parents, then he sleeps with his daughter in the same canopy; if he manages to take possession of her, then the marriage is concluded. If the girl does not have a disposition towards him, then she invites several of her girlfriends to her place that night, who are fighting with the guest women's weapons- arms and legs.

A Koryak woman sometimes makes her boyfriend suffer for a long time. For several years the groom tries in vain to achieve his goal, although he remains in the yaranga, carries firewood, guards the herd and does not refuse any work, and others, in order to test the groom, tease him, even beat him, which he patiently endures until the moment female weakness does not reward him.

Sometimes the Chukchi allow sexual relations between children who grow up with parents or relatives for later marriage.

The Chukchi do not seem to take more than four wives, more often two or three, while the less wealthy are satisfied with one. If a wife dies, the husband takes her sister. Younger brothers marry the widows of their elders, but it is contrary to their customs for the elder to marry the widow of the younger. A barren Chukchi wife is soon kicked out without any complaints from her relatives, and you often meet young women who are thus given to their fourth husband. […]

Chukotka women do not have any help during childbirth, and, they say, often die in the process. During menstruation, women are considered unclean; men refrain from communicating with them, believing that this results in back pain.

Wife Exchange. If husbands conspire to seal their friendship in this way, they ask the consent of their wives, who do not refuse their request. When both parties have agreed in this way, the men sleep without asking, interspersed with other people’s wives, if they live close to each other, or when they come to visit each other. The Chukchi exchange their wives for the most part with one or two, but there are instances where they receive a similar relationship with ten at the same time, since their wives do not seem to consider such an exchange undesirable. But women, especially among the Reindeer Chukchi, are less likely to be prone to betrayal. They usually do not tolerate other people’s jokes on this matter, they take everything seriously and spit in the face or give free rein to their hands.

The Koryaks do not know such an exchange of wives; They are jealous and betrayal of their husband was once punished by death, now only by exile.

In this custom, Chukchi children obey other people's fathers. As for mutual drinking of urine during the exchange of wives, this is a fiction, the reason for which could be washing the face and hands with urine. During the scanty autumn migrations, such a guest often came to our hostess, and her husband then went to the latter’s wife or slept in another canopy. Both of them showed little ceremony, and if they wanted to satisfy their passions, they would send us out of the canopy.

Sedentary Chukchi also exchange wives among themselves, but reindeer do not exchange wives with sedentary ones, and reindeer do not marry the daughters of sedentary people, considering them unworthy of themselves. The wives of the reindeer would never agree to an exchange with the settled ones. However, this does not prevent the reindeer Chukchi from sleeping with the wives of the settled ones, to which their own wives They don’t look askance, but the reindeer Chukchi do not allow the settled ones to do the same. The settled Chukchi also provide their wives to foreigners, but this is not proof of their friendship for them and not out of a desire to receive offspring from foreigners. This is done out of self-interest: the husband receives a pack of tobacco, the wife a string of beads for her neck, several strings of beads for her hand, and if they want to be luxurious, then also earrings, and then the deal is concluded. […]

If Chukchi men feel the approach of death, they often order themselves to be stabbed - the duty of a friend; both brothers and sons are not upset by his death, but rather rejoice that he found enough courage not to expect a woman’s death, as they put it, but managed to escape the torment of the devils.

The Chukchi corpse is dressed in clothes made of white or spotted deer fur. The corpse remains in the yaranga for 24 hours, and before it is taken out, they try the head several times, lifting it until they find it light; and while their head is heavy, it seems to them that the deceased has forgotten something on the ground and does not want to leave it, which is why they put some food, needles and the like in front of the deceased. They carry out the corpse not through the door, but next to it, lifting the edge of the yaranga. When carrying out the deceased, one goes and pours the remaining fat from the lamp that burned for 24 hours near the corpse, as well as paint from alder bark, onto the road.

To be burned, the corpse is taken several miles from the yaranga to a hill, and before burning it is opened in such a way that the entrails fall out. This is done to make burning easier.

In memory of the deceased, they cover the place where the corpse was burned in an oval shape with stones, which should resemble the figure of a person; larger stones are placed at the head and at the feet, of which the top one lies to the south and should represent the head. […] The deer on which the deceased was transported are slaughtered on the spot, their meat is eaten, the head stone is coated underneath with bone marrow or fat, and the antlers are left in the same heap. Every year the Chukchi remember their dead; if the Chukchi are nearby at this time, then they slaughter deer at this place, and if far away, from five to ten sledges of relatives and friends go to this place every year, make a fire, throw bone marrow into the fire, and say: “Eat this.” , help themselves, smoke tobacco and place cleaned antlers on a pile.

The Chukchi mourn their dead children. In our yaranga, shortly before our arrival, a girl died; her mother mourned her every morning in front of the yaranga, and the singing was replaced by howling. […]

To add something more about these natives, let us say that the Chukchi are more often than average in height, but it is not so rare to find Chukchi who reach six feet in height; they are slender, strong, resilient and live to a ripe old age. Sedentary animals are not much inferior to reindeer animals in this regard. The harsh climate, the severe frosts to which they are constantly exposed, their food is partly raw, partly slightly cooked, which they almost always have in abundance, and physical exercise, from which they avoid almost no evening, so long as the weather permits, their few occupations giving them the advantage of strength, health and endurance. Among them you will not find a fat belly, like the Yakuts. […]

These men are brave when confronted by the masses, less afraid of death than of cowardice. […] In general, the Chukchi are free, they engage in exchanges without thinking about politeness; if they don’t like something or what is offered in exchange seems too insignificant, then they easily spit on it. They achieved great dexterity in theft, especially the sedentary ones. To be forced to live among them is a real lesson in patience. […]

The Chukchi seem kind and helpful and demand in return everything they see and want; they do not know what is called swinishness; they relieve their need in their curtains, and what is most unpleasant about this is that they force strangers, often even with a push, to pour urine into a cup; they crush lice with their teeth in a race with their wives - men from their pants, and women from their hair.

A little more about Chukotka beauties. Women of the Reindeer Chukchi are chaste by habit; Sedentary women are the complete opposite of them in this, but nature has provided the latter with more beautiful features. Both of them are not very shy, although they do not understand it. In conclusion, another addition about the Koryaks. These natives are unsightly, small, and even their secret machinations are reflected on their faces; They forget every gift immediately upon receipt - they insult with death, like the Chukchi, and in general this seems more characteristic of Asia. We must always be in accordance with their mood, so as not to make them enemies; you won’t get anything from them with orders and cruelty; if they are sometimes punished by beatings, then you will not hear any screams or requests from them. The Reindeer Koryaks consider a blow worse than death; For them, taking their own life is the same as going to sleep. […] These natives are cowardly; They not only left the Cossacks of the local forts to the mercy of fate, who were in trouble when the latter were more than once forced to act against the Chukchi because of the Koryaks, but even in those cases when the Cossacks had to flee with them, the Koryaks cut off their fingers, so that the Cossacks could not hold on to the sledges. According to written evidence, in general, the Koryaks killed many more Cossacks while sleeping than the Chukchi during the day with their arrows and spears.

However, is not the reason for their behavior that the Cossacks of these remote regions consider them more as slaves created for them than as subjects standing under the scepter of the greatest monarchy, and treat them accordingly. Thoughtful bosses would have to discourage this if they did not think it would be easier to satisfy their own interests.

Their women apparently never comb their hair. The soiling of their clothes should seem to serve as a guarantee of their chastity for jealous husbands, although their face, which can rarely claim even a shadow of charm, never smiles when looking at a stranger.

K. G. Merck translation from German by Z. Titova

What may surprise you in the Chukchi traditions June 19th, 2018

We have already discussed history, traditions and. You can read a lot of interesting things about this people, popular in jokes. But domestic and foreign ethnographers and simply travelers, who encountered the life and customs of the Chukchi for the first time, were often shocked by some manifestations of their originality.

Many features of the Chukotka way of life are characteristic only of this people.

The first "swingers"

This is one of the most strange customs among the Chukchi, noticed back in the 18th century by a Russian scientist with German roots, Karl Heinrich Merck. Merck explored the northeastern shores of Russia, studied the customs and way of life of many northern peoples and left memories about this, published only in the 19th century.

Gender relations, according to Merk’s recollections, among the Chukchi were very peculiar - in order to consolidate friendly (business, partnership) contacts, it was not forbidden to exchange wives. This ritual was called “ngevtumgyn” (which translated means “wife friendship”), and the narrow-eyed “swinger” was called “ngevtumgyt”. A jealous Chukchi is like a Jewish reindeer herder: among representatives of a given people not giving your wife to the “corefan” was more insulting than not paying off your debts. This exchange most often arose from purely practical considerations that simplified the life of these people in the difficult conditions of the Far North.

As a modern ethnographer and researcher of the Far North, Professor Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Sergei Aleksandrovich Arutyunov says, this practice existed before civilization touched the Chukchi, today such “free love” does not occur.

Karl Merk was also amazed by the custom of dressing up a Chukchi shaman in women's clothing and his subsequent cohabitation (in everyday life) with the owner of the yaranga in the role of his second spouse - this is what the spirits allegedly ordered. The Chukchi also practiced levirate - younger brother the deceased elder brother was obliged to marry his widow and raise all the children of the deceased as his own.

Didn't save drowning people

This rule, strictly observed by the Chukchi, actually took place, even in the twentieth century, confirms S. A. Arutyunov. Sergei Alexandrovich says that among these people the reservoir was considered the border between the earthly and other worlds– if a person is taken away by water spirits, it is unacceptable to interfere with this. When the Chukchi boats capsized and their comrades found themselves in the water in their rather heavy clothes, none of the tribesmen rushed to help.

But the Eskimos, adds Arutyunov, did not have such a cruel custom - it happened that they saved the drowning Chukchi, despite the fact that these peoples, to put it mildly, were not friends with each other.

Only they had such “diapers”

Karl Merck spoke in his notes about in an unusual way swaddling of newborns among the Chukchi, which in its essence is a primitive prototype of a modern diaper: moss and deer hair served as absorbent material. The baby was dressed in a kind of overalls with such a “lining”, which was changed several times during the day.

It is noteworthy that this is not the only Chukchi invention from the list of those that were subsequently modernized. For example, the role of a sun visor (like in a baseball cap) among the Chukchi was played by a piece of whalebone attached to a hat - it protected from the bright and angry northern sun and blinding snow. Russian ethnographers have noticed that the Chukchi use peculiar “ sunglasses» – eye patches made of tanned deerskin with narrow slits for viewing. “Cocktail straws” also appeared among the Chukchi long before the advent of mixed drinks - these people drank liquids through the hollow bones of animals: as you know, in the cold, if you touch a metal surface with your lips, you can “stick.”

sources

Chukchi (self-name - lyg'o ravetl'an) is a distorted Chukchi word "chavchu" (rich in deer), which Russians and Lamuts call a people living in the extreme north-east of Russia. The Chukchi were divided into reindeer - tundra nomadic reindeer herders (the self-name Chauchu - “reindeer man”) and coastal - sedentary hunters of sea animals (the self-name Ankalyn - “coastal”), living together with the Eskimos.

The Chukchi encountered Russians for the first time back in XVII century. In 1644, the Cossack Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsk fort. The Chukchi, who at that time were wandering both east and west of the Kolyma River, after a persistent, bloody struggle, finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing the Mamalli tribe from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to.

Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between the Russians and the Chukchi, whose territory bordered the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur region, have not stopped. In 1770, after Shestakov’s unsuccessful campaign, the Anadyr fort, which served as the center of the Russian struggle against the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhne-Kolymsk, after which the Chukchi began to be less hostile towards the Russians and gradually began to enter into trade relations with them.

In 1775, the Angarsk fortress was built on the Angarka River, where, under the protection of the Cossacks, an annual fair for barter trade with the Chukchi took place. Since 1848, the fair was moved to the Anyui fortress (250 versts from Nizhne-Kolymsk, on the banks of the Maly Anyui). The Chukchi brought here not only the everyday products of their own production (clothing made from reindeer furs, reindeer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs (beavers, martens, black foxes, blue foxes), which the so-called nose Chukchi exchanged for tobacco with the inhabitants of the shores of the Bering Sea and the northwestern coast of America.

TO end of the XVIII century, the territory of the Chukchi extended from Omolon, Bolshoy and Maly Anyuy in the west to the Penzhin and Olyutor nomads in the southeast. Gradually it increased, which was accompanied by the identification of territorial groups: Kolyma, Anyui, or Maloanyu, Chaun, Omolon, Amguem, or Amguem-Vonkarem, Kolyuchino-Mechigmen, Onmylensk, Tumansk, or Vilyunei, Olyutor, Bering Sea and others. In 1897, the number of Chukchi was approximately 11 thousand people. In 1930, the Chukotka National Okrug was formed, and since 1977 it has been an autonomous okrug. According to the 2002 census, the number of Chukchi was 16 people.

The main occupation of the tundra Chukchi is nomadic reindeer herding. Reindeer provide the Chukchi with almost everything they need: meat for cooking, skins for clothing and housing, and are also used as traction animals.

The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting sea animals: in winter and spring - seals and seals, in summer and autumn - walruses and whales. At first, traditional hunting weapons were used for hunting - a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, but in the 19th century the Chukchi began to use firearms more often. To this day, only bird hunting with the help of a “bol” has been preserved. Fishing is developed only among some Chukchi. Women and children also collect edible plants.

Traditional Chukchi dishes are mainly prepared from venison and fish.

The main dwelling of the Chukchi is a collapsible cylindrical-conical tent-yaranga made of reindeer skins among the tundra Chukchi and walrus among the coastal Chukchi. The vault rests on three poles located in the center. The home was heated with a stone, clay or wooden fat lamp, on which food was also prepared. The yaranga of the coastal Chukchi differed from the dwellings of the reindeer herders in the absence of a smoke hole.

The Chukchi type is mixed, generally Mongoloid, but with some differences. Eyes with an oblique cut are less common than eyes with a horizontal cut; the width of the cheekbones is smaller than among the Tungus and Yakuts, and more often than among the latter; there are individuals with thick facial hair and wavy, almost curly hair on their heads; complexion with a bronze tint.

Among women, the type with wide cheekbones, a blurry nose and everted nostrils is more common. The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the peculiarities of life of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi.

Chukchi winter clothing is of the usual polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men consists of a double fur shirt (the lower one with the fur towards the body and the upper one with the fur outward), the same double pants, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a woman's bonnet. Women's clothing is completely unique, also double, consisting of seamlessly sewn trousers together with a low-cut bodice, cinched at the waist, with a slit on the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which the Chukchi can easily free their hands while working.

Summer outerwear There are robes made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamleykas made of fine-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. Most of the Chukchi jewelry - pendants, headbands, necklaces (in the form of straps with beads and figurines) - have religious significance, but there are also real jewelry in the form of metal bracelets and earrings.

The original pattern on the clothes of the coastal Chukchi is of Eskimo origin; from the Chukchi it passed to many polar peoples of Asia. Hair styling is different for men and women. The latter braid two braids on both sides of the head, decorating them with beads and buttons, sometimes releasing the front strands onto the forehead (married women). Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown.

According to their beliefs, the Chukchi are animists; they personify and idolize certain areas and natural phenomena (masters of the forest, water, fire, sun, deer), many animals (bear, crow), stars, sun and moon, believe in hosts of evil spirits causing all earthly disasters, including diseases and death, have whole line regular holidays (autumn festival of deer slaughter, spring festival of antlers, winter sacrifice to the star Altair) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, funeral services for the dead, votive services).

The folklore and mythology of the Chukchi are very rich and have much in common with those of the American peoples and Paleo-Asians. The Chukchi language is very rich in both words and forms; the harmony of sounds is quite strictly observed in it. Phonetics is very difficult for the European ear.

The main mental traits of the Chukchi are extremely easy excitability, reaching the point of frenzy, a tendency to murder and suicide at the slightest provocation, love of independence, perseverance in the fight; At the same time, the Chukchi are hospitable, usually good-natured and willingly come to the aid of their neighbors, even Russians, during hunger strikes. The Chukchi, especially the coastal Chukchi, became famous for their sculptural and carved images of mammoth bone, striking in their fidelity to nature and boldness of poses and strokes and reminiscent of the wonderful bone images of the Paleolithic period. Traditional musical instruments- Jew's harp (khomus), tambourine (yarar). In addition to ritual dances, improvised entertaining pantomime dances were also common.

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION OF THE RUSSIAN FEDERATION

IRKUTSK STATE UNIVERSITY

HISTORY DEPARTMENT

DEPARTMENT OF ARCHEOLOGY, ETHNOLOGY AND HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT WORLD

Essay on ethnology

Traditional Chukchi culture

Irkutsk, 2007

Introduction

Ancestral homeland and resettlement of the Chukchi

Main activities

Social order

Life of the Chukchi

Beliefs and rituals

Conclusion

Chukchi, (self-name, “real people”). Number of Russian Federation 15.1 thousand people, indigenous people Chukotka Aut. districts (11.9 thousand people). They also live in the north of the Koryak Autonomous Area. district (1.5 thousand people) and in the Lower Kolyma region of Yakutia (1.3 thousand people), they speak the Chukchi language.

The first mentions of the Chukchi, in Russian documents - from the 40s of the 17th century, divide them into "reindeer" and "foot". Reindeer herders roamed the tundra and on the coast of the Arctic Ocean between Alazeya and Kolyma, at Cape Shelagsky and further east to the Bering Strait. The settlements of the “foot” Chukchi, sedentary sea hunters, were located together with the Eskimos between Cape Dezhnev and the Bay of the Cross and further south in the lower reaches of Anadyr and the Kanchalan River. The number of Chukchi at the end of the 17th century. was about 8-9 thousand people.

Contacts with the Russians initially remained mainly in the lower Kolyma. Attempts to impose tribute on the Lower Kolyma Chukchi and military campaigns against them in the mid-17th century did not bring results. Due to military conflicts and the smallpox epidemic, the number of Lower Kolyma Chukchi decreased sharply, and the remainder migrated to the east. After the annexation of Kamchatka to Russia, the population of the Anadyr fort, founded in 1649, began to grow, which

Since the end of the 18th century, trade contacts between the Chukchi and the Russians intensified. According to the “Charter on the Administration of Foreigners” of 1822, the Chukchi did not bear any duties; they contributed yasak voluntarily, receiving gifts for it. The established peaceful relations with the Russians, Koryaks and Yukagirs, and the development of herding reindeer herding, contributed to the further expansion of the Chukchi territory to the west. By the 1830s, they had penetrated the river. Bolshaya Baranikha, by the 1850s - in the lower Kolyma, by the mid-1860s - in the area between the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers; to the south - the territory of the Koryaks, between Penzhina and Korfu Bay, where the Koryaks were partially assimilated. In the east, the assimilation of the Chukchi - Eskimos - intensified. In the 1850s American whalers entered into trade with the coastal Chukchi. The expansion of the territory inhabited by the Chukchi was accompanied by the final identification of territorial groups: Kolyma, Anyui, or Malo-Anyu, Chaun, Omolon, Amguem, or Amguem-Vonkarem, Kolyuchino-Mechigmen, Onmylen (inner Chukchi), Tumansk, or Vilyunei, Olyutor, Bering Sea ( Sea Chukchi) and others. In 1897, the number of Chukchi was 11,751 people. Since the end of the 19th century, due to the extermination of sea animals, the number of coastal Chukchi fell sharply, by 1926 it amounted to 30% of all Chukchi. Modern descendants Coastal Chukchi live in the villages of Sirenki, Novo Chaplino, Providence, Nunligran, Enmelen, Yanrakynnot, Inchoun, Lorino, Lavrentiya, Neshkan, Uelen, Enurmino on the eastern coast of Chukotka.

In 1930, the Chukotka National Okrug was formed (since 1977 - Autonomous Okrug). The ethnic development of the Chukchi in the 20th century, especially during the period of consolidation of collective farms and the formation of state farms from the 2nd half of the 50s, was characterized by consolidation and overcoming the isolation of individual groups

The Chukchi were divided into reindeer - tundra nomadic reindeer herders (self-name Chauchu - "reindeer man") and coastal - sedentary hunters of sea animals (self-name Ankalyn - "coastal"), living together with the Eskimos. These groups were connected by kinship and natural exchange. Self-names based on place of residence or migration are common: uvelelyt - “Uelenians”, “chaalyt” - “Chukchi wandering along the Chaun River”. These self-names are preserved, even among residents of modern enlarged settlements. The names of smaller groups within the settlements: tapkaralyt - “living on the spit”, gynonralyt - “living in the center”, etc. Among the Western Chukchi, the self-name Chugchit (probably from Chauchu) is common.

Initially, the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk was considered the ancestral home of the Chukchi, from where they moved north, assimilating part of the Yukaghirs and Eskimos. According to, modern research, the ancestors of the Chukchi and related Koryaks lived in the inner regions of Chukotka.

Occupying the area inhabited by the Eskimos, the Chukchi partially assimilated them and borrowed many features of their culture (fat lamps, canopies, the design and shape of tambourines, fishing rituals and holidays, pantomime dances, etc.). Long-term interaction with the Eskimos also affected the language and worldview of the indigenous Chukchi. As a result of contacts between land and sea hunting cultures, the Chukchi experienced an economic division of labor. Yukaghir elements also took part in the ethnogenesis of the Chukchi. Contacts with the Yukaghirs became relatively stable at the turn of the 13th-14th centuries, when the Yukaghirs, under the influence of the Evens, moved east to the Anadyr River basin. Reindeer husbandry developed among the tundra Chukchi, apparently under the influence of the Koryaks, shortly before the appearance of the Russians.

The main occupation of the tundra Chukchi was nomadic reindeer herding, which had a pronounced meat-hide character. Sled reindeer were also used. The herds were comparatively different, large sizes, the deer were poorly trained and grazed without the help of dogs. In winter, the herds were kept in places sheltered from the wind, migrating several times during the winter; in the summer, men went with the herd into the tundra, women, old people and children lived in camps along the banks of rivers or the sea. The reindeer were not milked; sometimes the shepherds sucked the milk. Urine was used to lure deer. Deer were castrated by biting the sperm ducts.

The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting sea animals: in winter and spring - seals and seals, in summer and autumn - walruses and whales. They hunted seals alone, crawling up to them, camouflaging themselves and imitating the movements of the animal. The walrus was hunted in groups of several canoes. Traditional hunting weapons - harpoon with float, spear, belt net, from the 2nd floor. 19th century Firearms became widespread and hunting methods became simpler. Sometimes they shot seals at high speed from sleds.

Fishing, except for the basins of Anadyr, Kolyma and Sauna, was poorly developed. Men were engaged in fishing. Fish were caught with a net, a fishing rod, and nets. In summer - from a kayak, in winter - in an ice hole. Salmon was stored for future use.

Before the appearance firearms They hunted wild deer and mountain sheep, which were subsequently almost completely exterminated. Under the influence of trade with the Russians, the fur trade spread. To this day, bird hunting has been preserved using “bolas” - throwing weapons made of several ropes with weights that entangled a flying bird. Previously, when hunting birds, they also used darts with a throwing plate and trap loops; eiders were beaten in the water with sticks. Women and children also collected edible plants. To dig up roots, they used a tool with a tip made of horn, and later - iron.

Traditional crafts include fur dressing, weaving bags from fireweed and wild rye fibers for women, and bone processing for men. Artistic carving and engraving on bone and walrus tusk, applique of fur and sealskin, and embroidery with deer hair are developed. The Chukchi ornament is characterized by a small geometric pattern. In the 19th century, artisanal associations emerged on the east coast to produce carved walrus ivory items for sale. In the 20th century Thematic engraving on bone and walrus tusk developed (works by Vukvol, Vukvutagin, Gemauge, Halmo, Ichel, Ettugi, etc.). The center of bone carving art was a workshop in the village of Uelen (established in 1931).

In the 2nd half. 19th century many Chukchi began to be hired on whaling schooners and gold mines.

Social order

The social system of the Chukchi, at the beginning of contacts with the Russians, was characterized by the development of a patriarchal community into a neighboring one, the development of property, and differentiation. Deer, dogs, houses and canoes were privately owned, pastures and fishing grounds were communally owned. The main social unit of the tundra Ch. was a camp of 3-4 related families; Among the poor, camps could unite unrelated families; in the camps of large reindeer herders, their workers lived with their families. Groups of 15-20 camps were connected by mutual assistance. Primorye Ch. united several families into a canoe community, headed by the owner of the canoe. Among the reindeer Ch., there were patrilineal kinship groups (varat), bound by common customs (blood feud, transfer of ritual fire, common signs on the face during sacrifices, etc.). Until the 18th century Patriarchal slavery was known. The family in the past was a large patriarchal one, to the end. 19th century - small patrilocal. Traditionally wedding ceremony, the bride, accompanied by relatives, came to the groom on her reindeer. At the yaranga, a deer was slaughtered and with its blood the bride, the groom and their relatives were marked with the groom's family marks on their faces. The child was usually given a name 2-3 weeks after birth. There were elements of group marriage ("variable marriage"), labor for the bride, and among the rich - polygamy. Many problems in reindeer Ch. arose with disproportion in the sex structure (there were fewer women than men).

Life of the Chukchi

The main dwelling of the Chukchi is a collapsible cylindrical-conical tent-yaranga made of reindeer skins for the tundra, and walrus for the coastal ones. The vault rested on three poles in the center. Inside, the yaranga was partitioned with canopies in the form of large blind fur bags stretched on poles, illuminated and heated by a stone, clay or wooden fat lamp, on which food was also prepared. They sat on skins, tree roots or deer antlers. Dogs were also kept in yarangas. The yaranga of the coastal Chukchi differed from the dwellings of the reindeer herders in the absence of a smoke hole. Until the end of the 19th century, the coastal Chukchi retained a semi-dugout, borrowed from the Eskimos (valkaran - “house of whale jaws”) - on a frame made of whale bones, covered with turf and earth. In summer it was entered through a hole in the roof, in winter - through a long corridor. The nomadic Chukchi camps consisted of 2-10 yarangas, stretched from east to west, the first yaranga from the west was the head of the community. The settlements of the coastal Chukchi numbered up to 20 or more yarangas, randomly scattered.

The tundra Chukchi moved on reindeer sleds, while the coastal Chukchi rode on dogs. In the middle of the 19th century, under the influence of the Russians, the East Siberian sled and train teams spread among the coastal Chukchi, before which dogs were harnessed with a fan. They also used walking racket skis, and in Kolyma they used sliding skis borrowed from the Evenks. They moved on the water in kayaks - boats that could accommodate from one to 20-30 people, made of walrus skins, with oars and a slanting sail.

Traditional clothing is made from the skins of deer and seals. Men wore a knee-length double tunic shirt, belted with a belt from which they hung a knife, pouch, etc., narrow double trousers, short shoes with fur stockings. Among the coastal Chukchi, clothing made from walrus intestines was common. Headdresses were rarely worn, mainly on the road. Women's clothing - fur overalls (kerker), double in winter, single in summer, knee-length fur shoes. They wore bracelets and necklaces, and facial tattoos were common: circles along the edges of the mouth for men and two stripes along the nose and forehead for women. Men cut their hair in a circle, shaving the crown, women braided it in two braids.

The main food of the “reindeer” Chukchi is venison, while that of the coastal Chukchi is the meat of sea animals. The meat was consumed raw, boiled and dried.

During the mass slaughter of deer, the contents of deer stomachs (rilkeil) were stored for future use, boiled with the addition of blood and fat. The coastal Chukchi prepared the meat of large animals - whale, walrus, beluga - for future use, fermenting it in pits (kopal-gyn), sewing it into skins. They ate the fish raw, and in Anadyr and Kolyma they made yukola from salmon.

Dwarf willow leaves, sorrel, and roots were prepared for future use - frozen, fermented, mixed with fat, blood, and rilkeil. Koloboks were made from crushed roots with meat and walrus fat. They cooked porridge from imported flour and fried cakes in seal fat. Also used seaweed and shellfish.

Christianization practically did not affect the Chukchi. At the beginning of the twentieth century, about 1.5 thousand Chukchi were considered Orthodox. Belief in spirits was widespread. Diseases and disasters were attributed to the action of evil spirits (kelet), hunting for human souls and bodies and devouring them. Among animals they were especially revered polar bear, whale, walrus. Each family had a set of sacred objects: a bunch of amulets, a tambourine, a device for making fire in the form of a board of a rough anthropomorphic shape with recesses in which a bow drill rotated; fire obtained in this way was considered sacred and could only be passed on among relatives along the male line. The dead were burned at the stake or left in the tundra, before being dressed in funeral clothes, usually made of white skins. Old people, and also in cases serious illness, grief, resentment, etc. voluntary death at the hands of a relative was often preferred; it was believed to ensure a better posthumous fate. Shamanism was developed. Shamans imitated the voices of animals, accompanied their actions by playing tambourines, singing or reciting, and dancing. Male shamans, who were likened to women, were especially revered, and vice versa. The shamans did not have a special costume.

Traditional holidays were associated with farms and cycles: among the “reindeer” Chukchi - with the autumn and winter slaughter of reindeer, calving, migration of the herd to the summer camp and return from there. The holidays of the coastal Chukchi are close to the Eskimos. In the spring, there is a kayak festival on the occasion of the first trip to sea. In summer there is a festival of goals to mark the end of the seal hunt. In autumn there is a sacrifice to the sea, in late autumn there is the holiday of Keretkun, the owner of sea animals, depicted as a wooden figure, which is burned at the end of the holiday. The holidays were accompanied by dancing with a tambourine, pantomime, and sacrifices. Among the “reindeer” Chukchi, deer, meat, figurines made of fat, snow, wood, etc. were sacrificed; among the coastal Chukchi, dogs were sacrificed.

Chukchi folklore includes cosmogonic myths, mythological and historical legends, tales about spirits, animals, the adventures of shamans, tales, etc. Mythology has common features with the myths of the Koryaks, Itelmens, Eskimos and North American Indians: the story of Raven - the trickster and demiurge, etc.

Traditional musical instruments - jew's harp (khomus), tambourine (yarar), etc. - were made of wood, bone, and whalebone. In addition to ritual dances, improvised entertaining pantomime dances were also common. The typical dance is pichainen (literally “throat singing”), accompanied by throat singing and shouting from the dancers.

The differences in the culture of the tundra and coastal Chukchi are gradually disappearing. At present, in the Shmitovsky, Beringovsky, Chaunsky and Anadyrsky districts they have practically disappeared. This was facilitated by the emergence and development of writing, from 1931 on the basis of Latin, and from 1936 - on the basis of Russian graphics. The first book in the Chukchi language is the primer by V.G. Bogoraz and I.S. Vdovin's "Red Letter" (1932), the first literary work is "Tales of the Chauchu" by Tynetegyn (Fedora Tinetev, 1940). Famous prose writers V. Yatyrgin, Yu. Rytkheu, poets V. Keul-kut, A. Kymytval, V. Tyneskin and others.

The first Chukchi school was created in Uelen in 1923. The teaching staff is trained by: Anadyr Pedagogical School of the Peoples of the North, Khabarovsk pedagogical institute, and other educational institutions. The Chukchi language is taught in schools, radio and television broadcasts are conducted in it, and literature is published in Magadan. There are local history museums in Anadyr and many villages. Traditional Chukchi dances are preserved and performed by professional groups.

In the east of Chukotka, where hunting traditions are preserved, the acculturation of the coastal Chukchi is slower. Contacts with Russians and other peoples are expanding, and the number of mixed marriages is growing. Children in mixed marriages usually choose Chukotka nationality

Since the 1990s The Association of the Peoples of Chukotka is dealing with the problems of reviving the traditional culture of the Chukchi.

They did not bear any obligation; they paid tribute voluntarily, receiving gifts for it. The established peaceful relations with the Russians, Koryaks and Yukaghirs, the development of herding reindeer herding contributed to the further expansion of the Chukchi territory by 3: by the 1830s. they entered the river. Bolshaya Barani-kha, by the 1850s - to the lower Kolyma, to the middle. 1860s - in the area between the Kolyma and Indigirka rivers; to the south - to the territory of the Koryaks between...

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The Chukchi consider themselves a special people, which is emphasized in their self-name. From their folklore you can learn that the world was created by a raven. He taught people how to survive in harsh northern conditions. At the same time, the Luoratvelan people were recognized as superior. It is worth noting that they put Russians on the same level as themselves. According to researchers, in this way the Chukchi decided to justify the fact that their lands were part of Russian Empire.

The Chukchi consider themselves the highest race and only put Russians on the same level as themselves // Photo: russian7.ru

By the way, the Russians could not win the war with the Chukchi. The colonial war, which lasted from 1730 to 1750, ended in victory northern people. The Chukchi were conquered under Catherine the Great and not military force, but “fire water”, iron, sugar, tobacco and the like.

Life, customs and raising children

The Chukchi are forced to lead a nomadic lifestyle. This is due to the fact that the basis of their economy is deer. As soon as the deer eat all the food, the Chukchi are forced to change their camp site. The Chukchi live in polygonal tents covered with reindeer skins. To prevent the tent from being blown away by the wind, it is lined with stones around its perimeter. A special structure is erected at the back wall of the tent, where the Chukchi eat, sleep and rest.
Representatives of the northern people, young and old, are dressed in reindeer skins and fur. Newborn babies are also placed in a special deerskin bag with slits for the legs and arms. It is noteworthy that researchers attribute the invention of the baby diaper to the Chukchi. Since mothers found it quite difficult to keep their children clean in low temperatures, they began to put wood shavings, as well as reindeer moss, which has antibacterial properties.

the basis of the Chukchi economy are reindeer // Photo: asiarussia.ru

Illustrious Warriors

The Chukchi enjoy the glory of brave and strong warriors // Photo: cyrillitsa.ru

Chukotka women are no less severe than men. If the enemy wins, they kill their children, parents, and then commit suicide.

Certainly, modern Chukchi are no longer as severe as in ancient times. According to residents of the northern regions, the Chukotka people are distinguished by their extraordinary hard work, and also, as before, suffer greatly because of the “fire water”. The thing is that the body of northern peoples is unable to produce the enzyme that breaks down ethyl alcohol. This is why the Chukchi become avid alcoholics literally after the first hundred grams of vodka or other strong alcoholic drinks.

The Chukchi are one of the peoples who most value a sense of humor in a person. It is almost impossible to meet a sad Chukchi. Even in ancient times, it was believed that if a person is sad, it means he has been possessed by an evil spirit. For this reason, representatives of the northern people could only enjoy life no matter what.