Khanty culture of Siberia message. Project work "life and culture of the indigenous peoples of the north"

The peoples of Mansi and Khanty are related. Few people know, but these were once great peoples of hunters. In the 15th century, the fame of the skill and courage of these people reached from beyond the Urals to Moscow itself. Today, both of these peoples are represented by a small group of residents of the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug.

The basin of the Russian Ob River was considered the original Khanty territories. The Mansi tribes settled here only at the end of the 19th century. It was then that these tribes began to advance to the northern and eastern parts of the region.

Ethnological scientists believe that the basis for the emergence of this ethnic group was the merger of two cultures - the Ural Neolithic and the Ugric tribes. The reason was the resettlement of Ugric tribes from North Caucasus And southern regions Western Siberia. The first Mansi settlements were located on the slopes of the Ural Mountains, evidence of which is provided by very rich archaeological finds in this region. Yes, in the caves Perm region archaeologists managed to find ancient temples. In these places sacred meaning Fragments of pottery, jewelry, weapons were found, but what is really important is numerous bear skulls with jagged marks from blows with stone axes.

The birth of a people.

The level of development of the indigenous people was quite low. In the everyday life of the tribes there were only tools made of wood, bark, bone and stone. The dishes were wooden and ceramic. The main occupation of the tribes was fishing, hunting and reindeer herding. Only in the south of the region, where the climate was milder, did cattle breeding and farming become less common. The first meeting with local tribes took place only in the 10th-11th centuries, when Permyaks and Novgorodians visited these lands. The newcomers called the locals “voguls,” which meant “wild.” These same “Voguls” were described as bloodthirsty destroyers of peripheral lands and savages practicing sacrificial rituals. Later, already in the 16th century, the lands of the Ob-Irtysh region were annexed to the Moscow state, after which a long era of development of the conquered territories by the Russians began. First of all, the invaders built several forts on the annexed territory, which later grew into cities: Berezov, Narym, Surgut, Tomsk, Tyumen. Instead of the once existing Khanty principalities, volosts were formed. In the 17th century, active resettlement of Russian peasants began to the new volosts, as a result of which by the beginning of the next century, the number of “locals” was significantly inferior to the newcomers. At the beginning of the 17th century there were about 7,800 Khanty people; by the end of the 19th century their number was 16 thousand people. According to the latest census, there are already more than 31 thousand people in the Russian Federation, and around the world there are approximately 32 thousand representatives of this ethnic group. The number of the Mansi people from the beginning of the 17th century to our time has increased from 4.8 thousand people to almost 12.5 thousand.

Relations with Russian colonists were not easy. At the time of the Russian invasion, Khanty society was class-based, and all lands were divided into appanage principalities. After the start of Russian expansion, volosts were created, which helped manage the lands and population much more efficiently. It is noteworthy that the volosts were headed by representatives of the local tribal nobility. Also in power local residents all local accounting and management were given over.

Confrontation.

10 years after the death of the bishop, Muscovites organized a new campaign against the pagans, which became more successful for Christians. The campaign ended quite soon, and the winners brought with them several princes of the Vogul tribes. However, Prince Ivan III released the pagans in peace.

During the campaign of 1467, the Muscovites managed to capture even Prince Asyka himself, who, however, was able to escape on the way to Moscow. Most likely, this happened somewhere near Vyatka. The pagan prince appeared only in 1481, when he tried to besiege and take Cherdyn by storm. His campaign ended unsuccessfully, and although his army devastated the entire area around Cherdyn, they had to flee the battlefield from the experienced Moscow army, sent to help by Ivan Vasilyevich. The army was led by experienced governors Fyodor Kurbsky and Ivan Saltyk-Travin. A year after this event, an embassy from the Vorguls visited Moscow: Asyka’s son and son-in-law, whose names were Pytkey and Yushman, arrived to the prince. Later it became known that Asyka himself went to Siberia and disappeared somewhere there, taking his people with him.

100 years have passed, and new conquerors came to Siberia - Ermak’s squad. During one of the battles between the Vorguls and Muscovites, Prince Patlik, the owner of those lands, died. Then his entire squad died along with him. However, even this campaign was not successful for Orthodox Church. The next attempt to baptize the Vorguls was made only under Peter I. The Mansi tribes had to accept the new faith on pain of death, but instead the whole people chose isolation and went even further to the north. Those who remained abandoned pagan symbols, but were in no hurry to wear crosses. Avoided local tribes of the new faith until the beginning of the 20th century, when they began to formally consider the country’s Orthodox population. Dogma new religion It was very difficult to penetrate into the society of the pagans. And further for a long time Tribal shamans played an important role in the life of society.

In accordance with nature.

The main types of food were meat and fish; practically no plant foods were consumed. The fish was most often eaten boiled in the form of a stew or dried, and it was often eaten completely raw. The sources of meat were large animals such as elk and deer. The entrails of hunted animals were also eaten, like meat; most often they were eaten directly raw. It is possible that the Khanty did not disdain to extract the remains of plant food from the stomachs of deer for their own consumption. The meat was subjected to heat treatment, most often it was boiled, like fish.

The culture of the Mansi and Khanty is a very interesting layer. According to folk traditions, among both peoples there was no strict distinction between animals and humans. Animals and nature were especially revered. The beliefs of the Khanty and Mansi forbade them to settle near places inhabited by animals, to hunt young or pregnant animals, or to make noise in the forest. In turn, the fishing unwritten laws of the tribes prohibited the installation of a net that was too narrow, so that young fish could not pass through it. Although almost the entire mining economy of the Mansi and Khanty was based on extreme economy, this did not interfere with the development of various fishing cults, when it was necessary to donate the first prey or catch to one of the wooden idols. From here came many different tribal holidays and ceremonies, most of which were religious character.

The bear occupied a special place in the Khanty tradition. According to beliefs, the first woman in the world was born from a bear. The Great Bear gave fire to people, as well as many other important knowledge. This animal was highly revered and was considered a fair judge in disputes and a divider of spoils. Many of these beliefs have survived to this day. The Khanty also had others. Otters and beavers were revered as exclusively sacred animals, the purpose of which only shamans could know. The elk was a symbol of reliability and prosperity, prosperity and strength. The Khanty believed that it was the beaver that led their tribe to the Vasyugan River. Many historians are seriously concerned today about oil developments in this area, which threaten the extinction of beavers, and perhaps an entire nation.

Important role Astronomical objects and phenomena played a role in the beliefs of the Khanty and Mansi. The sun was revered in the same way as in most other mythologies, and was personified with the feminine principle. The moon was considered a symbol of a man. People, according to the Mansi, appeared thanks to the union of two luminaries. The moon, according to the beliefs of these tribes, informed people about the dangers in the future with the help of eclipses.

Plants, in particular trees, occupy a special place in the culture of the Khanty and Mansi. Each tree symbolizes its own part of existence. Some plants are sacred, and it is forbidden to be near them, some were forbidden even to step over without permission, while others, on the contrary, had a beneficial effect on mortals. Another symbol of the male gender was the bow, which was not only a hunting tool, but also served as a symbol of good luck and strength. They used the bow to tell fortunes, the bow was used to predict the future, and women were forbidden to touch prey struck by an arrow or step over this hunting weapon.

In all actions and customs, both Mansi and Khanty strictly adhere to the following rules: “The way you treat nature today is how your people will live tomorrow.”.

The Khanty are one of the ancient peoples of Western Siberia, widely
settled throughout the Ob-Irtysh basin from the Demyanka-Vasyugan line in the south to
Ob Bay in the north. According to myths, some Khanty deities originate from
the upper reaches of the Ob, and legends tell about the campaigns of their ancestors to the Kara Sea. IN
Geographically, the territory represents the West Siberian
lowland with a zone of taiga and forest-tundra. The region is rich in mineral resources, including
there is gold in the number; over the past 20 years, the richest developments have been carried out here
oil and gas fields. This is the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra.

The main food of the Khanty is fish and meat. The fish was eaten raw (freshly caught
and frozen), boiled and fried-dried or dried. The entrails were melted out
fish oil, consumed with various foods - fish, berries, flour
products. The main source of meat was large animals - elk and wild deer.
Domestic deer were slaughtered for meat only by owners of large herds. Kidneys, liver,
bone marrow, eyes, ears, lips, and sometimes meat were eaten raw, but usually meat
cooked. Upland and waterfowl were eaten in
boiled or dried and smoked. From
wild ones consumed mainly berries, and some plants were also collected.

Mushrooms were considered “unclean” and were not eaten. The Khanty tradition has deep roots
preparing some dishes from flour and cereals, but bread began to be widely consumed
only recently. Drinks included water, chaga decoction and others.
herbal decoctions. Slab tea was very popular. Many smoked, snorted and
sucked tobacco.

One of the striking features of the traditional Khanty culture is
a wide variety of housing types. Some of them were permanent, while others
temporary, dismountable. For overnight stays on the way in the summer, a temporary shelter was built or
a barrier around the fire, and in winter they dug a snow hole. Frame buildings made of poles and
covered with birch bark and had the shape of a hut with a gable roof, hemispherical,
semi-conical and the most common conical - this is chum. They covered him
not only birch bark, but also skins, and currently they use
tarpaulin. Permanent non-demountable dwellings include dugouts or semi-dugouts and
above-ground buildings made of logs and
boards Of these, the most interesting are those mentioned in
folklore ancient half-dugouts with supporting pillars and a hip roof, in which
there was an entrance to the house. Log buildings differed in roof design:
flat, single-pitched, gable. In temporary buildings, the hearth was a fire,
and in the permanent ones - chuval, made of logs coated with clay and resembling
fireplace. On the street, semi-sedentary residents set up an adobe oven for making
bread and fish dishes.

In traditional Khanty society, creativity was woven into
a single life stream, in the reality of reality itself. Word, phrase also
were considered not abstract, but completely materialized, occupying, like a thing, in
space its proper place. In this regard, it was considered unacceptable to omit
some parts and replace them with others, even if they were more suitable
storyline. To some readers it may seem illogical, unjustifiable,
when any narrative does not connect the beginning and the end; events in it
develop unpredictably, and the details are so closely intertwined and there are so many of them that
there is not always a clear storyline.

A common feature is known primitive art when the artist
(the narrator) places himself, as it were, inside what is being depicted and sees what is hidden
for an outside observer; in other words, the narrator is a participant
events where all the heroes are equally significant, and fairy tale characters and mythical
personality - it's you! we are all together! This is comparable to the attitude towards the work
fine arts: if an elderly Khanty is shown his own
photograph, he will note its flaw: “There is no other half.”

Sometimes we're talking about about seemingly obvious details, but they are not
are omitted from the narrative because they are in a holistic system
ideas about a thing and a situation: for example, it speaks of a bowstring tied to
the ends of a bow glued with glue from the scales of winter crucian carp, which does not exist on
crucian carp in the summer. Other things, on the contrary, were disguised, because were taboo:
the bear's head was called the city, the chest was called the boat, the tambourine was called the eagle, on which
"someone" rises to heaven.

The modern worldview of the Khanty is preserved in the form of an alloy
the most ancient Ugric ideas, elements of the Iranian circle of cultures,
Christian beliefs, and, finally, materialistic (scientific)
worldview. However, the most ancient autochthonous-pagan remains predominant
plast. Just like before historical periods the worldview of the people is not
fixed, motionless. New ones appear and are issued extremely quickly
images, concepts, comparisons: “The lower spirit flies like a satellite”, “Tanya ran
faster than an airplane" etc. In some cases one can sense an ironic attitude
to the plots of the past, but it does not reach complete negation - as a sign
trust in their ancestors: “I don’t know if it’s true, but they say that spirits ate when they
they left food." It is extremely interesting that folk fantasy seemed to prepare
human thinking to the perception of today's realities: fantastic speeds,
going into space, etc. The older generation is not surprised by this, because they know:
"The shamans flew even further."

Researchers highly value mythology and folk
the creativity of the Ob Ugrians is on a par with the Kalevala and the poetry of Homer. Perfection
Khanty traditional worldview is obvious - it is complete and gives
an explanation of both the immediate habitual action and all subsequent ones. Few
In addition, to all subsequent actions for all subsequent generations. All that is required is
the only condition is the process of practical exploration of the world and its theoretical
comprehension should not be disrupted.

The Khanty are a people who have lived in the north of the Russian Federation since ancient times, mainly in the territories of the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs. Khanty is not the only name of a given people, in the West it is known as Ostyaks or Yugras, but the more accurate self-name is “Khanty” (from the Khanty “kantakh” - person, people) in Soviet time was established as official.

In historical chronicles, the first written mentions of the Khanty people are found in Russian and Arabic sources of the 10th century AD, but it is known for certain that the ancestors of the Khanty lived in the Urals and Western Siberia already in the 6-5 millennium BC; subsequently they were displaced nomads to the lands of Northern Siberia.

Usually Khanty are people of short stature, about 1.5-1.6 m, with straight black or dark brown hair, dark skin, dark eyes. The type of face can be described as Mongolian, but with the eye shape of the correct shape - a slightly flat face, cheekbones noticeably protruding, lips thick, but not full.

People's culture, language and spiritual world not homogeneous. This is explained by the fact that the Khanty settled quite widely and different cultures formed in different climatic conditions.

The southern Khanty were mainly engaged in fishing, but they were also known for farming and cattle breeding.

The main occupations of the northern Khanty were reindeer herding and hunting, and less often fishing.

The Khanty, who were engaged in hunting and fishing, had 3-4 dwellings in different seasonal settlements, which changed depending on the season.

Such dwellings were made of logs and placed directly on the ground, sometimes a hole was first dug (like a dugout). Khanty reindeer herders lived in tents - a portable dwelling consisting of poles placed in a circle, fastened in the center, covered with birch bark (in summer) or skins (in winter).

Since ancient times, the Khanty have revered the elements of nature: the sun, moon, fire, water, wind. The Khanty also had totemic patrons, family deities and ancestor patrons. Each clan had its own totem animal, it was revered, considered one of the distant relatives. This animal could not be killed or eaten.

The bear was revered everywhere, he was considered a protector, he helped hunters, protected against diseases, and resolved disputes. At the same time, the bear, unlike other totem animals, could be hunted.

In order to reconcile the spirit of the bear and the hunter who killed it, the Khanty organized a bear festival. The frog was revered as a guardian family happiness and assistant to women in labor.

There were also sacred places, the place where the patron lives. Hunting and fishing were prohibited in such places, since the animals were protected by the patron himself.

To the present day traditional rituals and the holidays arrived in a changed form, they were adapted to modern views and timed to coincide with certain events (for example, a bear festival is held before the issuance of licenses to shoot bears).

The Khanty tribe is very skilled in hunting and fishing. The Northern Khanty also make a living in nomadic reindeer herding, which is their main occupation. The southern Khanty hunt fur-bearing animals, fish, breed animals, and in some cases livestock.
The Khanty inhabit the vast majority of the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

Their settlements are found in the basin of the Ob River and many of its tributaries, in the Yamalo-Nenets Okrug and in the north of the Tomsk region. If we talk about the western part of the Khanty-Mansiysk Okrug, or more precisely along the banks of the Sosva and Lyapin waterways, then the Mansi people live there.

The most significant collections of household items of the Khanty and Mansi are located in St. Petersburg in the Museum of Ethnography of the Peoples of the USSR and also in the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography.

Tobolsk boasts less significant, but still very informative collections state museum-reserve and Tomsk Regional Museum of Local Lore.

The life of the Khanty has its own characteristics. More recently, the entire economy of this nationality was subsistence. The Khanty independently made for themselves both clothing and household items, as well as equipment for fishing.

In their tradition, responsibilities are divided into male and female. So the male population was busy processing wood, metal and bone.

Khanty people

But the fair half processed skins, sewed clothes and shoes, wove, knitted, braided, made utensils from birch bark, as well as metal jewelry (molten metal was poured into molds).

Getting acquainted with the art of this nationality, one cannot help but pay attention to the colorfulness, richness of the patterns and variety of manufacturing methods. In addition to materials familiar to the north, such as wood, birch bark, tin, lead, deer skins and fur-bearing animals, the Khanty skillfully used fish skin, made mats from grass and reeds, and wove cloths from nettle fiber.

Their craftsmen made vessels from cedar roots, and their craftswomen decorated shirts and caftans with skillful embroidery. There are many techniques of weaving and embroidery with colored beads. Khanty prefer bright shades in his attire.

Women tied woolen and cotton scarves on their heads, decorated with large, bright decor. Fasten them to the front corners of the square, leaving the rear ends hanging freely.

Khanty

Khanty(proper name - Khanti, Ruka, Kantek, obsolete Ostyaks) - autochthonous small Ugrians living in the north of Western Siberia. Hanty self-employment means people.

number

There are three ethnographic groups of Khanty: northern, southern and eastern and southern (Priirtysh) Khanty, mixed with Russian and Tatar populations.

According to the 2002 census, the number of Khanty in Russia is 28,678 people, 59.7% of whom live in the Khanty-Mansiysk region, 30.5% in the Jamal Autonomous Okrug, 3.0% in the Tomsk region, 3.0% - in the Tyumen region without Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 0.3% in Komi. According to the 2010 census, the number of Khanty people increased to 30,943 people, of which 61.6% live in the Khanty-Mansiysk region, 30.7% in the Jamal Autonomous Okrug, 2.3% in the Tyumen and Khanty regions. Mansiysk Okrug without Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug 2.3% - Tomsk region.

Khanty population dynamics:

story

The ancestors of the Khanty infiltrated south of the lower reaches of the OB and settled on the territory of the modern Khanty-Mansiysk and Yamalo-Nenets regions of the southern autonomous region, and based on mixing for millennia, I finally, aborigines and immigrant Finnish tribes began the ethnogenesis of Hunt (Ust-poluyskaya culture).

Khanti was named after rivers, for example Kondihu = “people of Konda”, As-jah = “people of both”, and from the latter perhaps the Russian name Khanty- Ostyaks, although, according to other researchers, the Russians could have borrowed the word “Ostyak” from the Tatar “mouth” = barbarian.

The Samoyeds (Nenets together, ENets, Nganasans, Selkups and the now extinct Sayan Samoyed in pre-revolutionary Russia) call the Yarans Khanty or yargan (a word that is close to the Irtysh-hantskomu Yar - "Alien").

Traditional fishing involves fishing, hunting and raising deer.

Traditional religion is shamanism and Orthodoxy (since the 16th century). They belong to the Ural match.

anthropology

The Encyclopedia Dictionary Brockhaus and Efron described Hunti:

The Khanty (as well as the Mansi) are characterized by the following set of properties:

• short stature (on average for men less than 160 cm),
• overall grace (miniature structure),
• narrow head, fleshy or dolinocephalic shape and low height,
• flat soft black or light brown hair,
• dark or mixed eyes,
• remarkably changes the percentage of Mongolian wrinkles from the eyelids covering lacrimal tuberculosis (epicanthus) groups,
• various facial shapes of medium height, with noticeable alignment and zigzag,
• the nose is slightly or moderately visible, predominantly of medium width, predominantly with a flat or concave nasal dorsum, with a raised tip and base,
• weakened beard growth,
• relatively wide mouth,
• small lip thickness,
• medium or thin beard.

language

The Khantan language (an obsolete name for the Ostyak language), together with the Mank and Hungarian languages, forms the Ob-Ugric group of the Uralic family of languages.

The Hanti language is known for its unusual dialectal fragmentation. Provided that western group- Obdorsk, Obl and Parastishsky dialect and the eastern group - Surgut and Vakh-Vasyugan advertisements, on the other hand, with 13 dialects.

Since the 19th century on Ostyak (Khanty) there were serious work. So, in 1849 A. Castrén produced a short grammar and dictionary, and in 1926 the Paasonen dictionary. In 1931, Ostyak powder was released.

E. Hatanzeeva ("Khanty knijga"), but his editorial errors were made, in particular, the wrong choice of dialect, irrational principles of transcription and methodological errors that coverage was often not used. That same year, the Black Folk Association Research Institute of the Kazim Alphabet Preliminary Project within the Electoral USSR was developed, and Kazim's book ABC was published in 1933.

In 1950, at the All-Union Conference dedicated to the development of literary languages ​​of the peoples of the Far North, it was decided to create a script for three more Khanty dialects: Vachovsky, Surgut and Shuryshkarsky.

culture

On November 1, 1957, the Khanty-Mansi Okrug published the first newspaper in the Khanty language as "Leninsky punt-huvat" ("Lenin's Way"), which was split in 1991 in Khanti "Khanti-yasang" Mansi "Luima Seripos".

The Hanti newspaper also publishes the magazine Luh avt.

August 10, 1989 Public organization“YUGRA Salvation” was created, one of the main tasks of which is to strengthen the indigenous peoples of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, including the preservation of the national identity, way of life and culture of both the Khanty, Mansi, and Nenets.

Ethno-rock band H-Ural since 2009

performs songs on Shurishkar and Hangzhou dynasties.

Indigenous peoples of Siberia: Khanty

Examples of the use of the word Ostyaks in literature.

I already said in last letter that the so-called Ostyaks Tomsk province is by no means Ostyaks and not a special one, as Klaproth believes, a tribe originating from the mixing of Ostyaks with Samoyeds, but real Samoyeds that spread from Tym to Chulym.

Are they Samoyeds or Ostyaks, or a mixture of these two peoples - this could not be solved without knowledge of the Ostyak language and Ostyak culture.

He knew from previous experience that it was extremely difficult to find such a person, since Ostyaks They are very reluctant to tell foreigners information about their language.

If we miss the moment now, then those who arrived Ostyaks they will spread the news of the arrival of foreigners who want to know the Ostyak language, and this news, supplemented by incredible fictions and alarming warnings, will spread throughout the entire region and will greatly hinder travelers in studying the Ostyaks.

Added to this is the fact that Ostyaks, constituting an undoubted branch Finnish tribe, spread almost to the mentioned ridge.

Total number about 31 thousand people. The bulk lives in the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets districts, approximately 90 percent of the total population. The remaining part is settled in the Tyumen, Novosibirsk and Tomsk regions.

History of the Khanty

Scientists draw information about the origin of the Khanty people from archaeological finds, studying folklore traditions and linguistic features of national dialects. Most versions of the formation of the Khanty come down to the hypothesis of a mixture of two cultures: the Ugric tribes with the Ural Neolithic. Found remains of household items (pottery, stone tools, decorations) indicate that the Khanty originally lived on the slopes of the Ural Mountains. Archaeologists have discovered ancient temples in the caves of the Perm region. The Khanty language belongs to the Finno-Ugric branch, and, consequently, the people had family relations with other northern tribes. The closeness of the Khanty and Mansi cultures confirms the similarities in national dialects, objects and way of life, and folk art. More than four centuries ago, the ancestors of the Khanty moved along the Ob River in a northern direction. In the tundra, nomads were engaged in animal husbandry, hunting, gathering and agriculture(in the southern side) There were also conflicts with neighboring tribes. To resist the attacks of foreign tribes, the Khanty united into large alliances. This education was supervised prince, leader, chief of the tribe.

After the fall of the Siberian Khanate, the northern territories went to the Moscow state. Here, by order of the sovereign, northern forts are built. Temporary fortifications in Siberia later turned into cities. Many Russian inhabitants were sent to foreign lands, which led to an increase in the population as a whole. The newcomer Russians described the unknown tribes as terrible, barbaric groups of savages. Local traditions and rituals were accompanied by blood, ritual chants and shamanic spells, which instilled fear in the Russian settlers. The expansion by the Russian population caused confusion among the indigenous inhabitants. In the endless tundra they built fortresses and formed volosts. However, a noble representative from the Khanty was chosen to manage the lands and population. Indigenous people, including the Khanty, made up only part of total number residents. Today, the Khanty (approximately 28 thousand people) live in the Yamalo-Nenets and Khanty-Mansi districts.

Nature is the highest value of Khanty culture

The harsh conditions of the tundra dictated a difficult way of life: in order to feed and survive, it was necessary to work hard. Men went hunting in the hope of catching a fur-bearing animal. Caught wild animals were not only good for food, their valuables could be sold or exchanged with traders. The Ob River supplied the Khanty with a generous catch freshwater fish. To preserve fish for food, it was salted, dried, and dried. Reindeer husbandry – traditional occupation indigenous northern inhabitants. The unpretentious animal fed a huge family. Reindeer skins were actively used in everyday life and in the construction of tents. A reindeer sled could be used to transport loads. Unpretentious in food, the Khanty ate mainly meat (deer, elk, bear), even raw. They could cook a hot stew from the meat. There was little plant food. During the season of mushrooms and berries, the meager diet of the northerners expanded.

The philosophy of a single spirit with nature can be traced in the veneration native land. The Khanty never hunted a young animal or a pregnant female. The fish nets were designed only for large specimens, and the young fish, according to local fishermen, had to grow up. The catch or hunting trophies were spent sparingly. All entrails and offal were used as food, so waste was minimal. The Khanty treated the gifts of forests and rivers with special respect and attributed them to nature magical power. To appease the forest spirits, the Khanty organized a donation ritual. Often the Khanty gave their first catch or the carcass of a caught animal to a mythical deity. The caught prey was left near the wooden idol to the sounds of magical songs.

Traditions. Holidays and rituals

Interesting spring holiday, associated with the arrival of the gray crow. The appearance of this bird meant the beginning of the fishing season. If a crow was noticed at the top of a tree, then it was a sign “ big water" The arrival of the crow marks the arrival of spring, the beginning of a new season, and therefore life for the indigenous people. To appease the birds, a table with delicacies is set up for them. The birds are very happy about such generosity from the Khanty!
The owner of the taiga, the formidable bear, receives no less honor. After hunting a bear, the Khanty seem to ask for forgiveness from the killed animal. They eat bear meat late in the evening or at night, as if escorting the soul of the animal into the dark sky. .

Kondiho, kandayahi: Modern ethnonym from kondiho, kandaiyakhi, khandoho - “man”, “people”. Available a large number of self-names of territorial groups of Khanty.

Main area of ​​settlement

They live in the Tyumen and Tomsk regions, in the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, in the Ob River basin and along its tributaries.

Number

Number according to censuses: 1897 - 17221, 1926 - 17334, 1959 -19410, 1970 - 2II38, 1979 - 20934, 1989 - 22521.

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

Ethnic culture Khanty is heterogeneous. Geographically, three ethnographic groups are distinguished, corresponding to the dialect division of the Khanty language. These groups, in turn, are divided into territorial ones, whose representatives, as a rule, settle in the basin of one river.

Anthropological characteristics

The anthropological features of the Khanty allow us to classify them as a Ural contact race, which is internally heterogeneous in the territorial correlation of Mongoloid and Caucasian features. The Khanty, along with the Selkups and Nenets, are part of the West Siberian group of populations, which is characterized by an increased proportion of Mongoloidity, compared to other representatives of the Ural race.

Language

Khanty: The Khanty language is part of the Ugric group of the Ural language family and is divided into three groups of dialects - northern, with four dialects, southern, with three dialects and eastern, with three dialects. Within dialects, adverbs are distinguished.

Writing

Dialectal fragmentation made the creation of writing difficult. In 1879, a primer in one of the dialects of the Khanty language was published by N. Grigorovsky. Subsequently, priest I. Egorov created a primer of the Khanty language in the Obdor dialect, which was then translated into the Vakhov-Vasyugan dialect. In the beginning, 1930s. the basis of the Khanty alphabet was the Kazym dialect, since 1940 literary language The Middle Ob dialect was established. Currently, writing exists on the basis of five dialects of the Khanty language: Kazym, Surgut, Vakhovsk, Surgut, Sredneobok.

Religion

Orthodoxy: After the Russians came to Siberia, the Khanty were Christianized. This process was uneven and affected primarily those groups of Khanty who experienced the diverse influence of Russian settlers (southern Khanty). Other groups note the presence of religious syncretism, expressed in the adaptation of a number of Christian dogmas, with the predominance of the cultural function of the traditional ideological system.

Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

Northern Khanty. Archaeologists associate the genesis of their culture with the Ust-Poluy culture (end of the 1st millennium BC - beginning of the 1st millennium AD), localized in the river basin. Ob from the mouth of the Irtysh to the Ob Bay. This is a northern taiga fishing culture, many of whose traditions are followed by modern northern Khanty.
From the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. The northern Khanty were strongly influenced by the Nenets reindeer herding culture. In the zone of direct territorial contacts, the Khanty were partially assimilated by the tundra Nenets (the so-called seven Nenets clans of Khanty origin).
Southern Khanty. They spread upward from the mouth of the Irtysh. This is the territory of the southern taiga, forest-steppe and steppe and culturally it gravitates more to the south. In their formation and subsequent ethnocultural development, the southern forest-steppe population played a significant role, layering on the general Khanty base. The Turks and later the Russians had a significant influence on the southern Khanty.
Eastern Khanty. They settle in the Middle Ob region and along the tributaries: Salym, Pim, Tromyegan, Agan, Vakh, Yugan, Vasyugan. This group in to a greater extent, than others, retains North Siberian cultural features dating back to the Ural population - draft dog breeding, dugout boats, the predominance of swing clothing, birch bark utensils, and a fishing economy. Another significant component of the culture of the Eastern Khanty is the Sayan-Altai component, which dates back to the formation of the West - South Siberian fishing tradition. The influence of the Sayan-Altai Turks on the culture of the Eastern Khanty can be traced in more late time. Within modern territory habitats, the Eastern Khanty interacted quite actively with the Kets and Selkups, which was facilitated by belonging to the same economic and cultural type.
Thus, if there is common features culture characteristic of the Khanty ethnic group, which is associated with early stages their ethnogenesis and the formation of the Ural community, which, along with the mornings, included the ancestors of the Kets and Samoyed peoples, the subsequent cultural “divergence”, the formation of ethnographic groups, was largely determined by the processes of ethnocultural interaction with neighboring peoples.

Farm

The northern Khanty are characterized by hunting and fishing, dwellings such as dugouts and tents, sled dog breeding (probably before the 16th century), galley skis, swinging clothing made of skins and fish skins, a composite dugout boat, wooden and birch bark utensils.
Among the northern Khanty, Samoyed reindeer husbandry spreads south to Berezov and the river basin. Kazym. In the Khanty culture it is presented in the taiga, transport version, with a set of elements common to the reindeer herding tradition cultural elements- reindeer transport, partly housing, a set of winter “deaf” clothing, utensils, changes in some norms public life(ownership of deer and their inheritance, property meta), worldviews (deer in funeral rite). In the field of reindeer husbandry, the Northern Khanty interacted quite actively with the Komi-Izhemtsy.
Southern Khanty. Given the presence of a fishing complex, they know cattle breeding and agriculture.

Traditional settlements and dwellings

The Khanty led a semi-sedentary lifestyle. In this regard, they had permanent and temporary spring/summer/autumn settlements (yurts). Winter settlements were more crowded. The settlements had an open plan and were located in fishing areas.
Based on the fact that the economy influences the nature of settlement, and the type of settlement influences the structure of the dwelling, the Ob Ugrians distinguish five types of settlement with the corresponding features of the settlements.
- nomadic camps with portable dwellings of nomadic reindeer herders (lower reaches of the Ob and its tributaries);
- permanent winter settlements of reindeer herders in combination with summer nomadic and portable summer dwellings (Sev. Sosva, Lozva, Kazym, Vogulka, Lower Ob);
- permanent winter settlements of hunters and fishermen in combination with temporary and seasonal settlements with portable or seasonal dwellings(Verkhnyaya Sosva, Lozva);
- permanent winter fishing villages in combination with seasonal spring, summer and autumn (Ob tributaries);
- permanent settlements of fishermen and hunters (with auxiliary importance of agriculture and animal husbandry) in combination with fishing huts (Ob, Irtysh, Konda).
Khanty dwellings are very diverse. Winter - dugouts and half-dugouts with a wooden post frame, which was covered on top with poles, branches, turf and earth. Heating using a furnace. Along the perimeter of the bunk walls. Local design options are possible. Log buildings were built as winter homes.
Seasonal buildings are more varied in shape (conical, gable, single-pitch, spherical, etc.). They were built from poles and covered with birch bark.

Bibliography and sources

General work

• Fishermen and hunters of the Ob basin: problems of the formation of the culture of the Khanty and Mansi. St. Petersburg, 2000./Fedorova E.G.
• Fishermen and hunters of the Ob basin: problems of the formation of the Khanty and Magnsi culture. St. Petersburg, 2000./Fedorova E.G.
• Meet the Khanty. Novosibirsk, 1992./Kulemzin V.M., Lukina N.V.

Selected aspects

• Ob Ugrians (Khanty and Mansi). Series "Peoples and Cultures". Vol. 7. M., 1992.
• Dwelling of the peoples of Siberia. (Typology experience). M., 1998./Sokolova Z.P.
• Man and nature in Khanty beliefs. Tomsk, 1984./Kulemzin V.M.

Selected regional groups

• Formation material culture Khanty (Eastern ethnographic group). Tomsk, 1985./Lukina N.V.
• Description of the heterodox peoples of Ostyaks and Samoyeds living in the Siberian province in the Berezovsky district // Materials on the ethnography of Siberia in the 18th century. TIE. 1947. T. 5/Zuev V.F.
• Vasyugan-Vakh Khanty at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries. Ethnographic essays. Tomsk, 1977/Kulemzin V.M., Lukina N.V.