Famous Chukchi. How modern Chukchi live (29 photos)

Everyone has heard the expression “naive Chukchi girl” and jokes about the Chukchi. In our understanding, this is a person far from the achievements of civilization. A symbol of naivety that borders on feeble-mindedness, starting any sentence with “however” and preferring vodka to their wives. We perceive the Chukchi as distant northern people, who is exclusively interested in deer and walrus meat. Who are the Chukchi really?

They know how to stand up for themselves

Valdis Kristovskis, a Latvian politician and leader of the Unity party, in an interview with the Latvian newspaper Delfi carelessly defended the phrase “Latvians are not Chukchi.” In response to this insult, the newspaper Diena published a response from Ooi Milger, a representative of the Louravetlan people (otherwise known as “Chukchi”). He wrote: “In your opinion, it turns out that the Chukchi are not people. This offended me very much. The Louravetlans are a people of warriors. Many books have been written about this. I have my father's carbine. Latvians too small people who had to fight for survival. Where does such arrogance come from? Here are the “naive” and stupid Chukchi for you.

Chukchi and all the “rest”

The small Chukchi people are settled over a vast territory - from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River, from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr River. This territory can be compared with Kazakhstan, and just over 15 thousand people live on it! (Russian census data in 2010)

The name Chukchi is the name of the people “Louratvelans” adapted for Russian people. Chukchi means “rich in deer” (chauchu) – this is how northern reindeer herders introduced themselves to Russian pioneers in the 17th century. “Loutwerans” is translated as “real people,” since in the mythology of the Far North the Chukchi are the “superior race” chosen by the gods. Chukchi mythology explains that the gods created the Evenks, Yakuts, Koryaks and Eskimos exclusively as Russian slaves, so that they would help the Chukchi trade with the Russians.

Ethnic history of the Chukchi. Briefly

The ancestors of the Chukchi settled in Chukotka at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. In such a natural-geographical environment, customs, traditions, mythology, language and racial characteristics were formed. The Chukchi have increased thermoregulation, high level hemoglobin in the blood, rapid metabolism, therefore the formation of this Arctic race took place in the conditions of the Far North, otherwise they would not have survived.

Mythology of the Chukchi. world creation

In Chukchi mythology, the raven appears - the creator, the main benefactor. Creator of the earth, sun, rivers, seas, mountains, deer. It was the raven who taught people to live in difficult natural conditions. Since, according to the Chukchi, Arctic animals participated in the creation of space and stars, the names of constellations and individual stars are associated with deer and ravens. The Capella star is a reindeer bull with a human sleigh. Two stars near the constellation Aquila - “A female deer with a fawn.” Milky Way- a river with sandy waters, with islands - pastures for deer.

The names of the months of the Chukchi calendar reflect the life of wild deer, its biological rhythms and migration patterns.

Raising children among the Chukchi

In the upbringing of Chukchi children, one can trace a parallel with Indian customs. At the age of 6, the Chukchi begin the harsh education of boy warriors. From this age, boys sleep standing up, with the exception of sleeping supported by a yaranga. At the same time, adult Chukchi were raised even in their sleep - they sneaked up with a hot metal tip or a smoldering stick, so that the boy would develop a lightning-fast reaction to any sounds.

Young Chukchi ran behind reindeer teams with stones on their feet. From the age of 6, they constantly held a bow and arrow in their hands. Thanks to this eye training, the Chukchi's vision is long years remained sharp. By the way, this is why the Chukchi were excellent snipers during the Great Patriotic War. Favorite games are “football” with a ball made of reindeer hair and wrestling. Fought in special places– sometimes on walrus skin (very slippery), sometimes on ice.

Rite of passage adult life– a test for the viable. The “exam” relied on dexterity and attentiveness. For example, a father sent his son on a mission. But the task was not the main thing. The father tracked his son while he walked to carry out his task, and waited until his son lost his vigilance - then he released an arrow. The young man’s task is to instantly concentrate, react and dodge. Therefore, passing the exam means surviving. But the arrows were not smeared with poison, so there was a chance of survival after being wounded.

War as a way of life

The Chukchi have a simple attitude towards death - they are not afraid of it. If one Chukchi asks another to kill him, then the request is carried out easily, without a doubt. The Chukchi believe that each of them has 5-6 souls, and there is a whole “universe of ancestors”. But in order to get there, you must either die with dignity in battle, or die at the hands of a relative or friend. Your own death or death from old age is a luxury. Therefore, the Chukchi are excellent warriors. They are not afraid of death, they are fierce, they have a sensitive sense of smell, lightning-fast reactions, and a sharp eye. If in our culture a medal is awarded for military merits, then the Chukchi are on the back side right palm got a dot tattoo. How more points, the more experienced and fearless warrior.

Chukchi women correspond to the harsh Chukchi men. They carry a knife with them so that in case of serious danger they can stab their children, parents, and then themselves.

"Home Shamanism"

The Chukchi have what is called “domestic shamanism.” These are echoes of the ancient religion of the Louravetlans, because now almost all Chukchi go to church and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. But they are still “shamanizing” to this day.

During the autumn slaughter of livestock, the entire Chukotka family, including children, beats a tambourine. This ritual protects deer from disease and early death. But this is more like a game, like, for example, Sabantui - the holiday of the end of plowing among the Turkic peoples.

Writer Vladimir Bogoraz, ethnographer and researcher of the peoples of the Far North, writes that in real shamanic rituals people are cured of terrible diseases and mortal wounds are healed. Real shamans can grind a stone into crumbs in their hands and “sew up” a lacerated wound with their bare hands. The main task of shamans is to heal the sick. To do this, they fall into a trance in order to “travel between worlds.” In Chukotka, people become shamans if a Chukchi is saved in a moment of danger by a walrus, deer or wolf - thereby “transferring” ancient magic to the sorcerer.

A remarkable feature of the Chukchi shaman is that he can “gender me” at will. Men, at the behest of the spirits, become women, even get married. Bogoraz suggested that these were echoes of matriarchy.

Chukchi and humor

The Chukchi came up with the saying “laughter makes a man strong.” This phrase is considered the life credo of every Chukchi. They are not afraid of death, they kill easily, without feeling the burden. For other people, it is incomprehensible how one can first cry over death loved one and then laugh? But despondency and melancholy for the Chukchi are a sign that a person has been “captured” by the evil spirit of Kele, and this was condemned. Therefore, the Chukchi constantly joke, make fun of each other, laugh. From childhood, Chukchi are taught to be cheerful. It is believed that if a child cries for a long time, then his parents raised him poorly. Girls for marriage are also chosen according to their liking. If a girl is cheerful and has a sense of humor, she has a better chance of getting married than one who is always sad, since it is believed that a sad girl is sick and therefore dissatisfied, because she thinks about illnesses.

Chukchi and jokes

Not only the Chukchi laugh, but they also like to make fun of the Chukchi. The topic of the Chukchi in Russian jokes is one of the most extensive. People have been making jokes about the Chukchi since the times of the USSR. Alexandra Arkhipova, Associate Professor at the Center for Typology and Semiotics of the Russian State University for the Humanities, connects the beginning of the appearance of jokes with the 60s film “Chief of Chukotka.” There, the familiar Chukchi “however” sounded for the first time. The image of the Chukchi in jokes is that of someone who doesn’t know Russian well, a wild, gullible person who constantly reflects. There is also an opinion that we read the measure of our national superiority from the Chukchi. Like, the Chukchi are stupid and naive, but we are not like that. Today, the main topic of jokes has shifted towards the former Chukotka governor Roman Abramovich.

Chukchi or luoravetlany(self-name - This, oravethis) - a small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyuya rivers. The number according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002 is 15,767 people, according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 - 15,908 people.

Number and settlement

Number of Chukchi in Russia:

Number of Chukchi in populated areas(2002)

village Srednie Pakhachi 401

Origin

Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, was adapted in the 17th century. Russian explorers Chukchi word chauchu[ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), which is the name the Chukchi reindeer breeders call themselves in contrast to the coastal Chukchi - dog breeders - ankalyn(seaside, Pomors - from Anki(sea)). Self-name - oravethis(Men in singular oravet'en) or This [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt[ ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in the Russian program luoravetlan). The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukaghirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the shores of the Bering Strait).

The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the peculiarities of life of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog harness. The final solution to the question of ethnographic origin depends on comparative study the Chukchi language and the languages of nearby American nationalities. One of the language experts, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, based on their language, the Chukchi were classified as Paleo-Asians, that is, a group of marginal peoples of Asia, whose languages stand completely apart from all the others. linguistic groups The Asian continent, pushed out in very distant times from the middle of the continent to the northeastern outskirts.

Anthropology

Story

Voluntary death is common among the Chukchi. A person who wants to die declares this to a friend or relative, and he must fulfill his request... I know of two dozen cases of voluntary death... [So] one of those who arrived after visiting a Russian barracks felt pain in his stomach. At night the pain intensified so much that he demanded to be killed. His companions fulfilled his wish.

Anticipating many speculations, the ethnographer writes:

The reason for the voluntary death of old people is not a lack of good attitude to them from relatives, but rather the difficult conditions of their life. These conditions make life completely unbearable for anyone who is unable to take care of themselves. Not only the elderly resort to voluntary death, but also those suffering from some kind of incurable disease. The number of such patients dying a voluntary death is no less than the number of old people.

Folklore

The Chukchi have a rich oral folk art, which is also expressed in the art of stone bone. The main genres of folklore: myths, fairy tales, historical legends, tales and everyday stories. One of the main characters was a raven - Kurkyl, cultural hero. Many legends and fairy tales have been preserved, such as “Keeper of the Fire”, “Love”, “When do the whales leave?”, “God and the Boy”. Let's give an example of the latter:

One family lived in the tundra: a father, a mother, and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy herded the reindeer, and the girl helped her mother with housework. One morning, the father woke up his daughter and ordered her to light a fire and make tea. The girl came out of the canopy, and God caught her and ate her, and then ate her father and mother. The boy returned from the herd. Before entering the yaranga, I looked through the hole to see what was going on there. And he sees God sitting on an extinguished fireplace and playing in the ashes. The boy shouted to him: “Hey, what are you doing?” - Nothing, come here. A boy entered the yaranga and they began to play. The boy plays, and he looks around, looking for his relatives. He understood everything and said to God: “Play alone, I’ll go to the wind!” He ran out of the yaranga. Untied the two most angry dogs and ran with them into the forest. He climbed a tree and tied the dogs under the tree. God played and played, he wanted to eat and went to look for the boy. He goes and sniffs the trail. I reached the tree. He wanted to climb a tree, but the dogs caught him, tore him into pieces and ate him. And the boy came home with his herd and became the owner.

Historical legends have preserved stories of wars with neighboring Eskimo tribes.

Folk dances

Despite the difficult living conditions, the people found time for holidays, where the tambourine was not only ritual, but also simply musical instrument, the tunes of which were passed on from generation to generation. Archaeological evidence suggests that dances existed among the ancestors of the Chukchi back in the 1st millennium BC. e. This is evidenced by petroglyphs discovered beyond the Arctic Circle in Chukotka and studied by archaeologist N. N. Dikov.

A striking example ceremonial and ritual dances were celebrated in celebration of the “First Slaughter of the Deer”:

After the meal, all the tambourines belonging to the family, hanging on the poles of the threshold behind a curtain of raw skins, are removed, and the ritual begins. The tambourines are played by all family members in turn for the rest of the day. When all the adults finish, children take their place and, in turn, continue to beat the tambourines. While playing the tambourines, many adults call upon “spirits” and try to induce them to enter their body….

Imitative dances were also common, reflecting the habits of animals and birds: “Crane”, “Crane looks for food”, “Crane Flight”, “Crane looks around”, “Swan”, “Seagull Dance”, “Raven”, “Bull (deer) fight )", "Dance of the Ducks", "Bullfight during the Rutting", "Looking Out", "Running of the Deer".

Special role played trade dances as a type of group marriage, as V. G. Bogoraz writes, they served on one side new connection between families, on the other hand, old family ties are strengthened.

Language, writing and literature

Notes

Official website of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census. Information materials on the final results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census
All-Russian Population Census 2002. Archived from the original on August 21, 2011. Retrieved December 24, 2009.
[http://std.gmcrosstata.ru/webapi/opendatabase?id=vpn2002_pert Microdatabase of the 2002 All-Russian Population Census
V. G. Bogoraz. Chukchi. Part 1. Leningrad 1934 p.3
MONGOLID RACE
Chukchi letter
Yakut army
Description of haplogroup N1c1-M178
TSB (2nd edition)
Dishes from Chukchi cuisine
Food for northern lovers
Chukchi sailor
V. G. Bogoraz. Chukchi. Part 1. Leningrad 1934 pp. 106-107
Ibid pp. 107-108
Chukchi Tales and Legends
Ethnography of Kamchatka
Chukchi, songs and dances
also found name seaside Chukchi
See also: N. N. Cheboksarov, N. I. Cheboksarova. Peoples, races, cultures. M.: Nauka 1971
V. G. Bogoraz. Chukchi and religion. Glavsemorputi L., 1939 p.76
Folklore sector
Ibid page 95

Gallery

Links

Chukchi, Chukots or Luoravetlans. A small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyui rivers. The number according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2002 is 15,767 people, according to the All-Russian Population Census of 2010 - 15,908 people.

Origin

Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, was adapted in the 17th century. Russian explorers used the Chukchi word chauchu [ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), by which name the Chukchi reindeer herders call themselves in contrast to the coastal Chukchi dog breeders - ankalyn (seaside, Pomors - from anki (sea)). Self-name - oravetӓеt (people, singular oravetғеtеn) or ғыгъоруваетғет [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt] (real people, singular ԓыгъоруAVEТӓ'ен [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in the Russian translation luoravet lan). The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukaghirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the shores of the Bering Strait).

The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the peculiarities of life of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog harness. The final solution to the question of ethnographic origin depends on a comparative study of the Chukchi language and the languages of nearby American peoples. One of the language experts, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, based on their language, the Chukchi were classified as Paleo-Asians, that is, a group of marginal peoples of Asia, whose languages stand completely apart from all other linguistic groups of the Asian continent, pushed out in very distant times from the middle of the continent to the northeastern outskirts.

Anthropology

The Chukchi type is mixed, generally Mongoloid, but with some differences. The racial type of the Chukchi, according to Bogoraz, is characterized by some differences. Eyes with an oblique cut are less common than eyes with a horizontal cut; there are individuals with thick facial hair and wavy, almost curly hair on their heads; face with a bronze tint; body color is devoid of a yellowish tint; large, regular facial features, high and straight forehead; the nose is large, straight, sharply defined; the eyes are large and widely spaced. Some researchers noted the height, strength and broad shoulders of the Chukchi. Genetically, the Chukchi reveal their relationship with the Yakuts and Nenets: Haplogroup N (Y-DNA)1c1 is found in 50% of the population, and Haplogroup C (Y-DNA) (close to the Ainu and Itelmen) is also widespread.

Story

The modern ethnogenetic scheme allows us to evaluate the Chukchi as the aborigines of continental Chukotka. Their ancestors formed here at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. The basis of the culture of this population was hunting for wild deer, which existed here in fairly stable natural and climatic conditions until the end of the 17th century. early XVIII centuries. The Chukchi encountered Russians for the first time back in XVII century on the Alazeya River. In 1644, the Cossack Mikhail 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, after a bloody struggle finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing back the Eskimo tribe of the Mamalls from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Bering Sea during their retreat. Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between Russians and Chukchi have not stopped, whose territory bordered on Russia along the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur region (for more details, see Annexation of Chukotka to Russia).

In 1770, after a series of military campaigns, including the unsuccessful campaign of Shestakov (1730), the Anadyr fort, which served as the center of the Russian struggle against the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhnekolymsk, after which the Chukchi became less hostile to the Russians and gradually began to join into trade relations with them. In 1775, on the Angarka River, a tributary of the Bolshoi Anyui, the Angarsk fortress was built, 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 (about 250 km from Nizhnekolymsk, on the banks of the Maly Anyui). Until the first half of the 19th century century, when European goods were delivered to the territory of the Chukchi by the only land route through Yakutsk, the Anyui Fair had a turnover of hundreds of thousands of rubles. The Chukchi brought for sale not only ordinary products of their own production (clothing made from reindeer fur, reindeer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs - sea otters, 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.

With the advent of American whalers in the waters of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean, as well as with the delivery of goods to Gizhiga by ships of the voluntary fleet (in the 1880s), the largest turnover of the Anyui Fair ceased, and to end of the 19th century century, it began to serve only the needs of the local Kolyma trade, with a turnover of no more than 25 thousand rubles.

Farm

Initially, the Chukchi were simply hunters reindeer, over time (shortly before the arrival of the Russians) they mastered reindeer husbandry, which became the basis of their economy.

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 - a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, spread from the second half of the 19th century firearms, hunting methods have become simpler.

Life of the Chukchi

In the 19th century, Chukchi reindeer herders lived in camps of 2-3 houses. Migrations were carried out as the reindeer food became depleted. In the summer, some go down to the sea. The Chukchi clan is agnatic, united by the commonality of fire, consanguinity in the male line, a common totemic sign, tribal revenge and religious rites. Marriage is predominantly endogamous, individual, often polygamous (2-3 wives); among a certain circle of relatives and brothers-in-arms, mutual use of wives is allowed, by agreement; levirate is also common. Kalym does not exist. Chastity does not matter for a girl.

The dwelling - yaranga - is a large tent of irregular polygonal shape, covered with panels of reindeer skins, with the fur facing out. Resistance against wind pressure is provided by stones tied to the pillars and cover of the hut. The fireplace is in the middle of the hut and surrounded by sleighs with household supplies. The actual living space, where the Chukchi eat, drink and sleep, consists of a small rectangular fur tent-canopy, fixed at the back wall of the tent and sealed tightly from the floor. The temperature in this cramped room, heated by the animal warmth of its inhabitants and partly by a fat lamp, is so high that the Chukchi strip naked in it.

Until the end of the 20th century, the Chukchi distinguished between heterosexual men and heterosexual men who wore women's clothing, homosexual men who wore women's clothing, heterosexual women and women who wore men's clothing. At the same time, wearing clothes could also mean performing corresponding social functions.

Chukchi 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 Chukchi women can easily free their hands while working. Summer outerwear They wear robes made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamleykas made of fine-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. Costume infant consists of a reindeer bag with blind branches for arms and legs. Instead of diapers, a layer of moss with reindeer hair is placed, which absorbs feces, which are removed daily through a special valve attached to the opening of the bag.

Women's hairstyles consist of braids braided on both sides of the head, decorated with beads and buttons. 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.

Wooden, stone and iron tools

In the 18th century stone axes, spear and arrowheads, and bone knives were almost completely replaced with metal ones. Utensils, tools and weapons are currently used mainly European (metal cauldrons, teapots, iron knives, guns, etc.), but even today in the life of the Chukchi there are many remnants of recent primitive culture: bone shovels, hoes, drills, bone and stone arrows, spearheads, etc., a compound bow of the American type, slings made of knuckles, armor made of leather and iron plates, stone hammers, scrapers, knives, a primitive projectile for making fire by means of friction, primitive lamps in the form of a round flat vessel made of soft stone, filled with seal fat, etc. Their light sleds, with arched supports instead of spears, adapted only for sitting astride them, have been preserved primitive. The sled is harnessed either to a pair of reindeer (among the reindeer Chukchi), or to dogs, according to the American model (among the coastal Chukchi).

With the advent of Soviet power, schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions appeared in populated areas. A written language was created. The Chukchi literacy level (ability to write and read) does not differ from the national average.

Chukotka cuisine

The basis of the Chukchi diet was boiled meat (reindeer, seal, whale); they also ate leaves and bark of the polar willow (emrat), seaweed, sorrel, shellfish and berries. In addition to traditional meat, the blood and entrails of animals were also used as food. Raw-frozen meat was widespread. Unlike the Tungus and Yukagirs, the Chukchi practically did not eat fish. Among the drinks, the Chukchi preferred herbal decoctions such as tea.

A unique dish is the so-called monyalo - half-digested moss extracted from a large deer stomach; Various canned food and fresh dishes are made from monyal. Semi-liquid stew made from monyal, blood, fat and finely chopped meat until very recently was the most common type of hot food.

Holidays

The reindeer Chukchi held several holidays: the slaughter of young reindeer in August, the installation of a winter home (feeding the constellation Pegyttin - the star Altair and Zore from the constellation Eagle), the division of herds in the spring (separation of the female deer from the young bulls), the festival of horns (Kilvey) in the spring after the calving of the female reindeer, sacrifices to fire, etc. Once or twice a year, each family celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday.

Chukchi religion

The religious beliefs of the Chukchi are expressed in amulets (pendants, headbands, necklaces in the form of straps with beads). Painting the face with the blood of the murdered victim, with the image of a hereditary-tribal sign - a totem, also has ritual significance. The original pattern on the quivers and clothes of the coastal Chukchi is of Eskimo origin; from the Chukchi it passed to many polar peoples of Asia.

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, etc.), many animals (bear, crow), stars, sun and moon, believe in hosts of evil spirits that cause all earthly disasters, including illness and death, have whole line regular holidays (autumn festival of deer slaughter, spring festival of antlers, winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, commemoration of the dead, votive services, etc.). Each family, in addition, has its own family shrines: hereditary projectiles for producing sacred fire through friction for famous festivals, one for each family member (the bottom plate of the projectile represents a figure with the head of the owner of fire), then bundles of wooden knots of “misfortune removers”, wooden images of ancestors and, finally, a family tambourine, since the Chukchi ritual with a tambourine is not the property of only specialist shamans. The latter, having sensed their calling, experience a preliminary period of a kind of involuntary temptation, fall into deep thought, wander without food or sleep for whole days until they receive real inspiration. Some die from this crisis; some receive a suggestion to change their gender, that is, a man should turn into a woman, and vice versa. Those transformed take on the clothing and lifestyle of their new gender, even marrying, getting married, etc.

The dead are either burned or wrapped in layers of raw deer meat and left in the field, after first cutting into the throat and chest of the deceased and pulling out part of the heart and liver. First, the deceased is dressed, fed and told fortunes, forcing him to answer questions. Old people often kill themselves in advance or, at their request, are killed by close relatives.

A baydara is a boat built without a single nail, effective for hunting sea animals.
Most of the Chukchi by the beginning of the 20th century were baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, but among the nomadic people there are remnants traditional beliefs(shamanism).

Voluntary death

Difficult living conditions and malnutrition led to such a phenomenon as voluntary death.

Anticipating many speculations, the ethnographer writes:

The reason for the voluntary death of old people is not the lack of good attitude towards them on the part of relatives, but rather the difficult conditions of their life. These conditions make life completely unbearable for anyone who is unable to take care of themselves. Not only the elderly resort to voluntary death, but also those suffering from some incurable disease. The number of such patients dying a voluntary death is no less than the number of old people.

Folklore

The Chukchi have a rich oral folk art, which is also expressed in the art of stone bone. The main genres of folklore: myths, fairy tales, historical legends, tales and everyday stories. One of the main characters was the raven - Kurkyl, culture hero. Many legends and fairy tales have been preserved, such as “Keeper of the Fire”, “Love”, “When do the whales leave?”, “God and the Boy”. Let's give an example of the latter:

One family lived in the tundra: a father, a mother, and two children, a boy and a girl. The boy herded the reindeer, and the girl helped her mother with housework. One morning, the father woke up his daughter and ordered her to light a fire and make tea.

The girl came out of the canopy, and God caught her and ate her, and then ate her father and mother. The boy returned from the herd. Before entering the yaranga, I looked through the hole to see what was going on there. And he sees God sitting on an extinguished fireplace and playing in the ashes. The boy shouted to him: “Hey, what are you doing?” - Nothing, come here. A boy entered the yaranga and they began to play. The boy plays, and he looks around, looking for his relatives. He understood everything and said to God: “Play alone, I’ll go to the wind!” He ran out of the yaranga. He untied the two most evil dogs and ran with them into the forest. He climbed a tree and tied the dogs under the tree. God played and played, he wanted to eat and went to look for the boy. He goes and sniffs the trail. I reached the tree. He wanted to climb a tree, but the dogs caught him, tore him into pieces and ate him.

And the boy came home with his herd and became the owner.

Historical legends have preserved stories about wars with neighboring Eskimo tribes.

Folk dances

Despite the difficult living conditions, the people found time for holidays, where the tambourine was not only a ritual, but also simply a musical instrument, the tunes of which were passed on from generation to generation. Archaeological evidence suggests that dances existed among the ancestors of the Chukchi back in the 1st millennium BC. This is evidenced by petroglyphs discovered beyond the Arctic Circle in Chukotka and studied by archaeologist N. N. Dikov.

All dances can be divided into ritual-ritual, imitative-imitative dances, staged dances (pantomimes), playful and improvisational (individual), as well as dances of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi.

A striking example of ritual dances was the celebration of the “First Slaughter of the Deer”:

After the meal, all the tambourines belonging to the family, hanging on the poles of the threshold behind a curtain of raw skins, are removed, and the ritual begins. The tambourines are played by all family members in turn for the rest of the day. When all the adults finish, children take their place and, in turn, continue to beat the tambourines. While playing tambourines, many adults call upon “spirits” and try to induce them to enter their body….

Trade dances played a special role as a type of group marriage, as V. G. Bogoraz writes, they served on the one hand as a new connection between families, on the other hand, old family ties were strengthened.

Language, writing and literature

Main article: Chukchi writing
By origin, the Chukchi language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of Paleo-Asian languages. Closest relatives: Koryak, Kerek (disappeared at the end of the 20th century), Alyutor, Itelmen, etc. Typologically, it belongs to the incorporating languages (a word-morpheme acquires a specific meaning only depending on its place in the sentence, and can be significantly deformed depending on the conjugation with other members of the sentence).

In the 1930s The Chukchi shepherd Teneville created an original ideographic writing (samples are kept in the Kunstkamera - Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences), which, however, never came into widespread use. Since the 1930s The Chukchi use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Chukotka literature is created mainly in Russian (Yu. S. Rytkheu and others).

Ethnic history of the Chukchi. Briefly

The ancestors of the Chukchi settled in Chukotka at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. In such a natural-geographical environment, customs, traditions, mythology, language and racial characteristics were formed. The Chukchi have increased heat regulation, a high level of hemoglobin in the blood, and a fast metabolism, therefore the formation of this Arctic race took place in the conditions of the Far North, otherwise they would not have survived.

Mythology of the Chukchi. world creation

In Chukchi mythology, the raven appears - the creator, the main benefactor. Creator of the earth, sun, rivers, seas, mountains, deer. It was the raven who taught people to live in difficult natural conditions. Since, according to the Chukchi, Arctic animals participated in the creation of space and stars, the names of constellations and individual stars are associated with deer and ravens. The Capella star is a reindeer bull with a human sleigh. Two stars near the constellation Aquila - “A female deer with a fawn.” The Milky Way is a river with sandy waters, with islands - pastures for deer.

The names of the months of the Chukchi calendar reflect the life of wild deer, its biological rhythms and migration patterns.

Raising children among the Chukchi

Young Chukchi ran behind reindeer teams with stones on their feet. From the age of 6, they constantly held a bow and arrow in their hands. Thanks to this eye training, the Chukchi’s vision remained sharp for many years. By the way, this is why the Chukchi were excellent snipers during the Great Patriotic War. Favorite games are “football” with a ball made of reindeer hair and wrestling. We fought in special places - sometimes on walrus skin (very slippery), sometimes on ice.

The rite of passage into adulthood is a test for those who are viable. The “exam” relied on dexterity and attentiveness. For example, a father sent his son on a mission. But the task was not the main thing. The father tracked his son while he walked to carry out his task, and waited until his son lost his vigilance - then he released an arrow. The young man’s task is to instantly concentrate, react and dodge. Therefore, passing the exam means surviving. But the arrows were not smeared with poison, so there was a chance of survival after being wounded.

War as a way of life

The Chukchi have a simple attitude towards death - they are not afraid of it. If one Chukchi asks another to kill him, then the request is carried out easily, without a doubt. The Chukchi believe that each of them has 5-6 souls, and there is a whole “universe of ancestors”. But in order to get there, you must either die with dignity in battle, or die at the hands of a relative or friend. Your own death or death from old age is a luxury. Therefore, the Chukchi are excellent warriors. They are not afraid of death, they are fierce, they have a sensitive sense of smell, lightning-fast reactions, and a sharp eye. If in our culture military merit is awarded with a medal, then the Chukchi put a dot tattoo on the back of their right hand. The more dots, the more experienced and fearless the warrior.

Chukchi women correspond to the harsh Chukchi men. They carry a knife with them so that in case of serious danger they can stab their children, parents, and then themselves.

"Home Shamanism"

We are all accustomed to considering representatives of this people as naive and peace-loving inhabitants of the Far North. They say that throughout their history the Chukchi grazed herds of deer in permafrost conditions, hunted walruses, and played tambourines as entertainment. The anecdotal image of a simpleton who keeps saying the word “however” is so far from reality that it is truly shocking. Meanwhile, in the history of the Chukchi there are many unexpected turns, and their way of life and customs still cause controversy among ethnographers. How are representatives of this people so different from other inhabitants of the tundra?

Call themselves real people
Chukchi - the only people, whose mythology openly justifies nationalism. The fact is that their ethnonym comes from the word “chauchu”, which in the language of the northern aborigines means the owner large number deer (rich man). This word Russian colonialists heard from them. But this is not the self-name of the people.

“Luoravetlans” is how the Chukchi call themselves, which translates as “real people.” They always treated neighboring peoples arrogantly, and considered themselves special chosen ones of the gods. In their myths, the Luoravetlans called the Evenks, Yakuts, Koryaks, and Eskimos those whom the gods created for slave labor.

According to the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, total number The Chukchi number is only 15 thousand 908 people. And although this people was never numerous, skilled and formidable warriors, in difficult conditions, managed to conquer vast territories from the Indigirka River in the west to the Bering Sea in the east. Their lands are comparable in area to the territory of Kazakhstan.

Painting faces with blood
The Chukchi are divided into two groups. Some are engaged in reindeer herding (nomadic herders), others hunt sea animals, for the most part they hunt walruses, since they live on the shores of the Arctic Ocean. But these are the main activities. Reindeer herders also engage in fishing; they hunt for arctic foxes and other fur-bearing animals of the tundra.

After a successful hunt, the Chukchi paint their faces with the blood of the killed animal, while depicting the sign of their ancestral totem. These people then make a ritual sacrifice to the spirits.

Fought with the Eskimos
The Chukchi have always been skilled warriors. Imagine how much courage it takes to go out into the ocean on a boat and attack walruses? However, not only animals became victims of representatives of this people. They often made predatory trips to the Eskimos, moving to the neighboring North America through the Bering Strait on their boats made of wood and walrus skins.

From military campaigns, skilled warriors brought not only stolen goods, but also slaves, giving preference to young women.

Interestingly, in 1947 the Chukchi in Once again decided to go to war against the Eskimos, then only by a miracle was it possible to avoid an international conflict between the USSR and the USA, because representatives of both peoples were officially citizens of two superpowers.

Koryaks were robbed
Over the course of their history, the Chukchi have managed to quite annoy not only the Eskimos. So, they often attacked the Koryaks, taking away their reindeer. It is known that from 1725 to 1773 the invaders appropriated about 240 thousand (!) heads of other people's livestock. Actually, the Chukchi took up reindeer herding after they robbed their neighbors, many of whom had to hunt for food.

Having crept up to the Koryak settlement in the night, the invaders pierced their yarangas with spears, trying to immediately kill all the owners of the herd before they woke up.

Tattoos in honor of slain enemies
The Chukchi covered their bodies with tattoos dedicated to their killed enemies. After the victory, the warrior applied to back side wrists right hand as many points as he sent opponents to the next world. Some experienced fighters had so many defeated enemies that the dots merged into a line running from the wrist to the elbow.

They preferred death to captivity
Chukotka women always carried knives with them. They needed sharp blades not only in everyday life, but also in case of suicide. Since captured people automatically became slaves, the Chukchi preferred death to such a life. Having learned about the victory of the enemy (for example, the Koryaks who came to take revenge), mothers first killed their children, and then themselves. As a rule, they threw themselves with their chests on knives or spears.

Losing warriors lying on the battlefield asked their opponents for death. Moreover, they did it in an indifferent tone. My only wish was not to delay.

Won the war with Russia
The Chukchi are the only people of the Far North who fought with Russian Empire and won the victory. The first colonizers of those places were the Cossacks, led by Ataman Semyon Dezhnev. In 1652 they built the Anadyr fortress. Other adventurers followed them to the lands of the Arctic. The warlike northerners did not want to coexist peacefully with the Russians, much less pay taxes to the imperial treasury.

The war began in 1727 and lasted more than 30 years. Heavy fighting in difficult conditions, partisan sabotage, cunning ambushes, as well as mass suicides of Chukchi women and children - all this made the Russian troops falter. In 1763, the army units of the empire were forced to leave the Anadyr fort.

Soon British and French ships appeared off the coast of Chukotka. There is a real danger that these lands will be captured by long-time opponents, having managed to come to an agreement with the local population without a fight. Empress Catherine II decided to act more diplomatically. She provided the Chukchi with tax benefits, and literally showered their rulers with gold. The Russian residents of the Kolyma region were ordered, “... not to irritate the Chukchi in any way, under pain, otherwise, of liability in a military court.”

This peaceful approach turned out to be much more effective than a military operation. In 1778, the Chukchi, appeased by the imperial authorities, accepted Russian citizenship.

They coated the arrows with poison
The Chukchi were excellent with their bows. They smeared the arrowheads with poison; even a slight wound doomed the victim to a slow, painful and inevitable death.

The tambourines were tight human skin
The Chukchi fought to the sound of tambourines covered not with deer (as was customary), but with human skin. Such music terrified enemies. Russian soldiers and officers who fought with the aborigines of the north spoke about this. The colonialists explained their defeat in the war by the special cruelty of the representatives of this people.

Warriors could fly
The Chukchi, during hand-to-hand combat, flew across the battlefield, landing behind enemy lines. How did they jump 20-40 meters and then be able to fight? Scientists still don't know the answer to this question. Probably, skilled warriors used special devices like trampolines. This technique often allowed him to win victories, because his opponents did not understand how to resist him.

Owned slaves
The Chukchi owned slaves until the 40s of the 20th century. Women and men from poor families were often sold for debt. They did dirty and hard work, just like the captured Eskimos, Koryaks, Evenks, and Yakuts.

Swap wives
The Chukchi entered into so-called group marriages. They included several ordinary monogamous families. Men could exchange wives. This form social relations was additional guarantee survival in harsh permafrost conditions. If one of the participants in such a union died while hunting, then there was someone to take care of his widow and children.

A nation of comedians
The Chukchi could survive, find shelter and food, if they had the ability to make people laugh. Folk comedians moved from camp to camp, amusing everyone with their jokes. They were respected and highly valued for their talent.

Diapers were invented
The Chukchi were the first to invent the prototype of modern diapers. They used a layer of moss with reindeer hair as an absorbent material. The newborn was dressed in a kind of overalls, changing an improvised diaper several times a day. Life in the harsh north forced people to be inventive.

Changed gender by order of the spirits
Chukchi shamans could change gender at the direction of the spirits. The man began to wear women's clothes and behave accordingly, sometimes he literally got married. But the shaman, on the contrary, adopted the style of behavior of the stronger sex. According to Chukchi beliefs, spirits sometimes demanded such reincarnation from their servants.

Old people died voluntarily
Chukotka elders, not wanting to be a burden to their children, often agreed to voluntary death. The famous ethnographer Vladimir Bogoraz (1865-1936) in his book “Chukchi” noted that the reason for the emergence of such a custom was not a bad attitude towards older people, but difficult conditions life and lack of food.

Seriously ill Chukchi often chose voluntary death. As a rule, such people were killed by strangulation by their closest relatives.

Famous Chukchi. How modern Chukchi live (29 photos)

They know how to stand up for themselves

Chukchi and all the “rest”

Ethnic history of the Chukchi. Briefly

Mythology of the Chukchi. world creation

Raising children among the Chukchi

War as a way of life

"Home Shamanism"

Chukchi and humor

Chukchi and jokes

Number and settlement

Origin

Anthropology

Story

Folklore

Folk dances

Language, writing and literature

see also

Notes

Gallery

Links

Origin

Anthropology

Story

Farm

Life of the Chukchi

Wooden, stone and iron tools

Chukotka cuisine

Holidays

Chukchi religion

Voluntary death

Folklore

Folk dances

Language, writing and literature

Ethnic history of the Chukchi. Briefly

Mythology of the Chukchi. world creation

Raising children among the Chukchi

War as a way of life

"Home Shamanism"