Yakuts in the world. Tokarev S.L

Number– 381,922 people (as of 2001).
Language– Turkic group Altai family languages.
Settlement- The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Self-name - Sakha. Based on their settlement area, they are divided into Amginsko-Lena (between the Lena, Nizhny Aldan and Amga rivers, as well as on the left bank of the Lena), Vilyui (in the Vilyuya river basin), Olekma (in the Olekma river basin) and northern (in the tundra zone , basins of the Anabar, Olenek, Kolyma, Yana and Indigirka rivers).

The dialects are united into the central, Vilyui, northwestern and Taimyr groups. 65% of Yakuts speak Russian and another 6% consider it their native language. In 1858, on the initiative of the scientist and missionary I.E. Veniaminov published the first “Brief Grammar of the Yakut Language”.

Both local Tungus-speaking tribes and Turkic-Mongols who came from the Baikal region, who settled in Siberia in the 10th-13th centuries, took part in the formation of the people. and assimilated with the local population. The ethnic group was finally formed at the end of the 16th century. By that time Yakuts were divided into 35-40 exogamous “tribes”. The largest numbered up to 2-5 thousand people. Tribes were divided into clan groups - “paternal clans” (aga-usa) and smaller “maternal clans” (ie-usa). Frequent inter-tribal wars, popularly known as the events of Kyrgys Yuyete - “the century of battles, battles”, made military training for boys necessary. By the age of 18, it ended with an initiation ceremony with the participation of a shaman, who “infused” the spirit of war (ilbis) into the young man.

Traditional culture is most fully represented among the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern ones are closer to the Evenks and Yukaghirs; among the Olekminskys the influence of the Russians is very noticeable.

In the 17th century Yakuts were called “horse people”

The traditional occupation is breeding cattle and horses. Special breeds of these animals were bred, adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of the North: hardy and unpretentious, but unproductive (they were milked only in the summer). In Russian sources of the 17th century. The Yakuts were called “horse people.” Men looked after the horses, women looked after the cows. In summer, cattle were kept on pasture, in winter - in barns. Haymaking was used even before the Russians arrived. Animals occupied a special place in the culture of the Yakuts; special rituals are dedicated to them. A special place was given to the image of a horse; even its burials together with a person are known.

They hunted elk, wild deer, bear, wild boar, fur-bearing animals - fox, arctic fox, sable, squirrel, ermine, muskrat, marten, wolverine - and other animals. At the same time, very specific techniques were used, for example, hunting with a bull (when the hunter sneaked up on the prey, hiding behind the bull, which he drove in front of him), horse chasing along the scent, sometimes with dogs. They hunted with a bow and arrow, a spear, and from the 17th century. - With firearms. They used abatis, fences, trapping pits, snares, traps, crossbows, and mouths.

Fishing played a special role in the economy. For the Yakuts, who did not have livestock, fishing was the main economic activity. In documents of the 17th century. the word balysyt - “fisherman” was used in the meaning of “poor man”. On the rivers they caught sturgeon, broad whitefish, muksun, nelma, whitefish, grayling, tugun, and on the lakes - minnow, crucian carp, pike and other fish. Fishing tools included tops, muzzles, nets, and horsehair seines; large fish were beaten with a spear. In the fall, they organized collective seine fishing, and the catch was divided equally. In winter they did ice fishing.

The spread of agriculture (especially in the Amginsky and Olekminsky districts) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers. They grew special varieties of wheat, rye and barley, which managed to ripen during the short and hot summer. Garden crops were also cultivated.

According to the lunar-solar calendar, the year (year) began in May and was divided into 12 months, 30 days in each: January - tokhsunnyu - “ninth”, February - olunnyu - “tenth”, March - Kulun tutar - “month of feeding foals” , April - muus ustar - “month of ice drift”, May - yam yya - “month of cow milking”, June - bes yya - “month of harvesting pine sapwood”, July - from yya - “month of haymaking”, August - atyrdyakh yya - “ month of hay baling", September - booth yya - "month of migration from summer roads to winter roads", October - Altynnyi - "sixth", November - setinnyi - "seventh", December - akhsynnyi - "eighth".

Among the crafts, blacksmithing, jewelry making, processing of wood, birch bark, bone, leather, fur, and the production of molded ceramics were developed. Dishes were made from leather, and cords were woven and twisted from horsehair for embroidery. Iron was smelted in cheese furnaces; women's jewelry, horse harness, and religious objects were made from gold, silver and copper (by melting down Russian coins).

The Yakuts lived in seasonal settlements. Winter ones of 1-3 yurts were located nearby, summer ones (up to 10 yurts) were located near pastures.

They lived in the winter dwelling (kypynny die - booth) from September to April. It had sloping walls made of thin logs on a log frame and a low, sloping gable roof. The walls were coated with clay and manure, the roof was covered with bark and earth on top of the log flooring. Since the 18th century polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof spread. The entrance was located in the eastern wall, the windows were in the southern and western walls, and the roof was oriented from north to south. In the northeastern corner, to the right of the entrance, a chuval type hearth was installed, and plank bunks were installed along the walls. The bunk running from the middle of the southern wall to the western corner was considered honorable. Together with the part of the western bunk adjacent to it, it formed an honorable corner. Further to the “north” was the owner’s place. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for young men and workers, and to the right, by the fireplace, for women. A table and stools were placed in the front corner; other furnishings included chests and various boxes. A barn was attached to the yurt on the north side. The entrance to it was behind the hearth. A canopy or canopy was built in front of the door to the yurt. The dwelling was surrounded by a low embankment, often with a fence. A hitching post (serge) decorated with rich carvings was installed near the yurt. From the second half of the XVIII V. For winter they began to build Russian huts with a stove.

The summer dwelling (urasa), in which they lived from May to August, was a cylindrical-conical structure made of poles with a birch bark roof. In the north, turf-covered frame buildings of the Evenk golomo (holoman) type were known. In the villages, barns (ampaar), glaciers (buluus), cellars for storing dairy products (tar iine), smoking dugouts, and mills were built. At a distance from the summer dwelling, they set up a barn for calves and built sheds.

They moved mainly on horseback, and carried loads in packs. In winter, they walked on skis lined with horse skins, rode on a sleigh with runners made of wood with rhizomes, which had a natural curvature; later - on a sleigh of the Russian wood type, which was usually harnessed to oxen. The northern Yakuts used reindeer straight-hoofed sledges. They floated on the water on rafts, dugout boats, shuttles, and birch bark boats.

They consumed milk, meat of wild animals, horse meat, beef, venison, fish, and edible plants. Most often they cooked meat, fried liver, prepared zrazy, offal stew, soup with brisket, crucian fish soup (sobo mine), stuffed crucian carp, caviar pancakes, stroganina. Fish was also frozen and fermented in pits for the winter. Dairy dishes - mare's milk kumiss, milk foam, whipped cream, curdled milk, butter. The cream was prepared for the winter by freezing in large birch bark vats with the addition of berries, roots, and bones. From flour they prepared stew (salamat), flat cakes (leppieskate), pancakes (baakhyla), etc. They collected mushrooms, berries, meadow and coastal onions, wild garlic, sarana roots, bearberry, pine and larch sapwood. Vegetables have long been known in the Olekminsky region.

Traditional wooden utensils - bowls, spoons, whorls, whisks for whipping cream, birch bark containers for berries, butter, bulk products, etc. Carved wooden cups for kumis (chorons) played important role in the rituals of the Ysyakh holiday and were of two types - on a conical base and on three legs in the form of horse hooves.

Small families are typical for the Yakuts. Until the 19th century Polygamy existed, and wives often lived separately, each running her own household. People entered into marriage between the ages of 16 and 25 and entered into it through matchmaking with the payment of a dowry. Among the poor, “run away” marriages were common, with the kidnapping of the bride and labor for the wife. Levirate and sororate took place.

There were customs of blood feud (more often replaced by ransom), hospitality, and the exchange of gifts. The aristocracy stood out - the toyons. They ruled the clan with the help of elders and acted as military leaders. Toyons owned large herds (up to several hundred heads), had slaves, and they and their households lived in separate yurts. There were customs of giving livestock to the poor for grazing and food for the winter, handing over impoverished families and orphans to a rich relative (kumalanism), selling children, and later hiring workers. The cattle appeared private property, and hunting, pasture lands and hayfields are communal.

Maternity rites were associated with the cult of the fertility goddess Aiyy-syt, the patroness of children. According to legend, she lives on the eastern side of the sky and gives the newborn a soul. The birth took place in the left half of the yurt, on the floor. The place of birth was fenced off with a curtain. In the summer they gave birth in the barn, sometimes (during haymaking) in the field. The woman in labor was assisted by a midwife. On the fortieth day after giving birth, the woman went to church, where she performed a church rite of purification. The child was baptized and given the name of the stranger who first entered the house after birth. This man could have named the newborn himself. Some names were associated with the circumstances of the birth of the baby: Sayynngy - “year-old”, Bulumdyu - “foundling”, i.e. born out of wedlock. There were amulets names: Bere (“wolf”), scaring away evil spirits, Kusagan (“bad”) - evil spirits do not pay attention to him, as well as names of an evaluative nature, for example Kyrynaas (“ermine”), i.e. fast, agile.

In ancient times, the Yakuts buried their dead by air, and since the 18th century. They began to be buried, laying them with their heads to the west. The dead were dressed in best clothes, hung with decorations, weapons and tools, supplies of meat and dairy food were placed in the grave. Burials with horses are known.

According to the ideas of the ancient Yakuts, in the Upper World there lived Yuryung Aiyy Toyon (White God the Creator) - the supreme deity, Ieykhsit - the patroness and intercessor of the human race, Ayyy-syt - the goddess of fertility and childbearing, Kyun Dzhesegey Toyon - the god of horses and other gods. In the Middle World, along with people lived Baai Bayanai - the spirit of the forest, Aan Alahchin Khotun - the goddess of the earth, Khatan Temieriye - the spirit of fire and other spirits. They had to be appeased through sacrifices. The lower world is the abode of terrible monsters.

Shamans were divided into white and black. The first served the celestials with various offerings, spells, and led the Ysyakh holiday. The latter had to fight against evil spirits that caused natural disasters, loss of livestock, and illness. The right to become a shaman was inherited. The initiation was accompanied by a complex ritual. Each shaman had a patron spirit (emeget), whose image in the form of a copper plaque was sewn onto the chest of his clothes, and a double animal (ie-kyyl - “mother-beast”). Shaman's drums(durgur) - oval, with a wide rim - similar to Evenki ones.

The healers (otosuts) had a specialization: some practiced bloodletting, others massage or chiropractic, treated eye diseases, women's diseases, etc.

National clothing consists of a single-breasted caftan (in winter - fur, in summer - from cow or horse skin with the hair inside, for the rich - from fabric), which was sewn from four wedges with additional wedges at the waist and wide sleeves gathered at the shoulders, short leather pants (syaya), leather leggings (sotoro) and fur socks (keenche). Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar appeared. Men wore belts, the rich wore silver and copper plaques. Women's wedding fur coats (sangiyah) - toe-length, widening at the bottom, with a yoke, with sewn-in sleeves and a fur shawl collar - were decorated with wide stripes of red and green cloth, braid, silver details, plaques, beads, and fringe. They were valued very dearly and were passed down from generation to generation. A woman's wedding headdress (diabakka) made of sable or beaver fur looked like a cap with a high top made of red or black cloth, velvet or brocade, densely trimmed with beads, braid, and certainly with a large silver heart-shaped plaque above the forehead. Ancient headdresses are decorated with a plume of bird feathers. Women's clothing was complemented by a belt, chest, back, neck jewelry, silver, often gold with engraving earrings, bracelets, bracelets and rings. For winter, high boots were made from deer or horse skins with the fur on the outside; for summer, boots were made of suede with tops covered with cloth; for women, with appliqué.

In Yakut folklore, the central place is occupied by the heroic epic Olonkho, which is considered the main type of poetry, and due to the nature of the performing arts, the basis of folk opera. The leading theme of olonkho is the story of the ancient heroes-primordial ancestors, inhabitants of the Middle World, who feel themselves to be part of the powerful Ayyy tribe of the aimag, created and cared for by the Ayyy deities. The creators and keepers of the oral tradition of epic performing art are the Olonkhosuts. According to legend, they had a divine gift. These people were always surrounded by honor and enjoyed great respect.

Among the northern Yakuts, the term olonkho combines heroic epic and fairy tales about animals, magic, and everyday life. Subjects and images everyday tales are built on the basis of everyday life, reflect moral ideals people. Their characters are rich and poor, merchants and beggars, priests and thieves, smart and foolish. Historical legends- oral chronicle of the people.

The small genres of folklore are deep and varied in content: proverbs, sayings, riddles, peculiar tongue twisters (chabyrgah).

There are cult, ritual, non-ritual and lyrical songs: road songs, which were performed riding on a bull, traveling songs - on horseback, entertainment ditties; “nightly”, “plaintive”, etc. At all family and tribal holidays, hymn songs were sung - large-scale poems with ballad plots of mythological, legendary and historical content.

The shamans sang solo on behalf of the patron spirits that inhabited them.

The main musical instrument of the khomus is an arc metal harp with a large round loop. According to tradition, it was played primarily by women, articulating (“pronouncing”) speech utterances or famous melodies.

The most common dance among the Yakuts is osuokhai, accompanied by a choral song accompanied by an improviser. It is performed by any number of participants, sometimes up to 200 or more people gather in a circle. Dance organizers are most often men. The song, as if accompanying the fun, glorifies the awakening of nature, the meeting with the sun, the joy of work, the relationships of people in society, family, and certain significant events.

Russian socio-economic transformations in the 90s. led to an outflow of population from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), especially from the industrial and northern uluses, where mining enterprises are concentrated. The search for work and the desire of young people to get an education force people to move to cities. Most Yakuts work on state farms and agricultural cooperatives specializing in livestock and vegetable farming. In the north of the republic, the main traditional activities: reindeer husbandry, fishing, hunting, enterprises for processing agricultural products and collecting wild plants appeared.

Since 1992, the activities of communities have been improved, a unified system for the purchase of meat, fish, furs has been created, a sales market has been formed, etc. Handicraft processing of wood, fur, leather, artistic carving of wood and mammoth bone, making toys, as well as weaving from horsehair are developing.

The education system is developing. The book publishing house "Bichik" publishes textbooks, teaching aids in Yakut and Russian languages and literature. A network of higher educational institutions and scientific institutions emerged. Russia's only Institute for Problems of Small Peoples of the North of the SB RAS, headed by Academician V. Robbek, has gained worldwide fame.

The revival of national culture is facilitated by professional theaters, museums, graduate School music, boys' choir of the national foundation "Bargary" ("Renaissance"). The New Names program is designed to support young musicians, artists, scientists, artists, sports.

Well-known are honored artists, artists and artists A. Munkhalov, N. Zasimov, E. Stepanova, N. Chigireva, T. Tishina, S. Osipov and others, writers and poets I. Gogolev, D. Sivtsev, N. Kharlampyeva, M. Dyachkovsky (Kelbe).

The newspapers “Kyym” and “Sakha Sire” are published in the Yakut language, as well as the magazine “Cholbon” (“Polar Star”) and about 80% of the programs of the national broadcasting company. The company "Gevan" ("Zarya") produces television and radio programs in the languages of the indigenous peoples of the North living in the territory of the republic.

Revival of traditions, preservation and development cultural heritage the people are promoted by public organizations and associations - the Center for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, the nationwide movement “Two Thousand Good Deeds of 2000”, the International Children's Fund “Children of Sakha - Asia”. The interests of the indigenous peoples of the North are defended by the Association of Small Peoples of the North of Yakutia.

encyclopedia article
"The Arctic is my home"

Date of publication: 03/16/2019

BOOKS ABOUT YAKUTS

Alekseev E.E. Musical culture // Yakut. owls lit. and art. Yakutsk, 1964.
Alekseev N.A. Traditional religious beliefs of the Yakuts in the 19th – early 20th centuries. Novosibirsk, 1975.
Arkhipov N.D. Ancient cultures of Yakutia. Yakutsk, 1989.
Bravina R.I. Funeral rite of the Yakuts (XVII–XIX centuries). Yakutsk, 1996.
Gurvich I.S. Culture of the northern Yakut reindeer herders. M., 1977.
Zykov F.M. Settlements, dwellings and outbuildings of the Yakuts (XIX - early XX centuries). Novosibirsk, 1986.
Konstantinov I.V. Origin of the Yakut people and their culture // Yakutia and its neighbors in ancient times. Yakutsk, 1975.
Makarov D.S. Folk wisdom: knowledge and ideas. Yakutsk, 1983.
Safronov F.G., Ivanov V.F. Yakut writing. Yakutsk, 1992.
Sleptsov P.A. Traditional family rituals among the Yakuts. Yakutsk, 1989.
Tokarev S.A. Essays on the history of the Yakut people. M., 1940.
Yakovlev V.F. Hitching post serge. Yakutsk, 1992.

Yakuts (self-name Sakha; pl. h. sugar) - Turkic-speaking people, indigenous people Yakutia. The Yakut language belongs to Turkic group languages. According to the results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, 478.1 thousand Yakuts lived in Russia, mainly in Yakutia (466.5 thousand), as well as in the Irkutsk, Magadan regions, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk territories. The Yakuts are the most numerous (49.9% of the population) people in Yakutia and the largest of the indigenous peoples of Siberia within the borders of the Russian Federation.

Distribution area

The distribution of Yakuts across the territory of the republic is extremely uneven. About nine of them are concentrated in the central regions - in the former Yakutsk and Vilyuisk districts. These are the two main groups of the Yakut people: the first of them is slightly larger in number than the second. The “Yakut” (or Amga-Lena) Yakuts occupy the quadrangle between the Lena, lower Aldan and Amga, the taiga plateau, as well as the adjacent left bank of the Lena. The “Vilyui” Yakuts occupy the Vilyui basin. In these indigenous Yakut regions, the most typical, purely Yakut way of life developed; here, at the same time, especially on the Amga-Lena Plateau, it is best studied. The third, much smaller group of Yakuts is settled in the Olekminsk region. The Yakuts of this group became more Russified; in their way of life (but not in language) they became closer to the Russians. And finally, the last, smallest, but widely dispersed group of Yakuts is the population of the northern regions of Yakutia, i.e., the river basins. Kolyma, Indigirka, Yana, Olenek, Anabar.

The Northern Yakuts are distinguished by a completely unique cultural and everyday way of life: in relation to it, they are more like the hunting and fishing small peoples of the North, the Tungus, the Yukagirs, than their southern fellow tribesmen. These northern Yakuts are even called “Tungus” in some places (for example, in the upper reaches of Olenek and Anabara), although by language they are Yakuts and call themselves Sakha.

History and origin

According to a common hypothesis, the ancestors of modern Yakuts are the nomadic tribe of Kurykans, who lived in Transbaikalia until the 14th century. In turn, the Kurykans came to the Lake Baikal area from across the Yenisei River.

Most scientists believe that in the XII-XIV centuries AD. e. The Yakuts migrated in several waves from the area of Lake Baikal to the basin of the Lena, Aldan and Vilyuy, where they partially assimilated and partially displaced the Evenks (Tungus) and Yukagirs (Oduls), who had lived here earlier. The Yakuts have traditionally been engaged in cattle breeding (Yakut cow), having gained unique experience in breeding cattle in a sharply continental climate in northern latitudes, horse breeding (Yakut horse), fishing, hunting, and developed trade, blacksmithing and military affairs.

According to Yakut legends, the ancestors of the Yakuts rafted down the Lena River with livestock, household belongings and people until they discovered the Tuymaada Valley, suitable for raising cattle. Now this place is where modern Yakutsk is located. According to the same legends, the ancestors of the Yakuts were led by two leaders Elley Bootur and Omogoi Baai.

According to archaeological and ethnographic data, the Yakuts were formed as a result of the absorption of local tribes from the middle reaches of the Lena by southern Turkic-speaking settlers. It is believed that the last wave of the southern ancestors of the Yakuts penetrated the Middle Lena in the 14th–15th centuries. Racially, the Yakuts belong to the Central Asian anthropological type of the North Asian race. Compared to other Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia, they are characterized by the strongest manifestation of the Mongoloid complex, the final formation of which took place in the middle of the second millennium AD already on the Lena.

It is assumed that some groups of Yakuts, for example, reindeer herders of the north-west, arose relatively recently as a result of mixing separate groups Evenks with Yakuts, immigrants from the central regions of Yakutia. In the process of relocating to Eastern Siberia, the Yakuts mastered the basins of the northern rivers Anabar, Olenka, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma. The Yakuts modified the Tungus reindeer herding and created the Tungus-Yakut type of harness reindeer herding.

The inclusion of the Yakuts into the Russian state in the 1620s–1630s accelerated their socio-economic and cultural development. In the 17th–19th centuries, the main occupation of the Yakuts was cattle breeding (breeding cattle and horses); from the second half of the 19th century, a significant part began to engage in agriculture; hunting and fishing played a supporting role. The main type of dwelling was a log booth, in summer - a urasa made of poles. Clothes were made from skins and fur. In the second half of the 18th century, most of the Yakuts were converted to Christianity, but traditional beliefs were also preserved.

Under Russian influence, Christian onomastics spread among the Yakuts, almost completely replacing pre-Christian Yakut names. Currently, Yakuts bear both names of Greek and Latin origin (Christian) and Yakut names.

Yakuts and Russians

Accurate historical information about the Yakuts is available only from the time of their first contact with the Russians, i.e., from the 1620s, and their accession to the Russian state. The Yakuts did not constitute a single political whole at that time, but were divided into a number of tribes independent from each other. However, tribal relations were already disintegrating, and there was a rather sharp class stratification. The tsarist governors and servicemen used inter-tribal strife to break the resistance of part of the Yakut population; They also took advantage of the class contradictions within it, pursuing a policy of systematic support for the dominant aristocratic layer - the princes (toyons), whom they turned into their agents for governing the Yakut region. From that time on, class contradictions among the Yakuts began to become more and more aggravated.

The situation of the mass of the Yakut population was difficult. The Yakuts paid yasak in sable and fox furs, and carried out a number of other duties, being subject to extortion from the tsar's servants, Russian merchants and their toyons. After unsuccessful attempts at uprisings (1634, 1636–1637, 1639–1640, 1642), after the Toyons went over to the side of the governors, the Yakut mass could react to oppression only with scattered, isolated attempts at resistance and flight from the indigenous uluses to the outskirts. TO end of the XVIII c., as a result of the predatory management of the tsarist authorities, the depletion of the fur wealth of the Yakut region and its partial desolation were revealed. At the same time, the Yakut population, which for various reasons migrated from the Lena-Vilyui region, appeared on the outskirts of Yakutia, where it had not previously existed: on Kolyma, Indigirka, Olenek, Anabar, right up to the Lower Tunguska basin.

But even in those first decades, contact with the Russian people had a beneficial effect on the economy and culture of the Yakuts. The Russians brought with them more high culture; already from the middle of the 17th century. farming appears on the Lena; Russian type of buildings, Russian clothing made of fabrics, new types of crafts, new furnishings and household items gradually began to penetrate the environment of the Yakut population.

It was extremely important that with the establishment of Russian power in Yakutia, inter-tribal wars and predatory raids of the Toyons, which had previously been a great disaster for the Yakut population, ceased. The willfulness of the Russian service people, who had more than once quarreled with each other and drawn the Yakuts into their feuds, was also suppressed. The order that had already been established in the Yakut land since the 1640s was better than the previous state of chronic anarchy and constant strife.

In the 18th century, in connection with the further advance of the Russians to the east (the annexation of Kamchatka, Chukotka, the Aleutian Islands, and Alaska), Yakutia played the role of a transit route and a base for new campaigns and the development of distant lands. The influx of the Russian peasant population (especially along the Lena River valley, in connection with the establishment of a postal route in 1773) created conditions for cultural mutual influence of Russian and Yakut elements. Already at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries. Agriculture begins to spread among the Yakuts, although very slowly at first, and Russian-style houses appear. However, the number of Russian settlers remained even in the 19th century. relatively small. Along with peasant colonization in the 19th century. The sending of exiled settlers to Yakutia was of great importance. Together with criminal exiles who had bad influence on the Yakuts, in the second half of the 19th century. In Yakutia, political exiles appeared, first populists, and in the 1890s, Marxists, who played a large role in the cultural and political development of the Yakut masses.

By the beginning of the 20th century. Great progress was observed in the economic development of Yakutia, at least its central regions (Yakutsky, Vilyuisky, Olekminsky districts). A domestic market was created. The growth of economic ties accelerated the development of national identity.

During the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917, the movement of the Yakut masses for their liberation developed deeper and wider. At first it was (especially in Yakutsk) under the predominant leadership of the Bolsheviks. But after the departure (in May 1917) of most of the political exiles to Russia in Yakutia, the counter-revolutionary forces of Toyonism, which entered into an alliance with the Socialist-Revolutionary-bourgeois part of the Russian urban population, gained the upper hand. Struggle for Soviet power in Yakutia dragged on for a long time. Only on June 30, 1918, the power of the soviets was first proclaimed in Yakutsk, and only in December 1919, after the liquidation of the Kolchak regime throughout Siberia, Soviet power was finally established in Yakutia.

Religion

Their life is connected with shamanism. Building a house, having children and many other aspects of life do not take place without the participation of a shaman. On the other hand, a significant part of the half-million Yakut population professes Orthodox Christianity or even adheres to agnostic beliefs.

This people have their own tradition; before joining the Russian state, they professed “Aar Aiyy”. This religion presupposes the belief that the Yakuts are the children of Tanar - God and Relatives of the Twelve White Aiyy. Even from conception, the child is surrounded by spirits or, as the Yakuts call them, “Ichchi,” and there are also celestial beings who also surround the newly born child. Religion is documented in the department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Yakutia. In the 18th century, Yakutia underwent universal Christianity, but the people approached this with the hope of certain religions from the Russian state.

Housing

The Yakuts trace their ancestry back to nomadic tribes. That's why they live in yurts. However, unlike the Mongolian felt yurts, the round dwelling of the Yakuts is built from the trunks of small trees with a cone-shaped steel roof. There are many windows in the walls, under which sun loungers are located at different heights. Partitions are installed between them, forming a semblance of rooms, and a smear hearth is tripled in the center. In the summer, temporary birch bark yurts - uras - can be erected. And since the 20th century, some Yakuts have been settling in huts.

Winter settlements (kystyk) were located near the meadows, consisting of 1-3 yurts, summer settlements - near pastures, numbering up to 10 yurts. The winter yurt (booth, diie) had sloping walls made of standing thin logs on a rectangular log frame and a low gable roof. The walls were coated on the outside with clay and manure, the roof was covered with bark and earth on top of the log flooring. The house was placed in the cardinal directions, the entrance was located on the east side, the windows were on the south and west, the roof was oriented from north to south. To the right of the entrance, in the north-eastern corner, there was a fireplace (osoh) - a pipe made of poles coated with clay, going out through the roof. Plank bunks (oron) were arranged along the walls. The most honorable was the southwestern corner. The master's place was located near the western wall. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for male youth and workers, and to the right, by the fireplace, for women. A table (ostuol) and stools were placed in the front corner. On the northern side of the yurt a stable (khoton) was attached, often under the same roof as the living quarters; the door to it from the yurt was located behind the fireplace. A canopy or canopy was installed in front of the entrance to the yurt. The yurt was surrounded by a low embankment, often with a fence. A hitching post was placed near the house, often decorated with carvings. Summer yurts differed little from winter ones. Instead of a hoton, a stable for calves (titik), sheds, etc. were placed at a distance. There was a conical structure made of poles covered with birch bark (urasa), in the north - with turf (kalyman, holuman). Since the end of the 18th century, polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof have been known. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, Russian huts spread.

Cloth

Traditional men's and women's clothing - short leather trousers, fur belly, leather leggings, single-breasted caftan (sleep), in winter - fur, in summer - from horse or cow hide with the hair inside, for the rich - from fabric. Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar (yrbakhy) appeared. Men girded themselves with a leather belt with a knife and a flint; for the rich, with silver and copper plaques. A typical women's wedding fur caftan (sangiyakh), embroidered with red and green cloth and gold braid; elegant women's fur hat made of expensive fur, hanging down the back and shoulders, with a high cloth, velvet or brocade top with a silver plaque (tuosakhta) and other decorations sewn onto it. Women's silver and gold jewelry is common. Shoes - winter high boots made of deer or horse skins with the hair facing out (eterbes), summer boots made of soft leather (saars) with a boot covered with cloth, for women - with appliqué, long fur stockings.

Food

The main food is dairy, especially in summer: from mare's milk - kumiss, from cow's milk - yogurt (suorat, sora), cream (kuerchekh), butter; they drank butter melted or with kumiss; suorat was prepared frozen for the winter (tar) with the addition of berries, roots, etc.; from it, with the addition of water, flour, roots, pine sapwood, etc., a stew (butugas) was prepared. Fish food played a major role for the poor, and in the northern regions, where there were no livestock, meat was consumed mainly by the rich. Horsemeat was especially prized. In the 19th century, barley flour came into use: unleavened flatbreads, pancakes, and salamat stew were made from it. Vegetables were known in the Olekminsky district.

Trades

The main traditional occupations are horse breeding (in Russian documents of the 17th century the Yakuts were called “horse people”) and cattle breeding. Men looked after horses, women looked after cattle. In the north, deer were bred. Cattle were kept on pasture in the summer and in barns (khotons) in the winter. Haymaking was known before the arrival of the Russians. Yakut cattle breeds were distinguished by their endurance, but were unproductive.

Fishing was also developed. We fished mainly in the summer, but also in the ice hole in the winter; In the fall, a collective seine was organized with the division of the spoils between all participants. For poor people who did not have livestock, fishing was the main occupation (in documents of the 17th century, the term “fisherman” - balyksyt - is used in the meaning of “poor man”), some tribes also specialized in it - the so-called “foot Yakuts” - Osekui, Ontuly, Kokui , Kirikians, Kyrgydians, Orgots and others.

Hunting was especially widespread in the north, constituting the main source of food here (arctic fox, hare, reindeer, elk, poultry). In the taiga, before the arrival of the Russians, both meat and fur hunting (bear, elk, squirrel, fox, hare, bird, etc.) were known; later, due to the decrease in the number of animals, its importance fell. Specific hunting techniques are characteristic: with a bull (the hunter sneaks up on the prey, hiding behind the bull), horse chasing the animal along the trail, sometimes with dogs.

There was gathering - the collection of pine and larch sapwood (the inner layer of bark), which was stored in dried form for the winter, roots (saran, mint, etc.), greens (wild onions, horseradish, sorrel); raspberries, which were considered unclean, were not consumed from the berries.

Agriculture (barley, to a lesser extent wheat) was borrowed from the Russians at the end of the 17th century, and was very poorly developed until the mid-19th century; Its spread (especially in the Olekminsky district) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers.

Wood processing was developed (artistic carving, painting with alder decoction), birch bark, fur, leather; dishes were made from leather, rugs were made from horse and cow skins sewn in a checkerboard pattern, blankets were made from hare fur, etc.; cords were hand-twisted from horsehair, woven, and embroidered. There was no spinning, weaving or felting of felt. The production of molded ceramics, which distinguished the Yakuts from other peoples of Siberia, has been preserved. The smelting and forging of iron, which had commercial value, as well as the smelting and minting of silver, copper, etc., were developed, and from the 19th century, mammoth ivory carving was developed.

Yakut cuisine

She has some common features with the cuisine of the Buryats, Mongolians, northern peoples(Evenks, Evens, Chukchis), as well as Russians. Methods of preparing dishes in Yakut cuisine are few: it is either boiling (meat, fish), or fermentation (kumys, suorat), or freezing (meat, fish).

Traditionally, horse meat, beef, venison, game birds, as well as offal and blood are consumed as food. Dishes made from Siberian fish (sturgeon, broad whitefish, omul, muksun, peled, nelma, taimen, grayling) are widespread.

A distinctive feature of Yakut cuisine is the fullest use of all components of the original product. A very typical example is the recipe for cooking crucian carp in Yakut style. Before cooking, the scales are cleaned off, the head is not cut off or thrown away, the fish is practically not gutted, a small side incision is made through which the gall bladder is carefully removed, part of the large intestine is cut off and pierced swim bladder. In this form, the fish is boiled or fried. A similar approach is used in relation to almost all other products: beef, horse meat, etc. Almost all by-products are actively used. In particular, giblet soups (is miine), blood delicacies (khaan), etc. are very popular. Obviously, such a thrifty attitude towards products is the result of the people's experience of surviving in harsh polar conditions.

Horse or beef ribs in Yakutia are known as oyogos. Stroganina is made from frozen meat and fish, which is eaten with a spicy seasoning of flask (wild garlic), spoon (similar to horseradish) and saranka (onion plant). Khaan, a Yakut blood sausage, is made from beef or horse blood.

The national drink is kumys, popular among many eastern peoples, as well as a stronger koonnyoruu kymys(or koyuurgen). From cow's milk they prepare suorat (yogurt), kuerchekh (whipped cream), kober (butter churned with milk to form a thick cream), chokhoon (or case– butter churned with milk and berries), iedegey (cottage cheese), suumekh (cheese). The Yakuts cook a thick mass of salamat from flour and dairy products.

Interesting traditions and customs of the people of Yakutia

The customs and rituals of the Yakuts are closely related to folk beliefs. Even many Orthodox or agnostics follow them. The structure of beliefs is very similar to Shintoism - each manifestation of nature has its own spirit, and shamans communicate with them. The foundation of a yurt and the birth of a child, marriage and burial are not complete without rituals. It is noteworthy that until recently, Yakut families were polygamous, each wife of one husband had her own household and home. Apparently, under the influence of assimilation with the Russians, the Yakuts nevertheless switched to monogamous cells of society.

The holiday of kumis Ysyakh occupies an important place in the life of every Yakut. Various rituals designed to appease the gods. Hunters glorify Baya-Bayanaya, women - Aiyysyt. The holiday is crowned by a general sun dance - osoukhai. All participants join hands and arrange a huge round dance. Fire has sacred properties at any time of the year. Therefore, every meal in a Yakut house begins with serving the fire - throwing food into the fire and sprinkling it with milk. Feeding the fire is one of the key moments of any holiday or business.

The most characteristic cultural phenomenon is the poetic stories of Olonkho, which can number up to 36 thousand rhymed lines. The epic is passed down from generation to generation between master performers, and most recently these narratives were included in the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage. Good memory and high life expectancy are some of the distinctive features of the Yakuts. In connection with this feature, a custom arose according to which a dying elderly person calls one of the younger generation and tells him about all his social connections - friends, enemies. The Yakuts are distinguished by their social activity, even though their settlements consist of several yurts located at an impressive distance. The main social relations take place during major holidays, the main one of which is the holiday of kumis - Ysyakh.

The traditional culture is most fully represented by the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern Yakuts are close in culture to the Evenks and Yukagirs, the Olekminsky are strongly acculturated by the Russians.

12 facts about the Yakuts

It’s not as cold in Yakutia as everyone thinks. Almost throughout the entire territory of Yakutia, the minimum temperature is on average -40-45 degrees, which is not so bad, since the air is very dry. -20 degrees in St. Petersburg will be worse than -50 in Yakutsk.
Yakuts eat raw meat - frozen foal, shavings or cut into cubes. The meat of adult horses is also eaten, but it is not as tasty. The meat is extremely tasty and healthy, rich in vitamins and other useful substances, in particular – antioxidants.
In Yakutia they also eat stroganina - the meat of river fish cut into thick shavings, mainly broadleaf and omul; the most prized is stroganina made from sturgeon and nelma (all these fish, with the exception of sturgeon, are from the whitefish family). All this splendor can be consumed by dipping the chips in salt and pepper. Some also make different sauces.
Contrary to popular belief, in Yakutia the majority of the population has never seen deer. Deer are found mainly in the Far North of Yakutia and, oddly enough, in Southern Yakutia.
The legend of crowbars becoming as fragile as glass severe frost- Truth. If you hit a hard object with a cast iron crowbar at a temperature below 50-55 degrees, the crowbar will fly into pieces.
In Yakutia, almost all grains, vegetables and even some fruits ripen well over the summer. For example, not far from Yakutsk they grow beautiful, tasty, red, sweet watermelons.
The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic group of languages. There are a lot of words in the Yakut language that begin with the letter “Y”.
In Yakutia, even in 40-degree frost, children eat ice cream right on the street.
When the Yakuts eat bear meat, before eating they make the sound “Hook” or imitate the cry of a raven, thereby, as if disguising themselves from the spirit of the bear - it is not we who eat your meat, but the crows.
Yakut horses are a very ancient breed. They graze on their own all year round without any supervision.
Yakuts are very hard working. In the summer, in the hayfield, they can easily work 18 hours a day without a break for lunch, and then have a good drink in the evening and, after 2 hours of sleep, go back to work. They can work for 24 hours and then plow 300 km behind the wheel and work there for another 10 hours.
Yakuts do not like to be called Yakuts and prefer to be called “Sakha”.

The Yakuts are the indigenous population of the Republic of Yakutia (Sakha) and the largest of all the indigenous peoples of Siberia. The ancestors of the Yakuts were first mentioned in the 14th century. The ancestors of modern Yakuts are the nomadic tribe of Kurykans, who lived in Transbaikalia until the 14th century. They came there from across the Yenisei River. The Yakuts are divided into several main groups:

Amginsko-Lena, live between the Lena River, on the adjacent left bank of the river, between the lower Aldan and Amga;
Olekma, inhabit territories in the Olekma basin;
Vilyuiskie, live in the Vilyui basin;
northern, live in the tundra zone of the Kolyma, Olenyok, Anabar, Indigirka and Yana river basins.

The self-name of the people sounds like Sakha, in plural sugar. There is also an old self-name Uranhai, which is still written uraanhai And uraanghai. These names are still used today in ceremonial speeches, songs and olonkho. Among the Yakuts sakhalyars- mestizos, descendants of mixed marriages between Yakuts and representatives of the Caucasian race. This word should not be confused with the above sugar.

Where live

The main part of the Yakuts live in Yakutia, on the territory of Russia, some live in the Magadan, Irkutsk regions, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories, in Moscow, Buryatia, St. Petersburg and Kamchatka.

Number

As of 2018, the population of the Republic of Yakutia is 964,330 people. Almost half of the total number is in the central part of Yakutia.

Language

Yakut, along with Russian, is one of the official languages of the Republic of Yakutia. Yakut belongs to the Turkic group of languages, but differs significantly from them in vocabulary of unknown origin, which may be Paleo-Asian. Yakut has many words of Mongolian origin, ancient borrowings and Russian words that appeared in the language after Yakutia became part of Russia.

Used Yakut language mainly in the everyday life of the Yakuts and their public life. This language is spoken by the Evenks, Evens, Dolgans, Yukaghirs, and the Russian old-timer population: Lena peasants, Yakuts, Podchans and Russian Ustyins. This language is used in Yakutia for office work, cultural events are held in it, newspapers, magazines, books are published, radio and television programs are broadcast, and there are Internet resources in the Yakut language. Performances are staged on it in the city and rural areas. Yakut is the language of the ancient epic Olonkho.

Bilingualism is common among Yakuts; 65% speak Russian fluently. There are several groups of dialects in the Yakut language:

Northwestern
Vilyuiskaya
Central
Taimyrskaya

The Yakut language today uses an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet, it contains all Russian letters and 5 additional ones, as well as 2 combinations Дь ь and Ннн, and 4 diphthongs are used. Long vowel sounds in writing are indicated by double vowels.

Character

Yakuts are very hardworking, hardy, organized and persistent people, they have a good ability to adapt to new living conditions, endure difficulties, hardships and hunger.

Appearance

The Yakuts of a pure race have an oval face shape, a wide and smooth, low forehead, black eyes with slightly slanted eyelids. The nose is straight, often with a hump, the mouth is large, the teeth are large, and the cheekbones are moderate. The complexion is dark, bronze or yellow-gray. The hair is straight and coarse, black.

Cloth

The national costume of the Yakuts combines the traditions of different peoples; it is perfectly adapted to the harsh climate in which these people live. This is reflected in the cut and design of clothes. The suit consists of a caftan with a belt, leather pants and fur socks. Yakuts wear a belt around their shirts. In winter they wear boots made of deerskin and fur.

The main ornament of clothing is the lily-syandana flower. The Yakuts try to combine all the colors of the year in their clothes. Black is a symbol of earth and spring, green is summer, brown and red are autumn, silver jewelry symbolize snow, stars and winter. Yakut patterns always consist of branched continuous lines, which mean that the race should not stop. The more branches such a line has, the more children the person who owns the clothing has.

Various furs, jacquard silk, cloth, leather and rovduga are used in tailoring outerwear. The costume is decorated with beads, ornamental inserts, metal pendants and decorations.

The poor sewed underwear and summer clothes from thin suede leather, the rich wore shirts made from Chinese cotton fabric, which was expensive and could only be obtained through in-kind exchange.

Festive clothing of the Yakuts has a more complex cut. The waist is widened at the bottom, and the sleeves have a gathered edge. These sleeves are called buuktaah. Lightweight caftans had an asymmetrical fastener and were generously decorated with beaded embroidery, a narrow strip of expensive fur and metal elements. Only the wealthy wore such clothes.

One of the wardrobe items of the Yakuts are robe-like items, sewn from daba fabric with one-piece sleeves. Women wore it in the summer. The Yakut hat looks like a fireplace. A hole was usually made at the top so that the moon and sun could peer in. The ears on the hat represent a connection with the cosmos. Today they are usually decorated with beads.

Religion

Before Yakutia became part of Russia, the people professed the Aar Aiyy religion, which implied the belief that all Yakuts are the children of Tanar - a god and relative of the 12 White Aiyys. They believed that from the moment of conception the child was surrounded by icchi spirits and celestial beings, they believed in evil and good spirits, master spirits and the spirits of deceased shamans. Each clan had a patron animal that could not be called by name or killed.

The Yakuts believed that the world consists of several tiers, the upper one is Yuryung Aiyy Toyon, the lower one is Ala Buura Toyon. Horses were sacrificed to the spirits who live in the upper world, cows were sacrificed to those who live in the lower world. The cult of the female fertility deity Aiyysyt occupied an important place.

In the 18th century, Christianity came to Yakutia, and most of the indigenous population became Orthodox Christians. But mass Christianization for the most part was formal; the Yakuts often accepted it because of the benefits that they were entitled to in return, and for a long time they treated this religion superficially. Today, the majority of Yakuts are Christians, but traditional faith, pantheism, and agnosticism are also common. There are still shamans in Yakutia, although there are very few of them.

Housing

The Yakuts lived in uras and log booths, which were also called Yakut yurts. Since the 20th century, huts began to be built. The Yakut settlement consisted of several yurts, which were located from each other by long distance.

Yurts were built from standing round logs. Only small trees were used for construction; cutting down large ones is a sin. The building site should be low and protected from the wind. Yakuts are always looking for a “happy place” and do not settle among large trees, because they believe that they have already taken all the power from the earth. When choosing a place to build a yurt, the Yakuts turned to a shaman. Dwellings were often built collapsible to make them easy to transport during a nomadic lifestyle.

The doors to the home are located on the east side, towards the sun. The roof was covered with birch bark, and many small windows were made for lighting in the yurt. Inside there is a fireplace coated with clay, along the walls there were wide lounge chairs of various shapes, separated from each other by partitions. The lowest one is located at the entrance. The owner of the home sleeps on a high lounger.

Life

The main occupations of the Yakuts were horse breeding and cattle breeding. The men looked after the horses, the women looked after the cattle. The Yakuts living in the north raised reindeer. Yakut cattle were unproductive, but very hardy. Haymaking has long been known among the Yakuts; even before the arrival of the Russians, fishing was also developed. Fish were caught mainly in the summer; in winter, holes were made in the ice. In the autumn, the Yakuts organized a collective seine hunt, and the spoils were divided among all participants. The poor people, who did not have livestock, lived mainly on fish. The foot Yakuts also specialized in this activity: Kokuls, Ontuis, Osekuis, Orgots, Krikians and Kyrgydais.

Hunting was especially common in the north and was the main source of food in these regions. The Yakuts hunted hare, arctic fox, poultry, elk and reindeer. With the arrival of the Russians, fur and meat hunting for bear, squirrel, and fox began to spread in the taiga, but later, due to a decrease in the number of animals, it became less popular. The Yakuts hunted with a bull, behind which they hid, sneaking up on the prey. They followed the trail of animals on horses, sometimes with dogs.

The Yakuts also engaged in gathering, collecting the inner layer of larch and pine bark and drying it for the winter. They collected minted and saran roots, greens: onions, sorrel and horseradish, and collected berries, but did not eat raspberries, since they considered them unclean.

The Yakuts borrowed agriculture from the Russians in the 17th century, and until the 19th century this area of the economy was very poorly developed. They grew barley, rarely wheat. Exiled Russian settlers contributed to the wide spread of agriculture among these people, especially in the Olemkinsky district.

Wood processing was well developed; the Yakuts were engaged in artistic carving and painted products with a decoction of alder. Birch bark, leather and fur were also processed. Dishes were made from leather, rugs were made from cow and horse skins, and blankets were made from hare fur. Horsehair was used in sewing, weaving and embroidery, and hand-twisted into cords. The Yakuts were engaged in molded ceramics, which distinguished them from other Siberian peoples. The people developed the smelting and forging of iron, smelting and minting of silver, copper and other metals. Since the 19th century, the Yakuts began to engage in bone carving.

The Yakuts moved mainly on horseback, and transported cargo in packs. They made skis, which were padded with horse skins, and sleighs, which were harnessed to bulls and deer. To move on the water, they made birch bark boats called tyy, made flat-bottomed boards, and sailing ships-carbass, which they borrowed from the Russians.

In ancient times, indigenous peoples living in the north of Yakutia developed the Yakut Laika dog breed. The breed of large Yakut courtyard dogs, which is distinguished by its unpretentiousness, is also widespread.

The Yakuts have a lot of hitching posts; since ancient times they have been the main components of the people; traditions, customs, beliefs and rituals are associated with them. All hitching posts have different heights, shapes, decorations and patterns. There are 3 groups of such structures:

outhouse, it includes those hitching posts that are installed near the home. Horses are tied to them;
pillars for religious ceremonies;
hitching posts installed on the main holiday Ysyakh.

Food

The national cuisine of the Yakuts is slightly similar to the cuisine of the Mongols, Buryats, northern peoples and Russians. Dishes are prepared by boiling, fermenting and freezing. For meat, the Yakuts eat horse meat, venison and beef, game, blood and offal. The preparation of dishes from Siberian fish is widespread in the cuisine of this people: broadleaf, sturgeon, omul, muksun, peled, grayling, nelma and taimen.

The Yakuts make maximum use of all components of the original product. For example, when cooking crucian carp in Yakut style, the fish remains with the head and is practically not gutted. The scales are cleaned off, the gall bladder and part of the colon are removed through a small incision, and the swim bladder is pierced. The fish is fried or boiled.

All offal products are used quite actively; giblet soup, blood delicacies, horse and beef liver, which is filled with a mixture of blood and milk, are very popular. Meat from beef and horse ribs is called oyogos in Yakutia. Eat it frozen or raw. Stroganina is made from frozen fish and meat, which is eaten with spicy seasoning. Khaan blood sausage is made from horse and beef blood.

IN traditional cuisine Yakuts do not use vegetables, mushrooms and fruits, only some berries are consumed. Drinks include kumys and the stronger koyuurgen; instead of tea, they drink hot fruit juice. From cow's milk they prepare curdled milk suorat, whipped cream kerchekh, thick cream from butter churned with milk, which is called kober, chokhoon - milk and butter churned with berries, cottage cheese iedegey, cheese suumekh. A thick mass of salamat is cooked from a mixture of dairy products and flour. Burduk is made from a fermented solution of barley or rye flour.

Folklore

Ancient epic Olonkho is passed down from generation to generation and is similar in performance to opera. This is the oldest epic art of the Yakuts, which occupies the most important place in the folklore of the people. Olonkho denotes an epic tradition and serves as the name of individual tales. Poems 10,000-15,000 lines long are performed by folk storytellers, which not everyone can become. The narrator must have oratory and acting talent, and be able to improvise. Large olonkhos can take 7 nights to complete. The largest such work consists of 36,000 poetic characters. In 2005, Olonkho was declared by UNESCO “a masterpiece of the intangible and oral heritage of humanity.”

Yakut folk singers use the dyeretii yrya type of throat singing. This unusual technique singing, the articulation of which is based in the larynx or pharynx.

The most famous of musical instruments Yakuts this is khomus - a Yakut type of harp and stringed instrument. They play it with their lips and tongue.

Traditions

The Yakuts have always strived to live in harmony with themselves, faith and nature; they honor traditions and are not afraid of change. This people has so many traditions and rituals that one could write a separate book about it.

The Yakuts protect their homes and livestock from evil spirits, using many conspiracies, and conduct rituals for the offspring of livestock, a good harvest and the birth of children. Before today The Yakuts have a blood feud, but it was gradually replaced by ransom.

Among these people, the Sat stone is considered magical; women cannot look at it, otherwise it will lose its power. These stones are found in the stomachs of birds and animals, wrapped in birch bark and wrapped in horsehair. It is believed that with the help of certain spells and this stone one can cause snow, rain and wind.

Yakuts are very hospitable people and love to give each other gifts. Their maternity rites are associated with the goddess Aiyysyt, who is considered the patroness of children. According to myths, Aiyy only accepts sacrifices of plant origin and dairy products. In household modern language The Yakuts have a word “anyyy”, the meaning of which is translated as “impossible”.

Yakuts marry from 16 to 25 years old; if the groom’s family is not rich and there is no bride price, you can steal the bride, and then help the wife’s family and thereby earn the bride price.

Until the 19th century, polygamy was common in Yakutia, but wives lived separately from their husbands, and each ran her own household. There was a dowry, which consisted of livestock. Part of the bride price - kurum - was intended for the wedding celebration. The bride had a dowry, which in its value was equal to half the bride price. These were mainly clothes and utensils. The modern bride price was replaced with money.

Required traditional ritual among the Yakuts it is the Blessing of Aiyy at celebrations and holidays in nature. Blessings are prayers. The most important holiday is Ysyakh, the day of praise of the White Aiyy. When hunting and fishing, a ritual is performed to appease the spirit of hunting and good luck Bayanai.

A ritual was performed with the dead air burial, suspended the body in the air. The ritual meant surrendering the deceased to light, air, spirit and wood.

All Yakuts revere trees and believe that the spirit of the mistress of the land Aan Darkhan Khotun lives in them. When climbing the mountains, fish and animals were traditionally sacrificed to the forest spirits.

During the national holiday Ysyakh, national Yakut jumping and international games “Children of Asia” are held, which are divided into the following stages:

Kylyy, 11 jumps without stopping, the jump begins on one leg, you need to land on both legs;
Ystanga, 11 jumps in turn from foot to foot. You need to land on both feet;
Kuobah, 11 jumps without stopping, while jumping from a place you need to push off with both legs at once or land with a run on both legs.

The national sport of the Yakuts is mas-wrestling, during which the opponent must snatch the stick from the opponent’s hands. This sport was introduced in 2003. Another sport is hapsagai, a very ancient form of wrestling among the Yakuts.

A wedding in Yakutia is a special phenomenon. With the birth of a girl in the family, parents, on sacred ancient tradition, they are looking for a groom for her and have been following his life, manners and behavior for many years. Usually a boy is chosen from a family where the fathers are distinguished by good health, endurance and strength, are good at working with their hands, building yurts, and getting food. If the boy's father does not pass on all his skills to him, he is no longer considered as a groom. Some parents manage to quickly find a groom for their daughter, while for others this process takes long years.

Matchmaking is one of the customs and traditions of the Yakuts. On the appointed day, the parents go to the house of the prospective groom, and the girl is not allowed to leave the house. The parents talk with the guy’s parents, describing their daughter and her merits in all colors. If the guy's parents are not against the wedding, the size of the bride price is discussed. The girl is prepared for the wedding by her mother, prepares her dowry, sews outfits. The bride chooses the time of the wedding.

Earlier Wedding Dress sewed only from natural materials. Today this is not necessary, it is only important that the outfit be snow-white and equipped with a tight belt. The bride should wear amulets for protection new family from disease and evil.

The bride and groom sit in different yurts, the shaman, mother of the groom or father of the bride fumigates them with smoke, cleansing them of everything bad. Only after this the bride and groom meet, they are declared husband and wife, and the celebration begins with a feast, dancing and songs. After marriage, a girl should walk only with her head covered, and only her husband should see her hair.

The Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation has registered an organization of believers in the traditional pantheon of gods of Yakutia - the “Religion of Aar Aiyy”. Thus, Russia officially recognized the ancient religion of the Yakut people, which was widespread in the region until the end of the 17th century, when the people of Yakutia began to be converted en masse to Orthodoxy. Today, followers of the ayyy are talking about restoring the traditions of their faith, the northern branch - the cult of the deified sky, reports the SmartNews portal.

According to the head of the organization "Religion Aar Aiyy" Augustina Yakovleva, the final registration took place in May of this year. “We don’t know how many people now believe in aiyy. Our religion is very ancient, but with the advent of Christianity in Yakutia, it lost many believers, but there have always been followers of ayyy among the people. Previously, we did not have a written language, and people passed all information from mouth to mouth. lips. And by the time writing appeared in Yakutia, Orthodoxy came here - in the middle of the 17th century," she told the portal.

In 2011, three religious groups were registered in Yakutia - in Yakutsk, the villages of Suntar and Khatyn-Sysy. In 2014, they united and became the founders of a centralized religious organization Republic of Sakha Aar Aiyy.

“The peculiarity of our religion is that we recognize higher powers, and the most important God, the creator of the world, is Yuryung Aiyy toyon. He has twelve assistant gods. Each of them has its own function. During prayer, we pay honors first high gods, and then to earthly good spirits. We appeal to all earthly spirits through fire, because Yakutia is a cold region, and we could not live without fire. The most important good spirit of the earth is fire. Then come the spirits of all waters and lakes, the taiga, the spirit of Yakutia and others. It is believed that our faith is the northern branch of Tengrism. But our religion does not fully correspond to any other. We pray to higher powers in the open air, we don’t have churches,” said Tamara Timofeeva, assistant to the head of the new religious organization.

The world, in the minds of the followers of ayyy, is divided into three parts: the underground world - Allaraa Doidu, where evil spirits live, the middle world - Orto Doidu, where people live, and the upper world - Yuhee Doidu, the place of residence of the gods. Such a universe is embodied in the Great Tree. Its crown is the upper world, its trunk is the middle, and its roots, accordingly, are the lower world. It is believed that the aiyy gods do not accept sacrifices and are given dairy products and plants.

The Supreme God - Yuryung Ayyy toyon, the creator of the world, people and demons inhabiting the lower world, animals and plants, embodies the sky. Jösögei Toyon is the patron god of horses, his image is closely associated with the sun. Shuge toyon is a god who pursues evil forces in heaven and earth, the master of thunder and lightning. Ayysyt is a goddess who patronizes childbirth and pregnant women. Ieyiehsit - patron goddess happy people, mediator between gods and people. Bilge Khaan is the god of knowledge. Chyngys Khaan is the god of fate. Ulu Toyon is the god of death. There are also minor gods and spirits - forces of a lower order.

“The creation of the site is connected with the religion of the Sakha people, who not only preserved traditional rituals, but also their language. We expect that in the future the site will become the hallmark of the culture of the indigenous peoples of Yakutia, who maintain a spiritual connection with their ancestors,” a representative of the republican ministry said then for Entrepreneurship, Tourism Development and Employment, which initiated the creation of the site.

Tengrism is a system of religious beliefs of the ancient Mongols and Turks. The etymology of the word goes back to Tengri - the deified sky. Tengrism arose on the basis of a folk worldview that embodied early religious and mythological ideas associated with man’s relationship to the surrounding nature and its elemental forces. Peculiar and characteristic feature This religion is the kinship between man and the surrounding world, nature.

“Tengrism was generated by the deification of nature and the veneration of the spirits of ancestors. The Turks and Mongols worshiped objects and phenomena of the surrounding world not out of fear of incomprehensible and formidable elemental forces, but out of a feeling of gratitude to nature for the fact that, despite the sudden outbursts of their unbridled anger, it more often she is affectionate and generous. They knew how to look at nature as an animated being,” noted a representative of the department.

According to him, some scientists who studied Tengrism came to the conclusion that by the 12th-13th centuries this doctrine had taken the form of a complete concept with ontology (the doctrine of a single deity), cosmology (the concept of three worlds with the possibility of mutual communication), mythology and demonology ( distinguishing ancestral spirits from nature spirits).

“Tengrism was so different from Buddhism, Islam and Christianity that spiritual contacts between representatives of these religions could not be possible. Monotheism, worship of the spirits of ancestors, pantheism (worship of the spirits of nature), magic, shamanism and even elements of totemism are intricately and surprisingly organically intertwined in it "The only religion with which Tengrism had much in common was the Japanese national religion - Shintoism," concluded the representative of the republican ministry.

Yakuts- This is the indigenous population of Yakutia (Sakha Republic). Statistics from the latest census are as follows:
Number of people: 959,689 people.
Language - turkish group languages (Yakut)
Religion: Orthodox and traditional faith.
Race - Mongoloid
TO kindred peoples include Dolgans, Tuvinians, Kyrgyz, Altaians, Khakassians, Shors
Ethnicity – Dolgans
Descended from the Turkic-Mongolian people.

History: the origin of the Yakut people.

The first mentions of the ancestors of this people were found in the fourteenth century. In Transbaikalia lived a nomadic tribe of Kurykans. Scientists suggest that from the 12th-14th centuries the Yakuts migrated from Baikal to Lena, Aldan and Vailyuy, where they settled and displaced the Tungus and Oduls. The Yakut people were considered excellent cattle breeders from ancient times. Breeding cows and horses. Yakuts are hunters by nature. They were excellent at fishing, versed in military affairs, and were famous for their blacksmithing. Archaeologists believe that Yakut people appeared as a result of the addition to his settlement of trick-tongued settlers from the local tribes of the Lena basin. In 1620, the Yakut people joined To the Russian state- it sped up more developed than the people.

Religion

Traditions of the Yakut people

1. Mandatory traditional ritual - Blessing of Aiyy during celebrations, holidays and in nature. Blessings are prayers.
2. The ritual of air burial is the suspension of the body of a dead person in the air. The ritual of imparting air, spirit, light, wood to the deceased.
3. The holiday "Ysyakh", a day praising the White Aiyy, is the most important holiday.
4. “Bayanai” - the spirit of hunting and good luck. He is cajoled when hunting or fishing.
5. People get married from 16 to 25 years old. A bride price is paid for the bride. If the family is not rich, then the bride can be kidnapped, and then she can work for her by helping the future wife’s family.
6. Singing, which the Yakuts call “olonkho” and resembles opera singing since 2005, is considered a UNESCO heritage.
7. All Yakut people revere trees as the spirit of the mistress of the land Aan Dar-khan Khotun lives there.
8. When climbing through the mountains, the Yakuts traditionally sacrificed fish and animals to the forest spirits.

Yakut national jumps

a sport that is played on national holiday"Ysyakh". The International Children of Asia Games are divided into:
“Kylyy” - eleven jumps without stopping, the jump starts on one leg, and the landing must be on both legs.
“Ystakha” - eleven alternate jumps from foot to foot and you need to land on both feet.
“Quobach” - eleven jumps without stopping, pushing off with two legs at once from a place or landing on two legs from a run.
It is important to know about the rules. Because if the third competition is not completed, the results are canceled.

Yakut cuisine

The traditions of the Yakut people are also connected with their cuisine. For example, cooking crucian carp. The fish is not gutted, only the scales are removed, a small incision is made on the side, part of the intestine is cut off, and the gall bladder is removed. In this form, the fish is boiled or fried. Potrash soup is popular among people. This waste-free preparation applies to all dishes. Be it beef or horse meat.

From the very beginning of the “origin of the Yakut people,” traditions have been accumulating. These northern rituals are interesting and mysterious and have accumulated over centuries of their history. For other peoples, their life is so inaccessible and incomprehensible, but for the Yakuts it is the memory of their ancestors, a small tribute in honor of their existence.