The brutal traditions of the Chukchi: why they kill frail old people and exchange spouses. 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 feeblemindedness, starting any sentence with “however” and preferring vodka to their wives. We perceive the Chukchi as a distant northern people who are interested exclusively 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 are also a 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 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

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 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"

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 you can first cry over the death of a 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.

The number is 15,184 people. The language is the Chukchi-Kamchatka family of languages. Settlement - Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Okrugs.

The name of the people adopted in administrative documents XIX - XX centuries, comes from the self-name of the tundra Chukchi nauchu, Chavcha-vyt - “rich in deer.” The coastal Chukchi called themselves ank"alyt - "sea people" or ram"aglyt - "coastal inhabitants".

Distinguishing themselves from other tribes, they use the self-name Lyo Ravetlan - “real people.” (In the late 1920s, the name Luoravetlan was used as the official name.) The Chukchi language is divided into Eastern, or Uelen (which formed the basis of the literary language), Western (Pevek), Enmylen, Nunlingran and Khatyr dialects. Writing has existed on Latin since 1931, and on Russian graphic basis since 1936. The Chukchi are the oldest inhabitants of the continental regions of the extreme north-east of Siberia, bearers of the inland culture of wild hunters deer and fishermen. Neolithic finds on the Ekytikyveem and Enmyveem rivers and Lake Elgytg date back to the second millennium BC. By the first millennium AD, having tamed deer and partially switching to a sedentary lifestyle on the sea coast, the Chukchi established contacts with the Eskimos.

The transition to sedentarism occurred most intensively in XIV - XVI centuries after the Yukaghirs penetrated into the valleys of Kolyma and Anadyr, seizing the seasonal hunting grounds for wild deer. The Eskimo population of the coasts of the Pacific and Arctic oceans was partially pushed out by continental Chukchi hunters to other coastal areas and partially assimilated. IN XIV - XV centuries As a result of the penetration of the Yukaghirs into the Anadyr valley, the territorial separation of the Chukchi from the Koryaks, associated with the latter by a common origin, occurred. By occupation, the Chukchi were divided into “reindeer” (nomadic, but continuing to hunt), “sedentary” (sedentary, having a small number of tamed deer, hunters of wild deer and sea animals) and “foot” (sedentary hunters of sea animals and wild deer , without deer). TO XIX V. main territorial groups were formed. Among the deer (tundra) are Indigirka-Alazeya, West Kolyma, etc.; among the sea (coastal) - groups of the Pacific, Bering Sea coasts and the coast of the Arctic Ocean. There have long been two types of economy. The basis of one was reindeer husbandry, the other - sea hunting. Fishing, hunting and gathering were of an auxiliary nature. Large-scale herding of reindeer herding developed only towards the end XVIII century In the XIX V. the herd numbered, as a rule, from 3 - 5 to 10 - 12 thousand heads. Reindeer husbandry of the tundra group was mainly focused on meat and transport. The deer were grazed without a shepherd dog, in the summer - on the ocean coast or in the mountains, and with the onset of autumn they moved inland to the borders of the forest to winter pastures, where, as necessary, they migrated 5 - 10 km.

Encampment

In the second half XIX V. The economy of the absolute majority of the Chukchi remained largely subsistence in nature. By the end XIX V. The demand for reindeer products increased, especially among the sedentary Chukchi and Asian Eskimos. Expansion of trade with Russians and foreigners from the second half XIX V. gradually destroyed the natural reindeer herding economy. From the end XIX - early XX V. In Chukotka reindeer husbandry, there is a stratification of property: impoverished reindeer herders become farm laborers, rich owners have a growing herd, and the wealthy part of the settled Chukchi and Eskimos acquire reindeer. Coastal (sedentary) people were traditionally engaged in marine hunting, which reached XVIII V. high level of development. Hunting for seals, seals, bearded seals, walruses and whales provided basic food products, durable material for making canoes, hunting tools, some types of clothing and shoes, household items, fat for lighting and heating the home.

Those wishing to download a free album of works of Chukchi and Eskimo art:

This album represents a collection of works of Chukchi and Eskimo art from the 1930s to the 1970s from the Zagorsk State Historical and Art Museum-Reserve. Its core consists of materials collected in Chukotka in the 1930s. The museum's collection widely reflects the Chukchi and Eskimo art of bone carving and engraving, the work of embroiderers, and the drawings of master bone carvers.(PDF format)

Walruses and whales were hunted mainly in the summer-autumn period, and seals - in the winter-spring period. Hunting tools consisted of harpoons, spears, knives, etc. of different sizes and purposes. Whales and walruses were hunted collectively, from canoes, and seals were hunted individually. From the end XIX V. In the foreign market, the demand for skins of marine animals is rapidly growing, which at the beginning XX V. leads to the predatory extermination of whales and walruses and significantly undermines the economy of the settled population of Chukotka. Both the reindeer and coastal Chukchi caught fish with nets woven from whale and deer tendons or from leather belts, as well as nets and bits, in the summer - from the shore or from canoes, in the winter - in an ice hole. Mountain sheep, moose, polar and brown bears, wolverines, wolves, foxes and arctic foxes right up to the beginning XIX V. mined with bows and arrows, spears and traps; waterfowl - using a throwing weapon (ball) and darts with a throwing board; eiders were beaten with sticks; Noose traps were set for hares and partridges.

Chukchi weapons

In the XVIII V. stone axes, spear and arrowheads, and bone knives were almost completely replaced with metal ones. From the second half XIX V. they bought or exchanged guns, traps and mouths. In marine hunting to the beginning XX V. They began to widely use firearms, whaling weapons and harpoons with bombs. Women and children collected and prepared edible plants, berries and roots, as well as seeds from mouse holes. To dig up roots, they used a special tool with a tip made of deer antler, which was later replaced with an iron one. The nomadic and sedentary Chukchi developed handicrafts. Women tanned fur, sewed clothes and shoes, wove bags from fibers of fireweed and wild rye, made mosaics from fur and sealskin, embroidered with deer hair and beads. Men processed and artistically carved bone and walrus tusk

In the XIX V. Bone-carving associations arose that sold their products. The main means of transportation along the sled route were reindeer harnessed to sledges of several types: for transporting cargo, dishes, children (wagon), and poles of the yaranga frame. We walked on snow and ice on racket skis; by sea - on single and multi-seat kayaks and whaleboats. Rowing with short single-blade oars. Reindeer, if necessary, built rafts or went to sea in the kayaks of hunters, and they used their riding reindeer. The Chukchi borrowed the method of traveling on dog sleds drawn by a “fan” from the Eskimos, and in a train from the Russians. The "fan" was usually harnessed 5 - 6 dogs, in a train - 8 - 12. The dogs were also harnessed to reindeer sledges. The nomadic Chukchi camps numbered up to 10 yarangas and were extended from west to east. The first from the west was the yaranga of the head of the camp. Yaranga - a tent in the form of a truncated cone with a height in the center from 3.5 to 4.7 m and a diameter from 5.7 to 7 - 8 m, similar to the Koryak one. The wooden frame was covered with deer skins, usually sewn into two panels. The edges of the skins were placed one on top of the other and secured with straps sewn to them. The free ends of the belts in the lower part were tied to sledges or heavy stones, which ensured the immobility of the covering. The yaranga was entered between the two halves of the covering, folding them to the sides. For winter they sewed coverings from new skins, for summer they used last year's skins. The hearth was in the center of the yaranga, under the smoke hole. Opposite the entrance, at the back wall of the yaranga, a sleeping area (canopy) made of skins in the form of a parallelepiped was installed. The shape of the canopy was maintained by poles passed through many loops sewn to the skins. The ends of the poles rested on racks with forks, and the back pole was attached to the yaranga frame. The average canopy size is 1.5 m high, 2.5 m wide and about 4 m long. The floor was covered with mats, with thick skins on top of them. The bed head - two oblong bags filled with scraps of skins - was located at the exit. In winter, during periods of frequent migrations, the canopy was made from the thickest skins with the fur inside. They covered themselves with a blanket made from several deer skins. To make a canopy, 12 - 15 were required, for beds - about 10 large deer skins.

Yaranga

Each canopy belonged to one family. Sometimes the yaranga had two canopies. Every morning the women took it off, laid it out on the snow and beat it out of a deer antler with mallets. From the inside, the canopy was illuminated and heated by a grease pit. Behind the curtain, at the back wall of the tent, things were stored; at the sides, on both sides of the hearth, there are products. Between the entrance to the yaranga and the hearth there was a free cold place for various needs. To illuminate their homes, the coastal Chukchi used whale and seal oil, while the tundra Chukchi used fat rendered from crushed deer bones, which burned odorless and soot-free in stone oil lamps. Among the coastal Chukchi in XVIII - XIX centuries There were two types of dwellings: yaranga and half-dugout. Yarangas retained the structural basis of the reindeer dwellings, but the frame was constructed from both wood and whale bones. This made the home resistant to the onslaught of storm winds. They covered the yaranga with walrus skins; it had no smoke hole. The canopy was made of large walrus skin up to 9-10 m in length, 3 m in width and 1.8 m in height; for ventilation there were holes in its wall, which were closed with fur plugs. On both sides of the canopy, winter clothes and supplies of skins were stored in large bags made of seal skins, and inside, along the walls, belts were stretched on which clothes and shoes were dried. At the end XIX V. In the summer, the coastal Chukchi covered yarangas with canvas and other durable materials. They lived in half-dugouts mainly in winter. Their type and design were borrowed from the Eskimos. The frame of the dwelling was constructed from whale jaws and ribs; The top was covered with turf. The quadrangular inlet was located on the side. The household utensils of the nomadic and sedentary Chukchi are modest and contain only the most necessary items: various types of home-made cups for broth, large wooden dishes with low sides for boiled meat, sugar, cookies, etc. They ate in the canopy, sitting around a table on low legs or directly around the dish. They used a washcloth made from thin wood shavings to wipe their hands after eating and sweep away any remaining food from the dish. The dishes were stored in a drawer. Deer bones, walrus meat, fish, and whale oil were crushed with a stone hammer on a stone slab. The leather was processed using stone scrapers; Edible roots were dug up with bone shovels and hoes. An indispensable accessory of each family was a projectile for making fire in the form of a board of a rough anthropomorphic shape with recesses in which a bow drill (flint board) rotated. Fire produced in this way was considered sacred and could only be passed on to relatives through the male line.

Flint

Currently, bow drills are kept as a cult item of the family. The clothing and footwear of the tundra and coastal Chukchi did not differ significantly and were almost identical to those of the Eskimos. Winter clothes were made from two layers of reindeer skins with fur on the inside and outside. The coastal people also used durable, elastic, practically waterproof seal skin for sewing pants and spring-summer shoes; Cloaks and kamleikas were made from walrus intestines. The reindeer sewed trousers and shoes from old yaranga coverings that did not deform under the influence of moisture. The constant mutual exchange of farm products allowed the tundra people to receive shoes, leather soles, belts, lassos made from the skins of marine mammals, and the coastal people to receive reindeer skins for winter clothing. In summer they wore worn out winter clothes. Chukotka closed clothing is divided into everyday clothing and festive and ritual clothing: children's, youth, men's, women's, old people's, ritual and funeral. The traditional set of a Chukchi men's suit consists of a kukhlyanka belted with a belt with a knife and a pouch, a calico kamleika worn over the kukhlyanka, a raincoat made of walrus intestines, trousers and various headdresses: a regular Chukotka winter hat, a malakhai, a hood, and a light summer hat. The basis of a woman's costume is a fur jumpsuit with wide sleeves and short, knee-length pants. Typical shoes are short, knee-length, torbas of several types, sewn from seal skins with the hair facing outward with a piston sole made of bearded seal skin, made of camus with fur stockings and grass insoles (winter tobos); from seal skin or from old, smoke-soaked coverings of yaranga (summer torbas).

Sewing with deer hair

The traditional food of tundra people is venison, while that of coastal people is the meat and fat of sea animals. Deer meat was eaten frozen (finely chopped) or lightly boiled. During the mass slaughter of deer, the contents of reindeer stomachs were prepared by boiling them with blood and fat. They also consumed fresh and frozen deer blood. We prepared soups with vegetables and cereals. The Primorye Chukchi considered walrus meat especially satisfying. Prepared in the traditional way, it is well preserved. Squares of meat along with lard and skin are cut out of the dorsal and side parts of the carcass. The liver and other cleaned entrails are placed in the tenderloin. The edges are sewn together with the skin facing outward - a roll is obtained (k"opalgyn-kymgyt). Closer to cold weather, its edges are pulled together even more to prevent excessive souring of the contents. K"opal-gyn is eaten fresh, sour and frozen. Fresh walrus meat is boiled. The meat of beluga whales and gray whales, as well as their skin with a layer of fat, is eaten raw and boiled. In the northern and southern regions of Chukotka, chum salmon, grayling, navaga, sockeye salmon, and flounder occupy a large place in the diet. Yukola is prepared from large salmon. Many Chukchi reindeer herders dry, salt, smoke fish, and salt caviar. The meat of sea animals is very fatty, so it requires herbal supplements. The Reindeer and Primorye Chukchi traditionally ate a lot of wild herbs, roots, berries, and seaweed. Dwarf willow leaves, sorrel, and edible roots were frozen, fermented, and mixed with fat and blood. Koloboks were made from the roots, crushed with meat and walrus fat. For a long time, porridge was cooked from imported flour, and cakes were fried in seal fat.

Rock painting

K XVII - XVIII centuries The main socio-economic unit was the patriarchal family community, consisting of several families that had a single household and a common home. The community included up to 10 or more adult men related by kinship. Among the coastal Chukchi, industrial and social ties developed around the canoe, the size of which depended on the number of community members. At the head of the patriarchal community was a foreman - the “boat chief”. Among the tundra, the patriarchal community was united around a common herd; it was also headed by a foreman - a “strong man”. By the end XVIII V. Due to the increase in the number of deer in the herds, it became necessary to split the latter for more convenient grazing, which led to a weakening of intra-community ties. Sedentary Chukchi lived in villages. Several related communities settled on common areas, each of which was located in a separate half-dugout. The nomadic Chukchi lived in a camp also consisting of several patriarchal communities. Each community included two to four families and occupied a separate yaranga. 15-20 camps formed a circle of mutual assistance. The Reindeer also had patrilineal kinship groups connected by blood feuds, the transfer of ritual fire, sacrificial rites, and the initial form of patriarchal slavery, which disappeared with the cessation of wars against neighboring peoples. IN XIX V. traditions of communal life, group marriage and levirate continued to coexist, despite the emergence of private property and wealth inequality.

Chukotka hunter

By the end of the 19th century. the large patriarchal family disintegrated and was replaced by a small family. The basis of religious beliefs and cult is animism, a trade cult. The structure of the world among the Chukchi included three spheres: the earth's firmament with everything that exists on it; heaven, where ancestors live who died a dignified death during a battle or who chose voluntary death at the hands of a relative (among the Chukchi, old people who were unable to earn a living asked their closest relatives to take their lives); the underworld is the abode of the bearers of evil - kele, where people who died of illness ended up. According to legend, mystical host creatures were in charge of fishing grounds and individual habitats of people, and sacrifices were made to them. A special category of beneficent creatures were household patrons; ritual figurines and objects were kept in each yaranga. The system of religious ideas gave rise to corresponding cults among the tundra people associated with reindeer husbandry; near the coast - with the sea. There were also common cults: Nargynen (Nature, Universe), Dawn, Polar Star, Zenith, the constellation Pegittin, cult of ancestors, etc. Sacrifices were communal, family and individual in nature. The fight against diseases, protracted failures in fishing and reindeer husbandry was the lot of shamans. In Chukotka they were not classified as a professional caste; they participated as equals in the fishing activities of the family and community. What distinguished the shaman from other members of the community was his ability to communicate with patron spirits, talk with ancestors, imitate their voices, and fall into a state of trance. The main function of the shaman was healing. He did not have a special costume, his main ritual attribute was a tambourine

Chukotka tambourine

Shamanic functions could be performed by the head of the family (family shamanism). The main holidays were associated with economic cycles. For reindeer - with the autumn and winter slaughter of reindeer, calving, migration of the herd to summer pastures and return. The holidays of the coastal Chukchi are close to the Eskimos: in the spring - the holiday of baidara on the occasion of the first trip to sea; in summer there is a festival of goals to mark the end of the seal hunt; in autumn it is the holiday of the owner of sea animals. All holidays were accompanied by competitions in running, wrestling, shooting, bouncing on a walrus skin (a prototype of a trampoline), deer and dog racing, dancing, playing tambourines, and pantomime. In addition to production ones, there were family holidays associated with the birth of a child, expressions of gratitude on the occasion of a successful hunt by a novice hunter, etc. During holidays, sacrifices are obligatory: deer, meat, figurines made of reindeer fat, snow, wood (among the reindeer Chukchi), dogs (among the sea). Christianization almost did not affect the Chukchi. The main genres of folklore are myths, fairy tales, historical legends, tales and everyday stories. The main character of myths and fairy tales is Raven Kurkyl, a demiurge and cultural hero (a mythical character who gives people various cultural objects, produces fire like Prometheus among the ancient Greeks, teaches hunting, crafts, introduces various instructions and rules of behavior, rituals, is the first ancestor of people and creator of the world).

There are also widespread myths about the marriage of a person and an animal: a whale, a polar bear, a walrus, a seal. Chukchi fairy tales (lymn "yl) are divided into mythological, everyday and tales about animals. Historical legends tell about the wars of the Chukchi with the Eskimos, Koryaks, and Russians. Mythological and everyday legends are also known. Music is genetically related to the music of the Koryaks, Eskimos and Yukaghirs. Every person had at least three “personal” melodies, composed by him in childhood, in adulthood and in old age (more often, however, a children’s melody was received as a gift from his parents.) New melodies also appeared related to events in life (recovery, farewell to a friend or lover, etc.) When singing lullabies, they made a special “crowing” sound, reminiscent of the voice of a crane or a woman. Shamans had their own “personal tunes.” They were performed on behalf of the patron spirits - “songs of spirits” and reflected the emotional state of the singer.Tambourine (yarar) - round, with a handle on the side (for coastal ones) or a cross-shaped holder on the back side (for tundra ones).There are male, female and children's varieties of the tambourine. Shamans play the tambourine with a thick soft stick, and singers at festivals use a thin whalebone stick. Yarar was a family shrine; its sound symbolized the “voice of the hearth.” Another traditional musical instrument is the plate harp of the bath yarar - a “mouth tambourine” made of birch, bamboo (float), bone or metal plate. Later, an arc double-tongued harp appeared. String instruments are represented by lutes: bowed tubular, hollowed out from a single piece of wood, and box-shaped. The bow was made from whalebone, bamboo or willow splinters; strings (1 - 4) - made of vein threads or guts (later made of metal). Lutes were mainly used to play song melodies.

Modern Chukchi

Max Singer describes his journey from Chaunskaya Bay to Yakutsk in his book “112 Days on Dogs and Reindeer.” Publishing house Moscow, 1950

Those wishing to download the book for free

Chukchi letter

The Chukchi letter was invented by the Chukchi reindeer herder (state farm shepherd) Teneville (Tenville), who lived near the settlement of Ust-Belaya (c. 1890-1943?) around 1930. To this day it is not clear whether Teneville’s letter was ideographic or verbal-syllabic. The Chukchi letter was discovered in 1930 by a Soviet expedition and described by the famous traveler, writer and polar explorer V.G. Bogoraz-Tanom (1865-1936). The Chukchi letter was not widespread. In addition to Teneville himself, this letter was owned by his son, with whom the former exchanged messages while grazing deer. Teneville put his marks on boards, bones, walrus tusks and candy wrappers. He used an ink pencil or a metal cutter. The direction of the letter is unsettled. There are no phonetic graphemes, which indicates the extreme primitivism of the system. But at the same time, it is extremely strange that Teneville, through pictograms, conveyed such complex abstract concepts as “bad”, “good”, “fear”, “become”...

This suggests that the Chukchi already had some kind of written tradition, perhaps similar to the Yukaghir. Chukotka writing is a unique phenomenon and is of certain interest when considering the problems of the emergence of written traditions among peoples at the pre-state stages of their development. The Chukchi script is the most northern script ever developed by an indigenous people with minimal outside influence. The question of the sources and prototypes of Teneville’s letter has not been resolved. Taking into account the isolation of Chukotka from the main regional civilizations, this letter can be considered a local phenomenon, aggravated by the creative initiative of a lone genius. It is possible that the drawings on shamanic drums influenced Chukchi writing. The very word “writing” kelikel (kaletkoran – school, lit. “writing house”, kelitku-kelikel – notebook, lit. “written paper”) in the Chukchi language (Luoravetlan language ӆygyoravetien yiӆyyiӆ) has Tungus-Manchu parallels. In 1945, the artist and art critic I. Lavrov visited the upper reaches of Anadyr, where Teneville once lived. There the “Teneville archive” was discovered - a box covered with snow in which monuments of Chukchi writing were kept. 14 tablets with Chukchi pictographic texts are kept in St. Petersburg. Relatively recently, a whole notebook with Teneville's notes was found. Teneville also developed special signs for numbers based on the base-20 number system characteristic of the Chukchi language. Scientists count about 1000 basic elements of Chukchi writing. The first experiments in translating liturgical texts into the Chukchi language date back to the 20s of the 19th century: according to research in recent years, the first book in the Chukchi language was printed in 1823 in a circulation of 10 copies. The first dictionary of the Chukchi language, compiled by priest M. Petelin, was published in 1898. In the first third of the 20th century. Among the Chukchi, there were experiments in creating mnemonic systems similar to logographic writing, the model for which was Russian and English writing, as well as trademarks on Russian and American goods. The most famous among such inventions was the so-called writing of Teneville, who lived in the Anadyr River basin; a similar system was also used by the Chukchi merchant Antymavle in Eastern Chukotka (Chukchi writer V. Leontyev wrote the book “Antymavle - a trading man”). Officially, the Chukchi writing system was created in the early 30s on a Latin graphic basis using the Unified Northern Alphabet. In 1937, the Latin-based Chukotka alphabet was replaced by a Cyrillic-based alphabet without additional characters, but the Latin-based alphabet was used in Chukotka for some time. In the 50s, the signs k’ were introduced into the Chukchi alphabet to denote a uvular consonant, and n’ to denote a velar sonant (in the first versions of the Cyrillic Chukchi alphabet, the uvular one did not have a separate designation, and the velar sonant was denoted by the digraph ng). In the early 60s, the styles of these letters were replaced by қ (ӄ) and ң (ӈ), but the official alphabet was used only for the centralized publication of educational literature: in local publications in Magadan and Chukotka, the alphabet was used using an apostrophe instead of individual letters. At the end of the 80s, the letter l (ӆ “l with a tail”) was introduced into the alphabet to designate the Chukchi voiceless lateral l, but it is used only in educational literature.

The origin of Chukchi literature dates back to the 1930s. During this period, original poems appeared in the Chukchi language (M. Vukvol) and self-recordings of folklore in the author’s adaptation (F. Tynetegin). In the 50s, the literary activity of Yu.S. began. Rytkheu. At the end of the 50s - 60s of the 20th century. The heyday of original poetry in the Chukchi language falls (V. Keulkut, V. Etytegin, M. Valgirgin, A. Kymytval, etc.), which continues in the 70s - 80s. (V. Tyneskin, K. Geutval, S. Tirkygin, V. Iuneut, R. Tnanaut, E. Rultyneut and many others). V. Yatgyrgyn, also known as a prose writer, was involved in collecting Chukchi folklore. Currently, original prose in the Chukchi language is represented by the works of I. Omruvier, V. Veket (Itevtegina), as well as some other authors. A distinctive feature of the development and functioning of the written Chukchi language must be recognized as the formation of an active group of translators of fiction into the Chukchi language, which included writers - Yu.S. Rytkheu, V.V. Leontiev, scientists and teachers - P.I. Inenlikey, I.U. Berezkin, A.G. Kerek, professional translators and editors - M.P. Legkov, L.G. Tynel, T.L. Ermoshina and others, whose activities greatly contributed to the development and improvement of the written Chukchi language. Since 1953, the newspaper “Murgin Nuthenut / Our Land” has been published in the Chukchi language. The famous Chukchi writer Yuri Rytkheu dedicated the novel “A Dream at the Beginning of the Fog” to Teneville, 1969. Below is the Chukchi Latin alphabet that was in use in 1931-1936.

An example of the Chukchi Latin alphabet: Rðnut gejьttlin oktjabrьanak revoljucik varatetь (What did the October Revolution give to the peoples of the North?) Kelikel kalevetgaunwь, janutьlьn tejwьn (Book for reading in the Chukchi language, part 1).

The specificity of the Chukchi language is incorporation (the ability to convey entire sentences in one word). For example: myt-ӈyran-vetat-arma-ӄora-venrety-rkyn “we protect four vigorous, strong deer.” Also noteworthy is the peculiar transmission of the singular through partial or complete reduplication: lig-lig egg, nym-nym village, tirky-tyr sun, tumgy-tum comrade (but tumgy-comrades). Incorporation in the Chukchi language is associated with the inclusion of additional stems in the form of a word. This combination is characterized by a common stress and common formative affixes. Containing words are usually nouns, verbs and participles; sometimes - adverbs. The stems of nouns, numerals, verbs and adverbs can be included. For example: ga-poig-y-ma (with a spear), ga-taӈ-poig-y-ma (with a good spear); where poig-y-n spear and ny-teӈ-ӄin is good (base – teӈ/taӈ). Ty-yara-pker-y-rkyn - come home; pykir-y-k – to come (base – pykir) and yara-ӈы – house, (base – yara). Sometimes two, three, or even more of these stems are included. The morphological structure of a word in the Chukchi language is often concentric; cases of combining up to three circumfixes in one word form are quite common:
ta-ra-ӈы-k build-a-house (1st circumfix – verbalizer);
ry-ta-ra-ӈ-ava-k force-to-build-a-house (2nd circumfix – causative);
t-ra-n-ta-ra-ӈ-avy-ӈy-rky-n I-want-to-make-him-build-a-house (3rd circumfix – desiderative).
An ordinal model has not yet been constructed, but, apparently, in a verbal word form, the root is preceded by 6-7 affixal morphemes, and the root is followed by 15-16 formants.

The ethnonym Chukchi is a distortion of the local word Chauchu, “rich in deer,” which is the name by which the Chukchi reindeer breeders call themselves in contrast to the coastal Chukchi dog breeders. The Chukchi themselves call themselves Lygyoravetlan “real people.” 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. There have been attempts to correlate this type with the Amerindian: the Chukchi are broad-shouldered, with a stately, somewhat heavy figure; large, regular facial features, high and straight forehead; the nose is large, straight, sharply defined; eyes large, widely spaced; the expression on his face is gloomy.

The main mental traits of the Chukchi are extremely easy excitability, reaching the point of frenzy, a tendency to murder and suicide at the slightest provocation, a love of independence, and persistence in struggle. The Primorye Chukchi became famous for their sculptural and carved images of mammoth bone, striking in their fidelity to nature and boldness of poses and strokes and reminiscent of the wonderful bone images of the Paleolithic period.

The Chukchi first encountered Russians back in the 17th century. In 1644, the Cossack Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsk fort. The Chukchi, who at that time were wandering both east and west of the Kolyma River, after a stubborn, bloody struggle, finally left the left bank of the Kolyma, pushing back the Eskimo tribe of 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 have continued between the Russians and the Chukchi, whose territory bordered the Russian-populated Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south. In this struggle the Chukchi showed extraordinary energy. In captivity, they voluntarily killed themselves, and if the Russians had not retreated for a while, they would have been deported to America. In 1770, after Shestakov’s unsuccessful campaign, the Anadyr fort, which served as the center of the Russian struggle against the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhne-Kolymsk, after which the Chukchi began to be less hostile towards the Russians and gradually began to enter into trade relations with them. In 1775, the Angarsk fortress was built on the Angarka River, a tributary of the Bolshoi Anyui.

Despite their conversion to Orthodoxy, the Chukchi retain their shamanic faith. Painting the face with the blood of the murdered victim, with the image of a hereditary-tribal sign - a totem, also has ritual significance. Each family, in addition, had its own family shrines: hereditary projectiles for producing sacred fire through friction for famous festivals, one for each family member (the lower plank of the projectile represents a figure with the head of the owner of fire), then bundles of wooden knots “removing misfortunes”, wooden images of ancestors and, finally, a family tambourine. The traditional Chukchi hairstyle is unusual - 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 of the head. The dead used to be either burned or wrapped in layers of raw deer meat and left in the field, having first cut through the throat and chest and pulled out part of the heart and liver.

In Chukotka there are unique and original rock carvings in the tundra zone, on the coastal cliffs of the river. Pegtymel. They were researched and published by N. Dikov. Among the rock art of the Asian continent, the petroglyphs of Pegtymel represent the northernmost, clearly defined independent group. Pegtymel petroglyphs were discovered in three locations. In the first two, 104 groups of rock paintings were recorded, in the third - two compositions and a single figure. Not far from the rocks with petroglyphs on the edge of the cliff, sites of ancient hunters and a cave containing cultural remains were discovered. The walls of the cave were covered with images.
Pegtymel rock carvings are made using various techniques: knocked out, rubbed or scratched on the surface of the rock. Among the images of Pegtymel rock art, figures of reindeer with narrow muzzles and characteristic lines of antlers predominate. There are images of dogs, bears, wolves, arctic foxes, moose, bighorn sheep, sea pinnipeds and cetaceans, and birds. Anthropomorphic male and female figures, often wearing mushroom-shaped hats, images of hooves or their prints, footprints, and two-bladed oars are known. The plots are peculiar, including humanoid fly agarics, which are mentioned in the mythology of the northern peoples.

The famous bone carving in Chukotka has a long history. In many ways, this craft preserves the traditions of the Old Bering Sea culture, with characteristic animalistic sculpture and household items made of bone and decorated with relief carvings and curvilinear ornaments. In the 1930s fishing is gradually concentrated in Uelen, Naukan and Dezhnev.

Numerals

Literature:

Dieringer D., Alphabet, M., 2004; Friedrich I., History of writing, M., 2001; Kondratov A. M., Book about the letter, M., 1975; Bogoraz V. G., Chukchi, parts 1-2, 1., 1934-39.

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Yuri Sergeevich Rytkheu: The end of permafrost [journal. option]

Chukotka plan

Map on a piece of walrus skin, made by an unknown resident of Chukotka. At the bottom of the map, three ships are shown heading to the mouth of the river; to their left is a bear hunt, and a little higher is an attack by three Chukchi on a stranger. A series of black spots represent the hills stretching along the shore of the bay.

Chukotka plan

Plagues can be seen here and there among the islands. At the top, a man walks along the ice of the bay and leads five reindeer harnessed to sledges. On the right, on a blunt ledge, a large Chukchi camp is depicted. Between the camp and the black chain of mountains lies a lake. Below, in the bay, the Chukchi hunt for whales is shown.

Kolyma Chukchi

In the harsh North, between the Kolyma and Chukchi rivers, there is a wide plain, the Khalarcha tundra - the homeland of the Western Chukchi. The Chukchi as a numerous people were first mentioned in 1641 - 1642. Since time immemorial, the Chukchi have been a warlike people, people hardened like steel, accustomed to fighting the sea, frost and wind.

These were hunters who attacked a huge polar bear with a spear in their hands, seafarers who dared to maneuver in the inhospitable expanse of the polar ocean in fragile leather boats. The original traditional occupation and main means of subsistence for the Chukchi was reindeer herding.

Currently, in the village of Kolymskoye - the center of the Khalarchinsky nasleg of the Nizhnekolymsky region - representatives of the small peoples of the North live. This is the only region in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) where the Chukchi live compactly.

Kolymskoye along the Stadukhinskaya channel is located 180 km from the village of Chersky, and 160 km along the Kolyma River. The village itself was founded in 1941 on the site of a Yukaghir nomadic summer camp, located on the left bank of the Kolyma River opposite the mouth of the Omolon River. Today, just under 1,000 people live in Kolymskoye. The population is engaged in hunting, fishing and reindeer herding.

In the 20th century, the entire indigenous population of Kolyma went through Sovietization, collectivization, the elimination of illiteracy and resettlement from their habitable places to large settlements performing administrative functions - district centers, central estates of collective and state farms.

In 1932, Nikolai Ivanovich Melgeyvach became the first chairman of the nomadic council, heading the Native Committee. In 1935, a partnership was organized under the chairmanship of I.K. Vaalyirgina with a livestock of 1850 deer. 10 years later, during the most difficult war years, the number of the herd was increased tenfold thanks to the selfless heroic work of the reindeer herders. For the funds raised for the Turvaurginets tank for the tank column and warm clothes for the front-line soldiers, a telegram of gratitude came to Kolymskoye from the Supreme Commander-in-Chief I.V. Stalin.

At that time, such reindeer herders as V.P. worked in the Khalarcha tundra. Sleptsov, V.P. Yaglovsky, S.R. Atlasov, I.N. Sleptsov, M.P. Sleptsov and many others. The names of representatives of the large reindeer herding clans of the Kaurgins, Gorulins, and Volkovs are known.

Reindeer herders-collective farmers at that time lived in yarangas and cooked food over a fire. The men looked after the deer, each woman sheathed 5-6 reindeer herders and 3-4 children from head to toe. For every corral and holiday, the plague workers sewed new beautiful fur clothes for all children and shepherds.

In 1940, the collective farm was transferred to a sedentary lifestyle, and on its basis the village of Kolymskoye grew, where an elementary school was opened. Since 1949, the children of reindeer herders began to study at a boarding school in the village, and their parents continued to work in the tundra.

Until the 1950s, on the territory of the Khalarchinsky nasleg there were two collective farms, “Red Star” and “Turvaurgin”. In the early 1950s, income from deer slaughter raised the standard of living of the population.

The Turvaurgin collective farm thundered throughout the republic as a millionaire collective farm. Life was getting better, the collective farm began to receive equipment: tractors, boats, power plants. A large high school building and a hospital building were built. This period of relative prosperity is associated with the name of Nikolai Ivanovich Tavrat. Today, his name is given to a national school in the village of Kolymskoye and a street in the regional center, the village of Chersky. In the name of N.I. Tavrata also named a tugboat of the Zelenomyssk seaport, a student scholarship.

Who was Nikolai Tavrat?

Nikolai Tavrat began his career in 1940 in the Khalarcha tundra, was a shepherd, then an accountant on a collective farm. In 1947, he was elected chairman of the Turvaurgin collective farm. In 1951, the collective farms merged together, and in 1961 they were transformed into the Nizhnekolymsky state farm. The village of Kolymskoye became the center of the Kolyma branch of the state farm with 10 herds (17 thousand deer). In 1956, the construction of modern residential buildings began in Kolyma by the collective farmers themselves. According to the recollections of old-timers, three 4-apartment houses, a kindergarten, and later a canteen for the Kolymtorg trading office and an eight-year school were built very quickly, since collective farmers worked in three shifts. The first two-story 16-apartment building was built in the same way.

Nikolai Tavrat knew his native tundra well. Many times he helped out the Nizhny Kolyma aviators, helping them find reindeer herders’ camps in the vast expanses and difficult weather conditions. In 1959, one of the Soviet film studios shot a documentary about the Turvaurgin collective farm and its chairman N.I. Tavrate. In one of the conversations, the chairman said: “My father’s house is unusual. It spreads over thousands of kilometers. And there is, perhaps, no other place on earth where man is so closely connected with nature as in the tundra...”

From 1965 to 1983 N.I. Tavrat worked as chairman of the Nizhnekolymsk district executive committee, was a deputy of the Supreme Council of the RSFSR of the 5th convocation (1959), and a deputy of the Supreme Council of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (1947 - 1975). For his work, he was awarded the Order of the October Revolution and the Order of the Badge of Honor.

Local historian and local historian A.G. Chikachev wrote a book about him, which he called “Son of the Tundra.”

At the Kolyma National Secondary School named after. N.I. Tavrat students study the Chukchi language, culture, customs, and traditions of this people. The subject “Reindeer Herding” is taught. Students go to reindeer herds for practical training.

Today, residents of Nizhny Kolymsk deeply honor the memory of their fellow countryman, a prominent representative of the Chukchi people, Nikolai Ivanovich Tavrat.

Since 1992, on the basis of state farms, the nomadic community “Turvaurgin” was formed, a production cooperative whose main activities are reindeer husbandry, fishing, and hunting.

Anna Sadovnikova

There are many fables about the Chukchi. But the truth can be even more surprising than fiction.

The coming of spring - It's a good time to remember the colorful northerners. From the beginning of March to mid-April they celebrate one of the main holidays - Reindeer Herder's Day. In addition, the text printed on the page of the popular blogger Bulochnikov received a great response on the Internet - sketches from the life of the Chukchi, which shocked many.

We asked the professor to comment on some of the most surprising fragments of the text Sergei Arutyunov, who has already told our readers about some interesting traditions of the Chukchi. Over the course of his venerable 85 years, a corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences has organized many ethnographic expeditions around the world, including to the Far North and Siberia.

Portal to another world

Sergey Alexandrovich, is it true that the Chukchi eat rotten meat? Supposedly they bury it in clay so that it turns into a homogeneous soft mass. As Bulochnikov writes: “It stinks terribly, but this meat contains fifty percent microflora with all the vitamins, it can be eaten without teeth, it does not need to be heated.”

In Chukchi this dish is called “kopalgen”, in Eskimo it is called “tukhtak”. Just don't bury the meat in clay. A walrus is taken and cut into six pieces. Large bones are cut out. Then each part (it weighs 60 - 70 kilograms) is carefully stitched with the skin outward. A dozen of these “packages” are placed in a special hole lined with stones in the fall and covered. And before the start of the new hunting season, they periodically eat this meat. It is not rotten, rather pickled. Its taste did not bring me much joy. But when there is no hunting, the bird does not fly and there is a big surf on the sea - there is nowhere to go. The meat is greenish in color and the smell is really very unpleasant. However, who cares. If you force an ordinary Japanese to smell some Limburg cheese or Dor Blue, he will probably vomit. And personally I like it!

- And here’s another thing -sounds like a tall tale. The Chukchi allegedly do not save drowning people, because they believe that the surface of the reservoir isThis is a kind of portal that transports fellow tribesmen to another world. And you cannot interfere in this process.

It's true. At least, this was the case half a century ago. I know of several cases when a canoe capsized literally a hundred or two meters from the shore near a village, but people were not pulled out. I personally knew the relatives of a Chukchi who was not saved because of this belief. But I also observed another example. Kitikha capsized a whaleboat carrying fishermen from Uelen. Since they were dressed in skins with ties at the ankles and elbows, they could survive for some time by clinging to the boat. A canoe of Eskimos from Naukan passed by. They have a similar idea of ​​​​reservoirs, but they still came to the rescue. Despite the fact that the Eskimos and the Chukchi have always not lived very friendly, they are different peoples. The drowning people were lucky that they were young people, Komsomol members. They probably figured that if they left people to drown, they would have trouble along the Komsomol line.

Is it true that experienced prisoners know very well: if you escape from a camp in Chukotka, the locals will catch you, cut off your head and exchange it with the boss for a bottle of vodka?

I heard similar reliable stories about the Komi. Only they are less bloodthirsty, they didn’t cut off their heads. If they could not be taken alive, the authorities were presented with a corpse. True, a bottle of vodka is a bit much! For a prisoner - living or dead - they were usually given a bag of potatoes. There were simply much fewer camps in Chukotka. But I admit that cases of cutting off heads also happened among the Chukchi - apparently, this is more convenient for transporting remains over long distances.

Palm strike to the heart

Let’s move on through the text: “The Chukchi and Koryaks are pathologically vindictive and vindictive. If you offend them, they won't say anything, they'll just bend over and go. But after a while the offender is found dead on the street. The killer is almost never found."

Except for the fact that the killer, as a rule, is still caught in hot pursuit because he has not yet had time to sober up, everything is true. Such crimes are committed mainly while intoxicated. As you know, the Chukchi body cannot process alcohol. Although I note that some modern inhabitants of the tundra have adapted. Unfortunately, there are many bitter drunkards, but about 30 percent have learned to drink in moderation without going on a binge.

It is especially difficult for me to believe that the Chukchi allegedly kill their old people as “worthless.” A case is described when Russian sailors, seeing bodies swarming on an ice floe, opened fire. And then it turned out that they were tied up elderly Chukchi. After that, residents of the local village swam up to them with gifts for allegedly helping their parents pass on to another world.

This is quite possible, even in our time. But the old man is not tied up. He asks himself to kill himself when life becomes unbearable - for example, due to a serious illness. This, of course, does not happen in the villages - there are police there after all. But this happens during nomadism. The old man turns to his eldest son or, perhaps, to his younger brother - they say, I’m not dying, but it’s disgusting to live.

At the appointed moment, he is left alone in the plague. He sits down on a predetermined pole (the dwelling is attached to them), with his back to the wall, which is made of tarpaulin or skins. After this, the son, who remained outside, picks up a palm tree - that’s the name of a long knife attached to a stick - and delivers a precise blow through the skins directly to the heart. And the old man goes into another world without suffering. If the supposed deliverer is not good with a spear, they make a strip of suede, put it around the parent’s neck and tighten it. But now, perhaps, this is not practiced - the palm tree is a priority. They leave no traces - within a day the bears or wolves dispose of the corpse.

- Is it true that a Chukchi who cannot cope with his masculine responsibilities“translated” into a woman and he wears a woman’s dress?

This has happened before, and quite often. Not anymore. The fact is that we are not talking about incompetent people, but about those who have problems with gender self-identification - physiological or mental. In modern urban conditions, they take hormonal pills and even change gender. I have never met such people in the North, but in India, children with similar pronounced deviations are transferred to be raised in a caste called “hitzhra”, which is considered “untouchable”.

The spouse is given to a friend

- Since we have touched on such a delicate topic, do the Chukchi have homosexuals?

They have few conditions for the emergence of homosexuality. A girl and a married woman easily gets herself a lover or an additional husband. Which, by the way, can be a good friend of the main spouse. It happens that two men agree: you will spend this summer with my wife, and I will spend this summer with yours. For fishing or hunting. And by winter we will change again. This custom is called “ngevtumgyn”: the literal translation is “wife partnership.” And a person who is in such a relationship is called “ngevtumgyt.” Previously, there was a certain ritual for such cases, but now this is no longer the case. According to their morality, jealousy is a vile feeling, unworthy possessiveness. Not giving in to your wife is even worse than not repaying a debt.

Knowing this, it’s hard to believe that the Chukchi practice incest. That very text describes a situation when a Chukchi adult takes his daughter from a boarding school: “Why does she need to study? My wife died..."

I only heard about one case of incest, but they told me about it with indignation - what a bastard. At the same time, in our modern society, it is acceptable to marry a second cousin or even a first cousin, although the church does not approve. The Chukchi do not - you can marry a second cousin only along a certain line, there are serious nuances. One guy I knew from Chukotka even began to become an alcoholic when he was not allowed such a marriage - he loved the girl very much. Here, I know, in Venezuela, near the city of Ayacucho, an Indian from the Yanomamo tribe lived with his mother, who was 15 years older than him. And even then this was not welcomed there. As for the northern peoples, I think this is not true. Let's say the Nganasans live in Taimyr. There are only one and a half thousand of them, and finding a couple is a problem. But interkinship ties are a strict taboo.

According to the above-mentioned text, before the Russians, the Chukchi washed themselves at most once a year in hot springs. When, under the influence of the Russians, they began to wash regularly, their skin allegedly began to become covered with bloody cracks. Further quote: “The sweat of the Chukchi - This is not water, but droplets of fat. They save you from the wind.” The author also mentions the strong smell from the Chukchi.

Firstly, both the Chukchi and the peoples of this region - Evens, Yakuts, Nanais, Udeges and so on - they are all washing now. There are also bathhouses in the villages. Although not very often: once every two weeks - once a month. And secondly, unlike us, they don’t stink. Their sweat does not have a strong unpleasant odor. Northern peoples have no need for deodorants. Interestingly, this is also somehow connected with earwax - it is different for them. Ours is sticky, but theirs is dry - fine powder pours out of their ears. And about droplets of fat - this, of course, is nonsense.

They eat fly agarics

Among the Chukchi, fly agaric is common as a hallucinogen, says Arutyunov. - And in order not to get poisoned, young people drink the urine of old people who use fly agarics, accustoming themselves to this “delicacy.” I just urge you not to practice this under any circumstances, the consequences can be fatal! Even about 20 years ago, young people were actively involved in fly agaric eating. That is, now these are people of about 40 years old. And there are even more fly agaric grandfathers!

sabeltiger 14-01-2010 10:29

Life and survival of the Chukchi.
They live in camps of 2-3 houses, which are removed as the reindeer food depletes. In the summer, some go down to the sea. Despite the need for migration, their dwelling is quite cumbersome and can be easily transported only due to the abundance of reindeer (the camp's trainload reaches up to 100 sleighs). The Chukchi dwelling consists of 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. Chukchi winter clothing is of the usual polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men consists of a double fur shirt (the lower one with the fur towards the body and the upper one with the fur outward), the same double pants, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a woman's bonnet. Women's clothing is completely unique, also double, consisting of seamlessly sewn trousers together with a low-cut bodice, cinched at the waist, with a slit on the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which Chukchi women can easily free their hands while working. Summer outerwear includes robes made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamleikas made of fine-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. The infant's costume consists of a reindeer bag with blind branches for the 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.

Most of the Chukchi jewelry - pendants, headbands, necklaces (in the form of straps with beads and figurines, etc.) - have religious significance; but there are also real decorations in the form of metal bracelets, earrings, etc. The embroidery of the Reindeer Chukchi is very rough. 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 most favorite pattern, according to Mr. Bogoraz, is a row of small holes sewn along the edges (English embroidery). Often the design consists of black and white squares of smooth deerskin, cut and sewn together. 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. Hair styling is different for men and women. The latter braid two braids on both sides of the head, decorating them with beads and buttons, sometimes releasing the front strands onto the forehead (married women). Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown. The utensils, tools and weapons currently used are 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 complex 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 friction, primitive lamps in the form of a round flat a vessel made of soft stone filled with seal fat, etc. Their light sleds, with arched supports instead of hoofs, adapted only for sitting astride them, have been preserved in primitive times. 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). The Chukchi food is predominantly meat, boiled and raw (brain, kidney, liver, eyes, tendons). They also readily consume wild roots, stems, and leaves, which are boiled with blood and fat. A unique dish is the so-called monyalo - half-digested moss extracted from a large deer stomach; Various canned food and fresh dishes are prepared 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. The Chukchi are very partial to tobacco, vodka and fly agarics. The Chukchi clan is agnatic, united by the commonality of fire, consanguinity in the male line, a common totem sign, family 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. 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 a number of regular holidays (autumn festival of deer slaughter, spring - antlers, winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, funerals of the dead , votive ministries, 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 clothes and lifestyle of their new sex, even get married, get married, etc. The dead are either burned or wrapped in layers of raw deer meat and left in the field, after first cutting 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.
With the advent of Soviet power, the Chukchi, with the exception of nomadic reindeer herders, moved to modern European-style houses. 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.
Religiously, most Chukchi by the beginning of the 20th century were baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, however, among the nomads there are remnants of traditional beliefs (shamanism).
Chukchi carved bone is a type of folk art that has long been common among the Chukchi and Eskimos of the northeastern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula and the Diomede Islands; plastically expressive figures of animals, people, sculptural groups made of walrus tusk; engraved and relief images on walrus tusks and household items.
Bone carving in Chukotka has a long history. The Old Bering Sea culture is characterized by animalistic sculpture and household objects made of bone and decorated with relief carvings and curvilinear designs. In the next, Punuk period, which lasted approximately until the beginning of the second millennium, the sculpture acquired a geometrized character, the curvilinear ornament was replaced by a strict rectilinear one. In the 19th century, plot engraving on bone appeared, taking its origins from Pegtymel petroglyphs and ritual drawings on wood.
At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, as a result of the development of trade with American and European merchants and whalers, souvenir objects decorated with carvings appeared and were intended for sale. The beginning of the 20th century was characterized by the appearance of walrus tusks with images engraved on them.
In the 1930s, fishing gradually concentrated in Uelen, Naukan and Dezhnev. In 1931, a stationary bone-carving workshop was created in Uelen. Its first leader was Vukvutagin (1898-1968), one of the leading craftsmen. In 1932, the Chukotka Integral Union created five bone-carving artels in the villages of Chaplino, Sireniki, Naukan, Dezhnev and Uelen.
The figures of walruses, seals, and polar bears created in 1920 - 1930 are static in form, but expressive. But already in the 1930s, sculptures appeared in which carvers strive to convey characteristic poses, deviating from the symbolic, static image. This trend expands in subsequent years. In the 1960-1980s, sculptural groups dominated in Chukotka carvings.

Bahadur_Singh 14-01-2010 12:31

Where does the material come from?

This thing touched me about the Chukchi, “incendiary” the guys lived in post #36, and there my colleagues gave links to the book.

sabeltiger 14-01-2010 13:09

quote: Where does the material come from?

Vorkutinets 14-01-2010 13:17

ONEMEN (San Tolich) will confirm, and a little later from the scene of events he will tell EVERYTHING AS IS for today.

Ustas1978 16-01-2010 23:06

up, so as not to lose!)))
We are waiting "from the scene"!

Papa Karla 17-01-2010 01:56

The way of life and way of life of the Chukchi, Evens, and Yakuts of the 20-30s of the twentieth century is very well described in the book by S.V. Obruchev “Into Unknown Lands.” http://podorozhnik.nn.ru/literatura/ObrucVNK.zip

kiowa 17-01-2010 16:33

Origin of material:
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukchi_carving

Off-top. Well, at least look at the current You in your avatar...

avkie 17-01-2010 19:29

uh, I've been there on business trips...
Probably, unfortunately, now everything is not quite like that.
northern peoples (Yakuts, Evenks) are losing their culture.
old people die, and many young people move to cities. the ability to make tents is being lost (now they are made from plastic film, cardboard boxes and roofing felt, some have switched to army-style canvas tents with an iron stove)
These peoples more often eke out a miserable existence in poverty.
I have no idea how they survive

Challenger 17-01-2010 22:21

They survive because survival is in their blood, no matter how trite it may sound. They just know how to survive. But just until civilization woke them up.

Kapasev 19-01-2010 23:54

They don't even survive at all. You can drive a brigade tractor driver into an artel to earn money on a bulldozer. I only know a couple of examples, but after finishing the season they returned to the bosom of reindeer herding.
By the way, we started producing venison stew
toKiowa I don’t look like that, this beard was grown on a hill in the winter especially for the photo and was subsequently shaved off.

Yuripupolos 20-01-2010 15:13

Oh, venison stew...
Has anyone seen anything like this in Novosibirsk?

sabeltiger 20-01-2010 15:28

A Chukchi lives with his family in a tent, the hearth is in the center, there is a hole in the roof, the frost outside is -50. And they sleep there and somehow survive... There are no hospitals, no telephones.

Challenger 20-01-2010 18:17

Yes, they don’t need hospitals and telephones. They are their own doctors. Without us, everyone knows how to survive, what to take for diseases... They have their own civilization. What's good for us is death. And vice versa.

Kapasev 20-01-2010 20:27

From birth, the Chukchi did not live in tents; they lived in yarangas and still do, but now they mostly live in fur tents or a combination of a tent and a yaranga.
A telephone is a necessary thing in the sense of listening to music, but for communication it is a radio station

Werewolf_Zarin 21-01-2010 17:54

But what about bul bul agly.....
and the Chukchi in the tent are waiting for the blossoming, the blossoming will come in the summer
next chorus

avkie 21-01-2010 22:05

quote: Originally posted by Kapasev:

The Chukchi did not live in tents when they were born; they were and still are in yarangas

You’re right, but at the time of writing my message I completely forgot this word, it’s spinning in my head, I can’t remember
Thank you for reminding me. Chukchan chum is yaranga.

Udavilov 21-01-2010 22:35

Previously, the Chukchi lived little. 30-40 years old.

Challenger 21-01-2010 23:19

and now, what, have they become bigger?..-)

Papa Karla 22-01-2010 01:27

quote: But what about bul bul agly.....

Kapasev 23-01-2010 20:25

quote: Originally posted by Contender:
and now, what, have they become bigger?..-)

Kapasev 23-01-2010 20:32

Can you feed that many dogs with red fish?

Challenger 23-01-2010 21:54

And what will a Chukka do with a laptop? I'm very interested.

Kapasev 25-01-2010 12:44

Same as everyone else. Thank Abramovich, there are computer classes in every village.
The brigades have generators.

onemen 25-01-2010 17:04

I just saw the thread, I’ll be more free and hang up some photos.

Kapasev 25-01-2010 23:29

"Survivors of Enurmino" photo sketch
(poorly dressed Muscovites)

Challenger 25-01-2010 23:46

How does a laptop help the Chukchi survive? For that matter?...

Kapasev 26-01-2010 02:12

That is, how is this “how”? There is a lot of leisure!
Thanks for the topic. I’ll download it and be in the brigades to drain it for dried meat.
By the end of the summer, the first question over communications will be: “Well, did you survive?”
Please send me a photo of a Chukotka migrant worker from the capital!

Challenger 26-01-2010 12:49

krysoboj 26-01-2010 21:16

It seems that in the Russian museum in St. Petersburg it is mentioned that in the 16-19 centuries the Chukchi were like the Genghis Khans of the Siberian flood - it took 3 years for the Chukchi to get to China or Rus', buy steel armor, the same amount back - and in this form of a Stone Age robocop enslaved all the local tribes. not at all anecdotal, stupid, cunning

Kapasev 27-01-2010 12:11

And in Enurmino the elders decided that drinking was the joy of Rus'
Photo "Nutepelmen - poor, rickety wrecks, unhappy people, hungry dogs..."

Kapasev 27-01-2010 12:16

In fact, jokes arose when an agreement on visa-free travel for indigenous residents was signed. Perhaps directly in the then kilometer-long queue at Am. embassies

Vorkutinets 27-01-2010 09:38

We are waiting for more photos from Onemen and Kapasev.
San Tolich, start teaching your teams a little order - get the dog out of the yaranga, shake out the bed in the morning and fold it in the corner...)))
For clarity, here is the European yaranga (North Komi). Show them.)))

Bahadur_Singh 27-01-2010 22:14

In the 4th photo I was impressed by the herd of deer, it’s interesting how many heads there are in the frame.

onemen 27-01-2010 22:19

quote: It’s interesting how many heads there are in the frame.

Bahadur_Singh 27-01-2010 22:32

quote: Originally posted by onemen:

onemen 27-01-2010 22:38

No, they roam once every 1-1.5 months. A lot depends on the place, the time of year, and much more.

Vorkutinets 28-01-2010 12:40

quote: To be honest, I don’t remember, but there seemed to be about 5-7 thousand in the brigade.

Kapasev 28-01-2010 04:22
The “special vessel” is called “achulkhen”. The classic one with a handle is hammered out of wood to create something like a large ladle. It copes with needs, large and small, in the evening, and empties in the morning.
Yuzhak ends, I'll take a photo

onemen 28-01-2010 09:53

quote: The special vessel is called "achulkhen".

Absolutely, thank you.

quote:

Yuripupolos 28-01-2010 19:28

Is Yuzhak a blizzard? O_o

zhurnalist 29-01-2010 22:22

The Chukchi lived for 1000 years without us and will live for many more, unless they get drunk, of course.

onemen 30-01-2010 16:12

quote: Is it hard for you to spend the winter at -70 and even with the wind?

Who are you asking?

Vorkutinets 30-01-2010 20:42

quote: Is it hard for you to spend the winter at -70 and even with the wind?

Lat.(izvinite) strelok 30-01-2010 22:55

quote: Originally posted by Vorkutinets:

And there have never been such low temperatures in Russia.

Bahadur_Singh 30-01-2010 23:14

quote: Originally posted by zhurnalist:
Is it hard for you to spend the winter at -70 and even with the wind?
The Chukchi lived for 1000 years without us and will live for many more, unless they get drunk, of course.

om_babai 01-02-2010 13:59

quote: But in this photo it will be somewhere around 1500-1700.

I can't open the photo properly, but from what I see, I would give more. At least two times... One and a half thousand, this was the average size of the brigades on our state farm before the collapse. In a dense heap they will occupy an area... well, somewhere around 100x50, even less.

quote: Is it hard for you to spend the winter at -70 and even with the wind?
The Chukchi lived for 1000 years without us and will live for many more, unless they get drunk, of course.

Forgive me. Weak.
I simply won’t find such conditions anywhere in our hemisphere. You will decide - either the wind, or minus seventy.
By the way, we've already drunk ourselves a long time ago.

onemen 02-02-2010 19:47

quote: By the way, we've already drunk ourselves a long time ago.

dukat 03-02-2010 10:38

I haven’t been to Chukotka, but I’ve visited all of Yamal and Gydan. I had the opportunity to work on drilling exploration expeditions. I saw what civilization did to virgin nature. Abandoned drilling rigs with piles of rusting metal, ruts from lugs, which over time turn into deep ditches. Because the top layer of moss and soil has been removed, and underneath is permafrost. And this process is already irreversible. The Khanty have already learned how to cook mash. We really loved (I don’t know how it is now) cologne. As they told me, it smells delicious. The youth have already served in the army and have also seen.... The workers are mainly old people, and schoolchildren, who were caught every year by helicopter to study in boarding schools. And their parents hide them. I lived with them in the tent (not for long, though) and wore their shoes (ichigi). A very good thing. Light, warm and very comfortable. Prada takes some getting used to. You walk in from the fresh air... wow!!! The smell of rotten skins. sweat, fish. The eyes begin to water. And then it seemed like nothing!!! The food was very meager. Deer meat, fish, goose eggs in the spring...... and that's it. They lose teeth very early. Lack of vitamins affects. For flour, ammunition and other provisions they go to trading posts, where they are fleeced like crazy. The people are very kind and welcoming. They will always help. They will give you something to drink, feed and give you lodging for the night, but they do not tolerate lies and deception. Yes, and naive!! Somehow we came to the same camp. We look and there is a wooden cross above the tent. The eldest's name was Petya. Sing, we say, what kind of cross do you have? He tells us, “But you geologists don’t understand anything... it’s an antenna!!! We almost died laughing. So what... do you watch TV in the evenings? No, he says the TV is broken. And the antenna, purely wooden. But in general they don’t need civilization. That’s right, it was said. We will only do harm with our interference. And what kind of hunting and fishing is there? The cleanest water and air. The climate is really very harsh and their life is not easy. How many years have passed, but I'm drawn there. I'm unlikely to see such nature untouched by man again. I worked there from 85 to 90.

Kapasev 04-02-2010 23:53

It’s not like Dukat in Chukotka: in August you’ll tear up the tundra in droves moving from Ryveem to Yakan so that you want to write a denunciation against yourself in ZelenyPis, but the next year you think you’re lost. Only on the clay in the stream were GTT prints preserved.
“And the Russian leader in computerization of the population has become Chukotka, where 88 families out of a hundred use computers.”
See http://www.itartass-sib.ru/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=16341-301.html

dukat 05-02-2010 08:29

I’ve never been to Chukotka, but on Mar-Sala, near the Gulf of Ob, everything is so scarred that you want to cry. At the time when I was there, people in Moscow only dreamed about computers. So, I don’t dare to argue..... Granted, I haven’t been to those parts and I think little has changed.

krysoboj 11-02-2010 23:43

uv. numb, why is there ice without snow? I'm from Murmansk - I've never seen such beauty.

onemen 12-02-2010 12:10

quote: why ice without snow?

Vorkutinets 12-02-2010 09:39

The photo with ice is amazing! Who was the bicycle brought to in the yaranga?)))

om_babai 12-02-2010 14:34

quote: bike to whom

I liked the top photo and where it is on the ice (good light would be there, and approach with imagination... wow)

ATS... A friend of mine drives his own from us in the winter to Bilibino, through the village. Omolon. In the first version, he cut it in half and welded another piece of the boat, so there were 7 rollers on board. Well, diesel, of course, is not native. Several years passed... And this year he has a new product - 8 skating rinks!!! A 20-foot container is placed on the platform. Chukotka will precipitate when it sees it (if it gets there)

Sleds.. We called them “karyats”. One to one.

Tents with two poles on the sides. In our forest area, one was always enough. The annex - vestibule in front of the entrance was called "dyukan", something like a summer kitchen. The Chukchi have more serious ones, made from skins...

onemen 12-02-2010 14:59

quote: I liked the top photo and where it is on the ice (good light would be there, and approach with imagination... wow)

zhurnalist 27-03-2010 13:49

It really is a snowy dawn!
A harsh land, and harsh beauty.

kotowsk 27-03-2010 18:33

If we talk about survival, then the Chukchi model of survival was the strictest. survival of the species at the expense of individuals.
and as for the military affairs of the Chukchi, there is a book about it
http://mirknig.com/2007/10/29/voennoe_delo_chukchejj_seredina_xvii__nachalo_xx_v.html
or from deposit file
http://depositfiles.com/ru/files/2173269
Even Suvorov fought with them.