How modern Chukchi live (29 photos). The most interesting facts about the Chukchi

Northernmost region Far East— Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. Its territory is home to several indigenous peoples who came there thousands of years ago. Most of all in Chukotka there are Chukchi themselves - about 15 thousand. For a long time, they roamed throughout the peninsula, herding deer, hunting whales and living in yarangas.

Now many reindeer herders and hunters have turned into housing and communal services workers, and yarangas and kayaks have been replaced by ordinary houses with heating. Residents of different regions of Chukotka told DV special correspondent Ivan Chesnokov how their people live now.

Cucumbers for 600 rubles per kilogram and a dozen eggs for 200 are modern consumer realities in remote areas of Chukotka. Fur production is closed, as it does not fit into capitalism, and the extraction of venison, although still going on, is subsidized by the state - deer meat cannot compete even with expensive beef, which is brought from the “mainland”.

A similar story is with the renovation of housing stock: it is unprofitable for construction companies to take on repair contracts, since the lion's share of the estimate is the cost of transporting materials and workers off-road. Young people leaving the villages, and serious problems with healthcare - the Soviet system collapsed, and a new one has not really been created.

At the same time - social programs a Canadian mining company, a revival of interest in national culture and the favorable consequences of the governorship of Arkady Abramovich - the billionaire created new jobs and renovated houses, and could easily give the whalers a couple of motor boats. The life of the Chukchi today is made up of such a motley mosaic.

Ancestors of the people

The ancestors of the Chukchi appeared in the tundra before our era. Presumably, they came from the territory of Kamchatka and the current Magadan region, then moved through the Chukotka Peninsula towards the Bering Strait and stopped there.

Faced with the Eskimos, the Chukchi adopted their sea hunting trade, subsequently displacing them from the Chukotka Peninsula. At the turn of the millennium, the Chukchi learned reindeer husbandry from the nomads of the Tungus group - the Evens and Yukaghirs.

Our first interlocutor is documentary director, experienced livestock specialist and expert on Chukotka Vladimir Puya. In the winter of 2014, he went to work on the eastern shore of the Gulf of the Cross, part of the Anadyr Gulf of the Bering Sea off the southern coast of the Chukotka Peninsula.

There, near the national village of Konergino, he made a film about modern Chukotka reindeer herders - in the past the richest, and now almost forgotten, but who have preserved the traditions and culture of their ancestors, residents of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

“It is no easier now to get into the reindeer herders’ camps of Chukotka than in the time of Tan Bogoraz (the famous Russian ethnographer who described the life of the Chukchi at the beginning of the 20th century - DV). You can fly to Anadyr and then to national villages by plane. But then from the village to get to a specific reindeer herding brigade in right time very difficult,” explains Puya.

Reindeer herders' camps are constantly moving, and over long distances. There are no roads to get to their camp sites: they have to travel on tracked all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles, sometimes on reindeer and dog sleds. In addition, reindeer herders strictly observe the timing of migrations, the time of their rituals and holidays.

Hereditary reindeer herder Puya insists that reindeer husbandry is “ business card» region and indigenous people. But now the Chukchi generally live differently from how they used to: crafts and traditions fade into the background, and they are replaced by the typical life of remote regions of Russia.

“Our culture suffered greatly in the 70s, when the authorities decided that it was expensive to maintain high schools with a full complement of teachers in every village,” says Puya. — Boarding schools were built in regional centers. They were classified not as urban institutions, but as rural ones - in rural schools salaries are twice as high. I myself studied at such a school, the quality of education was very high. But the children were torn away from life in the tundra and the seaside: we returned home only for summer holidays. And therefore we lost the complex, cultural development. There was no national education in boarding schools; even the Chukchi language was not always taught. Apparently, the authorities decided that the Chukchi - soviet people, and we have no need to know our culture.”

Life of reindeer herders

The geography of the Chukchi initially depended on the movement of wild reindeer. People spent the winter in the south of Chukotka, and in the summer they escaped the heat and midges to the north, to the shores of the Arctic Ocean. The people of reindeer herders lived in a tribal system. They settled along lakes and rivers. The Chukchi lived in yarangas. The winter yaranga, which was made from reindeer skins, was stretched over a wooden frame. The snow from under it was cleared to the ground. The floor was covered with branches, on which skins were laid in two layers. An iron stove with a pipe was installed in the corner. They slept in yarangas in dolls made of animal skins.

But the Soviet government, which came to Chukotka in the 30s of the last century, was dissatisfied with the “uncontrolled” movement of people. The indigenous residents were told where to build new - semi-permanent - housing. This was done for the convenience of transporting goods by sea. They did the same with the camps. At the same time, new jobs arose for indigenous residents, and hospitals, schools, and cultural centers appeared in the settlements. The Chukchi were taught writing. And the reindeer herders themselves lived almost better than all other Chukchi - until the 80s of the 20th century.

The name of the national village of Konergino, where Puya lives, is translated from Chukchi as “curved valley”, or “single crossing”: sea hunters in kayaks crossed the Gulf of the Cross in this place in one crossing. At the beginning of the 20th century in Konergino there were only a few yarangas - traditional portable Chukchi dwellings - and dugouts. In 1939, the board of the collective farm, the village council, and the trading post were moved here from the village of Nutepelmen. A little later, several houses and a warehouse-shop were built on the seashore, and in the middle of the century a hospital, a boarding school, kindergarten. A school was opened in the 80s.

Now residents of Konergino send letters at the post office, shop in two stores (Nord and Katyusha), call “the mainland” from the only landline telephone in the entire village, sometimes go to the local cultural club, and use the medical outpatient clinic. However, the residential buildings in the village are in disrepair and are not subject to major repairs.

“Firstly, they don’t give us much money, and secondly, due to the complex transport scheme, it is difficult to deliver materials to the village,” said the head of the settlement, Alexander Mylnikov, several years ago. According to him, if previously the housing stock in Konergino was repaired by utility workers, now they have neither building materials nor work force. “It is expensive to deliver construction materials to the village; the contractor spends about half of the allocated funds on transportation costs. The builders refuse, it is not profitable for them to work with us,” he complained.

The government of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug did not answer the editor’s question whether residential buildings in Konergino are really in disrepair. However, the first deputy governor of the district, Anastasia Zhukova, said that state programs have been developed on the territory of Chukotka for resettlement from emergency housing stock, development of the district’s infrastructure and development of housing and communal services and the water management complex.

About 330 people live in Konergino. Of these, there are about 70 children: most go to school. Fifty local residents work in housing and communal services, and the school, together with the kindergarten, employs 20 educators, teachers, nannies and cleaners. Young people do not stay in Konergino: school graduates go to study and work in other places. The depressive state of the village is illustrated by the situation with the traditional crafts for which the Konergins were famous.

“We no longer have marine hunting. According to capitalist rules, it is not profitable,” says Puya. — The fur farms closed, and the fur trade was quickly forgotten. In the 90s, fur production in Konergino collapsed.” All that remains is reindeer husbandry: in Soviet times and until the mid-2000s, while Roman Abramovich remained as governor of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, it was successful here.

There are 51 reindeer herders working in Konergino, 34 of whom work in brigades in the tundra. According to Pui, reindeer herders' incomes are extremely low. “This is an unprofitable industry, there is not enough money for salaries. The state covers the lack of funds so that the salary is higher than the subsistence level, which in our case is 13 thousand. The reindeer farm that employs the workers pays them approximately 12.5 thousand. The state pays up to 20 thousand extra so that the reindeer herders don’t die of hunger,” the director complains.

When asked why it is impossible to pay more, Puya replies that the cost of producing venison on different farms varies from 500 to 700 rubles per kilogram. And wholesale prices for beef and pork, which are imported “from the mainland,” start at 200 rubles. The Chukchi cannot sell meat for 800-900 rubles and are forced to set the price at 300 rubles - at a loss. “There is no point in capitalist development of this industry,” says Puya. “But this is the last thing left in the ethnic villages.”

The government of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug did not answer the editor’s question whether there really is no marine hunting industry in the village of Konergino, and whether fur farms and complexes responsible for fur hunting are closed.

At the same time, according to the first deputy governor, about 800 people work at 14 agricultural enterprises in the district. As of June 1 of this year, 148,000 reindeer were grazed in reindeer herding brigades, and from May 1 in Chukotka, the wages of reindeer herders were increased - to an average of 30%. In addition, the deputy governor noted that the district budget will allocate 65 million rubles to increase wages.

Evgeny Kaipanau, a 36-year-old Chukchi, was born in Lorino into the family of the most respected whaler. “Lorino” (in Chukchi – “L’auren”) is translated from Chukchi as “found camp”. The settlement stands on the shore of Mechigmenskaya Bay of the Bering Sea. Several hundred kilometers away are the American islands of Krusenstern and St. Lawrence; Alaska is also very close. But planes fly to Anadyr once every two weeks - and only if the weather is good. Lorino is covered from the north by hills, so there are more windless days here than in neighboring villages. True, despite relatively good weather conditions, in the 90s almost all Russian residents left Lorino, and since then only Chukchi have lived there - about 1,500 people.

The houses in Lorino are rickety wooden buildings with peeling walls and faded paint. In the center of the village there are several cottages built by Turkish workers - insulated buildings with cold water, which is considered a privilege in Lorino (if you run cold water through ordinary pipes, it will freeze in winter). There is hot water throughout the settlement, because the local boiler house operates all year round. But there is no hospital or clinic here - for several years now people have been sent for medical care by air ambulance or on all-terrain vehicles.

Lorino is famous for its marine mammal hunting. It’s not for nothing that the documentary film “Whaler” was filmed here in 2008, which received the TEFI prize. Hunting for sea animals for local residents is still important occupation. Whalers not only feed their families or earn money by selling meat to the local trapping community, they also honor the traditions of their ancestors.

Since childhood, Kaipanau knew how to properly slaughter walruses, catch fish and whales, and walk in the tundra. But after school he went to Anadyr to study first as an artist and then as a choreographer. Until 2005, while living in Lorino, he often went on tour to Anadyr or Moscow to perform with national ensembles. Due to constant travel, climate change and flights, Kaipanau decided to finally move to Moscow. There he got married, his daughter was nine months old.

“I try to instill my creativity and culture in my wife,” says Evgeniy. “Although many things seemed wild to her before, especially when she found out the conditions in which my people live.” I instill traditions and customs in my daughter, for example, showing national clothes. I want her to know that she is a hereditary Chukchi.”

Evgeny now rarely appears in Chukotka: he tours and represents the Chukchi culture around the world together with his ensemble “Nomad”. In the ethnopark “Nomad” of the same name near Moscow, where Kaipanau works, he conducts thematic excursions and shows documentaries about Chukotka, including Vladimir Pui.

But living far from his homeland does not prevent him from knowing about many things happening in Lorino: his mother remains there, she works in the city administration. Thus, he is sure that young people are drawn to those traditions that are being lost in other regions of the country. “Culture, language, hunting skill. Young people in Chukotka, including young people from our village, are learning to catch whales. Our people live with this all the time,” says Kaipanau.

Hunting

In the summer season, the Chukchi hunted whales and walruses, and in the winter season, they hunted seals. They hunted with harpoons, knives and spears. Whales and walruses were hunted together, but seals were hunted separately. The Chukchi caught fish with nets made of whale and deer tendons or leather belts, nets and bits. In winter - in an ice hole, in summer - from the shore or from kayaks. In addition, until the beginning of the 19th century, bears and wolves, rams and moose, wolverines, foxes and arctic foxes were hunted with bows, spears and traps. Waterfowl were killed with a throwing weapon (bola) and darts with a throwing plank. From the second half of the 19th century centuries, guns began to be used, and then whaling firearms.

Products that are imported from the mainland cost a lot of money in the village. “They bring “golden” eggs for 200 rubles. I’m generally silent about grapes,” adds Kaipanau. Prices reflect the sad socio-economic situation in Lorino. There are few places in the settlement where one can show professionalism and university skills.

“But the situation of the people is, in principle, normal,” the interlocutor immediately clarifies. “After the arrival of Abramovich (the billionaire was governor of Chukotka from 2001 to 2008 - DV), things became much better: more jobs appeared, houses were rebuilt, and medical and obstetric centers were established.”

Kaipanau recalls how whalers he knew “came, took the governor’s motor boats for free and left.” “Now they live and enjoy,” he says. Federal authorities, according to him, also help the Chukchi, but not very actively.

Kaipanau has a dream. He wants to create educational ethnic centers in Chukotka, where indigenous peoples could relearn their culture: build kayaks and yarangas, embroider, sing, dance.

“In the ethnopark, many visitors consider the Chukchi to be an uneducated and backward people; They think that they don’t wash and constantly say “however.” They even sometimes tell me that I am not a real Chukchi. But we are real people.”

Life under Abramovich

Having become the governor of Chukotka, for whom more than 90% of voters voted, Abramovich built several cinemas, clubs, schools, and hospitals at his own expense. He provided veterans with pensions and arranged holidays for Chukotka children in southern resorts. The governor’s companies spent approximately $1.3 billion on developing the economy and infrastructure of Chukotka.

The average monthly salary in the Autonomous Okrug under Abramovich increased from 5.7 thousand rubles in 2000 to 19.5 thousand in 2004. For January-July 2005, according to Rosstat, Chukotka, with an average monthly salary of 20,336 rubles, was in fourth place in Russia.

Abramovich's companies took part in all sectors of the Chukotka economy - from Food Industry before construction and retail. Gold deposits were developed jointly with Canadian and English gold miners.

The Far Eastern plenipotentiary of that time, Pulikovsky, spoke about Abramovich: “Our experts calculated that if he leaves, the budget will be reduced from 14 billion to 3 billion, and this is catastrophic for the region. Abramovich’s team must stay, they have a plan according to which the Chukotka economy will be able to operate independently in 2009.”

Every morning, 45-year-old resident of the village of Sireniki Natalya (she asked not to use her last name) wakes up at 8 am to go to work at the local school. She is a watchman and technical worker.

Sireniki, where Natalya has lived for 28 years, is located in the Providensky urban district of Chukotka, on the shores of the Bering Sea. The first Eskimo settlement appeared here about three thousand years ago, and in the vicinity of the village remains of the dwellings of ancient people are still found. In the 60s of the last century, the Chukchi joined the indigenous inhabitants. Therefore, the village has two names: from Ekimo it is translated as “Valley of the Sun”, and from Chukchi as “Rocky Terrain”.

Sireniki is surrounded by hills, and it is difficult to get here, especially in winter - only by snowmobile or helicopter. People come here from spring to autumn sea ​​vessels. From above, the village looks like a box of colorful candies: green, blue and red cottages, an administration building, a post office, a kindergarten and an outpatient clinic. Previously, there were many dilapidated wooden houses in Sireniki, but a lot has changed, says Natalya, with the arrival of Abramovich.

“My husband and I used to live in a house with stove heating; we had to wash dishes outside. Then Valera fell ill with tuberculosis, and his attending physician helped us get a new cottage due to his illness. Now we have a European-quality renovation.”

Clothing and food

Chukchi men wore kukhlyankas made of double reindeer skin and the same trousers. They pulled a boot made of camus with soles made of seal skin over siskins - stockings made of dog skin. The double fawn hat was bordered at the front with long-haired wolverine fur, which does not freeze from human breath in any frost, and fur mittens were worn on rawhide straps that were pulled into the sleeves.

The shepherd was as if in a spacesuit. The clothes the women wore were tight-fitting to the body and tied below the knees, forming something like pants. They put it on over the head. Over the top, women wore a wide fur shirt with a hood, which they wore on special occasions such as holidays or migrations.

The shepherd always had to protect the number of deer, so livestock breeders and families ate vegetarian food in the summer, and if they ate deer, then it was completely, right down to the antlers and hooves. They preferred boiled meat, but often ate it raw: the shepherds in the herd simply did not have time to cook. The sedentary Chukchi ate the meat of walruses, which were previously killed in huge quantities.

About 500 people live in Sireniki, including border guards and military personnel. Many are engaged in traditional marine hunting: they go walruses, whales, and fish. “My husband is a hereditary marine game hunter. He, along with his eldest son and other colleagues, is part of the Neighborhood Community. The community conducts fishing for the residents,” says Natalya. — Non-working pensioners meat is often given away for free. Although our meat is not as expensive as that imported from stores. It’s also a traditional food, we can’t live without it.”

How do they live in Sireniki? According to our interlocutor, it’s normal. There are currently about 30 unemployed people in the village. In the summer they pick mushrooms and berries, and in the winter they catch fish, which they sell or exchange for other products. Natalya’s husband receives a pension of 15,700 rubles, while the cost of living here is 15,000. “I myself work without part-time jobs, this month I will receive about 30,000. We, undoubtedly, live an average life, but somehow I don’t feel that salaries are increasing,” - the woman complains, remembering the cucumbers brought to Sireniki for 600 rubles per kilogram.

Natalya’s sister, like half the village residents, works on a rotational basis at Kupol. This gold deposit, one of the largest in the Far East, is located 450 km from Anadyr. Since 2011, 100% of Kupol shares have been owned by the Canadian company Kinross Gold. “My sister used to work there as a maid, and now she gives masks to miners who go down into the mines. They have a gym and a billiard room there! They pay in rubles ( average salary at Kupol 50,000 rubles - DV), transferred to a bank card,” says Natalya.

The woman knows little about production, salaries and investments in the region, but often repeats: “The dome helps us.” The fact is that the Canadian company that owns the deposit created a Social Development Fund back in 2009; it allocates money for socially significant projects. At least a third of the budget goes to support the indigenous peoples of the Autonomous Okrug. For example, Kupol helped publish a dictionary of the Chukchi language, opened courses in indigenous languages, and built a school for 65 children and a kindergarten for 32 in Sireniki.

“My Valera also received a grant,” says Natalya. — Two years ago, Kupol allocated him 1.5 million rubles for a huge 20-ton freezer. After all, the whalers will get the animal, there is a lot of meat - it will spoil. And now this camera is a lifesaver. With the remaining money, my husband and his colleagues bought tools to build kayaks.”

Natalya, a Chukchi and hereditary reindeer herder, believes that the national culture is now being revived. He says that every Tuesday and Friday the local village club holds rehearsals for the Northern Lights ensemble; courses of Chukchi and other languages ​​are opening (albeit in the regional center - Anadyr); competitions like the Governor's Cup or the Barents Sea regatta are held.

“And this year our ensemble is invited to a grand event - an international festival! Five people will fly to the dance program. It will all be in Alaska, she will pay for the flight and accommodation,” says the woman. She admits that Russian state supports national culture, but she mentions the Dome much more often. Natalya does not know of a domestic fund that would finance the peoples of Chukotka.

“It cannot be said that the socio-economic situation of the Chukchi today is favorable,” says Nina Veisalova, first vice-president of the Association of Small Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (AMKNSS and Far East of the Russian Federation). According to her, an important problem is the closure of ethnic villages or their merger, which is being done to optimize government spending. Infrastructure and jobs are being reduced, which is why local residents are forced to move to regional centers and cities: “The usual lifestyle, it is difficult for displaced people to adapt to a new place, find work and housing.”

The government of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug denied the fact of the reduction of ethnic villages to a DV correspondent: “This was not discussed either at the district or regional levels.”

Another key issue is healthcare. In Chukotka, as in other northern regions, says a representative of the Association, respiratory diseases are very common. But, according to Veisalova’s information, tuberculosis dispensaries are being closed in ethnic villages.

“There are a lot of cancer patients. The previously existing health care system ensured the identification, observation and treatment of sick people from among small peoples, which was enshrined in law. Unfortunately, such a scheme does not work today,” she clarifies. Zhukova, in turn, did not answer the question about the closure of tuberculosis dispensaries, but only said that in every district and settlement of Chukotka hospitals, medical outpatient clinics and medical and obstetric centers have been preserved.

There is a stereotype in Russian society: the Chukchi people drank themselves to death after they came to the territory of Chukotka " a white man“—that is, since the beginning of the last century. The Chukchi never drank alcohol, their body does not produce an enzyme that breaks down alcohol, and because of this, the effect of alcohol on their health is more detrimental than that of other peoples. But according to Evgeniy Kaipanau, the level of the problem is greatly overestimated. “With alcohol [among the Chukchi], everything is the same as everywhere else. But they drink less than anywhere else,” he says.

At the same time, says Kaipanau, the Chukchi actually did not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the past. “Now, although the enzyme has been developed, people still do not drink as the legends say,” sums up the Chukchi.

Kaipanau’s opinion is supported by Doctor of Medical Sciences GNICP Irina Samorodskaya, one of the authors of the report “Mortality and the share of deaths in economic active age from causes related to alcohol (drugs), MI and IHD from all deaths aged 15-72 years” for 2013. According to Rosstat, the document says, the most high level Mortality from alcohol-related causes in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is indeed 268 people per 100 thousand. But these data, Samorodskaya emphasizes, apply to the entire population of the district.

“Yes, the indigenous population of those territories are the Chukchi, but they are not the only ones who live there,” she explains. In addition, according to Samorodskaya, Chukotka is higher in all mortality indicators than other regions - and this is not only alcohol mortality, but also other external causes.

“It is now impossible to say that it was the Chukchi who died from alcohol, this is how the system works. First, if people do not want an alcohol-related cause of death on their deceased relative's death certificate, it will not be listed. Secondly, the vast majority of deaths occur at home. And there, death certificates are often filled out by a local doctor or even a paramedic, which is why other reasons may be indicated in the documents - it’s easier to write that way,” explains the professor.

Finally, another serious problem in the region, according to Veisalova, is the relationship between industrial companies and the indigenous local population. “People come like conquerors, disturbing the peace and quiet of the local residents. I think there should be regulations on the interaction between companies and peoples,” she says.

In turn, Vice-Governor Zhukova says that companies, on the contrary, care about the indigenous population and jointly finance the Kupol Fund under the trilateral Memorandum of Cooperation between the Government, RAIPON and mining companies.

Language and religion

The Chukchi, living in the tundra, called themselves “chavchu” (deer). Those who lived on the shore were “ankalyn” (Pomor). There is a common self-name for the people - “luoravetlan” (real person), but it has not caught on. 50 years ago, approximately 11 thousand people spoke the Chukchi language. Now their number is decreasing every year. The reason is simple: in Soviet times, writing and schools appeared, but at the same time a policy was pursued of the destruction of everything national. Separation from their parents and life in boarding schools forced Chukchi children to know their native language less and less.

The Chukchi have long believed that the world is divided into upper, middle and lower. At the same time, the upper world (“cloud land”) is inhabited by the “upper people” (in Chukchi - gyrgorramkyn), or the “people of the dawn” (tnargy-ramkyn), and the supreme deity among the Chukchi does not play a serious role. The Chukchi believed that their soul was immortal, they believed in reincarnation, and shamanism was widespread among them. Both men and women could be shamans, but among the Chukchi the shamans of the “transformed sex” were considered especially powerful - men who acted as housewives, and women who adopted the clothes, activities and habits of men.

Natalya, who lives in Sireniki, greatly misses her son, who completed nine grades at the Sireninsky school, and then graduated from the paramedic department in Anadyr and left for St. Petersburg. “I fell in love with this city and stayed. More, of course, are those who leave,” Natalya sighs. Why did her son leave? It was boring. “I can only fly here on vacation,” said the young man. And it’s difficult for Natalya to see him: her elderly father lives in Anadyr, and she has to go to see him. Because of the expensive tickets, she won’t be able to afford the second flight – this time to St. Petersburg.

“I thought that while my father was alive, I would go to him. It is important. And in St. Petersburg... Yes, my son also misses me and is offended. But I’m a tundra man - I need to go fishing, pick berries, go to nature... To my homeland.”

800 reindeer herders

counted the authorities of Chukotka in the region from 2011 to 2015. Today their average monthly salary is 24.5 thousand rubles. For comparison: last year, reindeer herders received a thousand less, and in 2011 their salary was 17 thousand rubles. Over the past five years, the state has allocated about 2.5 billion rubles to support reindeer herding activities.

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. Costume infant consists of a reindeer bag with blind branches for arms and legs. Instead of diapers, a layer of moss with reindeer hair is placed, which absorbs feces, which are removed daily through a special valve attached to the opening of the bag.

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 a commonality of fire, consanguinity in the male line, common totem sign, ancestral 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 festival of antlers, winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, 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 of the 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 items 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 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 Kapasiev:

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, and the same amount back - and in this form of a Stone Age robocop he 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: Honestly, 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 without us for 1000 years 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 without us for 1000 years 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 without us for 1000 years 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, cartridges 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. Let's look at the plague wooden cross. 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... 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 harm with our intervention. And what a clean water and air there is. The climate is really harsh and life has not been easy for them. I’m drawn there. I’ll hardly ever see such untouched nature 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 ice photo 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.

You, of course, have heard jokes about the Chukchi. This is not a question - it is a statement. And you've probably told similar jokes to others. The Chukchi themselves, having listened to you, might have laughed: they loved to make fun of themselves. But most likely you would have been killed. At the same time, most modern weapons would hardly help if you were against such a dangerous enemy.

In fact, it is difficult to find a more warlike and at the same time ineradicable people than the Chukchi. It is a great injustice that we do not know about this today, although Spartan education or Indian traditions are in many ways much softer and more “humane” than the approaches to educating future Chukchi warriors.

"Real People"

Luoravetlans are “real people,” as the Chukchi call themselves. Yes, they are chauvinists who consider others second-class. They joke about themselves, calling themselves "sweaty people" and the like (but only among themselves). At the same time, the Chukchi’s sense of smell is not particularly inferior to that of dogs, and genetically they are oh so different from us.

The Chukchi are a corruption of “Chauchi” – reindeer herders. It was the Chauchs that the Cossacks met in the tundra, before reaching their direct and recognized relatives - the Ankalyns, the coastal Luovertlans.

Childhood

Like the Indians, the Chukchi began the harsh upbringing of boys at the age of 5-6. From this time on, except for rare exceptions, sleeping was allowed only while standing, leaning on the canopy of the yaranga. At the same time, the young Chukchi warrior slept lightly: for this, adults sneaked up on him and burned him either with hot metal or with the smoldering end of a stick. The little warriors (somehow it’s hard to call them boys), as a result, began to react with lightning speed to any rustle...

They had to run behind reindeer sleds, rather than ride on sleighs, and jump with stones tied to their feet. The bow was an invariable attribute: the Chukchi generally have vision - unlike ours, the rangefinder is almost flawless. That is why the Chukchi were so willingly hired as snipers from World War II. The Chukchi also had their own game with a ball (made of reindeer hair), which was very reminiscent of modern football (only the Luoravetlans played this game long before the “foundation” of football by the British). They also loved to fight here. The fight was specific: on slippery walrus skin, additionally lubricated with fat, it was necessary not only to defeat the opponent, but to throw him onto sharp bones placed along the edges. It was dangerous, to put it mildly. However, it is precisely through this confrontation that grown-up boys will sort things out with their enemies, when in almost every case the loser faces death from much longer bones.

Path to adult life lay for the future warrior through trials. Because Dexterity was especially valued by these people, so during the “exam” they relied on it, and on attentiveness. The father sent his son on some mission, but it was not the main one. The father quietly tracked his son, and as soon as he sat down, lost his vigilance, or simply turned into a “convenient target,” an arrow was immediately shot at him. The Chukchi shot, as mentioned above, phenomenally. So it was not an easy task to react and get away from the “gift”. There was only one way to pass the exam - to survive after it.

Death? Why be afraid of her?

There are eyewitness accounts that describe shocking precedents from the life of the Chukchi even at the beginning of the last century. For example, one of them began to have severe stomach pain. By morning the pain only intensified, and the warrior asked his comrades to kill him. They immediately complied with the request, without even attaching much importance to what happened.

The Chukchi believed that each of them had 5-6 souls. And for each soul there can be its own place in heaven - the “Universe of the Ancestors.” But for this, certain conditions had to be met: to die with dignity in battle, to be killed at the hands of a friend or relative, or to die a natural death. The latter is too great a luxury for a harsh life, where you should not rely on the care of others. Voluntary death is a common thing for the Chukchi; you just need to ask your relatives about such “killing yourself.” The same was done for a number of serious illnesses.

The Chukchi who lost the battle could kill each other, but they didn’t think much about captivity: “If I became a deer for you, then why are you delaying?” - they said to the victorious enemy, expecting a finishing blow and not even thinking about asking for mercy.

War is an honor

The Chukchi are born saboteurs. Small in number and ferocious, they were a terror to all who lived within range. Known fact is that a detachment of Koryaks - neighbors of the Chukchi, who joined the Russian Empire, numbering fifty people, rushed in all directions if there were at least two dozen Chukchi. And don’t dare accuse the Koryaks of cowardice: their women always had a knife with them so that when attacked by the Chukchi, they could kill their children and themselves, just to avoid slavery.

“Real people” fought with the Koryaks in the same way: first there were auctions, where every incorrect and simply careless gesture could be understood as a signal for massacre. If the Chukchi died, then their comrades declared war on the offenders: they called them to a meeting at a designated place, laid out a walrus skin, greased it with fat... And, of course, drove in a lot of sharp bones around the edges. Everything is like in childhood.

If the Chukchi went on predatory raids, they simply slaughtered the men and captured the women. The prisoners were treated with dignity, but pride did not allow the Koryaks to surrender alive. The men also did not want to fall into the hands of the Chukchi alive: they took men captive only when it was necessary to extort information.

Torture

There were two types of torture: if information was required, then the enemy’s hands were tied behind his back and his hand was pressed over his nose and mouth until the person lost consciousness. After this, the prisoner was brought to his senses and the procedure was repeated. The demoralization was complete, even the “seasoned wolves” were splitting up.

But more often the Chukchi simply realized their hatred of the victim through torture. In such cases, the enemy was tied to a spit and methodically roasted over a fire.

Chukchi and the Russian Empire

Russian Cossacks in 1729 were sincerely asked “not to commit violence against the non-peace-loving peoples of the north.” Their neighbors, who joined the Russians, knew the hard way that it was better not to anger the Chukchi. However, the Cossacks, apparently, were filled with pride and envy at such glory of the “unbaptized savages”, so the Yakut Cossack leader Afanasy Shestakov and the captain of the Tobolsk Dragoon Regiment Dmitry Pavlutsky went to the lands of the “real people”, destroying everything they met on their way.

Several times Chukchi leaders and elders were invited to a meeting, where they were simply meanly killed. For the Cossacks, everything seemed simple... Until the Chukchi realized that they were not playing by the rules of honor to which they themselves were accustomed. A year later, Shestakov and Pavlutsky gave the Chukchi an open battle, where the latter did not have many chances: arrows and spears against gunpowder weapons are not the best weapons. True, Shestakov himself died. The Luoravetlans began a real guerrilla war, in response to which the Senate in 1742 ordered the complete destruction of the Chukchi. The latter numbered less than 10,000 people with children, women and old people, the task seemed so simple.

Before mid-18th century centuries, the war was tough, but now Pavlutsky was killed, and his troops were defeated. When Russian officials figured out what losses they were suffering, they were horrified. In addition, the Cossacks’ agility decreased: as soon as they defeated the Chukchi with an unexpected raid, the surviving children and women killed each other, avoiding captivity. The Chukchi themselves were not afraid of death, they did not give mercy and could torture extremely cruelly. There was nothing to scare them.

A decree was urgently issued prohibiting angering the Chukchi in general and interfering with them “with malicious intent”: it was decided to introduce liability for this. The Chukchi soon also began to calm down: to capture Russian Empire It would have been too burdensome a task for several thousand warriors, and the Luoravetlans themselves did not see the point in it. This was the only nation that intimidated Russia militarily, despite its insignificant numbers.

A couple of decades later, the empire returned to the lands of warlike reindeer herders, fearing that the French and British would “make a dangerous peace” with them. The Chukchi were taken by bribery, persuasion and appeasement. The Chukchi paid tribute “in the amount they themselves chose,” that is, they did not pay it at all, and they brought “help to the sovereign” so actively that it was easy to understand who was actually paying tribute to whom. With the beginning of cooperation in the Chukchi vocabulary appeared new term- “Chuvan disease”, i.e. “Russian disease”: with civilization, syphilis came to “real people”.

The French and British were feared in vain...

The trends of Europe were like a stop sign for the Chukchi. They traded with many people, but they showed the greatest mutual respect in trade... with the Japanese. It was from the Japanese that the Chukchi purchased their metal armor, which was exactly like that of the samurai. And the samurai were delighted with the courage and dexterity of the Chukchi: the latter are the only warriors who, according to numerous testimonies of contemporaries and eyewitnesses, were able not only to dodge arrows, but also to catch them with their hands on the fly, managing to throw them (with their hands!) back at their enemies.

The Chukchi respected the Americans for fair trade, but they also liked to give the latter a little push in their pirate raids. This also happened to Canadians: there is a well-known story when the Chukchi captured black slaves on the Canadian coast. Having tasted that these are still women, and not evil spirits, the Chukchi took them as concubines. Chukotka women do not know what jealousy is and therefore took such a trophy from their husbands normally. Well, black women were forbidden to give birth, because... they were “defective people”, kept as concubines until old age. According to eyewitnesses, the slaves were happy with their new fate, and only regretted that they had not been kidnapped earlier.

Jokes

The Soviet government, having decided to carry the fire of communist ideology and civilization to the distant Chukotka yarangas, did not receive a warm welcome. An attempt to put pressure on the Chukchi by force turned out to be a difficult task: at first, all the “Reds” from nearby territories flatly refused to fight the Chukchi, and then the daredevils who arrived here from afar began to disappear in detachments, groups, and camps. For the most part, the missing were not found. In rare cases, it was possible to find the remains of slaughtered failed colonists. As a result, the “Reds” decided to follow the well-worn path of bribery under the Tsar. And so that the Chukchi did not become a symbol of independence, they were simply turned into folklore. This is what they did with Chapaev, relying on jokes about “Vasily Ivanovich and Petka,” remaking the image of an educated and worthy person into a funny and amusing one. Fear and admiration for the Chukchi were replaced by the image of a kind of idiot savage.

They are the same today...

What has changed today? By and large - nothing. Christianity seriously undermined the Chukchi foundations, but not so much that this people became different. Chukchi are Warriors.

And let some laugh at yet another joke about the Chukchi, while others admire their prowess - a true Warrior is always infinitely superior to both. A warrior walks through time, ignoring death and not deviating from his path. Through centuries and difficulties, they move on - the Great Warriors of the North, about whom we know so little.

The Chukchi, Luoravetlans, or Chukots, are an indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia. The Chukchi genus belongs to the agnate, which is united by the community of fire, common sign totem, consanguinity through the male line, religious rites and family revenge. The Chukchi are divided into reindeer (chauchu) - tundra nomadic reindeer herders and coastal, coastal (ankalyn) - sedentary hunters of sea animals, who often live together with the Eskimos. There are also Chukchi dog breeders who bred dogs.

Name

Yakuts, Evens and Russians from the 17th century began to call Chukchi with the Chukchi word chauchu, or I'm drinking, which translated means “rich in deer.”

Where live

The Chukchi people occupy a vast territory from the Arctic Ocean to the Anyui and Anadyr Rivers and from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River. The bulk of the population lives in Chukotka and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

Language

The Chukchi language in its origin belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka language family and is part of the Paleo-Asian languages. Close relatives of the Chukchi language are Koryak, Kerek, which disappeared by the end of the 20th century, and Alyutor. Typologically, Chukchi belongs to the incorporating languages.

A Chukchi shepherd named Teneville created an original ideographic writing in the 1930s (although to date it has not been precisely proven whether the writing was ideographic or verbal-syllabic. This writing, unfortunately, has not been widely used. Chukchi since the 1930s They use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Chukotka literature is mainly created in Russian.

Names

Previously name Chukchi consisted of a nickname that was given to the child on the 5th day of life. The name was given to the child by the mother, who could pass on this right to a person respected by all. It was common to carry out fortune telling on a hanging object, with the help of which the name for the newborn was determined. They took some object from the mother and called names one by one. If the object moves when the name is pronounced, the child was named it.

Chukchi names are divided into female and male, sometimes differing in endings. For example, the female name Tyne-nny and the male name Tyne-nkei. Sometimes the Chukchi, in order to mislead evil spirits, called male name a girl, and a boy - a female name. Sometimes, for the same purpose, the child was given several names.

The names mean the beast, the time of year or day in which the child was born, the place where he was born. Names associated with household items or wishes for a child are common. For example, the name Gitinnevyt is translated as “beauty.”

Number

In 2002, the next All-Russian population census was carried out, according to the results of which the number of Chukchi was 15,767 people. After the All-Russian Population Census in 2010, the number was 15,908 people.

Lifespan

The average life expectancy of the Chukchi is short. Those who live in natural conditions live up to 42-45 years. Main reasons high mortality is alcohol abuse, smoking and poor nutrition. Today, drugs have joined these problems. There are very few centenarians in Chukotka, about 200 people aged 75 years. The birth rate is falling, and all this together, unfortunately, can lead to the extinction of the Chukchi people.

Appearance

The Chukchi belong to the mixed type, which is generally Mongoloid, but with differences. The eye shape is often horizontal rather than oblique, the face is bronze in color, and the cheekbones are not very wide. Among the Chukchi there are men with thick facial hair and almost curly hair. Among women, the Mongolian type of appearance is more common, with a wide nose and cheekbones.

Women wear their hair in two braids on either side of their heads and decorate them with buttons or beads. Married women sometimes the front strands are released onto the forehead. Men often cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe at the front, and two tufts of hair in the shape of animal ears on the crown of the head.

Chukchi clothing is made from the fur of a grown autumn calf (baby deer). IN Everyday life The clothing of an adult Chukchi consists of the following elements:

1. double fur shirt
2. double fur pants
3. short fur stockings
4. fur low boots
5. double hat in the form of a women's bonnet

The winter clothing of a Chukotka man consists of a caftan, which is very practical. A fur shirt is also called iryn, or cuckoo. It is very wide, with spacious sleeves at the shoulder area, tapering at the wrist area. This cut allows the Chukchee to pull their arms out of their sleeves and fold them over their chest, taking a comfortable body position. Shepherds sleeping near the herd in winter hide their heads in a shirt and cover the opening of the collar with a hat. But such a shirt is not long, but reaches to the knees. Only old people wear longer cuckoos. The collar of the shirt is cut low and trimmed with leather, with a cord placed inside. The bottom of the cuckoo is covered with a thin line of dog fur, which young Chukchi replace with wolverine or otter fur. As decorations, penakalgyns are sewn onto the back and sleeves of the shirt - long tassels, painted crimson, made from pieces of young seal skins. This decoration is more typical for women's shirts.

Women's clothing is also distinctive, but irrational and consists of one-piece sewn double trousers with a low-cut bodice that is cinched at the waist. The bodice has a slit in the chest area, and the sleeves are very wide. While working, women free their hands from their bodice and work in the cold with bare arms or shoulders. Old women wear a shawl or a strip of deerskin around their necks.

In the summer, as outerwear, women wear robes made from deer suede or purchased variegated fabrics, and a kamleika of deer wool with thin fur, embroidered with various ritual stripes.

The Chukchi hat is made from fawn and calf fur, wolverine, dog and otter paws. In winter, if you have to go on the road, a very large hood, sewn mainly from wolf fur, is put on top of the hat. Moreover, the skin for him is taken together with the head and protruding ears, which are decorated with red ribbons. Such hoods are worn mainly by women and old people. Young shepherds even wear a headdress instead of a regular hat, covering only the forehead and ears. Men and women wear mittens made from kamus.

All inner clothing is put on the body with the fur inward, outer clothing - with the fur outward. In this way, both types of clothing fit tightly to each other and form an impenetrable protection against frost. Clothes made from deer skin are soft and do not cause much discomfort; you can wear them without underwear. The elegant clothing of the Reindeer Chukchi is white; among the Primorye Chukchi it is dark brown with sparse white spots. Traditionally, clothing is decorated with stripes. Original patterns on Chukchi clothes are of Eskimo origin.

As jewelry, the Chukchi wear garters, necklaces in the form of straps with beads, and headbands. Most of them have religious significance. There are also real metal jewelry, various earrings and bracelets.

Infants were dressed in bags made of deerskin, with blind branches for legs and arms. Instead of diapers, they used to use moss with reindeer hair, which served as a diaper. A valve was attached to the opening of the bag, from which such a diaper was taken out every day and replaced with a clean one.

Character

The Chukchi are emotional and psychologically very excitable people, which often leads to frenzy, suicidal tendencies and murders, even at the slightest provocation. These people love independence very much and are persistent in the struggle. But at the same time, the Chukchi are very hospitable and good-natured, always ready to help their neighbors. During times of hunger strike, they even helped the Russians and brought them food.

Religion

The Chukchi are animists in their beliefs. They deify and personify natural phenomena and its regions, water, fire, forest, animals: deer, bear and crow, celestial bodies: moon, sun and stars. The Chukchi also believe in evil spirits; they believe that they send disasters, death and disease to the Earth. The Chukchi wear amulets and believe in their power. They considered the creator of the world to be a Raven named Kurkyl, who created everything on Earth and taught people everything. Everything that exists in space was created by northern animals.

Each family has its own family shrines:

• a hereditary projectile for producing sacred fire by friction and used on holidays. Each member of the family had his own projectile, and on the bottom tablet of each was carved a figure with the head of the owner of fire;
• family tambourine;
• bundles of wooden knots “removing misfortunes”;
• pieces of wood with images of ancestors.

By the beginning of the 20th century, many Chukchi were baptized in the Russian Orthodox Church, but among the nomads there are still people with traditional beliefs.

Traditions

The Chukchi have regular holidays, which are held depending on the time of year:

• in the fall - the day of deer slaughter;
• in spring - the day of horns;
• in winter - a sacrifice to the star Altair.

There are also many irregular holidays, for example, feeding the fire, commemorating the dead, votive services and sacrifices after the hunt, the whale festival, and the kayak festival.

The Chukchi believed that they had 5 lives and were not afraid of death. After death, many wanted to go to the World of their ancestors. To do this, one had to die in battle at the hand of an enemy or at the hand of a friend. Therefore, when one Chukchi asked another to kill him, he immediately agreed. After all, it was a kind of help.

The dead were dressed, fed and told fortunes, forcing them to answer questions. Then they burned it or carried it to the field, cut the throat and chest, pulled out part of the liver and heart, wrapped the body in thin layers of deer meat and left it. Old people often killed themselves in advance or asked close relatives to do so. The Chukchi came to voluntary death not only because of old age. Often the cause was difficult living conditions, lack of food and severe, incurable illness.

As for marriage, it is predominantly endogamous; a man could have 2 or 3 wives in a family. In a certain circle of brothers-in-arms and relatives, mutual use of wives is allowed by agreement. It is customary among the Chukchi to observe levirate - a marriage custom according to which the wife, after the death of her husband, had the right or was obliged to marry one of his close relatives. They did this because it was very difficult for a woman without a husband, especially if she had children. A man who married a widow was obliged to adopt all her children.

Often the Chukchi stole a wife for their son from another family. The relatives of this girl could demand that the woman be given to them in return, and not in order to marry her off, but because labor was always needed in everyday life.

Almost all families in Chukotka have many children. Pregnant women were not allowed to rest. Along with others, they worked and took care of everyday life, harvesting moss. This raw material is very necessary during childbirth; it was laid in the yaranga, in the place where the woman was preparing to give birth. Chukotka women could not be helped during childbirth. The Chukchi believed that everything was decided by a deity who knew the souls of the living and the dead and decided which one to send to the woman in labor.

A woman should not scream during childbirth so as not to attract evil spirits. When the child was born, the mother herself tied the umbilical cord with a thread woven from her hair and animal tendon and cut it. If a woman could not give birth for a long time, she could be given help, since it was obvious that she could not cope on her own. This was entrusted to one of the relatives, but after that everyone treated the woman in labor and her husband with contempt.

After the birth of the child, they wiped it with a piece of skin, which was soaked in the mother’s urine. On left hand and amulets bracelets were put on the baby’s leg. The baby was dressed up in a fur jumpsuit.

After giving birth, a woman was not allowed to eat fish or meat, only meat broth. Previously, Chukchi women breastfed their children until they were 4 years old. If the mother did not have milk, the child was given seal fat. The baby's pacifier was made from a piece of sea hare intestine. It was stuffed with finely chopped meat. In some villages, babies were fed their milk by dogs.

When the boy turned 6 years old, men began to raise him as a warrior. The child was accustomed to harsh conditions, taught to shoot a bow, run fast, wake up quickly and react to extraneous sounds, and trained visual acuity. Modern Chukchi children love to play football. The ball is made from deer hair. Extreme wrestling on ice or slippery walrus skin is popular among them.

Chukchi men are excellent warriors. For each success in battle, they applied a mark-tattoo to the back of their right hand. The more marks there were, the more experienced the warrior was considered. Women always had bladed weapons with them in case enemies attacked.

Culture

The mythology and folklore of the Chukchi are very diverse; they have much in common with the folklore and mythology of the Paleo-Asians and American peoples. The Chukchi have long been famous for their carved and sculptural images made on mammoth bones, which amaze with their beauty and clarity of application. The traditional musical instruments of the people are the tambourine (yarar) and the harp (khomus).

The folk oral art of the Chukchi is rich. The main genres of folklore are fairy tales, myths, legends, historical legends and everyday stories. One of the main characters is the raven Kurkyl; there are legends about wars with neighboring Eskimo tribes.

Although the living conditions of the Chukchi were very difficult, they also found time for holidays in which the tambourine was a musical instrument. The tunes were passed down from generation to generation.

Chukchi dances are divided into several varieties:

• imitative
• gaming
• improvised
• ritual-ritual
• re-enactment dances or pantomimes
• dances of the reindeer and coastal Chukchi

Imitative dances that reflect the behavior of birds and animals were very common:

• crane
• crane flight
• running deer
• crow
• seagull dance
• swan
• duck dance
• bullfight during the rut
• looking out

A special place was occupied by trade dances, which were a type of group marriage. They were an indicator of the strengthening of previous family ties or were held as a sign of a new connection between families.

Food

Traditional Chukchi dishes are prepared from deer meat and fish. The basis of the diet of this people is boiled meat of whale, seal or deer. The meat is also eaten raw and frozen; the Chukchi eat animal entrails and blood.

The Chukchi eat shellfish and plant foods:

• willow bark and leaves
• sorrel
• seaweed
• berries

Among drinks, representatives of the people prefer alcohol and herbal decoctions similar to tea. The Chukchi are partial to tobacco.

In the traditional cuisine of the people there is a peculiar dish called monyalo. This is semi-digested moss that is removed from the stomach of a deer after killing the animal. Monyalo is used in cooking fresh dishes and canned food. The most common hot dish among the Chukchi until the 20th century was a liquid monyal soup with blood, fat and chopped meat.

Life

The Chukchi initially hunted reindeer, but gradually they domesticated these animals and began to engage in reindeer husbandry. Reindeer provide the Chukchi with meat for food, skin for housing and clothing, and serve as transport for them. The Chukchi, who live along the banks of rivers and seas, hunt sea creatures. In spring and winter they catch seals and seals, in autumn and summer - whales and walruses. Previously, the Chukchi used harpoons with floats, belt nets and a spear for hunting, but already in the 20th century they learned to use firearms. Today, only bird hunting with the help of a “bol” has been preserved. Not all Chukchi have developed fishing. Women and children collect edible plants, moss and berries.

The Chukchi in the 19th century lived in camps, which included 2 or 3 houses. When the food for the deer ran out, they migrated to another place. During the summer, some lived closer to the sea.

Tools were made of wood and stone, which were gradually replaced by iron. Axes, spears, and knives are widely used in everyday life of the Chukchi. Utensils, metal cauldrons and teapots, weapons used today are mainly European. But to this day, in the life of this people there are many elements of primitive culture: these are bone shovels, drills, hoes, stone and bone arrows, spear tips, armor made of iron plates and leather, a complex bow, slings made from knuckles, stone hammers, skins, stems, shells for making fire by friction, lamps in the form of a flat round vessel made of soft stone, which were filled with seal fat.

Light sleighs of the Chukchi were also preserved in in its original form, they are equipped with arched supports. They harness deer or dogs. The Chukchi, who lived by the sea, have long used kayaks for hunting and moving on water.

Coming Soviet power affected the life of the settlements. Over time, schools, cultural institutions and hospitals appeared in them. Today, the literacy level of the Chukchi in the country is at an average level.

Housing

The Chukchi live in dwellings called yarangas. This is a large tent with an irregular polygonal shape. The yaranga is covered with panels of deer skins so that the fur is on the outside. The vault of the dwelling rests on 3 poles, which are located in the center. Stones are tied to the cover and pillars of the hut, which ensures resistance to the wind pressure. The yaranga is sealed tightly from the floor. Inside the hut in the middle there is a fireplace, which is surrounded by sleighs loaded with various household supplies. In the yaranga the Chukchi live, eat, drink, and sleep. Such a dwelling is well heated, so the inhabitants walk in it undressed. The Chukchi heat their homes with a fat lamp made of clay, wood or stone, where they cook food. Among the coastal Chukchi, the yaranga differs from the housing of reindeer herders in that it does not have a smoke hole.

Famous people

Despite the fact that the Chukchi are a people far from civilization, among them there are those who have become known throughout the world thanks to their achievements and talents. The first Chukchi researcher Nikolai Daurkin is a Chukchi. He received his name at baptism. Daurkin was one of the first Russian subjects to land in Alaska, made several important geographical discoveries in the 18th century, was the first to draw up a detailed map of Chukotka and received noble title for his contribution to science. The peninsula in Chukotka was named after this outstanding man.

Candidate of Philological Sciences Petr Inenlikey was also born in Chukotka. He studied the peoples of the north and their culture, and is the author of books on research in the field of linguistics. northern peoples Russia, Alaska and Canada.

Chukotka reindeer herders do not live in tents, but in more complex mobile dwellings called yarangas. Next, we suggest getting acquainted with the basics of construction and the structure of this traditional home, which Chukchi reindeer herders continue to build to this day.

Without a deer there will be no yaranga - this axiom is true in the literal and figurative sense. Firstly, because we need material for “construction” - deer skins. Secondly, without deer, such a house is not needed. Yaranga is a mobile, portable dwelling for reindeer herders, necessary for areas where there is no timber, but there is a need for constant migration for the reindeer herd. To build a yaranga you need poles. Birch ones are best. Birches in Chukotka, strange as it may seem to some, are growing. In the continental part along the banks of rivers. The limited area of ​​their distribution was the reason for the emergence of such a concept as “scarcity”. The poles were taken care of, they were passed on and are still passed on by inheritance. Some yaranga poles in the Chukotka tundra are more than a hundred years old.

Encampment

Yaranga frame prepared for the filming of the film "Territory"

The difference between a yaranga and a chum is the complexity of its design. It's like an airbus and a corn truck. A chum is a hut, vertically standing poles, which is covered with waterproof material (birch bark, skins, etc.). The structure of the yaranga is much more complicated.

Pulling the tire (ratham) onto the yaranga frame

The construction of a yaranga begins with determining the cardinal directions. This is important because the entrance should always be in the east. First, three long poles are placed (as in the construction of a tent). Then, small wooden tripods are installed around these poles, which are fastened together with horizontal poles. From the tripods to the top of the yaranga there are poles of the second tier. All the poles are fastened to each other with ropes or belts made of deerskin. After installing the frame, a tire (ratem) made of skins is pulled on. Several ropes are thrown over the upper poles, which are tied to the awning tire and, using the elementary laws of physics and the command “eee, one,” only in the Chukotka version, the tire is put on the frame. To prevent the tire from blowing off during a snowstorm, its edges are covered with stones. Stones are also hung on ropes to the tripod posts. Poles and boards that are tied to the outside of the yaranga are also used as anti-sails.

“Strengthening” the yaranga to prevent the tire from blowing off

Winter tires are definitely made from hides. One ratem takes from 40 to 50 deer skins. There are options with summer tires. Previously, old rathams, sewn and altered, with peeling wool, were used for summer tires. The Chukotka summer, although harsh, forgives a lot. Including an imperfect tire for the yaranga. In winter, the tire must be perfect, otherwise a huge snowdrift will blow into the small hole during a snowstorm. In Soviet times, the lower part of the tire, which was most susceptible to moisture, began to be replaced with strips of tarpaulin. Then other materials appeared, so today’s summer yarangas are more reminiscent of a grandmother’s colorful blanket.

Yaranga in the Amguem tundra

Third brigade of MUSHP "Chaunskoye"

Yaranga in the Yanrakynnot tundra

Externally, the yaranga is ready. Inside, a large 5-8 meters in diameter sub-tent space appeared - chottagin. Chottagin is the economic part of the yaranga. In the chottagin, the cold room of the yaranga, in winter the temperature is the same as outside, except that there is no wind.

Now you need to make a room for living. On the wall opposite the entrance, a rectangular frame is attached using poles, which is covered with skins and wool inside. This canopy is a living space in a yaranga. They sleep in the canopy, dry clothes (through natural evaporation of moisture), and in winter they eat. The canopy is heated using a grease stove or kerosene stove. Due to the fact that the skins are tucked inward, the canopy becomes almost airtight. This is good in terms of heat retention, but bad in terms of ventilation. However, frost is the most effective fighter against natures with a refined perception of smells. Since it is impossible to open the canopy at night, they relieve themselves in a special container right there in the canopy. Believe me, this won’t bother you either if you find yourself in the tundra without transport for more than two days. Because one of the main human needs is the need for warmth. But it’s warm in the tundra, only in the canopy. Nowadays, a yaranga usually has one canopy; previously there could have been two or even three. One family lives in the canopy. If a family has adult children who already have their own families, a second canopy is placed in the yaranga for the first time. But over time, the young will need to assemble their yaranga.

Canopy outside

Canopy inside. Lighted and heated by a grease stove or kerosene stove

The hearth is organized in the center of Chottagin. The smoke from the fire escapes through a hole in the dome. But despite such ventilation, it is almost always smoky in Chottagin. Therefore, standing in a yaranga is not recommended.

Making a fire

Where can you get firewood for a fire if trees don’t grow in the tundra? There are really no trees (with the exception of floodplain groves) in the tundra, but you can almost always find shrubs. Actually, the yaranga is mainly placed near a river with bushes. The fireplace in the yaranga is built exclusively for cooking. Heating chottagin is pointless and wasteful. Small twigs are used for fire. If the branches of the bush are thick and long, they are cut into small logs 10-15 cm in length. The amount of firewood that a taiga resident burns per night will last a reindeer herder for a week, or even more. What can we say about the young pioneers with their bonfires? Economy and rationality are the main criteria for the life of a reindeer herder. The same criterion is put into the design of the yaranga, which is primitive at first glance, but very effective upon closer examination.

The kettle is suspended above the fireplace on chains, vats and pots are placed on bricks or stones. They stop adding firewood to the fire as soon as the container begins to boil.

Firewood harvesting

Utensil. Small tables and small stools are used as furniture in the yaranga. Yaranga is a world of minimalism. Furniture in the yaranga also includes cabinets and shelves for storing food and utensils. With the advent of European civilization in Chukotka, especially during the Soviet period, concepts such as kerogas, primus, and abeshka (generator) appeared in the lives of reindeer herders, which somewhat simplified some aspects of life. Cooking food, especially baked goods, is now done not on a fire, but on primus stoves or kerosene gases. In some reindeer herding farms, in winter, stoves are installed in yarangas, which are heated with coal. Of course, you can live without all this, but if you have it, why not use it?

Afternoon

Evening leisure

In each yaranga there is always meat or fish hanging on the top and side poles. Rationalism, as I said above, is a key aspect of human life in traditional society. Why should the smoke go to waste? Especially if it, smoke, is an excellent preservative.

Yaranga's "bins"