Are there Chukchi? What are the Chukchi really

Chukchi, Chukot or Luoravetlans. A small indigenous people of the extreme northeast of Asia, scattered over a vast territory from the Bering Sea to the Indigirka River and from the Arctic Ocean to the Anadyr and Anyui rivers. The number according to the All-Russian population census of 2002 is 15767 people, according to the All-Russian population census of 2010 - 15908 people.

Origin

Their name, which the Russians, Yakuts and Evens call them, is adapted in the 17th century. Russian explorers, the Chukchi word chauchu [ʧawʧəw] (rich in deer), by what name do the Chukchi reindeer herders call themselves, as opposed to the Chukchi seaside - dog breeders - ankalyn (seaside, pomors - from anka (sea)). Self-name - oravetԓet (people, in the singular oravetԓen) or ԓgygoravetԓet [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝt] (real people, in the singular ԓgygoravetԓen [ɬəɣʔoráwətɬʔǝn] - in the Russian transmission luoravetlan). The neighbors of the Chukchi are the Yukagirs, Evens, Yakuts and Eskimos (on the shores of the Bering Strait).

The mixed type (Asian-American) is confirmed by some legends, myths and differences in the life of the deer and coastal Chukchi: the latter, for example, have an American-style dog team. The final solution of the question of ethnographic origin depends on a comparative study of the Chukchi language and the languages ​​of the nearest American peoples. One of the connoisseurs of the language, V. Bogoraz, found it closely related not only to the language of the Koryaks and Itelmens, but also to the language of the Eskimos. Until very recently, according to the language of the Chukchi, they were classified as Paleo-Asians, that is, a group of outlying peoples of Asia, whose languages ​​are completely different from all other linguistic groups of the Asian mainland, forced out in very remote times from the middle of the mainland to the northeastern outskirts.

Anthropology

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

Story

The modern ethnogenetic scheme makes it possible to evaluate the Chukchi as natives of continental Chukotka. Their ancestors formed here at the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BC. e. The basis of the culture of this population was hunting for wild deer, which existed here until the end of the 17th - beginning of the 18th centuries in fairly stable natural and climatic conditions. The Russian Chukchi encountered for the first time back in the 17th century on the Alazeya River. In 1644, the Cossack Mikhail Stadukhin, who was the first to bring news of them to Yakutsk, founded the Nizhnekolymsky prison. The Chukchi, who at that time roamed both east and west of the Kolyma, finally left the left bank of the Kolyma after a bloody struggle, pushing the Eskimo tribe of Mamalls from the coast of the Arctic Ocean to the Bering Sea during their retreat. Since then, for more than a hundred years, bloody clashes between the Russians and the Chukchi, whose territory bordered on the Russian along the Kolyma River in the west and Anadyr in the south, from the Amur Territory, did not stop (for more details, see Accession of Chukotka to Russia).

In 1770, after a series of military campaigns, including the unsuccessful campaign of Shestakov (1730), the Anadyr prison, which served as the center of the struggle between the Russians and the Chukchi, was destroyed and its team was transferred to Nizhnekolymsk, after which the Chukchi became less hostile to the Russians and gradually began to join with them in trade relations. In 1775, on the Angarka river, a tributary of the Great Anyui, the Angarskaya fortress was built, where, under the protection of the Cossacks, an annual fair for barter with the Chukchi took place.

Since 1848, the fair has been moved to the Anyui fortress (about 250 km from Nizhnekolymsk, on the banks of the Small Anyui). Until the first half of the 19th century, when European goods were delivered to the territory of the Chukchi by the only land route through Yakutsk, the Anyui Fair had a turnover of hundreds of thousands of rubles. The Chukchi brought for sale not only the ordinary products of their own production (clothing made of deer furs, deer skins, live deer, seal skins, whalebone, polar bear skins), but also the most expensive furs - sea otters, martens, black foxes, blue foxes, which the so-called nasal Chukchi exchanged for tobacco among the inhabitants of the shores of the Bering Sea and the northwestern coast of America.

With the appearance of American whalers in the waters of the Bering Strait and the Arctic Ocean, as well as with the delivery of goods to Gizhiga by ships of the voluntary fleet (in the 1880s), the largest turnovers of the Anyui fair ceased, and by the end of the 19th century it began to serve only the needs of the local Kolyma trading, having a turnover of not more than 25 thousand rubles.

economy

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

The main occupation of the coastal Chukchi is hunting for sea animals: in winter and spring - for seals and seals, in summer and autumn - for walrus and whale. The seals were hunted alone, crawling up to them, disguised themselves and imitated the movements of the animal. The walrus was hunted in groups of several canoes. Traditional hunting weapons are a harpoon with a float, a spear, a belt net, firearms have spread since the second half of the 19th century, and hunting methods have become simpler.

Life of the Chukchi

In the XIX century, the Chukchi reindeer herders lived in camps in 2-3 houses. Migrations were made as deer fodder was depleted. In the summer, some go down to the sea. The Chukchi clan is agnatic, united by a community of fire, consanguinity in the male line, a common totem sign, tribal revenge and religious rites. Marriage is predominantly endogamous, individual, often polygamous (2-3 wives); among a certain circle of relatives and brothers, mutual use of wives is allowed, by agreement; levirate is also common. Kalyma does not exist. Chastity for a girl does not play a role.

The dwelling - yaranga - is a large tent of irregular polygonal shape, covered with panels of reindeer skins, with fur outside. Stability against the pressure of the wind is given by stones tied to the poles and the cover of the hut. The fire is in the middle of the hut and is surrounded by a sleigh with household supplies. The actual dwelling, where the Chukchi eats, drinks and sleeps, consists of a small quadrangular fur tent-canopy, strengthened at the back wall of the tent and tightly sealed from the floor. The temperature in this cramped room, heated by the animal warmth of its inhabitants and partly by a fat lamp, is so high that the Chukchi strip naked in it.

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

Chukchi clothing is of the usual polar type. It is sewn from the fur of fawns (grown up autumn calf) and for men it consists of a double fur shirt (the lower fur to the body and the upper fur out), the same double trousers, short fur stockings with the same boots and a hat in the form of a female bonnet. Women's clothing is quite original, also double, consisting of one-piece sewn trousers along with a low-cut bodice, pulled together at the waist, with a slit on the chest and extremely wide sleeves, thanks to which the Chukchi women easily free their hands during work. Summer outerwear is hoodies made of reindeer suede or colorful purchased fabrics, as well as kamlikas made of thin-haired deer skin with various ritual stripes. The baby's costume consists of a reindeer bag with deaf ramifications for the arms and legs. Instead of diapers, a layer of moss with reindeer hair is placed, which absorbs the feces, which are taken out daily through a special valve fastened to the opening of the bag.

Women's hairstyles consist of braids braided on both sides of the head, decorated with beads and buttons. Men cut their hair very smoothly, leaving a wide fringe in front and two tufts of hair in the form of animal ears on the crown of the head.

Wooden, stone and iron tools

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

With the advent of Soviet power, schools, hospitals, and cultural institutions appeared in settlements. Created writing for the language. The level of literacy of the Chukchi (the ability to write, read) does not differ from the average for the country.

Chukchi cuisine

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

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

Holidays

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

Religion of the Chukchi

Religious representations of the Chukchi express amulets (pendants, bandages, necklaces in the form of straps with beads). The painting of the face with the blood of the murdered victim, with the image of the hereditary-ancestral sign - the totem, also has ritual significance. The original pattern on the quivers and clothes of the Primorye Chukchi is of Eskimo origin; from the Chukchi, he passed to many polar peoples of Asia.

According to their beliefs, the Chukchi are animists; they personify and deify certain areas and natural phenomena (masters of the forest, water, fire, sun, deer, etc.), many animals (bear, crow), stars, sun and moon, they believe in hosts of evil spirits that cause all earthly disasters, including illness and death, have a number of regular holidays (the autumn holiday of slaughtering deer, the spring holiday of horns, the winter sacrifice to the star Altair, the ancestor of the Chukchi, etc.) and many irregular ones (feeding the fire, sacrifices after each hunt, commemoration of the dead, votive services, etc.). Each family, in addition, has its own family shrines: hereditary projectiles for obtaining the sacred fire by friction for certain festivities, one for each family member (the lower plank of the projectile represents a figure with the head of the owner of the fire), then bundles of wooden knots of "disasters of misfortune", wooden images of ancestors and, finally, a family tambourine, since the Chukchi rituals with a tambourine are not the property of only specialist shamans. The latter, having felt their calling, experience a preliminary period of a kind of involuntary temptation, fall into deep thought, wander without food or sleep for days on end until they receive real inspiration. Some are dying from this crisis; some receive a suggestion to change their sex, that is, a man must turn into a woman, and vice versa. The Transformed adopt the clothes and lifestyle of their new sex, even getting married, getting married, etc.

The dead are either burned or wrapped in layers of raw reindeer meat and left in the field, having previously cut through the throat and chest of the deceased and pulled out part of the heart and liver. Previously, the deceased is dressed, fed and fortune-telling over him, forcing him to answer questions. Old people often kill themselves in advance or, at their request, are killed by close relatives.

Baidara - a boat built without a single nail, effective in hunting sea animals.
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).

Voluntary death

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

Anticipating many speculations, the ethnographer writes:

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

Folklore

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

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

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

And the boy came home with his flock and became the master.

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

Folk dances

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

All dances can be divided into ritual-ritual, imitative-imitative dances, staged dances (pantomime), game and improvisational (individual), as well as deer and coastal Chukchi dances.

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

After the meal, all the tambourines belonging to the family, hanging on the poles of the threshold behind a curtain of raw skins, are removed, and the ceremony begins. The tambourines are beaten throughout the rest of the day in turn by all family members. When all the adults have finished, the children take their place and, in turn, continue to beat the tambourines. While playing the tambourines, many adults invoke "spirits" and try to encourage them to enter their body....

Imitative dances were also widespread, reflecting the habits of animals and birds: “Crane”, “Crane looks out for food”, “Crane flight”, “Crane looks around”, “Swan”, “Dance of the seagull”, “Raven”, “Bull (deer) fight )”, “Dance of ducks”, “Bullfight during the rut”, “Looking out”, “Running of a deer”.

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

Language, writing and literature

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

In the 1930s The Chukchi shepherd Teneville created an original ideographic script (samples are stored in the Kunstkamera - the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography of the USSR Academy of Sciences), which, however, did not come into wide use. Since the 1930s the Chukchi use an alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet with the addition of a few letters. Chukchi literature is mainly written in Russian (Yu. S. Rytkheu and others).

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

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

Ethnic history of the Chukchi. Briefly

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

Mythology of the Chukchi. world creation

In the mythology of the Chukchi, a raven appears - the creator, the main benefactor. Creator of the earth, sun, rivers, seas, mountains, deer. It was the raven that taught people to live in difficult natural conditions. Since, according to the Chukchi, Arctic animals participated in the creation of the cosmos and stars, the names of the constellations and individual stars are associated with deer and crows. The star of the chapel is a deer bull with a man's sleigh. Two stars near the constellation Eagle - "A female deer with a deer." The Milky Way is a river with sandy waters, with islands - pastures for deer.

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

The upbringing of children among the Chukchi

In the upbringing of Chukchi children, one can trace a parallel with Indian customs. At the age of 6, the Chukchi begin the harsh upbringing of warrior boys. From this age, boys sleep standing up, with the exception of sleeping on a yaranga. At the same time, adult Chukchi brought up even in a dream - they sneaked up with a red-hot tip of metal or a smoldering stick, so that the boy developed a lightning-fast reaction to any sounds.

Young Chukchi ran after reindeer teams with stones on their feet. From the age of 6, they constantly held a bow and arrows in their hands. Thanks to this eye training, the Chukchi's eyesight remained sharp for many years. By the way, that is why the Chukchi were excellent snipers during the Great Patriotic War. Favorite games are "football" with a ball made of reindeer hair and wrestling. They fought in special places - either on a walrus skin (very slippery), or on ice.

The rite of passage into adulthood is a test for the viable. On the "exam" they relied on dexterity and attentiveness. For example, a father sent his son on a mission. But the task was not the main thing. The father tracked down his son while he was walking to fulfill it, and waited for the son to lose his vigilance - then he fired an arrow. The task of the young man is to instantly concentrate, react and dodge. Therefore, to pass the exam means to survive. But the arrows were not smeared with poison, so there was a chance of survival after being wounded.

War as a way of life

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

Chukchi women correspond to severe Chukchi men. They carry a knife with them in order to slaughter their children, parents, and then themselves in case of serious danger.

"Home shamanism"

The Chukchi have the so-called "home shamanism". These are echoes of the ancient religion of the louravetlans, because now almost all Chukchi go to church and belong to the Russian Orthodox Church. But they are still "shamanizing".

During the autumn slaughter of cattle, the entire Chukchi family, including children, beats a tambourine. This rite protects deer from diseases and early death. But it is more like a game, like, for example, Sabantuy - the celebration of the end of plowing among the Turkic peoples.

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

We are all accustomed to consider the representatives of this people as naive and peaceful inhabitants of the Far North. Say, throughout their history, the Chukchi grazed herds of deer in permafrost, hunted walruses, and as an entertainment they beat tambourines in unison. The anecdotal image of a simpleton who says the word “however” all the time is so far from reality that it is really shocking. Meanwhile, there are many unexpected turns in the history of the Chukchi, and their way of life and customs still cause controversy among ethnographers. How are the representatives of this people so different from other inhabitants of the tundra?

Call themselves real people

The Chukchi are the only people whose mythology frankly justifies nationalism. The fact is that their ethnonym came from the word “chauchu”, which in the language of the natives of the north means the owner of a large number of deer (rich man). This word was heard from them by the Russian colonialists. But this is not the self-name of the people.

"Luoravetlans" - this is how the Chukchi call themselves, which translates as "real people." They always treated neighboring peoples with arrogance, and considered themselves special chosen ones of the gods. Evenks, Yakuts, Koryaks, Eskimos in their myths were called by the Luoravetlans those whom the gods created for slave labor.

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

Paint their faces with blood

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

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

Fought with the Eskimos

The Chukchi have always been skilled warriors. Imagine how much courage it takes to go out into the ocean on a boat and attack walruses? However, not only animals became victims of representatives of this people. They often made plundering campaigns against the Eskimos, crossing the Bering Strait to neighboring North America in their boats made of timber and walrus skins.

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

It is interesting that in 1947 the Chukchi once again decided to go to war against the Eskimos, then only miraculously managed to avoid an international conflict between the USSR and the USA, because the representatives of both peoples were officially citizens of the two superpowers.

They robbed the Koryaks

The Chukchi in their history managed to pretty much annoy not only the Eskimos. So, they often attacked the Koryaks, taking away their deer. It is known that from 1725 to 1773 the invaders appropriated about 240 thousand (!) Heads of foreign cattle. Actually, the Chukchi took up reindeer herding after they robbed their neighbors, many of whom had to hunt for their livelihood.

Creeping up to the Koryak settlement at night, the invaders pierced their yarangas with spears, trying to immediately kill all the owners of the herd until they woke up.

Tattoos in honor of the killed enemies

The Chukchi covered their bodies with tattoos dedicated to the killed enemies. After the victory, the warrior inflicted as many points on the back of the wrist of his right hand as he sent opponents to the other world. On account of some experienced fighters, there were so many defeated enemies that the points merged into a line running from the wrist to the elbow.

They preferred death to captivity

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

The defeated warriors lying on the battlefield begged their opponents for death. Moreover, they did it in an indifferent tone. The only wish was - not to linger.

Won the war with Russia

The Chukchi are the only people of the Far North who fought with the Russian Empire and won. The first colonizers of those places were the Cossacks, led by Ataman Semyon Dezhnev. In 1652 they built the Anadyr prison. Behind them, other adventurers went to the lands of the Arctic. The militant northerners did not want to peacefully coexist with the Russians, and even more so - to pay taxes to the imperial treasury.

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

Soon ships of the British and French appeared off the coast of Chukotka. There was a real danger that these lands would be seized by long-standing opponents, having managed to negotiate with the local population without a fight. Empress Catherine II decided to act more diplomatically. She provided the Chukchi with tax breaks, and literally showered their rulers with gold. The Russian inhabitants of the Kolyma Territory were ordered "... so that they do not irritate the Chukchee in any way, under fear, otherwise, of liability in a military court."

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

Poisoned arrows

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

Tambourines were covered with human skin

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

Warriors could fly

Chukchi during hand-to-hand fights flew over the battlefield, landing behind enemy lines. How did they make jumps of 20-40 meters and then be able to fight? Scientists still do not know the answer to this question. Probably, skilled warriors used special devices like trampolines. This technique often allowed to win, because the opponents did not understand how to resist it.

Owned slaves

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

Swapped wives

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

People of comedians

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

Invented diapers

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

Changed gender at the behest of the spirits

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

Old people died voluntarily

Chukchi old people, not wanting to be a burden on their children, often agreed to voluntary death. The well-known writer and ethnographer Vladimir Bogoraz (1865-1936), in his book “Chukchi”, noted that the reason for the emergence of such a custom was not at all a bad attitude towards the elderly, but difficult living conditions and lack of food.

Often, seriously ill Chukchi chose voluntary death. As a rule, such people were killed by strangulation by their next of kin.

There are many tales about the Chukchi. But the truth is even more amazing than fiction.

The coming of spring - the best time to remember the colorful northerners. From the beginning of March to mid-April, they have one of the main holidays - the Day of the Reindeer Breeder. In addition, the text published on the page of the popular blogger Bulochnikov (Bulochnikov) received a great response on the Internet - sketches from the life of the Chukchi, which shocked many.

To comment on some of the most surprising fragments of the text, we asked Professor Sergei Arutyunov, who has already told our readers about some curious traditions of the Chukchi. Corresponding member of the Russian Academy of Sciences for his venerable 85 years has organized many ethnographic expeditions around the world, including to the Far North and Siberia.

Raw walrus meat lying in a pit is usually eaten not at the table, but on the ground

Portal to another world

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

In Chukchi, such a dish is called "kopalgen", in Eskimo - "tukhtak". Only they bury meat not in clay. A walrus is taken and cut into six parts. Large bones are cut out. Then each part (it weighs 60 - 70 kilograms) is carefully sewn up with the skin outward. A dozen of these "packages" in the fall are laid in a special pit, lined with stones, and covered. And before the start of the new hunting season, they periodically eat this meat. It's not rotten, more like pickled. I didn't enjoy the taste of it. But when there is no hunting, the bird does not fly and there is a big surf on the sea - there is nowhere to go. The meat is greenish in color, and the smell is really very unpleasant. However, who cares. If an ordinary Japanese is forced to sniff some Limburg cheese or dor blue, then he, perhaps, will throw up. And personally I like it!

- And here's another -sounds like nonsense. The Chukchi allegedly do not save drowning people, because they believe that the surface of the reservoir isthis is a kind of portal that transfers fellow tribesmen to another world. And you can not interfere in this process.

It's true. At least that was the case half a century ago. I know several cases when literally a hundred or two meters from the shore near the village a canoe turned over, but people were not pulled out. I personally knew the relatives of the Chukchi, who were not saved because of this belief. But I also saw another example. Kitiha overturned a whaleboat with fishermen from Uelen. Since they were wearing clothes made of skins with ties at the ankles and around the elbows, they could hold out for some time by clinging to the boat. A canoe of Eskimos from Naukan passed by. They have a similar idea of ​​\u200b\u200bwater bodies, but they still came to the rescue. Despite the fact that the Eskimos and the Chukchi have always lived not very friendly, they are different peoples. The drowning people were lucky that they were young people, members of the Komsomol. They probably reasoned that if they left people to drown, they would be in trouble along the Komsomol line.

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

I heard similar authentic stories about the Komi. Only they are less bloodthirsty, they did not cut off their heads. If it was not possible to take alive, the corpse was presented to the authorities. True, a bottle of vodka is a bit too much! For a prisoner - alive or dead - they were usually given a bag of potatoes. There were simply far fewer camps in Chukotka. But I admit that cases with cutting off heads also happened among the Chukchi - apparently, it is more convenient to transport the remains over long distances.

Palm punch to the heart

We go further in the text: “Chukchi and Koryaks are pathologically vindictive and vengeful. If you offend them, they will not say anything, just bend down and go. But after a while, the offender is found dead on the street. The killer is almost never found."

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

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

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

At the appointed moment, he is left alone in the plague. He sits down to a predetermined pole (a dwelling is attached to them), with his back to the wall, which is made of tarpaulin or skins. After that, the son, who remained outside, picks up a palm tree - this is the name of a long knife attached to a stick, and inflicts an accurate blow through the skins right in the heart. And the old man without torment leaves for another world. If the alleged deliverer does not use a spear well, they make a strip of suede, put it on the parent's neck and tighten it. But now, perhaps, this is not practiced - the palm tree is a priority. No traces are left - in a day the bears or wolves are finished with the corpse.

- Is it true that the Chukchi, who does not cope with his male duties,"transfer" to women and he walks in a woman's dress?

This has happened before, and quite often. Not anymore. The fact is that we are still not talking about stupid people, but about those who have problems with sexual self-identification - a physiological or mental plan. In modern urban conditions, they drink hormonal pills and even change sex. In the North, I have not met such people, but in India, children with such pronounced deviations are transferred to be raised in a caste called "khitzhra", it is considered "untouchable".

Contrary to rumors, northerners bathe. Even less than we do. Frame: Youtube.com

Spouse is given to a friend

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

They have few conditions for the emergence of homosexuality. A girl and a married woman easily gets herself a lover or an additional husband. Which, by the way, can be a good friend of the main spouse. It happens that two men agree: you will spend this summer with my wife, and I with yours. For fishing or hunting. And by the winter we will change again. Such a custom is called "ngevtumgyn": the literal translation is "companionship by wife." And a person who is in such a relationship is called “ngevtumgyt”. Previously, there was a certain ritual for such cases, now this is gone. According to their morality, jealousy is a vile feeling, unworthy possessiveness. Not giving up your wife is even worse than not repaying a debt.

Knowing this, it is hard to believe that the Chukchi practice incest. The same text describes a situation when an adult Chukchi takes his daughter from a boarding school: “Why should she study? My wife is dead…”

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

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

Firstly, both the Chukchi and the peoples of this region - Evens, Yakuts, Nanais, Udeges and so on - they are all washing now. And there are baths in the villages. Although not very often: once every two weeks - once a month. And secondly, unlike us, they do not stink. Their sweat does not have a strong unpleasant odor. Northern peoples do not need deodorants. It is interesting that this is somehow connected with earwax - it is different for them. Ours is sticky, and theirs is dry - it pours out of the ears as a fine powder. And about droplets of fat - this, of course, is nonsense.

Eat fly agaric

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

The northernmost region of the Far East is the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. On its territory there are several indigenous peoples who came there millennia ago. Most of all in Chukotka there are Chukchi themselves - about 15 thousand. For a long time they roamed all over the peninsula, herded deer, hunted whales and lived in yarangas.
Now many reindeer herders and hunters have turned into housing and communal services workers, and yarangas and kayaks have been replaced with ordinary houses with heating.
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, because it did not fit into capitalism, and the extraction of venison, although it is still going on, is subsidized by the state - reindeer meat cannot compete even with expensive beef, which is brought from the "mainland". A similar story is with the repair 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 health care - the Soviet system collapsed, and the new one was not really created.

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 animal hunting, subsequently driving them out of the Chukchi Peninsula. At the turn of the millennium, the Chukchi learned reindeer husbandry from the nomads of the Tungus group - Evens and Yukaghirs.

“Now it is not easier to get into the camps of the reindeer herders of Chukotka than in the time of Tan Bogoraz (a famous Russian ethnographer who described the life of the Chukchi at the beginning of the 20th century).
You can fly to Anadyr, and then to the national villages by plane. But then from the village it is very difficult to get to a specific reindeer herding team at the right time,” explains Puya. Reindeer herders' camps are constantly moving, and over long distances. There are no roads to get to their places of parking: they have to move on caterpillar all-terrain vehicles or snowmobiles, sometimes on reindeer and dog teams. In addition, reindeer herders strictly observe the dates of migrations, the time of their rituals and holidays.

Vladimir Puya

The life of reindeer herders

But the Soviet government, which came to Chukotka in the 30s of the last century, was dissatisfied with the "uncontrolled" movement of people. Indigenous people were told where to build a new - semi-stationary - dwelling. This was done for the convenience of transporting goods by sea. The same was done with the camps. At the same time, new jobs arose for the indigenous people, and hospitals, schools, and houses of culture 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 XX century.

Now residents of Konergino send letters by post, buy in two stores (Nord and Katyusha), call “to the mainland” from the only landline phone in the entire village, sometimes go to the local culture club, use the outpatient clinic. However, the residential buildings of the village are in disrepair and are not subject to major repairs. “Firstly, we are not given much money, and secondly, due to the complex transport scheme, it is difficult to deliver materials to the village,” Alexander Mylnikov, the head of the settlement, said several years ago. According to him, if earlier the housing stock in Konergino was repaired by public utilities, now they have neither building materials nor labor. “It is expensive to deliver building materials to the village, the contractor spends about half of the allocated funds on transportation costs. The builders refuse, it is unprofitable for them to work with us,” he complained.

About 330 people live in Konergino. Of these, about 70 children: most go to school. Fifty local residents work in the housing and communal services, and 20 educators, teachers, nannies and cleaners work at the school, along with the kindergarten. 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 that the Konergins were famous for.

“We no longer have sea hunting. According to capitalist rules, it is not profitable,” says Puya. - The fur farms closed, and the fur trade was quickly forgotten. In the 1990s, fur production in Konergino collapsed.” Only reindeer breeding remained: in Soviet times and until the mid-2000s, while Roman Abramovich remained in the post of governor of the Chukotka Autonomous District, it was successful here.

There are 51 reindeer herders in Konergino, 34 of them in teams in the tundra. According to Puyi, the incomes of reindeer herders are extremely low. “This is a loss-making industry, there is not enough money for salaries. The state covers the lack of funds so that the salary is higher than the subsistence minimum, which is 13,000 in our country. The reindeer farm, in which the workers are, pays them about 12.5 thousand. The state pays up to 20,000 extra so that the reindeer herders do not starve to death,” Puya complains.

When asked why it is impossible to pay more, Puya replies that the cost of venison production in 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 the level of 300 rubles - at a loss. “There is no point in the capitalist development of this industry,” says Puya. “But this is the last thing left in the national villages.”

Eugene Kaipanau, 36-year-old Chukchi, was born in Lorino in the family of the most respected whaler. "Lorino" (in Chukchi - "Lauren") is translated from Chukchi as "found encampment". The settlement stands on the shore of the Mechigmen Bay of the Bering Sea. A few 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 then only if the weather is good. Lorino is covered from the north by hills, so there are more calm days here than in neighboring villages. True, despite the relatively good weather conditions, in the 90s, almost all Russian residents left Lorino, and since then only Chukchi live there - about 1,500 people.

The houses in Lorino are rickety wooden structures with peeling walls and faded paint. In the center of the village there are several cottages built by Turkish workers - thermally 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 is open all year round. But there are no hospitals and polyclinics here - for several years now people have been sent for medical care by air ambulance or on all-terrain vehicles.

Lorino is known for its sea animal hunting. It is not for nothing that in 2008 the documentary film "Whaler" was filmed here, which received the TEFI prize. Hunting for a sea animal is still an important occupation for local residents. Whalers not only feed their families or earn money by donating meat to the local community of hunters, they also honor the traditions of their ancestors.

From childhood, Kaipanau knew how to 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 traveling, climate change and flights, Kaipanau decided to finally move to Moscow. There he married, his daughters are nine months old. “I strive to instill my creativity and culture in my wife,” says Evgeny. “Although a lot of things seemed wild to her before, especially when she found out in what conditions my people live. I instill traditions and customs in my daughter, for example, I show national clothes. I want her to know that she is a hereditary Chukchi.”

Evgeny now rarely appears in Chukotka: he tours and represents the culture of the Chukchi around the world together with his ensemble "Nomad". In the eponymous ethnic park "Nomad" near Moscow, where Kaipanau works, he conducts thematic excursions and shows documentaries about Chukotka, including those by Vladimir Puyi.

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

In the summer season, the Chukchi hunted whales and walruses, in the winter - seals. They hunted with harpoons, knives and spears. Whales and walruses were caught all together, and seals - one by one. The Chukchi fished with nets of whale and deer tendons or leather belts, nets and bits. In winter - in the hole, in summer - from the shore or from kayaks. In addition, until the beginning of the 19th century, with the help of a bow, spears and traps, they hunted bears and wolves, sheep and elks, wolverines, foxes and arctic foxes. Waterfowl were killed with a throwing weapon (bola) and darts with a throwing board. From the second half of the 19th century, guns began to be used, and then firearms for whaling.

Products that are imported from the mainland cost a lot of money in the village. “They bring “golden” eggs for 200 rubles. I generally keep quiet about grapes,” adds Kaipanau. Prices reflect the sad socio-economic situation in Lorino. There are few places in the settlement where you 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 (from 2001 to 2008), things got much better: more jobs appeared, houses were rebuilt, medical and obstetric stations were established.” Kaipanau recalls how whalers he knew “came, took motor boats from the governor for free for fishing and left.” “Now they live and enjoy,” he says. The federal authorities, he said, 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 re-learn their culture: build kayaks and yarangas, embroider, sing, and dance.
“In the ethnopark, many visitors consider the Chukchi an uneducated and backward people; they think they don't wash and say "however" all the time. They even sometimes tell me that I am not a real Chukchi. But we are real people.”

Every morning, Natalia, a 45-year-old resident of the village of Sireniki (who asked not to be named), wakes up at 8 am to go to work at a local school. She is a watchman and a technical worker.
Sireniki, where Natalya has been living for 28 years, is located in the Providensky urban district of Chukotka, on the coast of the Bering Sea. The first Eskimo settlement appeared here about three thousand years ago, and the remains of the dwellings of ancient people are still found in the vicinity of the village. In the 60s of the last century, the Chukchi joined the indigenous people. Therefore, the village has two names: from the Ekimos it is translated as "Valley of the Sun", and from the Chukchi - "Rocky Area".
Sireniki are surrounded by hills, and it is difficult to get here, especially in winter - only by snowmobile or helicopter. From spring to autumn, ships come here. From above, the village looks like a box of colorful candies: green, blue and red cottages, administration building, post office, kindergarten and dispensary. There used to be a lot of 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 the dishes outside. Then Valera fell ill with tuberculosis, and his attending physician helped us to get a new cottage due to illness. Now we have a renovation.”

Clothes and food

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

How do people live in Sireniki?

Dome

The woman knows a 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 the Social Development Fund back in 2009, which 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 1.5 million rubles to him for a huge 20-ton freezer. After all, the whalers will get the beast, there is a lot of meat - it will go bad. And now this camera saves. With the rest of the money, my husband and his colleagues bought tools for building kayaks.”

Natalya, a Chukchi and a hereditary reindeer herder, believes that the national culture is now being revived. He says that every Tuesday and Friday at the local village club rehearsals of the Northern Lights ensemble are held; courses of Chukchi and other languages ​​are being opened (albeit in the district center - Anadyr); competitions are held like the Governor's Cup or a regatta in the Barents Sea. “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, ”the woman says. She admits that the Russian state also supports the 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.

Another key issue is healthcare. In Chukotka, as in other northern regions, says Nina Veysalova, a representative of the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East (AMNSS and the Far East of the Russian Federation), respiratory diseases are very common. But, according to available information, TB dispensaries are closing in national settlements. Lots 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, today this scheme does not work. The authorities do not answer the question about the closure of TB dispensaries, but only report that hospitals, outpatient clinics and feldsher-obstetric stations have been preserved in every district and locality of Chukotka.

There is a stereotype in Russian society: the Chukchi people drank themselves after the "white man" came to the territory of Chukotka - that is, from the beginning of the last century. The Chukchi have never drunk 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 Yevgeny 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 really did not have an enzyme that breaks down alcohol in the past. “Now, although the enzyme has been developed, the people still don’t drink like the legends say,” sums up the Chukchi.

The opinion of Kaipanau is supported by Irina Samorodskaya, Doctor of Medical Sciences of the State Scientific Research Center for Criticism, one of the authors of the report “Mortality and the proportion of deaths in the economically active age from causes related to alcohol (drugs), myocardial infarction and coronary artery disease from all deaths aged 15-72 years” for 2013. According to Rosstat, the document says, the highest death rate from alcohol-related causes is indeed in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - 268 people per 100,000. But these data, emphasizes Samorodskaya, refer to the entire population of the district. “Yes, the indigenous people of those territories are the Chukchi, but not only they live there,” she explains. In addition, according to Samorodskaya, Chukotka is higher in all indicators of mortality than other regions - and this is not only alcohol mortality, but also other external causes. “It’s impossible to say that it was the Chukchi who died from alcohol right now, this is how the system works. First, if people don't want their deceased relative's death certificate to show an alcohol-related cause of death, it won't be shown. Second, the vast majority of deaths occur at home. And there, death certificates are often filled out by a district doctor or even a paramedic, which is why other reasons may be indicated in the documents - it’s easier to write that way ”

Finally, another serious problem in the region, according to Veysalova, is the relationship between industrial companies and the indigenous local population. “People come as conquerors, disturbing the peace and tranquility of the locals. I think that there should be a regulation on the interaction of companies and nations,” she says.

Language and religion

The Chukchi have long believed that the world is divided into upper, middle and lower. At the same time, the upper world (“cloudy 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, believed in reincarnation, and shamanism was widespread among them. Both men and women could be shamans, but among the Chukchi shamans of the “transformed sex” were considered especially strong - men who acted as housewives, and women who adopted the clothes, activities and habits of men.

All conclusions will be drawn by time and the Chukchi themselves.