Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”

The multimedia project “Faces of Russia” has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature which is the ability to live together while remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, within the framework of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of different Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs “Music and Songs of the Peoples of Russia” were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs were published to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a snapshot that will allow the residents of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a legacy for posterity with a picture of what they were like.

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Series of audio lectures “Peoples of Russia” - Eskimos

General information

ESKIMS,- one of the indigenous northern peoples, ethnic community, group of peoples in the USA (in Alaska - 38 thousand people), in the north of Canada (28 thousand people), in Denmark (Greenland island - 47 thousand) and Russian Federation(Chukchi Autonomous Okrug of Magadan Region - 1.5 thousand people). Eskimos inhabit the territory from the eastern edge of Chukotka to Greenland. The total number is 115 thousand people (less than 90 thousand people in 2000). In Russia, Eskimos are a small ethnic group - according to the 2002 Census, the number of Eskimos living in Russia is 19 thousand people, according to the 2010 Census - 1738 people - living mixed or in close proximity with the Chukchi in several settlements on the east coast Chukotka and Wrangel Island.

The languages ​​of the Eskimo-Aleut family are divided into two groups: Inupik (closely related dialects of the Diomede Islands in the Bering Strait, northern Alaska and Canada, Labrador and Greenland) and Yupik - a group of three languages ​​(Central Yupik, Siberian Yupik and Sugpiak, or Alutiiq) with dialects spoken in western and southwestern Alaska, St. Lawrence Island, and the Chukchi Peninsula.

They formed as an ethnic group in the Bering Sea region until the end of the 2nd millennium BC. In the 1st millennium AD, the ancestors of the Eskimos were carriers archaeological culture Thule settled in Chukotka and along the Arctic coast of America to Greenland.

The Eskimos are divided into 15 ethnocultural groups: The Eskimos of southern Alaska, on the coast of Prince William Sound and Kodiak Island, were subject to strong Russian influence during the period of the Russian-American Company (late 18th - mid-19th centuries); The Eskimos of western Alaska retain their language to the greatest extent and traditional image life; Siberian Eskimos, including the Eskimos of St. Lawrence Island and the Diomede Islands; The Eskimos of northwest Alaska, living along the coast from Norton Sound to the US-Canadian border and in the interior of northern Alaska; The Mackenzie Eskimos are a mixed group on the northern coast of Canada around the mouth of the Mackenzie River, formed in the late 14th and early 20th centuries from indigenous people and Nunaliit Eskimos - migrants from northern Alaska; Copper Eskimos, named for tools made of native copper, made by cold hammering, live on the northern coast of Canada along Coronation Sound and on Banks and Victoria Islands; Netsilik Eskimos in Northern Canada, on the coast of the Boothia and Adelaide peninsulas, King William Island and in the lower reaches of the Buck River; close to them are the Igloolik Eskimos - inhabitants of the Melville Peninsula, the northern part of Baffin Island and Southampton Island; Eskimo Caribou, living in the interior tundra of Canada west of Hudson Bay mixed with other Eskimos; Eskimos of Baffin Island in the central and southern parts of the island of the same name; The Eskimos of Quebec and the Eskimos of Labrador, respectively, in the north - northeast and west - southwest, up to the island of Newfoundland and the mouth of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the coast of the Labrador Peninsula, in the 19th century participated in the formation of the mestizo group of "settlers" (descendants from marriages between Eskimos women and white hunters and settlers); The Eskimos of western Greenland are the largest group of Eskimos and have been subject to European (Danish) colonization and Christianization since the early 18th century; polar Eskimos - the northernmost group of indigenous people on Earth in the extreme northwest of Greenland; The Eskimos of eastern Greenland, later than others (at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries), encountered European influence.

Throughout their history, the Eskimos created forms of culture adapted to life in the Arctic: a harpoon with a rotating tip, a hunting boat-kayak, thick fur clothing, a half-dugout and a domed dwelling made of snow (igloo), a fat lamp for cooking food, lighting and heating the home, and etc. The Eskimos were characterized by an unformed tribal organization and the absence of clans in the 19th century (except, apparently, the Bering Sea Eskimos). Although some groups were Christianized (18th century), the Eskimos actually retained animistic ideas, shamanism.

The traditional occupations of the Eskimos are sea hunting, reindeer herding, and hunting.

The Eskimos have five economic and cultural complexes: hunting large sea animals - walruses and whales (Eskimos of Chukotka, St. Lawrence Island, the coast of northwestern Alaska, the ancient population of western Greenland); seal hunting (northwestern and eastern Greenland, islands of the Canadian Arctic archipelago); fishing (Eskimos of western and southwestern Alaska); wandering caribou hunting (Eskimo Caribou, part of the Eskimos of northern Alaska); a combination of caribou hunting with sea hunting (most of the Eskimos of Canada, part of the Eskimos of northern Alaska). After the Eskimos were drawn into the orbit of market relations, a significant part of them switched to commercial fur hunting (trapping), and in Greenland - to commercial fishing. Many work in construction, iron ore mines, oil fields, in Arctic trading posts, etc. The Greenlanders and Eskimos of Alaska have a wealthy stratum and a national intelligentsia.

By the middle of the 20th century, four independent ethnopolitical communities of Eskimos had formed.

1) Eskimos of Greenland - see Greenlanders. 2) Eskimos of Canada (self-name - Inuit). Since the 1950s, the Canadian government began to pursue a policy of concentrating the indigenous population and building large settlements. They preserve the language, English and French languages(Eskimos of Quebec). Since the end of the 19th century they have written on the basis of the syllabic alphabet. 3) The Eskimos of Alaska, largely English-speaking, are Christianized. Since the 1960s they have been fighting for economic and political rights. There are strong trends towards national and cultural consolidation. 4) Asian (Siberian) Eskimos, Yupigyt, or Yugyt (self-name - “real people”; Yuits - the official name in the 1930s). The language belongs to the Yupik group, the dialects are Sirenik, Central Siberian, or Chaplin, and Naukan. Writing since 1932 based on the Chaplin dialect. The Russian language is widespread. Settled on the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula from the Bering Strait in the north to Cross Bay in the west. The main groups are: Navukagmit (“Naukanians”), living in the territory from the village of Inchoun to the village of Lawrence; Ungasigmit (“Chaplinians”), settled from the Senyavin Strait to Providence Bay and in the village of Uelkal; Sirenigmit ("Sirenikians"), residents of the village of Sireniki.

The main traditional activity is hunting sea animals, mainly walrus and seal. Whale production, developed until the mid-19th century, then declined due to its extermination by commercial whalers. The animals were killed on rookeries, on ice, in the water from boats - with darts, spears and harpoons with a detachable bone tip. They also hunted reindeer and mountain sheep with bows and arrows. Since the mid-19th century, firearms have spread, and the commercial value of fur hunting for fox and arctic fox has increased. Bird hunting techniques were close to those of Chukchi (darts, bird balls, etc.). They also engaged in fishing and gathering. They bred sled dogs. Natural exchange was developed with the reindeer Chukchi and the American Eskimos, and trade trips to Alaska and St. Lawrence Island were regularly made.

The main food is walrus, seal and whale meat - frozen, pickled, dried, boiled. Venison was highly prized. Vegetable foods, seaweed, and shellfish were used as seasonings.

Initially, they lived in large settlements in semi-dugouts (now "lyu"), which existed until the mid-19th century. In the 17-18 centuries, under the influence of the Chukchi, frame yarangas made of reindeer skins (myn "tyg" ak") became the main winter dwelling. The walls of the yarang were often covered with turf and made of stones or boards. The summer dwelling is quadrangular, made of walrus skins on a wooden frame, with a sloping roof. Until the beginning of the 19th century, community houses remained - large half-dugouts in which several people lived. families, as well as meetings and celebrations.

The main means of transportation in winter were dog sleds and foot skis, and in open water - leather kayak boats. The sleds, like the Chukchi ones, were, until the mid-19th century, arc-shaped and harnessed with a fan, then the East Siberian sled with a train harness spread. The kayak was a lattice frame, covered with leather except for a small round hole at the top, which was tightened around the paddler's belt. Rowing with one two-blade or two single-blade oars. There were also multi-oared canoes of the Chukchi type for 20-30 oarsmen (an "yapik").

Until the end of the 19th century, Eskimos wore closed clothing - a kukhlyanka, sewn from bird skins with feathers inside. With the development of exchange with the Chukchi reindeer herders, clothing began to be made from reindeer fur. Women's clothing is a double fur jumpsuit (k "al'yvagyn) of the same cut as that of the Chukchi. Summer clothing, both men's and women's, was a closed kamleyka, sewn from seal intestines, and later from purchased fabrics. Traditional shoes are fur high boots (kamgyk) with a cut sole and often with an obliquely cut boot, men's - to the middle of the shin, women's - to the knee; leather pistons with a toe cut much larger than the instep of the leg in the form of a “bubble”. Women braided their hair in two braids, men shaved it. , leaving a circle or several strands on the top of the head. Tattoos for men - circles near the corners of the mouth (a relic of the custom of wearing a lip sleeve), for women - complex geometric patterns on the face and hands. Face painting with ocher and graphite was also used to protect against diseases.

Traditional decorative arts- fur mosaic, embroidery with colored sinew threads on rovduga, beads, carving on walrus tusk.

The Eskimos were dominated by a patrilineal account of kinship, patrilocal marriage with labor for the bride. There were canoe artels (an "yam ima), which consisted of the owner of the canoe and his closest relatives and in the past occupied one semi-dugout. Its members divided the hunting catch among themselves. Property inequality developed, especially with the development of barter trade; large traders stood out, who sometimes became at the head of the settlements ("owners of the land").

The Eskimos invented a rotatable harpoon to hunt sea animals, a kayak, an igloo, and special clothing made from fur and skins. The Eskimo language belongs to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. The Russian Eskimos have a textbook of this language. There is also a dictionary: Eskimo-Russian and Russian-Eskimo. Broadcasts in the Eskimo language are produced by the Chukotka State Television and Radio Company. Eskimo songs become lately increasingly popular. And largely thanks to the Ergyron ensemble.

Anthropologists believe that the Eskimos are Mongoloids of the Arctic type. The word “Eskimo” (“raw eater”, “one who eats raw fish”) belongs to the language of the Abnaki and Athabascan Indian tribes. From the name of the American Eskimos, this word turned into the self-name of both American and Asian Eskimos.

Eskimos are people with their own ancient worldview. They live in unity with nature. Despite the fact that some groups of Eskimos were Christianized back in the 18th century, this people retained animistic ideas and shamanism.

Eskimos believe in master spirits of all living things and inanimate objects, natural phenomena, localities, wind directions, various human states. Eskimos believe in the kinship between a person and some animal or object. Evil spirits are represented as giants and dwarfs.

To protect against diseases, Eskimos have amulets: family and personal. There are also cults of the wolf, raven and killer whale. Among the Eskimos, the shaman acts as an intermediary between the world of spirits and the world of people. Not every Eskimo can become a shaman, but only those who are lucky enough to hear the voice of a helping spirit. After this, the shaman meets alone with the spirits he hears and enters into some kind of alliance of mediation with them.

The Eskimos believed in good and harmful spirits. Of the animals, the killer whale was especially revered, considered the patron of sea hunting; she was depicted on kayaks, and hunters wore her wooden image on their belts. Main character cosmogonic legends - Raven (Koshkli), the main plots of fairy tales are related to the whale. The main rituals were associated with fishing cults: the Festival of Heads, dedicated to walrus hunting, the Festival of Kita (Polya), etc. Shamanism was developed. After the 1930s, the Eskimos organized fishing farms. Traditional activities and culture began to disappear. Traditional beliefs, shamanism, bone carving, songs and dances are preserved. With the creation of writing, the intelligentsia was formed. Modern Eskimos are experiencing a rise in national self-awareness.

N.V. Kocheshkov, L.A. Feinberg

‘ENTS, enneche (self-name - “person”), people in the Russian Federation, indigenous people Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug (103 people). The total number is 209 people. According to survey data, the number is about 340 people (in the census data, part of the Entsy people are recorded as Nenets and Nganasans). According to the 2002 Census, the number of Enets living in Russia is 237 people, according to the 2010 census. - 227 people..

The name "Enets" was adopted in the 1930s. In pre-revolutionary literature, the Enets were called Yenisei Samoyeds, or Khantai (tundra Enets) and Karasin (forest Enets) Samoyeds, after the names of the camps where yasak was paid.

Settlement - Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug of the Krasnoyarsk Territory. They live in Taimyr, live in the Ust-Yenisei and Dudinsky districts of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The language is Enets, the dialects are Tundra, or Somatu, Khantai (Madu-Baza), and Forest, or Pe-Bai, Karasin (Bai-Baza), the Samoyed branch of the Ural-Yukaghir family of languages. Russian (75% speak fluently, 38% of Enets consider it their native language) and Nenets languages ​​are also widespread.

Both the local population, reindeer hunters, and the Samoyeds who assimilated them - newcomers from the south of Siberia and the middle Tomsk region - took part in the ethnogenesis of the Ents. In Russian sources, the Enets have been mentioned since the end of the 15th century as Molgonzei - from the name of the Mongkasi family, or Muggadi (hence the name of the Russian fort Mangazeya). In the 18th - early 19th centuries they were referred to as Yenisei Samoyeds. The Enets were divided into tundra, or madu, somata, Khantai Samoyeds, and forest, or pe-bai, Karasin Samoyeds. In the 17th century, madu roamed between the lower reaches of the Yenisei and Taz, pe-bai - on the upper and middle reaches of the Taz and Yenisei and on the right bank of the Yenisei in the basins of the Khantaika, Kureika and Lower Tunguska rivers. The number of Ents at the end of the 17th century was about 900 people. From the end of the 17th century, under pressure from the Nenets from the west and the Selkups from the south, they retreated to the lower Yenisei and its eastern tributaries. Some of the Ents were assimilated. Since the 1830s, groups of tundra and forest Enets began to roam together. Their total number at the end of the 19th century was 477 people. They were part of the right bank (eastern coast of the Yenisei Bay) and forest-tundra (Dudinka and Luzino area) territorial communities.

The main traditional activity is reindeer hunting. Fur hunting was also developed, and fishing on the Yenisei. Reindeer herding was widespread, mainly pack reindeer herding; harness reindeer herding was also borrowed from the Nenets. The Enets sledges were somewhat different from the Nenets. In the 1930s, the Enets were organized into reindeer herding and fishing farms.

Traditional home- a conical chum, close to the Nganasan one and differing from the Nenets one in details of design and coating. In the 20th century, they adopted the Nenets type of chum, and from the Dolgans - the sled chum-beam. Modern Enets live mainly in permanent settlements.

Winter men's clothing - double parka with a hood, fur pants, high shoes made of reindeer skins, fur stockings. The women's parka, unlike the men's, had a swing parka. Underneath they wore a sleeveless jumpsuit, sewn with fur inside, with sewn copper decorations: crescent-shaped plaques on the chest, rings, chains, tubes on the hips; a needle case, a bag for flint, etc. were also sewn onto it. Women's shoes were shorter than men's. The women's winter hat was also sewn in two layers: the bottom layer with the fur inside, the top layer with the fur outside. From the 2nd half of the 19th century the forest Enets and from the 20th century the tundra Enets adopted Nenets clothing.

Traditional food is fresh and frozen meat, in summer - fresh fish. Yukola and fish meal - porsa - were prepared from fish.

Until the 18th century, the Enets had clans (among the tundra Enets - Malk-madu, Sazo, Solda, etc., among the forest Enets - Yuchi, Bai, Muggadi). Since the end of the 17th century, due to the resettlement to the east and the destruction of traditional tribal land use, they have broken up into smaller exogamous groups. Until the 19th century, large families, polygamy, levirate, and marriage with the payment of bride price were preserved. Since the end of the 19th century, neighboring camp communities have become the main form of social organization.

The forest Enets were officially converted to Christianity. The cults of master spirits, ancestors, and shamanism are preserved. Folklore includes mythological and historical legends, tales about animals, and fairy tales. Artistic appliqué on fur and cloth and bone carving are developed.

Materials used

The roots of Eskimo culture go back to the 8th-9th centuries, when the ancestors of modern Eskimos from the Thule culture settled in Nunavik, a region occupying the northern half of Quebec in Canada, and to XIII century settled in Greenland. However, family ties between the Thule and the Paleo-Eskimo peoples who previously lived in this territory - representatives of the Dorset, Independence and Saqqaq cultures - have not yet been established.

It is worth noting that the term “Paleo-Eskimos” was proposed by anthropologist Hans Stinsbai at the beginning of the twentieth century. Paleo-Eskimos is a collective name for the ancient population of the Arctic, including representatives different cultures, who ate the meat of seabirds, reindeer, whales, fish and shellfish. Their westernmost site was discovered by Soviet archaeologists in 1975 on Wrangel Island. It was there, in the Devil's Ravine (the name of the site), that the oldest harpoon discovered in Chukotka, which is approximately 3360 years old, was discovered. Also, Paleo-Eskimo cultures developed in parallel with each other in different territories and succeeded each other very unevenly.

Read more

The Saqqaq culture is the oldest known culture of southern Greenland. In 2010, the journal Science published a study by scientists from the University of Copenhagen who found that the Eskimos of the Saqqaq culture migrated to Greenland and Alaska from Siberia approximately 5.5 thousand years ago and that their closest relatives were the Chukchi and Koryaks, and not modern inhabitants of the region . Scientists cannot answer questions about what happened to the Saqqaq culture and why it disappeared.

The Saqqaq culture and other cultures that coexisted with it were replaced by the Dorset culture (beginning of the 1st millennium BC - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD), which spread in the northeast of modern Canada, the Canadian Arctic archipelago, and western and northeastern Greenland. Its representatives replaced the bow and arrows with a spear, a spear and a harpoon, and used stone lamps with fat to illuminate their homes. The tribes of the Dorset culture made figurines from bone, tusk of sea animals and wood, and decorated them with linear patterns.

Eskimos. There are many names for this brave people of the North, living in the harshest conditions, known to man. What do we really know about them? Apart from the fact that they hunt seals and walruses with harpoons and wear fur coats with hoods, most people know very little about these hunter-gatherers and reindeer herders.

10. Clothing and armor

The Inuit people, by necessity, are quite skilled at making warm, durable clothing. In terms of heat protection, Eskimo clothing has no equal, because in traditional Eskimo clothing you can easily stay in the cold of -50 degrees for many hours.

However, when they went out hunting to survive, they also knew how to make very strong armor for clothing. After all, they went out to hunt massive animals and also needed protection. Inuit armor had a lamellar structure, consisting of bony plates (often walrus teeth, known as walrus tusks). The plates were connected together with straps made of raw leather. It is curious that the design of such armor is reminiscent of the ancient armor of Japanese warriors. The fact that the Inuit were able to come up with such extremely functional armor speaks volumes about their talent and ingenuity.

Often used in neutral contexts, the term “Eskimo” is generally considered a bit racist, in the same way that the term “Indian” is offensive to Native Americans. However, it is technically considered acceptable, and the scientific term usually has a fairly solid etymology. Although the word “popsicle” is believed to be Danish and French (from “eskimeaux”), the name is likely based on the older term “askimo.” Researchers can't seem to agree on whether this means "meat eaters" or "raw food eaters."

However, many Eskimos find this term offensive, so out of respect for this proud people, we will avoid using this term. The generally accepted, politically correct name (many of them also use this term for themselves) would be the word Inuit.

8.Eskimo kiss

The Eskimo kiss, as a sign of love, is when two people rub their noses. The Inuit have developed this gesture over thousands of years, because with an ordinary kiss in the cold, due to drool, you can freeze to each other in an awkward position.

The Eskimo kiss is called “kunik”. This is a type of intimate greeting often practiced between spouses or children and their parents. Dating may look like they're rubbing noses together, but they're actually smelling each other's hair and cheeks. Thus, two people who have not seen each other can quickly remind the other person of themselves with their individual scent.

Although the kunik does not really fit into the concept of a kiss, it is considered an intimate gesture.

Vegetarianism is not very common among traditional Inuit tribes. 'Cause they live in a barren, cold environment, their diet mainly relies on various types meat and only occasionally, for some types of berries and seaweed. Even in modern times, fruits and vegetables are scarce and expensive to import into the cold northern regions, so they still rely on their traditional diet.

The Inuit have always been excellent hunters. They consume narwhals, walruses, seals and various birds and fish. Even polar bears sometimes appear on their menu. There are many traditional ways to prepare food: drying, boiling or freezing. Some foods are not cooked at all. Some people think that frozen meat is a real delicacy, like ice cream.

Although one might think that a diet that relies heavily on meat would lead to serious health problems, the Inuit who follow this diet are actually some of the healthiest people in the world. This “Inuit Paradox” has long been the subject of serious scientific interest.

The igloo is the quintessential Inuit home: an ingenious domed structure built from blocks of ice and snow.

Although most people have seen pictures of igloos as small snow domes, they come in a variety of shapes and sizes, as well as materials. For the Inuit, “igloo” is simply a word for a building in which people live.

5. Kallupilluk

Every culture has its mythical monsters. The Inuit spent their days avoiding dangerous ice fields, hunting huge and strong walruses and aggressive bears. It would seem where you can come up with a fantastic monster. However, the Inuit also had one creature that was used to scare naughty children. This is Kallupilluk, literally meaning “Monster”. According to legend, he lived under the ice and waited for people who had fallen into the water. Then the monster pounced on them and dragged unwary people into the icy depths of the sea. This was a natural and healthy fear in the Arctic, where falling into the water often meant death.

4. Blonde Eskimos

In 1912, a researcher named Stefansson found strange tribe Inuit, which consisted entirely of blond, tall, Scandinavian-looking people. This sparked a heated debate about the nature of this tribe. Most people eventually agreed that these blond Inuit in the Canadian Arctic were descendants of the Vikings who sailed here at the dawn of time. However, DNA research in 2003 debunked this hypothesis. The fact is that in marriages and inbreeding, blondes are often born.

3. Words to describe snow.

Most languages ​​in the world have one or more words for snow. However, in the Inuit language there is huge amount words to describe snow. The Inuit have 50-400 different words to describe snow, all eloquently created to describe the very specific appearance of this frozen sediment.

For example, the word Aquilokok means: “snow is falling quietly,” and piegnartok means “Snowy weather, good for hunting,” and so on.

2. Weapons.

Although contact with European culture gave them access to firearms and other modern weapons; traditional Inuit weapons were made from stone or the bones of killed animals. They did not have the ability to forge metal, so bone was one of the main features of their weapons. Bows were made from leather, bones and sinew.

Since most Inuit weapons were used for hunting and butchering, they were specifically made to cause maximum damage. The edges were sharp and often jagged, designed for tearing and tearing rather than neat cutting and piercing.

1. Poverty

Progress modern life and the development of production does not imply widespread development of the North and its inhabitants, so the Inuit suffered the same fate as other semi-nomadic tribes, such as the Australian Aborigines. There are high rates of poverty and unemployment among Eskimos. This has led to the emergence of many social problems, such as the rise in alcoholism. One can only wonder how these proud and unpretentious peoples continue to live traditional way of life life.

Eskimos (a group of indigenous peoples that make up the indigenous population of the territory from Greenland and Canada to Alaska (USA) and the eastern edge of Chukotka (Russia). Number - about 170 thousand people. The languages ​​belong to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. Anthropologists believe that the Eskimos - Mongoloids of the Arctic type. Their main self-name is “Inuit.” The word “Eskimo” (Eskimantzig - “raw eater”, “one who eats raw fish”) belongs to the language of the Abenaki and Athabaskan Indian tribes. From the name of the American Eskimos, this word turned into a self-name. both American and Asian Eskimos.

Story

The everyday culture of the Eskimos is unusually adapted to the Arctic. They invented a rotating harpoon to hunt sea animals, a kayak, an igloo snow house, a yarangu skin house, and special closed clothing made of fur and skins. The ancient culture of the Eskimos is unique. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. Characterized by a combination of hunting sea animals and caribou, living in territorial communities.
In the 19th century, the Eskimos did not have (except, perhaps, the Bering Sea) clan and developed tribal organization. As a result of contacts with the newcomer population, great changes occurred in the life of foreign Eskimos. A significant part of them switched from sea fishing to hunting arctic foxes, and in Greenland to commercial fishing. Many Eskimos, especially in Greenland, became wage laborers. The local petty bourgeoisie also appeared here. The Eskimos of Western Greenland formed into a separate people - Greenlanders who do not consider themselves Eskimos. The Eskimos of eastern Greenland are Angmassalik. In Labrador, the Eskimos mixed to a large extent with the old-timer population European descent. There are leftovers everywhere traditional culture Eskimos are rapidly disappearing.

Language and culture

Language: Eskimo, Eskimo-Aleut family of languages. The Eskimo languages ​​are divided into two large groups - Yupik (western) and Inupik (eastern). On the Chukotka Peninsula, Yupik is divided into Sireniki, Central Siberian, or Chaplin and Naukan dialects. The Eskimos of Chukotka, along with their native languages, speak Russian and Chukotka.
The origins of the Eskimos are controversial. The Eskimos are the direct heirs ancient culture, common from the end of the first millennium BC. along the shores of the Bering Sea. The earliest Eskimo culture is the Old Bering Sea (before the 8th century AD). It is characterized by the prey of marine mammals, the use of multi-person leather kayaks, and complex harpoons. From the 7th century AD until the XIII-XV centuries. whaling was developing, and more northern regions Alaska and Chukotka - hunting for small pinnipeds.
Traditionally, Eskimos are animists. Eskimos believe in spirits living in various natural phenomena; they see the connection between man and the world of objects and living beings around him. Many believe in a single creator, Silya, who controls everything that happens in the world, all phenomena and laws. The goddess who bestows the Eskimos with the riches of the deep sea is called Sedna. There are also ideas about evil spirits, which appeared to the Eskimos in the form of incredible and terrible creatures. The shaman who lives in every Eskimo village is an intermediary who establishes contact between the world of spirits and the world of people. The tambourine is a sacred object for the Eskimos. The traditional greeting, called the "Eskimo kiss", has become a world famous gesture.

Eskimos in Russia

In Russia, Eskimos are a small ethnic group (according to the 1970 census - 1356 people, according to the 2002 census - 1750 people), living mixed or in close proximity with the Chukchi in a number of settlements on the eastern coast of Chukotka and on Wrangel Island. Their traditional occupations are sea hunting, reindeer herding, and hunting. The Eskimos of Chukotka call themselves “Yuk” (“man”), “Yuit”, “Yugyt”, “Yupik” (“ real person"). Number of Eskimos in Russia:

Number of Eskimos in populated areas in 2002:

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug:

village Novoye Chaplino 279

Sireniki village 265

Lavrentia village 214

Provideniya village 174

Anadyr city 153

Uelkal village 131

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

In the 18th century, Asian Eskimos were divided into a number of tribes - Uelenians, Naukans, Chaplinians, Sireniki Eskimos, which differed linguistically and in some cultural features. In a later period, in connection with the processes of integration of the cultures of the Eskimos and the coastal Chukchi, the Eskimos retained the group features of the language in the form of the Naukan, Sirenikov and Chaplin dialects.

Along with the Koryaks and Itelmens, they form the so-called “continental” group of populations of the Arctic race, which by origin is related to the Pacific Mongoloids. The main features of the Arctic race are presented in the northeast of Siberia in the paleoanthropological material of the turn new era.

Writing

In 1848, the Russian missionary N. Tyzhnov published a primer of the Eskimo language. Modern writing based on Latin script was created in 1932, when the first Eskimo (Yuit) primer was published. In 1937 translated into Russian graphic basis. There is modern Eskimo prose and poetry (Aivangu and others). The most famous Eskimo poet is Yu. M. Anko.

Modern Eskimo alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet: A a, B b, V c, G g, D d, E e, Ё ё, Жж, Зз, И и, й й, К к, Лл, Лълъ, М m, N n, Nj n, O o, P p, R r, S s, T t, U y, Ў ў, F f, X x, C c, Ch h, Sh w, Shch, ъ, Y s, ь, E uh, Yu yu, I I.

There is a variant of the Eskimo alphabet based on the Canadian syllabary for the indigenous languages ​​of Canada.

Eskimos in Canada

The Eskimo people of Canada, known in this country as the Inuit, achieved their autonomy with the creation of the territory of Nunavut on April 1, 1999, carved out of the Northwest Territories.

The Eskimos of the Labrador Peninsula also now have their own autonomy: in the Quebec part of the peninsula, the Eskimo district of Nunavik is gradually increasing its level of autonomy, and in 2005, the Eskimo Autonomous District of Nunatsiavut was also formed in the part of the peninsula included in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Inuit receive official payments from the government for living in harsh climatic conditions.

Eskimos in Greenland

Greenlanders (Eskimos of Greenland) are the Eskimo people, the indigenous population of Greenland. In Greenland, between 44 and 50 thousand people consider themselves “kalaallit”, which is 80-88% of the island’s population. In addition, about 7.1 thousand Greenlanders live in Denmark (2006 estimate). The Greenlandic language is spoken, and Danish is also widely spoken. The believers are mostly Lutherans.

They live mainly along the southwestern coast of Greenland. There are three main groups:

Western Greenlanders (Kalaallit proper) – southwest coast;

eastern Greenlanders (angmassalik, tunumiit) - on the east coast, where the climate is mildest; 3.8 thousand people;

northern (polar) Greenlanders – 850 people. on the northwest coast; The world's northernmost indigenous group.

Historically, the self-designation "Kalaallit" applied only to West Greenlanders. East and North Greenlanders called themselves only by their self-names, and the dialect of North Greenlanders is closer to the dialects of the Inuit of Canada than to the West and East Greenlandic dialects.

Eskimo cuisine

The Eskimo cuisine consists of products obtained by hunting and gathering; the basis of the diet is meat, walrus, seal, beluga whale, deer, polar bears, musk oxen, poultry, as well as their eggs.

Since farming is impossible in the Arctic climate, Eskimos collect tubers, roots, stems, algae, berries and either eat them or store them for future use. Eskimos believe that a diet consisting mainly of meat is healthy, makes the body healthy and strong and helps to keep warm.

The Eskimos believe that their cuisine is much healthier than the “white man’s” cuisine.

One example is the consumption of seal blood. After eating seal blood and meat, the veins increase in size and darken. The Eskimos believe that the blood of seals strengthens the blood of the eater by replacing depleted nutrients and renewing the blood flow; blood is an essential element of the Eskimo diet.

In addition, the Eskimos believe that a meat diet will insulate you if you constantly eat Eskimo style. One Eskimo, Oleetoa, who ate a mixture of Eskimo and Western food, said that when he compared his strength, heat and energy with those of his cousin ate only Eskimo food, it turned out that his brother was stronger and more resilient. Eskimos in general tend to blame their illnesses on a lack of Eskimo food.

Eskimos choose food products by analyzing three connections: between animals and people, between body, soul and health, between the blood of animals and people; and also in accordance with the chosen diet. Eskimos are very superstitious about food and its preparation and eating. They believe that a healthy human body is obtained by mixing human blood with the blood of prey.

For example, the Eskimos believe that they have entered into an agreement with the seals: the hunter kills the seal only to feed his family, and the seal sacrifices itself in order to become part of the hunter’s body, and if people stop following the ancient agreements and covenants of their ancestors, then the animals will be insulted and will stop reproducing.

The usual way to preserve meat after a hunt is to freeze it. Hunters eat part of the prey right on the spot. A special tradition is associated with fish: fish cannot be cooked within a day's travel from the place of fishing.

The Eskimos are known for the fact that each hunter shares all the catch with everyone in the settlement. This practice was first documented in 1910.

Eating meat, fat or other parts of an animal is preceded by laying out large pieces on a piece of metal, plastic or cardboard on the floor, from where anyone in the family can take a portion. Since Eskimos eat only when they are hungry, family members should not go “to the table,” although it happens that everyone in the settlement is invited to eat: a woman goes out into the street and shouts: “The meat is ready!”

Eating after a hunt differs from a regular meal: when a seal is brought into the house, the hunters gather around it and are the first to receive portions as they are the hungriest and coolest after the hunt. The seal is butchered in a special way, the belly is cut open so that hunters can cut off a piece of the liver or pour blood into a mug. In addition, the fat and brain are mixed and eaten with the meat.

Children and women eat after the hunters. First of all, the intestines and remains of the liver are selected for consumption, and then the ribs, spine and remaining meat are distributed throughout the settlement.

Sharing food was necessary for the survival of the entire settlement; young couples give part of the catch and meat to the elderly, most often their parents. It is believed that by eating together, people become bound by bonds of cooperation.

Traditional Eskimo dwelling

An igloo is a typical Eskimo residence. This type of building is a building that has a dome shape. The diameter of the dwelling is 3-4 meters, and its height is approximately 2 meters. Igloos are usually built from ice blocks or wind-compacted snow blocks. Also, the needle is cut from snowdrifts, which are suitable in density and also in size.

If the snow is deep enough, then an entrance is made in the floor, and a corridor to the entrance is also dug. If the snow is still not deep, the front door is cut into the wall, and a separate corridor built of snow bricks is attached to the front door. It is very important that the entrance door to such a dwelling is below floor level, as this ensures good and proper ventilation of the room and also retains heat inside the igloo.

Lighting comes into the home thanks to snow walls, but sometimes windows are also made. As a rule, they are also constructed from ice or seal intestines. In some Eskimo tribes, entire villages of igloos are common, which are connected to each other by passages.

The inside of the igloo is covered with skins, and sometimes the walls of the igloo are also covered with them. To provide even more lighting, as well as more heat, special devices are used. Due to heating, part of the walls inside the igloo may melt, but the walls themselves do not melt, due to the fact that the snow helps remove excess heat outside. Thanks to this, the home is maintained at a temperature that is comfortable for people to live in. As for moisture, the walls also absorb it, and because of this, the inside of the igloo is dry.
The first non-Eskimo to build an igloo was Villamur Stefanson. This happened in 1914, and he talks about this event in many articles and his own book. The unique strength of this type of housing lies in the use of uniquely shaped slabs. They allow you to fold the hut in the form of a kind of snail, which gradually narrows towards the top. It is also very important to consider the method of installing these improvised bricks, which involves supporting the next slab on the previous brick at three points simultaneously. To make the structure more stable, the finished hut is also watered from the outside.

On the Chukotka Peninsula. The self-name is yuk - “man”, yugyt, or yupik - “real person”. The Eskimo languages ​​are divided into two large groups - Yupik (western) and Inupik (eastern). On the Chukotka Peninsula, Yupik is divided into Sireniki, Central Siberian, or Chaplin and Naukan dialects. Eskimos Chukotka residents, along with their native languages, speak Russian and Chukotka.

The origins of the Eskimos are controversial. Eskimos are direct descendants of an ancient culture widespread from the end of the first millennium BC. along the shores of the Bering Sea. Earliest Eskimo culture- Old Bering Sea (before the 8th century AD). It is characterized by the prey of marine mammals, the use of multi-person leather kayaks, and complex harpoons. From the 7th century AD until the XIII-XV centuries. was going on development whaling, and in the more northern regions of Alaska and Chukotka - hunting for small pinnipeds.

The main type of economic activity was marine hunting. Until the middle of the 19th century. The main hunting tools were a spear with a double-edged arrow-shaped tip (pana), a rotating harpoon (ung'ak') with a detachable bone tip. To travel on water they used canoes and kayaks. A kayak (anyapik) is light, fast and stable on the water. Its wooden frame was covered with walrus skin. There were different types of kayaks - from single-seaters to huge 25-seater sailboats.

They moved on land on arc-dust sledges. The dogs were harnessed with a fan. From the middle of the 19th century. The sleds were pulled by dogs drawn by a train (an East Siberian type team). Short, dust-free sleighs with runners made of walrus tusks (kanrak) were also used. They walked on snow on “racket” skis (in the form of a frame of two slats with fastened ends and transverse struts, intertwined with sealskin straps and lined with bone plates at the bottom), on ice with the help of special bone spikes attached to shoes.

The method of hunting sea animals depended on their seasonal migrations. Two hunting seasons for whales corresponded to the time of their passage through the Bering Strait: in the spring to the north, in the fall - to the south. Whales were shot with harpoons from several canoes, and later with harpoon cannons.

The most important hunting object was the walrus. WITH late XIX V. new fishing weapons and equipment appeared. Hunting for fur-bearing animals spread. The production of walruses and seals replaced whaling, which had fallen into decline. When there was not enough meat from sea animals, they shot wild deer and mountain sheep, birds with a bow, and caught fish.

The settlements were located so that it was convenient to observe the movement of sea animals - at the base of pebble spits protruding into the sea, on elevated places. The most ancient type of dwelling is a stone building with a floor sunk into the ground. The walls were made of stones and whale ribs. The frame was covered with deer skins, covered with a layer of turf and stones, and then covered with skins again.
Until the 18th century, and in some places even later, they lived in semi-underground frame dwellings (nyn`lyu). In the XVII-XVIII centuries. frame buildings (myn'tyg'ak) appeared, similar to the Chukchi yaranga. The summer dwelling was a quadrangular tent (pylyuk), shaped like an obliquely truncated pyramid, and the wall with the entrance was higher than the opposite one. The frame of this dwelling was built from logs and poles and covered with walrus skins. Since the end of the 19th century. light plank houses with a gable roof and windows appeared.

The clothing of the Asian Eskimos is made from deer and seal skins. Back in the 19th century. They also made clothes from bird skins.

Fur stockings and seal torbas (kamgyk) were put on the legs. Waterproof shoes were made from tanned seal skins without wool. Fur hats and mittens were worn only when moving (migration). Clothes were decorated with embroidery or fur mosaics. Until the 18th century Eskimos, piercing the nasal septum or lower lip, they hung walrus teeth, bone rings and glass beads.

Men's tattoo - circles in the corners of the mouth, women's - straight or concave parallel lines on the forehead, nose and chin. A more complex geometric pattern was applied to the cheeks. They covered their arms, hands, and forearms with tattoos.

Traditional food is meat and fat of seals, walruses and whales. The meat was eaten raw, dried, dried, frozen, boiled, and stored for the winter: fermented in pits and eaten with fat, sometimes half-cooked. Raw whale oil with a layer of cartilaginous skin (mantak) was considered a delicacy. The fish was dried and dried, and eaten fresh frozen in winter. Venison was highly valued and was exchanged among the Chukchi for the skins of sea animals.

Kinship was calculated on the paternal side, and marriage was patrilocal. Each settlement consisted of several groups of related families, which in winter occupied a separate half-dugout, in which each family had its own canopy. In the summer, families lived in separate tents. Facts of working for a wife were known, there were customs of wooing children, marrying a boy to an adult girl, the custom of “marriage partnership”, when two men exchanged wives as a sign of friendship (hospitable hetaerism). There was no marriage ceremony as such. Polygamy occurred in wealthy families.

Eskimos were practically not Christianized. They believed in spirits, the masters of all animate and inanimate objects, natural phenomena, localities, wind directions, various human states, and in the kinship of a person with some animal or object. There were ideas about the creator of the world, they called him Sila. He was the creator and master of the universe, and ensured that the customs of his ancestors were observed. The main sea deity, the mistress of sea animals, was Sedna, who sent prey to people. Evil spirits were represented in the form of giants or dwarfs, or other fantastic creatures that sent illness and misfortune to people.

In every village there lived a shaman (usually a man, but female shamans are also known), who acted as an intermediary between evil spirits and people. Only one who heard the voice of a helping spirit could become a shaman. After this, the future shaman had to meet privately with the spirits and enter into an alliance with them regarding mediation.

Fishing holidays were dedicated to the hunt for large animals. Especially famous are the holidays on the occasion of whale catching, which were held either in the fall, at the end of the hunting season - “seeing off the whale”, or in the spring - “meeting the whale”. There were also holidays for the beginning of sea hunting, or “launching the canoes” and a holiday for “walrus heads,” dedicated to the results of the spring-summer fishery.

Eskimo folklore is rich and varied. All types oral creativity They are divided into unipak - "message", "news" and into unipamsyuk - stories about events in the past, heroic legends, fairy tales or myths. Among fairy tales, a special place is occupied by the cycle about the raven Kutha, the demiurge and trickster who creates and develops the universe.
The earliest stages of the development of the Eskimo Arctic culture include bone carving: sculptural miniatures, and artistic bone engraving. Hunting equipment and household items were covered with ornaments; images of animals and fantastic creatures served as amulets and decorations.

Music (aingananga) is predominantly vocal. Songs are divided into “large” public ones - hymn songs sung by ensembles and “small” intimate ones - “songs of the soul”. They are performed solo, sometimes accompanied by a tambourine.

The tambourine is a personal and family shrine (sometimes used by shamans). It occupies a central place in