BULLETIN # 14

VI group of interns
1998

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Revival of the Traditional Self-rule of Shor Indigenous People
The International Decade of World Indigenous people. The forth year.
Valentina Itevtegina-Veket
A "civilized" village of Yukagir Indigenous People
The Altai Republic and Altai Indigenous People
Environment in the Khanty-Mansi Region
Aliutorzy
Taloot'el (A Yukagir Ritual)
Snake in the Selkoop Believes and Legends
I am a Gold!

Revival of the Traditional
Self-rule of Shor Indigenous People
On March 14, 1998, in city of Novokuznetzk (Kemerovo region) a traditional meeting (tchyylyykh) of Elders of Shor people took place. The only subject discussed was revival of the traditional self-rule of Shor - the system of “Pastyk”s. A Pashtyk is the Shor version of an alderman. The meeting decided to actively promote the elections of pashtyks throughout the Shor communities and start the elections in July of 1998.

Lubov Tchulzhanova,
Shor, Kemerovo region

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The International Decade of World Indigenous People.
The forth year.

 

We do not have a clue what is the UN thinks of the International decade. I guess they think something about the way it is going, since they did announced it. But the indigenous peoples of Taimyr are left to their own means to survive. Neither the local, nor the federal government seams to be able to do anything. They say that everybody is in the same sinking boat. I am a Russian who is living in Taimyr region. Looking around I think that the indigenous of Taimyr are still alive yet because the spirits of their ancestors do still protect them. But the same spirits seams to be angry as hell with us. Angry for ruining the land and the waters, angry for the cold betrayal of the trust of the indigenous. Will we be living in this city (Norilsk) at the end of 2004, the last year of the decade? The city is dying and all what we have is to leave as quickly as possible to the main-land Russia, back where we came from. We definitely are not going to live in the tundra as the indigenous do. We simply do not know how. But the indigenous have only this place. Let us hope that their spirits will help them, for there is no and does not look like ever will be any help from the government, let alone the UN.

Ivan Danilenko,
Norilsk, Taimyr region

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Valentina Itevtegina-Veket

 

Ms. Valentina Itevtegina is a Chukchi elder from Uellen in Chukchi district of Chukchi region. She lived through the WW II, the hungry years after the war, long and terrible years of the “Building of Communism”, but she never lost an interest and love for her land, her ocean and her people. She was born in the big family of a sea-hunter. She has only the seven grade formal education but her intelligence and talent are remarkable. All her life she worked as a master of traditional Chukchi embroidery. She has two daughters, two sons and six grandchildren. The older daughter is a lawyer, the other - an engineer, the older son is a teacher and the younger is a master of walrus ivory carving. This intelligent and wise woman is trying to preserve the traditions, language and culture of her people. Although she never wrote anything before, she is writing now, compelled to tell to her children and the grandchildren about the lives of her ancestors. She is working on a novel which she titled “Kag’eg’yrg’in” (it is the name of her grandfather). That is a book about the way Chukchi used to live, about her own family clan, about the language and the culture, about the traditions and customs, about the world of stars in the sky which where the huge part of the life of a sea-hunter, who hunted on the drifting ice far into the Arctic ocean. She is also working on a short story about growing up in a Chukchi family as a girl. Through the intricate secrets of traditional cooking the education and important role of a Chukchi woman is told. Her life is not limited to cooking, making clothes and raising children. She must be able to harness and ride reindeers, hunt and do a lot of things that usually the men do. Also Valentina makes and sings songs. That incredible lady from a small Chukchi village on the shore of the Bering Strait is doing everything to pass onto her children and grandchildren the history of her people. May the spirits help her.

V. Khandarkhaeva,
Uellen, Chukchi region

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A "civilized" village of Yukagir Indigenous People

 

On the shore of the river Alazea, above the Polar circle, there is a village of Andriushkino. It is a Yukagir village, and to make the living better, the authorities have build there two story buildings with running hot and cold water and toilets. That will be great if only they did not built the disposal system that dumps the discharge into the same very river from which they pump the drinking water into the houses. People are forced to fill up their bath tubs, wait for about 24 hours for the unwanted residue to rest on the bottom, and then use the water for drinking, cooking, etc. The residue is up to 1 sm. thick. Sometimes even thicker. Most of the people in the village are suffering from various chronic and infectious diseases. Is this a problem that so difficult to solve?

Yuko Kurilov,
Yukagir

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The Altai Republic and Altai Indigenous People

 

The total population of Altai is 210 000 people. The Altai indigenous people are about 30%, or 65 000 people. The average unemployment situation is where 61.3 people compete for one job. The worst situation is in Tchoyski district where are 534 people per one job. More than half population of the district are indigenous. Tchoyski, Kosh-Agatchski and Ust-Koksinski districts have the highest suicide rate in the republic. According to the official information the number of suicides have doubled from 1990 to 1997. And according to the official reports none was under influence of alcohol. The same time the childbirth dropped down on 17%. The average life expectancy for men is 55 years, and 68 for women. Among indigenous in the rural areas it is even less - 42 for men and 44 for women.

Svetlana Tiukhteneva,
Altai,
Altai Republic

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Environment in the Khanty-Mansi Region

 

In 1992 the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous region was proclaimed officially as the “environmental disaster zone”. Oil, gas and lumber industry endangered everything alive. Near Surgut and in Nefteyuganski district the oil exploitation resulted in irreversible dying of huge evergreen forests. The spawning grounds of rare fishes and natural habitat of sable, mink and foxes are shrinking rapidly. Since 1965, when oil and gas deposits in the region came under the intense development, Khanty and Mansi indigenous peoples have been enduring pain and destruction of their land. Indifferent pumping of oil and gas results in horrifying environmental pollution. Backward technology very often leads to immense oil spills. The level of water pollution in river Ob is from 7 to 37 times higher than acceptable norm; in Vakh - from 8 to 77 times higher; in Agan - from 14 to 30 times and Pim - from 16 to 29.

What will become of our mother Earth in 10-20 years? What will we leave to the next generations? Who will answer for that?

Tatiana Egorova,
Khanty

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Aliutorzy

 

Aliutortzy (self-name is Alutal’u) is the name for the so-called coastal Koriak. They live at the north of Kamtchatka peninsula and number in total about 3000 people. The dialect of Koriak language they speak was formed under the strong influence of the Inuit language. Their culture is very similar to the cultures of the coastal Chukchis and the Inuit.

Traditionally Aliutortzy are divided in two groups - reindeer herders and sea hunters. The two groups are closely intertwined through family and economic ties.

The fishing season runs from the mid-June to the mid-September. The main fish was and still is the Red Salmon. The most of the fish is sun-dried for people to eat and for the feeding of the sled dogs.

The spring and fall is the sea hunting season. Using the dog sleds, groups of 7-8 hunters moved out 5 to 10 km from the shore over the sea ice. The meat and blubber of various seals is one of the favorite foods. The blubber is also had been used for light in the homes.

(Up to the 19 century the only type of homes were octagonal earthen bunkers. The insides were reinforced by wood. The roof was also wood with a rectangular opening in the middle. Through the opening the smoke was let out and the light and people in.)

From December through February is the season for hunting the fur animals. The reindeer herds are traditionally small. Reindeers, the same as dogs, are used for transportation of people and goods.

The main traditional food is “tolkusha”. Tolkusha is smoked meat which is grinned in a large wooden plate. Than it is mixed with fat and berries and grinned further into a paste.

The reindeer blood and the substance of the stomach is used to make soup. The liver, kidneys and the bone-marrow are eaten row. A special delicacy is sour fish heads and seal flippers.

Traditional religion is shamanism based on the cult of ancestral spirits and the spirits-masters of the land and waters.

Kotcheshkov,
Kamtchatka

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Taloot'el
(A Yukagir Ritual)

 

Despite the fact that the first linguistic mentioning of the Yukagir language appear to the outside world in the middle of XVIII century, the language is one of the list studied languages of the North. Many famous scientists, linguists, archeologists and ethnographers do believe that the people who developed that language appear before the ice age.

Taloot’el is a “word” ritual. It is based on the believe that every word has special power. The ritual is as old as the Yukagir language itself. The secrets of the ritual are being passed from generation to generation within one family. Not only a stranger, but even a Yukagir from another family is not allowed to know the Taloot’el secrets of a family. People believe that by using the ritual one can call the spirits of people and animals who physically are miles and miles away.

Yuko Kurilov,
Yukagir

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Snake in the Selkoop Believes and Legends

 

For Selkoop people, especially the southern Selkoop, snake has been one of the most important creatures. Snake is a symbol of a road, a soul-keeper who protects a soul on its journey. A sudden appears of a snake in a Selkoop village was one of the most terrifying omens. Usually Selkoop villages were in areas voided of snakes. Most of the times on small river islands. Among themselves Selkoops called a snake only “The queen”. To call it “Snake” or by any other name was dangerous - snake could get offended, and snakes memory is very long. All animals have memories. It is dangerous to kill or hurt an animal without need - their souls are vengeful.

There is a legend about one remarkable snake - The Yellow Poloz. That snake always helps those who are lost, if they are not greedy and selfish.

It is believed that snakes are the guardians of incredible treasures that are hidden from human eyes. They are also the guides to the place of eternal peace.

If a woman can not get pregnant she goes to a hill where is a snake and prays to her “Great Great Grand Mother snake”. The words are: “All powerful Mother! If I have a son please make him unknown to his enemies. Please let nobody know whom I asked for help. Please make so that nobody knows who his ancestors are.”.

Before go into the forest to gather berries and mushrooms a prayer to the “Queen” was a must. No human can intrude into snake kingdom without a warning and a permission. Snakes and people walk different roads.

Daria Kudriashova,
Selkoop

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I am a Gold!

 

I belong to one of the smallest people in the world - Goldy. De facto we are number only 52 people. There no official number since officially Russia does not accept existence of my people as people. Almost all Goldy live in village of Mikhailovka, Olgin district, Primorsky region in Russian Federation.

I must be honest, it hurts to think that we “do not exist” officially. There is not a word in any Russia ethnological or other literature about my people.

According to the all internationally accepted definition of indigenous people -we are a people. Yes, we almost completely lost our language. Yes, we almost completely lost the culture of our forefathers. But even we are only 52 people left we know that we have our own unique history, our traditional ancestral land. We want to preserve and pass to our future generations what ever little we have kept.

As long as in our veins remains even one drop of Gold blood we will feel that WE WERE, WE ARE AND WE ALWAYS WILL BE!

I am a citizen of the Russian Federation! I am a Gold!

Gennady Zakharenko,
Gold

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