Tunguska peoples. See what the “Tunguska tribe” is in other dictionaries

To the settlement of the Tungus clans of Yakutia in the 17th century.

Tunguska clans.

The ethnonym “Tungus” is understood as a general designation for all tribes of Tungus origin from the Ob River to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, from Kolyma to Manchuria and Xinjiang. Perhaps they designated themselves by the term “Donki”, “Dunan”, the term “Tungus” itself comes from it (A.M. Zolotarev), it is also found in Lindenau, Georgi and others as one of the self-names of the Tungus, according to Lindenau it meant “resident of the hills”, “resident of the taiga”. The ethnonym “Tungus” was traced back to the ancient ethnonym Dunkhu (Yu. Klaprot, S.M. Shirokogorov), the term “Donki” really resembles the ancient Dunkhu.
In the 18th century Miller, Fischer and Georgi gave the self-name of the Tungus in a form closer to the self-name of the Lamuts (Evens) than the Tungus (Evenks). Miller and Fisher give it in the form owen; in Russian Fischer gives it in the form - “Aries”. V.A. Tugolukov associated the self-name of the Evens with the name of the Wuvan tribe in the Chinese chronicle of the 7th century. Moreover, these medieval people knew reindeer husbandry: “The reindeer were fed with moss and harnessed to carts.” According to E.V. Shavkunov, the ethnonym Uvan was found in written sources much earlier than the 7th century. simultaneously with the name Xianbi. By saying this, he means the ancient Wuhuans - a branch of the Donghu, who fought for many centuries with the Huns and Chinese. So the ethnonym Wuhuan in the ancient Chinese reading was read as “ram” or even “even”.

The largest clans of the Tungus in Vilyui and Olekma in the first half of the 17th century. there were Kaltakuli, Nanagirs, Bayagirs, Dolgans, Murgat, Bylety, Nyurmagans, Kindigirs, Sologons, Uguleeets, Pochegans, Vakarai, Maugirs, Vanyads, Bulyashis. As V.A. Tugolukov argued, those who came from the territory of the Amur in the X-XI centuries. On the Middle Lena, the Evenks formed three large territorial groupings - Sologon (upper), Duligan (middle) and Edigan (lower). They came into contact with the aborigines Samoyeds and ancient Uralians (ancestors of the Yukaghirs).
G.M. Vasilevich associates the ethnonym Ejen with the name of the Wuji people in Chinese sources who lived in the 5th-6th centuries. in the Amur region. They were descendants of the ancient Susen and preceded the well-known Mohe. The ethnonym Ejen~udzin is widely found among the Tungus-Manchu peoples, starting from the 7th century. to the present day, exists among the Mongols and Turks of the Sayan Highlands.
The origin of the ethnonym Dolgan-Dulgan is associated with the Turks; from Transbaikalia they spread further to the north. The Solons were identical with the Sologons; they penetrated north from the territory of the Amur, before the arrival of the Turks in the Middle Lena.
From the Lower Lena to the left bank of the lower Amur in the 17th century. Shamagirs were also evicted. Some of the Shamagirs were absorbed by the Yakuts. They can be seen in the Nam genus Hamagatta. The ethnonym Saman-Samai among the peoples of Siberia became the object of a special study by G.M. Vasilevich. In the 17th century Evenks of the Shaman clan (shamanic people) - Shamagirs roamed the middle Angara region. In the 18th century The ethnonym saman~samay, samar~samagir became the name of the Tungus from Lena - Anabar - Olenek. It is very noteworthy that according to B.O. Dolgikh, the Entsy and Nganasan Dolgans called Samaider, and the neighboring Evenks called Samail. Therefore, G.M. Vasilevich raises the question of whether the Samatu among the Enets are not the “disappeared” Tungus - “shamanic people”? In her opinion, the origin of the ethnonym Saman~Samai, found in the Ugric and Turkic environments, is associated with the territory of the Sayan Mountains and goes back to the ancient times of the Altai linguistic community. It should be assumed that the ethnonyms Shamagirs and Samutu - the Entsy tribe (from this Samodyns) refer to the name of an ancient tribe that in ancient times occupied a huge space.
The Puyagirs occupied the lake area before the Russians arrived. Tobuya and partly the upper reaches of the river. Blue. The correct name for the Puyagirs is Buyagirs. Some of the Bayagirs (ancestors of the Kangalas Tungus) went to the southeast. It is very significant that they were divided into cattle breeders and reindeer herders. The Bayaks and Bayagirs were possibly descendants of the medieval tribe Tele Bayegu, in the ancient Turkic version Bayyrku.
The ethnonym with the root bai~bai is found among the majority of Tungus-Manchu peoples, as well as among the Buryats, Mongols, Yakuts, Kazakhs, Yenisei Paleo-Asians, Kets and some Samoyed tribes (Enets). According to the assumption of G.M. Vasilevich, the Evenki ethnonym baikshin~baishin spread from the Baikal region to the west, northeast and east. At the same time, the Bai groups could go east from the territory of the Ob to Lake Baikal and become part of other tribes. The Bayegu~Bayyrku and Baysi tribes were formed in the same way.
The Uvalagir clan lived in the middle Vilyue in the 17th century. Other transcriptions of the same ethnonym were “Fuglyad”, “Duglyat”, “Uvlyat”, “Fuflyat”, “Vuglyak”. In the XIX - early XX centuries. the same ethnonym was written as “Ugulyat” - apparently this is a Yakut pronunciation. In the members of this clan, B.O. Dolgikh saw “relatively late-born aborigines who did not know reindeer herding in the past.” B.O. Dolgikh derives the ethnonym “uvalagir” - “uglyat” from the Evenki word “uvala” (ugala) “to carry luggage on oneself.”
However, among the Uvalagirs of the 17th century. there were deer. According to V.A. Tugolukov, the close connection of the Uvalagirs with the pre-Tungus aborigines is evidenced by the tattoos that covered their faces. In 1729, by decree of Peter I, three families of “sewn faces” “from the Fuglyatsky family” were taken to St. Petersburg. Therefore, this author assumed that the Uvalagir clan was formed as a result of the mixing of the Evenks of the Nanagir clan with the aborigines of Vilyuy.
According to B.O. Dolgikh, the name “murgat” is a poor transcription of the name nyurmagat or nyurbagat. These same “Murgat” were also known as the Tungus of the “Brangat” family of Tungus, and also as the “Burnagir”. Some of the Vilyui “murgat” were called “byrlet” or “beldet”. It is assumed that the “byrlets” (beldet) were the extreme north-eastern part of the “murgat” (nyurmagats). Among the Tungus, this ethnonym was written as “bullet”. Perhaps this ethnonym formed the basis for the designation of the Vilyuya River. V.A. Tugolukov believed that the “Murgats” were Nanagirs who mixed with the pre-Tungus aborigines of Vilyuy - the Tumats.
According to Mangazeya servicemen, Vilyui Nanagirs lived in the Nyurba area. Hence it is argued that the Vilyui “Murgats” and the Vilyui “Nanagirs” are one and the same Evenki group. Consequently, the Vilyui Nyurmagats (“Murgat”) got their name from Lake Nyurba, and were initially known as Nanagirov. B.O. Dolgikh made the assumption that the Beldet and Nyurmagans were some ancient inhabitants of Vilyui, assimilated by the Tungus Nanagirs and therefore considered by the Russians to be the latter.
In total, there were 110 Olekma (Lena) yasak nanagirs before the arrival of the Russians. (total 440 population). The Nanagirs owned the coast of the Lena from the mouth of the Nyuya to the mouth of the Olekma. The Nanagirs may have been an offshoot of the Kindigirs. Members of the Kindigir clan were in the 17th century. very widespread among Tungus reindeer herders. The Kamchagirs and Lakshikagirs were also Kindigirs. At the beginning of the 19th century. the Kindigirs made up almost the entire Tungus population of the lower Olekma.
In 1683, the Tungus fled to Olenek and destroyed the Yesei winter quarters. This is how the legendary mayaats appeared on Olenka. It is believed that the ethnonym Vanyad (Mayat) comes from the Evenki word vanyadal - “those who came to kill.” The Vanyads (Mayats) and Nerumnyals were a single ethnographic group of mixed Tungus-Samoyed origin. They had a common name that united them, Bulen, recorded by the Russians as “bulyashi”. The Bulyash had their own language, ate raw meat and tattooed their faces, which is typical for the Samoyeds, and not for the Tungus. The ethnonym Bulyashi is a Russian transcription of the Evenki term bulesel//buleshel - “enemies”, from bulen - “enemy”. The Evens use this term to designate the Yukaghirs. At the same time, the ethnonym Vanadyri is similar to the toponym Anadyr.
The Russians distinguished the Bulyash from the Tungus, considering them a separate people. English agent Richard Finch in 1611-1616. reported: “Further (behind the Tungus on the Yenisei and Lower Tunguska) there lives a people called Bulash, and behind the Bulash there lives a people called Sili.” The Bulyash and Tungus jointly opposed the service people, but quite often the Bulyash attacked the Tungus. It was from the Bulyash who traded with the Yakuts that the first news was received from the “Yakol” people who lived on the Lin River, engaged in cattle breeding, wore dresses and lived in wooden huts.
V.A. Tugolukov identifies the bearers of the ethnonyms Bulyashi (Bulen), Nerumnyali, Vanyadyri, considering them an ethnographic group of mixed Tungus-Samoyed origin. So the name of the Evenki clan Nyurumnyal is derived from the Samoyed languages. There are many similar toponyms in the toponymy of Siberia. These are the Norilsk Lakes, Lake Nyurba, Narym River, Nyurga River, etc. The Khanty called the Selkups Nerum-ni. The name of the Yakut clan Neryuktey is similar to the ethnonym Nerum-ni. According to B.O. Dolgikh, the name “Nurymskie” (Nyurilians, Nyuryamnyali) represents a distortion of the name of part of the Nanagirs-Nyurmagans (Nyuurmagans).
By the time the Russians arrived, only Tungus lived on Olenek. The bulk of yasak payers in the Olenek winter quarters were the Azyan (Ozyan) tribe. Before the smallpox epidemic in 1651-1652. The Azians (110 adult men) were a numerous and warlike tribe, together with the Sinigirs they raided the Yesean Vanyadyrs (Mayaats). The main source of subsistence of the Olenek Tungus was hunting wild reindeer, especially in places where herds of wild reindeer crossed the Olenek River. The Edians were a lamutized part of the Central Lena Edigan group. From Olenek they moved to Taimyr. All Edians and Edigans at the beginning of the 20th century. They spoke only the Yakut language.
The Dolgans fished in the summer on the right bank of the Lena opposite the mouth of the Vilyuy; their yurts stood on the same bank. Dolgans were also found at the mouth of the Aldan and in the lower reaches of the river. Sita flowing into the Lena on the left. By their origin, the neighbors of the Dolgans, the Kumkogirs, represented the Otungush Yukagirs. They were called the “louse family” (from Kumko - louse in Evenki). The Kumkogirs, like their neighboring Yukagirs, were hunters and fishermen. The Dolgans were hunters and fishermen. Dolgans in the 17th century. lived in yurts, not tents. Their way of life was already approaching that of the Yakuts. Dolgans in the 17th century. like the Kumkogirs spoke Tunguska.
There are two points of view on the issue of the origin of the Dolgans. The first is that the Dolgans are an ethnic group of independent origin, with their own independent culture and language, and the second is that the Dolgans are one of the groups of northern Yakut reindeer herders.
The Sinigir clan in the 17th century. was mentioned on Olenek, and on Anabar, and on Chon, and on Lower Tunguska. They mainly roamed in the Olenek and Anabara basins. During the movement together with the Dolgans at the end of the 17th century. in Taimyr they were assimilated by the Yakuts and Samoyeds. Modern Evenks remember only the chinagirs, whose distinctive feature was “raised up” hair. V.A. Tugolukov assumed that the Sinigirs were one of the Even clans, which, together with the Dolgans and Edeni, moved from the right side of the Lower Lena to the left. G.M. Vasilevich identified the Sinigirs with the Shilyagirs of the Lower Tunguska. B, O. Dolgikh sinigirs were considered as a very large genus of the Eden (Azan) family.
The Englishman Robert Finch wrote about the Shilyagirs as a special people along with the “Tungus”. The Shilyagirs were a special genus of the Tungus, the Momogirs were a group of Shilyagirs that originally lived on the right bank of the Lena. The Momogirs, as part of the Shilyagirs, were a Tungus-aboriginal group like the Nerumnyals. The Evenki clan Momo (Momol, Momogir) was related to the Even clan Meme or Myamya (Memelsky, Myamyalsky). The Momogirs were at enmity with the Kindigirs and Nyurmagans, and their mutual attacks on each other were frequent. From Chara and Patom, under the pressure of the Chilchagirs and Nanagirs, the Maugirs (a variant of the name Momogirs) in the 17th century. moved to live in Lower Tunguska. The Shilyagirs consisted of the Shilyagir (Momogir), Muchugir and Shamagir clans. This is proven by the joint actions of the “Shilyags” and “Muchugs” against the clans of the Baikal Evenks and service people. The Shamagirs also often entered into an alliance with them against their enemies.
There is an opinion that in the acts of the 17th century. Only the Tungus who lived in Indigirka and Kolyma were called “Lamuts”. But “lamskie”, i.e. coastal from the word “Lam” - sea in the 17th century. were called the Baikal and Okhotsk Tunguses. Thus, in the 17th century. the term "Lamut" did not yet have an ethnic meaning. The Indigirka and Kolyma Tungus were closely related to the Okhotsk Tungus and roamed the territory between the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk and the Indigirka and Kolyma basins.

Literature used.

1. Miller G.F. History of Siberia. – M.: Eastern lit., - T. III. – 2005. – p. 465.
2. Bichurin N.Ya. A collection of information about the peoples who lived in Central Asia in ancient times. – T.III. – M.; L., 1953. – p. 350.
3. Shavkunov E.M. The state of Bohai and its cultural monuments in Primorye. – L.: Nauka, 1968.
4. Tugolukov V.A. Tungus (Evenks and Evens) of Central and Western Siberia. – M.: Nauka, 1985. – p. 232-233.
5. Vasilevich G.M. The most ancient ethnonyms of Asia and the names of Evenki clans // SE, 1941. N: 4. - p. 37-47.
6. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 190.
7. Vasilevich G.M. Ethnonym Saman - Samay among the peoples of Siberia // SE, 1965. N: 3. - With. 139-144.
8. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 176.
9. Ibid. - With. 472-473.
10. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 189.
11. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 478-479.
12. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 188.
13. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 478.
14. Ibid. - With. 484-485.
15. Ibid. - With. 488.
16. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 164-165.
17. Alekseev M.P. Siberia in the news of Western European travelers and writers. – Irkutsk, 1941.– p. 232.
18. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 153.
19. Miller G.F. Op. op. - With. 59.
20. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 166.
21. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - p.480.
22. Ibid. - With. 450.
23. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 191-192.
24. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 460.
25. Ibid. - With. 462.
26. Bakhtin S.A. The problem of differentiation between the Yakuts and Dolgans // Ethnicities of Siberia. Past. Present. The future: Proceedings of the international scientific and practical conference. In 2 parts. Part 1. – Krasnoyarsk: Krasnoyarsk Regional Museum of Local Lore, 2004. – p. 61-65.
27. Tugolukov V.A. Op. op. - With. 209.
28. Vasilevich G.M. Evenks... - p. 209.
29. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 450.
30. Alekseev M.P. Op. op. - With. 232.
31. Dolgikh B.O. Op. op. - With. 148-150.
32. Miller G.F. Op. op. - With. 458.

Evenki are the indigenous people of the Russian Federation. The self-name is Evenkil, which became the official ethnonym in 1931, the old name is Tungus. Separate groups of Evenks were known as Orochens, Birars, Manegrs, Solons.

The name "Tungus" has been known to Russians since the 16th century, and the self-name "orochen" in the Amur region ("orochel" - on the Okhotsk coast) and "even" - in the Angara region has been known since the 17th century

Language

The Evenki language belongs to the northern (Tungus) subgroup of the Tungus-Manchu group of the Altai language family. There are three groups of dialects: northern, southern and eastern. Each dialect is divided into dialects. The widespread settlement of the Evenks determines the division of the language into dialect groups: northern, southern and eastern, and contacts with neighboring peoples contributed to borrowing from the languages ​​of the Buryats, Yakuts, Buryats, Samoyeds and others.

The historical name of the Evenks - Tungus - is enshrined in a number of toponyms: Lower Tunguska and Podkamennaya Tunguska. The famous Tunguska meteorite is also named after the latter.

From the Evenks, Russian explorers borrowed geographical names: Aldan ("Aldun": rocky shores), Yenisei (Ionessi: big water), Lena (Elu-Ene: big river), Mogocha (golden mine or hill), Olekma (Olookhunay - squirrel) , Sakhalin (Sakhalyan-ulla: from the former name of the Amur - Black River), Chita (clay).

Literacy among the indigenous population of the Baikal-Patom Highlands until the beginning of the twentieth century was a rare phenomenon. Only in large camps were there literate people. In this case, we are talking about “Russian” literacy, since it was the Russian population that had the strongest cultural and economic influence on the Evenks. The low level of literacy was explained by the fact that the Evenki did not have the opportunity to educate their children in Russian schools due to the great distance of schools from parking lots, sometimes up to 200 kilometers. And it was not customary for the Evenks to send their children to boarding schools. Therefore, the primary tasks of the Soviet government were declared to be the elimination of illiteracy and the general rise in the cultural level of the indigenous population.

Anthropological appearance

According to the anthropological type, three main groups are distinguished among the Evenks and Evens: the Baikal type (Evenks of the Baikal region, northern Yakutia and Northern Transbaikalia), the Katangan type (Evenks of the Yenisei and Taz basin), and the Central Asian type (southern groups). These types, identified and described by the Soviet anthropologist Levin, are the result of intercultural contacts between the Proto-Tungus and the Tungus population proper and complex ethnogenetic processes that led to the formation of various Evenki groups. Thus, according to the researcher, the Baikal anthropological type, characteristic, in particular, of the Evenks of the north of the Chita region, dates back to the most ancient Paleo-Asian population, which indirectly indicates the location of the center of formation of the Evenki ethnic group in the zone adjacent to Lake Baikal.

In general, from the point of view of physical anthropology, the Evenks belong to the Baikal version of the continental race of the large Mongoloid race.

The Evenks have pronounced Mongoloid features, with some weakening of pigmentation, which corresponds to the Baikal anthropological type of the North Asian race. It is of considerable antiquity. The territory of its formation is the taiga regions of the south of Eastern Siberia and the northern Baikal region. The southern Evenk groups show an admixture of the Central Asian type, which is explained by their contacts with the Turks and Mongols.

Population and geography of residence

The Evenks live on a vast territory from the left bank of the Yenisei in the West to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the East within the borders of the Irkutsk, Amur and Sakhalin regions, the republics of Yakutia and Buryatia, the Trans-Baikal, Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories. The southern border of settlement runs along the left bank of the Amur and Angara. Small groups of Evenks also live in the Tomsk and Tyumen regions.

In Russia, the largest groups of Evenks live in the Evenki district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (until 2006, the Evenki Autonomous Okrug), the Anabarsky, Zhigansky and Oleneksky uluses of Yakutia, the Bauntovsky Evenki district of Buryatia, as well as a number of rural settlements in the Irkutsk region, Buryatia and Yakutia.

The number of Evenks at the time of their entry into Russia in the 17th century was clearly underestimated and was estimated at approximately 36 thousand people. The most accurate data on their number was provided by the 1897 census - 64,500, while 34,471 people considered Tungusic their native language, the rest - Russian (20,500, 31.8%), Yakut, Buryat and other languages.

According to the results of the 2002 census, 35,527 Evenks lived in the Russian Federation. Of these, about half (18,232) lived in Yakutia, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory (4.6 thousand, including 3.8 thousand in the Evenki region), in Buryatia (2.6 thousand), the Amur region (1.5 thousand), Transbaikalia (1.5 thousand), Angara and Pre-Baikal regions (1.4 thousand).

In this gigantic territory, they do not constitute the majority of the population anywhere; they live in the same settlements along with Russians, Yakuts and other peoples. Thus, with a relatively small number and a significant settlement area of ​​​​about 7 million sq. km. The Evenks are a people with one of the lowest population densities in the world.

Evenks also live in Mongolia and northeast China.

In China, the Evenki administrative-territorial entities include the Orochon and Evenki autonomous khoshuns in Inner Mongolia and several national volosts and soums in Inner Mongolia and Heilongjiang.

In China, the Evenks are represented by 4 ethnolinguistic groups, which are united into 2 official nationalities (Evenks and Orochons), living in the Evenki Autonomous Khoshun of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and in the neighboring province of Heilongjiang (Nehe County):

The number of Evenks in China in 2000 was 30,505 people, of which 88.8% lived in Hulun Buir. A small group of Evenks themselves (about 400 people) lives in the village of Aoluguya (Genhe County), they call themselves “Yeke”, the Chinese call them “Yakute”, since they traced themselves to the Yakuts.

The number of Orochons (literally “reindeer herders”) according to the 2000 census was 8,196 people, of which 44.54% live in Inner Mongolia, 51.52% in Heilongjiang Province, 1.2% in Liaoning Province. About half speak a dialect of the Evenki language (sometimes considered as a separate language), the rest speak only Chinese.

The Khamnigans are a heavily Mongolized group who speak the Mongolian language (Khamnigan and Khamnigan-Old Barag) dialect of the Evenki language. These so-called Manchu Khamnigans emigrated from Russia to China within a few years after the 1917 revolution; about 2,500 people live in the Starobargut Khoshun.

The Solons moved (together with the Daurs) from the Zeya River basin in 1656 to the Nunjiang River basin, and then, in 1732, part of them moved further west, to the Hailar River basin, where the Evenk Autonomous Khoshun with 9,733 Evenks was now formed (according to data in 2000 ). They speak the Solon dialect, sometimes considered a separate language.

In Mongolia, the Evenks are represented only by the Khamnigans, numbering up to 3 thousand people, living in the Selenga aimag.

Story

Differences in views on the origin of the Evenks are mainly associated with determining the boundaries of the area of ​​the initial stage of ethnogenesis, its subsequent stages and directions of migration.

The point of view of the Russian anthropologist and ethnographer S.M. Shirokogorova about the southern origin of the Tungus in the middle reaches of the Yellow and Yangtze rivers is well-known and popular. This theory about the East Siberian ancestral home of the Evenks suggests considering the Transbaikalian people of the Uvan, who, according to Chinese chronicles (V-VII centuries AD), lived in the mountain taiga northeast of Barguzin and Selenga as the direct ancestors of the Evenks. But the Uvans themselves were not the aborigines of Transbaikalia, but were a group of mountain-steppe nomadic pastoralists who came here from the eastern spurs of the Greater Khingan in the 2nd half of the 1st millennium AD.

Other researchers believe that the settlement of the ancient Tungus occurred from the regions of the Baikal region, Transbaikalia and the upper Amur region. According to this theory, the Evenks were formed on the basis of the mixing of the aborigines of Eastern Siberia with the Tungus tribes who came from the Baikal region and Transbaikalia. The proto-Tungusic community includes the Glazkov archaeological culture of the Mongoloid ancient Tungus tribes of the Bronze Age (XVIII-XIII centuries BC), widespread in the Baikal region, the Angara region, in the upper reaches of the Lena and in the lower reaches of the Selenga. Supporters of such an autochthonous origin attribute the early stages of the ethnogenesis of the Evenks to the Neolithic (Okladnikov, 1950) or at least to the Bronze Age (Zolotarev, 1934, 1939; Ksenofontov, 1937; Okladnikov, 1941, 1950, 1955, 1968; Vasilevich, 1946, 1957, 1969; Zalkind, 1947; Cheboksarov, 1965).

Archaeological and linguistic research in recent years makes it possible to trace some continuity of anthropological type and material culture up to the period of the final Paleolithic - Neolithic, thereby lifting the veil of secrecy regarding the supposed ancestral home of the Evenki ethnic group.

During the Neolithic and Bronze Ages, the proto-Tungusic ethnic group settled across its modern territory. According to the concept of G.M. Vasilevich, the culture of the Proto-Tungus was formed during the Neolithic period in the mountain-alpine regions of the Eastern Sayan Mountains and the Selenga River. In Neolithic times, such characteristic elements of Tungus culture as a wooden cradle, smoke pots, an M-shaped bow, wide curved sliding skis, and a caftan with a bib appeared and developed. This element of ancient clothing was one of the main arguments used by A.P. Okladnikov to prove the autochthonous Baikal origin of the Evenks. A.P. Okladnikov interpreted the finds in the Glazkovo Neolithic burials of the Baikal region as decorations of the Proto-Tungus costume, well known from ethnographic data.

At present, it seems most likely that the supposed center of formation of the Evenki ethnic group was the territory of Transbaikalia, from which it later spread to the regions of the Baikal and Amur regions at the end of the 1st - beginning of the 2nd millennium AD. The location of the ancestral homeland of the Evenki to the east of Lake Baikal is also supported by the fact that, according to linguists, in the Evenki language there are practically no traces of interaction with the languages ​​of its western neighbors - the Khanty, Selkup, and Kets. But such interaction would be inevitable if the center of Evenki ethnogenesis was located in the Baikal region. The influence of the Mongolian language affected only certain groups of southern Evenks and is relatively late.

Despite the existing different approaches to resolving the issue of the early genesis of the Evenki ethnic group, the vast majority of researchers associate its origin with Lake Baikal, the Baikal region and Transbaikalia.

At the end of the Neolithic, part of the Proto-Tungus migrated to the territory of the Amur region, where they became the main element in the formation of the ethnic cultures of the Jurchens and Manchus. At the same time, the Proto-Tungus tribes settled to the west and east of Lake Baikal.

Further settlement of the Tungus-speaking population across the territory of Eastern Siberia occurred later and most likely dates back to the pre-Hunnic period. According to L.P. Khlobystin (L.P. Khlobystin. Bronze Age of the forest belt of the USSR. M. 1987), it seems correct to compare the settlement of the ancient Tungus with the spread of the Ust-Mil archaeological culture and the cultures in the origin of which it took part.

In the process of settling across the expanses of Siberia, the Tungus encountered local tribes and, ultimately, assimilated them.

In the 2nd millennium AD. The Evenks were dissected by the advance of the Yakuts to the north. As a result, the eastern Evenki formed the Even ethnos. Before the arrival of the Russians in the 17th century, the Western Evenks (Tungus) lived along the Angara, Vilyuy, Vitim, Yenisei, Upper Lena, Amur (Orochons) rivers, as well as on the coast of Lake Baikal.

A.N. Radishchev wrote the following lines about the Tungus in the description of the Tobolsk governorship: “Below in the eastern part, along the banks of the Kenai and Tim, there is another, equally wild, people, but slimmer and neater in appearance, known under the name of the Tungus. Among these people there is a strange custom of treating a stranger or even a friend with the best thing in the house, while at the same time making a bow and arrows to kill the one who responds badly to the host’s greeting.”

As a result of living in various natural zones and contacts with other peoples, the Evenks developed different economic structures. Thus, the peculiarities of the ethnic formation of the Tungus led to the fact that they are characterized by three anthropological types, as well as three different economic and cultural groups: reindeer herders, cattle breeders and fishermen. Some of the Tungus have the most ancient form of economy: hunting, and fishing was supplemented by reindeer herding and cattle breeding. Thus, groups of Tungus were formed, differing in the form of farming. The 18th-century explorer of Siberia I.G. Georgi identified three groups of Tungus - foot, reindeer and horse.

Traditional activities

The basis of the Evenki economy was a combination of three types of activities: hunting, reindeer herding, fishing, which are closely related and mutually complementary. In the spring, the Evenks approached the rivers of Siberia and until the fall they hunted, in the fall they went deep into the taiga, and throughout the winter they were engaged in hunting.

For the Kalar and Tungir-Olekma Evenks, hunting and reindeer herding remained traditional forms of economic management. They led a mobile lifestyle, in the summer, migrating to the high mountains of Siberia, to the upper reaches of rivers, where there were sufficient resources of game animals and food for deer, and the wind drove away midges. In winter, the Evenks with their herds descended into river valleys, where there was less snow, and winter hunting areas were located.

Until the 19th century, Evenks were hunted with bows and arrows. In the 19th century, the flintlock rifle became the most important hunting weapon. Among the hunting equipment, it is worth noting such items as a palma - a stick with a wide-bladed knife, a ponyaga - a wooden board with straps for carrying weights over the shoulders, a drag sled. The Evenks hunted in special hunting clothes and moved on skis, usually without sticks. There was always a dog present.

Hunting was carried out mainly alone. A group of two or three people hunted a large animal when it was necessary to drive it towards the shooter, as well as small artiodactyls crossing rivers when they moved to new places. When hunting, the Tungus used bows, spears, and mounted crossbows and nooses; they also used ambushes on watering trails and boats. To track the beast, hunters disguised themselves by covering themselves with the skin from the head of a deer, and sometimes a whole one. Wandering hunters caught fish using bows and spears. In winter, old people speared fish through holes, and in summer, fishermen fished from a boat.

The main hunt was for meat animals; fur-bearing animals were killed along the way. Hunting had a double meaning: it provided food, material for clothing and housing, in addition, it brought a product with a high value in exchange.

Reindeer husbandry played an auxiliary role in the Evenki economic complex. Deer were mainly used as a means of transportation. On them, the Evenks migrated inside the taiga of Siberia to the place of winter fishing and back to the place of summer camp. The important woman was milked. They took great care of the deer and tried not to slaughter them for meat.

Fishing was mainly a summer activity, although the Evenks also knew winter ice fishing. They caught with the help of "muzzles", nets, hit with a spear, the archaic method of hunting fish with a bow and arrow was preserved. The boats were made of wood and were usually rowed with one oar with a wide blade.

Hunting and fishing of the Evenks determined their diet. Meat and fish were eaten fresh, boiled or fried and stored for future use - dried, dried, and in the summer they drank reindeer milk. From the Russians, the Evenks learned to prepare flour products - flat cakes, which replaced bread. The Evenks did everything necessary for life in the taiga themselves. Thin suede "rovdugu" was made from reindeer skins. Blacksmithing was known to every Evenk, but there were also professional blacksmiths.

Men's occupations included making products from wood, bone and metal, as well as making birch bark boats (birch bark was sewn by women), dugout boats and sleds. Women tanned skins and made clothes, shoes, tires for tents, and household items from them. They processed birch bark and made dishes from it, as well as “vices” - birch bark panels for tents and for birch bark boats. Men knew how to decorate wooden, bone and metal things with patterns, women - rovduga, birch bark and fur. Women were responsible for caring for children and preparing food.

Now traditional activities have largely lost their relevance. Today priority is given to reindeer husbandry and hunting.

Dwellings

Evenki hunters, leading an active lifestyle, lived in light portable dwellings - chums or du. The stationary winter type of dwelling of the Evenki of Siberia, characteristic of semi-sedentary Evenki hunters and fishermen, is holomo-pyramidal or truncated-pyramidal in shape.

The summer permanent home for hunters and fishermen was a bark quadrangular dwelling made of poles or logs with a gable roof. The southern Evenks, nomadic pastoralists of Transbaikalia, lived in portable yurts of the Buryat and Mongolian type.

Summer and winter huts covered with bark were common. As a rule, in most cases, larch bark was used. Birch bark and hay could be used to cover the conical hut.

Winter huts were built from boards in the shape of a multifaceted pyramid, covered with earth, felt, and nyuks sewn from reindeer skins or rovduga.

As a rule, the frames of huts during migrations were transported by the Evenks from one place to another. The Evenk hut was built from 25 poles. When finished, it had a diameter of 2 meters and a height of 2-3 meters. The frame of the portable hut was covered on top with special tires. Tires sewn from pieces of birch bark were called vices, while those sewn from deer skins, rovduga or fish skins were called nyuks. In the past, the Evenks built a fireplace inside their huts. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, an iron stove was installed; a hole was left for the chimney on the left side of the front façade pillar.

Log houses with a gable roof covered with bark were also used.

Currently, the majority of Evenks live in modern standard log houses. Traditional dwellings are used only for fishing.

Cloth

The outerwear of the Evenks in Siberia was very diverse. The main material for Evenki clothing is reindeer skin - gray-brown, white with dark, less often - white. Elk skin was also used. White deer skin and white camus were also used for decoration.

It is interesting to note that the clothing of the indigenous population corresponds to the climatic and geographical features of the area - confirmation of this is “tailcoats”. A certain place of residence, different climatic conditions of Siberia, as well as various types of their economic activities left their mark on the originality of the traditional costume. The peoples of northern Siberia were characterized by close-cut double fur clothing.

Evenki clothing is the same for men and women. Evenki men's and women's clothing differed only in the shape of the bib: the lower end of the male bib was in the form of a sharp cape, while that of the female one was straight.

The clothing was loose and was usually called “tailcoat” in the literature. Evenki clothing was also cut from one whole skin, but with converging flaps and with two narrow rectangular wedges sewn on the back from the waist down to the hem, in such a way that the central part of the skin covered the back, and the side parts of the skin were narrow shelves. In the upper part of the skin, the Evenks made vertical cuts-armholes for sewing in sleeves, and there were seams on the shoulders. With this clothing they always wore a special bib that protected the chest and stomach from the cold. They sewed clothes from rovduga and reindeer skins with the fur facing out. The sleeves were made narrow, with narrow armholes and gussets, with cuffs and sewn-on mittens. The Evenks cut out the hem of their clothing at the back with a cape, and it was longer than in front. Along the hem of the clothing, in half down from the waist, on the back from the shoulder along the armhole of the sleeve, a long fringe of goat hair was sewn, along which rainwater rolled down. Clothes were decorated with mosaics of fur strips, beads and strips of dyed rovdug and fabrics.

The most common outer winter clothing among all Evenki groups was the so-called “parka” (porkhy, porga), made from reindeer skins with the fur facing out, just like among the peoples of Northern Siberia. It was worn by both men and women. It was short, with straight converging flaps, tied with strings, with a separately cut back at the waist, which is why the Evenks made clothes from rovduga and cloth in the same cut.

The Transbaikal Evenks, in addition to the parka described above, also had women's outerwear, sewn from rovduga, paper and silk fabrics, in the form of a caftan with a straight cut in the front, with converging floors, with a back cut to the waist, its side panels in the waist part had cuts and were assembled into small assemblies. Turn-down collar. The decoration of Evenki clothing consisted of appliqué with fabric stripes and buttons.

The cut of this clothing is the so-called “Mongolian”, that is, the body of the clothing, cut from one piece of cloth thrown over the shoulders, was straight-backed, widening downward, the left floor covered the right, and the collar stood up. The sleeves, wide at the armhole, tapered to a specially cut cuff with a protrusion covering the back of the hand. Evenki women's clothing was cut off and gathered at the waist into gathers, looking like a jacket with a skirt, and the back of a married woman's clothing was cut to the waist, due to the rounded shape of the armholes, while in girls' clothing the same part of the clothing was cut like a kimono, that is, the front, back and part of the sleeves were cut out from one piece of fabric folded crosswise in half.

Shoes for the Evenks were olochs made of leather, cloth or rovduga in the summer and reindeer fur in the winter. The most common shoes of the Evenks were and are high boots, from the Evenk “unta” footwear, or another name for “torbasy”, fur shoes among the peoples of the North and Siberia.

In the harsh conditions of northern Siberia, the Evenki outfit necessarily included mittens, decorated at the request of the craftswoman.

The headdress of Evenki women is the bonnet. Children's and women's bonnets were decorated with ribbons tied under the chin.

Jewelry, decor

The practical use of Evenki clothing did not prevent them from decorating it with balls and circles made of mammoth bone, beads, and beads. Beads are always found on ancient clothing and household items of the peoples of the Far North. Clothes and bags were decorated with painting and embroidery, deer hair under the neck or a strip of beads along the contour of the painting, which emphasized the silhouette. If embroidery was used, it was usually placed along the seams and edges of clothing to prevent evil spirits from entering the clothing.

The fur parka did not have any decorations, clothes made from Evenki cloth were decorated with appliques in the form of strips of fabric and rows of copper buttons, the collar of the parka was mostly round and had a turn-down collar sewn onto it. A parka with a collar was common among the Evenks from the sources of the Podkamennaya and Nizhnyaya Tunguska Rivers, the Lena River, near the Ilimsky Lake Tompoko, among the Chumikansky and Transbaikal Evenks. In winter, a long scarf made from the tails of fur-bearing animals was wrapped around the neck and head, or a “nel” was worn.

The Evenki women brought a lot of imagination and ingenuity to the decoration of traditional Nel bibs, which are an important both constructive and decorative part of the Tunguska costume. It serves to protect the chest and throat from frost and wind, is worn under the caftan, around the neck and hangs down to the stomach. The women's bib is particularly beautiful. It is wide at the top, wider than at the bottom, covers the entire chest in width and has a pronounced neckline. Cloth appliqué and beaded embroidery at the collar and waistband form geometric, symmetrical shapes ending with colored accents on the chest. The coloring of Evenki beadwork is dominated by harmoniously combined colors - white, blue, gold, pink. Between the white, golden and blue stripes of beads, narrower black ones are laid, shading and separating them. It should be noted that the bib as part of the Tungus clothing goes back to ancient times - in the 1st millennium BC.

The Evenki ornament is strictly clear in structure and form, and complex in its composition. It consists of the simplest stripes, arcs or arches, circles, alternating squares, rectangles, zigzags, and cross-shaped figures. The variety of materials used in ornamentation, different colors of leather, fur, beads, fabrics carefully enrich this, at first glance, simple ornament and give the decorated objects a very elegant appearance.

In their art, Evenki craftswomen have long widely used colored cloth, rovduga, finely dressed deer skin in the form of suede, deer, elk, squirrel, sable, deer hair, their own dyes and colored threads made from deer tendons. A short, lightweight caftan that fits tightly to the figure, a bib, a belt, high fur boots, greaves, hats, and mittens are abundantly decorated with beads, embroidered with deer hair and colored threads, inlaid with pieces of fur, strips of leather and fabric of various colors, covered with weaving from straps, appliqué from pieces of colored fabrics and tin plaques. The decoration is purely constructive in nature: all these frames around the side, hem, cuffs, main seams of clothing, piping, piping emphasize the design of the item and create a rich texture.

Craftswomen use pieces of fur to create patterns on bibs, the backs of caftans, torsos and rugs. A common way to decorate all kinds of fur items is to combine stripes of white and dark fur. Sometimes stripes of one or another color along one edge are cut out with cloves, and stripes of a different color are sewn onto this edge.

Particularly interesting are the “kumalans” or rugs, specific Tungusic works of art. “Kumalans” have both an economic purpose, they cover packs when transporting on reindeer, cover things, and lay them in tents, as well as a ritual one - shaman rugs, necessary in Evenki family rituals. Evenks sew “Kumalans” from two or four skins from the front of a deer or elk. Pieces of lynx, fox, and bear fur are used for the edging and details. The sizes of "kumalans" range from 60-80 centimeters in width to 130-170 centimeters in length. Evenk craftswomen skillfully carved patterns from rovduga for high fur boots, caftans, mittens, pouches, as well as for pack bags, halters and other items of reindeer harness. All Evenki rovdu objects were decorated with flagellated straight seams with white under-neck deer hair, overstitched with tendon thread. The space between these suture flagella was painted with red, brown, and black paint.

Kumalan so reflects the national characteristics of the Evenks that even on the flag of the Evenki national district it finds a place for itself, having the appearance of an eight-rayed sun.

The ornament in Evenki clothing had a certain sacred power, instilling in the owner of this item a feeling of confidence and invulnerability, strength and courage. For example, the image of the sun or the spider ornament meant good wishes and had a protective function. The image of the sun is often used in the decoration of Evenki products. Technique of execution and decoration - fur mosaic, bead embroidery.

The semantics of decoration was determined by the cult of nature of Siberia. Circles with a dot in the center and without it in the form of rosettes on clothes are astral signs, symbols of the cosmos: the sun, stars, the structure of the world. The triangular ornament is a symbol of the female gender, associated with the idea and cult of fertility, concern for the continuation of the human race, and strengthening the power of the community.

It should be noted that the beliefs of the northern peoples of Siberia did not allow depicting people, animals and birds with anatomical accuracy. That is why there is a long series of symbols and allegories that can be read today, obtaining certain information as a result of decoding.

Current situation

The strongest blow to the traditional lifestyle of the Evenks of Transbaikalia, like many other aboriginal peoples of Siberia, was dealt in 1920-30. General collectivization and forced changes in the economic structure carried out by the Soviet government led to the fact that this distinctive ethnic group was on the verge of extinction. In the northern regions of Transbaikalia, complex socio-economic changes occurred, primarily associated with the construction of the Baikal-Amur Mainline. The demographic situation has changed significantly. Today, in the traditional places of residence of the Evenks of Transbaikalia, a significant number of representatives of other nationalities live.

The indigenous population largely moved away from the traditional economic way of life, adopting a way of life typical of modern industrial civilization.

Today, there is a steady downward trend in the natural increase in the number of Transbaikal Evenks, who now make up only 2.5% of the total population of the three northern districts of the Chita region.

The most important problem of the Evenks remains the problem of the lack of proper legal regulation - the status of the small indigenous peoples of Siberia. Currently, the legal framework is formed by federal laws: “On the fundamentals of state regulation of the socio-economic development of the North of the Russian Federation”, “On guarantees of the rights of indigenous peoples of the Russian Federation”, “On the general principles of organizing communities of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation”. Federation" and "On the territories of traditional environmental management of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation."

Along with federal legislation, a number of constituent entities of the Russian Federation adopted their own legal acts, also designed to regulate the rights of indigenous peoples and the regime of environmental management: “On the territories of traditional environmental management of indigenous peoples of the North in the Khabarovsk Territory” (1998); "On the legal status of the Evenki rural Councils of People's Deputies on the territory of the Buryat SSR" (1991); Law of the Republic of Sakha “On the nomadic tribal community of small peoples of the North” (1992). However, unlike many other subjects of the Russian Federation, Transbaikalia still does not have its own legislation defining the legal status of the Evenks, defining the boundaries of lands of traditional environmental management, the protection of territories of historical and cultural significance, as well as sacred places of the Evenks. Issues that are vitally important for the Evenks remain unresolved, such as the use of hunting and pasture lands and the allocation of ancestral lands.

Evenki are the indigenous people of the Russian Federation. They also live in Mongolia and northeast China. The self-name is Evenki, which became the official ethnonym in 1931, the old name is Tungus.

Separate groups of Evenks were known as Orochens, Birars, Manegrs, Solons. The language is Evenki, belongs to the Tungus-Manchu group of the Altai language family. There are three groups of dialects: northern, southern and eastern. Each dialect is divided into dialects. The Russian language is widespread; many Evenks living in Yakutia and Buryatia also speak Yakut and Buryat. Anthropologically, they present a rather motley picture, revealing a complex of features characteristic of the Baikal, Katanga and Central Asian types. According to the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, 1,272 Evenks live in the Irkutsk region.

Evenki: general information

The Evenks were formed on the basis of the mixing of the aborigines of Eastern Siberia with the Tungus tribes who came from the Baikal region and Transbaikalia. There is reason to consider the Transbaikalian Uvan people as the direct ancestors of the Evenki, who, according to Chinese chronicles (V-VII centuries AD), lived in the mountain taiga northeast of Barguzin and Selenga. The Uvani were not aborigines of Transbaikalia, but were a group of nomadic herders who came here from a more southern area. In the process of settling across the expanses of Siberia, the Tungus encountered local tribes and, ultimately, assimilated them. The peculiarities of the ethnic formation of the Tungus have led to the fact that they are characterized by three anthropological types, as well as three different economic and cultural groups: reindeer herders, cattle breeders and fishermen.

Historical background

II millennium BC - I millennium AD - human settlement of the Lower Tunguska valley. Sites of ancient people of the Neolithic era of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the middle reaches of the Podkamennaya Tunguska.

XII century - the beginning of the settlement of the Tungus throughout Eastern Siberia: from the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east to the Ob-Irtysh interfluve in the west, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Baikal region in the south.

Among the northern peoples not only of the Russian North, but also of the entire Arctic coast, the Evenks are the largest linguistic group: more than 26,000 people live on the territory of Russia, according to various sources, the same number in Mongolia and Manchuria.

With the creation of the Evenki Okrug, the name “Evenki” firmly entered into social, political and linguistic usage.

Doctor of Historical Sciences V.A. Tugolukov gave a figurative explanation for the name “Tungus” - walking across the ridges.

Since ancient times, the Tungus have settled from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Ob. Their way of life introduced changes in the names of clans not only based on geographical characteristics, but, more often, on household ones. The Evenks living along the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk were called Evens or, more often, Lamuts from the word “lama” - sea. The Transbaikal Evenks were called Murchens, because they were mainly engaged in horse breeding rather than reindeer herding. And the name of the horse is “mur”. The Evenki reindeer herders who settled in the interfluve of the three Tunguskas (Upper, Podkamennaya, or Middle, and Lower) and Angara called themselves Orochens - reindeer Tungus. And they all spoke and speak the same Tungus-Manchu language.

Most Tungus historians consider Transbaikalia and the Amur region to be the ancestral homeland of the Evenks. Many sources claim that they were forced out by the more warlike steppe inhabitants at the beginning of the 10th century. However, there is another point of view. Chinese chronicles mention that 4,000 years before the Evenks were forced out, the Chinese knew about a people who were the strongest among the “northern and eastern foreigners.” And these Chinese chronicles indicate coincidences in many features of that ancient people - the Sushens - with the later ones, known to us as the Tungus.

1581-1583 - the first mention of the Tungus as a people in the description of the Siberian kingdom.

The first explorers, explorers, and travelers spoke highly of the Tungus:

"helpful without servility, proud and courageous."

Khariton Laptev, who examined the shores of the Arctic Ocean between the Ob and Olenek, wrote:

“In courage, humanity, and sense, the Tungus are superior to all the nomadic people living in yurts.”

The exiled Decembrist V. Kuchelbecker called the Tungus “Siberian aristocrats,” and the first Yenisei governor A. Stepanov wrote:

"their costumes resemble the camisoles of the Spanish grandees..."

But we must not forget that the first Russian explorers also noted that “their spears and spears are made of stone and bone,” that they do not have iron utensils, and “they brew tea in wooden vats with hot stones, and bake meat only on coals...” And one more thing:

“There are no iron needles and they sew clothes and shoes with bone needles and deer veins.”

Second half of the 16th century. - penetration of Russian industrialists and hunters into the basins of the Taza, Turukhan and the mouth of the Yenisei rivers.

The proximity of two different cultures was interpenetrating. The Russians learned the skills of hunting, survival in northern conditions, and were forced to accept the moral standards and social life of the aborigines, especially since the newcomers took local women as wives and created mixed families.

Territory of settlement and number

The Evenks inhabit a vast territory from the left bank of the Yenisei in the West to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the East. The southern border of settlement runs along the left bank of the Amur and Angara. Administratively, the Evenks are settled within the borders of the Irkutsk, Chita, Amur and Sakhalin regions, the republics of Yakutia and Buryatia, the Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories. There are Evenks also in the Tomsk and Tyumen regions. In this gigantic territory, they do not constitute the majority of the population anywhere; they live in the same settlements along with Russians, Yakuts and other peoples.

The number of Evenks at the time of their entry into Russia (XVII century) was estimated at approximately 36,135 people. The most accurate data on their number was provided by the 1897 census - 64,500, while 34,471 people considered Tungusic their native language, the rest - Russian (31.8%), Yakut, Buryat and other languages.

Almost half of all Evenks in the Russian Federation live in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Here they are concentrated in Aldansky (1890 people), Bulunsky (2086), Zhigansky (1836), Oleneksky (2179) and Ust-Maisky (1945) uluses. In their national-territorial formation - the Evenki Autonomous Okrug - there are relatively few Evenks - 11.6% of their total number. There are enough of them in the Khabarovsk Territory. In other regions, approximately 4-5% of all Evenks live. In Evenkia, Yakutia, Buryatia, Chita, Irkutsk and Amur regions, Evenks predominate among other indigenous peoples of the North.

A characteristic feature of the Evenki settlement is dispersion. There are about a hundred settlements in the country where they live, but in most settlements their number ranges from several dozen to 150-200 people. There are few settlements where Evenks live in relatively large compact groups. This type of settlement has a negative impact on the ethnocultural development of the people.

Life, economy, cult

The main occupation of the “foot” or “sedentary” Evenks is hunting deer, elk, roe deer, musk deer, bear, etc. Later, commercial fur hunting spread. They hunted from autumn to spring, two or three people at a time. They walked in the taiga on bare skis (kingne, kigle) or lined with kamus (suksilla). Reindeer herders hunted on horseback.

Reindeer husbandry was mainly of transport importance. Reindeer were used for riding, for packing, and for milking. Small herds and free grazing predominated. After the end of the winter hunting season, several families usually united and migrated to places convenient for calving. The joint grazing of deer continued throughout the summer. In winter, during the hunting season, deer usually grazed near the camps where the hunters' families stayed. Migration took place each time to new places - in the summer along watersheds, in the winter along rivers; permanent paths led only to trading posts. Some groups had different types of sleds, borrowed from the Nenets and Yakuts.

"Equestrian" Evenks bred horses, camels, and sheep.

Fishing was of auxiliary importance, in the Baikal region, lake areas south of Lake Essey, in the upper Vilyui, in southern Transbaikalia and on the Okhotsk coast - also of commercial importance. Seals were also hunted on the Okhotsk coast and Lake Baikal.

They moved on water on rafts (temu), boats with a two-bladed oar - dugout, sometimes with plank sides (ongocho, utunngu) or birch bark (dyav); For crossings, the Orochens used a boat made of elk skin on a frame made on site (mureke).

Home processing of hides and birch bark (among women) was developed; Before the arrival of the Russians, blacksmithing was known, including to order. In Transbaikalia and the Amur region they partially switched to settled agriculture and cattle breeding. Modern Evenks mostly retain traditional hunting and reindeer herding. Since the 1930s Reindeer herding cooperatives were created, settled settlements were built, agriculture spread (vegetables, potatoes, and in the south - barley, oats). In the 1990s. Evenks began to organize into tribal communities.

The basis of traditional food is meat (wild animals, horse meat among the mounted Evenks) and fish. In the summer they consumed reindeer milk, berries, wild garlic and onions. They borrowed baked bread from the Russians: to the west of the Lena they baked sour dough balls in ash, and in the east they baked unleavened flatbreads. The main drink is tea, sometimes with reindeer milk or salt.

Winter camps consisted of 1-2 tents, summer camps - up to 10, and more during holidays. The chum (du) had a conical frame made of poles on a frame of poles, covered with nyuk tires made of rovduga or skins (in winter) and birch bark (in summer). When migrating, the frame was left in place. A fireplace was built in the center of the chum, and above it there was a horizontal pole for the cauldron. In some places, semi-dugouts, log dwellings borrowed from the Russians, the Yakut yurt-booth, in Transbaikalia - the Buryat yurt, and among the settled Birars of the Amur region - a quadrangular log dwelling of the fanza type were also known.

Traditional clothing consists of rovduzh or cloth natazniks (herki), leggings (aramus, gurumi), a swinging caftan made of deerskin, the hems of which were tied at the chest with ties; a bib with ties at the back was worn underneath it. The women's bib (nelly) was decorated with beads and had a straight bottom edge, while the men's (helmi) had an angle. Men wore a belt with a knife in a sheath, women - with a needle case, tinderbox and pouch. Clothes were decorated with strips of goat and dog fur, fringe, horsehair embroidery, metal plaques, and beads. Horse breeders of Transbaikalia wore a robe with a wide wrap to the left. Elements of Russian clothing spread.

Evenki communities united in the summer to jointly herd reindeer and celebrate holidays. They included several related families and numbered from 15 to 150 people. Forms of collective distribution, mutual assistance, hospitality, etc. were developed. For example, until the 20th century. a custom (nimat) has been preserved, obliging the hunter to give part of the catch to his relatives. At the end of the 19th century. small families predominated. Property was inherited through the male line. Parents usually stayed with their youngest son. Marriage was accompanied by the payment of bride price or labor for the bride. Levirates were known, and in rich families - polygamy (up to 5 wives). Until the 17th century There were known up to 360 patrilineal clans with an average of 100 people, governed by elders - “princes”. The kinship terminology retained the features of the classification system.

Cults of spirits, trade and clan cults, and shamanism were preserved. There were elements of the Bear Festival - rituals associated with cutting up the carcass of a killed bear, eating its meat, and burying its bones. Christianization of ‘wreaths’ has been carried out since the 17th century. In Transbaikalia and the Amur region there was a strong influence of Buddhism.

Folklore included improvised songs, mythological and historical epics, fairy tales about animals, historical and everyday legends, etc. The epic was performed as a recitative, and listeners often took part in the performance, repeating individual lines after the narrator. Separate groups of Evenks had their own epic heroes (soning). There were also constant heroes - comic characters in everyday stories. Among the musical instruments known are the jew's harp, the hunting bow, etc., and among the dances - the round dance (cheiro, sedio), performed to song improvisation. The games were in the nature of competitions in wrestling, shooting, running, etc. Artistic bone and wood carving, metal working (men), bead embroidery, silk embroidery among the Eastern Evenks, fur and fabric appliqué, and birch bark embossing (women) were developed.

Lifestyle and support system

Economically, the Evenks are noticeably different from other peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. First of all, they are reindeer hunters. The Evenk hunter spent a good half of his life riding a deer. The Evenki also had groups that hunted on foot, but in general it was the riding deer that was the main calling card of this people. Hunting played a leading role among most Evenki territorial groups. The hunting essence of the Evenk is clearly manifested even in such a secondary matter for him as fishing. Fishing for an Evenk is the same as hunting. For many years, their main fishing tools were a hunting bow with blunt arrows, which were used to kill fish, and a spear, a type of hunting spear. As the fauna depleted, the importance of fishing in the livelihood of the Evenks began to increase.

Reindeer husbandry of the Evenks is taiga, pack and riding. Free grazing and milking of females were practiced. Evenks are born nomads. The length of migrations of reindeer hunters reached hundreds of kilometers per year. Individual families covered distances of a thousand kilometers.

The traditional economy of the Evenks after collectivization and many other reorganizations during the Soviet period by the beginning of the 1990s. existed in two main variants: commercial hunting and transport reindeer husbandry, characteristic of a number of regions of Siberia and some regions of Yakutia, and large-scale reindeer herding and commercial farming, which developed mainly in Evenkia. The first type of economy developed within the framework of cooperative and state industrial enterprises (state industrial enterprises, koopzverpromhozy), the second - within the framework of reindeer herding state farms, focused on the production of marketable meat products. Fur trade was of secondary importance in them.

Ethno-social situation

The degradation of the traditional economy and the collapse of the production infrastructure in ethnic villages have extremely aggravated the ethno-social situation in the areas where the Evenks live. The most painful problem is unemployment. In the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, due to unprofitability, livestock farming has been completely eliminated, and with it dozens of jobs. A high level of unemployment is recorded in the Evenki districts of the Irkutsk region. Between 59 and 70% of Evenks are unemployed here.

Most Evenki villages do not have regular communications even with regional centers. Products are often imported only once a year along the winter road in an extremely limited assortment (flour, sugar, salt). In many villages, local power plants do not operate stably - there are no spare parts, no fuel, and electricity is supplied only a few hours a day.

In conditions of economic crisis, the health of the population is deteriorating. Disease prevention and measures to improve the health of the Evenks are carried out in a completely insufficient volume due to the lack of financial resources for the work of mobile medical teams, the purchase of medicines, and the maintenance of doctors of narrow specialties. Due to the lack of regular communication with regional centers, people cannot go to regional hospitals for treatment. Air ambulance operations have been reduced to a minimum.

Demographic indicators are worsening. In a number of regions, the birth rate has fallen sharply and the death rate has increased. In the Katanga region, for example, the Evenki mortality rate is more than twice as high as the birth rate. And this is a typical picture for all Evenk villages. In the structure of mortality of the indigenous population, the leading place is occupied by accidents, suicides, injuries and poisonings, mainly due to alcoholism.

Ethno-cultural situation

The modern social structure and the corresponding cultural environment in most areas where the Evenks live is a multi-layered pyramid. Its basis is a thin layer of permanent rural population, which, like 100 years ago, leads a nomadic economy. However, this layer is steadily shrinking, and along with it, the main core of bearers of traditional culture is shrinking.

A characteristic feature of the modern linguistic situation among the Evenks is mass bilingualism. The degree of proficiency in the native language varies in different age groups and in different regions. In general, 30.5% of Evenks consider the Evenki language to be their native language, 28.5% consider the Russian language, and more than 45% of Evenks are fluent in their language. Evenki writing was created in the late 1920s, and since 1937 it has been translated into the Russian alphabet. The literary Evenki language was based on the dialect of the Evenki of Podkamennaya Tunguska, but the literary language of the Evenki has not yet become supra-dialectal. Language teaching is carried out from grades 1 to 8, in primary school as a subject, later as an elective. Teaching the native language depends on the availability of personnel, and even more so on the language policy of local administrations. Pedagogical personnel are trained in pedagogical schools in Igarka and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, in Buryat, Yakut and Khabarovsk universities, in the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. Herzen in St. Petersburg. Radio broadcasts are conducted in the Evenki language in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and in Evenkia. In a number of areas, local radio broadcasts are carried out. In the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, a supplement to the district newspaper is published once a week. A huge amount of work to revive the native language is being carried out by Z.N. Pikunova, the main author of textbooks. In Sakha-Yakutia, the specialized Evenki school in the village of Yengri is famous.

Evenki public organizations are taking measures to revive traditional culture. The Republican Center of Evenki Culture “Arun” was formed in Buryatia, and the Association of Northern Cultures “Eglen” was formed in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Cultural centers operate in many schools in national villages where Evenks live. Republican television and radio of Yakutia and Buryatia broadcast programs dedicated to Evenki culture. In Buryatia, the Bolder festival is regularly held with the participation of Evenks from other regions and Mongolia. The national intelligentsia takes an active part in the work of public organizations: teachers, medical workers, lawyers, representatives of the creative intelligentsia. Evenk writers Alitet Nemtushkin and Nikolai Oegir are widely known in Russia. The main problem in the development of the ethnocultural life of the Evenks is their territorial disunity. The annual big Suglans, where representatives of all territorial groups would gather to discuss pressing issues of ethnic life, are the cherished dream of all Evenks. The economic situation in the country, however, makes this dream unrealizable for now.

Prospects for preserving the Evenks as an ethnic group

The prospects for the preservation of the Evenks as an ethnic system are quite optimistic. In comparison with other peoples close to them in culture, they have a relatively high number, which makes the problem of preserving them as an ethnic community not relevant. The main thing for them in modern conditions is the search for new criteria for self-identification. Many Evenki leaders associate the revival of their people with the possibilities of their own traditional culture, which seems to them to be completely self-sufficient, capable of not only surviving, but also successfully developing in conditions of coexistence with another external culture. The development of any nation has always occurred in conditions of continuous cultural borrowing. The Evenks are no exception in this regard. Their modern culture is a bizarre interweaving of tradition and innovation. Under these conditions, the Evenks have yet to find an optimal model for their future. However, like all the peoples of the North, their future ethnic fate will depend on the degree of preservation and development of traditional industries and cultural traditions.

Evenki buildings

Evenk camps.

The Evenks led a nomadic life as hunters and reindeer herders. By the beginning of the twentieth century. in the Lensko-Kirensky and Ilimsky regions, the Evenks switched to a semi-sedentary lifestyle. This affected the nature of their home. Evenki camps, depending on the season, were divided into winter, spring-autumn and summer. Families that were related usually settled in one camp. As part of the autumn-spring camp, there is a stationary tent - golomo, the frame of which is made of half-logs and covered with larch bark. The frame of the tent consisted of 25 - 40 poles, installed in a circle and tied at the top. They rested on 2, 4 or 6 main poles located inside. Chum tires were made from tanned deer skin, birch bark, and larch bark. The lower cover was made from 6 – 10 skins, the upper – from 2 – 4 skins. Summer tires - "vices" - were sewn from pieces of birch bark taken from 2 - 3 trees. The hearth in the plague was in the center, the smoke came out through the upper hole. A long transverse pole was attached above the hearth for hanging a boiler or kettle on the hearth hook. Inside, the tent was divided into three parts: the right - the female half, the left - the male half, the part opposite the entrance was intended for guests. The installation of the chum was carried out by women. When migrating, the Evenks took only tires with them, leaving the carcass unassembled. A new frame was installed in a new location.

Labaz delken

Labaz

Not far from the entrance to the tent there was a flooring made of poles on stilts, about 1.5 meters high. Nearby trees were cut down and carefully sanded, grooves were cut into them, on which thick transverse poles were installed, and a knurling of smaller poles was placed on them. Essential items were stored in such a storage shed: dishes, food, clothing, and tools. Untreated skins were laid on top of them in case of rain, so that things would not get wet.

Labaz noku

Evenk barns for storing food and belongings were noku sheds - wooden log huts with a gable roof covered with larch bark. The log house was installed on piles 1 to 2 meters high. We climbed onto the storage shed using a log with steps hollowed out in it. This was done so that the animals would not steal things and food. The sanded piles were smooth, and rodents could not climb on them, and the smell of food and things did not spread along the ground. According to the diaries of Siberian researchers, in the event of an attack by enemies or wild animals, the Tungus would climb into a storage shed and hold the defense there, shooting back with a bow and stabbing the enemy with a spear. So, the noku storage shed was originally not only an outbuilding. For passive hunting of fur-bearing animals, traps (mouth traps) called langs were placed near the camps. The basis of the summer camp consists of portable rovduga plagues (rovduga - deer or elk chamois among the peoples of Siberia), a fire-smoke to protect deer from midges, devices for drying and repairing nets, for removing fat from animal skins, as well as a primitive forge.

Folk art

- skilled craftsmen, intricately combine fur, birch bark, wood and, oddly enough, beads. Almost all the utensils and clothing of the Evenks are decorated with beads. Beads are used in ritual ceremonies of shamans and are even part of the reindeer harness, an excellent head decoration for deer.

The practical use of clothing did not interfere with decorating it with balls and circles made of mammoth bone, beads, and beads. Beads are always found on ancient clothing and household items of the peoples of the Far North. Clothes and bags were decorated with painting and embroidery, deer hair under the neck or a strip of beads along the contour of the painting, which emphasized the silhouette. If embroidery was used, then, as a rule, it was located along the seams and edges of the clothes to prevent the penetration of evil spirits into the clothes.

Evenki ornament is strictly geometric, clear in structure and form, complex in its composition. It consists of the simplest stripes, arcs or arches, circles, alternating squares, rectangles, zigzags, and cross-shaped figures. The variety of materials used in ornamentation, different colors of leather, fur, beads, and fabrics carefully enrich this seemingly simple ornament and give the decorated objects a very elegant appearance.

In their art, Evenk craftswomen have long widely used colored cloth, rovduga (finely dressed deer skin in the form of suede), deer, elk, squirrel, sable, deer hair, their own dyes and colored threads made from deer tendons. A short, lightweight caftan that fits tightly to the figure, a bib, a belt, high fur boots, greaves, hats, and mittens are abundantly decorated with beads, embroidered with deer hair and colored threads, inlaid with pieces of fur, strips of leather and fabric of various colors, covered with weaving from straps, appliqué from pieces of colored fabrics and tin plaques. The decoration is purely constructive in nature: all these frames around the side, hem, cuffs, main seams of clothing, piping, piping emphasize the design of the item and create a rich texture. The semantics of decoration was determined by the cult of nature. Circles with a dot in the center and without it in the form of rosettes on clothes are astral signs, symbols of the cosmos: the sun, stars, the structure of the world. The triangular ornament is a symbol of the female gender, associated with the idea and cult of fertility, concern for the continuation of the human race, and strengthening the power of the community.

Evenki are the indigenous people of the Russian Federation. They also live in Mongolia and northeast China. Self-name - Evenki, which became the official ethnonym in 1931, the old name - Tungus. Separate groups of Evenks were known as orochen, birary, manegry, solon. The language is Evenki, belongs to the Tungus-Manchu group of the Altai language family. There are three groups of dialects: northern, southern and eastern. Each dialect is divided into dialects. The Russian language is widespread; many Evenks living in Yakutia and Buryatia also speak Yakut and Buryat. Anthropologically, they present a rather motley picture, revealing a complex of features characteristic of the Baikal, Katanga and Central Asian types. According to the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, 1,272 Evenks live in the territory.

Evenki: general information

The Evenks were formed on the basis of the mixing of the aborigines of Eastern Siberia with the Tungus tribes who came from the Baikal region and Transbaikalia. There is reason to consider the Transbaikalian Uvan people as the direct ancestors of the Evenki, who, according to Chinese chronicles (V-VII centuries AD), lived in the mountain taiga northeast of Barguzin and Selenga. The Uvani were not aborigines of Transbaikalia, but were a group of nomadic herders who came here from a more southern area. In the process of settling across the expanses of Siberia, the Tungus encountered local tribes and, ultimately, assimilated them. The peculiarities of the ethnic formation of the Tungus have led to the fact that they are characterized by three anthropological types, as well as three different economic and cultural groups: reindeer herders, cattle breeders and fishermen.

Historical background

II millennium BC - I millennium AD - human settlement of the Lower Tunguska valley. Sites of ancient people of the Neolithic era of the Bronze and Iron Ages in the middle reaches of the Podkamennaya Tunguska.

XII century - the beginning of the settlement of the Tungus throughout Eastern Siberia: from the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east to the Ob-Irtysh interfluve in the west, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Baikal region in the south.

Among the northern peoples not only of the Russian North, but also of the entire Arctic coast, the Evenks are the largest linguistic group: more than 26,000 people live on the territory of Russia, according to various sources, the same number in Mongolia and Manchuria.

With the creation of the Evenki Okrug, the name “Evenki” firmly entered into social, political and linguistic usage.

Doctor of Historical Sciences V.A. Tugolukov gave a figurative explanation for the name “Tungus” - walking across the ridges.

Since ancient times, the Tungus have settled from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Ob. Their way of life introduced changes in the names of clans not only based on geographical characteristics, but, more often, on household ones. The Evenks living along the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk were called Evens or, more often, Lamuts from the word “lama” - sea. The Transbaikal Evenks were called Murchens, because they were mainly engaged in horse breeding rather than reindeer herding. And the name of the horse is “mur”. Evenki reindeer herders settled in the interfluve of the three Tunguskas (Upper, Podkamennaya, or Middle, and Lower) and called themselves Orochens - reindeer Tungus. And they all spoke and speak the same Tungus-Manchu language.

Most Tungus historians consider Transbaikalia and the Amur region to be the ancestral homeland of the Evenks. Many sources claim that they were forced out by the more warlike steppe inhabitants at the beginning of the 10th century. However, there is another point of view. Chinese chronicles mention that 4,000 years before the Evenks were forced out, the Chinese knew about a people who were the strongest among the “northern and eastern foreigners.” And these Chinese chronicles indicate coincidences in many features of that ancient people - the Sushens - with the later ones, known to us as the Tungus.

1581-1583 - the first mention of the Tungus as a people in the description of the Siberian kingdom.

The first explorers, explorers, and travelers spoke highly of the Tungus:

"helpful without servility, proud and courageous."

Khariton Laptev, who examined the shores of the Arctic Ocean between the Ob and Olenek, wrote:

“In courage, humanity, and sense, the Tungus are superior to all the nomadic people living in yurts.”

The exiled Decembrist V. Kuchelbecker called the Tungus “Siberian aristocrats,” and the first Yenisei governor A. Stepanov wrote:

"their costumes resemble the camisoles of the Spanish grandees..."

But we must not forget that the first Russian explorers also noted that " their spears and spears are made of stone and bone"that they do not have iron utensils, and" tea is boiled in wooden vats with hot stones, and meat is baked only on coals..." And one more thing:

“There are no iron needles and they sew clothes and shoes with bone needles and deer veins.”

Second half of the 16th century. - penetration of Russian industrialists and hunters into the basins of the Taza, Turukhan and the mouth of the Yenisei rivers.

The proximity of two different cultures was interpenetrating. The Russians learned the skills of hunting, survival in northern conditions, and were forced to accept the moral standards and social life of the aborigines, especially since the newcomers took local women as wives and created mixed families.

Territory of settlement and number

The Evenks inhabit a vast territory from the left bank of the Yenisei in the West to the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the East. The southern border of settlement runs along the left bank of the Amur and. Administratively, the Evenks are settled within the borders of the Irkutsk, Chita, Amur and Sakhalin regions, the republics of Yakutia and Buryatia, the Krasnoyarsk and Khabarovsk territories. There are Evenks also in the Tomsk and Tyumen regions. In this gigantic territory, they do not constitute the majority of the population anywhere; they live in the same settlements along with Russians, Yakuts and other peoples.

The number of Evenks at the time of their entry into Russia (XVII century) was estimated at approximately 36,135 people. The most accurate data on their number was provided by the 1897 census - 64,500, while 34,471 people considered Tungusic their native language, the rest - Russian (31.8%), Yakut, Buryat and other languages.

Almost half of all Evenks in the Russian Federation live in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Here they are concentrated in Aldansky (1890 people), Bulunsky (2086), Zhigansky (1836), Oleneksky (2179) and Ust-Maisky (1945) uluses. In their national-territorial formation - the Evenki Autonomous Okrug - there are relatively few Evenks - 11.6% of their total number. There are enough of them in the Khabarovsk Territory. In other regions, approximately 4-5% of all Evenks live. In Evenkia, Yakutia, Buryatia, Chita, Irkutsk and Amur regions, Evenks predominate among other indigenous peoples of the North.

A characteristic feature of the Evenki settlement is dispersion. There are about a hundred settlements in the country where they live, but in most settlements their number ranges from several dozen to 150-200 people. There are few settlements where Evenks live in relatively large compact groups. This type of settlement has a negative impact on the ethnocultural development of the people.

Life, economy, cult

The main occupation of the “foot” or “sedentary” Evenks is hunting deer, elk, roe deer, musk deer, bear, etc. Later, commercial fur hunting spread. They hunted from autumn to spring, two or three people at a time. They walked in the taiga on bare skis (kingne, kigle) or lined with kamus (suksilla). Reindeer herders hunted on horseback.

Reindeer husbandry was mainly of transport importance. Reindeer were used for riding, for packing, and for milking. Small herds and free grazing predominated. After the end of the winter hunting season, several families usually united and migrated to places convenient for calving. The joint grazing of deer continued throughout the summer. In winter, during the hunting season, deer usually grazed near the camps where the hunters' families stayed. Migration took place each time to new places - in the summer along watersheds, in the winter along rivers; permanent paths led only to trading posts. Some groups had different types of sleds, borrowed from the Nenets and Yakuts.

"Equestrian" Evenks bred horses, camels, and sheep.

Fishing was of auxiliary importance, in the Baikal region, lake areas south of Lake Essey, in the upper Vilyui, in southern Transbaikalia and on the Okhotsk coast - also of commercial importance. On the Okhotsk coast they also hunted seals.

They moved on water on rafts ( topic), boats with a two-bladed oar - dugout, sometimes with plank sides (ongocho, utunngu) or birch bark (dyav); Orochens for crossings used a boat made of elk skin on a frame made on site ( mureke).

Home processing of hides and birch bark (among women) was developed; Before the arrival of the Russians, blacksmithing was known, including to order. In Transbaikalia and the Amur region they partially switched to settled agriculture and cattle breeding. Modern Evenks mostly retain traditional hunting and reindeer herding. Since the 1930s Reindeer herding cooperatives were created, settled settlements were built, agriculture spread (vegetables, potatoes, and in the south - barley, oats). In the 1990s. Evenks began to organize into tribal communities.

The basis of traditional food is meat (wild animals, horse meat among the mounted Evenks) and fish. In the summer they consumed reindeer milk, berries, wild garlic and onions. They borrowed baked bread from the Russians: to the west of the Lena they baked sour dough balls in ash, and in the east they baked unleavened flatbreads. The main drink is tea, sometimes with reindeer milk or salt.

Winter camps consisted of 1-2 tents, summer camps - up to 10, and more during holidays. The chum (du) had a conical frame made of poles on a frame of poles, covered with nyuk tires made of rovduga or skins (in winter) and birch bark (in summer). When migrating, the frame was left in place. A fireplace was built in the center of the chum, and above it there was a horizontal pole for the cauldron. In some places, semi-dugouts, log dwellings borrowed from the Russians, the Yakut yurt-booth, in Transbaikalia - the Buryat yurt, and among the settled Birars of the Amur region - a quadrangular log dwelling of the fanza type were also known.

Traditional clothing consists of rovduzh or cloth natazniks (herki), leggings ( aramus, gurumi), an open caftan made of deerskin, the hems of which were tied at the chest with ties; a bib with ties at the back was worn underneath it. Women's bib ( Nellie) was decorated with beads, had a straight lower edge, masculine ( halmi) - angle. Men wore a belt with a knife in a sheath, women - with a needle case, tinderbox and pouch. Clothes were decorated with strips of goat and dog fur, fringe, horsehair embroidery, metal plaques, and beads. Horse breeders of Transbaikalia wore a robe with a wide wrap to the left. Elements of Russian clothing spread.

Evenki communities united in the summer to jointly herd reindeer and celebrate holidays. They included several related families and numbered from 15 to 150 people. Forms of collective distribution, mutual assistance, hospitality, etc. were developed. For example, until the 20th century. a custom (nimat) has been preserved, obliging the hunter to give part of the catch to his relatives. At the end of the 19th century. small families predominated. Property was inherited through the male line. Parents usually stayed with their youngest son. Marriage was accompanied by the payment of bride price or labor for the bride. Levirates were known, and in rich families - polygamy (up to 5 wives). Until the 17th century There were known up to 360 patrilineal clans with an average of 100 people, governed by elders - “princes”. The kinship terminology retained the features of the classification system.

Cults of spirits, trade and clan cults were preserved. There were elements of the Bear Festival - rituals associated with cutting up the carcass of a killed bear, eating its meat, and burying its bones. Christianization of ‘wreaths’ has been carried out since the 17th century. In Transbaikalia and the Amur region there was a strong influence of Buddhism.

Folklore included improvised songs, mythological and historical epics, fairy tales about animals, historical and everyday legends, etc. The epic was performed as a recitative, and listeners often took part in the performance, repeating individual lines after the narrator. Separate groups of Evenks had their own epic heroes (soning). There were also constant heroes - comic characters in everyday stories. Among the musical instruments known are the jew's harp, the hunting bow, etc., and among the dances - the round dance ( Cheiro, Sedio), performed to song improvisation. The games were in the nature of competitions in wrestling, shooting, running, etc. Artistic bone and wood carving, metal working (men), bead embroidery, silk embroidery among the Eastern Evenks, fur and fabric appliqué, and birch bark embossing (women) were developed.

Lifestyle and support system

Economically, the Evenks are noticeably different from other peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. First of all, they are reindeer hunters. The Evenk hunter spent a good half of his life riding a deer. The Evenki also had groups that hunted on foot, but in general it was the riding deer that was the main calling card of this people. Hunting played a leading role among most Evenki territorial groups. The hunting essence of the Evenk is clearly manifested even in such a secondary matter for him as fishing. Fishing for an Evenk is the same as hunting. For many years, their main fishing tools were a hunting bow with blunt arrows, which were used to kill fish, and a spear, a type of hunting spear. As the fauna depleted, the importance of fishing in the livelihood of the Evenks began to increase.

Reindeer husbandry of the Evenks is taiga, pack and riding. Free grazing and milking of females were practiced. Evenks are born nomads. The length of migrations of reindeer hunters reached hundreds of kilometers per year. Individual families covered distances of a thousand kilometers.

The traditional economy of the Evenks after collectivization and many other reorganizations during the Soviet period by the beginning of the 1990s. existed in two main variants: commercial hunting and transport reindeer husbandry, characteristic of a number of regions of Siberia and some regions of Yakutia, and large-scale reindeer herding and commercial farming, which developed mainly in Evenkia. The first type of economy developed within the framework of cooperative and state industrial enterprises (state industrial enterprises, koopzverpromhozy), the second - within the framework of reindeer herding state farms, focused on the production of marketable meat products. Fur trade was of secondary importance in them.

Ethno-social situation

The degradation of the traditional economy and the collapse of the production infrastructure in ethnic villages have extremely aggravated the ethno-social situation in the areas where the Evenks live. The most painful problem is unemployment. In the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, due to unprofitability, livestock farming has been completely eliminated, and with it dozens of jobs. A high level of unemployment is recorded in the Evenki districts of the Irkutsk region. Between 59 and 70% of Evenks are unemployed here.

Most Evenki villages do not have regular communications even with regional centers. Products are often imported only once a year along the winter road in an extremely limited assortment (flour, sugar, salt). In many villages, local power plants do not operate stably - there are no spare parts, no fuel, and electricity is supplied only a few hours a day.

In conditions of economic crisis, the health of the population is deteriorating. Disease prevention and measures to improve the health of the Evenks are carried out in a completely insufficient volume due to the lack of financial resources for the work of mobile medical teams, the purchase of medicines, and the maintenance of doctors of narrow specialties. Due to the lack of regular communication with regional centers, people cannot go to regional hospitals for treatment. Air ambulance operations have been reduced to a minimum.

Demographic indicators are worsening. In a number of regions, the birth rate has fallen sharply and the death rate has increased. In, for example, the Evenki mortality rate is more than twice as high as the birth rate. And this is a typical picture for all Evenk villages. In the structure of mortality of the indigenous population, the leading place is occupied by accidents, suicides, injuries and poisonings, mainly due to alcoholism.

Ethno-cultural situation

The modern social structure and the corresponding cultural environment in most areas where the Evenks live is a multi-layered pyramid. Its basis is a thin layer of permanent rural population, which, like 100 years ago, leads a nomadic economy. However, this layer is steadily shrinking, and along with it, the main core of bearers of traditional culture is shrinking.

A characteristic feature of the modern linguistic situation among the Evenks is mass bilingualism. The degree of proficiency in the native language varies in different age groups and in different regions. In general, 30.5% of Evenks consider the Evenki language to be their native language, 28.5% consider the Russian language, and more than 45% of Evenks are fluent in their language. Evenki writing was created in the late 1920s, and since 1937 it has been translated into the Russian alphabet. The literary Evenki language was based on the dialect of the Evenki of Podkamennaya Tunguska, but the literary language of the Evenki has not yet become supra-dialectal. Language teaching is carried out from grades 1 to 8, in primary school as a subject, later as an elective. Teaching the native language depends on the availability of personnel, and even more so on the language policy of local administrations. Pedagogical personnel are trained in pedagogical schools in Igarka and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, in Buryat, Yakut and Khabarovsk universities, in the Russian State Pedagogical University named after. Herzen in St. Petersburg. Radio broadcasts are conducted in the Evenki language in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and in Evenkia. In a number of areas, local radio broadcasts are carried out. In the Evenki Autonomous Okrug, a supplement to the district newspaper is published once a week. A huge amount of work to revive the native language is being carried out by Z.N. Pikunova, the main author of textbooks. In Sakha-Yakutia, the specialized Evenki school in the village of Yengri is famous.

Evenki public organizations are taking measures to revive traditional culture. The Republican Center of Evenki Culture “Arun” was formed in Buryatia, and the Association of Northern Cultures “Eglen” was formed in the Krasnoyarsk Territory. Cultural centers operate in many schools in national villages where Evenks live. Republican television and radio of Yakutia and Buryatia broadcast programs dedicated to Evenki culture. In Buryatia, the Bolder festival is regularly held with the participation of Evenks from other regions and Mongolia. The national intelligentsia takes an active part in the work of public organizations: teachers, medical workers, lawyers, representatives of the creative intelligentsia. Evenki writers, Nikolai Oegir, are widely known in Russia. The main problem in the development of the ethnocultural life of the Evenks is their territorial disunity. The annual big Suglans, where representatives of all territorial groups would gather to discuss pressing issues of ethnic life, are the cherished dream of all Evenks. The economic situation in the country, however, makes this dream unrealizable for now.

Prospects for preserving the Evenks as an ethnic group

The prospects for the preservation of the Evenks as an ethnic system are quite optimistic. In comparison with other peoples close to them in culture, they have a relatively high number, which makes the problem of preserving them as an ethnic community not relevant. The main thing for them in modern conditions is the search for new criteria for self-identification. Many Evenki leaders associate the revival of their people with the possibilities of their own traditional culture, which seems to them to be completely self-sufficient, capable of not only surviving, but also successfully developing in conditions of coexistence with another external culture. The development of any nation has always occurred in conditions of continuous cultural borrowing. The Evenks are no exception in this regard. Their modern culture is a bizarre interweaving of tradition and innovation. Under these conditions, the Evenks have yet to find an optimal model for their future. However, like all the peoples of the North, their future ethnic fate will depend on the degree of preservation and development of traditional industries and cultural traditions.

The Evenki are one of the most numerous northern peoples who have preserved their identity and traditional religious beliefs. The Evenks were called the aristocrats of Siberia, the French of the tundra and taiga. They also wore tailcoats, gave life to the word “shaman” and considered ravens to be enchanted people.

Name

Until the 30s of the last century, the Evenks were known as the Tungus. This name comes from the Yakut toҥ uus; the exonym was subsequently adopted by the Russians, reflecting it in reporting and historical documents.
The self-name of the Evenks is Evenkil, which is translated as “people living in mountain forests” or “walking across the ridges.” It is believed that the name came from the habitat of the ancient Evenki tribes in the mountain taiga territories of Transbaikalia. Another well-known self-name of the ethnic groups of Evenki reindeer herders is Orochens. It comes from the Evenk “oron” - deer, orochen - “a person who owns a deer”. Individual groups of the ethnic group had their own names: Solons, Manegras, Birars.
Other peoples had their own names for Evenks:

• kilin, qilin, o-lunchun (from “orochen”) - Chinese;
• Orochnun - Manchus;
• hamnegan - Mongols;
• Tongus - Tatars.

Where do they live?

Before the Russians began to develop Transbaikalia, the Evenki, leading a nomadic lifestyle, occupied vast territories from the border with China to the Arctic Ocean, from the Yenisei to Kamchatka. Such a wide distribution is explained by the tendency to constant long-term migrations: from several hundred to a thousand kilometers per season. Each Evenk accounted for 25 km2 of undeveloped territory. Representatives of the people considered the whole earth to be home and said: “Evenks are nowhere and everywhere.”

Since the 17th century, Russians, Buryats, and Yakuts have been displacing the Evenks from the territories of Barguzin, Angara, and the left bank of the Amur. Some Evenks move to Sakhalin and occupy the free territories of the Ob and Taz. The borders of Russia and China are established: this leads to the migration of Birars and Manegros to Northern China.
Today, the Evenks do not have national villages, living in close proximity to the Russian and northern peoples. The general boundaries of settlement of most of the representatives of the nationality are delineated by the following boundaries:

1. North - Arctic Ocean.
2. South - Amur River, territories of the Baikal region.
3. East - Sea of ​​Okhotsk.
4. West - Yenisei River.

Number

The total number of Evenks in the world is about 80,000 people: half live in Russia, the other part in China. According to the 2010 census, there are 35,527 Evenks in Russia. Distribution by region:

• Yakutia - 18,232 people.
• Krasnoyarsk Territory - 4,632 people.
• Khabarovsk Territory - 4,533 people.
• Buryatia - 2,334 people.
• Amur region - 1,501 people
• Trans-Baikal Territory - 1492 people.
• Irkutsk region - 1,431 people

The 2000 Chinese census showed 38,396 representatives of historical Evenks in China. Formally, they are divided into 2 subethnic groups, officially recognized among other nations of the PRC:

1. Orochon - 8196 people living in Inner Mongolia, Heilongjiang and Liaoning provinces.
2. Evenki - 30,505 people, from which separate groups of Evenki proper, Khamnigans and Solons are distinguished. They live in the urban district of Hulun Buir, about 25,000 people are registered as solons. About 1,000 Evenks live scatteredly in Mongolia, having undergone significant assimilation and having lost their cultural characteristics.

There is a people related to the Evenks - the Evens, who live in the eastern part of Russia: in Yakutia, Chukotka, Magadan and Kamchatka regions, Koryak Autonomous Okrug. There are two versions of the appearance of the ethnic group:

1. In the first millennium AD, during the period of settlement of the Tungus from the Baikal region, a separate group of clans reached the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, where they assimilated the local population: the Yukaghirs and Koryaks.
2. In the XIV-XVI centuries, the walking Tungus, who were engaged in dog breeding and did not have deer, were forced to migrate to the north under the influence of the aggressive development of territories by the Yakuts.

The 2010 census showed that 21,830 Evens live in Russia. Another common name for the people is Lamut.

Language

The Evenki language belongs to the Tungus-Manchu family, along with Negidal and Even. It can be characterized as a transitional variant between the Turkic and Mongolian languages. It is distinguished by a complex multi-stage use of vowel sounds, an abundance of complex words: gerunds, case, verb forms.
Writing appeared in the 30s of the last century, first based on Latin, then Russian graphics. Previously, the Evenks used primitive pictograms: a system of signs associated with nomadism and hunting. Notches in the trees near the abandoned camp indicated the time of departure: a blunt tooth meant bad weather, a sharp tooth meant a sunny day. Their number and combination determined the time of departure for migration. If the people who left did not plan to return, a spruce branch was placed in the direction of the path of movement. A branch folded in a circle meant the intention to return to the site of the camp again.
Special signs existed during the hunt:

• a stick placed on top of the footprint - you can’t go further;
• an arrow pointing downwards, sticking out of a notch - crossbows are placed nearby;
• a slightly beveled arrow, pointing upward - the hunter left the arrow far away;
• a branch in the same position means hunting is going on nearby.

Story

The ancient ancestors of the Evenks were the ancient Tungus Mongoloid tribes, who formed the Glazkov culture in the Bronze Age. Scattered tribes occupied the territories of the Angara region, the Baikal region, the lower reaches of the Selenga, and the upper reaches of the Lena. In the 5th-7th centuries AD, the nomadic herders of the Uvan tribe who came from the south, migrated through Transbaikalia, moved east and north, forming the proto-Evenki people.
At the end of the first millennium, the Yakuts invaded the region, presumably dividing the ethnic group into eastern Evenks and western Evenks.
When Russians arrived in the region in the 17th century, the Evenks formed an independent people, divided into separate clans. Each was headed by princes - elders, shamans or the most powerful warriors of the clan. The reporting documents noted about 360 births, each with 100-400 people.
The Tungus were stronger than other northern peoples in opposing the new government. They moved from the place of migration, entered into clashes, one report noted: “The Lena Tunguz in 1640 plucked the beards of yasak collectors.” The Baikal groups of Evenks submitted in 1643, the eastern ones who lived under Vitim only in 1657.

One of the most influential princes was Gantimir, under whose rule were 15 nomadic clans belonging to the branch of the mounted Tungus. Gantimir was an extraordinary personality: he had 9 wives, more than 30 children, who were trained in military wisdom and handling weapons from childhood. The prince was of remarkable strength and powerful physique: his bow of impressive size is kept in the Amur Museum.
Gantimir had a decisive influence on the establishment of partnerships with the Russian state in the 80s. XVII century having accepted Christianity and citizenship of Russia. The ruler achieved the right to autonomously rule the people, in return he pledged to protect the borders from Mongol raids and provide, if necessary, trained warriors. A century later, a five-hundred-strong Tunguska Cossack cavalry regiment was created, which in the middle of the 19th century was included in the Transbaikal cavalry army.
The Evenks did not accept the arrival of Soviet power; in 1924-1925. starting the Tunguska uprising, which was quickly suppressed. In the 1930s. Teaching in the Evenki language begins in local schools. At the same time, collective farms and city industrial farms were created, a sedentary way of life was imposed on the people: the way of life that had existed for centuries was destroyed, assimilation erased national characteristics. Today, traditional activities, including nomadic reindeer herding, are preserved only in inaccessible northern regions. Most Evenks lead a modern lifestyle, practicing only hunting among their usual activities.

Appearance and character

Mixing with a number of aboriginal and neighboring peoples, as well as a significant area of ​​settlement, led to the identification of three anthropological types of appearance among the Evenks. Among them:

1. Baikalsky.
2. Katangese.
3. Central Asian.

Despite the differences, the following characteristic features of the appearance of the Tungus are distinguished:

• average height;
• disproportionate physique;
• rounded face shape;
• wide arched eyebrows;
• narrow dark brown eyes;
• wide flat forehead;
• prominent cheekbones;
• pointed chin;
• wide mouth;
• black coarse hair;
• weak hair on the face and body.

Ethnographers, researchers, and Cossacks who came to the region noted the Evenks’ mobility of body, sharpness of mind, good nature bordering on naivety, good-heartedness, hospitality, cheerful disposition, and cleanliness. According to the researchers’ notes, “in contrast to the clumsy Ostyak, the gloomy Samoyed, the inhospitable and sour Yakut, the Evenks made a more pleasant impression, for which they were nicknamed “the French of the tundra and forest.”

Cloth

The Evenks were also called “aristocrats of Siberia” for the rich decoration of their national costumes. Everyday clothing was called “in theme” - a tailcoat, for its unusual cut: a whole deer skin was placed in the central part on the back, tied at the front with braid. Holes were cut out in the upper side parts for the sleeves, which were sewn on separately, the shoulder seams were gathered, and wedges made of deer skins reaching to the floor were sewn into the back.
The upper front part remained open: under it the Evenks wore fur bibs richly decorated with beads. The lower part was covered with natazniks made of rovduga: straight for women, angular for men. High boots made of rovduga, sealskin, and fur were put on their feet: the functional shoes of the Evenks were adopted by many neighboring peoples. In everyday life, simple straight-cut parkas were used, sewn from deer skins turned with the fur on the outside. Their heads were covered with hoods. The hair of men and women was cut short or braided into two braids. Jewelry included voluminous women's earrings, pendants, and talisman pendants.
The decoration of the bib and fur coat deserves special attention: dog and deer fur, beads, beads, coins, embroidery, and fur appliques were used. Ornaments had a sacred meaning: it was forbidden to transfer exact images of animals, birds and people onto things, so allegorical symbols were used. Triangles were associated with the cult of fertility, childbirth, and the strength of the tribal community. Solar signs and schematic representations of spiders - symbols of well-being, guardians - were of great importance.

Family life

The Evenks lived in patriarchal communities consisting of 2-3 generations; the youngest son usually remained to live with his parents. The elders got married and left their father's house for new places. The clan played a decisive role and consisted of small families connected by close and distant kinship through the male line. In the summer, when the due date for the birth of important women arrived, related families gathered in a common camp: joint holidays, festivities, weddings took place, and family relationships were strengthened. In winter, small families went nomadic, uniting in 2-3 chums.
The marriageable age for men came late: at 20-30 years old. They preferred to marry women who were experienced and over 20 years old, but there were marriages with girls 12-15 years old. Weddings took place by agreement with the payment of a dowry, which included one of three forms:

1. Deer (from 2 to 15).
2. Working out in the bride's family.
3. Sister exchange between two families.

Women

Premarital relations were not prohibited, but brides who led a free lifestyle before marriage were given a smaller bride price. In the life of the Evenks, a woman had a dependent position: she was forbidden to eat with guests, contradict her husband, step over weapons, participate in public affairs, or inherit property. Elderly women were respected: in the Evenki beliefs, the mistress of the earth and taiga, the spirit of the Universe, was a woman, represented in the form of a hunched old woman.

There were special family rituals that only the wife could perform. The woman was the keeper of the hearth: she made sure that it did not go out, she was engaged in feeding - she threw meat into the fire after the hunt, before eating. The Ulgani ritual, dedicated to welcoming spring migratory birds, occupied an important place. The ritual was performed by elderly women: the Evenks associated the annual arrival of birds with the cycle of life, and experienced women who gave birth carried the eternal connection of birth and death. The action consisted of tying colored ribbons on sacred trees or family idols, asking for well-being, and greeting the messengers of spring.

Housing

The traditional dwelling of the Evenks is a conical-shaped chum-urus. The base of tightly assembled poles was covered with reindeer skins in winter. In the summer - smoked and soaked birch bark blankets: processing the material gave softness, strength, and made it waterproof. When leaving the site, they kept the base of poles and took skins, birch bark, and utensils with them.
In the center of the Urus there was an open hearth or fireplace covered with clay; a pole for the boiler was placed on top. The back of the chum was intended for guests of honor; women were not allowed to enter it. Sedentary Evenks lived in half-dugouts with a flat roof, herders built yurts, like the Mongol ones.

Life

The Evenki assimilated the indigenous northern peoples and were influenced by the Buryats and Yakuts, which led to the emergence of branches of different types of economic activity:

1. Walking dog breeders engaged in fishing.
2. Hunters and reindeer herders.
3. Sedentary pastoralists.

Most of the Evenks led a nomadic lifestyle associated with the development of new hunting grounds. They moved between sites on reindeer: this method of using animals is the “calling card” of the Evenks. Deer were used as pack animals; the herd usually consisted of 3-5 heads.

They hunted individually; they hunted large animals in groups of 3-5 people. They used bows, crossbows, spears, and tracked elk, deer, bears, hares, and sables. For camouflage, they put on the skin from the head of a deer, sewing up the slits for the eyes and antlers with beads.
Fishing played a secondary role for most Evenks. They went out into the rivers in dugout boats, boats made of birch bark, deer skin, and sea animals. The fish were beamed, pierced with a spear, and less often constipated. Women were engaged in collecting roots, herbs, nuts; farming and gardening were not developed.

Religion

The traditional religion of the Evenks is shamanism, based on the deification of the forces of nature, animism, and belief in master spirits and patrons. Bug's universe was divided into 3 worlds:

1. Upper - located above the sky, is the home of deities. Its entrance is the North Star.
2. The middle one is earthly, where people and spirits live.
3. Lower - one of the souls goes there for eternal life. The entrance to the lower world is whirlpools and crevices in the rocks.

Shamans traveled between worlds, were guides between the living and the dead, and brought messages from the gods and dead ancestors. The shaman's costume personified a wolf or a bear and was decorated with animistic figures, fringe, and bird feathers. For rituals they used a tambourine, a harp, and fire was an invariable element.

Shamans took part in common ancestral festivals, helped during childbirth and illness, and predicted the future. The places of prayer were large clearings during general family gatherings, sacred trees, mountain passes, and large stones.

Traditions

Animism, hunting rituals and traditions, which only men could carry out, played a large role in the life of the Evenks. The wolf was a sacred animal for the Evenks; they did not hunt it. The raven was revered: it was believed that it conveyed earthly messages to the gods. Since crows could talk, the Evenks considered them to be the souls of people, dressed in bird form.
The customs of the bear holiday are well known. The bear was considered the father of the Evenks, who in ancient times married a woman who gave life to the people. The animal was called “amaka” - “grandfather”. They did not take the blame for the murder; they carved out faces on the trees, pointing at them and saying: “It wasn’t me who killed, it was him.”
Superstitions also arose based on the idea that the carcass of a skinned bear resembled a human one. The killing of an animal was accompanied by a family gathering, the calling of a shaman, and a general holiday. The bear's bones were not cut, but separated by joints. In some births, they were then gathered together, hung up, and a ceremony was performed for one of the children to “wrestle” with the “resurrected” bear. Others organized a ritual of air burial of bear bones: in ancient times, the Evenks also used it for their fellow tribesmen.

When the Russians arrived in the region, the dead were buried in the ground, in wooden boxes. According to the Evenks, in the lower world souls continued to live the same way as on the average. However, after death, everything was turned upside down, so things from his daily life, broken, were placed in the coffin of the deceased: a pipe, a bow, arrows, household items, jewelry.

Video

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