Evenks 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 Orochens, Birars, Manegri, Solons. The language is Evenki, belongs to the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altai language family. There are three groups of dialects: northern, southern and eastern. Each dialect is subdivided into dialects. The Russian language is ubiquitous, many Evenks living in Yakutia and Buryatia also speak Yakut and Buryat languages. In anthropological terms, they present a rather variegated 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 a mixture of the natives of Eastern Siberia with the Tungus tribes who came from the Baikal and Transbaikalia. There are reasons to consider the Trans-Baikal people Uvan as the immediate ancestors of the Evenks, who, according to Chinese chronicles (V-VII centuries AD), lived in the mountain taiga northeast of Barguzin and Selenga. The Uvans were not natives of Transbaikalia, but were a group of nomadic pastoralists 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 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.

History reference

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

12th century - the beginning of the settlement of the Tungus in Eastern Siberia: from the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk 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 of the entire Arctic coast, the Evenks are the most numerous language group: more than 26,000 people live in Russia, according to various sources, the same number in Mongolia and Manchuria.

The name "Evenki" with the creation of the Evenki district has firmly entered the social, political and linguistic everyday life.

Doctor of Historical Sciences V.A. Tugolukov gave a figurative explanation of the name "Tungus" - going across the ridges.

Tungus from ancient times settled from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Ob. Their way of life made changes in the name of the genera, not only on geographical grounds, but, more often, on household ones. Evenks living along the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk were called Evens or, more often, Lamuts from the word "lama" - the sea. The Trans-Baikal Evenks were called Murchens, because they were mainly engaged in horse breeding, and not reindeer breeding. And the name of the horse is "mur". Evenk reindeer herders who settled in the interfluve of the three Tunguskas (Upper, Podkamennaya, or Middle, and Lower) and the Angara called themselves Orochens - deer Tungus. And they all spoke and still speak the same Tungus-Manchu language.

Most Tungus historians consider Transbaikalia and the Amur region to be the ancestral home of the Evenks. Many sources claim that they were driven out by more warlike steppe people at the beginning of the 10th century. However, there is another point of view. The Chinese chronicles mention that even 4000 years before the Evenks were forced out, the Chinese knew about the strongest people among the "northern and eastern foreigners." And these Chinese chronicles testify to the coincidence in many ways of that ancient people - the sushi - with the later one, known to us as the Tungus.

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

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

"helpful without servility, proud and bold."

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

"The Tungus surpass all those living in yurts with courage and humanity and sense."

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

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

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

"There are no iron needles, and they sew clothes and shoes with bone needles and deer veins."

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

The neighborhood of two different cultures was interpenetrating. The Russians were trained in the skills of hunting, survival in the northern conditions, they were forced to accept the norms of morality and the hostel of the natives, especially since the newcomers took local women as wives and created mixed families.

Territory of settlement and population

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 the 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 also Evenks in the Tomsk and Tyumen regions. On this gigantic territory, they nowhere make up the majority of the population, they live in the same settlements together 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 numbers was given by the 1897 census - 64,500, while 34,471 people considered Tungus as their native language, the rest - Russian (31.8%), Yakut, Buryat and other languages.

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

A characteristic feature in the settlement of the Evenks is dispersion. There are about a hundred settlements in the country where they live, but in most settlements their number ranges from a few dozen to 150-200 people. There are few settlements where Evenks live in relatively large compact groups. This type of settlement negatively affects the ethno-cultural development of the people.

Life, economy, cult

The main occupation of the "pedestrian" or "sedentary" Evenks is hunting deer, elk, roe deer, musk deer, bear, etc. Later, commodity fur hunting spread. Hunted from autumn to spring, two or three people. They went through the taiga on golitsy skis (kingne, kigle) or lined with kamus (suksilla). Reindeer herders hunted on horseback.

Reindeer breeding was mainly of transport importance. Reindeer were used for riding and under a pack, they were milked. Small herds and free grazing prevailed. After the end of the winter hunting season, several families usually united and migrated to places convenient for calving. Joint grazing of reindeer continued throughout the summer. In winter, during the hunting season, deer usually grazed near the camps where the families of hunters stayed. Migration took place each time in new places - in summer along watersheds, in winter along rivers; permanent trails led only to trading posts. Some groups had sleds of various types, borrowed from the Nenets and Yakuts.

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

Fishing was of secondary importance; in the Baikal region, lake regions south of Lake Essei, in the upper Vilyui, in southern Transbaikalia and on the coast of Okhotsk, it was also of commercial importance. Seals were also hunted on the coast of Okhotsk and Baikal.

On the water they moved on rafts (temu), boats with a two-blade oar - dugout, sometimes with plank sides (ongocho, utunngu) or birch bark (dev); For crossings, the Orochen used a boat made of elk skin on a frame made on the spot (mureke).

Home processing of skins, 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-breeding cooperatives were created, settled settlements were built, agriculture spread (vegetables, potatoes, in the south - barley, oats). In the 1990s Evenks began to organize themselves into tribal communities.

The basis of traditional food is meat (wild animals, equestrian Evenks have horse meat) 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 koloboks from sour dough in the ashes, in the east - unleavened cakes. The main drink is tea, sometimes with reindeer milk or salt.

Winter camps consisted of 1-2 tents, summer - up to 10, during the holidays and more. Chum (du) had a conical frame 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. In the center of the plague, a hearth was arranged, above it - a horizontal pole for the boiler. In some places, half-dugouts were also known, timber-framed dwellings borrowed from Russians, the Yakut yurt-booth, in Transbaikalia - the Buryat yurt, among the settled Birars of the Amur Region - a quadrangular log dwelling of the fanza type.

Traditional clothing consists of rovduk or cloth natazniks (kherki), leggings (aramus, gurumi), an open caftan made of reindeer skin, the floors of which were tied on the chest with strings; under it was put on a bib with ties at the back. The female breastplate (nelly) was decorated with beads and had a straight lower edge, while the male breastplate (helmi) had an angle. Men wore a belt with a knife in a sheath, women - with a pincushion, a tinder box and a pouch. Clothing was decorated with stripes of goat and dog fur, fringe, horsehair embroidery, metal plaques, and beads. The horse breeders of Transbaikalia wore a dressing gown with a wide wrap to the left. Elements of Russian clothing spread.

Evenk communities united in the summer to jointly herd reindeer and celebrate holidays. They included several related families, numbering from 15 to 150 people. Forms of collective distribution, mutual assistance, hospitality, etc. were developed. For example, before the 20th century the custom (nimat) has been preserved, obliging the hunter to give part of the prey to his relatives. At the end of the XIX century. dominated by the small family. 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. Levirate was known, in rich families - polygamy (up to 5 wives). Until the 17th century up to 360 paternal clans were known, numbering an average of 100 people, ruled by elders - "princes". In the terminology of kinship, the features of the classification system were preserved.

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

Folklore included improvisational songs, mythological and historical epic, animal tales, historical and everyday legends, etc. The epic was performed in recitative, often listeners took part in the performance, repeating individual lines after the narrator. Separate groups of Evenks had their own epic heroes (soning). Regular heroes - comic characters were also in everyday stories. From musical instruments known harp, hunting bow, etc., from dances - a round dance (heiro, sadyo), performed to song improvisation. The games were in the nature of competitions in wrestling, shooting, running, etc. Artistic carving on bone and wood, metalworking (men), beadwork, silk embroidery, appliqué with fur and fabric, embossing on birch bark (women) were developed among the Eastern Evenks.

Lifestyle and provision system

In economic terms, the Evenks are noticeably different from other peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. First of all, they are hunters-reindeer herders. An Evenk hunter spent a good half of his life riding a deer. The Evenks 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 in most Evenk territorial groups. The hunting essence of the Evenk is clearly manifested even in such a secondary matter for him as fishing. Fishing for the Evenk is the same hunting. For many years, their main fishing tools were a hunting bow with blunt arrows, which were used to kill fish, and spears - a kind of hunting spear. As the fauna was depleted, the importance of fishing in the life support of the Evenks began to increase.

Reindeer breeding of the Evenks is taiga, pack and riding. Practiced free grazing, milking cows. Evenks are born nomads. The length of nomadic hunters-reindeer herders reached hundreds of kilometers a year. Individual families covered distances of a thousand kilometers.

The traditional economy of the Evenks after collectivization and many other reorganizations in 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 a large-herd reindeer breeding and commercial economy, which developed mainly in Evenkia. The first type of economy developed within the framework of cooperative and state fishing enterprises (state industrial farms, coop animal farms), the second - within the framework of reindeer-breeding state farms, oriented towards the production of marketable meat products. Fur trade in them was of secondary importance.

Ethno-social setting

The degradation of the traditional economy, the curtailment of the production infrastructure in the national settlements extremely exacerbated the ethno-social situation in the areas where the Evenks live. The most painful is the problem of unemployment. In the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, due to unprofitability, animal husbandry 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. The unemployed here are from 59 to 70% of the Evenks.

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

In the context of the economic crisis, the state of health of the population is deteriorating. Prevention of diseases 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. The work of air ambulance has been curtailed to a minimum.

Demographic indicators are deteriorating. In a number of regions, the birth rate has fallen sharply and the death rate has increased. In the Katanga region, for example, the death rate among the Evenki exceeds the birth rate by more than two times. And this is a typical picture for all Evenki settlements. Accidents, suicides, traumas and poisonings, mainly on the basis of alcoholism, occupy the leading place in the structure of mortality of the indigenous population.

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 foundation is a thin layer of permanent rural population, which, like 100 years ago, leads a nomadic economy. However, this layer is steadily shrinking, and with it the main core of the bearers of traditional culture is shrinking.

A characteristic feature of the modern language situation among the Evenks is mass bilingualism. The degree of mother tongue proficiency varies in different age groups and in different regions. In general, 30.5% of Evenks consider the Evenk language as their native language, 28.5% - Russian, more than 45% of Evenks are fluent in their language. The Evenk script was created in the late 1920s, since 1937 it has been translated into the Russian alphabet. The basis of the literary Evenki language was the dialect of the Evenks of Podkamennaya Tunguska, but the literary language of the Evenki still did not become supra-dialect. Language teaching is carried out from grades 1 to 8, in elementary school as a subject, later as an elective. The teaching of the native language depends on the availability of personnel, and to an even greater extent, on the language policy of local administrations. Pedagogical personnel are trained in the pedagogical schools of Igarka and Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, in the Buryat, Yakutsk and Khabarovsk universities, in the Russian State Pedagogical University. Herzen in St. Petersburg. The Evenki language is broadcast in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) and in Evenkia. In a number of transmission areas, local radio broadcasts are carried out. In the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, a supplement to the regional newspaper is published once a week. A huge work on the revival of the native language is carried out by Pikunova Z.N., the main author of textbooks. In Sakha-Yakutia, a specialized Evenk school in the village of Yengri is famous.

Evenk public organizations are taking measures to revive traditional culture. In Buryatia, the republican center of Evenk culture "Arun" was formed, in the Krasnoyarsk Territory - the Association of Northern Cultures "Eglen". Cultural centers operate in many schools in ethnic settlements where Evenks live. Republican television and radio of Yakutia and Buryatia broadcast programs dedicated to the culture of the Evenks. In Buryatia, the Boulder holiday 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 Alitet Nemtushkin and Nikolai Oegir are widely known in Russia. The main problem in the development of the ethno-cultural life of the Evenks is their territorial disunity. Annual large 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.

Prospects for the preservation of the Evenks as an ethnic group

The prospects for the preservation of the Evenks as an ethnic system are rather 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 irrelevant. 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 taken place 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 Evenki have yet to find the optimal model for their future. However, like all the peoples of the North, their further ethnic fate will depend on the degree of preservation and development of traditional industries and cultural traditions.

Evenk buildings

Evenk camps.

Evenks led a nomadic life of hunters-reindeer herders. By the beginning of the twentieth century. in the Lensko-Kirensky and Ilimsky regions, the Evenks switched to a semi-sedentary way of life, which influenced the nature of their dwellings. The camps of the Evenks, depending on the season, were divided into winter, spring-autumn and summer. Families who were related to each other usually settled in one camp. As part of the autumn-spring camp, a stationary tent is a golomo, the frame of which is made of half-logs and covered with larch bark. The skeleton of the plague consisted of 25 - 40 poles, installed in a circle and tied at the top. They relied on 2, 4 or 6 main poles located inside. Plague tires were made from dressed deer skin, birch bark, and larch bark. The lower tire was sewn from 6-10 skins, the upper one - 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 top 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, the part opposite the entrance was intended for guests. The installation of the plague was done by women. When moving, the Evenks took only tires with them, leaving the skeleton unassembled. A new skeleton was installed in a new place.

Labaz delken

storehouse

Not far from the entrance to the tent, there was a flooring made of poles on piles, about 1.5 meters high. Nearby trees were cut down and carefully sanded, grooves were cut in them, on which thick transverse poles were installed, a knurled piece of smaller poles was placed on them. In such a storehouse, essential things were stored: dishes, food, clothes, tools. Undressed skins were laid over them in case of rain, so that things would not get wet.

Store noku

The Evenk barns for storing food and things were the noku storehouses - wooden log huts with a gable roof covered with larch bark. The frame was installed on piles with a height of 1 to 2 meters. They climbed onto the storehouse using a log with steps hollowed out in it. This was done so that the animals would not steal things and products. The sanded piles were smooth, and rodents could not climb on them, and the spirit from food and things did not spread along the ground. According to the diaries of Siberian explorers, in the event of an attack by enemies or wild animals, the Tungus climbed onto the storehouse and held the defense there, shooting back from a bow and stabbing the enemy with a spear. So, the noku storehouse was originally not only an outbuilding. For passive hunting for fur-bearing animals, traps (graze-traps), called langs, were set near the camps. The basis of the summer camp is made up of portable rovduga plagues (rovduga - deer or elk suede among the peoples of Siberia), a bonfire-smoker 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

- skillful craftsmen, whimsically combine fur, birch bark, wood and, oddly enough, beads. Almost all utensils and clothes of the Evenks are decorated with beads. Beads are used in the 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 mugs made of mammoth bone, beads, beads. Beads are always found on ancient clothes and household items of the peoples of the Far North. Clothes, bags were decorated with painting and embroidery, deer neck hair 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 clothes to prevent the penetration of evil spirits into clothes.

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

In their art, Evenki craftswomen have long used colored cloth, rovduga (finely dressed deer skin in the form of suede), fur of deer, elk, squirrel, sable, deer hair, their own dyes and colored threads made from deer tendons. A short light caftan tightly fitting the figure; fabrics and pewter plaques. The decoration is purely constructive in nature: all these frames of the side, hem, cuffs, main seams of clothing, edging, edging emphasize the design of the thing and create a rich texture. The semantics of the decor 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, strengthening the power of the community.

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Evenki (the self-name Evenkil, which became the official ethnonym in 1931; the old name is Tungus from Yakut. Toҥ uus) is the indigenous people of the Russian Federation (Eastern Siberia). They also live in Mongolia and northeast China. Separate groups of Evenks were known as Orochens, Birars, Manegri, Solons. The language is Evenki, belongs to the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altai language family. There are three groups of dialects: northern, southern and eastern. Each dialect is subdivided into dialects.

Geography

They live from the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east to the Yenisei in the west, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Baikal region and the Amur River in the south: in Yakutia (14.43 thousand people), Evenkia (3.48 thousand people), Dudinsky Taimyr Autonomous Area, Turukhansky District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (4.34 thousand people), Irkutsk Region (1.37 thousand people), Chita Region (1.27 thousand people), Buryatia (1.68 thousand people .), Amur Region (1.62 thousand people), Khabarovsk Territory (3.7 thousand people), Sakhalin Region (138 people), as well as in the northeast of China (20 thousand people, spurs Khingan Ridge) and in Mongolia (near Lake Buir-Nur and the upper reaches of the Iro River).

Language

They speak the Evenki language of the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altai family. Dialects are divided into groups: northern - north of the lower Tunguska and lower Vitim, southern - south of the lower Tunguska and lower Vitim, and eastern - east of Vitim and Lena. Russian is also widespread (55.7% of Evenks are fluent, 28.3% consider it their native language), Yakut and Buryat languages.

The Evenki language, along with Manchu and Yakut, belongs to the Tungus-Manchu branch of the Altaic language family.

In turn, the Tungus-Manchurian language family is something intermediate between the Mongolian (Mongols belong to it) and the Turkic language family (which, for example, Tuvans belong to, although many do not perceive Tuvans as Turks (such as Tatars, Uighurs, Kazakhs or Turks) , because Tuvans do not profess Islam, but are partly shamanists, like the Yakuts and Evenks, and partly Buddhists, like the Manchus and Mongols, It should be noted that the Manchus also partly profess Buddhism). Evenks are very close to the Manchus, but unlike them, they did not create famous state formations. And in this they are similar to the Yakuts close to them.

Evenks, both in Russia and in China and Mongolia, with the help of scientists from the respective countries, adapted the writing system adopted by the titular peoples of these states to record their language. In Russia, the Evenks use the Cyrillic alphabet, in Mongolia they use the Old Mongolian script, and in China they use the Old Mongolian script and hieroglyphs. But this also happened recently, in the 20th century. Therefore, in the following excerpts from the material of the Chinese foreign broadcast, it is said that the Evenks do not have a written language.

Name

Perhaps it sounds strange, but even the very name of the Evenki people is fanned with the spirit of myths and doubts. So, from the time of the development of the vast territories occupied by the Evenks by the Russians, until 1931, it was customary to call this people (and at the same time their kindred Evens) with the common word "Tungus". At the same time, the origin of the word "tungus" is still unclear - whether it comes from the Tungus word "kungu", meaning "a short fur coat made of reindeer skins, sewn with wool up", or from the Mongolian "tung" - "forest", then whether from the Yakut "tong was" - "people with frozen lips", i.e. speaking in an unknown language. One way or another, but the name "Tungus" in relation to the Evenki is still used by a number of researchers, which confuses the already confusing history of the Evenk people.

One of the most common self-names of this people - Evenki (also Evenkil) - was recognized as official in 1931 and acquired the form of “Evenki”, which is more familiar to the Russian ear. The origin of the word "Evenki" is even more mysterious than "Tungus". Some scholars argue that it comes from the name of the ancient Transbaikal tribe “uvan” (also “guvan”, “gyui”), from which the modern Evenks supposedly have their roots. Others completely shrug their shoulders, refusing to attempt to interpret this term and pointing out only that it arose about two thousand years ago.

Another very common self-name of the Evenks is "orochon" (also "orochon"), literally meaning "a man who owns a deer", "deer" man. That is how the Evenks-reindeer herders called themselves in a vast territory from Transbaikalia to the Zeya-Uchursky region; however, some of the modern Amur Evenki prefer the name "Evenki", and the word "orochon" is considered just a nickname. In addition to these names, among the various groups of Evenks there were also self-names "Manegri" ("Kumarchens"), "Ile" (Evenks of the Upper Lena and Podkamennaya Tunguska), "Kilen" (Evenks from Lena to Sakhalin), "Birars" ("Birarchens" - i.e. living along the rivers), "khundysal" (i.e. "owners of dogs" - this is how the deined Evenks of the Lower Tunguska called themselves), "salts" and many others, often coinciding with the names of individual Evenk clans.

At the same time, not all Evenks were reindeer herders (for example, the Manegry, who lived in the south of Transbaikalia and the Amur region, also bred horses), and some Evenks were completely on foot or sedentary and were engaged only in hunting and fishing. In general, until the 20th century, the Evenki were not a single, integral people, but rather a series of separate tribal groups that sometimes lived at a great distance from each other. And yet, at the same time, they were connected by a lot - a single language, customs and beliefs - which allows us to talk about the common roots of all Evenks. But where do these roots lie?

Story

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

12th century - the beginning of the settlement of the Tungus in Eastern Siberia: from the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk 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 of the entire Arctic coast, the Evenks are the most numerous language group: on

On the territory of Russia, more than 26,000 people live, according to various sources, the same number in Mongolia and Manchuria.

The name "Evenki" with the creation of the Evenki district has firmly entered the social, political and linguistic everyday life. Doctor of Historical Sciences V.A. Tugolukov gave a figurative explanation of the name "Tungus" - going across the ridges.

Tungus from ancient times settled from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Ob. Their way of life made changes in the name of the genera, not only on geographical grounds, but, more often, on household ones. Evenks living along the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk were called Evens or, more often, Lamuts from the word "lama" - the sea. The Trans-Baikal Evenks were called Murchens, because they were mainly engaged in horse breeding, and not reindeer breeding. And the name of the horse is “mur”. Evenk reindeer herders who settled in the interfluve of the three Tunguskas (Upper, Podkamennaya, or Middle, and Lower) and the Angara called themselves Orochens - deer Tungus. And they all spoke and still speak the same Tungus-Manchu language.

Most Tungus historians consider Transbaikalia and the Amur region to be the ancestral home of the Evenks. Many sources claim that they were driven out by more warlike steppe people at the beginning of the 10th century. However, there is another point of view. The Chinese chronicles mention that even 4,000 years before the Evenks were forced out, the Chinese knew about the strongest people among the "northern and eastern foreigners." And these Chinese chronicles testify to the coincidence in many ways of that ancient people - the sushi - with the later one, known to us as the Tungus.

1581-1583 - the first mention of the Tungus as a nationality in the description of the Siberian kingdom. The first explorers, explorers, travelers spoke highly of the Tungus: "helpful without servility, proud and brave." Khariton Laptev, who explored the shores of the Arctic Ocean between the Ob and Olenek, wrote:

“The Tungus surpass all those living in yurts with courage and humanity and sense.” The exiled Decembrist V. Kuchelbecker called the Tunguses “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 stone and bone", that they do not have iron utensils, and "tea is brewed in wooden vats with red-hot stones, and meat is only baked 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 - the penetration of Russian industrialists and hunters into the basins of the rivers Taz, Turukhan and the mouth of the Yenisei. The neighborhood of two different cultures was interpenetrating. The Russians were trained in the skills of hunting, survival in the northern conditions, they were forced to accept the norms of morality and the hostel of the natives, especially since the newcomers took local women as wives and created mixed families.

Gradually, the Evenk tribes were forced out by the Yakuts, Russians and Buryats from part of their territory and moved to Northern China. In the century before last, the Evenks appeared on the lower Amur and Sakhalin. By that time, the people had been partially assimilated by Russians, Yakuts, Mongols and Buryats, Daurs, Manchus and Chinese. By the end of the 19th century, the total number of Evenks was 63 thousand people. According to the 1926-1927 census, 17.5 thousand of them lived in the USSR. In 1930, the Ilimpiysky, Baikitsky and Tunguso-Chunsky national

the districts were united into the Evenk national district. According to the 2002 census, 35,000 Evenks live in Russia.

Life of the Evenks

The main occupation of the "foot" Evenks is hunting. It is carried out mainly on a large animal deer, elk, roe deer, bear, however, fur hunting for smaller animals (squirrel, arctic fox) is also common. Hunting is usually carried out from autumn to spring, in groups of two or three people. Evenk reindeer herders used the animals for riding (including for hunting) and for packing, milking. After the end of the hunting season, several Evenk families usually united and migrated to another place. Some groups had sleds of various types, which were borrowed from the Nenets and Yakuts. The Evenks bred not only deer, but also horses, camels, and sheep. In some places, seal hunting and fishing were common. The traditional occupations of the Evenks were the processing of skins, birch bark, blacksmithing, including to order. In Transbaikalia and the Amur region, the Evenks even switched to settled agriculture and cattle breeding. In the 1930s, reindeer herding cooperatives began to be created, and with them stationary settlements. At the end of the last century, the Evenks began to form tribal communities.

Food, housing and clothing

The traditional food of the Evenks is meat and fish. Depending on the type of occupation, Evenki also eat berries, mushrooms, and settled people - vegetables grown in their own gardens. The main drink is tea, sometimes with reindeer milk or salt. The national dwelling of the Evenks is the chum (du). It consists of a conical frame of poles covered with skins (in winter) or birch bark (in summer). In the center there was a hearth, and above it there was a horizontal pole, on which the boiler was hung. At the same time, various tribes used semi-dugouts, yurts of various types, and even log structures borrowed from Russians as dwellings.

Evenki traditional clothing: cloth natazniks, leggings, a caftan made of reindeer skin, under which a special bib was put on. The women's bib was distinguished by beaded decoration and had a straight lower edge. Men wore a belt with a knife in a sheath, women - with a pincushion, a tinderbox and a pouch. Clothing was decorated with fur, fringe, embroidery, metal plaques, beads. Evenk communities usually consist of several related families, numbering from 15 to 150 people. Until the last century, the custom was preserved, according to which the hunter had to give part of the prey to his relatives. Evenks are characterized by a small family, although earlier polygamy was common in some tribes.

Beliefs and folklore

Cults of spirits, trade and tribal cults, shamanism were preserved. There were elements of the Bear Festival - rituals associated with butchering the carcass of a dead bear, eating its meat, and burying bones. Christianization of the Evenki has been carried out since the 17th century. The influence of Buddhism was strong in Transbaikalia and the Amur region. Folklore included improvisation songs, mythological and historical epic, animal tales, historical and everyday legends, etc. The epic was performed

recitative, often listeners took part in the performance, repeating individual lines after the narrator. Separate groups of Evenks had their own epic heroes (soning). Constant heroes - comic characters were also in everyday stories. From musical instruments known harp, hunting bow, etc., from dances - a round dance (heiro, sadyo), performed to song improvisation. The games were in the nature of competitions in wrestling, shooting, running, etc. Artistic carving on bone and wood, metal processing (men), beadwork, silk embroidery, applique with fur and fabric, embossing on birch bark (women) were developed among the Eastern Evenks.

Evenki of China

Although it is generally believed in Russia that the Evenks live in Russian Siberia, in the adjacent territory of China they are represented by four ethnolinguistic groups, the total number of which exceeds the number of Evenks in Russia: 39,534 versus 38,396. These groups are combined into two official nationalities living in the Evenk Autonomous Huoshun Autonomous Region of Inner Mongolia and neighboring Heilongjiang Province (Nehe County):

• Orochons (literally "reindeer herders", Chinese 鄂伦春, pinyin: Èlúnchūn Zú) - 8196 people according to the 2000 census, 44.54% live in Inner Mongolia, and 51.52% live in Heilongjiang province, 1.2% - in Liaoning province. About half speak the Orochon dialect of the Evenki language, sometimes treated as a separate language; the rest are only in Chinese. At present, Evenki reindeer herders in China are a very small ethnic group, numbering only about two hundred people. They speak a dialect of the North Tungus language. The existence of their traditional culture is under great threat.
• Evenki (Chinese: 鄂温克族, pinyin: Èwēnkè Zú) - 30,505 in 2000, 88.8% in Hulunbuir, including:
• a small group of Evenki proper - about 400 people in the village of Aoluguya (Genhe county), who are now being moved to the suburbs of the county center; they call themselves "yeke", the Chinese - yakute, since they erected themselves to the Yakuts. According to the Finnish altaist Juha Janhunen, this is the only ethnic group in China that practices reindeer herding;

• The Khamnigans are a strongly Mongolized group that speak the Mongolian languages ​​- the Hamnigan proper and the Hamnigan (Old Barag) dialect of the Evenki language. These so-called Manchurian Hamnigans emigrated from Russia to China within a few years of the October Revolution; about 2500 people live in the Starobargut khoshun;
• Solons - together with the Daurs, they moved from the Zeya River basin in 1656 to the Nunjiang River basin, and then in 1732 partly went further west, to the Hailar River basin, where the Evenk Autonomous Khoshun was later formed with 9733 Evenks. They speak the Solon dialect, sometimes treated as a separate language.

Since both the Hamningans and the "Yakut-Evenks" are very small in number (about 2000 of the first and probably about 200 of the second), the vast majority of persons assigned in China to the Evenki nationality are Solons. Salons were estimated at 7,200 in 1957, 18,000 in 1982, and 25,000 in 1990.

Great people of the Evenk people

GAUDA

Aguda (Agudai) is the most famous historical figure in the early history of the Tungus, the leader of the Tungus-speaking tribes of the Amur region, who created the powerful state of Aisin Gurun. At the beginning of the second millennium, the Tungus, whom the Chinese called Nuizhi (zhulichzhi) - Jurcheni, stopped the domination of the Khitan (Mongolian tribes). In 1115, Aguda declared himself emperor, creating the empire of Aisin Gurun (Anchun Gurun) - the Golden Empire (Chinese "Jin"). In 1119, Aguda decided to start a war with China, and in the same year the Jurchens took Kaifeng, the capital of China at that time. The victory of the Tungus-Jurchens under the leadership of Aguda was won by a number of 200 thousand soldiers against a million Chinese troops. The empire of Aisin Gurun existed for more than 100 years before the heyday of the Mongol empire of Genghis Khan.

Bombogor

Bombogor - the leader of the union of the Evenk clans in the Amur region in the fight against the Manchu conquerors in the 17th century. Under the leadership of Bombogor, the Evenks, Solons, and Daurs opposed the Manchus of the Qing Dynasty in the mid-1630s. Up to 6 thousand warriors gathered under his banner, who fought for several years with the regular Manchu army. Only 5 years later, the Manchus were able to capture Bombogor and suppress the resistance of the Evenks. Bombogor was captured by the Manchus in 1640, brought to the capital of the Manchu emperor - the city of Mukden and executed there. With the death of Bombogor, the Evenks and all the peoples of the Amur region in China were subordinated to the emperor and the Qing dynasty.

Nemtushkin A.N.

Nemtushkin Alitet Nikolaevich is a famous Evenki writer and poet. Born in 1939 in the camp of Irishki, Katangsky district, Irkutsk region, in the family of a hunter, was brought up in boarding schools and by his grandmother Ogdo-Evdokia Ivanovna Nemtushkina. In 1957 he graduated from the Yerbogachenskaya secondary school, in 1961 from the Herzen Leningrad Pedagogical Institute.

After studying, Alitet Nikolaevich comes to work in Evenkia as a correspondent for the Krasnoyarsk Rabochy newspaper. In 1961 he became the editor of the Evenk Radio and worked in journalism for over 20 years. His first book, a collection of poems Tymani Agidu (Morning in the Taiga), was published when Alitet Nikolaevich was still a student in 1960. Since then, more than 20 books have been published by Nemtushkin, which were published in Krasnoyarsk, Leningrad, Moscow, Yakutsk. Nemtushkin's poems and prose have been translated into dozens of languages ​​of the peoples of the former USSR and socialist countries.

The most significant and popular works of Alitet Nemtushkin are the poetry collections “The Fires of My Ancestors”, “The Breath of the Earth”, the prose books “I Dream of Heavenly Deer”, “Pathfinders on Deer”, “The Road to the Underworld”, “Samelkil - Marks on a Deer Ear "etc. In 1986, A. Nemtushkin was elected executive secretary of the Krasnoyarsk Writers' Organization; in 1990 he was awarded the title of "Honored Worker of Culture"; in 1992 he was awarded the State Prize of the Russian Federation in the field of literature; member of the Writers' Union since 1969.

Chapogir O.V.

A well-known composer, author and performer of many Evenki songs. Oleg Vasilyevich Chapogir was born in 1952 in the village of Kislokan, Ilimpiysky District, Krasnoyarsk Territory, into a family of Evenk hunters. From childhood, he heard folk tunes from his mother and other Evenks, which, together with a natural gift, later influenced his life choice.

After graduating from the eight classes of the Turin secondary school, Oleg Vasilievich entered the Norilsk Music College in the class of folk instruments of the northern department. Having received a diploma, in 1974 the future composer returned to his native Evenkia, where he began to create his works. He worked in the Ilimpiysky district department of culture, in an art workshop, in the district scientific and methodological center.

About the talent and activities of Oleg Chapogir, G.V. Shakirzyanova: “The works of an earlier period, written by him immediately after graduating from college, are mainly devoted to youth topics, they have an unstoppable rhythm and a clear pulse of time. Song works of the late period bear the imprint of a deep thoughtful attitude to folk poetry, to their historical roots, which noticeably distinguishes Oleg Chapogir's composing art from the work of other composers of Evenkia. Oleg Chapogir drew his inspiration not only from the unique beauty of the taiga nature, but also from the poems of our famous Evenk poets A. Nemtushkin and N. Oyogir.” Oleg Chapogir is the author of over 200 songs and melodies. He released eight albums with songs about the Evenks and the North.

Atlasov I.M.

Atlasov Ivan Mikhailovich - a well-known public figure, one of the modern leaders of the Evenks, Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Evenk people of Russia. Ivan Mikhailovich was born in 1939 in the Ezhansky nasleg of the Ust-Maya region of Yakutia in the family of an Evenk hunter. From an early age, he worked on a par with adults, knowing the hardships of wartime. He graduated from the 7-year-old Ezhansky school, a secondary school in Ust-May. In 1965, he graduated from the Yakutsk State University with a degree in industrial and civil engineering, remaining to teach at the same faculty. Since 1969, he worked at the Ministry of Housing and Public Utilities of the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, then as Deputy Director of Yakutgorpishchetorg. From 1976 until retirement, he worked at Yakutagropromstroy, built the largest commercial and warehouse buildings of that time.

From the end of the 80s. 20th century is one of the founders of the social movement of indigenous peoples in Yakutia. For several years he headed the Association of Evenks of the Republic of Sakha, in 2009 he was elected Chairman of the Council of Elders of the Evenk people of Russia. The initiator of a number of legislative acts of republican significance aimed at supporting indigenous peoples, an active defender of the environment and the legal rights of small ethnic groups.

Evenks are the indigenous ethnic group of Transbaikalia. Until 1931, the Russians called them Tungus. They call themselves modestly - Orochons, which in translation means "a man who owns a deer."

Evenki hunter. 1905

The origin of the Evenk ethnonym dates back to the ancient Uvan reindeer herders, who are mentioned in medieval Chinese sources as residents of the mountain taiga regions of Transbaikalia. Uvan literally means “people living in mountain forests”.

Tungus. Engraving from 1692

According to the anthropological type, the Evenks are pronounced Mongoloids.

Generalized photo portrait of an Evenk man
(according to: Carriers I.V., Maurer A.M., 1998)

The Evenk ethnic group can be entered in the Guinness Book of Records. By the 17th century, with a population of only 30,000 people, they had mastered an incredibly vast territory - from the Yenisei to Kamchatka, and from the Arctic Ocean to the border with China. It turns out that on average, one Evenk has about twenty-five square kilometers. They constantly wandered, so they were said about them: Evenki everywhere and nowhere.

Ethnic map (c. 1900) of Siberia with the territory of the settlement of the Evenks (on the map - the Tungus) in the 16th century, before the beginning of the Russian development of Siberia.

Politically, before meeting with the Russians, the Evenki depended on China and Manchuria.

The history of Russian-Evenki contacts dates back to the middle of the 17th century - to the time of the famous Evenki prince Gantimur, who took the side of the Russian Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich and led his fellow tribesmen. He and his squad guarded the Russian borders. And the Evenks living in China guarded their country. So the Evenks became a divided people.

Tungus on the hunt

In the Russian Empire, the authorities adhered to the rule not to stick their nose into the internal affairs of the Evenks. A system of self-government was developed for them, according to which the Evenks were united in the Urulga Steppe Duma with a center in the village of Urulga. Traditionally, the Evenki Duma was headed by the dynasty of princes Gantimurovs.

Coat of arms of the family of princes Gantimurovs
From the description of the coat of arms: There is a vertical silver pillar (stripe) in the scarlet shield.
It has four black Manchurian hieroglyphs vertically, meaning the word "Khan".
The shield is crowned with a noble crowned helmet. Shield holders: two tungus in their
clothing and weapons stand on two crossed green branches.

After the revolution, in 1930, the Evenki national district was created. But collectivization and the forced transfer of the Evenks to a settled way of life dealt a severe blow to their economic and cultural traditions, putting the whole people on the brink of extinction.

As a result, if at the end of the 19th century there were 63,000 Evenks in Russia, by now their number has halved. At the same time, only every third Evenk speaks their native language.

Evenks are real children of nature. They are called pathfinders of the taiga trails. They are excellent hunters. Bows and arrows in their hands became precision weapons. Evenk is able to hit a target for three hundred meters. The Evenks had special, "singing arrows" with bone whistles, which fascinated the beast.

But the Evenk will not touch the wolf - this is his totem. Not a single Evenk will leave wolf cubs unattended if they suddenly find themselves without parental care.

Hunter near the plague.

In the 15th-16th centuries, the Evenks learned reindeer herding, becoming the northernmost herders in the world. No wonder they say: "Our home is under the North Star."

Men's suit. Evenki. Primorsky region, Okhotsk district. Late XIX - early XX century.

And it's a very welcoming house. The guest was traditionally given the most comfortable place in the chum. The first meeting was necessarily accompanied by a handshake. Previously, it was customary for Evenks to greet each other with both hands. The guest stretched out both hands, folded on top of each other, palms up, and the head of the family shook them: from above with his right palm, from below - with his left.

Women also pressed alternately with both cheeks to each other. The older woman greeted the guest with a sniff.

In honor of the guest, a deer was specially slaughtered and treated with the best pieces of meat. At the end of tea drinking, the guest put the cup upside down, showing that he would no longer drink. If the guest simply moved the cup away from him, the hostess could continue to pour tea indefinitely. The head of the family saw off the welcome guest in a special way: he drove off with him for several kilometers, and before parting, the host and guest stopped, lit a pipe and agreed on the next meeting.

Reindeer riding. Evenki. Yenisei province, Turukhansk region. Early 20th century

The Evenki language is precise and at the same time poetic. Evenk can usually say about the onset of the day: dawn. But maybe so: The morning star died. Moreover, the Evenk likes to use the second expression more often. An Evenk can simply say about rain: it's raining. But the old man will express his thought figuratively: the sky is shedding tears.

A shaman near a tree with images of helper spirits.Shaman mask. Evenki. Transbaikalia, Nerchinsk district.
Evenki. Yenisei province, Turukhansk region. Early 20th centuryEarly 20th century

There is a proverb among the Evenks: "Fire has no end." Its meaning: life is eternal, because after the death of a person, the fire in the plague will be supported by his sons, then grandchildren, great-grandchildren - from generation to generation.

The ancient people believe in their historical immortality.

Evenks (Tungus) are one of the most ancient indigenous peoples of Eastern Siberia, including the Baikal region. There are two theories of their origin. According to the first, the ancestral home of the Evenks was located in the region of southern Baikal, where their culture developed from the Paleolithic era, with their subsequent settlement to the west and east. The second theory assumes that the Evenks appeared as a result of assimilation by the local ("proto-Yukagir") population of the Uvan tribe, the mountain-steppe pastoralists of the eastern spurs of the Greater Khingan.

The area of ​​settlement of the Evenks is usually divided along the conditional border "Baikal - Lena" into western and eastern. Cultural differences between the Evenks of these territories are very significant and are fixed in many cultural components: the type of reindeer husbandry, tools, utensils, tattoo traditions, etc., anthropology (Baikal anthropological type in the east and Katangese in the west), language (western and eastern groups dialects), ethnonyms.

The Evenki language is included in the northern (Tungus) subgroup of the Tungus-Manchurian group of languages. The wide settlement of the Evenks determines the division of the language into dialect groups: northern, southern and eastern.

In the 17th century, when the Cossacks first came to Lake Baikal, the Evenki did not immediately submit to the Russian Tsar. The well-known ethnographer and naturalist I. G. Georgi wrote: “During the Russian attacks, the Tunguz showed more courage than other Siberians, and no defeat could force them to leave their places occupied by them for their dwellings. The overcome ones rebelled several times in subsequent times; and in 1640 the Lena Tunguz plucked the beards of the tax collectors. The Tunguz living on the western side of Lake Baikal submitted to Russia not earlier than in 1643, but on the eastern side and near Vitim they lived in 1657.

Tribe of the Barguzin Evenks in the middle of the 17th century. numbered about a thousand people. By occupation, they were divided into Limagirs and Balikagirs (cattle breeders), Namegirs and Pochegors (horse breeders), Kindigirs and Chilchagirs (reindeer herders), Nyakugirs (hunters and fishermen).

For centuries, the Evenks lived in clans, each of which was headed by a leader. Each Evenk knew his pedigree and always gave preference to his relative. Great power belonged to the elders of the clan, and most importantly - to the shamans. The shaman, being an intermediary between the world of people and the world of spirits, often himself became the head of the clan. Without the approval of the shaman, the clan did nothing: they turned to it in case of illness of a person or deer, asked to perform a ritual that brings good luck on the hunt, to accompany the soul of the deceased to another world.

Of great importance were the cults of spirits, trade and tribal cults, the veneration of which was in the blood of the Evenks. For example, the existing cult of the bear, the owner of the taiga, obliged each hunter to kill only a strictly limited number of bears - for exceeding this number, the greedy could pay with his life.

The Evenks still have an unwritten set of traditions and commandments that regulate social, family and inter-clan relations:

"nimat" - the custom of donating one's prey to one's relatives.

“malu” is the law of hospitality, according to which the most comfortable place in the chum is intended only for guests. Anyone who crossed the "threshold" of the plague was considered a guest.

"levirate" - the custom of inheritance by the younger brother of the widow of the older brother.

"tori" - a marriage transaction, which was made in one of three ways: by paying a certain amount of deer, money or other valuables for the bride; girl exchange; working for the bride.

The most solemnly held among the Evenks was the spring holiday - iken, or evin, dedicated to the onset of summer - "the appearance of new life" or "renewal of life".

One of the distinguishing features of the Evenks has always been a respectful attitude towards nature. They not only considered nature to be alive, inhabited by spirits, they deified stones, springs, rocks and individual trees, but they also firmly knew the measure - they did not cut down more trees than necessary, did not kill game unnecessarily, even tried to clean up after themselves the territory where the hunting ground stood. camp.

The traditional dwelling of the Evenks - the tent - was a conical hut made of poles, covered in winter with deer skins, and in summer with birch bark. During migrations, the frame was left in place, and the material for covering the chum was taken with them. The winter camps of the Evenks consisted of 1-2 chums, the summer camps - from 10 or more due to frequent holidays at this time of the year.

The basis of traditional food is the meat of wild animals (for equestrian Evenks - horse meat) and fish, which were almost always consumed raw. In summer they drank reindeer milk, ate berries, wild garlic and onions. They borrowed baked bread from the Russians. The main drink was tea, sometimes with reindeer milk or salt.

The Evenks had developed artistic carving on bone and wood, metalworking, beadwork, among the Eastern Evenks - silk, appliqué with fur and fabric, embossing on birch bark.

The strongest blow to the traditional lifestyle of the Evenks of Transbaikalia was inflicted in the 20-30s of our century. The general collectivization and the forced change of the economic structure, carried out by the Soviet government, led to the fact that this original ethnic group was on the verge of extinction and was forced to move to the northern regions, where the natural and climatic conditions most correspond to their way of life and allow them to engage in traditional forms of economy.

At the moment, Evenks live mainly in the Irkutsk and Amur regions, Yakutia and the Krasnoyarsk Territory, where there are 36 thousand of them. In addition to Russia, a fairly large number of Evenks also live in Mongolia and China.

Municipal educational institution Daurskaya secondary school

MESSAGE

ON THE HISTORY OF TRANSBAIKAL

ON THE TOPIC:

PEOPLES OF TRANSBAIKALIA: EVENKI

(occupations, life, beliefs)

Completed by: student of grade 7 A

Zhambalov Ilya

Checked by: history teacher

Lobova Yu.P.

Dauria, 2014

PEOPLES OF TRANSBAIKALIA: EVENKI

(occupations, life, beliefs)

Evenks are the indigenous ethnic group of Transbaikalia. For a long time they were called Tungus. According to researchers, the ancestor of the Evenks was the Uvan people. The Uvans were a small tribal group and, together with the Mohe and the Jurchens, made up the Hi people, the ancestors of the Manchus.

By the time of settlement throughout Siberia, the Tungus had developedmain features of the ethnographic complex:

tight-fitting swing clothes in combination with a bib,

portable conical tent,

light frame boat (leather and birch bark),

riding and pack reindeer saddles,

pack bag,

baby cradle,

active hunting,

elements of shamanism and animistic worldview.

Due to the extensive settlement of the Evenks, they formed various economic and cultural types. They corresponded to various groups of the population. Along with the so-called wandering Evenks, who were engaged in hunting and fishing, there were also Evenki cattle breeders. Among the latter, horse breeders and reindeer breeders stood out. They bred horses and sheep and were greatly influenced by the Mongol tribes. Evenk reindeer herders, or Orochen, settled in the northern taiga zone. Reindeer mainly served as a means of transport.

In the 17th century The Evenks occupied almost the entire territory of the region, while they depended on stronger Mongol-speaking tribes. From the middle of the XVII century. the transition of the Evenk tribes to the citizenship of Russia began. Led by Prince Gantimur, the Tungus accepted Russian citizenship.

The principle of the least interference in the internal affairs of the Evenks by the Russian authorities by the 19th century. formed the basis of the system of self-government developed for indigenous peoples. In accordance with it, the Evenks of Eastern Transbaikalia were united in the Urulga Steppe Duma with the center in the village of Urulga. The dynasty of the princes Gantimurovs traditionally began to carry out the function of the heads of the administration of the Evenk Duma.
The Urulga Steppe Duma was a public meeting and was in charge of economic issues. In her competence were such functions as the census, the layout of fees, accounting for amounts and property, and more. Administratively, the Duma was represented by six (later seven) foreign governments, which were subdivided into volosts, and volosts into camps or uluses.

The Evenks were divided into three different groups.

The southern Evenks - khamnigans (from the Bur. "Khamnigan" - Evenk. A. B.) - were influenced by the Mongols and Buryats.

The northeastern (Olekma River) gravitated towards the Amur Evenks.

The Northwestern (Tungo-Kochen, Vitim, Char), gravitating towards the Baunt Evenks, were influenced by the Yakuts.

Despite all the efforts of the state aimed at supporting the Evenks, the territory of their settlement gradually narrowed, and their numbers steadily fell. As a result, the Evenks began to live only in the northern regions of the region, where they managed to engage in traditional forms of economic activity.

__ Traditional life of the Evenks

Life of the Evenks

Evenk life is maximally adapted to the conditions of nomadic life. Reindeer are the main means of transport. Along with pack and riding transport, winter draft transport using sleds is also common. Light boats were also used to transport goods. Among the boats of the Evenks, shuttles of various designs were common. Rafts made of several logs were used to cross the rivers.

dwelling

A portable conical tent was used as a dwelling - an indispensable dwelling in nomadic life and extreme natural conditions. Thanks to the streamlined shape, it is not subject to snow drifts and is resistant to strong winds. The camps of deer Evenks were called urikit, the permanent camp was called meneen.

clothing

The most common clothing was the parka. It was worn by both men and women. The fur parka did not have any decorations. According to the cut, the parkas (short with straight descending floors) made clothes and rovduga and cloth. Clothes made of cloth were decorated with applique in the form of strips of fabric and rows of copper buttons. In addition to the parka, women's outerwear was widespread, which looked like a caftan with a straight cut in front, with converging floors, with a back cut to the waist. The clothes of the equestrian Evenks in their appearance and cut coincided with the clothes of the Buryats. The main headdress was the bonnet. It was worn by men and women. They differed only in the number of decorations.

Religious performances

Religious representations of the Evenks are associated withanimism and shamanism . According to them, the soul consisted of three components. Khanyang is a soul-shadow, been is a bodily soul, main is a soul-destiny. When a person dies, the been leaves him and goes to the Lower World (the dead) along the ancestral river. Hanyang is inside or near a person, she is able to leave a person in a dream and travel. Main is located in the Upper World and has a connection with the person himself. This connection can be broken and then the person dies. The supreme deity (spirit) living in the Upper world (ugu buga) - Amaka - holds the threads of the life of people, animals and plants. Amaka - an old man in fur clothes, who has herds and storehouses.

The functions of a healer, a guide to the Lower World, a fortuneteller, a protector from evil people and spirits were performed by a shaman. He provided good luck in hunting and reindeer herding. The shaman had his own attributes.

The shaman's caftan (orgoy) was a one-piece skin with sewn sleeves. Behind there was a strip (irgine) - a kind of tail, consisting of a rovd fringe. Bunches of roving stripes were attached to the shoulder blades, belt, shoulders and hem. An experienced shaman had a metal plate depicting horns, which was sewn on at the level of the shoulder blades. Of particular importance in shamanic practice - kamlaniya - was a tambourine. The tambourine was almost round in shape, relatively small, the width of the shell did not exceed eight centimeters. On the shells, horse or deer skin was stretched or glued. The Evenks especially revered the rocks with drawings and considered them to be the dwelling places of the spirits of the owners of the taiga and rivers. They also had a bear cult. The Evenki believed that the bear used to be a man, and endowed it with the ability to understand human speech. He was called grandfather, old man, father, uncle.

The views of the Evenks about the surrounding world appear through the prism of shamanism. The firmament was represented by a skin with holes, the earth was considered flat. The equestrian Evenks had a myth that the earth was created by a frog.

Literature:

Ivanov V.N. Russian scientists about the peoples of the North-East of Asia. - Yakutsk, 1978. - 319 p.

Konstantinov A.V., Konstantinova N.N. History of Transbaikalia (from ancient times to 1917). - Chita, 2002. - 247 p.

Kuznetsov O.V. Evenki of Transbaikalia: history and modern ethnosocial problems // Social anthropology of Transbaikalia. - Chita, 2001. - S. 53–68.

Povoroznyuk O. A., Piterskaya E. V. Material culture and lifestyle of the North of Transbaikalia // Sots. anthropology of Transbaikalia. - Chita, 2001. - S. 161-189.