Where does the Eskimo live? Peculiarities of settlement, photo and name of the dwelling, interesting facts about the lifestyle. Who are the Eskimos? Message about the Eskimo people

The Eskimos inhabit four countries, four parts of the vast circumpolar world. They live in Greenland, Canada, Alaska and Chukotka. In Russia, their number is only 1,700 people, mainly concentrated in three “national” villages in the southeastern part of the Chukotka Peninsula. Their relatives live 60 kilometers away, on St. Lawrence Island, which is visible from the shore in good weather. However, they are already citizens of another country. Dmitry Oparin, a candidate of historical sciences, an anthropologist with rich expeditionary experience and an expert on the Eskimos of Russia and Canada, tells EastRussia about the friendship of one people and two states.

One people, but two neighboring states. How to avoid losing contact in such a situation?
- First of all, you need to understand that direct relatives of the Eskimos of Chukotka live on St. Lawrence Island - aunts, uncles, nephews. Their communication and interaction has been going on for several hundred years. It ended only with the beginning" cold war"Until 1948, Eskimos were constantly in contact with each other, visited each other, got married, and exchanged goods. The main time for travel was in May and June, when there were no storms and the ice had already melted. Moreover, in the middle of the 19th century, island there was a severe famine, from which two-thirds of the population of St. Lawrence Island died out, and after this event the Chukchi Eskimos again began to populate that area. As a result, the descendants of the Chukchi Eskimos became the population of the island. In general, the interaction of the Russian Eskimos and the coastal Chukchi with the United States until the 20th s of the 20th century was much more intense and close than with the Russian administration, the Orthodox mission or the Cossacks. For example, they served as harpooners on American whaling ships. Of the European languages, the Eskimos knew English.

How did this affect the Eskimos of Alaska and Chukotka?
- As a result, an interesting socio-cultural situation was formed, which took shape under the great influence of Protestantism, the English language, American culture and Western economics - the so-called contact-traditional society. It combines two main factors: on the one hand, people come into contact with the industrial world, being somewhat dependent on the products of civilization - sugar, tobacco, gramophones, whiskey and gunpowder, and on the other hand, they continue to engage in traditional environmental management. At the same time, the structure of society remains traditional, as do religious beliefs. This situation persisted until the 1920-30s, when the Soviet presence in Chukotka became more and more noticeable.

Is there any evidence from that period that characterizes this type of organization of Eskimo society?
- There are memories of Alaskan and our Eskimos, who went to visit each other back in the 1930s. I interviewed many older people who remember such visits. They say that when Alaskan Eskimos came to the Asian coast, our Eskimos performed a ritual - they pretended to throw stones at approaching boats in order to leave the spirits of the guests in the sea and not let them ashore. When guests came ashore, they had to step over the fire for a kind of mystical disinfection. During such visits, celebrations, exchanges and feasts were held.

I read the memoirs of an American Eskimo who came to Soviet Chukotka. He recalled polite border guards, good medical care and a visit to the cinema. One of the most powerful experiences of this Eskimo happened during a visit to the regional center of Providence. There he was afraid of a huge dog that was chasing him through the entire village. Shouting out requests for help, the hero of the story broke into the house of local residents, who had to calm him down for a long time. As it turned out, the large dog turned out to be a horse with which the population of St. Lawrence Island was not yet familiar.

- Thus, the USSR did not initially interfere with active cross-border communication with Alaska?
- The borders were closed in 1948 and opened only in 1989. The Soviet Eskimos hid the presence of relatives in Alaska, but apparently sometimes met with them on boats in border waters. In 1989, at the end of perestroika, the borders were opened, and close interaction between Chukotka and Alaska began - economic, humanitarian, cultural. In the 1990s, there was a crisis in Chukotka, and it lived worse than all regions of Russia, with the exception of military Chechnya. 2/3 of the population left the region. There were cases when our Eskimos left for Alaska. Firstly, she helped - she provided medicine, food, humanitarian aid, so that currently there are our compatriots in Alaska.

In the 90s, Russians often traveled to St. Lawrence Island by boat. This method of transportation was the main method until 8 passengers on one boat drowned and authorities banned the use of boats. Since then, small private planes have been flying there. American company BeringAir, which operate charter services. However, contacts are facilitated by the fact that the indigenous peoples of Chukotka do not need a visa to St. Lawrence Island. A year ago, boat traffic was restored, so Russian and American Eskimos resumed active interaction.

Do Eskimos communicate only within border territories, like in Chukotka and Alaska, or do they have some kind of associations?
There is the ICC - Inuit Circumpolar Conference, the main association of Eskimos, uniting residents of Greenland, Canada, Russia and the USA. It has more political than practical meaning. If you want the globalized Euro-American world to know about you and your interests, you should play by its rules, create an association and hold some events. Of course, the Eskimos of the vast circumpolar region communicate with each other, exchange experiences and try to solve their problems together. But there is no practical benefit from the ICC, at least for ordinary Eskimos of Chukotka and Alaska.

How do the Eskimos of Chukotka and Alaska live? Are there any differences in their economic activity, culture and religious ideas?
Asian or Siberian or Chukchi Eskimos mainly live in three so-called “national” villages - New Chaplino, Sireniki and Uelkal. Some live in the regional center of Provideniya, the village of Lavrentiya, in the regional capital of Anadyr. Many study in St. Petersburg, some live in central Russia - for example, in Voronezh. Eskimos living on the coast of Chukotka are engaged in traditional environmental management, in particular, hunting marine mammals: walruses, bearded seals, seals and whales. They have quotas for shooting animals. Although in Russia, hunting requires being a member of an artel and obtaining many licenses and certificates. On St. Lawrence Island this is easier - everyone can hunt and get their own food. They also engage in gathering.

Was it organized in modern times some kind of industry in Chukotka and Alaska? Are there any changes in the employment pattern of the population?
- Previously, on the Chukotka coast there were fat shops and fur farms where people worked. Now the main source of income has become government, budgetary organizations - schools, housing and communal services, etc. Hence unemployment and the outflow of the young population who were able to get an education. The situation is similar on St. Lawrence Island. Young people are leaving “for the mainland” in the USA in search of a better life.

What is the religious picture of the Eskimo beliefs?
- Russian Eskimos have retained traditional beliefs and animistic ideas about the world - they “feed the spirits”, observe many different rules, but among them there are Orthodox and Protestants - especially representatives of charismatic evangelical movements, Baptists and Pentecostals. On St. Lawrence Island the vast majority of Eskimos are Protestants. On this basis, religious contradictions sometimes arise.

Has the Eskimo language survived into modern times? Are there any programs to support or revitalize it?
- A big problem in Russia has arisen in the field of the Eskimo language, since there are very few speakers left. Chukchi Eskimos are predominantly mestizos, children of interethnic marriages who live in mixed Chukchi-Eskimo-Russian settlements. On St. Lawrence Island the situation is healthier than in Russia, since there the Eskimos are practically isolated from outside world, and maintain a distance from global culture. The geography and peculiarities of the historical development of America and Alaska helped them in this. On St. Lawrence Island there are two settlements where only Eskimos live - almost everyone there speaks the Eskimo language, there is a language environment. Moreover, they publish computer games in the Eskimo language for children, make films and publish books. We do not have such programs - only private and often weak initiatives. At one time, the school in Novy Chaplino did not even teach the language - there were no resources or specialists.

Are they trying to solve the problem with the Eskimo language in Russia?
There are attempts, but against the backdrop of international experience they look uncertain. There is a group on What’s up, where the Eskimos of Chukotka and St. Lawrence Island are united in one chat, about 200 people in total. There they are constantly rewritten in equal proportions in Russian and Eskimo languages. Thanks to the Internet, a virtual space for communication is created. A positive example The development of the Eskimo language and culture is served by the island of St. Lawrence, where there is no fear of innovation, and there is a base for the development of aboriginal culture. In Alaska and Canada, Eskimos actively use modern media opportunities to preserve their identity. Maintained healthy and correct work, which develops Eskimo culture, adapting it to modern world using information technologies. In Russia, on the contrary, virtual technologies are rarely used to help indigenous peoples; they try to isolate their culture from the influence of the outside world. As practice shows, it is impossible to preserve peoples - they also want to have beautiful clothes, smartphones and the benefits of civilization. They need to be helped to adapt themselves and adapt their culture to the realities of modernity, which only helps preserve their identity, language and culture.

How common is alcoholism in Chukotka and among the Eskimos of Alaska? During the Soviet era, there was a harsh “prohibition” law in those areas. Has it survived?
- Limiting alcohol and alcohol is an extremely important measure for these regions. Alcoholism is a big problem for any aboriginal population, no matter Siberian or North American. The uncontrolled import of alcohol and vodka is still prohibited in the national villages of Chukotka, but the prohibited products pass to the Eskimos. There are corruption schemes; some private entrepreneurs sell alcohol around the clock and deliver it to hunting bases. Alcoholism among the Eskimos reaches insane, monstrous proportions. In Chukotka it becomes the reason violent deaths, accidents, suicides, early pregnancies, etc. In Alaska, the percentage of alcoholics is lower, but there is another problem there - drugs, which are not available in Chukotka, since they are a more expensive object of addiction. On the island of St. Lawrence there is also a prohibition law - if you want to drink alcohol, you go to the city, to Nome.

Do Eskimos have special privileges and rights, like a small indigenous people?
- Yes, definitely. First of all, these are quotas - they have the right to hunt whales and kill from 3 to 5 individuals per year. There are quotas for shooting walruses, seals, bearded seals, etc. Eskimos are provided with free travel to the mainland, to Moscow, once every two years, in both directions. In the public sector, they are paid fairly high salaries thanks to bonuses; there are quotas for admission to some St. Petersburg universities. Many people, only a quarter Eskimo or Chukchi, enroll in indigenous people for the sake of obtaining privileges. In case of pregnancy or illness, every resident of a remote village can call for a medical flight and he or she will be taken by helicopter to the district center. Of course, this service applies not only to Eskimos, but they actively use it. Every helicopter I've flown has carried at least one pregnant girl.

What advice would you, as a specialist, give to the state or private activists who want to help Russian Eskimos?
- Firstly, I believe that there are no exclusively “Eskimo” problems. It is necessary to create jobs so that people do not become drunkards and do not leave for the mainland - to develop traditional natural resource management, create a sales market, develop tourism, and the art of bone carving. Secondly, it is necessary to invest money in preserving the language - making computer games in Eskimo, publishing new textbooks and other educational materials. Thirdly, in every village there should be groups of anonymous alcoholics, full-time narcologists and full-time psychologists who would not work with the population on occasion, but would help people all year round.

The life of the Eskimos is completely dependent on the production of seals and cetaceans, which is what made them inhabitants of the sea coast. The fat of these animals, as well as seal skins, allow the Eskimos to endure the harsh Arctic climate and be completely independent of any plant resources. Seals are a necessary and sufficient condition for their existence. They are obtained partly from kayaks - light boats in the shape of a shuttle, and partly from the ice or shore.

The main hunting devices of the Eskimos are:

kayaks, or boats, consisting of a wooden frame, fastened with straps, and a waterproof covering of sealskins;

special jacket, apron and other accessories for the kayak to completely protect the seal hunter from the water; only his face remains open. Some Eskimo tribes have two or more local kayaks (such as, for example, kayaks Eskimos of the Bering Strait); The northernmost tribes do not have kayaks at all, since the sea there is covered with ice almost all the time;

hunting bubbles - air-inflated bladders of sea animals attached on a belt to a harpoon or dart. They are designed to prevent a wounded animal from leaving, and in case of a miss, they will keep the weapon on the surface;

specially attached to the shaft harpoon tips and other throwing weapons. Having pierced the skin of the animal, such a tip is separated from the shaft and unfolds in the wound; the shaft either separates completely, or remains hanging on the belt along with the bladder. In this case, the wounded animal cannot break the harpoon or pull the tip out of the wound;

sleigh with dog sled.

Eskimos have two types of dwellings - tents for summer migrations and winter houses.

Tents usually sleep ten or fewer people (sometimes more). They represent a structure of 10-14 poles, fastened at one end and covered with a double layer of skins. The tents, apparently, are built approximately the same everywhere and differ from the dwellings of neighboring tribes only in that the longest poles and the highest part of the tent are either in the center or at the entrance.

Winter houses are much more varied. They are usually built of stones and earth, with wooden rafters and supports for the roof. Only the Eskimos of the central regions use snow houses; Western Eskimos build their houses mainly from planks and cover the outside with turf. In the Far North, they are forced to use stones and bones of sea animals instead of wood. As for the structure of the houses, each of them has a long and very narrow passage, raised at both ends - that is, when entering the house, a person must first go down and then go up again before getting inside. The interior consists of one room, where there is only a bed or bench for resting and sleeping; The premises are divided into sections for individual families. The entrance corridor, or tunnel, usually has a side room with a fireplace. In earlier times, in more populous villages, it was customary to also have a public building for meetings and special occasions. There is almost always more than one family living in a winter house, but their number rarely exceeds three or four, although there are houses about 20 meters in length intended for ten families.

Eskimo men and women dress virtually the same - in tight-fitting pants and a jacket with a hood that can be pulled over the head (at least for men); Only the face and hands remain open. The kayaker's jacket is roughly constructed in the same way, the lower edge of which is pressed tightly against a special frame around the place where the hunter sits; his hands are protected by waterproof leather mittens. Eskimo footwear - various shoes and boots - is made with great skill from carefully and ingeniously prepared leather.

It would be more correct to classify the Eskimos as sedentary rather than nomadic tribes, since they usually winter in one place for many years. However, for the rest of the year they are constantly on the move, transporting tents and things from place to place; the route is chosen depending on the purpose - whether it is hunting for reindeer or seals, fishing or trade exchange.

The Eskimos lead the life of hunters and fishermen and, broadly speaking, have no property. They possess only the most necessary items and a supply of provisions for less than a year; Traditions and customs do not allow them more.

In general, Eskimo property can be classified as follows:

1. Property of several families related to the winter home; Truth, real value here they have only its wooden parts; the women construct everything else from scrap materials.

2. Common property one or a maximum of three related families - a tent and other household property, such as lamps, troughs, wooden dishes, stone cauldrons; boat umiak, in which you can transport all this property, including the tent; a sleigh or two sleighs and dog sleds for them. To this you can add supplies for the winter, only on which you can usually live for two to three months; and, finally, a varying but always very small supply of items for exchange.

3. As for personal property, clothing can be recognized as such (usually, at least for the main family members, these are two sets; it rarely happens more); sewing supplies for women; kayaks for men along with related accessories, tools and weapons; some other woodworking tools; weapon for hunting on land. Only the best seal hunters own two kayaks, but some have two sets of accessories for them (this is a large harpoon - a separate tip and shaft with a strap and a bladder; a small harpoon or dart with a bladder; a bird hunting dart; a spear with a smooth, non-serrated tip; fishing tackle and some other small items).

Despite very limited ideas about property, the Eskimos maintained something like a trade exchange among themselves, for which they undertook long journeys (although they could set off just like that, without any specific purpose). The objects of exchange were usually things necessary in everyday life or objects that can only be found in certain places - such as soapstone, lamps and vessels made from it, whalebone, walrus bone and narwhal teeth, some types of leather, sometimes even ready-made boats and kayaks , but almost never food.

Language

The dialects of all Eskimo tribes are close to each other and understandable in any place where real Eskimos live.

Social structure, customs and laws

What will be discussed in this section is closely related to the peculiarities of the Eskimo lifestyle, which is quite natural. The life of a people of hunters requires a natural partnership and shared ownership of things; this limits property rights and allows many to benefit from the work of one person. Of course, this is balanced by certain obligations on the part of others. Let us consider the features of the social structure of Eskimo society.

Eskimos form communities of three types: family, inhabitants of one house and inhabitants of one winter hut. Connections of this kind between winter huts practically do not exist.

Family. It is very rare to see a man have more than one wife, but his right to divorce his wife and take another is almost unlimited. However, divorce, polygamy, and wife exchange enjoy the support of public opinion only if they are necessary for procreation, especially for the production of male heirs. Marriages are arranged in three ways: through intermediaries, by agreement from childhood and by force. A certain amount of violence in marriage is common among all barbarous and savage tribes. In addition, the consent of the bride's parents and brothers is required for marriage. In fairy tales, there is often a plot about a girl who had many wonderful admirers, but whose brothers or parents did not want to let her go. Marriage takes place without special ceremonies and does not impose any special obligations. The bride brings her clothes to the groom's house, a special semicircular ulo knife and usually a lamp. A family in the narrow sense, as a rule, includes, in addition to spouses and their children, adopted children, widows and other dependent and helpless relatives who occupy a subordinate position and are something like servants. We are inclined to think that the so-called slaves or captives of the Western Eskimos occupy much the same position. A family in a broader sense includes married children, unless they have a separate winter house, a separate boat and a tent for summer wanderings. It is the ownership of this kind of property that defines the real community - the family. Sometimes the parents of the second spouse are also included. The wife always submits to her husband's mother. In addition, the husband has the right to punish his wife with a blow to the face sufficient to leave a visible mark. But children, and especially servants, are never subjected to corporal punishment. If a man has two wives, the second is considered only a concubine and takes the place of the first only in the event of her death. In case of divorce, the son always leaves with his mother. As a result of this organization, there is usually more than one breadwinner in a family. The head of the family is considered to be the owner of the boat and summer tent. After death, these things pass to the eldest son, along with the responsibilities of the breadwinner. If the deceased does not have an adult son, the closest relative takes the place of the breadwinner; when the children grow up, their mother can have a family with them own house, without looking back at their adoptive father.

Residents of the same house. In Greenland, several families often live in one house. Each of them runs, for the most part, a separate household; each married couple and their children are assigned their own place on the main couch, with their own lamp nearby; unmarried residents of the house and guests sleep on the side beds and the bed by the window.

Residents of one winter hut or village are constantly in contact with each other both in the village and in common hunting grounds and, quite naturally, form a close community. No stranger can settle nearby without the general consent of the inhabitants of the winter hut.

Basic Rules Related to Ownership and Mining

From every seal caught each inhabitant of the winter hut received a small piece of meat and a corresponding portion of fat; If there was not enough for everyone, the inhabitants of the house were the first to receive their share. They didn’t go around anyone; thus, even the poorest did not need food and oil for lamps, as long as the hunters of the winter quarters regularly returned with their prey. In addition, a successful hunter usually invited others to share his meal with him.

Outside permanent settlements, everyone had the right to build a house, hunt and fish anywhere. Even the dams that blocked the river during the summer fishing grounds did not belong to anyone; they could be used or even destroyed by anyone.

Anyone who has found a piece of wood or some ownerless things, became their legal owner; To do this, he just had to pull things above the high tide line and mark them with stones.

If a wounded seal walked away with a harpoon tip, the hunter lost the right to it as soon as the animal managed to free itself from the hunting bubble. The same thing happened if an animal with a small bubble from a dart went far away. The one who found and finished off the wounded seal took the carcass for himself, and returned the weapon to the owner, if one was identified.

If two hunters hit at the same time bird or seal, the harvested carcass was divided equally along with the skin. But if it was a deer, the one whose weapon was closest to the heart received it; the second received only part of the meat.

Any unusual - by type or size - production was considered common even in to a greater extent than usual. This also applied to the first catch of the season and animals taken during periods of need or prolonged failure. And the largest animals - mainly whales - were generally considered common prey. Everyone who took part in the cutting of the carcass could receive their share, regardless of their place of residence and whether they took part in the hunt.

If you couldn't get it Since there were no seals or other large animals, the most well-provided families in the house usually invited the others to take part in the meal. This did not apply to the other inhabitants of the winter hut.

If one hunter borrowed weapons or tools from another, and then lost or damaged them, he did not have to compensate for the loss in any way. Moreover, if the owner stopped monitoring his fox traps, then anyone who put them in order, guarded and checked them became the legal owner of the prey.

If a person regrets a transaction, he had the right to refuse it. Nothing was sold on credit without immediate payment.

To this we can add some general rules.

Every healthy man was required to engage in sea hunting until old age or until his son replaces him. Accordingly, he was obliged to prepare his son for this difficult task from childhood.

Living in close and crowded communities made the rule necessary friendly, calm communication - all quarrels and disputes were prohibited. As a result, there are practically no curse words in the Greenlandic language.

The Eskimos had neither courts nor governing bodies - all issues were resolved at general meetings.

Meetings of the first kind are daily common meals to which the hunter invited other hunters. Only men took part in them; women ate later; at such meetings the events of the day and other issues of common interest were discussed and assessed.

Other meetings were real holidays, which were usually held in the middle of winter; but there were also summer holidays, where, of course, more guests came. In addition to food and conversation, the main entertainment of such holidays were:

various games and competitions of strength and dexterity;

singing and playing tambourines with dancing and recitation;

satirical or offensive songs that played, in a sense, the role of judgment.

A favorite pastime was playing ball. They played in two ways - either members of one team threw the ball to each other, and members of the second tried to intercept it, or for each team their own goal was set at a distance of 300-400 steps, and the players tried to hit it with the ball, kicking it from different sides.

Competitions for the strength of hands and fingers, exercises on a rope stretched from the ceiling, kayak races, boxing on a flat area, etc. were also practiced.

Any disputes, except those that required blood feud and the death of the offender, were resolved with the help of offensive songs. The “plaintiff,” who had some claims against the “defendant,” composed a song in advance and invited the enemy to meet with him, indicating the time and place. Usually, especially on important occasions, each side had a support team that relieved him when necessary. The singing was accompanied by playing tambourines and dancing. The approval or condemnation of the audience was the decision of the “court” - and at the same time the punishment.

As for real crimes, the violation of property rights, for obvious reasons, could only be trivial. Murder required blood feud on the part of the closest relative. Having carried out revenge, he had to announce this to the relatives of the murdered man.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

When you hear the word “Eskimo,” your imagination pictures a plague among snowy expanses and little men wrapped from head to toe in reindeer skins. Some people associate this term with ice cream on a stick. Few people know that the Eskimos are an ancient people who lived in the northern regions before our era. They have original culture, traditions passed on from generation to generation. Some customs of these northern people so different from ours that they can even cause shock.

Nation

The Eskimos are an indigenous people living in the far north. They occupy the territory of Greenland, their settlements are in Canada (Nunavut), Alaska, and the Chukotka Peninsula. Scientists classify this people as a group of Arctic-type Mongoloids. They are also called by the term "Inuit" (from English word inuit), which is the politically correct name for the nation. Together with other indigenous peoples of Kamchatka, they form the continental Arctic race. The origin of the word "Eskimo" goes back to Indian name Eskimantzig, that is, “a person who eats raw fish.” This name, coined by the natives of America, is still in use today. Groups of indigenous peoples living in Chukotka, the Far Eastern islands, and various areas of Alaska call themselves “Yupik,” which translates as “real people.” All representatives of this nation speak Escaleut languages, which are a collection of related dialects.

Number

Taken together, all representatives of this northern people living on different continents amount to only 170,000 people. Most of them are located in Greenland (about 56,000) and Alaska (48,000). The rest settle in Chukotka, the islands of St. Lawrence, Wrangel, and Canadian Nunavut. Some tribes live in northern Europe (in Denmark and other countries). Approximately 1,500 people live on Russian territory.

Appearance

Representatives of this people look like typical Mongoloids. They are characterized by the following features:

• dark skin;
• narrow eye shape;
• wide nose;
• black hair;
• round shaped face.

Women, like men, have a stocky build. They are a short race, Europeans are much taller than the average Eskimo. Girls wear long hair which are braided into a braid.

Story

To designate the ancient ancestors of modern Eskimos, anthropologists proposed the term “Paleo-Eskimos,” which is conventional. Scientists distinguish among them the cultures of Saqqaq and Dorset. In parallel with them, the Independence culture developed, divided into I and II (according to time periods). The oldest of them is Saqqaq, which existed from approximately 2500 to 800 BC. BC. In her time there was Independence I. It is believed that the modern Chukchi and Saqqaq people share the same prehistoric ancestors. An ancient Paleo-Eskimo site was found on Wrangel Island in the 70s of the last century. A harpoon was discovered there, which, according to archaeologists, had lain in the ground for more than 3,300 years.

Later is the Dorset culture. People belonging to it inhabited the northern regions of Canada back in the first millennium BC. Hunters of these ancient tribes used spears and forts to hunt animals. At the site of the remains of dwellings, stone lamps were found that ran on seal oil. Representatives of Dorset knew how to carve figures from seal tusks and decorate them with patterns. There were tribes near Dorset dating back to Independence II. From their mixing in the 8th century AD, peoples called “Thule” were formed - the ancestors of modern Eskimos. In order to draw such conclusions, scientists took DNA samples from the remains of ancient people who lived in the northern territories. Representatives of the Thule occupied Canadian territories in the ninth century, displacing more backward tribes from them. In the 13th century they moved to Greenland.

Life

Eskimos form communities that include residents of one settlement (winter). They consist of many families in which everyone has certain duties. A family can include not only a husband and wife and their children, but also immediate relatives. Several families often live in one dwelling. Married couples sleep with their children in the center of the house. Lonely members of the community take seats at the edges. For the most part, marriages are monogamous, with each man having one wife. However, no one forbids him to marry two girls or get a divorce. But this rarely happens, since the way of life of the people is aimed at preserving the well-being of the family and society as a whole.

The Eskimo way of life involves close cooperation, which requires high consciousness from each member of society. They hunt together and use items belonging to the entire village. Residents constantly communicate with each other, there are unspoken laws between them. The postulates are expressed in the following rules:

1. Strangers do not have the right to build a house inside the settlement without the consent of all its residents.
2. Each settler takes for himself a certain most production In this case, the members of the successful hunter’s family receive the meat and fish first. Thanks to this, none of the villagers go hungry.
3. Each person can live and hunt outside the community if he wants.
4. If someone finds any objects or things and their owner is not found, the finder takes them for himself.
5. When none of the hunters have any luck in the hunt for a long time, the richest families invite others to dine with them.

The Eskimos do not have any self-government organizations. All problems are discussed within society and resolved immediately. Scandals and quarrels on any occasion are prohibited. This rule is dictated by the need for peaceful coexistence in a small territory. The languages ​​of these peoples do not have swear words. With this lifestyle, there is practically no crime among the population. If a murder occurs (which is extremely rare), this requires retaliation according to the law of blood feud. The person who committed this act must be killed by a relative of the murdered person. When vengeance is taken, relatives are notified.

Women

Girls in Eskimo families accept a subordinate position. In order to get married, you need the permission of both parents. When there are boys (brothers) in the family, they must also give their consent. If the parents do not want to let their daughter go, she will stay with them. A man can take a girl to be his wife by force if her parents (but not she) agree to this. There are no marriage ceremonies. The girl simply comes to a new house, taking with her clothes, sewing supplies, and a knife.
The wife has no voice in the family, she must obey her husband and mother-in-law. A man can hit his wife for any offense. But their children are never punished. In the event that a husband decides to have another wife, the first one still remains the main one. As a rule, a second girl is needed for procreation if the first wife cannot have children for some reason.

Men

The male half of the population is mainly engaged in food production. This is their main responsibility. Every man of working age should hunt and fish until his strength leaves him. He is obliged to accustom his sons to this from childhood. Men often hunt in an organized manner, so there should be friendly relations between them. Because of this, there are no disputes over mining. If two hunters simultaneously harpoon a seal or game, the meat is divided in half. Whales are hunted communally and are initially considered common prey.

When hunters take things from each other (harpoons, arrows, guns), no compensation is paid if they are lost. If one person sets traps for an animal or fish and then neglects to keep an eye on them, other hunters can take the prey for themselves. It goes to the one who first found them, repaired them, and began to take care of them. Such rules are determined by concern for the preservation of their kind.

Housing

By the standards of a civilized person, the houses of the Eskimos are very unusual. They have two types of dwellings: summer and winter. Summer ones look like a tent or a tent. The design is very simple. Several long poles are fastened at the top, and their ends rest against the ground, forming a circle. Then they are covered with deer skins, sewn together into large panels. On one side, the skins are pushed aside, forming a passage.

Winter houses have different device, depending on the region where the tribes live. In Greenland these are traditional snow buildings called "igloos". Eskimos living in Chukotka build houses from boards, earth, and bones. In countries like Denmark, housing is made of stones and wood. The entrance to them is very narrow and low. A long corridor leads to a large room in which several families live.

Greenlandic Eskimos build igloos out of snow. First, rectangular blocks up to half a meter in length are molded from the snow mass. Mark a circle of the desired diameter and lay snow parallelepipeds around the circumference. The blocks are tilted slightly toward the center to form a cone. At the top they are rounded, forming a dome. The very top of the needle is not covered, leaving a hole for the smoke to escape. In the very center of the house there is a fireplace.

The round room is divided into parts, each of which is occupied by one family. There is no furniture there, only a bed for sleeping. There is a lamp nearby. The average diameter of a house is 3-4 meters. 10-12 people live in it. Sometimes they make an igloo with a diameter of 15-20 meters for 8-10 families. Tunnels are laid between dwellings in order to move from one to another without getting exposed to frost.

Clothing and household items

Women and men wear approximately the same clothes. These are long jackets made of reindeer skins with a hood trimmed with arctic fox or sable fur. They are decorated with national ornaments, tails, and fur inserts of contrasting colors. On their feet they wear high boots - thick boots made of deer or dog skins with the fur facing out. Hands are protected from frost with warm mittens.

Eskimos have very few household items. They do not accumulate property. These are sedentary tribes that live for some time in one place, and then leave and move to another. They transport the tents on sleighs along with the utensils. These people stock up only on food. At the same time, the richest families do not store food for more than a year. Tents, sleighs, boats, dog sleds, and dishes are considered the common property of all families living in the same dwelling. Personal items may include:

1. Clothes.
2. Tools.
3. Sewing accessories.
4. Weapon.
5. Fishing equipment.

Eskimos can exchange certain things with other tribes. These are mainly animal skins, seal tusks and fangs, and whalebone.

Classes

The two main activities of this northern people are hunting and fishing. They also engage in marine fishing - catching walruses and seals. Tribes living in Canada and Kamchatka hunt deer, arctic foxes, and game. With the advent of civilization in Greenland and the formation of cities there, many Eskimos became hired workers. They get jobs on fishing boats and do the same thing, receiving a salary. Those people who are engaged in their own fishing have the following equipment:

• wooden boats covered with seal skins - kayaks;
• waterproof kayaker jacket;
• harpoons, spears;
• sleighs, dog sleds;
• traps, traps.

Hunters make special protective suits for hunting wild animals, which can be compared to body armor or knightly armor. Thin plates of walrus tusks are connected to each other with leather laces. The armor is distributed on the body in such a way as to protect vital organs. It is light and does not restrict movement.

Seals are very important to the Eskimos, as their meat forms a large part of the menu. Some species of these animals are hunted all year round. Special traps are placed on the ice to warn of the approach of a seal. When he emerges from the water, he is killed with harpoons. Before death, the animal is given a drink of water to appease the water spirit, the mistress of sea animals, Sedna. Walruses and whales are hunted in groups as they are very large animals. There is enough bowhead whale meat to feed an entire village for a year. Therefore, catching him is a great success.

Food

Eskimos mainly eat the meat of animals they hunt. For the most part this is:

• seals
• walruses
• seals
• deer
• White bears

The Eskimo style of eating is even called a meat diet, due to the predominance of this product in it. The rest of the diet consists of sea and freshwater fish and sometimes game. People have no opportunity to engage in farming, as they are surrounded by permafrost. Sometimes women collect roots and berries if plants are found near the winter hut. Seaweed is also eaten. People of this nationality are of the opinion that it is the meat diet that gives them strength, makes them healthy, and helps them accumulate energy in conditions of constant cold.

Animal fats and proteins found in meat replace the Eskimos with all the vitamins and minerals that the majority of people take from a wide variety of natural products. Medical research has revealed that a meat diet provokes cardiovascular diseases, vein thrombosis, and strokes. The mortality rate from apoplexy among this people is twice as high as among the white population. Eskimos eat all edible parts of the body of fish and animals, so they compensate for the lack of vitamins. Retinol and calciferol are present in the liver of fish and mammals, and ascorbic acid is found in seaweed, seal skin and brain.

A special feature of the diet is that foods are consumed raw. In this case, no spices are used. After cutting the animal, pieces are cut off and placed on metal or cardboard plates. Brains, entrails, fat are eaten along with meat. If people have not eaten for a long time, then the entire settlement is invited to the table. The concept of “lunch” or “dinner” does not exist, since food is taken when hunger is felt, and not at a certain time. The female half of the population and children eat after the men, since hunters need a lot of strength to engage in hunting.

In addition to eating animal entrails, Eskimos also drink their blood. They consider it extremely beneficial for health. The benefit is explained by the fact that the nutrients contained in the animal’s blood saturate the human blood with the missing elements. This gives strength, endurance, and helps withstand abnormal cold.
Popular Eskimo dishes:

1. Akutak. The dish consists of seal or walrus fat mixed with berries and fish fillets. Sometimes roots and edible plant leaves are added there.
2. Anllek. It is considered a delicacy dish. It is done like this: when it is possible to find supplies of voles collecting seeds and grains in their burrows, they are taken away and some other food is put in return. The grains are eaten raw or mixed with meat and fat.
3. Igunak. This is the carcass of a killed animal (deer, seal, walrus, etc.), buried in the ground and lying there for some time. Fermentation occurs inside it, as well as partial decomposition. The meat contains cadaveric poison, so Europeans cannot eat such dishes. Eskimos are immune to it due to the fact that the food has been present in the diet for many generations.
4. Maktak. This is a whale skin with a fat layer, previously frozen.

Religion

The appearance of white people greatly influenced the lives of server peoples. This also affected religious beliefs. Therefore, some tribes now profess Christianity, but this is a consequence of the intervention of civilization. The main religion of the Eskimo tribes is animism. This is a belief in spirits that can help or harm a person, so they need to be worshiped and brought gifts. Nature is considered to be animate, and all animals are considered to have a soul.

The entire world is ruled by a creator, under whose command are various deities. For example, the goddess of the sea and animals is Sedna. She also rules the kingdom of the dead. Each settlement has its own shaman. This is a person who has the gift of penetrating the world of spirits. He mediates between people and gods. The shaman performs rituals to appease the spirits and tells mortals about the plans of the gods. They are also folk healers. In difficult situations, they are asked for advice and asked to resolve a dispute.

Religion obliges people to treat animals with respect. You can kill them only for food and never for idle fun. There is a legend among the Eskimos that they agreed with Sedna that they would destroy walruses and seals only for food in order to survive the species. The goddess commanded sea animals to sacrifice themselves so that after death they would become part of human body and thus continued the human race. To do this, she gave them the ability to create offspring.

Traditions

Some features of the life of the Eskimos are not entirely clear to white people. Exchanging wives for a time is a common practice among representatives of this nationality. There are situations when a woman must accompany her husband on a trip, prepare food for him, take care of him, but for health reasons or other reasons it will be difficult for her to do this. Then the man borrows his wife from another settler. After completing the planned task, the woman returns to her former husband.

Eskimos do not kiss their loved ones. Instead, they rub noses together. Europeans believe that this is due to negative weather conditions. There is a danger of frostbite on the lips, since moisturized areas of the body are immediately covered with ice. Often the lower part of the face is completely closed, as icicles appear under the nose from warm breath. And for men, the beard can become completely frozen.

Eskimos have no opportunity to wash themselves due to the extreme cold. They smear their bodies with seal or bear fat and rub their faces with fish oil. This helps resist frost and reduces the possibility of skin frostbite. Representatives of tribes living in Europe and America wash themselves once a year, summer time.

Now travel agencies organize excursions to Eskimo villages for those who want to get acquainted with the life and customs of this people. You can even rent an ice house and spend the night in it. For thrill-seekers, they can bathe in a heated bathtub, which is installed in the middle of a snow house.

Message on topic Peoples of Russia

Eskimos

Prepared by a student of grade 3,B

Secondary school No. 47

Rusakov Vsevolod

Saint Petersburg

2011

Eskimos

Eskimos are one of the indigenous northern peoples. Eskimos inhabit the territory from the eastern edge of Chukotka to Greenland. In total, there are less than 90 thousand people in the world (as of 2000). In Russia, the Eskimos are a small ethnic group (according to the 2002 census, 1,750 people), living mixed or in close proximity with the Chukchi in several settlements on the eastern coast of Chukotka and on Wrangel Island.

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

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

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

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

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

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

The dwelling of the Eskimos is “IGLU”. The igloo is made from ice.

Eskimo clothing - “KUKHLYANKA”