Koryaks are the living voice of Kamchatka. Traditions and customs of the Koryaks Which group do the Koryaks belong to?

Faces of Russia. “Living together while remaining different”

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

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"Faces of Russia". Koryaks. “Flight of the “fifth point””, 2010

KOR'YAKI(they did not have a single self-name; group self-names: chavchyv, chav"chu, "reindeer herder"; nymylgyn, "local resident"; nymylg - aremku, "nomadic inhabitant", etc.), people in Russia - 9 thousand people, indigenous population Koryak Autonomous Okrug of the Kamchatka Region (7 thousand) - since July 1, 2007, the Kamchatka Region and the Koryak Autonomous Okrug have been united into one Kamchatka Territory, they also live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and in the North Evenkiy District of the Magadan Region.

According to the 2002 Census, the number of Koryaks living in Russia is 9 thousand people, according to the 2010 census. - 7 thousand 953 people.

Main ethnographic groups: coastal Koryaks, sedentary (Nymylans), Koryaks reindeer, nomadic (Chavchuvens). The Koryaks speak mainly Russian. About two thousand people preserve the Koryak language, about a thousand - the Alyutor language. In the Koryak everyday vocabulary, words related to hunting, winter, snow and reindeer herding are developed. Writing on a Russian graphic basis. The Koryak script was created in 1931 (in the Latin script), and in 1936 it was translated into Cyrillic. The literary language of the Koryaks is based on the Chavchuven dialect.

Christianity (Russian Orthodoxy) is widespread among the Koryaks, but traditional beliefs (shamanism) also remain strong. The Koryaks protected themselves from death and illness with the help of amulets, as well as by performing various sacrifices. If something happened (for example, an unexpected illness), they turned to shamans for help. At the everyday level, all ailments were explained by the machinations of evil spirits. Consequently, to be cured means to drive away from the patient those spirits that caused the illness. This is what shamans usually did.

The Koryaks have widespread myths and fairy tales about animals (lymnylo). In addition to the Raven (Kuikynnyaku), mice, bears, dogs, fish, and sea animals appear in fairy tales.

Up to the present day, the Koryaks have maintained the customs of levirate and sororate. In the event of the death of the older brother, the younger one had to marry his wife (widow). And take care of her and her children. In the event of the death of his wife, the widower had to marry the sister of the deceased wife.

The first mentions of the Koryaks in Russian documents date back to the 30-40s of the 17th century, at which time the ethnonym “Koryaks” first appeared. There is an assumption that it goes back to the Koryak word khora (“deer”).

The Koryaks were divided into two large economic and cultural groups: coastal - fishermen and sea animal hunters, and tundra - reindeer herders. The traditional occupations of the Koryaks are reindeer husbandry, fishing, and marine hunting. The Chavchuvens and most of the Alyutor people were engaged in reindeer husbandry. The traditional economy of the coastal Koryaks is complex. In the economic complex of the sedentary Koryaks, fishing occupied a leading place. Fishing was most developed among the Karaginsk, Alyutor and Palan people. Fishing is predominantly river and coastal. All groups of sedentary Koryaks and Alyutor reindeer herders were engaged in marine hunting in the Seas of Okhotsk and Bering. Fur trade was developed (hunting for sable, fox, otter, ermine, wolverine and squirrel). Gathering was especially widespread among sedentary Koryaks (edible shellfish, wild bird eggs, berries, nuts, willow bark, seaweed, wild sorrel, saran, fireweed, hogweed and other plant and animal products).

Traditional home crafts include processing wood, bone, metal, stone, weaving, and tanning hides. In ancient times, the Koryaks knew pottery. The tree was used to make reindeer and dog sleds, boats, spears, utensils, spear shafts and harpoons, and shuttles for weaving nets. From the bones and horns of deer and mountain sheep, the Koryaks made utensils, knives for cutting fish, picks, knot undoers, pegs and harpoon tips, brakes for reindeer sledges, and combs for combing grass. Stone axes and spearheads were used at the beginning of the 20th century, and scrapers for dressing hides are still used today. Currently, traditional industries: reindeer husbandry and fishing determine the economic direction of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug.

The basic economic unit of all Koryak groups in the 19th and early 20th centuries was the large patriarchal family. Polygamy is known, although it was not widespread at the end of the 19th century. Marriages took place within one local group. The Koryak marriage system excluded first cousins; in a patrilocal marriage, there was work for the wife. The custom of levirate and sororate was observed. There was a strict sexual division of labor.

The only type of settlement among reindeer herders was a camp consisting of several yarang dwellings. The yaranga had a frame made of poles, which was covered with a tire made of deer skins with sheared fur, the flesh inside. Among the sedentary Koryaks, a semi-dugout with a funnel-shaped structure on the roof and walls made of wooden blocks predominated. In the center of the home there is a hearth. They entered the dugout in winter through the smoke hole. From the mid-18th century, log houses began to appear.

Traditional winter clothing consisted of a fur shirt, pants, hood and shoes. Winter clothing is double: the lower one - with the fur towards the body, the upper one - with the fur outward. Most of the kuhlyankas had a hood and the trousers reached the ankles in length. Men's winter shoes with long and short tops were made from reindeer camus with the fur facing out. The soles were usually made of bearded seal skin. Fur stockings were placed inside the shoes. On the road, over the kuhlyanka they wore a kamleika - a wide shirt made of rovduga or cloth. The set of women's winter clothing also included overalls (kerker), a fur shirt (gagaglia), the hood of which replaced the headdress. The summer clothes of the Koryaks had the same cut as the winter clothes, but were made from rovduga, deer skins with sheared fur, dog skins, and purchased fabrics.

The main food of reindeer herders is reindeer meat, mainly boiled. The dried meat was used to prepare a ritual dish - pound (the meat was ground with a pestle, adding roots, fat and berries). They ate frozen meat on the road. All Koryak reindeer groups prepared yukola, and in the summer they diversified their diet with fresh fish. Fish, meat and fat of sea animals constituted the main food of sedentary Koryaks. Most of the fish was consumed in the form of yukola, exclusively salmon. The meat of sea animals was boiled or frozen. Gathering products were consumed everywhere: edible plants, berries, nuts. Fly agaric was used as a stimulant and intoxicant. Since the end of the 19th century, purchased products have become increasingly widespread: flour, cereals, tea, sugar, tobacco.

The folk arts and crafts of the Koryaks are represented by the artistic processing of soft materials (female occupation) and the manufacture of products from stone, bone, wood and metal (male). Fur mosaic stripes in the form of a wide border (opuvan) were sewn onto the hems of the kukhlyankas. The ornament is predominantly geometric, less often floral. Realistic figures of animals and scenes from their lives are often embroidered. Miniature figures of people and animals were carved from walrus tusks and horns, and bone earrings, necklaces, snuff boxes, and smoking pipes were made, decorated with engraved ornaments and drawings.

The traditional worldview is associated with animism. The Koryaks animated the entire world around them: mountains, stones, plants, sea, heavenly bodies. Worship of sacred places - appapels (hills, capes, cliffs) is widespread. Sacrifices of dogs and deer are practiced. There are cult objects - anyapels (special stones for fortune telling, sacred boards in the form of anthropomorphic figures for making fire by friction, amulets symbolizing totemistic ancestors, etc.). There was professional and family shamanism.

Traditional holidays are seasonal: in the spring the festival of horns - keelvey, in the fall the festival of reindeer slaughter among reindeer herders. Before the start of the spring sea fishery, coastal hunters held a holiday for launching kayaks, and at the end of the autumn season (in November) a holiday for the seal - Hololo (ololo). There were holidays of the “first fish” and “first seal”. Both coastal and reindeer Koryaks held special religious ceremonies on the occasion of hunting bears, rams, etc., with ritual dances representing naturalistic imitations of the movements of animals and birds: seals, bears, deer, ravens. During the holidays, games and competitions were organized (wrestling, running competitions, deer or dog races, tossing a bearded seal on the skin). In recent decades, professional culture has been developing, mainly in the field of choreographic (national dance ensemble "Mengo") and fine arts.

E.P. Batyanova, M.Ya. Zhornitskaya, V.A. Turaev

THAT WAS A LONG TIME AGO. IT DID NOT STOP RAINING FOR A LONG TIME...

In a popular Soviet film, one heroic sailor proudly uttered the following phrase: “We are few, but we are wearing vests.” This expression was remembered by many, and it began to be used in different cases - on business and without business. For the beauty of the style, for the sake of a joke or just for bragging. But seriously, let’s ask ourselves this question: by what signs does this or that people determine its specialness, its dissimilarity from others? For example, the Koryaks. Their number in the Russian Federation, according to the 2002 census, is 8,743 people (in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug - 6,710). And the phrase “We are few, but we ...” in the mouth of a Koryak could sound like this:

There are few of us, but we know a lot about salmon fish.

There are only a few of us, but we wear fur hats both in winter and summer.

There are few of us, but we have amulets that help us.

There are few of us, but when we dance Mlavytyn, it seems that there are a lot of us...

(The Mlavytyn dance was accompanied by characteristic guttural hoarse singing).

Of course, all these are guesses, assumptions, options, but they are useful in cases where we begin to think about the uniqueness of a particular people.

LEARNING MIND FROM THE RAVEN

Let us dwell on the phrase “We are few, but our legends and fairy tales are the most interesting. Especially about Kuikynnyaku, that is, about Raven.” It is presented differently in different mythological fairy tales. Sometimes as a hero and creator, sometimes as a rogue, a cunning prankster (trickster). In short, Kuikynnyaku’s character is contradictory, and his actions are quite confusing and not unambiguous. And besides, he often changes his appearance: he can appear in human form, or he can easily turn into a Raven.

When reading fairy tales and legends about Kuikynnyaku, you should not try to immediately extract morals or some useful advice for life from them. Myths are not invented for this purpose, but to create a holistic (cosmic) picture of the world. Or, in other words, myth should influence the subconscious, archaic memory. Or, if you like, a myth is a diary of thousands and thousands of generations, compressed to the size of a short story. Or a series of stories.

Let’s read a small but very important fairy tale “How Kuikynnyaku stopped the rain.” It was recorded by S. N. Stebnitsky in 1928 in the village of Kichiga, Koryak National District, and he also translated it into Russian.

That was a long time ago. The rain did not stop for a long time.

Then Kuikynnyaku said to his sons:

Come on, sons, catch some deer!

The sons caught deer. Kuikynnyaku made a big rook. He drove these deer into it. Then he began to collect all the animals. All sorts of animals came to him. And the mice came too.

The fairy tale doesn't explain anything. It does not explain why the hero begins to act this way and not otherwise. Why do animals appear? Why is the focus on mice? By the way, they are mentioned separately. There is a certain secret, a riddle in this. This is what intrigues the listener who, for example, is hearing or reading this fairy tale for the first time.

THERE WILL BE NO HINTS

It is curious that Kuikynnyaku himself behaves strangely and illogically. He doesn't explain his actions in any way.

As has already been said, the established order of things has been disrupted. It's raining. Something needs to be done. Further events are arranged as follows. Kuikynnyaku makes a team of mice, harnesses them to a boat, and goes to the sea. An important detail: he takes with him a certain amount of fly agaric mushrooms. Just in case. Then Kuikynnyaku reaches the sea. And while traveling, he constantly peers and listens to nature. Suddenly something like this happens. Suddenly he will be given some clear sign from above, or below, or from the side...

But nothing so significant or fateful happens. It's just completely raining. It doesn't stop pouring. Kuikynnyaku waits all day by the sea for weather, and then (the next day) sets sail. It floats on the sea for a long time. Finally he swims to the island and lands on the shore. He sees a village. Goes there.

Let's make a short stop. Despite the fact that the tale about Kuikynnyaku is told slowly, the events in it happen quickly. For comparison, in Russian fairy tales there is such a beginning: soon the fairy tale is told, but not soon the deed is done. Here it is exactly the opposite. The fairy tale is slow and in no hurry, but things and events are rushing at full speed.

Kuikynnyaku comes to the village, driven by some incomprehensible force, and sees: a woman sitting, combing her hair.

The climax comes. The hero must find out the main thing: why, for what reason, it has been raining for so long. The situation is again incredibly strange. There are no clues. Neither from above, nor from below, nor from the side. But you have to guess the correct answer right away. Weigh the options, like in the game “What? Where? When?" it is forbidden. And Kuikynnyaku, looking at the woman who is combing her hair, immediately gives the correct answer - with a remark to the side:

Yep, that's what makes it rain!

The most interesting thing is that the woman does not even suspect the reason for the appearance of Kuikynnyaku before her bright eyes. This is a common occurrence for her. You never know who comes to the island. Apparently, travelers, wanderers and vagabonds are a dime a dozen. She simply asks Raven:

Will you pass by or stop here?

Kuikynnyaku answers evasively: “I’ll spend the night, and tomorrow I’ll go further!”

And the woman keeps combing her hair. Consequently, the rain continues to fall. As a guest, Kuikynnyaku begins to treat the woman to exotic fly agaric mushrooms. She eats them and gets drunk. This is all our hero Raven needs. He cuts off the hair of an intoxicated woman. Everything - down to a single hair. Then he takes off her clothes and buries her in the ground. And at the same time he shouts out, as if setting himself up for a heroic act:

Wait, I’ll completely torment you!

A drunk woman is shaking from the cold, but by inertia she reaches to her head to comb her hair, which in fact is no longer there.

Kuikynnyaku, who acts on instinct, fears that everything will return to normal. Therefore, just in case, he cuts off the woman’s eyebrows and eyelashes.

AND THE MOUSE WAS USEFUL

This is where the fun begins. Kuikynnyaku acted radically, but he is not confident of success. Suddenly he did everything wrong. To make sure that what he did was correct, he sends a mouse home to see if the sky has cleared.

The mouse swims home and soon returns. Good news: no rain, sunny.

From a hero, as they say, bribes are easy. He won, he won. The winner, of course, is not judged and will never be judged. And the woman is freezing and begs for her clothes to be returned. But Kuikynnyaku does not return anything to her. Not because he's bad. This issue is not even addressed in this story. But because the logic of the myth is strange, absurd. Who knows, if you return the woman’s clothes, she will warm up and again begin to do something that will disrupt the established picture of the world.

The fairy tale ends with a unique happy ending. Kuikynnyaku is simply returning home. That's all. No applause, no cheers, no festive fun. This is all from the evil one. The world has simply returned to normal. Became normal again. And the clan (people) can calmly continue to live. It is this, the life and fate of the clan, that seems to be valued above all else by the Koryaks (and not only by them, but also by other small peoples).

The Koryaks have widespread myths and fairy tales about animals (lymnylo). In addition to the Raven (Kuikynnyaku), fairy tales feature mice, bears, dogs, fish, and sea animals.

The Koryaks also have historical narratives (panenatvo). They reflect real events of the past. For example, the wars of the Koryaks with the Chukchi, with the Evens, as well as various inter-tribal clashes.

THE GROOM CHASED THE BRIDE

It is interesting to trace how mythological (archaic) consciousness influences social life. Most likely, this does not happen directly, but indirectly. Through a series of sustainable habits and rituals. Among the Koryaks, the basis of social life was a large patriarchal community that united closely related people. And if the community was engaged in reindeer herding, then distant relatives on the paternal side helped it. The oldest man was at the head of the community. Before getting married, the groom was required to serve a probationary period in the household of his future father-in-law. By the way, the “idea” is a very good one, because during the probationary period everyone gets the opportunity to take a closer look at each other and get used to it. Again, it is useful to assess the groom's strengths and abilities.

Let's say the probationary period is over, the groom showed his best side. This means you can have a wedding - without delay. And this is where archaic consciousness (ancestral memory) makes itself felt. The groom is destined for another test, the roots of which go back to the distant past. This is the so-called rite of grasping. The groom must catch the fleeing bride and touch her body. All this is similar to the situation when a hunter stalks his prey.

The simplicity of this ritual is striking. In any case, the boy groom will catch up with the girl bride. Everything is too simple, there are few obstacles. Those who have read fairy tales know that the groom (prince, prince, prince) must go through fire, water and copper pipes before he receives a princess, princess, or princess as his wife. But we must not forget that this whole complex series of tests is a later “writer’s” invention. The Koryak community, as a clan unit, cannot send a groom to distant lands. And also for many years. The groom already showed his best side during the probationary period. He demonstrated his best qualities, therefore, there is no point in dragging his feet and prolonging the tests. The “turbulent sea of ​​human passions” urgently needs to be brought to a stable family norm. That is why after “the groom’s hand grabbed the hand of the fleeing bride,” a transition to a new life follows. A young wife finds herself in her husband's house. And through a series of rituals, she is introduced to the hearth and family cult.

Until the twentieth century, the Koryaks retained the customs of levirate and sororate. If, God forbid, the older brother died, then the younger one had to marry his wife (widow). And take care of her and her children. This is levirate. And if the wife died, then the widower had to marry the sister of the deceased wife. This is sororate. The question of love or mutual sympathy does not even arise. Death is a violation of the usual picture of the world, like a hole in the ozone layer. It must be sewn up, patched up, liquidated at any cost. And the dead one is immediately replaced by the living one. And life goes on.

A person of Western European culture, focused on individual existence and selfish consciousness, may get the impression that the emotional life of the Koryaks was dull and uninteresting. This is clearly a fallacy. Emotional life was regulated - that's a fact, but that didn't make it any less interesting. It would be more accurate to say this: the Koryaks “turned on” their emotions and intensely showed them during holidays and rituals.

TO THE SHAMAN FOR HELP

The main rituals and holidays of the sedentary Koryaks of the 20th - early 20th centuries are dedicated to the fishing of sea animals. These are ceremonial meetings and farewells, for example, of whales, killer whales, and fur-bearing animals. It is interesting that after the ritual was performed, the skins, noses, and paws of the “killed animals” passed into a new quality. They became home amulets, family guardians. And again, what is striking about this picture of the world is that there is nothing superfluous in it, no garbage. Every thing and every living creature has its place under the sun and under the moon, on earth and in heaven.

Let's name a few more important Koryak holidays. The main autumn festival of the nomadic Koryaks - Koyanaitatyk ("Drive the deer") - was held after the return of the herds from the summer pastures. After the winter solstice, reindeer herders celebrated the “return of the sun.” On this day there were competitions in reindeer sled racing, wrestling, and running with sticks. The competitors threw a lasso at a target moving in a circle and climbed onto an icy pole. Need I say that emotions run high during such holidays?

The Koryaks also developed life cycle rituals that accompanied weddings, the birth of children, and funerals. How to protect yourself from diseases when there are no healers around? The Koryaks protected themselves from death and illness with the help of amulets, as well as by performing various sacrifices. If something happened (for example, an unexpected illness), they turned to shamans for help. At the everyday level, all ailments were explained by the machinations of evil spirits. Therefore, to be cured means to drive away from the patient those spirits that caused the illness. This is what shamans usually did.

The Koryaks prepared funeral clothing during their lifetime. But they left it unfinished. There was a belief that if clothes were sewn, death would come.

And death, according to the Koryaks, is a violation of the usual picture of the world. Something like a hole in the “ozone sphere of existence.” Of course, this is a modern image. What did the Koryak burial ritual look like?

Firstly, while the deceased is in the home, sleeping is strictly prohibited. Harsh, but at the same time fair. Sleepless Koryaks get the opportunity to remember all the good things that connected them with the deceased. Secondly, the funeral clothes need to be finished. An interesting detail: it is finished off with a large, ugly seam. As if in violation of all aesthetic norms! Apparently, when death is nearby, there is no time for beauty. This is too European a point of view. It would be more accurate to say this: a large, ugly seam, and next to it even “stitch-paths” - these are like two different spheres, the junction of being and non-existence.

The dead Koryak passed into another world through the ritual of burning. The deceased was burned on a bonfire made of dwarf cedar. It is useful for people of Western culture to take a close look at this part of the Koryak funeral ritual in order to grasp the essence of a different, non-European, “circle of things.” Together with the deceased, the deceased’s belongings, basic necessities, bows, arrows, and food were placed on the fire. As well as gifts for previously deceased relatives. From the point of view of some Plyushkin, the action is completely unreasonable. Some kind of unplanned waste of material! But the whole point is that things in the world of patriarchal-communal relations function not according to material laws, but according to spiritual ones. Things are included in a continuous chain of rituals and sacrifices. In themselves they are of value only in the space of an ethnographic museum.

VAKKY IN KORYAK - TO BE!

Koryaks speak Koryak... This is one of the many Chukchi-Kamchatka languages. It includes several dialects: Chavchuvensky, Apukinsky, Kamensky, Itkansky and Parensky.

Characteristic features of the phonetics of the Koryak language: synharmonic vowels, absence of vibrant /r/. Presence of a postvaral fricative. There are other linguistic “tricks”: distactic assimilation of dental consonants by palatalization, increment of an additional syllable after monosyllabic stems. This aspect will be more clear if we compare it with the Chukchi language. The verb “to be” in the Chukchi version is vyk, in Koryak it is vakky.

The Koryak language has well-developed lexical means used in such topics as hunting, winter, snow, and reindeer herding. The Koryak script was created in 1931 (in the Latin script), and in 1936 it was translated into Cyrillic. The literary language of the Koryaks is based on the Chavchuven dialect.

In recent decades, the Koryaks have successfully developed a professional culture, mainly in the choreographic sphere (dance ensemble “Mange”). Associations of amateur artists and writers have been created in the Koryak district. The works of the artist Kirill Kilpalin and the writer Koyanto (V. Kosygin) are especially popular.

Koryak music is special. It is represented by singing, recitative, throat wheezing while inhaling and exhaling. Songs, as a rule, are divided into nominal and generic ones. In them, the Koryaks reproduce local and family tunes.

All musical instruments have a common name - g'eynechg'yn. This word can mean a wind instrument similar to an oboe, with a squeak made of feathers and a bell made of birch bark, as well as a flute made from the hogweed plant with an outer slit without playing holes, and a squeak made of bird feathers, and a trumpet made of birch bark. Let us also mention the plate-shaped jew's harp (this is a dental tambourine in the form of a bone or iron plate) and a round tambourine with a flat shell and an internal cross-shaped handle with vertebrae on a bracket on the inside of the shell.

It seems to us that other people can be understood through fairy tales and legends, through songs and rituals. Through music too. Let's not forget about the riddles. The Koryaks have special ones. Researchers have found that typical Koryak riddles are characterized by the form of a direct question. That is, the guesser does not go around in circles, does not obscure, does not confuse the listener, but immediately reveals the problem. And thus sends the guesser to the essence of things. We also propose to guess three Koryak riddles. They are not complicated. And in principle, it is possible to guess them.

What's non-stop?

Europeans will say it's time. And a wise Koryak will say that it is a river.

Who is this old man who eats hot food?

To solve this riddle, you need to eat a pound of salt and a hundredweight of meat with the Koryaks. And the correct answer is: “old man” is a hook used to remove meat from the cauldron.

And a completely unexpected mystery. It’s not really a mystery, but some kind of philosophical paradox, though only at first impression.

What's insatiable?

The answer is: the door. Why is the door insatiable? Yes, because we feed her keys every day, but she still wants to eat.

Living within the Primorsky Territory along the shores and on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the one hand in the vicinity of the Tungus, on the other - with the Chukchi. The first information about the Koryaks appeared at the beginning of the 17th century, after campaigns on. At the same time, the ethnonym “Koryak” first appeared. It probably goes back to the Koryak word khora (“deer”). According to their way of life, the Koryaks are divided into sedentary and wandering (sedentary and nomadic).

The type of Koryaks is in many ways different from the Mongolian: a somewhat flattened head, a round face, small cheekbones, small, lively and bold eyes, a long nose, often humpbacked, a large mouth, a dark complexion, a sparse beard, black hair, cut short in men, women - braided in two braids; the height is moderate, the physique is strong and slender, especially among the Olyutorians.

The Koryak language, generally similar to the Chukchi language, is divided into 5 dialects. Sedentary Koryaks profess Orthodoxy, the majority of nomads belong to shamanism. Koryak idolaters, to appease their gods, sacrifice either deer, placing their heads on large stones facing the east, or dogs, hanging them on high poles around their huts. Among the animals, the wolf (servant of the evil spirit) is revered, whose skin plays an important role in shamanic rituals.

The traditional dwelling of sedentary Koryaks is part of the house, the dwelling of nomads is huts, the conical pole frame of which is covered with reindeer skins. Traditional clothing: kuklyanka - a kind of shirt made of deer skin (with short hair in summer), tied at the waist with a belt, trimmed at the hem with black fur, decorated with beads and metal plates; fur pants, high boots made of deer skin and a large wolf hat; sometimes the hat is replaced by a hood sewn to the doll. The women's festive dress is trimmed with otter and wolverine fur and embroidered with beads.

Sedentary Koryaks are engaged in hunting and fishing. Boats for hunting (canoes) are very light; their wooden frame is covered with seal skins. The meat is used for food, the furs are sold. Dogs are also kept for driving. Some of the sedentary Koryaks prepare warm winter clothes from reindeer skins for sale to visiting traders; They also make items needed in the everyday life of foreigners from iron and walrus tusks (spoons, pipes).

The nomadic Koryaks are engaged almost exclusively in reindeer herding; Some nomads hunt fur-bearing animals. In summer, some Koryaks are busy collecting roots, especially saran bulbs (Lilium). Their main food is reindeer meat and yukola.

They speak the Koryak language, the writing is based on Russian. Some Koryak believers are Orthodox. Traditional beliefs are also common: shamanism, trade cults.

Koryaks are a small indigenous people, primarily in the north of Kamchatka. Now the Koryaks also live compactly in the Magadan region and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. According to the 2010 census, in Russia there are slightly less than 8 thousand Koryaks.

For a long time, the entire life of the Koryaks was connected with the harsh nature of Kamchatka and was entirely dependent on it. The Koryaks deified the slightest natural phenomena and believed that animals move along with humans and spirits from one world to another.

The name “Koryak” itself, according to the main version, comes from “kor” - deer and is translated as “being with the deer”. This naming perfectly reflects their view of the world: not animals with man, but man with animals.

Economy and life of the Koryaks

All Koryak tribes were divided into two main types: nomadic reindeer herders (Chavchavyv, or Chavchuven) and settled coastal ones (Nymylan). Each group included several tribes. For example, scientists counted 11 Koryak dialects alone. The Alutor people are a special group: they combined both fishing and reindeer herding.

The life and way of life of these tribes differed from each other. Thus, nomads lived in yarangas - portable tents covered with reindeer skins. From these yarangs, in which several families were located, temporary settlements were set up. Sedentary Koryaks set up huts on the banks of rivers in the summer, and in the winter they lived in half-dugouts, 10-30 km away from the water.

It was possible to survive in the harsh conditions of Kamchatka only together, so the Koryaks united into large related communities. The paternal line was considered the main one. Among reindeer herders, the head owned most of the herd, and coastal Koryak associations could, for example, be kayak-based - using one canoe. But here, too, relatives were accepted first. True, commercial relations also penetrated into this patriarchal structure over time: from the 18th century, the nomadic Koryaks began to gradually divide into rich and poor. This is due to the fact that areas for grazing herds were considered common, but deer were private. Some people became so rich that they needed farm laborers, and they began to accept non-relatives into the community. At the same time, it was customary to take care of orphans, old people, sick and lonely people. Mutual aid was the basis of existence.

Sometimes it manifested itself in special forms. Until the very beginning of the 20th century, the Koryaks retained the customs of levirate (after the death of their older brother, his younger brother married a widow and took custody of the family) and sororate (being a widower, a man married his wife’s younger sister).

The main holidays of the Koryaks

A significant part of the everyday vocabulary of the Koryaks consists of words related to the animal world, hunting, and winter. And this is not surprising: without a successful hunt for the beast, a person was doomed to death. That is why all the main holidays of this people are associated with animals. Thus, among the Koryak reindeer herders, the main celebrations were the autumn “Drive the Reindeer” and the Reindeer Slaughter Festival, the winter “Return of the Sun”, and the spring Festival of Antlers. The sedentary people had holidays for the release of the canoe, the First fish, the First seal, and in the fall - "Hololo" ("Ololo"), or the holiday of the seal. In the event of large production, the Koryaks also organized special holidays. Ritual dances were performed on them, in which the movements of animals and birds were imitated. Many rituals were based on the myth of the dying and resurrecting beast. The Koryaks had a special relationship with the bear, which they considered a human cousin. After the bear hunt, a big religious festival was held. Some sedentary Koryaks also deified the whale.

Rituals and rituals

Such an attitude towards the animal world was reflected not only in “hunting” rituals, but also in all the main ceremonies in human life. One of them, of course, is a wedding.

So, in order to get a wife, a man had to pass a series of tests. At first with labor: for some time he worked on the farm of his future father-in-law. They looked closely at him and tested his skills. If the probationary period was completed successfully, it was necessary to carry out the ceremony of grabbing: to catch up with the fleeing bride and touch her body. Formal in essence (the girl did not really think of running away), this ritual performed an important function for the Koryaks - reconstruction of the hunting process.

The closest connection with nature left its mark in the funeral rite. Bows and arrows and basic necessities were sent to the funeral pyre with the deceased. They also put gifts there for previously deceased relatives, so that they would send a good animal for the hunt in return. They prepared for death in advance. Even during a person’s lifetime, funeral clothes were sewn, leaving them a little unfinished. It was believed that if you finish it to the end, the person will die earlier. Then, after death, the funeral attire was finished with an ugly, rough seam. Death itself was not perceived as something final. In the Koryak worldview, there were five interconnected worlds, and the living and the dead can help each other with the forces of nature. Even among the southern coastal Koryaks, who adopted Orthodoxy earlier than others, Christian beliefs were combined with the rituals of their ancestors for a long time.

For a long time, the Koryaks survived on what they managed to obtain together. There is nothing superfluous in their world. The food was meat and fat of animals, fish, and foraging products. The skins were used to make clothing and housing, which was illuminated with melted fat. The boats were covered with leather. Even from the noses, tails and paws of killed animals, amulets were made, which, as the Koryaks believed, protected them from everything bad. This picture of the world is striking in its integrity, in it everyone is in his place and fulfills his assigned role, on which the lives of those around him depend.

Everyone is connected to everyone else and to nature. This is exactly what modern man lacks.

Maria Andreeva

Koryaks

KORYAKI-s; pl. The people who make up the main population of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug of the Kamchatka Region; representatives of this people.

◁ Koryak, -a; m. Koryachka, -i; pl. genus.-check, date-chkam; and. Koryaksky, -aya, -oh.

people in Russia, the indigenous population of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug (7 thousand people). They also live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Magadan Region. Total number 9 thousand people (1995). Koryak language. Believers are Orthodox.

KORYAKI, people in the Russian Federation (cm. RUSSIA (state))(8.7 thousand people, 2002), indigenous population of the Koryak district (6.7 thousand people) of the Kamchatka region. They speak the Koryak language of the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of the Paleo-Asian family of languages. Koryak writing has existed since 1931 on a Latin basis, and since 1936 on a Russian graphic basis. Believers are Orthodox.
The first mentions of the Koryaks are found in Russian documents of the 1630-1640s. Even then, the Koryaks, in terms of their economy and everyday life, were divided into two groups: nomadic reindeer herders () and those who hunted sea animals and fished. The religion of the Koryaks was shamanism. By the beginning of contact with the Russians in the 18th century, the Koryaks were divided into nomadic reindeer herders (self-name - Chavchyv, Chavchuven) and coastal sedentary inhabitants (self-name - Nymylyn). The Chavchuvens inhabited the interior regions of Kamchatka and the adjacent mainland, the sedentary (coastal) Koryaks inhabited the eastern and western coasts of Kamchatka, in the area of ​​Penzhinskaya Bay and the Taygonos Peninsula.
The economy of the sedentary Koryaks combined sea hunting, fishing, land hunting and gathering. The nomadic Koryaks (Chavchuvens) are characterized by large-scale reindeer herding with a herd size of 400 to 2000 heads. The winter and summer dwelling of the nomadic Koryaks was a frame portable yaranga. The predominant type of dwelling among the sedentary Koryaks was a half-dugout up to 15 m long, up to 12 m wide and up to 7 m high. At the beginning of the 19th century, under the influence of Russian settlers, log huts of the Russian type appeared.
Koryak clothing was loose cut. Reindeer herders sewed it from reindeer skins; coastal Koryaks, along with reindeer skins, used the skins of sea animals. The main food of the Chavchuvens was deer meat, which was often eaten boiled; they also ate willow bark and seaweed. Coastal residents ate the meat of sea animals and fish. In the 18th century, purchased products appeared: flour, rice, crackers, bread and tea. Flour porridge was cooked in water, deer or seal blood, and rice porridge was eaten with seal or deer fat.
The main social unit was a large patriarchal family community, uniting close relatives on the paternal side, and among the Chavchuvens, sometimes even more distant relatives. At the beginning of the 20th century, the destruction of patriarchal-communal relations among the sedentary Koryaks occurred, which was caused by the transition to individual types of economic activity: the production of small sea animals, fur hunting, and fishing.
The main holidays of sedentary Koryaks in the 19th and early 20th centuries were dedicated to the fishing of sea animals. The main autumn festival of the nomadic Koryaks - koyanaitatyk ("to drive the reindeer") - was held after the return of the herds from the summer pastures. After the winter solstice, reindeer herders held a celebration of the return of the sun, which included racing on reindeer sleds, wrestling, running with sticks, throwing a lasso at a target moving in a circle, and climbing an icy pole.
The Koryaks have developed rituals of the life cycle (weddings, birth of children, funerals, wakes). Illness and death were attributed to the activity of evil spirits, ideas about which were reflected in funeral and memorial rituals. To protect against spirits, they made sacrifices, turned to shamans, and used amulets. The main genres of narrative folklore are myths and fairy tales (lymnylo), historical stories and legends (panenatvo), as well as conspiracies, riddles, and songs. The most widely represented are myths and tales about Kuikynyaku (Crow).
Musical creativity is represented by singing, recitative, throat-wheezing, and instrumental music. Lyrical songs include “name song” and “ancestral song”, which have local and family tunes. The common Koryak name for musical instruments is geynechgyn. The same word denotes a wind instrument similar to a gobon, with a squeaker made of feathers and a conical bell made of birch bark, and a flute made from the hogweed plant with an external slit, without playing holes, and a squeaker made of bird feathers, and a trumpet made of birch bark. In addition, there is a semolina squeaker, a whistle, a plate-shaped jew's harp, a round tambourine with a flat shell and an internal cross-shaped handle with vertebrae on a bracket on the inside of the shell, various bells, bells, a vortex aerophone - a propeller-buzzer.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

See what “Koryaks” are in other dictionaries:

Modern encyclopedia

People, indigenous population of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug of the Russian Federation (7 thousand people). They also live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and Magadan Region. Total number 9 thousand people (1992). Koryak language. Orthodox believers... Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

KORYAKS, Koryaks, units. Koryak, Koryak, husband. A people in the extreme northeast of Asia. Ushakov's explanatory dictionary. D.N. Ushakov. 1935 1940 ... Ushakov's Explanatory Dictionary

KORYAKI, ov, units. yak, ah, husband. The people who make up the main indigenous population of Kamchatka. | wives koryachka, i. | adj. Koryak, aya, oh. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

KORYAKS, people in the Russian Federation (7 thousand people). Indigenous population of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. They also live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Magadan Region. The Koryak language of the Chukotka-Kamchatka family of Paleo-Asian languages. Believers... ...Russian history

Mongolian people. tribe, lives in Priamursk. region and Kamchatka. Dictionary of foreign words included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

Koryaks- (self-names Chavchyv, Chavchu, Nymylagyn, Nymyl arenku, Rymku Chavchyv) nationality with a total number of 9 thousand people. Live on the territory of the Russian Federation, incl. Koryak Autonomous Okrug (7 thousand people). Koryak language. Religious... ... Illustrated Encyclopedic Dictionary

This term has other meanings, see Koryak (village). Koryaks ... Wikipedia

The people who make up the main population of the Koryak national env. Kamchatka region, also live in Chukotka national. env. and North Evensky district of Magadan region. The self-name of the coastal K. nymylyn, K. reindeer herders Chavchyv. Number K. 6.3 t.h. (1959). Koryak language... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

The people who make up the main population of the Koryak National District of the Kamchatka Region of the RSFSR. They also live in the Chukotka National District and the North Evensky District of the Magadan Region. Population 7.5 thousand people (1970, census).... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Books

• Culture of the ethnolocal community (Koryaks of the village of Verkhniy Paren), Lyudmila Nikolaevna Khakhovskaya, The culture of one of the most interesting and original groups of Koryaks - residents of the village of Verkhniy Paren is presented. This western group of Koryaks was influenced by a number of contact ethnic groups, which... Category: Anthropology Publisher: Nestor-History, Manufacturer:

Koryaks

( Nymylans, Chavchuvens, Alyutors)

A look from the past

“Description of all the living peoples in the Russian state” 1772-1776:

Koryaks create many difficulties for themselves on the way to marriage. Anyone who wants to get married must first bring gifts to his future father-in-law. If he accepts them, the groom enters into the service of his father-in-law, and does the most difficult work: herding deer, looking for firewood, etc. If the groom likes the bride’s father, he gives him his own as compensation for several years of work, sometimes even ten daughter. If the husband doesn’t like his wife, he can send her back to her parents, but his work for his father-in-law is in vain in this case. Polygamy among the Koryaks is allowed, but the groom must go through all this every time he wants to take a new wife.

"Peoples of Russia. Ethnographic essays" (publication of the magazine "Nature and People"), 1879-1880:

The Koryaks' faces are mostly round, less often oblong; Their skin color is dark yellow, but women's are somewhat softer and whiter. The nose is not particularly flattened, the cheekbones are not too prominent, and there are men with an aquiline nose. The forehead is often high, the eyes are narrow and almost always dark. The mouth is large, the lips are red and not very thick. The upper lip is somewhat elongated and gives the face some expression. The Koryaks have almost no beard; they pull out the beard as it grows. Their hair is black, shiny, straight. thick and soft. Women braid two braids; men cut their hair very short and leave only one circle around their head to grow. Very rarely do men wear long hair, in which case they braid it. Koryaks are usually of medium height, well built and strong. Their women are short and fat, but their arms and legs are gracefully shaped.

In addition to their native language, which, however, is very poor, the Koryaks occasionally speak the Chukchi language, partly familiar to all neighboring peoples. Local Russians speak Koryak; they need to know it to make trade deals. The Koryak language is dissonant; but since he is poor in words, it is not difficult for him to learn.

The Koryaks are divided according to their place of residence and way of life into nomads (reindeer) and sedentary. The latter are divided into four tribes speaking different dialects. Nomads speak their own special dialect.


Some nomadic Koryaks, due to constant conflicts with the Chukchi, went bankrupt, lost their herds and fell into terrible poverty. Koryak nomads differ from sedentary tribes in that their entire existence depends on reindeer herding. Reindeer husbandry was the main reason for the preservation of their nationality and ancient customs. The northern nomad has very limited living needs. He has something with which he can satisfy his hunger - he is both happy and blesses his fate.


Among the sedentary Koryaks, who obtain their food by hunting, we see something completely different: if the hunt is unsuccessful, they have nothing to exchange for winter food supplies, and then they are forced to eat fish instead of beef, to which they are already accustomed. As a result of an unsuccessful hunt, they fall into debt or become farm laborers, thus losing their independence, forgetting their primitive morals, customs and national habits.

The woman is responsible for the entire household, in addition, she sheaths the entire family and tans reindeer skins.

The man's responsibilities include all the heavy work around the house and outside the home. Young guys often spend the summer with their herds far from the yurts located along the banks of rivers and lakes, for more convenient fishing. Shepherds have to eat only roots or from hunting sea animals, mainly seals, due to the huge amount of fat extracted from it.

Obtaining wood for fuel is fraught with great difficulties: the Koryaks often have to walk a dozen miles and get only a few small bushes. In addition, men are engaged in the manufacture of kayaks and sleighs, weapons for hunting, fishing and barter. The Koryaks annually pay tribute to fur-bearing animals and are also required to maintain a postal service with Kamchatka.

In family life, as husbands and fathers, the Koryaks are distinguished by their tenderness of feelings. By nature they are kind, honest and fair. They are hospitable to the point of being unscrupulous: they give their last penny to their friend. They are mostly lively in temperament, love to make jokes, are endowed by nature with common sense, a passionate imagination, and sometimes make very successful jokes. But if you offend them, then they will not soon forget the insult inflicted on them and, if necessary, will take revenge for it. In general, in them, good qualities prevail over bad ones, but, nevertheless, every more or less educated person involuntarily repels from them due to their extreme uncleanliness, which has crossed all boundaries. It is impossible to look at the preparation of their food without complete disgust; their clothes are strewn from head to toe with various nasty insects; from the day they are born they never wash themselves; only by chance they somehow take a swim in the water, having fallen into the river.

"Picturesque Russia", vol. 12, part 2, "Primorsky and Amur regions", 1895:

Nowadays, the settled Koryaks have borrowed lies, deceit and theft from Russian traders, and drunkenness and licentiousness from American whalers. With these vices, settled Koryaks destroy huge quantities of the intoxicating Siberian fly agaric, sold to them secretly by Russian merchants, since trade in it is prohibited by law, and this poison can corrupt and reduce a person to the lowest level. The nomadic Koryaks, rarely seeing Russian merchants and American whalers, do not drink, or very little, Russian vodka and American rum, and therefore are moderate, chaste, humane and stand above the settled ones in moral, physical and mental terms.

Only part of the sedentary Koryaks were baptized into Orthodoxy; the rest of the nomadic and sedentary Koryaks belong to shamanism. In their shamanic rituals, the wolf skin plays an important role, because they revere the wolf, considering it a servant of the evil spirit. Polygamy is permitted by Koryak rites, although they rarely have more than one wife. The Koryaks have a strange custom of stabbing the dying, which is done either by the dying themselves, or by someone around them, and in this case with a great ceremony among the entire nomad. The dead are not buried in the ground, since it is impossible to dig through the frozen soil, but they are burned and the ashes are scattered into the air.

Modern sources

Koryaks are a people, the indigenous population of the northern regions of the Far East.

Self-name

Tundra Koryaks: Chavchyv, Chavchyvav (reindeer herder).

Coastal Koryaks: nymylyyn, nymylyu (resident, villager).

Ethnonym

Tundra: chavchuvens.

Coastal: Nymylany

Anthropological type

The Koryaks, like other Paleo-Asian peoples of northeastern Siberia, belong to the mainland group of populations of the Arctic Mongoloid race.

Number

Total according to the 2002 census: 8,743 people, including 8,743 people in the Russian Federation.

Of these, Kamchatka Territory - 7,328 people and Magadan Region (North-Evensky District). – 888 people.

Number of Koryaks in populated areas

Kamchatka Krai:

Town Palana 1212

Village Tymlat 706

Manila Village 565

Sedanka village 446

Lesnaya village 384

Village Vyvenka 362

Ossora town 351

Village Tilichiki 329

Village Karaga 289

Slautnoye village 254

Village Talovka 254

City Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky 245

Tigil village 203

Khailino village 201

Voyampolka village 163

Village Ivashka 162

Village Khairyuzovo 102

Magadan Region:

Village Verkhniy Paren 262

Evensk town 234

Village Topolovka 160

Settlement and territorial-economic groups

According to their occupation and way of life, the Koryaks are traditionally divided into tundra and coastal.

Tundra Koryaks, nomadic inhabitants of the interior tundra, engaged in reindeer breeding.

Includes: Kamenets (coast of the Penzhinskaya Bay) Parensians (Paren River in the northeast of the Taigonos Peninsula) Itkans (Villages of Upper, Middle and Lower Itkana in the east of the Taigonos Peninsula) Apukins (lower reaches of the Apuka River)

Coastal Koryaks, sedentary coastal inhabitants engaged in marine fishing.

Includes: Palans (northwestern coast of Kamchatka between the villages of Ust-Voyampolka and Lesnaya) Alyutors (northeastern coast of Kamchatka between the villages of Tymlat and Olyutorka) Karagins (coast of the Karaginsky Bay between the villages of Uka and Tymlat)

Close to the coastal Koryaks are the Kereks (the coast of the Bering Sea between Natalya Bay and Cape Navarin), who were included in the Koryaks during Soviet times.

Ethnogenesis

The history of the Koryaks is associated with the autochthonous basis of the formation of their culture.

In the basin of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, archaeologists have identified monuments of the so-called. Okhotsk culture (1st millennium AD, culture of sea hunters, fishermen, wild deer hunters), in which the features of the Koryak cultural tradition can be traced, in relative chronological continuity up to the ancient Koryak settlements of the 15th - 11th centuries.

The basis of the Okhotsk culture was formed by intracontinental Neolithic traditions (Baikal region) and southeastern components (Amur region).

Language

The Koryak language belongs to the Chukchi-Kamchatka family of Paleo-Asian languages.

Variants of the name of the Koryak language, adopted in the 30s-40s of the 20th century, are “Koryak”, “Nymylan”.

The last name was introduced because of its euphony, from the point of view of Russian employees of the Educational and Pedagogical Publishing House, in comparison with the name “Koryak”.

Each group spoke its own language and included several smaller territorial groups:

The original language of the Tundra Koryaks, Koryak proper.

The original language of the coastal Koryaks is Alyutor, which is why the entire group is also sometimes called Alyutor.

11 Koryak dialects are mentioned in the literature - Chavchuvensky, Karaginsky, Apukinsky, Alyutorsky (Olyutorsky), Palansky (Pallansky, Lesnovsky), Kakhtaninsky, Rekinnikovsky, Kamensky, Itkansky, Parsky, Gizhiginsky.

S. N. Stebnitsky classified the Kerek (Kerek) language as a dialect of the Koryak language.

Currently, the main dialects are Chavchuvensky, Palansky, Alyutorsky, Karaginsky.

Despite some difficulties in communication, understanding is maintained between speakers of different dialects to the extent dictated by the general norm.

The Koryaks, who speak different dialects, have an understanding of ethnic unity and belonging to a common linguistic community.

Chavchuven is spoken by Koryak reindeer herders throughout the territory of the abolished KAO.

Describing the Apukin dialect of the Koryak language, S. N. Stebnitsky notes that the Apukin people make up “no more than 4% of all Koryaks.”

Traditional home

The winter and summer dwelling of the nomadic Koryaks was a frame portable yaranga (yayana) - a cylindrical-conical dwelling, the basis of which was made up of three poles from three and a half to five meters high, placed in the form of a tripod and tied at the top with a belt.

Around them, in the lower part of the yaranga, forming an irregular circle with a diameter of four to ten meters, low tripods were placed, tied with a belt and interconnected by transverse crossbars.

The upper conical part of the yaranga consisted of inclined poles resting on transverse crossbars, the tops of tripods and the upper ends of three main poles.

A tire made of sheared or worn deer skins with the fur facing out was pulled over the frame of the yaranga.

Along the walls, fur sleeping curtains (yoyona) were tied to additional poles, shaped like a box turned upside down, 1.3-1.5 m high, 2-4 m long, 1.3-2 m wide.

The number of canopies was determined by the number of married couples living in the yaranga. The floor under the canopy was covered with willow or cedar branches and deer skins.

The predominant type of dwelling among the sedentary Koryaks was a half-dugout (Lymgyyan, Yayana) up to 15 m long, up to 12 wide and up to 7 m high, during the construction of which eight vertical pillars were dug into a round hole from one to one and a half meters deep along the circumference and four in the center.

Between the outer pillars, two rows of logs were driven, split lengthwise and forming the walls of the dwelling.

They were fastened at the top with transverse beams.

From the square frame connecting the four central pillars and forming the upper entrance and smoke hole, the blocks of the octagonal roof ran to the upper transverse beams of the walls.

To protect against snow drifts, the Koryaks on the west coast built a funnel-shaped bell made of poles and blocks around the hole, and the Koryaks on the east coast built a barrier made of rods or mats.

A corridor sunk into the ground with a flat roof was attached to one of the walls facing the sea.

The walls, roof and corridor of the dwelling, caulked with dry grass or moss, were covered with earth on top.

The hearth, consisting of two oblong stones, was located at a distance of 50 cm from the central log with notches, along which they descended through the upper hole in winter.

During the fishing season they entered through a side corridor.

Inside the dwelling, on the side opposite the corridor, a platform was installed for receiving guests.

Sleeping curtains made from old deer skins or old fur clothes were hung along the side walls.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century. the Palans, Karagins, Apukins and Koryaks on the northwestern coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk appeared log huts.

By the end of the nineteenth century. Among the Karaginsk, Alyutor and partly Palan people, land-based dwellings of the Yakut type (booth) became widespread, in which the windows were covered with the intestines of sea animals or bears.

An iron or brick stove with a chimney was installed in the center, and wooden bunks were built along the walls.

Traditional farming

The economy of the sedentary Koryaks combined hunting, fishing, land hunting and gathering.

Sea hunting, the main occupation of the Koryaks of the Penzhina Bay (Itkans, Parents and Kamenets), also played an important role among the Alyutor, Apukin and Karagin people, and to a lesser extent among the Palans.

The hunting season, which was individual in the spring and collective in the fall, began in late May - early June and lasted until October.

The main weapons were the harpoon (v'emek) and nets.

During the hunt, they used leather kayaks (kultaytvyyt - “boat made of bearded seal skins”) and single-seat kayaks (mytyv).

They hunted bearded seals, seals, akiba, sealed seals, and lionfish.

Until the middle of the nineteenth century. the sedentary Koryaks of the Penzhina Bay and the Alyutor people hunted cetaceans.

The Apukinians, Alyutorians and Karaginians were engaged in hunting walruses.

By the end of the 19th century, as a result of the extermination of whales and walruses, the harvest of these animals declined, and fishing began to play a primary role in the economy.

They caught mainly salmon fish.

They used locks, fixed and net type nets (with a net bag), fishing rods (eeg'unen) and hooks on a long strap, reminiscent of a harpoon.

Fishing was supplemented by hunting ungulates, fur-bearing and other animals and birds, collecting wild berries, edible roots, and among the Karagins and Palans - vegetable gardening and cattle breeding.

Among the hunting weapons, traps, crossbows, nets, pressure-type traps (when the guard breaks and the log crushes the animal), cherkans, etc. were common, and from the end of the 18th century. firearms became the main weapon.

Introduction to reindeer husbandry occurred among the Koryaks in the 11th-16th centuries as a result of its adoption by separate groups of sedentary hunters from the Evenks in the Penzhinskaya Bay region, as well as on the eastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula, adjacent to Chukotka.

Initially, reindeer husbandry only complemented the already established economic complex of coastal residents - hunting sea animals and wild deer, fishing and coastal gathering, but later it was transformed into specialized pasture reindeer husbandry.

The nomadic Koryaks (Chavchuvens) were characterized by large-scale reindeer herding with a herd size of 400 to 2000 heads.

During the year, reindeer herders made four main migrations: in the spring - before calving, to reindeer pastures, in the summer - to places where there were fewer midges (blood-sucking insects - mosquitoes, midges, etc.), in the fall - closer to the camps where the mass slaughter of reindeer took place , and in winter - short migrations near the camps.

The main tools of labor of the shepherds were a lasso (chav'at) - a long rope with a loop for catching deer, a staff and a stick in the form of a boomerang (curved in a special way and returning after being thrown to the shepherd), with the help of which they collected the stray part of the herd.

In winter, nomads hunted fur-bearing animals.

Traditional home crafts include processing wood, bone, metal, stone, weaving, and tanning hides.

In ancient times, the Koryaks knew pottery.

The tree was used to make reindeer and dog sleds, boats, spears, utensils, spear shafts and harpoons, and shuttles for weaving nets.

From the bones and horns of deer and mountain sheep, the Koryaks made utensils, knives for cutting fish, picks, knot undoers, pegs and harpoon tips, brakes for reindeer sleds, and combs for combing grass.

Stone axes and spearheads were used at the beginning of the twentieth century, and to this day.

The folk arts and crafts of the Koryaks are represented by the artistic processing of soft materials (female occupation) and the manufacture of products from stone, bone, wood and metal (male).

Fur mosaic stripes in the form of a wide border (opuvan) were sewn onto the hems of the kukhlyankas.

The ornament is predominantly geometric, less often floral.

Realistic figures of animals and scenes from their lives are often embroidered.

Miniature figures of people and animals were carved from walrus tusks and horns, and bone earrings, necklaces, snuff boxes, and smoking pipes were made, decorated with engraved ornaments and drawings.

Family

The basis of social life was a large patriarchal family community, uniting close, and in the case of reindeer, sometimes even distant relatives on the paternal side.

At its head was the oldest man.

The marriage was preceded by a probationary period for the groom to work on the farm of his future father-in-law.

After it was over, the so-called “grabbing” ritual followed (the groom had to catch the fleeing bride and touch her body).

This gave the right to marriage.

The transition to the husband's house was accompanied by rituals of introducing the wife to the hearth and family cult.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the customs of levirate were preserved: if the older brother died, the younger one had to marry his wife and take care of her and her children, and also the sororate widower had to marry the sister of the deceased wife.

A typical coastal Koryak settlement united several related families.

There were production associations, including canoe associations (using one canoe), the core of which was a large patriarchal family.

Other relatives who were engaged in fishing were grouped around her.

The reindeer herders' camp, whose head owned most of the reindeer herd and led not only economic but also social life, numbered from two to six yarangas.

Within the camp, connections were based on joint herding of reindeer, cemented by kinship and marriage ties, and supported by ancient traditions and rituals.

Religion and ritual

The traditional worldview is associated with animism and Pantheism.

The Koryaks animated the entire world around them: mountains, stones, plants, sea, heavenly bodies.

Worship of sacred places - appapels (hills, capes, cliffs) is widespread.

Sacrifices of dogs and deer are practiced.

There are cult objects - anyapels (special stones for fortune telling, sacred boards in the form of anthropomorphic figures for making fire by friction, amulets symbolizing totemistic ancestors, etc.).

There was professional and family shamanism.

Rituals of the life cycle (weddings, births of children, funerals, wakes) were also developed.

Disease and death, for protection against which they made various sacrifices, turned to shamans, used amulets, and attributed them to the harmful activities of evil spirits, ideas about which were reflected in funeral and memorial rituals. Funeral clothes were prepared during life, but they were left unfinished, because they believed that those who had ready-made clothes would die earlier.

It was finished off with a large, ugly seam while the deceased was in the home.

At this time, sleeping was strictly prohibited.

The main method of burial is burning on a cedar dwarf bonfire. With the deceased, his personal belongings, basic necessities, a model of a bow and arrow, food, and gifts for deceased relatives were placed on the fire.

The coastal Koryaks of the southern groups, baptized back in the 18th century, were characterized by Orthodox funeral and memorial rites, intertwined with traditional customs: burning the dead, making funeral clothes, treating the dead as if they were alive.

Traditional clothing

The clothes were loose cut.

Reindeer herders sewed it mainly from reindeer skins; coastal herders used the skins of sea animals along with reindeer skins.

Clothes were decorated with the fur of dogs and fur-bearing animals.

In winter they wore double clothing (with the fur inside and out), and in summer they wore single clothing.

The winter and summer men's set consisted of a fur shirt with a hood and bib, fur pants, a headdress and shoes. The outer trousers were made from thin reindeer skin or reindeer kamus, the lower and summer trousers were made from rovduga or leather cut from an old yaranga tire.

Until the end of the nineteenth century. The coastal Koryaks kept trousers made of seal skins, which hunters wore during the fishing season.

Over the kukhlyanka, to protect against snow, they put on a wide shirt - a kamleika with a hood made of rovduga or fabric, which was also worn in the summer in dry weather.

When it rained, reindeer herders wore kamleikas made of rovduga, treated with urine and smoked with smoke.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century. The Alyutor people kept a waterproof raincoat made from walrus intestines.

Hunters of sea animals wore it over fur clothing.

Winter and summer men's shoes were shoe-shaped with a long, knee-length or short, ankle-length boot.

Winter shoes were made from reindeer camus with the fur facing out, summer shoes were made from thin reindeer, dog, seal or seal skins, rovduga or waterproof smoked deer skin with trimmed pile; the sole was made from bearded seal skin, walrus skin, and deer brushes (parts of the skin with long hair from a deer’s leg above the hoof).

A men's fur headdress, a bonnet-shaped malakhai with earmuffs, was worn in winter and summer.

The set of winter men's clothing included double or single mittens (lilit) made of reindeer kamus.

Women sewed double fur jumpsuits that reached their knees.

Reindeer Koryaks chose plain thin skins of young deer for the lower overalls; for the upper overalls they preferred variegated ones; the seaside Koryaks preferred alternating white and dark stripes of reindeer kamus, decorated with fur mosaics.

For summer overalls they used smoked deer skin or rovduga, decorating them with strips of red fabric inserted into the seams.

Over the overalls, women wore a double or single kukhlyanka in winter, similar to the men's kukhlyanka, and in spring, summer and autumn, a gagaglya (kagav'len) fur shirt with fur inside, much longer than the men's kukhlyanka.

The front and back of the eiderdown were decorated with fringes made of thin straps, pendants made of dyed seal wool, and beads.

There were no special women's headdresses.

During migrations, Koryak women wore men's malakhai.

Women's shoes, the tops of which were decorated with an applique of thin white leather from the necks of dogs, were identical in cut and materials to men's shoes.

In winter they wore double fur mittens.

Until the age of five or six, children were sewn overalls with a hood (kalny`ykei, kakei): double in winter, and single in summer.

The sleeves and trouser legs of infants' overalls were sewn up, and after they began to walk, fur or fur shoes were sewn to the trouser legs.

In the clothing of children who had reached the age of five or six, gender differences were already clearly visible.

Folklore

The main genres of narrative folklore are myths and fairy tales (lymnylo), historical stories and legends (panenatvo), as well as conspiracies, riddles, and songs.

The most widely represented are the myths and tales about Kuikynyaku (Kutkynyaku) - the Crow.

He appears both as a creator and as a trickster-prankster.

There are fairy tales about animals.

The independent characters in them are most often mice, bears, dogs, fish, and sea animals.

Historical narratives reflect real events of the past (wars of the Koryaks with the Chukchi, with the Evens, inter-tribal clashes).

In folklore, traces of borrowings from other peoples (Evens, Russians) are noticeable.

Music is represented by singing, reciting, throat-wheezing while inhaling and exhaling, and playing instruments.

Lyrical songs include “name song” and “ancestral song”, which have local and family tunes.

The common Koryak name for musical instruments is g`eynechg`yn.

The same word denotes a wind instrument similar to a gobon, with a squeaker made of feathers and a conical bell made of birch bark, and a flute made from the hogweed plant with an external slit, without playing holes, and a squeaker made of bird feathers, and a trumpet made of birch bark.

In addition, there is a semolina squeaker, a whistle, a plate-shaped jew's harp, a round tambourine with a flat shell and an internal cross-shaped handle with vertebrae on a bracket on the inside of the shell, various bells, bells, a vortex aerophone - a propeller-buzzer, etc.

The main holidays of the sedentary Koryaks of the 19th – early 20th centuries. dedicated to the fishing of marine animals.

Their main moments are the meeting and ceremonial farewell of the captured animals.

Until the beginning of the twentieth century. fishing rituals were widespread.

They were performed on the occasion of the capture of an animal and were associated with the belief in its “revival” and “return” to the hunters in the next season (celebration of whales, killer whales, etc.).

After performing the rituals, the skins of the killed animals, noses, and paws were tied to a bunch of family “guardians” to ensure good luck in the hunt.

The main autumn holiday of the nomadic Koryaks - koyanaitatyk - “to drive the reindeer”, was held after the return of herds from summer pastures.

After the winter solstice, reindeer herders held a celebration of the return of the sun, which included racing on reindeer sleds, wrestling, running with sticks, throwing a lasso at a target moving in a circle, and climbing an icy pole.

Story

In Russian documents, the first mentions of the Koryaks are found in the middle of the 17th century.

The Koryaks interacted most closely with the Itelmens, which is recorded in almost all spheres of culture, and since the 17th century, Koryak-Russian ties have become the most significant factor determining the appearance of Koryak culture.

Thus, the appearance of the ethnic culture of the Koryaks was influenced by both regional factors in the formation of Paleo-Asian peoples and ethnocultural ties with their neighbors.

It should be noted that the relationship between the coastal Koryaks and Nymylans with the Russians in the first decades of Russian colonization was very complex.

Cossack detachments advancing from Okhotsk and Anadyr met fierce resistance, and the war with the Okhotsk coastal Koryaks lasted until the middle of the 18th century, and during it the Nymylans lost more than half of their total number.

The Alyutorians, Palans, as well as the Penzhina Koryaks, whose numbers decreased by 3-4 times, suffered especially hard.

In addition, the smallpox epidemic in 1769-70 also caused great devastation among the Nymylans.

Tundra Koryaks and Chavchuvens accepted Russian citizenship and agreed to pay yasak, and the Cossacks often involved them in campaigns against the coastal Koryaks.

At the same time, there were frequent military clashes between the Chavchuvens and the Reindeer Chukchi, who also fought with the Russians.

By the beginning of the 80s of the 18th century, when the Chukchi-Koryak wars stopped.

The Chavchuvens lost more than half of their population, lost part of their reindeer and were forced to cede part of their territory to the Chukchi and Evens, migrating from Anadyr to Gizhiga and further to Kamchatka.

The total number of coastal and reindeer Koryaks by the end of the 18th century reached five thousand people.

From the 2nd half of the 18th century, peaceful relations between the coastal Koryaks and Russian pioneers were established and a gradual rapprochement of the two peoples began, Russian settlements appeared - Gizhiga, Penzhino, etc.

In the 19th century, contacts between the Koryaks and neighboring tribes expanded even more, especially with the Itelmens (Karagins and Palans) and the northern groups of Chavchuvens with the “reindeer” Chukchi.

National cuisine

The main food of reindeer herders is reindeer meat, mainly boiled. The dried meat was used to prepare a ritual dish - pound (the meat was ground with a pestle, adding roots, fat and berries).

They ate frozen meat on the road.

All Koryak reindeer groups prepared yukola, and in the summer they diversified their diet with fresh fish.

Fish, meat and fat of sea animals constituted the main food of the sedentary Koryaks.

Most of the fish was consumed in the form of yukola, exclusively salmon. The meat of sea animals was boiled or frozen.

Gathering products were consumed everywhere: edible plants, berries, nuts.

Fly agaric was used as a stimulant and intoxicant.