Itelmens and Kamchadals are the indigenous population of Kamchatka. Itelmens: children of the Crow or Kamchatka Indians Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

Itelmens
Modern self-name itanman
Number and range
Total: ▼3093 (2010)
Language Russian, Itelmen
Religion Orthodoxy, shamanism
Related peoples Chukchi, Koryaks, Kereks, Alyutors, Kamchadals

The Itelmens are one of the indigenous peoples of the Kamchatka Peninsula; live in the east of the peninsula (Tigilsky district of the Kamchatka Territory; 1,179 people) and in the Magadan region (509 people). Language: Itelmen. The name is a Russian adaptation of the ethnonym “itenmen” (“existing”, “living here”). The total number of people is no more than 2,500 people.

The main name of the ethnic group is “Itelmen”, which coincides with the self-name (itənmən). The name “Kamchadal” was previously used, and is sometimes still used in other languages.

The genetic affiliation of the Itelmen language has not been precisely established. According to one hypothesis, it is an isolated language; according to another, it constitutes a separate branch within the Chukchi-Kamchatka family, opposed to another branch, which includes the Chukchi, Koryak and Kerek languages.

The Itelmens live on the Kamchatka Peninsula and are considered its aborigines; other peoples inhabiting (or inhabiting) Kamchatka - the Koryaks and Ainu - came there later. By the beginning of the 18th century. there were from 12 to 15 thousand Itelmens; the language was divided into three mutually intelligible dialects (western, eastern and southern). By the beginning of the 19th century. As a result of a series of epidemics, the number of Itelmens was reduced to one and a half to two thousand people. Until the beginning of the 20th century. Only one of the three Itelmen dialects - Western - survived. Today, Itelmens live mainly in two villages of the Tigil region - Kovran and Verkhneye Khairyuzovo; Some Itelmen families live in other settlements in the area.

According to the 2002 census, 375 people speak the Itelmen language; however, they all know him much worse than the Russian. According to other sources, already in 1989 less than 100 people spoke the language.

The current Itelmen language (formerly a Western dialect) is divided into two mutually intelligible dialects - southern and northern (Sedankinsky).

The transmission of the Itelmen language from parents to children ceased more than 60 years ago; Currently, only the oldest generation speaks the language, and even this generation is bilingual (and the Sedanka Itelmen, in addition to Itelmen and Russian, also speak the Koryak language). Latin-based writing was introduced in 1932 and abolished in 1935; in 1988, writing based on the Russian alphabet was introduced, a primer, textbooks for primary grades, a school Russian-Itelmen and Itelmen-Russian dictionary (all based on the southern dialect) were published. The language is taught in primary classes.

In 1989, the Union for the Revival of the Itelmen Nationality “Tkhsanom” (“Dawn”) was founded. There are other public organizations. Radio broadcasts are conducted in the Itelmen language.

The formation of the Itelmens is associated with the Mesolithic culture of wandering hunters and fishermen, which was characteristic of a very vast territory. The origins of this culture go back to the regions of eastern Mongolia, from where it later spread to a large part of eastern Siberia and northeast Asia. In the early Neolithic in northeast Asia, local regional cultures begin to form. One of them, Tarya, covered the central and southern part of Kamchatka. Most researchers are inclined to believe that the ancient Itelmens were its bearers. But in addition to local, Kamchatka roots, the Itelmens also have other genetic origins. Many cultural features of the Itelmen bear imprints of a different natural and geographical environment, making them related to the peoples of the Amur region, Primorye, and North America.

At the end of the 17th century. The Itelmen occupied the central part of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The northern border of their settlement on the west coast was the Tigil River, on the east - the Uka River. In the south, Itelmen settlements stretched to the very tip of the peninsula. Their total number at the end of the 17th century. was 12-13 thousand people. With the entry of Kamchatka into the Russian state, most territorial groups of Itelmen found themselves in the zone of intensive contacts with the Russians. As a result of military clashes with the Cossacks, inter-tribal hostility, and epidemics, their numbers quickly declined. The internal fragmentation of the people and the predominance of local self-awareness contributed to assimilative processes. From the second half of the 19th century. the process of assimilation accelerated even more. It was especially intense in the river valley. Kamchatka. The assimilation of the Itelmens on the western coast of the peninsula proceeded more slowly. By the middle of the 19th century. they retained their native language and many elements of traditional culture. They were recorded as Itelmens (825 people) by the 1926/27 census.

The ethnosocial situation in Itelmen villages is no different from other national villages of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug (see section “Koryaks”). Unemployment, declining living standards, degradation of the social sphere, increased morbidity and mortality are common problems for all indigenous peoples of the district.

The Itelmens were one of the first in the country (1989) to create their own public organization - the Council for the Revival of the Itelmens of Kamchatka “Tkhsanom”, and actively joined the general movement of the peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East for their economic and cultural rights. The main direction of the Council’s activities is the revival of the culture of the Itelmen ethnic group in all spheres of public life, promoting the development of national enterprises based on traditional occupations and local natural resources. "Tkhsanom" maintains close contacts with foreign organizations of indigenous peoples, participates in international scientific and practical projects.

The Itelmens are seriously concerned about the destruction of salmon populations by coastal commercial fishing and pollution from platinum mining. Coal mining in the Khairyuzov area is beginning to have an increasingly negative impact on the state of the natural environment. Deforestation, mainly for firewood, leads to a reduction in fur-bearing animals, and consequently to a reduction in fishing quotas.

From messages from participants of the Central Asian Historical Server about the Itelmens:

Merchants and gamblers spent their money on drink; each Cossack had up to 60 slaves (Steller).

True, according to him, the Russians of Kamchatka and Yakutia are fundamentally different from the Russians of Siberia and Muscovy.

Every nation has its own scum. The British had pirates, they robbed their own and others.

According to Steller, not even one of 100 percent of the fur wealth reached Moscow,

mined in Kamchatka, everything was robbed along the way.

But there was also hostility with the Koryaks, despite the allied relations.

I remember someone wrote something like this: “not so many Cossacks died from the Chukchi, but from the betrayal of the Koryaks. When, during the attack of the Chukchi, the Koryaks fled on sleighs, the fingers of the Cossacks who clung to the sleigh were cut off to make it easier to drag.”

Russians in the mid-18th century. left the Anadyr prison. And when did their presence in Chukotka resume and intensify again?

The Itelmens are simply wonderful people! I just never heard or read anything

similar, before, except for Las Casas, of course, for one people to treat so cruelly

to another before reading Steller's essay. They set fire to the Russian conquerors

the sleepy ones filled the house with firewood, after giving them something to drink and feed. They were as numerous as sea jackdaws. Through every birch bark stood their countless forts, in which many families lived in large dwellings. And they were all destroyed...

arrows. The Russians threw grenades into their homes. The Itelmens themselves were all short in stature.

The last Itelmen died in the 18th century, 9 years after Steller visited Kamchatka.

And the Kamchadals are the descendants of Itelmen women who lived near the fortress,

crossed with Cossacks from Yakutsk. Therefore, it is clear that they are all tall.

If they had been influenced by the civilization of Kytai and Manchuria like the Koreans and Japanese,

and if the terrible Russians had not found them, then now they too would be among the rapidly developing countries and just as numerous. There is a version that they are the remnants of the Paleo-Indians, archaeologists say that they previously inhabited Hokkaido and Ityrup (before the shaggy Kurilians), others consider them to be the population of the Ymyyakhtakh culture.

From the work of Itelmen researcher L. Smirnova: “The Itelmen are one of the most ancient, but, unfortunately, small peoples of the North. An analysis of archaeological excavations in Kamchatka showed that the earliest monuments of the Itelmen culture are 5,200 years old.

The self-name “Itelmen”, derived from “itenmen” (living), was first recorded by Russian explorers of Kamchatka, participants in the Second Kamchatka Expedition of 1733 - 1743. G.V. Steller and S.P. Krasheninnikov.

The most substantiated information about the number of Itelmens at the end of the 17th-18th centuries. given by B.O. Dolgikh. He used materials from yasak books and came to the conclusion that in 1697 the number of Itelmens was 12,680 people, and in 1738 - 8,448 people. The main reasons for the decrease in their numbers were imported infectious diseases (smallpox, “rotten fever” and so on), the colonial policy of tsarism and the process of assimilation of the Itelmens with the Russians.

Due to their small numbers, the Itelmens do not have their own autonomy; they live mainly in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. In the 1950s, due to the consolidation of collective farms, the resettlement of Itelmens began. Residents of Sopochnoye, Moroshechny and Utkholok moved to Kovran, residents of Amanino, Napan and Sedanka Osedloy - to Tigil. Currently, the bulk of Itelmen live in the villages of Kovran, Tigil, Palana and Khairyuzovo.

The Itelmen language is not similar to any other, however, according to some features, researchers classify it, along with Chukchi and Koryak, as a northeastern group of Paleo-Asian languages, although Itelmen has many of its own characteristics, originality and differences.

The Itelmens were primarily typical river fishermen. All other trades (land and sea hunting) played a secondary role in their lives. The second most important place in the production activity of the Itelmens was occupied by the procurement of various wild herbs and roots - some were used for food, others were used in folk medicine, others were used for knitting nets, weaving mats and other household items. The Itelmens are characterized by a complex economy.

Itelmen settlements at the beginning of the 18th century corresponded to family communities. They settled on the same river and were connected by blood kinship and unity of fishing grounds. Usually all relatives lived in one half-dugout. The names of most of the forts corresponded to the names of the rivers on which they were located. The organizer of the entire population of the prison was the elder. In his yurt all decisions regulating the internal life of the fort were made, all socially significant matters were discussed, and festivities for the inhabitants of the fort were held here...”

It also seems interesting to quote excerpts from the work of modern researcher Evgeny Arsyukhin, where we are talking mainly about the Itelmens:

“What drove the Russians to the ends of the earth? Yasak. Yasak is a terrible word for all peoples east of the Urals. Whole tribes hid in the forests because of this word, they died for this word, this word was shouted by Peter I and his predecessors, demanding money for the war with the Swedes, it was known to the enlightened Catherine, who corresponded with Voltaire, which did not prevent her from issuing a special order to take yasak. In 1822, a yasak commission was created. And although the amount of yasak gradually approached the regular tax, it was abolished only in February 1917.

What does this word mean exactly? In practice, yasak is a tribute in kind that foreigners east of the Urals were obliged to pay simply for the fact that Russians once came to their lands. From the Urals to Kamchatka, yasak was paid almost exclusively in furs. Yasak is a Turkic word, and translated means “law, charter, code.” It first appears in the vocabulary of Russian rulers at the time of the defeat of the Siberian Khanate by Ermak in 1581. It appears somehow suddenly. Historians usually believe that yasak is a term used in the Siberian Khanate for a tax, and that Ermak simply continued to take the same taxes as Khan Kuchum, however, the latest research I have read on the history of the Siberian Khanate completely refutes this. Most likely, the word “yasak” was invented by Ermak himself, who, as can be seen from his surname, was a Turk who wandered with his detachment throughout Southern Russia. He probably descended from some Golden Horde emir who broke away from the Khanate during the collapse of the Horde in the 1480s. “Tax” was called differently both in the Horde and in Rus', so Ermak could not have adopted this term from there. Most likely, Ermak simply took from the conquered Tatars what he liked, and when they began to protest, he harshly cut them off - “this is the law.” Since Ermak probably spoke Tatar, he answered them in their language - “yasak”.

Soon yasak becomes the main source of income for the Moscow treasury. The collection of yasak in Kamchatka, according to Steller’s description, looked like this. At first, the Cossacks copied all the tributaries, and the Itelmens willingly gave their names, unaware of the existence of writing as such. When the Cossacks came to the village a year later and began shouting out names, it seemed to the Itelmens a miracle that the Cossacks remembered so many names. At the same time, even infants were included in the books, which was against Russian law. Although the law forced one sable skin to be taken from one person, the Cossacks took four, and one was called “belyak,” that is, a white tax, and three were “cheschina.” The term is interesting. It apparently originates from the Russian “ches” or “black forest”, that is, an unauthorized tax that the princes levied back in fragmented Rus' for emergency needs. Cheshchina went to the Cossacks themselves. However, instead of 4, they actually took 10 or more skins per person, because the furs brought by the Itelmens were “rejected,” and the Cossacks said, “you have to pay triple for such bad skins.” Having taken the yasak, the Cossacks then offered the Itelmen knives, fabric, tobacco, and they did not care whether the Itelmen needed these things or not (Figures 3,4 - a typical set of items offered by the Cossacks for “exchange”; exposition of the Peter and Paul Museum). Having handed an Itelmen, say, a knife, the Cossack immediately demanded as much for it as came to mind (it is estimated that knives were sold to Itelmens at a price equal to the weight of the knife, as if it were gold). If the Itelmen could not pay immediately, he was severely beaten and put on the counter, if he was not taken into slavery on the spot. Having finished with the yasak, the Cossacks demanded small things, such as fat, semi-finished vegetable products for distillation into vodka, bear skins and other things, which the Itelmens had to immediately provide, or urgently “run” home 500 miles away.

Yasak was taken to the huts, from where, in theory, he was supposed to be taken to Moscow. However, he stole from huts and along the road, so that Moscow did not receive even a hundredth of what was collected. But it was still a colossal amount of money: for a piece of iron worth 10 rubles you could get furs worth 500-600 rubles. A year of service in Kamchatka as a tribute collector gave 30 thousand rubles in capital. Yasak led to the fact that the fur riches of vast Siberia were destroyed in the most barbaric manner. So, at the beginning of the 18th century a person could collect 60-80 sables in a season, but in the 1730s it was not possible to collect even a 10th of that. Before the Russians arrived, there were so many foxes in Kamchatka that when the dogs were fed, someone had to stand with a stick and drive the foxes away. In the first years, fox fur was considered a trifle; people went to bow with it to resolve a minor issue. But already in Steller’s time, a good fox reached 1.8 rubles.

Often Itelmens ended up in debt to the Cossacks for life for “gifts”. If the Itelmen could not pay for the “gift,” his debt increased tenfold; if he was late with payment by at least a day, it was doubled. Often the Itelmen paid for a spool of tobacco all his life, having lost his wife and children (who were taken into slavery). The Cossacks played cards with such debt obligations. Having lost, the Cossack, however, did not find himself at a loss, since he immediately went from the tavern to the village, took about 40 children, and bet them on the line. The slaves were taken like this: the Cossack took shackles, went to the village, and, bending over a smoky pit (a type of chimney, because the Itelmens lived in dugouts in winter, only the pit went outside, from which came the smoke of the hearth; Figures 5,6 - summer and winter dwellings of the Itelmens according to Steller’s drawings), the shackles rang, and everyone from the dugout immediately came out into the light, and the Cossack took into slavery the one he liked. If the Itelmens resisted, the entire village was slaughtered.

By Steller's time, cruelties had been abolished, however, Steller notes that the place of the Cossacks was taken by the clergy: any procedure in the church cost as much as all previous taxes combined. Not going through it (communion, confession, baptism) meant falling into disgrace with the authorities, and going through it meant going broke. Often the "missionaries" would refuse baptism to someone who could not pay. And, although at first the Itelmen were drawn to Christianity, they even organized circles themselves, where the baptized person recounted to the whole village what he had heard from the priest, but after a couple of decades they ran away from baptism. One elderly Kamchatan man explained to Steller his reluctance to accept the cross: after death he would have to go to heaven, and there were only Russians there.

Having talked about the behavior of the Cossacks, Steller concludes that the Itelmens “cannot help but rebel.” The first riots occurred even before the arrival of Atlasov, as soon as the first fort was built (probably around 1690; in Figure 7 - the original massive gates of the Russian fort from the Peter and Paul Museum). The Cossacks tried to prevent riots by creating agents of influence among the Itelmens, who were either local criminals (by the way, before the arrival of the Russians, the Itelmens had no crime at all, because a hand was cut off for theft - almost according to Muslim law), or concubines. Therefore, a handful of Cossacks kept entire regions in subjection.

The first skirmish, the date of which Steller does not know, looked like this according to his description: the Itelmens came to the prison in a countless crowd, declaring that they would now kill all the Cossacks, of whom there were only 70, but they went on the attack and, with the help of guns, put the crowd of thousands to flight , “having destroyed as many as they could” (the Itelmn’s only weapon was bone arrows, but very skillful ones, Figure 8). Another time, the Itelmens sailed to the fort on boats, in such numbers “that the Cossacks’ souls sank into their heels,” but, skillfully distributing their forces, the Cossacks killed everyone. Having then captured prisoners, the Cossacks killed them, smearing the body of the prisoner with fish and throwing them to the dogs. Over 40 years, Steller writes, the number of Itelmens has decreased by 12-15 times. In other words, about 15 thousand people died.

On the other hand, until 1715, only 200 Cossacks were killed, but even these losses were sensitive for the Russians. As Steller's research in church books showed, hardly a third of the Cossacks died a natural death. Kamchatka generally brought more grief to its colonizers than benefit. Having compiled a list, as Steller put it, of “thieving infidel rulers” who accumulated enormous wealth in the “Atlasov era,” the researcher bypassed their descendants, but found them all in extreme poverty.

Having gained military experience, the Itelmen burned the Bolsheretsky fort in 1706. This became possible only due to the carelessness of the Cossacks, who ignored the intelligence information coming to them, considering themselves safe behind wooden walls. A terrible uprising broke out on July 20, 1731, when the Itelmen under the leadership of Fyodor Kharchin (baptized Itelmen) captured the Nizhnekamchatsky fort and killed everyone there. The uprising was brutally suppressed, however, a commission came to Kamchatka and ordered the hanging of not only the nine leaders, but also the four Cossacks who had caused this revolt with their outrages.

The oppression of the Russians led to the fact that the Itelmens began to build forts of a completely new type - a kind of eagle's nests, somewhere on a cliff above the sea, which can be reached by a rope ladder, or on a rock in the middle of the ocean.

The Itelmen tactics boiled down to the fact that they attacked the Cossacks at night and killed them while they were sleeping. Often the Itelmens did not even think of rebelling, but when the Cossacks came to the village for slaves, they spontaneously rebelled. Then they, not relying on their bone arrows, diligently fed the Cossacks and watered them even more diligently, and meanwhile the women and children left the prison. The men, waiting until the Cossacks fell asleep, killed them by plugging the smoke hole, so that the Cossacks suffocated in carbon dioxide. Each Itelmen sought to personally kill the Cossack whom he considered his “friend.” However, the “friendship” was expressed in the fact that the Itelmen owed money to this particular Cossack. The Itelmens considered this a manifestation not of deceit, but of nobility, since from ancient times it was considered an honor among them to die at the hands of a friend. Over time, the Cossacks learned this technique, and the more hospitably they were greeted, they became more wary. In turn, if the Cossacks purposefully attacked the village, the Itelmens could not do anything to oppose them, but, like the Old Believers, they burned themselves alive in their houses, fortunately they did not consider suicide either a sin or a great tragedy. If someone was faint-hearted and tried to get out of the burning house, one of the warriors, standing at the exit, killed the cowards with a blow to the head with a club.

Having briefly told how the Russians captured the Itelmens, let’s move on to where this people came from. Modern science considers the Itelmens to be very ancient inhabitants of Kamchatka, without answering exactly the question of when and where they came from. Since it is known that the Koryaks and Chukchi came here around 1200-1300, apparently fleeing from Genghis Khan, we can assume that the Itelmens appeared here earlier. We will try to show that the ancestors of the Itelmen lived near the Urals, and moved to the peninsula around the 5th century AD, during the Great Migration. We also believe that the Itelmens, by their genesis, are of Turkic-Iranian origin and are related to the Scythians.

By the time the Russians arrived in Kamchatka, the Itelmens split into five tribal formations: Burin, Suaachyuay, Kykhcheren, Lignurin and Kules; their number in the 17th century was about 15 thousand. The names of these groups are usually not deciphered in any way, and our attempt to derive them from Old Turkic was also unsuccessful. It is noteworthy that the Itelmen leaders were called “toyons,” in which it is difficult not to see “noyons,” the leaders of the Turkic tribes.

When Steller asked the Itelmen about their origin in the mid-18th century, he did not find any written or even oral traditions about their genesis. His observations are very interesting. The Yakuts, who, according to him, are a Tatar people (judging by their language, since it is “a variety of Crimean and Turkish”), do not know anything about the Itelmens. The fact that the Yakuts were part of the sphere of influence of the great Mongol Empire can be considered proven. By the 18th century, therefore, if the Yakuts had any contacts with the Itelmens in the past, they were already forgotten. The Tungus did not know anything about the Itelmens, but the Koryaks (tauihimel - far-living), and the Chukchi (koang agomin - angry people) of course were aware, and considered the Itelmens an ethnic group similar to themselves. The peoples who lived on the islands near the Bering Strait knew everything about Kamchatka, calling it a Big Country. The Itelmens, in turn, before the arrival of the Russians, were the signs of the Koryaks, Chukchis, Japanese (“Süsemann”, Figure 10) and Kurils (Ainu, “Kushi”). They called the Russians brakhtadt, without knowing where this word came from.

Marriage rituals are the most conservative. Two main features - polygamy and a kind of kolym (only not in goods, but in work for the bride’s father) - bring the Itelmen ritual closer to the Turkic one.”

And here is an excerpt from a recent report about how attempts at the national revival of the Itelmen are encountering opposition from the occupation authorities. The message is dated February 3, 2009 and is dedicated to the twentieth anniversary of the Itelmen organization “Tkhsanom”. It says, in particular: “The Council for the Revival of Itelmen Culture “Tkhsanom” discussed important problems and made serious decisions not only in the field of development of culture, education, upbringing, but also in the field of solving pressing problems in the development of the traditional economy, ways to secure rights for communities on the use of natural resources, distribution of fishing spots on the river, organization of fish processing. In 1993, the Council for the Revival of Itelmen Culture was renamed the Itelmen Council of Kamchatka (SIC) “Tkhsanom”, O.N. became its permanent chairman. Zaporotsky.

In Kovran, family and clan communities began to be organized, which were created for joint fishing. In 1995, during Alhalalalaya in Kovran, where representatives of the Itelmen and Koryak communities from Tigil, Sedanka, Verkhniy Khairyuzov gathered, the meeting discussed the possibility of creating and legally assigning a territory of traditional environmental management to the indigenous residents of these villages in the southern part of the Tigil region. A project for the development of the Tkhsanom territory was prepared to organize the life support of the population without undermining the bioresource potential.

In 1997, at Alhalalalai in Kovran, an appeal was signed to the governor of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug (KAO) of 13 communities from Kovran, Tigil, Sedanka, Verkhniy Khairyuzov with a request to form the territory of traditional environmental management “Tkhsanom”. On December 2, 1998, the head of the administration of the KAO V. T. Bronevich approved the Resolution on the organization of the territory of traditional environmental management “Tkhsanom”, with an area of ​​2,180,752 hectares in the south of the Tigil region with the northern border along the Utkholok river.

In Kovran, they began to restore environmentally friendly modes of transport - making traditional bata boats, restoring sled dog breeding.

Unfortunately, legally, the territory of traditional environmental management “Tkhsanom” did not last long. The governor of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, newly elected on December 7, 2000, celebrated the first 100 days of his governorship with the Resolution “On the repeal of the Decree of the Governor of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug No. 317 of 02.11.98. “On the organization of the territory of traditional environmental management “Tkhsan” in the Tigil region of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug.” SIC “Tkhsanom”, in an attempt to defend the legal status of its territory, went through all Russian courts and reached the European Court, which was unable to consider their complaint, since such precedents are not the subject of consideration by this court.

I don’t want to remember sad things during the anniversary, but the communities of Kovran are still forced to defend their right to a traditional way of life based on fishing in court. In 2007, the administration of the Kamchatka Territory proposed, and the State Fisheries Committee approved, an industrial site for fishing on the last Itelmen river, Kovran, exactly where the villagers traditionally put smelt locks. Previously, there was no industrial site on the small river Kovran. The site was put up for competition. The Zaporotsky family community “Kovral” took part in the competition, but lost it. Residents of Kovran know that those areas that are allocated on the river for village residents are not suitable for traditional constipation fishing, and industrial fishing in a small river can undermine its resources, so the Zaporotsky tribal community “Kovral” is forced to seek justice for the residents of the village of Kovran in Russian court. The Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Siberia and the Far East of the Russian Federation fully supports the fair demands of the residents of Kovran..."

From the above material it becomes clear that even if any people, from among those languishing under the yoke of Russian occupation, finds the strength and opportunity to take steps towards national revival and self-preservation, they always encounter opposition from the occupation authorities and are forced to defend their rights. The Itelmens, like all other peoples, have no future within the Russian Federation and must increase resistance to the Russian occupiers and fight for the liberation of their land...

The Itelmens are the oldest northern people, whose ancestors settled in the Kamchatka region 15,000 years ago. Genes, mythology and rituals unite them with North American Indians. Household and family habits are shocking, making up the original Itelmen culture.

Name

Itelmens are a distorted, Russian-sounding self-name of the people Itәmәn, or Itenmen. The translations have similar meanings with different connotations: “one who exists”, “living here”, “existent”. In the 19th century, the ethnonym was registered only among a part of the people living in the north-west of the region. Feeling unity, the Itelmens called themselves by the name of their clan, community or locality: kshaagzhi, kykhcheren, chupagzhu, burin, lingurin, kules. Russian colonialists called all the peoples of the region Kamchadals.

Where they live, number

In the 18th century, according to official data, the number of Itelmens was 12,000; current researchers estimate several tens of thousands. In less than a hundred years, their number decreased by 30% due to diseases brought by foreigners: fever, smallpox, syphilis.
According to the 2010 census, the number of Itelmen in Russia is 3,093 people. Most of them live in the Kamchatka Territory - 2296 people, Magadan Region - 643 people. A small number of representatives of the nationality are registered in the Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Okrug.

Language

The Itelmen language is part of the Chukchi-Kamchatka family and has three similar dialects. Throughout history, it existed in oral form: serious attempts to create writing began to be made only in recent decades. Today it is studied in national schools, newspapers are published in it, and local radio broadcasts. According to the census, 18% of the ethnic group speaks the language, the majority of the older generation.

Story

The territory of the current residence of the Itelmens began to be settled 15 thousand years ago: ancient tribes of the islands of the North Pacific Ocean, the Far East, and Siberia passed through the lands, partially settling. The Itelmens are the oldest indigenous population of the region, formed by mixing ancient peoples with Eskimos, Aleuts, and Ainu.
In the 18th century, the territories were colonized by the Russians, and the Cossacks established order in the Itelmen villages. In the years 1720-1740 there was a widespread Christianization of the people, which was accepted reluctantly. With the advent of Soviet power, the region began to be actively populated by Russians, the indigenous population was forced out to the north and assimilated.

Appearance

Anthropologists classify the Itelmens as an Arctic small race, belonging to the type of northern Mongoloids. Scientists have found similar genes in the North American Navajo Indians and Alaskan Tlingit Indians. The visits of the Itelmens to the remaining representatives of the tribes confirmed the presence of similar elements in culture, rituals, and mythology.


Travelers of the 18th-20th centuries noted the unpresentable, repulsive appearance of the Itelmens. They never washed, did not cut their nails, did not comb their hair, did not brush their teeth, and were constantly in contact with fish, which affected their aroma and appearance.
Among the defining features of appearance were noted:

  • short stature;
  • dark skin pigmentation;
  • less pronounced Mongoloid features than their neighbors;
  • poor growth of beard and body hair;
  • clubfoot;
  • large mouth with plump, protruding lips;
  • clumsiness;
  • shifty eyes;
  • prominent cheekbones;
  • tenacious and thin hands.

The Itelmen were distinguished by their endurance, they could run for a long time without shortness of breath and do hard work. Despite the unsanitary conditions, they were distinguished by good health and longevity: the average age was 60-75 years.

Cloth

Winter clothing for both sexes is the same: two-layer reindeer fur coats down to the knees or toes, with fur on the inside and outside. The outer layer was painted brown with alder bark. Pants, shoes and fur stockings were made from reindeer skin. In summer, pinniped skins were used as material. Men's home clothing was a loincloth; women wore overalls. In cold weather, the head was covered with fur hoods, bonnets, and in the summer with hats made of feathers and birch bark.

Family life

By the time the Russians arrived in Kamchatka, men played the dominant role among the Itelmens, but remnants of matriarchy occupied a significant place. Women were not offended, they were respected in every possible way, and their every whim was fulfilled.
The custom of “working out” a potential groom in the bride’s house has been preserved. The man moved into the yurt of the girl he liked, where he performed any work as a servant. Sometimes the “service” dragged on for several years, and did not mean the bride’s consent to the marriage. Paradox: while living together during “working out,” the potential husband and wife indulged in carnal pleasures.


The wedding ceremony also acted as an obstacle to marriage. When the man decided that he had served enough and won the bride’s sympathy, he proposed to perform the “Grab” ritual. The chosen girl's legs were tightly tied with ropes, entangled in nets and dressed in several layers of clothing. The groom's goal is to unravel the shackles and touch her womb.
The task was complicated by the female relatives gathered around the bride, who prevented the ceremony. They beat, bit, and scratched the man not in a joking manner, but in full force. Often the ritual ended in serious injuries: then, after healing the wounds, the ritual was repeated. If the goal was achieved, the bride said “no-no”: after that the marriage was considered concluded.
Innocence in the world of the Itelmens was not considered a virtue; morals in the communities were free. Marriages within the clan between cousins ​​were allowed, levirate and polygamy were actively practiced. The only obstacle to polygamy is the custom of matchmaking, so the Itelmens preferred to have easy, non-binding relationships. This was allowed for men and women.
If an Itelmen decided to have a second wife, he asked permission from the first. If the ladies liked each other, they began to live together as a large family. Otherwise, the husband constantly moved from one yurt to another. They didn’t dare refuse the man: he could leave for good, divorce was not considered shameful.

Housing

The Itelmens settled in tribal communities of 15 to 100 people, called Ostozhki. The community was headed by an elder; general meetings were held in his home and important issues were discussed. There was no social inequality among the people: the role of the elder was limited to great attention to his advice.


In winter, the clan community lived in one common house: a half-dugout, dug 1.5 meters deep, fenced with a small round canopy with a roof covered with turf and snow. It was called a yurt; sleeping places were placed along the side walls: bunks, mats laid on the ground. A wooden idol, the guardian of the clan, was placed in the far corner.
A fire was built in the center, the smoke came out of the window in the upper side part: through it the men descended into the dwelling. A side hole was built for women and children: it would be easier to get inside through it.
In the summer they lived in huts built on four poles up to 4 m high. The quadrangular huts had a conical roof. From a distance, Itelmen settlements looked like cities with towers. The Cossacks who arrived interpreted the bizarre shape in their own way, calling the dwellings booths. The wind blew freely between the poles: the place was used for drying and drying fish. Nearby, simple above-ground buildings were erected for cleaning fish.

Life

The main occupation of the Itelmens is river salmon fishing. The fishery took a long period from April to November. Fish were caught with nets, seines, and traps were set. There was a ritual of the “First Fish”: a braid woven from salmon caviar of the first catch with herbs was lowered into the water against the current with incantations about a rich new fishing season.


Marine fishing is poorly developed: they caught capelin, smelt, and navaga in winter. But they prayed earnestly to the sea god Mitgu, the owner of the sea. The Itelmens believed that the deity’s favorable mood towards them would provide a rich fish catch. They hunted pinnipeds: seals, fur seals. Whales were killed with poison-tipped arrows. Meat and fat were used as food, skins were used to make shoes, and blades, arrowheads, and needles were made from bones and tusks.
In winter they hunted on land, catching bighorn sheep, sables, foxes, and deer. Before contacts with Russian colonialists, fur did not have a high value: it was used for tailoring and ritual ceremonies. Warm fur coats, trousers, and winter shoes were made from reindeer skins and used to cover sleds and skis. The bear was considered a sacred animal: after the killing, they held a bear festival, traditional for the northern peoples, and brought gifts to the owner of the forest. They hunted with dogs, they were loved more than other animals: they were well fed, trained, and used as sled dogs.

Religion

The religious beliefs of the Itelmen are varied: animism, shamanism, fetishism, totemism. The people believed: the earth is flat, in the lower part there is an “underground sky”, where the season is opposite to Itelmen. There was no single god; the world was inhabited by many spirits:

  1. owners
  2. patrons
  3. assistants
  4. satellites
  5. pests

The main character of the myths is the Raven God Kutkh, the creator of heaven and earth, present in the beliefs of the northern peoples and Indians. It's funny, but the Itelmens did not respect him: they composed ridiculous and obscene stories about his adventures. The son of Kutkha named Gaech was considered the ruler of the underworld, and lizards were his spies in the world of the living. So that they would not convey news to the ruler about the life of the people, the lizards encountered were cut into small pieces.


The Itelmens believed: living creatures, from man to fly, after death are reborn in the underground world, where they begin to live better. Death was not scary: at the slightest dissatisfaction with reality, the Itelmens easily committed suicide. After the arrival of the Cossacks, who greatly complicated life, mass suicides began. The people, distinguished by their intelligence, noticed that after death, according to their stories, the Cossacks go to heaven. This means that the revived northern inhabitants will not be bothered in the underground world.

Traditions

Friendship played a big role for the Itelmens: the tradition of initiation into best friends is unusually bizarre. The selected candidate came to visit his future friend, who was preparing a luxurious feast for the visit and had a hot tent. Both entered the dwelling, stripped naked, the candidate began the meal, the owner poured water on the hot stones, as in a bathhouse.
When the guest began to beg for mercy, the things he had brought, clothes, and dogs were taken away. In exchange they gave cast-offs and sick animals. After some time, the roles were changed: after the return visit, the friendship was considered sealed forever.

Food

The basis of the Itelmen diet was salmon fish. The national dish is yukola: dried salmon cut into 6 parts. The caviar was dried with tree bark, and they ate it and yukola all winter. A shocking dish for modern people, reputed to be the favorite delicacy of the Itelmens - fish heads fermented in special pits or barrels. When they reached a distinct smell, they were washed and eaten with special pleasure.


Unlike other peoples of Kamchatka, the Itelmen subjected fish to heat treatment. Since metal boilers were not known, they came up with a clever method: stones heated on a fire were thrown into wooden containers with water. Less commonly, fish was baked over a fire and smoked. Salting began only with the arrival of the Russians: the difficulty of delivering salt did not favor this method of preparation.
Itelmen women were engaged in collecting mushrooms, roots, herbs, pine nuts, and berries. The bread was replaced with saran onions crushed with blueberries: foreigners noted the pleasant taste of this dish.

Video

The name is a Russian adaptation of the ethnonym "itәnmәn" ("existing", "living here").

Settlement

They live on the Kamchatka Peninsula, mainly in the Tigilsky and Milkovsky districts of the Kamchatka Territory and Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky (2361 people, 2010), as well as in the Magadan region (600 people, 2010).

Number of Itelmens in populated areas (according to the 2002 census)

(indicates municipalities where the share of Kamchadals in the population exceeds 5%)

The uniqueness of the racial characteristics of the peoples included in this group (Chukchi, Eskimos, Koryaks, Itelmens), in comparison with other Siberian Mongoloids, lies in a slight weakening of the Mongoloid complex: a higher nose bridge, a less flat face, darker pigmentation, protruding lips.

Based on these characteristics, anthropologists establish a connection between the Arctic race and the Pacific Mongoloids rather than the inland Mongoloids.

Religion

The traditional beliefs of the Itelmens - animism, totemism, fetishism - are associated with the worship of master spirits. The “master of the sea” Mitg, who provided the main food product - fish, was especially revered. The idea of ​​a single god was alien to the Itelmens. Raven (Kuth) was considered the creator of the earth and his ancestor. There was also shamanism, but Itelmen shamans did not have ritual clothing or tambourines. Women usually acted as shamans. From the middle of the 17th century. The Itelmens converted to Christianity.

According to ethnographic research, in ancient times the Itelmen practiced the ritual of air burial.

Folklore

The cycle of tales about the crow character (Kutkha) is widely known. The largest number of Itelmen tales were recorded at the beginning of the 20th century. Russian ethnographer V.I. Yokhelson.

Itelmen economy

In first place in terms of economic importance is fishing, both sea and river. Salmon fish were hunted in the rivers. In the sea they hunted navaga (on ice), smelt, and capelin. Fishing gear is mainly passive - locks, fixed nets, seines, and floating nets were used. Due to the large volumes of fish caught, it was usually prepared for future use - dried, fermented, salted.

The objects of marine hunting were various breeds of seals. Hunting was practiced in rookeries and in the coastal zone using nets. St. John's wort products were used for food (meat, fat) and as food for sled dogs. The skins were used to make clothing and household items.

Land hunting was of minor importance. Of the large animals, the Kamchatka brown bear and mountain sheep were caught, the meat of which was used for food. The objects of the fur trade were sable, fox, arctic fox, etc.

Gathering is widely represented in the Itelmen economy, not only for food, but also for raw materials.

Write a review about the article "Itelmens"

Notes

Literature

  • Antropova V.V. Settlement of the Itelmens in the first half of the 18th century. // News of geogr. about-va. - M., 1949. - T. 81. - Issue. 4.
  • Vdovin I. S. Itelmens and Koryaks in the first decades of the 18th century: (Based on unpublished materials of a participant in the Kamchatka expedition A.P. Gorlanov) // Countries and Peoples of the East. - M.: Nauka, 1975. - Issue. 17.
  • Itelmens: Historical and ethnographic essay / Orlova E. P., Rep. ed. C. M. Taxami. - St. Petersburg: Nauka, 1999.
  • Itelmen // Siberia. Atlas of Asian Russia. - M.: Top book, Feoria, Design. Information. Cartography, 2007. - 664 p. - ISBN 5-287-00413-3.
  • Itelmen // Peoples of Russia. Atlas of cultures and religions. - M.: Design. Information. Cartography, 2010. - 320 p. - ISBN 978-5-287-00718-8.
  • Itelmen literature. - M.: Literary Russia, 2011. - 416 p.

Links

Portal "Geography"
Portal "Russian history "
Project "Siberia"

Excerpt characterizing the Itelmens

Prince Andrei opened his eyes and looked from behind the stretcher, into which his head was deeply buried, at the one who was speaking, and again lowered his eyelids.
The militia brought Prince Andrei to the forest where the trucks were parked and where there was a dressing station. The dressing station consisted of three tents spread out with folded floors on the edge of a birch forest. There were wagons and horses in the birch forest. The horses in the ridges were eating oats, and sparrows flew to them and picked up the spilled grains. The crows, sensing blood, cawing impatiently, flew over the birch trees. Around the tents, with more than two acres of space, lay, sat, and stood bloodied people in various clothes. Around the wounded, with sad and attentive faces, stood crowds of soldier porters, whom the officers in charge of order vainly drove away from this place. Without listening to the officers, the soldiers stood leaning on the stretcher and looked intently, as if trying to understand the difficult meaning of the spectacle, at what was happening in front of them. Loud, angry screams and pitiful groans were heard from the tents. Occasionally a paramedic would run out to fetch water and point out those who needed to be brought in. The wounded, waiting for their turn at the tent, wheezed, moaned, cried, screamed, cursed, and asked for vodka. Some were delirious. Prince Andrei, as a regimental commander, walking through the unbandaged wounded, was carried closer to one of the tents and stopped, awaiting orders. Prince Andrei opened his eyes and for a long time could not understand what was happening around him. The meadow, wormwood, arable land, the black spinning ball and his passionate outburst of love for life came back to him. Two steps away from him, speaking loudly and drawing everyone's attention to himself, stood, leaning on a branch and with his head tied, a tall, handsome, black-haired non-commissioned officer. He was wounded in the head and leg by bullets. A crowd of wounded and bearers gathered around him, eagerly listening to his speech.
“We just fucked him up, he abandoned everything, they took the king himself!” – the soldier shouted, his black, hot eyes shining and looking around him. - If only the Lezers had come that very time, he wouldn’t have had the title, my brother, so I’m telling you the truth...
Prince Andrei, like everyone around the narrator, looked at him with a brilliant gaze and felt a comforting feeling. “But doesn’t it matter now,” he thought. - What will happen there and what happened here? Why was I so sorry to part with my life? There was something in this life that I didn’t understand and don’t understand.”

One of the doctors, in a bloody apron and with bloody small hands, in one of which he held a cigar between his little finger and thumb (so as not to stain it), came out of the tent. This doctor raised his head and began to look around, but above the wounded. He obviously wanted to rest a little. After moving his head to the right and left for a while, he sighed and lowered his eyes.
“Well, now,” he said in response to the words of the paramedic, who pointed him to Prince Andrei, and ordered him to be carried into the tent.
There was a murmur from the crowd of waiting wounded.
“Apparently, the gentlemen will live alone in the next world,” said one.
Prince Andrei was carried in and laid on a newly cleaned table, from which the paramedic was rinsing something. Prince Andrei could not make out exactly what was in the tent. Piteous moans from different sides, excruciating pain in the thigh, stomach and back entertained him. Everything that he saw around him merged for him into one general impression of a naked, bloody human body, which seemed to fill the entire low tent, just as a few weeks ago on this hot August day the same body filled the dirty pond along the Smolensk road . Yes, it was that same body, that same chair a canon [fodder for cannons], the sight of which even then, as if predicting what would happen now, aroused horror in him.
There were three tables in the tent. Two were occupied, and Prince Andrei was placed on the third. He was left alone for some time, and he involuntarily saw what was happening on the other two tables. On the nearby table sat a Tatar, probably a Cossack, judging by his uniform thrown nearby. Four soldiers held him. The bespectacled doctor was cutting something into his brown, muscular back.
“Uh, uh, uh!..” it was as if the Tatar was grunting, and suddenly, raising his high-cheekboned, black, snub-nosed face, baring his white teeth, he began to tear, twitch and squeal with a piercing, ringing, drawn-out squeal. On another table, around which a lot of people were crowding, a large, plump man with his head thrown back lay on his back (the curly hair, its color and the shape of the head seemed strangely familiar to Prince Andrei). Several paramedics leaned on this man's chest and held him. The large, white, plump leg twitched quickly and frequently, without ceasing, with feverish tremors. This man was sobbing convulsively and choking. Two doctors silently - one was pale and trembling - were doing something on the other, red leg of this man. Having dealt with the Tatar, on whom an overcoat had been thrown, the doctor in glasses, wiping his hands, approached Prince Andrei. He looked into the face of Prince Andrei and hastily turned away.
- Undress! What are you standing for? – he shouted angrily at the paramedics.
Prince Andrei remembered his very first distant childhood, when the paramedic, with his hasty, rolled-up hands, unbuttoned his buttons and took off his dress. The doctor bent low over the wound, felt it and sighed heavily. Then he made a sign to someone. And the excruciating pain inside the abdomen made Prince Andrei lose consciousness. When he woke up, the broken thigh bones had been removed, chunks of flesh had been cut off, and the wound had been bandaged. They threw water in his face. As soon as Prince Andrei opened his eyes, the doctor bent over him, silently kissed him on the lips and hurriedly walked away.
After suffering, Prince Andrei felt a bliss that he had not experienced for a long time. All the best, happiest moments in his life, especially his earliest childhood, when they undressed him and put him in his crib, when the nanny sang over him, lulling him to sleep, when, burying his head in the pillows, he felt happy with the sheer consciousness of life - he imagined to the imagination not even as the past, but as reality.
Doctors were fussing around the wounded man, the outline of whose head seemed familiar to Prince Andrei; they lifted him up and calmed him down.
– Show me... Ooooh! O! oooooh! – one could hear his groan, interrupted by sobs, frightened and resigned to suffering. Listening to these moans, Prince Andrei wanted to cry. Was it because he was dying without glory, was it because he was sorry to part with his life, was it because of these irretrievable childhood memories, was it because he suffered, that others suffered, and this man moaned so pitifully in front of him, but he wanted to cry childish, kind, almost joyful tears.
The wounded man was shown a severed leg in a boot with dried blood.
- ABOUT! Ooooh! - he sobbed like a woman. The doctor, standing in front of the wounded man, blocking his face, moved away.
- My God! What is this? Why is he here? - Prince Andrei said to himself.
In the unfortunate, sobbing, exhausted man, whose leg had just been taken away, he recognized Anatoly Kuragin. They held Anatole in their arms and offered him water in a glass, the edge of which he could not catch with his trembling, swollen lips. Anatole was sobbing heavily. “Yes, it’s him; “Yes, this man is somehow closely and deeply connected with me,” thought Prince Andrei, not yet clearly understanding what was in front of him. – What is this person’s connection with my childhood, with my life? - he asked himself, not finding an answer. And suddenly a new, unexpected memory from the world of childhood, pure and loving, presented itself to Prince Andrei. He remembered Natasha as he had seen her for the first time at the ball in 1810, with a thin neck and thin arms, with a frightened, happy face ready for delight, and love and tenderness for her, even more vivid and stronger than ever, awoke in his soul. He now remembered the connection that existed between him and this man, who, through the tears that filled his swollen eyes, looked dully at him. Prince Andrei remembered everything, and enthusiastic pity and love for this man filled his happy heart.
Prince Andrei could no longer hold on and began to cry tender, loving tears over people, over himself and over them and his delusions.
“Compassion, love for brothers, for those who love, love for those who hate us, love for enemies - yes, that love that God preached on earth, which Princess Marya taught me and which I did not understand; That’s why I felt sorry for life, that’s what was still left for me if I were alive. But now it's too late. I know it!"

The terrible sight of the battlefield, covered with corpses and wounded, combined with the heaviness of the head and with the news of the killed and wounded twenty familiar generals and with the awareness of the powerlessness of his previously strong hand, made an unexpected impression on Napoleon, who usually loved to look at the dead and wounded, thereby testing his spiritual strength (as he thought). On this day, the terrible sight of the battlefield defeated the spiritual strength in which he believed his merit and greatness. He hastily left the battlefield and returned to the Shevardinsky mound. Yellow, swollen, heavy, with dull eyes, a red nose and a hoarse voice, he sat on a folding chair, involuntarily listening to the sounds of gunfire and not raising his eyes. With painful melancholy he awaited the end of that matter, which he considered himself to be the cause of, but which he could not stop. Personal human feeling for a short moment took precedence over that artificial ghost of life that he had served for so long. He endured the suffering and death that he saw on the battlefield. The heaviness of his head and chest reminded him of the possibility of suffering and death for himself. At that moment he did not want Moscow, victory, or glory for himself. (What more glory did he need?) The only thing he wanted now was rest, peace and freedom. But when he was at Semenovskaya Heights, the chief of artillery suggested that he place several batteries at these heights in order to intensify the fire on the Russian troops crowded in front of Knyazkov. Napoleon agreed and ordered news to be brought to him about what effect these batteries would produce.

Place of residence- Kamchatka and Magadan regions, Koryak and Chukotka autonomous districts.

Language, dialects. The language is the Chukchi-Kamchatka family of languages. The Itelmen language includes Sedanka, Khairyuz, and Napan dialects. Modern vocabulary is influenced by the Koryak and Russian languages. Nowadays the people are bilingual. Russian is the language of internal and interethnic communication and learning. Only 18.8% of the population, mainly representatives of the older generation, consider Itelmen as their native language.

Origin, settlement. The oldest population of Kamchatka. Since the end of the 17th century it has been known as Kamchadals. The works of the traveler S.P. Krasheninnikov mention the names of local and dialect groups: Kshaagzhi, Kykhcheren, who lived between the Zhupanova and Nemtik rivers; chupagzhu or burin - between the Upper Kamchatka fort (Verkhnekamchatsky) and the Zhupanova River; lingurin - between the Nemtik and Belogolovaya rivers and kules - north of the Belogolovaya River.

Before the arrival of the Russians in Kamchatka, some of the ancestors of the modern Itelmen in the north mixed with the sedentary people; in some settlements at the southern tip of the peninsula, a process of mixing with the people took place.

The first contacts with the Russians date back to 1697, when the Cossacks founded Verkhnekamchatsky, Bolsheretsky and Nizhnekamchatsky forts on the peninsula. In the 1740s, the Christianization of the people took place simultaneously with the establishment of Russian-language schools. In the 30–40s of the 18th century there were about 100 Kamchadal settlements in Kamchatka. Yasak Kamchadals - men aged 15 to 50 years - are about 2.5 thousand, Russians of the service class - about 250 people, and with members of their families, mostly of mixed origin - about 500. Russians largely borrowed their traditional image from the aborigines life and culture. According to the 1926–1927 census, in Kamchatka in 62 villages there were 868 Itelmens, 3,704 indigenous residents recorded as Kamchadals, and about 3,500 Russians.

Self-name itenmen- “one who exists” - recorded at the end of the 19th century only among the northwestern Itelmens. This name in the materials of the Circumpolar Census of 1926–1927 was applied to the inhabitants of eleven villages on the northwestern coast that retained their native language. In eight of them - in Sopochny, Moroshechny, Belogolovoy, Khairyuzovo, Kovran, Utkholok, Napan, Sedanka - they constituted the majority of the population and only in three - in Tigil, Voyampolka, Palan - they were in the minority.

Writing. An attempt to create an Itelmen script (based on Latin script) was made in 1932, but it was abandoned already in 1935, considering the Itelmens to be extremely small in number and all of them speaking Russian. Now work on the development of writing and teaching methods in schools of the Itelmen language has been resumed.

Crafts, crafts and labor tools, means of transportation. They were mainly engaged in traditional fishing. The basis of life support was river fishing. The fishing grounds were owned by the neighboring community. Fish, mainly salmon, were caught from April to November. Fishing methods and gear were traditional - nets, seines, locks - structures in the form of a fence or wattle fence made of willow grass, blocking a river or part of it, with “gates” in which wicker traps in the form of a funnel (top, muzzle) or bag-like nets were placed.

Women were engaged in gathering. Residents of the sea coast hunted pinnipeds, whose skins and fat served as items of trade both among the local population and with reindeer. The latter exchanged reindeer skins, meat, and tendons.

The hunt was of an auxiliary nature. They hunted mainly bighorn sheep, wild reindeer, and waterfowl during the molting period. Special rituals were associated with hunting and eating its meat. Furs served as an exchange item. Traps and traps were set for sable and fox, and they were also chased with dogs.

In the summer they moved on boats, hollowed out of poplar, in the winter - on dog sleds with sleds with two pairs of arched spears and a saddle-shaped seat. We went on skis - long, sliding ones and "paws" - short stepping ones.

Utensils were made from birch bark, axes were made from deer and whale bone or stone (jasper), knives, arrows, spearheads were made from volcanic glass - obsidian. Firearms and metal products were borrowed from the Russians. Knives, arrowheads and spearheads were made from metal using cold forging. Fire was produced by friction.

The Russians adopted cattle breeding, gardening, and especially potato growing.

Dwellings. Winter dwellings were rectangular or oval half-dugouts (yurts) with a wooden vault supported by pillars. The smoke from the hearth came out through a side hole. They went down into the yurt along a log with crossbars through the top hole. Typically, from 5 to 12 families spent the winter in a dugout. For summer fishing, each family moved into a pile structure made of poles with a conical top; nearby they built structures made of poles and grass, in which they cleaned and cooked fish. By the end of the 18th century, the Itelmens had Russian huts, with outbuildings including log barns and premises for livestock.

Cloth. Winter clothes, both men's and women's, were thick fur coats with a hood - Kukhlyanka(below the knees) and camleys(to the toes), which were made of double deer fur - with fur in and out. In winter, men and women wore pants with fur inside, in summer they wore suede ones. Summer clothing often served as worn-out winter clothing, which in the fisheries was supplemented with raincoats and shoes made of tanned fish skins. Women's home clothes were overalls, men's - a leather loincloth. Winter shoes were made from reindeer skins, complemented with fur stockings, and summer shoes were made from pinniped skins. Winter fur hats looked like bonnets, while summer fur hats, similar to those, were made from birch bark or feathers and sticks. Linen, jewelry, and summer clothes were borrowed from the Russians.

Food, its preparation. Fish served as the main food and food for dogs. It was prepared for future use: dried and fermented in pits, less often baked and smoked, and frozen in winter. Salmon caviar was dried and fermented. They ate meat from animals and birds less often. The meat and fat of sea animals floated in the pits, and the intestines and stomachs were used as containers for storing food. With fish and meat they ate many different herbs, roots, saran tubers, and berries. They collected pine nuts and waterfowl eggs. Food was prepared and served in wooden and birch bark dishes and washed down with water. They borrowed from the Russians various methods of smoking and salting fish, preparing potatoes, flour products, soups, and tea with milk. Due to the difficulties of delivering salt and flour to Kamchatka, salting fish and eating bread was limited.

Religion. The religious beliefs and rituals of the Itelmen are based on animism - belief in the underground afterlife, good and evil spirits; totemism - belief in kinship with one or another animal, veneration of the owners of the sea and forest animals. After the Itelmens converted to Christianity in 1740–1747, Orthodox rituals began to spread - baptism, weddings, funeral services. Already in the first quarter of the 19th century, travelers noted Orthodox cemeteries in Kamchadal villages. A tradition has been established of giving Russian names to children at baptism. The Itelmens were listed as parishioners of Kamchatka churches, and the first Russian surnames were derived from the surnames of the clergy and servicemen.

Folklore, musical instruments. Records of folklore are represented by myths as retold in Russian by researchers of the 18th century and fairy tales recorded in the Itelmen language in the 20th century. Currently, mythological stories about the creation of the world have been preserved only in fairy tales and rituals, perhaps due to the widespread Christianization of the Itelmens, as well as a sharp and rapid decline in their numbers as a result of epidemics in the second half of the 18th century and subsequent assimilation.

In mythology, the main character is Kutkh, or Raven. He appears as a demiurge (creator), the creator of Kamchatka and at the same time as a trickster - a rogue, a deceiver, a joker, a shapeshifter, carrying within himself good and evil, wisdom and stupidity. In fairy tales, he constantly finds himself in unseemly situations, which sometimes lead to his death. The split in the image of Kutha (demiurge - trickster) occurred quite a long time ago; in the mythological consciousness, both images existed in parallel. Like their neighbors - and, in the folklore of the Itelmen there are animals, often as a tribe (with the “mouse people” Kutkh enters into conflicts or various kinds of transactions).

Music is characterized by several local variants, studied differently. By the beginning of the 1990s, three of them were known: two western - Kovran and Tigil and one eastern - Kamchadal. Music, instruments and genres are interconnected with the folklore traditions of Russian old-timers, Kuril and.

Itelmen music is divided into song, dance, instrumental and narrative. A song melody accompanies an improvised text. Songs with lyrical text among the Kovran people are called chaka'les(from chak'al- “throat”, “mouth”), among the Tigilians - repnun(from turnip- “hum”, “voice”). Lullabies, although they stand out terminologically (among the Kovrans - Corvelo, among the Tigilians - carvelho), do not have their own melodies, but are sung to various standard melodies. The texts of the spells, found only among the Kovran people, are sung to ritual melodies ( kmalichineh).

The Itelmens have 16 known musical and sound-producing instruments under the general name ma'lyanon- "playing object". Itelmen tambourine ( Yayar) related . There was also a wooden plate-shaped jew's harp (varyga). A flute made of angelica with an external whistle slot without holes for fingers is called kovom, among the Tigilians - coun.

Holidays. The folklore musical and artistic traditions of the Itelmens are currently clearly manifested in the annual autumn festival "Alhalalalai". This is a ritual calendar holiday that marks the completion of the economic cycle. In the holiday, elements of myths about the creation of the world and rituals associated with thanksgiving to nature are reproduced in ritual form.

Modern cultural life. The schools of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug teach their native language. In the villages of Kovran and Khairyuzovo there are eight-year schools, clubs operate, the children's ensemble "Suzvay" constantly performs, and the national ensemble "Elvel" is known not only in Russia, but also abroad. In 1988, a primer in the Itelmen language was published, in 1989 - Itelmen-Russian and Russian-Itelmen dictionaries. A collection of Itelmen riddles and poems and other works of national literature have been published.

In the village of Palana there is television and radio broadcasting in the Itelmen language. Newspapers are published in Russian and the native languages ​​of the population of the district.

The Council for the Revival of the Culture of the Itelmens of Kamchatka "Tkhsanom" was created in 1987. He represents the Itelmen ethnic public organization in the Russian Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East.

About the Kamchadals. The Kamchadals are an ethnic group of mixed origin - descendants from mixed marriages of the aboriginal sedentary population and Russian old-timers of Kamchatka. According to the 1926 census, their number was 3,704 people. According to the Association of Indigenous Minorities of Kamchatka, in 1994 there were about 9 thousand members of Kamchadal communities. In 2000, the Kamchadals were included in the Unified List of Indigenous Minorities of the Russian Federation.

Currently, the descendants of the Kamchadals, associated with the traditional economy, live in the Sobolevsky, Bolsheretsky, Milkovsky, Ust-Kamchatsky and Elizovsky districts of the Kamchatka region. The group of mixed-race population of the city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky considers itself to be Kamchadals. A small part of the population of mixed origin, identifying themselves as Kamchadals, lives in the Tigil and Penzhinsky districts of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, and the Olsky district of the Magadan Region.

Groups of the mixed-race population of Kamchatka began to take shape in the middle of the 18th century and grew as the Russian population of the peninsula increased. By the beginning of the 19th century, there were 5 Russian forts and 2 peasant villages in Kamchatka, and the number of Russians was more than 1,500 people. In mixed families, women were usually of Aboriginal or mixed origin. Russian settlers adopted their economic system and way of life from the aborigines. The cultural and historical unity of the mixed-race population of Kamchatka was expressed in two-way bilingualism: both Russians and aborigines spoke Kamchadal (Itelmen) and Russian. Bilingualism developed in Kamchatka in the second half of the 18th century thanks to the emergence of a network of parochial schools and the joint education of Aboriginal and Russian children in them. On the basis of bilingualism, the “Kamchatka dialect” of the Russian language arose. It, like bilingualism, was preserved until recently among the older generation of Kamchadals. It is interesting that among the tellers of Itelmen fairy tales recorded in the Itelmen language during the Soviet period, half of one of the parental lines came from Russian old-timers.

The early universal Christianization of the settled aboriginal population of Kamchatka, on the one hand, and the assimilation of the Kamchadal way of life and folklore by Russian colonists, on the other, created in the worldview of the Kamchadals a complex of dual faith, where the foundations of Orthodox dogma and ritual were intertwined with polytheistic traditional beliefs and trade rituals. In the last decade of the twentieth century, among the Kamchadals, along with the return of interest in Orthodoxy, an intensive process of revival of the ancient pagan elements of Kamchadal culture took place. Based on local traditions, literary data, as well as borrowings from the culture of modern Itelmens, the Kamchadals are reviving ritual calendar holidays (the spring holiday of the First Fish, the autumn holiday “Alhalalalai”), musical and song folklore, and applied art.

Similar articles