I dedicate this post to the memory of the Yakut chess player
Sergei Nikolaev, killed by skinheads in Moscow on October 29, 2007, not far from my house.
The killers of the Yakut chess player received from 3 to 10 years
Of the 13 defendants, only one reached adulthood at the time the crime was committed.
The Yakuts are among the peoples with a complex ethnic formation, formed as a result of the interaction of two processes that occurred “in continuous unity” - the differentiation of various ethnic cultures and their integration.
According to the material presented, the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts begins with the era of the early nomads, when cultures of the Scythian-Siberian type, associated by their origin with Iranian tribes, developed in the west of Central Asia and Southern Siberia. Some of the prerequisites for this transformation in the territory of Southern Siberia go back to the depths of the 2nd millennium BC. The origins of the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts and other Turkic-speaking peoples of Sayan-Altai can be most clearly traced in the Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains. Its bearers were close to the Sakas of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The Iranian-speaking nature of the Pazyryk people is also confirmed by the toponymy data of Altai and the adjacent regions of Southern Siberia. This pre-Turkic substrate in the culture of the peoples of Sayan-Altai and the Yakuts is manifested in their economy, in things developed during the period of early nomadism, such as iron adzes, wire earrings, copper and silver hryvnias, leather shoes, wooden chorona cups. These ancient origins can also be traced in the decorative and applied arts of the Altaians, Tuvans, and Yakuts, and the preserved influence of the “animal style.”
Ancient Altai substrate is found among the Yakuts in funeral rites. This is the personification of a horse with death, a custom to install on the grave wooden post- a symbol of the “tree of life”, as well as kibes, special people who were involved in burials. They, like the Zoroastrian “servants of the dead,” were kept outside the settlements. This complex includes the cult of the horse and a dualistic concept - the opposition of the deities aiyy, personifying good creative principles, and abaay, evil demons.
The pre-Turkic complex in spiritual culture is manifested in olonkho, mythology and the cult of aiyy. At the head of the aiyy deities was Urun Aap-toyon “white sacred creator lord.” His priests - white shamans, like the servants of Ahura Mazda, wore white robes and, when praying, used a birch branch, like the priests - a baresma, a bunch of thin branches. The Yakuts associated their “mythological beginning” with the aiyy deities. Therefore, in the epic they are called “ayyy aimaha” (literally: created by the deities ayyy). In addition, the main names and terms associated with the cult of ayyy and mythology have Indo-Iranian parallels, among which there are more similarities with the Indo-Aryan ones. This position is, for example, illustrated by the goddess of childbirth Ayyylisht, probably close to the image of the Vedic goddess Li, or by such words as the Yakut kyraman “curse” and Indian karma “retribution”. Parallels can also be traced in everyday vocabulary (for example, other ind. vis “clan”, “tribe”, yak. biis in the same meaning, etc.). These materials are consistent with immunogenetic data. Thus, in the blood of 29.1% of the Yakuts examined by V.V. Fefelova in different regions of the republic, the HLA-AI antigen was discovered, found only in Caucasian populations. Among the Yakuts, it is often found in combination with another antigen - HLA-BI7. And they can be traced together in the blood of two peoples - the Yakuts and the Hindi Indians. The presence of a hidden ancient Caucasoid gene pool among the Yakuts is also confirmed by psychological data: the discovery of the so-called "interhemispheric type of thinking." All this leads to the idea that some ancient Turkified groups of Indo-Iranian origin took part in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts. Perhaps they were clans associated with the Pazyryk people of Altai. The physical type of the latter differed from the surrounding Caucasian population with a more noticeable Mongoloid admixture. In addition, Saka mythology, which had a huge impact on the Pazyryk people, is characterized by parallels in to a greater extent from Vedic.
The Scythian-Hunnic origins in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts subsequently developed in two directions. The first is conventionally called “Western” or South Siberian by me. It was based on origins developed under the influence of Indo-Iranian ethnoculture. The second is “Eastern” or “Central Asian”. It is represented by a few Yakut-Hunnic parallels in culture. The Hunnic environment was the bearer of the original Central Asian culture. This “Central Asian” tradition can be traced in the anthropology of the Yakuts and in religious ideas associated with the kumys holiday yyyakh and the remnants of the cult of the sky - tanar.
Based on its lexical-phonetic features and grammatical structure, the Yakut language is classified as one of the ancient Turkic dialects. But already in the VI-VII centuries. the Turkic basis of the language was significantly different from the ancient Oguz: according to S.E. Malov, the Yakut language by its design is considered a pre-literate language. Consequently, either the basis of the Yakut language was not originally Turkic, or it separated from Turkic in ancient times, when the latter experienced a period of enormous cultural and linguistic influence of Indo-Iranian tribes and subsequently developed separately. A comparison of the culture of the Yakuts with the ancient Turkic culture showed that in the Yakut pantheon and mythology precisely those aspects of the ancient Turkic religion that developed under the influence of the previous Scythian-Siberian era were more consistently preserved. But at the same time, the Yakuts retained much in their beliefs and funeral rites. In particular, instead of the ancient Turkic balbal stones, the Yakuts installed wooden poles.
But if among the Tugu the number of stones on the grave of the deceased depended on the people killed by him in the war, then among the Yakuts the number of columns installed depended on the number of horses buried with the deceased and eaten at his funeral feast. The yurt where the person died was torn down to the ground and a quadrangular earthen fence was created, similar to the ancient Turkic fences built on the side of the grave. In the place where the deceased lay, the Yakuts placed a balbach idol, a heavy frozen block of manure diluted with clay. In the ancient Turkic era, new cultural standards were developed that transformed early nomadic traditions. The same patterns characterize the material culture of the Yakuts, which is generally considered Turkic.
The Turkic ancestors of the Yakuts are classified among the “Gaogyu Dinlins” - Teles tribes, among which one of the main places belonged to the ancient Uyghurs. IN Yakut culture Some parallels associated with it have been preserved: cult rituals, the use of a horse for collusion in marriages; some terms associated with beliefs and methods of orientation in the area.
The Teles tribes also included the Kurykans of the Baikal region, who played famous role in the formation of Lena pastoralists. The origin of the Kurykans involved local, in all likelihood, Mongol-speaking pastoralists associated with the slab grave culture or the Shiweis and, possibly, the ancient Tungus. But in this process leading value belonged to alien Turkic-speaking tribes related to the ancient Uighurs and Kyrgyz. The Kurykan culture developed in close contact with the Krasnoyarsk-Minusinsk region. Under the influence of the local Mongolian-speaking substrate, the Turkic nomadic economy took shape into semi-sedentary cattle breeding with livestock kept in stalls. Subsequently, the Yakuts, through their Baikal ancestors, spread cattle breeding, some household items, forms of housing, clay vessels to the Middle Lena and, probably, inherited their basic physical type.
In the X-XI centuries. Mongol-speaking tribes appeared in the Baikal region, on the Upper Lena. They began living together with the descendants of the Kurykans. Subsequently, part of this population (descendants of the Kurykans and other Turkic-speaking groups who experienced strong linguistic influence from the Mongols) descended down the Lena and became the core in the formation of the Yakuts.
In the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, the participation of a second Turkic-speaking group with Kipchak heritage can be traced. This is confirmed by the presence of several hundred Yakut-Kypchak lexical parallels in the Yakut language. The Kipchak heritage, as it seems to us, is manifested through the ethnonyms Khanalas and Sakha. The first of them had a probable connection with the ancient ethnonym Khanly, the bearers of which later became part of many medieval Turkic peoples. Their role in the origin of the Kazakhs is especially great. This should explain the presence of a number of common Yakut-Kazakh ethnonyms: odai - adai, argin - argyn, meyerem suppu - meiram sopy, eras kuel - orazkeldy, tuer tugul - gortuur. In the 11th century The Kangly-Pechenegs became part of the Kipchaks. The link connecting the Yakuts with the Kipchaks is the ethnonym Saka, with many phonetic variants found among the Turkic peoples: Soki, Saklar, Sakoo, Sekler, Sakal, Saktar, Sakha. Initially, this ethnonym apparently belonged to the circle of Teles tribes. Among them, along with the Uighurs and Kurykans, Chinese sources place the Seike tribe. Among these tribes, the sires also roamed, who, according to S.G. Klyashtorny, from the 8th century. began to be called Kybchaks.
At the same time, one must agree with the opinion of S.M. Akhinzhanov that the original place of residence of the Kipchaks was the southern slopes of the Sayaya-Altai mountains and steppes. Small Syrian Kaganate in the 7th century. included the Yenisei Kirghiz in its composition. In the 8th century After the defeat of the Tugyu and the Sirs, the surviving part of the Sirs moved west and occupied the Northern Altai and the upper reaches of the Irtysh. Apparently, bearers of the ethnonym Seike-Saka also departed with them. In the 9th century. together with the Kimaks, the Kipchaks formed new union. In the 11th century the Kipchaks included the Kanglys and, in general, the Kipchak ethnographic complex was formed in the 11th-12th centuries.
The kinship of the Yakuts with the Kipchaks is determined by the presence of cultural elements common to them - the burial ritual with the skeleton of a horse, the making of a stuffed horse, wooden cult anthropomorphic pillars, jewelry items fundamentally associated with the Pazyryk culture (earrings in the form of a question mark, a hryvnia), common ornamental motifs . The ancient “western” (South Siberian) direction in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts in the Middle Ages was continued by the Kipchaks. And, finally, these same connections explain the plot parallels found in the dastans of the Volga Tatars and the Yakut cycle of historical legends "Elleida", because The formation of the Tatars was greatly influenced by the medieval Cumans.
These conclusions were mainly confirmed on the basis of a comparative study of the traditional culture of the Yakuts and the cultures of the Turkic peoples of Sayan-Altai. In general, these cultural ties fall into two main layers - ancient Turkic and medieval Kipchak. In a more conventional context, the Yakuts are close in the first layer through the Oguz-Uyghur “linguistic component” with the Sagai, Beltir groups of the Khakass, with the Tuvans and some tribes of the North Altaians. All these peoples, in addition to the main pastoral culture, also have a mountain-taiga culture, which is associated with fishing and hunting skills and techniques, and the construction of permanent dwellings. Probably, the few vocabulary similarities between the Yakut and Ket languages are associated with this layer.
According to the “Kipchak layer,” the Yakuts are closer to the southern Altaians, Tobolsk, Baraba and Chulym Tatars, Kumandins, Teleuts, Kachin and Kyzyl groups of Khakass. Apparently, small additions of Samoyed origin penetrate into the Yakut language along this line (for example, Yak. oton “berry” - Samoyed: ode “berry”; Yak. kytysh “juniper” - Finno-Ugric kataya “juniper”). Moreover, borrowings from Finno-Ugric and Samoyed languages into Turkic languages are quite frequent to denote a number of tree and shrub species. Consequently, these contacts are associated mainly with the forest appropriating (“gathering”) culture.
According to our data, the penetration of the first pastoral groups into the Middle Lena basin, which became the basis for the formation of the Yakut people, began in the 14th century. (possibly at the end of the 13th century). In general appearance material culture The Kulun-Atakh people have traced some local origins associated with the early Iron Age, with the dominant clan of the southern foundations.
The newcomers, mastering Central Yakutia, made fundamental changes in the economic life of the region - they brought cows and horses with them, and organized hay and pasture farming. Materials from archaeological sites of the 17th-18th centuries. recorded a continuous connection with the culture of the Kulun-Atakh people. A collection of items from Yakut burials and settlements of the 17th-18th centuries. finds its closest analogues in Southern Siberia, mainly covering the regions of Altai and Upper Yenisei within the X-XTV centuries. The parallels observed between the Kurykan and Kulun-Atakh cultures seemed to be obscured at this time. But Kipchak-Yakut connections are revealed by the similarity of features of material culture and funeral rites.
The influence of the Mongol-speaking environment in archaeological monuments of the XIV-XVIII centuries. practically undetectable. But it manifests itself in linguistic material, and in the economy it forms an independent powerful layer. At the same time, it is interesting that the Yakuts, like the Mongol-speaking Shiweis, rode sleighs drawn by bulls and were engaged in ice fishing. As is known, ethnogenesis rests on three main components - historical-cultural, linguistic and anthropological. From this point of view, settled cattle breeding, combined with fishing and hunting, dwellings and household buildings, clothing, shoes, ornamental art, religious and mythological views of the Yakuts have a South Siberian, basically Turkic platform. Oral folk art, folk knowledge, customary law, having a Turkic-Mongolian basis, were finally formed in the Middle Lena basin.
The historical legends of the Yakuts, in full agreement with the data of archeology and ethnography, associate the origin of the people with the processes of resettlement. According to these data, it is visiting groups, led by Omogoy, Elley and Uluu-Khoro, formed the main backbone of the Yakut people.
In the person of Omogoy we can see the descendants of the Kurykans, who by language belonged to the Oguz group. But their language, apparently, was influenced by the ancient Baikal and alien medieval Mongol-speaking environment. The descendants of Omogoi occupied the entire north of Central Yakutia (Namekni, Dyupsyuno-Borogonsky and Bayagantaysky, the so-called “gasping” uluses). It is interesting that, according to the materials of hippologist I.P. Guryev, horses from the Namsky region show the greatest similarity with the Mongolian and Akhal-Teke breeds.
Elley personified the South Siberian Kipchak group, represented mainly by the Kangalas. Kipchak words in the Yakut language, as defined by G.V. Popov, are mainly represented by rarely used words. It follows that this group did not have a noticeable impact on phonetic and grammatical structure language of the Old Turkic core of the Yakuts.
Legends about Uluu-Khoro reflected the arrival of Mongol groups in the Middle Lena. This is consistent with the assumption of linguists about the residence of the Mongol-speaking population on the territory of the modern “Ak” regions of Central Yakutia. Thus, the Yakut language, according to its grammatical structure, belongs to the Oguz group, and according to its vocabulary, to the Oguz-Uighur and partly Kipchak. It reveals an ancient “underground” layer of vocabulary of Indo-Iranian origin. Mongolian borrowings in the Yakut language apparently have a two- or three-layer origin. Evenki (Tungus-Manchu) addition words are relatively few in number.
According to our data, the formation of the modern physical type of the Yakuts was completed no earlier than the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. in the Middle Lena based on a mixture of newcomers and aboriginal groups. Some of the Yakuts, figuratively called “Paleo-Asians in Central Asian masks,” gradually joined the people through the Tunguska (“Baikal”) substrate, because Southern newcomers could not find the Koryaks or other Paleo-Asians here. In the southern anthropological layer of the Yakuts, it is possible to distinguish two types - a rather powerful Central Asian, represented by the Baikal core, which was influenced by the Mongolian tribes, and a South Siberian anthropological type with an ancient Caucasian gene pool. Subsequently, these two types merged into one, forming the southern backbone of the modern Yakuts. At the same time, thanks to the participation of the Khorin people, the Central Asian type becomes predominant.
Consequently, the economy, culture and anthropological type of the Yakuts were finally formed in the Middle Lena. The adaptation of the economy and culture of the southern newcomers to the new natural and climatic conditions of the north occurred through further improvement of their original traditions. But the evolution of culture, natural for new conditions, has developed many specific features, inherent only to the Yakut culture.
It is generally accepted that the completion of the process of ethnogenesis occurs at the moment of the emergence of a distinct ethnic self-awareness, the external manifestation of which is a common self-name. In ceremonial speeches, especially in folklore rituals, the phrase “uraankhai-sakha” is used. Following G.V. Ksenofontov, one could see in Uraankhai the designation of the Tungus-speaking people who were part of the emerging Sakha. But most likely, in the old days they put into this word the concept of “man” - a Yakut man (primordial Yakut), i.e. uraankhai-sakha.
Sakha Dyono - the “Yakut people” before the arrival of the Russians represented a “primary” or “post-tribal nationality” that arose in the conditions of an early class society directly on the basis of tribal relations. Therefore, the completion of ethnogenesis and the formation of the foundations of the traditional culture of the Yakuts occurred within the 16th century.
Fragment from the book of researcher A.I. Gogolev. - [Gogolev A.I. "Yakuts: problems of ethnogenesis and the formation of culture." - Yakutsk: YSU Publishing House, 1993. - 200 p.]
Based on materials from V.V. Fefelova, the combination of these antigens is found among Western Buryats, genetically related to the Yakuts. But their frequency of AI and BI7 haplotypes is significantly lower than that of the Yakuts.
D.E. Eremeev suggests the Iranian origin of the ethnonym “Turk”: Iranian-speaking Turs “with fast horses” were assimilated by Turkic-speaking tribes, but retained the former ethnonym (Tur>Tur>Turk). (See: Eremeev D.E. “Turk” - an ethnonym of Iranian origin? - P. 132).
Research recent years showed a high genetic similarity of Yakut horses with southern steppe horses. (See Guryev I.P. Immunogenetic and craniological features of ecotypes of the Yakut horse. Abstract of candidate's dissertation - M., 1990).
Horses from the Megino-Kangalassky region, classified as eastern group, are similar to the Kazakh horse of the Jabe type and partly to the Kyrgyz and o. Jeju (Japan). (See: Guryev I.P. Op. op. p. 19).
In this regard, most of the Vilyui Yakuts occupy an isolated position. They, despite their genetic heterogeneity, are united in the group of Paleo-Siberian Mongoloids, i.e. this group (with the exception of the Suntar Yakuts, who belong to the representatives of the Yakut population of Central Yakutia) contains an ancient Paleo-Siberian component. (See: Spitsyn V.A. Biochemical polymorphism. P. 115).
The ethnonym Uriankhai-Uriankhit back in the 1st millennium AD. was widespread among the Altai-speaking people, the Paleo-Asians of the Yenisei, and the Samoyeds.
"Central Asian Historical Server"
Copyright © 1999-2007 Abdumanapov Rustam
Centuries and millennia fade into oblivion, one generation replaces another, and along with this, many ancient knowledge and teachings will sink into oblivion. Behind the mists of centuries it is no longer possible to discern the events of past centuries. Everything that is forgotten becomes an unsolved mystery for subsequent generations, clothed in myths and legends. Myths and legends, traditions and tales - this is the chronicle of bygone times.
There are many unsolved secrets, blank spots in the ancient history of the Sakha people. The origin of Sakha is also shrouded in mystery. Not in scientific circles consensus about ancestors-progenitors and ancestral homeland, about religious beliefs Sakha people. But one thing is known: the Sakha are one of the oldest peoples in the world who have preserved the secret knowledge of mankind and space culture.
Judging by the legends, the Sakha had their own clergy, priests of the “religion” of Aar Aiyy, they were White Shamans– bearers of ancient secret knowledge, maintaining contact with higher powers, with the Cosmic Mind, that is, the Creator – Yuryung Aar Ayyy Toyon, Tangara.
One of the religious holidays, which was celebrated from December 21 to 23, is Winter Solstice Day, this is the Birthday or Day of the release of Yuryung Aar Aiyy Toyon to people. From this day the renewed Sun begins its new cycle. These are times of peace and quiet, peace and harmony. The ancient Sakhas welcomed the renewed White Sun, lit a sacred fire and performed sacred sacraments as a sign of veneration of the Divine Luminary. During these Solstice Days, our ancestors cultivated a sense of harmony and happiness, dreamed of everything beautiful, and spoke only about positive things.
In these bright days the water acquired healing powers. The fire of the home was filled with magical power. These were days of great magical actions associated with the universal rhythm of the movement of powerful energies. The most ancient rituals were carried out Aiyy Namyyn Udaganov– priestesses of the White Blessed Sun.
The next ritual holiday was held from March 21 to 23; it was a holiday of the rebirth and awakening of nature, a holiday of masculinity. It was usually dedicated to the Deity Dөһөгөй, personifying the masculine principle of the Universe. The image of this Deity is very unique; it also reflects the Cult of the Sun. Some information has been preserved in myths and legends that at this time in ancient times a special cult rite “Kyydaahynyyyaka” was held, when noble Sakha families dedicated a herd of snow-white horses White Light Deities. This herd was driven to the east, where the Divine Sun rises, by three riders in snow-white clothes on milky horses. This ritual was performed by three White Shamans.
The Sakha people celebrated a kind of New Year in the centuries that have sunk into oblivion on a sacred day - May 22. At this time, Mother Nature came to life, everything blossomed. They paid tribute to good earthly energies - spirits. A ritual of unity with Nature was carried out.
The most beautiful, longest, largest religious and cult holiday was celebrated on the day summer solstice from June 21 to 23. This ritual holiday was dedicated to God Yuryung Aar Aiyy Toyon and all the White Deities. The ancient Sakhas met the sunrise - the symbol of Tangara (God), its life-giving rays purified people, gave them vitality, at this time Mother Nature herself acquired healing powers; water, air, herbs, trees could heal people these days.
The autumn cult ritual was held from September 21 to 23, on the day of the autumn solstice, when a new winter began, which had to be survived safely. Nature was fading, as if going into a long sleep, Mother Earth was resting under the cover of snow. The ancient Sakhas performed the Blessing ceremony for all deities and celestial beings, earthly spirits and underground demons, asked for well-being in the coming year from Yuryung Aar Aiyy Toyon, sat until midnight, when one past year gave way to another, the wishes made during that timeless period came true. The Sakhas believed that there was a moment when there was neither time nor space, when the portals of the Universe opened, and at that moment a person could send his requests to higher powers, make wishes, and they would certainly come true. These sacred times are the days of the solstice. Legends have been preserved that during the autumn sacrament “Tayylkaygyakha” nine shamans performed a ritual of honoring all universal energies. They gave a snow-white horse as tribute to the Light Forces, and dark-colored cattle to the Dark Forces.
The sacred symbol for the ancient Sakhas, personifying the cycle of life, the change of seasons, and the four cardinal directions, was the cross. All human life on Earth is based on four key concepts: four ages of man, four times of day, four seasons, four cardinal directions.
Sakha beliefs are a religion of Good and Light, glorifying Life. Like the ancient Iranian religion, the “religion” of the White Aiyy preaches the triumph of life, the victory of the good beginning. Therefore, the ancient Sakha, considering earth, sky, water, fire to be sacred elements, buried the deceased in above-ground structures, where dead energy did not come into contact with sacred objects. Some Sakha clans arranged a funeral pyre, where the cleansing power of fire expelled all filth. The Sakhas never returned to the graves of the dead, so as not to incur negativity from the outside dark forces and not to disturb the peace of souls who have departed to another world, who, by the will of the Higher Powers, could be reborn in this world. After funeral rites, they were cleansed with fire and water, and clothes were left outside for nine days so that the winds would carry the filth where it was needed. Pregnant women and those with small children, sick people and children under adulthood did not attend the funeral. This was strictly observed at all times. This was a kind of mental protection from shocks; the ancient Sakhas protected their peace of mind and inner harmony.
Deep in our minds we, the descendants ancient people, we keep the ancient commandments, we try to live according to the canons of half-forgotten, but already reviving, sacred beliefs that preached life in harmony with the world around us and ourselves, in reverence for nature and the universal order.
Varvara KORYAKINA.
Yakuts (pronunciation with emphasis on the last syllable is common among the local population) - indigenous people Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). Self-name: “sakha”, plural “sakhalar”.
According to the results of the 2010 population census, 478 thousand Yakuts lived in Russia, mainly in Yakutia (466.5 thousand), as well as in the Irkutsk, Magadan regions, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk territories. The Yakuts are the largest (almost 50% of the population) people in Yakutia and the largest of the indigenous peoples of Siberia within the borders of Russia.
Anthropological appearance
Purebred Yakuts are more similar in appearance to the Kyrgyz than to the Mongols.
They have an oval face shape, not high, but a wide and smooth forehead with black, rather large eyes and slightly sloping eyelids, moderately pronounced cheekbones. A characteristic feature of the Yakut face is the disproportionate development of the middle facial part to the detriment of the forehead and chin. The complexion is dark, has a yellow-gray or bronze tint. The nose is straight, often with a hump. The mouth is large, the teeth are large and yellowish in color. The hair is black, straight, coarse; there is no hair growth on the face or other parts of the body.
The height is short, 160-165 centimeters. The Yakuts are no different in muscle strength. They have long and thin arms, short and crooked legs.
Their movements are slow and heavy.
Of the sense organs, the organ of hearing is the best developed. The Yakuts do not at all distinguish some colors from one another (for example, shades of blue: violet, blue, blue), for which their language does not even have special designations.
Language
The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic group of the Altai family, which has groups of dialects: Central, Vilyui, Northwestern, Taimyr. There are many words in the Yakut language Mongolian origin(about 30% of words), there are also about 10% of words of unknown origin that have no analogues in other languages.
Based on its lexical-phonetic features and grammatical structure, the Yakut language can be classified as one of the ancient Turkic dialects. According to S.E. Malov, the Yakut language is considered pre-literate in its construction. Consequently, either the basis of the Yakut language was not originally Turkic, or it separated from the Turkic language proper in ancient times, when the latter experienced a period of enormous linguistic influence of the Indo-Iranian tribes and subsequently developed separately.
At the same time, the Yakut language clearly demonstrates its similarity with the languages of the Turkic-Tatar peoples. For the Tatars and Bashkirs, exiled to the Yakut region, a few months were enough to learn the language, while the Russians needed years for this. The main difficulty is that Yakut phonetics are completely different from Russian. There are sounds that the European ear begins to distinguish only after a long period of adaptation, and the European larynx is not able to reproduce them completely correctly (for example, the sound “ng”).
The study of the Yakut language is made difficult by the large number of synonymous expressions and the uncertainty of grammatical forms: for example, there are no genders for nouns and adjectives do not agree with them.
Origin
The origin of the Yakuts can be reliably traced only from about the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. It is not possible to establish exactly who the ancestors of the Yakuts were, nor is it yet possible to establish the time of their settlement in the country where they are now the predominant race, or their location before the resettlement. The origin of the Yakuts can be traced only on the basis of linguistic analysis and the similarity of details of life and religious traditions.
The ethnogenesis of the Yakuts should, apparently, begin with the era of the early nomads, when cultures of the Scythian-Siberian type developed in the west of Central Asia and Southern Siberia. Some of the prerequisites for this transformation in the territory of Southern Siberia go back to the 2nd millennium BC. The origins of the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts can be most clearly traced in the Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains. Its bearers were close to the Sakas of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. This pre-Turkic substrate in the culture of the peoples of Sayan-Altai and the Yakuts is manifested in their economy, in things developed during the period of early nomadism, such as iron adzes, wire earrings, copper and silver hryvnias, leather shoes, wooden chorona cups. These ancient origins can also be traced in the decorative and applied arts of the Altaians, Tuvans and Yakuts, who retained the influence of the “animal style”.
Ancient Altai substrate is also found among the Yakuts in funeral rites. This is, first of all, the personification of the horse with death, the custom of installing a wooden pillar on the grave - a symbol of the “tree of life”, as well as the presence of kibes - special people involved in burials, who, like the Zoroastrian “servants of the dead”, were kept outside the settlements. This complex includes the cult of the horse and a dualistic concept - the opposition of the deities aiyy, personifying good creative principles, and abaay, evil demons.
These materials are consistent with immunogenetic data. Thus, in the blood of 29% of the Yakuts examined by V.V. Fefelova in different regions of the republic, the HLA-AI antigen, found only in Caucasian populations, was found. Among the Yakuts, it is often found in combination with another antigen HLA-BI7, which can be traced in the blood of only two peoples - the Yakuts and Hindi Indians. All this leads to the idea that some ancient Turkic groups took part in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, perhaps not directly Pazyryk people, but certainly associated with the Pazyryk people of Altai, whose physical type differed from the surrounding Caucasian population with a more noticeable Mongoloid admixture.
The Scythian-Hunnic origins in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts subsequently developed in two directions. The first can conventionally be called “Western” or South Siberian; it was based on origins developed under the influence of Indo-Iranian ethnoculture. The second is “Eastern” or “Central Asian”. It is represented, although not numerous, by Yakut-Hunnic parallels in culture. This “Central Asian” tradition can be traced in the anthropology of the Yakuts and in religious ideas associated with the kumys holiday yyyakh and the remnants of the cult of the sky - tanar.
The ancient Turkic era, which began in the 6th century, was in no way inferior to the previous period in terms of its territorial scope and the magnitude of its cultural and political resonance. The formation of the Turkic foundations of the Yakut language and culture is associated with this period, which gave rise to a generally unified culture. A comparison of the culture of the Yakuts with the ancient Turkic culture showed that in the Yakut pantheon and mythology precisely those aspects of the ancient Turkic religion that developed under the influence of the previous Scythian-Siberian era were more consistently preserved. The Yakuts retained much in their beliefs and funeral rites; in particular, by analogy with the ancient Turkic balbal stones, the Yakuts erected wooden poles.
But if among the ancient Turks the number of stones on the grave of the deceased depended on the people killed by him in the war, then among the Yakuts the number of columns installed depended on the number of horses buried with the deceased and eaten at his funeral feast. The yurt where the person died was torn down to the ground and a quadrangular earthen fence was created, similar to the ancient Turkic fences surrounding the grave. In the place where the deceased lay, the Yakuts placed a balbal idol. In the ancient Turkic era, new cultural standards were developed that transformed the traditions of the early nomads. The same patterns characterize the material culture of the Yakuts, which, thus, can be considered generally Turkic.
The Turkic ancestors of the Yakuts can be classified in a broader sense among the “Gaogyu Dinlins” - Teles tribes, among which one of the main places belonged to the ancient Uyghurs. In Yakut culture, many parallels have been preserved that indicate this: cult rituals, the use of a horse for collusion in marriages, some terms associated with beliefs. The Teles tribes of the Baikal region also included the tribes of the Kurykan group, which also included Merkits, who played a well-known role in the formation of the Lena cattle breeders. The origin of the Kurykans involved local, in all likelihood, Mongol-speaking pastoralists associated with the slab grave culture or the Shiweis and, possibly, the ancient Tungus. But still, in this process, the leading importance belonged to the alien Turkic-speaking tribes related to the ancient Uighurs and Kyrgyz. The Kurykan culture developed in close contact with the Krasnoyarsk-Minusinsk region. Under the influence of the local Mongolian-speaking substrate, the Turkic nomadic economy took shape into semi-sedentary cattle breeding. Subsequently, the Yakuts, through their Baikal ancestors, spread cattle breeding, some household items, forms of housing, clay vessels to the Middle Lena and, probably, inherited their basic physical type.
In the 10th-11th centuries, Mongol-speaking tribes appeared in the Baikal region, on the Upper Lena. They began living together with the descendants of the Kurykans. Subsequently, part of this population (descendants of the Kurykans and other Turkic-speaking groups who experienced strong linguistic influence from the Mongols) descended down the Lena and became the core in the formation of the Yakuts.
In the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, the participation of a second Turkic-speaking group with Kipchak heritage can also be traced. This is confirmed by the presence of several hundred Yakut-Kypchak lexical parallels in the Yakut language. The Kipchak heritage appears to be manifested through the ethnonyms Khanalas and Sakha. The first of them had a probable connection with the ancient ethnonym Khanly, the bearers of which later became part of many medieval Turkic peoples; their role was especially great in the origin of the Kazakhs. This should explain the presence of a number of common Yakut-Kazakh ethnonyms: odai - adai, argin - argyn, meyerem suppu - meiram sopy, eras kuel - orazkeldy, tuer tugul - gortuur. The link connecting the Yakuts with the Kipchaks is the ethnonym Saka, with many phonetic variants found among the Turkic peoples: Soki, Saklar, Sakoo, Sekler, Sakal, Saktar, Sakha. Initially, this ethnonym apparently belonged to the circle of Teles tribes. Among them, along with the Uighurs and Kurykans, Chinese sources also place the Seike tribe.
The kinship of the Yakuts with the Kipchaks is determined by the presence of cultural elements common to them - the burial ritual with the skeleton of a horse, the making of a stuffed horse, wooden cult anthropomorphic pillars, jewelry items fundamentally associated with the Pazyryk culture (earrings in the form of a question mark, a hryvnia), common ornamental motifs . Thus, the ancient South Siberian direction in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts in the Middle Ages was continued by the Kipchaks.
These conclusions were mainly confirmed on the basis of a comparative study of the traditional culture of the Yakuts and the cultures of the Turkic peoples of Sayan-Altai. In general, these cultural ties fall into two main layers - ancient Turkic and medieval Kipchak. In a more conventional context, the Yakuts are close in the first layer through the Oguz-Uyghur “linguistic component” with the Sagai, Beltir groups of the Khakass, with the Tuvans and some tribes of the North Altaians. All these peoples, in addition to the main pastoral culture, also have a mountain-taiga culture, which is associated with fishing and hunting skills and techniques, and the construction of permanent dwellings. According to the “Kipchak layer”, the Yakuts are closer to the southern Altaians, Tobolsk, Baraba and Chulym Tatars, Kumandins, Teleuts, Kachin and Kyzyl groups of Khakass. Apparently, elements of Samoyed origin penetrate into the Yakut language along this line, and borrowings from Finno-Ugric and Samoyed languages into Turkic languages are quite frequent to denote a number of tree and shrub species. Consequently, these contacts are mainly associated with forest “gathering” culture.
According to available data, the penetration of the first pastoral groups into the Middle Lena basin, which became the basis for the formation of the Yakut people, began in the 14th century (possibly at the end of the 13th century). In the general appearance of the material culture, some local origins associated with the early Iron Age can be traced, with the dominant role of the southern foundations.
The newcomers, mastering Central Yakutia, made fundamental changes in the economic life of the region - they brought cows and horses with them, and organized hay and pasture farming. Materials from archaeological monuments of the 17th-18th centuries have recorded a continuous connection with the culture of the Kulun-Atakh people. The artifact complex from Yakut burials and settlements of the 17th-18th centuries finds its closest analogues in Southern Siberia, mainly covering the regions of Altai and Upper Yenisei within the 10th-14th centuries. The parallels observed between the Kurykan and Kulun-Atakh cultures seemed to be obscured at this time. But Kipchak-Yakut connections are revealed by the similarity of features of material culture and funeral rites.
The influence of the Mongol-speaking environment in the archaeological monuments of the 14th-18th centuries is practically not traced. But it manifests itself in linguistic material, and in the economy it forms an independent powerful layer.
From this point of view, settled cattle breeding, combined with fishing and hunting, dwellings and household buildings, clothing, shoes, ornamental art, religious and mythological views of the Yakuts are based on the South Siberian, Turkic platform. And oral folk art and folk knowledge were finally formed in the Middle Lena basin under the influence of the Mongol-speaking component.
The historical legends of the Yakuts, in full agreement with the data of archeology and ethnography, connect the origin of the people with the process of resettlement. According to these data, it was the newcomer groups, led by Omogoy, Elley and Uluu-Khoro, who formed the main backbone of the Yakut people. In the person of Omogoy one can see the descendants of the Kurykans, who by language belonged to the Oghuz group. But their language, apparently, was influenced by the ancient Baikal and alien medieval Mongol-speaking environment. Elley personified the South Siberian Kipchak group, represented mainly by the Kangalas. Kipchak words in the Yakut language, according to G.V. Popov’s definition, are mainly represented by rarely used words. It follows from this that this group did not have a noticeable impact on the phonetic and grammatical structure of the language of the Old Turkic core of the Yakuts. Legends about Uluu-Khoro reflected the arrival of Mongol groups in the Middle Lena. This is consistent with the assumption of linguists about the residence of the Mongol-speaking population on the territory of the modern “Ak” regions of Central Yakutia.
According to available data, the formation of the modern physical appearance of the Yakuts was completed no earlier than the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. in the Middle Lena based on a mixture of newcomers and aboriginal groups. In the anthropological image of the Yakuts, it is possible to distinguish two types - a rather powerful Central Asian, represented by the Baikal core, which was influenced by the Mongolian tribes, and a South Siberian anthropological type with an ancient Caucasian gene pool. Subsequently, these two types merged into one, forming the southern backbone of the modern Yakuts. At the same time, thanks to the participation of the Khorin people, the Central Asian type becomes predominant.
Life and economy
The traditional culture is most fully represented by the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern Yakuts are close in culture to the Evenks and Yukagirs, the Olekminskys are strongly acculturated by the Russians.
The main traditional occupations are horse breeding (in Russian documents of the 17th century, the Yakuts were called “horse people”) and cattle breeding. Men looked after horses, women looked after cattle. In the north, deer were bred. Cattle were kept on pasture in the summer and in barns (khotons) in the winter. Yakut cattle breeds were distinguished by their endurance, but were unproductive. Haymaking was known even before the arrival of the Russians.
Fishing was also developed. They fished mainly in the summer, in the winter they caught fish in an ice hole, and in the fall they organized a collective seine with the division of the catch among all participants. For the poor people who did not have livestock, fishing was the main occupation (in documents of the 17th century, the term “fisherman” - balyksyt - is used in the meaning of “poor man”), some tribes also specialized in it - the so-called “foot Yakuts” - Osekui, Ontuly, Kokui , Kirikians, Kyrgydians, Orgots and others.
Hunting was especially widespread in the north, constituting the main source of food here (arctic fox, hare, reindeer, elk, poultry). In the taiga, before the arrival of the Russians, both meat and fur hunting (bear, elk, squirrel, fox, hare) were known; later, due to a decrease in the number of animals, its importance fell. Specific hunting techniques are characteristic: with a bull (the hunter sneaks up on the prey, hiding behind the bull), horse chasing the animal along the trail, sometimes with dogs.
There was also gathering - the collection of pine and larch sapwood (the inner layer of bark), stored for the winter in dried form, roots (saran, mint, etc.), greens (wild onions, horseradish, sorrel); the only berries that were not consumed were raspberries, which were considered unclean.
Agriculture (barley, to a lesser extent wheat) was borrowed from the Russians at the end of the 17th century and was very poorly developed until the middle of the 19th century. Its spread (especially in the Olekminsky district) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers.
Wood processing was developed (artistic carving, painting with alder decoction), birch bark, fur, leather; dishes were made from leather, rugs were made from horse and cow skins sewn in a checkerboard pattern, blankets were made from hare fur, etc.; cords were hand-twisted from horsehair, woven, and embroidered. There was no spinning, weaving or felting of felt. The production of molded ceramics, which distinguished the Yakuts from other peoples of Siberia, has been preserved. The smelting and forging of iron, which had commercial value, was developed, as well as the smelting and minting of silver, copper, and, from the 19th century, mammoth ivory carving.
They moved mainly on horseback, and carried loads in packs. There were known skis lined with horse camus, sleighs (silis syarga, later - sleighs of the Russian wood type), usually harnessed to oxen, and in the north - straight-hoofed reindeer sledges. The boats, like those of the Huevenks, were made of birch bark (tyy) or flat-bottomed from boards; later, sailing karbass ships were borrowed from the Russians.
Housing
Winter settlements (kystyk) were located near the meadows, consisting of 1-3 yurts, summer settlements - near pastures, numbering up to 10 yurts. The winter yurt (booth, diye) had sloping walls made of standing thin logs on a rectangular log frame and a low gable roof. The walls were coated on the outside with clay and manure, the roof was covered with bark and earth on top of the log flooring. The house was placed in the cardinal directions, the entrance was located in the east, the windows were in the south and west, the roof was oriented from north to south. To the right of the entrance, in the north-eastern corner, there was a fireplace (osoh) - a pipe made of poles coated with clay, going out through the roof. Plank bunks (oron) were arranged along the walls. The most honorable was the southwestern corner. The master's place was located near the western wall. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for male youth, workers, and to the right, by the fireplace, for women. A table (ostuol) and stools were placed in the front corner. On the northern side of the yurt a stable (khoton) was attached, often under the same roof as the dwelling; the door to it from the yurt was located behind the fireplace. A canopy or canopy was installed in front of the entrance to the yurt. The yurt was surrounded by a low embankment, often with a fence. A hitching post was placed near the house, often decorated with carvings.
Summer yurts differed little from winter ones. Instead of a hoton, a stable for calves (titik), sheds, etc. were placed at a distance. There was a conical structure made of poles covered with birch bark (urasa), in the north - with turf (kalyman, holuman). Since the end of the 18th century, polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof have been known. From 2nd half of the XVIII Russian huts spread throughout the centuries.
Cloth
Traditional men's and women's clothing- short leather trousers, fur belly, leather leggings, single-breasted caftan (sleep), in winter - fur, in summer - from horse or cow skin with the hair inside, for the rich - from fabric. Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar (yrbakhy) appeared. Men girded themselves with a leather belt with a knife and a flint; for the rich, with silver and copper plaques. A typical women's wedding fur caftan (sangiyakh), embroidered with red and green cloth and gold braid; an elegant women's fur hat made of expensive fur, descending to the back and shoulders, with a high cloth, velvet or brocade top with a silver plaque (tuosakhta) and other decorations sewn onto it. Women's silver and gold jewelry is common. Footwear - winter high boots made of reindeer or horse skins with the hair facing out (eterbes), summer boots made of soft leather (saars) with a boot covered with cloth, for women - with appliqué, long fur stockings.
Food
The main food is dairy, especially in summer: from mare's milk - kumiss, from cow's milk - yogurt (suorat, sora), cream (kuerchekh), butter; they drank butter melted or with kumiss; suorat was prepared frozen for the winter (tar) with the addition of berries, roots, etc.; a stew (butugas) was prepared from it with the addition of water, flour, roots, pine sapwood, etc. Fish food played a major role for the poor, and in the northern regions, where there were no livestock, meat was consumed mainly by the rich. Horsemeat was especially prized. In the 19th century, barley flour came into use: unleavened flatbreads, pancakes, and salamat stew were made from it. Vegetables were known in the Olekminsky district.
Religion
Traditional beliefs were based on shamanism. The world consisted of several tiers, the head of the upper one was considered to be Yuryung ayi toyon, the lower one - Ala buurai toyon, etc. The cult of the female fertility deity Aiyysyt was important. Horses were sacrificed to the spirits living in the upper world, and cows to the spirits living in the lower world. The main holiday is the spring-summer koumiss festival (Ysyakh), accompanied by libations of koumiss from large wooden cups (choroon), games, sports competitions, etc.
Orthodoxy spread in the 18th-19th centuries. But the Christian cult was combined with belief in good and evil spirits, the spirits of dead shamans, and master spirits. Elements of totemism were also preserved: the clan had a patron animal, which was forbidden to kill or call by name.
Yakuts (self-name Sakha; pl. h. sugar) - Turkic-speaking people, the indigenous population of Yakutia. The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic group of languages. According to the results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, 478.1 thousand Yakuts lived in Russia, mainly in Yakutia (466.5 thousand), as well as in the Irkutsk, Magadan regions, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk territories. The Yakuts are the most numerous (49.9% of the population) people in Yakutia and the largest of the indigenous peoples of Siberia within the borders of the Russian Federation.
Distribution area
The distribution of Yakuts across the territory of the republic is extremely uneven. About nine of them are concentrated in the central regions - in the former Yakut and Vilyui districts. These are the two main groups of the Yakut people: the first of them is slightly larger in number than the second. The “Yakut” (or Amga-Lena) Yakuts occupy the quadrangle between the Lena, lower Aldan and Amga, the taiga plateau, as well as the adjacent left bank of the Lena. The “Vilyui” Yakuts occupy the Vilyui basin. In these indigenous Yakut regions, the most typical, purely Yakut way of life developed; here, at the same time, especially on the Amga-Lena Plateau, it is best studied. The third, much smaller group of Yakuts is settled in the Olekminsk region. The Yakuts of this group became more Russified; in their way of life (but not in language) they became closer to the Russians. And finally, the last, smallest, but widely dispersed group of Yakuts is the population of the northern regions of Yakutia, i.e., the river basins. Kolyma, Indigirka, Yana, Olenek, Anabar.
The Northern Yakuts are distinguished by a completely unique cultural and everyday way of life: in relation to it, they are more like the hunting and fishing small peoples of the North, the Tungus, the Yukagirs, than their southern fellow tribesmen. These northern Yakuts are even called “Tungus” in some places (for example, in the upper reaches of Olenek and Anabara), although by language they are Yakuts and call themselves Sakha.
History and origin
According to a common hypothesis, the ancestors of modern Yakuts are the nomadic tribe of Kurykans, who lived in Transbaikalia until the 14th century. In turn, the Kurykans came to the Lake Baikal area from across the Yenisei River.
Most scientists believe that in the XII-XIV centuries AD. e. The Yakuts migrated in several waves from the area of Lake Baikal to the basin of the Lena, Aldan and Vilyuy, where they partially assimilated and partially displaced the Evenks (Tungus) and Yukagirs (Oduls) who had lived here earlier. The Yakuts have traditionally been engaged in cattle breeding (Yakut cow), having gained unique experience in breeding cattle in a sharply continental climate in northern latitudes, horse breeding (Yakut horse), fishing, hunting, and developed trade, blacksmithing and military affairs.
According to Yakut legends, the ancestors of the Yakuts rafted down the Lena River with livestock, household belongings and people until they discovered the Tuymaada Valley, suitable for raising cattle. Now this place is where modern Yakutsk is located. According to the same legends, the ancestors of the Yakuts were led by two leaders Elley Bootur and Omogoi Baai.
According to archaeological and ethnographic data, the Yakuts were formed as a result of the absorption of local tribes from the middle reaches of the Lena by southern Turkic-speaking settlers. It is believed that the last wave of the southern ancestors of the Yakuts penetrated the Middle Lena in the 14th–15th centuries. Racially, the Yakuts belong to the Central Asian anthropological type of the North Asian race. Compared to other Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia, they are characterized by the strongest manifestation of the Mongoloid complex, the final formation of which took place in the middle of the second millennium AD already on the Lena.
It is assumed that some groups of Yakuts, for example, reindeer herders of the north-west, arose relatively recently as a result of the mixing of individual groups of Evenks with Yakuts, immigrants from the central regions of Yakutia. In the process of resettlement to Eastern Siberia, the Yakuts mastered the basins of the northern rivers Anabar, Olenka, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma. The Yakuts modified the Tungus reindeer herding and created the Tungus-Yakut type of harness reindeer herding.
The inclusion of the Yakuts into the Russian state in the 1620s–1630s accelerated their socio-economic and cultural development. In the 17th–19th centuries, the main occupation of the Yakuts was cattle breeding (breeding cattle and horses); from the second half of the 19th century, a significant part began to engage in agriculture; hunting and fishing played a supporting role. The main type of dwelling was a log booth, in summer - a urasa made of poles. Clothes were made from skins and fur. In the second half of the 18th century, most of the Yakuts were converted to Christianity, but traditional beliefs were also preserved.
Under Russian influence, Christian onomastics spread among the Yakuts, almost completely replacing pre-Christian Yakut names. Currently, Yakuts bear both names of Greek and Latin origin (Christian) and Yakut names.
Yakuts and Russians
Accurate historical information about the Yakuts is available only from the time of their first contact with the Russians, i.e. from the 1620s, and their annexation to the Russian state. The Yakuts did not constitute a single political whole at that time, but were divided into a whole series tribes independent from each other. However, tribal relations were already disintegrating, and there was a rather sharp class stratification. The tsarist governors and servicemen used inter-tribal strife to break the resistance of part of the Yakut population; They also took advantage of the class contradictions within it, pursuing a policy of systematic support for the dominant aristocratic layer - the princes (toyons), whom they turned into their agents for governing the Yakut region. From that time on, class contradictions among the Yakuts began to become increasingly aggravated.
The situation of the mass of the Yakut population was difficult. The Yakuts paid yasak in sable and fox furs, and carried out a number of other duties, being subject to extortion from the tsar's servants, Russian merchants and their toyons. After unsuccessful attempts at uprisings (1634, 1636–1637, 1639–1640, 1642), after the Toyons went over to the side of the governors, the Yakut mass could react to oppression only with scattered, isolated attempts at resistance and flight from the indigenous uluses to the outskirts. By the end of the 18th century, as a result of the predatory management of the tsarist authorities, the depletion of the fur wealth of the Yakut region and its partial desolation were revealed. At the same time, the Yakut population, which for various reasons migrated from the Lena-Vilyui region, appeared on the outskirts of Yakutia, where it had not previously existed: on Kolyma, Indigirka, Olenek, Anabar, right up to the Lower Tunguska basin.
But even in those first decades, contact with the Russian people had beneficial influence on the economy and culture of the Yakuts. The Russians brought with them a higher culture; already from the middle of the 17th century. farming appears on the Lena; Russian type of buildings, Russian clothing made of fabrics, new types of crafts, new furnishings and household items gradually began to penetrate the environment of the Yakut population.
It was extremely important that with the establishment of Russian power in Yakutia, inter-tribal wars and predatory raids of the Toyons, which had previously been a great disaster for the Yakut population, ceased. The willfulness of the Russian service people, who had often quarreled with each other and drawn the Yakuts into their feuds, was also suppressed. The order that had already been established in the Yakut land since the 1640s was better than the previous state of chronic anarchy and constant strife.
In the 18th century, in connection with the further advance of the Russians to the east (the annexation of Kamchatka, Chukotka, the Aleutian Islands, and Alaska), Yakutia played the role of a transit route and a base for new campaigns and the development of distant lands. The influx of the Russian peasant population (especially along the Lena River valley, in connection with the establishment of a postal route in 1773) created conditions for the cultural mutual influence of Russian and Yakut elements. Already at the end of the 17th and 18th centuries. Agriculture begins to spread among the Yakuts, although very slowly at first, and Russian-style houses appear. However, the number of Russian settlers remained even in the 19th century. relatively small. Along with peasant colonization in the 19th century. great value sent exiled settlers to Yakutia. Together with criminal exiles, who had a negative impact on the Yakuts, in the second half of the 19th century. In Yakutia, political exiles appeared, first populists, and in the 1890s, Marxists, who played a large role in the cultural and political development of the Yakut masses.
By the beginning of the 20th century. V economic development Yakutia, at least its central regions (Yakutsky, Vilyuisky, Olekminsky districts), saw great success. A domestic market was created. The growth of economic ties accelerated the development of national identity.
During the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917, the movement of the Yakut masses for their liberation developed deeper and wider. At first it was (especially in Yakutsk) under the predominant leadership of the Bolsheviks. But after the departure (in May 1917) of most of the political exiles to Russia in Yakutia, the counter-revolutionary forces of Toyonism, which entered into an alliance with the Socialist-Revolutionary-bourgeois part of the Russian urban population, gained the upper hand. The struggle for Soviet power in Yakutia dragged on for a long time. Only on June 30, 1918, the power of the soviets was first proclaimed in Yakutsk, and only in December 1919, after the liquidation of the Kolchak regime throughout Siberia, Soviet power was finally established in Yakutia.
Religion
Their life is connected with shamanism. The construction of a house, the birth of children and many other aspects of life do not take place without the participation of a shaman. On the other hand, a significant part of the half-million Yakut population professes Orthodox Christianity or even adheres to agnostic beliefs.
This people have their own tradition; before joining the Russian state, they professed “Aar Aiyy”. This religion presupposes the belief that the Yakuts are the children of Tanar - God and Relatives of the Twelve White Aiyy. Even from conception, the child is surrounded by spirits or, as the Yakuts call them, “Ichchi,” and there are also celestial beings who also surround the newly born child. Religion is documented in the department of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Yakutia. In the 18th century, Yakutia underwent universal Christianity, but the people approached this with the hope of certain religions from the Russian state.
Housing
The Yakuts trace their ancestry back to nomadic tribes. That's why they live in yurts. However, unlike the Mongolian felt yurts, the round dwelling of the Yakuts is built from the trunks of small trees with a cone-shaped steel roof. There are many windows in the walls, under which sun loungers are located at different heights. Partitions are installed between them, forming a semblance of rooms, and a smear hearth is tripled in the center. In the summer, temporary birch bark yurts - uras - can be erected. And since the 20th century, some Yakuts have been settling in huts.
Winter settlements (kystyk) were located near the meadows, consisting of 1-3 yurts, summer settlements - near pastures, numbering up to 10 yurts. The winter yurt (booth, diie) had sloping walls made of standing thin logs on a rectangular log frame and a low gable roof. The walls were coated on the outside with clay and manure, the roof was covered with bark and earth on top of the log flooring. The house was placed in the cardinal directions, the entrance was located on the east side, the windows were on the south and west, the roof was oriented from north to south. To the right of the entrance, in the north-eastern corner, there was a fireplace (osoh) - a pipe made of poles coated with clay, going out through the roof. Plank bunks (oron) were arranged along the walls. The most honorable was the southwestern corner. The master's place was located near the western wall. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for male youth and workers, and to the right, by the fireplace, for women. A table (ostuol) and stools were placed in the front corner. On the northern side of the yurt a stable (khoton) was attached, often under the same roof as the living quarters; the door to it from the yurt was located behind the fireplace. A canopy or canopy was installed in front of the entrance to the yurt. The yurt was surrounded by a low embankment, often with a fence. A hitching post was placed near the house, often decorated with carvings. Summer yurts differed little from winter ones. Instead of a hoton, a stable for calves (titik), sheds, etc. were placed at a distance. There was a conical structure made of poles covered with birch bark (urasa), in the north - with turf (kalyman, holuman). Since the end of the 18th century, polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof have been known. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, Russian huts spread.
Cloth
Traditional men's and women's clothing - short leather trousers, fur belly, leather leggings, single-breasted caftan (sleep), in winter - fur, in summer - from horse or cow hide with the hair inside, for the rich - from fabric. Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar (yrbakhy) appeared. Men girded themselves with a leather belt with a knife and flint, and for the rich, with silver and copper plaques. A typical women's wedding fur caftan (sangiyakh), embroidered with red and green cloth and gold braid; an elegant women's fur hat made of expensive fur, descending to the back and shoulders, with a high cloth, velvet or brocade top with a silver plaque (tuosakhta) and other decorations sewn onto it. Women's silver and gold jewelry is common. Shoes - winter high boots made of deer or horse skins with the hair facing out (eterbes), summer boots made of soft leather (saars) with a boot covered with cloth, for women - with appliqué, long fur stockings.
Food
The main food is dairy, especially in summer: from mare's milk - kumiss, from cow's milk - yogurt (suorat, sora), cream (kuerchekh), butter; they drank butter melted or with kumiss; suorat was prepared frozen for the winter (tar) with the addition of berries, roots, etc.; from it, with the addition of water, flour, roots, pine sapwood, etc., a stew (butugas) was prepared. Fish food played a major role for the poor, and in the northern regions, where there were no livestock, meat was consumed mainly by the rich. Horsemeat was especially prized. In the 19th century, barley flour came into use: unleavened flatbreads, pancakes, and salamat stew were made from it. Vegetables were known in the Olekminsky district.
Trades
The main traditional occupations are horse breeding (in Russian documents of the 17th century the Yakuts were called “horse people”) and cattle breeding. Men looked after horses, women looked after cattle. In the north, deer were bred. Cattle were kept on pasture in the summer and in barns (khotons) in the winter. Haymaking was known before the arrival of the Russians. Yakut cattle breeds were distinguished by their endurance, but were unproductive.
Fishing was also developed. We fished mainly in the summer, but also in the ice hole in the winter; In the fall, a collective seine was organized with the division of the spoils between all participants. For poor people who did not have livestock, fishing was the main occupation (in documents of the 17th century, the term “fisherman” - balyksyt - is used in the meaning of “poor man”), some tribes also specialized in it - the so-called “foot Yakuts” - Osekui, Ontuly, Kokui , Kirikians, Kyrgydians, Orgots and others.
Hunting was especially widespread in the north, constituting the main source of food here (arctic fox, hare, reindeer, elk, poultry). In the taiga, before the arrival of the Russians, both meat and fur hunting (bear, elk, squirrel, fox, hare, bird, etc.) were known; later, due to the decrease in the number of animals, its importance fell. Specific hunting techniques are characteristic: with a bull (the hunter sneaks up on the prey, hiding behind the bull), horse chasing the animal along the trail, sometimes with dogs.
There was gathering - the collection of pine and larch sapwood (the inner layer of bark), which was stored in dried form for the winter, roots (saran, mint, etc.), greens (wild onions, horseradish, sorrel); raspberries, which were considered unclean, were not consumed from the berries.
Agriculture (barley, to a lesser extent wheat) was borrowed from the Russians at the end of the 17th century, and was very poorly developed until the mid-19th century; its spread (especially in the Olekminsky district) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers.
Wood processing was developed (artistic carving, painting with alder decoction), birch bark, fur, leather; dishes were made from leather, rugs were made from horse and cow skins sewn in a checkerboard pattern, blankets were made from hare fur, etc.; cords were hand-twisted from horsehair, woven, and embroidered. There was no spinning, weaving or felting of felt. The production of molded ceramics, which distinguished the Yakuts from other peoples of Siberia, has been preserved. The smelting and forging of iron, which had commercial value, as well as the smelting and minting of silver, copper, etc., were developed, and from the 19th century, mammoth ivory carving was developed.
Yakut cuisine
It has some common features with the cuisine of the Buryats, Mongols, northern peoples(Evenks, Evens, Chukchis), as well as Russians. Methods of preparing dishes in Yakut cuisine are few: it is either boiling (meat, fish), or fermentation (kumys, suorat), or freezing (meat, fish).
Traditionally, horse meat, beef, venison, game birds, as well as offal and blood are consumed as food. Dishes made from Siberian fish (sturgeon, broad whitefish, omul, muksun, peled, nelma, taimen, grayling) are widespread.
A distinctive feature of Yakut cuisine is the fullest use of all components of the original product. A very typical example is the recipe for cooking crucian carp in Yakut style. Before cooking, the scales are cleaned off, the head is not cut off or thrown away, the fish is practically not gutted, a small side incision is made through which the gallbladder is carefully removed, part of the colon is cut off and the swim bladder is pierced. In this form, the fish is boiled or fried. A similar approach is used in relation to almost all other products: beef, horse meat, etc. Almost all by-products are actively used. In particular, giblet soups (is miine), blood delicacies (khaan), etc. are very popular. Obviously, such a thrifty attitude towards products is the result of the people's experience of surviving in harsh polar conditions.
Horse or beef ribs in Yakutia are known as oyogos. Stroganina is made from frozen meat and fish, which is eaten with a spicy seasoning of flask (wild garlic), spoon (similar to horseradish) and saranka (onion plant). Khaan, a Yakut blood sausage, is made from beef or horse blood.
The national drink is kumys, popular among many eastern peoples, as well as a stronger koonnyoruu kymys(or koyuurgen). From cow's milk they prepare suorat (yogurt), kuerchekh (whipped cream), kober (butter churned with milk to form a thick cream), chokhoon (or case– butter churned with milk and berries), iedegey (cottage cheese), suumekh (cheese). The Yakuts cook a thick mass of salamat from flour and dairy products.
Interesting traditions and customs of the people of Yakutia
The customs and rituals of the Yakuts are closely related to folk beliefs. Even many Orthodox or agnostics follow them. The structure of beliefs is very similar to Shintoism - each manifestation of nature has its own spirit, and shamans communicate with them. The foundation of a yurt and the birth of a child, marriage and burial are not complete without rituals. It is noteworthy that until recently, Yakut families were polygamous, each wife of one husband had her own household and home. Apparently, under the influence of assimilation with the Russians, the Yakuts nevertheless switched to monogamous cells of society.
The holiday of kumis Ysyakh occupies an important place in the life of every Yakut. Various rituals are designed to appease the gods. Hunters glorify Baya-Bayanaya, women - Aiyysyt. The holiday is crowned by a general sun dance - osoukhai. All participants join hands and arrange a huge round dance. Fire has sacred properties at any time of the year. Therefore, every meal in a Yakut house begins with serving the fire - throwing food into the fire and sprinkling it with milk. Feeding the fire is one of the key moments of any holiday or business.
Most characteristic cultural phenomenon- poetic stories of olonkho, which can number up to 36 thousand rhymed lines. The epic is passed down from generation to generation between master performers, and more recently these stories have been included in the list of intangible cultural heritage UNESCO. Good memory and high life expectancy are some of the distinctive features Yakuts. In connection with this feature, a custom arose according to which a dying person old man calls for someone from younger generation and tells him about all his social connections - friends, enemies. The Yakuts are distinguished by their social activity, even though their settlements consist of several yurts located at an impressive distance. The main social relations take place during major holidays, the main one of which is the holiday of kumis - Ysyakh.
The traditional culture is most fully represented by the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern Yakuts are close in culture to the Evenks and Yukagirs, the Olekminsky are strongly acculturated by the Russians.
12 facts about the Yakuts
- It’s not as cold in Yakutia as everyone thinks. Almost throughout the entire territory of Yakutia, the minimum temperature is on average -40-45 degrees, which is not so bad, since the air is very dry. -20 degrees in St. Petersburg will be worse than -50 in Yakutsk.
- Yakuts eat raw meat - frozen foal, shavings or cut into cubes. The meat of adult horses is also eaten, but it is not as tasty. The meat is extremely tasty and healthy, rich in vitamins and other beneficial substances, in particular antioxidants.
- In Yakutia they also eat stroganina - the meat of river fish cut into thick shavings, mainly broadleaf and omul; the most prized is stroganina made from sturgeon and nelma (all these fish, with the exception of sturgeon, are from the whitefish family). All this splendor can be consumed by dipping the chips in salt and pepper. Some also make different sauces.
- Contrary to popular belief, in Yakutia the majority of the population has never seen deer. Deer are found mainly in the Far North of Yakutia and, oddly enough, in Southern Yakutia.
- The legend about crowbars becoming as fragile as glass in severe frost is true. If you hit a hard object with a cast iron crowbar at a temperature below 50-55 degrees, the crowbar will fly into pieces.
- In Yakutia, almost all grains, vegetables and even some fruits ripen well over the summer. For example, not far from Yakutsk they grow beautiful, tasty, red, sweet watermelons.
- The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic group of languages. There are a lot of words in the Yakut language that begin with the letter “Y”.
- In Yakutia, even in 40-degree frost, children eat ice cream right on the street.
- When the Yakuts eat bear meat, before eating they make the sound “Hook” or imitate the cry of a raven, thereby, as if disguising themselves from the spirit of the bear - it is not we who eat your meat, but the crows.
- Yakut horses are a very ancient breed. They all year round They graze on their own without any supervision.
- Yakuts are very hard working. In the summer, in the hayfield, they can easily work 18 hours a day without a break for lunch, and then have a good drink in the evening and, after 2 hours of sleep, go back to work. They can work for 24 hours and then plow 300 km behind the wheel and work there for another 10 hours.
- Yakuts do not like to be called Yakuts and prefer to be called “Sakha”.
In accordance with archaeological data, the Yakut nationality appeared as a result of the combination of several local tribes that lived near the middle reaches of the Lena River with those that lived in the south and were Turkic-speaking settlers. Then, the created nation was divided into several subgroups. For example, reindeer herders from the northwest.
Are the Yakut people numerous?
The Yakuts are considered one of the most numerous Siberian peoples. Their number reaches over 380 thousand people. Some information about their culture is worth knowing, if only because they inhabit very vast territories. The Yakuts settled in the Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk regions, but they mainly live in the Republic of Sakha.
Religion and customs of the Yakuts
Among the Yakuts, reverence for Mother Nature is very important in their beliefs and continues to this day. Their traditions and customs are very closely related to it. The Yakuts believe that the nature surrounding them is alive, therefore all its objects have their own spirits, possessing inner strength. Since ancient times, one of the main ones was considered the “Master of the Road”. Previously, rich sacrificial offerings were made to him - horsehair, a piece of cloth and buttons with copper coins were left at the crossroads. Similar actions were carried out for the owner of reservoirs, mountains, and so on.
Thunder and lightning in the views of the Yakuts are always pursued by evil spirits. So if it happens that a tree splits during a thunderstorm, it was believed that it was endowed with healing powers. According to the Yakuts, the wind has 4 spirits at once, which also guard peace on earth. The Earth has a female deity called Aan. It oversees the growth and fertility of all things, be they plants, animals or people. In the spring, offerings are made especially for Aan. As for water, it has its own owner. Gifts are brought to him in the fall, as well as in the spring. They give birch bark boats with images of a person carved on them and with pieces of cloth attached. The Yakuts believe that dropping sharp objects into the water is a sin. According to their tradition, the owner of fire is a certain gray-haired old man who, by the way, is very effective at driving out evil spirits. This element has always been treated with great respect. For example, fire was not extinguished and in earlier times it was even carried in a pot. It is believed that its element patronizes family and home.
The Yakuts consider a certain Baai Bayanai to be the spirit of the forest. He can help in fishing or hunting. In ancient times, these people chose a sacred animal; it could neither be killed nor eaten. For example, a goose or a swan, an ermine or some others. The eagle was revered as the head of all birds. And the bear has always been the most revered among all Yakut groups. His claws, like other attributes, are used to this day as amulets.
Festive customs of the Yakuts
Holidays among the Yakuts are very closely connected with their traditions and rituals. The most important is the so-called Ysyakh. It happens once a year. We can say that this is a reflection of the worldview and picture of the world. It is celebrated at the beginning of summer. According to ancient traditions, a hitching post is placed in a clearing among young birch trees, which will symbolize the World Tree and be, as it were, the axis of the Universe. Nowadays, she has also become the personification of the friendship of all peoples inhabiting Yakutia. This holiday has family status. Ysyakh always began with sprinkling fire, as well as the 4 cardinal directions, with kumys. Then comes a request to the Divine for the sending of grace. For this celebration, people wear national clothes, and also prepare several traditional dishes and serve kumis.