Yakuts(from Evenki Yakolets), Sakha(self-name)- people in Russian Federation, indigenous population of Yakutia. The main groups of Yakuts are Amginsko-Lena (between the Lena, lower Aldan and Amga, as well as on the adjacent left bank of the Lena), Vilyui (in the Vilyui basin), Olekma (in the Olekma basin), northern (in the tundra zone of the Anabar, Olenyok, Kolyma river basins , Yana, Indigirka). They speak the Yakut language of the Turkic group of the Altai family, which has groups of dialects: Central, Vilyui, Northwestern, Taimyr. Believers - Orthodox.
Historical information
Both the Tungus population of taiga Siberia and the Turkic-Mongolian tribes that settled in Siberia in the 10th-13th centuries took part in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts. and assimilated the local population. The ethnogenesis of the Yakuts was completed by the 17th century.
In the northeast of Siberia, by the time the Russian Cossacks and industrialists arrived there, the most numerous people, occupying a prominent place among other peoples in terms of cultural development, were the Yakuts (Sakha).
The ancestors of the Yakuts lived much further south, in the Baikal region. According to Corresponding Member of the Academy of Sciences A.P. Derevianko, the movement of the ancestors of the Yakuts to the north apparently began in the 8th-9th centuries, when the legendary ancestors of the Yakuts - the Kurykans, Turkic-speaking peoples, information about which was preserved for us by runic Orkhon inscriptions, settled in the Baikal region. The exodus of the Yakuts, pushed to the north by their stronger neighbors, the Mongols - newcomers to the Lena River from the Trans-Baikal steppes, intensified in the 12th-13th centuries. and ended around the XIV-XV centuries.
According to legends recorded at the beginning of the 18th century. A member of the government expedition to study Siberia, Jacob Lindenau, a companion of academicians Miller and Gmelin, the last settlers from the south came to Lena at the end of the 16th century. led by Badzhey, the grandfather of the legendary tribal leader (toyon) Tygyn. A.P. Derevianko believes that with such a movement of tribes to the north, representatives of different nationalities, not only Turkic, but also Mongolian, also penetrated there. And over the course of centuries, there was a complex process of merging different cultures, which were also enriched locally with the skills and abilities of the indigenous Tungus and Yukaghir tribes. This is how the modern Yakut people gradually formed.
By the beginning of contacts with the Russians (1620s), the Yakuts were divided into 35-40 exogamous “tribes” (Dyon, Aymakh, Russian “volosts”), the largest - Kangalas and Namtsy on the left bank of the Lena, Megintsy, Borogontsy, Betuntsy, Baturustsy - between Lena and Amga, numbering up to 2000-5000 people.
The tribes often fought among themselves and were divided into smaller clan groups - “paternal clans” (aga-uusa) and “maternal clans” (ie-uusa), i.e., apparently, going back to different wives of the ancestor. There were customs of blood feud, usually replaced by ransom, military initiation of boys, collective fishing (in the north - catching geese), hospitality, and exchange of gifts (beleh). A military aristocracy emerged - the toyons, who ruled the clan with the help of elders and acted as military leaders. They owned slaves (kulut, bokan), 1-3, rarely up to 20 people in a family. Slaves had families, often lived in separate yurts, men often served in the military squad of the toyon. Professional traders appeared - the so-called gorodchiki (i.e. people who went to the city). Livestock was privately owned, hunting lands, pasture lands, hayfields, etc. were mostly communal property. The Russian administration sought to slow down the development of private land ownership. Under Russian rule, the Yakuts were divided into “clans” (aga-uusa), ruled by elected “princes” (kinees) and united into naslegs. The nasleg was headed by an elected “grand prince” (ulakhan kinees) and a “tribal administration” of tribal elders. Community members gathered for ancestral and inheritance gatherings (munnyakh). Naslegs were united into uluses, headed by an elected ulus head and a “foreign council”. These associations went back to other tribes: Meginsky, Borogonsky, Baturussky, Namsky, West - and East Kangalassky uluses, Betyunsky, Batulinsky, Ospetsky naslegs, etc.
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 Olekminsky are strongly acculturated by the Russians.
Small family (kergen, yal). Until the 19th century Polygamy remained, with wives often living separately and each running their own household. Kalym usually consisted of livestock, part of it (kurum) was intended for the wedding feast. A dowry was given for the bride, the value of which was about half of the bride price - mainly items of clothing and utensils.
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 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, Kyrgydais, 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, until the middle of the 19th century. was very poorly developed; its spread (especially in the Olekminsky district) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers.
Wood processing (artistic carving, painting with alder decoction), birch bark, fur, leather was developed; 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 from the 19th century. – carving on mammoth bone.
They moved mainly on horseback, and carried loads in packs. There were 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; types of boats common with the Evenks - birch bark (tyy) or flat-bottomed from boards; 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 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), and in the north - with turf (kalyman, holuman). From the end of the 18th century. polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof are known. From 2nd half of the XVIII V. 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 a flint; for the rich, with silver and copper plaques. A typical women's wedding fur caftan (sangiyah), 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.; 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
Orthodoxy spread in the 18th-19th centuries. The Christian cult was combined with belief in good and evil spirits, the spirits of deceased shamans, master spirits, etc. Elements of totemism were preserved: the clan had a patron animal, which was forbidden to kill, call by name, etc. The world consisted of several tiers, the head of the upper one was considered 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 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.
Was developed. Shamanic drums (dyungyur) are close to Evenki ones.
Culture and education
In folklore, the heroic epic (olonkho) was developed, performed in recitative by special storytellers (olonkhosut) in front of a large crowd of people; historical legends, fairy tales, especially tales about animals, proverbs, songs. Traditional musical instruments – harp (khomus), violin (kyryimpa), percussion. Among the dances, round dance osuokhai, play dances, etc. are common.
Schooling has been carried out since the 18th century. in Russian. Writing in the Yakut language since the middle of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century. an intelligentsia is being formed.
Links
- V.N. Ivanov Yakuts // Peoples of Russia: website.
- Ancient history of the Yakuts // Dixon: website.
Number– 381,922 people (as of 2001).
Language- Turkic group of the Altai family of languages.
Settlement– Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).
Self-name - Sakha. Based on their settlement area, they are divided into Amginsko-Lena (between the Lena, Nizhny Aldan and Amga rivers, as well as on the left bank of the Lena), Vilyui (in the Vilyuya river basin), Olekma (in the Olekma river basin) and northern (in the tundra zone , basins of the Anabar, Olenek, Kolyma, Yana and Indigirka rivers).
The dialects are united into the central, Vilyui, northwestern and Taimyr groups. 65% of Yakuts speak Russian and another 6% consider it their native language. In 1858, on the initiative of the scientist and missionary I.E. Veniaminov published the first “Brief Grammar of the Yakut Language”.
Both local Tungus-speaking tribes and Turkic-Mongols who came from the Baikal region and settled in Siberia in the 10th-13th centuries took part in the formation of the people. and assimilated with the local population. The ethnic group was finally formed at the end of the 16th century. By then Yakuts were divided into 35-40 exogamous “tribes”. The largest numbered up to 2-5 thousand people. The tribes were divided into clan groups - “paternal clans” (aga-usa) and smaller “maternal clans” (ie-usa). Frequent inter-tribal wars, popularly known as the events of Kyrgys Yuyete - “the century of battles, battles”, made military training for boys necessary. By the age of 18, it ended with an initiation ceremony with the participation of a shaman, who “infused” the spirit of war (ilbis) into the young man.
Traditional culture is most fully represented among the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern ones are closer to the Evenks and Yukagirs; among the Olekminskys the influence of the Russians is very noticeable.
In the 17th century Yakuts were called “horse people”
The traditional occupation is breeding cattle and horses. Special breeds of these animals were bred, adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of the North: hardy and unpretentious, but unproductive (they were milked only in the summer). In Russian sources of the 17th century. The Yakuts were called “horse people.” Men looked after the horses, women looked after the cows. In summer, cattle were kept on pasture, in winter - in barns. Haymaking was used even before the Russians arrived. Animals occupied a special place in the culture of the Yakuts; special rituals are dedicated to them. A special place was given to the image of a horse; even its burials together with a person are known.
They hunted elk, wild deer, bear, wild boar, fur-bearing animals - fox, arctic fox, sable, squirrel, ermine, muskrat, marten, wolverine - and other animals. At the same time, they used very specific techniques, for example, hunting with a bull (when the hunter sneaked up on the prey, hiding behind the bull that he drove in front of him), horse chasing along the scent, sometimes with dogs. They hunted with a bow and arrow, a spear, and from the 17th century. - with firearms. They used abatis, fences, trapping pits, snares, traps, crossbows, and mouths.
Fishing played a special role in the economy. For the Yakuts, who did not have livestock, fishing was the main economic activity. In documents of the 17th century. the word balysyt - “fisherman” was used in the meaning of “poor man”. On the rivers they caught sturgeon, broad whitefish, muksun, nelma, whitefish, grayling, tugun, and on the lakes - minnow, crucian carp, pike and other fish. Fishing tools included tops, muzzles, nets, and horsehair seines; large fish were beaten with a spear. In the fall, they organized collective seine fishing, and the catch was divided equally. In winter they did ice fishing.
The spread of agriculture (especially in the Amginsky and Olekminsky districts) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers. They grew special varieties of wheat, rye and barley, which managed to ripen during the short and hot summer. Garden crops were also cultivated.
According to the lunar-solar calendar, the year (year) began in May and was divided into 12 months, 30 days each: January - tohsunnyu - “ninth”, February - olunnyu - “tenth”, March - kulun tutar - “month of feeding foals” , April - muus ustar - “month of ice drift”, May - yam yya - “month of cow milking”, June - bes yya - “month of harvesting pine sapwood”, July - from yya - “month of haymaking”, August - atyrdyakh yya - “ month of hay baling", September - booth yya - "month of migration from summer roads to winter roads", October - altynnyi - "sixth", November - setinnyi - "seventh", December - akhsynnyi - "eighth".
Among the crafts, blacksmithing, jewelry making, processing of wood, birch bark, bone, leather, fur, and the production of molded ceramics were developed. Dishes were made from leather, and cords were woven and twisted from horsehair for embroidery. Iron was smelted in cheese furnaces; women's jewelry, horse harness, and religious objects were made from gold, silver and copper (by melting down Russian coins).
The Yakuts lived in seasonal settlements. Winter ones of 1-3 yurts were located nearby, summer ones (up to 10 yurts) were located near pastures.
They lived in the winter dwelling (kypynny die - booth) from September to April. It had sloping walls made of thin logs on a log frame and a low, sloping gable roof. The walls were coated with clay and manure, the roof was covered with bark and earth on top of the log flooring. Since the 18th century polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof spread. The entrance was located in the eastern wall, the windows were in the southern and western walls, and the roof was oriented from north to south. In the northeastern corner, to the right of the entrance, a chuval type hearth was installed, and plank bunks were installed along the walls. The bunk running from the middle of the southern wall to the western corner was considered honorable. Together with the part of the western bunk adjacent to it, it formed an honorable corner. Further to the “north” was the owner’s place. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for young men and workers, and to the right, by the fireplace, for women. A table and stools were placed in the front corner, and other furnishings included chests and various boxes. A barn was attached to the yurt on the north side. The entrance to it was behind the hearth. A canopy or canopy was built in front of the door to the yurt. The dwelling was surrounded by a low embankment, often with a fence. A hitching post (serge) decorated with rich carvings was installed near the yurt. From the second half of the 18th century. For winter they began to build Russian huts with a stove.
The summer dwelling (urasa), in which they lived from May to August, was a cylindrical-conical structure made of poles with a birch bark roof. In the north, turf-covered frame buildings of the Evenk golomo (holoman) type were known. In the villages, barns (ampaar), glaciers (buluus), cellars for storing dairy products (tar iine), smoking dugouts, and mills were built. At a distance from the summer dwelling, they set up a barn for calves and built sheds.
They moved mainly on horseback, and carried loads in packs. In winter, they walked on skis lined with horse skins, rode on a sleigh with runners made of wood with rhizomes, which had a natural curvature; later - on a sleigh of the Russian wood type, which was usually harnessed to oxen. The northern Yakuts used reindeer straight-hoofed sledges. They floated on the water on rafts, dugout boats, shuttles, and birch bark boats.
They consumed milk, meat of wild animals, horse meat, beef, venison, fish, and edible plants. Most often they cooked meat, fried liver, prepared zrazy, offal stew, soup with brisket, crucian fish soup (sobo mine), stuffed crucian carp, caviar pancakes, stroganina. Fish was also frozen and fermented in pits for the winter. Dairy dishes - mare's milk kumiss, milk foam, whipped cream, curdled milk, butter. The cream was prepared for the winter by freezing in large birch bark vats with the addition of berries, roots, and bones. From flour they prepared stew (salamat), flat cakes (leppieskate), pancakes (baakhyla), etc. They collected mushrooms, berries, meadow and coastal onions, wild garlic, sarana roots, bearberry, pine and larch sapwood. Vegetables have long been known in the Olekminsky region.
Traditional wooden utensils - bowls, spoons, whorls, whisks for whipping cream, birch bark containers for berries, butter, bulk products, etc. Carved wooden cups for kumis (chorons) played an important role in the rituals of the Ysyakh holiday and were of two types - on a conical base and on three legs in the form of horse hooves.
Small families are typical for the Yakuts. Until the 19th century Polygamy existed, and wives often lived separately, each running her own household. People entered into marriage between the ages of 16 and 25 and entered into it through matchmaking with the payment of a dowry. Among the poor, “run away” marriages were common, with the kidnapping of the bride and labor for the wife. Levirate and sororate took place.
There were customs of blood feud (more often replaced by ransom), hospitality, and the exchange of gifts. The aristocracy stood out - the toyons. They ruled the clan with the help of elders and acted as military leaders. Toyons owned large herds (up to several hundred heads), had slaves, and they and their households lived in separate yurts. There were customs of giving livestock to the poor for grazing and food for the winter, handing over impoverished families and orphans to a rich relative (kumalanism), selling children, and later hiring workers. Livestock was private property, and hunting, pasture lands and hayfields were communal property.
Maternity rites were associated with the cult of the fertility goddess Aiyy-syt, the patroness of children. According to legend, she lives on the eastern side of the sky and gives the newborn a soul. The birth took place in the left half of the yurt, on the floor. The place of birth was fenced off with a curtain. In the summer they gave birth in the barn, sometimes (during haymaking) in the field. The woman in labor was assisted by a midwife. On the fortieth day after giving birth, the woman went to church, where she performed a church rite of purification. The child was baptized and given a name stranger, the first to enter the house after birth. This man could have named the newborn himself. Some names were associated with the circumstances of the birth of the baby: Sayynngy - “year-old”, Bulumdyu - “foundling”, i.e. born out of wedlock. There were amulets names: Bere (“wolf”), scaring away evil spirits, Kusagan (“bad”) - evil spirits do not pay attention to him, as well as names of an evaluative nature, for example Kyrynaas (“ermine”), i.e. fast, agile.
In ancient times, the Yakuts buried their dead by air, and since the 18th century. They began to be buried, laying them with their heads to the west. The dead were dressed in the best clothes, hung with jewelry; weapons and tools, supplies of meat and dairy food were placed in the grave. Burials with horses are known.
According to the ideas of the ancient Yakuts, in the Upper World lived Yuryung Aiyy Toyon (White God the Creator) - the supreme deity, Ieykhsit - the patroness and intercessor of the human race, Ayyy-syt - the goddess of fertility and childbearing, Kyun Dzhesegey Toyon - the god of horses and other gods. In the Middle World, along with people lived Baai Bayanai - the spirit of the forest, Aan Alahchin Khotun - the goddess of the earth, Khatan Temieriye - the spirit of fire and other spirits. They had to be appeased through sacrifices. The lower world is the abode of terrible monsters.
Shamans were divided into white and black. The first served the celestials with various offerings, spells, and led the Ysyakh holiday. The latter had to fight against evil spirits that caused natural disasters, loss of livestock, and illness. The right to become a shaman was inherited. The initiation was accompanied by a complex ritual. Each shaman had a patron spirit (emeget), whose image in the form of a copper plaque was sewn onto the chest of his clothes, and a double animal (ie-kyyl - “mother-beast”). Shaman tambourines (durgur) are oval, with a wide rim, similar to Evenk ones.
The healers (otosuts) had a specialization: some practiced bloodletting, others massage or chiropractic, treated eye diseases, women's diseases, etc.
National clothing consists of a single-breasted caftan (in winter - fur, in summer - from cow or horse skin with the hair inside, for the rich - from fabric), which was sewn from four wedges with additional wedges at the waist and wide sleeves gathered at the shoulders, short leather pants (syaya), leather leggings (sotoro) and fur socks (keenche). Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar appeared. Men wore belts, the rich wore silver and copper plaques. Women's wedding fur coats (sangiyah) - toe-length, widening at the bottom, with a yoke, with sewn-in sleeves and a fur shawl collar - were decorated with wide stripes of red and green cloth, braid, silver details, plaques, beads, and fringe. They were valued very dearly and were passed down from generation to generation. A woman's wedding headdress (diabakka) made of sable or beaver fur looked like a cap with a high top made of red or black cloth, velvet or brocade, densely trimmed with beads, braid, and certainly with a large silver heart-shaped plaque above the forehead. Ancient headdresses are decorated with a plume of bird feathers. Women's clothing was complemented by a belt, chest, back and neck decorations, silver, often gold earrings with engraving, bracelets, bracelets and rings. For winter, high boots were made from deer or horse skins with the fur on the outside; for summer, boots were made of suede with tops covered with cloth; for women, with appliqué.
In Yakut folklore, the central place is occupied by the heroic epic Olonkho, which is considered the main type of poetry, and due to the nature of the performing arts, the basis of folk opera. The leading theme of Olonkho is the story of the ancient heroes-first ancestors, inhabitants of the Middle World, who feel themselves to be part of the powerful Ayyy Aimag tribe, created and cared for by the Ayyy deities. The creators and keepers of the oral tradition of epic performing art are the Olonkhosuts. According to legend, they had a divine gift. These people were always surrounded by honor and enjoyed great respect.
Among the northern Yakuts, the term olonkho combines heroic epic and fairy tales about animals, magic, and everyday life. Subjects and images everyday tales are built on the basis everyday life, reflect the moral ideals of the people. Their characters are rich and poor, merchants and beggars, priests and thieves, smart and foolish. Historical legends- oral chronicle of the people.
The small genres of folklore are deep and varied in content: proverbs, sayings, riddles, peculiar tongue twisters (chabyrgah).
There are cult, ritual, non-ritual and lyrical songs: road songs, which were performed riding on a bull, traveling songs - on horseback, entertainment ditties; “nightly”, “plaintive”, etc. At all family and tribal holidays, hymn songs were sung - large-scale poems with ballad plots of mythological, legendary and historical content.
The shamans sang solo on behalf of the patron spirits that inhabited them.
Basic musical instrument khomus - an arc metal harp with a large round loop. According to tradition, it was played primarily by women, articulating (“pronouncing”) speech utterances or famous melodies.
The most common dance among the Yakuts is osuokhai, accompanied by a choral song accompanied by an improviser. It is performed by any number of participants, sometimes up to 200 or more people gather in a circle. Dance organizers are most often men. The song, as if accompanying the fun, glorifies the awakening of nature, the meeting with the sun, the joy of work, the relationships of people in society, family, and certain significant events.
Russian socio-economic transformations in the 90s. led to an outflow of population from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), especially from the industrial and northern uluses, where mining enterprises are concentrated. The search for work and the desire of young people to get an education force people to move to cities. Most Yakuts work on state farms and agricultural cooperatives specializing in livestock and vegetable farming. In the north of the republic, the main traditional occupations are preserved: reindeer husbandry, fishing, hunting; enterprises for processing agricultural products and collecting wild plants have appeared.
Since 1992, the activities of communities have been improved, a unified system for the purchase of meat, fish, furs has been created, a sales market has been formed, etc. Handicraft processing of wood, fur, leather, artistic carving of wood and mammoth bone, making toys, as well as weaving from horsehair are developing.
The education system is developing. The Bichik book publishing house publishes textbooks and teaching aids on Yakut and Russian languages and literature. A network of higher educational institutions has emerged and scientific institutions. Russia's only Institute for Problems of Small Peoples of the North of the SB RAS, headed by Academician V. Robbek, has gained worldwide fame.
The revival of national culture is facilitated by professional theaters, museums, the Higher School of Music, and the boys' choir of the national foundation "Bargary" ("Renaissance"). The “New Names” program is designed to support young musicians, artists, scientists, artists, and sports.
Well-known are honored artists, artists and artists A. Munkhalov, N. Zasimov, E. Stepanova, N. Chigireva, T. Tishina, S. Osipov and others, writers and poets I. Gogolev, D. Sivtsev, N. Kharlampyeva, M. Dyachkovsky (Kelbe).
The newspapers “Kyym” and “Sakha Sire” are published in the Yakut language, as well as the magazine “Cholbon” (“Polar Star”) and about 80% of the programs of the national broadcasting company. The company "Gevan" ("Zarya") produces television and radio programs in the languages of the indigenous peoples of the North living in the territory of the republic.
The revival of traditions, preservation and development of the cultural heritage of the people is facilitated by public organizations and associations - the Center for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, the nationwide movement “Two thousand good deeds of 2000”, the International Children's Fund “Children of Sakha - Asia”. The interests of the indigenous peoples of the North are defended by the Association of Small Peoples of the North of Yakutia.
encyclopedia article
"The Arctic is my home"
Date of publication: 03/16/2019
BOOKS ABOUT YAKUTS
Alekseev E.E. Musical culture// Yakut. owls lit. and art. Yakutsk, 1964.
Alekseev N.A. Traditional religious beliefs of the Yakuts in the 19th – early 20th centuries. Novosibirsk, 1975.
Arkhipov N.D. Ancient cultures of Yakutia. Yakutsk, 1989.
Bravina R.I. Funeral rite of the Yakuts (XVII–XIX centuries). Yakutsk, 1996.
Gurvich I.S. Culture of the northern Yakut reindeer herders. M., 1977.
Zykov F.M. Settlements, dwellings and outbuildings of the Yakuts (XIX - early XX centuries). Novosibirsk, 1986.
Konstantinov I.V. Origin of the Yakut people and their culture // Yakutia and its neighbors in ancient times. Yakutsk, 1975.
Makarov D.S. Folk wisdom: knowledge and ideas. Yakutsk, 1983.
Safronov F.G., Ivanov V.F. Yakut writing. Yakutsk, 1992.
Sleptsov P.A. Traditional family rituals among the Yakuts. Yakutsk, 1989.
Tokarev S.A. Essays on the history of the Yakut people. M., 1940.
Yakovlev V.F. Hitching post serge. Yakutsk, 1992.
According to archaeological data, the Yakut nationality arose as a result of the union of local tribes living along the middle reaches of the Lena River with southern Turkic-speaking settlers. Over time, the new nationality created was divided into several groups. For example, reindeer herders of the northwest, etc.
Yakuts, description of the people
The Yakuts are considered one of the most numerous Siberian peoples. Their number reaches over 380 thousand people. Yakuts live in the Irkutsk, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk regions, but mainly in the Sakha Republic. The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic dialects, part of the Altai family. The main occupations of the Yakuts are horse and cattle breeding, fishing and hunting. IN modern times The main wealth of the Yakuts is diamonds. The mining industry is very developed. The home of the Yakuts is yurts, which can be small and vice versa, different in height. Yurts are built from wood.
Who did the Yakuts worship since ancient times?
Among the Yakuts, reverence for nature still occupies an important place in their beliefs. All traditions and customs of the Yakuts are closely connected with it. They believe that nature is alive, and all earthly objects have their own spirits and inner strength. For a long time, the owner of the road was considered one of the main ones. Previously, they even made sacrificial offerings to him, leaving horse hair, scraps of cloth, buttons and copper coins at crossroads. Similar actions were performed for the owners of reservoirs, mountains, etc.
Thunder and lightning, in the view of the Yakuts, pursue evil spirits. If a tree splits during a thunderstorm, it is believed to have healing powers. The wind, in the view of the Yakuts, has four spirits who guard earthly peace. The Earth has a female deity - Aan. She monitors the growth and fertility of all living things (plants, animals, people). In the spring, special offerings are made for Aan.
Water has its own owner. Gifts are brought to him in the fall and spring in the form of a birch bark boat with an image of a person carved on it and pieces of cloth attached. Dropping sharp objects into water is considered a sin.
The owner of the fire is a gray-haired old man who drives out evil spirits. This element has always been treated with great respect. The fire was never extinguished and in former times it was carried with us in pots. It is believed that he is the patron of family and home.
The Yakuts call the spirit of the forest Baai Bayanai. He helps in fishing and hunting. In ancient times, it was chosen which could not be killed or eaten. For example, goose, swan, ermine and some others. The eagle was considered the head of all birds. The bear has always been the most revered among all groups of Yakuts. Its claws and other attributes are still used as amulets.
Holidays
Yakut holidays are closely connected with traditions and rituals. The most important one is Ysyakh. It takes place once a year and reflects the worldview and picture of the world. It is celebrated at the very beginning of summer. According to ancient traditions, a hitching post is installed in a clearing surrounded by young birches, which symbolizes the World Tree and the axes of the Universe. In modern times, she has also become the personification of the friendship of the peoples living in Yakutia. This holiday is considered a family holiday.
Ysyakh always begins with sprinkling kumiss on the fire and the four cardinal directions. Then follows a request to the Deities to send grace. During the celebration, people wear national clothes and prepare traditional dishes and kumiss. The meal must take place at the same table with all relatives. Then they begin to dance in circles, sports competitions, wrestling, archery and tug-of-war are held.
Yakuts: families
Yakuts live in small families. Although polygamy was common until the 19th century. But they all lived separately, and each had their own household. Yakuts marry between the ages of 16 and 25. During matchmaking, the bride price is paid. If so, the bride can be kidnapped and then served in prison.
Rituals and traditions
The Yakut people have many traditions and rituals, from the description of which even separate book. They are often associated with magical actions. For example, to protect housing and livestock from evil spirits, the Yakuts use a number of conspiracies. Important components in this case are the ornament on clothes, jewelry and utensils. Rituals are also held for a good harvest, livestock offspring, birth of children, etc.
To this day, the Yakuts retain many traditions and customs. For example, the Sat stone is considered magical, and if a woman looks at it, it loses its power. It is found in the stomachs or livers of animals and birds. Once removed, it is wrapped in birch bark and wrapped in horsehair. It is believed that through certain spells, rain, wind or snow can be caused using Sat.
Many traditions and customs of the Yakuts have been preserved since ancient times. For example, they have But in modern times it has been replaced by ransom. Yakuts are very hospitable and love to exchange gifts. Maternity rites are associated with the goddess Aiyy-syt, who is considered the patroness of children.
Hitching posts
The Yakuts have a lot of different hitching posts. And this is no coincidence, since since ancient times they have been one of the main components of the culture of the people. Beliefs, many rituals, traditions and customs are associated with them. All hitching posts have different designs, decorations, heights, and shapes.
There are three groups of such pillars in total. The first (outdoor) includes those installed near the home. Horses are tied to them. The second group includes pillars used for various religious rituals. And thirdly - hitching posts, which are installed on the main Yakut holiday Ysyakh.
Yakut yurts
Yakut settlements consist of several houses (yurts), located at a great distance from each other. The Yakut dwelling is created from round standing logs. But only small trees are used in construction, since cutting down large ones is considered a sin. The doors are located on the east side, towards the sun. Inside the yurt there is a fireplace covered with clay. The home has many small windows. Along the walls there are wide sun loungers of different heights. At the entrance - the lowest. Only the owner of the yurt sleeps on the high one. The sunbeds are separated from each other by partitions.
To build a yurt, choose a low place, protected from the winds. In addition, the Yakuts are looking for a “happy place.” Therefore, they do not settle among the mighty trees, since they have already taken all the power of the earth. There are many more such moments, as in Chinese geomancy. When choosing a place to build a yurt, they turn to a shaman. Often yurts are built collapsible so that they can be transported during a nomadic lifestyle.
National clothes
Consists of a single-breasted caftan. Previously, for winter it was made of fur, and for summer - from the skin of a horse or cow. The caftan has 4 additional wedges and a wide belt. The sleeves are wide. Fur socks are also worn on the feet. In modern times, the Yakuts use fabric for sewing clothes. They began to wear shirts with collars, belted with a belt.
Wedding fur coats for women are sewn long, reaching to the heels. They widen towards the bottom. The sleeves and collar are decorated with brocade, red and green cloth, silver jewelry, and braid. The hem is lined with sable fur. These wedding fur coats are passed down from generation to generation. On the head, instead of a veil, they wear high-topped fur hats made of black or red decorated cloth.
Folklore
When talking about the traditions and customs of the Yakuts, one cannot fail to mention their folklore. The main thing in it is the olonkho epic, which is considered a type of poetry, and when performed is similar to opera. This art has been preserved since ancient times. Olonkho includes many traditional tales. And in 2005, this art was recognized as a UNESCO heritage.
Poems ranging from 10 to 15 thousand lines in length are performed by folk storytellers. Not everyone can become one. Storytellers must have the gift of oratory, be able to improvise, and have acting talent. Speech should be of different tones. Larger olonkhos can be performed over seven nights. The largest and famous work consists of 36 thousand poetic lines.
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 to a greater extent with the Vedic mythology.
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 Yakut culture 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 Tugyu 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, Mongolian-speaking pastoralists associated with the culture of slab graves or the Shiweians 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 Tugu and the Sirs, the surviving part of the Sirs moved to the 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 a 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 stationary 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 in the formation 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 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 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 the South Siberian anthropological type with the ancient Caucasoid 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 the concept of “man” was put into this word - 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 in recent years has shown a high genetic similarity between Yakut horses and 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-Kangalas region, classified as the eastern group, are similar to the Kazakh horse of the Jabe type and partly to the Kyrgyz and O. horses. 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
The Yakuts (pronunciation with an emphasis on the last syllable is common among the local population) are the indigenous population of the 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. Muscular strength Yakuts are no different. 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. The Yakut language has many words of Mongolian origin (about 30% of words), and 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”).
Learning the Yakut language is difficult a large number synonymous expressions and uncertainty of grammatical forms: for example, nouns have no genders 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 linguistic analysis and the similarity of details of everyday 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 Yakut culture 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, Mongolian-speaking pastoralists associated with the culture of slab graves or the Shiweians 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 stationary 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 Caucasoid 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 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 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 (artistic carving, painting with alder decoction), birch bark, fur, leather was developed; 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, 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 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 hearth, 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), and 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 a flint; for the rich, with silver and copper plaques. A typical women's wedding fur caftan (sangiyah), 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.; 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.
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 to XVIII-XIX 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.