Nenets beliefs. Old-timers of the Russian Arctic. Where do the Nenets live in the Russian Federation?

The Nenets are one of the most numerousindigenous peoples of the Russian Far North. They are settled from the Kola Peninsula to Taimyr along the coast of the Arctic Ocean. It is believed that in the first millennium AD. part of the Samoyed tribes - the ancestors of modern Nenets - were forced out of the territory of the Sayan Highlands by the Turks to the north and adapted to life in the Arctic.

The real Nenets are fishermen, hunters, and carpenters, but their main occupation is large-scale reindeer herding.

For a real Nenets, deer is the most important thing in life: it is food, clothing, and a home; Men's winter clothing is made from the skins of five reindeer, and for a chum - a traditional frame dwelling - at least thirty reindeer skins are needed.

Reindeer is also a means of transportation: modern snowmobiles can break down at the most inopportune moment and require fuel, so the good old means of transportation is often used - a reindeer sled.

Reindeer also serves as a kind of currency: for example, the price of one snowmobile starts from 15 deer, and a bride price starts from forty deer.

For a traditional Nenets family, in order to simply survive a year without increasing the number of livestock, a herd of at least five hundred heads is needed.

Nine months a year in the Far North is winter, temperatures can drop to minus 50 degrees Celsius, and summer is usually high humidity, heat, midges and mosquitoes. Despite the short summer and the almost complete absence of raw fruits and vegetables in their diet, the Nenets never suffer from rickets or scurvy: they get all the necessary vitamins by eating raw deer meat and raw fish.

During the short summer, deer feed on lichens, horsetails, willow and birch leaves, berries, and in the fall – also mushrooms. On occasion, deer will not disdain lemmings and bird eggs. In winter, deer extract moss from under snow up to a meter high, digging it out with their hooves. Both female and male reindeer wear antlers; Males shed them in February-March, and females in April, after calving.

It is necessary to wander, or kaslat (in Nenets) with reindeer herds, to drive reindeer to new pastures quite often. Reindeer herders do not have days off; they have to protect the reindeer herds at night from polar wolves and wolverines in snowstorms and severe frosts.

Reindeer can stray from the herd during a snowstorm, and sometimes in the fall, during the rut, domestic females respond to the call of wild males, and then reindeer herders have to search for them for a long time, for two or three days, and not always successfully.

Despite the difficulties of nomadic life in the harsh conditions of the Far North, the Nenets continue the traditions of their ancestors, live all year round in prefabricated tent houses and do not want to exchange such a life for a city one. They are unusually hospitable and very friendly people, since others simply cannot survive in the Arctic. Nenets reindeer herders are ready for any difficulties and trials, because they live in harmony with nature from birth.

Our state does not really help the small peoples of the North. Once upon a time, the Arctic was conquered for its furs, and merchants completely soldered gullible hunters. Now the North is both a storehouse of minerals and the frontier of our country. Traditional reindeer grazing areas are shrinking everywhere: they are crossed by gas and oil pipelines, oil is poisoning rivers and lakes, and heaps of rusty scrap metal are being left behind by the military.

But we must admit that Russia would not have developed the Arctic if we had not adopted from the indigenous peoples, including the Nenets, the experience of surviving in these harsh conditions, and we must remember this. If the pastures disappear, the deer will disappear, which means that the centuries-old way of life and the original culture of the Nenets will be destroyed.

   Number– 34,665 people (as of 2001).
   Language– Samoyedic group of the Ural-Yukaghir family of languages.
   Settlement– Krasnoyarsk Territory, Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets, Khanty-Mansi and Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) autonomous districts.

They occupy a vast territory of the North of the European part of Russia and Western Siberia from the river. Mezen in the west to the lower reaches of the Yenisei in the east. The Nenets language is recognized as their native language by 77.1% of Nenets. Writing has existed since 1932 on the basis of Latin, and since 1937 - on the basis of Russian graphics.

The self-name nenets - “man”, neney nenets - “real person” was introduced into official use in 1930. Initially, the Nenets were called Samoyeds or Samoyed-Yuraks. This is mentioned in the oldest Russian chronicle “The Tale of Bygone Years,” dating back to the beginning of the 12th century. The origin of the term “Samoyed” is interpreted in different ways. It seems most likely that it originated from saam-jedna - “land of the Sami”. There are self-names: Khasava - among the Western Nenets of Yamal, Nenei Nenets - among the Eastern Nenets of Yamal and Gyda, Nenets - in many other territories.

Reindeer herder family

According to their economic and cultural type of life, the Nenets are divided into three groups. The first and main group (90%) consists of the tundra Nenets, whose main occupation is productive reindeer husbandry. They developed the northernmost regions. The second group - the forest Nenets - inhabits the taiga parts of the Ob-Yenisei watershed, mainly along the river. Pur, Taz and Agan live in transport reindeer herding, hunting, and fishing. They are the link between the Samoyed tribes of the Sayan Highlands and the tundra Nenets; they speak a special dialect of the Nenets language. The third group - the Colvinians - formed in the European North in the area of ​​the river. Kolva in the 19th century. as a result of mixed marriages between Nenets and Komi. They speak the Izhem dialect of the Komi language. According to the most common hypothesis, the Samoyed community developed in Southern Siberia. In the first centuries AD. some of the Samoyeds moved north, while others became part of the Turkic peoples of Southern Siberia. During the first millennium AD. a significant number of Samoyeds moved along the Ob, Yenisei and their interfluves into the northern taiga zone, and then the tundra, assimilating the aboriginal population. Then the ancestors of modern Nenets spread from the lower reaches of the Ob west to the White Sea, and by the 17th century. - east to the Yenisei.

Already in the XI-XII centuries. residents of the Pechoria region paid tribute to Novgorod. From the end of the 15th century. the Moscow government sent military expeditions here. So, during the campaign of 1499-1500. The city of Pustozersk on Pechora was founded, which became an important trade center and military post beyond the Urals. In 1535, Tsar Ivan IV granted the Samoyeds a charter confirming their rights to own fishing grounds.

The runners of the sled are arched after preheating them over the fire.

In 1545, the Solvychegodsk industrialists the Stroganovs received from Ivan IV a charter for ownership of a vast territory along the river. Kame. After Ermak's campaign (1581) and the construction of the forts of Tyumen (1586), Tobolsk (1587), Berezov (1593), Surgut (1594), Obdorsk (1595) and Mangazeya (1601), Western Siberia was firmly assigned to the Moscow state. Special sections of documents developed by the commission of M.M. Speransky, - “Charter on the management of foreigners” (1822) and “On foreigners of the Arkhangelsk province, called Samoyeds” - gave the Nenets rights to land and internal self-government. Joining the Russian state reduced the severity of inter-tribal conflicts among local residents and introduced them to Russian culture.

In 1825-1830 In the European North, through the efforts of the mission of Archimandrite Veniamin, Orthodoxy spread, and in the Ob North, Christianization began in the 18th century. In the 1840s. Missionary schools began to open at churches. By 1869, there were references to “natives” studying at the Obdorsk missionary school, where the children of shamans later studied. The first Christian church of St. was built in Obdorsk. Nicholas.

A Nenets reindeer herder on skis catches a deer with a lasso. Yamal

The traditional occupation of the Nenets is reindeer herding. National features of this industry: year-round grazing of animals under the supervision of shepherds and reindeer herding dogs, sleigh ride on reindeer. Car and cargo sleds are used. Straight-winged Nenets (khan) consist of a body attached to runners curved at the front. For stability, the wings are slightly spread downwards, so that the distance between the runners is greater than the width of the seat. Men's sleds have only a backrest near the seat, while women's have a front and side backrest to make it convenient to ride with children. The cars are harnessed in a “fan” pattern from three to seven reindeer. They sit on them on the left side, control them with the help of a rein attached to the halter (a bridle without a bit, with a rein) of the left deer, and a trochee pole with a bone button at the end. Sometimes a metal spear-shaped tip is put on the other end of the trochee (in the past, the trochee served as a weapon along with a bow). The harness is made from deer or sea hare skin. Two reindeer are harnessed to the cargo sleds, and a caravan (argish) is made from five to six cargo sleds, tying the reindeer with chains or belts to the front sled. Each argish is led by a rider on a light sled, often teenage girls, and nearby there are men on light sleds driving the herd. To catch the necessary animals using a lasso, they make a special corral (corral), using sleds for this. The deer eats moss - moss. As food reserves become depleted, pastures have to be changed. Shepherds and their families also wander with the reindeer herd.

In the center of the plague they used to make a fire, now there is an iron stove

A collapsible dwelling is adapted to the conditions of a nomadic lifestyle - chum (mya’) - a cone-shaped structure, the frame of which consists of 25-30 poles. In winter, the chum is covered in two layers with nyuk tires made of deer skins, in summer - from specially prepared birch bark. In the center of the chum they used to light a fire, now they light an iron stove. A bar with a hook for a kettle or cauldron was strengthened above the hearth, on both sides of it were sleeping places, and opposite the entrance were objects of pagan worship, later icons, as well as clean dishes. During each migration, the tents are dismantled, tires, beds, poles, and dishes are placed on special sleighs.

In addition to grazing deer, in winter they hunted arctic fox, fox, wolverine, ermine, and wild reindeer. Fur-bearing animals were hunted using wooden jaw traps and iron traps. Most of the furs were used to pay yasak. They caught white partridges and geese during the molting period, and wood grouse. Fish were caught mainly in the summer.

The Arkhangelsk Nenets have a men's fur hat with long ears

Women are engaged in dressing the skins of deer and fur-bearing animals, sewing clothes, bags, and chum tires. Clothes and utensils were richly decorated with fur mosaics (from white and dark colored kamus), beaded jewelry was woven, embroidered with deer hair, and carved into wood. The set of traditional men's clothing includes a malitsa with a hood (a loose, loose shirt made of deer skins with fur on the inside), trousers, pima boots made of kamus with fur on the outside, and stockings with fur on the inside. To protect the flesh, they put on a cotton shirt over the malitsa and gird it with a rawhide belt, decorated with copper openwork plaques or buttons. A knife in a sheath, a sharpening stone, and a bear tooth are attached to the belt on chains. In cold weather, a sovik is worn over the malitsa - a garment with a hood, similar in cut to the malitsa, but sewn with the fur on the outside.

Yamal Nenets women's bonnet made of reindeer fur trimmed with arctic fox tails

Women's clothing, unlike men's, is swinging. In the old days, it was made from the skins of forest animals with a dog fur trim along the hem. Later they began to sew from deer skins, with a collar made of arctic fox or red fox fur. The hems of the clothes are not wrapped, but tied with suede straps or ribbons and decorated with ornamented inserts of white and dark fur. A needle case and a small bag for a thimble are attached to a bag for sewing supplies, made from skins from deer foreheads and richly decorated with ornaments. Belts woven from colored woolen threads were complemented by round buckles up to 20 cm in diameter. Women's hats have local differences. The most common are bonnets made of reindeer fur trimmed with arctic fox tails, from which copper openwork plaques are hung from the back on chains. Women's shoes are cut differently from men's. For small children, clothes like overalls were made from soft reindeer skins.

The main food is reindeer meat (raw and boiled), fish, bread. Favorite drink is tea. It, like metal utensils, was traded with Russian traders in the old days. They made wooden utensils - bowls, cups, spoons - themselves. The Nenets are characterized by paternal (patriarchal) clan (erkar). With collective methods of hunting and cattle breeding, a large role was played by the camp (nes) - a union of families in which men belonged to one clan and women belonged to different ones. In conditions of clan exogamy, the young man had to look for a future wife in a different clan. Usually the father decided the question of his son's marriage. Having identified a bride, they sent matchmakers and agreed on the size of the ransom and dowry. The wedding ceremony included an imitation of the abduction (kidnapping) of the bride.

Religious beliefs were based on animistic ideas, according to which the supreme heavenly deity - the demiurge Num - ruled the world with the help of other deities and spirits, and his wife I-sky - Mother Earth - an old patroness who gives birth and preserves all living things, protected the home, family and hearth The antagonist of Numa is Nga - the embodiment of world evil, the spirit of the underworld, the deity who sends disease and death. Each lake and fishing area had its own spirit hosts. Deer were sacrificed to them, offerings were made (pieces of cloth, coins, tobacco, etc.) so that the spirits would bestow health and good luck in reindeer herding and fishing. On sacred places, which could be stones, cliffs, groves, idols were placed in the form of anthropomorphic figures. Larch was considered a sacred tree.

Nenets children at the holiday

According to popular beliefs, the vital essence of a person (soul) manifested itself in the form of blood, breath, shadow, image. Death is the loss of one of these substances or the consequence of harmful spirits (ngileka) entering the human body. The afterlife was located on the surface of the earth or underground. The Nenets were characterized by above-ground burials. The coffin was placed on the ground between vertical posts connected by wooden planks, or, to protect it from predators, in a box and a log was placed on it. His tools, dishes, etc. were placed next to the deceased. A deer was killed at the burial site, and sledges and trochees were left behind. However, since the 19th century. under the influence of Christianization, the dead began to be buried in the ground.

Shamanism is closely related to the ancient religious beliefs of the Nenets. Usually the title of shaman was inherited by a man or woman. The ritual took place in the shaman's tent. Currently, his clothes with pendants and an iron “crown” on his head have been preserved only on the Yenisei. Each shaman had a special set of cult objects: images of helping spirits (tadebtso) and riding animals, as well as a tambourine with a handle on the inside and a mallet. He kept his attributes on special sacred sledges.

The Nenets used the cradle both at night and during the day

Nenets folklore is characterized by personification (personification, from the Latin persona - face, personality, facere - to do) of the presentation, when, along with the heroes, the tale itself (myneko) is also the protagonist. This technique is widespread in fairy tales, where the animate creature is called lahanako - a little word.

Among the Nenets fairy tales (lahanako, vadako) there are tales about animals, magic, legendary and everyday ones. Often their characters are deities, spirits - masters of localities. They are also the main characters in other genres of folklore - legends, spell prayers, shamanic songs.

Ritual music is closely connected with the place of the shaman in the ancient hierarchy: “seeing prophetic dreams”, “accompanying the soul of the deceased to the underworld”, “possessing the gift of hypnosis”. The tambourine of the eastern tundra Nenets is penzer (corresponding to the Yakut type), for the forest Nenets it is p’en’shal (Ugric type), for the western tundra Nenets it is penzyar (the shell is of the Yakut type, and the handle is of the Ugric type).

The noise musical instrument vyvko (a board on a tendon thread) became a children's toy. Rattle pendants, shaped like rings with stringed tubes, are sewn onto children's clothes as a sound amulet. In an arc above the cradle (kaptysi) they scrape with a stick or tube, calming the child and at the same time accompanying the lullaby. The buzzer and spinner, which are now known as children's toys, were ritualistic in the past.

The development of gas and oil fields in the Nenets and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug has worsened the environmental situation, negatively affected the employment of aborigines in traditional economic sectors, polluted dozens of rivers and lakes, and destroyed thousands of hectares of spawning grounds, feeding areas, forests and pastures. More than a thousand tons of valuable whitefish and sturgeon fish die every year from water pollution.

Tundra - inheritance to son

The district's reindeer farms are also in a difficult economic situation. And yet some of them continue to develop. For example, a plant for processing antlers was built at the Baidaretsky state farm in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Some reindeer herders start farming on their own.

In district schools, children learn their native language. Publishers are preparing new textbooks in the Nenets language for publication. In the ethnocultural center of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug there is a department of Nenets culture, a literary and creative group, an amateur theater, and a national workshop for the production of products from bone, leather, and reindeer fur. In the village In Indiga, a House of Culture and a library were opened, and an amateur art group was organized.

In Novy Urengoy, Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, a Center for National Cultures was created, in Salekhard - the House of Culture of the Peoples of the North, in the village. There are drama clubs in Yar-Sale, Tazovsky, and Samburg.

National writers A. Nerkagi, I. Istomin, L. Laptsui, teacher E. Susoy, artists I. Khudi and L. Lar, composer S. Nyaruy, the first professional Nenets singer G. Lagei enjoy well-deserved popularity and fame.

The newspaper “Naryan Vynder” of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug publishes the “Yalumbd” page in the Nenets language. The newspaper “Naryana Ngerm” is published in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Programs in the Nenets language are produced by the State Television and Radio Companies “Zapolyarye” and “Yamal”.

The Association of the Nenets People “Yasavey” (“Going Ahead”) and the Association “Yamal to Descendants” were created. In 1995, the Nenets Okrug community was established in Arkhangelsk.

article from the encyclopedia "The Arctic is my home"

   BOOKS ABOUT THE NENETS
Alekseenko E.A. Musical instruments of the peoples of the North of Western Siberia: Sat. MAE. L., 1988. T. 42.
Vasiliev V.I., Gendenreich L.N. Tundra Kaninskaya. M., 1977.
Dobrovolsky B.M. About the tunes of Nenets epic songs: Epic songs of the Nenets / Comp. Z.N. Kupriyanova. M., 1965.
Yoshida A. Food culture of the Gydan Nenets (interpretation and social adaptation). M., 1997.
Prokofiev G.N. Ethnogony of the peoples of the Ob-Yenisei basin // SE. 1940. No. 3.
Tereshchenko N.M. Nenets epic. Materials and research on Samoyed languages. L., 1990.
Folklore of the peoples of Taimyr. Nenets folklore. Dudinka, 1992. Vol. 2.
Khomich L.V. Nenets: Historical and ethnographic essays. L., 1966.
Khomich L.V. Problems of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Nenets. L., 1976.
Epic songs of the Nenets / Comp. Z.N. Kupriyanova. M., 1965.

And the entire Far North is inhabited by representatives of many nations. The indigenous people among them are the Nenets, Selkups and Northern Khanty. Today, the indigenous ethnographic groups include the old-time population of Komi-Zyryans and Russians; their ethnocultural interaction with the autochthonous population was intense.
The titular among the indigenous peoples are representatives of the Samoyed group of the Ural language family - the Nenets (Nenets, Neney Nenets). On the territory of the district there are two ethnographic groups of Nenets: Siberian tundra and Siberian forest. The language and culture of the Nenets are distinguished from other peoples of the Far North by their monolithic nature (only a group of Forest Nenets living compactly in the district has a specific dialect).

Nenets settlement map

The question of the origin of the Nenets people remains controversial. Most researchers support the point of view according to which the core of modern Northern Samoyed peoples, the main elements of their material and spiritual culture were formed as a result of the synthesis of Samoyed-speaking (South Siberian in origin) newcomers and autochthons of the Arctic (their existence is reflected in Nenets folklore called Siirtya, or Sikhirtya).

GENERAL INFORMATION
Nenets (Nenets. Neney Neneche, Khasovo, Neshchang (obsolete - Samoyeds, Yuraks) are the Samoyed people in Russia, inhabiting the Eurasian coast of the Arctic Ocean from the Kola Peninsula to Taimyr. The Nenets are divided into European and Asian (Siberian). European Nenets are settled in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Arkhangelsk Region, and Siberian in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Tyumen Region and in the Dolgano-Nenets Taimyr Municipal District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.Small groups of Nenets live in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, in the Murmansk and Arkhangelsk Regions, and the Komi Republic.

Number and settlement
Of the indigenous peoples of the Russian North, the Nenets are the most numerous. According to the results of the 2002 census, 41,302 Nenets lived in Russia, of which about 27,000 lived in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.
The traditional occupation is large-scale reindeer herding. Several thousand Nenets reindeer herders, keeping about 500,000 reindeer, lead a nomadic lifestyle. The home of the Nenets is a conical tent (mya).

The names of two autonomous districts of Russia (Nenets, Yamalo-Nenets) mention the Nenets as the titular ethnic group of the district; another such district (Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug) was abolished in 2007 and transformed into the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

The Nenets are divided into two groups: tundra and forest. Tundra Nenets are the majority. They live in two autonomous okrugs. Forest Nenets - 1500 people. They live in the basin of the Pur and Taz rivers in the southeast of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug and in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug.

carries a child from the maternity hospital

Theories of ethnogenesis
Stralenberg's theory
Due to the presence on the territory of the Sayan Highlands of tribes whose language in the recent past was classified as Samoyed, Stralenberg suggested that the Samoyeds of the Sayan Highlands are descendants of the Samoyeds of the circumpolar zone, where they were aborigines, that from the north some of the Samoyeds, under the influence of some reasons, moved to south, settling the Sayan Highlands.

Fischer-Castrena theory
The opposite point of view was expressed by the historian Fischer, who assumed that the northern Samoyeds (the ancestors of the modern Nenets, Nganasan, Entsy, Selkup and Yuraks) are the descendants of the Samoyed tribes of the Sayan Highlands, who advanced from southern Siberia to more northern regions. This is Fisher's assumption in the 19th century. was supported by enormous linguistic material and substantiated by Castrén, who assumed that in the first millennium AD. e., in connection with the so-called great movement of peoples, the Samoyed tribes were forced out by the Turks from the Sayan Highlands to the north. In 1919, A. A. Zhilinsky, a researcher of the Arkhangelsk north, spoke out sharply against this theory. The main argument is that such a resettlement would require a sharp change in the type of environmental management, which is impossible in a short time. Modern Nenets are reindeer herders, and the peoples living on the Sayan Highlands are farmers (about 97.2%)

Theory of G. N. Prokofiev
The Soviet scientist G.N. Prokofiev, relying on the Fischer-Castrin theory, made the necessary adjustments to it. According to his assumption, the ancestors of the modern Nenets, Nganasan, Enets, and Selkups were not only the Samoyed tribes of the Sayan Highlands, but also some aboriginal tribes of the circumpolar zone, who inhabited the territory of the Ob-Yenisei basin since ancient times.

The legends of the Nenets themselves indicate that when their ancestors came to the Far North, they met there the local low-growing Sirte tribe, who had some phenomenal abilities, in particular, they knew mining, and subsequently “went underground.” A number of researchers associated Sirtya with the bearers of the so-called Ust-Poluy archaeological culture.

Anthropological type
In anthropological terms, the Nenets belong to the Ural contact small race, whose representatives are characterized by a combination of anthropological characteristics inherent in both Caucasians and Mongoloids. Due to their widespread settlement, the Nenets are anthropologically divided into a number of groups demonstrating a main tendency towards a decrease in the proportion of Mongoloidity from east to west. A small degree of expression of the Mongoloid complex is recorded among the Forest Nenets. The general picture is accompanied by a discrete, focal localization of Caucasoid and Mongoloid traits, which is explained both by interethnic contacts and the relative isolation of individual territorial groups of Nenets.

national Nenets wrestling Nenets people

RELIGIOUS BELIEF OF THE NENETS
The sun, according to ancient Nenets beliefs, is a woman. She grows grass, trees, moss. When frost sets in, the sun hides from them - it turns along with the sky and night falls (polar night). The moon is perceived as flat and round. The dark spots on the moon are the legs of Iriy Khasava (moon man), the torso and head of whom are on the other side of the moon.
The religious beliefs of the Nenets are based on animistic ideas, i.e. belief in spirits. The entire world around them seemed to be inhabited by spirits who took a direct part in people’s lives, bringing them success or failure in business, bringing joy and sorrow, sending them various diseases and the like.
All travelers and explorers of the 18th and early 20th centuries. claimed that the Nenets had an idea of ​​a “supreme being”, which was called Num. This Num, an incorporeal creature without any image, was, according to researchers, the creator of the earth and everything that exists on it. The most common myth about the universe among the Nenets told that in the beginning there was only water. Num sent a loon. She dived and brought back a lump of clay. The lump began to grow and turned into earth. Then all the mountains and rivers, people and animals were created. The word Num in the Nenets language means weather. Obviously, the supreme being is in reality the spirit of heaven, the bright principle.
In this world, the body becomes “earthy” and turns into a black shiny bug. The black beetle si, the larva of the beetle pui and the long earthworm challah are considered messengers of the Nga country. They are deceptively small when they crawl out on a summer day. At night and in winter they are able to appear as huge monsters, all of them are the embodiment of the god Nga.
Horrors about the world of Nga are usually told by shamans, since they have to disturb the Underground. Every night a person is overcome by the messengers of Nga, who climb into the tent and sleeping bodies. When a person falls asleep, Nga quietly flies into his mouth and the person falls ill. Nga hunts people just as people catch animals, fish and birds. The flesh of the sick or dying is gnawed by the worm of death challah. Only the shaman can see the worm that Nga sends, and by making an incision in the sore spot with a knife, he will remove it. Nga is sometimes called Si iv Nga Nisha - the Father of the Seven Deaths. That is, various diseases that are fatal to both people and animals are seen by the Nenets as his children. Thus, the children of Nga are considered to be Yakdainga (Scabies), Meryunga (Smallpox), Hodenga (Cough-tuberculosis), Singa (Scurvy), Hedunga (Disease that kills all people and deer in one night), etc.
The Nenets also consider Nga to be a participant in the Creation of everything that exists on earth. Only Num created everything bright, pure, reasonable and useful for people, and the god Nga, on the contrary, created everything evil, unclean and harmful.
In every creature created on earth, something from Num and something from Nga can be discerned, but it was more difficult than others for those to whom the Co-Creators paid especially much attention - man and dog, or rather only man, because neither Num nor Nga initially created the dog. She “came” from man. There are several Nenets parables on this subject. A version of one of the parables goes like this: “Created by Num, at one time a man and a dog lived separately. The dog had clothes, as well as a cargo sled where food was stored. One day the dog took and ate everything in one day, without caring about the future. Then Num got angry and said: “You don’t know how to live on your own at all, go to a man and live with him.” Then Num made the dog stop speaking like a human being.”
According to Nenets legends, it is through the fault of a forgetful dog that a person falls into the power of Nga for a time, which is enough to be eaten, spat on or sprinkled with ashes (that is, Nga managed to perform his ritual). And then the person became mortal (subject to “diseases”), i.e. belongs equally to the Upper and Lower worlds.
The dog now has a special mission to perform.

little reindeer herder Nenets people

The world of the Underworld is great, and its messengers are able to penetrate (usually at night) into the world of people, and in a variety of guises: a pack of wolves, deadly diseases, destructive elements. And then in the plague they are confronted by a dog guarding the “hole” that serves as a transition between the Lower and human worlds.
When one of Nga's daughters comes to the camp - Sing's disease (Scurvy), a dog is sacrificed to her. The dog is also considered a human assistant, a good shepherd, capable of independently gathering and driving a herd of deer to the camp.
Therefore, the dog is not a gloomy image. She just got a completely dog’s fate - to guard the “hole”.
So, Num and Nga are two powerful forces waging war among themselves.
There is a legend according to which Nga once complained to Num that in the darkness underground, in search of a way out, he often stumbled upon the sharp corners of seven layers of permafrost. Num, not wanting to spoil relations with Nga, with whom, according to legend, he was related, gave up the moon and the sun. Darkness fell on the earth. People, animals and birds could only use the meager light of the heavenly stars, bumping into trees in the dark and falling into holes. People began to make sacrifices at holy places, begging Numa to return the light to the people.
At the prompting of one of the gods, the heavenly lord Num managed to return the Sun from the dungeon by cunning and the day came. Since then, the struggle between Numa and Nga for the possession of light has continued.
The debate about “Who is first,” Num or his eternal rival Nga, takes place in mythology from Creation to re-creation, covering every year, day, person, thing. This dispute causes a clash in which the earth dies (overflowing with “diseases”), the Sun hides (in the dungeon of Nga), a person is born and dies.
A series of days changes, and the human century gradually flows from east to west. In the east is the monastery of Numa, where the souls of people come from, in the west is the country of Nga, where they go after leaving the human body.
The image of Numa is also associated with the Southern Sky, often contrasted with the Northern sky, whose ruler is the powerful god Ngerm. And if the revival of nature is associated with the image of Numa, then with Ngerm its solidification, i.e. the onset of winter. In the cycle of nature, Ngerm plays the same role as Nga in the circle of life and death of a person.
In the host of Nenets spirits, there is only one that Num himself cannot control. His name is Hebidya Ho Erv (Owner of the Sacred Birch).
He lives in the hollow of a seven-trunk birch tree. Every two thousand he raises his birch tree, and from under its roots the water of the great flood spills over the earth. With “big water” Hebidya Ho Erv washes the land where too many diseases have spread. The flood continues for seven days. At this time the Sun does not shine, people and animals die. Then they appear again and again live for two thousand years.
An equally popular Nenets god is Yavmal (Yavmal Iriko) - the Sources of the Rivers Old Man, the Waters of the Land Grandfather, the Seas of the Land Spirit. In many legends he is presented as the heir of Num. According to one of the legends, Num makes the hero the god of the middle earth, orders him to “sit on the upper Ob” all his life, gives him a winged horse and names him Yavmal. Yavmal, as the god of the Upper (Warm) Sea (meaning the Ob River), is in the power of both living spring waters and destructive floods. His will predetermines the coming to Earth of both good warmth and terrible heat. Connected with this are the sacrifices dedicated to Yavmal during the flood season, as well as during the season when “the deer get hot.” In those years when “great heat” comes to the tundra, the Nenets hit the water with sabers and exhort Yavmal to ease the heat, after which “it becomes cold overnight.”
Yavmal, who is also the guardian of the well-being of all people living “on the great water” (the Ob River), was often approached for assistance in marine fishing.
Typically, sacrifices to Yavmal were performed in the spring and summer. But neither water nor heat itself is the element of Yavmal. He is only an intermediary between Earth and Heaven.

old man and tundra Nenets people

Language
The Nenets language belongs to the Samoyed group of the Ural language family and consists of two dialects - Tundra, which is divided into Western and Eastern dialects, the differences between which do not interfere with mutual understanding, and Forest, which is distinguished by its original phonetic composition, which complicates language contact with speakers of the Tundra dialect. The forest dialect is also divided into a number of dialects.
Nenets (nenech) translated from Nenets means “man”.

Kitchen
Local residents obtain meat and fats for nutrition through reindeer herding. Venison is quite tasty, tender meat, with some gamey flavor. This meat is often salted - the simplest method of canning for long-term storage. Corned beef is used in any form: raw, smoked, dried. The Nenets diet also includes exotic dishes, such as fresh liver, kidneys, deer blood, and kopalchen. Refined dishes include tongues, hearts, and rennet.

The need to survive in the harsh conditions of the Far North taught its inhabitants to eat raw meat with blood. This is not only a delicacy, but also the body’s need for vitamins, especially C and B2, and there is a sufficient amount of them in venison. Therefore, the Nenets never suffer from scurvy.

In addition to venison, beef and pork, meat of sea animals, as well as freshwater fish: whitefish, pike, nelma are used here. It is mainly cooked or stewed.

Residents of deer camps are very fond of deer meat fried over a closed fire - something like shish kebab, but not marinated. Favorite dishes among the Nenets are stroganina made from whitefish, venison, liver, soup with flour, pancakes with blood, stewed meat with pasta.

They prefer pasta as a side dish; rice and vegetables are consumed extremely rarely.
The favorite drink of the population of the North is tea, as well as compotes and fruit drinks made from lingonberries, cloudberries, blueberries, jelly made from starch and berry juice.
They prefer rye bread. Nenets people

Economic culture
The main occupations of the Nenets are reindeer herding, fishing, and hunting.
Reindeer husbandry. Since ancient times, the Nenets have called themselves “children of the deer.” Their whole life is connected with the deer. The leader stands out in the herd. He is the most beautiful and largest. The Nenets call it “menarui”. The leader is never used in a harness. Other trained reindeer are intended for sledding and carrying loads. In winter, from 3 to 4 deer are used, and in summer - from 4 to 5. The leading deer is tall, strong and understands the command of the late deer. In Nenets, advanced deer is “nenzamindya”. Deer are also distinguished by age and sex. The bull is “choir”, and the heifer is “yakhadei”. Calves begin to be accustomed to harnessing at 6 months. Young deer - females and males are separated at the end of the first year of their life. The fastest and most resilient reindeer are used for sledding. Deer live up to 23 years. The interesting thing is that only single reindeer are used for riding. They differ greatly in running speed and endurance. In just one day, these reindeer can travel up to 300 km with light sleds. But a break is made every 25 km to rest, quench thirst with water and feed the reindeer. Large-scale reindeer herding of the Nenets is impossible without the Nenets Laika.

Fishing. Nenets children use hooks, harpoons and fences for fishing. In the summer, adults caught fish with nets and seines from boats called koldankas. The nets are woven from hemp or bast. When fishing, the Nenets eat raw fish. In winter, they break through the ice and catch fish using muzzles, vazhans and wicks. Small wooden fish are used for bait. When the fish swims up, they hit it with spears.

Nenets girls

Clothes and shoes
The natural conditions of the Nenets Autonomous District and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous District are harsh. Therefore, good clothing has always been of great value to residents of the district. In winter it should protect from severe frosts, in summer - from midges. Malitsa is a fur shirt with a hood and mittens sewn to it. It is very warm and protects the body and head well from the cold, leaving only the face exposed. It is sewn and put on with the fur inside, towards the body. Malitsa is decorated with fur edging. In summer they wear old malitsa with the hood pulled back, and in winter they wear new malitsa. They even travel short distances. Malitsa has a hood - sava. The hood is pulled together from the front with straps.
Mittens - ngoba - must be sewn to the malitsa. They are made from frontal skins with the fur facing out. Malitsa certainly girds herself with a belt - no. It is made from leather. The outside is lined with red cloth and two or three rows of copper buttons. The belt is also decorated with pendants made of copper chains and openwork plaques. A sheath with a knife is sewn to the belt on a chain. In cold weather, in a snowstorm and during long trips over long distances, a fur owl is worn over the malitsa. Its hood is framed by a fringe of arctic fox tails. The sovik is usually white, but sometimes it is made into a checkerboard pattern. Women's clothing was more complex. This is an open fur coat - ladies and gentlemen. The upper part of the fur coat is made from skins from the upper part of deer legs - black and white kamus with the fur facing out.
The lower part is sewn from arctic fox fur with the pile down. Mittens are sewn to the sleeves. The lords are decorated with fur mosaics, tassels and edgings made of colored cloth. The hems of the fur coat are tied with rope laces. On top of the pan is a cloth cover with an ornament. Outerwear is belted with long fabric belts, richly decorated with copper and tassels. Women's headdress - fur bonnet sava - is sewn separately. Unlike men's clothing, it is not attached to a fur coat.

holiday of the reindeer herder among the Nenets

Working tools and traditional transport
Tools.
Each tent had a set of tools: knives, an axe, an awl and others. Each man was a joiner, carpenter, tanner, net maker, sculptor and jeweler. Everyone knew how and could do everything themselves: from sledges to sculptures of spirits and jewelry. Of the tools, only axes and saws were bought from the Russians. Everything else was made independently.

women's reindeer sled racing Nenets people

Sled.
Sleds are the most necessary means of transportation in the tundra. They drive fast enough. They are lightweight and do not pollute the air like cars and buses in cities. People ride sleds both in winter and summer. The sleigh is harnessed to reindeer and driven by a trochee. A choreus is a pole up to 5 meters long, with a bone ball at the end or an iron tip. The trochee is grasped in the left hand, and the rein is held in the right. The harness is decorated with copper rings, bells and tassels. From the outside it looks very beautiful and unusual.

Plague among the Nenets
All Nenets have lived in tents since ancient times. For the Nenets, this is the center of the entire life of the family, which is perceived as the whole world. There is a hole at the top of the chum; it corresponds to the location of the sun during the day and the month at night. The inclined poles covered with skins correspond to the sphere of air that envelops the Earth. The richer the family, the larger the chum. The poor people have a pointed plague, while the Nenets with good incomes have a blunt one. The tent is made from poles. This requires 40 poles. Then the poles are covered with panels of reindeer skins, which the Nenets call nyuks. Deer skins are sewn into continuous panels and then covered with poles. To cover a plague in winter, 65 to 75 deer are required. From June to September there is a transition from winter to summer nukes. The diameter of the plague reaches up to 8 meters, it can accommodate up to 20 people.

Inside the plague, every object and every place has had its own purpose since ancient times. The central axis of the chum is a pole, which the Nenets consider sacred and call it simzy. 7 heads of family and ancestral spirits are placed on it. In the shaman's chum, the simza was always decorated with the image of the sacred bird minley. According to the simza, smoke from the hearth rises to the upper opening of the chum. According to legends, heroes flew along the sacred pole to battles and military exploits.

Behind the simza there is a sacred place - “si”. Only older men are allowed to step on it. This is a forbidden place for children and women. There is a sacred chest at this place. It contains the patron spirits of the hearth, family and clan. All family savings and heirlooms, weapons and a chest of tools are also kept there. These things are available only to the head of the house, and are inviolable for other members. The place “not” is for a woman, it is located opposite the si, at the entrance. Here she does all the household chores.
In the middle, between ne and si, there is a sleeping place. A belt with amulets and a knife is placed at the head. When going to bed, a man covers himself with a woman's frog. In summer, the sleeping area is fenced off with a chintz canopy. The canopy is used only at night; during the day it is carefully rolled up and secured with pillows. Children lie next to their parents. Further away from the simza, the unmarried eldest sons were laid, then the elderly and other family members, including guests. It is very smoky in the chuma, but in summer the smoke is a good refuge from mosquitoes.

Chum often moved with its owners from place to place. That's why there are no beds or closets in the tents. The only furniture is a small table - roofing felt and a chest. Before the advent of mobile power plants, lamps were used to illuminate the plague. They were made from bowls and filled with fish oil, in which the wick was immersed. Later, kerosene lamps appeared. To shake snow from shoes and the hem of outerwear, there is a beater at the entrance to the tent.

For small children there is a cradle in the tent. Previously, the baby was placed in the cradle immediately after birth, and taken out only when he began to walk. Wood shavings and dry moss were poured into the bottom of the cradle. The skins of deer and arctic fox served as diapers. The child was attached to the cradle with special straps. When breastfeeding, the mother took the baby along with the cradle. Such cradles are still used today.

At the place where a person died, special grave chumiks are placed. The plague in which a person died during an epidemic becomes grave. In this case, the pressing iron hoop is removed from the top of this chum.

in the Nenets plague The Nenets people

Rules of life in the plague.
For women.
The woman is in charge of the hearth. Only a woman can touch the hearth poles and the hearth hook. She collects wood for the fireplace, chops it, dries it at the entrance and lights the fire. She talks to the flame, makes prophecies based on the crackling of wood, smoke, strength and color of the flame. The entire space, except for the hallway of the tent, is under her protection.

For men.
At the entrance to the tent, a man removes snow from shoes and clothes with a mallet. He takes off his outer clothing and leaves it on the sledge. Upon entering the room, a man puts on a homemade kitty and a homemade malitsa or female yagushka.

For guests. The male guests are accommodated for the night from the middle of the chum to the simza. Female guests are placed from the middle to the exit. The place a guest occupies depends on respect for him.

Nenets glamor Nenets people

Despite the many ancestral sacred places in Yamal, Taimyr and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, there have long been central religious places common to the entire Nenets ethnic group, such as Bolvansky Nos on Vaigach, Kozmin pereselok in the area of ​​the river. Nes (Nenets Autonomous Okrug), Yav'mal hekhe (Yamal), Sir Iri (Bely Island), Minisey in the Polar Urals.
The most revered among the Nenets were two idol stones on Vaygach - Vesoko and Khadako (Old Man and Old Woman). The island itself was named by the Nenets “Hebidya Ngo” - sacred land. The Vasoko Sanctuary is located on Cape Dyakonov. One of the first descriptions of this sacred place was left by skipper Stephen Borrow in 1556. He noted that on the cape there was a sanctuary of about 300 idols, made roughly and primitively, sometimes they were simply sticks with cuts indicating eyes and mouth. The mouths and eyes of the idols and some other parts were smeared with blood. In the “Notes” of Jan Huygens van Linschotten we find a description of a cape on the southern shore of Vaygach, on which there were about 300 idols [Linschotten, 1915].
In 1826, the Vesoko sanctuary was visited by Archimandrite Veniamin, who led the activities of the mission to convert the Nenets (Samoyeds) of the Arkhangelsk province to Christianity. By order of Benjamin, the Vasoko sanctuary was completely destroyed and the idols were burned to the ground. Despite the complete destruction of the most revered sacred place, the Nenets have repeatedly made attempts to restore it. In 1837, biologist A. Schrenk, who visited the island. Vaygach reported that the Samoyeds who returned to their places chose a place for sacrifices not far from the cross erected by the mission of Archimandrite Veniamin, and again placed their wooden idols here [Shrenk, 1855]. A.E. Nordenskiöld, who visited Vaygach in 1887, also wrote about Nenets idols with a bunch of deer antlers and skulls standing on the top of the cape six hundred meters from the cross [Nordenskiöld, 1936].
In 1984-1987 under the leadership of L.P. Khlobystin, a thorough archaeological study of this cultural site was carried out. In 1986, the Arkhangelsk Arctic expedition of the Institute of Archeology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, led by O. V. Ovsyannikov, examined the monument of spiritual culture of the Nenets - the Kozmin Pereselok sanctuary (Kharv Pod - the road to the larch thicket). In 1986-1997 The Marine Arctic Complex Expedition (MAE) under the leadership of P.V. Boyarsky carried out research on the island. Vaygach. Based on these materials, a map of sacred places of the Nenets Autonomous Okrug was created.
The main shrine of Neva-hehe-mother idol is located in the north of the island. Vaygach in the upper reaches of the river. Heheyaha, between lakes Yangoto and Heheto. Judging by the data of V.A. Islavin and A.A. Borisov, the Nenets called the highest rock with a crack resembling a female sign “Neva-hege”.

old and new mode of transport Nenets people

In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. There is an active interest in sacred places in Yamal. In his work “The Yamal Peninsula,” B. Zhitkov gives a description of the sacrificial place Yav’mal Hekhe, revered by the Nenets, a place of worship for various clans living on Yamal.
Ethnographer-researcher V.P. Evladov devoted a lot of time and effort to studying and describing sacred places, who organized a scientific expedition together with the Ural Committee of the North in 1928-1929. across the tundra of Yamal. He recorded basically all the major religious places of the Nenets. He also managed to visit and describe the main shrine of the Nenets, Sir Iri (White Old Man) on the island. Bel. The Nenets call it the island of the White Old Man (Sir Iri Ngo). Since ancient times, this island has been unique.
In July-August 2000, with the financial support of the administration of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, an ethnographic expedition was conducted to the Yamal region. Its purpose was to research, record and collect information about sacred and ritual places, describe historical and cultural monuments, sacred and religious places, national burial sites (certification, registration, recommendations for establishing the boundaries of protective zones and creating a map of sacred places).
The collected materials were processed, analyzed and a map of sacred places was compiled. Many of the points indicated on the map were examined by the author personally. Some designations of sacred places are recorded from the words of informants living in the area.
The sacred place of Sir Iri is located in the depths of Bely Island, 25-30 km from the Malygina Strait. It apparently has not been visited for a long time and seems neglected. In the center of the sanctuary there is a figure about 2-2.5 m high. There are logs of different sizes lying around, perhaps these are idols. Time and weather took their toll, some of them were destroyed under the influence of water and wind. The figure of Sir Iri is made of round wood, the master carefully processed the front part, the neck and the transition to the shoulder girdle are outlined, small arms are outlined, apparently, there were tree branches in this place, which made the task easier for the master. During our expeditions to Yamal, we often saw a similar figure in the sacred sledges of the Nenets. At the same time, the figure of Sir Iri was always dressed in a malitsa, but in the descriptions of researchers and travelers we do not find any mention of such an attribute of this image. Although informants claim that during the sacrifice, Sir Iri was dressed in the skin of a sacrificial deer (khan you) (Yaptik Ya.) or a bear (Sir Vark) (Khudi V.).

According to informants, at the sacred site of Ilebyampertya (Bely Island, Cape Malygina, 15-20 km from the strait), sacrifices of a polar bear or a white deer were carried out. The skin of a sacrificial animal was used to wrap the central figure of the syadeya (idol). During our examination of this sacred place, no fresh sacrifices were found, but the remains of rotten skins and skins were lying around. Many skulls of polar bears and deer were scattered around the altar, and a whole mountain of skulls was piled near the central figure.
The Yamal hehe ya sacrificial place is a place of worship and sacrifice for seven clans living on the Yamal Peninsula. According to reindeer herders, anyone can come here, regardless of clan and tribe. The seven ancestral sacrificial places are located at a great distance from each other. The central sacred place is about 2.5 m high and several meters wide. Sacrifices were found on all altars. On each of them there are figures of idols of different sizes stuck, there are small freshly cut syadeys, and traces of deer blood are visible on their faces, and sacred poles (sims) were also discovered, with different colored scraps of fabric tied to them. Not far from the altars, traces of a fire and burnt logs are visible.
Syur’nya hehe I is located 25 km from the village. Syunai-Sale behind the small river Kharvuta. The base is made up of five larches. Under them there are several chests (caskets). There are antlers of sacrificial deer, ribbons of different colors, and a lot of dishes hanging everywhere. According to the legend told by the village residents, the owner sometimes appears at this sacred place and scares people who have come not for sacrifice, but for pampering. Women are generally prohibited from appearing here. Nenets people

The sacred narta Kharvuta hehe khan is located on the high bank of the Kharvuta River. Apparently, it has been here for a long time, since part of it has gone underground. The sledge is three-toothed, gray-greenish in color, and in some places overgrown with yellowish-white moss. On the sledge there is a casket, the right side of which is broken. There are boards from the casket and pieces of birch bark lying around; perhaps cult objects were previously wrapped in it. A cult sculpture measuring 50 cm in size was discovered in the sledge. The front part is clearly processed, the neck is marked, downwards the figure becomes narrow and less detailed. During the examination of the sacred sledge, two more cult sculptures were discovered: one about 25 cm, most likely male (the figure has been destroyed by time and there are no clear contours), the second is about 30 cm, more complex in processing, the front part is very clearly detailed, the neck and shoulder parts are marked . Most likely, this is a female figure, since the lower part of the body is worked out in great detail: legs, waist. The master was not without interest in working on female genitalia.
Hebidya to Hehe I is located 15 km from the village. Syunai-Sale, on the high shore of a large lake. Previously, this cult place was often visited by reindeer herders, who drove herds of reindeer from the Han side to summer pastures on Yamal. But several years ago this place was partially destroyed (a large larch tree on which many sacrificial skulls hung was demolished by a tractor). According to informants, a small larch grew not far from the broken larch, and the Nenets began to make sacrifices to this place. Traces of sacrifices, deer skulls, and colored scraps of fabric were found here. A very modest sacred place, there are no bulky piles of sacrificial skulls, as is the case in Northern Yamal.

During the expedition, new, previously unexplored religious places were discovered: Limbya Ngudui hehe ya; Nyarme hehe I; Sarmik yara hehe ya; Munota yaram hehe ya; Parne Sale (mouth of the Mordyyakha River); Yasavey hehe I; Tomboy hehe me; Si'iv Serpiva Khoy (R. Turmayakha); Serotetto seda (Yuribey river, Yamal); Tirs Seda (upper reaches of the Yakhadyyakha River); Varnge yakha hehe ya (Varngeto district); Labahey then (upper reaches of the Sebesyakha River).
Nenets ancestral burial grounds are scattered throughout the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug. Many travelers and researchers described Nenets burials and burial methods [Zavalishin, 1862; Zuev, 1947; Bakhrushin, 1955; Gracheva, 1971; Khomich, 1966, 1976, 1995; Susoy, 1994; Lehtisalo, 1998]. Since ancient times, the Nenets tried to locate cemeteries (halmer’) on ancestral territories near summer pastures. Usually these were dry places and high hills on the banks of lakes and rivers. In Yamal we discovered burials of various forms. These are burials in a kaldanka (khoi ngano), the sharp ends of which are processed to the size of the figure; burials in logs, in elongated shapes resembling barrels for salting fish; burials on sledges, in structures similar to shipwrecks (large boats); in structures similar to sacred sledges (with caskets), perhaps this is how shamans were buried in ancient times.

Russian Day in Yamal Nenets people

The Nenets perceived death (Khas, Yanguma) as a natural phenomenon; they were not supposed to show special emotions at the death of a relative or loved one. According to Nenets religious beliefs, the cause of death is the will of the main goddess Ya’Mina, who at birth writes a document of life (padar il), where she indicates the time of death of each person. When a loved one dies, the Nenets calmly say: “Nenets, Ya’Minya padvy padarta il malei” (the record written by the goddess has come to an end). But, despite such a calm attitude towards death, the Nenets believed in the omen of death, and there were some signs by which they judged the approach of illness or death. The Nenets saw a twitching of the right eyelid as a bad omen; the crackling of fire (tu yarnga) foreshadows a serious illness. The approach of death or illness was also determined by the behavior of animals and birds. If a bird unexpectedly flies into a chum, old people advise pulling out a few hairs from the head and tearing them in half, while saying: “disease, get out” or “pass by our chum” (habtsyako pin, pin). Then death or illness will pass by. In the extreme conditions of the tundra, the Nenets must always beware of actions that would lead to accident or death. It is forbidden for children to scream or make noise late in the evening - illness will come (“neda terys, hevy, ngileka siida nyamgu”), you cannot sleep on your back (“makhand ninya nyon khonyu, hevy”), according to the Nenets, only dead people lie on their backs (halmer, yangums). It is not recommended to place a tent or sleep near a sacred place, since the spirits of a sacred place can become angry (“hevy, hehe nenzyamda”) and harm the family of the person who desecrated this place with their presence, especially if this was done by a woman.

Sermon by Father Nicholas

The Nenets believe that a person does not die, but passes into another state. The soul (indad) leaves the dead body and enters the other world, which is very similar to the world that surrounded a person during life, only there everything is the other way around. These views are reflected in folklore. According to other ideas, a person’s body dies on earth, and his double or shadow (sidryang, sitting) continues to live in the other world. And therefore, after seven years, after the body has decayed (this must be determined by the sambdorta shaman), a figure of the deceased is made (ngytarma, sidryang). The shaman says the words: “Nyara si” (s) nge hevy, mint nyayu tovan kharva” (your relative has turned into a beetle, wants (asks) to become your chum). Then he breaks off or cuts a piece from one of the vertical poles of the coffin (tend) and makes a figurine for the ngytarma. Usually, a doll is made directly from a cut piece, without processing, and then clothes are sewn for it.

Family cemeteries can stretch for several kilometers. If a member of the clan died far from the ancestral place, then they tried to deliver his body to the ancestral cemetery by any means. Sometimes there were cases when the deceased was carried with them all winter until they reached the ancestral reindeer pastures, where the burials were located, or a funeral train was equipped to take the deceased to the ancestral cemetery.
Until now, the main method of Nenets burial in Yamal is above ground. While the deceased is being prepared for the burial ritual, one of the relatives goes to get wood for the coffin. At this time, a deer is sacrificed. When the tree is brought to the tent, the relatives must slaughter another deer. A meal is served next to the brought tree. Only after this they begin to make a coffin. The coffin was made without a single nail. The coffin (tind) is a rectangular wooden box. Usually there are two or three longitudinal side boards, and in paired burials up to four. The end wall on the side of the deceased's head is usually higher than on the side of the legs. The coffin lid is flat or gable, the flat one consists of two or three boards laid side by side. A gable roof consists of two boards, their long sides located at an angle of 70° at some distance from each other or end-to-end, with a third board placed on top. The coffin is placed on two thick cross-boards laid directly on the ground, and is fastened on the sides by two pairs of tall poles, the lower ends of which pass through specially made holes in the lower cross-boards. On top of the coffin, transverse strips are installed parallel to the lower boards, and side slats are put on, which are a clamp for the coffin lid. On the side of the head, between the upper ends of the poles, a bar is fixed on which a bell or metal wires or chains are hung. The author often saw small wooden crosses on this bar. It was forbidden to burn wood chips and shavings during production; they were taken to the cemetery, where they were left. According to some reports, the shavings were placed along with the body of the deceased.
Two bulls, which the deceased had previously used, were harnessed to a special sled. The funeral procession made a farewell detour around the tent three times against the movement of the sun. All relatives or neighbors could see off on their last journey, except for unmarried and unmarried young people. Upon arrival at the family cemetery, the reindeer carrying the deceased were unharnessed, tied together and tied to the sledge where the deceased lay. The men of the clan participate in the strangulation of these deer, butcher the carcasses, eat fresh meat, and drink the blood. Then a fire is built and the meat is cooked. While the meat is being prepared, they begin to install the burial structure.

In some families where the shaman lived, he performed the entire funeral ceremony. The sambdort shaman arranged a special ritual, which was considered difficult for him, because the soul had to be accompanied and protected on a long and dangerous journey, to ensure that the souls of living people did not join it. The soul of the deceased appears before the court of the gods, who determine where it will live. The souls of sinners - those who committed a crime - ended up in the underground kingdom of Nga. The souls of suicides and drowned people did not enter the afterlife. The souls of drowned people became water spirits, and the souls of suicides and people who did not die a natural death could turn into evil spirits who alone wandered the earth and harmed, first of all, their relatives. To prevent this from happening, they invited a shaman.
To perform the ritual of seeing off the soul of a suicide or drowned person, special means were prepared. The shaman fumigated everyone present in the plague, then called upon the soul of the deceased. When she appeared, the shaman asked who she was offended with and asked her to follow him to the world where her relatives were waiting for her. After this, the shaman took the soul to the afterlife. With due observance of all rituals and prohibitions related to funerals, the soul of the deceased departed for the world of his ancestors.
After the ritual was completed by the shaman and after the deceased was placed in the coffin, the relatives had a meal. The meat of the slaughtered deer had to be eaten here, since it was believed that sacrificial meat should not be brought to the tent - disaster might happen. The skin and skull of a deer with antlers were hung on the vertical bar of the coffin, the harness was left near the coffin, the sledges were turned over with the runners up, the heads of the runners were turned to the north, to the land of permafrost, and the dead man's polecat was stuck into the ground near the coffin. The coffin was supposed to be placed with its head to the west, according to the Nenets, where the soul goes. After burial, the soul of the deceased goes on a journey to another world. The path to the abode of the dead runs through various obstacles and is full of dangers.

Before leaving, relatives walk around the coffin three times against the direction of the sun, and each one strikes a bell suspended on a wooden plank above the head of the deceased. They returned from the cemetery by a different route, tried to cover their tracks, or stuck tree branches into the ground, with one branch tilted towards the grave, and the other towards the camp. So that the spirit of the deceased could not find the way to the chum, the shaman addressed him with the words: “Pydar seheryr ti, nyabi manya mata sehereva, pydar hart seherer yaderts mes” (this is your road, we, the living, will walk on another road, you go your own way). When returning, you should not look back, because, according to Nenets beliefs, the deceased may catch a person’s eye and take one of his relatives with him. Upon arrival at the tent, they carried out a ritual of cleansing all things and family members with a special solution and on the same day moved to another place.
It is worth dwelling on the description of the sacred sledges (hehe khan). They are somewhat different from ordinary household sleds. Often these sledges had seven pairs of spears. Sometimes there are sacred sledges of a slightly modified design, beautifully planed, larger in size than ordinary sledges. We saw a sacred sledge with small sculptures of the seven sons of Num and a larger figure of the supreme deity himself, dressed in a malitsa. There was an image of the mythological bird Minley along the entire length of the sledge. The image of “makhaly” means the dorsal bone of the spirit of this sacred sled. There were seven notches on the hoofs. We found traces of deer blood near the mouth of this sculpture; apparently, the owner performed a ritual of sacrifice before leaving for a long journey.

There were sacred sledges of the type of casket with a lid, where ancestral shrines were kept; Orthodox icons were also kept in such sledges, mainly the image of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, and various kinds of metal figures of spirits. Sometimes on the sharp top of the sled there was a sacred deer (hebidya you) Si”ivm pyeleta (1989-1994, Yamal). According to the information of the shaman Yaptik Yavlad (Yamal, Syo-Yakha), his new seven-hoofed sacred sledge contains a rather impressive-sized image of “Hadako”. This information was confirmed by the storyteller Khudi Tosana (Yamal, Yar-Sale). The Nenets left saints (hekhe) in the places of the clan's constant crafts, took them with them on hunts, placed them near arctic fox and fox holes, took them with them on long journeys, and when fishing they tied them to a seine (yortya ponga) or a net (nyamsey).

wisdom of life

SPIRITS AND GODS OF THE NENETS
The owner of all waters is Id Erv (Lord of the Waters). He is connected with people by a respectful recognition of mutual significance, flavored with a series of gifts. A person makes a sacrifice - the Lord of the waters, grants a safe crossing; the sea provides abundant prey - the hunter responds with a counter ritual of thanksgiving.
Thus, going out on a sea hunt was preceded by a sacrifice. A deer was slaughtered at the sanctuary. A handful of the victim's blood is poured into the sea; It is also used to smear the faces of idols, the bow and rudder of the boat. If someone happens to be carried away by a storm wind into the open sea, then they give the most valuable thing to the sea (usually it was a weapon) and, if the outcome is happy, they rush to sacrifice a deer.
It is a rare Nenets god who does not roam. However, there is one among them who does it as people should do after him. This is Ilibembertya. This name combines two concepts - Ilebts (life, well-being, economy, wild deer) and Perts (to do, hold, call). Ilibembert's main initial concern was the protection of wild deer. But with the development of reindeer husbandry among the Nenets, his concern also extends to domestic reindeer. That is why Ilibembert is called the Guardian of the Deer. According to Nenets legends, he travels around the whole earth, giving people reindeer. The Nenets also consider him the first reindeer herder.
As a bright spirit in the Nenets religion, YaNebya (Mother Earth) or YaMyunya (Womb of the Earth), which according to some legends is the wife of Numa, occupied a prominent place. She was considered not only the patroness of women (often helping during childbirth), but also was some part of each of them.
An equally revered god among the Nenets is the Master of the White Island, Serngo Iriko (Ice Island Old Man). In Yamal he is considered the main spirit.
Of course, these are not all the gods of the Nenets pantheon. Their number is much larger and more diverse. But getting to know these most popular Nenets gods allows you to understand how many phenomena were explained in their own way: the changes of night and day, winter and summer, the human age.
So YaNebya or YaMyunya (i.e. the Earth) is surrounded by the spirits of the South (Num) and North (Ngerm), East (Ilibembertya) and West (Nga) fighting for it. And since Ngerm and Nga posed the greatest danger to humans, the northern and western shores of Yamal are fenced with numerous sanctuaries.
The edge of life, “Edge of the Earth” (lit. Yamala) was the name given to the northernmost part of the peninsula. The sanctuaries of the main guardian spirits of the Yamal Nenets were located on the northern “Sacred Cape” of Yamal (Hahensal) and the White Island. It was there that ritual sacrifices were performed. The sanctuary of Yamala - not (the goddess Yamala) on Hahensal resembles a camp and a fortress. Five pointed piles of horns and poles look like plagues standing in a row. At the same time, the entire “camp”, each “chum” is surrounded by sculptures of wooden idols. The image of Yamal Khadok (Old Woman), a wooden sculpture in the form of a reclining woman, surrounded by three syadais (idols) is located at the edge of the shore. The face of the goddess is turned south towards the land inhabited by people.
On the White Island, opposite Hahensala, is the temple of Sero Iriko (White Old Man), the main protector of the goddess Yamalne. It stands surrounded by wooden idols (syadai) on the southern coast of the island, facing Yamal. The White Old Man (Serngo Irika) is the first to take the blows of Ngerm (God of the North) and weaken their impact on people.
As a rule, the Nenets rarely turned to Num - only in the most important cases, happy or unfortunate. In the oral tradition of the Nenets there are two places associated with Numa. This is Vaygach Island and Lake Numto.
According to legend, Vaygach was once smooth. Then “a cliff appeared on the seashore, which grew more and more and finally formed like a man.” Since then, Vaygach was called Hegeya (Holy Land) or Hegeo (Holy Island).
The seven-faced, three-sided wooden idol standing on the man-cliff bore the name Vesako (Old Man). In the middle of the island there is a stone called Nevehege (Mother of the Gods) or Hadako (Old Woman). All the Nenets gods were considered their children, including four sons, “who went to different places across the tundra.”
Nyuhege (Son of God) a small cliff on Vaigach, Minisegora - in the Polar Urals; Yav`mal - Yamal Peninsula; StoneHege, Kozmin copse - in the Kaninskaya tundra.
In his work “Yamal Peninsula” Boris Zhitkov gives a description of the sacred place: “This is a long row of heaps of syadei lined with the skulls of sacrificial deer, tied with scraps of skins... Wooden idols (syadei) are grouped into seven separate heaps, standing in an elongated row at a distance of several steps from one another . Wooden idols here... are in the form of short stumps of a tree trunk with a head beveled at the top and rough notches in place of the eyes, nose, mouth; or in the form of long and thin hewn sticks, covered with groups of notches, seven in each group... In the middle of each heap, as is usual at other sacrificial sites in Yamal, dry larch is inserted - the sacred Samoyed tree. Each pile of syadeys is considered a place of worship for individual rows.”

Myad'khahe - house spirits - acted as a guardian of the home and property. They were usually kept in the front corner of the chum si (i.e., opposite the entrance) along with images of YaMenu, sculptures of spirits, nature, sacred objects from various sanctuaries, taken in exchange for offerings.
When families moved or migrated, all these religious accessories were transported in special sacred sledges - hekhekhan. These are special sledges where a chest or box with lids was placed, where idols were located.
Among the Nenets household spirits, the most revered are myadpukhutsya, the patroness of the family (literally, the old woman or mistress of the plague). The Nenets say: “Without meat, a house is not a home.” She protects him. Previously, there was meat in every tent, and it was in the women's quarters, usually on the pillow of the older woman or in a bag above her headboard. Myadpukhatsya wore a lot of clothes. Every time one or another family member recovered after a difficult birth or illness, new clothes were sewn to her in gratitude. They also resorted to the help of myadpukhutsya in case of serious illness, for which it was placed at the head of the patient. To find out about the outcome of the disease, they took the flesh in their hands and weighed it: if it seemed mild, then the patient should recover, if the seriously ill person died.
To facilitate childbirth, they also turned to Yanebe (or Yamina - mother earth).
Yanebya was considered the patroness of the female half of the family. During childbirth, the woman in labor held Yaneby on her stomach with both hands, squeezing her in pain and asking for relief. It is characteristic that Yanebya did not have a wooden or stone body or head. Instead of the latter, pieces of cloth were put into clothes. If the birth was completed successfully, the patroness of women was given a new fur coat, copper ring, sash, etc. (deer were never sacrificed to Yaneby), and then they were put in the newborn’s cradle for three days, after which they were put in a casket and placed until the next need in the “clean” part of the tent opposite the entrance.
To compile the most complete picture of the Nenets household spirits, it is necessary to dwell on the images associated with the cult of the dead, the so-called ngytarma and sidryang. According to some information, ngytarma is an image of an ancestor (male or female) who died a long time ago and at an advanced age.
A wooden figure was made from a flake taken from the coffin of the deceased, and then it was dressed in a “malitsa” or “yagushka”, and sometimes fed. Rich reindeer herders sometimes killed a deer as a sacrifice to Ngytarma. Ngytarma is made 710 years after death and kept in the chuma for several generations. Ngytyrma can be located either on a woman’s bed or outside the chum, on a small sledge standing on top of the hehekhan (sacred sledge).
In Yamal, the ngytyrma is taken outside during a snowstorm to guard the deer. The Nenets say that he is an intermediary between the tundra siadai and house spirits, and protects the approaches to the house from evil spirits.
Among the Nenets of Khanty origin, after death, an image of the deceased was made, called sidryang. It was made from aspen, covered with birch bark and dressed in clothes. They kept him in a sleeping place, during meals they sat him down at the table and fed him constantly, and they put a knife, a snuffbox, etc. in front of him. Rich reindeer herders slaughtered a deer every month on the full moon for sidryang, and the poor made a bloodless sacrifice.
Three years later, it was buried in a special box, separate from the deceased in whose honor it was made, but close to the latter’s coffin.
In addition to making sacrifices to the spirits, there was also a way to communicate with them through shamans. Shamans were like intermediaries between people and spirits. “Shaman” is a Tungus word. Among the Nenets, a person endowed with a special spiritual gift was called tadebya. The shamanic gift was inherited, usually through the male line from father to son. A woman became a shaman only if there was a lack of male heirs. However, in order to become a shaman, it was not enough to have shamans among your ancestors. Only the one chosen by the spirits can become a shaman. There is numerous evidence of this, left by many researchers. The election took place as follows: “They (spirits) appear to him (the future shaman) in various forms, both in a dream and in reality, torment his soul with various worries and fears, especially in secluded places, and do not leave him until until he, no longer seeing any means of going against the will of the deity, finally realizes his calling and decides to follow it.” Thus, people became shamans not of their own free will, but under strong pressure from the spirits, and the shamanic title was not accepted with joy, but as a heavy burden.
The first signs of special recognition were revealed already at birth: on the crown of the baby there was a film, which, according to the Nenets, was a symbol of the skin of a tambourine. A special sign of a shaman was also a birthmark.
When such a child, marked with a special sign, grew up, he seemed to begin to notice things that were inaccessible to the eyes of other people. During puberty, he fell into the so-called shamanic illness: he either began to sing, or slept for days, or walked around without noticing anyone.
It was believed that spirits - assistants to the shaman's ancestor - came to him and forced him to engage in shamanic activities and tormented him. Only a certain category of shaman could help.
If the shaman learned that the tormented young man should become a shaman of the same category as himself, he would say: “I can teach him.” If he concluded that the spirits that overcome the young Nenets do not belong to his world, that he will be a shaman of a different category, he said: “I cannot teach. Go to so-and-so.”
Thus, the chosen one could get rid of mental suffering and be initiated into shamans only with the mentorship of an adult.
The apprenticeship lasted several years. In order to become a real thief, it was necessary to go through a path of knowledge and testing spanning two decades.
At first, the young shaman kamlal (i.e., addressed the spirits), using only a belt and garters from pimas, with which he bandaged the sore spot of patients. Seven years later, the shaman-teacher showed the student where the larch should be cut down for the shell of the tambourine. If a novice shaman knew how, he made a tambourine without pendants himself; if not, he asked another person. Then the beater was made. The first tambourine served the shaman for several years.

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SOURCE OF INFORMATION AND PHOTO:
Team Nomads
Kushelevsky Yu. I. The North Pole and the land of Yalmal: Travel notes. - SPb.: Type. Ministry of Internal Affairs, 1868. - II, 155 p.
Brief report on the trip to the Yamal Peninsula: (Read in the general collection of I. R. G. O. February 19, 1909) / B. M. Zhitkov p. 20. Retrieved February 15, 2012.
Evladov V.P. In the tundra I am small. - Sverdlovsk: Gosizdat, 1930. - 68 p. — 5,000 copies.
Bakhrushin S.V. Samoyeds in the 17th century. // Scientific works. M.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1955. T. 3. Part 2. P. 5-12.
Vasilyev V.I. Forest Enets // Siberian ethnographic collection V. M.; L., Science. 1963. pp. 33-70.
Vasilyev V.I. Historical legends of the Nenets as a source in the study of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Northern Samoyed peoples // Ethnic history and folklore. M.: Nauka, 1977. pp. 113-126.
Vasilyev V.I. Problems of the formation of the Northern Samoyed peoples. M.: Nauka, 1979.
Vasiliev V.I., Simchenko Yu.B. Modern Samoyed population of Taimyr // SE. 1963. No. 3. P. 9-20.
Verbov G.D. Forest Nenets // SE. 1936. No. 2. P. 57-70.
Verbov G.D. Remnants of the tribal system among the Nenets // Soviet ethnography. 1939. No. 2. P. 43-65.
Golovnev A.V., Zaitsev G.S., Pribylsky Yu.P. History of Yamal. Tobolsk; Yar-Sale: Ethnographic Bureau, 1994.
Dolgikh B.O. The clan and tribal composition of the peoples of Siberia in the 17th century. M.: Nauka, 1960.
Dolgikh B.O. Essays on the ethnic history of the Nenets and Enets. M.: Nauka, 1970.
Dunin-Gorkavich A.A. Tobolsk North. M.: Liberea, 1995. T. 1.
Evladov V.P. Across the Yamal tundra to White Island. Tyumen: IPOS SB RAS, 1992.
Zhitkov B.M. Yamal Peninsula / West. IRGO. T. 49. St. Petersburg: Type. MM. Stasyulevich, 1913.
Zuev V.F. Materials on the ethnography of Siberia in the 18th century. (1771-1772). M.; L.: Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1947.
Islavin V.I. Samoyeds in home and public life. SPb.: Type. Ministry of State Property, 1847.
Kvashnin Yu.N. Gydan Nenets: history of the formation of the modern clan structure (XVIII-XIX centuries). Tyumen; M.: Type. INION RAS, 2003.
Kurilovich A. Gydan Peninsula and its inhabitants // Soviet North. 1934. No. 1. P. 129-140.
Lar L.A. Shamans and gods. Tyumen: IPOS SB RAS, 1998.
Minenko N.A. Northwestern Siberia in the 17th - first half of the 19th centuries. Novosibirsk: Nauka, 1975.
Obdorsky region and Mangazeya in the 17th century: Sat. documents / Author-comp. E.V. Vershinin, G.P. Vizgalov. Ekaterinburg: “Thesis”, 2004.
http://www.photosight.ru/
photo by S. Vagaev, S. Anisimov, A. Snegirev.

Nenets, Nenets or Khasova (self-name - “man”), Samoyeds, Yuracs (obsolete), people in Russia, indigenous population of the European North and the north of Western and Central Siberia. They live in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug (6.4 thousand people), Leshukonsky, Mezensky and Primorsky districts of the Arkhangelsk region (0.8 thousand people), the northern regions of the Komi Republic, Yamalo-Nenets (20.9 thousand people) and Khanty- Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen Region, Taimyr (Dolgano-Nenets) Autonomous Okrug of Krasnoyarsk Territory (3.5 thousand people). The number of people in the Russian Federation is 34.5 thousand. There are two ethnographic groups: tundra and forest Nenets. Related peoples: Nganasans, Enets, Selkups.

They speak the Nenets language of the Samoyed group of the Ural family, which is divided into 2 dialects: the tundra, which is spoken by the majority of the Nenets, and the forest (it is spoken by about 2 thousand Nenets, settled mainly in the taiga zone, along the upper and middle reaches of the Pur River, and also in the sources of the Nadym River and along some tributaries of the Middle Ob). The Russian language is also widespread. Writing based on Russian graphics.

Like other Northern Samoyedic peoples, the Nenets were formed from several ethnic components. During the 1st millennium AD, under pressure from the Huns, Turks and other warlike nomads, the Samoyed-speaking ancestors of the Nenets, who inhabited the forest-steppe regions of the Irtysh and Tobol region, the taiga of the Middle Ob region, moved north into the taiga and tundra regions of the Arctic and Subpolar regions and assimilated the indigenous population - hunters wild deer and sea hunters. Later, the Nenets also included Ugric and Entsy groups.

Traditional activities include hunting fur-bearing animals, wild deer, upland and waterfowl, and fishing. From the middle of the 18th century, domestic reindeer herding became the leading branch of the economy.

In the former USSR, the economy, life and culture of the Nenets underwent significant changes. Most Nenets worked in fishing industry enterprises and led a sedentary lifestyle. Some Nenets graze reindeer on individual farms. Families of reindeer herders are nomadic. A significant number of families live in the cities of Naryan-Mar, Salekhard, Pechora, etc. and work in industry and the service sector. The Nenets intelligentsia has grown.

Most Nenets led a nomadic lifestyle. The traditional dwelling is a collapsible pole tent covered with reindeer skins in winter and birch bark in summer.

Outerwear (malitsa, sokui) and shoes (pima) were made from reindeer skins. They moved on light wooden sledges.

Food: deer meat, fish.

The main social unit of the Nenets at the end of the 19th century was the patrilineal clan (erkar). The Siberian tundra Nenets retained 2 exogamous phratries.

Religious views were dominated by belief in spirits - the masters of heaven, earth, fire, rivers, and natural phenomena. Orthodoxy became widespread among some of the Nenets of the European North in the mid-19th century.

V. I. Vasiliev

Peoples and religions of the world. Encyclopedia. M., 2000, p. 375-377.

Nenets

Autoethnonym (self-name)

Nents: Self-name n e n ts - “man”.

Main area of ​​settlement

See: Ethnic and ethnographic groups

Number

According to the 1897 census, they were counted together with other Samoyed peoples, 1926 - 16.4 thousand, 1959 - 23.0 thousand, 1970 - 28.7 thousand, 1979 - 29.4 thousand, 1989 - 34.4 thousand.

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

They are divided into two ethno-territorial groups - tundra, settled in the tundra zone from the Kola Peninsula (from the end of the 19th century) to the right bank of the lower reaches of the river. Yenisei (territories of the Murmansk region, Arkhangelsk region - Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Tyumen region - Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Krasnoyarsk Territory - Dolgano-Nenets (Taimyr) Autonomous Okrug), forest (self-name n e sh a n g "man") settle in taiga zone between the Ob and Yenisei rivers. The main part of the forest Nenets lives in the Pur river basin, as well as in the upper reaches of the river. Nadym and along the northern tributaries of the Lyamin, Tromegan and Agan rivers. Differences between these groups, which were formed historically, are noted along all ethnic lines.

Anthropological characteristics

In anthropological terms, the Nenets belong to the Ural contact group. a small race, whose representatives are characterized by a combination of anthropological characteristics inherent in both Caucasians and Mongoloids. Due to their widespread settlement, the Nenets are anthropologically divided into a number of groups demonstrating a main tendency towards a decrease in the proportion of Mongoloidity from east to west. A small degree of expression of the Mongoloid complex is recorded among the Forest Nenets. The general picture is accompanied by a discrete, focal localization of Caucasoid and Mongoloid traits, which is explained both by interethnic contacts and the relative isolation of individual territorial groups of Nenets.

Language

Nenets: The Nenets language belongs to the Samoyedic (Samoyed) group of the Ural language family and is divided into two dialects - Tundra, which is divided into Western and Eastern dialects, communication between speakers of which does not interfere with mutual understanding, and Forest, characterized by its unique phonetic composition, which complicates language contact with speakers tundra dialect. The forest dialect is also divided into a number of dialects.

Writing

In 1932, based on the Latin script, G.N. Prokofiev prepared the first Nenets primer “New Word”. The primer was based on the dialect of the Tundra Nenets. Subsequently, a grammar, grammar reference books, textbooks and books for reading in the Nenets language were developed. In 1936, Nenets writing was transferred to a Russian graphic basis.

Religion

Orthodoxy: Orthodox. The beginning of the Christianization of the European Nenets dates back to the 20s of the 19th century. The mission of Archimandrite Veniamin began the conversion of the Tundra Nenets to Christianity in 1926/27. The sermon was conducted in the Nenets language. Despite their tolerant attitude towards the sacraments, contemporaries noted the poor assimilation of the fundamentals of Christian dogmas by the Nenets. Along with educational activities, missionaries were actively involved in the destruction of sacred places. In 1826, on Vaygach Island, the mission burned 420 wooden “idols” and erected a cross. By 1830, 3,303 Nenets were baptized. Subsequently, a spiritual construction commission was created, which was engaged in the construction of churches, based on the activities of which it was supposed to spread the Christian faith in the territories inhabited by the tundra Nenets. Subsequently, missionary schools were opened at church parishes. They began to train clergymen from “foreigners.”
The first attempts to Christianize the Siberian Nenets date back to the 18th century, but they met active resistance. Systematic missionary activity began with the establishment of the Obdorsk mission in 1832, but, as in the previous period, no significant results were achieved. Subsequently, a Russian-native school was created at the Obdorsk church, but only children of the Russified Khanty and Nenets studied there. Among the Siberian Nenets, missionary activity did not cover almost the entire tundra population - Yamal, Lower Tundra.
As a result of the process of introducing Christianity into Nenets culture, a syncretic state of their religion is observed. Thus, under the influence of Christianity, Num, the supreme deity of the Nenets, acquires the features of a Christian god. St. is included in the pantheon of master spirits, in the form of “Syadai-Mikola”, the patron saint of crafts. Nikolai. The Nenets celebrated a number of Christian holidays, wore Orthodox crosses, and icons became common in the interior of their homes. Elements of everyday Orthodoxy became widespread thanks to various contacts between the Nenets and the Russian population.
However, in a general assessment of the state of syncretism of the Nenets religion, it is noted that “the influence of the Christian faith was mainly of a superficial nature and did not deeply affect the traditional religious ideas of the Nenets.”

Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

The formation of Nenets culture in its local variants, as well as the specificity of the Nenets in relation to other Samoyed peoples, can be explained from the idea of ​​​​the two-component nature of Northern Samoyed ethnogenesis. According to the general scheme, in the formation of the Nenets, on the one hand, the South Samoyed groups took part, which, under the pressure of the nomadic Huns and Turks, during the 3rd - 13th centuries. AD migrated from the Sayans, on the other hand, the aboriginal population of the tundra, forest-tundra and northern taiga regions of Western Siberia, known in Nenets folklore under the name s i h i r t i . Analysis of the ethnic component composition of the Nenets, which is based on taking into account modern clans in connection with the history of their formation, allows us to identify in different territorial groups the approximate percentage of ethnic components that took part in their formation. Thus, among the European Nenets, 78.2% of genera are made up of South Siberian and 21.8% aboriginal components; among the Siberian tundra Nenets, the South Siberian component is 53.4%, aboriginal 26.4%, Khanty 15.0% and “mixed” (forest Nenets and Enets - 5.2%) Siberian forest Nenets have 63.2% South Siberian component, 35.4% aboriginal and 2.6% tundra Nenets.
This diagram reflects not only the initial stages of the formation of the Nenets culture in the interaction of the autochthonous and newcomer populations, but also the subsequent, starting from the 17th century, processes of interaction, primarily of the tundra Nenets, during their development of new territories to the east up to the right bank of the Yenisei, with the Enets , the inclusion of clans of Khanty origin in their composition, as well as their close interaction in the field of reindeer husbandry with the Komi-Izhemtsy.

Farm

The specificity of the identified groups is also recorded in the sphere of ethnic culture. Tundra Nenets are large-scale reindeer herders (the northern version of the pastoral economy). They lead a nomadic lifestyle, carrying out annual migrations with reindeer herds according to the system: summer - northern tundra, winter - forest-tundra. The material culture is adapted to the nomadic way of life (mobile housing, highly specialized reindeer transport, a minimal set of household items). All human needs are provided by domestic reindeer herding products. Fishing, waterfowl hunting, and fur trade are of seasonal economic importance.
In contrast to the tundra, the culture of the forest Nenets is characterized by: the weak development of reindeer husbandry, which is represented by the taiga, its transport variant, which ensures the commercial orientation of the traditional economy; hunting and fishing as the main economic components; There are numerous differences in the sphere of material culture - housing, clothing, transport, food, utensils, etc.

Traditional settlements and dwellings

The settlement of nomadic reindeer herders is a year-round mobile camp, consisting of several tents (1-5), while the forest Nenets have seasonal camps.
A universal type of dwelling is a tent, the so-called “Samoyed type” - two main poles are connected by a belt ring, the number of frame poles is 25-50, a special design of the superstructure, the winter tent is covered with double “nyuks” - tires sewn from reindeer skins, the summer tent is covered with single old nyuks or a vice. All parts of the chum were transported on special reindeer sledges.

Bibliography and sources

General work

• Nenets. Historical and ethnographic essays. M., Leningrad, 1966, 2nd ed. St. Petersburg, 1995/Khomich L.V.
• Speaking cultures: traditions of the Samoyeds and Ugrians. Ekaterinburg, 1995./Golovnev A.V.

Selected aspects

• Problems of ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the Nenets. L., 1976/Khomich L.V.
• The influence of Christianization on the religious ideas and cults of the Nenets // Christianity and Lamaism among the indigenous population of Siberia (second half of the 19th-20th centuries). Leningrad, 1979. P. 12-28./Khomich L.V.
• In the extreme north-west of Siberia. Sketches of the Obdorsky region./Bartenev V.//SPb., -1896
• Problems of the formation of Northern Samoyedic peoples./Vasiliev V.I.//M.-1979
• Historical typology of the economy of the peoples of North-Western Siberia. Novosibirsk, 1993./Golovnev A.V.
• Essays on the ethnic history of the Nenets and Enets. M.,L., 1970/Dolgikh B.O.

Selected regional groups

• Samoyeds in home and public life. St. Petersburg, 1847/Islavin V.
• Along the Bolshezemelskaya tundra with nomads. Arkhangelsk, 1911/Kertselli S.V.
• Nenets of European Russia at the end of the 17th and beginning of the 18th centuries. // SE. 1956. No. 2/Kolycheva E.I.
• North Pole and Yamal land. St. Petersburg, 1868/Kushelevsky Yu.I.
• Description of the heterodox peoples of Ostyaks and Samoyeds living in the Siberian province in the Berezovsky district // Materials on the ethnography of Siberia in the 18th century. TIE. 1947. T. 5/Zuev V.F.
• Forest Nenets/Verbov G.D.//SE, No. 2-1936
• Kanin Samoyeds // SS. 1930. No. 4-5./Heidenreich L.N.
• Traditional dwelling of the forest Nenets of the Pur river basin // SE. 1971. No. 4/Dolgikh T.B.
• Food culture of the Gydan Nenets (interpretation and social adaptation). M., 1997/Yoshida Atsushi.
• Yamal Peninsula // West. IRGO in general geogr. St. Petersburg, 1913. T.49/Zhitkov B.M.

Main occupations and means of transportation of the Nenets

In the past, the Nenets were engaged in reindeer herding, fishing and hunting (land and sea).The characteristic features of Nenets tundra reindeer husbandry were year-round grazing of reindeer under the supervision of shepherds, herding with the help of reindeer herding (herding) dogs, and the exclusively sledding method of riding reindeer.

Tundra reindeer herding of the Nenets was characterized by long-distance seasonal migrations. In winter, the herds grazed in the forests, in the forest-tundra or in the bush tundra, where the snow is softer, and the deer obtained food without difficulty. There was no shortage of fuel there, which was so necessary during the cold months. In the spring, the migration to the north began, during which the Nenets sometimes reached the shores of the Arctic Ocean: the winds constantly blowing there drove away the mosquitoes that exhausted the deer; there were also rich fishing and hunting grounds. In the fall they began to migrate back. In some areas (northern Yamal, Bolynezemelskaya tundra), small-reindeer farms remained all year round in the tundra, making only minor migrations.

Reindeer husbandry of the Nenets, who lived in more southern regions (in the basins of the Pesha, Mezen, etc. rivers), and the forest Nenets of the Pura, bore the features of ordinary forest reindeer herding. Small herds always grazed in the forest here, and the winter nomads were only 40-60, rarely 100 km away from the summer ones. Forest Nenets reindeer, being larger ones, were readily acquired by tundra reindeer herders.

The economic year of the Nenets reindeer herder was divided into winter and summer periods. When choosing a location for winter camps, great importance was attached to the abundance of moss and game in the occupied part of the forest or forest-tundra. The winter plague remained in one place for two weeks or even more. The shepherds walked around the flock every day, making a very large circle; Noticing that the deer had left the circle, they drove it back with the help of reindeer dogs. When the moss in one place was eaten away, the herd was driven to another place, but the chum remained in the old place and was moved only when the new pasture turned out to be too distant. A big disaster for reindeer herders in winter was deep snow and crust formed during frosts after a thaw. The deer, unable to get to the reindeer moss, died in droves from lack of food.

Low-reindeer farms usually spent the summer near lakes and rivers, where they fished; They gave their reindeer to the herds of reindeer herders going north for the summer. The deer were castrated in the fall, on the way to the winter camps. Their capture for harnessing or slaughter was carried out in a pen constructed from sleds; the most wild animals were caught with a lasso woven from deerskin.

Reindeer husbandry provided the Nenets with meat, lard and blood for nutrition; skins for sewing clothes, shoes and winter tires; leather for making lassos, summer shoes, harnesses, etc.; tendons for twisting threads and weaving ropes; horns for various crafts. A herd of 70-100 heads provided the farm with everything necessary.

Fishing was important in the Nenets economy, especially in the lower reaches of the Ob, Nadym, Pur, Taz and Yenisei. Among the forest Nenets of the lower reaches of the river. Pura and Nadym it was the main occupation. The main commercial fish species: sturgeon, whitefish, salmon, partly ide, and navaga. They caught fish with different nets and traps. Seines 80-100 m long were used everywhere, which 3-4 people could easily handle. Nets that were placed across the flow of the river were also common. They were also used at the beginning of winter for ice fishing. The Nenets blocked small rivers with fences made of poles driven into the river bottom. “Muzzles” - traps woven from twigs - were inserted into the “windows” of the fences, that is, into the passages between the poles. Fishing using fences was also practiced in winter. In the Bolynezemelskaya tundra, on the Kara threshold, fishing for sesame with a spear was widespread. According to legend, fish was also caught in the old days by archery.

Once upon a time, hunting wild deer was one of the most important activities of the Nenets. This is confirmed by many Nenets legends and the very term for wild deer - ilebts (i.e. “means of living”), which has survived to this day. With the development of reindeer husbandry, as well as with a decrease in the number of wild reindeer in the tundra, the importance of hunting wild reindeer among the Nenets fell greatly. The main objects of hunting, in addition to wild deer, were arctic fox, fox, hare, and ermine. Occasionally they hunted wolverine, river beaver, otter, wolf, polar and brown bear. Hunting, especially squirrel, was important in the economy of the forest Nenets in the upper reaches of the river. Pura and Nadym.

They usually hunted wild deer by driving it into an ambush or creeping up on a reindeer sled to within shooting distance. In this case, the pursuit was carried out in a straight line, while the spooked deer walked in a zigzag. Previously, according to legend, they hunted it with the help of a trained manytsik deer. Belt loops were attached to the manytsik's horns and they were allowed to join the wild herd. A wild deer, entering into a fight with a manytsik, got entangled in the loops with its antlers and became prey to the hunter, who shot him. The rest of the animals were caught with crossbows (guarded bows), jaws (wooden pressure-type traps) and, after becoming familiar with the Russians, iron traps.

Firearms appeared among the Nenets no earlier than the 18th century. Before the revolution itself, flintlock guns and almost everywhere piston guns were in use. It served as a hunting weapon until the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. glued compound bow, 1.5-2 m long. Feathered arrows were equipped with bone and iron tips of various types (forked - for a bird, faceted - for a large animal, blunt - for a squirrel, etc.).

Hunting for sea animals was widespread along the sea coast and at the mouths of large rivers among the western groups of the Nenets. The main objects were the seal and bearded seal, the secondary ones were beluga whale, harp seal and walrus. Already in the 19th century. hunting was carried out mainly with a gun. An animal lying on the ice was “concealed” by crawling up to it with a movable cover - an oblong shield mounted on two runners. The method of catching seals was also used with iron hooks suspended inside a hole made by the animal in the ice. The hooks did not prevent the seal from getting out onto the ice, but when it tried to dive into the water, it was delayed. Currently, these hooks are used to catch mainly wounded animals. In the old days about seals they thought only of a harpoon. The available information about the spread of hunting among the Western Nenets in the past is consistent with the above data about the ancient aborigines - sea hunters. In the process of assimilation of these tribes, the Nenets apparently borrowed the technique of catching sea animals that was common among these hunters.

The Nenets hunted waterfowl (geese and ducks) with bows (later with guns), and during the molting period, with the help of specially constructed pens. To do this, at a place chosen in advance, several stakes were driven into the low-lying edge of the bank and covered with nets so that a fairly spacious circle was formed with a hole facing against the flow of the river. This circle served to corral geese. Two mesh wings, stretched perpendicular to the shore, connected the circle to the shore and stretched for some distance across the river. The hunters carefully drove the geese down the river, drove them into a circle and killed them there. With such a hunt, 3-4 hunters caught from 1500 to 2000 geese within a few days. This predatory method of hunting is currently prohibited. Ptarmigan were caught with nooses or nets, into which the bird was driven against the wind during a snowstorm.

Means of transport

The main means of transportation of the Nenets was reindeer team. Narta (khan) was made from eor birch trees. Narts of all Samoyedic peoplesaccording to the characteristic features of their design, they belong to the same type and differ sharply from the reindeer sledges of the reindeer herders of the extreme east - the Chukchi and Koryaks. They consist of a pair of highly curved runners, on which, with the help of 2-6 pairs of inclined spears, connected by crossbars, a frame of slats is strengthened, the front ends of which fit into the heads of the runners; The passenger sled had a plank flooring for the seat, a backrest, and higher pedestals than the cargo sleds. There are two types of passenger sleds: men's and women's. The women's sled is larger, as the mother traveled with small children. From 2 to 6 reindeer were harnessed to a passenger car in a fan-shaped manner. The first to be harnessed on the left was a specially trained frontline reindeer. The rider sat on the left side and controlled the team with the help of a thin wooden pole (tyur) and one rein attached to the halter of the leftmost (advanced) deer. Controlling the reins on the left side is typical for all Samoyed peoples.

The Nenets had several types of cargo sleds, intended for transporting various luggage, differing in size, design details and purpose. These sleds were usually harnessed to two reindeer, tied by the neck to the back of the front sled. Thus, a convoy (argish) was made up of several cargo sleds, at the head of which was a passenger sled. All types of sledges were used throughout the year.

On Novaya Zemlya, and partly on Vaygach, dogs served as draft animals. Small reindeer-type sleds were harnessed with a fan of 3-12 dogs. The sled dog breeding of the Nenets was adopted by them from the Russians.

For walking in deep snow (mainly in the forest-tundra and taiga), two types of skis were used: 1) skis glued with camus, 2) skis - skis without fur padding.

In the summer, for fishing, sea hunting and for various trips, they used boats of different types: large boats made of boards, mostly purchased from Russians, and various shuttles dug out of aspen or cedar trunks, etc. The use of sails (usually straight) was widespread only on the islands, along the sea coast and in the lower reaches of large rivers.