Place of residence- Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Khabarovsk Territory, Magadan and Kamchatka regions.

Language, dialects, adverbs. The language is the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altaic family of languages. There are more than ten dialects in the Even language, united into the Eastern, Middle and Western dialects. Evensky is considered native by 43.9%.

Resettlement. The resettlement of the Tungus-speaking tribes from the Baikal region took place in the first millennium AD. e. An important role in this was played by contacts with the aboriginal Paleo-Asiatic, as well as the newcomer Mongol and Turkic-speaking populations of Siberia. The resettlement of the Yakuts to the Middle Lena (X-XIII centuries) caused the advance of the Evens to the north-east of Siberia, accompanied by the assimilation of the Yukagirs and. In turn, part of the Evens was assimilated by the Yakuts. The arrival of Russians in Eastern Siberia in the 17th century led to the development of new territories by the Evens up to Chukotka and Kamchatka.

self-name - Evens, in ethnographic literature are known as Lamuts (from Evenk. llama- "sea"). Regional self-names are common - orochiel, ilkan and others called them koyayamko, koyayamkyn- "reindeer camp".

Crafts, craft tools and tools, means of transportation. In accordance with the traditions of farming, the population is divided into reindeer herding in the mountain-taiga zone, which is also engaged in hunting and lake-river fishing ( donratken -"deep", "internal", that is, nomadic within the continent); hunting-fishing-reindeer breeding equal value all industries ( reeled- "seaside residents", from us- "sea"), wandering in the spring from the continental taiga to the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk, and in the fall - back; deer-free settled coastal fishing and hunting with sled dogs on the coast of Okhotsk ( maine- "sedentary").

The economic annual cycle was divided into six seasons: early autumn ( montelse), pre-winter, or late autumn (bolani), winter ( tugeni), pre-spring, or early spring ( nelkani), late spring ( nannyii), summer. The Yakut and Kamchatka Evens preserved horse breeding of the Yakut type. Riding and pack reindeer husbandry prevailed in the mountain taiga zone. In the forest-tundra they rode on straight-dust sleds borrowed from the Yakuts; in Kamchatka and in the border regions, arc-dust sledges borrowed from them are known.

Riding was taught from early childhood. Sitting astride a deer, they leaned on a stick-staff (male - by the Germans, female - tiyun), controlled it from the right. The Evens bred their breed of domestic deer, which is distinguished by its great growth, strength and endurance. Their small herds were on free pasture. They milked the sack. Large-herd (meat-skin) reindeer breeding was also known with an average herd size of 500-600, and before - up to 5 thousand deer.

The men took care of the animals. They caught deer with the help of a lasso ( maut), a bell was hung around the neck ( chog), by the ringing of which the location of the animal was determined. Migration ( nulge) were carried out for 10-15 kilometers.

Usually the head of the camp or an experienced reindeer herder was the first to go in the argish caravan. Behind him on occasion is a pack deer ( neweruk) carried the head of the argish, shrines, icons. Next came a wife on horseback with children from three to seven years old, who led two or three deer ( onesec and kunaruk). The rest of the women followed her, each leading from seven to twelve pack deer. The last deer in the caravan ( choraruk) carried the details of the frame of the dwelling.

They hunted sable, squirrel, red and black-brown fox, ermine, wolverine, otter, elk, mountain sheep, hare, goose, ducks, hazel grouse, partridge, capercaillie, etc.

The bow was used as a hunting tool nuua), a spear ( guide), palm spear ( rejection), knife ( hirkan), crossbow ( berkan), trap-mouth ( nan) and a gun. They hunted on reindeer, on skis kaisar) and glued with fur ( marengte), chasing, stealing, with a deer decoy, a hunting dog.

A special place was occupied by hunting for, regulated by strict rules and rituals. The bear was called allegorically, often with words borrowed from the languages ​​of neighboring peoples (Yakuts, Russians, Yukaghirs). On the occasion of the bear's prey, a bear festival was held.

Coastal, river and lake fisheries were developed. In the middle reaches and upper reaches of the rivers, they caught sesame, char, and grayling. Hook tackle was considered the main fishing tool. Nets and nets became available only in the 1920s. They moved along the rivers in dugout boats ( momi). The Evens of Okhotsk had permanent settlements ( olramachak), were engaged in fishing for salmon (, coho salmon,) and sea animals - they beat him at the ice edge with sticks and harpoons, later with guns. In the spring they used dugout boats, which they bought from neighboring peoples.

They collected shiksha, blueberries, cloudberries, honeysuckle, lingonberries and other berries, nuts, bark, branches and needles of dwarf cedar ( Bolgig), as tanning agents and dyes - the bark of bird cherry, alder, white and stone birch. Rotten wood crumbs were used as a hygroscopic material in cradles; thin soft shavings were made from shrub birch and willow ( hagri), they were wiped after washing, cleaned and wiped the dishes, and burned after use.

Men were engaged in blacksmithing, bone and wood processing, weaving belts, leather lassoes, harnesses; women - dressing skins and rovduga, making clothes, bedding, pack bags, covers, etc. Even blacksmiths made knives, parts of guns, etc. Iron and silver products were exchanged from the Yakuts, later - from the Russians. Jewelry made of silver, tin, copper and iron was made by melting old coins.

Dwellings. There were two types of portable dwellings: du- conical tent, covered with skins, rovduga, fish skin, birch bark, and chorama-du- a cylindrical-conical dwelling, the basis of the frame of which was made up of four supporting poles, converging at the tops. Above the hearth, a horizontal pole for the boiler was tied to them. The poles forming the frame of the walls were a series of triangles spaced from each other in a circle. The roof was formed by poles converging at the ends in the form of a cone. The frame was covered in three layers with rovd-arc panels ( elbetyn), leaving a hole for smoke. The entrance to the dwelling was closed with a rovd-curtain decorated with an appliqué. The floor was covered with raw skins.

Settled Evens in the 18th century lived in dugouts ( utan) with a flat roof and an entrance through a smoke hole. Later, log-frame quadrangular dwellings appeared ( Uranus), and as outbuildings - pile log barns, platforms, etc.

Clothing. The main element of men's and women's clothing of the same cut was an open caftan ( tats) from a fawn or from a rovduga with non-converging floors. The sides and hem were sheathed with a fur strip, and the seams were covered with a strip ornamented with beads (for women - blue and white on a light background).

Since the sides of the caftan did not converge on the chest, a bib served as an obligatory addition to it ( nel, nelaken) knee-length, sometimes sewn from two pieces - the actual bib and apron. Row-arc fringe was sewn to the men's bibs at the level of the belt, the lower part of the women's bib was decorated with an ornament embroidered with beads and deer's neck hair. A rovd fringe with metal bell pendants, copper plaques, rings, and silver coins was sewn to the hem.

Natazniks were put on under the caftan ( harki).

In winter, fur parkas were worn with a slit in the front, but with converging floors.

Depending on the season, shoes were sewn from rovduga or fur, women's shoes were decorated with beaded ornaments ( Nisa), worn with leggings.

The headdress of men and women was a tight-fitting bonnet ( avun), embroidered with beads. In winter, they wore a large fur hat over it, women sometimes wore a scarf.

Ladies gloves ( khair) was decorated with a beaded circle in the form of the sun.

Festive clothing was at the same time funerary.

Food, its preparation. The traditional food was venison, meat of wild animals, fish, wild plants.

The main meat dish is boiled meat ( ulre), fish - boiled fish ( olra), ear ( frail), yukola ( kam), flour powder from dried fish ( porsa), pickled fish ( dokche), raw fish, heads with cartilage, stroganina ( talaq) and etc.

Harvested sweet root ( kochia) and consumed boiled or raw (sometimes with dried salmon caviar). Viviparous Highlander Roots ( nube) eaten boiled with reindeer meat, wild-growing onions ( ennut) - with boiled fish and meat. They brewed and drank imported tea, as well as flowers, leaves and fruits of wild rose, leaves of willow-tea. The berries were eaten fresh.

Social life, power, marriage, family. The consciousness of belonging to a particular genus is still preserved. Some generic names have turned into modern surnames: Dutkin, Dolgan, Uyagan, etc.

The clans were exogamous, patrilineal, and were divided into territorial groups. They were headed by elected elders who represented the family before the administration. The camp community consisted of relatives and neighbors, the family was small. The elders wandered along with their married sons, grandchildren, nephews, when, due to advanced age or illness, they could no longer manage their own household. There was a widespread custom obliging the hunter to give part of the prey to a neighbor ( nimat).

Marriage was preceded by matchmaking and an agreement on kalym, the size of which ( tory) was several times the price of the dowry. A wife could be taken from any clan other than one's own, but preference was given to the mother's clan; there were polygamy, engagements of minors. Wedding ceremonies (treats, exchange of gifts, sacrifices to patron spirits) were held in the camps of the bride and groom. Arriving at the groom's tent, the wedding train circled it three times, after which the bride entered the tent, took out her cauldron and cooked the meat. The bride's dowry was hung out for viewing outside the chum.

The birth of a child, the upbringing and care of him were accompanied by rituals and rules: prohibitions for a pregnant woman, the distribution of duties between family members during childbirth, the “purification” of a woman in labor, the naming of a newborn, etc. It is characteristic that at the birth of a child he was allocated part of the herd, which, together with the offspring, was considered his property, for the girl - a dowry.

Burial rite. Until the 18th-19th centuries, the dead were buried on trees or poles, but with the conversion to Christianity, they began to be interred. The deceased was dressed in best clothes; a man was buried with his knife, pipe, pouch and other things, a woman - with handicrafts and jewelry. A wooden figurine of a raven was placed with the deceased ( core). The burial was accompanied by the sacrifice of a deer that belonged to the deceased.

The burial place was visited a year later. A log house with a cross was placed over the grave, on which the image of a bird was often carved; the belongings of the deceased were piled at the grave.

Other religious ceremonies There were fishing cults, the cult of the hearth, spirits - the masters of nature, shamanism. On the occasion of the bear's prey, a holiday was organized, the bones of the animal were piled in anatomical order on a pile platform. In case of illness of one of the members of the community, a deer was sacrificed, the meat was eaten together, the skin was hung on a pole. The custom of "feeding" the fire still exists.

Ritual customs of the Evens include mass tribal ritual festivities containing good wishes and religious dance songs, personal forms of human interaction with the world of spirits based on shamanism. Circular dance songs (hedye) are accompanied by the song of the lead singer, which is echoed by the choir.

Calendar. With the adoption of Orthodoxy in the middle of the 18th century, Christian rituals spread, the Orthodox calendar in the form of wooden boards - "saints", the days on which were marked with holes. Every two months were separated by horizontal lines, they depicted one of the six seasons of the year. Orthodox holidays were celebrated with crosses.

The division of the year into months was determined by body parts, starting from the right hand: the beginning of the year is September ( oichiri unma- "rising dorsum of the hand"), October ( oichiri bilen -"rising wrist"), November ( oichiri echhen- "rising elbow"), December ( oichiri world- "rising shoulder"), etc. Then the count of months passed to the left hand and walked along it in descending order: February ( evry world- "descending shoulder"), etc. January ( tugeni hee) and July ( dugani hee) were called, respectively, "crown of winter" and "crown of summer".

Folklore, musical instruments. Folklore includes fairy tales, everyday stories, historical legends and traditions, heroic epos, songs, riddles, well-wishing spells.

Fairy tales are divided into magical, domestic and animal tales, the typical images of which were smart, cunning sable, good-natured, trusting, simple-minded, stupid wolf, cowardly hare, cunning fox. Plot fairy tales is built around the fight against evil spirits. Everyday satirical tales, which depict real life, are directed against the lazy, stupid and greedy, they talk about clashes between the rich and the poor, and give prudent advice.

Historical legends are stories about enmity between Even clans, about wars with, Yukagirs, etc.

The epic, and he is rich, is dominated by stories related to the mysterious birth of the hero, his trials, matchmaking, and the fight against enemies.

Songs were sung by love, lyrical, domestic, lullabies, based on improvisation. Skilled singers performed laudatory and abusive songs with special song words not used in colloquial speech.

In music associated with the Tungus-Manchu musical traditions, local variations can be traced. Each of the local traditions developed in interaction with the music of other peoples: Verkhoyansk - with the music of the Verkhoyansk Yakuts; Indigiro-Kolyma - with the music of the Vaduls (Alazei and Lower Kolyma Yukaghirs), Kolyma Yakuts, Russian old-timers; Chukchi-Kamchatka - with music, Chuvans (Anadyr Yukagirs) and Russian old-timers; Okhotsk - with the music of Evenks, Lena and Okhotsk Yakuts; mountain-continental - with the music of the Lena Yakuts and Upper Kolyma Yukaghirs.

From the history of economic and social development. In the 1930s, as a result of the collectivization of reindeer herding and fishing farms, part of the Evens, along with the Yukagirs, Yakuts, switched to a settled way of life, developing agriculture and animal husbandry. By the 1990s, partnerships, small national enterprises, and communities were created, many of which could not withstand market relations. Due to economic difficulties and the deterioration of the ecological situation, the birth rate of people has sharply decreased, and mortality from various diseases has increased.

contemporary cultural life. In places of compact residence, children are taught their native language, they learn Even songs and dances, are engaged in embroidery and weaving with beads, sewing products from fur.

The TV and radio company "Gevan" (Yakutsk city) and others broadcast in the Even language. print materials in the Even language. National ensembles, theater circles, libraries were organized, museums were opened.

Among the representatives of the creative intelligentsia are Evens N. Tarabukin, A. Cherkanov, A. Krivoshapkin, V. Lebedev (1934–1982), H. Dutkin, D. Sleptsov, A. Alekseev, V. Keymetinov and others.

In the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Koryaksky autonomous region and other places adopted laws that contribute to the preservation and revival of the national way of life, traditional forms of management of the indigenous population. The interests of indigenous peoples are protected by various public associations and associations of indigenous peoples.

3. History and customs of the Evens

By the arrival of the Russians in the 17th century. The Evens were an already formed ethnic group. Their territorial groups were settled to the north and northeast of the Evenks (North-Western Verkhoyansk, the basins of the Indigirka, Kolyma, the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk). They lived and continued to live in close proximity to the Yakuts, Chukchi, Koryaks and Yukaghirs. Therefore, in the economy and culture of the Evens there are many features that make them related to these peoples, especially with the Yukaghirs.

The origin of the Evens is inextricably linked with the ethnogenesis of the Evenks. In the basins of the Kolyma, Yana and Indigirka, the Tungus entered into relations with the Yukaghir tribes and adopted much of the Yukaghir culture. This later led to the formation of the Even-Lamuts. The advance of the Evens to the east, to the northern part of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, dates back to the second half of the 18th century. And they got to Kamchatka only in the 40s. 19th century

The ethnonym "Lamut", adopted in ethnographic literature before the establishment of the official single name "Even", goes back to Russian documents of the 17th century, in which this term denoted the territorial groups of people living along the rivers Yana, Indigirka, Kolyma. The root of this term comes from the word "lamu", meaning the sea, the lake. Russians for the first time perceived this ethnonym from the Yakuts.

The Even language, which is part of the Tungus-Manchu languages, is divided into two groups of dialects - eastern and western.

The economic activity of the Evens combined nomadic reindeer herding, hunting for meat and fur animals, and fishing. Among the nomadic Okhotsk-Kolyma Evens, there was a group of farms with a large radius of migrations, covering the basins of the Kolyma, Omolon, and Indigirka. Other groups of households roamed with a small migration radius, staying mainly in the basin of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, which was part of the Yakutsk region.

During winter migrations, they hunted fur and meat animals. In the old days, the wolf was not hunted, because. it was considered a forbidden animal. Deer dogs were not kept. Fishing was only of secondary importance. So, grayling and other fish were caught in mountain streams. She was beaten with a spear, they caught the milk in the hole.

The Evens had two types of dwellings: the Evenk tent and the Chukchi-Koryak yaranga. The clothes of this people were similar to those of the Evenk in terms of the composition of the costume and cut. The embroidery was located along the seams and edges of the clothes in order to "interfere" with the penetration of evil spirits into the clothes. The ornament in clothes (the Tungus-speaking people have a predominance of geometric patterns in the ornament) had a certain sacred power that inspires the owner of this thing with a sense of confidence and invulnerability, strength and courage.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries. Evens continued to live in conditions of patriarchal-clan relations. They were divided into exogamous patrilineal clans, which were often scattered over a large area. Therefore, these genera were divided, and therefore parts of them, in addition to the generic name, also received serial numbers. Already according to the XVII century. one can ascertain in them a far-reaching decomposition of the consanguinity and property differentiation. At its core, like any nomadic pastoral people, was the possession of deer.

The Even deer differs from the Koryak and Chukchi deer in its great growth, strength and endurance. In the documents of the XVII-XVIII centuries. information was recorded that the Chukchi and Koryaks willingly exchanged their deer for Even ones, giving two of their own for one.

There was, like the Evenks, the custom of "nimat", the collective distribution of hunting and fishing products. So, the hunter, upon returning from a meat hunt, had to give his prey to one of the neighbors in the camp, who distributed it among all families, leaving the hunter only an insignificant part of the carcass and the skin. Nimat was especially strictly observed in the case of hunting a bear, which among the Evens was also considered a sacred animal.

In the 17th century the Even family was patriarchal. Nevertheless, the independent position of women in the family was noted in the relationship. Before the separation from the father, the sons were completely dependent on him.

Wedding rituals among the Evens are basically similar to those of the Evenks. For the bride paid kalym - tori. Its value exceeded the dowry by two or three times. After paying the bride price, the parents and other relatives of the bride brought her with a dowry to the groom's parents. The bride traveled three times in the sun around the plague, and then her parents handed her to the groom. After this ceremony, the bride entered the chum, where a new canopy for the newlyweds had already been hung. She took out her cauldron and boiled the meat of the dead deer. The dowry was hung outside the chum for display.

At the birth of a child, he was allocated a certain number of deer in the herd. When she got married, the girl received as a dowry a herd formed from the reproduction of these deer.

AT religious beliefs Evens there was a cult of "masters" of nature and elements: taiga, fire, water, etc. A special place was occupied by the worship of the sun, to which deer were sacrificed. A bear cult, widespread in North Asia, has also been recorded. So, an Even, who received a bear as a nimat, arranged a public holiday, at which bear meat was eaten. His bones were buried on a pile platform, stacking them in a strictly anatomical order. In some places, the ancient rite of burial of the bear's skull was preserved by strengthening it on top of a low larch.

The costume of the Even shaman differs from the Evenk and Yakut ones in less complexity, in particular, there were no forged iron images of spirits. And the tambourines are relatively narrow-rimmed, round, of small diameter. They are closer to the Amur version of shaman drums.

In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Evens dressed the deceased in the best dress, according to the season, put it in a wooden block and placed it on trees or on poles. After slaughtering several deer, the coffin and trees were stained with their blood. The chum of the deceased, his utensils and other things were left under the trees. I.A. Khudyakov wrote that the Indigirka Lamuts (Evens) buried the dead with their heads to the west, because they believed that he would "go to the east." The Tompon Evens, according to the materials of V.A. Tugolukov, dressed the dead in clothes sewn without knots - "to facilitate the release of the soul from the body when it begins its journey." The custom of strangling deer among the Evens, as scientists suggest, is the most ancient Tungus method of killing sacrificial animals during the funeral rite.

In the Even traditional calendar, each month began with a new moon. On the days of the solstices, in their opinion, the doors to the upper world opened. Two larches served as its earthly "entrances", between which a rope was stretched with bundles of hair from the neck of a sacred deer. During this calendar ceremony, a person who went beyond these "heavenly gates" turned into a "deer bird", then into a "bird-sterkh-deer". This and other materials testify to the developed cult of the sun associated with the veneration of the divine deer.

In Even folklore, great importance was attached to fairy tales and bylyam-traditions. Moreover, among the fairy tales, fairy tales about animals and birds, close in content to Evenki fairy tales, stand out in particular. Some parts of the tales about heroes-bogatyrs, for example, the speeches of heroes, are usually sung. Among epics, epics about female heroes who win men's competitions are especially interesting. In general, it should be noted that when performing works of an epic nature, the song transmission of the epic was widely used and for each hero there was his own, special melody.

In the traditional folk art of the Evens, a round dance "seedye", which has a religious and ritual character, occupied a significant place. Such collective dances were held in spring and summer at annual traditional meetings. They instilled in small ethnic groups of Evens a sense of unity, collective intelligence, confidence in overcoming adversity, faith in goodness.

4. Music of the Evens

The musical culture of the small northern peoples has some common features. A monophonic-monodic warehouse with elements of bourdon polyphony prevails. There is a widespread tradition of individual songwriting, including in the genre of personal nominal songs-amulets, which have three types: children's (composed by the mother), adult (composed independently and slightly updated over the years) and dying (summing up life). There are also personal tunes and dances, songs of unusual genres - "fly agaric", "drunk", "sleepy", etc. There are widespread customs of improvising songs and tunes for various occasions (welcome and guest songs song" and giving songs.

The main types of musical creativity: songs, songs-dances (as a rule, with features of pantomime), melodies, shamanic rituals, music of pre-shamanic actions (festivals-games of the Deer, the Bear, etc.), fairy tales and epic. Musical genres are grouped into cycles: calendar-labor, ritual-cult, dance-game, tribal-family-everyday, mytho-epic, etc.

The main musical instrument is a tambourine of various types (a symbol of music, a projection model of a dwelling-tent, the Earth, the Moon, the Sun, the Universe, the personification of the masculine principle, as well as a magical mediator between people and spirits; according to the proverb of reindeer herders, there are "three sacred things: a deer , flint and tambourine"). The jew's harp (the so-called dental tambourine - the "female" analogue of a tambourine) is widespread), percussion and noise instruments ("propellers" - buzzers, metal bells, rattles, rattles), wind and strings are used (musical bows, 1- and 2-string bow type violin and viola).

According to the ethnomusical classification, the music of the Evens belongs to the so-called. forest-tundra group. The music of forest-tundra reindeer herders is distinguished by free variability and variation in development, complex metro-rhythmics, "expanding" modes (in the process of performance, the scale gradually expands), rich ornamentation (micro-interval, unusual noise timbres - howls, throaty wheezing, shouting, and other types of onomatopoeia), melodious-speech intonation.

The volume of tunes is from a third-quart to a fifth-octave. Solo improvisational music-making of medium volume prevails, relatively independent of both speech and dance prototypes. During the performance, the volume increases, the metro rhythm is activated, the initial tone rises (with an episodic return to the original pitch). Vocal timbres are muffled-rough, instruments are shock-noise.

L. Rekhlyasova was noted among the talented Even folk musicians, and E. Klepechin was among the Even composers (mainly melodists).

5. Shamanism of the Evens

The shamanism of the Evens is almost not studied, and therefore any materials related to the description of the shamanic rituals of the Evens, and in particular the texts of such rituals, are of considerable interest to ethnographers and linguists. Below are materials on the shamanism of the Bulun Evens (Yakutia), recorded in 1928 by the Finnish scientist A. Sotavalta from Gavril Nikitin, a student of the Department of the Peoples of the North of Leningrad State University, during his stay in Finland. Among them, there is one text of a ritual addressed to the supreme deity, called in all the described samples in Yakut Aiyy (text 6.1), three descriptions of shamanic rituals, including two rituals performed by a female shaman (texts 6.2-6.3), and one passage a shamanic spell addressed to the master spirits of the localities (text 6.5).

For the actual ritual texts, it is extremely characteristic to appeal to the spirits-masters of areas - mountains, rivers, streams, in the appeal to the deity Aiyy there is an appeal to the patron spirit of hunting; It is clear from these texts that the spirit-owner of the poles of the yurt and the spirit-master of the tambourine played a significant role in the shamanic practice of the Evens.

Almost all texts reflect the complex structure of the Universe, which, according to the materials, has six or nine spheres-steps. This message gives additional value to the source under consideration, since the Evens usually divide the universe into three spheres: the middle world - the world of people, the upper world - the world of the supreme deity and the lower world - the world of the dead.

In the process of performing the ritual, a shaman or shaman rises from the middle world (it is called Orto-Doidu in Yakut) up to the deity Aiyy, or down to the world of evil spirits, in order to extract the soul of a sick person from there (text 6.4, describing the ritual of treating a sick person). ). A unique evidence for shamanic practice is the description of a kind of exchange - the return of the evil spirit that caused the disease to the lower world and the return of the soul of a sick person to the world of living people.

A striking feature of the ritual texts are words that imitate the cry of various birds, as well as exclamations that do not have an immediate meaning: kharullu, kharullu, kharullu, dergel-dergel-dergel (cf., however, Mong. dergel sara " full moon"), etc. Most likely, such exclamations either reproduce the text in a language that was not understood when the ritual was borrowed, or, most likely, serve as an imitation of significant verbal elements of the ritual text, which, along with the use of foreign language elements, is typical for shamanic texts of all peoples of the Far Northeast.

From the published texts, it is easy to get an idea that the amount of knowledge about shamanic practice, in particular, about the meaning of rituals and the structure of the world visited by shamans, was quite significant and quite commensurate with the amount of knowledge of the best informants of our day, representing the older generation.

Faces of Russia. "Living Together, Being Different"

The Faces of Russia multimedia project has existed since 2006, telling about Russian civilization, the most important feature of which is the ability to live together, remaining different - this motto is especially relevant for the countries of the entire post-Soviet space. From 2006 to 2012, within the framework of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of different Russian ethnic groups. Also, 2 cycles of radio programs "Music and songs of the peoples of Russia" were created - more than 40 programs. Illustrated almanacs have been released to support the first series of films. Now we are halfway to creating a unique multimedia encyclopedia of the peoples of our country, a picture that will allow the inhabitants of Russia to recognize themselves and leave a picture of what they were like for posterity.

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"Faces of Russia". Evens. "Orochel - deer people", 2008

General information

EVENS, Even (self-name), obsolete Russian - Lamuts ("seaside inhabitants", from the Evenk Lamu - "sea"), Siberian Tungus-Manchu in Russian Federation, related to the Evenks. They live in local groups in Yakutia (8.67 thousand people), Magadan region (3.77 thousand people), Chukotka (1.34 thousand people) and Koryak Autonomous Okrug (713 people), Kamchatka region (1 .49 thousand people) and the Okhotsk district of the Khabarovsk Territory (1.92 thousand people). The total number of 17.2 thousand people. According to the 2002 population census, the number of Evens living in Russia is 19 thousand people, according to the 2010 census. - 21 thousand 830 people. Evens live mainly in the east of the Russian Federation.

According to the 2002 census, in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) - 11,657 Evens, in the Magadan region - 2527, in the Kamchatka region - 1779 (of which in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug - 751), in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - 1407, in the Khabarovsk Territory - 1272. Also, according to the 2001 census, 104 Evens live in Ukraine.

The Evens speak the Even language. It is close to Evenki, Nanai and Udege. It belongs to the Tungus-Manchurian group of languages ​​of the Altaic family. There are more than ten dialects in the Even language, united into Eastern, Middle and Western dialects. The Even language is very figurative, rich in synonyms. The speakers of the Even language live in extremely harsh conditions of nomadic life, but the language itself practically does not know rude and abusive words. 52.5% of Evens are fluent in Russian, 27.4% consider it their native language.

Believers are Orthodox. In the religious ideas of the Evens, there was a cult of the masters of nature and the elements: taiga, fire, water. A special place was occupied by the worship of the sun, to which deer were sacrificed. Fishing cults, master spirits of nature, and shamanism were developed. Until the XVIII - XIX centuries. practiced air burial on trees or pile platforms. After the adoption of Orthodoxy, the Evens began to bury the dead in the ground and put crosses over the grave.

The origin of the Even people is associated with the development of the Tungus tribes Eastern Siberia. It happened a long time ago, in the first millennium of our era. As a result of the interaction of the Tungus with the native population of these places, as well as with the newcomer Mongols and Turks, the Evens appeared.

The resettlement of the Tungus tribes (ancestors of the Evens, Evenks, etc.) from the Baikal and Transbaikal regions in Eastern Siberia began in the 1st millennium of our era. In the process of resettlement, the Evens included a part of the Yukaghirs, later they were subjected to partial assimilation by the Yakuts. Under the influence of the Yakut language, the western dialect of the Even language was formed. With the beginning of contacts with the Russians in the 17th century, the Evens experienced their strong influence. Since the 20s of the 20th century, most of the Evens have been moving towards sedentary life, mass bilingualism. In the 1990s, an active policy began to be carried out aimed at reviving the language and culture of the Evens.

In 1931, a written language was created based on the Latin, in 1936 - on the basis of the Russian alphabet. Radio broadcasts are conducted in the Even language, newspapers, original and translated literature are published. The Even language is taught in schools, teacher training colleges, and universities.

The traditional economy of the Evens of the inner continental regions of Siberia (donretken - literally "deep, internal") is reindeer breeding, hunting (wild deer, elk, mountain sheep, fur-bearing animal) and fishing. Groups of Evens-namatkans (literally "seaside dwellers") roamed from the continental taiga to the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in spring and back in autumn. Saltless Evens on the Okhotsk coast (self-name - mene, "sedentary") were engaged in coastal fishing, hunting and seal hunting, bred sled dogs. In the 18th century, horse breeding, borrowed from the Yakuts, spread among the Yakut and Kamchatka Evens.

Even reindeer breeding is predominantly small herd with free reindeer grazing. Migrations were made for 10-15 km. Deer were used for riding and for packing. In the forest-tundra, straight-dust sledges, borrowed from the Yakuts, are common, in Kamchatka and in the Magadan region - arc-dust sleds, borrowed from the Chukchi and Koryaks. It was also known large-herd reindeer breeding for meat and skins. They hunted on horseback or on skis (hollows - kaisar and glued with fur - merengte), chasing, stealing, with the help of a deer decoy, a hunting dog. Coastal Evens caught migratory fish of salmon breeds, in the middle reaches and upper reaches of the rivers - sesame, char, grayling. The main fishing tool was hook tackle, nets and nets became available to Evens only in the 20s of the 20th century. Fish was harvested for the future by drying yukola, fermentation, dried fish was used to make powder-porsa. They also ate raw and frozen fish. On the water they moved in dugout boats, which they bought from neighboring peoples. They were also engaged in gathering berries, nuts, bark and needles of cedar elfin, etc. Men were engaged in blacksmithing, bone and wood processing, weaving belts, leather lassoes, harnesses, etc., women - processing skins, dressing rovduga, etc. Iron and silver received by exchange from the Yakuts, later - from the Russians.

The Evens had two types of portable dwellings: the conical chum - du, covered with skins, rovduga, fish skin, birch bark, close to Evenki, and the cylindrical-conical frame dwelling chorama-du. Until the 18th century, settled Evens lived in dugouts (utan) with a flat roof and an entrance through a smoke hole. Later, log dwellings (uranium) appeared. Outbuildings - pile barns, low platforms, etc.

Men's and women's clothing is close to Evenki: oar caftans, bibs and cuffs, leggings, high fur boots. Winter clothes were made of fur, summer clothes were made of rovduga. Clothing was decorated with fringes, embroidery with beads and deer neck hair, metal bell pendants, copper plaques, rings and silver coins. The headdress was a tight-fitting bonnet embroidered with beads. In winter, a large fur hat was worn over it. Women sometimes wore a headscarf. Traditional men's clothing is being replaced in the tundra regions by the Chukchi, in the forest - by the Yakut, women's clothing is more stable.

The traditional food of the Evens is venison, meat of wild animals, fish, wild plants. Along with imported tea, they used flowers brewed with boiling water, rosehip leaves and fruits, and dried leaves of willow-tea.

The Evens had patrilineal exogamous clans: Kukuyun, Myamal, Doyda, Dolgan, Uyagan, Dutki, Dellyankin, and others, which broke up into territorial divisions headed by elected elders who represented the clan before the administration. The camp community united several related and unrelated families. The custom of mutual assistance (nimat) was widespread, obliging the hunter to give part of the prey to a neighbor.

The family is small. Marriage was accompanied by the payment of bride price. There were polygamy, engagements of minors. A wife could be taken in any kind, except for one's own, but preference was given to the mother's family.

Until the 18th and 19th centuries, air burial on trees or pile platforms was practiced.

Fishing cults, the cult of the bear, the master spirits of nature, and shamanism were developed. Folklore includes heroic epics, historical legends, fairy tales, songs, etc. At present, traditional holidays of the Evens are being revived (Evinek, Urkachak, Reindeer Breeder's Festival, etc.).

The most important for the Evens (for the survival of this people) are prohibitions-amulets. From the totality of these prohibitions, a peculiar ethics of the Evens - hunters and reindeer herders - arises. In accordance with traditional mythopoetic (and religious) ideas, Evens should not shout in the mountains, in the forest, on the banks of the river. If these prohibitions are violated, then in all three cases the master spirit of these places may wake up.

Even folklore includes not only fairy tales and songs, but also everyday stories, historical legends, heroic epos, well-wishing spells, omens and, of course, riddles. Many Even riddles are still not outdated. The silver horse has a long tail. What's this? Simple needle.

A. A. Petrov

Essays

The whole universe - from a pebble under your feet to a distant constellation

Many city dwellers have long been enjoying such widespread benefits of civilization as running water, an elevator, a telephone, a TV set, a car, a microwave oven. This list can be continued indefinitely. But once upon a time, and, by the way, not so long ago, none of this happened. But people, wow, lived and did not complain about the lack of department stores, supermarkets, computer houses, Internet cafes, Disneylands and concert halls.

This is a separate and big problem: how to live correctly and are the things that are becoming more and more good, or do they distract us, tear us away from something very important - from a happy life in the bosom of nature? Is such a life even possible? What if the civilizational processes, now called globalization, have already captured the whole world, including Russia?

We will not hide the fact that such a trend exists. The pace of the scientific and technological revolution is getting stronger and stronger. Because of the noise of cars (and pop music), we no longer hear, in the words of a famous poet, "the buzz of the spinal column."

And yet there are peoples in Russia (there are many of them, by the way) who live a) in a single rhythm with nature and b) according to the laws of their ancestors, c) honoring and increasing traditions.

For example, the Evens.

Very interesting people. Peculiar. We will not confuse him with any other people. Let's try to look into the depths of the Even character. Let's listen to the fairy tale "The Most Expensive".

Hearth stones warmed them

Old man Gulakhan had a deerskin, hearth stones, and a gun. He treasured this legacy very much. The grandfather slept under the skin, then the father slept, the stones of the hearth warmed them, and the gun fed them.

So Gulakhan went fishing to his brother in the spring. In the meantime, he walked back and forth, lost the hearth and the deer skin. He had only one gun left, which was on his shoulder.

Gulakhan looked into the yurt where the thief had been, thinking: I have a faithful gun, I will go with it to look for the enemy.

Gulakhan began to walk in the taiga, began to walk in the mountains. He looks - the tree has faded and turned green again, the streams froze and thawed again, and he walks and walks.

He climbed the highest peak and thinks: the old people said that grief only looks out from behind the mountain. You have to beat him up.

Gulakhan sits on a high peak one night, sits another. As I thought, it happened: on the third night grief appeared. Gulakhan stood on the very last stone, above which not a single stone was, and says to himself: help, bitter resentment and a faithful gun, beat my grief.

As soon as he said it, a terrible, terrible flying kite appeared over the top. There is fire in the eyes of that snake, sparks fly from the tail, the whole head hisses.

The old Gulakhan took aim and sent two bullets into the kite. The snake's tail trembled, swayed.

Then Gulakhan remembered how a young lynx rushes at its prey, and, jumping, clung to the snake's tail. Hanging on the tail of Gulahan and remembering how the bear gathers strength when the trees are oppressed. Gulakhan began to pull the kite to the ground.

The serpent sensed its death, threw a deer skin out of its mouth, threw out the stones of the hearth. Gulakhan was delighted and began to pull the kite down even more strongly.

Until then, the snake Gulahan pulled, until a new day was born. At dawn, he pressed the snake to the ground and beat until all the snake's blood from it went under the hill.

Although he lost a lot of strength, he returned his own, blood. And Gulakhan punished all his grandchildren not to give the most precious thing to the enemy - native land and happy home.

Good fairy tale. Heroic and instructive. And now a few words about where the Evens came from.

In the first millennium AD

The origin of the Even people is associated with the development of the Tungus tribes of Eastern Siberia. It happened a long time ago, in the first millennium of our era. As a result of the interaction of the Tungus with the natives of these places, as well as with the newcomer Mongols and Turks, the Evens appeared. Currently they live in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), Khabarovsk Territory, Magadan and Kamchatka regions. They speak their own (Even) language, which belongs to the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altai family of languages. More than half of all living Evens consider this language to be their native language. According to the 2002 census, 19,071 Evens live in Russia. About twelve thousand are in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Let's ask ourselves: what makes an even an even? First, the language. By the way, there are more than ten dialects in the Even language, united into Eastern, Middle and Western dialects. The Even language is very figurative, rich in synonyms. The speakers of the Even language live in extremely harsh conditions of nomadic life, but the language itself practically does not know rude, abusive words.

Secondly, an Even becomes an Even due to the habitual way of housekeeping. Some Evens are engaged in reindeer herding, they live in the mountain-taiga zone. Others - hunting and lake-river fishing.

There are Evens who do roughly the same thing, but at the same time they are nomadic: in the spring they move from the continental taiga to the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk, and in the fall they rush back to the continent.

And there are Evens who do not have deer. They are called indolent. They lead a sedentary lifestyle on the coast of Okhotsk, hunt, fish, and breed sled dogs. The Yakut and Kamchatka Evens preserved horse breeding.

As for the Evens living in the mountain-taiga zone, riding and pack reindeer husbandry prevails among them. Riding is taught from childhood. Sitting on a deer, an Even (or Evenka) leans on a specially made stick-staff. You have to steer the deer, give them commands, on the right. The deer of the Evens are special: they are distinguished by their great growth, strength and endurance.

From one camp to another

Evens wander from time to time. This is what it looks like moving from one camp to another. This is a memorable picture. Usually the head of the camp or an experienced reindeer herder is the first to go in this caravan of reindeer. A pack deer follows him on a leash, he carries the head of a reindeer team, as well as shrines and icons. This is followed by a wife on horseback with children from three to seven years old, who leads two or three deer. The rest of the women follow her, each pulling between seven and twelve pack deer. The last deer in the caravan is carrying parts of the frame of the dwelling.

An important component of the identity of the people - its customs. If you can become an educated person (in the European sense) by enriching your memory with knowledge of natural and humanities, then the real Even begins with the fact that he remembers and honors the customs of his people.

What is custom in the broadest sense of the word? This is a set of behavioral formulas. Do something like this, but don't do that. If you violate the order, then something bad will happen, sometimes irreparable. The most important for the Evens (for the survival of the people) are prohibitions-amulets. From the totality of these prohibitions, a peculiar ethics of the Evens - hunters and reindeer herders - arises.

All prohibitions-amulets of the Evens can be divided into several thematic groups: the picture of the world, nature, hunting, farming, people. There are prohibitions that are associated with the religious beliefs of the Evens, with ideas about the master spirits of the elements of nature.

Have you ever seen a screaming Even? And never see or hear. In accordance with traditional mythopoetic (and religious) ideas, one cannot shout in the mountains, in the forest, on the banks of the river. If these prohibitions are violated, then in all three cases the master spirit of these places may wake up. And then it will not seem enough ...

Don't splash in the water...

The regulation of the life of the Evens does not end there. Here is a ban that we may find too harsh, too radical. When you wander on the water or swim in it, you can not splash - the master spirit can take you to him.

In childhood, many of us (well, those who are not Evens) enjoyed throwing pebbles into a pond, lake or river. We did it for the game itself. I wanted to throw the stone as far as possible. Evens have no such games. Throwing stones into the water is allowed only if necessary, on business. If you do it out of self-indulgence, something bad can happen. And here is one of the main prohibitions-amulets of the Evens: without the need for anything - neither insects, nor birds, nor animals - never kill. And one more clarifying prohibition: you can’t kill a lot, in excess of what you can eat.

It seems to us that on the basis of such reasonable prohibitions-amulets, a normal (in the sense of correct) ecological consciousness of the Evens arose.

Interestingly, this theme is also present in fairy tales. There is huge world nature, and in it everything is connected. All living beings are connected to each other. It is worth making some kind of, even unintentional, unconscious movement, how instantly it will respond to someone - an accident or misfortune. Here is proof of that.

Once upon a time there were two nutcrackers. One day they went to collect nuts. They came to the place where they once already collected.

One nutcracker flew up to the cedar and began to drop cones on the ground. Another began to collect the bumps dropped by her friend.

The nutcracker threw a bump. This bump hit her friend in the eye and knocked it out. A nutcracker sits with a gouged out eye and weeps bitterly.

An old man walked by and asked her:

Nutcracker, nutcracker, why are you crying?

My friend knocked out my eyeball.

Nutcracker on a cedar, why did you gouge out your friend's eye?

The cedar lashed me.

Cedar forest, cedar forest, why did you whip the nutcracker?

The squirrel shook me.

Squirrel, squirrel, why did you shake the branch?

The hunter is chasing me, I was running away from him.

Hunter, hunter, why are you chasing a squirrel?

I want to eat squirrel meat, my wife gathered me to hunt and gave me little bread.

Woman, woman, why did you give your husband little bread?

The deer ate our flour.

Deer, deer, why did you eat flour?

Out of grief, my calf was killed by a wolf.

Wolf, wolf, who told you to eat a calf at a deer?

Nobody told me, I wanted to.

Quite an instructive story. Interestingly, the search for the main culprit ends with the wolf. He, of course, is to blame, but human laws are not written for him.

You can't stir fire!

A few more examples of prohibitions-amulets. If they are adhered to, carried out strictly, then the benefit will be for everyone - not only for the Evens.

Do not tie sticks to the legs of a bird - someone will limp.

Bird eggs must not be crushed - it may rain.

Do not ruin the anthill - it will rain all the time!

Don't whip a branch on the water - it will start to rain!

Don't turn the fire - your ass will hurt!

You can’t spit in the fire - you will anger the fire, you can die from the cold.

You can not sew at night - you can go blind.

You can't play funeral: you yourself will die or one of your relatives will die.

You can't be angry if there are a lot of mosquitoes - there will be even more mosquitoes.

You can’t sing without a reason - it’s a sin, you will remain an orphan.

But what about the holidays? Are they also banned by the Evens? Of course not. As already mentioned, singing without a reason is a sin. But if the songs are woven into the ritual customs of the Evens, into mass tribal ritual festivals containing good wishes, then, as they say, sing to your health! And songs are respectively divided among Evens into lyrical, love, everyday, lullabies. All of them are based on improvisation. The Evens also have religious songs and dances. Circular dance songs (hedye) are accompanied by the song of the lead singer, which is echoed by the choir. Special sphere: these are personal forms of human interaction with the world of spirits based on shamanism. AT recent times Ethnographers write a lot about this.

Wedding ceremonies of the Evens (treats, exchange of gifts, sacrifices to patron spirits) take place in the camps of the bride and groom. Arriving at the groom's tent, the wedding train circles around it three times, after which the bride enters the tent, takes out her cauldron and cooks the meat. The dowry of the bride is hung out for viewing outside the chum. The birth of a child, the upbringing and care of him are accompanied by rituals and rules: prohibitions for a pregnant woman, the distribution of responsibilities between family members during childbirth, the “purification” of a woman in labor, the naming of a newborn. It is characteristic that at the birth of a boy, he is given a part of the herd, which, together with the offspring, is considered his property, at the birth of a girl - a dowry.

Even folklore includes not only fairy tales and songs, but also everyday stories, historical legends, heroic epos, well-wishing spells, omens and, of course, riddles.

The riddles of the Evens are very diverse. This people managed to guess, encrypt the entire universe: from a pebble under their feet to a distant constellation. Many Even riddles are difficult to understand, because they are built according to different syntactic patterns than the Russian riddles we are used to. And one more feature. Even riddles are full of metaphors. It is felt that they were invented, composed by real poets. Try to guess some Even riddles.

What kind of unknown person is wearing a forest on his head? I would like to answer that the deer. No, the correct answer would be: Elk.

In fact, many Even riddles begin with the words "unknown person." It's such a versatile formula.

An unknown person has four legs, as soon as he eats something, he will die like that. By the way, it's a mosquito...

Here is an example of pure metaphor: the silver horse has a long tail. What's this? Needle.

And another riddle about the horse. One horse falls into the swamp. What will it be? This will be the comb.

And finally, a puzzle. Why do partridges swallow stones? You won't guess anything! She warms up like this!

EVENKI, Evenk (self-designation), people in the Russian Federation (29.9 thousand people). They live from the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk in the east to the Yenisei in the west, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Baikal region and the Amur River in the south: in Yakutia (14.43 thousand people), Evenkia (3.48 thousand people), Dudinsky district of the Taimyr Autonomous District, Turukhansk district of the Krasnoyarsk Territory (4.34 thousand people), Irkutsk region (1.37 thousand people), Chita region (1.27 thousand people), Buryatia (1.68 thousand people .), Amur Region (1.62 thousand people), Khabarovsk Territory (3.7 thousand people), Sakhalin Region (138 people), as well as in the northeast of China (20 thousand people, spurs Khingan Ridge) and in Mongolia (near Lake Buir-Nur and the upper reaches of the Iro River). According to the 2002 population census, the number of Evenks living in Russia is 35 thousand people, according to the 2010 census - 38 thousand 396 people.

The local self-names of the Evenks are: orochen (from the river Oro or from oron - "deer") - the Trans-Baikal-Amur Evenks; ile ("man") - Katangese and Upper Lena; kilen - the coast of Okhotsk, etc. The Chinese called the Evenks kilin, qilin, o-lunchun (from "orochen"), the Manchus - orochnun, the Mongols - hamnegan (see Hamnigans), the Tatars and Yakuts - Tongus; the outdated Russian name is Tungus.

They speak the Evenki language of the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altai family. Dialects are divided into groups: northern - north of the lower Tunguska and lower Vitim, southern - south of the lower Tunguska and lower Vitim, and eastern - east of Vitim and Lena. Russian is also widespread (55.7% of Evenki are fluent, 28.3% consider it their native language), Yakut and Buryat languages. Believers are Orthodox.

The Evenks were formed on the basis of a mixture of the local population of Eastern Siberia with the Tungus tribes that settled from the Baikal and Transbaikalia from the end of the 1st millennium AD. As a result of this mixing, various economic and cultural types of Evenks were formed - "foot" (hunters), "deer", orochen (reindeer herders) and equestrian, murchen (horse breeders), also known in Transbaikalia as hamnegan, solon (Russian solony), ongkors, in the middle Amur region - as birarchen (birars), manyagir (manegry), kumarchen (along the Kumara River), etc. Contacts with Russians from 1606, by the middle of the 17th century, were overlaid with yasak. Since the 17th century, the Evenks have been forced out by the Yakuts, Russians and Buryats from the middle Vilyui, Angara, Biryusa, upper Ingoda, lower and middle Barguzin, the left bank of the Amur, Manegry and Birara moved to Northern China. In the 19th century, the Evenks appeared on the lower Amur and Sakhalin, part of the Evenks from the Yenisei went to the Taz and Ob. In the process of contacts, the Evenks were partially assimilated by Russians, Yakuts (especially along Vilyui, Olenyok, Anabar and lower Aldan), Mongols and Buryats, Daurs, Manchus and Chinese.

At the end of the 19th century, there were 63 thousand people, of which "wandering" (hunters) - 28.5 thousand people, nomadic (horse) - 29.7 thousand people; in China at the beginning of the 20th century, 10.5 thousand Evenks lived, Mongolia - about 2 thousand people. According to the 1926-27 census, there were 17.5 thousand Evenks in the USSR.

In 1927, the Ilimpiysky, Baikitsky, and Tunguso-Chunsky national regions were created, and in 1930 they were united into the Evenki national district.

In 1928-29, writing was created on the basis of the Latin, in 1937 - the Russian alphabet. Since the 1930s, the Evenk language has been taught in schools. Radio broadcasting is conducted in Yakutia. A national intelligentsia is being formed. Its representatives are also involved in the collection and publication of Evenk folklore.

The main occupation of the "walking" or "sedentary" Evenks is hunting deer, elk, roe deer, musk deer, bear, etc. Later, commodity fur hunting spread. Hunted from autumn to spring, two or three people. They went through the taiga on golitsy skis (kingne, kigle) or lined with kamus (suksilla). Reindeer herders hunted on horseback.

Reindeer breeding was mainly of transport importance. Reindeer were used for riding and under a pack, they were milked. Small herds and free grazing prevailed. After the end of the winter hunting season, several families usually united and migrated to places convenient for calving. Joint grazing of reindeer continued throughout the summer. In winter, during the hunting season, deer usually grazed near the camps where the families of hunters stayed. Migration took place each time in new places - in summer along watersheds, in winter along rivers; permanent trails led only to trading posts. Some groups had sleds of various types, borrowed from the Nenets and Yakuts.

"Equestrian" Evenks bred horses, camels, and sheep.

Fishing was of secondary importance; in the Baikal region, lake areas south of Lake Essei, in the upper Vilyui, in southern Transbaikalia and on the coast of Okhotsk, it was also of commercial importance. Seals were also hunted on the coast of Okhotsk and Baikal.

On the water they moved on rafts (temu), boats with a two-bladed oar - dugout, sometimes with plank sides (ongocho, utunngu) or birch bark (dev); For crossings, the Orochen used a boat made of elk skin on a frame made on the spot (mureke).

Home processing of skins, birch bark (among women) was developed; before the arrival of the Russians, blacksmithing was known, including to order. In Transbaikalia and the Amur region, they partially switched to settled agriculture and cattle breeding. Modern Evenks mostly preserve traditional hunting and reindeer herding. Since the 1930s, reindeer-breeding cooperatives were created, settled settlements were built, agriculture was spreading (vegetables, potatoes, in the south - barley, oats). In the 1990s, the Evenks began to organize themselves into tribal communities.

The basis of traditional food is meat (wild animals, equestrian Evenks have horse meat) and fish. In the summer they consumed reindeer milk, berries, wild garlic and onions. They borrowed baked bread from the Russians: to the west of the Lena, they baked koloboks from sour dough in the ashes, in the east - unleavened cakes. The main drink is tea, sometimes with reindeer milk or salt.

Winter camps consisted of 1-2 tents, summer - up to 10, during the holidays and more. Chum (du) had a conical frame of poles on a frame of poles, covered with nyuk tires made of rovduga or skins (in winter) and birch bark (in summer). When migrating, the frame was left in place. In the center of the plague, a hearth was arranged, above it - a horizontal pole for the boiler. In some places, half-dugouts were also known, timber-framed dwellings borrowed from Russians, the Yakut yurt-booth, in Transbaikalia - the Buryat yurt, among the settled Birars of the Amur Region - a quadrangular log dwelling of the fanza type.

Traditional clothing consists of rovduk or cloth natazniks (kherki), leggings (aramus, gurumi), an open caftan made of reindeer skin, the floors of which were tied on the chest with strings; under it was put on a bib with ties at the back. The female breastplate (nelly) was decorated with beads and had a straight lower edge, while the male breastplate (helmi) had an angle. Men wore a belt with a knife in a sheath, women - with a pincushion, a tinder box and a pouch. Clothing was decorated with stripes of goat and dog fur, fringe, horsehair embroidery, metal plaques, and beads. The horse breeders of Transbaikalia wore a dressing gown with a wide wrap to the left. Elements of Russian clothing spread.

Evenki communities united in the summer to jointly herd reindeer and celebrate holidays. They included several related families, numbering from 15 to 150 people. Forms of collective distribution, mutual assistance, hospitality, etc. were developed. For example, until the 20th century, the custom (nimat) survived, obliging the hunter to give part of the prey to relatives. At the end of the 19th century, the small family dominated. Property was inherited through the male line. Parents usually stayed with younger son. Marriage was accompanied by the payment of bride price or labor for the bride. Levirate was known, in rich families - polygamy (up to 5 wives). Until the 17th century, up to 360 paternal clans were known, numbering an average of 100 people, ruled by elders - "princes". In the terminology of kinship, the features of the classification system were preserved.

Cults of spirits, trade and tribal cults, shamanism were preserved. There were elements of the Bear Festival - rituals associated with butchering the carcass of a dead bear, eating its meat, and burying bones. Christianization of the Evenki has been carried out since the 17th century. The influence of Buddhism was strong in Transbaikalia and the Amur region.

Folklore included improvisational songs, mythological and historical epic, animal tales, historical and everyday legends, etc. The epic was performed in recitative, often listeners took part in the performance, repeating individual lines after the narrator. Separate groups of Evenks had their own epic heroes (soning). Regular heroes - comic characters were also in everyday stories. Among the musical instruments known are the jew's harp, hunting bow, etc., from the dances - the round dance (heiro, sadyo), performed to song improvisation. The games were in the nature of competitions in wrestling, shooting, running, etc. Artistic carving on bone and wood, metal processing (men), beadwork, silk embroidery, appliqué with fur and fabric, embossing on birch bark (women) were developed among the Eastern Evenks.

Since the 1930s, the Evenk language has been taught in schools. Radio broadcasting is conducted in Yakutia. A national intelligentsia is being formed. Its representatives are also involved in the collection and publication of Evenk folklore.

The Evens are a Siberian Tungus-Manchu people, related to the Evenks.

Language

The Even language belongs to the Tungus-Manchu group of the Altai family; has more than a dozen dialects, which are combined into three dialects - eastern, middle and western. 52.5% of Evens are fluent in Russian, 27.4% consider it their native language. But the vast majority of Evens switched to the Yakut language.

In the religious ideas of the Evens, there was a cult of the "masters" of nature and the elements: taiga, fire, water, etc. A special place was occupied by the worship of the sun, to which deer were sacrificed.

In Even folklore, great importance was attached to fairy tales and bylyam-traditions. Moreover, among the fairy tales, fairy tales about animals and birds, close in content to Evenki fairy tales, stand out in particular. Some parts of the tales about heroes-bogatyrs, for example, the speeches of heroes, are usually sung. Among epics, epics about female heroes who win men's competitions are especially interesting.

Total population

The total number is about 20 thousand people. They live mainly in the east of the Russian Federation.

The number of Evens in Russia by years:

Number in Russia for 2002

Religion and customs of the Evens

Evens were one of the most Christianized peoples of the North, which was facilitated by active missionary activity. Orthodox churches and chapels were built in the places where the Evens settled. In the 50s of the XIX century. Archpriest S. Popov published in the Even language the texts of prayers, the Gospel and the "Tungus primer" on a church basis. Priest A.I. Argentov, pointed out that in the Kolyma "pagans were brought out" already in early XIX in. Christianity covered almost all aspects of Even life. Birth, marriage, death, everyday behavior, the performance of rituals and holidays, everything was regulated by the Orthodox tradition. It is characteristic that the Gizhigin Evens entered into marriages with the Koryaks only if they converted to Orthodoxy. Mandatory in the decoration of the dwelling, regardless of its type, were icons, which, when moving, were transported on a deer specially designed for this purpose. Back in 1925, at the congress of the Evens of the Olsk volost, they made a request “to give a parish priest to Ola, otherwise a child will be born, you don’t know what to call him and there is no one to baptize.”

In the religious ideas of the Evens, there was a cult of the "masters" of nature and the elements: taiga, fire, water, etc. A special place was occupied by the worship of the sun, to which deer were sacrificed. Fishing cults, master spirits of nature, and shamanism were developed. Until the XVIII-XIX centuries. practiced air burial on trees or pile platforms. After the adoption of Orthodoxy, the Evens began to bury the dead in the ground, placing crosses over the grave. In the XVII-XVIII centuries. The Evens dressed the deceased in the best dress, according to the season, put them in a wooden block and placed it on trees or on poles. After slaughtering several deer, the coffin and trees were stained with their blood. The chum of the deceased, his utensils and other things were left under the trees. I. A. Khudyakov wrote that the Indigirka Lamuts (Evens) buried the dead with their heads to the west, because they believed that he would "go to the east." The Tompon Evens, according to the materials of V. A. Tugolukov, dressed the dead in clothes sewn without knots - "to facilitate the release of the soul from the body when it begins its journey." The custom of strangling deer among the Evens, as scientists suggest, is the most ancient Tungus method of killing sacrificial animals during the funeral rite.

Even food

The model of nutrition of the Evens was determined by the types of economic activity, but was based on the general Tungus origins. This is the predominance of meat food, and, despite the significant share of domestic reindeer husbandry, they preferred to use the meat of wild animals for food, and the technology of cooking meat by roasting is also specific. The specificity of the Even food system is the increase in the share of fish dishes and their diversity, as well as the regional distribution of dairy food. Along with imported tea, they used flowers brewed with boiling water, rosehip leaves and fruits, and dried leaves of willow-tea.

Saltless Evens on the Okhotsk coast (self-named - me-ne, "sedentary") were engaged in coastal fishing, hunting and seal hunting, bred sled dogs.

Coastal Evens caught migratory fish of salmon breeds, in the middle reaches and upper reaches of the rivers - sesame, char, grayling. The main fishing tool was hook tackle, nets and seines became available to Evens only in the 1920s. 20th century Fish was harvested for future use by drying yukola, pickling, and drying. They also ate raw and frozen fish. On the water they moved in dugout boats, which they bought from neighboring peoples.

traditional clothing

More traditional is Even clothing, corresponding to the general Tungus costume. The borrowing of individual elements and details is recorded, first of all, in the form of trade clothes for men, these are Paleo-Asian clothes of a “deaf” cut. Even women's clothing was willingly used by Paleoasian women. The skins of marine animals were used as material for making clothes. The headdress was a tight-fitting ka-nor, embroidered with beads. In winter, a large fur hat was worn over it. Women sometimes wore a headscarf.

Gotovtsev Egor
M-RK - 17

Evens (former name - Lamuts), one of the peoples in the north of Siberia; live in some districts of the Magadan and Kamchatka regions. and in the sowing district of Yakut. ASSR (east of the Lena River). Number 12 thousand people (1970, census). They speak the Even language. Evenks are close in origin and culture. Main occupations in the past were reindeer herding and hunting, and near coastal E. - fishing and sea. animal hunting. According to religion, E. were formally considered Orthodox (since the 19th century), but they retained various forms of pre-Christ. beliefs (shamanism, etc.). Over the years of the Soviet authorities in the x-ve, culture and life of E. there have been fundamental changes. In the 30s. E. had its own written language, liquidated illiteracy. MH. nomadic E. moved to a settled way of life. In collective farms, in addition to traditions. occupations, animal husbandry, animal husbandry and agriculture were developed.

V. A. Tugolukov.

Materials of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia are used.

Auto-ethnonym (self-name)

Even: The origin of the ethnonym "Even", which is considered more ancient than "Evenk", is associated either with the ancient Uvan reindeer herders, who are mentioned in Chinese sources of the 7th century, as inhabitants of the mountain taiga of Transbaikalia, or with the Even word of Eastern dialects, Even, "local ”, “local”, “descended from the mountains.”

Main settlement area

On the geographical map the ethnic territory of the Evens forms an almost regular square, the sides of which, in the north, are limited by the coast of the Arctic Ocean, in the south, by the Okhotsk coast, in the west, by the Lena basin north of Yakutsk, in the east, by the river. Anadyr and Kamchatka proper. They do not have their own national autonomy and are settled in the territories of Yakutia, Chukotka and Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka and Magadan regions. and Khabarovsk Territory. Most of them live in the autonomies of the North-East of Siberia (1959 - 53.5%, 1970 - 67.7%, 1979 - 47%?). About 10% (1979) of Evens live outside the zone of traditional settlement. The share of urban residents is characterized below average, for Siberian peoples, an indicator (1959 - 5.8%, 1970 - 17%, 1979 - 17.9%). Within these administrative units, they are in contact with the Yakuts, Yukaghirs, Chukchis, Koryaks, Itelmens, Evenks and Russians.

population

In connection with the complex ethnic definition of the Evens, in the 1897 census they were included in the category "Tungus proper (including identical Lamuts and Orochons) - 62.068 souls (corrected 64.500 souls), constituting 81.2% of the entire Tungus tribe." Extraction from these data, the number of Evens proper - 3131 people. In subsequent censuses, the following dynamics of the number of Evens is recorded: 1926 - 2.044, 1959 - 9.121, 1970 - 12.029, 1979 - 12.523, 1989 - 17.199.

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

Along with the above ethnonyms, there are designations for local groups Dondytkil, from Donre, Dunre, “land”, “land”, “mainland”, i.e. "mainland" opposing maritime and continental groups. The Even word mene "sedentary" was used by Even reindeer herders to designate the "foot Tungus" of the Okhotsk coast.
In the Even ethnonymy, in addition, there were a large number of terms for designating small territorial groups, for example: donretken "deep", namankan "inhabitants of the sea coast", there was a tradition of designating Evens by their generic names, for example: tyuges, dutkil, etc.
The Koryaks called the Evens koyayamko, possibly from the Koryak koyanga = “domestic deer”, yamkyn = “nomadic camp”, “camping ground”, Yukagirs, erpeye.

Anthropological characteristics

Baikal anthropological type of the North Asian race.

Language

Even: Northern, Tungus subgroup of the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Urals language family. Dialects of the Even language are territorially combined into eastern, middle and western groups.

writing

The teaching of national languages ​​in schools is conducted in the language of the titular nationality, education in boarding schools leads to the loss mother tongue, including at the household level, the spread of the Russian language as a language of interethnic communication, all these factors affect the functionality of the Even language in their culture. Writing for the Even language based on the Latin alphabet was developed in 1931, in 1936, it was translated into Cyrillic. In 1932-1934. school programs and textbooks for teaching the Even language were developed.

Religion

Orthodoxy: The Evens were one of the most Christianized peoples of the North, which was facilitated by active missionary activity. Orthodox churches and chapels were built in the places where the Evens settled. In the 50s of the nineteenth century. Archpriest S. Popov published in the Even language the texts of prayers, the Gospel and the "Tungus primer" on a church basis. Priest A. Argentov, pointed out that in the Kolyma "pagans were bred" already at the beginning of the 19th century. Christianity covered almost all aspects of Even life. Birth, marriage, death, everyday behavior, the performance of rituals and holidays, everything was regulated by the Orthodox tradition. It is characteristic that the Gizhigin Evens entered into marriages with the Koryaks only if they converted to Orthodoxy. Mandatory in the decoration of the dwelling, regardless of its type, were icons, which, when moving, were transported on a deer specially designed for this purpose. Back in 1925, at the congress of the Evens of the Olsk volost, they made a request “to give a parish priest to Ola, otherwise a child will be born, you don’t know what to call him and there is no one to baptize.”
In the 20th century, during the period of active anti-religious propaganda directed against Christianity, a trend typical of the Siberian peoples can be observed among the Evens. It consists in a partial return, in a very reduced form, to fragments of the ritual life cycle and the norms of commercial and everyday behavior, based on the traditional worldview and shamanism, among the older generation.

Ethnogenesis and ethnic history

The history of the Evens is inextricably linked with the Tungus-speaking population of Eastern Siberia and is determined by a relatively late time. Features of the culture, language and anthropological type of the Evens, specific to the Evenks, were formed as a result of the interaction of the Tungus with the natives of the region, the Koryaks and Yukaghirs. In each case, socio-economic, demographic and historical reasons influenced the combination of Tungus and Paleo-Asiatic components, which determines the internal diversity of the culture of modern Evens. The resettlement of the Tungus in eastern Siberia is associated with the development of the Yakut river basin. Lena, where, during the sixteenth century. the completion of ethnogenesis and the formation of the foundations of the Yakut culture took place. In the seventeenth century The Russians met the Evens in the mountainous region of the Verkhoyansk Range and on the coast of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk. During this period, their ethnic territory in the north, on the coast, bordered on the Koryaks, and in the upper reaches of the Indigirka and Kolyma, on the Yukagirs.
Already at this time, several directions for the development of Even culture were outlined. The basis for the formation of "foot Tungus", which in the seventeenth century. settled on the Okhotsk coast in the interfluve of the Ulya and Ola rivers, mainly in the basin of the river. Hunting, made up the deer groups of the Evenks, who came out in the 15th-16th centuries. on the coast of Okhotsk and, in favorable conditions for conducting a commercial economy (fishing and hunting for sea animals), abandoned reindeer husbandry. Here they mingled with the settled Koryaks and their culture acquired a "paleoasian" appearance. Two groups of "foot Tungus" formed here. Southern, Okhotsk, whose representatives closely interacted with deer Evens and northern, Tauy, practically not connected with reindeer herders. The culture of these territorial divisions was similar, but the language differed at the level of dialects. Their numbers in the seventeenth century was determined at 4,800 people, but smallpox epidemics in the second half of the eighteenth century. claimed the lives of almost 3,500 people. In the 30s. the number of the Tauy group was 560, and in 1897, only 187 people. In the eighteenth - nineteenth centuries. the remnants of the "foot Tungus" are actively involved in the integration processes with the settled Koryaks, Yakuts and Russians. As a result, a group of "Kamchadals" is formed on the coast of Okhotsk, speaking the "spoiled" Russian language, engaged in fishing, partly gardening, cattle breeding and breeding sled dogs. Their external features material culture characterized by a combination of Russian and Yakut traditions. The general assessment of the history of the "foot Tungus" is that by the beginning of the 20s. XX century, as a separate ethnographic group of Evens, they ceased to exist.
Otherwise, the development of Even reindeer herders took place, and it is their culture that is assessed as proper Even. In the seventeenth century they quite actively begin to move north along the coast of the Sea of ​​​​Okhotsk, entering into contacts with the Koryaks, who resisted them, which was reflected in one of the names of the Koryak Evens - v ulyn, "enemy", "enemy".
At the end of the eighteenth - beginning of the nineteenth centuries. Evens master the river basin. Anadyr and come into contact with the Chuvans, and along the Chaun River, with the Chukchi reindeer herders. In the 40s, part of the Gizhigin Evens moved to Kamchatka, where they settled quite widely, having mastered the territories lying to the west of the Sredinny Range.
The most intensive contacts of the Evens with the Yukagirs took place in the basin of the river. Kolyma and flowed in the direction of the assimilation of the natives. Yes, back in the 1700s. in the upper reaches of the Kolyma, the Yukagirs outnumbered the Evens by one and a half times, but in the 30s. XVIII century the ratio of numbers has changed in favor of the latter. The reverse process could also take place, in particular, one of the divisions of the II Delyan clan of the Kolyma Evens mastered the Yukaghir language and culture. Evens penetrate into the Indigirka basin from the south and permanently settle there at the beginning of the 18th century. By the middle of the nineteenth century. they were quite strongly mixed with the Yukagirs, showing the same tendency as in the Kolyma. According to V. Yokhelson, at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, only a few people on Indigirka knew the Yukagir language.
Of the other directions in the formation of the ethnic territory of the Evens, one can note the existence from the 17th century. Aldan group, which subsequently begin to settle to the north, into the basin of the river. Yana and in the lower reaches of the Lena, where, again, they come into contact with the Yukagirs, who are partially forced out, and partially assimilated. By the end of the nineteenth century. between Lena and Yana, a mixed Eveno-Yukaghir population developed, in connection with the formation of the northern ethnographic group of the Yakuts, largely obsessed. Active assimilation of the Yukagirs and Koryaks during the 17th-19th centuries led to a significant increase in the number of reindeer Evens: in the middle of the 17th century - 3,600, in the 60s. XVIII century - 6.500, late nineteenth century. - 9.500 people. The main direction in the formation of the features of the Even culture was their integration into the reindeer herding tradition of the peoples of North-Eastern Siberia, which included the Tungus, Paleo-Asiatic and Yakut components.

economy

Integrative processes also underlay the formation of the Even culture, the assessment of which corresponds to the general Siberian pattern. “The peoples who have preserved their traditional economy to a greater extent, especially reindeer herding, preserve their national culture and, as a rule, their native language.”
Historically, the economy of the Evens was formed in the form of a complex economy, combining taiga crafts, fishing and reindeer herding. Compared to the Evenks, the reindeer husbandry of the Evens is more productive than transport. It was the needs of reindeer herding that determined their way of life and attributes of culture.
In the course of ethnocultural contacts, the Evens developed several regional variants of culture. In Kamchatka, the Bystrinsky group of Evens was exclusively engaged in reindeer herding of the Chukchi-Koryak type, the Evens of the North Kamchatka combined reindeer breeding with crafts. Among the Evens of the Okhotsk coast, three zonal groups of farms are fixed: mountain-taiga, practically not connected with the coastal territory (reindeer herding), intermediate, which included about 70% of Even farms (reindeer herding and hunting), and coastal, consisting of Even farms that have lost deer (trading ). The Evens of Yakutia were also engaged in reindeer herding and hunting activities, but the attributes of their culture are more consistent with the Tungus-Yakut reindeer herding tradition. Of the economic activities that are not historically characteristic of the Tungus, as a result of the influence of the Yakuts, one can note the spread among the Evens of cattle breeding and, above all, horse breeding in the Oymyakon region and on the Okhotsk coast, in the area where the Okhotsk-Kamchatka tract passes. It is discretely represented in the culture of the Evens of the north of Yakutia and the Kamchatka Lamuts. Breeding mainly horses was associated, first of all, with the possibility of their use as a transport in the Evens' commercial economy.
The economic cycle of the Evens was divided into six periods, four of which corresponded to the main seasons and two additional ones, pre-spring and pre-winter, which had importance for reindeer farming. Each of these periods determined the priorities and combination of types of economic activity, methods of nomadism, organization of settlements, etc. The count of months was kept by months, using two types of calendars. One, more traditional, "by parts of the body." Among the Okhotsk Evens, the year began in September, which was called the month of the “rising dorsum of the hand” (left) and ended in August, the month of the “rising hand folded into a fist” (right). Another calendar was actually Orthodox and it was made in the form of a wooden board, on which the days, months, seasons of the year and church holidays were marked with marks, family dates were also entered into it.
Transport, especially reindeer, varied considerably across the territory of settlement. The Evens of Yakutia were characterized by the Tungus-Yakut type of draft reindeer husbandry, in the Kolyma and Kamchatka, Chukchi-Koryak, on the Okhotsk coast, pack-rider reindeer breeding of the Siberian type. In places of distribution of draft reindeer transport, it, as a rule, coexisted with pack and riding reindeer husbandry, traditional for the Tungus.

traditional clothing

More traditional is Even clothing, corresponding to the general Tungus costume. The borrowing of individual elements and details is recorded, first of all, in the form of trade clothes for men, these are Paleo-Asian clothes of a “deaf” cut. Even women's clothing, probably due to its aesthetic properties, it is elegantly decorated, was willingly used by Paleo-Asiatic women. The skins of marine animals were used as material for making clothes.

Traditional settlements and dwellings

Like the economy, the material culture of the Evens combines elements of various origins. In the presence of mobile nomadic camps, Even pastoralists arranged summer pastoral camps sayylyk, which did not differ from the Yakut ones. Dwellings were also varied - the Tunguska tent with birch bark or rovdug covering, the Yakut booth, the cylindrical-conical tent, close to the Chukchi-Koryak yaranga, was very widespread among the Evens. Borrowed types of dwellings, usually in detail, were adapted in connection with the Even tradition: the orientation of the entrance of the dwelling in space to the south in winter, to the northwest in summer, the absence, unlike the Paleo-Asians, of canopies in the dwelling, the arrangement of the hearth, the socialization of the dwelling space, etc. P.

Food

The model of nutrition of the Evens was determined by the types of economic activity, but was based on the general Tungus origins.
This is the predominance of meat food, and, despite the significant share of domestic reindeer husbandry, they preferred to use the meat of wild animals for food, and the technology of cooking meat by roasting is also specific. The specificity of the Even food system is the increase in the length of fish dishes and their diversity, as well as the regional distribution of dairy food.

social organization

General Tungus features in the organization of Even society are represented by its tribal organization. In the eighteenth century Evens form so-called administrative clans, which include not only blood relatives, but also neighbors in the territory of residence. These associations act as subjects of economic law in the sphere of organizing economic life, paying yasak, etc. Traditional tribal ties are realized through the norms of exogamy, institutions of tribal mutual assistance, by redistributing meat production among all members of the camp (the “nimat” custom), which ensured patronage over all relatives, a system of tribal cults. The internal structure of the Even society was based on gender and age stratification, which determined social roles each person.
In Even society, there is a special softness in relation to children, they are the “eyes” of the mother, the “soul” of the father. It was not customary to punish them, the guest entering the dwelling shook hands even with small children, if they already knew how to walk. The naming was carried out when the child began to “babble”, guessing the name of the relative who was embodied in him. These names, in childhood, were not used by non-family members. At the age of 3-5 years, children were baptized and the Orthodox name became official, and the traditional one was used in household use. Children were socialized through games that imitated the main types of adult activities in accordance with gender. Until the age of 7 - 8, children were connected with the house, after that they began to take the boys for close hunting or for deer grazing, from the age of 14-15 the boys could hunt on their own.
The marriageable age was set at 16-17 years old, and early marriages were also possible. The upbringing of children, in the absence of parents, was entrusted to relatives, the custom of an avankulata was widespread. When concluding a marriage, kalym was necessarily paid, usually in deer. The main family type of the Evens was a small one with clear areas of division of labor, but the parity roles of spouses in making family-wide decisions. Even society is characterized by the high status of women in public life, while in the economic and property spheres, in the conditions of patriarchal relations and the beginning of social differentiation, the dominant position is occupied by a man. An important role in the social life of the Evens was played by the older generation, connoisseurs and keepers of the tradition. The role of the elder of the clan, the local group, the organizer of economic and social life was informal. This tradition, at one time, was used by the tsarist administration in the formation of the institution of elders - t er e s t te of Even administrative clans. Poor old people were born under the full patronage of relatives.

Modern ethnic processes

The modern ethno-cultural development of the Evens is determined by the history of their formation and contacts with neighboring peoples, the degree of intensity of which, in the 20th century, largely depended on the socio-economic processes taking place in Siberia. In general, they are of an integration nature, but in different ethno-cultural environments and in different areas of culture, they had a different focus. So, in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, in the process of consolidation of economic centers, the Even artels were integrated with the Koryak and Chukchi ones, which affected the system of marriage ties. For example, in 1956, there were 64 families in the Oklansky s / s: 30 Even, 12 Koryak, 5 Eveno-Koryak, 17 Russian, in Achaivayamsky s / s 68 Chukchi, 9 Even, 24 mixed, incl. 6 Russian-Even, 1 Even-Russian, 7 Even-Chukotka, 2 Chukchi-Even. In 1968, as a result of sociological and linguistic research in the Koryak NO, it was noted that within the main settlements of residence of the Evens, for 28 Even families, there are 22 mixed ones, in which one of the spouses is an Even. A similar picture can be observed in the north of the Magadan region in the Bilibinsky district, pos. Omolon (1973), where there were 11 mixed families for 38 Even families: 6 Chukchi-Even, 3 Yakut-Even, 1 Yukaghir-Even and 1 Russian-Even. In general, for interethnic marriages in areas where Evens live, in the early 80s. accounted for 20-35% of all marriages.
In the north of Yakutia, in the 1930s, the Evens were characterized by consolidation processes, when, in the course of the "indigenization" of all aspects of life, territorially isolated groups of Evens begin to unite in territories gravitating towards large economic centers - the village. Batagayalyt, Kharaulakh and a number of others. On the other hand, in the 60s, this contributed to the integration of the Evens with the northern Yakuts. So, in 1962 in the village. Kharaulakh, the Evens almost completely became close to the Yakuts and retained only certain elements of the language, material culture, self-consciousness, dating back to the Even tradition. A similar picture can be observed in South-Eastern Yakutia, where at the end of the 50s more than 600 Evens lived, concentrated mainly in the Oymyakonsky district (572 people). Here, for 96 one-ethnic Even marriages among the rural population, there are 42 inter-ethnic ones, and 38 with the Yakuts. The traditions of marriage with the Yakuts are quite stable here, which is recorded in the Even genealogies.
For the Evens of the Okhotsk coast, the intention to conclude interethnic marriages is less typical, which is explained by the predominance of the Even population here. So, at the end of the 60s, 1175 Evens lived in the Okhotsk district of the Khabarovsk Territory and only 228 Yakuts, in the Arka s / s, out of 196 farms, 144 were Even, 32 Yakut and 20 Russian, in the village. Arka recorded only 17 interethnic marriages.
The strengthening of the territorial ties of the Evens with other peoples prevented the consolidation of the local divisions of this people into a single cultural community. The stable orientation in the system of interethnic marriages is explained not only by the demographic situation, but also by the obligatory adherence to the norms of tribal exogamy for Evens. Since the territorial subdivisions were small and often formed on the basis of family ties, spouses had to be chosen in an ethnically different environment. The choice of the nationality of the child was determined according to the general Siberian pattern. In the case of marriage with a visitor, according to the spouse of the indigenous nationality, and in the case of a representative of another people of the North, according to the main nationality represented in a particular administrative unit. Among the Evens, other cases were also possible: by occupation, Yakuts and even Russians could be classified as Tungus if they were engaged in reindeer herding or fishing; according to the nationality of the father, the case is quite typical when both parents belong to indigenous nationalities; according to tradition, according to the territory on which another people lived in the past, for example, classifying Evens as Yukaghirs. These cases go beyond the choice of the nationality of the child by family members, but are of a socially significant nature.
The interethnic ties of the Evens are clearly manifested in the sphere of language and for the territory where the Evens live are defined as mutual linguistic assimilation. The Even language belongs to the northern (Tungus) subgroup of the Tungus-Manchurian group of the Altai language family and is divided into two groups of dialects, eastern (Okhotsk coast, Kamchatka and Kolyma) and western (Yakutia). According to the 1979 census, 56.7% of Evens define it as their native language, while at the same time, 52% of Evens are fluent in Russian and 13.6% in other languages. The most common among the Evens is the Yakut language, which, along with Russian, is the language of interethnic communication; in Even families it is often considered native. There are examples of linguistic assimilation. So, in 1953 in the village. Kharaulakh out of 224 Evens, only 63 understood Even speech and 8 representatives of the older generation spoke Even. In modern conditions, the Even language exists in forms characteristic of the people of the North, who do not have their own autonomy.

Bibliography and sources

Gurvich I. S., Ethnic history of the north-east of Siberia, M., 1966.

History and culture of the Evens. SPb., 1996.

Ethnic development of the peoples of the North in the Soviet period. M., 1987.

Ethnocultural processes among the peoples of Siberia and the North. M., 1985.

Transformations in economy and culture and ethnic processes among the peoples of the North. M., 1970.

Evens of the Kamchatka region // Tr. Institute of Ethnography. 1960. V.56. P. 63-91./Gurvich I.S.

Evens and Evenks of South-Eastern Yakutia. Yakutsk, 1964./Nikolaev S.I.

Evens of the Magadan region. M., 1981./Popova U.G.