Indigenous people of Sakhalin: customs and way of life

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

In the article we will talk about the indigenous people of Sakhalin. They are represented by two nationalities, which we will consider in great detail and from different points of view. Not only the history of these people is interesting, but also their characteristic features, way of life and traditions. All this will be discussed below.

Indigenous people of Sakhalin

As for the peoples who lived here, two main groups should immediately be distinguished - the Nivkhs and the Ainu. Nivkhs are the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin, who are the most ancient and numerous. Most of all, they chose the territory of the lower reaches of the Amur River. Later Oroks, Nanais and Evenks lived here. However, the bulk of the Nivkhs were still located in the northern part of the island. These people were engaged in hunting, fishing, as well as fishing for sea lions and seals.

Evenks and Oroks were mainly engaged in reindeer herding, which forced them to lead a nomadic lifestyle. For them, the deer was not only food and clothing, but also a transport animal. They were also actively engaged in sea animal hunting and fishing.

Regardingmodern stage, then the indigenous people of Sakhalin can now do whatever they want. They can revive the economy, engage in hunting, reindeer herding or fishing. Also in the district there are masters of fur appliqué and embroidery. At the same time, even modern nations preserve and honor their traditions.

Life and customs of the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin

The Nivkhs are an ethnic group that has lived in the lower reaches of the Amur River since ancient times. These are a single people with a pronounced national culture. People settled in small groups, choosing the most convenient places from a geographical point of view. They located their houses near the fishing grounds for fish and animals. The main activities were aimed at hunting, picking berries and herbs, and fishing.

The latter, by the way, they did throughout the year. Fishing for migratory salmon fish was very important, from which stocks were prepared for the whole winter and animal feed. At the beginning of summer they caught pink salmon, after - chum salmon. In some rivers and lakes one could find sturgeon, whitefish, kaluga, pike, taimen. Also flounder and white salmon were caught here. All of their prey was eaten raw. They were s alted only for the winter. Thanks to fish, the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin Island received fat, a material for sewing clothes and shoes.

The fishing of sea animals was also popular. The resulting products (meat of beluga whales, dolphins or seals) were eaten by people and used to feed animals. The resulting fat was also eaten, but sometimes it could be stored for several years. The skins of sea animals are used for pasting skis, sewing clothes and shoes. When wasfree time, people were engaged in picking berries and hunting.

Living conditions

Life and customs of the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin will begin to consider with the tools that they used for crafts. These were samolovy, zaezdki or seine. Each family was very large and patriarchal. The whole family lived together. The economy was also common. The resulting fishery products could be used by all family members.

Parents lived in the dwelling with their sons and their families. If someone died, then families of brothers and sisters lived together. Also, attention was paid to orphans and elderly members of the family. There were also separate families, small ones, who did not want to live with their parents. On average, 6-12 people lived in a dwelling, depending on various factors. However, there are cases when up to 40 people could live in one winter road at the same time.

The Nivkh society was a primitive communal one, since the clan was at the top of the social ladder. The whole family lived in one place, had common animals, a household. Also, the clan could have owned cult or outbuildings. The nature of the economy was exclusively natural.

Clothes

The indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin, described by Krusenstern, had special signs. Women wore large earrings, which were made of copper or silver wire. In shape, they resembled a combination of a ring and a spiral. Sometimes earrings could be decorated with glass beads or stone circles of different colors. Women wore robes, greaves and armlets. The robe was sewn like a kimono. Hisbordered a large collar and hem, which differed from the color of the robe. Copper plates were sewn onto the hem for decoration. The robe was wrapped to the right side and fastened with buttons. Winter bathrobes were insulated with a layer of cotton wool. Also, women wore 2-3 robes at a time in the cold.

Dressy robes had very bright colors (red, green, yellow). They were decorated with bright fabrics and ornaments. Most attention was paid to the back, on which drawings were made using threads and openwork ornaments. Such beautiful little things were passed down through generations and were greatly appreciated. So we learned about the clothes of the indigenous people of Sakhalin. Kruzenshtern Ivan, whom we talked about above, was the man who led the first Russian round-the-world trip.

Religion

What about religion? The beliefs of the Nivkhs were built on animism and the cult of crafts. They believed that everything has its own spirit - the earth, water, sky, taiga, etc. It is interesting that the bears were especially revered, since they were considered the sons of the owners of the taiga. That is why hunting for them has always been accompanied by cult events. In winter, the bear festival was celebrated. To do this, they caught the beast, fed and raised it for several years. During the holiday, he was dressed up in special clothes and taken home, where he was fed from human dishes. Then the bear was shot with a bow, sacrificing it. Food was placed near the head of the killed animal, as if treating it. By the way, Ivan Fedorovich Kruzenshtern described the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin as people veryreasonable. It was the Nivkhs who cremated the dead, and then buried them under ritual cries somewhere in the taiga. The method of air burial of a person was also sometimes used.

Ainu

The second largest group of indigenous people of the Sakhalin coast are the Ainu, who are also called Kurils. These are national minorities, which were also distributed in Kamchatka and in the Khabarovsk Territory. The census in 2010 found just over 100 people, but the fact is that more than 1,000 people have this origin. Many of those who recognized their origin live in Kamchatka, although most of the Ainu have lived on Sakhalin since ancient times.

Two subgroups

Note that the Ainu, the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin, are divided into two small subgroups: North Sakhalin and South Sakhalin. The former make up only a fifth of all purebred representatives of this people, which were discovered in 1926 during the census. Most of the people of this group were resettled here in 1875 by the Japanese. Some representatives of the nationality took Russian women as wives, mixing blood. It is believed that as a tribe the Ainu died out, although even now you can find purebred representatives of the nationality.

The South Sakhalin Ainu were evacuated by the Japanese after World War II to the territory of Sakhalin. They lived in separate small groups, which still remain. In 1949, there were about 100 people of this nationality wholived on Sakhalin. At the same time, the last three people who were purebred representatives of the nationality died in the 1980s. Now you can find only mixed representatives with Russians, Japanese and Nivkhs. There are no more than a few hundred of them, but they claim to be full-blooded Ainu.

Historical aspect

The indigenous peoples of Sakhalin Island came into contact with the Russian people in the 17th century. Then this was facilitated by trade. Only many years later, full-fledged relations were built with the Amur and Northern Kuril subgroups of the people. The Ainu considered the Russians to be their friends, as they differed in appearance from their opponents the Japanese. That is why they quickly agreed to accept Russian citizenship voluntarily. Interestingly, even the Japanese could not say for sure who was in front of them - the Ainu or the Russians. When the Japanese first made contact with the Russians in this territory, they called them Red Ainu, that is, with blond hair. An interesting fact is that it was not until the 19th century that the Japanese finally realized that they were dealing with two different peoples. The Russians themselves did not find so many similarities. They described the Ainu as dark-haired people with dark skin and eyes. Someone noted that they look like peasants with dark skin or gypsies.

Note that the nationality under discussion actively supported the Russians during the Russo-Japanese wars. However, after the defeat in 1905, the Russians left their comrades to the mercy of fate, which put an end to the friendly relations between them. Hundreds of people of this people were destroyed, their families were killed, and their homesplundered. So we come to why the Ainu were forcibly resettled by the Japanese in Hokkaido. At the same time, during the Second World War, the Russians still failed to defend their right to the Ainu. That is why most of the remaining representatives of the people left for Japan, and no more than 10% remained in Russia.

Resettlement

Indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin Island, under the terms of the agreement of 1875, were to pass into the power of Japan. However, after 2 years, less than a hundred representatives of the Ainu arrived in Russia in order to remain under her command. They decided not to move to the Commander Islands, as the Russian government suggested to them, but to stay in Kamchatka. Because of this, in 1881 they traveled for about four months on foot to the village of Yavino, where they planned to settle. Then they managed to found the village of Golygino. In 1884, several more representatives of the nationality arrived from Japan. By the 1897 census, the entire population was just under 100 people. When the Soviet government came to power, all the settlements were destroyed, and people were forcibly resettled in Zaporozhye, the Ust-Bolsheretsky region. Because of this, the ethnic group mixed with the Kamchadals.

During the tsarist regime, the Ainu were forbidden to call themselves that. At the same time, the Japanese declared that the territory inhabited by the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin was Japanese. It is a fact that in Soviet times, people who had Ainu surnames were sent to the Gulag or other labor camps without cause or effect as a soulless labor force. The reason lay inthat the authorities considered this nationality to be Japanese. Because of this, a large number of representatives of this ethnic group changed their surnames to Slavic.

In the winter of 1953, an order was issued stating that information about the Ainu or their whereabouts could not be published in the press. After 20 years, this order was canceled.

Latest data

Note that today the Ainu are still an ethnic subgroup in Russia. The Nakamura family is known, which is the smallest, since it consists of only 6 people who live in Kamchatka. Currently, most of this people live on Sakhalin, but many of its representatives do not recognize themselves as Ainu. Perhaps because of the fear of repeating the horrors of the Soviet period. In 1979, the Ainu people were deleted from the ethnic groups living in Russia. In fact, the Ainu were considered extinct in Russia. It is known that according to the 2002 census, not a single person presented himself as a representative of this nationality, although we understand that they died out only on paper.

In 2004, a small but active part of this ethnic group sent a letter personally to the President of Russia with a request to prevent the transfer of the Kuril Islands to Japan. There was also a request to recognize the Japanese genocide of the people. In their letter, these people wrote that their tragedy can only be compared with the genocide of the indigenous population of America.

In 2010, when the census of the indigenous peoples of the north of Sakhalin took place, some people expressed a desire to record themselves as Ainu. They sent an official request, but their requestrejected by the government of the Kamchatka Territory and recorded as Kamchadals. Note that at the moment the ethnic Ainu are not organized in terms of politics. They do not want to recognize their nationality at any level. In 2012, there were more than 200 people of this nationality in the country, but they were recorded in all official documents as Kurils or Kamchadals. In the same year, they were deprived of their hunting and fishing rights.

In 2010, part of the Ainu who lived in Zaporozhye, Ust-Bolsheretsky district, was recognized. However, out of more than 800 people, no more than 100 were officially recognized. These people, as we said above, were former residents of the villages of Yavino and Golygino destroyed by the Soviet authorities. At the same time, one must understand that even in Zaporozhye there are much more representatives of this nationality than was recorded. Most simply prefer to remain silent about their origin, so as not to arouse anger. It is noted that people in official documents register themselves as Russians or Kamchadals. Among the famous descendants of the Ainu, it is worth noting such families as the Butins, Merlins, Lukashevskys, Konevs and Storozhevs.

Federal recognition

Note that the Ainu language actually died out in Russia many years ago. Kuriles stopped using their native language at the beginning of the last century, as they were afraid of persecution by the authorities. By 1979, only three people on Sakhalin could speak the original Ainu language, but they all died by the 1980s. Note that Keizo Nakamura spoke this language, and he even translated intohim several important documents of the NKVD. But at the same time, the man did not pass on his language to his son. The last man, Take Asai, who knew the Sakhalin-Ainu language, died in 1994 in Japan.

Note that this nationality was never recognized at the federal level.

In culture

In the culture, mainly one group of indigenous people of Sakhalin was noted, namely, the Nivkhs. The life, way of life and traditions of this nation are described in great detail in G. Gore's story "A Young Man from a Distant Mountain", which was released in 1955. The author himself was fond of this topic, so he collected all his ardor in this story.

Also, the life of this people was described by Chingiz Aitmatov in his story called “Spotted Dog Running at the Edge of the Sea”, which was published in 1977. Also note that it was made into a feature film in 1990.

Nikolai Zadornov also wrote about the life of these people in his novel "The Far Land", which was published in 1949. N. Zadornov called the Nivkhs "gilyaks".

In 1992, an animated film called "The Cuckoo's Nephew" directed by Oksana Cherkasova was released. The cartoon was created based on the tales of the nationality under discussion.

In honor of the indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin, two ships that were part of the Russian imperial fleet were also named.

Summing up the results of the article, let's say that every nation has an inviolable right to existence and recognition. No one can legally forbid a person to classify himself as one or another nationality. Unfortunately, such human freedoms are not always guaranteed, which is very sad inmodern democratic society. Chekhov's statements about the small indigenous inhabitants of Sakhalin were still true …