Evenks
The Evenk (also Evenki , old term Tungus ) are composed of many regional groups and clans indigenous people . Evenk groups live in an area larger than Europe. Except in the majority of the regions of Siberia there are Evenks in Mongolia and in the People's Republic of China (Reindeer Evenks, Solons, Bargu Evenks).
Evenk language
The Evenk language is one of the Tungusic languages . For the Evenk of Russia there since the late 20s of the 20th century, a standard written language. Today it is based on the Cyrillic script . Many Evenks in Russia now mainly speak Russian , Yakut or Buryat . In 1979 fewer than half of the Evenks in Russia could speak Evenk fluently. Mongolian and Chinese are common as second and third languages among the Evenks of China .
Economic forms
Parts of the Evenks practiced nomadic reindeer herding , hunting and fishing . In the 20th century the Evenks were settled in Russia. Some were able to continue traditional occupations on state estates ( sovkhozs ). Other groups of the Evenks, such as the horse Evenks and the Solons of China, still predominantly practice nomadic cattle breeding. Unemployment and social problems shape the everyday life of most Evenks in Russia today. Some work in the Siberian oil and mining industry.
religion
The ethnic religion of the Evenks is animistic ("soulfulness of all natural phenomena") and strongly influenced by shamanism and old Siberian cosmology . It gave the different shamanism concepts of Western authors its name. Evenk shamanism was considered a classic, typical form in research, which was then (inconsistently and sometimes very far-reaching and contrary) transferred to other peoples. The term "shaman / chaman / saman" comes from Evenk.
Male and female shamans were common. The initiation took place in three stages. Typical of the shaman's costume were large crowns of antlers and a breastplate symbolizing the mythical bird as a shaman's helper, as well as wrought-iron pendants with many bird figures ("iron shamanism"). The equipment for the shamanic sessions, which often lasted several hours, also included a shaman drum . In Evenk's imagination, the so-called “journey to the hereafter” led to contact with the three world gods with special animals (eagle, reindeer, bear) that serve as auxiliary spirits.
In the 19th century, parts of the Evenks were proselytized. In doing so, they adopted certain Russian Orthodox elements (marriage, baptism, forms of burial) into their culture. Other parts of the Evenks were influenced by Mongolian Tibetan Buddhism . Part of the Evenks has given up religious traditions as a result of Soviet modernization.
politics
In Russia, the Evenks are assigned to the group of indigenous peoples of the Russian north, Siberia and the Russian Far East , which are organized in the umbrella organization RAIPON . With its member association in the autonomous district of Evenkia "Arun" (Арун) in Russia a dedicated ewenkische self-organization based in exists Tura , which is however only active in this region. In the other regions (including Yakutia , Buryatia , Sakhalin ), the Evenks are represented by regional indigenous peoples' associations, which unite all indigenous ethnic groups of a region on a territorial basis.
Population numbers, areas of distribution
Russian Federation
According to the 2002 census, there were 35,527 Evenks in Russia.
Administrative unit | Evenks according to the 2002 census |
---|---|
Sakha Republic (Yakutia) | 18,232 |
Krasnoyarsk Territory | 4,632 |
Autonomous circle of the Evenks | 3,802 |
Khabarovsk region | 4,533 |
Amur Oblast | 1,501 |
Sakhalin Oblast | 243 |
Buryatia | 2,334 |
Irkutsk Oblast | 1,431 |
Transbaikalia region | 1,492 |
Tomsk Oblast | 103 |
Tyumen Oblast | 109 |
Mongolia
In the state of Mongolia there are several thousand Evenks who are largely assimilated by Mongolia.
China
According to the last census (2010), 30,960 Evenks live in the People's Republic of China , of which around 200 are reindeer Evenks. The majority is made up of the so-called "Solonic" and the Bargu-Evenks. In 1990, 88.8% of China's Evenks were resident in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and 9.77% in Heilongjiang Province . Some Evenk tribes were united in the early 1950s at their own request to form an independent nationality, the Oroqen .
In the administrative area of the district-free city of Hulun Buir , in the extreme northeast of Inner Mongolia, there are the following administrative divisions of the Evenks:
- Autonomous banner of the Evenks ;
- Evenk nationality community Samagir : 2596 km², 8,722 inhabitants, of which 321 Evenks; belongs to the independent city of Zalantun ;
- Evenk nationality community Olguya (敖 魯古雅 鄂溫克 民族鄉): 1,096 km², 498 inhabitants, of which 219 Evenks; belongs to the independent city of Genhe ;
- Daurian and Evenk nationality community Yinhe (音 河 達斡爾 鄂溫克 民族鄉): 558 km², 12,575 inhabitants, of which 1,051 Daur and Evenks; belongs to the Arun banner ;
- Evenk nationality community Chabaqi (查 巴奇 鄂溫克 民族鄉): 726 km², 13,196 inhabitants, of which 687 Evenks; belongs to the Arun banner;
- Evenk nationality community Deliqir (德 力 其 爾 鄂溫克 民族鄉): 340 km², 12,474 inhabitants, including 156 Evenks; belongs to the Arun banner;
- Evenk nationalities sum (鄂溫克 民族 蘇木): 6,037 km², 2,470 inhabitants, of which 1,589 Evenks; belongs to the old bargu banner ;
- Evenk nationality community Dular (杜拉爾 鄂溫克 民族鄉): 529 km², 7,039 inhabitants, of which 616 Evenks; belongs to the autonomous banner Morin Dawa der Daur;
- Evenk nationality community Bayan (巴彥 鄂溫克 民族鄉): 1,500 km², 13,499 inhabitants, of which 1,260 Evenks; belongs to the autonomous banner Morin Dawa der Daur.
In the administrative area of the city of Qiqihar , in the northwest of Heilongjiang Province, the Evenks are divided as follows:
- Municipality of Xingwang der Evenks (興旺 鄂溫克 族 鄉): 174.7 km², 12,618 inhabitants, of which 594 Evenks; belongs to the independent city of Nehe .
Distribution at the provincial level according to the data of the 2010 census (reference date November 1, 2010)
area | number | proportion of |
---|---|---|
People's Republic of China | 30,960 | 100.00% |
Inner Mongolia | 26,139 | 84.43% |
Heilongjiang | 2,648 | 8.55% |
Liaoning | 448 | 1.45% |
Beijing | 433 | 1.40% |
Shandong | 220 | 0.71% |
Hebei | 172 | 0.56% |
Tianjin | 130 | 0.42% |
Jilin | 104 | 0.34% |
Guangdong | 92 | 0.30% |
VBA | 85 | 0.275% |
Shanghai | 63 | 0.20% |
Jiangsu | 49 | 0.16% |
Guangxi | 46 | 0.15% |
Zhejiang | 40 | 0.13% |
Sichuan | 30th | 0.10% |
Shanxi | 26th | 0.08% |
Xinjiang | 26th | 0.08% |
Chongqing | 25th | 0.08% |
Hubei | 24 | 0.08% |
Shaanxi | 24 | 0.08% |
Henan | 23 | 0.07% |
Yunnan | 23 | 0.07% |
Jiangxi | 19th | 0.06% |
Fujian | 16 | 0.05% |
Hainan | 14th | 0.05% |
Gansu | 13 | 0.04% |
Anhui | 11 | 0.04% |
Ningxia | 7th | 0.02% |
Qinghai | 5 | 0.02% |
Hunan | 4th | 0.01% |
Guizhou | 1 | 0.003% |
Tibet | 0 | 0.00% |
Distribution areas at district level (2000 census)
Only values above 0.40% were taken into account.
superior provincial level | superior district level | Banner, city, district, municipality | Number of Evenks | % of all Evenks in China |
---|---|---|---|---|
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Autonomous banner of the Evenks | 9,733 | 31.91% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Autonomous banner Morin Dawa the Daur | 5.126 | 16.8% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Oroqenic Autonomous Banner | 3,155 | 10.34% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Arun banner | 2.144 | 7.03% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Old bargu banner | 1,906 | 6.25% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | City of Zalantun | 1,201 | 3.94% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Hailar municipality | 971 | 3.18% |
Province of Heilongjiang | Qiqihar City | City of Nehe | 778 | 2.55% |
Province of Heilongjiang | Heihe city | district Nenjiang | 678 | 2.22% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | Yakeshi City | 405 | 1.33% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | City of Genhe | 369 | 1.21% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hohhot | Saihan District | 158 | 0.52% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hulun Buir | City of Manjur | 141 | 0.46% |
Province of Heilongjiang | Qiqihar City | District Meilisi Daur District of Daur | 135 | 0.44% |
Province of Heilongjiang | RB Great Hinggan Mountains | Jagdaqi | 129 | 0.42% |
AG Inner Mongolia | City of Hohhot | Xincheng District | 128 | 0.42% |
literature
- F. Georg Heyne: The Social Significance of the Shaman among the Chinese Reindeer-Evenki. In: Asian Folklore Studies. Vol. 58, No. 2, 1999, pp. 377-395
- F. Georg Heyne: Women who control spirits: Spirits and shamans among the reindeer Evenks in the Great Hinggan Mountains (northeast China). In: Anthropos. Volume 98, Issue 2, 2003, pp. 319-340
Movie
- The Evenks in Siberia. Documentary, Germany, 2012, 43 min., Script and director: Kristian Kähler, production: fernsehbüro, Saarländischer Rundfunk , arte , series: Vergierter Völker, first broadcast: February 20, 2013 on arte, summary by ARD .
- The boy and the wolf. Feature film, France 2009-2010; 100 min., With Nicolas Brioudes, Pom Klementieff and Min Man Ma in the leading roles.
Web links
- Ingo Nentwig : Reminiscences About the Reindeer Herders of China
- Evenks in China
- Evenks in China , informative website in Chinese.
- Evenk Autonomous Region (Siberia)
- Information on the Evenk area from the Scott Polar Research Institute
- Brief description from the "Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire"
Individual evidence
- ↑ online ( Memento from November 21, 2004 in the Internet Archive )