Itelmenen
.png)
The Itelmens are an indigenous group of the Paleosiberians who mainly settle in the Kamchatka region .
The name of this ethnic group means "live here", it comprises 3193 people (2010) .
Culture
Historical
They originally settled from the southern tip ( Cape Lopatka ) and the east coast of Kamchatka north to the Tigil River and west to the Uka . The old Itelmen settlements were located on the rivers Kamchatka (Uykoal '), Jelowka (Kooch), Bolschaja , Bystraja , Avacha and the coasts of Avacha Bay (near Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky ). The Itelmens' living space is described as an Ostrog , which initially consisted of a family and has grown over time. The type of housing depended on the seasons and differed in winter and summer apartments. The winter apartments were called Ambaren and consisted of half-buried huts. You spent there from the beginning of November to the beginning of April. The summer apartments, on the other hand, were built on stilts and were called balagans . Due to their height and good ventilation, these buildings were also used as provisions stores.
In summer, the life of the Itelmen took place on and on the water. They moved in log-like canoes made from a poplar trunk. They fished with nets woven from nettles, harpooned or set up fish traps . Some of the fish were dried, others kept in special holes. The lack of salt allowed only small storage. The hunt for fur - and meat production also had great economic importance. The hunted animal species were red fox , sable and snow sheep ; on the coast sea lions , seals and sea otters .
The clothes of the Itelmenen were made of sable fur , fox fur , snow goat or dog fur . Georg Wilhelm Steller , the Kamchatka traveled in the first half of the 18th century, wrote: "The most beautiful Kukhlyankas ( anoraks ) are decorated on the collar, sleeves and hem with dog fur, the caftan (short reindeer skin - overalls ) is hung with hundreds of red painted sealskin -Quasten which are swinging around with every movement. "
The Itelmenen used a lot of fish in their food, preferably baked (chuprik), and fish cutlets (tael'no), ate the sprouts of Shelamannik ( Kamchatka meadowsweet ), Morkovnik ( Filipendium maxim) and Puchka ( Heracleum dulce), the latter before it had burning properties accepts. Against scurvy were cedar cones and dried salmon - caviar taken with some tea. Their food has been flavored with seal fat. The Itelmenen women had the custom of wearing wigs. Whoever owned the largest and most beautiful wigs received the most attention. Therefore, they wore their own hair very short.
present
The dying Itelmen language forms the Kamchadal branch of the Chukchi-Kamchadal languages . The centuries of Russian influence on the Itelmens and other small peoples of Siberia has led to a far- reaching culturally Russification . In contrast, the Soviet Union decided in 1989 to take far-reaching measures to stop or reverse this process: mother-tongue school classes were set up to preserve the language. Training programs for hunting and fur farming have been initiated. These laws were adopted by the Russian state in December 1991 after the collapse of the Soviet Union. Indeed, today people are turning back to old customs and traditions. There is a return to the original roots of the Itelmen culture. Nevertheless, the situation of the people today is difficult due to the ongoing economic crisis in Russia: Basically, life is rather poor, there is hardly any support from the government. Fishing (especially in the form of subsistence farming ) continues to play an important role. There are few opportunities for monetary income, among other things the guidance of (hunting) tourists contributes to this.
religion
Until the Christianization by the Russian Orthodox Church (beginning in the 17th century, but not worth mentioning until the end of the 19th century), so-called “classical shamanism” was the ethnic religion of the Ilelmens. The ethnologist Klaus E. Müller speaks of "elementary shamanism" and means the most archaic form of this spiritual practice, which was typical of Siberian ethnic groups, in which the hunt played a prominent role in cultural terms. According to the Itelmen religion, a raven named Kutka was considered the creator of all things, and many rites that were supposed to affect their economies were also associated with animals. The shaman was in close contact with the spiritual beings. He could explain calamities, heal illnesses, interpret dreams and tell about the souls of the dead. When adults died, they were exposed to the dogs, while children were placed in hollow trees.
Christianization only took place superficially among many remote peoples of Siberia, so that syncretistic mixed religions are common today.
Political status
Politically, the Itelmen are part of the group of indigenous peoples of the Russian north, Siberia and the Russian Far East , which are organized in the umbrella organization RAIPON . Its task is to represent the rights and interests of the indigenous peoples on an international level. So far only moderate successes have been achieved, which is why ethnic independence and an ecologically intact living space are by no means guaranteed. The unhindered use of the land as a source of food and income is of great importance to the Itelmens, as the Kamchatka Peninsula has the highest cost of living in Russia.
The regional association of the Itelmens Kamchatkas is called "Tchsanom" and is primarily committed to the land rights of the indigenous people.
literature
- Georg Wilhelm Steller : Description of the country Kamchatka . Unchangeable Reprint of the 1774 in Frankfurt, 1793 in St. Petersburg a. Works first published in Halle in 1753 ( PDF of the new edition from 2013 ).
- Erich Kasten : Salmon catch and bear dance: The Itelmenen 250 years after their description by Georg Wilhelm Steller . Bonn: Holos-Verlag, 1996. ISBN 3-86097-139-5 ( PDF ).
- Erich Kasten : "Steller and the Itelmens - The importance of his work for ethnological research and for indigenous initiatives to preserve cultural heritage among the Itelmens." In: Erich Kasten and Michael Dürr (eds.) Georg Wilhelm Steller: Description of the land of Kamchatka. 2013, Fürstenberg / Havel: Siberian Cultural Foundation. ISBN 978-3-942883-86-3 ( PDF ).
See also
Web links
- The Korjaks, the Itelmenen report of the radio station "Voice of Russia"
- Program information for the documentary on Arte about the Itelmen, the indigenous people of the Kamchatka Peninsula
- The Itelmen - a people from the Kamchatka Peninsula in the Far East of Russia (links to multimedia and literature about the Itelmen in the portal Digital Humanities of the North)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Hartmut Motz: Languages and Peoples of the Earth - Linguistic-Ethnographic Lexicon. 1st edition, Volume 1, Projekt-Verlag Cornelius, Halle 2007, ISBN 978-3-86634-368-9 . P. 420.
- ↑ [URL https://www.gfbv.de/de/news/indigene-voelker-im-norden-russlands-und-sibiriens-174/ .] In: Information of the Society for Threatened Peoples South Tyrol, from Die kleine Völker des far north and far east of Russia. A current situation report with a historical and ethnographic introduction , Bozen 1998, accessed on September 15, 2019.
- ^ Nikolai Fjodorowitsch Katanow : Christianization of the indigenous peoples of Siberia. Translation of the publication of the Ministry of Education of the Khakassky State University on bildungsstoffen.com, accessed June 30, 2015.
- ↑ Klaus E. Müller: Shamanism. Healers, spirits, rituals. 4th edition, CH Beck, Munich 2010 (original edition 1997), ISBN 978-3-406-41872-3 . Pp. 29-33.
- ↑ The small peoples of the far north and far east of Russia. Society for Threatened Peoples - South Tyrol, Bozen 1998.