So, the most frequent question that I am asked about Yakutia is: how does technology behave in such a frost?
Everything is clear with machines. They are not jammed. If you drown it, then you won't start it later. A constantly running engine burns gasoline for 1,500 rubles a day, if you don't drive too much. To save money, people rent warm garages (15,000 rubles) or, as I wrote in previous reports, they cover the car with a warm Natasha cover - in this case, the engine can be started once an hour for several minutes to maintain the temperature. If the car is frozen, then it's okay: in Yakutia there is a special service, when people come to you with a heat gun, cover the car with an awning and warm it up. It costs from 1,500 to 3,000 rubles. But the wheels, if you leave the car in the cold for a long time, become square, and at first the car drives like on a bad road.
The camera is simple. I had a Nikon D5 with a 2500 mAh Li-ion battery. For 2 days and about 1000 shots, he sat down by 20%. Even a few hours in -40 frost did not prevent him from activating the shutter. In general, "Nikon" showed itself excellently, the characteristics of the camera did not change in the cold.
I shot the video with Sony FDR-X3000. Her batteries were simpler, and in the cold they were enough for 3-5 minutes, after which the camera died, and the batteries were sent to warm up in gloves.
"IPhone" also does not hold much in the cold, even in your pocket.
As for the people, the frost does not bother much. The locals, of course, are used to it. At first, it is difficult for an untrained person to speak, since every breath burns, but then you get used to it! The main thing is to dress warmly.
01. Aeroflot's flight lands early in the morning, the difference with Moscow is 6 hours, just like in Japan. 
02. The Yakutsk airport is in the fog, everything is in the fog here due to frost! The captain of the aircraft happily reports that it is -45 overboard, and the weather is good. 
03. You can't see anything in the city, at all. I don’t understand at all how people drive here. At the same time, the locals say that this is not yet a heavy fog, everything happens in milk. 
04. Yakutsk is covered with fog usually during severe frosts, although in summer and autumn this is also not a rare occurrence. This is facilitated by the location of the city, which stands in the Tuymaada valley. 
05. It can be difficult to overtake someone on the highway, because the exhaust gases turn into a permanent cloud behind the car, because of which nothing is visible. 
06. Cars drive carefully, and people, taking advantage of the sluggishness of the drivers, cross the road anywhere. 
07. The fog goes to Yakutsk. The city itself is not particularly interesting. Instead of developing as a distinctive tourist center, Yakutsk has collected all the mistakes of Russian urban planning. There are random buildings, an abundance of inappropriate advertising, and squalid courtyards. 
08. But because of the fog all this horror is not visible. I'm afraid to come in the summer;) 
09. Gasoline prices 
10. Yakut 
11. The main monument of the city, which reminds that Yakutia is not Russia! 
12. All wires, houses, trees are covered with a layer of frost, it lasts until spring. 
13. Because of this, the city is very elegant all winter. 
14. By the way, if you go a little higher, the fog dissipates. 
15. Original naming) Unlike other national republics, most Yakuts have ordinary Russian names and surnames. You make an appointment with some Ivan Vasilyevich Egorov and think of seeing a Russian peasant, but no! 
16. As I said, Yakutsk does not hesitate to collect and reproduce the mistakes of modern Russian cities. 
17. Live announcements 
18. Another local feature 
19. There is much more frost on bushes and trees near intersections due to exhaust fumes. 
20. Last time I wrote that in Yakutsk they don't think about people and don't make warm stops. In fact, they think, and they started making stops! They are simply combined with shops, but I did not immediately notice. There are several rows of chairs at the bus stop. 
21. The screen shows the arrival time of the bus. 
22. Another monitor displays the image from the camera so that you can see when your bus has come and you can get off. An interesting solution, I have not seen this before. 
23. With transport, unfortunately, everything is sad. Almost everywhere miserable grooves. 
24. And there are few warm stops, basically everything looks like this: 
25. And so: 
27. As in Kazakhstan, in Yakutia they like to make steps into buildings of polished stone or slippery tiles, and then lay a carpet. It would be cool if not miserable Soviet rugs were laid, but bright carpets with a national pattern. I suggest the Yakutsk City Hall to invite artists (there are many of them in Yakutsk itself), to make a corporate print and order unique carpets. It will be cool - the Kazakhs will be jealous! 
28. Frost covers not only trees, but also buildings and pillars. 
29. But pedestrians are not covered. 
30. Sign 
31. In winter, the roads are sprinkled with sand, which makes the city very dirty in spring. 
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34. Yakutsk is an important port on the Lena River. Since there are very few roads and railways in the vast region, and flights are very expensive, river transport is indispensable. 
35. In winter, when the rivers are frozen, ships are repaired, replacing the old worn out metal with a new and durable one. 
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40. Most of the ships are put on special pedestals for repair. 
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43. Some vessels remained on the water and "froze" into the river. 
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45. To repair them, the freezing technique is used. 
46. \u200b\u200bFor this, ice cubes are periodically cut around the area of \u200b\u200bthe vessel to which access is needed. When the ice surface hardens, the next layer is cut, etc. In the end, you get such an ice niche in which you can repair the ship. 
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49. And this is an ice slide in a cave that was once a storage facility for the State Reserve. It was dug in the late 1980s for strategic purposes. True, not gold was stored here, but food. 
50. Ice figures of a woolly rhinoceros and a cave lion, which were once found in the territory of Yakutia. 
51. This is Chishan's throne room. And Chishan is the Yakut Santa Claus. 
52. Besides the rhino and the cave lion, I met Zhirinovsky here. 
53. Wernick rests on an ice bed 
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56. Picturesque Yakutsk 
57. It's a pity, but it's time to fly away! 
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“Anyone you meet, if he notices signs of frostbite (white spots on the skin) on your face, will definitely warn you about it!”
But cinema is not the only entertainment in the city, there is more State Circus of the RS (Y) (Poyarkova st., 22) - the northernmost circus on the planet! But this is not his main merit. It so happened that the Yakut acrobats are considered one of the best in the world. And all because during the formation of the circus, local artists were sent to study acrobatic skills in China. And now the Yakut circus, already well-known, without exaggeration, to the whole world, boasts many international awards and a busy touring schedule. It is good that the troupe does not forget about performances in their small homeland.
If the cultural life of the city has captured you and won't let you go, go to the performance at the Yakut Academic Theater - Sakha Theater (Ordzhonikidze st., 1) ... The performances here are in the Yakut language with synchronous Russian dubbing into headphones. They range from contemporary local writers to translated Shakespeare. Choose performances based on traditional Yakut epics (olonkho) and enjoy Sakha culture and delightful national costumes. Moreover, olonkho is included in the UNESCO Intangible Heritage List.
Well, if the picture of life in Yakutia has not yet formed in my head, watch a clip from a local project "ZLOI MAMBET" that blew up Youtube a few years ago. By the way, mambet is a dirty word, as city residents call the Yakuts who came from the villages, who speak Russian very badly or do not at all. People more intelligently call them "ulusniks" (the territory of Yakutia is divided into uluses, that is, districts). But in fact, and in another case, both words addressed to the Yakut foreshadow a fight.
And yet, in any case, the Yakut people will immediately recognize you as a visitor, but if you want to imitate the local population, remember the main rule! In Yakutia, they do not speak Yakuts and Unts, but Yakuts and Unts.
What to do in the summer?
White nights, hairs and swimming in Lena - this is how you can fully describe the Yakut summer. For those who are afraid of frost in the warm season, Yakutia also has something to do. The main thing is not to forget your swimsuit and sunscreen!
Fans of St. Petersburg white nights should visit summer Yakutia and understand that in the Northern capital they were cruelly deceived and none of the nights in St. Petersburg are white! In the summer months (June-July) in Yakutsk it is absolutely the same light at night as during the day, and there is no hint of twilight. Time can only be distinguished by the sun - at night it hides behind the horizon and does not fry, which is enough urine, which means you can safely walk around the city.
"The hairsters slowly circle over their prey and dive in an instant, clinging tightly to clothes or getting tangled in their hair."
In the daytime, in hot + 35 ° С, the streets are empty, only flocks of hair-gnats fly. With a pitch-black body and long whiskers, these large tree beetles are a real challenge for the nervous system. Although they gnaw holes in clothes and can bite when landing on a naked body, they are more afraid of them because of their terrible appearance. They often move singly or in pairs, but sometimes the sky is covered by black clouds of beetles. Hair bites slowly circle over their prey and dive in an instant, grabbing clothes tightly or entangled in hair. Little life hack - these creepy bugs mostly sit on light-colored clothes and loose hair.
Most of the summer entertainment in Yakutsk is associated with the Lena River. You can walk along the promenade from Old town (Ammosova st., 6/1) - a whole block with restored historical buildings, up to the dam in 202 microdistrict. There is also a beach here. Of course, the quality of water within the city is poor, but the city's main beach is actively monitored by public utilities. And it is pleasant to run here a couple of times a day and plunge into the cold Lena water. As a rule, in the morning and in the evening, when the heat subsides, there is nowhere for an apple to fall on the beach! On weekends, the Yakutians prefer to go swimming “on the Lena” outside the city to equipped or wild beaches.
If in extreme heat you cannot bring yourself to go far from the river, get on the ship and take a ride to the main attraction of Yakutia - the national park "Lena Pillars"... The journey will take a couple of days, most cruises depart on weekends. The most popular motor ships on the route are "Demyan Poor" and "Mikhail Svetlov" from Lenaturflot... In addition, many small companies can take you to Stolby by speedboat. In any case, you will pay for the trip as for a flight to Moscow. Tickets can be purchased at the River Port (Novoportovskaya St., 1).
Well, where in Yakutia without snow and ice, even in summer! On the other bank of the Lena River in the Kangalassky ulus there is a huge and snow-white buluus glacier... Translated from Yakut, Buluus means glacier. You can get here on your own by car or by joining one of the excursion minivans. The trip will take a whole day. On site, you can wander along the glacier, taste the water from an underground source and even swim. A separate pleasure is crossing the Lena. The river is so wide that you can't see the other bank. So, standing in the scorching Yakut sun, you can imagine that you are at sea ... Laptevs.
Well, to finish, or, on the contrary, start, your summer Yakut trip should be celebrated by the local “new year”! Ysyakh [isekh] - the main holiday of the Yakuts, traditionally celebrated on the day of the summer solstice. Now the date of Ysyakh is chosen annually from June 10 to 25 and approved by a special decree. One thing is invariable: the holiday takes place in nature, begins on Saturday morning and lasts all day and all night. In Yakutsk, the place of celebration is Ust-Khatyn. On this day, almost all residents of nearby settlements come here, and city streets are dying out. Yakuts in Ysyakh wear national costumes, sing and dance a traditional circular dance - osuokhai [asokhai] and drink kumis (a drink made from mare's milk). It also hosts many concerts, exhibitions, equestrian and sports competitions. At the same time, they compete in traditional yakut sports : hapsagai wrestling and various styles of national jumping.
"Fans of St. Petersburg white nights should visit summer Yakutia and understand that in the Northern capital they were cruelly deceived and none of the nights in St. Petersburg are white!"
Yakut cuisine: stay alive
The basis of the diet in Yakutia is all kinds of fish caught in the Lena and many other northern rivers. Almost all meat is imported from abroad. Vegetables and fruits are tense even in summer. Most of them are brought from China and often they are completely inedible. The prices for food here are higher than the national average, and for vegetables / fruits are 3 times higher than the average, if not more. This is due to the lack of a railway to Yakutsk and a bridge across the Lena, therefore, all cargo is delivered to the city by airplanes or trucks. The last ones only in summer with a crossing over the river or along the winter road.
But the fish in Yakutia is amazing, you won't find it anywhere else in the world! It is sold in three states: raw / frozen (€ 12 / kg), smoked backs - balyk (€ 15 / kg) and tosha - smoked or salted bellies. For fish or just for an excursion, go to the largest gastronomic market in the capital - "Peasant" (Yakutsk, Lermontov st., 62/2, block A) ... Inside the covered pavilion, smoked and salted fish, local milk and vegetables / fruits are sold. There are rows of frozen fish on the street in winter, and fruit stalls open in summer.
"The most delicious dishes are served frozen almost on ice."
It seems that there is nothing better after a cold winter day to go to a warm restaurant and try something from the Yakut cuisine. So, to keep warm, and the soul turned around! I will disappoint you, the most delicious dishes are served here frozen almost on ice.
The most popular and immensely beloved local dish of Yakut cuisine is stroganina. She herself is ready to give half a kingdom or a couple of tens of euros for him! As a rule, it is prepared from ice fishing fish, which immediately freezes in the cold for 10 seconds. There is also stroganin from raw foal or its liver, but there are much fewer fans of this option. In both cases, frozen fish or meat is sliced \u200b\u200binto thin slices using a "Yakut knife". In extreme cases, you can do with a large household blade with a well-sharpened blade. The main thing is to eat the dish before it melts. Stroganin, of course, is served in any restaurant in winter. At home, as a rule, a huge fish is bought in December and gradually planed over the course of winter. Store fish outdoors or on the balcony. If, during storage or cooking, it even melts a little, they do not make slicing more of it.
Indigirka salad is a light version of stroganina for the fastidious. In fact, this is finely chopped frozen ice fishing fish, lightly sprinkled with vinegar, mixed with onions. In restaurants, it is prepared from nelma or omul, and at home it is often made from freshly frozen herring. By the way, in Yakutia, freshly frozen herring is eaten just like that, eating bread.
If a raw food diet is not at all yours and it is already sickening to look at frozen dishes without heat treatment, order stuffed carp! Now I will teach you to eat them correctly. First, you pick up the ribs with a fork, then you eat porridge made of rice and crucian caviar, which is stuffed with fish, then you finish the meat from the ridge. And here comes the moment of the gourmet part - carp tongue!
At this point, I stop tormenting you with strange Yakut dishes, take a break and have a snack with oyogos. Despite the unreliable name, this is just a boiled foal. More precisely, foal ribs. By the way, foal is extremely useful meat, they say, it absorbs radiation and removes radionuclides from the body.
Well, for dessert, you can again take a frozen dish of whipped cream with berries or jam. In the people it is called "monkeys", and in the restaurant menu it is called "kerch". There is another similar dessert made from frozen butter whipped with milk - chohoon. And you can wash it all down with traditional Yakut kumis. However, be careful in strong kumis up to 4.5% alcohol. Bon Appetit!
* This place should have a tourist slogan for Yakutia, but it has not yet been invented!
What to wear?
If you decide to go to Oymyakon in winter, the advice is obvious. Take all the warmest that is in your wardrobe, put it aside and buy clothes twice as warm!
AT last years technologies are developing at a rapid pace and it is already possible to easily replace 2 pairs of leggings / underpants with one set of thermal underwear, and a fur coat with a warm down jacket. The only thing is that everything worn close to the body should be made of natural materials. Be sure to take a pair of woolen sweaters (most likely, you will wear them together at once), 2 pairs of woolen mittens (they are also put on each other), a large scarf that can cover your entire face, and warm socks.
Yakutians still prefer to dress in furs. Among outerwear, fur coats and sheepskin coats predominate, in a mink in the harsh Yakut winter you will definitely freeze. Young people are increasingly switching to down jackets. For the trip, look for jackets with at least fabric lining. In the cold, synthetics freeze and stand with a stake, which means that in such a jacket you will move around the streets like a robot.
“Take all the warmest that is in your wardrobe, put it aside and buy clothes 2 times warmer!”
As for footwear, fur boots with felt soles prevail here. Women's models are decorated with beaded patterns, while men's ones look pretty strict. Traditional high fur boots are sewn from reindeer skins and cost from € 230 per pair. The price directly depends on the quality of the fur, dressing and sewing with beads. A dark color is especially appreciated, if there are white blotches on the pile, then the cost of high fur boots decreases. The most famous local fur shoes manufacturer - factory "Sardaana" (Yakutsk, st.Kirova, 7) ... In city shops and in the Chinese market "Metropolitan" (Yakutsk, street Dzerzhinsky, 72) You can also buy horse boots with long fur pile, which cost 2 times cheaper, or a torbaza - shoes similar to high fur boots with felt soles made of sheepskin, which will cost € 80-90.
Of course, if you are not driving in the coldest season, you can get by with leather shoes. Only it should be insulated with natural fur, you will still have to wear it with woolen socks. In severe frosts, the rubber sole often bursts, and you can be left not only without shoes, but also without legs. In general, in winter you don't walk around the city much in leather shoes, the cold binds your legs pretty quickly.
And remember, never, never, never blink in the cold! It is likely that next time you will be able to open your eyes only by going into a warm room and melting the frozen snow and ice on your eyelashes.
How to get there?
The administrative and cultural center of Yakutia is located in its capital, the city of Yakutsk. Direct flights from Moscow airlines fly here Aeroflot, S7 and Yakutia... From October to April, there are often huge sales and you can fly with a 70% discount. You will spend 6.5 hours in the air.
The very village of Oymyakon is located 683 km from Yakutsk. From April to October the regional airline's maize flies there Polar Airlines... The flight time is 2.5 hours, and the prices are comparable to the tickets Moscow-Yakutsk. Be careful, flights to Oymyakon depart from the small airport "Magan".
In winter, the only way to get to Oymyakon is to find a driver in Yakutsk. The most popular local portal will help you with this - ykt.ru ... You will have to drive about 930 km along the Kolyma highway, which is also called the Road on Bones. In addition to the fact that it is cold on the street and on the way you will not meet a single settlement, the road beyond the village of Khandyga passes through the Verkhoyansk Mountains with cliffs, clamps and other delights. In case something happens to the car on the way, the drivers take firewood and vodka with them! In general, even before arriving at the Pole of Cold, there will be more than enough extreme.
, vov.baranov, Alexander ChebanDespite the fact that the Tunguses took part in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, the relations between them were not friendly, even mutual marriages were forbidden. The religion of the Tungus was much more severe than that of the Yakuts.
What food was considered valuable and what was "unclean"
The most valuable product was horse meat. Local cattle were hardy and cold-resistant, but milked only in summer. This refers to cow's milk and horse milk - kumis. In the north, deer were bred.
From cow's milk they made curdled milk - "suorat", it was frozen for the winter, adding berries, roots, meat. In winter, they chopped off and cooked on this basis soup - "butugas".
The diet included game and fish. One of the methods of hunting was the use of a grazing bull, behind which the hunter was hiding. The same technique was used by the North American Indians. The Yakuts knew how to hunt on horseback and using dogs.
For fishing, two types of boats were used: wooden flat-bottomed boats and birch bark boats, which were called “tyy”. From them they caught with nets or nets. Sometimes they arranged a collective passage with a seine; the booty was divided equally among all participants. In winter, we practiced ice fishing through an ice hole. The fish was eaten raw or cooked, frozen in reserve or fermented in pits.
The Yakuts were engaged in the collection and preparation of forest gifts: sorrel, wild garlic, various roots, and even the inner layer of tree bark. Berries were harvested less, and raspberries were not used at all: they were considered unclean.
Blacksmiths in animal skins
Blacksmith-Yakut, 1902. (from the archives of the Jesup North-Pacific Expedition).
Before the arrival of the Russians, the Yakuts dressed mainly in skins: spinning, weaving and felting were not used. Fabrics were imported goods and were worn by the wealthiest members of the family.
Horsehair was actively used: cords, ropes, lassos, fishing nets were woven from it, they were embroidered with it.
Clothes, especially for women, were decorated with embroidery and appliqué.
Wood and mammoth carvings were practiced.
A characteristic motif used in the ornaments is bull's horns. This is a very ancient symbol, it is found throughout Eurasia: in Mesopotamia, in Crete, in India, in Spain, in Scandinavia ...
The Yakut people were good at blacksmithing. They searched for ore, smelted and minted items from various metals: iron, copper, silver. Horse harness, weapons, belts, clothing were decorated with silver, gold and copper embossing. Women wore earrings, rings, chains, bracelets, all kinds of beautiful pendants.
Weapons before the arrival of the Russians consisted of a bow with arrows and spears.
Unlike most Siberian peoples, the Yakuts made not only metal and leather utensils, but also molded ceramics.
The Yakuts prepared hay for their livestock for the winter, using the pink salmon braid, which they knew even before the arrival of the Russians. The unit of measurement of the land was "kyu-ryuyo" - the area that was required to create one haystack.
In Russia, the Lithuanian braid (which is mowed with a straightened back) began to come into use in the XIV century, among the Yakuts - in the XVII, with the arrival of Russians in Siberia.
How to get through the taiga
Most of the movements took place on horseback. Local horses are small, very hardy and unpretentious, accustomed to rough terrain. In winter, the Yakuts used skis similar to the Russians. The difference consisted in the fact that in Russia they were knocked out with the skin from the shin of an elk, and in Yakutia - with the skin of a deer or horse.
Bulls were used as beasts of burden and draft animals. In winter they were harnessed to a special sled "silis syarga" with runners made of crooked tree trunks. Reindeer were harnessed to the sleigh, their runners were made straight.
Yakut house: what do the Yakuts have in common with the Normans
The house was called "yurt", it had a complex internal structure. It was a settled dwelling, not a nomadic one. The frame was made of poles, the summer yurt was covered with stitched birch bark, the winter - with a log flooring. The top of the building was covered with turf, which grew together and gave additional protection from cold and moisture. The outer part of the walls was built of turf and filled with clay. Living quarters, a warehouse, workshops and a barn were united under one roof. The buildings were oriented to the cardinal points. The entrance has always been in the east.
In the far right corner, a hearth was made - "dry". In winter, he was constantly drowned. There were long oron benches along the walls. The shop to the left of the entrance was for young men and workers. Women and children were housed near the hearth. The most honorable was the shop running along the left (south wall). Where this wall ended, there was a sacred corner, where objects related to religion were placed.
Similar houses have survived in Greenland since the Norman colonization. Another reason to remember the sources that the Scandinavians came from Asia.
Brides from distant lands
Until the 19th century, polygamy was adopted. Each wife had her own yurt and household. It was customary to choose a bride in a different way and preferably even in a different ulus.
For the bride, kalym was brought in, consisting mainly of cattle, some of which were slaughtered for the wedding feast. The groom received a dowry, including utensils, furs and household items. A fur coat for women was a particularly expensive item and was inherited.
At the wedding, songs-legends about ancestors, love lyrics, fairy tales (including those about animals), comic songs like Russian ditties were performed. Individual storytellers "olonkhosut" specialized in the performance of heroic legends: they sang in the technique of throat falsetto polyphony - with the effect of two voices. Among musical instruments there was a jew's harp, strings and percussion instruments.
The dances were both general - round dance and personal.
How slavery looked like among the Yakuts
A prisoner of war, a poor relative, or a child sold into slavery could become a slave. All of these options were very common. The aristocratic slaveholders were called toyons. Slaves made up their military detachment, grazed cattle, did housework. The slave had the right to a family and a separate yurt.
Multi-tiered world and souls of dead shamans
According to the faith of the Yakuts, the world has nine tiers, in which creatures live, invisible in the human world, but having a great influence on it. Horses were sacrificed to the spirits of the upper levels, and cows were sacrificed to the spirits of the lower ones.
The Yakuts believed in the spirits of their ancestors, who were divided into the dead righteously and unrighteously and behaved in accordance with this after death. The souls of deceased shamans had great posthumous power. The existence of spirits - the masters of various natural objects was recognized. One of the most important was the cult of the female goddess of fertility.
Shamans were in charge of religious issues: both men and women. Their tambourines are not round, but oval - "dungyur".
Elements of totemism have survived to this day: each genus has a patron animal, which is forbidden to kill and call by name. Each shaman had a twin animal that he could transform into.
Cathedral of the Transfiguration of the Lord in Yakutsk.
The Yakuts began to accept Orthodoxy in the 18th century. A large cross was added to the usual silver jewelry. In the sacred corner of the yurt, apart from the protective symbols of good spirits, icons appeared.
I have been to those places in the 70s of the last, XX century
I am familiar with the living conditions in the Arctic and it is difficult to shock me with anything. I will tell you only two episodes:
They killed the deer. Raised on board with a davit. There was a Yakut in the team. He takes an ax, cuts the skull around the horns, throws them aside, scoops up the brains with bloody palms and eats them. Many of those who stood nearby were shocked and began to burp. When I asked - why did he do that? Yakut answered calmly;
However, smart will be like a deer!
Another time we went to the fishermen in the lower reaches of the Lena River to exchange vodka for fish. We were surrounded by armed Yakuts and were not released from the boat, while our handsome navigator was invited to a yurt and forced to have sex with a Yakut under the barrel of a carbine. After that, our boat was loaded with fish and pushed away from the shore.
When I shouted why did they do that? Yakut answered;
However, I want my son as big, strong and with blue eyes !!!
In the northeast of Siberia, before the arrival of the Russians, cattle breeders occupied a prominent place in terms of the level of development of culture and number among other tribes yakuts (Sakha) ... By the time the Russians arrived, the main group of Yakuts inhabited the triangle formed by the middle reaches of the Lena, Aldan and Amgoy. Small groups of them lived on the rivers Yana, Olekma, at the mouth of the Vilyui and in the Zhigansk region. In total, according to Russian documents, there were 25-26 thousand Yakuts. By most full list in the yasak book, there were 35 "volosts", which corresponded to the number of Yakut clans and tribes. By the time the Russians arrived, the Yakuts were an ethnic entity with a single language, common territory and culture. In terms of language and culture, the Yakuts represent, as it were, an island of Turkic-speaking peoples, the northernmost Turkic people in the world. In their legends, including those recorded at the beginning of the 18th century. Jacob Lindenau, it is said about the flight of the ancestors of the Yakuts from the Baikal region to the north. According to legend, the last settlers from the south came here at the end of the 16th century. headed by Badzhey, the grandfather of Toyon Tygyn, famous in the legends.
In the struggle with the harsh nature of their new homeland, the Yakuts lost much of what they had before. They had sheep (khoi), camels (tabien) in the south, but, as you know, in Yakutia, sheep and camels do not withstand the local climate. The Yakuts also lost their written language, which the legends speak about. According to some versions of the legends, Ellai-Botur lost his letters while fleeing down the Lena, and according to others, Omogoi-bai kept his letters in a bag; when he sailed along the Lena on a dark night, during a storm they drowned in the river.
The fact that the ancestors of the Yakuts knew writing is evidenced by the writings on the rocks of the river. Lena A.P. Okladnikov found scribbles with runic signs on the right bank of the Lena on the Shishkinsky rocks, near the "Yakutsk vzvoz", they are also to the north, not far from Verkholensk, opposite the village. Davydov. Scribble near the village. Davydovo was decoded by A.N. Bernshtam as the Yakut word "alcatim" - "I blessed." Scriptures of almost the same content are available on the right bank of the Lena, opposite Fr. Written. The world's northernmost runic writing monument was discovered by A.P. Okladnikov on the left bank of the river. Lena, below with. Sinsk, 200 km from the city of Yakutsk, near the village. Petrovskaya, already in Central Yakutia.
In the heroic epic of the Yakuts - olonkho, folk singers created the image of Seerkeen Sesen. In most legends, Seerkeen Sesen is represented as a highly experienced and intelligent, gray-haired and gray-bearded old man. He came from the Aiyy Aimakh tribe. The storytellers imagined him sitting at stone tablets or writing with an eagle pen. Bogatyrs from the aiyy tribe in difficult and confusing cases usually turned to him for advice and received an exhaustive answer from him. The olonkho depicts the image of Usun Dyurantayy Suruksut (scribe Long Dyurantayy). He is dressed in white. His clothes are decorated with floral designs. He was the clerk of Yuryung Aiyy-toyon, “the supreme god-creator” (literally: the white creator - toyon). In many olonkho, the decisions of the gods and heavenly designs are written in blood on three-sided or four-sided stone pillars. These stone tablets evoke steles with ancient Türkic runic inscriptions. In the language of the Yakut people, there are the terms "letter" and "letters" - "suruk" and "bichik". Both words in the same meaning were preserved among other Turkic-Mongol peoples.
In the north, the Yakuts lost not only writing, but the agricultural skills possessed by their ancestors who lived near the lake. Baikal. However, in the depths of Yakutia, they retained their herds of cattle and herds of horses, their language and their culture.
The Yakuts smelted iron from ore and knew how to make axes, knives, palms, cauldrons, spear and arrowheads, chain mail (kuyakhi), blacksmith's accessories (hammer, anvil) and other tools and household items. Blacksmithing has become a special professional craft. The Yakut blacksmith was surrounded by honor, and he was considered stronger than the shaman. The Yakuts believed that his craft and art were created by more powerful spirits than shamans, that the blacksmith possessed the mighty power of fire and could kill a shaman.
The main wealth of the Yakuts was cattle. They rode horses and harnessed them to a sleigh. Kumis was made from mare's milk. Cattle and horses were killed for meat. Butter and other dairy products were made from cattle milk. The leather of cattle and horses was used to make clothes and shoes. Dishes, ropes, belts and other items were made from it. Horsehair was widely used.
In the conditions of a long and severe winter, livestock cannot do without hay, and the Yakuts had to prepare feed for the cattle, but the horses hibernated on pasture. Hay was mowed with iron and bone braids (hotur). Making hay made me a semi-sedentary life. In the summer we went to sayylyki, i.e. to summer pastures. In winter, they migrated to the kystyks (winter roads), which were built near the mowing places. Some Yakuts had, in addition to summer pastures, spring and autumn pastures. Lived Yakuts scattering built yurts at a great distance from one another.
Hunting and fishing were important branches of the Yakut economy. Many poor Yakuts, who did not have livestock, ate only fish, meat of animals and birds. Fish were caught with hair nets and seines. Also used were "muzzles" and constipation. The endless forests of Yakutia were rich in game. The Yakuts hunted sables, foxes, squirrels, ermines, hares and other fur-bearing animals. They sewed warm clothes from sable, fox, wolf, hare and other furs. Hunting for elk, bear, wild deer and other animals was also developed. In the Yakut epic, most of the heroes are not only cattle breeders, but also hunters. In the Yakut pantheon, one of the main places was occupied by the god of hunters, the spirit - the owner of the forest, Bai Bayanai. Hunting methods were varied. Some of them were borrowed from the eternal hunters of the taiga - tungus , yukaghirs and other peoples of the North.
The materials of archaeological excavations depict the domestic life of the Yakuts. The dwellings of the ancient Yakuts - Kyrgyz-eteki - were located near rich rivers and lakes. They found bones of a horse and a cow, a reindeer, and large fish. These dwellings were similar to the late Yakut yurt-booth. Outside, the ancient yurt looked like a truncated tetrahedral pyramid. The frame of the yurt consisted of pillars with beams, which served as a support for walls made of obliquely placed poles or blocks. The ceiling was sloped on two sides. Outside, the yurt was coated with clay in summer, and in winter - with cow dung or sod, and earth was poured on top of the ceiling. Inside the yurt-booth, there was a clay-coated hearth or a fireplace made of clay and poles. Cattle were placed in the same yurt, fencing it off from the residential area with poles or chopping blocks. Along with yurts-booths, the Yakuts had birch bark dwellings - urasy and light huts, in which they lived in the summer.
During excavations of the ancient dwellings of the Yakuts, ancient Yakut ceramics were also found. Neither the Tunguses, nor Yukagirs, nor Lamuts (Evens) and even Buryats, inhabitants of the Baikal region, did not make pottery before the arrival of the Russians. Only the Yakuts made pots and other utensils from clay.
In the language and epos of the Yakuts, there are hints that they had elements of statehood in the distant past, or at least that they were part of the orbit of the ancient steppe states. These are the words “bai” (“rich”), “darkhan” (“tarhan”), “khan”, “tygyn” (from the word “tegin”). All this gave the basis for A.P. Okladnikov to conclude that the ancestors of the Yakuts, even in their southern homeland, knew khans, bays, darkhans, tegins and other people in the clan, distinguished by their wealth, nobility, power and who had the title of “tegin”. A.P. Okladnikov admits the possibility that in the beginning there was a tribal organization - a union of tribes, headed by the descendants of Badzhey, the last of them was Tygyn and his descendants, the Kangalass princes. However, by the arrival of the Russians, this union, in his opinion, disintegrated. Tygyn, according to A.P. Okladnikov, tried to forcibly revive the union of the Yakut tribes, but to no avail. Memories of his wars with other tribes are the legends about the "time of wars" - Kyrgyz yuete.
Before the arrival of the Russians, the Yakuts were divided into tribes and clans. Large groups, such as Kangalas, Megins, Baturus, Borogon and Namts, consisted of 2-5 thousand people. each, probably, were tribes, and the smaller ones, such as the Betyunts, Cherikteians, Nakars, Dyupsins (Dubchians), Bayagan-Thais, were clans. Yakut births were exogamous. The head of the family was a man. The predominant form of marriage among the Yakuts was a pair, patrilocal marriage, when the wife passed into the family of the husband. A man gave kalyk cattle for his wife to her parents. The main economic unit was a separate small family. Polygamy was not prohibited.
In the heroic epic of the Yakuts - olonkho, historical legends and in Russian documents of the 17th century. there are no indications of the existence of clan administration and clan power, except for the power of the toyon - the ancestor. However, it is possible that there were tribal governing bodies, in particular the authority of the elders of the clan. The oral tradition has preserved numerous stories and legends about intergeneric clashes, battles of heroes, bloody wars and about participants in historical events. Of course, in these stories and legends there is a lot of fabulous, exaggerated and embellished, but they are based on genuine events from the life of the people.
Each clan and tribe sang and glorified their knights, their heroes. The Kangalas people told such legends about Tygyn, the Borogon people - Bert-khara, the Amgians - about Omollon, the Cheriktey people - about Laha Batyr, the Namtsy - about Chorbogor Batyr, the Betyun people - about Tieteybit Bootur. There are especially many legends about Tygyn.
The causes of intergeneric wars were blood feud, personal insults, enmity and rivalry between heroes, the capture of cattle and women. Often they ended with a single combat of heroes, recognition of superiority - "aat ylyy" ("taking away the name and glory"). The battle was led by the ancestors (toyons), the main warriors were heroes. From a young age, the heroes were taught and trained in military affairs. Before the battle, shamans performed rituals of invoking the spirit of war - ilbis tardy, instilling a warlike spirit in heroes and rituals of washing weapons with blood - sebi khannyy.
Historical legends tell, for example, about the intergeneric war between the Betuyns and the Nahar people. The Bethune shaman summoned the spirit of war and instilled it in the hero Tiateibit Botur. The hero became obsessed, with great difficulty they threw a lasso on him, screwed him to one larch and put on a shell, gave a spear and a palm tree in his hands, then released him. Released, Tiatabit Bootur " ran to the area of \u200b\u200bHaryya-laakh, where he caught the nakhar people who were sleeping at the night, and began to kill and cut everyone from the edge". After the inspiration of the spirit of war, the bogatyr of the Bayagantai people, Magygy Toryonoy, also became possessed: “ They tied it and fastened it with ropes to seven trees. And, putting on a shell helmet and relying clothes, giving him all the necessary weapons in his hands, they let go, and the man ran in the direction where the battle was supposed". The participants in the battles were armed with bows of various sizes, arrows in a quiver, iron spears, and a palm tree. The heroes wore an armor and a helmet, and war horses were covered with armor. In Russian documents, there are indications that the Yakuts built defensive structures from wood and earth.
In general, the tribal system of the Yakuts was at the stage of decay before the arrival of the Russians. The clan consisted of the clan elite, free members of the clan - ordinary communes and slaves. At the head of the clan was the ancestor - toyon. He stood out from the clan elite, and, apparently, in tribes and large clans, they became ancestors not by choice, but by inheritance. Often military leaders, knights of the clan, whom shamans and meetings of the clan dedicated to heroic exploits, became toyons: they solemnly put on combat armor on the hero, sacrificed cattle or even captured enemies to the god of war Ilbis. Toyons had up to 300-900 head of livestock, enjoyed authority and power. They were surrounded by servants - chakhardar, which consisted of slaves and domestic servants.
The Yakuts apparently knew the slaves even before they moved to the Middle Lena. Linguists and historians derive the Yakut word "kulut" (slave) from the word "kul", which is often found in ancient Türkic runic texts, which means the same thing as "kulut" in the Yakut language, i.e. "Slave", "slave". The heroes of the Yakut epic, olonkho, had slaves; the kuluts are also mentioned in historical traditions and legends.
Turning into a slave of his impoverished kinsman, capturing enemies during an intergeneric war, handing over a kinsman or relative into slavery as a ransom for blood, i.e. blood feud was replaced by the transfer of a relative into slavery - all this was the sources of slavery. There was also "nourishment", when wealthy Yakuts fed and clothed orphans or the poor. Such a "nourisher" was close to a slave. Slaves performed household work, went hunting and took part in intergeneric wars, carried out various orders of the master. The master had the right to sell the slave, give him as a dowry of the bride (enne kulut), and beat him. In most cases, the slaves did not have any household, they lived in the master's yurt or near him. However, there are facts showing that in some cases the slaves had their own families and lived separately from the master. It follows that slavery among the Yakuts was in the nature of family patriarchal slavery. In general, the Yakuts had few slaves. According to the yasak book of 1648-1649, out of 1497 payers of yasak there were only 57 slaves. A primitive cattle-breeding economy could not serve as a basis for the mass use of slave labor, and even more so for its transformation into the basis of production. Ancient patriarchal slavery could not grow into slavery of the ancient type. It, as A.P. Okladnikov, remained a way of life " and, moreover, it is not of primary importance in terms of its share in industrial relations».
The main producers of material goods were ordinary members of the community. Property inequality existed among them, and they did not constitute a homogeneous social group. Wealthy members of the community were close to toyons. Poor relatives without livestock lived near the taiga lakes and were engaged in hunting and fishing; them in Russian documents of the middle of the 17th century. called "balyksyts". Under the rule of the ancestor - toyon, they were economically dependent on him, although they were personally free. In the documents of the XVII century. mention is made of "khasas" - the giving of dairy cattle by the rich to the poor for milking and "uostuur" - for feeding; this is one of the most widespread forms of exploitation among the steppe peoples.
There was no clan ownership of livestock, which constituted the main wealth of the Yakuts, and “ cattle among the Yakuts played such a predominant role in exchange that in essence it had already turned into a universal equivalent, i.e. got the function of money».
In Yakut folklore and documents of the first half of the 17th century. there are no indications of private ownership of the fishing and hunting grounds and pastures. They were freely used not only by all members of the clan, but also by aliens. For example, on sable lands in the middle of the 17th century. Yakuts and Tunguses hunted freely, even from Central Yakutia they went to hunt Vilyui, Yana, to Olekminsk, and hunted in the basins of the Zeya, Indigirka and Amur rivers. The situation was different with the hayfields. The ancestor personally or the council of elders allocated hayfields from the land of the clan to individual families. Historical legends say that the leader of the Ergis people had nine sons, they were resettled at the direction of their father: the son of Sabyryk was settled in the area of \u200b\u200bKytyl, Nyuryungnen - in Alar, Tuereya - in Saadakhyaabyt. Ancestor of the Malgegarians " ordered his five sons to live in different places. The eldest son Kalteki Sabyya decided to live on about. Toyon Aryy, the second son of Sokh-khor Durai, offered to take a quarter of Fr. Toyon Aryy and settle on the rivers Keteme, Kharyyalaakh and Bestekh. He told his two sons to live on Khatyn Ary and Khara Ary. He forced his fifth son to settle further on the brothers, on the Lena coast in the areas of Isit and Kytyl Dyura».
The ancient Yakut spiritualized nature, it was surrounded by countless spirits. Mountains and forests, lakes and rivers, trees and herbs, animals and domestic animals, fire and yurt, etc. - everything has icchi - spirits. According to a person of that time, some evil spirits are abaasy, and others are good - aiyy, patrons and protectors of humans and domestic animals. Both need to please and gain the grace of the spirits. In order not to disturb or anger them, a person must observe a huge number of prohibitions. In order not to disturb the spirit of the earth, the spirits of herbs and trees, one should not shout and make noise in spring. In order not to agitate evil spirits, you cannot shout loudly at night and late in the evening in winter. In order not to frighten the spirits of the lake and the fish, you should not express loudly your delight when you see a lot of fish in the net, "snout" and seine. In order not to offend the spirit of fire, you cannot spit and throw dirty things into the fire. Passing a big tree, passing a river, climbing a mountain, you must leave something as a gift to the spirits (cane, stick, rope, horse hair, wool), otherwise there will be misfortune along the way. There were various prohibitions in eating, hunting, talking, in relationships between people, in the family, in work.
The mediators between the human world and the spirits were shamans and shamans, white and black. White shamans communicated with good spirits and served the light patron deities, and black shamans communicated with evil spirits. In one of the descriptions of the early 18th century. we read: " The Yakutsk people, as usual, have shamans. And the shamans have a dress that is hung around with iron pipes during shamanism; and between the tubes, and along the valley, and along the arms, paddle straps along the half-arch; Yes, they even give sacrifice to demons for the sick, they beat cattle without exuding blood, they eat meat themselves, and they hang skin and bones on trees».
Each family had its own cult. The survivorly ancient form of religion, totemism, has survived. " Every kind - wrote Stralenberg, - has and keeps as sacred a special creature, like a swan, a goose, a crow, and that animal that the genus considers sacred, he does not eat, others can eat it».
The dead were buried in trees and in overground tombs. The dead lay in a hollowed-out deck. A quadrangular frame was built outside. When burial was carried out in the ground, the dead were placed in a log box and covered with large pieces of a birch bark yurt (urasa). The Yakuts buried their dead in the best and most expensive clothes. A bow, arrows in a quiver, a palm tree, a pike, meat in an iron cauldron, butter in a birch bark dish, chorons for kumis, a saddle - everything that the deceased might need in his afterlife was placed next to the deceased. Historical legends speak of burials with a horse and a slave, but such graves have not yet been discovered.
A majestic monument of the ancient culture of the Yakuts is the heroic poem about the heroic deeds of the heroes - olonkho. Olonkho, apparently, developed at a time when the ancestors of the Yakuts lived in the south in close contact with the ancestors of the Sayan-Altai tribes and with the ancient Mongols. Different olonkho existed earlier in all Yakut uluses. Folk rhapsodes knew several dozen olonkho with sizes of 10-20 thousand lines. In olonkho, a majestic image of nature is created with bright colors. In many olonkho, the struggle of the titans ends with the creation of worlds - upper, middle and lower. The gods live in the upper world, headed by Yuryung Aiyy-toyon, in some places - abaasy (cannibals, monsters). In the middle world, a human tribe lives (aiyy diono), in some places - abaasy. Only the Abaasy tribes, led by Arsaan Duo-lai, live in the lower world. Among the celestials, Dyylga-khan, the deity of fate and fate (otherwise called Chyngys-khan, or Odun-khan), are mentioned, Iyekhsit is the patron goddess of people and cattle, Aysyt is the goddess of childbearing, Ilbis-khan is the god of war and his children Ilbis kyysa and Osol uola, the deity of thunder - Shunko-haan Shuge toyon. The life of the celestials is similar to the life of the people of the middle world. In some olonkho Yuryung Aiyy-toyon (the supreme deity) convenes meetings of the gods, and in many olonkho he decides alone. In addition to the above, the most revered were Aan Alakhchyn khotun - the goddess of the ancestral land (homeland), Bayanai - the god of the forest and hunters, Aan Darkhan-toyon or Khatan Timierie - the god of fire, Khompo-ruun Khotoi aiyy - the god of birds, Kyday Bakhsy - the god of blacksmiths.
The olonkho depicts the cattle-breeding economy of the Yakuts, their domestic life, work and cares, their family life. The olonkho includes a coupled family, exogamous and patrilocal marriage. Main character olonkho is a hero, an idealized image of a knight or a progenitor. By the decision of the gods, or Dyylga-khan - the god of fate, or Aiyy-toyon himself, a bogatyr from the aiyy tribe is obliged to defend his tribe from the abaasy bogatyrs. The main reasons for the battles are the protection of the aiyy bogatyr of his kind, his bride or sister from the abaasy bogatyr, blood feud and the fulfillment of the decision of the gods. In many olonkho, the hero goes to get his wife. On the way, he overcomes fiery seas, high mountains, enters into a struggle with mythological creatures and other obstacles, finally arrives in the country of his future wife and enters into a struggle with his rival, the hero abaasy.
Olonkho reflects the period of the tribal structure of the Yakuts and the period of its decomposition. Bogatyrs have neither troops nor military organization; in most cases, the battle takes place in the form of a duel between two heroes. Unlike the feudal epic, the olonkho heroes, as a result of victory, do not seize land, livestock, and do not become masters of other peoples and tribes. Having defeated his opponents, the hero marries. On the way back, he travels with his wife alone or with them there are slaves, servants and his wife's cattle as a dowry. Often on the way to his homeland, the hero meets various obstacles and performs feats. Upon returning to his homeland, he breeds many livestock and gives birth to large offspring, lives a rich and peaceful life, his descendants inherit his wealth.
The rich oral creativity of the Yakuts was not limited only to heroic poems - olonkho. There were fairy tales, historical traditions, legends, songs, proverbs, sayings, riddles. The Yakuts loved to embroider clothes and shoes with beautiful patterns, decorate dishes and furniture, military weapons and tools, horse harnesses and a birch-bark yurt-urasa. In spring and summer, the Yakuts gathered for a holiday - Ysyakh in honor of the spirits - the masters of nature and the heavenly gods. During this holiday, various competitions and sports games, songs and dances were organized.
The Yakut people were in constant communication with the surrounding Tungus tribes. The Yakuts traded with them. Often marriages were concluded between them, production skills were mutually adopted.
In the vast territory of Yakutia, the rates of economic and social processes were not the same. But if we take a general look at the Yakut society before the arrival of the Russians, it becomes clear that the patriarchal system was already at the last stage of decay. The separation of the family, private ownership of livestock, the use of individual families by the haying plots of the clan, the inheritance of property by children, the emergence of hereditary nobility led to the fact that the clan disintegrated into classes, into exploiters and exploited, into the clan elite and free communes.
Such was the Yakut society when an extremely important historical event took place in the life of the Yakuts - their annexation to the Russian state.
