The people of Yakutia: culture, traditions and customs. Indigenous peoples of Siberia: Yakuts

YAKUTS (self-name - Sakha), people in the Russian Federation (382 thousand people), the indigenous population of Yakutia (365 thousand people). The Yakut language is the Uighur group of Turkic languages. Believers are Orthodox.

Language

They speak the Yakut language of the Turkic group of the Altaic family of languages. The dialects are combined into the central, Vilyui, northwestern and Taimyr groups. 65% of Yakuts speak Russian.

Origin

The ethnogenesis of the Yakuts involved both local Tungus-speaking elements and Turkic-Mongolian tribes (Xiongnu, Tugu Turks, Kipchaks, Uighurs, Khakass, Kurykans, Mongols, Buryats), who settled in Siberia in the 10th-13th centuries. and assimilated the local population. The ethnos was finally formed by the 17th century. By the beginning of contacts with the Russians (1620s), the Yakuts lived in the Amga-Lena interfluve, on the Vilyui, at the mouth of the Olekma, in the upper reaches of the Yana. The traditional culture is most fully represented among the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern Yakuts are close in culture to the Evenks and Yukaghirs, the Olyokma are strongly cultivated by the Russians.

economy

Yakut hunters

The main traditional occupation of the Yakuts is horse breeding and cattle breeding. In Russian sources of the XVII century. Yakuts are called "horse people". The men took care of the horses, the women took care of the cattle. Cattle were kept in the summer on grazing, in the winter - in barns (hotons). Haymaking was known even before the arrival of the Russians. They brought out special breeds of cows and horses, adapted to the harsh climate. conditions of the North. The local cattle was notable for its endurance and unpretentiousness, but it was unproductive, being milked only in summer. Cattle occupies a special place in the culture of the Yakuts; special rituals are dedicated to it. Burials of Yakuts with a horse are known. Her image plays an important role in the Yakut epic. The northern Yakuts adopted reindeer husbandry from the Tungus peoples.

Hunting

Both meat hunting for a large animal (elk, wild deer, bear, wild boar and others) and fur trade (fox, arctic fox, sable, squirrel, ermine, muskrat, marten, wolverine and others) were developed. Specific hunting techniques are characteristic: with a bull (the hunter sneaks up on prey, hiding behind a bull, which he chases in front of him), horse chasing an animal along the trail, sometimes with dogs. Hunting tools - bow with arrows, spear. Notches, fences, hunting pits, snares, traps, crossbows (aya), pastures (sokhso) were used; from the 17th century - firearms. In the future, due to a decrease in the number of animals, the importance of hunting fell.

Fishing

Fishing was of great importance: river (fishing for sturgeon, whitefish, muksun, nelma, whitefish, grayling, tugun and others) and lake (minnow, crucian carp, pike and others). Fish were caught with tops, snouts (tuu), nets (ilim), horsehair nets (baady), speared (atara). Fishing was done mainly in the summer. In autumn, they organized a collective seine with the division of prey between the participants. In winter they fished in the hole. For the Yakuts, who did not have livestock, fishing was the main economic activity: in the documents of the 17th century. the term "balysyt" ("fisherman") was used in the meaning of "poor man". Some tribes also specialized in fishing - the so-called "foot" Yakuts - Osekui, Ontuly, Kokui, Kirikians, Kyrgydais, Orgots and others.

Gathering and farming

There was gathering: harvesting pine and deciduous sapwood, collecting roots (saran, coinage and others), herbs (wild onions, horseradish, sorrel), to a lesser extent berries (raspberries were not consumed, they were considered unclean). Agriculture was borrowed from the Russians at the end of the 17th century. Until the middle of the XIX century. it was underdeveloped. The spread of agriculture (especially in the Amga and Olekminsk regions) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers. Cultivated special varieties of wheat, rye, barley, which had time to ripen in a short and hot summer, grew garden crops.

During the years of Soviet power, the Yakuts have formed new branches of the economy: cage fur farming, small livestock farming, and poultry farming. They traveled mainly on horseback, transporting goods in packs.

Life

There were known skis lined with horse skins, sledges (silis syarga) with runners made of wood with a rhizome that had a natural curvature; later - sledges of the Russian wood type, which were usually harnessed by bulls, among the northern Yakuts - straight-legged reindeer sleds. Water transport: raft (aal), boats - dugout (onocho), shuttle (tyy), birch bark boat (tuos tyy), others. The Yakuts counted time according to the lunisolar calendar. The year (syl) was divided into 12 months of 30 days each: January - tokhsunnu (ninth), February - olunnu (tenth), March - kulun tutar (month of feeding foals), April - muus obstar (month of ice drift), May - yam yya (the month of milking cows), June - bes yya (the month of harvesting pine sapwood), July - from yya (the month of haymaking), August - atyrdyakh yya (the month of haystacking), September - balagan yya (the month of migration from summer camps to winter roads), October - altynny (sixth), November - setinny (seventh), December - ahsynny (eighth). The New Year came in May. Weather forecasters (dylyty) were in charge of the folk calendar.

Craft

Among the traditional crafts of the Yakuts are blacksmithing, jewelry, woodworking, birch bark, bones, leather, furs, unlike other peoples of Siberia - stucco ceramics. Dishes were made from leather, horsehair was woven, cords were twisted, they were embroidered. Yakut blacksmiths (timir uuga) smelted iron in cheese-blowing furnaces. Since the beginning of the twentieth century. forged products from purchased iron. Blacksmithing was also of commercial importance. Yakut jewelers (kemus uuga) made women's jewelry, horse harness, dishes, cult objects and others from gold, silver (partially melting down Russian coins) and copper, they knew chasing, blackening of silver. Artistic wood carving was developed (ornaments of serge hitching posts, cups for choron koumiss, and others), embroidery, appliqué, horsehair weaving, and others. In the 19th century mammoth bone carving became widespread. The ornamentation is dominated by curls, palmettes, meanders. A two-horned motif on saddles is characteristic.

dwelling

Yakut

The Yakuts had several seasonal settlements: winter (kystyk), summer (sayylyk) and autumn (otor). Winter settlements were located near the meadows, consisted of 1–3 yurts, summer (up to 10 yurts) - near pastures. The winter dwelling (booth kypynny die), where they lived from September to April, had sloping walls made of thin logs on a log frame and a low gable roof. The walls were plastered with clay and manure, the roof over the log flooring was covered with bark and earth. Since the 18th century polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof are also common. The entrance (aan) was made in the eastern wall, the windows (tyunnyuk) were made in the southern and western walls, the roof was oriented from north to south. In the north-eastern corner, to the right of the entrance, a chuval-type hearth (opoh) was arranged, plank bunks (oron) were built along the walls, and a bunk running from the middle of the southern wall to the western corner was considered honorary. Together with the adjoining part of the western nara, it formed an honorable corner. Further north was the host's place. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for young men and workers, to the right, by the hearth, for women. A table (ostuol) and stools were placed in the front corner, chests and boxes were from another setting. On the north side, a barn (hoton) of the same design was attached to the yurt. The entrance to it from the yurt was behind the hearth. In front of the entrance to the yurt, a canopy or canopy (kyule) was built. The yurt was surrounded by a low mound, often with a fence. A hitching post, often decorated with rich carvings, was placed near the house. From the 2nd half of the XVIII century. As a winter dwelling among the Yakuts, Russian huts with a stove spread. The summer dwelling (uraga saiyngy die), in which they lived from May to August, was a cylindrical-conical structure covered with birch bark made of poles (on a frame of four poles fastened at the top with a square frame). In the North, frame buildings covered with turf (holuman) were known. In the villages there were outbuildings and structures: barns (ampaar), glaciers (buluus), cellars for storing dairy products (tar iine), smoking dugouts, mills. Away from the summer dwelling, a calf shed (titic) was set up, sheds were built, and more.

clothing

The national clothing of the Yakuts consists of a single-breasted caftan (sleep), in winter - fur, in summer - from cow or horse skin with wool inside, for the rich - from fabric, it was sewn from 4 wedges with additional wedges at the waist and wide sleeves gathered at the shoulders; short leather pants (syaya), leather leggings (sotoro), fur socks (keenche). Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar (yrbakhs) appeared. Men girded themselves with a simple belt, the rich - with silver and copper plaques. Women's wedding coats (sangyah) are toe-length, widening downwards, on a yoke, with sewn-in sleeves with small puffs and a fur shawl collar. The sides, hem and sleeves were bordered by wide stripes of red and green cloth, a lace. Fur coats were richly decorated with silver jewelry, beads, fringe. They were valued very dearly and passed down by inheritance, mainly in Toyon families. Women's wedding headdress (diabacca) was sewn from sable or beaver fur. It looked like a cap descending on the shoulders, with a high top made of red or black cloth, velvet or brocade, thickly sheathed with beads, braid, plaques, and certainly with a large silver heart-shaped plaque (tuosakhta) above the forehead. The oldest diabaccas are decorated with plumes of bird feathers. Women's clothing was complemented by a belt (kur), chest (ilin kebiher), back (kelin kebiher), neck (mooi simege) jewelry, earrings (ytarga), bracelets (begeh), braids (suhuyoh simege), rings (bihileh) made of silver, often gold, engraved. Shoes - winter high boots made of deer or horse skins with fur outside (eterbes), summer boots made of suede (saary) with tops covered with cloth, for women - with appliqué.

Yakuts (self-name Sakha; pl. h. Sakhalar) is a Turkic-speaking people, the indigenous population of Yakutia. The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic group of languages. According to the results of the 2010 All-Russian Population Census, 478.1 thousand Yakuts lived in Russia, mainly in Yakutia (466.5 thousand), as well as in the Irkutsk, Magadan regions, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk territories. The Yakuts are the most numerous (49.9% of the population) people in Yakutia and the largest of the indigenous peoples of Siberia within the borders of the Russian Federation.

Distribution area

The distribution of the Yakuts across the territory of the republic is extremely uneven. About nine of them are concentrated in the central regions - in the former Yakut and Vilyui districts. These are the two main groups of the Yakut people: the first of them is somewhat larger in number than the second. "Yakut" (or Amga-Lena) Yakuts occupy the quadrangle between the Lena, the lower Aldan and the Amga, the taiga plateau, as well as the adjacent left bank of the Lena. "Vilyui" Yakuts occupy the Vilyui basin. In these indigenous Yakut regions, the most typical, purely Yakut way of life has developed; here, at the same time, especially on the Amga-Lena plateau, it is best studied. The third, much smaller group of Yakuts settled in the region of Olekminsk. The Yakuts of this group became more Russified, in their way of life (but not in language) they became closer to the Russians. And, finally, the last, smallest, but widely settled group of Yakuts is the population of the northern regions of Yakutia, i.e., the basins of the river. Kolyma, Indigirka, Yana, Olenek, Anabar.

The northern Yakuts are distinguished by a completely unique cultural and everyday way of life: in relation to it, they are more like hunting and fishing small peoples of the North, like the Tungus, Yukagirs, than like their southern tribesmen. These northern Yakuts are sometimes even called "Tungus" (for example, in the upper reaches of the Olenek and Anabar), although they are Yakuts in their language and call themselves Sakha.

History and origins

According to a widespread hypothesis, the ancestors of modern Yakuts are the nomadic tribe of Kurykans, who lived until the 14th century in Transbaikalia. In turn, the Kurykans came to the region of Lake Baikal because of the Yenisei River.

Most scientists believe that in the XII-XIV centuries AD. e. The Yakuts migrated in several waves from the region of Lake Baikal to the Lena, Aldan and Vilyui basins, where they partly assimilated and partly displaced the Evenks (Tungus) and Yukaghirs (Oduls) who lived here earlier. The Yakuts were traditionally engaged in cattle breeding (Yakut cow), having gained a unique experience in breeding cattle in a sharply continental climate in the northern latitudes, horse breeding (Yakut horse), fishing, hunting, developed trade, blacksmithing and military affairs.

According to Yakut legends, the ancestors of the Yakuts floated down the Lena on rafts with livestock, household goods and people until they found the Tuymaada valley - suitable for cattle breeding. Now this place is modern Yakutsk. According to the same legends, the ancestors of the Yakuts were headed by two leaders Elley Bootur and Omogoi Baai.

According to archaeological and ethnographic data, the Yakuts were formed as a result of the absorption of local tribes of the middle reaches of the Lena by the southern Turkic-speaking settlers. It is believed that the last wave of the southern ancestors of the Yakuts penetrated the Middle Lena in the XIV-XV centuries. Racially, the Yakuts belong to the Central Asian anthropological type of the North Asian race. Compared with other Turkic-speaking peoples of Siberia, they are characterized by the strongest manifestation of the Mongoloid complex, the final formation of which took place in the middle of the second millennium AD already on the Lena.

It is assumed that some groups of Yakuts, for example, reindeer herders of the northwest, arose relatively recently as a result of mixing of individual groups of Evenks with Yakuts, immigrants from the central regions of Yakutia. In the process of resettlement in Eastern Siberia, the Yakuts mastered the basins of the northern rivers Anabar, Olenka, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma. The Yakuts modified the reindeer husbandry of the Tungus, created the Tungus-Yakut type of draft reindeer husbandry.

The inclusion of the Yakuts into the Russian state in the 1620s–1630s accelerated their socioeconomic and cultural development. In the 17th-19th centuries, the main occupation of the Yakuts was cattle breeding (breeding of cattle and horses), from the second half of the 19th century, a significant part began to engage in agriculture; hunting and fishing played a secondary role. The main type of dwelling was a log booth, in summer - a urasa made of poles. Clothes were made from hides and furs. In the second half of the 18th century, most of the Yakuts were converted to Christianity, but traditional beliefs were also preserved.

Under Russian influence, Christian onomastics spread among the Yakuts, almost completely replacing the pre-Christian Yakut names. At present, the Yakuts bear both names of Greek and Latin origin (Christian) and Yakut names.

Yakuts and Russians

Accurate historical information about the Yakuts is available only from the time of their first contact with the Russians, that is, from the 1620s, and joining the Russian state. The Yakuts did not constitute a single political entity at that time, but were divided into a number of tribes independent of each other. However, tribal relations were already disintegrating, and there was a rather sharp class stratification. The tsarist governors and servicemen used tribal strife to break the resistance of part of the Yakut population; they also used the class contradictions within it, pursuing a policy of systematic support for the ruling aristocratic stratum - the princes (toyons), whom they turned into their agents for managing the Yakut Territory. Since that time, class contradictions among the Yakuts began to become more and more aggravated.

The position of the mass of the Yakut population was difficult. The Yakuts paid yasak with sable and fox furs, carried out a number of other duties, being extorted by the tsarist servants, Russian merchants and their toyons. After unsuccessful attempts at uprisings (1634, 1636-1637, 1639-1640, 1642), after the transition of the toyons to the side of the governors, the Yakut masses could only respond to oppression with scattered, isolated attempts of resistance and flight from the indigenous uluses to the outskirts. By the end of the 18th century, as a result of the predatory management of the tsarist authorities, the depletion of the fur wealth of the Yakutsk region and its partial desolation was revealed. At the same time, the Yakut population, which for various reasons migrated from the Lena-Vilyui region, appeared on the outskirts of Yakutia, where it had not previously been: in Kolyma, Indigirka, Olenek, Anabar, up to the Lower Tunguska basin.

But already in those first decades, contact with the Russian people had a beneficial effect on the economy and culture of the Yakuts. The Russians brought with them a higher culture; since the middle of the 17th century. an agricultural economy appears on the Lena; the Russian type of buildings, Russian clothing made of fabrics, new types of crafts, new furnishings and household items gradually began to penetrate into the environment of the Yakut population.

It was extremely important that with the establishment of Russian power in Yakutia, intertribal wars and predatory raids of the Toyons stopped, which used to be a great disaster for the Yakut population. The self-will of the Russian servicemen, who had been at war with each other more than once and drawn the Yakuts into their strife, was also suppressed. The order that had already been established in the Yakut land since the 1640s was better than the previous state of chronic anarchy and constant strife.

In the 18th century, in connection with the further advance of the Russians to the east (the annexation of Kamchatka, Chukotka, the Aleutian Islands, Alaska), Yakutia played the role of a transit route and a base for new campaigns and the development of distant "lands". The influx of the Russian peasant population (especially along the valley of the Lena River, in connection with the arrangement of the postal route in 1773) created the conditions for the cultural mutual influence of the Russian and Yakut elements. As early as the end of the 17th and 18th centuries among the Yakuts, agriculture begins to spread, although at first very slowly, houses of the Russian type appear. However, the number of Russian settlers remained even in the 19th century. relatively small. Along with peasant colonization in the XIX century. sending exiled settlers to Yakutia was of great importance. Together with the criminal exiles, who had a negative influence on the Yakuts, in the second half of the 19th century. political exiles appeared in Yakutia, first populists, and in the 1890s also Marxists, who played a big role in the cultural and political development of the Yakut masses.

By the beginning of the XX century. in the economic development of Yakutia, at least in its central regions (Yakutsky, Vilyuisky, Olekminsky districts), great successes were observed. An internal market was created. The growth of economic ties accelerated the development of national identity.

During the bourgeois-democratic revolution of 1917, the movement of the Yakut masses for their liberation unfolded deeper and wider. At first it was (especially in the city of Yakutsk) under the predominant leadership of the Bolsheviks. But after the departure (in May 1917) of the majority of the political exiles to Russia in Yakutia, the counter-revolutionary forces of the toionism gained the upper hand, which entered into an alliance with the Socialist-Revolutionary-bourgeois part of the Russian urban population. The struggle for Soviet power in Yakutia dragged on for a long time. Only on June 30, 1918, the power of the Soviets was proclaimed for the first time in Yakutsk, and only in December 1919, after the liquidation of Kolchakism in all of Siberia, was Soviet power finally established in Yakutia.

Religion

Their life is connected with shamanism. The construction of a house, the birth of children and many other aspects of life do not pass without the participation of a shaman. On the other hand, a significant part of the half-million population of Yakuts professes Orthodox Christianity or even adheres to agnostic beliefs.

This people has its own tradition, before joining the state of Russia, they professed "Aar Aiyy". This religion assumes the belief that the Yakuts are the children of Tanar - God and Relatives of the Twelve White Aiyy. Even from conception, the child is surrounded by spirits, or as the Yakuts call them - “Ichchi”, and there are also celestials who are also surrounded by the still born child. Religion is documented in the administration of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for the Republic of Yakutia. In the 18th century, Yakutia was subjected to universal Christianity, but the people treat this with the hope of certain religions from the state of Russia.

Housing

The Yakuts are descended from nomadic tribes. That is why they live in yurts. However, in contrast to the Mongolian felt yurts, the round dwelling of the Yakuts is built from the trunks of small trees with a cone-shaped roof. Many windows are arranged in the walls, under which sunbeds are located at different heights. Partitions are installed between them, forming a semblance of rooms, and a smeared hearth is tripled in the center. Temporary birch bark yurts - urases - can be erected for the summer. And since the 20th century, some Yakuts have settled in huts.

Winter settlements (kystyk) were located near mowing fields, consisted of 1-3 yurts, summer ones - near pastures, numbered up to 10 yurts. The winter yurt (booth, diie) had sloping walls made of standing thin logs on a rectangular log frame and a low gable roof. The walls were plastered on the outside with clay and manure, the roof over the log flooring was covered with bark and earth. The house was placed on the cardinal points, the entrance was arranged in the east side, the windows - in the south and west, the roof was oriented from north to south. To the right of the entrance, in the northeast corner, a hearth (oosh) was arranged - a pipe made of poles coated with clay, which went out through the roof. Plank bunks (oron) were arranged along the walls. The most honorable was the southwestern corner. At the western wall there was a master's place. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for male youth, workers, on the right, at the hearth, for women. A table (ostuol) and stools were placed in the front corner. On the north side, a barn (khoton) was attached to the yurt, often under the same roof with housing, the door to it from the yurt was behind the hearth. In front of the entrance to the yurt, a canopy or canopy was arranged. The yurt was surrounded by a low mound, often with a fence. A hitching post was placed near the house, often decorated with carvings. Summer yurts differed little from winter ones. Instead of a hoton, a barn for calves (titik), sheds, etc. were set up at a distance. Since the end of the 18th century, polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof have been known. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, Russian huts spread.

clothing

Traditional men's and women's clothing - short leather pants, a fur underbelly, leather legs, a single-breasted caftan (sleep), in winter - fur, in summer - from horse or cow skin with wool inside, for the rich - from fabric. Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar (yrbakhs) appeared. Men girded themselves with a leather belt with a knife and flint, the rich - with silver and copper plaques. Characteristic is a women's wedding fur long caftan (sangyah), embroidered with red and green cloth and a gold braid; an elegant women's fur hat made of expensive fur that goes down to the back and shoulders, with a high cloth, velvet or brocade top with a silver plaque (tuosakhta) and other decorations sewn on it. Women's silver and gold jewelry is widespread. Shoes - winter high boots made of deer or horse skins with wool outside (eterbes), summer boots made of soft leather (saary) with a top covered with cloth, for women - with appliqué, long fur stockings.

Food

The main food is dairy, especially in summer: from mare's milk - koumiss, from cow's - yogurt (suorat, sora), cream (kuercheh), butter; oil was drunk melted or with koumiss; suorat was prepared for the winter in a frozen form (tar) with the addition of berries, roots, etc.; stew (butugas) was prepared from it with the addition of water, flour, roots, pine sapwood, etc. Fish food played a major role for the poor, and in the northern regions, where there were no livestock, meat was consumed mainly by the rich. Horse meat was especially valued. In the 19th century, barley flour came into use: it was used to make unleavened cakes, pancakes, salamat stew. Vegetables were known in the Olekminsk district.

crafts

The main traditional occupations are horse breeding (in Russian documents of the 17th century, the Yakuts were called “horse people”) and cattle breeding. The men took care of the horses, the women took care of the cattle. Deer were bred in the north. Cattle were kept in the summer on grazing, in the winter in barns (hotons). Haymaking was known before the arrival of the Russians. The Yakut breeds of cattle were distinguished by endurance, but were unproductive.

Fishing was also developed. They fished mainly in the summer, but also in the winter in the hole; in the fall, a collective seine fishing was organized with the division of prey between all participants. For the poor who did not have livestock, fishing was the main occupation (in the documents of the 17th century, the term "fisherman" - balyksyt - is used in the meaning of "poor"), some tribes also specialized in it - the so-called "foot Yakuts" - osekui, ontuly, kokui , Kirikians, Kyrgydais, Orgoths and others.

Hunting was especially widespread in the north, being the main source of food here (arctic fox, hare, reindeer, elk, bird). In the taiga, by the arrival of the Russians, both meat and fur hunting (bear, elk, squirrel, fox, hare, bird, etc.) was known, but later, due to a decrease in the number of animals, its importance fell. Specific hunting techniques are characteristic: with a bull (the hunter sneaks up on the prey, hiding behind the bull), horseback chasing the beast along the trail, sometimes with dogs.

There was gathering - the collection of pine and larch sapwood (the inner layer of the bark), which was harvested for the winter in dried form, roots (saran, coinage, etc.), greens (wild onions, horseradish, sorrel), raspberries, which were considered unclean, were not used from berries.

Agriculture (barley, to a lesser extent wheat) was borrowed from the Russians at the end of the 17th century, until the middle of the 19th century it was very poorly developed; its spread (especially in the Olekminsk district) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers.

The processing of wood (artistic carving, coloring with alder broth), birch bark, fur, and leather was developed; dishes were made from leather, rugs were made from horse and cow skins sewn in a checkerboard pattern, blankets were made from hare fur, etc .; Cords were twisted from horse hair with hands, weaved, embroidered. Spinning, weaving and felting of felt were absent. The production of stucco ceramics, which distinguished the Yakuts from other peoples of Siberia, has been preserved. The smelting and forging of iron, which had a commercial value, the smelting and chasing of silver, copper, etc., were developed, from the 19th century - carving on mammoth ivory.

Yakut cuisine

It has some common features with the cuisine of the Buryats, Mongols, northern peoples (Evenks, Evens, Chukchi), as well as Russians. There are few ways of preparing dishes in the Yakut cuisine: it is either boiling (meat, fish), or fermentation (koumiss, suorat), or freezing (meat, fish).

From meat, horse meat, beef, venison, game birds, as well as offal and blood are traditionally used. Dishes from Siberian fish are widespread (sturgeon, broad whitefish, omul, muksun, peled, nelma, taimen, grayling).

A distinctive feature of the Yakut cuisine is the fullest possible use of all components of the original product. A very typical example is the recipe for cooking carp in Yakut. Before cooking, the scales are peeled off, the head is not cut off or thrown away, the fish is practically not gutted, a small lateral incision is made through which the gallbladder is carefully removed, a part of the large intestine is cut off and the swim bladder is pierced. In this form, the fish is boiled or fried. A similar approach is used in relation to almost all other products: beef, horse meat, and so on. Almost all by-products are actively used. In particular, giblet soups (is miine), blood delicacies (khaan), etc. are very popular. Obviously, such a thrifty attitude to food is the result of people's experience of surviving in harsh polar conditions.

Horse or beef ribs in Yakutia are known as oyogos. Stroganina is made from frozen meat and fish, which is eaten with a spicy seasoning from a flask (ramson), spoon (like horseradish) and saranka (onion plant). From beef or horse blood, khaan is obtained - Yakut black pudding.

The national drink is koumiss, popular among many eastern peoples, as well as a stronger koonnyoruu kymys(or koiuurgen). Suorat (curdled milk), kuerchekh (whipped cream), kober (butter churned with milk to form a thick cream), chokhoon (or chehon- butter churned with milk and berries), iedegey (cottage cheese), suumeh (cheese). From flour and dairy products, the Yakuts cook a thick mass of salamat.

Interesting traditions and customs of the people of Yakutia

The customs and rituals of the Yakuts are closely connected with folk beliefs. Even many Orthodox or agnostics follow them. The structure of beliefs is very similar to Shintoism - each manifestation of nature has its own spirit, and shamans communicate with them. The laying of a yurt and the birth of a child, marriage and burial are not complete without rites. It is noteworthy that until recently, Yakut families were polygamous, each wife of one husband had her own household and dwelling. Apparently, under the influence of assimilation with the Russians, the Yakuts nevertheless switched to monogamous cells of society.

An important place in the life of every Yakut is occupied by the holiday of koumiss Ysyakh. Various rituals are designed to appease the gods. Hunters glorify Bai-Bayanai, women praise Aiyysyt. The holiday is crowned by the universal dance of the sun - osoukhay. All participants join hands and arrange a huge round dance. Fire has sacred properties at any time of the year. Therefore, every meal in a Yakut home begins with treating the fire - throwing food into the fire and irrigating it with milk. Feeding the fire is one of the key moments of any holiday and business.

The most characteristic cultural phenomenon is the olonkho poetic stories, which can have up to 36 thousand rhymed lines. The epic is passed down from generation to generation between master performers, and most recently these stories were included in the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List. Good memory and high life expectancy are one of the distinguishing features of the Yakuts. In connection with this feature, a custom arose according to which a dying elderly person calls someone from the younger generation to him and tells him about all his social ties - friends, enemies. The Yakuts are distinguished by social activity, even though their settlements are several yurts located at an impressive distance. The main social relations take place during major holidays, the main of which is the holiday of koumiss - Ysyakh.

The traditional culture is most fully represented by the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern Yakuts are close in culture to the Evenks and Yukaghirs, the Olyokma are strongly acculturated by Russians.

12 facts about the Yakuts

It is not so cold in Yakutia as everyone thinks. Almost throughout the territory of Yakutia, the minimum temperature is on average -40-45 degrees, which are not so terrible, since the air is very dry. -20 degrees in St. Petersburg will be worse than -50 in Yakutsk.
The Yakuts eat raw meat - frozen foal meat, sliced \u200b\u200band shavings or cut into cubes. The meat of adult horses is also eaten, but it is not so tasty. Meat is extremely tasty and healthy, rich in vitamins and other useful substances, in particular, antioxidants.
Stroganina is also eaten in Yakutia - the meat of river fish, mainly whitefish and omul, trimmed with thick chips, stroganina from sturgeon and nelma is most valued (all these fish, with the exception of sturgeon, are from the whitefish family). All this splendor can be consumed by dipping the chips in salt and pepper. Some also make different sauces.
Contrary to popular belief, most people in Yakutia have never seen deer. Deer are found mainly in the Far North of Yakutia and, oddly enough, in South Yakutia.
The legend of crowbars becoming brittle like glass in severe frost is true. If, at a temperature below 50-55 degrees, you hit a solid object with a cast-iron crowbar, the crowbar will shatter into pieces.
In Yakutia, almost all grains, vegetables and even some fruits ripen perfectly during the summer. For example, beautiful, tasty, red, sweet watermelons are grown not far from Yakutsk.
The Yakut language belongs to the Turkic group of languages. There are a lot of words in the Yakut language that begin with the letter "Y".
In Yakutia, even in 40-degree frost, children eat ice cream right on the street.
When the Yakuts eat bear meat, they make the sound "Hook" before eating or imitate the cry of a raven, thereby, as it were, disguising themselves from the spirit of the bear - it's not we who eat your meat, but crows.
Yakut horses are a very ancient breed. They graze all year round on their own without any supervision.
Yakuts are very hardworking. In summer, they can easily work 18 hours a day in the hayfield without a break for lunch, and after that they still have a good drink in the evening and after 2 hours of sleep they go back to work. They can work 24 hours and then plow 300 km behind the wheel and work there for another 10 hours.
The Yakuts do not like being called Yakuts and prefer to be called "Sakha".

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, as part of the project, we created 60 documentaries about representatives of various 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". Yakuts. "Yakutia - Siberia of Siberia", 2011

General information

YAK'UTS(from the Evenk Yakoltsy), Sakha (self-name), one of the northernmost Turkic peoples, a people in the Russian Federation (380.2 thousand people), the indigenous population of Yakutia (365.2 thousand people). According to the 2002 population census, the number of Yakuts living in Russia is 443 thousand 852 people, in the 2010 census more than 478 thousand 85 people speaking the Yakut language were recorded.

Yakuts live in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), as well as in the Irkutsk and Magadan regions, Khabarovsk and Krasnoyarsk regions. On Taimyr and in the Evenk Autonomous Okrug. Yakuts make up approximately 45 percent of the population of the Sakha Republic.

The main groups of the Yakuts are Amga-Lena (between the Lena, lower Aldan and Amga, as well as on the adjacent left bank of the Lena), Vilyui (in the Vilyui basin), Olekma (in the Olekma basin), northern (in the tundra zone of the basins of the Anabar, Olenyok, Kolyma rivers , Yana, Indigirka). They speak the Yakut language of the Turkic group of the Altai family, which has groups of dialects: central, Vilyui, northwestern, Taimyr. Believers are Orthodox.
Both the Tungus population of taiga Siberia and the Turkic-Mongolian tribes who settled in Siberia in the 10-13 centuries and assimilated the local population participated in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts. The ethnogenesis of the Yakuts was completed by the 17th century.

By the beginning of contacts with the Russians (1620s), the Yakuts were divided into 35-40 exogamous "tribes" (Dion, Aimakh, Russian "volosts"), the largest - Kangalas and Namtsy on the left bank of the Lena, Megins, Borogons, Betuns, Baturus - between Lena and Amga, numbering up to 2-5 thousand people.

According to archaeological and ethnographic data, the Yakuts were formed as a result of the absorption by the southern Turkic-speaking settlers of local tribes in the middle reaches of the Lena River. It is believed that the last wave of the southern ancestors of the Yakuts penetrated the Middle Lena in the XIV-XV centuries. In the process of resettlement in Eastern Siberia, the Yakuts mastered the basins of the northern rivers Anabar, Olenka, Yana, Indigirka and Kolyma. The Yakuts modified the reindeer husbandry of the Tungus, created the Tungus-Yakut type of draft reindeer husbandry.

A series of audio lectures "Peoples of Russia" - Yakuts

The tribes were often at enmity with each other, divided into smaller tribal groups - "paternal clans" (aga-uusa) and "maternal clans" (iye-uusa), i.e., apparently ascending to different wives of the progenitor. There were customs of blood feud, usually replaced by a ransom, military initiation of boys, collective fishing (in the north - catching geese), hospitality, gift exchange (belakh). A military aristocracy stood out - toyons, who ruled the clan with the help of elders and acted as military leaders. They owned slaves (kulut, bokan), 1-3, rarely up to 20 people in a family. Slaves had a family, often lived in separate yurts, men often served in the military squad of the toyon. Professional merchants appeared - the so-called townspeople (i.e. people who traveled to the city). Livestock was in private ownership, hunting, pasture land, hayfields, etc. - mainly in the community. The Russian administration sought to slow down the development of private ownership of land. Under Russian rule, the Yakuts were divided into "kinds" (aga-uusa), ruled by elected "princes" (kines) and united in naslegs. At the head of the nasleg were the elected "grand prince" (ulakhan kines) and the "tribal administration" of the tribal foremen. Community members gathered for tribal and hereditary gatherings (munni). Naslegs united in uluses headed by an elected ulus head and "foreign council". These associations ascended to other tribes: Meginsky, Borogonsky, Baturussky, Namsky, West and East Kangalassky uluses, Betyunsky, Batulinsky, Ospetsky naslegs, etc.

The inclusion of the Yakuts into the Russian state in the 1620-1630s accelerated their socio-economic and cultural development. In the 17th-19th centuries, the main occupation of the Yakuts was cattle breeding (breeding of cattle and horses), from the second half of the 19th century, a significant part began to engage in agriculture, hunting and fishing played an auxiliary role.

The main traditional occupations are horse breeding (in Russian documents of the 17th century, the Yakuts were called "horse people") and cattle breeding. The men took care of the horses, the women took care of the cattle. Deer were bred in the north. Cattle were kept in the summer on grazing, in the winter in barns (hotons). Haymaking was known before the arrival of the Russians. The Yakut breeds of cattle were distinguished by endurance, but were unproductive.

Fishing was also developed. They fished mainly in the summer, but also in the winter in the hole; in the fall, a collective seine fishing was organized with the division of prey between all participants. For the poor, who did not have livestock, fishing was the main occupation (in the documents of the 17th century, the term "fisherman" - balyksyt - is used in the meaning of "poor"), some tribes also specialized in it - the so-called "foot Yakuts" - osekui, ontuly, kokui , Kirikians, Kyrgydais, Orgoths and others.

There was gathering - the collection of pine and larch sapwood (the inner layer of the bark), which was harvested for the winter in dried form, roots (saran, chakan, etc.), greens (wild onions, horseradish, sorrel), raspberries, which were considered unclean, were not used from berries.

They traveled mainly on horseback, transporting goods in packs. There were known skis lined with horse kamus, sledges (silis syarga, later - sledges like Russian wood firewood), usually harnessed to bulls, in the north - straight-dust reindeer sleds; types of boats common with Evenks - birch bark (tyy) or flat-bottomed from boards; sailing ships-karbasy borrowed from the Russians.

Winter settlements (kystyk) were located near mowing fields, consisted of 1-3 yurts, summer ones - near pastures, numbered up to 10 yurts. The winter yurt (booth, diie) had sloping walls made of standing thin logs on a rectangular log frame and a low gable roof. The walls were plastered on the outside with clay and manure, the roof over the log flooring was covered with bark and earth. The house was placed on the cardinal points, the entrance was arranged in the east side, the windows - in the south and west, the roof was oriented from north to south. To the right of the entrance, in the northeast corner, a hearth (ooh) was arranged - a pipe made of poles coated with clay, which went out through the roof. Plank bunks (oron) were arranged along the walls. The most honorable was the southwestern corner. At the western wall there was a master's place. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for male youth, workers, on the right, at the hearth, for women. A table (ostuol) and stools were placed in the front corner. On the north side, a barn (khoton) was attached to the yurt, often under the same roof with housing, the door to it from the yurt was behind the hearth. In front of the entrance to the yurt, a canopy or canopy was arranged. The yurt was surrounded by a low mound, often with a fence. A hitching post was placed near the house, often decorated with carvings. Summer yurts differed little from winter ones. Instead of a khoton, a barn for calves (titik), sheds, etc. were placed at a distance. Since the end of the 18th century, polygonal log yurts with a pyramidal roof have been known. From the 2nd half of the 18th century, Russian huts spread.

The main food is dairy, especially in summer: from mare's milk - koumiss, from cow's milk - curdled milk (suorat, sora), cream (kuercheh), butter; oil was drunk melted or with koumiss; suorat was prepared for the winter in a frozen form (tar) with the addition of berries, roots, etc.; stew (butugas) was prepared from it with the addition of water, flour, roots, pine sapwood, etc. Fish food played a major role for the poor, and in the northern regions, where there were no livestock, meat was consumed mainly by the rich. Horse meat was especially valued. In the 19th century, barley flour came into use: it was used to make unleavened cakes, pancakes, salamat stew. Vegetables were known in the Olekminsk district.

Small family (kergen, yal). Until the 19th century, polygamy was preserved, and the wives often lived separately and each ran their own household. Kalym usually consisted of cattle, part of it (kurum) was intended for a wedding feast. The bride was given a dowry, which in value amounted to about half of the kalym - mainly items of clothing and utensils.

In the second half of the 18th century, most of the Yakuts were converted to Christianity, but shamanism also persisted.

In the life of the Yakuts, religion played a leading role. The Yakuts consider themselves children of the good spirit aiyy, they believe that they can become spirits. In general, the Yakut from the very conception is surrounded by spirits and gods, on which he is dependent. Almost all Yakuts have an idea of the pantheon of gods. An obligatory rite is the feeding of the spirit of fire on solemn occasions or in the bosom of nature. Sacred places, mountains, trees, rivers are revered. Blessings (algys) are often real prayers. The Yakuts celebrate the Ysyakh religious holiday every year. The ancient epic Olonkho, passed down from generation to generation by storytellers, is included in the UNESCO World Intangible Heritage List. Another well-known original cultural phenomenon is the so-called Yakut knife. There are many regional variations of the Yakut knife, but in the classic version it is a blade from 110 to 170 mm long, mounted on a wooden handle made of birch burl with a leather sheath.

Orthodoxy spread in the 18th and 19th centuries. The Christian cult was combined with belief in good and evil spirits, the spirits of dead shamans, master spirits, etc. Elements of totemism were preserved: the clan had an animal patron who was forbidden to be killed, called by name, etc. The world consisted of several tiers, the head of the upper was considered Yuryung ayy toyon, lower - Ala buuray toyon, etc. The cult of the female deity of fertility Aiyysyt was important. Horses were sacrificed to the spirits living in the upper world, cows were sacrificed in the lower one. The main holiday is the spring-summer koumiss holiday (Ysyakh), accompanied by libations of koumiss from large wooden goblets (choroon), games, sports competitions, etc. Shamanism was developed. Shaman tambourines (dungur) are close to Evenk ones. In folklore, the heroic epic (olonkho) was developed, performed in recitative by special storytellers (olonkhosut) with a large gathering of people; historical legends, fairy tales, especially fairy tales about animals, proverbs, songs. Traditional musical instruments - jew's harp (khomus), violin (kyryympa), percussion. Of the dances, the round dance osuokhay, game dances, etc. are common.

School education has been conducted since the 18th century in Russian. Writing in the Yakut language since the middle of the 19th century. At the beginning of the 20th century, the intelligentsia was formed.

In 1922, the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created, since 1990 - the Republic of Sakha, Yakutia. Cities are growing in the country, industry and agriculture are developing, in the 1930s and 40s the Yakuts settled in new settlements. A network of secondary and higher educational institutions emerged. Literature is published in the Yakut language, periodicals are published, television programs are conducted.

V.N. Ivanov

YUKAG'IR, odul, vadul (self-name - "powerful, strong"), etel, etal (Chukotka), omoki (obsolete Russian), people in the Russian Federation. The number of 1.1 thousand people. They live in the Nizhnekolymsky (tundra Yukagirs, or vadul) and Verkhnekolymsky (taiga Yukaghirs, or odul) regions of Yakutia (about 700 people), as well as Alaikhov and Anadyr regions of the Magadan region. According to the 2002 population census, the number of Yukaghirs living in Russia is 1,509 people, according to the 2010 census. - 1 thousand 603 people.

They speak an isolated Yukagir language, dialects are tundra and taiga. Writing since the 1970s on a Russian graphic basis. Russian is also widespread (46% of Yukaghirs consider it their native language), Yakut, Even and Chukchi languages. Believers are mostly Orthodox.

Most researchers see in the Yukagirs the descendants of the most ancient population of Eastern Siberia, who also took part in the formation of other Paleo-Asiatic peoples. The resettlement of the Tungus (Evenks and Evens) and Turkic (Yakuts) peoples in Eastern Siberia in the 1st-2nd millennia led to a reduction in the ethnic territory of the Yukaghirs and their partial assimilation. By the time the Russians arrived in the middle of the 17th century, the Yukagirs occupied the territory from Indigirka to Anadyr, numbered 4.5-5 thousand people and made up several tribal groups ("clans"): Yandins (Yangins), Onondi, Kogime, Omoki, Alai (Alazei ), Shoromba, Olyubentsy, Homoroi, Anauls, Khodyns, Chuvans, Omolons, and others. to a sharp reduction in the number of Yukagirs. By the end of the 17th century, the Yukagirs numbered 2535 people, in the first half of the 18th century - 1400-1500 people, in 1897 - 948 people, in 1926-27 - less than 400 people.

The main traditional occupations are semi-nomadic and nomadic hunting for wild deer (tundra Yukaghirs), elk, deer and mountain sheep (taiga Yukaghirs), among the taiga Yukaghirs - also lake and river fishing, among the tundra - transport reindeer husbandry. In summer they traveled on reindeer, in winter - on arc-dusty sleds. Among the tundra Yukaghirs, dog-straight dust sleds were common. On the water they moved on birch bark, dugout or plank boats, on the snow - on skis hemmed with skins, on the crust - on the barren.

The ancient dwellings of the Yukaghirs were semi-dugouts-chandals, the skeletons of which were preserved by the time the Russians arrived, in some places - to the present day. Later, the taiga Yukaghirs lived in conical huts made of thin logs covered with turf, or in tents covered with bark or rovdug. The tent was heated by a central hearth, one or two transverse poles were arranged above it for hanging boilers, drying clothes, drying fish and meat. There were also known large log yurts, similar to the Yakut ones, in the tundra regions - cylinder-conical plagues borrowed from the Evens. Outbuildings were barns and storehouses on poles. Most modern Yukaghirs live in log houses in the villages of Andryushkino and Kolymskoye (Verkhnekolymsky district), Nelemnoye and Zyryanka (Nizhnekolymsky district), Markovo (Magadan region), etc.

Traditional clothing is close to Evenk and Even. The main clothing is a knee-length swinging caftan with a hem tied with ribbons and an inner fold on the back, in summer - from rovduga, in winter - from deer skins. Long "tails" made of sealskins were sewn to the back: for men - forked at the back, for women - on the sides. Under the caftan they put on a bib, short pants, leather in summer, fur in winter. Men wore a belt with a knife and a pouch over the caftan. In winter, a long scarf made of squirrel tails was worn on top. Winter clothing made of rovduga was common, similar in cut to the Chukchi kamleika and kukhlyanka. Summer shoes are made of rovduga, with leggings tied with straps at the thigh and ankle, in winter - high torbashes made of reindeer skins, stockings made of deer or hare fur. Women's clothing was lighter, sewn from multi-colored fur of young deer. Festive clothes were decorated with deer hair embroidery, beads, cloth trims, expensive fur, and appliqué. Silver, copper and iron ornaments were common - rings, plaques, etc.; the decoration of women's breastplates is characteristic - the "chest sun" - a large silver plaque.

The main food - meat and fish - boiled, dried, frozen. The meat was prepared for the future - dried and then smoked and ground into powder. The fish was stored in the form of yukola, crushed into powder-porsa, in winter it was boiled with deer blood or pine sapwood (anil kerile); boiled fish was crushed with berries and fat (kulibakha). Fish giblets and caviar were fried, cakes were baked from caviar. In the summer they ate fermented fish, wrapping it for a day in willow leaves. They also used wild onions, sarana roots, berries, unlike the Yakuts and Evens - mushrooms. As an aphrodisiac, they used fly agaric, smoked tobacco, thyme leaves, brewed tea and birch growths.

The family is large, mostly matrilocal, patrilineal inheritance. There were customs of levirate, avoidance (a taboo on communication between a father and a married son and daughter-in-law, etc.). Since the end of the 19th century, the institution of kalym has spread.

Customs associated with fire played an important role: it was forbidden to pass fire from the hearth to strangers, to pass between the hearth and the head of the family, etc. Traditional beliefs are cults of host spirits, the supreme heavenly god Hoyle (merged with the Christian cult), game animals (especially elk), a bear cult, a fire cult, and ancestral spirits. Ideas were developed about the division of the universe into the upper, middle and lower worlds ("earths"), connected by a river, shamanism. The bodies of the dead shamans were dismembered, the skulls were kept in the house as a shrine. The main holidays are spring (Shahadzibe), weddings, successful hunts, military campaigns, etc. - were accompanied by songs, dances, performance of legends, shamanistic rituals. Until the 20th century, pictographic writing on birch bark (tosy, shongar-shorile) was preserved. The main genres of folklore are legends, stories and fairy tales. The main dances are circular (longdol) and pair imitative - "Swan". Christianity has been spreading since the 17th century.

Modern Yukaghirs are engaged in fur trade, fishing, and reindeer herding. The intelligentsia appeared. Tribal communities - "Chayla" ("Dawn") and "Yukagir" are being recreated, they are allocated territories traditional for the economic activity of the Yukaghirs, and financial support is provided.

In December 1992, the Council of Elders and the Fund for the Revival of the Yukaghir people were established.

Yakuts- This is the indigenous population of Yakutia (Republic of Sakha). Statistics according to the last census is as follows
Number - 959689 people.
Language - Turkic group of languages (Yakut)
Religion - Orthodox and traditional faith.
Race - Mongoloid
Related peoples include Dolgans, Tuvans, Kirghiz, Altaians, Khakasses, Shors
Ethnos - Dolgans
Descended from the Turkic-Mongolian people.

History: the origin of the Yakut people.

The first mention of the ancestors of this people was found in the fourteenth century. A nomadic tribe of Kurykans lived in Transbaikalia. Scientists suggest that from the 12th-14th centuries, the Yakuts migrated from Baikal to Lena, Aldan and Vailyuy, where they settled and forced out the Tungus and Odul. The Yakut people from ancient times were considered excellent cattle breeders. Cultivation of cows, horses. Yakuts are hunters by nature. They fished excellently, understood military affairs, and were famous for blacksmithing. Archaeologists believe that the Yakut people appeared as a result of the addition of trick-speaking settlers from the local tribes of the Lena basin to their settlement. In 1620, the Yakut people joined the Russian state - this accelerated the development of the people.

Religion

Traditions of the Yakut people

1. Mandatory traditional rite - Blessing of Aiyy during celebrations, holidays and outdoors. Blessings are prayers.
2. The rite of air burial is the suspension of the body of a dead person in the air. The rite of giving the deceased to air, spirit, light, wood.
3. The holiday "Ysyakh", the day praising the White Aiyy, is the most important holiday.
4. "Bayanai" - the spirit of hunting and good luck. It is cajoled when hunting or catching fish.
5. Marriage is entered from 16 to 25 years. For the bride, bride price is paid. If the family is not rich, then the bride can be stolen, and then work for her by helping the family of the future wife.
6. Singing, which the Yakuts refer to as "olonkho" resembles opera singing since 2005, is considered a UNESCO heritage.
7. All the Yakut people revere the trees as the spirit of the mistress of the land Aan Dar Khan Khotun lives there.
8. When climbing through the mountains, the Yakuts traditionally sacrificed fish and animals to forest spirits.

Yakut national jumps

a sport that is held on the national holiday "Ysyakh". International Games "Children of Asia" are divided into:
"Kylyy" - eleven jumps without stopping, the start of the jump on one leg, and the landing must be on both legs.
"Ystaҥa" - eleven alternate jumps from foot to foot and you need to land on both feet.
"Kuobah" - eleven jumps without stopping, pushing off with two legs at once from a place or landing on two legs from a run.
It is important to know about the rules. Since if the third competition is not performed, the results will be cancelled.

Yakut cuisine

The traditions of the Yakut people are also connected with their cuisine. For example, cooking carp. The fish is not gutted, only the scales are removed, a small incision is made on the side, part of the intestine is cut off, and the gallbladder is removed. In this form, the fish is boiled or fried. Potrashkov soup is popular among the people. This waste-free cooking applies to all dishes. Be it beef or horse meat.

From its very "origin of the Yakut people" traditions have been accumulating. These northern rites are interesting and mysterious, accumulated after centuries of their history. For other nations, their life is so inaccessible and incomprehensible, but for the Yakuts it is the memory of their ancestors, a small tribute in honor of their existence.

Prior to the discovery of Dearing Yuryakh, all of humanity was considered to have spread to the entire planet through migrations from the only Olduvai center in Africa. Dearing, one might say, put an end to the version of supposedly general migrations. Now the North, which was considered a deserted desert, will figure as one of the oldest cradles of the origin of mankind and the foremother of the most ancient foundations of cultures and languages. In this direction, hopefully, with time, the Nostratic (all-planetary) of ethnonyms and toponyms published in this work on the basis of the Ugro-Samoyedic and Maya-Paleo-Asiatic languages will go hand in hand with Dearing. Who and how created such a general planetary nature of the most ancient ethnonyms and toponyms is a mystery. The key to that riddle, perhaps, will be the fact that the Maya-Mayaats spoke Samoyed, and the Yukagir Oduls have a language from the Ugro group, very close to the Mansi language. However, to unravel that riddle is the task of the humanities of the coming centuries. The author is glad that the Yakut Deering and the Ugrian-Samody-Mayaat Nostratic will stand at the turning point of revising the origin of all mankind. It will be much more prestigious and honorable than all the previous supposedly migrant versions, because in any empires of antiquity and modernity, the role of the few people was equally modest.
A heifer born into the world will not turn into a horse, and those born as Xiongnu-Hunhuz and Turks will not become a new ethnic group. Such is the cleverly disguised essence of the "axeomatic" migration theory about the Yakuts - the theory of the "scientific" annulment of the Sakha as a self-generated independent people and its transformation into degenerate vagrants-refugees. To reinforce the picture of degeneration, that theory does not bring to the fore the heroic labor at the Pole of Cold, but under the guise of sympathy one-sidedly sticks out poverty, backwardness and "primitiveness" of the Sakha. In order to transfer the original successes of Deering culture to more “smart” neighbors, that resettlement theory even came up with some “cultural heroes” from the “settlers” who allegedly taught the Deering people how to live on the pole of cold and permafrost. There, the Diring Omogoi people are exposed as absolute savages, who have not even invented elementary vessels made of birch bark and the simplest pagan rites. To this theoretical destruction of the Sakha and its transformation into a degraded offshoot of absolutely alien neighbors, there are many sympathizers to this day. And all this is due to the transition of the Sakha in the past to the imperial language of the khaganates and khanates. According to toponyms, Yakutia has changed at least a dozen languages in the past. Those languages came and went without changing the body. Turkic-speaking is just another interchangeable of those ten languages that came and went. Today, an impressive group of Yakuts have switched to Russian, and there are no Yakuts left who cannot speak Russian. However, because of this, they do not say anything about the origin of the Sakha from the Russians.
The entire conscious life of the author of these lines was spent on clarifying the above-mentioned natural and artificial complexities of the Sakha ethnogenesis. He worked on the proposed monograph for almost half a century. And the fact that he was in no hurry to present his conclusions almost ruined the entire long-term study: he had to write this monograph in a telegram-like, concise way - after losing his sight. Labor had to be crumpled due to economic limitations. On the other hand, each chapter of the work turned into a kind of theses for a future independent monograph. Their author gives to his future followers in the 21st and subsequent centuries. There are different emotions around the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts. The author did not find it possible to focus on them in his monograph, because the results and fate of humanitarian research, commissioned by passions, are well known.