The fauna and the flora, the regenerative cycle of nature in Siberia – all determine the rhythm of life of the aboriginal people, and embody an annual calendar of things to do and things to go and get for individual groups and, indeed, for individuals.
The peoples of Siberia are the inheritors of highly practical and specific traditions that distinguish one group from another but contain elements common to all. For example, almost all the inhabitants of Siberia eat fish, although it is prepared in various fashions. The most widespread recipe – known from north to south and from east to west – is undoubtedly yukola, in which the fish is dried on large wooden frames in the summer sun to preserve it for the winter. Highly nourishing, the yukola has for centuries taken on the same role for Siberian groups that bread plays elsewhere in the world. Similarly, stroganina is the dish of choice for inhabitants of some of the coldest regions: it is fish caught in winter and frozen the instant it leaves the water in air temperatures of under -40 °C (-40°F), preserved, and eaten just as it is, cut into fine strips. A favourite of all dwellers in the north, Russians as well as indigenous peoples, stroganina is mostly kept for special occasions. In the smaller villages, the fish may be stored frozen on the outdoor porches and balconies of the houses over the winter (for the average temperature outside is usually lower than that of electric freezers anyway).
Another constant among the differing traditions is the use of natural materials – wood, bark, furs and skins – to make clothing, handicraft-work and/or a shelter. Throughout all the regions of Siberia, reindeer-skin is most used for winter clothing, in particular for knee-boots fashioned from strips of hide taken from the lower limbs of the reindeer. The more northerly peoples – the Nenets, Nganassani, Yukaghirs, Chukchis, and so forth – tend to make their shoes and boots from the little piece of roughened skin that lies between the large and the small parts of the hoof of the reindeer. Although an inordinate quantity of such pieces is required for even one pair, the resultant shoes are guaranteed to keep the feet warm and dry.
Nenet, Mobile chums, 1998. Skin and fabric.
Ambar (cereal granaries).
Urban Yakut on horseback, 1906. Yakutia.
As means of transport, the people of many regions in Siberia use dogs instead of reindeer to pull their sleds. To each sledge with its ordinary load of up to 450 lbs., twelve or thirteen dogs are as a rule attached. Unlike the Samoyedes and the Greenlanders, who fasten each dog to the sledge by means of a separate leather rope, the natives in the region of the lower Lena use one common trace, made of leather, to which the dogs are attached on each side by means of short thongs, while at the end is harnessed the peredovoi, or leader. This plan has the advantage of preventing the dogs from becoming entangled in a multiplicity of ropes, but, on the other hand, a certain amount of traction-power is lost owing to the trace of each dog forming an angle to the common trace. The dogs are steered, not by reins, but by word of command from their lord and master, which they obey very well as long as they do not scent any game; but if they are hungry and get the scent, for instance, of a reindeer, they will rush away after it until little is left of the sledge behind them but splinters. To check the pace or stop the dogs the driver ordinarily uses an iron-shod pole as a brake.
The importance of a conscious, deliberate lifestyle on the icy tundra cannot be adequately stressed. The indigenous Siberians have mastered the art of balancing their diet and activity in accordance with the climate. A traveller relates his observations of the essential behavior of hunters in the wasteland:
“A man who will eat a hearty supper of dried fish and tallow, dress himself in a Siberian costume, and crawl into a heavy fur bag, may spend a night out-doors in a temperature of -70 degrees without any serious danger; but if he is tired out, with long travel, if his clothes are wet with perspiration, or if he has not enough to eat, he may freeze to death with the thermometer at zero. The most important rules for an arctic traveller are: to eat plenty of fat food; to avoid over-exertion and night journeys; and never to get into a profuse perspiration by violent exercise for the sake of temporary warmth. I have seen Chukchis in a region destitute of wood and in a dangerous temperature, travel all day with aching feet rather than exhaust their strength by trying to warm them in running.”
The traditional lifestyles of the peoples of Siberia, many aspects of which have in recent times changed or indeed been lost altogether, have one other thing in common: the ability to adapt to a hostile environment. Such practical knowledge, vital to these northern ethnic groups, represents a heritage that ought to be precious to all humankind – knowledge of northern environments, of the animals and plantlife, of the climate; knowledge, gained over thousand of years and handed down from generation to generation, that not only enables people to survive in such conditions but also represents an expression of their artistic creativity. The aboriginal people of Siberia are fairly clever handicraftsmen as carpenters and above all as smiths, a craft which has old and high traditions, and is inherited. At the time of their subjugation by the Russians, they knew how to produce iron from the ore, and their traditions show that the metal has been known to them from time immemorial. They are also clever carvers of wood and bone. The Chukchis and Koryaks are talented workers in ivory. They produce animal representations well cut in ivory, and spear-heads of masterful strength and design. Their hunting knives, made from hoop-iron, are well fashioned, and some of the handles are tastefully inlaid with copper, brass, and silver.
Chukchi, Reindeer-herders in the tundra, 1979. Anadyr area.
Eskimo, Rug, 1909. Seal hide and skin, reindeer underneck hair, 70 × 68.5 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Kamchatka Okrug, Chukchi District.
Many indigenous Siberian tribes are passionately fond of music of any kind, and will accompany themselves upon a three-cornered guitar with three strings, called a ballalaika. Some of them play quite well upon roughly-crafted home made violins. They indulge in amusements such as dancing, playing football on the snow in winter, and racing with dog-teams.
Often, their furniture and tools consist of a large kettle, knife, wooden bowls, platters, spoons or ladles, and an axe, with flint and steel. The Chukchis have a kettle or cooking utensil, in their language called cookie. To these vessels, which are of iron, they are much attached, and the stronger and stouter they are, the better; usually, no consideration will induce them to take or purchase a copper vessel, although lined with tin, as they consider it poisonous. Plain raw iron utensils are preferred, and these they will fearlessly, and with impunity, handle in a temperature of forty degrees below zero, Fahrenheit. Other bowls, dishes and much of the household utensils are made mostly of wood or of birch bark. A bucket made of this bark, for carrying water, a basin formed of the same rude material, a few wooden spoons, and some skins of the reindeer, are all that is required to supply the wants of an Ostyak family.
Chukchi, Small plastic artwork ‘Journey, riding the reindeer’, 1906.
Walrus tusk ivory, 7.5 × 7 cm. Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Primorskaya Oblast, Anadyr Krai.
Yakut, Sculpture ‘Reindeer breeder on the sledge’, 1955.
Mammoth bone, 17 × 4.5 × 5.5 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Yakut ASSR.
Aleut, Baskets, 1909–1910.
Grass-wrack, woolen yarn, Diameters of the bottoms: 1) 12.2 cm 2) 21 cm 3) 33 cm.
Russian Museum of Ethnography, St. Petersburg. Aleutian Islands, Umnak Island.
Aleut, Koryak, Baskets, early 20th century.
Grass-wrack,