12/11/2020
Today's article is about the indigenous people of Kamchatka - the Itelmen.
The Itelmens are the most ancient northern people, whose ancestors settled in the Kamchatka region 15,000 years ago. Genes, mythology, and rituals unite them with the North American Indians. Household and family habits are shocking, making up the original Itelmen culture.
Now there are 3193 of them. Most of them live in Kamchatka. The most substantiated information about the number of Itelmens at the end of the 17th – 18th centuries was given by the Soviet ethnographer B.O.Dolgikh. Using materials from yasak books, he came to the conclusion that in 1697 the number of Itelmens was 12,680 people, and in 1738 - 8448 people. The main reasons for the decrease in their numbers were the imported infectious diseases (smallpox, "rotten fever", etc.), the colonial policy of Russia and the process of assimilation of the Itelmens with the Russians.
Over the past 70 years, the number of Itelmens has increased approximately threefold.
Scientists have found similar genes in the Navajo Indians of the North American tribe and the Alaskan Tlingit. The visits of the Itelmens to the remaining representatives of the tribes confirmed the presence of similar elements in culture, rituals, and mythology. The traditional beliefs of the Itelmens - animism, totemism, fetishism - are associated with the worship of master spirits. The "master of the sea" Mitg was especially revered, providing the main food product - fish. The Raven (Kutkh) was considered the creator of the earth and the first ancestor. The Itelmen were alien to the idea of a single god. There was also shamanism, but the Itelmen shamans did not have ritual clothes and tambourines. The shamans were usually women. From the middle of the XVII century. the Itelmens adopted Christianity.
According to ethnographic research, in ancient times the Itelmens practiced the rite of air burial. This is one of the most ancient religious rites of the burial of a deceased person, in which the burial is performed by hanging the body of the deceased in the air with the aim of giving the body of the deceased to air, spirit, light and wood. The cycle of legends about the raven character Kutkha is widely known. The largest number of Itelmen fairy tales were recorded at the beginning of the 20th century. by the Russian ethnographer V.I. Yokhelson. The Itelmens were distinguished by their endurance, they could run for a long time without shortness of breath, and do hard work. Despite the unsanitary conditions, they were distinguished by good health and longevity: the average age was 60-75 years. By the time the Russians arrived in Kamchatka, a man played the leading role among the Itelmens, but the remnants of matriarchy occupied a significant place. Women were not offended, they were honored in every possible way, they fulfilled any whims. The custom of "working off" a potential groom in the bride's house has been preserved. The man moved to the yurt of the girl he liked, where he performed any work as a servant. Sometimes the "service" dragged on for several years, and the bride's consent to marriage did not mean. The paradox: while living together during the "working off" potential husband and wife indulged in carnal pleasures. The wedding ceremony was also an obstacle to marriage. When the man decided that he had already served enough and won the sympathy of the bride, he offered to carry out the "Grab" ceremony. The chosen girl was tightly tied with ropes on her legs, entangled with nets and dressed up in several layers of clothing. The groom's goal is to unravel the shackles and touch her va**na. The task was complicated by the female relatives gathered around the bride, who obstructed the ceremony. They beat, bit, and scratched the man not in a comic manner, but in full force. Often the ritual ended in serious injuries: then, after healing the wounds, the ritual was repeated. If the goal was achieved, the bride would say “no, no”: after the marriage was considered concluded.
Innocence in the world of the Itelmens was not among the virtues; the morals in the communities were free. Marriages within the clan between cousins were allowed, levirate and polygamy were actively practiced. The only obstacle to polygamy is the custom of matchmaking, so the Itelmens preferred to have easy, non-binding relationships. It was allowed for men and women. If Itelmen decided to have a second wife, he asked permission from the first. If the ladies liked each other, they began to live together as a large family. Otherwise, the husband was constantly moving from one yurt to another. They did not dare to refuse a man: he could leave for good, divorce was not considered shameful.
In winter, the tribal community lived in one common house: a semi-dugout, dug 1.5 meters deep, fenced in with a small rounded canopy with a roof covered with turf and snow. It was called a yurt, along the side walls there were sleeping places: bunks, mats laid on the ground. A wooden idol, the guardian of the clan, was placed in the far corner. A hearth was raised in the center, the smoke came out of the window of the upper side part: through it, men descended into the dwelling. For women and children, a side access was built: it is more convenient to get inside through it. In summer they settled in huts, equipped on four poles up to 4 m high. The quadrangular huts had a conical roof. From afar, the settlements of the Itelmen looked like cities with towers. The Cossacks who arrived interpreted the bizarre shape in their own way, calling the dwellings "booths". The wind blew freely between the poles: the place was used for drying and drying fish. Nearby, simple ground structures were erected for cleaning fish. Religion Religious beliefs of the Itelmens are diverse: animism, shamanism, fetishism, totemism. The people believed: the earth is flat, in the lower part there is an "underground sky", where the season is opposite to the Itelmen one. There was no single god, the world was inhabited by many spirits: hosts patrons assistants satellites pests The protagonist of the myths is the Raven God Kutkh, the creator of heaven and earth, present in the beliefs of the northern peoples, Indians. It's funny, but the Itelmens did not respect him: they composed ridiculous and obscene stories about his adventures. The ruler of the underworld was considered the son of Kutkh by the name of Gach, and his spies in the world of the living were lizards. So that they would not pass on the news about the life of the people to the lord, the lizards they met were chopped into small pieces. The Itelmens believed: living beings, from man to fly, after death are reborn in the underworld, where they begin to live better. Death did not frighten: at the slightest dissatisfaction with reality, the Itelmens easily went to su***de. After the arrival of the Cossacks, who greatly complicated their life, mass su***des began. The people, distinguished by their ingenuity, noticed that the Cossacks after death, according to their stories, go to heaven. This means that in the underworld they will not bother the revived northern inhabitants. Friendship played an important role for the Itelmens: the tradition of dedication to best friends is unusually bizarre. The chosen candidate came to visit his future friend, who was preparing a sumptuous feast for the visit and hotly drowning the chum. Both went into the dwelling, stripped naked, the candidate began his meal, the owner poured water over the hot stones, like in a bath. When the guest began to beg for mercy, the brought things, clothes, dogs were taken from him. In return, they gave castoffs and sick animals. After a while, the roles were reversed: after a return visit, the friendship was considered to be sealed forever. The basis of the diet of the Itelmens was made up of salmon fish. The national dish is yukola: dried salmon cut into 6 parts. Caviar was dried with bark of trees; they ate it and yukola all winter. A shocking dish for modern people, which is considered a favorite delicacy of the Itelmens - fish heads fermented in special pits or barrels. When they reached a clear smell, they were washed and ate with particular pleasure. Unlike other peoples of Kamchatka, the Itelmens subjected fish to heat treatment. Since they did not know metal boilers, they came up with an ingenious method: stones red-hot on a fire were thrown into wooden containers with water. Less often the fish was baked over a fire, smoked. Salting began only with the arrival of the Russians: the difficulty of delivering salt did not favor this method of preparation. Itelmen women were engaged in gathering of mushrooms, roots, herbs, pine nuts, berries. Bread was replaced with sarana onions, crushed with blueberries: foreigners noted the pleasant taste of this dish.
