The Peoples of the Tundra – English summary

Among the Sel’kups of western Siberia lives the legend of Itje. It gives an account of how the old, peaceful times ended for good, and how the people of the Tundra flight from the intruders, who had joined themselves with both the cross and evil forces.

The legend did not come out of nowhere. One does not have to dig very deep into the history books in order to find proof that northern Eurasia used to be inhabited by other people than those representing the majority today. In literature, one can read the Lapps and Finns were the main inhabitants of the Kola Peninsula and the regions south of the White Sea. To the east lay the lands of the Samoyeds, Ostyaks and the Zyryans. It has also been shown that the Samoyeds also used to inhabit the lands south of the White Sea. The Russian chronicles report of ’white-eyed Chuds’ and ’disgusting raw meat-eaters’ up north. The legends and tales of the Sámi also mention the Chuds.

And there were wars, in which the peoples of the tundra were attacked and driven away by armed soldiers carrying the Tsar’s flags and the sign of the cross. Even though the tundra now is part of modern-day Russia, it still is influenced by once having been the land of a people with a different lifestyle, religion and perception of reality.

In Tundraens folk, a few of the numerous, small nations that once inhabited the tundra are presented. One thing they have in common is nomadic reindeer herding. This way of life also forms the basis of their culture, which has developed over millennia of survival in the world’s harshest surroundings. As a result, these people still possess knowledge of reindeer herding, which has been lost in most of the western world.

The Kola Sami are one people presented in Tundraens folk. They witnessed the settlement of their land by Russians, who then established heavy industry and the world’s greatest military arsenal there. Finally, the newcomers even took control over their reindeer husbandry.

The Kanin-Nenets live on the other side of the White Sea strait, on Jab’te salé. They have adapted to modern times by privatising their reindeer herds. Economically, this has so far not borne fruit, but the Nenets have regained the control over their own way of living.

The first Nenish reindeer collective farm was found on Nudi ja, the Malozemel’skaya tundra. Its members still live on memories of previous glory in the quietness following the fall of the communist regime.

On the other side of the Pechora, however, on N’arka, the Bol’shezemelskaya tundra, there are times of mental and social unrest. The reason is that a group of reindeer herdsmen followed Jeltsin’s directive of 1991 and left the Kharp collective farm – in order to establish their own private reindeer-breeding enterprise Yerv.

East of the Ural Mountains, on the long peninsula Ya’mal, the land’s end’, reindeer husbandry is less affected by the political changes in central Russia. Here, in what may be the world’s richest reindeer grazing lands, the mighty reindeer herds are tended according to the old traditions. The reindeer are tended collectively, but nevertheless under the control of the various reindeer owners, and with a significant share of privately-owned animals. In The peoples of the Tundra, we join the Hudi-siida of the sovkhoz Yaralinskiy on their wandering to new grazing lands. Time seems to have stopped when regarding the steady progress of the several kilometre long caravan, consisting of more than a quarter of thousand reindeer. First the sight of the herdsmen’s rubber boots reminds you again that we are in fact in the third millennium AD.

South of Yamal, between the Urals and the Ob, live the Khanti, descendants of the old Ob-Ugrians. Today, they are a peaceful people mainly living from farming, fishing and reindeer husbandry. However, centuries ago they formed their own nation and rode the Siberian steppes alongside of Ghengis Khan.

- We hope to provide housing to all nomadic people, so that they can settle down in the villages, says the mayor of Pur, in the southern part of Yamal-Nenetsia. The forest Nenets, or  Neshchang, as they call themselves, have no desire to become settled and to leave their traditional way of life for an uncertain future in a Russian settlement. Nevertheless, they are now being forced to do so, by a greedy petroleum industry that is encroaching rapidly on their tribal lands. – In five years, we will cease to exist as a people, says the Kharampur-clan’s eldest, Ëntju Ajvaseda.

The Sel’kups inhabit the heart of Siberia’s lowlands, between the rivers Ob and Yenisey. Earlier, the Russians used the region as a place of exile. After journeying by boat up the river Taz for many days, you come to the settlements of Kikiakki and Ratta. In this remote part of the world, one can still witness traditional shamanism and meet Tetyby, the Sel’kups’ shaman.

The peoples of the Tundra presents shamans, dancers and joikers participating at the annual thanksgiving feast in Salekhard, the capital city of Yamal-Nenetsia. Even a feast of sacrifice is presented, which now can be held openly after having been banned since 1933. All peoples of the Yamal region take part in the sacrifice, where a toast is made wishing that no other blood than reindeer blood should flow in the future.

The small, northern Siberian nations have experienced much hardship after having been incorporated into Russia. Today, their language, culture and way of life are seriously threatened by the cultural and economic influence of the dominant society. Recently, Russia has become a democracy and the rights of the First Peoples are constitutionally protected. In spite of this, it can hardly be said that their lives have become better. In the Sel’kup’s legend, Itje does not die, he only sleeps, and when the time is right he will awaken, gather his people and re-establish their rightful place in the northern lands. Our hope is that this book can play a small part in the wakening of Itje.