Documentation of Eastern Khanty   

 

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Tomsk State Pedagogical University

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Vasyugan River and Vasyugan Khanty Culture

(A.Filchenko)

 

Vasyugan is the western tributary of the Ob river in the middle of the Western Siberian Plain east of the Ural mountain range, in the Kargasok district of Tomsk region. The low-lying local landscape consists of a multitude of rivers and lakes, which drain the world’s largest bog lands – the Vasyuganskie Bolota (Vasyugan swamp). The general climate and ecosystem of the Vasyugan basin is typical for western Siberia, characterised by an extreme continental climate, with temperatures ranging from +30C' in the short summer (May-August) to -40C' in the long winter (October-March). Local fauna include bear, elk (moose), deer, wolves and a range of other fur-bearers and wildfowl. Traditionally, much of the Vasyugan Khanty diet consisted of fish. Such species as pike, bream, perch, starlet among other species are a frequent catch locally. In contrast to other Khanty groups, the Vasyugan Khanty had no local tradition of reindeer husbandry due to the specifics of local ecology, dense mixed forests lacking reindeer pasture, numerous streams, rivers, lakes and vast bogs.

Traditionally the Vasyugan Khanty were subsistence hunters and fishermen. Their low scale seasonal migration were motivated primarily by the main occupations, hunting and fishing, and consisted of repeated trips from the permanent riverside village out to the clan hunting territories in October-December and January-March, followed by downstream migrations to family-owned fishing locations. The hunting grounds are traditionally equipped with one or more small hunting cabins with storage huts elevated above the ground on poles; whilst at summer fishing locations families would build makeshift tents and shelters using birch bark and poles. The routines of seasonal mobility were also reflected in the traditional calendaric terms. These names do not equate directly to European notions of months, and may vary in length, both from one period to the next, but also from one year to the next depending of climatic, ecological or other practical factors. As a result, these concepts map sequences of behaviours, rather than purely temporal notions. Each season had a common lexical component of iki 'loose equivalent of ‘moon’': kör«k-iki ‘time of eagles’ (~March); urn-iki ‘time of crows’ (~April); lontwäs«k-iki ‘time of geese and ducks’ (~May); pojalt«w-iki ‘time of the snow crust’ (~December), etc (Filtchenko, 2000-2005; Tereskin, 1961; Gulya, 1965; Sirelius, 2001; Lukina 2005; ).

The prevailing majority of the traditional Vasyugan Khanty permanent settlements (yurt (local topology term of Turkic etymology), puɣol (native Khanty term) are located along the Vasyugan River, in widely-spaced pattern, often several hours and days by boat from one another. Exceptions to this pattern include occasional settlements on the shores of the region’s major lakes. This settlement pattern of extended family villages reflected the structure of traditional social organization which was based on patrilocal, patrilineal exogamous lineages.

The native reference term used for this social grouping is aj puɣol jaɣ 'same village people'. The word puɣol "village" normally refers the typical Khanty settlement of 2-3 huts at the river or lake edge, and housing a small community of 10-15 people. Besides more localised clan and lineage identities, historical accounts (Haruzin, 1905; Sokolova, 1983) suggest that the Vasyugan Khanty were aware of larger social,  localised ‘ethnic’ groupings, mainly on the grounds of linguistic affinity. These groupings referred to the major rivers the group occupied, äs’ jaɣ 'Ob-river people', waɣa jaɣ Vakh-river people', wat’ joɣ«n jaɣ 'Vasyugan-river people, and at a larger level yet, eastern Khanty groups describe themselves as qant«ɣ jaɣ 'Khanty people' - a compound term combining the ethnonym for eastern Khanty qant«ɣ ‘Khanty’ (distinct phonetically from the western Khanty self reference term xanti 'Khanty') and the term jaɣ with the general sense 'people' (Tereskin, 1961).

More detailed descriptions of Vasyugan kinship and social organisation can be found in (Kulemzin and Lukina 1976; Filchenko - forthcoming).

   
 
   

The Khanty of Vasyugan are confident that their ancestors have long resided on these territories and refer to them as äreŋ jaɣ meaning 'ancient people', who, according to folklore, were in frequent conflict with Tatars (qatan’ jaɣ), which is evident, in folk interpretations, from archaeological sites in the landscape, including the remains of fortified settlements, scatters of metal arrow heads and occasional swords and pieces of body armour. The ancestors, occupants of these sites were the warrior-hero progenitors of the Vasyugan clans, who lived in the region and defended it from attacks and occupations by Tatars from the South and Nenets (jor«n jaɣ) from the North (Lukina, 1976).

The rich spiritual life of these communities was the object of description by late XVIII - early XX century travelers and ethnographers (Sirelius 2001; Karjalainen 1921, 1922). The language of Vasyugan Khanty was much lesser described in occasional sketches and word lists (Karjalainen 1913). The life of all Khanty and animals was created and predestined by tor«m, a chief deity. Another ultimately powerful deity is the female mother-spirit puɣos äŋki, the giver of life and soul (il), and judge of its length and quality (Karjalainen, 1927). There is also numerous powerful masters of elements: the water/river deity äs’ iki, the master of fish and a multitude of water spirits and demons; the forest deity wont iki, the master of animals and birds and of the forest spirits.

The Vasyugan Khanty also used to keep images of so-called home or family spirits (juŋk) which were linked to the welfare of individuals and families, success of hunting and fishing. Dated accounts describe the events when the spirits were sat at a table and offered food, typically by a man, before hunting and fishing seasons, to give luck and rich spoils. Various locations along the Vasyugan river were known as homes of a variety of local spirits, mostly of anthropomorphic nature, in the shape of a woman or a man, and in having wooden figures representing their image. The sacred sites, “homes” of the spirits continue to be distinct and known to local families and regularly attended for offerings and paying respects. For Vasyugan Khanty, it was also typical to have anthroponymic group-names (Vertesh 1961, Lukina 1978) typically corresponding to the names of the clan progenitors: kotʃ«t 'badger', kötʃ«rki 'chipmunk', köraɣ 'sack' (Filtchenko, 1998-2005).

The sacred rituals were typically performed by the hunters themselves, however, often the shamans (jolta qu) were invited to make offerings to the spirits and ask for rich spoils in hunting/fishing, but more typically to act in the role of medicine men and fortune-tellers (Dmitriev-Sadovnikov, 1911; Karjalainen, 1922; Zuev, 1947; Kulemzin, 1976). The unique role of shamans was their ability in the process of shaman rituals to part with their body and ‘walk the worlds’ (lower or upper) and to communicate and interact with spirits and deities, act on other people’s souls/spirits, and foresee the future and help build the strategies for successful hunting, as well as to foresee the individual hunters' fate. In case of illness treatment, the shaman’s spirit was typically expected to travel to the lower world to find and return the stolen spirit of the ill person. Alternatively, the shaman was understood to heal the person by expelling the spirit of illness from the body of the ill, fighting it in the spiritual realm, often in alliance with either the family/clan spirit or the local patron spirit (Kulemzin, 1984). Shaman’s skills were combined the intimate experience with the whole pantheon of spirits and deities, as well as general close knowledge of the local landscape, flora and both behaviour of and towards animals.

   
 
   

The first Russian contacts with Vasyugan Khanty date back to XVI century at which time they had resided at this location for at least 3 to 10 centuries based on archeological research. Before the Russian contact, Vasyugan Khanty are assumed to have been in contact with Siberian Tatars, as the area was under administrative control of Siberian Tatar Khan. Based on available folk data, language/culture contact with Tatars and among other local ethnic groups was fairly limited, with inter-ethnic relations generally described as hostile.

Early Russian colonial policies were conservationist with minimal Russian language contact and assimilative pressures, with the exposure to Russian growing considerably in the end of the XIX century and increasing radically in 1930-1960s as a result of the soviet collectivization and forced migration (exile) policies. Since 1960s-1980s most of the area was heavily assimilated due to policies of social engineering, mandatory secondary schooling (Russian media boarding schools) and particularly by the mineral resource exploration programs resulting in considerable influx of non-native population from European Russia, Ukraine and central-Asian regions.

For the Vasyugan Khanty language the situation of neglect and discrimination has been a reality. Speakers are ridiculed by the mainstream majority, children are not taught, and in some cases persecuted for speaking Khanty at schools. The common ethnonym ostyak is perceived as pejorative, while the stereotypes about Khanty in general public remain uninformed. All Khanty speakers are bilingual with Russian being the language of daily communication across ethnic groups. Khanty undergoes a steady decrease of the functional sphere, reserved primarily for occasional family use, rare peer communications and extremely rare traditional religion (shamanism) contexts.

The majority of Vasyugan Khanty are currently linguistically assimilated Russian monolinguals numbering under 150 pers. The numbers of Vasyugan Khanty officially registered vary from source to source, however, based on the original research there are around 20 Khanty who permanently reside on Vasyugan river and have practical knowledge of traditional language and culture. They are bilingual minority native language speakers, all over the age of 50. The number of semi-fluent speakers, capable of maintaining restricted basic conversations in Khanty does not exceed 50, principally placing these dialects in the group of languages in the imminent danger of extinction within a single generation.

   

References:

Chernetsov, V.N. K istorii rodovogo stroja u obskix ugrov. SE, VI, VII.

Dmitriev-Sadovnikov, S reki Vakha, Surgutskogo uezda. ETGM, V-19. Tobolsk. 1911.

Filtchenko, A.Y. Field notes from ethno-linguistic research of Eastern Khanty. The Field Archive of the Laboratory of Siberian Indigenous Languages at TSPU. Tomsk.   

Haruzin, N. Ethnography. V-IV. Verovania. 1905.

Jordan, P. & Filtchenko A. Continuity and Change in Eastern Khanty Language and Worldview. In: “Rebuilding Identities: Pathways to Reform in Post-Soviet Siberia" edit. Erich Kasten. Dietrich Reimer Verlag 2005.

Karjalainen, K.F. Die Religion der Jugra-Völker. Parvoo. 1927.

Kastren, M.A. Puteshestvie po Laplandii, Severnoj Rossii i Sibiri. Moscow. 1860.

Kulemzin V.M. Semja kak faktor socialnoj stabilnosti v tradicionnom obshestve, in: Voprosi Geografii Sibiri 20: 1993.

Kulemzin V.M. Celovek i priroda v verovanijakh Khantov. Tomsk. 1984.

Kulemzin V.M., Lukina N.V. Novije dannije po socialnoj organizacii vostochnih hantov, in: Iz istorii Sibiri, vip. 21, Tomsk. 1976.

Kulemzin V.M., Lukina N.V. Vasjugansko-vahovskije hanti, Tomsk. 1976.

Kulemzin V.M., Lukina N.V. Znakomtes’: Khanti. Novosibirsk. 1992.

Kulemzin V.M. Mirovozzrencheskie aspekty ohoty i rybolovstva. In. V.I.Molodin, N.V.Lukina, V.M.Kulemzin, E.P.Martinova, E.Schmidt, N.N.Fedorova (eds.) Istoria i kultura Khantov. Tomsk. 1995. pp.45-64.

Lukina, N.V. Nekotorie voprosy etniceskoj istorii vostocnyx xantov po dannym folklora.//Yazyki i Toponimiya. Tomsk. 1976.

Lukina N.V. Voprosi etnografii vostocnix xantov v svete novix dannix.//Acta Ethnographica Hungarica, 43 (3-4): 1998. Budapest. 

Lukina, N.V. Obshee i osobennoe v kulte medvedja u obskix ugrov. // Obrjady narodov severo-zapadnoj Sibiri. Tomsk. 1990.

Lukina, N.V. Istroia izuchenia verovanij I obrjadov. In. V.I.Molodin, N.V.Lukina, V.M.Kulemzin, E.P.Martinova, E.Schmidt, N.N.Fedorova (eds.) Istoria i kultura Khantov. Tomsk. 1995. pp.45-64.

Lukina N.V. Khanti ot Vasyuganya do Zapolyarya. T-I. TGU. Tomsk. 2004. 

Lukina N.V. Khanti ot Vasyuganya do Zapolyarya. T-II. TGU. Tomsk. 2006

Sarkany Mihaly. Female and Male in Myth and Reality, in: Uralic Mythology and Folklore, Bp., Helsinki. 1989.

Sirelius, U.T. Puteshestvie k Khantam. Tomsk. TGU. 2001

Sokolova,Z.P. Sotsialnaja organizatsija hantov i mansi v XVIII-XIXvv. Moskva Nauka. 1983.

Startsev, G. Ostyaki. Moscow. 1928. 

Steinitz, W. Dialektologisches und etymologisches Woerterbuch der ostjakischen Sprache, Lief.1,2-3, Berlin. 1966.

Tschernetsov W.N. Bärenfest bei den Ob-Ugriern. – Acta Ethnographica Academiae Sceintiarum Hungaricae, t.23 (3-4). Budapest, 1974.

Tyler, S. Cognitive Anthropology. Waveland. 1969.

Vertes, E. Beitrage zur Methodik der ostjakischen Personennamenforschung.//VI Internationaler Kongress fur Namenforschung. Bd.III. Munchen. 1961.

Zuev, V.F. Opisanie zhivushchix v Sibirskoj gubernii v Berezovskom uezde inoverceskix narodov ostyakov i samoedov. Moscow. 1947.


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 Copyright Andrey Filchenko.
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Last updated: 05/26/07.