Classes of the Yakuts in the 17th century. What food was considered valuable and what was "unclean"

Obichai and the religion of the Yakuts

Primary cell social order The Yakuts have long ago become a separate family (kergep or yal), consisting of a husband, wife and children, but often with the inclusion of other relatives living together. Married sons were usually assigned to a special household. The family was monogamous, but not so long ago, at the beginning of the 19th century, polygamy also existed among the wealthy part of the population, although the number of wives did not usually exceed two or three. In such cases, wives often lived separately, each running their own household; The Yakuts explained this custom by the convenience of caring for livestock, distributed among several wives.

The marriage was preceded, sometimes long in advance, by matchmaking. Remnants of exogamy (known from the documents of the 17th century) have survived: until modern times they tried to take a wife in someone else's family, and the rich, not limited to this, looked for brides whenever possible in someone else's nasleg and even an ulus. Having spotted the bride, the groom, or his parents, sent their relatives as matchmakers. The latter, with special ceremonies and conventional language, persuaded the bride's parents about their consent and about the size of the kalym (khalym, or suluu). In the old days, the consent of the bride herself was not asked at all. Kalym consisted of cattle, but its size varied greatly: from 1-2 to many tens of heads; meat of beaten cattle has always been a part of kalym. At the end of the XIX century. the desire to transfer kalym to money increased. A part of the kalym (kurum) was intended for refreshments during the wedding feast (in the documents of the 17th century, the word kurum sometimes means kalym in general). The payment of kalym was considered obligatory; the girl considered it dishonorable to marry without him. In obtaining kalym, the groom was helped by relatives, sometimes even distant relatives: this manifested the old view of the wedding as a common affair. The bride's relatives also participated in the distribution of the received kalym. For his part, the groom received a dowry for the bride (enne) - partly also with cattle and meat, but more with items of clothing and utensils; the value of the dowry was, on average, half the value of a kalym.

In the wedding ceremonies themselves, the clan also played an important role. Old weddings were attended by many guests, relatives of the bride and groom, neighbors, etc. The celebrations lasted several days and consisted of abundant treats, various rituals, entertainment - games and dances of young people, etc. Neither the groom nor the bride occupied the central place in all these festivities, but almost did not participate in them.

Like wedding ceremonies kinship terminology also retains traces of earlier forms of marriage. The name of the son - wol - means actually "boy", "young man"; daughters - kyys - "girl", "girl"; father - hell (literally "senior"); the wife is oyokh, but in some places the wife's name is simply d'akhtar ("woman"), emehsin ("old woman"), etc .; husband - er; elder brother - ubay (bai), younger - ini / older sister - ediy (agas), younger - balys. The last 4 terms are also used to refer to some uncles and aunts, nephews and nieces and other relatives. In general, the Yakut kinship system is close to the kinship designation systems of a number of Turkic peoples.

The position of women both in the family and in public life was humiliated. The husband - the head of the family - used despotic power, and the wife could not even complain about the ill-treatment, which was a fairly frequent occurrence, if not from the husband's side, then from the side of him. A powerless and defenseless alien woman who found herself in a new family was burdened with hard work.

The position of the elderly, decrepit and disabled, was also difficult. They were little cared for, poorly fed and clothed, sometimes even driven to begging.

The situation of the children, despite the Yakut's love for children, noted by many observers, was also unenviable. The birth rate among the Yakuts was very high; in most families, 5 to 10 children were born, often up to 20 and even more. However, due to the harsh living conditions, poor nutrition and care, infant mortality was also very high. In addition to their own children, many families, especially small ones, often had adopted children, who were often simply bought from the poor.

Newborns were washed by the fire and rubbed with cream; last operation was also produced quite often later. The mother breastfed the child for a long time, sometimes up to 4-5 years, but along with this, the child received a horn with cow's milk. The Yakut cradle is an oblong box made of thin bent boards, where the wrapped child was laid, tied with belts, and left so for a long time without taking it out; the cradle is equipped with a chute for urine drainage.

Growing up children usually crawled on the earthen floor together with animals, half-naked or completely naked, left to their own devices, and caring for them was often limited to tying them to a post on a long belt so that the child did not fall into the fire. Already with early age the children of the poor were gradually accustomed to work, performing work that was feasible for them: collecting brushwood in the forest, caring for small livestock, etc.: girls were accustomed to needlework and household chores. Toyon children received best care, they were pampered and uninhabited.

The children had few toys. These were usually home-made wooden figures of animals, small bows and arrows, small houses and various utensils, made by parents, and sometimes by the children themselves, for girls - dolls and their little costumes, blankets, pillows, etc. The games of Yakut children are simple and rather monotonous ... The absence of noisy mass games is characteristic; in general, the children of the Yakut poor usually grew up quiet, inactive.

Religion

Back in the second half of the 18th century. most ofYakuts was baptized, and in the X] X century. all Yakuts were already listed as Orthodox. Although the transition to Orthodoxy was mainly caused by material motives (various benefits and handouts to those who were baptized), but gradually new religion was part of everyday life. Icons hung in the yurt, in the red corner, Yakuts wore crosses (the large silver pectoral crosses for women are curious), went to church, many of them, especially toyons, were zealous Christians. This is understandable, since Christianity was much better than shamanism, it was adapted to satisfy the class interests of the rich. For all that, however, the old, pre-Christian religion did not disappear at all: the old beliefs, although somewhat modified by the influence of Christian ideas, continued to persist, shamans - the servants of the old cult - still enjoyed authority, although they were forced to more or less hide their activities from the royal administration and the clergy. Shamanism and the animistic beliefs associated with it turned out to be perhaps the most stable part of the old Yakut religion.

The shamanism of the Yakuts was closest to the Tungus type. The Yakut shaman tambourine (wide-free, oval) was no different from the Tungus one, the costume was also of the Tungus type, except that the Yakut shamans were kamlaing with their heads uncovered. The similarity concerns not only this external aspect, but also more essential features of shamanic beliefs and rituals.

The Yakut shaman (oyuun) was considered a professional servant of spirits. According to Yakut ideas, anyone whom the spirits choose to serve themselves could become a shaman; but usually shamans came from the same surnames: “in the clan where the shaman once appeared, he is no longer translated,” said the Yakuts. In addition to male shamans, there were also female shamans (udadan), who were considered even more powerful. A sign of readiness for the shamanic profession was usually a nervous illness, which was considered evidence of the "election" of a person by the spirits; this was followed by a period of training under the guidance of an old shaman and, finally, a public initiation ceremony.

It was believed that the spirit who chose the shaman became his patron spirit (emeget). They believed that this is the soul of one of the deceased great shamans. His image in the form of a copper flat human figure was sewn, among other pendants, on the chest of a shaman's costume; this image was also called emeget. The patron spirit gave the shaman strength and knowledge: "The shaman sees and hears only through his emeget." In addition to this latter, each shaman had his animal counterpart (yye-kyyl - "mother-beast") in the form of an invisible eagle, stallion, bull, bear, etc. Finally, in addition to these personal spirits, each shaman entered into communicating with a variety of other spirits in the beast or human image... Different categories of these spirits, one way or another connected with the activities of the shaman, had certain names.

The most important and numerous group of spirits were abaNs (or abaasy), devouring spirits, the action of which was attributed to various diseases. The shaman's treatment of a sick person, in the minds of the Yakut believers, was to find out what exactly Abaasy caused the disease, to fight them, or to bring them a sacrifice, to expel them from the patient. The Abaasy live, according to shamanic ideas, with their tribes and clans, with their own economy, partly in the "upper", partly in the "lower" world, and also in the "middle" world, on earth.

Horses were sacrificed to those living in the "upper" world, and cattle in the "lower" world. Uvr were also close to the abaasy - evil spirits, mostly small ones, representing the souls of people who died prematurely and violently, as well as the souls of deceased shamans and shamans, sorcerers, etc. These yuyors were also credited with the ability to inflict illness on people; but they live in the "middle" world (on and around the earth). The concept of yuyor is very close to the old Russian beliefs about the "unclean" or "mortgaged" dead. The shaman's assistants during the ritual, helping him to do various tricks, were considered to be the small spirits of Kelena.

Among the great deities of the shamanic pantheon, in the first place was the mighty and formidable Uluu-Toyon, the head of the spirits of the upper world, the patron saint of shamans. “He created a shaman and taught him to deal with all these troubles; he gave people fire. " Living in the upper world (on the western side of the third heaven), Uluu-Toyon can also descend to earth, incarnating in large animals: bear, elk, bull, black stallion. Below Uluu-Toyon are other more or less powerful deities of the shamanic pantheon, each of which had its own name and epithet, its location and its specialty: such are Ala Buurai Toyon (Arsan Duolai, or Allara-Ogonior - "underground old man") - the head of the underground abaasy, the creator of everything harmful and unpleasant, Aan Arbaty Toyon (or Arkhakh-Toyon) - causing consumption, etc.

The presence of images of great deities in the shamanic pantheon of Yakuts distinguishes Yakut shamanism from Tungus (the Tungus did not have a developed belief in great gods) and puts it close to the shamanism of the Altai-Sayan peoples: in general, this is a feature of a later stage in the development of shamanism.

The main functions of shamans were to "heal" sick people and animals, as well as to "prevent" any misfortunes. The methods of their activity were reduced to a ritual (with singing, dancing, striking a tambourine, etc.), usually at night, during which the shaman drove himself to a frenzy and, according to the Yakut belief, his soul flew to the spirits, or these latter entered the body of the shaman; through the ritual, the shaman won and expelled hostile spirits, learned from the spirits about the necessary sacrifices and made them, etc. Along the way, during the ritual, the shaman acted as a fortuneteller, answering various questions from those present, and also performed various tricks that were supposed to increase the authority shaman and fear of him.

For his services, the shaman received, especially in the case of the success of the ritual, a certain payment: its value ranged from 1 p. up to 25 p. and more; moreover, the shaman always received a treat and ate sacrificial meat, and sometimes took some of it home. Although shamans usually had their own household, sometimes a considerable one, the payment for the ritual was a significant income item for them. The demand of the shamans to make bloody sacrifices was especially difficult for the population.

With almost the same superstitious fear as the shamans, they sometimes treated blacksmiths, especially hereditary ones, to whom various mysterious abilities were attributed. The blacksmith was considered in part to be related to the shaman: "a blacksmith and a shaman from the same nest." Blacksmiths could heal, advise, and even predict. The blacksmith forged iron pendants for the shaman's costume, and this alone inspired fear in him. The blacksmith had a special power over the spirits, for, according to the Yakut belief, the spirits are afraid of the clatter of iron and the noise of the bellows.

In addition to shamanism, the Yakuts had another cult: trade. The main deity of this cult is Bai-Bayanai, a forest spirit and the patron saint of hunting and fishing. According to some ideas, there were 11 Bayanayev brothers. They gave good luck in the hunt, and therefore the hunter, before the hunt, appealed to them with a call, and after a successful hunt he sacrificed part of the catch to them, throwing pieces of fat into the fire or smearing with blood wooden platters - images of Bayan.

Apparently, the idea of ​​ichchi, the “owners” of various objects, was connected with the fishing industry. The Yakuts believed that all animals, trees, different phenomena nature have icchi, as well as some household items, such as a knife, an ax. These icchi are neither good nor bad in themselves. To appease the "owners" of mountains, cliffs, rivers, forests, etc., the Yakuts in dangerous places, on passes, crossings, etc. brought them small sacrifices in the form of pieces of meat, butter and other food, as well as scraps of matter, etc. The veneration of some animals adjoined the same cult. The bear enjoyed special superstitious reverence, which was avoided by name, was afraid to kill and was considered a werewolf sorcerer. They also revered an eagle, whose name was toyon kyil ("lord of the beast"), a raven, a falcon and some other birds and animals.

All these beliefs go back to the ancient fishing economy of the Yakuts. The cattle-breeding economy also gave rise to its own range of ideas and rituals. This is the cult of the deities of fertility, which is weaker than other beliefs, preserved until modern times and therefore less known. It was to this circle of ideas that, obviously, the belief in aiyy-beneficent beings, deities - givers of various benefits belonged. The residence of the aiyy was supposed to be in the east.

The first place among these bright spirits belonged to Urun-Aiyy-Toyon ("white creator lord"), he lived in the eighth heaven, was kind and did not interfere in the affairs of people, therefore his cult, it seems, did not exist. The image of Aiyy-Toyon, however, was strongly mixed with the features of the Christian god. According to some beliefs, Aar-Toion, an inhabitant of the ninth heaven, stood even higher than Aiyy-Toyon. Below they followed a large number of other light deities, more or less active and bringing various benefits. The most important figure of them was the female deity Aiyikyt (Aiyysyt), the giver of fertility, the patroness of women in labor, who gave children to mothers. In honor of Aiyysyt, sacrifices were made during childbirth, and since it was believed that after childbirth the goddess stays in the house for 3 days, after three days a special female rite was arranged (men were not allowed at it) of seeing Aiyysyt off.

The main celebration of the light deities - the patrons of fertility - was the old kumis holiday - ykyakh. Such festivals were held in the spring and half of the summer, when there was a lot of milk; they were set up in the open air, in a meadow, with a large crowd of people; the main moment of the Ysyakh was the solemn libation of kumis in honor of the light deities, prayers to these deities, the solemn drinking of kumis from special large wooden cups (choroon). After that, a feast was arranged, then various games, struggle, etc. The main role at these holidays in the past was played by the servants of light deities, the so-called aiyy-oyuuna (in Russian "white shamans"), who, however, have long been transferred among the Yakuts due to the decline of this cult. At the end of the XIX century. only legends have survived about white shamans.

In these cults of both beneficent and formidable deities, the once military aristocracy, the toyons, played a role; the latter were usually organizers of the Ysyakhs. In their legendary genealogies, toyons often derived their names from one or another of the great and powerful deities.

The ancient Ysyakhs also contained elements of a clan cult: according to legend, in the old days they were arranged by clan. The Yakuts have also preserved other remnants of the clan cult, but also only in the form of faint traces. So, they have preserved elements of totemism, noted also in the literature of the 18th century. (Stralenberg). Each genus once had its patron in the form of an animal; such totems of the clans were the raven, swan, falcon, eagle, squirrel, ermine, white-lipped stallion, etc. Members of this clan not only did not kill or eat their patron saint, but did not even call their name.

The veneration of fire, which has survived among the Yakuts, is also associated with the remnants of the clan cult. Fire, according to the beliefs of the Yakuts, is the purest element, and it was forbidden to defile and offend it. Before the beginning of any meal, in the old days, they threw pieces of food into the fire, sprinkled milk, kumis, etc. into it. All this was considered a sacrifice to the owner of the fire (Uot-icchite). The latter was sometimes presented not in the singular, but in the form of 7 brothers. They did not make images. The cult of ancestors among the Yakuts was poorly represented. Of the dead, shamans and various outstanding people, whose spirits (yuyor) were somehow feared.

In the question of the origin of the Yakuts, the vulgar migrationist point of view, first expressed by the researchers of the 18th century, still dominates in science. (Stralenberg, Miller, Gmelin, Fisher) and repeated with differences only in details by all authors, up to the latest. This point of view of “the origin of the Yakuts from the south” is considered an ethnographic axiom.

However, this simplistic concept cannot satisfy us. It replaces the problem of the formation of the Yakut people with the question of its geographical movement, is based on a non-historical approach to the problem of ethnogenesis and does not provide a key to understanding the complexity and originality of the Yakut culture and language. This concept explains only some of the features of the culture and language of the Yakuts, but leaves a number of others without explanation.

Attempts were repeatedly made to identify the Yakuts with one or another of the ancient peoples of Asia: they were brought closer to the Huns, Sakas, Uighurs, Kurykans, Sakiyats, and Uryankhs. But all these attempts are based either on one consonance of the names of this or that people with the self-designation of the Yakuts "Saka", or on extremely shaky geographical considerations.

In order to correctly approach the problem of the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts, it is necessary, first of all, to raise the question of the ethnic composition of the Yakut people. To what extent does this people represent a homogeneous group and what data does it have that would make it possible to single out its components?

Not only at the present time, but also in the era of the Russian conquest, that is, around the middle of the 17th century, the Yakuts were already consolidated ethnic group... They stood out sharply from among all their neighbors - forest hunting tribes - not only with a higher level of economic and social development, but also by the fact that, in contrast to the motley and multilingual mass of the Tungus-Lamut-Yukagir tribes, the Yakuts spoke the same language.

However, in socio-political terms, the Yakuts in the era of the Russian conquest were far from unity. They were divided into many tribes, large and small, independent from each other. According to yasak books and other documents of the 17th century. we can have a fairly complete idea of ​​the tribal composition of the Yakut population of that time, and partly of the geographical distribution of individual tribes and their numbers.

We know up to 80 names of large and small Yakut tribes that existed in the 17th century. The number of the largest of them (Meginians, Kangalases, Namtsy, etc.) was 2-5 thousand people in each, others numbered several hundred souls.

It is quite legitimate to assume that these tribal groups reflect, to some extent, the complex, multi-tribal composition of the Yakut people.

This assumption is confirmed by the analysis of both anthropological and linguistic and ethnographic material.

The study of the racial composition, material and spiritual culture, language and ethnonymy of the Yakuts reveals the heterogeneity of the elements that made up the Yakut people.

Anthropological data (materials of Gecker on 4 Yakut naslegs) indicate the presence of two or more main racial types, of which some, apparently, have a connection with the type of the North Baikal Tungus (Roginsky), and maybe the North Asian.

A fairly clear idea of ​​the heterogeneity of the composition of the Yakut people is given by the analysis of the material culture of the Yakuts. This latter contains elements of very heterogeneous origin. The cattle-breeding economy of the Yakuts is clearly of southern origin and connects the Yakuts with the nomadic cultures of southern Siberia and Central Asia... However, the cattle breeding of the Yakuts underwent a kind of processing in the conditions of northern nature (acclimatization of livestock breeds, the originality of the methods of keeping livestock, etc.). On the contrary, the fishing and hunting economy of the Yakuts does not show any connections with the south, but has a clearly local, taiga origin.

In the clothing of the Yakuts, we see, next to the elements connecting the Yakuts with southern Siberia (festive "sangyyakh", women's hats), such types that should be considered local ("sleep," shoes, etc.).

The forms of the dwelling are especially indicative. We find almost no elements of southern origin here. The dominant type of Yakut dwelling - the "booth" in the form of a truncated pyramid of obliquely set poles - can only be approximated with the old "Paleo-Asian" type of dwelling - a quadrangular dugout, from which it,
apparently, and developed. Another, now almost extinct, type - the conical “urasa” - brings the Yakuts together again with the taiga hunting culture.

So, the analysis of the material culture of the Yakuts confirms the conclusion that the Yakut culture is of complex origin, that in its composition, along with elements brought from the southern steppes, there is a number of elements of northern, taiga, i.e., autochthonous origin. At the same time, it is especially important to emphasize that all these elements were not mechanically transferred into the Yakut culture, but underwent processing, and that some of them gave only the beginning of a completely independent development of distinctive cultural features on the local Yakut soil.

The analysis of the phenomena of spiritual culture, in particular religion, from the point of view of clarifying the cultural ties of the Yakuts, is a difficult task. To this end, it is useless to compare the main forms and content of the beliefs and cult of the Yakuts with similar phenomena among other peoples, since they are only a reflection of the socio-economic system of a given people and their similarity does not always indicate cultural kinship. The latter can be traced by individual details in rituals and beliefs, as well as by theonymy (names of deities). Here we find some common features with Buryat beliefs (the names of some deities), but more with Tungus cults (a type of shamanism; costume and shape of a shaman's tambourine, hunting cult), and in some details with Paleo-Asian (shamanic spirits "keleni" || Chukchi "kele" || Koryak " kala "|] Yukaghir" kukul "," Korel ").

Linguistic data also confirm the correctness of our point of view about the complexity of the ethnic composition of the Yakut people.

The Yakut language is very well studied from the point of view of its connection with the Turkish and Mongolian languages ​​(Bötlingk, Yastrembsky, Radlov, Pekarsky), but it has not been studied at all from the point of view of its connection with the Tungusic and Paleoasian languages. However, Radlov's excellent work on the Yakut language clearly shows that this language is basically not Turkish, but is a language of "unknown origin", which underwent Mongolization in the course of its development, and then (twice) Turkization, and that the modern Turkish structure of the Yakut language is only the result of the last stage of its development.

The substrate on which the formation of the Yakut language took place was probably the Tungus dialects of the Lena-Aldan-Vilyui basin. Traces of this substratum can be traced not only in the Yakut dictionary, but even in phonetics (okanie and acanie of Yakut dialects, geographically related to the regions of Tungus okay and dialect dialects; longitude of vowels and consonants) and in grammatical structure (no local case). It is possible that in the future it will be possible to discover an even more ancient Paleo-Asian (Yukagir) layer in the Yakut language.

Finally, the ethnonymy of the Yakuts not only preserves traces of the multi-tribal and multilingual composition of the Yakut people, but also gives more accurate indications of the presence in its environment of both newcomer southern and local northern elements. The remains of the southern tribal groups that joined the Yakut population can be considered the Yakut tribes and clans (now Naslegi): Batulintsev, Khorintsev, Kharbyatov, Tumatov, Ergitov, Tagusov, Kyrgydaytsev, Kirikiytsy. On the contrary, a number of other names of clans and tribes should be considered the remnants of local groups subjected to Yakutization: Bytakhsky, Chordunsky, Ospetsky and other clans and naslegs; Tungus also have one-shift childbirth.

In Yakut folklore, traces of the foreign language origin of some of these tribal groups have been preserved. So, the Yakuts have a memory that the Khorintsy (Khorolors) spoke a special language. There is even a Yakut proverb: “I am not speaking to you in Khorolor, but in Yakut”; the northern Yakuts have the expression “good rear” - the language of the Khorintsy, an inarticulate, incomprehensible language. There are also traces that the Uranhai were a special tribal group. Probably, after their unification with the Sakha tribe, the expression “Uranghai-Sakha” was formed, meaning the entire Yakut people.

As for the origin of the term "Sakha" - the current self-name of the Yakuts, then, apparently, it was the name of one of the tribes that became part of the Yakut people. The transfer of this name to the entire nationality was probably caused by the predominance of this tribe in social or cultural terms. It is quite possible to admit the historical connection of this Sakha tribe with the “sakhiyat” of Rashid-Eddin, and perhaps with the ancient Sakas Central Asia... But this assumption does not at all mean, as former researchers assumed, that the Yakuts in general are direct descendants of these Sakas or Sakiyats.

The Sakha tribe must, apparently, be identified with the speakers of that Turkish language, the penetration of which, from the point of view of Radlov, gave the final form to the Yakut language, informing him of its current Turkish system.

All the above facts, thus, testify to the same thing: about the complex composition of the Yakut people, about the presence of different ethnic, multilingual and multicultural elements in it. Some of these elements are of local northern taiga origin, and their presence in the Yakut population means nothing more than the presence of an ancient autochthonous layer, which can be considered conditionally "Tungus", and perhaps also Paleo-Asian. But the other part has a direct connection with the nomadic south: this kind of elements can be traced in the language, culture, and ethnonymy of the Yakuts. The presence of these “southern” elements in the Yakut population is a fact beyond doubt. But the whole question lies in the interpretation of this fact, in the explanation of the origin of these "southern" elements.

The very process of the formation of the Yakut people consisted in the economic and cultural interaction of native hunting and reindeer herding and alien herding groups. In this way, a common cultural type(in which cattle breeding gained a predominance) and the Yakut language was formed (based on the local substratum, but under the dominance of Turkish alien elements, which determined the Turkish design of the Yakut speech).

The very penetration of cattle-breeding groups from southern Siberia to the north, into the basin of the Middle Lena, did not have the character of a one-time mass resettlement of an entire people. Such a resettlement, at a distance of 2.5 thousand kilometers, to the unknown and deserted areas of the northern taiga, would be impossible. In fact, judging by all the available data, there was a slow, gradual advancement of certain clan groups (Turkic and Mongolian) partly from the Baikal region, partly from the Upper and Middle Amur. This movement could go down the Lena to the area of ​​present-day Yakutsk, and along the Lena through Chechuysky portage or Suntaro-Olekminsk to Vilyui, and along Vitim, and along Oleksa, and even along Aldan. The migrated clans probably moved in stages, staying in more convenient places along the way. Most, in all likelihood, lost their livestock, many of them died on their own.

But for many centuries, after many failures, individual groups managed to move into the Middle Lena basin and acclimatize their livestock here.

In the Aldan-Vilyui interfluve, alien cattle-breeding groups met with the local hunting and fishing population - Tungus or Paleo-Asian in language. The relationships established between the aliens and the natives were of course varied, but they were hardly generally hostile. Russian documents of the 17th century. In most cases, they paint us a picture of peaceful economic and domestic relations between Yakut cattle breeders and Tungus hunters. There was a regular exchange between the two, beneficial to both parties.

These peaceful economic relations between newcomers and aborigines were the most important prerequisite for the process of their gradual convergence and merging, as a result of which the Yakut nation was formed.

Thus, the process of Yakut ethnogenesis was a complex process that took place mainly in the place where the Yakuts lived today. It consisted in the unification of alien cattle-breeding groups with local taiga hunting and fishing tribes. The cultural superiority of the newcomers, carriers of a more progressive cattle-breeding cultural and economic structure, also determined the predominance of the dialects they brought, which was expressed in the Turkic structure of the Yakut language, in which, however, the aboriginal, pre-Turkic and pre-Mongolian substratum is clearly traced. The same can be said and. about the entire Yakut culture: the dominant layer in it is the pastoral culture of steppe origin, but from under this layer the more ancient layer of the taiga hunting and fishing Tunguska-Paleoasian culture stands out quite clearly.

  Number- 381,922 people (2001).
  Language- Turkic group of the Altai family of languages.
  Resettlement- The Republic of Sakha (Yakutia).

Self-name - Sakha... According to the territory of their settlement, they are divided into Amga-Lena (between the Lena, Nizhny Aldan and Amga rivers, as well as on the left bank of the Lena), Vilyui (in the Vilyuya river basin), Olekminsky (in the Olekma river basin) and northern (in the tundra zone , basins of the Anabara, Olenek, Kolyma, Yana and Indigirka rivers).

The dialects are combined into the central, Vilyui, northwestern and Taimyr groups. 65% of Yakuts speak Russian, and another 6% consider it their native language. In 1858, on the initiative of the scientist and missionary I.E. Veniaminov, the first "Brief grammar of the Yakut language" was published.

Both the local Tungus-speaking tribes and the Turko-Mongols who came from the Baikal region, who settled in Siberia in the X-XIII centuries, took part in the formation of the people. and assimilated with the local population. The ethnos was finally formed at the end of the 16th century. By that time Yakuts were subdivided into 35-40 exogamous "tribes". The largest numbered up to 2-5 thousand people. The tribes were divided into clan groups - "paternal clans" (aga-usa) and smaller "maternal clans" (iye-usa). Frequent inter-tribal wars, popularly known as the events of the Kyrgyz yuete - "the century of battles, battles", made the military training of boys necessary. By the age of 18, it ended with an initiation ceremony with the participation of a shaman, who "instilled" in the youth the spirit of war (ilbis).

Traditional culture is most fully represented among the Amga-Lena and Vilyui Yakuts. The northern ones are closer to the Evenks and Yukagirs, while the Olekminsky ones have a very noticeable influence of the Russians.

In the XVII century. Yakuts were called "equestrian people"

The traditional occupation is breeding large cattle and horses. Special breeds of these animals were bred, adapted to the harsh climatic conditions of the North: hardy and unpretentious, but unproductive (milked only in summer). In Russian sources of the 17th century. Yakuts were called "horse people". Horses were looked after by men, cows by women. In the summer, the cattle were kept on pasture, in the winter in barns. Haymaking was used even before the arrival of the Russians. Animals occupied a separate place in the culture of the Yakuts; special ceremonies are dedicated to them. A special place was given to the image of a horse; even its burials with a person are known.

Elk, wild deer, bear, wild boar, fur-bearing animals - fox, arctic fox, sable, squirrel, ermine, muskrat, marten, wolverine - and other animals were hunted. At the same time, very specific techniques were used, for example, hunting with a bull (when the hunter sneaked up to the prey, hiding behind the bull, which he was driving in front of him), horse chasing on the trail, sometimes with dogs. They hunted with a bow and arrow, a spear, and from the 17th century. - with firearms... They used notches, fences, trapping pits, snares, traps, crossbows, grazes.

Fishing played a special role in the economy. For the Yakuts, who did not have livestock, fishing was the main economic occupation. In the documents of the XVII century. the word balysyt - "fisherman" was used in the meaning of "poor man". On the rivers sturgeon, chir, muksun, nelma, whitefish, grayling, tugun were hunted, on the lakes - minnow, crucian carp, pike and other fish. The fishing tools were heads, muzzles, nets, horsehair seines; large fish were beaten with a spear. In the fall, they organized a collective net fishing, the catch was divided equally. In winter, they were engaged in ice fishing.

The spread of agriculture (especially in the Amginsky and Olekminsky districts) was facilitated by Russian exiled settlers. Special varieties of wheat, rye and barley were grown, which had time to ripen in a short and hot summer. Garden crops were also cultivated.

According to the lunisolar calendar, the year (syl) began in May and was divided into 12 months, 30 days in each: January - tohsunnyu - "ninth", February - olunnyu - "tenth", March - kulun tutar - "month of feeding foals" , April - muus is out of date - "month of ice drift", May - yam yya - "month of milking cows", June - bes yya - "month of harvesting pine sapwood", July - from yya - "month of haymaking", August - atyrdyakh yya - " month of haystacking ", September - balagan yya -" month of migration from summer to winter roads ", October - altynnyi -" sixth ", November - setinnyi -" seventh ", December - ahsynnyi -" eighth ".

Of the crafts developed were blacksmithing, jewelry, processing wood, birch bark, bone, leather, fur, and the manufacture of molded ceramics. Crockery was made of leather, and cords were woven and twisted from horsehair and used to embroider. Iron was smelted in damp-blown forges, and women's jewelry, horse harness, and cult objects were made of gold, silver and copper (by melting Russian coins).

The Yakuts lived in seasonal settlements. Winter yurts of 1-3 were located nearby, summer ones (up to 10 yurts) - near pastures.

They lived in a winter dwelling (kypynny dye - balagan) from September to April. It had sloping walls of thin logs on a log frame and a low, sloping gable roof. The walls were covered 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 became widespread. The entrance was arranged in the east wall, windows - in the south and west, the roof was oriented from north to south. In the northeastern corner, to the right of the entrance, a chuval-type hearth was installed, along the walls - plank bunks. The nara running from the middle of the southern wall to the western corner was considered an honorable one. Together with the adjoining part of the western bunk, it formed an honorable corner. Further to the "north" was the place of the owner. The bunks to the left of the entrance were intended for young men and workers, on the right, at the hearth, for women. A table and stools were placed in the front corner, chests and various boxes made up other furnishings. A stable was attached to the yurt on the north side. The entrance to it was behind the hearth. A shed or a canopy was erected in front of the door to the yurt. The dwelling was surrounded by a low embankment, often with a fence. A hitching post (serge), decorated with rich carvings, was installed near the yurt. From the second half of XVIII v. for the winter they began to build Russian huts with a stove.

The summer dwelling (urasa), in which they lived from May to August, was a cylindrical-conical structure made of poles with a birch bark roof. In the north, sod-covered frame buildings of the Evenk golomo (holuman) type were known. In the villages, barns (ampaar), glaciers (buluus), cellars for storing dairy products (tar iine), smoking dugouts, and mills were built. At a distance from the summer dwelling, they set up a shed for calves and erected sheds.

They moved mainly on horseback, the goods were transported in a pack. In winter, they went on skis lined with horse skins, went on sleds with runners made of wood with rhizomes, which had a natural curvature; later - on a sled of the type of Russian firewood, in which bulls were usually harnessed. Northern Yakuts used reindeer straight-dusty sleds. They floated on rafts, dugout boats, shuttles, birch bark boats.

They consumed milk, meat of wild animals, horse meat, beef, venison, fish, and edible plants. Most often, they cooked meat, fried the liver, cooked zrazy, giblet stew, soup with brisket, fish soup (sobo mine), stuffed crucian carp, caviar pancakes, stroganina. The fish was also frozen and fermented for the winter in pits. Dairy dishes - mare's milk kumis, milk foam, whipped cream, yogurt, butter. Cream was harvested for the winter, freezing in large birch bark vats with the addition of berries, roots, and bones. The flour was used to prepare a soup (salamat), flat cakes (leppieskete), pancakes (baakhila), etc. They collected mushrooms, berries, meadow and coastal onions, wild garlic, saran roots, bearberry, pine and larch sapwood. Vegetables have long been known in the Olekminsky district.

Traditional wooden utensils - bowls, spoons, whiskers, whiskers for whipping cream, birch bark containers for berries, butter, bulk products, etc. Carved wooden cups for kumis (chorons) played an important role in the rituals at the Ysyakh holiday and were of two types - on a conical pallet and on three legs in the form of horse hooves.

Small families are characteristic of the Yakuts. Until the 19th century. polygamy existed, and the wives often lived separately, each led her own household. They entered into marriage at the age of 16 to 25 years, entered into it by matchmaking with the payment of kalym. Among the poor, runaway marriages, with bride kidnapping, and detention for the wife were widespread. There were levirate and sororate.

There were customs of blood feud (often replaced by ransom), hospitality, and exchange of gifts. The aristocracy, the toyons, stood out. They ruled the clan with the help of elders, acted as military leaders. Toyons owned large herds (up to several hundred heads), had slaves, they and their household lived in separate yurts. There were customs to give poor cattle for grazing, to feed for the winter, to transfer impoverished families and orphans to the dependents of a rich relative (Kumalanism), to sell children, and later to hire workers. Livestock was private property, and hunting, pasture and hayfields were communal.

Birth rituals were associated with the cult of the goddess of fertility Aiyy-syt, the patroness of children. According to legend, she lives on the eastern side of the sky and gives the newborn a soul. Childbirth took place in the left half of the yurt, on the floor. The birthplace was fenced off with a curtain. In the summer they gave birth in a barn, sometimes (during haymaking) - in the field. The midwife helped the woman in labor. On the fortieth day after giving birth, the woman went to church, where she performed the church rite of purification. The child was baptized and given the name of a stranger who first entered the house after birth. This person could himself give a name to the newborn. Some names were associated with the circumstances of the birth of the baby: Sayyngngy - "summer", Bulumdyu - "foundling", i.e. born out of wedlock. There were names-charms: Bere ("wolf"), scaring away evil spirits, Kusagan ("bad") - evil spirits do not pay attention to him, as well as names of an evaluative nature, for example Kyrynaas ("ermine"), i.e. fast, agile.

In ancient times, the Yakuts buried the dead by air, and since the 18th century. they began to be interred with their heads to the west. The dead were dressed in the best clothes hung with ornaments, weapons and tools, supplies of meat and dairy food were placed in the grave. Known burials with a horse.

According to the ideas of the ancient Yakuts, Yuryung Aiyy Toyon (White God-Creator) - the supreme deity, lived in the Upper World, Ieikhsit - the patroness and intercessor of the human race, Aiyy-sat - the goddess of fertility and childbearing, Kyun Jesegey Toyon - the god of horses and other gods. Bayanai - the spirit of the forest, Aan Alakhchin khotun - the goddess of the earth, Hatan Temierie - the spirit of fire and other spirits lived together with people in the Middle World. They had to be gratified with sacrifices. The lower world is the abode of terrible monsters.

Shamans were divided into white and black. The first served the celestials with various offerings, spells, led the Ysyakh holiday. The latter were supposed to fight against evil spirits that caused natural disasters, deaths of livestock, and diseases. The right to become a shaman was inherited. The initiation was accompanied by a complex ceremony. Each shaman had a patron spirit (emeget), the image of which in the form of a copper plaque was sewn on the chest of clothing, and an animal twin (iye-kyyl - "mother-beast"). Shaman tambourines (dyurgur) - oval, with a wide rim - are similar to the Evenk tambourines.

Healers (otosuts) had a specialization: some were engaged in bloodletting, others - in massage or bone-setting, they treated eye diseases, women, etc.

National clothing consists of a single-breasted sleep caftan (in winter - fur, in summer - from cow or horse hide with wool inside, for the rich - from fabric), which was sewn from four wedges with additional wedges at the belt and wide sleeves gathered at the shoulders, short leather pants (syaya), leather leggings (sotoro) and fur socks (keenche). Later, fabric shirts with a turn-down collar appeared. The men were girded with a belt, the rich with silver and copper plaques. Women's wedding coats (sangyyakh) - toe-length, widening downward, on a yoke, with sewn-in sleeves and a fur shawl collar - were decorated with wide stripes of red and green cloth, braid, silver details, plaques, beads, fringe. They were valued very dearly and were inherited. Women's wedding headdress (djabakka) made of sable or beaver fur had the appearance of a cap with a high top made of red or black cloth, velvet or brocade, densely trimmed with beads, braid, and certainly with a large silver heart-shaped plaque over the forehead. Antique headgear is decorated with a sultan made of bird feathers. Women's clothing was complemented by a belt, chest, back, neck ornaments, silver, often gold engraved earrings, bracelets, bracelets and rings. For winter, high boots were made from reindeer or horse skins with fur outside, for summer - suede boots with tops covered with cloth, for women - with applique.

In Yakut folklore, the central place is occupied by heroic epic olonkho, considered the main genus of poetry, and by the nature of the performing arts - the basis of folk opera. The leading theme of olonkho is the story of the ancient heroes, the first ancestors, the inhabitants of the Middle World, who feel themselves part of the mighty aiyy aimag tribe, created and patronized by the aiyy deities. Olonkhosuts are the creators and keepers of the oral tradition of epic performing arts. According to legends, they possessed a divine gift. These people have always been honored and respected.

Among the northern Yakuts, the term olonkho unites the heroic epic and fairy tales about animals, magic, everyday. The plots and images of everyday fairy tales are built on the basis of everyday life, reflect the moral ideals of the people. Their characters are rich and poor, merchants and beggars, priests and thieves, smart and fools. Historical legends are the oral chronicle of the people.

Small genres of folklore are deep and diverse in content: proverbs, sayings, riddles, peculiar tongue twisters (chabyrgakh).

Distinguish songs cult, ritual, non-ritual and lyrical: road, which was performed on horseback, traveling - on horseback, amusement songs, ditties; "Night", "mournful", etc. At all family and tribal holidays songs-hymns sounded - large-scale poems with ballad plots of mythological, legendary and historical content.

The shamans sang a solo on behalf of the patron spirits that had infiltrated them.

The main musical instrument khomus is an arched metal jew's harp with a large round loop. According to tradition, it was mainly played by women, articulating ("pronouncing") speech statements or well-known melodies.

The most common dance among the Yakuts is osuokhai, accompanied by choral song to the singing of an improviser. It is performed by any number of participants, sometimes up to 200 or more people gather in a circle. Most often men are the organizers of the dance. In the song, as if accompanying fun, they glorify the awakening of nature, a meeting with the sun, the joy of work, the relationship of people in society, family, certain significant events.

Russian socio-economic transformations in the 90s. led to an outflow of the population from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), especially from industrial and northern uluses, where mining enterprises are concentrated. Job search, the desire of young people to get an education make people move to cities. Most of the Yakuts work in state farms, agricultural cooperatives specializing in animal husbandry and vegetable growing. In the north of the republic, the main traditional occupations: reindeer breeding, fishing, hunting, enterprises for the processing of agricultural products and the collection of wild plants appeared.

Since 1992, the activities of communities have been improved, a unified system for the purchase of meat, fish, furs has been created, a sales market has been formed, etc. Handicraft processing of wood, fur, leather, artistic wood and mammoth bone carving, the manufacture of toys, and horsehair weaving are developing.

The education system is developing. The Bichik book publishing house publishes textbooks, teaching aids on the Yakut and Russian languages ​​and literature. A network of higher educational institutions and scientific institutions emerged. World renown acquired the only Institute of Problems in Russia small peoples North of the SB RAS, headed by Academician V. Robbek.

Renaissance national culture promoted by professional theaters, museums, the High School of Music, boys' choir national fund"Bargary" ("Revival"). The New Names program is designed to support young musicians, artists, scientists, artists, and sports.

Known honored artists, artists and art workers A. Munkhalov, N. Zasimov, E. Stepanova, N. Chigireva, T. Tishina, S. Osipov and others, writers and poets I. Gogolev, D. Sivtsev, N. Kharlampieva, M. Dyachkovsky (Kelbe).

The newspapers Kyym and Sakha Sire are published in the Yakut language, as well as the Cholbon (Polar Star) magazine and about 80% of the programs of the national television and radio broadcasting company. The Gevan (Zarya) company prepares TV and radio programs in the languages ​​of the indigenous peoples of the North living on the territory of the republic.

The revival of traditions, the preservation and development of the cultural heritage of the people is facilitated by public organizations and associations - the Center for the Protection of Motherhood and Childhood, the nationwide movement “Two thousand good deeds in 2000”, the International Children's Fund “Children of Sakha - Asia”. The interests of the indigenous peoples of the North are defended by the Association of Indigenous Peoples of the North of Yakutia.

encyclopedia article
"The Arctic is my home"

Date of publication: March 16, 2019

BOOKS ABOUT YAKUTS

Alekseev E.E. Musical culture // Yakut. owls. lit. and art. Yakutsk, 1964.
Alekseev N.A. Traditional religious beliefs Yakuts in the XIX - early XX century. Novosibirsk, 1975.
Arkhipov N.D. Ancient cultures of Yakutia. Yakutsk, 1989.
Bravina R.I. Funeral rite of the Yakuts (XVII-XIX centuries). Yakutsk, 1996.
Gurvich I.S. The culture of the northern Yakut reindeer herders. M., 1977.
Zykov F.M. Settlements, dwellings and outbuildings of the Yakuts (XIX - early XX centuries). Novosibirsk, 1986.
Konstantinov I.V. The origin of the Yakut people and their culture // Yakutia and its neighbors in ancient times. Yakutsk, 1975.
Makarov D.S. Folk wisdom: knowledge and ideas. Yakutsk, 1983.
Safronov F.G., Ivanov V.F. Writing of the Yakuts. Yakutsk, 1992.
Sleptsov P.A. Traditional family ritual among the Yakuts. Yakutsk, 1989.
Tokarev S.A. Essays on the history of the Yakut people. M., 1940.
Yakovlev V.F. Hitching post serge. Yakutsk, 1992.

The Yakuts are among the peoples with a complex ethnic formation, formed as a result of the interaction of two processes that took place "in continuous unity" - the differentiation of various ethnic cultures and their integration.
According to the material presented, the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts begins with the era of the early nomads, when cultures of the Scythian-Siberian type, associated by their origin with the Iranian tribes, developed in the west of Central Asia and in southern Siberia. Some prerequisites for this transformation in the territory of Southern Siberia go back to the depths of the 2nd millennium BC. The origins of the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts and other Turkic-speaking peoples of the Sayan-Altai can be traced most clearly in the Pazyryk culture of the Altai Mountains. Its carriers were close to the Saks of Central Asia and Kazakhstan. The Iranian-speaking of the Pazyryk people is also confirmed by the toponymy data of Altai and the adjacent regions of Southern Siberia. This pre-Türkic substrate in the culture of the Sayan-Altai peoples and the Yakuts is manifested in their economy, in things developed during the period of early nomadism, such as iron adzes, wire earrings, copper and silver torcs, leather shoes, wooden choron goblets. These ancient origins can be traced in the decorative and applied arts of the Altai, Tuvans, Yakuts, the preserved influence of the "animal style".
The Old Altai substrate is found in the Yakuts in funeral rite... This is the personification of a horse with death, the custom of installing a wooden post on the grave - a symbol of the "tree of life", as well as kibes, special people who were engaged in burials. They, like the Zoroastrian "servants of the dead", were kept outside the settlements. This complex includes the cult of the horse and the dualistic concept - the opposition of aiyy deities, personifying good creative principles and abaah, evil demons.

The pre-Turkic complex in spiritual culture is manifested in olonkho, mythology and aiyy cult. At the head of the aiyy deities was Urun Aap-toyon "the white sacred creator Lord". Its priests - white shamans, like servants of Ahura-Mazda, wore white robes and during prayer they used a birch branch, as priests - baresma, a bunch of thin branches. The Yakuts associated their "mythological origin" with the aiyy deities. Therefore, in the epic they are called "aiyy aymaha" (literally: created by the deities aiyy). In addition, the main names and terms associated with the aiyy cult and mythology have Indo-Iranian parallels, among which there are more coincidences with Indo-Aryan ones. This position, for example, is illustrated by the goddess of childbirth Aiyilisht, probably close to the image of the Vedic goddess Li, or such words as the Yakut kyraman "curse" and the Indian karma "retribution". Parallels can also be traced in everyday vocabulary (for example, Old Ind. Vis "clan", "tribe", yak. ​​Biis in the same meaning, etc.). These materials are consistent with immunogenetic data. So, in the blood of 29.1% of the Yakuts studied by V.V. Fefelova in different regions of the republic, the HLA-AI antigen was found, which is found only in Caucasoid populations. It is often found in the Yakuts in combination with another antigen - HLA-BI7. And they can be traced together in the blood of two peoples - the Yakuts and the Hindi Indians. The presence of a hidden ancient Caucasoid gene pool in the Yakuts is also confirmed by the data of psychology: the discovery of the so-called. "interhemispheric type of thinking". All this leads to the idea that some ancient Turkish groups of Indo-Iranian origin took part in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts. Perhaps they were the clans associated with the Altai Pazyryks. The physical type of the latter differed from the surrounding Caucasian population by a more noticeable Mongoloid admixture. In addition, the Saka mythology, which had a tremendous impact on the Pazyryk people, is characterized by parallels to a greater extent with the Vedic.

Scythian-Hunnic origins in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts further developed in two directions. The first is conventionally called by me "Western" or South Siberian. It was based on the origins developed under the influence of the Indo-Iranian ethnoculture. The second is "Eastern" or "Central Asian". It is represented by the few Yakut-Hunnish parallels in culture. The Hunnic environment was the bearer of the original Central Asian culture. This "Central Asian" tradition can be traced in the anthropology of the Yakuts and in religious beliefs associated with the kumis holiday yyyakh and the remains of the cult of the sky - tanara.

The western regions of Central Asia and Altai are considered the places of formation of the Turkic tribes, therefore they have absorbed many cultural attitudes of the Scythian-Saka nomads. In the V century. the ancient Turks from the regions of East Turkestan inhabited by Iranian-speaking tribes moved to the Southern Altai and incorporated local tribes into their composition. The ancient Turkic era, which began in the 6th century, was in no way inferior to the previous period in terms of the territorial scope and grandeur of its cultural and political resonance. New rounds of ethnogenesis are usually associated with such epochal periods, giving rise to a generally unified, leveled culture, sometimes difficult to differentiate in a specific ethnic plan. Along with other formations in the ancient Turkic era, the formation of the Turkic foundations of the Yakut language and culture took place.

The Yakut language, according to its lexical and phonetic features and grammatical structure, is classified as one of the ancient Türkic dialects. But already in the VI-VII centuries. the Türkic basis of the language differed significantly from the ancient Oguz: according to S.E. Malov, the Yakut language by its construction is considered a pre-written language. Consequently, either the basis of the Yakut language was not originally Türkic, or it separated from Türkic in antiquity, when the latter experienced a period of tremendous cultural and linguistic influence of the Indo-Iranian tribes and developed further apart. Comparison of the Yakut culture with the ancient Turkic culture showed that in the Yakut pantheon and mythology, precisely those aspects of the ancient Turkic religion that developed under the influence of the previous Scytho-Siberian era were more consistently preserved. But at the same time, the Yakuts have preserved a lot in beliefs and funeral rites. In particular, instead of the ancient Türkic stones-balbals, the Yakuts put wooden pillars-poles.

But if the number of stones on the grave of the deceased was dependent on the people killed by him in the war, then among the Yakuts the number of posts installed depended on the number of horses buried with the deceased and eaten on his funeral. The yurt, where the person died, was torn down to the ground and a quadrangular earthen enclosure was obtained, similar to the ancient Turkic enclosures built on the side of the grave. In the place where the deceased lay, the Yakuts put an idol-balbakh, a heavy frozen block of manure diluted with clay. In the ancient Turkic era, new cultural standards were developed, transforming early nomadic traditions. The same patterns characterize the material culture of the Yakuts, which is considered to be Turkic.

The Türkic ancestors of the Yakuts are referred to the "Gaogyu Dinlins" - Teles tribes, among which one of the main places belonged to the ancient Uighurs. In the Yakut culture, some parallels associated with it have been preserved: cult rites, the use of a horse for conspiracy in marriage; some terms related to beliefs and ways of orientation on the ground.
Among the Teles tribes were the Kurykans of the Baikal region, which played a well-known role in the formation of Lena's pastoralists. The origin of the Kurykans was attended by local, most likely, Mongolian-speaking cattle breeders associated with the culture of tiled graves or Shiwei and, possibly, the ancient Tungus. But in this process leading value belonged to alien Turkic-speaking tribes, related to the ancient Uyghurs and Kyrgyz. The Kurykan culture developed in close contact with the Krasnoyarsk-Minusinsk region. Under the influence of the local Mongol-speaking substrate, the Turkic nomadic economy took shape in a semi-sedentary cattle breeding with stall keeping of cattle. Subsequently, the Yakuts, through their Baikal ancestors, spread cattle breeding, some household items, forms of dwellings, clay vessels on the Middle Lena, and, probably, inherited their basic physical type.

In the X-XI centuries. in the Baikal region, on the Upper Lena, Mongol-speaking tribes appeared. Their cohabitation with the descendants of the Kurykans began. Subsequently, part of this population (the descendants of the Kurykans and other Turkic-speaking groups that experienced a strong linguistic influence of the Mongols) descended down the Lena and became the nucleus in the formation of the Yakuts.

The participation of the second Turkic-speaking group with the Kipchak heritage can be traced in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts. This is confirmed by the presence in the Yakut language of several hundred Yakut-Kypchak lexical parallels. The Kipchak heritage, as it seems to us, is manifested through the ethnonyms Khanalas and Sakha. The first of them had a probable connection with the ancient ethnonym Khanly, whose carriers later became part of many medieval Turkic peoples. Their role is especially great in the origin of the Kazakhs. This should explain the presence of a number of common Yakut-Kazakh ethnonyms: odai - adai, argin - argyn, meirem suppu - meiram sopy, eras kuel - orazkeldy, tuer tugul - gortuur. In the XI century. the Kangly-Pechenegs became part of the Kipchaks. The link connecting the Yakuts with the Kipchaks is the ethnonym Saka, with many phonetic variants found among the Turkic peoples: soky, Saklar, Sakoo, Sekler, Sakal, Saktar, Sakha. Initially, this ethnonym, apparently, was included in the circle of the Teles tribes. Among them, along with the Uighurs, Kurykans, the Chinese sources place the Seike tribe. Among these tribes, the Sirs also roamed, who, according to S.G. Klyashtorny, from the VIII century. began to be called Kybchaks.
In this case, one must agree with the opinion of S.M. Akhinzhanov that the original place of residence of the Kipchaks was the southern slopes of the Sayayo-Altai mountains and steppes. The small Sir Kaganate in the 7th century. included in its composition the Yenisei Kyrgyz. In the VIII century. after the defeat of the tugu and sirs, the surviving part of the sirs withdrew to the west and occupied the Northern Altai and the upper reaches of the Irtysh. With them, apparently, the bearers of the ethnonym Seike-Saka departed. In the IX century. together with the Kimaks, the Kipchaks formed a new union. In the XI century. the Kangly became part of the Kipchaks, and in general the Kipchak ethnographic complex was formed in the XI-XII centuries.

The relationship of the Yakuts with the Kipchaks is determined by the presence of common elements of culture for them - the burial rite from the skeleton of a horse, the manufacture of a stuffed horse, wooden cult anthropomorphic pillars, jewelry items that are fundamentally related to the Pazyryk culture (earrings in the form of a question mark, grivna), common ornament motifs ... The ancient "western" (South Siberian) trend in the ethnogenesis of the Yakuts in the Middle Ages was continued by the Kipchaks. And, finally, the same connections explain the plot parallels found in the dastans of the Volga Tatars and the Yakut cycle historical legends"Ellayada", because the formation of the Tatars was greatly influenced by the medieval Cumans.

These conclusions were mainly confirmed on the basis of a comparative study. traditional culture Yakuts and the cultures of the Turkic peoples of the Sayan-Altai. In general, these cultural ties fall into two main layers - ancient Turkic and medieval Kypchak. In a more conventional section, the Yakuts converge along the first layer through the Oguz-Uyghur "language component" with the Sagai, Beltir groups of the Khakass, with the Tuvinians and some tribes of the Northern Altai. All these peoples, in addition to the main cattle breeding, also have a mountain-taiga culture, which is associated with fishing and hunting skills and techniques, the construction of stationary dwellings. Probably, this layer is associated with a small number of dictionary similarities between the Yakut and Ket languages.

Along the "Kipchak layer" the Yakuts approach the southern Altai, the Tobolsk, Baraba and Chulym Tatars, the Kumandins, Teleuts, the Kachin and Kyzyl groups of the Khakass. Apparently, along this line, small contributions of Samoyed origin penetrate into the Yakut language (for example, yak oton "berry" - Samoyed: ode "berry"; yak kytysh "juniper" - Finno-Ugric kataya "juniper"). Moreover, borrowings from the Finno-Ugric and Samoyed languages ​​into the Turkic languages ​​are quite frequent to designate a number of tree and shrub species. Consequently, these contacts are mainly associated with the forest appropriating ("collecting") culture.

According to our data, the penetration of the first cattle breeding groups into the Middle Lena basin, which became the basis for the formation of the Yakut people, began in the 14th century. (possibly at the end of the 13th century). In the general appearance of the material culture of the Kulun-Atakhs, some local origins are traced, associated with the early Iron Age, with a dominant clan of the southern foundations.

The newcomers, mastering Central Yakutia, made fundamental changes in economic life region - brought cows and horses with them, organized hay and pasture farming. Materials from archaeological sites of the 17th-18th centuries. fixed a continuity with the culture of the Kulun-Atakhs. Clothing complex from Yakut burials and settlements of the 17th-18th centuries. finds its closest analogies in Southern Siberia, mainly covering the regions of Altai and the Upper Yenisei within the X-XTV centuries. The parallels observed between the Kurykan and Kulun-Atakh cultures seem to be obscured at this time. But the Kypchak-Yakut ties are revealed by the similarity of the features of material culture and the funeral rite.

The influence of the Mongol-speaking environment in the archaeological sites of the XIV-XVIII centuries. practically not traceable. But it manifests itself in the linguistic material, and in the economy it forms an independent powerful layer. At the same time, it is interesting that the Yakuts, like the Mongol-speaking Shiwei, rode in sledges pulled by bulls and were engaged in ice fishing. As you know, ethnogenesis rests on three main components - historical and cultural, linguistic and anthropological. From this point of view, sedentary cattle breeding, combined with fishing and hunting, dwellings and household buildings, clothing, footwear, ornamental art, religious and mythological views of the Yakuts have a South Siberian, basically Turkic platform. Oral folk art, folk knowledge, customary law, having a Turkic-Mongolian basis, were finally formed in the basin of the Middle Lena.

Historical legends of the Yakuts, in all agreement with the data of archeology and ethnography, the origin of the people is associated with the processes of resettlement. According to these data, it was the alien groups led by Omogoi, Ellei and Uluu-Horo that made up the backbone of the Yakut people.
In the person of Omogoi we can see the descendants of the Kurykans, who by language belonged to the Oguz group. But their language, apparently, was influenced by the ancient Baikal and new medieval Mongolian environment. The descendants of Omogoi occupied the entire north of Central Yakutia (Namekni, Dupyuno-Borogonsky and Bayagantaysky, the so-called "gasping" uluses). It is interesting that, according to the materials of the hippologist I.P. Guryev, horses from the Namsky region show the greatest similarity with the Mongolian and Akhal-Teke breeds.
Elley personified the South Siberian Kipchak group, represented mainly by the Kangalas. Kipchak words in the Yakut language, as defined by G.V. Popov, are mainly represented by rarely used words. It follows from this that this group did not have a tangible impact on the phonetic and grammatical structure of the language of the Old Turkic core of the Yakuts.
Legends about Uluu-Horo reflected the arrival Mongolian groups to the Middle Lena. This is consistent with the assumption of linguists about the residence of the Mongolian-speaking population on the territory of the modern "aka" regions of Central Yakutia. Thus, in terms of grammatical structure, the Yakut language belongs to the Oguz group, in terms of vocabulary - to the Oguz-Uyghur and partly Kypchak. It reveals the ancient "subsoil" layer of vocabulary of Indo-Iranian origin. Mongolian borrowings in the Yakut language have, apparently, two or three-layer origin. The words of the Evenk (Tungus-Manchurian) introduction are relatively few.

According to our data, the formation of the modern physical type of the Yakuts was completed not earlier than the middle of the 2nd millennium AD. on the Middle Lena on the basis of a mixture of alien and aboriginal groups. Some of the Yakuts, figuratively called "Paleo-Asians in Central Asian masks", gradually poured into the composition of the people through the Tungus ("Baikal") substratum, tk. southern newcomers could not find the Koryaks or other Paleoasians here. In the southern anthropological layer of the Yakuts, two types can be distinguished - a rather powerful Central Asian, represented by the Baikal core, influenced by Mongol tribes, and a South Siberian anthropological type with an ancient Caucasoid gene pool. Later, these two types merged into one, forming the southern backbone of the modern Yakuts. At the same time, thanks to the participation of the Khorins, the Central Asian type becomes predominant.

Consequently, the economy, culture and anthropological type of the Yakuts were finally formed on the Middle Lena. The adaptation of the economy and culture of the southern newcomers to the new natural and climatic conditions of the north, was due to the further improvement of their original traditions. But the evolution of culture, natural for new conditions, has developed many specific features, inherent only in the Yakut culture.

It is generally accepted that the completion of the process of ethnogenesis occurs at the moment of the emergence of a distinct ethnic identity, the external manifestation of which becomes a common self-name. In solemn speech, especially in folklore and ritual, the phrase "Uraanhai-Sakha" is used. Following G.V. Ksenofontov, one could see in Uraanhai the designation of the Tungus-speaking people who were part of the emerging Sakha. But most likely, in the old days the concept of "man" was put into this word - a man-Yakut (primordial Yakut), i.e. uraanhai-saha.

Sakha diono - the "Yakut people" to the arrival of the Russians represented the "primary" or "post-tribal nationality" that arose in the conditions of early class society directly on the basis of tribal relations. Therefore, the completion of ethnogenesis and the formation of the foundations of the traditional culture of the Yakuts took place within the 16th century.

A fragment from the book of the researcher Gogolev A.I. - [Gogolev A.I. "Yakuts: Problems of Ethnogenesis and Formation of Culture". - Yakutsk: YSU Publishing House, 1993. - 200 p.]
Based on materials by V.V. Fefelova, the combination of these antigens is also found in Western Buryats, genetically related to the Yakuts. But their frequency of haplotype AI and BI7 is significantly lower than that of the Yakuts.
D.E. Eremeev assumes the Iranian origin of the ethnonym "Türk": the Iranian-speaking tours "with swift horses" were assimilated by the Türkic-speaking tribes, but retained the old ethnonym (Tur> Tür> Türk). (See: Eremeev DE "Türk" - an ethnonym of Iranian origin? - p. 132).
Recent studies have shown a high genetic similarity between Yakut horses and southern steppe horses. (See Guriev IP Immunogenetic and craniological features of the ecotypes of the Yakut horse. Author's abstract. Candidate of dissertation - M., 1990).
Horses from the Megino-Kangalassky region, included in the eastern group, are similar to the Kazakh horse of the Jabe type and partly to the Kyrgyz and horses of Fr. Jeju (Japan). (See: I.P. Guriev, op. Cit. P. 19).
In this regard, most of the Vilyui Yakuts occupy a separate position. Despite their genetic heterogeneity, they are united into the group of Paleo-Siberian Mongoloids, i.e. This group (with the exception of the Suntar Yakuts, who belong to the representatives of the Yakut population of Central Yakutia), contains an ancient Paleo-Siberian component. (See: Spitsyn V.A. Biochemical polymorphism. P. 115).
The ethnonym Uryankhai-Uryankhit as early as the 1st millennium AD. was widespread among the Altai-speaking, among the Paleoasians of the Yenisei, the Samoyedians.

There are three versions about the origin of the Yakuts. The authors of the first and most ancient of them were the so-called pre-Russian Yakuts. According to her, the Yakuts are the fundamental principle of all mankind, for the northern Adam and Eve (Er Sogotokh Ellei with his wife) are the very first people on planet Earth, from whom the entire human race arose. The original man Er Sogotokh Ellei is a celestial. He descended to earth and married one of the two daughters of the earthling Omogoi. And in order to leave Ellia and his wife the only ancestors of the human race, in the legend Omogoy and his wife and their second daughter are deliberately killed. Mindful of the heavenly origin of Ellia, the Yakuts still call themselves "aiyy ayma5a", that is. demigods. This opinion could not arise from scratch. It clearly comes from the knowledge of Deering Yuryakh and the idea of ​​the role of the Diringo-Dyuktai primary center in the emergence of mankind in the northern hemisphere.

Second opinion on origin

Yakuts comes again from the Yakuts themselves - only after the Russian period. Everything

Yakuts, without exception, are considered descended from Tygyn - a man of times

the arrival of the Russians. In all genealogical tables collected by anyone,

the table is headed by one Tygyn, sometimes with a nod towards Ellay. Wherein

it is noteworthy that Mayat Badiaai is mentioned as Tygyn's father, and in

his sons include Tungus and Lamut (Labynkha Syuryuk). The same mayat Badyaayy

to this day he is listed as the ancestor of the Kobyai Yakuts.

Like Manas and Dzhangar, Tygyn

here deliberately exhibited as corporeal, precisely chronological and

personified creator and organizer of the Yakut people. Moreover, all

the pre-Russian period is called the "non-Yakut period", i.e. "kyrgys

uyete ", which literally means" the age of bloody strife ".

The people vividly illustrate him with legends about independent strife, no one

subordinate heads of sovereign clans - Booturs and Hosuuns. These clans are Tygynsky

The Yakuts are considered not Yakuts, not Tungus, not Lamuts, i.e. deprived of ethnic

accessories. Hence the non-ethnic term "kyrgys uyete". Term

this completely crosses out the ethnicity of all clans of Yakutia pre-Russian

time, calling them "the simplest fighters".

And this thought is alive

illustrated with typical stories. What are Booturs like Legoy

borogon. Neither the tribe nor the clan of the Legoi were recognized. Legoevism was typical

for the entire pre-Russian "Kyrgyz" Yakutia, when the ethno-less pugnacious

roosters - Booturs and Hosuuns, for the sake of their personal ambitions, obstructed the process

attempts to form ethnic groups. Therefore, none of the legends about the Hosuuns and

Booturas in all of Yakutia do not mention anything about their ethnic group and appear only

the names of the boats and the name of the genus. Attempts to ethnonymize "Kyrgyz" here

to nothing. It would be violence against the traditions and self-conceit of a multiethnic

folklore of the region. Ethnicity of legends about khosuuns and booturs is universal

a feature of pre-Russian folklore throughout Yakutia. Thus, dating

the emergence of the Yakuts by some kind, sucked out of the finger 11-15-16 centuries - not that

other than violence against the conceit of the Yakuts themselves of Tygynovsky and Posletygynovsky

time, up to 1917 In their opinion, the date of birth of the Yakut people is clear and

exactly - this is the arrival of Russian Cossacks and servicemen in Yakutia.

Why this date was considered decisive

not difficult to understand. The impetus for the consolidation of ethnic groups was given precisely by the appearance

Russian factor. Without such a factor, it is impossible to explain the formation in

peoples of sovereign clans. On the other hand, as you move east, for

convenience of management throughout Siberia by purely administrative means ethnic groups and peoples

created a tsarist government. Even the mention of

principles of creating ethnic groups and peoples of Siberia: language, main activity ...

Ethnic groups such as Yukaghirs, Chukchi, Chuvans were also created using the method of artificial

administration. All this was perfectly taken into account by the popular opinion of the Yakuts.

Tygynovsky and posttygynovsky times.

were illiterate explorers of the 17th century. They suggested that the Yakuts, perhaps,

are Horde Tatars. This is a common fortune telling, having got to the West, already in

by force of instruction, So, relying on other people's rumors, in the distant West arose

the basis for the future version of the allegedly "southern" Tatar origin of the Yakuts.

An entirely illiterate mass of Yakuts, not knowing about it, before Soviet power continued

to repeat about their origin from Tygyn and Ellia. True, the missionaries managed to

turn the celestial Ellia into a Tatar. By the end of the 19th century. and at the beginning of the 20th century. version about

the Tatar origin of the Yakuts came to such a dead end that she was thrown out, and

forever stopped searching in the south for sites suitable for the "ancestral home"

Yakuts, then, to redesign the version, they went to replace the Tatars with just anyone: and

Turks, and Hunnougras, and Samodi, and Tungus Yuch Horo Khanami from Ust-Kuta ...

All these innovations were happily picked up by today's Yakut intelligentsia.

Ethnicity is sick, and this disease

began due to the loss of the Yakut language of its nursing qualities. Besides the language

himself split into urban and rural languages, the language of folklore and semi-Russianized

Yakuts, literary language. Bilingual parents began to teach their children only

Russian, accelerating the Russification of the Yakuts. Against this background, in the soul of a Yakut intellectual

there was a shame hidden from everyone for their ethnicity, It is because of this shame - to be

Yakut - people began to strenuously impersonate anyone in the past. Not sick

such a disease, the pre-Soviet Yakuts, nevertheless proudly called themselves

Yakuts, descendants of their own ancestors.

In the heat of the moment, of course, mine

fellow tribesmen will begin to deny in chorus that they have an inner shame for their

past ethnos. However, when they cool down, they will understand that the ethnos is sick, like itself

human. Specified disease is in its early stages. Therefore, if desired

it can be curable. And if he is stubborn, then we should remember that many

from the gone into oblivion ethnic groups in the past died due to the flight of ashamed

"Youth of Yakutia". -

S.I. Nikolaev - Somo5otto / Memories,

articles / literary experience / Yakutsk / 2007