People living in the tundra. How do reindeer herders live in the Far North (38 photos)

The tundra occupies 1/5 of the territory of Russia. Thousands of years ago people settled on these lands. But due to the harsh natural conditions the tundra is sparsely populated.
The population density in the tundra is low: less than 1 person per square meter. km. Khanty, Mansi, Eskimos, Evenks, Sami, Nenets, Yakuts, Chukchi, etc. live here.

The indigenous people are engaged in reindeer herding, fishing, and hunting (Arctic foxes, sea animals).
Reindeer husbandry is the basis of economic activity of the indigenous inhabitants of the tundra.
Russia is home to 71% of the world's reindeer population - 2.2 million domestic and about 800 thousand wild. The deer gives the inhabitant of the North everything - the meat is used for food, the skins are used to make clothes, shoes, portable dwellings - tents, yarangas. No less important is the deer vehicle.
In the northern regions of the tundra, sled dog breeding is widespread. Dog sleds are more reliable than some modern species transport. They will not fail in a snowstorm when technology is powerless. A team of 10 - 12 Nenets Laika dogs pulls a sled with a load of 400 - 500 kg at a speed of 7 - 10 km/h. In a day, a dog sled with a load travels 70–80 km, and a light dog sled travels 150–200 km. Very warm clothes and shoes are made from dog skins.

The local population of the tundra lived for a long time in complete harmony with nature. For centuries, the indigenous inhabitants of the region have been developing rules of conduct in surrounding nature, measures to protect and preserve its wealth.
However, now the relationship between man and nature has changed dramatically. IN last decades the tundra zone is subject to intense economic development; More than 50% of its territory has already been affected. Oil exploration and production is developing here, natural gas and other minerals. Mines, factories, roads, villages - all these are territories taken away from the tundra. But the destructive impact on nature is not limited to this. The worst thing is the pollutants that are formed as a result of economic activities. They are distinguished by enterprises, transport, and boiler houses that heat residential buildings.
Pollutants accumulate in the tundra. Dozens of rivers and lakes are dying. In soil and water bodies all year round Streams of fuel oil and diesel fuel flow from drilling rigs. The coast of the Arctic seas and the entire tundra are littered with ownerless barrels and rusty iron. Many settlements are in an unsanitary condition. There are practically no environmentally friendly enterprises.
Smog settles on White snow, turning it black, and patches of bare ground appear in places where pollution is especially high. For many years not a single plant will grow here.
Another problem of the tundra is uncontrolled hunting and poaching. Many species of plants and animals have become rare.

The endless, inhospitable expanses of the tundra, where you rarely even see an animal within a few days’ travel, have become home to the most resilient and powerful peoples of the North. Since ancient times, Chukchi, Eskimos, Nenets, Koryaks, Sami, Evenks, Nganasans, Aleuts, etc. have lived and worked here, hunted and fished, given birth to children and buried old people. Total number population does not exceed 300 thousand people.

Off the coast Arctic Ocean and the Bering Sea, on the Alaska Peninsula, along the Yukon River, Eskimos live. They once lived in more southern latitudes, but Indian tribes gradually pushed them to the very edge of the Earth. However, the Eskimos managed to adapt to the cold Arctic climate. They were hunting fur seals, seals, walruses, whales, belugas. On land, the main prey were beavers, sables, stoats, wolverines and foxes. The main breadwinner for them was caribou.

Unlike the Eskimos of the Old World, they did not have domesticated reindeer. The loot was transported on sleds pulled by dogs. The Eskimos created the most advanced weapon for hunting sea animals - a harpoon, a hunting boat - a kayak, a dwelling made of snow - an igloo, a fat lamp for cooking, heating and lighting the home. They traded among themselves and with the Chukchi. But over time, American and European traders began to appear in these lands, bringing tobacco, textile clothing, knives, vodka, which they exchanged with local residents for furs. Hunting intensified, which led to the extermination of marine animals, as well as land animals - beavers, stoats, sables. The Eskimos became poorer, especially after the destruction of the caribou. A similar picture was observed in the life of the northern peoples of Eurasia.

Igloo is an Eskimo's home made of snow.

The Chukchi belong to the Arctic variety Mongoloid race. Native language Chukchi in modern life The language being replaced by the Russian language is lost. The rich experience of their ancestors taught the Chukchi to make tundra dwellings - yarangas, clothes in which you can sleep in the snow, torbas - light, warm boots made of kamus (the skin of the lower part of a deer leg), the sole of which is the skin of a sea hare. It was experience that taught the Chukchi not to wash themselves. There is a lot of ultraviolet radiation in the tundra, and the fat layer protects the face from burns, so they don’t wash it off. The life of the Chukchi is unthinkable without deer. This is their food, home, clothing, means of transportation.

IN Russian zone The tundra is inhabited by Nenets, Sami, Nanai, Chukchi, Koryak, Evenki, Eskimos and a few other peoples who are trying to preserve traditional crafts and economy. Most of them lead a nomadic or semi-nomadic lifestyle, engaging in reindeer herding, fishing and hunting. In summer they collect mushrooms and berries. Modern development industry in the northern regions is gradually displacing small peoples from inhabited territories, modifying economic activity and way of life.

The Nenets are inhabitants of the tundra.

Without deer, life in the tundra is unthinkable.

Used interview and film by Andrey Golovnev, Ural Federal State University (Ekaterinburg)

They live on the Yamal Peninsula Nenets - eternal wanderers of the tundra. This is the largest of the northern peoples of Russia. Yamalo-Nenets autonomous region with its capital in Salekhard, it is part of the Ural Federal District.

The Nenets are perfectly adapted to the harsh Arctic conditions.

They call themselves "ninno inennuchi", which means "real people". Apparently the rest are considered fake. Maybe. But more precisely, they don’t care about other people. They do not compete with anyone, do not envy anyone, and do not settle scores with anyone. This barren and desert land, deer and cold are their wealth. This is their freedom from civilization, this endless sky above your head, which you can reach with your hand, the same endless horizon constantly before your eyes, not being tied to your place of residence, to money (there is nothing to buy in the tundra and nowhere), a minimum of amenities...

They used to be called Samoyeds. This strange word comes from the Sami “Sam edne” - “land of people”. Since the Russians learned about the Arctic from the Lapp Sami, the Arctic lands east of White Sea they began to be called Saam edne, that is, generally speaking, “Saam edne” and “ninno inenuchi” are about the same thing, they are about people.

The Nenets have seven (!) seasons. In general, seven is my favorite number. It is not necessary to count the fact that more than seven is a set. Seven by seven by seven - counting by sevens. They don’t even count the reindeer in the herd, but know everyone by sight (in the sense of the face). There is even a Nenets belief that if you count all the reindeer, they may be attacked by pestilence.

They don’t have time - hours and minutes, as we are used to. Here the sun rises, the night shepherd - the guard is driving the flock to the camp. People wake up to the sound of deer hooves. This is instead of an alarm clock. Someone says: “Tyto” - “The deer are coming.” It means " Good morning". The camp is filled with the barking of dogs, women begin to rattle cauldrons, smoke rises above the tents. People get out of their night fur beds and pull on their daytime fur clothes - malitsa and yagushka.

Migration is a transfer. Everyone roams: people, birds, animals, gods. We stood in one place for a week, in half an hour we dismantled our tent, made of poles and skins, and off we went. The tundra is a continuous road. And so all my life. So century after century. The Nenets consider people confined to one place to be destitute.

The Nenets have many different superstitions and beliefs. If, for example, at the beginning of the trip the reindeer leader of the team sneezes, it is better to return immediately; if he sneezes while crossing the river, it is worth looking for another place. If he snorts while being chased polar bear- the beast is in front, if it is silent, the beast is behind. In a snowstorm, a reindeer herder finds a camp, watching the jerks of his leader's head. On a clear night, he follows the stars, noting their location between the antlers of the leading deer. On sleds they always carry with them various amulets, an image of the spirit of an ancestor. The spirit must watch over people and deer. Everything bad that can happen in the tundra, where spirits rule, is a response to the bad things that happen here in the camp, where people rule. A woman in a camp should not step over the reins, otherwise the wolves in the tundra will kill the deer. A man should not pass under the corral rope, otherwise he will get lost along the way. Men's things are only for men, women's things are only for women. A man doesn’t even dare touch many women’s things in the tent.

The tundra can be treacherous. The only things more treacherous are the ice and the sea. According to Nenets beliefs, you cannot save someone drowning in water or falling into a swamp. He is the rightful victim of the lower spirits. but fortunately the Nenets violate this last custom, although they are well aware of the vindictiveness of the Lord of the Underworld Nga. And so on. In general, there is such a dependence on countless signs, quirks and superstitions.

Everyone has their own share in life, and together they form a cycle like day and night, like summer and winter. This cycle sets the rhythm for the endless movement of nomads. This has been the case for a very long time. Probably from the time when the ancestors of the Nenets came to the north. Somewhere they write that at the beginning new era, where - 6 thousand years ago.

Our usual year is divided into two - winter and summer. When you ask a Nenets “How old are you?” And he will answer, for example, “one hundred and twenty,” which means he is 60. All property and migrations are divided into summer and winter. And accordingly, there are summer and winter sleds. There is a conventional point between the summer and winter cycles, which is called “Po” - “door”. And conditionally, there are winter or summer sledges at this door. When they migrate to winter/summer pastures, they change equipment there. And through this “door” they pass into winter and back into summer. Numerous swamps and streams can be easily crossed on summer sleds. This is not an obstacle for deer. It’s interesting that they also call the year “by”. That is, among the Nenets, space and time are one and the same. Meaning, rhythm and philosophy of their life is such that they feel peace only in movement.

They do not know the measures in children. They give birth as long as they have enough strength. They give birth in the plague like their grandmothers and great-grandmothers, usually easily, although anything can happen. That’s the will of Myah-pukhche - Mistresses of the Plague. This is the main female goddess - the patroness of motherhood. She is depicted as a figurine wearing as many fur coats as she helped give birth to. The belt for this figurine must be brought from the distant sanctuary of the “Seven Plagues”, where the mother of all Myah-pukhche, the goddess Yamal-khada, lives. It's interesting that the kingdom of the dead or underground kingdom, where all people go at one time is quite realistic for the Nenets. The departed are there and also wander around their underground world. When a child was born, the spirit of some ancestor moved into him. That is, a birth here is at the same time a funeral there and vice versa. If a child was born dead, it means his ancestors did not let him go from there.

A woman is always the sovereign mistress of the plague. The man is like a guest there. All women and even little girls have an amazing command of fire. The hearth is the kingdom of women - they heat it with a dwarf birch tree. Their fire is also a woman. And the sun is also a woman. As the Nenets say, everything that is warm is a woman, everything that is cold is a man.

Dogs always accompany people. The Nenets believe that a dog is half from this world, half from that (the world of the dead). She is sacrificed to the spirits when some misfortune comes to the camp. They have a ritual of purification - nipthora - fumigation with smoke of everything that is in the camp: all people and all things. The ritual is performed if someone has died, before childbirth, before the new moon, with the change of season, if deer change their fur or shed their antlers, when grass grows, in front of the road, especially at the sanctuary of the seven plagues, if a woman steps over a man’s thing, and so on. for any other reason. Niptor is also carried out after a trip to the village - the Nenets consider it an unclean place. There is something smoking in the cup (pieces of chaga, skins on coals) and this fumigates everything. This is such a sacred rite of expelling bad spirits, very common among different nations.

Fur clothing is worn directly on the naked body. It is hygienic because the lint rubs and cleanses the skin. In summer, Nenets like to wash and do laundry near a lake or river. Then the washed things are laid out throughout the tundra. Such a tundra laundry. Moss is placed in the baby's cradle - a tundra diaper.

Sanctuaries.

The Nenets live in childbirth. Some of them are called multideer. According to legend, the leaders of these clans followed a doe with seven fawns. Where the deer stopped and lay down on the ground, people chasing in their tracks created sanctuaries. At the very edge of the earth, the hunters overtook the doe and killed her and her fawns. In that place is the main Nenets sanctuary Siumya or Seven Plagues. The hunter who killed the deer began to cut the skin on it and his knife clanged against a metal buckle, the kind that women usually wear on their belts. And people realized that they were led by a woman - a goddess. And they erected a sanctuary for the seven plagues for her and her seven children.

Shamans perform rituals there and communicate with spirits. They make sacrifices. Once upon a time, a woman fled here to the ends of the earth from her ferocious husband. He was from a family of many deer. He overtook his wife and killed her. And since then, animals have been sacrificed to atone for that act. Now there are many bones and skulls of animals scattered there.

Among the Nenets, gods and people all live together. On the edge seashore there is an idol - “Seated” - this is the goddess of Yamal-Khad. This is in the very north of Yamal. This is one of the incarnations of the goddess Yamal. She appears either as a woman or as a white deer. Here the whole country spirits: gods, their children and servants. The Nenets perform a ceremony there. They take the heart of a deer, cut it into 7 parts, according to the number of fawns killed, and put it in a cauldron. Then the pieces are put into this “chum”, or rather a heap like a chum, made up of bones, antlers and skulls of deer, as well as various things. Not everyone who pleases comes there, but representatives of key, indigenous clans. This is a kind of Nenets Mecca where people come on special occasions.

Photo: Encampment near Nadym.

That is, such a representative pilgrim collects gifts from all the camps and goes there to offer them. A person puts his brought things and objects into this pile and takes away those that have already lain there and become, as it were, sacred amulets, absorbing the power of spirits. Such rotation and interchange occurs. At the sanctuary you can also ask the spirits about something important for life. Well, that is, we kind of talked. The sanctuary has a guardian. The Nenets say: “Whoever is in a hurry in the tundra is in a hurry to die.”

Before visiting the sanctuary, you must sacrifice a deer and perform all the rituals. If you fail to comply, you will receive punishment from the gods.

According to legend, once upon a time shamans of the multi-reindeer clan came here to the cape. They set up a large tent and began to perform rituals. The spirits told them that the Great Goddess Yamala wanted to incarnate in the body of a woman. Then a woman was sacrificed. Voluntary or not? She gave up her ghost and the spirit of the goddess entered her. The victim was placed in the chum, and in the morning people saw that the tracks of a doe and seven fawns were going away from the chum into the distance. Anyone who has once visited the Seven Plagues must return here every three years.

Photo Tundra. Reinhard Strickler (Switzerland).

Since then, the Nenets have mastered Yamal from edge to edge. A trochee is a pole used to control deer. Arriving at a new camp, the man sticks it into the ground. When a man is buried, they stick a trochee on the grave - the main male symbol. And the woman is given some kitchen utensils. The place where the tent was placed is considered reclaimed. In heroic tales, the conquest of the earth is depicted not as the expulsion of enemies from it, but as the capture of their women. Painting final victory a tent is served, where after long wanderings the hero’s mother, sister or wife lights a fire. That is why not a god, but a goddess led the many reindeer through the Yamal tundra to the seashore.

The Nenets live in childbirth. In general, the entire tundra is close or distant relatives to each other. The Nenets have long chains of kinship, going back many generations and many hundreds of kilometers in breadth. IN certain time Nenets have been preparing antlers for years. This is the only profitable business after the decline of the fur trade in which the Nenets can earn money and buy something. Shepherds do not like to cut off the newly grown fluffy antlers of their deer, although they reassure themselves that this makes the deer stronger in body. But deer without antlers become ugly. And the favorite Nenets ornament is branched deer antlers. How steppe nomads the horse was considered a model of beauty, so northern peoples- deer.

There has probably been a story going around for a hundred years about how a Russian merchant bargained with a Nenets shepherd. - Sell the deer! - There are no corrupt ones. - Why don’t you take money? Buy some wine. - I stocked up on wine. - Buy something for women or arctic foxes for bride price. - I have two arctic foxes. - You have three thousand deer. Where do you save it? - The deer are walking, I’m looking at them. And if you hide the money, it won’t be visible.

Otherwise, life goes on as usual. It is interesting that the Nenets call Yamal only the northernmost part of the peninsula, where they have their main sanctuary. The word "Yamal" is translated from Nenets as "edge (end) of the earth." Where Yamal ends, the Kara Sea begins. Through the Malygina Strait, White Island. There is an idol of an old man on it, facing to Yamal, just opposite the Sitting Old Woman. Well, and a weather station. There is no permanent population.

Gas is currently being produced in Yamal. Both gas pipelines and roads for deer are a serious obstacle. Gas workers are actually building special crossings through gas pipelines and roads along migration routes. These crossing points were agreed upon with the indigenous population. Some Nenets live sedentary in villages, and as a rule, their lives do not work out because they become drunkards. They need to live in the tundra in freedom under familiar conditions.

The Nenets believe that every two thousand years a flood comes to the earth and washes it. And after the flood the earth is reborn and becomes new. Such a philosophy.

Russia, Nenets Tundra. The girl Mariana is 9 years old. Her city-dwelling peers are already versed in cosmetic trends, scrolling through glamorous Instagram feeds, and Mariana skillfully drives a reindeer team across the endless expanses of the Nenets tundra. Very soon, in a week, she will board a school helicopter and go to boarding school until spring, but for now she is in a plague, in which life does not stand still, in which a place on the map is only tied to a changing GPS position, which only knows the helicopter pilot with whom we went to visit Mariana.

The life of reindeer herders who lead traditional nomadic image life in the Tundra is one of the most interesting parallel realities, with whom I came into contact during my travels. Today I want to tell and show how life works in the plague in the summer, but I will definitely come back for the winter continuation of this amazing story. A story that very much contrasts with the realities of life in megacities that are familiar to us.

Photos and text by Alexander Cheban

Where Fresh air… which you can taste.
Where is the endless space... which you really feel, but cannot grasp with your imagination.
Where the age-old traditions of their ancestors are preserved... which cannot be replaced by any modern technology.

Welcome to Tundra!

2. See the small spot of color in the center of the frame? A few pixels in a photograph, a small, barely noticeable dot on the map and a place that is very well described by the untranslatable phrase “in the middle of nowhere.” This is the tent of reindeer herders of the Kharp reindeer herding brigade.

3. Helicopter pilots only know approximate coordinates; the search is carried out visually on the ground, sometimes taking half an hour or even more.

4. The soil in the tundra is special, unlike anything else, soft and delicate to the touch. The Mi-8 helicopter of the United Naryan-Mar Air Squad cannot land here, so it hovers after touching the surface. We unload our things very quickly.

5. And after 5 minutes it rises sharply into the air, blowing even a backpack or bag tens of meters away.

7. This is Timofey - the foreman of the reindeer herding brigade "Kharp", under his command are four shepherds and a tent worker and... 2,500 deer. Timofey himself is Komi, and the shepherds in his brigade are Nenets. And his wife is also a Nenka.

8. In summer and winter they travel across the tundra on sleds. In summer, they also glide perfectly along the surface of bushes.

What is nomadic reindeer herding?

There are 7 brigades in the Kharp reindeer herding farm, all of them belong to the collective farm, which is located in the village of Krasnoye. Each brigade has its own grazing route, changing its location every 3-4 weeks, walking tens of kilometers across the tundra. Timofey's brigade travels a distance of 200-300 km per year, for some brigades this route can be up to 600 km. The herd itself grazes within a radius of 10 km from the miracle.

In the village of Krasnoe, members of the brigade have houses, but they live in them very rarely, on vacation and after retirement. Even pensioners go to the tundra whenever possible.

Why is it impossible to engage in reindeer husbandry on a permanent basis on a collective farm?

IN Soviet time Attempts were made to establish a stationary farm. But reindeer husbandry cannot be stationary; deer eat moss, which is renewed over the years. On the other hand, the number of deer cannot be increased uncontrollably for the same reason - there is simply not enough food in the vast expanses of the Tundra.

How is deer made into venison?

Every spring, deer give birth to offspring; Timofey has 1,200 calves in his brigade, half of which will need to be delivered to the slaughter plant on the collective farm by winter.
In December-January, deer are slaughtered. Most slaughter points (which are located in villages) do not have refrigeration units, so freezing occurs naturally. The number of deer in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug is 180 thousand; 30-35 thousand deer are slaughtered annually. 70-80% of the slaughter contingent are deer under 1 year old. For comparison: in the 70s of the last century, 60-70 thousand deer were slaughtered annually in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

Frozen deer carcasses are taken from settlements in the tundra with the help of a Mi-26 helicopter, this is the largest serial transport helicopter in the world! One hour of operation of the Mi-26 costs 670 thousand rubles/hour, the carrying capacity is 18 tons. With a purchase price of 125 rubles per 1 kg of venison, the cost of its helicopter transportation is another 90 rubles/kg!!! And there are simply no other options to get to remote regions of the district. There are no roads or winter roads! During the winter, the helicopter makes 20-25 such flights per different regions, where meat is centrally transported on snowmobiles from smaller villages or deer are driven independently to large slaughter points. Moreover, there are flights of 1 hour, and there are flights of 5-6 hours.

The turnover of the only Naryan-Mar meat processing plant is 900 tons of venison per year. 450 tons are delivered by helicopter and 450 - by land transport on winter roads. In just one season, 1000-1100 tons are slaughtered in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, 900 are taken and processed by the meat processing plant, and 100-150 are bought by the local population and used locally for their own needs.

How much does a deer cost?

One live deer costs an average of 15 thousand rubles. This is not only meat, but also has horns, hooves, skin...

10. Mariana is in the tent all summer, this is the only way to learn reindeer herding skills. In the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Yakutia they introduce Remote education, when even in winter children remain with their parents in the tundra, and basic education taught by parents.

Children help with the vast majority of household tasks. For example, Mariana helps to dart the reindeer, driving them into the karzak (an area limited by a net), where the shepherds select the reindeer for the sleigh team. Marina harnesses and unharnesses the reindeer herself without any problems.

12. The shepherds and the foreman know each reindeer by sight. Many have nicknames.

Mariana, what toys do you have?
- (thinks) None, why do I need toys?

I’m wearing argish (sleigh with things and food), puppies, reindeer sleds...

22. Timofey found a fragment of a mammoth tusk, started digging, and found other bones. This is exactly why we flew to him this time. Then our expedition continued and we began to dig deeper in search of the rest of the skeleton.

24. Satellite dish and TV in the tent. One tank of diesel fuel in a diesel generator is enough for 6-8 hours of viewing. Everything is delivered only by helicopter in the summer! In winter it’s a little easier - you can bring the necessary things, food, and diesel fuel from the nearest village by snowmobile.