The fight of religious missioners against the suicides of indigenous peoples of the north in XVII - beginning of XX century (on the materials of Yamal and Yugra)

The study was conducted within the framework of the concept of "Historical Grief", which suggests that one of the most important causes of suicide among indigenous peoples is the stress of violent Christianization. Aim of the article: on the basis of ethnographic materials and archival documents to study the effectiveness of the missionary policy of Muslims and Christians to reduce suicide and general mortality among the indigenous peoples of the North in the 17th-19th centuries. Materials and methods. Ethnographic materials and statistical data of about 350 metric books and metric tables from mosques and Orthodox churches, divided into 4 territorial-missionary zones, were used as the research sources. The Ugra-Samoyed population of the two northern zones (mainly Yamal and Ugra) was in the sphere of in fluence of the Orthodox Church, the second two (mainly the south of the modern Tyumen region) were under the influence of the Siberian Muslim Tatars. For each study region, the following were calculated: the rate of natural reproduction of the population and the rate of natural mortality per one born. Knowing that the suicidality rate of indigenous small peoples of the North affects the overall mortality rate in the regions of residence, these coefficients should reveal whether the infusion of indigenous peoples into the Orthodox and Muslim populations influenced the overall mortality rate in the region, and, accordingly, whether the missionaries of both world religions succeeded to change the attitude of the peoples of the North to death. Results and conclusions: The authors obtained the same result for the zones of Christian and Muslim missions: in those settlements of indigenous peoples, where the maximum influence of world religions was observed, the mortality rate was higher, and the instability in the ratio of fertility and mortality was observed during transition periods, when they had to exist simultaneously in two different cultures. This indicates the presence of "cultural stress" and confirms the concept of "Historical Grief". It was also found that: 1. The most favorable situation (a sharp increase in reproduction and a decrease in mortality for various reasons) was observed among the converts of the Obdorsk (Mikhailovskaya) missionary church who continued to live in the traditional culture, but received help from the church and the state. If in general for this zone in 1888-1914 the reproduction rate ranged from 1.5 to 2.0, in the Mikhailovskaya missionary church it tended to increase and reached 6.12-6.87. Among the "idolaters" not affected by missionary work, the reproduction rate in these years was 1.0-2.5. 2. The missionaries of both religions have not been able to overcome the problem of suicide attempters and increased mortality; moreover, the assimilation of the peoples of the North by the Siberian Tatars influenced the rates of reproduction and mortality in Muslim settlements. 3. Since the ideas of the peoples of the North and Siberian Islam had multiple coincidences, the existence of the Ugra-Samoyed population simultaneously in their own and in Muslim cultures turned out to be less "cultural stress" in comparison with the influence of Russian Orthodox culture. 4. The most difficult and dangerous period for the emergence of the syndrome of "historical grief" was the stress from missionary influence, provoking suicide, turned out to be a transitional stage of cultural transformation, regardless of whether this influence was Christian or Muslim. At this stage, the aboriginal population was forced to exist in two different cultures. 5. To solve the problem of suicides among the indigenous peoples, it is necessary to maintain a balance in methods and approaches, since sometimes measures to combat suicides can provoke them, creating a complex cultural and psychological dilemma.