Chuvans – are one of the largest tribes of yukagirs

Chuvans are the Indigenous People of the Rus- sian Federation1.First National Russian census of 1897 recorded 275 resident and 177 "stray" Chu- vans. During this period they were recorded in the documents and how Yukagirs and how Chuvans and Russian as of old. The census of 1926-1927 identified 707 Chuvans. They were viewed as a special nation. However, all subsequent Soviet censuses, except in 1989, did not include Chuvans as a separate of the ethnic group. Depending on the language they were referred to the Russian or the Chukchi. Census 1989 revealed in the USSR 1511 Chuvans. In Russia, there were 1,384, includ- ing 944 in the Chukchi Autonomous District and 470 in Yakutia. In 2002, the population of Russia 1087 Chuvans2.According to the census of the population in 2010 lived in Russia 1002 Chuvans, including 475 men and 527 women, 396 people from an urban and a 606 - to rural3. Most Chuvans lives in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (897 persons). In the Magadan region, there are 57 Chu-vans4. According to Census 2001, the population of the Ukraine 226 Chuvans5.

Chuvan language - is a dead dialect Yukaghir. It was used in the XVII - beginning of XVIII century. Chuvans on the linguistic classification of people belong to the Ural-Yukaghir language family, a group of languages Yukaghir6. Chuvans speak the Chukchi language (nomadic Chuvans) and "Markov" dialect of the Russian language (settled Chuvans)7. Chuvans residing in Russia, speak Russian.

Chuvans –is one of the largest tribes of Yukagirs. The first information about the people contained in the reports and tales of the Russian researchers XVII. At the end of the XIX century. The Russian authorities speculated that they may have the descendants of the Cossacks, allegedly conquering these places in the XVIII century.8From the middle of the seventeenth century Chuvans of the Shelagskogo Cape (the northernmost cape of Chukotka) lived in the upper reaches of the rivers Amguema, Chaun, the Greater and Lesser Anyuev. In the middle of the XVIII century, Chuvan camps were raided Chukchi. As a result, some Chuvans passed into the lower reaches of the Kolyma River in Yakutia. A large group migrated to the south-west to Gizhiga (the river in the Magadan region), where experienced a great cultural and linguistic influence of the Koryak. By the beginning of the XIX century formed Chuvans two ethnic groups: sedentary, largely Russified, resettled in the village Markov on the Anadyr (extreme north-east Russia, Chukotka), and nomadic, moving in the upper reaches of Anadyr, similar in the culture Chukchi and Koryak9.

Among the Chuvans were distributed fishing rituals. Before the spring fishing elk or deer staged purification rite - passed through the arch of two trees with a cross on which hung skins of squirrels, hares, foxes, jewelry, colored rags, ribbons, colored fur deer, etc.; sacrificed to the owners of the taiga, land and the area. In the spring, when the ice on the rivers tampered with, the women and girls were thrown into the water beads - as a gift to children master the river. Old trees donated tapes, cloth, money, etc. Before fishing commit ritual of feeding the fire. From fireside contacted prohibitions: it was impossible to pass between the center and the head of the family, to give fire from the hearth to outsiders.

Traditionally, the land was seen as a kind of the divine origin. The earth as animate element, you can argue with it..you should respect it. "Land is not subject to abuse. He cursed the ground - you will be bad. Nothing is impossible to dig, you can not be greedy, badly. You do not touch. "For this reason, until the turn of the XIX-XX centuries remained elevated and airy way of burying the dead. [1] According to the burial structures aerial burial are divided into two varieties: in the wooden house and the deck. Probably the most common form of the funerary constructions air graves were log cabins, placed on a stump with two cross beams overlap, set across the longitudinal sides of the log cabins. All air funerary constructions were carried out with an ax and slaz-hivalis into the grooves without nails.

The question of marriage was solved positively, if the groom managed to pick up the tree and put it in the house - a conical tent. If the young man did not like the bride, he was offered a tree thicker. Consent to the marriage was also considered as father of the bride began to use a pile of firewood, chopped prospective son-in. According Yukaghir tradition, after marriage the husband takes up the residence in the house of his wife, along with their relatives, whom he fed and took care of10.

According to the folklore, the universe is divided into the upper - the heavenly world (pu-dool lebie), middle –is the earthly world (ordool lebie) and lower - the underworld. They are connected by the global river, to get to the lower world, the shaman or a hero sailed on a boat down the river. Top of the world inhabited by gods, they helped people in the fishery are guarded against disease and poverty, punished for bad behavior. The most revered deity of the sky and the sun. Chief of the heavenly god called Hoyle (god, an icon), also called the doll idol or skull shaman ancestor. Distinctive in the past and numerous pantheon of the world's top was partially lost due to gaps spiritual ties between generations and partly replaced by later Christian deities11.

Fixed objects of the material world had a soul (aybii), a man - three souls. One lives in his head, if a person is ill, she goes to the underworld to the ancestors, frightened entry into the body of an evil spirit, and may come back under the influence of action shaman, the second soul is in the heart, it affects a person's life, and the third permeates the whole body, as his double casts a shadow on the ground. The soul of the deceased has several options for a new birth, either directly embodied in the newborn, or becomes a plant, and only after a certain time will be reborn in the infant12.

Shamans were the patrons of the kind. Getting into the upper and lower worlds, they communicated with the world of the ancestors, the shadows of the dead, healed the sick, made sacrifices to the spirits of the hunt. Special clothes and attributes shaman consisted of coat, bib, hat, shoes, diamond (yalgil), mallets (peydube) and image helper spirits. The strongest spirit helpers believed the mammoth and the bear, and the souls of their ancestors. On the shaman coat of red paint (ocher or juice alder) were applied to drawing, which divided it into two halves: the right - light, with seven cross-shaped figures of birds, and the left - a dark, humanoid figures with the family ancestors. Rovduga stripe in the center, embroidered reindeer neck hair, portrayed the world tree. Headgear - hat of Camus, the right light, dark color on the left with two cylindrical columns on top.

There was a cult of the dead shamans their bodies dismembered, parts were dried and stored as generic shrine. Blood-soaked shaman of his clothes, which are also considered amulets. Skull dead shaman placed on a wooden doll in a man's height (shang Shore - "wooden man"), dressed in a coat shaman. Hoyle called it a god, put on a place of honor in the home, "fed", the request was transported along with the migrations.

Chuvans believed in the power of the conspiracy and divination (in deer shoulder blade on the jaw hare), wizards, wearing amulets, charms. Hunting amulets considered skin proteins (talent), nose and claws of a bear, the guardians of the house - the skins loons, ducks: they were hung over the entrance to the dwelling13. Were developed cults of elk and sturgeon? An important role was played by the cult of the bear. The bones of the game animals piled in the anatomical order and buried in the special store hut or trees, making thus magical spells and charms.

On appeal of the Chuvans to Christianity intensified the process of the rapprochement with the Russianthe XVII-XVIII centuries. Spiritual culture and the social relations are settled Chuvans experienced a significant Russian influence. There were holy days, homes were icons and religious books. Weddings coped by Russian custom. The dead were buried by Orthodox standards, but the man was placed in the coffin of tobacco, a woman - tools for needlework. Nomadic Chuvans mostly retain the traditional beliefs, Orthodoxy affected a little. Noted seasonal festivals associated with the reindeer economic cycle, followed by a slaughter of deer, sacrifices, etc. It was developed shamanism, distributed anthropomorphic and zoomorphic figurines of wood, leather, bones, stones for divination14.

Historical division of the Chuvans to nomadic and sedentary determined the different paths of the development of their spiritual culture, folklore, what is decisive role played by the Russian colonization of the north-eastern edge of Siberia. Chuvans, beaten to Anadyr under the protection from hostile nomadic neighbors, along with a sedentary lifestyle have received from Russian language, Russian Orthodoxy, and many genres of folklore, which are in varying degrees of preservation are prevalent to this day among the Russian-speaking Chuvans. Part Chuvans, who continued nomadic life of the herders took Chukchi Chukchi language and way of life, the other of them took the Koryak language.

The first samples of the folklore of the Chuvans recorded when Chuvan language was lost. So far, no the specific studies on Chuvan folklore, the publication of his specimens are rare. Apparently, now the question of the proper Chuvan folklore can be regarded only as an experience of the reconstruction. The earliest records of the folklore of Markovtsev belong to A.E. Dyachkov. Retellings of the folklore texts organically woven into his manuscript on the history and nature of the region, the way of the life of the population Markov. And he has made, "Markov songwriter," dated 1896 Folklore is Markovtsev variety of genres. In the beginning of XX century there are connoisseurs Russian epics and historical songs. Among the recordings of the songs in number thus leaving the other genres are distinguished Russian round-dance, play and dance tune. In Markov existed soldiers and later urban songs, ballads, comic songs and ditties of the local writings of A.E. Dyachkov were written lyrics wedding ceremony. In the work of A.E. Dyachkova retold cosmogonic legends and fairy tales. Many of the motifs in the tales told by the Anadyr chuvankami typically autochthonally. Among Markovtsev existed many Russian fairy tales. [2]

Chuvans adequately maintain their ethnic identity; see themselves as a separate people interested in the issues of thebethnic origin, its history and traditional culture. Recognizing their ethnic kinship with the Chukchi and Russian, they call themselves the local indigenous, which absorbed the different cultures, trying to keep the ethnic community15.

By the beginning of the XIX century formed two Chuvans ethnic groups: sedentary chu-Vanzo, resettled in the village of Markovo small homestead on the Anadyr River, largely Russified, and nomadic, moving in the upper reaches of Anadyr, similar in culture to the reindeer Chukchi and Koryak. For sedentary Chuvans-Markovtsev was typical Yukaghir type of the economy, which included fishing, hunting of wild deer to cross the river, breeding sled dogs. Lived in common with the old-timers and Yukagirs Russian villages in the building of log homes, usually with a flat roof without a ceiling, a dirt floor and Chuvalov (hearth made of poles covered with clay). Nomadic herding krupnotabunnym Chuvans engaged. Lived in yarangas (tent in the form of a truncated cone)16.

Traditional sectors of the economy Chuvans persist today. Part of the nomadic Chuvans together with the Chukchi and Evens working in the reindeer farms, settled the mining and processing of fish. Canine as a form of the economic activity is now gone, but some families keep

Chuvan sled rides, using them in private households. Much of the Chuvans engaged in animal husbandry and gardening, working in the housing and utilities, health care, public education and other industries.

Features of the ethno situation in the Chukchi villages, including those where live Chuvans, due to the presence of two ethnic and social groups - the local indigenous population and visitors. The number of the newcomers in the villages of Chukotka in the 70's and 80's. The twentieth century grew rapidly. Relations between local and migrant populations do not have the character of an open conflict and yet the excess of the visitors generates social tensions. The fact that a significant portion of immigrants is not in the sphere of productive labor, and occupies prestigious high-paying jobs in the service sector. In the village of Ust-White in the early 90s of the twentieth century. In the material production worked 65% of visitors and 25% of the indigenous population. This state of the indigenous population is estimated as social injustice. With the start of market reforms in the Chukotka region there is a significant outflow of newcomers. In its mass Chuvans other people of the North welcome this process, tying him with opportunities to better meet their socio-economic and cultural needs.

Chuvans don’t have theit personal controls. Some representatives of Chuvan people are the part of the executive and representative structures of the county and district rural administrations. The legal status of the indigenous people of Chukotka, including Chuvans but federal law governs the Charter of the Chukotka Autonomous District. Specific legal instruments addressing directly Chuvan does not exist. Functions of the self-government of indigenous people in the Chukotka Autonomous District Association perform indigenous minorities-numbered people of Chukotka, which includes and Chuvans. There are work departments inthe villages Markov and Ust-Belaya17. The association was officially registered on November 9, 1993. In its structure included the district and primary rural organizations. In each community activists unite indigenous people, solving problems and protecting the rights of indigenous people. Among the goals of the association is declared promote the preservation and the development of the traditional ways of life and traditional forms of farming, indigenous culture of indigenous people of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, participation in the decision-making bodies of the state power and local self-government of Chukotka Autonomous Area in the accordance with applicable law; promote harmonious economic and social development of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug in the terms of the ecological balance, participation in the solution of the social problems, including family problems, alcoholism, moral education. Members of the Association of Indigenous People of Chukotka may be both Russian citizens who are 18 years of age residing in the territory of Chukotka Autonomous Okrug (including Chuvans) and legal entities - KMN associations engaged in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug18. The Association was founded the several active non-profit organizations - the Union of the reindeer in Chukotka, the Union of marine hunters of Chukotka, etc.

Chuvans take part in the work of the Union of Russian reindeer, which was established in 1995 It includes more than 200 individuals and businesses all the reindeer herding area of the Russian North. Russian Union of reindeer is a member of International Association "The World Congress of World Reindeer Herders', which coordinates and determines the development of the industry, promotes the implementation of the joint decisions and sharing of the experiences19.