Religious views and the problem of preservation mother tongue of the evenks

According to the archaeological and paleo-anthropological data, the modern human began to settle the North Asia in the Upper

Paleolithic [1, 2002]. The settlement of the Tungus tribes (ancestors Evens, Evenki, etc.) from Pri-baikal and Zabaikal, Eastern Siberia to Yakutia, Chukotka and Kamchatka began in the first millennium BC. e. In the process of the resettlement Evens included the part of the Koryak Yukagirs and were subsequently subjected to the partial assimilation of Yakuts1. In the course of the assimilation Tunguses with Yukagirs and partly determined Koryak Tungus new nation - Evens2. Evens, Even: - is outdated in Russi - Lamuts ("Coastal residents" of the Evenk Lama - Sea).

The system is characterized by the religious beliefs of Evens as animism. According to thea-nimistic conceptions, all existing worlds are essentially the same device, because they are inhabited by the same creatures in the various guises (living and dying people.) In a system of the religious beliefs Evens is a cult of the spiritual masters of nature and the various elements [2, 1994]. The literature generally describes perfume host elements of the nature or the features (fire, terrain, rivers). However, the spirits of the owners have all, without exception objects, just the attitude of people to the spirits of the owners of the different objects are different. Enjoy special veneration only those on whom the greatest well-being depends on the person.

Regarding to the external appearance of the spiritual masters in the stories in the many different interpretations of Evens. Most of the spiritual masters of the anthropomorphic, some of them may be in "a size of a doll " (the host of the fire), others - as tall as a man or much more higher (the host of the wind, the host of the river, the host country). The spirit of the host deer sometimes portrayed as a man dressed in a white robe made of reindeer skin, but it may be old and old Vazhenkov deer (doe). According to the beliefs of Evens, owner of the land and forests - a bear, the host mountain - bighorn sheep, the owner of the sea - sea lions, the owner of the river -the otter. All the animals, according to the ideas of Evens also have a host - usually a particularly large or very old animal. Voice of the owner of the land is an echo [3, 1997]. Special honors always proved the spirit master of fire (Top Muraani). In Kamchatka Evens introduction to the fire started just after birth. An important place in the religious beliefs of the cult belongs to the Even family and tribal shrines. In each tent there necessarily anthropomorphic image of the spirit of Haight, who was the chief curator of the peace and tranquility of the family. In Evens, like many other people of Siberia and the Far East, the cult of bear. Bear –is a symbol of good humor and rage, heroic strength and awkwardness, gluttony and tender maternal feelings. The bear was the mediator between heaven and the earth3.

As the amulets Evens usethe quartz crystals, stones interspersed with received for gold pyrite, as well as stones found under unusual circumstances. For example, the wet of dry stone on the river bank and the rock around which there is no snow in the winter; stones found in the stomachs of animals and birds. Amulets related to the animals, there are now at least, but in the past they had a great spread. Typically such as charms were different body parts of the animals.

A huge role in the traditional society of Evens played shaman. He was called upon to explain the origin and the structure of the universe, analyze and predict the future, to accompany the dead to the other world, to learn and to tell relatives about the news. Shamans were usually great connoisseurs of the folk customs and traditions, had the gift of the suggestion, were able to convince the people were leaders in their communities. Treatment of the patients was one of the most important and socially significant functions of the shaman. According to the beliefs of Evens, the gift of the present, a strong shaman handed down by the maternal line. Shaman was forbidden to hunt (his spirit-helpers could enter into confrontation with the spirits of the patrons-game animals), so often shamans are those who for health reasons can not be fishing4. In many territorial Even shamanism largely fused with Christianity. The Orthodox faith had souls herders and hunters, no less shamanism.

Pic. 1. The traditional costume of Evens. URL: ; (Date of access 29.04.2013)

The submissions of the evens on the origin of the universe and of man are quite contradictory. They are known in the different ways: some of them may be purely folkloric borrowing from neighbors, others reflect clearly the Christian tradition. One of the cosmogenic myth of the origin of the world from the body of an eight-legged deer is: girl, banished from heaven for octopus deer coming down to the sea surface. On the advice of a deer she scattered on the water scraps of wool, which soon turned into logs, of which she made a raft. At the urging of a deer she killed him and cut up as he commanded. Immediately turned into a deer hide in the ground, a skull and crossbones - the mountains, wool - in the woods, lice - a wild deer. When she broke the bone crunching of turned into thunder, dying breath became the wind. His heart was turned into a hero, light - a boy and a girl [3, 1997]. Recorded myth can be considered obscheevenskim: it is characteristic of the Evens of Kamchatka, Yakutia, and Magadan region.

Other myths about the origin of the Earth and Man, of course, associated with the Christianity. They contain images of the creator, the shaman of the sky, weird people. Model of the world as a whole views Evens is the traditional for the Tungusic people. Universe, they were divided into three areas-the world: the world of the living people (average world), the world of the dead (the underworld), the world of God and the angels (the upper world). Cosmogonic myths reflect a coherent concept of the universe, which is based on the world tree connecting the three worlds - the upper (sky), medium (earth) and the bottom (the underworld). Communicated with each other worlds through the holes. One of them is the North Star. In some myths, this function is performed by the Morning Star, which comes to the rising of the sun, and the evening star, stopping in to the sunset. Morning Star of the hole people fall into the upper world, and the hole evening - at the bottom. According to other versions, people can get to the lower world and through the river bottom [3, 1997].

In all the worlds like Earth's life, but with a few twists. Thus, the upper house world made of silver and gold in the lower part - of iron. With this traditional partitioning filling the upper (and lower part) of the world was transformed Evens in connection with the spread of Christianity among them. Evens identified the upper world with the Christian heaven, and the bottom - with hell. In their view, the upper world after the death of the sinless people fell into the bottom -those who are deceived by the life and hurt others, was cruel. The device of the lower world is the same as the world of the living, with the only difference being that the lower world, as it were reversed with respect to the mean: when the living winter, from dead - summer, when the average day world, the bottom - the night. This original reflectivity of the lower world raises a number of restrictions on the actions opposing the usual: you can not wear a hat backwards, drop a handkerchief over his eyes - you can die, you can not use the broken things or broken crockery - they belong to the dead, you can not play at the funeral - he will die or who- he shall die. It is believed the Evens, the inhabitants of the dead are free to choose their fate: each man had lived his life in the world of the dead, may either return to the world of the living in the form of a newborn baby, or go to another world, which is located below the dead, in the Even This world is called hulimkur. How is this world that it is happening - no one knows, no one comes back from there [3, 1997].

The Modern socio-ethnic situation in the areas where Evens remains difficult. The main part of the Even now resides in the five regions of the Russian Federation. According to the 2010 Census of 22,383 Evens (Lamuts) in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) population 15,071, in the Ma- gadan region - 2635, in the Kamchatka region - 1872, in the Chukotka Autonomous District - 1392, in the Khabarovsk Territory - 1 128 people5.

In the XXI century, the ongoing transformation processes in the sphere of the culture, language, socio-economic relations. Most of the Even people integrated into the modern society, the other part was assimilated with other indigenous people. With the economic crisis, rising unemployment, many natives are leaving the village, return to the historical places of economic, previously closed settlements and constantly live in the forest conditions due to consumer fishing, hunting and gathering wild plants [4, p. 115]. As a result, the traditional economic activities ethno served becomes a way of life, what they write in their article VI Kirko, and K. N. Zakharov [5].

There are significant changes in their mother tongue. Even language belongs to the Ma n-chu-Tungusic group of the Altaic family. He has more than a dozen dialects, which are combined into three dialects: Eastern, Central and Western6.Talking about the degree of thepreservation of the language as a basic element of the traditional culture, it must be emphasized that from 22,383 Evens on the 2010 Census Russian language owned 20,955 people, or 93.6%, Yakut - 11,551, or 51.6%, the Even - 4911, or 21.9%, English - 513, Evenk - 171, Chukchi - 100, German - 60 French -34, Koryak - 30, Buryat - 5, and so on.7Even language is taught in the schools and universities, but as a means of the communication is increasingly giving Yakut and Russian languages. As the mother tongue in the 2010 9875 Evens pointed Yakut (44.2%), Russian - 6,742 (30.2%), Even - 5538 (24.8%) (WH, 2010, v. 4, Table . 22). Even language knowledge among children is found mainly in the large families living in the villages or permanently in the reindeer herding brigades.

Education is the native language in preschool, primary school, and in some areas - in the middle school and high schools. Number of training, transfer and other literature in Even small 8. Among intellectuals there are writers Evens: N. Tarabukin, A. Cherkanov, A. Krivoshapkin, V. Lebedev (1934-1982), D. Slepzov, V. Keymetinov; historians Dutkina H., A. Alekseev and others.9.

R.V. Culyandziga other authors in his review of the current status of KMN of the North, Siberia and the Far East (2003) emphasized that the Evens preserve opportunities for the meaningful ethnic development, in the spite of the problems [4, p. 119]. However, issues of the loss Evens mother tongue continues to escalate, as in the Nenets ethnic group [6] and the other indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East. Undoubtedly, the issue of ownership Evens native language, like other indigenous people living in Russia today, not only requires further study, but also concrete and practical measures at the level of the Russian state and the subjects of the Russian Federation, including in the framework of the implementation of the targeted programs.