Where does the Eskimo live? Peculiarities of settlement, photo and name of the dwelling, interesting facts about the lifestyle. Eskimos of Chukotka: the smallest people in Russia They can borrow someone else's wife

Where do the Chukchi and Eskimos live is a question often asked by young children who have heard jokes or watched cartoons about polar bears. And it’s not so rare that adults are not ready to answer it with anything other than a general phrase - “in the North.” And many even sincerely believe that these are different names for the same people.

Meanwhile, the Eskimos, like the Chukchi, are a very ancient people, with a unique and interesting culture, a rich epic, a philosophy that is strange for most inhabitants of megacities, and a rather unique way of life.

Who are the Eskimos?

These people have nothing to do with the word “popsicle,” which denotes a popular type of ice cream.

Eskimos are the indigenous people of the North, belonging to the Aleut group. Anthropologists call them the “Arctic race”, Eskimoids or Northern Mongoloids. The language of the Eskimos is unique, it differs from the speech of such peoples as:

• Koryaks;
• kereks;
• Itelmens;
• Alyutorians;
• Chukchi.

However, Eskimo speech has similarities with the Aleut language. It is approximately the same as that of the Russian language with Ukrainian.

The writing and culture of the Eskimos is also original. Unfortunately, in Russia the number of indigenous northern peoples is extremely small. As a rule, everything that is known in the world about the traditions, religion, worldview, writing and language of this ancient people is gleaned from studying the life of the Eskimos in the USA and Canada.

Where do Eskimos live?

If we omit this version of the address of this people as the North, then their habitat will turn out to be quite large.

The places where Eskimos live in Russia are:

• Chukotka Autonomous Okrug - 1,529 people, according to the 2010 census;
• Magadan region - 33, according to records from eight years ago.

Unfortunately, the number of this once large people in Russia is steadily declining. And along with this, culture, language, writing and religion disappear, and the epic is forgotten. These are irreparable losses, since the development of the people, the peculiarities of colloquial speech and many other nuances of the Russian Eskimos are radically different from the American ones.

The places where Eskimos live in North America are:

• Alaska - 47,783 people;
• California - 1272;
• Washington State - 1204;
• Nunavut - 24,640;
• Quebec - 10,190;
• Newfoundland and Labrador - 4715;
• Northwest Territories of Canada - 4165.

In addition, Eskimos live in:

• Greenland - about 50,000 people;
• Denmark - 18,563.

These are census figures for 2000 and 2006.

How did the name come about?

If where the Eskimo lives becomes clear when opening the encyclopedia, then the origin of the name of this people is not so simple.

They call themselves Inuit. The word “Eskimo” belongs to the language of the northern Indian tribes of America. It means "one who eats raw." This name supposedly came to Russia at a time when Alaska was part of the empire and the northern ones calmly roamed both continents.

How did they settle?

Children often ask not only where the Eskimo lives, but also where he came from in the North. Not only the parents of curious kids, but also scientists do not have an exact answer to this question.

What is known for certain is that the ancestors of this people came to the territory of Greenland in the 11th-12th centuries AD. And they got there from the north of Canada, where the Thule culture, or the ancient Eskimo culture, existed already in the 10th century AD. This has been confirmed by archaeological research.

How the ancestors of this people ended up on the Russian shores of the Arctic Ocean, that is, where the Eskimo lives in cartoons and children's books, is not known for certain.

What do they live in in winter?

The room where the Eskimos live, a traditional dwelling for this people, is called an “igloo.” These are snow houses made of blocks. The average dimensions of the block are 50X46X13 centimeters. They are laid in a circle. The diameter of the circle can be any. It depends on the specific needs for which the buildings are being built. Not only residential buildings are being built, other buildings are also being erected in the same way, for example, warehouses or something reminiscent of our kindergartens.

The diameter of the room where the Eskimos live, a house for a family, depends on the number of people. On average it is 3.5 meters. The blocks are laid at a slight angle, wrapped in a spiral. The result is a beautiful white structure, most similar to a dome.

The top of the roof always remains open. That is, only one, the last block, does not fit. This is necessary for the free release of smoke. The hearth, of course, is located in the center of the igloo.

In the snowy architecture of the Eskimos there are not only isolated isolated dome houses. Quite often, entire cities are built for wintering, worthy of becoming a filming location for any fantasy film. The peculiarity of such buildings is that all or only a few igloos of different diameters and heights are connected to each other by tunnels, also made of snow blocks. The purpose of such architectural delights is simple - Eskimos can move within the settlement without going outside. And this is important if the air temperature drops below 50 degrees.

What do they live in in the summer?

The building where the Eskimo lives in summer time, often called a tent. But this is a wrong definition. In the summer, representatives of this northern people live in yarangas similar to those of Chukchi. According to some scientists, the Eskimos borrowed the method of building housing from the Koryaks and Chukchi.

Yaranga is a wooden frame made of strong and long poles, covered with walrus and deer skins. The dimensions of the rooms vary depending on what the yaranga is being built for. For example, shamans have the largest buildings because they need space to perform rituals. However, they do not live in them, but in small half-dugouts or yarangas built nearby. Not only poles are used for the frame, but also animal bones.

It is generally accepted that the original summer home of the Eskimos was not frame buildings, but half-dugouts, the slopes of which were covered with skins. In fact, such a dugout resembles a cross between a fairy-tale hobbit house and a fox hole. However, whether the Eskimos borrowed the construction of yarangs from other peoples or whether everything happened the other way around remains an unreliably established fact, a mystery, the answer to which may lie in national folklore and epic.

Eskimos not only fish and raise reindeer, they also hunt. Part of the hunting suit is real combat armor, comparable in strength and comfort to the armor of Japanese warriors. This armor is made from walrus ivory. The bone plates are connected by leather cords. The hunter is not at all constrained in his movements, and the weight of the bone armor is practically not felt.

Eskimos don't kiss. Instead, the lovers rub noses. This behavior pattern arose solely due to climatic conditions that were too harsh for kissing.

Despite the complete absence of vegetables and grains in their diet, Eskimos have excellent health and excellent physique.

Albinos and blonds are often born into Eskimo families. This occurs due to close family marriages and is a sign of degeneration, although such people look amazingly beautiful and original.

When you hear the word “Eskimo,” your imagination pictures a tent among snowy expanses and little men wrapped from head to toe in reindeer skins. Some people associate this term with ice cream on a stick. Few people know that the Eskimos are an ancient people who lived in the northern regions before our era. They have a unique culture and traditions passed on from generation to generation. Some of the customs of these northern people are so different from ours that they can even cause shock.

Nation

The Eskimos are an indigenous people living in the far north. They occupy the territory of Greenland, their settlements are in Canada (Nunavut), Alaska, and the Chukotka Peninsula. Scientists classify this people as a group of Arctic-type Mongoloids. They are also called by the term "Inuit" (from English word inuit), which is the politically correct name for the nation. Together with other indigenous peoples of Kamchatka, they form the continental Arctic race. The origin of the word "Eskimo" goes back to the Indian name Eskimantzig, that is, “a person who eats raw fish.” This name, coined by the natives of America, is still in use today. Groups of indigenous peoples living in Chukotka, the Far Eastern islands, and various areas of Alaska call themselves “Yupik,” which translates as “real people.” All representatives of this nation speak Escaleut languages, which are a collection of related dialects.

Number

Taken together, all representatives of this northern people living on different continents amount to only 170,000 people. Most of them are located in Greenland (about 56,000) and Alaska (48,000). The rest settle in Chukotka, the islands of St. Lawrence, Wrangel, and Canadian Nunavut. Some tribes live in northern Europe (in Denmark and other countries). Approximately 1,500 people live on Russian territory.

Appearance

Representatives of this people look like typical Mongoloids. They are characterized by the following features:

• dark skin;
• narrow eye shape;
• wide nose;
• black hair;
• round shaped face.

Women, like men, have a stocky build. They are a short race, Europeans are much taller than the average Eskimo. Girls wear long hair which are braided into a braid.

Story

To designate the ancient ancestors of modern Eskimos, anthropologists proposed the term “Paleo-Eskimos,” which is conventional. Scientists distinguish among them the cultures of Saqqaq and Dorset. In parallel with them, the Independence culture developed, divided into I and II (according to time periods). The oldest of them is Saqqaq, which existed from approximately 2500 to 800 BC. BC. In her time there was Independence I. It is believed that the modern Chukchi and Saqqaq people share the same prehistoric ancestors. An ancient Paleo-Eskimo site was found on Wrangel Island in the 70s of the last century. A harpoon was discovered there, which, according to archaeologists, had lain in the ground for more than 3,300 years.

Later is the Dorset culture. People belonging to it inhabited the northern regions of Canada back in the first millennium BC. Hunters of these ancient tribes used spears and forts to hunt animals. At the site of the remains of dwellings, stone lamps were found that ran on seal oil. Representatives of Dorset knew how to carve figures from seal tusks and decorate them with patterns. There were tribes near Dorset dating back to Independence II. From their mixing in the 8th century AD, peoples called “Thule” were formed - the ancestors of modern Eskimos. In order to draw such conclusions, scientists took DNA samples from the remains of ancient people who lived in the northern territories. Representatives of the Thule occupied Canadian territories in the ninth century, displacing more backward tribes from them. In the 13th century they moved to Greenland.

Life

Eskimos form communities that include residents of one settlement (winter). They consist of many families in which everyone has certain duties. A family can include not only a husband and wife and their children, but also immediate relatives. Several families often live in one dwelling. Married couples sleep with their children in the center of the house. Lonely members of the community take seats at the edges. For the most part, marriages are monogamous, with each man having one wife. However, no one forbids him to marry two girls or get a divorce. But this rarely happens, since the way of life of the people is aimed at preserving the well-being of the family and society as a whole.

The Eskimo way of life involves close cooperation, which requires high consciousness from each member of society. They hunt together and use items belonging to the entire village. Residents constantly communicate with each other, there are unspoken laws between them. The postulates are expressed in the following rules:

1. Strangers do not have the right to build a house inside the settlement without the consent of all its residents.
2. Each settler takes a certain small portion of the spoils for himself. In this case, the members of the successful hunter’s family receive the meat and fish first. Thanks to this, none of the villagers go hungry.
3. Each person can live and hunt outside the community if he wants.
4. If someone finds any objects or things and their owner is not found, the finder takes them for himself.
5. When none of the hunters have any luck in the hunt for a long time, the richest families invite others to dine with them.

The Eskimos do not have any self-government organizations. All problems are discussed within society and resolved immediately. Scandals and quarrels on any occasion are prohibited. This rule is dictated by the need for peaceful coexistence in a small territory. The languages ​​of these peoples do not have swear words. With this lifestyle, there is practically no crime among the population. If a murder occurs (which is extremely rare), this requires retaliation according to the law of blood feud. The person who committed this act must be killed by a relative of the murdered person. When vengeance is taken, relatives are notified.

Women

Girls in Eskimo families accept a subordinate position. In order to get married, you need the permission of both parents. When there are boys (brothers) in the family, they must also give their consent. If the parents do not want to let their daughter go, she will stay with them. A man can take a girl to be his wife by force if her parents (but not she) agree to this. There are no marriage ceremonies. The girl simply comes to a new house, taking with her clothes, sewing supplies, and a knife.
The wife has no voice in the family, she must obey her husband and mother-in-law. A man can hit his wife for any offense. But their children are never punished. In the event that a husband decides to have another wife, the first one still remains the main one. As a rule, a second girl is needed for procreation if the first wife cannot have children for some reason.

Men

The male half of the population is mainly engaged in food production. This is their main responsibility. Every man of working age should hunt and fish until his strength leaves him. He is obliged to accustom his sons to this from childhood. Men often hunt in an organized manner, so there should be friendly relations between them. Because of this, there are no disputes over mining. If two hunters simultaneously harpoon a seal or game, the meat is divided in half. Whales are hunted communally and are initially considered common prey.

When hunters take things from each other (harpoons, arrows, guns), no compensation is paid if they are lost. If one person sets traps for an animal or fish and then neglects to keep an eye on them, other hunters can take the prey for themselves. It goes to the one who first found them, repaired them, and began to take care of them. Such rules are determined by concern for the preservation of their kind.

Housing

By the standards of a civilized person, the houses of the Eskimos are very unusual. They have two types of dwellings: summer and winter. Summer ones look like a tent or a tent. The design is very simple. Several long poles are fastened at the top, and their ends rest against the ground, forming a circle. Then they are covered with deer skins, sewn together into large panels. On one side, the skins are pushed aside, forming a passage.

Winter houses have different structures, depending on the region where the tribes live. In Greenland these are traditional snow buildings called "igloos". Eskimos living in Chukotka build houses from boards, earth, and bones. In countries like Denmark, housing is made of stones and wood. The entrance to them is very narrow and low. A long corridor leads to a large room in which several families live.

Greenlandic Eskimos build igloos out of snow. First, rectangular blocks up to half a meter in length are molded from the snow mass. Mark a circle of the desired diameter and lay snow parallelepipeds around the circumference. The blocks are tilted slightly toward the center to form a cone. At the top they are rounded, forming a dome. The very top of the needle is not covered, leaving a hole for the smoke to escape. In the very center of the house there is a fireplace.

The round room is divided into parts, each of which is occupied by one family. There is no furniture there, only a bed for sleeping. There is a lamp nearby. The average diameter of a house is 3-4 meters. 10-12 people live in it. Sometimes they make an igloo with a diameter of 15-20 meters for 8-10 families. Tunnels are laid between dwellings in order to move from one to another without getting exposed to frost.

Clothing and household items

Women and men wear approximately the same clothes. These are long jackets made of reindeer skins with a hood trimmed with arctic fox or sable fur. They are decorated with national ornaments, tails, and fur inserts of contrasting colors. On their feet they wear high boots - thick boots made of deer or dog skins with the fur facing out. Hands are protected from frost with warm mittens.

Eskimos have very few household items. They do not accumulate property. These are sedentary tribes that live for some time in one place, and then leave and move to another. They transport the tents on sleighs along with the utensils. These people stock up only on food. At the same time, the richest families do not store food for more than a year. Tents, sleighs, boats, dog sleds, and dishes are considered the common property of all families living in the same dwelling. Personal items may include:

1. Clothes.
2. Tools.
3. Sewing accessories.
4. Weapon.
5. Fishing equipment.

Eskimos can exchange certain things with other tribes. These are mainly animal skins, seal tusks and fangs, and whalebone.

Classes

The two main activities of this northern people are hunting and fishing. They also engage in marine fishing - catching walruses and seals. Tribes living in Canada and Kamchatka hunt deer, arctic foxes, and game. With the arrival of civilization in Greenland and the formation of cities there, many Eskimos became hired workers. They get jobs on fishing boats and do the same thing, receiving a salary. Those people who are engaged in their own fishing have the following equipment:

• wooden boats covered with seal skins - kayaks;
• waterproof kayaker jacket;
• harpoons, spears;
• sleighs, dog sleds;
• traps, traps.

Hunters make special protective suits for hunting wild animals, which can be compared to body armor or knightly armor. Thin plates of walrus tusks are connected to each other with leather laces. The armor is distributed on the body in such a way as to protect vital organs. It is light and does not restrict movement.

Seals are very important to the Eskimos, as their meat forms a large part of the menu. Some species of these animals are hunted all year round. Special traps are placed on the ice to warn of the approach of a seal. When he emerges from the water, he is killed with harpoons. Before death, the animal is given a drink of water to appease the water spirit, the mistress of sea animals, Sedna. Walruses and whales are hunted in groups as they are very large animals. There is enough bowhead whale meat to feed an entire village for a year. Therefore, catching him is a great success.

Food

Eskimos mainly eat the meat of animals they hunt. For the most part this is:

• seals
• walruses
• seals
• deer
• White bears

The Eskimo style of eating is even called a meat diet, due to the predominance of this product in it. The rest of the diet consists of sea and freshwater fish and sometimes game. People are unable to engage in farming because they are surrounded by permafrost. Sometimes women collect roots and berries if plants are found near the winter hut. Seaweed is also eaten. People of this nationality are of the opinion that it is the meat diet that gives them strength, makes them healthy, and helps them accumulate energy in conditions of constant cold.

Animal fats and proteins found in meat replace the Eskimos with all the vitamins and minerals that the majority of people take from a wide variety of natural products. Medical research has revealed that a meat diet provokes cardiovascular diseases, vein thrombosis, and strokes. The mortality rate from apoplexy among this people is twice as high as among the white population. Eskimos eat all edible parts of the body of fish and animals, so they compensate for the lack of vitamins. Retinol and calciferol are present in the liver of fish and mammals, and ascorbic acid is found in seaweed, seal skin and brain.

A special feature of the diet is that foods are consumed raw. In this case, no spices are used. After cutting the animal, pieces are cut off and placed on metal or cardboard plates. Brains, entrails, fat are eaten along with meat. If people have not eaten for a long time, then the entire settlement is invited to the table. The concept of “lunch” or “dinner” does not exist, since food is taken when hunger is felt, and not at a certain time. The female half of the population and children eat after the men, since hunters need a lot of strength to engage in hunting.

In addition to eating animal entrails, Eskimos also drink their blood. They consider it extremely beneficial for health. The benefit is explained by the fact that the nutrients contained in the animal’s blood saturate the human blood with the missing elements. This gives strength, endurance, and helps withstand abnormal cold.
Popular Eskimo dishes:

1. Akutak. The dish consists of seal or walrus fat mixed with berries and fish fillets. Sometimes roots and edible plant leaves are added there.
2. Anllek. It is considered a delicacy dish. It is done like this: when it is possible to find supplies of voles collecting seeds and grains in their burrows, they are taken away and some other food is put in return. The grains are eaten raw or mixed with meat and fat.
3. Igunak. This is the carcass of a killed animal (deer, seal, walrus, etc.), buried in the ground and lying there for some time. Fermentation occurs inside it, as well as partial decomposition. The meat contains cadaveric poison, so Europeans cannot eat such dishes. Eskimos are immune to it due to the fact that the food has been present in the diet for many generations.
4. Maktak. This is a whale skin with a fat layer, previously frozen.

Dish Akutak

Religion

The appearance of white people greatly influenced the lives of server peoples. This also affected religious beliefs. Therefore, some tribes now profess Christianity, but this is a consequence of the intervention of civilization. The main religion of the Eskimo tribes is animism. This is a belief in spirits that can help or harm a person, so they need to be worshiped and brought gifts. Nature is considered to be animate, and all animals are considered to have a soul.

The entire world is ruled by a creator, under whose command are various deities. For example, the goddess of the sea and animals is Sedna. She also rules the kingdom of the dead. Each settlement has its own shaman. This is a person who has the gift of penetrating the world of spirits. He mediates between people and gods. The shaman performs rituals to appease the spirits and tells mortals about the plans of the gods. They are also folk healers. In difficult situations, they are asked for advice and asked to resolve a dispute.

Religion obliges people to treat animals with respect. You can kill them only for food and never for idle fun. There is a legend among the Eskimos that they agreed with Sedna that they would destroy walruses and seals only for food in order to survive the species. The goddess commanded sea animals to sacrifice themselves so that after death they would become part of the human body and thereby continue the human race. To do this, she gave them the ability to create offspring.

Traditions

Some features of the life of the Eskimos are not entirely clear to white people. Exchanging wives for a time is a common practice among representatives of this nationality. There are situations when a woman must accompany her husband on a trip, prepare food for him, take care of him, but for health reasons or other reasons it will be difficult for her to do this. Then the man borrows his wife from another settler. After completing the planned task, the woman returns to her former husband.

Eskimos do not kiss their loved ones. Instead, they rub noses together. Europeans believe that this is due to negative weather conditions. There is a danger of frostbite on the lips, since moisturized areas of the body are immediately covered with ice. Often the lower part of the face is completely closed, as icicles appear under the nose from warm breath. And for men, the beard can become completely frozen.

Eskimos have no opportunity to wash themselves due to the extreme cold. They smear their bodies with seal or bear fat and rub their faces with fish oil. This helps resist frost and reduces the possibility of skin frostbite. Representatives of tribes living in Europe and America wash themselves once a year, in the summer.

Now travel agencies organize excursions to Eskimo villages for those who want to get acquainted with the life and customs of this people. You can even rent an ice house and spend the night in it. For thrill-seekers, they can bathe in a heated bathtub, which is installed in the middle of a snow house.

Eskimos

Eskimos-s; pl. People living on the coast of the Chukotka Peninsula in Russia, on the Arctic coast North America and in Greenland; representatives of this people.

◁ Eskimo, -a; m. Eskimo, -i; pl. genus.-juice, date-scam; and. Eskimo, oh, oh.

Eskimos

(self-name - Inuit), a group of peoples in Alaska (USA, 38 thousand people, 1995), northern Canada (28 thousand people), the island of Greenland (Greenlanders, 47 thousand people) and in Russia (Magadan region and Wrangel Island, 1.7 thousand people, 1992). Eskimo language.

Eskimos

Eskimos, a people in the northern polar regions of the Western Hemisphere (from the eastern tip of Chukotka to Greenland), live in Alaska (USA, 44 thousand people, 2000), northern Canada (41 thousand people, 1996), the island of Greenland (50.9 thousand people, 1998) and in Russian Federation(Chukotka and Wrangel Island, 1.7 thousand people, 2002). The total number is about 130 thousand people (2000, estimate).
Eastern Eskimos call themselves Inuit, Western Eskimos call themselves Yupik. They speak the Eskimo language, which is divided into two large groups of dialects - Yupik (western) and Inupik (eastern). In Chukotka, Yupik is divided into Sirenik, Central Siberian (Chaplin) and Naukan dialects. The Eskimos of Chukotka, along with their native languages, speak Russian and Chukotka.
Anthropologically, Eskimos belong to the Arctic type of Mongoloids. The Eskimo ethnic community formed about 5-4 thousand years ago in the Bering Sea region and settled east to Greenland, reaching it long before our era.
The Eskimos adapted to life in the Arctic by creating a rotating harpoon for hunting sea animals, a kayak boat, an igloo in the snow, and thick fur clothing.
The Eskimos wore fur stockings and seal torbas (kamgyk) on their feet. Waterproof shoes were made from tanned seal skins without wool. Clothes were decorated with embroidery or fur mosaics. Until the 18th century, Eskimos used walrus teeth, bone rings, and glass beads to pierce the nasal septum or lower lip. Eskimo men's tattoo - circles in the corners of the mouth, women's - straight or concave parallel lines on the forehead, nose and chin. A more complex geometric pattern was applied to the cheeks. Arms, hands, and forearms were covered with tattoos. To travel on water they used canoes and kayaks. The light and fast canoe (anyapik) was stable on the water. Its wooden frame was covered with walrus skin. There were canoes different types
The distinctive culture of the Eskimos in the 18th and 19th centuries was characterized by a combination of hunting sea animals and caribou, significant remnants of primitive collectivistic norms in the distribution of prey, and life in territorial communities. The method of hunting sea animals depended on their seasonal migrations. Two seasons of whale hunting corresponded to the time of their passage through the Bering Strait: in the spring to the north, in the fall - to the south. Whales were shot with harpoons from several canoes, and later with harpoon cannons.
The most important hunting object was the walrus. Since the end of the 19th century, new hunting weapons and equipment have appeared, and hunting for fur-bearing animals has spread. The production of walruses and seals replaced whaling, which had fallen into decline. When there was not enough meat from sea animals, they shot wild deer and mountain sheep, birds with a bow, and caught fish.
The settlements were located so that it was convenient to observe the movement of sea animals - at the base of pebble spits protruding into the sea, on elevated places. The most ancient type of dwelling is a stone building with a floor sunk into the ground. The walls were made of stones and whale ribs. The frame was covered with deer skins, covered with a layer of turf and stones, and then covered with skins again.
Until the 18th century, and in some places later, the Eskimos lived in semi-underground frame dwellings. In the 17th and 18th centuries, frame buildings similar to the Chukchi yaranga appeared. The summer dwelling was a quadrangular tent, shaped like an obliquely truncated pyramid, and the wall with the entrance was higher than the opposite one. The frame of this dwelling was built from logs and poles and covered with walrus skins. Since the end of the 19th century, light plank houses with a gable roof and windows appeared.
The traditional food of the Eskimos is the meat and fat of seals, walruses and whales. The meat was eaten raw, dried, dried, frozen, boiled, and stored for the winter: fermented in pits and eaten with fat, sometimes half-cooked. Raw whale oil with a layer of cartilaginous skin (mantak) was considered a delicacy. The fish was dried and dried, and eaten fresh frozen in winter. Venison was highly valued and was exchanged among the Chukchi for the skins of sea animals.
The Eskimos counted kinship along the paternal line, and marriage was patrilocal. Each settlement consisted of several groups of related families, which in winter occupied a separate half-dugout, in which each family had its own canopy. In the summer, families lived in separate tents. Facts of working for a wife were known, there were customs of wooing children, marrying a boy to an adult girl, the custom of “marriage partnership”, when two men exchanged wives as a sign of friendship (hospitable hetaerism). There was no marriage ceremony as such. Polygamy occurred in wealthy families.
Eskimo religion - cults of spirits and some animals. In the 19th century, the Eskimos did not have a clan or developed tribal organization. As a result of contacts with the newcomer population, great changes occurred in the life of the Eskimos. A significant part moved from marine fishing to hunting for arctic foxes, and in Greenland to commercial fishing. Some Eskimos, especially in Greenland, became hired workers. The Eximos of Western Greenland have formed into an ethnic community of Greenlanders who do not consider themselves Eskimos. In Labrador, the Eskimos mixed to a large extent with the older population of European origin.
In the Russian Federation, Eskimos are a small ethnic group living mixed with or in close proximity to the Chukchi in a number of settlements on the eastern coast of Chukotka and on Wrangel Island. Their traditional occupation is marine hunting. The Eskimos were practically not Christianized. They believed in spirits, the masters of all animate and inanimate objects, natural phenomena, localities, wind directions, various human states, and in the kinship of a person with any animal or object. There were ideas about the creator of the world, they called him Sila. He was the creator and master of the universe, and ensured that the customs of his ancestors were observed. The main sea deity, the mistress of sea animals, was Sedna, who sent prey to people. Evil spirits were represented in the form of giants or dwarfs, or other fantastic creatures that sent illness and misfortune to people. In every village there lived a shaman (usually a man, but female shamans are also known), who acted as an intermediary between evil spirits and people.
The Eskimos created original arts and crafts and fine arts. Excavations have uncovered bone harpoon and arrowheads dating back to the end of the first millennium BC, so-called winged objects (presumably decorations on the bows of boats), stylized figurines of people and animals, models of kayaks decorated with images of people and animals, as well as complex carved patterns. Among the characteristic types of Eskimo art of the 18th-20th centuries are the production of figurines from walrus tusk (less often soapstone), wood carving, artistic appliqué and embroidery (patterns made of reindeer fur and leather decorating clothes and household items).
Fishing holidays were dedicated to the hunt for large animals. Among Eskimo fairy tales, the cycle about the crow Kutkha occupies a special place. TO early stages The development of Eskimo culture includes bone carving: sculptural miniatures and artistic bone engraving. Hunting equipment and household items were covered with ornaments; images of animals and fantastic creatures served as amulets and decorations. Eskimo music (aingananga) is predominantly vocal. Tambourine - personal and family shrine (sometimes used by shamans). It occupies a central place in music.

encyclopedic Dictionary. 2009 .

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A tribe numbering about 100 thousand people and settled from the island of Greenland and the island of Labrador through Arctic Canada, northern and western Alaska to eastern Chukotka inclusive. The Eskimos created an original decorative... ... Art encyclopedia

- (self-called Inuit) a group of peoples in Alaska (USA, 38 thousand people, 1992), northern Canada (28 thousand people), o. Greenland (Greenlanders, 47 thousand people) and in the Russian Federation (Magadan region and Wrangel Island, 1.7 thousand people, 1992). Language… … Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Eskimos, ov, units. os, a, m. A group of peoples living along the polar coast of North America, in Greenland and on the northeastern tip of Asia. Ozhegov's explanatory dictionary. S.I. Ozhegov, N.Yu. Shvedova. 1949 1992 … Ozhegov's Explanatory Dictionary

A tribe living in the north. Polar, American countries; engaged in hunting and fishing. Dictionary foreign words, included in the Russian language. Chudinov A.N., 1910 ... Dictionary of foreign words of the Russian language

A people settled from the eastern tip of Chukotka to Greenland. The total number is about 90 thousand people (1975, estimate). They speak the Eskimo language (See Eskimo language). Anthropologically they belong to the Arctic type of Mongoloids. Uh... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

People settled from the east. the tip of Chukotka to Greenland. Total number approx. 90 thousand people (1974, assessment). The Eskimo language belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut family of languages. Anthropologically, E. belong to the Arctic. Mongoloid type. As people... ... Soviet historical encyclopedia

Eskimos- representatives of the people living in Chukotka and Kamchatka (as well as in the USA). Eskimos are distinguished by their great unpretentiousness, diligence, willpower and endurance. They are friendly and condescending in their relations with representatives of other ethnic... Ethnopsychological Dictionary

Eskimos- Eskimos, ov, plural (ed Eskimo, a, m). A group of peoples living in Alaska (USA), northern Canada, Greenland and the Russian Federation (in the Magadan region and Wrangel Island); people belonging to this group of peoples; language Eskimo, Eskimo... ... Explanatory dictionary of Russian nouns

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• How Eskimos keep their children warm or The most practical approach to raising your child, Hopgood M.. An American journalist talks in a fascinating manner about methods of raising children in different countries. With a great deal of humor and cheerful irony, she shares her impressions of how...

STILL THERE IS NO UNIFIED OPINION AMONG SCIENTISTS REGARDING their origin and settlement. There is an assumption that the current Eskimos are descendants of a people that arose in the third millennium BC. and that they are immigrants from the Pacific coast of East Asia, from where the ancestors of the Eskimos reached the Bering Sea through Kamchatka. Then, in the first millennium AD, they settled in Chukotka and along the Arctic coast of America to Greenland. Their main self-name is Inuit (in Canada) and Yupigyt (in Siberia). The Chukchi call them "ankalyn", which means "Pomors".

The Eskimo language belongs to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. Eskimos are divided into 15 ethnocultural groups: Eskimos of Alaska, Siberian Eskimos, Eskimos of Canada, Greenland, etc. By the middle of the twentieth century. Four independent communities were formed: the Eskimos of Greenland, Canada (Inuit), Alaska, and Asian (Siberian).

Greenland has two official languages: Eskimo and Danish. The Greenlandic Eskimos have had a written language since the 18th century. This is due to the activities of Danish and German missionaries and the colonial administration. During the twentieth century. Greenlandic Eskimo writers created a very significant volume of artistic works of various genres. Most of the population of modern Greenland are of mixed Mongoloid-Caucasian type (from white men and Eskimo women). Therefore, the indigenous inhabitants of the island consider themselves Greenlanders (qalatdlit), and not Eskimos, which emphasizes their difference from the Eskimos of Canada and Alaska, and also indicates the fact of the emergence of a new people in Greenland. Canadian Eskimos have their own written language based on the Canadian syllabary. However, English and French are also common languages.

The Eskimos of Canada have their own autonomous territories within the northwestern regions of the country and parts of the Labrador Peninsula. The Eskimos of Alaska are distinguished by the greatest degree of preservation of their language along with knowledge of English. In Russia in 1848, the Russian missionary N. Tyzhnov published a primer of the Eskimo language. Modern writing based on Latin graphics was created in 1932 (the first Yuite alphabet book). In 1937, the writing of the Russian Eskimos was transferred to a Russian graphic basis. IN modern language Russian Eskimos are influenced by the vocabulary, elements of morphology and syntax of the Chukchi and Koryak living next to them. They also speak Russian and Chukchi languages. There is modern Eskimo prose and poetry.

TODAY THE TOTAL NUMBER OF ESKIMOS IN THE WORLD IS 170 thousands of people. Of these, about 56,000 people live in the United States (48,000 in Alaska, the rest in the states of California and Washington), just over 50,000 in Canada, about 50,000 in Greenland and about 19,000 more on the Jutland Peninsula. In Russia, mainly in Chukotka Autonomous Okrug The Magadan region is mixed or in close proximity to the Chukchi - just over 1,700 people.

Eskimos are unusually adapted to life in the Arctic. They invented a rotatable harpoon for hunting sea animals, a kayak, an igloo snow house, special clothing made of fur and skins, and adopted from the Chukchi the art of building a house from skins - yaranga.

Eskimos believe in spirits living in various natural phenomena; they see the connection between man and the surrounding world of objects and living beings. In their opinion, there is a single creator, Silya, and the mistress of sea animals, Sedna, bestows all the riches of the sea on the Eskimos. The owner of the bears is Nanuk, and the owner of the deer is Tekkeitsertok. Eskimos greatly revere the killer whale, the patroness of sea hunting. In the view of the Eskimos, evil spirits are incredible and terrible creatures. Every Eskimo village has a shaman, and the tambourine is considered a sacred object.

The Eskimos have their own funeral ritual. When an Eskimo died, he was buried immediately, first wrapped in the skins on which he slept, and additional clothes were added so that the soul of the deceased did not freeze. The body was then tied with a rope and dragged head first from the deceased's home to a place where many stones could be found to cover the body. The corpse was surrounded with enough stones to protect it from dogs, arctic foxes and crows. The burial ended here, since in permafrost conditions it is almost impossible to dig a hole of sufficient depth. Near the grave (stone embankment) they usually left the things of the deceased that he might need in the afterlife - a sleigh and a kayak along with weapons, if the deceased was a hunter; a lamp, a needle, a thimble and other sewing supplies, some fat and matches if a woman was dying.

There is every reason to recognize the Eskimos as the most peaceful people. According to custom, disputes between them are resolved, so to speak, by a “singing competition” - whoever sings better is right.

Among the Eskimos there was a custom of working for a wife, the custom of wooing children, marrying a boy to an adult girl, the custom of “marriage partnership”, when two men exchanged wives as a sign of friendship. Polygamy occurred in wealthy families.

THE MAIN OCCUPATION OF THE Eskimos TODAY REMAINS HUNTING SEA ANIMAL – WARLUS AND SEAL. Until the middle of the 19th century. They also hunted whales, hunted reindeer and mountain sheep, and from the middle of the 19th century. They began to make a living by hunting arctic fox and fox. They also engage in fishing and gathering (collecting tubers, roots, stems, algae, and berries). Eskimos breed sled dogs. Carvings on walrus bone and whalebone are well developed. Nowadays, many Eskimos work in construction, in mines, oil fields, in Arctic trading posts, etc. The Greenlanders and Eskimos of Alaska have a wealthy stratum and a national intelligentsia.

Eskimos are surprisingly tactful. In the relationship between a man and a woman, there is a special respect for the hunter who obtains food for the family at constant risk to life. Perhaps it was precisely this perception of a man, combined with the peculiar beauty and sophistication of national clothing, that often attracted European travelers who willingly married Eskimos.

The Eskimos have their own traditional diet, which is dominated by the meat of walruses, seals, and whales. An essential element of the diet is seal blood. Venison is especially valued - the meat is tasty, but rather dry, lacking fat, as well as the meat of polar bears and musk oxen. Seasoning for meat seaweed, shellfish. They believe that meat warms and gives strength. Rotten seal oil with cloudberries is considered a delicacy. Eskimos also eat birds, bird eggs. Traditionally, meat was eaten raw, dried, frozen, dried, boiled, or stored for the winter: fermented in pits and eaten with fat, sometimes semi-cooked. Raw whale oil with a layer of cartilaginous skin was revered. The fish was dried and dried, and eaten fresh frozen in winter.

Previously, the Eskimos lived in large settlements in half-dugouts. In the XVII - XVIII centuries. They adopted from the Chukchi the method of constructing frame yarangas covered with reindeer skins, and they became the main type of dwellings for them. Until the beginning of the 19th century. The Eskimos maintained communal houses - large half-dugouts in which several families lived, meetings and holidays took place.

The Eskimos built their igloo houses from snow blocks. The inside of the igloo was covered, and sometimes the walls were covered with the skins of sea animals. The home was heated by fat stoves. The inner surfaces of the walls melted as a result of heating, but the walls did not melt, because... the snow easily absorbed excess moisture.

Nowadays, the life of the Eskimos has changed in many ways. They gained access to the benefits of civilization. However, life in the Arctic requires courage and constant composure from them. You can’t relax, the North doesn’t forgive this. The courage of the Eskimos deserves special respect. This is a life of constant struggle, overcoming difficulties and seeking harmony with harsh nature.

Eskimos (a group of indigenous peoples that make up the indigenous population of the territory from Greenland and Canada to Alaska (USA) and the eastern edge of Chukotka (Russia). Number - about 170 thousand people. The languages ​​belong to the Eskimo branch of the Eskimo-Aleut family. Anthropologists believe that the Eskimos - Mongoloids of the Arctic type. Their main self-name is “Inuit.” The word “Eskimo” (Eskimantzig - “raw eater”, “one who eats raw fish”) belongs to the language of the Abenaki and Athabaskan Indian tribes. From the name of the American Eskimos, this word turned into a self-name. both American and Asian Eskimos.

Story

The everyday culture of the Eskimos is unusually adapted to the Arctic. They invented a rotating harpoon to hunt sea animals, a kayak, an igloo snow house, a yarangu skin house, and special closed clothing made of fur and skins. The ancient culture of the Eskimos is unique. In the XVIII-XIX centuries. Characterized by a combination of hunting sea animals and caribou, living in territorial communities.
In the 19th century, the Eskimos did not have (except, perhaps, the Bering Sea) clan and developed tribal organization. As a result of contacts with the newcomer population, great changes occurred in the life of foreign Eskimos. A significant part of them switched from sea fishing to hunting arctic foxes, and in Greenland to commercial fishing. Many Eskimos, especially in Greenland, became wage laborers. The local petty bourgeoisie also appeared here. The Eskimos of Western Greenland formed into a separate people - Greenlanders who do not consider themselves Eskimos. The Eskimos of eastern Greenland are Angmassalik. In Labrador, the Eskimos mixed to a large extent with the older population of European origin. Everywhere, remnants of traditional Eskimo culture are rapidly disappearing.

Language and culture

Language: Eskimo, Eskimo-Aleut family of languages. The Eskimo languages ​​are divided into two large groups - Yupik (western) and Inupik (eastern). On the Chukotka Peninsula, Yupik is divided into Sireniki, Central Siberian, or Chaplin and Naukan dialects. The Eskimos of Chukotka, along with their native languages, speak Russian and Chukotka.
The origins of the Eskimos are controversial. The Eskimos are the direct descendants of an ancient culture widespread from the end of the first millennium BC. along the shores of the Bering Sea. The earliest Eskimo culture is the Old Bering Sea (before the 8th century AD). It is characterized by the prey of marine mammals, the use of multi-person leather kayaks, and complex harpoons. From the 7th century AD until the XIII-XV centuries. whaling was developing, and in the more northern regions of Alaska and Chukotka - hunting for small pinnipeds.
Traditionally, Eskimos are animists. Eskimos believe in spirits living in various natural phenomena; they see the connection between man and the world of objects and living beings around him. Many believe in a single creator, Silya, who controls everything that happens in the world, all phenomena and laws. The goddess who bestows the Eskimos with the riches of the deep sea is called Sedna. There are also ideas about evil spirits, which appeared to the Eskimos in the form of incredible and terrible creatures. The shaman who lives in every Eskimo village is an intermediary who establishes contact between the world of spirits and the world of people. The tambourine is a sacred object for the Eskimos. The traditional greeting, called the "Eskimo kiss", has become a world famous gesture.

Eskimos in Russia

In Russia, Eskimos are a small ethnic group (according to the 1970 census - 1356 people, according to the 2002 census - 1750 people), living mixed or in close proximity to the Chukchi in a number of settlements on the eastern coast of Chukotka and on Wrangel Island. Their traditional occupations are sea hunting, reindeer herding, and hunting. The Eskimos of Chukotka call themselves “Yuk” (“man”), “Yuit”, “Yugyt”, “Yupik” (“ real man"). Number of Eskimos in Russia:

Number of Eskimos in populated areas in 2002:

Chukotka Autonomous Okrug:

village Novoye Chaplino 279

Sireniki village 265

Lavrentiya village 214

Provideniya village 174

Anadyr city 153

Uelkal village 131

Ethnic and ethnographic groups

In the 18th century, Asian Eskimos were divided into a number of tribes - Uelenians, Naukans, Chaplinians, Sireniki Eskimos, which differed linguistically and in some cultural features. In a later period, in connection with the processes of integration of the cultures of the Eskimos and the coastal Chukchi, the Eskimos retained the group features of the language in the form of the Naukan, Sirenikov and Chaplin dialects.

Along with the Koryaks and Itelmens, they form the so-called “continental” group of populations of the Arctic race, which by origin is related to the Pacific Mongoloids. The main features of the Arctic race are presented in the northeast of Siberia in the paleoanthropological material of the turn new era.

Writing

In 1848, the Russian missionary N. Tyzhnov published a primer of the Eskimo language. Modern writing based on Latin script was created in 1932, when the first Eskimo (Yuit) primer was published. In 1937 it was translated into Russian graphics. There is modern Eskimo prose and poetry (Aivangu and others). The most famous Eskimo poet is Yu. M. Anko.

Modern Eskimo alphabet based on the Cyrillic alphabet: A a, B b, V c, G g, D d, E e, Ё ё, Жж, Зз, И и, й й, К к, Лл, Лълъ, М m, N n, N' n', O o, P p, R r, S s, T t, U y, Ў ў, F f, X x, C c, Ch h, Sh w, Shch, ъ, S s, ь, E e, Yu yu, I I.

There is a variant of the Eskimo alphabet based on the Canadian syllabary for the indigenous languages ​​of Canada.

Eskimos in Canada

The Eskimo people of Canada, known in this country as the Inuit, achieved their autonomy with the creation of the territory of Nunavut on April 1, 1999, carved out of the Northwest Territories.

The Eskimos of the Labrador Peninsula now also have their own autonomy: in the Quebec part of the peninsula, the Eskimo district of Nunavik is gradually increasing its level of autonomy, and in 2005, the Eskimo Autonomous District of Nunatsiavut was also formed in the part of the peninsula included in the province of Newfoundland and Labrador. Inuit receive official payments from the government for living in harsh climatic conditions.

Eskimos in Greenland

Greenlanders (Eskimos of Greenland) are the Eskimo people, the indigenous population of Greenland. In Greenland, between 44 and 50 thousand people consider themselves “kalaallit”, which is 80-88% of the island’s population. In addition, about 7.1 thousand Greenlanders live in Denmark (2006 estimate). The Greenlandic language is spoken, and Danish is also widely spoken. The believers are mostly Lutherans.

They live mainly along the southwestern coast of Greenland. There are three main groups:

Western Greenlanders (Kalaallit proper) – southwest coast;

eastern Greenlanders (angmassalik, tunumiit) - on the east coast, where the climate is mildest; 3.8 thousand people;

northern (polar) Greenlanders – 850 people. on the northwest coast; The world's northernmost indigenous group.

Historically, the self-designation "Kalaallit" applied only to West Greenlanders. The East and North Greenlanders called themselves only by their self-names, and the dialect of the North Greenlanders is closer to the dialects of the Inuit of Canada than to the West and East Greenlandic dialects.

Eskimo cuisine

The Eskimo cuisine consists of products obtained by hunting and gathering; the basis of the diet is meat, walrus, seal, beluga whale, deer, polar bears, musk oxen, poultry, as well as their eggs.

Since farming is impossible in the Arctic climate, Eskimos collect tubers, roots, stems, algae, berries and either eat them or store them for future use. Eskimos believe that a diet consisting mainly of meat is healthy, makes the body healthy and strong and helps to keep warm.

The Eskimos believe that their cuisine is much healthier than the “white man’s” cuisine.

One example is the consumption of seal blood. After eating seal blood and meat, the veins increase in size and darken. The Eskimos believe that the blood of seals strengthens the blood of the eater by replacing exhausted nutrients and renewal of blood flow; blood - required element Eskimo diet.

In addition, the Eskimos believe that a meat diet will insulate you if you constantly eat Eskimo style. One Eskimo, Oleetoa, who ate a mixture of Eskimo and Western food, said that when he compared his strength, heat and energy with those of his cousin ate only Eskimo food, it turned out that his brother was stronger and more resilient. Eskimos in general tend to blame their illnesses on a lack of Eskimo food.

Eskimos choose food products by analyzing three connections: between animals and people, between body, soul and health, between the blood of animals and people; and also in accordance with the chosen diet. Eskimos are very superstitious about food and its preparation and eating. They think it's healthy human body obtained by mixing human blood with the blood of prey.

For example, the Eskimos believe that they have entered into an agreement with the seals: the hunter kills the seal only to feed his family, and the seal sacrifices itself in order to become part of the hunter’s body, and if people stop following the ancient agreements and covenants of their ancestors, the animals will be insulted and will stop reproducing.

The usual way to preserve meat after a hunt is to freeze it. Hunters eat part of the prey right on the spot. A special tradition is associated with fish: fish cannot be cooked within a day's travel from the place of fishing.

The Eskimos are known for the fact that each hunter shares all the catch with everyone in the settlement. This practice was first documented in 1910.

Eating meat, fat or other parts of the animal is preceded by laying out large pieces on a piece of metal, plastic or cardboard on the floor, from where anyone in the family can take a portion. Since Eskimos eat only when they are hungry, family members should not go “to the table,” although it happens that everyone in the settlement is invited to eat: a woman goes out into the street and shouts: “The meat is ready!”

Food after a hunt differs from a regular meal: when a seal is brought into the house, the hunters gather around it and are the first to receive portions as they are the hungriest and coolest after the hunt. The seal is butchered in a special way, the belly is cut open so that hunters can cut off a piece of the liver or pour blood into a mug. In addition, the fat and brain are mixed and eaten with the meat.

Children and women eat after the hunters. First of all, the intestines and remains of the liver are selected for consumption, and then the ribs, spine and remaining meat are distributed throughout the settlement.

Sharing food was necessary for the survival of the entire settlement; young couples give part of the catch and meat to the elderly, most often their parents. It is believed that by eating together, people become bound by bonds of cooperation.

Traditional Eskimo dwelling

An igloo is a typical Eskimo residence. This type of building is a building that has a dome shape. The diameter of the dwelling is 3-4 meters, and its height is approximately 2 meters. Igloos are usually built from ice blocks or wind-compacted snow blocks. Also, the needle is cut from snowdrifts, which are suitable in density and also in size.

If the snow is deep enough, then an entrance is made in the floor, and a corridor to the entrance is also dug. If the snow is still not deep, the front door is cut into the wall, and a separate corridor built of snow bricks is attached to the front door. It is very important that the entrance door to such a dwelling is located below the floor level, since this ensures good and proper ventilation of the room and also retains heat inside the igloo.

Lighting comes into the home thanks to snow walls, but sometimes windows are also made. As a rule, they are also constructed from ice or seal intestines. In some Eskimo tribes, entire villages of igloos are common, which are connected to each other by passages.

The inside of the igloo is covered with skins, and sometimes the walls of the igloo are also covered with them. To provide even more lighting, as well as more heat, special devices are used. Due to heating, part of the walls inside the igloo may melt, but the walls themselves do not melt, due to the fact that the snow helps remove excess heat outside. Thanks to this, the home is maintained at a temperature that is comfortable for people to live in. As for moisture, the walls also absorb it, and because of this, the inside of the igloo is dry.
The first non-Eskimo to build an igloo was Villamur Stefanson. This happened in 1914, and he talks about this event in many articles and his own book. The unique strength of this type of housing lies in the use of uniquely shaped slabs. They allow you to fold the hut in the form of a kind of snail, which gradually narrows towards the top. It is also very important to consider the method of installing these improvised bricks, which involves supporting the next slab on the previous brick at three points simultaneously. To make the structure more stable, the finished hut is also watered from the outside.