The Aesop Ridge of the Evenk legend. Tales of the mountain winds

The mythology of the Tungus (northern branch) - Evenks, Evens (Lamuts), Negidals and Manchus (southern branch) - Nanais, Ulchis, Orochs, Ude, Oroks, Manchus. In T.-m. m. two layers are distinguished: pre-shamanic and shamanic. The pre-shamanic layer covers ideas about the origin of the universe and the creation of the earth and all life on it. An ancient version of the Evenk myth about the creation of the world says that in the beginning there were only water and two brothers (or birds in an older version). The younger brother took out some earth from the bottom (in the version, a bird brought it in its beak) and put it on the surface of the water. Then he sat down and fell asleep. The older brother began to pull the earth out from under him and stretched it so much that it turned into a large modern earth. Then the brothers began to work - to make images of people and animals useful to humans from clay and stone - the younger brother, animals harmful to humans - the older brother. The younger one had a dog as an assistant (in the version - a raven or a bear), which, in the absence of the creator, was supposed to guard the sculptures he made and not show them to his older brother. One day, the guard, tempted by his elder brother's offer to give him fur, showed him the creations of his younger brother. The elder introduced into the statues various diseases or broke them. The younger brother, returning, punished the assistant and continued his work. After graduating, the younger went to heaven, leaving a raven (bear) as an intermediary between people and himself, and the older brother went underground. The shamans who appeared later named the younger brother seveki, and the elder brother khargi.

The whole world (buga) was presented as three worlds: the upper one, above the sky, the entrance to which was through nyangnya sangarin (sky opening) - the North Star; middle world- the earth and the lower world, the entrance to which is through whirlpools. In the upper and lower worlds, life happens in the same way as in the middle world, only the people living there did not understand the Evenks and sent them out, as they brought illnesses. Above the upper world are the luminaries. The most ancient myths represent the sun and the month as women, the later ones as a couple of spouses. The myth of the hunter Heglun, who is chasing elk on skis, was formed during the period when the Tungus entered the taiga and began to hunt elk. The hunter and the elk are the constellation Ursa Major, and the hunter's ski trail is the Milky Way.

Much later, shamanic cosmogonic myths appeared. The upper world is above the sources and top of the mountain (or above the seven clouds), the lower world is below the mouth of the river engdekit, which begins in the upper world and ends in the lower one. Anyone who has fallen into the lower world, even a shaman, does not return back. Shamanic cosmogony reflected the process of settlement of the ancient Tungus along the rivers, therefore the orientation of the upper and lower worlds (east, south, southeast, etc.) depends on the direction of the main river flow, along which the settlement in the taiga took place. On the engdekit, below all the worlds of the dead, there are the souls of the first shamans (on the cliffs), as well as all those who entered the formation of the ancient Tungus (changits, ngamondri, dyandri, nyandri, etc.). Disused bone and stone objects, called mugdy shamans, are also placed there. On the tributaries of the engdekit - personal shamanic rivers (their sources are in whirlpools) spirits are placed - assistants of shamans, at a time when the shaman does not make them work, that is, does not send them in search of the missing soul of the patient he is treating. In the upper world, shamans placed the creator of the earth and man - seveki. The shamans themselves acted as intermediaries between the seveks and the people. According to shamanistic ideas, unborn souls are placed in the so-called. ngektare (or ngevi) - at the foot of the mountains of the upper world; born - in man, and after the death of the latter - in the world of the dead. One of the functions of shamans was to "send" the souls (omi) of the dead to the world of the dead. Shamans had a host of helper spirits - seven, burkan, and others from the animal world. They sent them out with various assignments, when it was necessary to find the “stolen” soul of the patient or to find out what the questioner wanted, and sometimes to bring the soul of the deceased to the world of the dead. The shamans constantly communicated with them, arranging sevenchepeke (seven, from the Evenki letters “kamlat”, sevenchepeke, “kamlanie” - a rite of unity with the spirits). Sevans were placed on the shaman's personal river when they had no assignments. The control of these spirits was the second function of shamans. Pictures were taken in in large numbers, especially Nanai shamans. By arranging rituals, in which helper spirits took an active part, shamans made bloody sacrifices to seveki or the spirits of the shamans' ancestors.

Since the shamans created the concept of master spirits, they were the first to initiate the rites of initiation or tabooing of the sevek deer. In addition, shamans became the main and active participants in hunting mysteries, adding to them some of their rituals (“purification” of hunters and their weapons and equipment, divination about hunting and the life of hunters, updating parts of their costume and tambourine, etc.). For rituals based on the mysteries, there were no bloody sacrifices. Having created cosmogony, shamans settled on engdekit between the worlds of the dead and the mouths of personal shamanic rivers of their ancestors - shamans and shamans and created mythological stories about them, for example, about Gurivul (Murivul), Torganei. They settled there and ancient ancestors different groups a foreign-speaking population, parts of which merged with the Tungus (for example, Churi, Chulugdy, Ngamodri, Nyandri, Goldi), also creating mythological stories about them.

Lit .: Collection of materials on Evenki (Tungus) folklore, comp. G. M. Vasilevich. Leningrad, 1936. Historical folklore of the Evenks, comp. G. M. Vasilevich, Moscow-Leningrad, 1966; Vasilevich G. M., Evenks’ early ideas about the world, in: Research and materials on issues of primitive religious beliefs. Proceedings of the Institute of Ethnography, v. 51, M., 1959; her, Some data on hunting rites and ideas among the Tungus, "Ethnography", 1930, No 3; her, Ancient hunting and reindeer herding rites of the Evenks, in the book: Collection of the Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography, vol. 17, M.-L., 1957; Kozminsky I.I., Report on the study of the material culture and beliefs of the Gari golds, in the book: Garino-Amgunskaya expedition of 1926, L., 1929; his, The emergence of a new cult among the Golds, in the book: Collection of ethnographic materials, No 2, L., 1927; Lopatin I., Amur, Ussuri and Sungari golds, Vladivostok, 1922, p. 212-40; Shimkevich P. P., Materials for the study of shamanism among the Golds, Khabarovsk, 1896; Sternberg L. Ya., Gilyaks, Orochs, Golds, Negidals, Ainu, Khabarovsk, 1933; Shirokogoroff S., Psychomental complex of the Tungus, L., 1935.

A long time ago, three Siberian[-lands] appeared, like the listening ears of a one-year-old wild deer. The middle earth at that time was spread out about the size of a rug, ninety-nine directions for river channels were outlined on it, and mountains rose like dense black fox hair divided into nine rows. The grass [on it] never withered. Whether this middle earth existed for a long time or for a short time, I do not know. It became so vast that no winged bird could fly around it. It was such a beautiful country that, having seen it, it was impossible to find anything with which [one could] compare [it]. In this country, spruces blossomed like snowdrops, larch fluffed like young grass, pines grew, shimmering like the fluffy tail of a red squirrel, willows stretched like a string, and marnica birches grew, branching their roots. Here on such a beautiful land, in addition to all this, running animals and people lived. If you talk about [everything], then on the southern slopes there were many male elk, in the mountain larch forests there were a large number of male deer, hares-animals jumped along the outskirts of the earth, countless squirrels were found along the rivers.

If you think carefully, then how can a red-haired Urangkai with two legs, with a bare face, with a freely rotating head not live in such a good country?! Flowed through this land big river with a mouth somewhere in the west, with a source in the east, and its banks were beautiful and steep, like the beak of a black goose. Nevertheless, this country was like an island in the gulf of the sea: strong winds constantly blew on it and whirlwinds swirled.

In this country, two boys lived in the same plague. Have them say, "Cho!" - so there was no deer, to say: "Hot!" - there was no horse to say: "Here!" - there was no dog, say: "Friend!" - there was [and] no friend, they lived alone, only the two of them. If you ask what they ate and how they lived, then the youngest of them was a man with strong legs - a swift-footed hero, and he did not miss a single four-legged beast. To give an example, [then] he caught a male elk like a spider, a bear like a bug, a male wild deer like an ant. He ran, keeping at the level of the third vertebra of the male elk, at the level of the tail of the male deer, at the level of the scruff of the bear-beast. The internal fat of an autumn elk served as oil for him, the lard of an autumn wild deer served as plantain, his dinner was [meat] from the ribs of a fat female elk.

I looked and thought: "Such a strong hero, of course, must have famous name and resounding glory, "it was a well-groomed hero who flourished in the middle earth by the name of Irkismondya.

And if you pay attention to the one who was older, then he did not leave his native plague even a fathom. If you tell [about him], then in order to listen, he was deaf, in order to talk, he was mute: he was a deaf-mute deep old man.

If we say how he was useful to Irkismon, then, although [he] sat in one place, he was a blacksmith, a jack of all trades. From whom [he] learned and where he found his tools, no one knew. In his right hand he had a seventy-seven-pound hammer, in his left - thirty-three-pound pincers. With them, he forged weapons for hunting animals for the younger. The name of this old man was [such] - who mastered flares from the age of three, from the age of four he mastered the hammer torontai.

How long, how short they lived - [I] do not know. Irkismon, on the other hand, the middle land, without missing a day, ran around his middle land. During the day he brought ten wild deer, tying [them] to ten matings [of a caftan].

And late one evening, when the ground on which he walked all his life was completely trampled, [he] brought ten male wild deer and threw them where they cut firewood. The next day, getting up, he began to skin them, suddenly a terrible cry was heard from the chum. Frightened, our man rushed to the plague, reached it with one jump. Kicking, he smashed the door of the plague into small pieces and looked. He sees: the blacksmith Torontai crushed his index finger with a hammer. Blacksmith Torontotai’s blood immediately swelled like water from a kettle. Irkismon the hero gave the following speech:

Deungdoni-deungdoni, delagoy! - Blacksmith Thorontai! My brother! Even though you are mute and deaf, what is the matter with you? The ancient wise elders said: "The blacksmith does not hit by." What an invisible avahi made you make a mistake and deprived me of a respected friend! Oh, embarrassing, embarrassing! Woe is me! Though you yourself are an old man, you have not treated the quadrangular hearth with the fat of revered animals for a long time. Maybe that's why you were wrong! Quickly cut off four pieces of bacon fat and feed the fire! Hurry up and bandage your finger with the raw skin of a stag! - saying so, [he] kicked the threshold of the plague so that it split.

Blacksmith Torontotai's blood flowed over the [threshold] like a river. After that, Irkismondy of the middle earth, having cut off four pieces of bacon of a male deer, treated the fire and the old man's finger tied up the raw flesh of a male wild deer. [The wound] began to heal better from this than from any treatment.

Meanwhile, Irkismond of the middle earth, having calmed down and rejoiced that the blacksmith Torontai would not die, slept for three days in a row.

On the fourth day, saying: "It's time to hunt," [he] began to prepare equipment. And at dawn, winds blew from all sides, black clouds thickened, white clouds appeared. Before he could look back, a whirlwind blew, thunder-lightning, shaking the sky, rumbled over the earth. Lightning nearly shattered the chum. The downpour poured and heavy snow fell. When the wind and rain stopped, three [birds] descended from the sky, whistling and rustling; one of them sat down at the door, the second - on the smoke hole, the third - on the pole-mala. Here is one of them, sitting on a smoke hole, wagging her tail like a cuckoo, and began to speak like this:

Kidu-kidu, kiduyar! - Irkismon of the middle earth, open the door and accept greetings! Listen to this and that and tell me about this and that! If you ask me: "Where are you from?", you will guess yourself. You probably know the mat (hero), who long ago married the eldest daughter of Gevan the old man, Kukkumachan the beauty. He lived with her for three years and ran away to sea ​​island, having kidnapped the blacksmith Torontotai, the son of Gevan the old man. And my name is Kukkumachan, the middle sister is Darpek by name, and younger sister- Sekak-beauty. Irkismon of the middle earth, you are a notorious swindler; what happened that your broad chest narrowed, your long thoughts (i.e. mind) shortened? After all, your chest is large and your voice is sonorous? What is the matter with you, from fear (or something) your voice was heard in all corners of the three Siberian lands? I finally found you, you shameless robber! We have flown in from a distant vast country, our clothes are not all worn out yet, but our stomach is hungry. If you say: "I had you as my wife," then when you bring [us] into your house, quickly feed if you have food! Recognize [you me] or not, still I will not allow you to refuse me! And if you refuse, then you will not fly in the sky and you will not walk on the ground!

Hearing this, Irkismon of the middle earth pretended to remember the forgotten and ran out into the street, saying: "Indeed, she was my wife." Going out into the street, he sees - three beautiful girls have come. One of them is in silk clothes, the second is in gold, and the third is in satin, three sisters, the daughters of Gevan the old man. Quickly approaching, [Irkismon] took them by the hands and led them to the chum-uten, seated them in a row on a six-legged bench, pushed up his quadrangular silver table and began to prepare a dish from the internal fat of a male moose, to drown the fat from the neck of a bear-beast . He piled the meat of different animals on the table. Young girls who had arrived from afar sat at the table and ate, talking about this and that. Having finished eating, the girl named Kukkumachan sat opposite her sisters and spoke like this:

Kidu-kidu, kiduyar! - My sisters, Darpek and Sekak, beauties, both of you immediately return home, otherwise your nephew will not give peace to either grandma or grandpa out of boredom. When you come to him, say: "We found your father, Irkismon of the middle earth, he and your mother will arrive in three days." There are three decks of cards in my room in a golden box, give one of them to him, let him play before I arrive. But I will observe Irkismon of the middle earth, find out his intentions, and by all means, I will persuade him [to return], - he says.

Here the sisters, having heard the speech of the eldest, went out into the street, turned over three times, turned into white birds, flew up and went home.

After them, the rest lived for another three days. On the third morning, the beautiful Kukkumachan sat opposite her husband and brother and spoke thus:

Kidu-kidu, kiduyar! - Irkismon of the middle earth, my master called my master and my friend called my friend, the blacksmith Torontai, my brother called my brother, open your ears (literally: listen with two ears, listen with your gut), listen to my story, hear with your gut, understand [him with your own] mind! How similar you are to each other, you are not amazed at anything, both are cold-blooded. If you don't consider my country or me, don't you want to see your son? After your [leaving] a boy was born. If you want to know how he was called and what he is famous for, [then he] is the most sensitive of those with ears, the most sharp-sighted of those with eyes, Togokomo-Chagilgan by name. Even during these nine days I missed my son so much that to fall asleep [would] - sleep does not come, to eat [would] - there is no appetite. I won't be able to live in your house. You, Irkismon of the middle earth, will you follow me or not? If you don't go, you'll be left alone, I'll take the blacksmith's brother Torontotai away. If you don’t go now, you still won’t run anywhere, no matter what happens, I will track down your tracks, go around all the places where you have been. Blacksmith Torontai, my brother called my brother, although you are deaf and dumb, understand my prophetic words with your mind, hear with your gut! Let's go home soon, - he says.

She quickly jumped out into the street, turned into a white bird and flew up. Irkismon of the middle earth, listening to this, looked at his friend. Blacksmith Torontai either heard or guessed - most likely, he understood [what was the matter]. The blacksmith Torontai rolled over three times, turned into a crane, grabbed a seventy-seven-pound hammer with the claws of one paw, and thirty-three-pound pincers with the claws of the other. Irkismon of the middle earth turned over three times, turned into a silver crane; and [they] flew up after the beautiful Kukkumachan. Turned into winged birds, they flew along the edge of the eighth sky, under the ninth cloud. How long, short they flew - they did not know. Summer by rain, autumn by hail, winter by snow, and spring by fluffy snow flakes, recognizing they kept their way.

But will they be delayed along the way? [Here] they are approaching the places where Gevan the old man lived. When they flew up, the sea appeared, the opposite side of which was not visible, and Kukkumachan the beauty was lost in its fog. In spite of this, Irkismondya of the middle earth, saying: "I can feel the well-traveled places in my gut," moved forward. He glanced at the opposite bank, thought: "Birch forest", - it turned out to be a herd of white stags; I thought: "Thickets of willow", - it turned out to be a herd of newborn deer, thought: "Stones", - it turned out to be a herd of cows, thought: "Stump", - there were horses. Gevan the old man, it turns out, had a lot of cattle. They descended and, becoming men, went through the herd. Walking, peered and saw in front of a sixteen-sided wooden house. Approaching the door of the house, Irkismundya of the middle earth spoke so loudly that his voice thundered over the earth and rolled across the sky:

Deungdoni-deungdoni, delagoy! - Daughters of Gevan-old man, open the door, accept greetings! Do not be afraid of me, thinking: "Where did the mata come from, who, having come, spoke." I am a well-known mata to you, although you call me an unscrupulous robber, and I am the middle land of Irkismondy-mata. Quickly prepare me heroic clothes and heroic food! Rather, show my son, we have come from a distant country. Do not delay the traveler and do not make him wait! Good short talk, good fast movement! - speaks.

When he finished his speech, there was a noise in the house and a strong mat-hero spoke.

Goldyr-goldyr, goldyrmy! - Mother called my mother, Kukkumachan-beauty, aunt called aunt Sekak-beauty! Who is this, having come, opened his mouth? How bulky his chest is. I never heard such a loud voice even in a dream, and there was no rumor about him. Let me out now, [otherwise] I will go out myself; if he is a murderer, I will fight him [to the death]; if he is a cannibal, we will quickly devour each other. Whatever it is, I will look at it immediately,” he says.

In the house, apparently, he escaped from the hands, then Kukkumachan-beauty spoke:

Kidu-kidu, kiduyar! - My son, of those with ears - the most sensitive, of those with eyes - the most sharp-sighted, Togokomochon-Chagilgan, wait, calm down, do not break out [from my hands], probably your father, the middle land called Irkismon, has arrived. Take your time, because I already told you who he is, - she persuaded her son.

After that, the women released Togokomo-Chagilgan. Opening the door, he began to kiss his father and uncle so that his lips swelled up. Right hand took his father by the hand, his uncle with his left hand, and led [them] into the house. Sitting at the corners of the square table, [they] began to talk. While talking, Irkismon of the middle earth looked at his son. Looking at him carefully, the father thought: “Indeed, [from his son] a dexterous and strong mata will grow up! And the beautiful Kukkumachan reproached me correctly: “You lived and did not know that you had such a good son.”

Narrator N.G. Trofimov

A long time ago - the Evenki lived in childbirth - the robbers changit wandered in the taiga. Changits killed all men, even boys. The Evenk hunter Koevai then had a son. He grew up quickly, like an elk, and soon became a hero.

Once he hunted in the taiga. He sees a marvel: a non-taiga man leans against a tree, holding a stick in his hand. Fire and smoke come out of this stick.
A lynx fell from the tree where the stick was pointing. The bogatyr followed the new man. He saw how he put a stick on his back (a rope was tied to the stick). Approached the dead animal. The man's face is thickly overgrown with hair. His hair looks like last year's grass in the swamp. And he is big, tall, wide. The man skinned the lynx. I took the skin. Went. Evenk is behind him. But he stepped on a dry bough. The man looked back. Evenk stopped. The man approached the hero. Asked:
- Who are you?
- Evenk-hero. And who are you?
- Russian.

He showed the Evenk a bow-stick. Evenk called the Russian to the chum. Feed him. The guest gave him a shooting stick. Gone.
All the taiga people began to envy the hero. But the hero did not want to have a shooting stick alone. He got a lot of fire sticks for the Evenks. A new friend helped him. Peaceful Evenki became very strong. The Changits were now afraid to attack them.

Once the Changits came out in peace to the Evenks. Gathered for a big party. Everyone began to live in friendship.

Evenki legend

Tungus from ancient times settled from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Ob. Their way of life made changes in the name of the genera, not only on geographical grounds, but, more often, on household ones. Evenks living along the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk were called Evens or, more often, Lamuts from the word "lama" - the sea.

Evenkia is an ancient and mysterious land. Its history is inseparable from the general history of the country with all its joys and sorrows. And this land is mysterious because there are so many secrets hidden in it, which more than one generation of future people will solve ...

Let us turn to the history of Evenkia and, perhaps, thereby reveal the mysterious cover that envelops this region, turning it into a legend about the northern land. The history of Evenkia is not a legend - but a chronicle real events, the interweaving of human destinies, a chronicle of worthy deeds. History delights with the past of Evenkia and inspires faith in its future.

II millennium BC - I millennium AD - human settlement of the Lower Tunguska valley. Sites of ancient people of the Neolithic era of the Bronze Age and the Iron Age in the middle reaches of the Podkamennaya Tunguska.

XII century - the beginning of the settlement of the Tungus in Eastern Siberia: from the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk in the east to the Ob-Irtysh interfluve in the west, from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Baikal region in the south.

Among the northern peoples not only of the Russian North, but of the entire Arctic coast, the Evenks are the most numerous language group: more than 26 thousand people live in Russia, according to various sources, the same number in Mongolia and Manchuria.

The name "Evenki" with the creation of the Evenki district has firmly entered the social, political and linguistic everyday life, and it seems to some zealots of the "national question" that another name for this people - "Tungus" - is almost derogatory.

Doctor of Historical Sciences V.I. Uvachan spoke of his people in this way: “There is nothing offensive or degrading in the word “Tungus”. “Evenki” is the self-name of the Evenk people. Some of its representatives, along with the name “Evenki”, retained the name “ile”, i.e. man. .."

Doctor of Historical Sciences V.A. Tugolukov gave a figurative explanation of the name "Tungus" - going across the ridges. This explains not only their way of nomadic life, but also their great courage.

Tungus from ancient times settled from the coast Pacific Ocean to the Ob. Their way of life made changes in the name of the genera, not only on geographical grounds, but, more often, on household ones. Evenks living along the shores of the Sea of ​​Okhotsk were called Evens or, more often, Lamuts from the word "lama" - the sea. The Trans-Baikal Evenks were called Murchens, because they were mainly engaged in horse breeding, and not reindeer breeding. And the name of the horse is "mur". Evenk reindeer herders who settled in the interfluve of the three Tunguskas (Upper, Podkamennaya, or Middle, and Lower) and the Angara called themselves Orochens - deer Tungus. And they all spoke and still speak the same Tungus-Manchu language!

Most Tungus historians consider Transbaikalia and the Amur region to be the ancestral home of the Evenks. But why did they disperse over a vast territory, all over the Eurasian continent, from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean? Many sources claim that they were driven out by more warlike steppe people at the beginning of the 10th century. It turns out that they settled the desert lands and immediately, in the 10th century, they domesticated the deer in order to somehow survive in the harsh conditions of the North. I think it was a little different. The Chinese chronicles mention that even four thousand years before the Evenks were forced out, the Chinese knew about the strongest people among the "northern and eastern foreigners." And these Chinese chronicles testify to the coincidence in many ways of that ancient people - the sushi - with the later one, known to us as the Tungus.

The chroniclers of the Celestial Empire tell in detail about these people living in a "snowy harsh country" in cone-shaped dwellings (chums), as excellent hunters and brave warriors who could not be subdued by any detachment of trained imperial warriors. But most importantly, these ancient chronicles tell about sushens - dexterous "pathfinders riding deer", about the people who domesticated a wild deer, and he "gives them milk and carries them on a sleigh."

Later chronicles trace the path of development of the direct descendants of the Sushens - the Jurchens (Ueni, Uenki), united into one empire, which at the beginning of the 6th century received the name of the Golden Empire of the Jurchens, which included free tribes of the Ueni, Uenki. Could this be the origin of the name of the modern northern territory and its inhabitants, the Evenks?

The Golden Empire, competing with the Middle Kingdom (China), constantly repelling the attacks of the ancestors of the Mongols - the Khitan, covered the territory of modern Korea, the coast of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bOkhotsk, Transbaikalia and northern territories. And, most importantly, the inhabitants spoke a single, Tungus-Manchu language, they had a written language and cultural centers. Their architectural significance is evidenced by archaeological finds.

Golden Empire almost simultaneously with Kievan Rus fell under the hooves of Genghis Khan's cavalry. But she failed, like Rus', to be reborn - all cities were wiped off the face of the earth, literary monuments were destroyed, even the inscriptions on city steles and gravestones were chipped off.

The Evenks have lost their ancestral home forever, but this does not mean that this people is without a past: oral poetic creativity has preserved the legends of the past greatness and the memory of the mighty heroes - sonings. And here's what is surprising: all the Evenks who settled from the shores of the Pacific Ocean to the Ob have common heroes of oral works, who, with the acquisition - or maybe restoration? - scripts are preserved in printed works. The Evenks have preserved and carried through the centuries an oral set of everyday instructions and moral laws, which, according to the restored ancient inscriptions on steles, almost completely repeat the codes of highly moral ancient laws of their ancestors. And the main ones are friendliness, hospitality, mutual assistance, respect for elders.

But the most important thing that helped the Evenks survive in the extreme conditions of the North is domestic reindeer breeding. The coexistence of deer and tungus is a whole science. Moreover, philosophy and religion. The deer was elevated to a cult among the Evenk-Orochen. And this is true: there is no animal more perfect, more practical, which would feed, clothe, serve as a transport. Therefore, the word "argish" has several meanings in the Evenki language. This is not only a deer convoy, but also the way of development of the people.

1581-1583 - the first mention of the Tungus as a nationality in the description of the Siberian kingdom.

The first explorers, explorers, travelers spoke highly of the Tungus: "helpful without servility, proud and brave." Khariton Laptev, who explored the shores of the Arctic Ocean between the Ob and Olenek, wrote: "The Tungus surpass all those living in yurts with courage and humanity and sense." The exiled Decembrist V. Kuchelbecker called the Tungus "Siberian aristocrats", and the first Yenisei governor A. Stepanov wrote that "their costumes resemble the camisoles of Spanish grandees ..."

But we must not forget that the first Russian explorers also noted that "their spears and horns are made of stone and bone", that they do not have iron utensils, and "tea is brewed in wooden vats with red-hot stones, and meat is baked only on coals ..." And one more thing: "there are no iron needles and they sew clothes and shoes with bone needles and deer veins."

Consequently, the Tungus-nomads, the Evenks-Orochens, in essence, were still in the Stone Age, while the Russians, with whom fate would link them forever, already had manufactory production and firearms.

Second half of the 16th century - the penetration of Russian industrialists and hunters into the basins of the rivers Taz, Turukhan and the mouth of the Yenisei.

We are not talking about armed resistance and large-scale battles, although "arms diplomacy" played a large role in the "peaceful annexation" of Siberia to Russia. Big, but not the main one. The main thing was peaceful trade relations. And even with the advent of prisons, settlements of Russian industrial people and farmers, direct contact between the two cultures was episodic. But it would be naive to assume that the neighborhood is wherever it is! - two different cultures were not interpenetrating. The Russians were trained in the skills of hunting, survival in the northern conditions, they were forced to accept the norms of morality and the hostel of the natives, especially since the newcomers took local women as wives and created mixed families.

It is high time to abandon the false concept of "Russian trade robbery": if for the Russians sable was of value, replenished the royal treasury, then for the taiga Tungus trackers it was not a monetary equivalent for a long time and was not of particular value in the economy. Clothes made from reindeer skins were more practical, sleeping blankets were sewn from sable skins and even... skis were lined with them. So the price of a copper cauldron, which was determined by the number of sable skins that fit in it, seemed ridiculously low for the Tungus themselves: "Stupid luchals (Russians): for lousy skins they give a cauldron that will serve for a century!" Steel blades, knives, lance tips, cloth, beads, steel needles, metal traps, and later guns were also priceless for the natives.

1601 - the foundation of Mangazeya - the administrative center and an important trade and transshipment point.

1607 - the foundation of the Turukhansk winter hut.

1607 - Berezovsky Cossack Mikhail Kashmylov collected the first yasak from the Evenks of the Lower Tunguska.

1620-1623 - Mangazeya Cossack Nikifor Penda climbed the Nizhnyaya Tunguska to its upper reaches, crossed the Chechuy portage to the river. Lena.

History is usually written according to documents, official records, and Penda (aka Panda, Poyanda) did not serve either the king or God. He was a "walking" person, though not in the modern sense of the word. He was free from service. And therefore, no written orders were given to him, and he did not write written reports - no traces can be found in official papers.

He arrived from central Russia in Yeniseisk, like many restless strong people of that time, going "to meet the sun." After spending a year or two here, I heard a lot of stories about the "gold-boiling" Mangazeya and decided to go there along the Yenisei. I borrowed a large ship with co-workers, a 38-meter plank with a deck under which you can hide from the weather and carry a lot of cargo.

At the Turukhansky prison on the left bank of the Yenisei, he stopped and sailed to Mangazeya in a boat. He lived in this city for some time, got acquainted with the local governors, and here several more equally desperate souls joined him. They contracted two more kochas.

The authority of Nikifor Penda was high among those around him: fair, true to his word. Forty people made up his artel, at that time it was an army, but a special one: everything was borrowed, for furs - both ships, and thousands of pounds of provisions, and fishing equipment, and goods for exchange.

And so, with his faithful comrades, Penda decided to go further east - to explore new lands along the Tunguska.

In July, when the ice drifted, his flotilla entered wide water from Turukhansk to the Yenisei, and raising sails, entered the deserted Lower Tunguska ... It was 370 years ago.

The detachment of Nikifor Penda was the first to go along these paths, others followed him, history speaks of them as pioneers, Penda is usually silent.

The end of the 20s of the XVII century. - a campaign of Mangazeya service people led by Navatsky along the Lower Tunguska and further east to Yakutia.

1625-1634 - the foundation of yasak winter quarters: Turyzhsky at the mouth of the Kochechumo River, Summer - at the mouth of the Letnaya River, Ilimpisky - at the mouth of the Ilympia River, Titeysky - at the mouth of the Teteya River, Nepa - at the mouth of the Nepa River. Administratively, Nizhnyaya Tunguska was part of the Mangazeya (Turukhansky) district.

1723 - D. G. Messerschmidt's expedition along the Lower Tunguska, and then the Lena River and Baikal in order to study the Siberian peoples and study their languages, describe the flora and fauna.

1763 - manifesto of Catherine II on the census of foreigners with a decree not to harm the indigenous peoples and live in peace.

First half of the 19th century - formation of foreign administrations ( administrative districts) among the Evenks of the Lower Tunguska.

First half of the 19th century - Initiation of the Evenks of the Lower Tunguska to Orthodoxy. According to an extract from the metric book of the Turukhansk Transfiguration Church for 1846, the Tunguses of the Nizhnechumsk, Taimur, Kurey and Chemdal alien administrations were considered baptized on that date.

The conversion of pagans to Christianity had nothing to do with how it happened on the American continent, where the church came with a cross and a sword, destroying millions of Indians. Russian Orthodox missionaries appeared among the natives from time to time, baptizing those who wished, giving new names. By the way, the change of names did not contradict the beliefs of the Tungus: in order to ward off evil spirits, newborns were not given permanent names, they appeared later. The Turukhansk Monastery, founded in the 17th century, was opened only in late XIX century, a church in Essei and a chapel in Chirinda, two trading posts in the north of Evenkia, one of which, Essei, was the center of the Yakut settlement.

That's all "influence" Russian Empire on the culture and life of the Tungus, settled in the Yenisei province from the Angara to the Putorana mountains; the tsarist administration was satisfied with the Tungus community, which stopped at the level of the communal-tribal system. Of course, in addition to the princes and tribal elders, who once became wise and authoritative people, elders or tribal elders began to be appointed, denounced by administrative power and for solidity wearing a special badge on their chests as representatives of royal power or, as they said in common parlance, white king.

1822 - the introduction of the Charter on the management of foreigners in Siberia.

The former yasak was replaced by a poll tax, which was paid from census to census and for the dead. So " dead Souls"existed in the Turukhansk Territory. The Russian state was indifferent to everything, with the exception of taxes: the tsarist government was not interested in the causes of the catastrophic extinction of the natives, the increasingly destructive smallpox epidemics, developing tuberculosis, progressive trachoma, and the epizootic of deer - scabies and hooves, which carried away thousands of herds For the entire Turukhansk region there was only one doctor - in Turukhansk - and not a single wind worker.

1840 - the creation of the Ust-Turyzhsky grain store, located 600-700 miles along the Lower Tunguska.

1850 - establishment by the Synod of Russian Orthodox Church"Missions for the baptism of foreigners of the Tungus hordes of Taimur and Nizhnechumskaya and for the education of other foreigners wandering in the Turukhansk region."

1853 - 1854 - The Vilyui expedition of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Geographical Society, headed by R.K.

1859 - 1863 - discovery by M.K.Sidorov of graphite deposits along the Nizhnyaya Tunguska, Vahta and Kureika rivers.

1863 - the creation of a school for children of foreigners at the Turukhansk Trinity Monastery by the Krasnoyarsk gold miner, philanthropist and scientist M.K. Sidorov.

Second half of the 19th century - the beginning of the commercial and industrial development of the Lower Tunguska. Extraction of graphite reserves by the gold miner M.K. Sidorov and the "Russian Society for the Development of Graphite in Siberia".

Mikhail Konstantinovich Sidorov was born on March 16, 1823 in Arkhangelsk in the family of a merchant of the second guild. In 1845 he comes to Krasnoyarsk and falls into the family of Latkin, who manages the gold mines of the famous millionaire Benardaki as a teacher of his children. Later he married Latkin's daughter, Olga Vasilievna.

The time of Sidorov's appearance in Krasnoyarsk coincided with the heyday of the gold industry in Siberia. Mikhail Konstantinovich, like many others, was captured by the gold rush. He decided to open gold and use the money received from profits to open the first higher educational institution in Siberia.

In 1850, he went to Podkamennaya Tunguska and here for the first time discovered rich deposits of alluvial gold. All the funds that he received from the gold mines, he turned to the development of the North and the Northern Sea Route.

In 1859, he discovered a graphite deposit at Nizhnyaya Tunguska, Turukhansk region. The mine was registered as the Olgo-Vasilyevsky mine, named after his wife and friend. Open pit mining of graphite ore for the St. Petersburg pencil factory began. In 1867 Evenkia's graphite was highly appreciated at the World Exhibition in Paris.

It should be noted that Mikhail Konstantinovich paid great attention to the position of the indigenous peoples of the North. He speaks at conferences in their defense with a proposal that in places of industrial and transport construction, Russian huts should be built for local residents and state grants should be given for the construction of housing, hospitals and schools, and at school they should teach not only literacy, but also handicrafts. Some of his proposals regarding the development of the culture of the indigenous inhabitants of the North, he tried to put into practice. He built at his own expense a school for children at the Turukhansk monastery and provided funds for the maintenance of the students of the boarding school. But by order of the local authorities, the students were dismissed to their homes, and the school was sawn up for firewood for the jail.

At 65, he died an insolvent debtor. A million fortune was spent on discoveries, research and charity. But as a public figure, Sidorov did a great job that will never be forgotten.

1863 - in the upper reaches of the river. The Lower Tunguska was transported from the Lena River by a steam boat with a barge, and then proceeded downstream of the Lower Tunguska and ended its journey in the city of Yeniseisk. Discovery of coal deposits and new deposits of graphite.

May, 1873 - the expedition of the Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society, led by A.A. Chekanovsky, along the Lower Tunguska, during which the first accurate map of this region, graphite deposits were studied, vegetation, weather conditions, life and characteristic features of the Evenks were described.

1910 - foundation of the shop of Tungus merchants Panov and Savvateev on the site of the future settlement of Tura.

November, 1917 - the establishment of Soviet power.

1920 - the creation of the Turukhansk Regional Revolutionary Committee.

November, 1920 - the revolutionary committee sent expeditions to the Bolshaya (Taz) and Ilimpiysk tundras to ascertain the situation of the native population on the ground.

Since ancient times, there has been a folk wisdom: no deer - no Evenk. By the early 1920s, after civil war, thousands of Evenks were left without deer, without bread, without hunting supplies. And only the new government saved the northerners from starvation and mass extinction. After the liberation of Siberia from Kolchak, in the first navigation of 1920, caravans of ships left Krasnoyarsk for the lower reaches of the Yenisei and the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska, for Pit and Sym with food, manufactory, and hunting supplies. All debts were canceled, and the northerners were exempted from the poll tax - taxes. E.S. Savelyev in the Olympic tundra, M.I. Osharov and G.K. Nizovtsev on Podkamennaya Tunguska create cooperation.

1923 - adoption by the Turukhansk regional executive committee of the regulation on the northern inspectors with the assignment of duties to protect fishing labor, their health and raising educational and educational institutions.

1923 - the adoption by the Turukhansk regional executive committee of the regulation on the management of the Turukhansk native tribes, according to which each native tribal tribe was governed by its own tribal Council.

Soviets are not an invention of the new government: tribal councils have existed since ancient times. And they have long been preserved as a form of democracy in the North. The creation of the simplest production associations did not contradict the traditional form of management: since ancient times, the Evenks had umunde endere - joint grazing and joint fishing, and during the autumn-spring migration - joint deer hunting. And the first collective farms, created from the deerless Evenks, who received state support, were perceived calmly and even favorably.

March, 1921 - a meeting in Omsk with the participation of representatives of the northern nationalities on issues of administrative-territorial structure. The meeting decided to sell bread and foodstuffs at fixed prices and buy furs at fixed state prices.

June, 1921 - the creation of the first Evenki cooperative at the Oskoba trading post.

1921 - 1923 - allocation of long-term loans by the state to support reindeer breeding in connection with the anthrax epidemic.

March, 1923 - the adoption of the resolution "On hunting" by the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR, the introduction of benefits for the native peoples of the North for hunting and fishing.

May, 1925 - the creation of the Yenisei Provincial Committee of the North, headed by I.M. Suslov.

1923 - the creation of tribal councils in the Lower and Podkamennaya Tunguska.

1921 - 1923 - opening of cooperative trade in the Ilimpiysk tundra by the Yenisei Gubernia Union.

1926 - the creation of the workers' faculty of the northern peoples at the Leningrad Pedagogical Institute, among the first students were N.N. Putugir, P.N. Putugir, N.N. Monakhova, A.N. Kaplin, G.P. Salatkin.

In 1926, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR approved a temporary regulation on the administration of native peoples and tribes in the northern outskirts of the RSFSR. The tribal principle was put in the basis of the organization of grass-roots management bodies.

The instructors of the Turukhansk regional executive committee I.K. Kochnev, N.V. Efimov, head of the trading post Strelka M.I. Ostapkovich. From among the indigenous population, ordinary Soviets were organized by M.I. Shiroglagov, R. Golubchenok, P.V. Tarkichenok, P.T. Yastrikov. Ancestral suglans were held for 4-5 days, usually this happened in the middle of spring - after the hunting season. This is how tribal suglans were held in two tribal councils in Strelka. In the suglan, the reports of the chairmen of the clan councils were heard, orders were jointly worked out for the new composition of the clan councils, and every word had to be translated into the Evenki language, because there were few literate people among the indigenous population.

November, 1927 - a unique center is created in the camp of Tura - not an administrative or industrial center, but a cultural base, with a school, a hospital, a veterinary station.

In 1927, a northern workers' school was opened in Leningrad, soon the Institute of the North, northern workers' schools were opened in Khabarovsk, Yeniseisk, Krasnoyarsk, in Tura - a school for collective farm personnel and a feldsher-obstetric school. Teacher cadres are being trained, schools and dispensaries are being opened following educational programs.

1928 - creation of the northern department at the workers' faculty of Tomsk University. The same department was created at the Irkutsk Fur Institute. Among the students were P.P.Uvachan, V.D.Kaplin, L.N.Uvachan, S.I.Sochigir.

December 10, 1930 - formation of the Evenki national district. The Turin cult base became the district center. In introducing the small peoples of the North to a new life, the primary forms of Soviet autonomy, the national districts, played a special role. The question of the forms of self-government of the northern peoples was widely discussed in the 1920s by the government bodies of the Soviet country, ethnographers, and the scientific community.

1930 - the appearance of Evenki writing.

In 1931, the "Olgo-Vasilyevsky" mine, which once belonged to M.K. Sidorov, was renamed Noginsky, and in 1930 it began the industrial development of Evenki graphite.

In 1941 the war began...

June 22, 1941 - the beginning of the war and the beginning of a whole period in the life of our people. Everyone from old to young stood up for the defense of the Motherland. Hundreds of men already in the summer of 1941 left Evenkia to fight against the hated enemy. And those who had to stay in the rear did not sit idly by. Old men, women and children worked, replacing fathers, husbands and brothers, bringing the Victory Day closer. There were no plants and factories in Evenkia, its inhabitants did not produce weapons, military equipment and ammunition. Evenkia supplied raw materials, food, warm clothes, carried out simple but difficult orders for the front.

In February 1942, the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR Kalinin M.I. assessed the tasks facing the home front workers in this way: “The question is how to practically better and more effectively apply one’s strength in defeating the enemy. It seems to me that the first thing that is required of every person is to realize that victory is gained not only at the front not only fighters on the battlefields, destroying the enemy with weapons, but also housewives, when they go to production and replace those who have gone to the front, when they reduce the consumption of electricity and fuel, show attention and care for wounded soldiers; for orphans".

The most important task for Evenkia during the war years was the extraction of furs or, as they used to say then, "soft gold". The increase in fur production directly affected the financial situation and the strengthening of the defense capability of our country.

Each hunter, collective farm and district assumed specific obligations for the extraction of furs. Serious attention was paid to this, both on the part of the party and on the part of the Soviet authorities.

Every year, throughout the war, resolutions and appeals were adopted by the Evenk District Council of Working People's Deputies and the District Committee of the CPSU (b).

In 1942, the appeal "To all the hunters of Evenkia" said: "Comrade hunters! Give the country at least 2 thousand squirrels per season for a gun. Use all fishing gear. Increase the production of arctic fox, sable, fox, ermine, hare, muskrat and other types of furs. Remember that your honest work strengthens the combat power of the Red Army, brings closer the hour of the defeat of the Nazi troops. "

A lot of propaganda work was carried out at the trading posts. This gave certain results. But the main thing, perhaps, is that the population of the district clearly realized their tasks, their civic duty to the Motherland.

In the deep taiga, in the snowy northern expanses, hunters worked from dark to dark, extracting "soft gold" for their country - furs, thereby bringing victory over Nazi Germany closer.

50-90s - only a short-sighted person cannot but notice and not know how the economy and culture, including the national one, have risen over the years Soviet power. Illiteracy was eliminated, hundreds of Evenks became teachers of the national language, more than a dozen of them received the high title of honored teacher, their own national doctors and scientists appeared. Epidemics of smallpox and trachoma have disappeared, and the incidence of tuberculosis has sharply decreased. And the main indicator is the natural growth of the population.

In 1950-51. - in the district there was an enlargement of collective farms. In this regard, settlements disappeared from the map of the Evenki National District forever: Murukta, Voevoli, Kumonda, Panolik, Svetlana, Ingida and many others.

In 1955-1956. - The land management expedition of the Ministry of Agriculture gave specific recommendations to each collective farm in the use of reindeer pastures - pasture rotation. It was believed that this is a progressive system of organizing the food supply. However, the consolidation of collective farms tore the Evenks from their family pastures, hunting grounds, and native lakes. Family and cultural ties were destroyed. None of this was noticed: the euphoria that seized the leadership at the sight of the sudden appearance of "collective farms-millionaires", new comfortable settlements, allegedly indicating a "transition to a settled way of life", clouded the mind.

March 20, 1950 - a village council was formed in the Noginsk graphite mine, and already on March 16, 1951 locality Noginsk is classified as a workers' settlement.

September 13, 1950 - a land plot was allocated for the land airfield of the village of Baikit, and on January 31, 1951, its construction began.

In the 50-60s. - a veterinary-bacteriological laboratory, zoo-veterinary points worked in the district. Shepherds for reindeer herds were recruited from among collective farmers, and courses for reindeer herders were held to improve their skills. Behind high performance achieved in the development of reindeer breeding and the entire public economy, some collective farms of the district were repeated participants in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition and VDNKh.

In the 1950s, a new branch of the Evenk economy flourished - fur farming. The beginning of its development was laid by the silver-black fox fur farm, organized in 1938 by the Main Directorate of the Northern Sea Route at the Oskob fishing and hunting station. For high performance in the development of cage fur farming, S.P. Kheykuri, the head of the silver-black fox farm of the Pobeda collective farm in the Ilimpiysky district, was repeatedly a participant in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition.

The local industry in the district developed mainly in the direction of consumer services, producing consumer goods, basic necessities and household items. Woodworking, salt production, leather production, brick and lime production, etc. developed on local raw materials.

On August 17, 1954, a department of culture and educational work was formed under the executive committee of the district Council.

In 1958, the district committee of the CPSU adopted a decision "On measures for the development of national artistic creativity in the district." In order to put forward the creative forces to involve them in active work, from May 15 to November 1, 1958, a district competition was announced for the best work of fine and applied art. More than forty local prose writers and poets, collectors and keepers of folklore took part in the competition.

In the 1950s and 1960s, employees of the Red Plagues carried out a huge amount of work. They taught women how to cook new dishes, spend money, taught sewing on a typewriter, distributed books and at the same time were amateur artists. "Red plagues", as cultural and educational institutions, were relevant until the beginning of the 70s. In 1974, they were liquidated, as their place was taken by more progressive forms of organizing cultural life: 14 rural houses of culture, 3 rural clubs, 16 rural libraries were opened, 3 district propaganda teams were created.

On January 14, 1971, the Evenk National District was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor.

On February 13, 1974, the "Surinda" breeding and deer-breeding state farm was formed in the Baykitsky district.

On February 26, 1975, in the village of Tura, Ilimpiysky district, the village Council of Workers' Deputies was formed with the name "Turinsky" assigned to it.

On March 24, 1976, the Evenki National Okrug was awarded the challenge Red Banner of the Central Committee of the CPSU for the early implementation of the national economic plan for 1975 and the successful completion of the ninth five-year plan.

In January 1980, on the basis of the district House of Creativity, the district scientific and methodological center of folk art and cultural and educational work was established.

On June 20, 1982, a department of private security was formed under the district department of internal affairs.

On September 10, 1982, the state natural monument of local significance "Sulomaisky Pillars" was formed, located on the Podkamennaya Tunguska River of the Baikitsky District, 20 km. above the village of Sulomai.

1992 - The Evenk National Okrug becomes the Evenk Autonomous Okrug, remaining part of Krasnoyarsk Territory, but at the same time being an independent subject of the Russian Federation. Yakimov, Chairman of the District Executive Committee of the Council of People's Deputies, was appointed Head of the District Administration.

February 5, 1992 - there was a delimitation of state property in the EAO into Federal state property and municipal property.

February 14, 1992 - the Department of Agriculture of the Okrug Administration was formed on the basis of the abolished Agroprom.

July 7, 1992 - independent forestries were formed within the boundaries of the Ilimpiysky, Baikitsky, Tungussko-Chunsky districts due to the disaggregation of the Evenk forestry enterprise.

November 2, 1992 - a non-state organization was formed educational institution"Private school".

May 24, 1993 - the state natural and historical monument "The Geographical Center of the Russian Federation - Evenkia" was erected.

May 25, 1993 - a base for aviation protection of forests and forestry services was established on the territory of the EAO.

In December 1996, the first democratic elections of the Head of the District Administration took place. A.A. Bokovikov was elected head of the Administration of the Evenk Autonomous Okrug. During his tenure in office, the Head of the District Administration receives the status of governor.

On April 8, 2001, B.N. Zolotarev was elected in the election of the governor of the Evenki Autonomous Okrug with a result of 51.08%.

August 2002 - 2nd All-Russian Congress of the Evenks of Russia. The Union of Evenks of Russia was created.

January 2003 - Opening of the District Childhood Home in Vanavare.