PEOPLE

In the Autonomous Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), 60% of the appr. 1,036,000 inhabitants are of Ukrainian or Russian origin. The non-Russian population consists of Sakha (36%), Yevenks, Yevens and Yukagirs (4%). It is assumed that these peoples were settlers, much like the European colonists, who came to the North from the Southern regions around Lake Baikal during the Middle Ages.


Russian children in Russkoye Ustye

The Sakha differ from the other non-European peoples of Northern Siberia through their language as well through their way of life. Their language is a Northern Turkic language, while Yevenkian and Yevenian belong to the Mandchu-Tungusian family and Yukagirian is a Paleo-Asiatic language. In contrast to the latter peoples, who lived as nomadic hunters and gatherers, the Sakha were originally semi-nomads, whose culture was centered on the horse. Under the increased influenced of the Russian settlers, the Sakha became trappers and fur-traders. The language of the Sakha was often used as a lingua franca between various non-Russian peoples. In earlier times, when Russian dominance could not yet be felt as strongly as today, Sakha was even the communicative medium for some Russian settlers. In other words, the Sakha were indeed a "dominant" people whose social structure and way of life often influenced and even subjugated other, smaller cultures.

The religions and social structures of the non-Russian peoples of Yakutia are heavily formed by shamanism; as an artist, mystic, healer and story-teller, the shaman provides the connection between the human world and the world of the spirits. Although the various cosmologies of the afforementioned peoples were influenced by the missionary activity of the Russian-Orthodox church, they still retained their integrity up to the revolution. Under Soviet rule, the carriers of the "old" religions and social structures were continuously persecuted. However, the traditions were still often carried on in secret and retained a certain degree of importance.

Although the Russification of Siberia changed and pushed away the original ways of life, relgions and languages of the non-European peoples, the post-Soviet period is marked by a heightened national cosciousness which expresses itself through a renewed interest in shamanism and the revival of traditional holidays (e.g. the ysakh feast of the Sakha).

David Riff