Where do the coastal Koryaks live? Clothing, housing, home crafts

Number– 9,242 people (as of 2001).
Language– Chukchi-Kamchatka family of languages.
Settlement– Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka Region.

By the beginning of contact with the Russians in the 18th century. The Koryaks were divided into nomadic (self-name Chav'chu - “reindeer herder”) and sedentary (nymyl'o - “residents”, “villagers”), in turn subdivided into several separate groups: Karagintsy (karan'ynyl'o), Parentsy (poityl'o), Kamenets (vaikynelyo), etc. Nomadic people settled in the interior regions of Kamchatka and on the adjacent mainland, sedentary (coastal) people settled on the eastern and western coasts of Kamchatka, as well as in the area of Penzhinskaya Bay and the Taigonos Peninsula.

Writing has existed since 1931 on a Latin basis, and since 1936 on a Russian graphic basis.

The nomadic Koryaks - Chavchuvens - are characterized by large-scale reindeer herding with a herd size of 400 to 2000 heads. During the year, they made four main migrations: in the spring (before calving) - to moss pastures, in the summer - to places where there are fewer midges (mosquitoes, midges, etc.), in the autumn - closer to the camps where the reindeer were slaughtered, and in the winter - short migrations near the camps. The main tools of the shepherds were a staff, a lasso (chav’at) - a long rope with a loop for catching deer, and a boomerang-shaped stick ( in a special way curved and after being thrown returning to the shepherd), with the help of which the stray part of the herd was collected. In winter, the Chavchuvens hunted fur-bearing animals.

Elder I. Kechgelhut opens the holiday

The nomadic Koryaks lived in summer and winter in portable frame yarangas (yayana), the basis of which was made up of three poles 3.5-5 m high, placed in the form of a tripod and tied at the top with a belt. Around them, in the lower part of the yaranga, forming an irregular circle with a diameter of 4-10 m, low tripods were strengthened, tied with a belt and connected by transverse crossbars. The upper conical part of the yaranga consisted of inclined poles resting on transverse crossbars, the tops of tripods and the upper ends of three main poles. A tire made of sheared or worn deer skins with the fur facing out was pulled over the frame of the yaranga. Inside, along the walls, fur sleeping curtains (yoyona) were tied to additional poles, shaped like a box turned upside down, 1.3-1.5 m high, 2-4 m long, 1.3-2 m wide. The number of curtains was determined by the number of family couples living in yaranga. The floor under the canopy was covered with willow or cedar branches and deer skins.

The economy of the Nymylo - settled Koryaks - combined sea hunting, fishing, land hunting and gathering. Marine hunting is the main occupation of the inhabitants of Penzhinskaya Bay (Itkans, Parents and Kamenets). He also played important role among the Apukins and Karagins, and to a lesser extent among the Palans. Hunting for sea animals in the spring was individual, and in the fall - collective, began in late May - early June and lasted until October. The main weapons were the harpoon (v'emek) and nets. They traveled on leather kayaks (kultaytvyyt - “boat made of bearded seal skins”) and single-seat kayaks (mytyv). They caught bearded seals, seals, akiba, spotted seals, and lionfish. Until the middle of the nineteenth century. The sedentary Koryaks of the Penzhina Bay hunted cetaceans. The Apukin and Karagin people were engaged in hunting walruses. By the end of the nineteenth century. As a result of the extermination of whales and walruses by American whalers, the harvest of these animals decreased, and fishing began to play a primary role in the economy. From spring to autumn, huge schools of salmon fish flowed from the sea into the rivers of the eastern coast of Kamchatka: char, sockeye salmon, chinook salmon, chum salmon, pink salmon, coho salmon, and trout; in February-March, smelt and navaga entered the bays; in April-May, the waters off the coast were “boiling” with herring that had come to spawn. To catch fish, they used locks, set-type and net-type nets, fishing rods and hooks on a long strap, reminiscent of a harpoon. Fishing was supplemented by hunting birds, ungulates and fur-bearing animals, and collecting wild berries and edible roots. The most common hunting weapons were traps, crossbows, nets, pressure-type traps (the guard is broken and the log crushes the animal), scoops, etc., and from the end of the 18th century. began to use firearms. Karagins and Palans mastered vegetable gardening and cattle breeding.

The ritual is accompanied by wooden masks

The predominant type of dwelling among the sedentary Koryaks was a half-dugout (lymgyyan, yayana) up to 15 m long, up to 12 m wide and up to 7 m high. When constructing it, eight vertical pillars and four - in the center. Between the outer pillars, two rows of logs sawn lengthwise were driven in, forming the walls of the dwelling, fastened at the top with transverse beams. From the square frame connecting the four central pillars and forming the upper entrance and smoke hole, the blocks of the octagonal roof ran to the upper transverse beams of the walls. To protect against snow drifts, the Koryaks of the west coast built a funnel-shaped bell of poles and blocks around the hole, and the Koryaks of the east coast built a barrier of rods or mats. A corridor sunk into the ground with a flat roof was attached to one of the walls facing the sea. The walls, roof and corridor of the dwelling, caulked with dry grass or moss, were covered with earth on top. The hearth, consisting of two oblong stones, was located at a distance of 50 cm from the central log with notches, along which in winter they entered the dwelling through the upper hole. During the fishing season, the entrance was a side corridor. Inside such a dugout, on the side opposite the corridor, a platform was installed for receiving guests. Sleeping curtains made from worn-out deer skins or worn-out fur clothing were hung along the side walls.

At the beginning of the nineteenth century. under the influence of Russian settlers, log huts appeared among the Palans, Karagins, Apukins and Koryaks on the northwestern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. By the end of the nineteenth century. Karagins and partly Palans began to build above-ground dwellings of the Yakut type (booth), in which the windows were covered with the intestines of sea animals or bears. An iron or brick stove with a chimney was installed in the center of such dwellings, and wooden bunks were built along the walls.

The clothes of the hunter and the shepherd are tied with a belt. The “bubble” overlap allows you to freely raise your arms

The clothes of all groups of Koryaks were of a closed cut. The Chavchuvens usually sewed it from deer skins; the coastal people, along with deer skins, used the skins of sea animals. The decoration was the fur of dogs and fur-bearing animals. In winter they wore double clothing (with fur inside and out), in summer - single clothing. The “all-weather” men's set consisted of a fur shirt with a hood and bib, fur pants, a headdress and shoes. The outer trousers were made from thin reindeer skin or reindeer kamus, the lower and summer trousers were made from rovduga or leather cut from an old yaranga tire. Until the end of the nineteenth century. Coastal Koryak hunters wore pants made of seal skins during the fishing season.

To protect the kukhlyanka from the snow, they wore a wide shirt - kamleika - with a hood made of rovduga or fabric, which was also worn in the summer in dry weather. For rainy weather, a kamleika made of rovduga, treated with urine and smoked with smoke, was used.

Winter and summer men's shoes are shoe-shaped with a long (knee-length) or short (ankle-length) shaft. The winter one was made from reindeer kamus with the fur facing out, the summer one was made from thin deer, dog, seal or seal skins, rovduga or waterproof smoked deer skin with trimmed pile. The sole was made from bearded seal skin, walrus skin, and deer brushes (part of the skin with long hair from a deer’s leg above the hoof).

At the camp

A men's fur headdress - a bonnet-shaped malakhai with earmuffs - was worn in winter and summer. Included in winter men's clothing included double or single mittens (lilit) made of reindeer kamus.

Women sewed fur double jumpsuits that reached their knees. For the lower overalls, the chavchuvenkas selected plain, thin skins of young deer; for the upper overalls, they preferred variegated ones. Among the coastal Koryak women, alternating white and dark stripes of reindeer camus and fur mosaics predominate in their clothing. Summer overalls were made from smoked deer or rovduga skin and decorated with strips of red fabric inserted into the seams. Over the overalls, women in winter wore a double or single kukhlyanka, similar to the men's one, and in spring, summer and autumn - a gagaglia (kagav'len) fur shirt with fur inside, much longer than the men's kukhlyanka. The front and back of the eiderdown were decorated with fringes made of thin straps, pendants made of dyed seal fur, and beads. There were no special women's headdresses. During migrations, Koryak women wore men's malakhai. Women's shoes decorated with an applique of thin white leather from the dogs' necks, but in cut and materials it was identical to the men's. In winter, women wore fur double mittens.

In traditional clothes, both old and young

Until the age of five or six, a child was sewn a jumpsuit with a hood (kalny’ykei, kakei): in winter - double, and in summer - single. The sleeves and legs of the overalls were sewn up, and after the child began to walk, fur or fur shoes were sewn to the legs. In the clothing of five- and six-year-old children, its purpose based on gender differences was already clearly visible.

The reindeer Koryaks ate reindeer meat, most often boiled; they also consumed willow bark and seaweed. Coastal residents ate the meat of sea animals and fish. Since the 18th century purchased products appeared: flour, rice, crackers, bread and tea. Flour porridge was cooked in water, deer or seal blood, and rice porridge was eaten with seal or deer fat.

The basis of social life was a large patriarchal (from the Latin pater - father, arche - power) family community, uniting close, and in the case of reindeer, sometimes distant relatives on the paternal side. At its head was the oldest man. The marriage was preceded by a probationary period for the groom to work on the farm of his future father-in-law. After it was over, the so-called “grabbing” ritual followed (the groom had to catch the fleeing bride and touch her body). This gave the right to marriage. The transition to the husband's house was accompanied by rituals of introducing the wife to the hearth and family cult. Until the beginning of the twentieth century. the customs of the levirate (from the Latin levir - brother-in-law, brother of the husband) were preserved: if the older brother died, the younger one had to marry his wife and take care of her and her children, as well as the sororate (from the Latin soror - sister): the widower had to marry on the sister of his deceased wife.

A typical coastal Koryak settlement united several related families. There were production associations, including canoe associations (using one canoe), the core of which was a large patriarchal family. Other relatives who were engaged in fishing were grouped around her. Reindeer herders' camp, the head of which owned for the most part reindeer herd and managed not only the economic, but also social life, numbered from two to six yarangas. Within the camp, connections were based on joint herding of reindeer, cemented by kinship and marriage ties, and supported by ancient traditions and rituals. Since the 18th century. among the nomadic Koryaks, property division (stratification) due to the development private property on reindeer, led to the emergence of poor farm laborers who may not have been related to other inhabitants of the camp.

At the beginning of the twentieth century. there is a destruction of patriarchal-communal relations among the settled Koryaks. This is caused by the transition to individual species economic activity: hunting of small sea animals, fur hunting, fishing.

sacred bird

The main rituals and holidays of the sedentary Koryaks of the 19th - early 20th centuries. dedicated to the fishing of marine animals. Their main moments are the ceremonial meeting and farewell of the hunted animals (whales, killer whales, etc.). After the ritual was performed, the skins, noses, and paws of the killed animals replenished the family “guardians.”

The main autumn festival of the nomadic Koryaks - Koyanaitatyk - “Drive the Reindeer” - was held after the return of herds from summer pastures. After the winter solstice, reindeer herders celebrated the “return of the sun.” On this day, they competed in reindeer sled racing, wrestling, running with sticks, throwing a lasso at a target moving in a circle, and climbing an icy pole.

The Koryaks also developed rituals life cycle, accompanying weddings, births of children, funerals.

Shaman

To protect against disease and death, they turned to shamans, performed various sacrifices, and wore amulets. Premature death was considered the machinations of evil spirits, ideas about which were reflected in funeral and memorial rituals. Funeral clothes were prepared during life, but they were left unfinished, fearing that those who already had ready-made clothes will die earlier. It was finished off with a large, ugly seam while the deceased was in the home. At this time, sleeping was strictly prohibited. The main method of burial is burning on a cedar dwarf pyre. With the deceased, his personal belongings, basic necessities, bow and arrows, food, and gifts to previously deceased relatives were placed on the fire. Among the coastal Koryaks of the southern groups, baptized back in the 18th century, the Orthodox funeral and memorial rite was intertwined with traditional customs: burning the dead, making funeral clothes, treating the dead as if they were alive.

The main genres of narrative folklore of the Koryaks are myths and fairy tales (lymnylo), historical stories and legends (panenatvo), as well as conspiracies, riddles, and songs. The most widely represented are the myths and tales about Kuikynyaku (Kutkynyaku) - the Crow. He appears both as a creator and as a trickster-prankster. Tales about animals are popular. The characters in them most often are mice, bears, dogs, fish, and sea animals. Historical narratives reflect real events past (wars of the Koryaks with the Chukchi, with the Evens, inter-tribal clashes). Traces of borrowing from other peoples (Evens, Russians) are noticeable in folklore.

The music is represented by singing, recitatives, throat wheezing while inhaling and exhaling. Lyrical songs include “name song” and “ancestral song”, reproducing local and family tunes.

The common Koryak name for musical instruments is g’eynechg’yn. The same word also denotes a wind instrument similar to an oboe, with a squeaker made of feathers and a bell made of birch bark, as well as a flute made from the hogweed plant with an outer slit without playing holes, and a squeaker made of bird feathers, and a trumpet made of birch bark. Also characteristic are a plate-shaped jew's harp and a round tambourine with a flat shell and an internal cross-shaped handle with vertebrae on a bracket with inside shells.

Page from the textbook of the Nymylan language by S.N. Stebnitsky

There are 18 national villages in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. Indigenous people is still engaged in reindeer husbandry, hunting, fishing, processing meat and fish, as well as sewing fur products. In schools, children study native language. In the village An art school has been opened in Palana. At the House of Culture there is a folklore group, a Koryak language group and a national dance group “Veyem” (“River”).

Local television and radio broadcast programs in the Koryak language.

To protect the interests of the indigenous residents of the district, the public organization “Indigenous Peoples of the North of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug” was formed; there are its primary cells in all ethnic villages, as well as in the Tigil and Karaginsky regions. In the Koryak Autonomous Okrug, laws are being adopted that should help preserve and revive the national way of life and traditional forms of economic management.

As a special ethnographic group of Koryaks for a long time Alyutors, Olyutors, Alyutors (in Koryak and Chukchi - alutalu, elutalyu) were considered. In Russian sources they are first mentioned from early XVIII V. as a special people. The 1989 census identified them as an independent people.

Named after the village. Alut (modern Alyutorskoe), according to another version - from the Eskimo alutor - “enchanted place”. The self-name Nymylu is the same as that of various groups of coastal Koryaks.

Number of people: 3500. They live mainly in the eastern part of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug - in villages along the coast of the Bering Sea, from the Gulf of Korfu in the north to the village. Tymlat in the south, and along the middle reaches of the river. Vivnik, as well as on west coast Kamchatka, in the village. Rekkiniki. They speak the Alyutor dialect, which is close to the southern branch of the coastal Koryak dialects. Some linguists consider the Alyutor dialect as an independent language.

By type of business and traditional culture The Alyutor people are very close to the coastal Koryaks: they have also been engaged in marine hunting, including hunting cetaceans and walruses, fishing, gathering, hunting, since the 19th century. - reindeer husbandry. Reindeer were exchanged for marine products and essential goods, reindeer transport was used during migrations (dog sleds - for everyday household needs, when inspecting traps and traps during the hunting period).

The Alyutor people had housing and clothing similar to the Koryak ones; one of the features of the latter was waterproof kamleykas made from walrus intestines; The Alyutor people were also distinguished by the habit of sewing trousers made of reindeer kamus to their winter trunks.

The beliefs and rituals of the Alyutors were not much different from the Koryaks. Christianity, which had been spreading among them since the beginning of the 18th century, was not accepted by them.

The Alyutor people continue to preserve a number of local ethnographic features to this day.

In March 2000, by decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, they were included in Unified list indigenous peoples Russian Federation.

article from the encyclopedia "The Arctic is my home"

BOOKS ABOUT KORYAKS
Antropova V.V. Culture and life of the Koryaks. L., 1971.
Vdovin I.S. Essays on the ethnic history of the Koryaks. L., 1973.
History and culture of the Koryaks. L., 1994.
Slyunin N.V. Okhotsk-Kamchatka region. Natural historical description. St. Petersburg, 1900. T. 1.
Stebnitsky S.N. Lymnylo-Nymylan (Koryak) tales. L., 1938.

Like other Paleo-Asian peoples of North-Eastern Siberia, they belong to the mainland group of populations of the Arctic race of Mongoloids.

Koryak language

Koryak language is included in the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of Paleo-Asian languages, the closest Chukchi language , which is explained by the commonality of the linguistic substrate from which different times the languages of the modern peoples of North-Eastern Siberia became isolated. At first it was the Itelmen language, which developed autonomously for a long time, and then the Chukchi and Koryak languages, which coexisted in conditions of fairly active contacts between these peoples. The cultural and economic diversity of the Koryaks is reflected in the dialects, the names of which correspond to the distinguished groups: Chavchuvensky, Kamensky, Apukinsky, Parensky, Itkansky, Olyutorsky, Karaginsky, Palansky, Kereksky. In connection with the opinion about the possibility of vesting Alyutorians And Kerek independent status ethnic community their dialects also receive the status of independent languages.

Farm

In cultural and economic terms, the Koryaks are divided into 2 groups. Reindeer herders (Chavchuvens), monolithic in cultural terms, are represented by several territorial groups that roamed the mainland tundra from the Kamchatka Isthmus to the headwaters of the left tributaries of the Kolyma. Coastal Koryaks (Nymylans), more culturally and economically diverse, are sometimes designated as ethno-territorial groups: Kamenets, Parenets, Itkins (coast of the Penzhinskaya Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk), Apukins (Bering Sea coast of Kamchatka, north of the Pakhachi River basin). Further to the north are the Kereks (currently counted as an independent people of about 100 people). In the south, along the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the Karaginians live, and parallel to them, on the western coast, the Palans live. The cultural and economic status of the Alyutor people, who are settled on the east coast from the Gulf of Corfu to the south and have settlements on the Okhotsk coast, is more difficult to determine. Their economy combines reindeer husbandry, fishing and hunting. Now the Alyutor people are distinguished as an independent people. Differences between the listed groups are recorded in the language at the level of dialects, and in culture - in the ratio of the main types of economic activity (for example, fishing predominates among the Padans, and hunting for sea animals predominates among the Kamenets).

Story

The history of the Koryaks is associated with the autochthonous basis of the formation of their culture. In the basin of the Sea of Okhotsk, archaeologists have identified monuments of the so-called Okhotsk culture (1st millennium AD, the culture of sea hunters, fishermen and wild deer hunters), in which the features of Koryak cultural traditions can be traced, preserved in relative chronological continuity until the ancient Koryak settlements of the 16th century. -XVII centuries The basis of the Okhotsk culture was made up of inland Neolithic traditions (Baikal region) and southeastern components (Amur region). The Koryaks interacted most closely with the Itelmens, which is recorded in almost all spheres of culture. Since the 17th century The most significant factor determining the appearance of Koryak culture is Koryak-Russian ties. Direct contacts with the Russians changed their economy and life, especially of the coastal Koryaks. Reindeer Koryaks in to a greater extent preserved the characteristics of their culture. Thus, the appearance of the ethnic culture of the Koryaks was influenced by both regional factors in the formation of Paleo-Asian peoples and ethnocultural ties with their neighbors.

At the time of their acquaintance with the Russians, the Koryaks did not have clan organization. Settlements of sedentary Koryaks already in the 17th century. were formed as territorial-community associations that did not have exogamous characteristics. At the end of the 19th century. in the field of production and distribution, the features of primitive collectivism were preserved. The Parenians, Itkans, and Kamenets had special groups - “canoe associations”, where tools and labor were united during sea hunting. “Canoe associations” were organized on the basis of the kinship principle. They not only performed production functions, but represented sustainable social structures, whose internal life was regulated by customary law, traditions and rituals. There were no uniform rules when distributing the catch of the fishery. The most pronounced form of egalitarian distribution occurred during whale hunting. The caught whale became the property of all residents of the village. In the summer, groups of relatives united to fish together. The spoils were divided equally. The production and social life of the reindeer Koryaks was concentrated in the camp, where several smaller ones were usually grouped around the farm of a large reindeer herder. The inhabitants of the camp were connected by relationships of kinship and property. The population of the camp sometimes reached 50-70 people. The owner of most of the herd was considered the head, that is, the manager of the economic life of the camp. Several camps roaming a certain territory united into groups connected by blood, marriage or economic relations and headed by elders. Forms of ownership: communal for pastures and private for reindeer herds. Reindeer husbandry of the Chavchuvens before its change in Soviet period remained patriarchal-natural with noticeable features of primitive communal relations.

Worldview

The traditional worldview is associated with animism. The Koryaks animated the entire world around them: mountains, stones, plants, sea, heavenly bodies. The universe was represented in the form of 5 worlds: the earth inhabited by people, 2 worlds above it and 2 underground. The Upper World is the abode of the Supreme Being, who was identified with the sun, dawn, nature, and the universe. Top of underground worlds seemed to be inhabited by evil spirits, and the lower one was the abode of the shadows of the dead. The worlds that make up the universe are interpenetrable. There was professional and family shamanism. The Koryaks did not have special shamanic clothes. Worship of sacred places - appapels (hills, capes, cliffs) is widespread. Sacrifices of dogs and deer are practiced. There are cult objects - anyapels (special stones for fortune telling, sacred boards in the form of anthropomorphic figures for making fire by friction, amulets symbolizing totemistic ancestors, etc.).

Family

Basic economic unit all groups of Koryaks in the 19th - early 20th centuries. there was a large patriarchal family. Polygamy is known, although at the end of the 19th century. it was not widespread. Marriages took place within one local group. The marriage system of the Koryaks excluded cousins; in the case of a patrilocal marriage, work for the wife was practiced. The customs of levirate and sororate were observed. There was a strict sexual division of labor.

Koryak culture

The ethnic culture of the Koryaks is represented by 2 economic and cultural types. The basis of the Koryak-Chavchuven economy is reindeer husbandry, which is supplemented by hunting and fishing. Sedentary Koryaks were engaged in fishing, sea and land hunting, but for different territorial groups of sedentary Koryaks the importance of these types of economy was not the same. Among the Alyutor people, reindeer husbandry is combined with an additional commercial complex. Reindeer husbandry of the Koryak-Chavchuvens is large herd and, in terms of organization and productive orientation, corresponds to Samoyed. Regional differences include shorter seasonal migration routes, summer grazing in the mountains and division of camps, and the absence of a herding dog. The Alyutor people are characterized by a smaller number of deer on the farm and cooperation of low-reindeer farms, and a greater share of fisheries. Koryak reindeer herders had highly specialized reindeer transport. The basis of the economy of the sedentary Koryaks was fishing (Karagintsy, Alyutortsy, Palantsy), sea hunting (Penzhintsy, Apukintsy). At the beginning of the 20th century. 63% of Koryak households hunted sea animals. Fur hunting was not of great importance before the arrival of the Russians; the Koryaks hunted bear, mountain sheep, and wild deer. Features of the culture of sedentary Koryaks were sled dog breeding and more diverse means of transportation on water, which had much in common with the Chukchi and Eskimo.

Fishing

The specifics of the fishery determined the nature of settlement. The only type settlement, the reindeer herders had a camp consisting of several yarang dwellings. The yaranga was a frame made of poles, which was covered with a tire made of deer skins with sheared fur, the inside inside. The yaranga was about 10 m in diameter and 4 m in height. Inside the yaranga, fur sleeping curtains were attached to the walls, each for one family. Adult unmarried men and unmarried women lived in separate shelters. The number of inhabitants of one yaranga at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. reached 25 people. The Chavchuvens had no outbuildings. Among the sedentary Koryaks, the predominant form of housing was a half-dugout with an original funnel-shaped structure on the roof. The walls were made of wooden blocks. There was a fireplace in the center of the dwelling. They entered the dugout in winter through a smoke hole, in summer - through a special attached corridor with a flat roof. Sedentary Koryaks, like reindeer herders, slept in fur canopies. Most of the settlements of sedentary Koryaks were located at the mouths of rivers, on the seashore, where they lived in winter and summer. The Palans had winter villages far from fishing grounds; in the summer they moved to the coast to summer dwellings. The settlements differed in the number of inhabitants: the Palan settlements numbered 200 people or more. Most of the Apukin villages consisted of 1 half-dugout. The settlements of settled Koryaks were given a unique look outbuildings- booths covered with dry grass. Under the influence of the Russians separate groups Koryaks already in the middle of the 18th century. log dwellings began to appear.

Cloth

Traditional winter clothing consisted of a fur shirt, pants and a hood. Winter clothing is double: the lower one - with the fur towards the body, the upper one - with the fur outward. Most of the kuhlyankas had a hood and the trousers reached the ankles in length. Men's winter shoes with long and short tops were made from reindeer camus with the fur facing out. The soles were usually made of bearded seal skin. Fur stockings were placed inside the shoes. On the road, over the kuhlyanka they wore a kamleika - a wide shirt made of rovduga or cloth. Women's winter shoes were distinguished by high tops. The set of women's winter clothing also included overalls (kerker), a fur shirt (gagaglia), the hood of which replaced the headdress. Children's clothing was overalls. Summer clothing of the Koryaks had the same cut as winter clothing, but was made from lighter materials - rovduga, deer skins with sheared fur, dog skins, purchased fabrics and was always single. The Koryaks did not have any special fishing clothing; they only preferred dog skins or rovduga. The distinctive features of ritual clothing (funerary and dance) were the rich and characteristic ornamentation, as well as the color of the fur.

Traditional Koryak clothing was decorated with ornaments and pendants. Decorations included bracelets, earrings, and pendants, which were made from old copper and silver items. Many decorations played the role of amulets. Hairstyles and women's tattoos had magical significance. Men cut their hair, leaving only a circle on the top of the head or a narrow rim around the head. Women combed their hair in the middle and braided it into two tight braids, which were decorated with a string of beads.

Koryak food

The main food of reindeer herders is reindeer meat, mainly boiled. Kidneys, brains, and cartilage were eaten raw. A stew was made from the blood and stomach contents. The dried meat was used to prepare ritual dishes - masher (the meat was ground with a pestle, adding roots, fat and berries). They ate frozen meat on the road. The hooves were fermented in blood, and the young shoots of the horns were eaten boiled. Yukola was prepared as a complement to meat food, and in the summer they diversified the diet with fresh fish. Fish, meat and fat of sea animals constituted the main food of the sedentary Koryaks. Most of the fish was consumed in the form of salmon yukola.

The meat of sea animals was boiled or frozen. The fat of sea animals was valued; it was eaten raw or melted with meat or yukola. Gathering products were consumed everywhere: edible plants, berries, nuts. Fly agaric was used as a stimulant and intoxicant. WITH late XIX V. Purchased products began to become increasingly widespread: flour, cereals, tea, sugar, tobacco.

Decorative and applied arts of the Koryaks

Folk arts and crafts of the Koryaks are presented artistic treatment soft materials (female occupation) and making products from stone, bone, wood and metal (male). Koryak craftswomen are virtuosos of northern fur mosaic, skillfully selecting combinations of light and dark tones of fur. Fur mosaic stripes are sewn onto the hems of kukhlyankas in the form of a wide border (opuvan). The ornament is predominantly geometric, less often floral. Often realistic figures of animals and scenes from their lives are embroidered. The technique of satin stitch predominates in embroidery. The backs of eider ducks were especially richly decorated. Special area women's art Koryakov - decoration fur carpets. The technique used to decorate them is to sew together pieces of light and dark fur; embroidery with colored threads on fur was also used.

In wood carving, male carvers used complex-shaped ornaments, also characteristic of ancient Paleo-Asians: curls, paired spirals on a leg (“ram’s horns”). Miniature figures of people and animals were carved from walrus tusks and horns, bone earrings, necklaces, snuff boxes were made, smoking pipes, decorated with engraved ornaments and drawings. Parensky blacksmiths were distinguished by their great skill in making metal products.

Koryak armor

Holidays

Traditional Koryak holidays are seasonal. Reindeer herders celebrated the festival of horns (Kilvey) in the spring, when after calving the herd was driven to the camp, and in the fall - the festival of reindeer slaughter. Coastal hunters, before the start of the spring sea fishery, held a holiday for launching kayaks, and at the end of the autumn season (in November) - a holiday for the seal - Hololo (olo-lo). There were holidays of the “first fish”, “first seal”. Both the coastal and reindeer Koryaks held special religious ceremonies on the occasion of hunting bears, rams, and others. In families where twins were born, a special “wolf holiday” was held, since twins were considered relatives of wolves. At the holidays, ritual dances were performed, representing a naturalistic imitation of the movements of animals and birds: seals, bears, deer, ravens. Traditional dance Mlavytyn was accompanied by characteristic guttural hoarse singing. During the holidays, games and competitions were organized (wrestling, running competitions, deer or dog races, tossing a bearded seal on the skin). Among the musical instruments, along with the narrow-rimmed tambourine, the Jew's harp (the so-called dental tambourine in the form of a bone or iron plate) is common. In recent decades, professional culture has been successfully developing, mainly in the field of choreography (national dance ensemble"Mango") and visual arts. Associations of amateur artists and writers have been created in the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. The artist Kirill Kilpalin and the writer Koyanto (V.V. Kosygin) are especially famous.

town Palana 1212

Tymlat village 706

Manila village 565

Sedanka village 446

Lesnaya village 384

Vyvenka village 362

Ossora village 351

Tilichiki village 329

Karaga village 289

Slautnoye village 254

Talovka village 254

Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky city 245

Tigil village 203

Khailino village 201

Voyampolka village 163

Ivashka village 162

Khairyuzovo village 102

Magadan Region:

Verkhniy Paren village 262

Evensk town 234

Topolovka village 160

Place of residence- Koryak Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka Region.

Language- Chukchi-Kamchatka family of languages.

Self-name; resettlement By the beginning of contact with the Russians in the 18th century, the Koryaks were divided into nomadic people (self-name chav'chu- "reindeer herder") and sedentary ( nomylyo- “residents”, “villagers”), in turn subdivided into several separate groups: Karagintsy ( karan'ynylyo), boys ( poytilyo), Kamenets ( vaykynelyo) etc. Nomadic people settled in the interior regions of Kamchatka and on the adjacent mainland, sedentary (coastal) people settled on the eastern and western coasts of Kamchatka, as well as in the area of Penzhinskaya Bay and the Taigonos Peninsula.

Writing has existed since 1931 on a Latin, and since 1936 on a Russian graphic basis.

Crafts, crafts and labor tools, means of transportation. The nomadic Koryaks - Chavchuvens - are characterized by large-scale reindeer herding with a herd size of 400 to 2000 heads. During the year, they made four main migrations: in the spring (before calving) - to moss pastures, in the summer - to places where there are fewer midges (mosquitoes, midges, etc.), in the autumn - closer to the camps where the reindeer were slaughtered, and in the winter - short migrations near the camps. The main tools of the shepherds were a staff, a lasso ( chav'at) - a long rope with a loop for catching deer, as well as a boomerang-shaped stick (curved in a special way and, after being thrown, returned to the shepherd), with the help of which the stray part of the herd was collected. In winter, the Chavchuvens hunted fur-bearing animals.

The economy of the Nymyl-sedentary Koryaks combined sea hunting, fishing, land hunting and gathering.

Marine hunting is the main occupation of the inhabitants of Penzhinskaya Bay (Itkans, Parents and Kamenets). He also played an important role among the Apukins and Karagins, and to a lesser extent among the Palans. Hunting for sea animals in the spring was individual, and in the fall - collective, began in late May - early June and lasted until October. The main weapons were the harpoon ( v'emek) and networks. Traveled on leather kayaks ( kultaytvyyt- “a boat made of bearded seal skins”) and single-seater kayak boats ( mytyv). They caught bearded seals, seals, akiba, spotted seals, and lionfish. Before mid-19th centuries, the sedentary Koryaks of the Penzhina Bay hunted cetaceans. The Apukin and Karagin people were engaged in hunting walruses.

By the end of the 19th century, as a result of the extermination of whales and walruses by American whalers, the harvest of these animals declined, and fishing began to play a primary role in the economy. From spring to autumn, huge schools of salmon fish flowed from the sea into the rivers of the eastern coast of Kamchatka: char, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, and trout; in February - March, smelt and navaga entered the bays; in April - May, the waters off the coast were “boiling” with herring that had come to spawn. To catch fish, they used locks, set-type and net-type nets, fishing rods and hooks on a long strap, reminiscent of a harpoon. Fishing was supplemented by hunting birds, ungulates and fur-bearing animals, and collecting wild berries and edible roots. Among the hunting weapons, traps, crossbows, nets, pressure-type traps (the alert is broken, and the log crushes the animal), cherkans and the like, were common, and with late XVIII centuries began to use firearms.

Karagins and Palans mastered vegetable gardening and cattle breeding.

Dwellings. The nomadic Koryaks lived in summer and winter in portable frame yarangas ( yayana), the basis of which consisted of three poles 3.5–5 meters high, placed in the form of a tripod and tied at the top with a belt. Around them, in the lower part of the yaranga, forming an irregular circle with a diameter of 4–10 meters, low tripods were strengthened, tied with a belt and connected by transverse crossbars. The upper conical part of the yaranga consisted of inclined poles resting on transverse crossbars, the tops of tripods and the upper ends of three main poles. A tire made of sheared or worn deer skins was pulled over the frame of the yaranga, with the fur facing out. Inside, fur sleeping curtains were tied to additional poles along the walls ( yoena), shaped like a box turned upside down, 1.3–1.5 meters high, 2–4 meters long, 1.3–2 meters wide. The number of canopies was determined by the number of married couples living in the yaranga. The floor under the canopy was covered with willow or cedar branches and deer skins.

Among the sedentary Koryaks, the predominant type of dwelling was the half-dugout ( lymgyyan, yayana) up to 15 meters long, up to 12 meters wide and up to 7 meters high. During its construction, eight vertical pillars were dug into a round hole 1–1.5 meters deep around the circumference and four in the center. Between the outer pillars, two rows of logs sawn lengthwise were driven in, forming the walls of the dwelling, fastened at the top with transverse beams. From the square frame connecting the four central pillars and forming the upper entrance and smoke hole, the blocks of the octagonal roof ran to the upper transverse beams of the walls. To protect against snow drifts, the Koryaks of the west coast built a funnel-shaped bell of poles and blocks around the hole, and the Koryaks of the east coast built a barrier of rods or mats. A corridor sunk into the ground with a flat roof was attached to one of the walls facing the sea. The walls, roof and corridor of the dwelling, caulked with dry grass or moss, were covered with earth on top. The hearth, consisting of two oblong stones, was located at a distance of 50 centimeters from the central log with notches, along which in winter they entered the dwelling through the upper hole. During the fishing season, the entrance was a side corridor. Inside such a dugout, on the side opposite the corridor, a platform was installed for receiving guests. Sleeping curtains made from worn-out deer skins or worn-out fur clothing were hung along the side walls.

IN early XIX century, under the influence of Russian settlers, log huts appeared among the Palans, Karagins, Apukins and Koryaks on the northwestern coast of the Sea of Okhotsk. By the end of the 19th century, the Karagins and partly the Palans began to build above-ground dwellings of the Yakut type (balagan), in which the windows were covered with the intestines of sea animals or bears. An iron or brick stove with a chimney was installed in the center of such dwellings, and wooden bunks were built along the walls.

Cloth. All groups of Koryak clothing had a closed cut. The Chavchuvens usually sewed it from deer skins, while the Primorye people used, along with deer skins, the skins of sea animals. The decoration was the fur of dogs and fur-bearing animals. In winter they wore double clothing (with fur inside and out), in summer - single clothing. The "all-weather" men's set consisted of a fur shirt with a hood and bib, fur pants, a headdress and shoes. The outer trousers were made from thin reindeer skin or reindeer kamus, the lower and summer trousers were made from rovduga or leather cut from an old yaranga tire. Until the end of the 19th century, coastal Koryak hunters wore pants made of seal skins during the fishing season.

A men's fur headdress - a bonnet-shaped malakhai with earmuffs - was worn in winter and summer. The set of winter men's clothing included double or single mittens ( Lilith) from reindeer camus.

Women sewed fur double jumpsuits that reached their knees. For the lower overalls, the Chavchuvenkas selected plain, thin skins of young ones; for the upper overalls, they preferred variegated ones. Among the coastal Koryak women, alternating white and dark stripes of reindeer camus and fur mosaics predominate in their clothing. Summer overalls were made from smoked deer or rovduga skin and decorated with strips of red fabric inserted into the seams. Over overalls, women wore a double or single kukhlyanka, similar to men's, in winter, and in spring, summer and autumn - a gagaglya fur shirt ( kagav'len) with fur inside, much longer than the male kukhlyanka. The front and back of the eiderdown were decorated with fringes made of thin straps, pendants made of dyed seal fur, and beads. There were no special women's headdresses. During migrations, Koryak women wore men's malakhai. Women's shoes were decorated with an applique of thin white leather from the necks of dogs, but in cut and materials they were identical to men's shoes. In winter, women wore fur double mittens.

Until the age of five or six, the child was sewn overalls with a hood ( kalny’ykei, kakei): in winter - double, and in summer - single. The sleeves and legs of the overalls were sewn up, and after the child began to walk, fur or fur shoes were sewn to the legs. In the clothing of five- and six-year-old children, its purpose based on gender differences was already clearly visible.

Food. The reindeer Koryaks ate reindeer meat, most often boiled, and also consumed willow bark and seaweed. Coastal residents ate the meat of sea animals and fish. Since the 18th century, purchased products have appeared: flour, rice, crackers, bread and tea. Flour porridge was cooked in water, deer or seal blood, and rice porridge was eaten with seal or deer fat.

Social life, power, marriage, family. The basis of social life was large patriarchal (from lat. pater- "father", arche- “power”) a family community that united close, and in the case of reindeer, sometimes even distant relatives on the paternal side. At its head was the oldest man. The marriage was preceded by a probationary period for the groom to work on the farm of his future father-in-law. After it was over, the so-called “grabbing” ritual followed (the groom had to catch the fleeing bride and touch her body). This gave the right to marriage. The transition to the husband's house was accompanied by rituals of introducing the wife to the hearth and family cult. Until the beginning of the twentieth century, the customs of levirate (from lat. levir- “brother-in-law, brother of the husband”): if the older brother died, the younger one had to marry his wife and take care of her and her children, as well as sororate (from lat. soror- "sister"): a widower must marry the sister of his deceased wife.

The reindeer herders' camp, whose head owned most of the reindeer herd and led not only economic but also social life, numbered from two to six yarangas. Within the camp, connections were based on joint herding of reindeer, cemented by kinship and marriage ties, and supported by ancient traditions and rituals. Starting from the 18th century, among the nomadic Koryaks, property division (stratification), caused by the development of private ownership of reindeer, led to the emergence of poor farm laborers who may not have been related to other inhabitants of the camp.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the destruction of patriarchal-communal relations among the settled Koryaks occurred. This was caused by the transition to individual types of economic activity: hunting of small sea animals, fur hunting, and fishing.

Holidays, rituals. The main rituals and holidays of the sedentary Koryaks of the 19th and early 20th centuries were dedicated to the fishing of sea animals. Their main moments are the ceremonial meeting and farewell of the hunted animals (whales, killer whales, etc.). After the ritual was performed, the skins, noses, and paws of the killed animals replenished the family “guardians.”

The main autumn holiday of the nomadic Koryaks Koyanaitatyk- “Drive the reindeer” - was organized after the herds returned from the summer pastures. After the winter solstice, reindeer herders celebrated the “return of the sun.” On this day, they competed in reindeer sled racing, wrestling, running with sticks, throwing a lasso at a target moving in a circle, and climbing an icy pole.

The Koryaks also developed life cycle rituals that accompanied weddings, the birth of children, and funerals.

To protect against disease and death, they turned to shamans, performed various sacrifices, and wore amulets. Premature death was considered the machinations of evil spirits, ideas about which were reflected in funeral and memorial rituals. Funeral clothes were prepared during life, but they were left unfinished, fearing that those who had ready-made clothes would die earlier. It was finished off with a large, ugly seam while the deceased was in the home. At this time, sleeping was strictly prohibited. The main method of burial is burning on a cedar dwarf pyre. With the deceased, his personal belongings, basic necessities, bow and arrows, food, and gifts to previously deceased relatives were placed on the fire. Among the coastal Koryaks of the southern groups, baptized back in the 18th century, the Orthodox funeral and memorial rites were intertwined with traditional customs: burning the dead, making funeral clothes, treating the dead as if they were alive.

Folklore, musical instruments. The main genres of narrative folklore of the Koryaks are myths and fairy tales ( it was blazing), historical stories and legends ( panenatvo), as well as conspiracies, riddles, songs. The most widely represented myths and tales about Kuikynyaku (Kutkynyaku) - Crow. He appears both as a creator and as a trickster-prankster. Tales about animals are popular. The characters in them most often are mice, bears, dogs, fish, and sea animals. Historical narratives reflect real events of the past (wars of the Koryaks with, with, intertribal clashes). Traces of borrowing from other peoples (Russians) are noticeable in folklore.

The music is represented by singing, recitatives, throat wheezing while inhaling and exhaling. Lyrical songs include “name song” and “ancestral song”, reproducing local and family tunes.

The common Koryak name for musical instruments is g'eynechg'yn. The same word also denotes a wind instrument similar to an oboe, with a squeaker made of feathers and a bell made of birch bark, as well as a flute made from the hogweed plant with an outer slit without playing holes, and a squeaker made of bird feathers, and a trumpet made of birch bark. Also characteristic are a plate-shaped jew's harp and a round tambourine with a flat shell and an internal cross-shaped handle with vertebrae on a bracket on the inside of the shell.

Modern cultural life. In schools, children learn their native language. An art school has been opened in the village of Palana. At the House of Culture there is a folklore group, a Koryak language group and a national dance group "Veyem" ("River"). Local television and radio broadcast programs in the Koryak language.

About the Alutorians. As a special ethnographic group of Koryaks, the Alyutors, Olyutors, and Alyutors (in Koryak and Chukchi - alutalu, eluthalu). In Russian sources they are mentioned for the first time since the beginning of the 18th century as a special people. The 1989 census identified them as an independent people.

Named after the village of Alyut, according to another version - from the Eskimo alutora- "enchanted place." Self-name - nomulyu, the same as among various groups of coastal Koryaks.

Number of people: 3500. They live mainly in the eastern part of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug - in villages along the coast of the Bering Sea, from Korfu Bay in the north to the village of Tymlat in the south, and along the middle reaches of the Vivnik River, as well as on the western coast of Kamchatka, in the village of Rekkinniki. They speak the Alyutor dialect, which is close to the southern branch of the coastal Koryak dialects. Some linguists consider the Alyutor dialect as an independent language. In terms of the type of farming and traditional culture, the Alyutor people are very close to the coastal Koryaks: they were also engaged in marine hunting, including hunting cetaceans and walruses, fishing, gathering, hunting, and, since the 19th century, reindeer herding. Reindeer were exchanged for marine products and essential goods, reindeer transport was used during migrations (dog sleds - for everyday household needs, when inspecting traps and traps during the hunting period).

The beliefs and rituals of the Alyutors were not much different from the Koryaks. Christianity, which had been spreading among them since the beginning of the 18th century, was not accepted by them. The Alyutor people continue to preserve a number of local ethnographic features to this day.

In March 2000, by decree of the Government of the Russian Federation, they were included in the Unified List of Indigenous Minorities of the Russian Federation.

People in the Russian Federation. Indigenous population of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug. They also live in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and the Magadan Region. The Koryak language of the Chukchi-Kamchatka family of Paleo-Asian languages. Number of people: 8942 people.

Koryak is an ethnonym that began to be used in the 17th century. Its origin is associated with the formants (k o r) - “deer” and (a k) - “located at”, “with”, i.e. "deer".

The ethnic territory of the Koryaks is located in the north of the Kamchatka Peninsula.

The number in the Russian Federation is 8942 people.

Economically and culturally, the Koryaks are divided into two groups. Reindeer herders (Chavchuvens), monolithic in cultural terms, are represented by several territorial groups that roamed the mainland tundra from the Kamchatka Isthmus to the upper reaches of the left tributaries of the river. Kolyma.

Coastal Koryaks (Nymylans), more diverse in economic and cultural terms. Sometimes they are designated as ethnoterritorial groups: Kamenets, Parenets, Itkintsy (coast of the Penzhinskaya Bay of the Sea of Okhotsk), Apukintsy (Bringomorsky coast of Kamchatka, north of the Pakhachi River basin). Further to the north are the Kereks (currently considered as an independent people, numbering about 100 people). To the south, along the eastern coast of Kamchatka, the Karaginians live, and parallel to them, on the western coast, the Palans live. The cultural and economic status of the Olyutor people, who settle on the east coast from the Gulf of Corfu to the south and have settlements on the Okhotsk coast, is more difficult to determine. Their economy is a combination of reindeer husbandry, fishing and hunting. Currently, the Olyutorians are distinguished as an independent people (numbering about 2OOO people). The differences between the listed groups are fixed in the language at the dialect level, and in culture, in the ratio of the main types of economic activity (for example: among the Padans, fishing predominates, and among the Kamenets, hunting for sea animals predominates).

The Koryaks, like other Paleo-Asian peoples of northeastern Siberia, belong to the mainland group of populations of the Arctic Mongoloid race (see: Itelmens).

The Koryak language is part of the Chukchi-Kamchatka group of Paleo-Asian languages, in which it is closest to the Chukchi language. This closeness is explained by linguists by the commonality of the linguistic substrate from which, in different time periods, the languages of the modern peoples of North-East Siberia were isolated. At first, it was the Itelmen language, which long time developed autonomously, and then Chukchi and Koryak, which coexisted longer in a substrate state, and then, in conditions of fairly active contacts between these peoples. The cultural and economic diversity of the Koryaks in the structure of their language is reflected in dialects, the names of which correspond to the distinguished groups: Chavchuvensky, Kamensky, Apukinsky, Parensky, Itkansky, Olyutorsky, Karaginsky, Palansky, Kereksky. As noted above, in connection with the opinion about the possibility of giving the Olyutorians and Kereks the status of an independent ethnic community, their dialects also receive the status of independent languages.

In 1932, under the leadership of V.G. Bogoraz, S.N. Stebnitsky prepared the “Red Letter” - the first primer in the Koryak language. The difficulty of spreading literacy among the Koryaks lay in the division of their language into two dialect groups - northern and southern - each of which consisted of dialects - 4 and 3, respectively. Along with them, another dialect of the Koryak reindeer herders, Chauchu, stood out. Since the Chauchus make up about half the number of Koryaks, it was their language that was taken as the basis for the creation of writing, educational and mass literature. In the 1937/1938 academic year, teaching was transferred to an alphabet with a Russian graphic basis.

Koryak believers are Orthodox.

The Koryaks interacted most closely with the Itelmens, which is recorded in almost all spheres of culture. From the 11th century The most significant factor determining the appearance of Koryak culture is Koryak-Russian ties.

Living together with Russians, especially coastal Koryaks, changed their economy and way of life. The Reindeer Koryaks have largely preserved the features of their culture. Thus, the appearance of the ethnic culture of the Koryaks was influenced by both regional factors in the formation of Paleo-Asian peoples and ethnocultural ties with their neighbors.

The ethnic culture of the Koryaks is represented by two economic and cultural types. The basis of the Koryak-Chavchuven economy is reindeer husbandry, which is supplemented by hunting and fishing. Sedentary Koryaks were engaged in fishing, sea and land hunting, but for different territorial groups of sedentary Koryaks, the importance of these types of economy could change. Among the Alyutor people, reindeer husbandry is complemented by a commercial complex.

Reindeer husbandry of the Koryak-Chavchuvens is large herd and, in terms of organization and productive orientation, corresponds to Samoyed. Regional differences are recorded in shorter routes of seasonal migrations, summer grazing in the mountains and division of camps, and the absence of a herding dog. Olyutor residents are characterized by a lower supply of reindeer farms and cooperation of low-reindeer farms, and a greater share of fisheries. Koryak reindeer herders were characterized by highly specialized reindeer transport.

The basis of the economy of the sedentary Koryaks was fishing (Karagintsy, Olyutortsy, Palantsy), sea hunting (Penzhintsy, Apukintsy). At the beginning of the 20th century. 63% of Koryak households hunted sea animals. Unlike fur hunting, which was not of great importance before the arrival of the Russians, the Koryaks hunted bear, mountain sheep, and wild deer. A feature of the culture of sedentary Koryaks was sled dog breeding, more diverse means of transportation on water, which had much in common with the Chukchi and Eskimo.

The specifics of the fishery, coastal fishing and the extraction of marine animals, determined the nature of settlement. Coastal Koryak settlements were located along river banks, often in estuaries and on the sea coast.

The main type of dwelling was a half-dugout, which differed from similar buildings of other peoples of Siberia by a funnel-shaped structure on the roof; the settlements had piled outbuildings. The main type of dwelling of the reindeer Koryaks was portable dwelling- yaranga.

Living within the Primorsky Territory along the shores and on the Kamchatka Peninsula, on the one hand in the vicinity of the Tungus, on the other - with the Chukchi. The first information about the Koryaks appeared in early XVII century, after campaigns on. At the same time, the ethnonym “Koryak” first appeared. It probably goes back to the Koryak word khora (“deer”). According to their way of life, the Koryaks are divided into sedentary and wandering (sedentary and nomadic).

The type of Koryaks is in many ways different from the Mongolian: a somewhat flattened head, a round face, small cheekbones, small, lively and bold eyes, a long nose, often hunchbacked, large mouth, dark complexion, sparse beard, black hair, cut short in men, braided in two braids in women; the height is moderate, the physique is strong and slender, especially among the Olyutorians.

The Koryak language, generally similar to the Chukchi language, is divided into 5 dialects. Sedentary Koryaks profess Orthodoxy, the majority of nomads belong to shamanism. Koryak idolaters, to appease their gods, sacrifice either deer, placing their heads on large stones facing the east, or dogs, hanging them on high poles around their huts. Among the animals, the wolf (servant of the evil spirit) is revered, whose skin plays an important role in shamanic rituals.

The traditional dwelling of sedentary Koryaks is part of the house, the dwelling of nomads is huts, the conical pole frame of which is covered with reindeer skins. Traditional clothing: kuklyanka - a kind of shirt made of deer skin (with short hair in summer), tied at the waist with a belt, trimmed along the hem with black fur, decorated with beads and metal plates; fur pants, high boots made of deer skin and a large wolf hat; sometimes the hat is replaced by a hood sewn to the doll. The women's festive dress is trimmed with otter and wolverine fur and embroidered with beads.

Sedentary Koryaks are engaged in hunting and fishing. Boats for hunting (canoes) are very light; their wooden frame is covered with seal skins. The meat is used for food, the furs are sold. Dogs are also kept for driving. Some of the sedentary Koryaks prepare warm winter clothes from reindeer skins for sale to visiting traders; They also make items needed in the everyday life of foreigners from iron and walrus tusks (spoons, pipes).

The nomadic Koryaks are engaged almost exclusively in reindeer herding; Some nomads hunt fur-bearing animals. In summer, some Koryaks are busy collecting roots, especially saran bulbs (Lilium). Their main food is reindeer meat and yukola.

They speak the Koryak language, the writing is based on Russian. Some Koryak believers are Orthodox. Also common traditional beliefs: shamanism, trade cults.