Yakuts

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Yakuts
Sakha: Саха
Total population
478,700
Regions with significant populations
 Russia 478,085 (2010 census)[1]
 Ukraine 304 (2001 census)[2][3]
 United States 10,000 (2010 census)[2][4]
 Canada 8,000 (2010 census)[2][5]
 Kazakhstan 119 (2009 census)[2][6]
Languages
Sakha, Russian
Religion
Predominantly Russian Orthodox Christianity, with a significant part of the population practicing Shamanism

Yakuts (Sakha: Саха, Sakha), are a Turkic people[7] who inhabit the Sakha Republic.

The Sakha language belongs to the Northern branch of the Turkic family of languages. The Sakha mainly live in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in the Russian Federation, with some extending to the Amur, Magadan, Sakhalin regions, and the Taymyr and Evenki Autonomous Districts.

Etymology

The name Yakut is a Turkic word, a corruption of zhaqut - yakut "precious stone", referring to the Ruby. The name Sakha is of Turkic origin, "Saqa-Saha" meaning "Cue, Bat".

Origin and history

Sakha comb and spoons made of mammoth bone.
Sakha woman riding a Yakutian horse in traditional clothing.

The Sakha originally lived around Olkhon and the region of Lake Baikal. But beginning in the 13th century they migrated to the basins of the Middle Lena, the Aldan and Vilyuy rivers under the pressure of the rising Mongols, where some mixed with other Indigenous peoples of Russia such as the Evens and Evenks.

Mounted Sakha warrior on Yakutian horse.

The Sakha are divided into two basic groups based on geography and economics. Sakha in the north are historically semi-nomadic hunters, fishermen, reindeer breeders, while the southern Sakha engage in animal husbandry focusing on horses and cattle.[8] Noted for their ironwork, the Sakha also made pottery, a unique occupation amongst the historical Siberian tribes.

In the 1620s Russia began to move into their territory and annexed it, imposed a fur tax, and managed to suppress several Sakha rebellions between 1634 and 1642. Russian brutality in collection of the pelt tax (yasak) sparked a rebellion among the Sakha and also Tungusic-speaking tribes along the River Lena in 1642. The voivode Peter Golovin, leader of the Russian forces, responded with a reign of terror: native settlements were torched and hundreds of people were tortured and killed. The Sakha population alone is estimated to have fallen by 70 percent between 1642 and 1682.[9]

The discovery of gold and, later, the building of the Trans-Siberian Railway, brought ever-increasing numbers of Russians into the region. By the 1820s almost all the Yakuts had been forcefully converted to the Russian Orthodox Church, although they retained, and still retain, Shamanist practices.

In 1922, the new Soviet government named the area the Yakut Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. The last conflict of the Russian Civil War, known as the Yakut Revolt, occurred here when Cornet Mikhail Korobeinikov, a White Russian officer, led an uprising and a last stand against the Red Army.

In the late 1920s through the late 1930s, the Sakha people were systematically persecuted, when Joseph Stalin launched his collectivization campaign.[10] It's possible that hunger and malnutrition resulting from the period resulted in a decline in the Sakha total population from 240,500 in 1926 to 236,700 in 1959. By 1972, the population began to recover.[11]

Currently, the Sakha form a large plurality of the total population within the vast Sakha Republic. According to the 2010 Russian census, there were a total of 466,492 Yakuts residing in the Sakha Republic during that year, or 49.9% of the total population of the Republic.

Despite the Arctic climate, the Sakha have clung to an economy based on the raising of cattle, reindeer, and horses, though their livestock must be sheltered and fed a large part of the year. Dairy products occupy a prominent place in their diet, with meat reserved for special occasions. Fishing in rivers and lakes is the second most important economic activity. Many traditional arts, such as ivory and wood carving and jewelry making, are still practiced, though such relatively modern arts as filmmaking are also popular. Playing of the khomus, or mouth harp, once an accompaniment to shamanic ritual, has also experienced a resurgence.

Traditional Religion

In the tradition Sakha religion, there are many supernatural spirits, good and evil. Black shamans dealt with evil spirits and could be benevolent or harmful; white shamans were concerned with spiritual intercession for human beings. Two major religious festivals were celebrated with ritual use of kumis (fermented mare or reindeer milk), one in spring for good spirits and one in fall accompanied by blood sacrifices of livestock for evil spirits.[12] Sakha Shamanism divides the universe into upper and lower layers, with the earth being "a kind of indeterminate space or matter" in between.[13] The main spirits are Abasy, Ai Toyon, Aisyt, Arsan Duolai, Bai Baianai, Kudaai, Ukulan-tojon, Xaya Iccita, Yekyua, Yina'mna'ut and Yina'mtilan.

Cuisine

Kuerchekh, a traditional Sakha dish.

The Sakha cuisine consists predominantly of the traditional drink kumis (fermented mare or reindeer milk), sliced frozen salted fish (strogaanina), loaf meat dishes (oyogos), venison, frozen fish, thick pancakes, and salamat - a millet porridge with butter and horse fat. Kuerchekh or kierchekh, a popular dessert, is made of mare milk or sour cream with various berries. Indigirka is a traditional fish salad.

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Russia. Census 2010
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Joshuaproject. Yakut
  3. ↑ Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001. Русская версия. Результаты. Национальность и родной язык.
  4. ↑ yakuts in US.
  5. ↑ yakuts in Canada.
  6. ↑ Агентство Республики Казахстан по статистике. Перепись 2009. (Национальный состав населения.rar)
  7. ↑ Yakut - a ethnic group in northeastern Siberia: http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Yakuts
  8. ↑ "Yakuts". Centre for Russian Studies. Retrieved 2006-10-26. 
  9. ↑ Mark Levene; Penny Roberts, eds. (1999), The massacre in history, p. 155 
  10. ↑ Book of Peoples of the World: A Guide to Cultures, ed. by Davis, Harrison, Howe, National Geographic Books, ç2008, p.141
  11. ↑ "The Yakut Under Soviet Rule". 
  12. ↑ "Sakha (people)". 
  13. ↑ A handbook of Siberia and Arctic Russia.. London: H. M. Stationery off. 1920. pp. 221–222. 

Further reading

  • Conolly, Violet. "The Yakuts," Problems of Communism, vol. 16, no. 5 (Sept.-Oct. 1967), pp. 81-91.
  • Leontʼeva, Sargylana. "Comments on Ойуун Уол 'shaman fellow': a Yakut historical legend." In John M. Clifton and Deborah A. Clifton (eds.), Comments on discourse structures in ten Turkic languages pp. 287-291. St. Petersburg, Russia: SIL International, 2002.
  • Sakha Yakut Republic Regional Investment and Business Guide. (US Government Agencies Business Library) (3rd ed.) International Business Publications, 2001.

External links

Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Christian ethnic groups
Majority
Indo-European
Afro-Asiatic
Kartvelian
Turkic
Uralic
Chukotko-Kamchatkan
Minority
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