These carefully designed materials offer a variety of information concerning the inhabitants of Khanty-Mansy National Area-Ugra. These materials include interesting information about the nature of the area, the customs and traditions of the Khanty and Mansy people. Using these materials allows teachers and their students to know more about Native People of Siberia.
In the center of Russia behind the Urals there is the Khanty-Mansi region. It has a total area of more than 523000 square km. and its border is more than 4500 km. long. Khanty-Mansiysk is the capital of the region. The distance between Moscow and Khanty-Mansiysk is 2750 km. The Khanty-Mansiysk region forms a part of the Tyumen region. It lies in the central part of the West-Siberian lowland-one of the biggest lowlands in the world. Despite its monotonous relief the Khanty-Mansiysk region is famous for the rich variety of its scenery. The most characteristic feature of the climate is its variability. One day may be very different from the next especially in spring and summer. Weather forcasts cannot be made for more than a very short time ahead. Sunshine can rapidly change to rain, winds can abruptly alter their direction. There is the permafrost in the North and in summer the soil thaws out only for some metres. There are many bogs there and the trees are thin and low. They are called diminutive trees. To the South the bogs become the taiga. The taiga is the coniferous forests chiefly of pines, firs and cedars. The taiga occupies the largest part of the Khanty-Mansi region. In the North of the region the most common trees are birch, asp, rowan-tree and bird cherry. In the North of West Siberia there is no sunset in spring and early summer. This period is called the white nights. The variety of scenery is extraordinary at this time of the year; fresh air which is full of aroma of bird berry, wonderful quiet and the beauty of the nature in spring combine to form a never-to-be-forgotten panorama.
More than 2000 big and small rivers are in West Siberia. The biggest rivers in the Khanty-Mansi region are the Ob river and the Irtysh river. These rivers have many influxes. The Ob is the chief river in Siberia and it is the 4th longest river in the world. Only the Kongo, the Amazon and the Mississippi are longer than the Ob. Its length together with Ob Bay is 5205 km.
The name of the Ob river came from the Komy language and the Khanty say that the Ob means great water. This area is well known for its lakes. There are more than 25000 lakes there. They show a wonderful variety of Northern nature. The water is blue, clean and cold and very often you can see white swans, geese and ducks there. The area around the lakes is covered with forests and bogs which are full of different kind of birds, wild animals and berries. In spring there are many first spring berries-cloud-berry, Labrador tea; and in autumn there are many health-giving cranberries.
The climate is continental. Winter is long and severe, spring comes very late, summer is short and autumn comes very early. Sometimes it is very hot in summer. During a normal summer the temperature is usually +16C;+22C.
There are 27 species of land mammals in the taiga. The most valuable are fur bearing animals such as the squirrel, the sable, the fox, the furmusquash, also there are many game birds in the taiga.
There are more than 40 species of fish in our rivers: the sturgeon, the sterlet, the white salmon, the ide (fish of carp family), the pike and so on.
The Khanty-Mansi region is famous for valuable kinds of trees. The most valuable tree is the Siberian pine. Houses built from this tree will remain in good condition for a hundred years and the milk keeps its freshness for a long time if it is in a cup which is made from the Siberian pine.
In autumn there are many pine nuts. They are very healthy and Siberians like them very much. They say in Siberia: many nuts-many squirrels. There are many berries in autumn in the taiga: bilberries, blueberries, red whortleberries, black and red currants and also there are many mushrooms there.
Our region is rich in natural resources: it has unique deposits of oil and gas, and large reserves of wood-pulp.
In the Polar Urals there are many deposits of brown coal, coloured metal, rock crystal, marble, quartz dust. Nowadays the Khanty-Mansi region is the first in Russia in obtaining oil and the second in producing electricity.
Exploration for natural gas and oil has been going on in Western Siberia since the early 1960s.As a result of this many new towns have appeared on the map of Russia. They are Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk, Megion, Langepas, Lyantor.
The first settlers came to Siberia during the late or the upper Paleolithic period. At that time there was a gigantic glacier which stood in the way of the rivers' flow and that's why in the lower stream of the Irtysh river and its inflows there was a spacious freshwater lake. To the South of the glacier and on the banks of the lake there was a glacier-side steppe. The fauna of the Ice Age was represented by the following mammals: the mammoth, the woolly rhinoceros, the horse and so on. The first known settlers came to the North of Western Siberia in the 8th or 6th century B.C. It was the Middle Stone Age or the Mesolithic. Mesolithic finds and settlings were found on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi region practically everywhere. During this post glacial period the climate became warmer, glaciers were melting and it was the beginning of the formation of the taiga, the tundra, the flora and the fauna.
The first settlers soon got used to their new surroundings and stayed for a long time. Many ground dwellings and polysection dug-outs were found by archaeologists on the banks of the Konda river.
The final period of the Stone Age-the New Stone Age spanned from the 5th century to the 3d century B. C. The main distinctive characteristic of this period of time was the appearance of earthenware crockery which was widely used.
The earliest finds which were discovered on the "Barsova Gora" date back to the New Stone Age. "Barsova Gora" is a unique archaeological monument, it is well-known among archaeologists all over the world.
The natural boundary "Barsova Gora" is situated between 8 and 15 km to the West of Surgut town. This picturesque place has provoked great interest of Russian and foreign archaeologists for many years. In 1891 the Swedish scientist F. Martin investigated 6 sites of ancient settlements and excavated 111 interments on the medieval burial ground "Barsov small town" Two more foreign expeditions under the guidance of the Hungarian professor I. Papai and the Finnish professor U. Sireliusa were realized at the beginning of the XX century.
Archaeologists from Ekaterinburg city discovered remains of more than 3.000 dwellings and buildings-61 sites of ancient settlements, 7 burial grounds, sanctuaries, treasures. The earliest of them date back to the New Stone Age, but the possibility of people visiting these places earlier cannot be ruled out.
Late archaeological monument date back to the 18th and-19th centuries A.D. Not so long ago the Natural boundary "Barsova Gora" was the holy place for the Khanty.
It was in 1973 that they performed sacrifice there for the last time. There are no other places in Russia where such a great number of antiquities were concentrated.
Finds of "Barsova Gora" are being kept in the museums of Western Europe, in the Hermitage(St. Petersburg), in Ekaterinburg, in Tyumen and in Surgut.
And now some words about the finds which were discovered in "Barsova Gora". More than 29 sites, locations, and one burial ground of the Stone Age were discovered by the archaeologists there. Luxuriously decorated earthenware crockery, flint arrow-heads were found on "Barsova Gora". Polished axes and adzes, knives and arrow-heads were made from the shale-rocks. Beautiful statuettes of birds, animals, men were made of bronze. It was already the early Iron Age.
Twenty sites of ancient settlements, many settlings, sanctuaries, treasures date back to the Middle Ages (IV-XVI centuries A.D.). Modem excavations have given new finds of iron weapons. There are many monuments of the XVII-XIX centuries on "Barsova Gora". There are settlings, sanctuaries of the Khanty and remains of hunting snares.
The Khanty are the indigenous population of the Khanty-Mansi region. Together with their neighbours the Mansi and the inhabitants of Central Europe Hungarians are related to the Finno-Ugric group. The forbears of the Khanty and the Mansi were ancient tribes. They were living in Western Siberia during the New Stone Age and the Bronze Age. They were engaged in hunting and fishing, their main food was the meat of killed wild animals and fish. They made their clothes from animal pelt and fish skin. Their means of transport were boats in summer and skis and dogs teams in winter. They lived in dug-outs and their utensils were made of wood, cortex, bone and fur.
During the first millennium B.C. other tribes came to West Siberia from the South, from the Altai and the Sayany Mountains and from the Kazakh steppe. One of them spoke the Ugric language, another tribe spoke the Samodiyski language and the third one spoke the Ketskiy language. They bred cattle and they were nomads. Gradually local and new tribes blended. As a result of this influence local tribes began to speak Ugric language and new tribes acquired the aboriginals' culture and forms of management. Up to now the Khanty and the Mansi and other indigenous populations of Western Siberia were kept their traditional style of life.
Their main occupations are still hunting, fishing and breeding deer. The Khanty and the Mansi have kept some traditions which descended from ancient times.
Fish is of great importance in the life of the Khanty. It is their main food all year round and it has always been so. That is why the Khanty always lived near big or little rivers. When they have fish it is of no importance if there is bread, sugar or salt. The Khanty like fresh, smoked, dried and salted fish. Most of all they like "varka". They make "varka" from calf, viscera and fish fat. They make procurements of fish fat for the whole year and they use it instead of butter.
They can fish in any season of the year and they know a lot of methods and devices for fishing. The oldest method is fishing with the help of a snare which is called a "morda"-one of the most reliable snares. It is made of wood. When the river has thawed this snare is installed in a narrow channel. The construction of the snare makes fishing possible when fish goes with the stream or against the stream.
Fish can live for a long time in such a snare and it is always fresh when it is got by fishermen.
The Khanty also fish with the help of nets, sweep-nets and many other tools. Hunting also played a big role in the life of natives. Hunting fed them provided hem with boots and dressed them. The Khanty exchanged the fur of forbearing animals for provisions, fabric, adornments and they sewed clothes and footwear from the skin of forbearing animals. They had many devices for killing wild animals and catching birds. Some of them are still used nowadays. One of the best snare the "cherkan" is used for squirrels, beavers and Siberian polecats. For elks and reindeers they used cross-bows and for bears they used traps. The number of squirrels is dependent on the Siberian pine nuts crop.
In addition to the main marketable furry animals-squirrels and far sables there are many other furry wild animals in the taiga. They are hares, foxes, otters, Siberian polecats, trots, wolverences and beavers. The Khanty also catch forest birds and waterfowl.
Their outer clothes are determined by a very changeable climate. They can be worn open or buttoned up. The clothes worn open are called "sackcoats" and the clothes worn buttoned up are called "geese". The sackcoat is an outer coat with the light fur inside and with the durable white fabric on the outside. The collar is made of foxes' paws or squirrels' heads. They are worn with a white belt and a white shawl round the neck.
Their footwear is called Nyriki. They are made of fur inside with the durable white fabric on the outside. Such white hunting garment is necessary for the disquise.
The "Goose" is also an outer garment. It is buttoned up and is made of reindeer pelt. It is put on over the head. Such clothes are indispensable for the reindeer and dog journeys. And the hunter in such clothes can sleep even in snow.
Usually summer sackcoat are very long and blue, rarely yellow and black.
All details of their coat and footwear, sometimes very small are sewed with tendons and very fine and clear-cut stitches. They say that only women -northerners can sew so skilfully. They prepare the colour from the cortex of larch, and if you dye some parts of your coat or footwear with this paint, they preserve their colour until quite worn out.
The woman's sackoat is decorated with beads. The woman's winter clothes are made of cloth and their summer clothes are made of satin. Women have always decorated practically all their clothes with beads, fur and buttons. Their sackcoats or dresses have red or yellow belts. The women wear shawls all year round. Their footwear is the same as the men's with not a great difference. Their children have the same clothes. But there are many adornments of buttons, beads, little bells and other little things on their clothes.
The Khanty's household items are made of wood, bone, roots, cortex of trees, stone, grass and skin. Their kitchen utensils are usually made of wood and birch - bark. In such utensils provisions are kept fresh for a long time.
Large and small wooden plates, cups, spoons and ladles have beautiful forms and are decorated with ornaments.
The most interesting things are "komevatiki". They are something like boxes of different forms and size. The Khanty keep their treasures in these boxes.
From the cortex of trees and wood they make camplife and night cradles which are also decorated with ornaments. The Khanty's fine arts are immensely rich. The ornaments they place on bone, fabric, fur and cortex are real pearls of folk business. The ornaments have names: "Deer's horns ", "Hare's ears", "Geese's herd", "Gnats" and "Birch's twigs".
The Khanty decorate the cortex and sometimes they use dye - stuffs. They also use specially manufactured bone stamps for producing ornaments.
The beauty of the ornaments is achieved without any stencils or drawings, everything is determined by their master's imagination.
The Khanty have a rich musical heritage. The "Nyn-yukh" is the Khanty's violin. It is made of the stem of cedar. The strings and the bow are made of a horse-hair. This violin sounds quiet, monotonous, sad.
But among the taiga s stillness this music is the most genuine, the most harmonious and the most faithful.
The " Narkas-yukh" is a very long musical instrument. It is like a boat. Maybe it is a forefather of gusli, or gusli perhaps was a forefather of this northern musical instrument.
The Khanty and the Mansi are hardy people. Nature is incredibly beautiful in the place where they live and it is very severe. There is the tundra and taiga and the mighty Ob flowing into the Ocean. According to a long-standing tradition they occupy themselves with hunting and fishing, they are remarkably good at different applied arts. It is not easy to live and work there Nevertheless people of the North of Russia are firstrate fishermen and hunters, they are skillful at different handicrafts. Their motto is: life and work, doing no harm to Nature. Nature and Earth for them are like a Mother giving life.
The Surgut district is the biggest in the Khanty-Mansi region. Surgut town is situated in this district. It is the main town of the oil industry in Western Siberia. Nearly 70 million tons of oil and approximately 8 thousand million cubic meters of natural gas are extracted in this region. There are approximately 100 deposits of oil in this area. The population of the Surgut district is nearly 400 thousand people including 3 thousand people of the Khanty and the Mansi. There are 1200 people of indigenous populations in Surgut. They are doctors, teachers, many of them are public figures in different organizations.
2000 natives of the Surgut district who live in their birth areas or m nomad camps are engaged in hunting, fishing, deerbreeding and gathering berries, cedar nuts and mushrooms.
But because of industrialization of this area it is very difficult for the Khanty and the Mansi to keep their customs, to live in agreement with the laws of nature. It is very important to keep their economic conditions, folklore and customs safe, handing them down from one generation to another.
