The Chukchi tribe is an indigenous community living in the artic and Siberian regions of the Russian Federation. The Chukchi people normally call themselves “Lygoravetlat”, which means genuine people. They have adopted this name because they think that they are the indigenous people of the areas they are residing in. The total population of the Chukchi tribe ranges from 15000 to 20000 with the majority living in the regions mentioned above. However, some of the members have traveled to Europe and America in search of good job opportunities and better lives. The tribe members speak a local language called “Chukchi”, which is a part of the Paleosiberian language's family.
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Sub-tribes
The Chukchi tribe is divided into the following two sub-tribes:
Maritime Chukchi
Reindeer Chukchi
Maritime Chukchis are those Chukchis who live in the coastal areas and their profession is mostly fish-hunting. The Maritime Chukchi is also called “Anqallyt” to distinguish it from the other sub-tribe. The term Anqallyt means “the sea people. The name has been given to them due to their habitat in the coastal areas.
The reeinder Chukchi, on the other hand, are those people who live as herders in the inland regions. The Reindeer Chukchi travel throughout different seasons in search of favorable living conditions. The Reindeer Chukchi are called “Chachau”. The word Chachau means “ rich in reindeer”, which is a reference to the breeding of the reindeer, a type of deer, by the sub-tribe.
Origin
The Chukchi tribe is one of the native communities living on the sides of Pacific Ocean. At present, the Chukchi tribe lives in the Chukchi peninsula which is very close to the State of Alaska, separated by a narrow Bering strait from each other.
Religion
The Chukchi tribe follows the religion of Shamanism. This religion teaches its followers that every natural thing and phenomenon in the universe has some kind of spirit, which may either be evil or good. During their religious worship, the Shamans goes into a condition of half-consciousness and communicate with different spirits and with the help of those spirits predict the future.
Music
Music and dance play a very important role in the life of Chukchi people. They dance with the musical instruments made of bones of different animals and sea mammals to call on the spirits to help them. The dances performed by the Chukchi people resemble land and sea animals depending on the sub-tribe. The Reindeer Chukchis perform land animal dance and the Maritime Chukchis perform sea animal dance.
Clothes
Both Reindeer and Maritime Kuchkis make their clothes from the animals found in the Siberian region.
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The men in the Chukchi tribe wear loose shirts and trousers made up of Reindeer or seal hide and trimmed with a wolf or fox fur. The women wear a coverall or robe-like-dress made of the same material, however, women also wear jewelry and embroidery along with the clothes. These days a vast majority of the Chukchi people have been influenced by the modern western traditions and wear paint and shirt along with other western clothing.
Ceremonies
- Birth celebrations
When a Chukchi woman comes to know that she is pregnant She has to go outside and move in circles in the direction of sun’s movement every morning to protect herself and the coming child from evil spirits. No man even her husband is not allowed to enter her rooms when her delivery times draws closer as Chukchis believe that it can bring bad spirits.
- Death ceremonies
When a person dies in the Chukchi community, he/she is placed in a sleeping chamber and is watched over by people of the family to ascertain if the dead could return to life or not. Once they are certain of the death, the dead body is taken to a place where it is disposed of by cremation. The dead boy is gifted with tobacco and other things. Men are mostly gifted with spears, arrows or bows and women are gifted with embroidery tools etc.
- Sacrifice ceremony
Both of the sub-tribes of Chukchi tribe offer sacrifices of animals to please the good spirits. For Reindeer Chukchis, the occasion of sacrifice is Autumn and for Coastal Chukchis, the season is the summer. They gather in ceremonies and distribute meat to help their tribe members.
Tribal traits
- Living in shelters
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The Chukchi people live in tents made up of reindeer hides and are called Yarangas.
- Living in families
The Chukchi tribe follows the tradition of the joint family system.
- Loving and caring
They are extremely loving and caring people. They provide any type of assistance and help to the people who are needy and poor.
- Hard working
They are very hard working people. They mostly grow their crops and are herders or fishermen.
- Storytelling
The Chukchi language transmits through oral instead of written traditions and storytelling has a big part to play in it. The Chukchi people gather at a specific point and the elder one tells them the legends of the past people.
Food
The foods of Reindeer and Maritime is a bit different from each other.
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The Maritime Chukchi living in the coastal areas mostly eat the seafood like Whales, seals etc while the inland Chukchis eat different dishes made from Reindeer meat. Both the sub-tribes have a common trait in food and that is their fondness for seaweeds, leaves, and plant roots.
Relation with the state of Russian Federation
The relations between Chukchi tribe and the Russian state have not been very friendly, historically. The first conflict between the Chukchi people and Russian forces began when Russians tried to conquer the Chukchi lands in the 1600s. The Chukchis put up a stiff resistance to the invading forces.Though Russian forces emerged victorious in controlling the land yet unable to conquer the minds. The rules and regulations became even tougher for the Chukchi tribe in the time of Soviet Union when the state put a ban on the Chukchi language in schools and the Russian language was declared compulsory for the children to learn. However, lately in the 1980s and especially after the breakup of the USSR, the Chukchi tribe regained autonomy and started open struggle to revive their older traditions and culture.