About Samoyeds. where did this terrible “samoyed” come from? Why was the dog breed called that? Do they eat themselves? Samoyeds New explanatory dictionary of the Russian language, T

When you hear the word Samoyed, the first thing that comes to mind is that we imagine either some person who is constantly engaged in Samoyed, or, even worse, who eats himself. But this is not so, although, indeed, Samoyeds are, firstly, such people, and, secondly, such dogs. But neither one nor the other has anything in common with self-criticism, although this name sounds quite strange to the Russian ear. By the way, both of them are directly related to Russia. But let's take things in order.

So. Firstly, Samoyeds are simply an old name for the peoples who spoke Samoyed languages. These peoples were the Nenets, Enets, Nganasans and Selkups. Each of these peoples, for example, the Nenets were called Samoyeds Yuracs, the Entsy - Yenisei Samoyeds, the Nganasans - Samoyeds-Tavgians, and the Selkups - Ostyak-Samoyeds. It is believed that the name “Samoyed” goes back to the expression “same-edne”, that is, “land of the Sami”.

All these nationalities are quite close to the Finns in origin, but their language is somewhat different from Finnish. Samoyeds live in Russia. So, they live both in the European part of our country and in Siberia, but the original homeland of the Samoyeds was located in the Sayan Highlands.

And once again, “relatives” of the Samoyeds were found - the Tatar peoples, where many elders were still alive who perfectly remembered the former language of these peoples. The language turned out to be quite close to Samoyed. These Otatar peoples include the Motors, Sagais, Karagasses, Koibals and others.

Samoyeds also have a characteristic, recognizable type that distinguishes them quite well from other peoples. They are quite small in height - about 150-160 cm, they are built strongly and tend to be overweight. Samoyeds have a dark yellowish skin color, and the hair and eye color is usually black, sometimes the hair can be brown and the eyes can be brown.

And the Samoyed is a white and fluffy dog, an original Russian breed, which is the best among all dogs bred in Russia. Once it happened that this breed almost disappeared, but foreign dog breeders were able to almost completely restore it. This breed is somewhat similar to a small polar bear cub and an adult white wolf, and it also has some “notes” of the white polar fox. The dog received the name “Samoyed” precisely because the peoples we talked about just above have bred these furry animals since time immemorial, but then Russians, and in some times even foreigners, took up the task of breeding such a beautiful northern dog. Later, the breed, of course, returned to Russia. The current Samoyed breed goes back to the so-called “aboriginal” dogs, which were first bred by foreigners. Now the dog is rapidly gaining popularity among Russian dog breeders and dog lovers, however, this is a fairly small breed and there are only 1800-2500 dogs throughout Russia.

The Samoyed has an independent and calm character, he is very, very confident in himself. The dog is very kind and affectionate, but can be a good watchdog. The dog always tries to be the center of everyone's attention. Samoyeds are very inquisitive, active and cheerful. They are especially patient with children. Female Samoyeds are a great pet for families with small children, while a male Samoyed is ideal for older children. The dog requires careful care, and since it is very fluffy, you need to comb out its fur with a brush every day, and during shedding, the fur needs to be combed out especially carefully.

So the Samoyed doesn’t eat anyone at all, not even himself, it’s just a name that was given to the nationalities because they belonged to the Samoyed tribes, and to dogs because they were raised from ancient times by representatives of these tribes.

Map of lands inhabited by Samoyeds and Ostyaks, second half of the 18th century.

Samoyeds- Ural-Altai people, close to the Finns, but different from them in type and language.

Their name did not come from “self-eating,” that is, cannibalism, but, probably, from Sameyednam, the name given to their country by the Lapps, who once lived further east than now. Samoyeds live both in European Russia, in the east of the Arkhangelsk province, and in Siberia, along the lower reaches of the Ob and Yenisei, to the Khatanga Bay, constituting the northernmost people in this area. Their original homeland was further south, in the Sayan Highlands; the famous Finnologist Castren in the early 50s saw here the Tatar people, who still had old people alive who remembered their former language, which turned out to be related to Samoyed. Pushed to the north, the Samoyeds descended the Ob and were then pushed even further to the sea by the Ostyaks, with whom (as can be seen from Ostyak folk tales and epics) they once waged a fierce struggle. These Otatar and partly unmongolized relatives of the Samoyeds include the Koibals, Karagasses, Sagais, Motors and others, as well as the Soyots, or Uriankhais. Actually, Samoyeds have their own special, characteristic type, which noticeably distinguishes them from their closest neighbors - the Ostyaks. They are smaller in height (1.51-1.60 m), but stronger built and more well-fed; skin color - dark, yellowish; hair and eye color - mostly black, dark chestnut or brown; hair is straight, somewhat coarse; beard grows poorly. Stocky build, small hands and feet; the head is wide to a greater extent than that of the Ostyaks (who can be classified as mesocephals, with an indicator of the greatest width of the skull of 77-78, while in Samoyeds it is about 82). The Samoyed's face is not as flat as that of the Ostyaks, whose profile approaches a straight line; here the profile is limited by a more curved line, which depends on the greater protrusion of the nose and lips and the greater sloping backwards of the forehead and chin. The nose is small and short, but not flattened, and is often correct. The cheekbones are large and prominent, which is determined not only by the width of the face in the cheek bones, but in living individuals there is also a significant development of subcutaneous fat, covering the lower edge of the eye socket and merging with the lower eyelid. The eyes are narrow, Mongolian, with swollen eyelids that partly hide the eyelashes. There are, however, other types that are more suitable to the Zyryan, Ostyak or Russian, which is probably due to the admixture of the blood of these tribes.

According to their language, Samoyeds are divided into 4 dialects, of which Yuratsk is the best known; it is spoken by the Kaninsky, Izhemsky, Bolshezemelsky-Obdorsky, Kandinsky Samoyeds and the Yuracs themselves; a small group of this tribe is also settled on Novaya Zemlya. Other dialects are spoken by the Yenisei Samoyeds, Avam, or Tavgi (the easternmost), and Ostyak Samoyeds in the forest belt along the Ob, between Tym and Chulym. The latter are more involved in fishing, while others are nomadic reindeer herders. In the summer, they move with the reindeer north, to the seashores, also hunting polar bears, wild deer, seals, and so on, and by winter they return south to the forest belt. Samoyeds live in chums - conical huts made of stakes, covered with reindeer skins, with a fireplace in the middle; They feed mainly on venison and animal food in general, they drink the warm blood of killed animals, in the summer they also use berries, and from time to time they get themselves flour and vodka. In winter they hunt sables, martens, foxes, squirrels, etc. They dress in clothes and shoes made of animal skins, mainly deer skins, and partly dog ​​skins, obtained from the Spitz dogs they breed, mostly white in color. The number of Samoyeds probably slightly exceeds 2000. The people are generally healthy, hardy, quite strong and courageous, superior in strength and courage to the Ostyaks. The Samoyeds formerly owned vast herds of reindeer, but have now become significantly impoverished, partly as a result of deer deaths, partly as a result of the exploitation of the Zyryans, who little by little took the reindeer from them and now count among their midst many rich reindeer herders, for whom the Samoyeds serve as hired shepherds.

Most Samoyeds are considered Christians, but many, especially the eastern ones, have retained almost entirely their former pagan beliefs, have small idols and believe in relations with spirits through shamans.

YES.

The Samoyed dog is the oldest northern breed. It takes its origin from dogs that accompanied the ancient nomadic life Samoyed tribe(that’s why the Samoyed dog is called that). Dogs in the tribe were used not only to guard the reindeer herds, but also to hunt walrus or bear.

The Samoyed breed first appeared at the end of the 19th century in Great Britain. Famous explorer Robert Scott. who managed to reach the South Pole, used the abilities of Samoyeds to transport heavy loads over long distances. This is how he attracted world attention to this breed. Since then, the breed has been extremely popular in most countries.

There is also an opinion that the first representatives of this breed were taken to Europe English Captain Joseph Wiggens during the search for trade routes with Siberia. But, unfortunately, this fact was not documented.

Thus, modern Samoyeds take their origin from several imported individuals. Today in Russia these dogs are beginning to gain popularity - according to various sources, their population numbers up to 2,500 Samoyeds.

How to choose a dog? We invite you to study the list of breeds that are considered the most beautiful in the world.

Breed characteristics

The Samoyed is a powerful and energetic dog that is adapted to life in natural conditions:

Why is the Samoyed dog breed called that?

I'm reporting. This is an Eskimo husky. And the northern peoples in Rus' were called “Samoyeds”. Not because they “ate themselves”, but because they went skiing - “they went themselves”

because they mostly eat raw food...

Samoyeds (in Russian sources also Samoyeds, Samoyeds), the old name of the peoples speaking Samoyed languages ​​- Nenets (Samoyeds, Samoyeds-Yuraks), Enets (Yenisei Samoyeds), Nganasans (Samoyeds-Tavgians), Selkups (Ostyak-Samoyeds). There is no consensus on the origin of the name “Samoyed”. The most common version traces it back to the phrase same-edne, i.e. “land of the Sami.”

As the legend says, the cradle of humanity was the Iranian plateau. Over time, there were more and more people there. What the earth gave birth to was no longer enough for everyone; more powerful and numerous tribes began to push out their weaker relatives. They moved further north, through Mongolia. Eventually, the Samoyeds, a tribe belonging to the Sayan family, settled in the snowy expanses of the tundra, stretching from the White Sea to the Yenisei River. Here, from generation to generation, they led a nomadic life, which is simply impossible to imagine without deer. And four-legged helpers. Dogs were indispensable in the pasture and on a long journey. As, indeed, in moments of rest, Samoyed dogs are excellent comrades.

Why is the Samoyed husky called that? Is she eating herself? (sorry for the childish question)

More details about this dog and photos, please.

Samoyed, Samoyed dog, Arctic Spitz - these are a few names of one breed, the dogs of which look like a husky, an arctic fox and a white wolf at the same time.

Samoyeds were bred in the far north. The name of the breed “Samoyed” comes from the name of the tribes living in the north of Russia. The original name of the Nenets - “Samoyeds” - arose from the name “Saam-jedna”, that is, “Land of the Sami”. Local residents used these dogs for hunting, as sled dogs and as reindeer-herding dogs. They lived next to their owners, slept in their homes and even served as “hot water bottles”. Although this dog can easily endure the severe cold - burying itself in a snowdrift.

The character of these huskies is very cheerful and playful. They love to communicate with both people and their relatives. There is absolutely no aggression towards people, so they should not be used as guards. They can only bark happily when they meet a stranger, inviting him to play.

The snow-white fluffy coat of the Samoyed perfectly protects the dog from severe frosts, and due to the white color, overheating does not occur in the summer.

The Samoyed is also called the “smiling dog” because it has high raised corners of its mouth. This is a characteristic feature of the breed.

Samoyeds are such a people, and they had huskies, that’s why they get their name..

no, there’s just a tribe in the north, the Samoyeds... that’s where the name comes from

There is such a nationality - Samoyeds, i.e. They get their own food, clothing, and provide for themselves. And these dogs are named after the people inhabiting the north. They are similar to simple huskies, but a little more plump. They are somewhat reminiscent of the Husky breed, which is common in Alaska. The peoples of the north ride these dogs. But I can’t upload the photo, because... I have not it.

Home Questions and Answers Why? For what? How? For what?

Why is the dog breed called Samoyed?

The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about why the Samoyed is called that is the dog’s addiction to eating itself. Of course, this is absolutely not true.

According to one version of the origin of the word “Samoyed”, it goes back to the name of the tribes in which the breed originated. The name of the tribes also has several versions of origin, but none of them, of course, has anything to do with the gastronomic preferences of either people or dogs.

Why is the dog breed called Samoyed?

Samoyed husky

Surprisingly, but Samoyed is a native Russian breed of dog. However, later its development and preservation were mainly carried out by foreigners. The nomadic tribes that lived in Siberia and the northern Russian lands were called “Samoyeds” (now they are called Nenets). In the chronicles the name is listed as “samoyed”. It is believed that it is derived from the older word “self-united,” that is, “unity within oneself,” which could also be understood as the isolation of the people, unification within one’s group, the closeness of the tribe from other people. Initially, only the tribes of the current Nenets were called Samoyeds. Later, the concept of “Samoyeds” became equated with “Samoyed peoples”. The concept of “Samoyedic peoples (Samoyeds)” entered the Russian language in 1938 thanks to G.N. Prokofiev. Unlike Russia, where it has taken root, the old name of the tribes “Samoyeds” is still found abroad.

According to another version, the name of the tribes came from the merger of the words “himself” and “rides,” meaning that people moved on skis.

There is also a version that the name of the dog breed comes from “saam-jedna”, which means land of the Sami.

Why is the dog breed Samoyed Laika called that?

The Samoyed probably descends from the very first dogs domesticated by humans, whose ancestors were turf dogs that lived in Europe and Asia 4000 BC.

People lived in the vast, frozen, uninhabited expanses of the Arctic. called Nenets, also known as “Samoyeds” (living separately, solitary, in themselves, united), and they were accompanied everywhere by their beautiful white dogs (belki, belkers). The Samoyeds were nomads, hunters and shepherds. Their famous dogs Belkov (Belkers) could equally be seen as hunters, reindeer herders, and also as sled dogs, depending on the situation. The squirrels were renamed Samoyeds in honor of those peoples who brought this beautiful breed to our time in purity by the English zoologist Ernst Kilburn-Scott. Kilburn-Scott became the founder of the breed in England at the end of the 19th century. The Samoyed is a playful animal, largely preserving the cheerful nature of its ancestors, friendly, gambling, carrying the spirit of a Christmas fairy tale, always “smiling” at all living things, and its sparkling snow-white coat represents is a breathtaking sight in the entire canine world.

because Samoyeds are a nationality in the North.

Geographical distribution of Samoyedic languages ​​(red) in the 17th century (approximately; shading) and at the end of the 20th century (solid background) on a modern map of Russia. Below on the right you can see the area of ​​the Sayan Samoyeds

Samoyeds, Samoyeds- the general name of the indigenous small peoples of Russia: Nenets, Enets, Nganasans, Selkups and the now extinct Sayan Samoyeds (Kamasins, Koibals, Motors, Taigians, Karagas and Soyots), speaking (or who spoke) the languages ​​of the Samoyed group, forming, together with the languages ​​of the Finno- Ugric group of the Uralic language family. The majority of Samoyed peoples (Nenets, Enets, Nganasans, Selkups) live in the Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Arkhangelsk Region, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug of the Tyumen Region and in the Taimyr Dolgano-Nenets District of the Krasnoyarsk Territory.

Story

Samoyed. End of the 18th century.

Name

Samoyed in a summer dress. End of the 18th century.

At first Samoyeds(Also "self-eater", "self-contained") were called only Nenets - the largest Samoyed people, but later this name began to be used as a collective name for all Samoyed peoples.

Name Samoyeds derived from Russian dialect form Samodyn(singular), Samodi(plural), used especially in the Russian speech of the Nganasans and Enets as the self-name of these groups. In the 1930s, the old Russian names of the peoples of Russia were everywhere replaced with new ones, derived from their self-names. Title with Amodia peoples, or Samoyeds, was proposed in the year by the Soviet linguist G. N. Prokofiev instead of a word that is transparent in meaning from the point of view of the Russian language and therefore offensive Samoyeds. In Soviet scientific literature the name Samoyeds became generally accepted and finally established in

28. Northern peoples: Lapps, Samoyeds, Ostyaks and Voguls.

There are quite a lot of peoples belonging to the north, and it will not be possible to consider them in one part of the review. Therefore, we will gradually move along the northern borders of Russia, from west to east. Let's start with Finland and the Kola Peninsula, where the Lapps lived. In the vastness of the tundra from Arkhangelsk to the Yenisei itself lived a people called Samoyeds in the 19th century. Ostyaks (Khanty) and Voguls (Mansi) lived in Western Siberia; the latter also lived in the Northern Urals. There were also Ostyak-Samoyeds and some others in the tundra. All these peoples are not very large, but very original.

The following text sources were used in this part of the review:

- "Peoples of Russia. Ethnographic essays" (publication of the magazine "Nature and People"), 1879-1880;
- N.I.Kharuzin. Russian Lapps, 1890;
- J.-J. Elisée Reclus, "European and Asian Russia", vol. 1, 1883;
- N.Yu. Zograf, “A Trip to the Samoyeds”, 1877;
- A. Middendorf, “Indigenous inhabitants of Siberia”, 1878;
- V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, “Country of Cold”, 1877;
- K. Nosilov, “At the Voguls”, 1900;
- N.M. Maliev, “Report on the Vogul expedition”, 1873.

Illustrations from both the listed and other publications, photographs and drawings of the 19th century were used.

So, Lapps, they are Laplanders, they are Lopians, they are Sami. They are usually classified as Finno-Ugric peoples, although their origins are vague. Anthropologically, they do not belong to the Baltic type, like the Finns and Estonians, but to the Ural type, which occupies an intermediate position between the Caucasoid and Mongoloid races. Geneticists find common features among the Sami with the Basques and Berbers. The languages ​​spoken by the Sami (and there are more than a dozen such languages) belong to the Finno-Volga group and are related to the Finnish, Estonian and Karelian languages. Currently, the Sami live in Norway (37 thousand), Sweden (15 thousand), and Finland (approx. 6000). There are approximately 1,800 of them in Russia.

Inari is a community in Finland, near the lake of the same name.

A wide variety of types are found in different villages, probably a consequence of the entry of various alien elements into the Lapp blood. But among these varied faces and figures, both among the male and female population, two main groups can be distinguished, to which almost all Lapps belong with more or less approximation. The first type will be a Lapp of extremely short stature, with a flat face, concave nose, wide nostrils, and light gray wide eyes; the hair is usually either light brown or reddish; a reddish beard grows either in a goatee or is thick and short. On the cheeks there is either no vegetation at all or scanty. The face is often round, less often pointed. A representative of the second group is a Lapp of above average height, with a regular oval face, a straight nose, and eyes either brown or dark gray; hair is either very dark brown or completely black; The beard is long, thick, even, black. Both groups have common characteristics: a long body, short, slightly bent legs and a round head. Among the female population, one group represents the fair-haired Lopars with light gray eyes; They often have long, thick hair and the braid often reaches the waist. The complexion, fresh in girls, deteriorates in women from overwork; They are of average height. Another group of lopars is less often tall, more often short, with light or more often dark brown, rather sparse and short hair, with a dark complexion, with brown, more often gray eyes; I only met a woman with black hair once. "Russian Lapps"

Lapps, living in a cold climate and spending their lives in continuous labor, are forced to consume large quantities of food, but they cannot be picky in this regard. Fish and venison are the main products provided to them by nature in these areas almost devoid of vegetation. However, the Lapps are now accustomed to the bread they buy from the Pomors. They themselves do not bake it, since this is impossible with the construction of their hearths. They eat fish fresh and dried. Their favorite dish is “rocca”, a stew of dried fish with flour topping. They also prepare a kind of gruel based on fish broth from rye flour, half and half with pine bark. This bark is used by poor Lapps and partially protects them from scurvy. Pies are also baked from rye flour. But the most delicious dishes are considered to be bear meat and yogurt made from deer's milk, in which cornflower grass is put. On fasting days, they eat berries in addition to fish; Some also eat partridges on fasting days, which are abundant there and which they call flying fish. Deer and poultry meat is fried by the fire, strung on an iron rod, and cabbage soup is also cooked from the meat. In some places, Lapps eat not only all kinds of fish, but also predatory animals and birds. Men, women and even children drink a lot of vodka. The tea they drink most is the so-called Lapp tea, i.e. some kind of herb that has a rather pleasant taste. However, those who are more prosperous also drink real tea. "Peoples of Russia"

Lapp villages, or graveyards, consist of several huts called vezhas. Since in the summer the Lapps migrate to the seashores to fish, they have winter and summer churchyards. In addition, the Lapp sometimes builds on the shore of some lake, where he goes to fish after the summer fishery. The vezha is similar to the Samoyed chum, with the only difference being that it is not transported from place to place, and therefore its structure is stronger. Usually the Lapp builds a vezha near some rock or large stone for protection from the wind. Two pillars are driven into the ground and connected by a crossbar. This is the foundation of the vezha. Its walls consist of poles driven into the ground. The round space they form narrows upward and ends with a point for the smoke to escape. The poles are covered with brushwood, branches, and turf. In the side of the vezha facing south, a hole is made into which a drop-down door, knocked together somehow from boards, is inserted, so that the entrance to the vezha looks like the entrance to a trap and, moreover, is designed so clumsily that with the slightest carelessness, the drop-down door can knock down the person entering. The earthen floor is covered with brushwood, on top of which reindeer furs are spread to serve as beds. In addition to vezha, Lapps also live in tupas. This is the name given to small, very low huts built from thin logs with an earthen roof. The tupa has two or three small windows into which glass frames are inserted. The floor is covered with thin logs split in half. The tupa is heated by a hearth like a fireplace, made of stones smeared with clay. The smoke comes out into a plank chimney rising above the roof. "Peoples of Russia"

In some churchyards there are smokehouses and even white huts. The latter, among the vezh and tup, seem to be real palaces, but there are very few of them. Building a hut is hard and difficult work for the Lapps, since they do not have saws, but only axes, and this luxury is available to them only in places where there is a lot of forest. At the white hut there is also a vezha, but this one serves as a kitchen. Near every Lapp dwelling there is certainly a small cage, a kind of barn, in which the Lapp stores his main wealth, namely: the skins of the fur-bearing animals he has killed and fish. For the most part, these cages are built on high poles so that neither a fox nor a wolf can climb into them. The general appearance of the Lapp churchyard is depressing. Sometimes it is so covered with snow; that if it weren’t for the smoke coming out of the vezha, and not the dog’s barking, you would think that there was no housing at all. "Peoples of Russia"

The main occupation of the Lapps was reindeer herding. In the 19th century, Russian Lapps gradually became accustomed to civilization and moved from a nomadic to a semi-nomadic, or even sedentary, way of life. Sedentary Lapps lived by fishing and hunting. Since the 18th century, the Lapps were considered state peasants.

Timidity, the rarity of theft and major crimes, cheating in trade, gaiety, suspicion and a penchant for wine - these traits are characteristic of the Lapps; they are common, regardless of locality, for both Scandinavian and Russian Lapps. How can we explain the contradictions in the national character itself? How to reconcile gaiety and the good nature associated with it with suspicion, the absence of theft with deception in trade? It seems to me that here we will have to distinguish between the main features of the Lapp character and the superficial features developed over the centuries as a result of clashes with neighbors. So, for example, a Lapp is good-natured and cheerful in relation to his fellow tribesmen and those people with whom he does not have to deal, as a petitioner, or a seller, or a buyer. But he becomes suspicious when he encounters a representative of a tribe alien to him on business. Isn’t he used to being deceived in trade and in other respects, to being treated with contempt, to being awarded offensive epithets, to being laughed at, often evilly? How can one not develop suspicion under such conditions! He doesn't steal; does not rob his own, but how can he not deceive a person who has already deceived him more than once in trade, selling him bad goods for good ones, setting ungodly prices for the simplest items of production.... "Russian Lapps"

The tendency towards drunkenness is also explained by the influence of neighbors. Soldering Lapps during trade, in order to lure an expensive product from a good-natured Lapp for an incredibly cheap price - facts are often encountered, which have given rise to a lot of stories and anecdotes. Is it surprising that the centuries-old efforts of neighbors to get the Lapps addicted to strong drinks were crowned with success, and that, indeed, the Lapp drinks at every opportunity and drinks until he collapses, sometimes for several days. However, Lapps drink extremely much, but they drink relatively rarely: only on the most solemn occasions of family life. "Russian Lapps"

Along the coast of the Arctic Ocean, from the White Sea to the Laptev Sea, lived a tribe with a strange name - “Samoyeds”. According to the modern classification, these include Nenets(self-name "netsa"), very few in number Nganasans(self-designation "nya"), Enets(“encho”), who were called “Yenisei Samoyeds” and Selkups, previously called "Ostyak-Samoyeds". In Soviet times, the unifying name “Samoyeds” appeared for these peoples - it still does not sound as brutal as “Samoyeds”.

In the east of the White Sea, the Samoyeds represent, like the Lapps in the west, an ancient Finnish tribe brought face to face with the gradually spreading Slavs; but in many respects they differ sharply from their fellows. In appearance, Samoyeds are closer to the Mongolian type: their face is wider and flatter, their forehead is less high. The anthropologist Zograf places them between the short-headed Mongols, while Castren sees in them a people descended from a mixture of Finns and Mongols. They call themselves “Nenets” (in the plural “netsa”), which means “people.” The Russian name for them “samoyad” or “samoyeds” gave rise to numerous fables; in many ancient written monuments they are called the same as Lapps, "raw foodists" or "raw food eaters" - no doubt because they eat raw meat.

The author of the above quote, Jean-Jacques Elisée Reclus, classifies Samoyeds as a Finnish tribe. However, at present, regarding the ethnogenesis of the Samoyeds, the prevailing hypothesis is that the ancient Samoyed pastoral tribes formed on the territory of Southern Siberia.

Like real Asian nomads, Samoyeds lead an even more vagabond life than the reindeer Lapps, and willingly migrate from place to place at the slightest opportunity. They can often be found even in Russian cities and villages. But they have difficulty learning the language of the dominant nationality. While still remaining Asian in morals, they adapted much less than the Lapps to the environment created around them by trade relations. The Russians have been baptizing Samoyeds for a long time, starting with the richest, and building permanent churches for them where these foreigners are more secure (for example, at the mouth of the Pechora, on Kolguev Island), and taking camp churches to the tundra; the New Testament was even translated into their language. The Samoyeds call themselves Christians and love to ring the bells; but the old fetchism with an admixture of shamanistic rituals has not yet disappeared among them. "European and Asian Russia"

Local Samoyeds are very good-natured and obedient. Some of them are sure that I want to describe them and take them as soldiers. They happily express these opinions to me and ask me to apply for permission to serve in the army. One of them, Maxim Shangin, argued with great pathos that “ We can fight no worse than the Russians, we go one-on-one against a bear, we can cut off the head of a Tatar; allow me, master, to serve God and the Great Sovereign"Old Fedotka asked me to take him to Moscow and show him for money, since he can eat raw meat and freshly slaughtered poultry in front of the public. Of the women, only two agreed to be measured, and even then without undressing. One of them, an old woman Anna Ardeeva very seriously announced to me that “ the last times have come, they began to measure Samoyeds"When I, laughing, asked her if she really considered me to be the Antichrist, the old woman, without any hesitation, answered: “ the jester knows you, maybe he really is the Antichrist, look, what a black one!" Samoyeds treat themselves with some humor. The stories of old Fedotka and Maxim Shangin were mostly about the curious appearance of the Samoyed costume and the impressions it made on other peoples. Fedotka told a Samoyed legend that Peter I put to flight the army of some king by releasing an army of Samoyeds on reindeer against him, but that later the Russians themselves suffered greatly from the Samoyeds, since the horses of the royal army, frightened by the deer, ran away and broke many soldiers. Since then, Emperor Peter by decree prohibited taking Samoyeds into military service... "A Trip to the Samoyeds"

Samoyeds almost always cook reindeer meat in a cauldron, which is often taken out half-raw. The broth remains in the cauldron, which also serves as a bowl and plate. Depending on the need, this broth is consumed as a drink. The procedure with a spoon is just as simple: a large iron ladle is used for scooping, from which the soup is directly slurped. They grab the meat with their fingers, insert their teeth into it and use a knife to cut off a piece from bottom to top, just before the tip of the nose. Those who want to wipe their dirty fingers are given feathers of white partridges instead of a towel. If the hunt is unsuccessful. then the last season's supplies appear on the scene: frozen or lightly smoked fish, or dried, chopped, preserved in lard and fish oil and wind-dried geese, sewn into bags made of skins. Sausage-shaped fish skins stuffed with the abdominal and intestinal fat of deer, or goose fat, are also available as delicacies. When hard times come - and spring rarely passes, which would not punish carefree carelessness with need - then wolves, foxes and arctic foxes are eaten. One Samoyed begged us for the deer guts we had thrown out, which had been rotting near our tent for a whole week under the rays of the never-setting sun. In general, the boiler has to work less than one might think, because fish are mostly eaten raw, fresh or frozen. The head of a killed wild deer must be eaten raw if you do not want to commit a sin. The ears, back fat, udder, liver and intestinal fat of a killed deer, which make up extremely tasty morsels, are loved by hunters to eat raw. They even swallow part of the food contained in the intestinal canal, considering it a remedy against scurvy. On the ears, which were given to me as a lucky shooter who killed a deer, I almost broke my teeth, but still could not cope with them. Plant foods, even flour, apparently are not held in high esteem. Only during a famine in the spring did I meet a Samoyed who was digging up and eating some roots raw. Oi assured me that sometimes they cook them. "Indigenous inhabitants of Siberia"

Professor of Moscow University N.Yu. Zograf, who conducted anthropological research among the Samoyeds in 1877, in the book “A Trip to the Samoyeds” spoke about a rather unpleasant situation that he happened to find himself in on a distant Samoyed nomad camp...

At one of the nomadic camps in the northern part of the Kanin Peninsula, the Samoyeds responded with a decisive refusal to my offer to measure themselves. When I began to persuade the eldest of the nomads to set a good example for others and begin to measure, a young Samoyed jumped out of the neighboring tent with the most disgusting Russian curses and ordered me to quickly get out of their nomad camp, but only on foot and without luggage. In response to my answer that I was ready to leave, but only with luggage and on reindeer, the Samoyed doubled his curses and called on his comrades, numbering 6 or 7 people, to carry out his demand. Requests to take me to the foreman were answered with a decisive refusal. When I, losing patience, began to threaten to punish the peace mediator, I was told that I would never see him again." no Rus', no intermediary" Seeing the approaching Samoyed, I ordered him to help me tie up the most violent one, who had already swung at me more than once, but the Samoyed took the side of his comrades, and the brawler responded by rolling up his sleeves and walking towards me with stones with goals that were far from pleasant for me. I took out my revolver and announced that I would shoot at anyone who dared to attack me. The Samoyed was not embarrassed and took out a flint arquebus from somewhere, and God knows how this curious duel would have ended if it had not occurred to me to point to 5 holes in the revolver and declare that “my arquebus shoots five people at once.” This statement was supported by the clerk accompanying me, who during the whole scene was deprived of the opportunity to help me, since three Samoyeds stood next to him, beating him at the first attempt to open his mouth. The Samoyeds separated and went somewhere for a meeting. At night the Samoyeds decided to migrate. My master wanted to leave me, but I, knowing the sanctity of the rules of hospitality of the old Samoyeds, shamed him for deviating from these rules, and thus was moved to a place in the tundra from where the sea was not even visible. Here I had to live for three days in the most unpleasant situation. My owner disappeared, leaving me neither firewood, nor food, nor bedding for sleeping. I had to turn to vodka, with which I tried to appease the Samoyeds; but the Samoyeds, who were much softer when drunk and reached such complacency that they tenderly ruffled my beard, saying: “ matchmaker, black beard, matchmaker dog", etc., having sobered up, became even gloomier than before. I started to get upset, and only thanks to some old Samoyed woman who watered and fed me, I was finally taken away by the old Samoyed Ardeev, who was informed about my adventures by the old woman. "A Trip to the Samoyeds"

As we see, Samoyeds lived even on Novaya Zemlya, islands that were extremely inhospitable. They hunted here mainly for walruses, seals, and beluga whales. They also hunted "oshkuya" - a polar bear. In 1950, all Nenets were resettled from Novaya Zemlya to the mainland due to the creation of a nuclear test site here.

Now the ethnonym " yurak"is considered synonymous with the name "Nenets". However, according to traveler Vasily Nemirovich-Danchenko, the Yuracs were a separate Samoyed tribe.

The type of Yuraks, despite the fact that they constitute only part of the Samoyeds, is not as ugly as that of the Ostyaks and other foreigners of Siberia. Quite tall, slender and dexterous savages amaze the outside observer with a pleasant set of faces, round, framed by black hair. Black, narrow eyes look openly and alertly. The movements are not constrained, not awkward. It is difficult to distinguish Yurachek women from the closest Russian peasant women of the Yenisei province. In general, it should be noted that in the present type of these foreigners a strong influence of Russians is noticeable, which is very understandable when you remember the custom of the first Cossacks to take concubines from among this tribe, a custom that did not stop until the twenties of our century. Their clothing differs from the Samoyed in greater simplicity and convenience. "Country of Cold"

Yenisei Samoyeds, or as they were called since the 1930s, Enets, - a very small people speaking their own language, related to the Nenets.

In the basin of the Narym and Tom rivers lives another nation related to the Nenets and Enets - Selkups. It is believed that the southern Selkups are direct descendants of the carriers of the Kulai culture of the 5th century, with which the origin of all Samoyed peoples is associated. In the 19th century, the Selkups were called Samoyed Ostyaks.

At the end of the 16th century, the Selkups and the Kets, who lived in the same area, created an intertribal association, known in Russian sources as the “Piebald Horde.” The Horde was headed by the Narym prince Vonya, who stubbornly defended his independence from Moscow and evaded paying yasak. After the founding of the Narym fort in 1596, the “Piebald Horde” was conquered.

Chum salmon, who in the 19th century were called Yenisei Ostyaks, have no relation to the Ostyaks (Khanty), as well as to the Samoyeds. These are people belonging to the Yenisei type. Actually, no one belongs to this type except the Kets. In the 19th century there were still Kotts, and even earlier - Arins, Assans and Pumpokols, but now these peoples have disappeared, just as their languages ​​have disappeared. There were also people related to the Kets, the Yugi, or the Yugans, or the Symsky Kets, but by 2010 there was only 1 (one) person left who considered themselves to be from the south and knew the Yug language...

From the Yenisei pseudo-Ostyaks and Samoyed Ostyaks we will move on to the true Ostyaks, that is, the Khanty. Khanty, like their related Mansi, belong to the Ugric peoples. That is, oddly enough, their close relatives are Danube Hungarians.

The Ostyaks are not a particularly tall people. Between them there are few individuals above average height. A dark, bloodless, high-cheekboned face, sharp black eyes that seem to be peering out of slits, a wide and short nose - this is what will catch the eye of a casual observer. Then he will notice that most of these faces are almost completely devoid of beards (Ostyaks pluck and shave their beards); that even the relatively young nomads of this tribe seem old, due to the abundance of wrinkles and their lethargic character; that their movements are clumsy, heavy, clumsy... Very often the Ostyaks are disfigured by smallpox or syphilis, two scourges of the polar deserts, degenerating their tribes, the fight against which is almost impossible under the present conditions of nomadic life. "Country of Cold"

Among themselves, the Ostyaks are surprisingly meek and peaceful. You almost never hear about quarrels and strife between them in the tundra. They are honest, hospitable and friendly to everyone. Not a single Ostyak will tell you how old he is. He divides the seasons according to the trades characteristic of each of them, and is constantly confused in determining the period during which this or that event happened. The language spoken by the Ostyaks bears little resemblance to the dialect of the Samoyeds. The Ostyaks adopted many Samoyed and Zyryan words, while the rest of the expressions and often constructions were from the Russian language. They sing almost no songs at all, in the sense in which the latter exist among us. Ostyak simply hums the name of the objects he encounters, or things that he once saw and stored in his memory. Often these items are associated with the names of nice people - and that’s all. Their legends are also poor and uncomplicated. Even their superstition is very poor and pale. Yes, that’s understandable. The dead desert of the north, poor in colors and lines, will not develop the imagination of a wretched savage, whose whole life is a tireless struggle for a piece of bread, for the opportunity not to die today, and what will happen tomorrow - the Lord knows. "Country of Cold"

The Ostyaks are mainly engaged in animal husbandry, fishing or reindeer herding. The first live almost sedentary lives. They built huts in the areas they visited, along the banks of fishing rivers or in the forests, which they called a yurt. These are log cabins, where the roof is replaced by logs covered with earth. A hole is made in it for the smoke to escape. A window is cut in the wall, the glass in which is replaced either by an ice strip or by glued fish skins. Entering through the small and low door inside this fishing hut, you will first of all feel sick from its atmosphere overflowing with miasma, then you will notice everywhere dirt, uncleanliness, soot, covering the hearth, and bunks, and mats, and deer skins, and the very inhabitants of this unattractive angle. In addition to these huts, the Ostyaks also set up barns or cages where they store their food supplies and belongings. At the doors there are usually arrows with iron tips, so that anyone who opens the door will be almost fatally struck by them. In the summer these Ostyaks live in wooden tents. "Country of Cold"

The Ostyaks, who are engaged in reindeer herding, constantly live in tents, the general structure of which is not much different from the Samoyeds. An amazing picture of such madness. In the middle of the snowy surface, spread out over a considerable space one from the other, cones rise, covered with birch bark in summer, and reindeer skins in winter. Smoke rises high from the holes made on the top of the tents, from the hearth usually located in the very middle of this simple dwelling. Several sledges blacken around the nomadic camp, herds of deer and small Ostyak dogs enliven the dull picture of the nomadic camp. Inside the tents you can almost always find them in one heap: dogs, naked children, dirty women with disheveled hair, and their imperturbably important rulers - husbands, resting near the fire, waiting for a simple brew to boil in a pot suspended above the fireplace. "Country of Cold"

The closest relatives of the Ostyak-Khanty are Mansi, in the 19th century were called Voguls or Vogulichs. The Mansi were divided into two groups of clans (phratries) - “Por” and “Mos”. Marriages were concluded only between representatives of different phratries: Mos men married Por women and vice versa. The main occupations of the Voguls were hunting and fishing. Therefore, they led a mostly sedentary lifestyle and were more inclined to assimilate than the Ostyaks.

The Voguls live under the eastern slope of the northern Urals, where the lower reaches of the Ob border them to the west. Until recently, warlike, vigorous, who knew how to heat, extract iron, copper, silver from the ores of the Urals, who had trade relations with their neighbors, wars - this people has now completely fallen, completely turned into a primitive savage and has gone so far from civilization into their impenetrable forests, so huddled in the wilderness of his taiga, so isolated that, it seems, he will no longer appear on the world stage, but, quietly dying out, will completely disappear from the face of our planet. Where he came from to this taiga, what great movements of peoples brought him here, he does not say, he even forgot his recent past; but his typical features - although the Voguls had long since merged with the Mongolian tribes, borrowed customs and beliefs from them - still resemble the south, another sun: curly, black hair, a Roman facial profile, a thin, prominent nose, a noble, open face, posture, dark complexion, hot, bold look - they clearly say that this is not their homeland, that they were only squeezed here by necessity, historical events, movements of peoples. Such faces are more reminiscent of a Hungarian, Gypsy, or Bulgarian than an Ostyak, the type of which is increasingly beginning to predominate due to incest. "At the Voguls"

The Voguls have neither arable land nor vegetable gardens, and only a few of them are engaged in cattle breeding. They engage in animal hunting with passion, using guns, bows, arrows and spears for hunting. Voguls living along the river. Conde in Siberia, lead a completely sedentary life and have become so Russified that they cannot be distinguished from Russian peasants: the same houses, the same clothes and speech, and the whole difference is noticeable only in the fact that, knowing how to speak Russian, these Voguls do not They also forgot their native language. In the Perm province, the Voguls are also accustomed to settled life and agriculture, but they are not successful: dense forests and hunting attract the Voguls much more than arable farming. "Peoples of Russia"

Vogul is silent, and you can rarely notice signs of pleasure on his face. Even while dancing and being excited by tobacco and vodka, his face retains its usual calm and gloominess. At the same time, the Vogul, in contrast to the Ostyak and Samoyed, almost never complains about anything. His compressed lips and deep and gloomy gaze sharply express his unyielding character. The clothing of the Voguls is almost no different from the dress of a Russian peasant, and the food is extremely undemanding. Some of the Voguls still eat horse meat. The food is prepared in an extremely untidy manner. Fish, for example, is boiled together with its entrails and scales in cauldrons that are never washed. First they eat the broth, and then they eat the fish with dirty hands. The dwellings are also extremely untidy. "Peoples of Russia"

The laziness of the Voguls is the main reason for their poverty, and their indifference to their situation is amazing. It often happens that the family has nothing to eat, and the Vogul smokes his pipe and plays cards. Despite all the shortcomings, the Vogul also has good traits: compassion and hospitality. The Voguls are timid in front of their superiors, quiet among themselves, and even cunning with the industrialists who come to them for furs and fish. So, Vogul will not show all of his goods at once, but will do it gradually in order to entice the buyer. But as soon as he tastes vodka, all his cunning immediately disappears, his firmness disappears, he becomes soft and accommodating. "Peoples of Russia"

And in conclusion of today's review - a couple of Vogul folk songs. So - let's sing, friends!