Aleuts, Aleut, Unangan (self-name), people in the United States, the indigenous population of the Aleutian Islands, the southwest of the Alaska Peninsula and some adjacent small islands.

Number and language

Number of about 3,400 (estimated) to 17,500 (census) people (2010). Some Aleuts (about 480 people - 2010) have been living since the beginning of the 19th century. on the Commander Islands in Russia (Bering Islands, Medny). Some of the Eskimos of southwestern and southern Alaska consider themselves to be Aleuts.

They belong to the Arctic (Eskimo) race of the large Mongoloid race. The Aleut language of the Eskimo-Aleut family.

Dialects:

• Unalaskinsky (Eastern),
• Atkinsky (central),
• Attuan (western).

They are bilingual, many switch to English and Russian.

Story

The settlement of the main part of their territories by the ancestors of the Aleuts took place during the migration of peoples from Asia to America 10-12 thousand years ago. The name “Aleuts” was given by the Russians after their discovery of the Aleutian Islands and was first found in documents of 1747.

Since 1799, the territory of the Aleuts was controlled by the Russian-American Company, which settled the uninhabited Commander and Pribilof Islands with Aleuts.

The Aleuts were converted to Orthodoxy and were strongly influenced by Russian culture. In 1867, the Aleutian Islands and Alaska were sold to the United States.

The main traditional occupations of the Aleuts before contact with Europeans were hunting sea animals (seals, sea lions, sea otters, etc.) and fishing. Gathering was of secondary importance. They made hunting and fishing tools, weapons from stone, bone, wood, leather-covered boats - multi-oar kayaks, single- and double-hatch kayaks.

By the middle of the 18th century. there was property and social differentiation, and a military organization. Iroquois type kinship system. Aleut villages usually consisted of 2-4 large (from 10 to 40 families) semi-dugouts.

Traditions

The traditional clothing of the Aleuts (men's and women's) is the parka - a long, closed garment made of fur from seals, sea otters, and bird skins. A kamleika was worn over the top - clothing made from the intestines of sea animals with sleeves, a closed collar and a hood. Shoes - torbasa (boots made from the skins of sea animals). Hunters wore wooden hats - conical or open-topped, with an elongated large visor, decorated with carved bone, sea lion whiskers, feathers, etc.

The main traditional food is the meat of sea animals and poultry, fish (mostly raw), marine invertebrates, algae, berries, and roots.

Traditional beliefs are characterized by belief in spirits, and shamanism existed.

Modern Aleuts in the United States are employed in the seal fishery on the Pribilof Islands and in hired work at fish canning factories. In the USSR, the Commander Islands were allocated to the Aleutian region of the Kamchatka region (1932).

Along with traditional ones, new sectors of the economy are developing: fur farming (mink), animal husbandry, and gardening.

Literature

• Veniaminov I., Notes on the islands of the Unalashka department, parts 1-3, St. Petersburg, 1840;
• Lyapunova R.G. Essays on the ethnography of the Aleuts, Leningrad, 1975;
• Okladnikov A.P., Vasilievsky R.S., Across Alaska and the Aleuts

ALEUTS - (self-name - Unangai), people, indigenous population of the Aleutian Islands, the Alaska Peninsula (USA) and the Commander Islands (Russian Federation, 644 people). The Aleut language is of the Eskimo-Aleut family of languages. Believers are mostly Orthodox.

Resettlement

They live on the Aleutian Islands, the north of the Alaska Peninsula and its neighboring islands (8 thousand people). On the Commander Islands, according to the 2002 population census, there are 592 people.

The number of Aleuts in the middle of the 18th century. - 12–15 thousand people. In the 1980s 1815 people lived on the Aleutian Islands, incl. in Unalaska - 178, Sand Point - 360, King Cove - 283, village. Saint George - 163, Saint Paul - 450 people. In Alaska, in Anchorage - 1512 people, in Kodiak - 573 people.

History of the people

According to anthropological characteristics, the Aleuts, together with the Eskimos, are classified as the Arctic type of the Pacific branch of the large Mongoloid race. The language belongs to the Eskimo-Aleut family, presumably separated 3-4 thousand years ago. IN AND. Jochelson considered it one of the archaic dialects of the Eskimo language. The dialects of the Aleut language are eastern, or Unalaska (Alaska Peninsula, Unalaska, Umnak, Pribilova islands), western, or Atta (Attu, Medny islands) and the closely related Atka subdialect (Atka and Bering islands). The first grammar of the Aleut language was compiled by I.E. Veniaminov at the beginning XIX century based on the Cyrillic alphabet. Since the 1970s writing is in Latin (based on eastern and western dialects); in schools, education is conducted in the native and English languages. The name “Aleut” was given by the Russians and was first found in documents of 1747. There are a number of versions about the origin of the ethnonym “Aleut”: according to the similarity of the islanders discovered by Russian Siberian travelers with the Teleuts, or Eleuts, who lived in the Tomsk province (18th century); by the name “alant”, which the Russians in Kamchatka gave to every nameless cliff in the sea (K.T. Khlebnikov, 1830–1840); according to I.E.'s guess Veniaminov (1840), upon seeing the Russians, the islanders asked each other: “alik-uaya” (abbreviated as aliuaya) - “what is this?” Without being able to find out the present time. named after the aborigines, the Russians began to call them Aliuts (later Aleuts); according to G.A. Menovshchikov, the ethnonym arose from the Chukchi allitkhukh (detachment, army, community); according to L.S. Berg (1935) - from the Chukchi alyat - island, aliut - islanders. The self-name of the Aleut is Unangan (eastern dialect) or Unangas (western dialect). There were also local names for the inhabitants of various islands: sasignan, saskinan (Near Islands), kagun (Rat Islands), akugun (Four Hill Islands), kigigun (Krenitsyna and Unalaska), kagan tayagungin (Shumagina, Alaska Peninsula), unimgin (Unimak), kaulyangin, kagulingin (Umnak, Unalaska), nigugin, niyagungin (Atka), namigun, negbo (Andrean Islands). The history of the study of the Aleuts begins with the discovery of the Aleutian Islands in 1741 by the Great Northern (Second Kamchatka) expedition (1733–1743). Russian researchers, industrialists, and missionaries collected data about the culture of the Aleuts. Particularly thorough were the studies of G.A. Sarycheva, I.E. Veniaminova, V.I. Yochelson. The latter conducted archaeological excavations in the Aleutian Islands in 1909–1910. From the end XIX century the study of the Aleuts became increasingly concentrated on the problem of their origin.

For a long time there were 2 hypotheses. According to one (Steller, Veniaminov, Quimby, Collins, de Laguna, Heizer, Kozyreva), the Aleuts came from the northeast of the Asian coast. According to another (Doll, Jochelson, Hrdlicka, Spaulding, Benk) - from Alaska. Research by G.F. Debetsa, M.G. Levin, V. Laughlin, N.N. Dikova, R.S. Vasilievsky prove that the formation of the anthropological type, language and culture of the Aleuts took place in their modern territories 6000–4600 BC. According to one point of view (Quimby), the Aleuts constituted the southern group of Eskimos; according to others (Doll, Jochelson, Tokareva, Hrdlicka, Bergsland, Laughlin), the Aleuts became an independent ethnic group quite a long time ago. Judging by the common, very rare N blood group among Eskimos and Indians, there are deep ethnogenetic roots of the ancestors of the Eskimo-Soaleuts and American Indians. K ser. XVIII century the population of each island or group of islands was a territorial entity with its own name and dialect.

Farm

The type of traditional Aleut economy has been determined natural conditions islands. The Bering Sea is rich in pinnipeds and whales. The abundance of fish in the seas was supplemented by the seasonal migration of red fish to island rivers for spawning. Many rocky islands with bird colonies provided opportunities for hunting birds and eggs. The tidal zone served as a gathering place for shellfish, seaweed, etc. The collection of berries, roots and herbs was of secondary importance. Meat and fish were eaten raw, dried or boiled. They mainly stored dried fish and whale oil for future use (it was kept in bladders from the stomachs of sea animals). The hunt began at the end of April. From May to autumn, fish going to spawn were caught. In mid-July we hunted birds. In winter they hunted for seals from the shore. The sea beaver (otter) was hunted on the open sea using a light, fixed harpoon (beaver arrow). When hunting sea lions and seals, they used a heavy, fixed harpoon, which was thrown without the help of a throwing board. Rotary harpoons were used when hunting bearded seals and others. Steller sea lions were killed in rookeries, driving them away from the water with sticks (dregalki) and spears. The seal was lured to the shore by a decoy - an inflated seal skin, imitating the cry of a female. Whales were hunted using a spear, the tip of which was smeared with poison. After 2–3 days, the dead animal was thrown ashore. Birds were caught using shatin and metat throwing spears. bola projectile - a bunch of belts with stone or bone weights at the ends, which were thrown, giving it a rotational movement, at a flock of birds. At the same time, the bird became entangled in the straps. Harpoons and spears were thrown using spear throwers - wooden planks 50–70 cm long with a longitudinal groove, finger grooves at one end and a bone stop at the other. Bows and arrows were also known. The fish were caught by fishing, during spawning they were beaten with spears or caught with nets, having previously built a dam on the river. An important role in sea hunting was played by the canoe - a frame boat made of sea lion or seal skin. Sitting in a round hole in waterproof clothing, the hunter pulled its edges tightly around his belt. To insure against an accident, bladders made of inflated seal skins or sea lion stomachs were tied to the canoe. With the penetration of firearms, the spread of double hatch kayaks; During shooting, the second rower had to maintain balance. Multi-oared open kayaks were used to transport children and women, cargo, and also on military campaigns. Men were engaged in the manufacture of weapons, tools, stone and wooden utensils. Stone was used to make knives, axes attached to wooden handles, tips for arrows and spears, vessels for cooking, fat lamps for lighting and heating the home, burning in whale oil (the wick was made of moss). Women sewed, embroidered clothes, made coverings for canoes, and wove mats and baskets. The Aleuts developed all types of woven weaving from plants. fibers Aleutian weaving is called for high skill. silk, it differed from the Eskimo and Indian. Women's universal tool was the pekulka - a wide, short and slightly curved knife. The needles were made from bird bones. Aleut settlements were located on the sea coast, often at river mouths. High, open places were chosen so that from there it would be convenient to observe the progress of sea animals and the approach of enemies. The settlements consisted of 2–4 large semi-dugouts (ulyagams). They were built from driftwood and covered with dry grass, skins and turf. They left several rectangular holes in the roof for entry and climbed up there along a log with notches. Inside, bunks were built along the walls. The house accommodated 10–40 families. The family lived on their own part of the bunks, separated from each other by pillars and curtains. Utensils were stored under the bunks. For the summer, each family moved into a building such as a hut or half-dugout made of whale bones and driftwood (ulyaq) - this type of dwelling was more common among the eastern Aleuts. Ulyaks also served as storage areas for food and hunting equipment.

Cloth

The traditional clothing of the Aleuts was a parka - a long, closed jacket made of fur from seals, sea otters, bird skins, and for women - from the skins of sea beavers or seals with the fur inside. On top of it they put on a kamleika - waterproof clothing made from the intestines of sea animals with sleeves, a closed collar and a hood. The edges of the hood and sleeves were tightened with laces. Both parkas and kamleikas were decorated with embroidered stripes and fringes. Men's and women's clothing were the same in cut, with slightly different decorations. Shoes were torbasa - boots made from the skin of sea animals. A more ancient type of torbus had a wide boot with a sewn sole. The Aleuts did not make their own shoes; they exchanged torbas from the Eskimos. Male fishermen also wore trophy shoes.

Hunting headdresses were richly decorated with polychrome painting, carved bone, feathers, and sea lion mustaches, wooden hats of a conical shape (among the “toyon” leaders) or without a top with a greatly elongated front part (among simple hunters). They were worn on the hood over the kamleika. According to S.V. Ivanov, Aleutian hats go back to the most ancient zoomorphic headdresses and are associated with hunting magic. G. Collins, T. Mathiassen, T. Jenness suggested a connection between their ornaments and the ancient Bering Sea culture and, through it, with the ancestors of the Melanesians, Ainu, and Amur peoples. Such headdresses among the Aleuts were especially common during the period of Russian colonization: they were worn by leaders during contacts with Russians - to distinguish them from ordinary fellow tribesmen. They were made by chiselling from a single piece of wood, which was then steamed, giving it the desired shape. (Later - from several pieces of wood, overlapped.) The finished hat was painted with white, black, red, blue, green and yellow colors (ornament - stripes, lines of dots, circles, semicircles, strokes, curvilinear patterns of curls, paired and sigma-shaped spirals and rosettes; sometimes plot drawings), the sides and back were decorated with carved walrus tusk plates, engraved geometrically. ornament into which paint was rubbed. A bone figurine of a bird or animal was attached to the top of the back plate. Steller's whiskers were inserted into the side holes of the plate. up to 50 cm. The number of mustaches depended on the hunting qualities of the owner and indicated the number of walruses he had killed.

Festive and ritual headdresses included hats of various shapes made of leather and bird skins with decorations, and leather headbands with patterned seams. Only men were allowed to wear hats.

They wore necklaces, hand and anklets, inserts and pendants in holes made in and near the lips, in the nose, along the edges of the auricle and in the earlobe, made of bone, stone, wooden and slate sticks, feathers, sea lion whiskers, grass and plant roots. There were widespread tattoo and face and body painting. With the beginning of contacts with the Russians and the adoption of baptism, they disappeared from use.

Aleut associations

The territorial associations of the Aleuts consisted of clan groups that considered their origin from a common ancestor, and were headed by a leader who received power either by inheritance or by election. His responsibilities included trade and political relations, judicial affairs, protection of sea animal rookeries, control over other lands, and military administration. The leader had economic advantages only after military campaigns and trade transactions; in everyday life he was entitled to an equal share with everyone else. In addition to the leader, the clan group was headed by a council of elders. There are references to ancestral communal houses, there were elements of secret male unions with typical imitations, disguises, intimidation of women, and secrecy. Young men were accepted on the proposal of an uncle on their mother’s side or (less often) their father’s. There were also women's secret unions that organized dances on the full moon, forbidden for men. The account of kinship is patri-, matri- and bilateral. Patri- and matrilocal marriage. There were avunculates, cousin marriages, polygamy, sororate, levirate, and fraternal polyandry. The Aleuts had slaves (kalga) - mostly prisoners of war. A slave participated in ordinary economic activities, in wars, and for bravery or good work he could be set free. It is assumed that slavery among the Aleuts developed later than among the Indians of the northwestern coast of America (Tlingit, Kwakiutl, etc.).

Religion

In the 19th century clan communities disintegrated. With the adoption of Christianity in mid. XIX century The main things that disappeared were labor for wife and dowry, polygamy and hospitable heterism. Traditional Aleut beliefs are characterized by animism, ideas about the existence of good and evil spirits. Evil spirits mainly caused diseases. The spirits of ancestors were revered, whose images made of stone, bone, wood, and bird skins were passed down from generation to generation as personal amulets. Patron spirits were also represented by wooden masks worn during ritual dances. Shamanism was widespread. Shamanic mythology included ideas about different worlds, about the infusion of disease-causing spirits into humans. Like some peoples of Siberia, the shamanic costume symbolized a bird. There was also hunting magic - rituals of summoning animals, special hunting prohibitions, wearing amulets; The Aleuts believed that by putting on the skin, a person turns into the corresponding animal that protects the owner.

The calculation of months began in March. Their names were associated with local features of the annual economic cycle and varied among different groups of Aleuts.

Family burials were located in small depressions among the rocks. The deceased were placed in a sitting position. The deceased's tools, weapons, dishes, ritual masks and personal amulets were placed in the burials. Noble Aleuts were embalmed, buried (often along with their slaves) in caves, with a painted pillar placed at the entrance, or the bodies of the deceased were hung in baskets between two pillars.

One of the main holidays of the Aleuts - the winter solstice - included dancing, performances of hunting scenes and mythological scenes, and the distribution of gifts. The rituals preceding the hunting season were accompanied by pantomime and dancing accompanied by singing and a tambourine. The performers wore ritual headdresses and wooden masks depicting the corresponding heroes.

From the end XVIII century Aleuts converted to Orthodoxy were strongly influenced by Russian culture. Their rituals of matchmaking and weddings became widespread. Religious books were translated into the Aleut language, and some of the missionaries came from the aborigines. The Aleuts still remain adherents of Orthodoxy and conduct services in Russian and Aleutian. Since 1799, the territory of the Aleutian Islands and the adjacent part of Alaska was controlled by the Russian-American Company (RAC). The former spontaneous contacts of the Aleuts with Russian industrialists were replaced by organized management. The main goal of the RAC in relation to the Aleuts was the desire to preserve their traditional economy as a reliable source of profit. Officials appointed clerks and kayakers to organize fishing on the remote islands. The official status of the Aleuts approached the status of other foreigners of the Russian Empire; they paid yasak to the treasury, and from 1821 they were recognized as Russian subjects.

In 1867, the Aleutian Islands, along with Alaska, were sold to the United States. Initially, their territory was under military control, and in 1884 it received the status of a district. The Aleuts maintained contacts with whalers and fur traders. Since 1887, in connection with the discovery of gold deposits in Alaska, its industrial development began, and the number of newcomers increased sharply. The fish canning industry developed in the Aleutian Islands.

The culture of the indigenous people was influenced big influence missionary activities. The assimilation of the Aleuts accelerated, especially through schools where teaching was conducted in English. All this had a destructive effect on their traditional culture and way of life. In 1912, Alaska (with the Aleutian Islands) received the status of a territory with local self-government. Since 1915, like the entire indigenous population of Alaska, the Aleuts were equal in rights to US Indians and placed under the tutelage of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. In 1924 they received citizenship rights. In 1959, Alaska became a US state.

Aleuts

(Self-name: - unanan / unangan / unangan)

A look from the past

V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko, “Country of Cold”, 1877 :

This is a patient, courageous and honest tribe. Property between them is inviolable. Not only do they not lock anything in their possession, but the property of strangers is completely secured. There are no murders between them. The most terrible suffering will not wring out a groan or cry from the Aleut. Having fallen into a trap, the Aleut will wait motionless until the teeth deeply embedded in the body are removed from his leg. Aleut is completely fearless. He considers it extremely indecent to be surprised at anything. Nothing will please him, nothing will frighten him, nothing will cause a strong impression in him. The Aleut has retained noble pride to such an extent that he considers not only an offensive word, but also a disdainful look an insult. He faithfully keeps his promises and never lies.

Most of all, Aleuts love vodka and tobacco. Especially the last one. They mix it with pine bark shavings and completely surrender to this pleasure, closing their eyes. The handset goes around the circle of interlocutors. Those waiting for it enjoy contemplating the pleasant sensations of the one who is holding it in their hands at the moment.

Not particularly developed mentally, the Aleut is distinguished by his extraordinary reflexivity. With amazing ease he is able to master a craft that he has only seen in passing. Thus, among them, joiners, carpenters, blacksmiths, mechanics and shoemakers have recently appeared. There were even examples of a good local painter emerging from the Aleut. Most Aleut men speak Russian well, but now, with the cession of these lands to the Americans, the study of English is developing among them.

“Description of all the living peoples in the Russian state” 1772-1776:

- The Aleuts have an exceptional talent for imitation, and their abilities are so developed that they quickly adopted from the Russians all the crafts that the latter practice in front of the Aleuts. They repeat very cleverly character traits and the curious antics of those people who are in contact with them. Aleuts show a great taste for reading and seem capable of grasping abstract concepts, such as the principles of mathematics. But despite these abilities, as well as excellent memory and vivid imagination, the Aleuts, of course, cannot be equal to representatives of peoples whose civilization has spanned many generations.

Modern sources

General information

Aleuts are the indigenous population of the Aleutian Islands, the Shumagin Islands, as well as the western coast of Alaska up to the Ugashika River in the north.

By the time the Russians arrived, i.e. in the middle of the 18th century, the Aleuts numbered up to 15 thousand people.

However, due to epidemics introduced into their territory and famine that occurred as a result of the barbaric destruction of the fishing base, by 1820 their number dropped to 2 thousand people.

Today, most of them live in the USA (Alaska), some live in Russia (Kamchatka Territory).

In 2010, according to various estimates, there were more than 17,000 Aleuts in the United States (of which more than 2,000 were native speakers).

Including in Alaska (onAleutian Islands ) - 10,708 people, in Washington state - 2,273 people, in California - 998 people, in Oregon - 479 people, etc.

The Aleuts are included in the Unified List of Indigenous Minorities Russian Federation; Moreover, their number in Russia in 2002 was 540 people, in 2010 - 482 people.

In Russia they live on the Commander Islands, which make up the Aleutian regionKamchatka region .

Of these, 401 people are in the region, where they mainly live in the village of Nikolskoye (294 people) - the only locality on Bering Island and throughout the region (since the 1970s).

They make up 37.1% of the population of the Aleutian region according to the 2010 census.

Origin

For a long time, there were two hypotheses of their origin.

According to one, the Aleuts came from the northeast Asian coast, according to the other, from Alaska.

G.V. Steller spoke out for the Asian origin of the Aleuts; As the main argument, he considered the similarities that, in his opinion, Aleutian hats made of tree bark and the hats of the Itelmens and Koryaks have.

Objecting to the Asian hypothesis, the famous American explorer of Alaska V. Doll believed that with the means of transportation that the Aleuts had, their movement of the Aleuts from Asia to the islands seemed incredible.

The American origin of the Aleuts was also assumed by V.I. Yochelson, arguing this hypothesis by the similarity of the Aleut culture with the culture of the Indians of the northwestern coast of America: “This includes the use of bushings (as decorations), face painting and some other decoration techniques.

In general, we can say that the characteristics of the material and spiritual culture, as well as the physical makeup of the Aleuts, indicate their close connection with the inhabitants of America, and not Asia.”

A. Hrdlicka believed that the first inhabitants of the Aleutian Islands were the Proto-Aleuts (English: Pre-Aleuts), who around 1000 BC. e. were replaced by the ancestors of the current Aleuts, who came from the American continent and moved west along the island chain.

Later archaeological excavations confirmed the change in population of the islands at this time.

As for the time of separation of the Aleuts from the Eskimos and their separation into an independent ethnic group, this, according to a number of authors, happened approximately 8,000 years ago.

In 1877, characterizing the anthropological type of the Aleuts, the Russian traveler V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko wrote: “A wide, flat face with protruding cheekbones and slanted eyes rather suggests the kinship of this tribe with the Mongolian than with the American race.”

He also noted that the body and face color of the Aleuts is white, which distinguishes them from the darker-skinned Chukchi and Eskimos.

According to modern ideas, the Aleuts belong to the Arctic race, although they occupy a special position in its composition: they have an admixture of southern elements of the Pacific branch of the Mongoloids.

Genetic studies have shown that the Aleuts, in their gene pool, are more similar to the Asian Eskimos and Chukchi than to the Eskimos of Alaska and the indigenous population of Kamchatka.

Analysis of mitochondrial DNA haplogroups among the Aleuts showed that they are dominated by the ancient haplogroup D (in variant D2a1), widespread among the indigenous population of the north of the American continent, and also haplogroup A, characteristic of both the aborigines of America and the inhabitants of North and Central America, is found Asia.

This means, in particular, that the maternal contribution of Europeans to the Aleut gene pool cannot be traced.

A different picture is given by the study of the Y-chromosomal haplogroups of the Aleuts: in modern Aleuts, the haplogroup R characteristic of Europeans prevails over the haplogroup Q, which is native to the American aborigines, so that 85% of the Y-chromosomes in the Aleuts are of European origin. Consequently, on the paternal side the genotype of the Aleuts is highly mixed.

Language

The name "Aleut" is of Russian origin.

It was given after the discovery of the Aleutian Islands and was first found in documents in 1747.

The etymology of the ethnonym causes disagreement among its researchers. If G. A. Menovshchikov derived the name “Aleut” from the Aleut word allitkhukh “team, community,” then I. S. Vdovin believed that the ethnonym was of Chukchi-Koryak origin - from the word alyav-vyte “those who have a rim on their head ' (the unusual wooden headdresses of the Aleuts were indeed their distinctive feature in the past).

A hypothesis according to which the name “Aleut” comes from the Chukot people. aliat ‘island’, aliut ‘islanders’, seems the most convincing.

Names of local groups: residents of the Near Islands - Sasignan, Rat - Kagan, Atki Island - Nigagin.

Four-hills - Akagai (i.e. “local”), islands of Umnaka and parts of the island of Unalashki - Kaelyangin, islands of Krenitsyn and part of Unalaska - kigigan ("north-eastern"), islands of Unimaka -animgin, o -Vov Shumagina-Kagan Tayagangin (“Eastern people.”)

Aleuts speak the Aleut language, which is usually divided into four dialects:

Eastern dialect (most of the Aleutian Islands: Umnak, Unalaska, Akutan; Pribilof Islands; Alaska Peninsula);

Western dialect (island Atka in the western Aleutian Islands);

Bering dialect (Bering Island - Commander Islands), which almost completely coincides with the Western one, but contains a significantly larger number of borrowings from the Russian language;

Mednovsky dialect (previously lived on Medny Island - Commander Islands, now its few speakers live on Bering Island).

The Mednovsky dialect is significantly different from all others.

Now they prefer to consider it as an independent Aleutian-Mednovian language - a mixed language that arose as a result of extremely strong linguistic interference of two linguistic entities: the Attuan dialect of the Aleutian language (found on the island of Attu, the westernmost of the Aleutian Islands, disappeared in the middle of the 20th century) and the Russian language .

As a result, its grammar partially inherits the grammar of the Attuan dialect, and partially inherits the grammar of the Russian language.

Since the 1970s The Aleut language, using a Latin-based alphabet, is taught in schools throughout the state of Alaska.

It is not studied in Russian educational institutions.

At the beginning of the 21st century, on Bering Island, no more than 12-15 people of the older generation spoke the Bering and Mednov dialects; the rest of the Aleuts switched to Russian.

The bulk of the Aleuts in the United States had switched to English by this time; 80 people continued to speak the western dialect, 420-430 people continued to speak the eastern dialect (of which about 375 were residents of the Pribilof Islands).

Farm

The basis of the traditional economy was hunting, fishing and poultry, supplemented by gathering.

Aleutian men hunted sea animals from canoes, and on land they caught fur seals and, in winter, seals; in some areas they hunted bears and caribou.

Sea otters were caught in the open sea using a harpoon (a throwing spear on a long rope), sea lions and walruses - in rookeries, seals were lured ashore with a decoy - an inflated seal skin, imitating the cry of a female, whales were hunted using a spear, the tip of which was smeared with the poison aconite.

After 2-3 days, the sea washed the animal’s carcass ashore.

Harpoons and spears were thrown using spear throwers - wooden planks 50-70 cm long with a longitudinal groove, finger grooves at one end and a bone stop at the other.

The Aleuts fished using long fishing rods made from seaweed.

Hooks were attached to these strong and durable devices.

Fishing rods could be used to catch sea fish such as halibut and cod. River fish were caught using bag-like nets made from whale tendons.

They hunted birds using throwing spears (shatin) and a throwing projectile (bola) - a bunch of belts with stone or bone weights at the ends.

Having untwisted, the bola was thrown into the flock, and the bird, entangled in the straps, became the prey of the hunter.

They were also caught at bird markets with a large net on a long pole (chirucha), as well as with nets.

Aleutian women collected shellfish and sea ​​urchins, as well as wild plants - berries and herbs (the latter, in particular, were used to make a variety of wickerwork).

An important role in sea hunting was played by the kayak - a flat-bottomed boat with a wooden frame, covered with sea lion or seal skin, and the kayak - a closed leather boat with a wooden frame and a hatch where the hunter sat (a prototype of a sports kayak). It was controlled with a two-bladed oar.

Before the arrival of the Russians, the weapons of the Aleuts were light darts with bone tips, bows, stone or bone knives.

Housing

The villages were located on the sea coast, often at the mouths of rivers, and consisted of two to four large semi-dugouts (ulyagams).

Russian travelers called them earthen yurts from the waste forest, which were completely devoid of a hearth.

High, open places were chosen for them, so that it would be convenient to observe sea animals and the approach of enemies.

Semi-dugouts were built from driftwood (trees nailed to the shore), covered with dry grass, skins and turf.

They left several quadrangular holes in the roof for entry and climbed up there along a log with notches.

The semi-dugout could accommodate from 10 to 40 families.

Inside, bunks were built along the walls.

Each family lived on its own part of the bunks, separated from each other by pillars and curtains. Utensils were stored under the bunks.

In the summer they moved into separate light buildings.

In the 19th century, the traditional half-dugout was modified: the walls and roof, made of poles and boards, were covered with turf.

At the top there was a hatch for lighting, and on the side there was an exit through a small vestibule.

Homes were illuminated with grease lamps, and sometimes stoves were installed.

Cloth

The traditional winter clothing of the Aleuts was a parka - a long, blind (without a slit in the front) clothing made of seal, sea otter, and bird skins.

On top of it they put on a kamleika - a thick, waterproof garment made from the intestines of sea animals with sleeves, a closed collar and a hood (a prototype of a European windbreaker).

Festive clothing (parkas and kamleikas) did not differ in cut from everyday clothing, but it was richly decorated with embroidered stripes, fringe, and fur straps; For men, the festive parka had a high stand-up collar.

The edges of the hood and sleeves were tightened with laces.

Traditional fishing jackets with hoods made of sea lion intestines and throats, and trousers made of seal skin have been preserved.

Men's and women's clothing were similar in cut and decoration.

Later, a new type of clothing appeared - brodni (pants made from sea lion throats), to which were sewn waterproof torbas - soft boots made of the skin of sea animals.

As summer clothes, the Aleuts used worn-out winter clothes, but they also sewed special summer clothes - from the intestines of sea animals and bird skins.

The Aleuts did not have underwear as such, but they used waist clothing made from seal skins.

During fishing, to protect against dampness, the Aleuts in the 18th century wore raincoats woven from grass (similar to Itelmen and Ainu), and later - woven straw mats.

Hunting headdresses were wooden conical hats (among the leaders - toyons) or hats without a top, with a very elongated front part (among ordinary hunters), richly decorated with polychrome painting, carved bone, feathers, and sea lion mustaches.

They were worn on the hood of the kamleika.

The hats were hollowed out from a whole piece of wood, then steamed and, having been given the desired shape, painted in bright colors with intricate patterns.

The sides and back were decorated with carved walrus tusk plates, engraved with geometric patterns, into which paint was rubbed.

A bone figurine of a bird or animal was attached to the top of the back plate, which also served as the top of the hat.

50-centimeter sea lion whiskers were inserted into the side holes of the plate, the number of which depended on the hunting ability of the owner.

These headdresses were worn only by men.

Festive and ritual headdresses included hats of various shapes made of leather and bird skins with decorations, and leather headbands with patterned seams.

Nutrition

The traditional food of the Aleuts consisted of meat of sea animals and birds, fish, marine invertebrates, algae and wild plants.

They prepared yukola for the winter.

Creation

The Aleuts have developed a unique artistic culture.

Throwing darts, hunting bows, headdresses, and masks of the Aleuts are at the same time examples of original ornamental art.

Wooden frames for women's knives and mallets for killing fish were decorated with skillful carvings.

Hunting headdresses were richly decorated with applied engraved plates, beads, beads, sea lion mustaches, bird feathers, and then painted with bright mineral paints.

The use of multi-color painting on wood distinguishes the art of the Aleuts from the art of other peoples of the extreme North-East of Russia.

On the contrary, it finds parallels in the art of the Indians of North-West America, although in terms of motifs the painting of the Aleuts is closer to the ornament of the Eskimos.

Aleutian products made from soft materials are also unique.

The Aleuts created a wide variety of patterns from deer hair, using a technique unknown to other peoples.

Careful execution is characteristic of Aleut wickerwork - capes, mats, rugs, bags, baskets; The material was the stems of wild peas and wild barley.

The Aleuts had many historical legends. Many songs were composed, the most important themes of which were sea crafts and love lyrics.

Traditional structure of society

By the middle of the 18th century, the Aleuts experienced social and property differentiation while maintaining the foundations of the tribal system.

V.I. Nemirovich-Danchenko noted that before the arrival of the Russians, the Aleuts were divided into three classes: the first included toyons (ancestors, elders in the clan) and other noble Aleuts, the second - free people, the third - kalgi - prisoners of war playing the temporary role of slaves.

Religion
Traditional Aleutian beliefs are characterized by the idea of ​​Pantheism about the unity and spirituality of the World, the personal-subjective consciousness of its particular manifestations, and the soul as a vital force.

God in Aleutian sounds like Agugum.

The spirits of ancestors were revered, whose images made of stone, bone, wood and bird skins were passed down as personal amulets.

Patron spirits were represented by wooden masks, which were worn during ritual dances.

In mythology there were ideas about different worlds.

The cult costume, like that of some peoples of Siberia, symbolized a bird.

There were hunting rituals for summoning the beast, special hunting prohibitions and the wearing of amulets to protect the owner.

At the end of the 18th century, the Aleuts were converted to Orthodoxy.

The peculiarity of the Christianization of the Aleuts was that it was started not by missionaries, but by Russian industrialists.

The constant presence of priests among the Aleuts began in the summer of 1824, when I. E. Veniaminov (St. Innocent) arrived on the island of Unalaska and stayed here for ten years.

It is believed that it was Ivan Veniaminov who baptized the Aleuts.

One of the Aleuts - Peter Aleut - is revered Orthodox Church as a martyr.

Bishop Aleutian Islands and North America in 1898 - 1907. the future Patriarch of Moscow and All Rus', Saint Tikhon (Vasily Ivanovich Bellavin), appeared.

Story

The “discovery” of the Aleutian Islands by the Russians took place in 1741, during the “Great Northern (Second Kamchatka) Expedition” (1733-1743).

Since 1745, for several decades, there have been fierce armed clashes between the crews of Russian commercial and industrial ships and the Aleuts.

In the second half of the 18th century, up to four or five merchant ships came to the Aleutian Islands annually, and successive parties of Russians spent the winter on the islands for 5-6 years.

Since 1799, the Aleutian Islands and the adjacent part of Alaska were administered by the Russian-American Company (RAC).

To develop the previously uninhabited Commander Islands, the company, in 1826, began to resettle Aleut fishing workers (the ancestors of the current population of Commander) there from the nearby Aleutian Islands..

Subsequently, the population of the Commander Islands was replenished not only by Aleuts, but also by Creoles (descendants of Europeans and Aleuts) and Russian industrialists from Atka and California who married Aleuts.

Bering Island was populated mainly by people from Atka (in 1827 there were already 110 people), Medny Island by people from Attu.

The main goal of the Russian-American Company was to use the Aleuts as seal and sea otter hunters, whose furs were the main source of profit.

The official status of the Aleuts was approaching the status of foreigners of the Russian Empire; they paid yasak to the treasury, and since 1821 they were recognized as Russian subjects (at the same time they were classified as “islanders”, and in 1844 they were equated with “sedentary foreigners”).

In 1812, RAC employee Ivan Kuskov, with 25 Russian colonists and 90 Aleuts (along with the Aleuts themselves, the latter included the Alutiiq Eskimos) founded the Ross Fortress (Fort Ross) on the coast of Northern California.

In 1828, 25 Russians and about 100 Aleut trappers lived in the fortress; The local Kashaya Indians called the Aleuts “underwater people” because their kayak boats sat so low on the water that they seemed to emerge from the sea.

In 1867, the Aleutian Islands, together with Alaska, were sold to the United States, after which the Aleuts in Russia remained only on the Commanders.

In 1915, the Aleuts were classified as American Indians and came under the tutelage of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

In 1924 they became American citizens.

In June 1942, Japanese troops landed on Attu Island, after which its inhabitants were transported to Hokkaido.

In 1945, the American authorities resettled them back, but for military reasons, not to their native island, but to the island of Atka, where they disappeared among the local population.

Since the 1960s, the situation of the American Aleuts has begun to improve significantly (in particular, they managed to cope with tuberculosis, which had previously become widespread).

In accordance with the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act passed in December 1971, the Aleutian Corporation was created in June 1972.

One of 12 regional corporations created in the state of Alaska on an ethnic basis, with divisions in each village where Aleuts live, and designed to resolve issues of lands once alienated from the indigenous population.

And also conclude government contracts, manage real estate and investments in various projects in the territory under its control.

The “Act” also recognized the rights of the Aleuts to “lead a traditional way of life” and provided for the payment of compensation to them for alienated lands.

In Russia, 1882, the Aleuts were employed in the seal, beaver and arctic fox fisheries, caught fish and birds, raised sled dogs and were engaged in gardening (turnips, radishes, potatoes).

Since 1871, seal and beaver fisheries have been leased to various commercial and industrial companies.

The population of the islands registered in 1899: 354 people on Bering Island and 283 people on Medny Island.

In 1928, the Commander Islands were allocated to the Aleutian National Region.

In 1969, the village of Preobrazhenskoye (the place of residence of the Aleuts of Medny Island) was closed by the decision of local authorities as part of a campaign to eliminate “unpromising” villages, and the village residents were transported to Bering Island.

After this, the main place of concentration of Russian Aleuts became the village of Nikolskoye on this island.

National cuisine. Recipes

Whale hunting has long been a traditional occupation of many peoples - the Aleuts, Greenlanders, Kamchadals, Scandinavians, Chukchi, Evenks, and Japanese. In the fall, they prepared meat: dried it, doused it in whale oil, or froze it so that it could be stored for almost a year.
Meat and fish were eaten raw, fried or boiled.

They stocked mainly dried fish and whale oil for future use.

The latter was kept in bubbles from the stomachs of sea animals.

Recipes:

Stroganina.

Soak whole salted fish in running water for about 3-4 days. If you cut it up and cut it into pieces, the process happens faster, but the fish loses its taste. Separate meat from bones and skin. Cut into pieces 1-1.5 cm, add vinegar, pepper, onion, and maybe green peas. Mix. Everything can be eaten, or rather served as a snack.

The second method is similar to the first. Freshly frozen fish should be sliced ​​or cut with a knife, add vinegar, salt, pepper, onion, let sit for 1-3 hours and you can eat. The main condition is that the fish must be well frozen: 6-10 hours at a temperature of -35... -45 degrees, or 2-4 days at -10... -20 degrees.

Bellies in batter.

The belly and ribs of fresh sockeye salmon, coho salmon, and char are taken, the bones are separated, cut into approximately 5-6 cm pieces. A batter is made, for one fish (1.5-2 kg.) about half a glass of flour, one egg (or 2 teaspoons of egg powder), add salt and pepper to taste. All this is diluted with milk or water (powdered milk is also possible) until creamy. The frying pan with vegetable oil should be well heated. The fish pieces are completely dipped in batter, the excess batter is shaken off and placed on the frying pan. It fries very quickly. Halibut is fried in the same way, only the thickness of the pieces should be no more than 1.5..2 cm.

Yukola.

Mainly made from sockeye salmon. The fish is gutted, the head is cut off, it is cut lengthwise to the tail but not quite, you get two halves connected at the tail. The spine is removed along with the ribs. These two halves are hung on poles under a canopy. You can add a little salt. Dried fish is stored for a very long time and retains all nutrients.

Fish pie.

The pie includes cod, sockeye salmon, coho salmon, and char. Unleavened dough is used. The fish fillet is cut into small pieces (1-2 cm). Place the dough in a layer of 0.5-1 centimeters on a baking sheet. Slightly undercooked rice (you can also add raw potatoes) is placed on it in approximately the same layer, then a layer of chopped onion. Then a layer of fish from 1.5 to 2.5 cm. Some housewives do the opposite - fish first, then rice. Last layer of onion, spices: salt, pepper, parsley (to taste). All this is covered with a layer of dough 0.5 - 1 cm thick. The edges are sealed. The resulting pie is pierced on top with a fork about 10-12 times to allow steam to escape, otherwise it will swell up like a bun. Various decorations are made from the leftover dough and placed on top. Place in the oven and check from time to time. Usually when it is covered with a brownish crust, it means it’s ready!

Cod cutlets.

We twist the cod meat into minced meat. Add about the same amount of twisted lard to it. Add onions and potatoes to this minced meat. Pepper, herbs and salt to taste. Fry the cutlets until a crust appears. Then we put it all in a saucepan, 100-150 grams of water or some kind of gravy, and steam.

Chimigin - Aleutian “seeds”.

Shellfish. Sea snails with a diameter of 1 to 2.5 cm. All the stones in the surf strip are strewn with them. Take an iron vessel, pour snails into it, fill it with sea water, and cook them for about 3-5 minutes. The most important thing is that you need a needle or something like that to pick them out of the shells. It looks like crab or squid meat, depending on who you are. Delicious. And it’s a job for a long time. Children are simply delighted when you cook these “seeds” for them on the seashore. And indeed, sometimes you become so carried away by these “seeds” that you are surprised to notice a pile of empty shells next to you.

Duck on the go.

We make a fire on large pebbles. We pluck the duck and gut it. We put the heart and other liver inside. Salt, spices to taste. If you have potatoes, go there. We rake the fire to the side, place the duck in the hole, and cover it with hot pebbles on top. Remains of the fire on top - let it burn for 20 - 30 minutes.

Salty fins.

The flippers of seals and seals are cut off at the first joint. The skin is not removed. They put it in a barrel, fill it with strong brine (salt solution), and put it under pressure. If they need to be fermented, then not much salt is used. You can eat it in a couple of months. Seals are slaughtered mostly young; their meat hardly smells like fish.

Fresh erasers

Flippers fur seal is boiled together with potatoes in “uniforms”. Eaten with potatoes. Mustard or garlic to taste.

Tachi - fur seal's shoulder blades.

The shoulder blades are lightly salted and rubbed with garlic and pepper. Place them in the oven on a baking sheet. After 20-30 minutes you can eat. It has a very delicate taste compared to regular meat. No, there were no other attributes of ordinary meat. The color is dark brown.

Soltison in Aleutian.

The stomach along with the esophagus is removed from the seal and seal. Turn it inside out, scrape off the mucus and rinse. Turn it back to its original position. Inflate, tie, hang in the breeze. Yukola and seal fat are placed in layers in the dried stomach. The fat is cut into strips. They tie it up and hang it in the cellar. After 2-3 months, the yukola is soaked in fat, becomes soft and ready to eat. Erasers are also fermented in the same stomachs, also adding seal fat. In fact, melted seal fat at normal temperatures remains liquid like vegetable oil.

The Aleuts, like the Chukchi, have always been an extremely warlike people. This is one of the few northern ethnic groups in which slavery was widespread. The Aleuts attacked their neighbors, took their inhabitants captive, and were skilled fishermen and hunters. After contacts with the Russian colonialists, their morals softened, they adopted Orthodoxy, and even one of the aborigines was canonized as Saint Peter of the Aleut. More details in the material.

Life by the ocean

To begin with, an interesting fact: the name of this people, as well as the islands that owe their name to them - Aleuts - is Russian in origin, which is how it entered other languages ​​(for example, English). The aborigines themselves usually called themselves Unangan, although individual groups living on different islands had their own designations that differed from this. Scientists have not come to a consensus on why Russian travelers called the local population that way. It is believed that the word was borrowed from one of the dialects of the Chukchi or Koryak languages ​​and most likely means “islander”, “inhabitant of the islands” (according to another version, the Aleuts owe their name to the unusual headdresses that they wore).

At first glance, the Aleuts with their culture and way of life differ little from other northern peoples. They went to sea in unstable kayaks or multi-person rowing boats, were skilled in fishing, hunted marine mammals - seals, fur seals, otters and even whales, and caught birds using nets or cunning traps. Clothes were made from skins, fat was used to illuminate dwellings, even entrails and bones were used - for example, vessels for storing supplies were made from the stomachs of sea lions.

Aleutian women were famous for their ability to weave mats, baskets, bags and other products from grass; Clothes were embroidered with the same grass threads (they say that they were almost as thin as silk threads). It is curious that the craftswomen specially grew long nails, which served as an auxiliary tool for weaving. Over the years, as a result of constant stress, not only the nails, but also the fingers themselves became deformed and sometimes looked quite strange.

The traditional dwellings of the Aleuts were spacious semi-dugouts, called barabora. Several families lived in one such dugout. They were usually built on the coast and always on a hill to provide a good overview - this way it was possible to monitor the appearance of possible prey or not to miss the approach of enemies. The walls of the barabora were strengthened with whale bones and logs (as a rule, these were driftwood thrown up by the sea), the roof was covered with turf, dry grass and skins. They got inside through a hatch in the roof, and the staircase was a log with notched steps.

Sometimes such dwellings had two entrances: a “summer” one through a hole in the roof, and a “winter” one through a semi-underground corridor. For lighting they used lamps filled with animal fat. This is how the Aleuts lived until the 19th century, when, after contacts with Europeans, they began to build more familiar above-ground houses from boards and poles.

The traditional family life of the Aleuts deserves attention. Before the spread of Christianity, these tribes freely coexisted with polygamy and polyandry; women and men had almost equal rights. Kinship was considered maternal, although the power of a leader, for example, was inherited from man to man. There was group marriage. According to the customs of hospitality, the owner had to offer his wife to the guest (and this was taken for granted by all participants in the action). The future husband often had to “work off” his bride, living for a year or two with her parents and helping to run the household.

Another Aleut custom - slavery - caused no less surprise among Europeans. Slaves were the most powerless members of Aleut society; they were severely punished for any offense, and killed for especially serious offenses. Most often, prisoners of war became slaves (oddly enough, the Aleuts showed themselves to be quite a warlike people; internecine clashes were not uncommon) or declassed elements. Some owners had ten or more slaves. A slave even turned into a universal unit of exchange - for example, for one you could get a stone knife, but a traditional kayak boat was more expensive: a married couple was given for it.

Before the adoption of Christianity, the Aleuts were adherents of shamanism and practiced hunting magic. An interesting traditional element of their religious beliefs is funeral masks. They were made of wood and decorated with carvings, depicting either the helping spirits of the shaman, or recreating the faces of real people. The shaman used his funeral mask throughout his life. Some of them are made so that they can be held with the teeth - these were often used during sacred dances.

Guests from overseas: Aleuts and Europeans

The world first became acquainted with these people after the discovery of the Aleutian Islands by the Great Northern Expedition in 1741. The acquaintance was sometimes not very peaceful: at first there were such sad incidents as the burning of ships and the destruction of settlements, accompanied by casualties on both sides. But gradually it was possible to establish peaceful trade relations: the Russians remained to spend the winter on the islands, took Aleut women as wives, Russian industrialists even opened schools in Okhotsk and Kamchatka, where the most capable Aleut children were taught the Russian language. On the other hand, the Aleuts borrowed many labor and household items from the Russians, making them an integral part of their traditional way of life. The Russian-American Company played a significant role in the history of the people, which did a lot for the development of the Aleutian Islands and provided work to many Aleut trade workers.

With the arrival of settlers and industrialists, Christianity began to spread. Russian missionaries noted that the Aleuts were very receptive, distinguished by perseverance, the ability to imitate, and showed a taste for reading. Having changed their faith, they remained staunch adherents of Orthodoxy. It is worth noting that one of them even received canonization: the Orthodox Church honors Peter the Aleut as a martyr.

On opposite sides of the border

In 1867, the Aleutian Islands, along with Alaska, were sold to America. On the territory of Russia, the Aleuts remained only on the Commander Islands, where they ended up together with Russian settlers. Starting from the first half of the 19th century century, the situation of the people begins to slowly but steadily deteriorate - both on the territory of the Russian Empire and beyond its borders: the number is declining, the standard of living is falling, the traditional way of life is becoming a thing of the past. The processes of dispersion and assimilation are doing their job. While in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and 30s some measures were taken to somehow improve the situation, in America the Aleuts were discriminated against on an equal basis with the Indians for a long time. The situation began to change radically only in the 60s.

Currently, the Aleuts’ lifestyle is practically no different from the visiting population. In Russia, the only place of compact residence of Aleuts is the village of Nikolskoye in the Kamchatka Territory. It is there that the last two dozen speakers of the Aleut language live - all of its dialects are in danger of extinction. There are only 350 people left in the world who speak this language.

By the way, not only the northern peoples had a custom,

They will tell you how life goes on at the edge of the Earth.

Publications in the Traditions section

Vanishing peoples of Russia. Aleuts

With the advent of modern civilization, there is an active assimilation of people of different cultures. Many nationalities are gradually disappearing from the face of the earth. Few of their representatives try to preserve and pass on the traditions and customs of their people. Thanks to them, the life history of the indigenous population of Russia reveals its secrets - useful and instructive, which have not lost their relevance to this day.

Aleuts on the Commander Islands

The name "Aleut" is of Russian origin. It was given after the discovery of the Aleutian Islands and was first found in documents in 1747, at which time the study of the Aleuts began. According to one hypothesis, the Aleuts came from the northeast Asian coast, according to another - from Alaska. When the Aleutian Islands, along with Alaska, were sold to the United States, some of the inhabitants migrated to the Commanders. Since the 1970s, they settled in the village of Nikolskoye, Kamchatka region; according to the 2010 census, their number was 482 people. The peculiarities of life of the Commander Aleuts were determined by the isolation of the islands.

The Aleutian language allegedly became isolated 3–4 thousand years ago and was considered one of the ancient Eskimo dialects. The first grammar was compiled at the beginning of the 19th century based on the Cyrillic alphabet. According to linguists, today only two dozen elderly people are native speakers of their native language.

Winter housing of the Aleuts

Aleuts on the hunt

Aleuts: Dorofey, Olga and Semyon Berezin

Residents of the village of Nikolskoye Dorofei, Olga and Semyon Berezina no longer speak their native language, although their parents spoke one of the dialects. In Olga’s hands is an academic grammar of the Aleutian language, compiled on the basis of materials recorded in the 1980s–1990s by her mother, P.A. Berezina.

The main traditional occupations of the Aleuts are hunting sea animals (seal, sea lion, sea otter) and fishing. Whaling (using poisoned spears) was very important for the Aleut economy. Gathering berries, roots, shellfish, algae and coastal fishing were carried out by women and children; sea hunting was carried out only by adult men. To hunt marine mammals, the Aleuts used harpoons with throwing planks and spears, which were called “beaver shooters.” As a rule, hunters united 15–20 people, each going to sea in his own canoe. Its frame consisted of an elastic wooden frame - a lattice. The parts of the lattice were fastened together with whalebone. Such a frame did not bend or break under impacts ocean waves. The outside of the canoe was covered with sea lion skin. High-speed kayaks could reach speeds of up to 10 kilometers per hour, while the kayak moved silently through the water. The carrying capacity of the kayak is up to 300 kg.

Hiding from bad weather, the Aleuts built semi-underground dugouts (ulyagams) from bones and driftwood (trees nailed to the shore). 10–40 families easily lived in dugouts. It was possible to get into such a dwelling through a smoke hole, or by going down a log with notches. The second dwelling was a boat - a canoe.

The intestines, bladders, stomachs and throats of sea animals were not considered waste, but were the most necessary raw materials for the manufacture of fishing clothes, shoes, and utensils. Finished products were often not inferior in quality to factory-made items.

The hunter who went hunting was carefully equipped. His body was protected from the cold by a parka - long, closed (without a slit in the front) clothes made of seal fur, sea otters, and bird skins. The parka was worn with a waterproof camley made from seal intestines, into the seams of which miniature bunches of red bird feathers were sewn - amulets that protected the hunter from the forces of evil during hunting and attracted prey. Parkas and camleys were decorated with embroidered stripes and fringes. On their feet they wore boots made of the skin of sea animals.

Since ancient times, Aleutian women have been famous for their unsurpassed skill. Using needles made from bird bones, craftswomen sewed clothes, coverings for kayaks, made leather wallets for sale, and waterproof clothing from the intestines of marine mammals. The clothes were embroidered with deer hair so that no traces of the embroidery remained on the inside. Unfortunately, this technology has not been preserved to this day.

The Aleuts were also very skilled in weaving mats and baskets. Even at the beginning of the 20th century, Aleut women made baskets made using the ring weaving technique from grass and willow twigs. In ancient times, such baskets were used as bags along with bags made from the skins of sea mammals. They were woven from multi-colored grass fibers, mostly yellowish and brownish. Using a variety of colors of grass fibers, craftswomen created geometric patterns based on symbolic figures: rhombus, rectangle, triangle, zigzag.

Nikolskoye village

Performance by the Aleut national ensemble "Unangan"

Reindeer Neck Earring

The Aleuts had a kind of headdress that was hollowed out of a single piece of wood and steamed to give it its shape. Then they were painted and decorated with carved walrus tusk plates, beads, and pinniped skins. The whiskers of a sea lion were inserted into the side holes, indicating the number of animals killed. These headdresses were worn only by men.

The Aleuts worshiped nature spirits in animal forms. One of these animals was the whale, which, judging by the excavations, was assigned a special role. In ancient burials, hunters' skulls are found between two whale ribs. Like the ancient Egyptians, the Aleuts mummified the bodies of their dead and buried them in caves in a sitting position. Family burials were placed in rock recesses. Tools, weapons, dishes, ritual masks and personal amulets were placed with the deceased. Their slaves were buried with the noble Aleuts.

An important role in cultural traditions was assigned to dances filled with semantic meaning. The dances were standing and sitting. Seated staged dances were the most ancient. They moved the upper body, head, arms and facial muscles. Standing ones consisted of springy movements on half-bent legs with the body tilted forward, sharp turns with different positions of the arms. In cult dances, a masked shaman used magical movements to summon the souls of dead warriors, hunters, as well as good and evil spirits. In the most ancient totem rituals, the Aleuts reincarnated themselves into sea animals and birds and skillfully imitated their plastic movements with body movements.

The old people remained the guardians of the clan's customs. Song folklore was very developed. During the holidays, with the help of a tambourine, musicians sang of the exploits of their ancestors, their prowess in fishing, and their agility in operating a canoe. During games, ritual actions and storytelling, they sang to the accompaniment of a sword-shaped zither. Most of the songs are dedicated to marine fishing. There is a whole cycle of love songs. The Aleuts have heroic tales, narrative heroic epics, stories about ancient customs, everyday stories, songs, sayings and riddles.

At the end of the 18th century, the Aleuts came under the influence of Russian culture and the Orthodox faith. Schooling and bilingualism spread. Religious books appeared, translated into the Aleut language. The Aleuts still remain staunch adherents of Orthodoxy; religious rituals are performed in Russian and Aleut languages.

Orthodox missionary I. Veniaminov (later Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna Innokenty), who lived among the Aleuts and overcame many obstacles while carrying out missionary work, writes: “The most terrible suffering will not wrest a groan or cry from the Aleut. Having fallen into a trap, the Aleut will wait motionless until the teeth deeply embedded in the body are removed from his leg. Travelers testify how, for example, an Aleut, crushed by a huge stone, suffering in the death agony for more than four hours, never groaned and did not express in a single word how hard it was for him to endure this suffering. Aleut is completely fearless. He considers it extremely indecent to be surprised at anything. There’s nothing you can do to please him, nothing you can frighten him, nothing you can make a strong impression on him.” One of the Aleuts, Peter Aleut, is revered by the Orthodox Church as a martyr.

Before the adoption of Christianity, fairly free morals reigned among the Aleut tribes. Polygamy and polyandry were common in their family structure. There was group marriage, where a group of men were considered potential husbands for a group of women. Marriages between first cousins ​​were possible. Relationships were calculated on the maternal side. According to custom, the hospitable host provided his wife for the night to the guest. With the adoption of Christianity, by the middle of the 19th century, dowry - a ransom for a wife and the labor that replaced it (the husband lived for one or two years in the family of his wife’s parents and helped run the household), as well as polygamy, polyandry and hospitable heterism - had largely disappeared. At the same time, matchmaking and wedding rituals spread.

Russian ethnographer Gustav-Theodor Pauli wrote about the Aleuts in his study “Ethnographic Description of the Peoples of Russia”: “The Aleuts have an exceptional talent for imitation, and their abilities are so developed that they quickly adopted from the Russians all the crafts that these latter practice in front of the Aleuts . They very cleverly repeat the characteristic features and funny antics of those people who are in contact with them. Aleuts show a great taste for reading and seem capable of grasping abstract concepts, such as the principles of mathematics. But, despite these abilities, as well as excellent memory and vivid imagination, the Aleuts, of course, cannot be equal to representatives of peoples whose civilization has spanned many generations.”