Abstract
This paper analyzes the sources of the author's field research, revealing the mechanisms of development of Siberian, Russian, and other Slavic peoples. Settlers in new ethnoecological systems changed the tradition of life support as well as the spiritual component of life: new places were assigned new geographical names (toponyms), and the old Turkic or Ugric names were conceptualized in terms of the Russian language and national outlook. In the process of the development of Siberia, East Slavic peoples and ethnic groups used their adaptive capabilities and their defense mechanisms. In order to harmonize the interaction between man and nature they used the rational and irrational knowledge of astronomical phenomena, flora and fauna, weather, and other natural phenomena which the settlers brought with them from Russia, and which were in demand in the new environment. However, the apocalyptic notions of doomsday as a grand environmental and spiritual catastrophe of humanity seems to remain consistently among the Siberian peasantry in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
Introduction
The problem of interaction between an environment and its human inhabitants is multidimensional, and is encountered from the beginning of human adaptive activity. The ethnographic approach allows us to speak about the interaction between nature and bearers of specific historical forms of culture, rather than of certain faceless persons or abstract societies. Some researchers, including those within Western Siberia, have defined zones according to economic activity, cultural and community features, taking into account the climatic factors of Western Siberia. However, despite the availability of publications, various regions of Siberia have not been considered in terms of the unity of natural conditions and ethnocultural traditions which describe the ethnoecological systems. In this case, specific techniques of survival practiced by ethnic groups of Russian and other Slavic migrants from European Russia are taken into account in the definition of zones.
The cultural polymorphism of migrants, bearers of both the north and central southern Russian traditions, shows that East Slavic peoples and ethnic groups use their adaptive capabilities and their defense mechanisms: their historically developed traditions. Usually peculiarities and endoethnonyms of ethnographic groups are associated with their origin (ethnonym), the ancestral home; or they reflect the historical events of the past. Studies have shown that the majority of ethnic groups in the region, to a greater or lesser degree, have elements of consciousness of themselves as an ethnic group. These ethnic groups are characterized by unique cultural and community features by which they identify themselves.
However, if for the first settlers – old-timers – the basic question of “occupation” in Siberia consisted of adapting their culture to the new climatic and demographic ethnic conditions, then the later Russian immigrants had more important problems: cultural adaptation to the ethnocultural communities of old residents. These processes can be characterized as cultural interference, that is, intensification of family traditions and the death of outlier traits, which did not fit into the overall ethnic and cultural “environment”.
The Ob-Irtysh-Tomsk region (roughly between 51 and 57 degrees north latitude) was formed as a result of four centuries of migration from Russia to the West Siberian ethnographic southern province. In this area, the East Slavic agricultural population continues to be dominant. It represented 81.6% of the population at the end of the nineteenth century, 89.6% by the beginning of the twentieth century, and more than 90% at the beginning of the twenty-first century. Researchers identify the part of the West Siberian Plain to the east of the Irtysh as the Baraba forest-steppe (lowlands), which merges with the Kulunda steppe in the south. Ob plateau is located east of Baraba and goes into a wooded ridge, Salairskyon, the right bank of the Ob River, and to the Kuznetsk Alatau further to the east. Bijsko-Chumyshskaya hill and then the Altai Mountains are located in the south. Russian, and later Ukrainian and Belarusian, immigrants encountered the problem of “blending” into the changed environment.
Russian peasants not only had to look for nature and landscapes close to their historical homeland, but also had to adapt to what for them was an unusual natural environment. At the same time, the landscape was reclaimed in two ways: (1) through an understanding of Turkic and Ugric place names with the Russian language; (2) the assignment of Russian names in accordance with national ideology (ideas, beliefs, imaginative thinking).
After four centuries the peasants had not only adapted to life in the unusual geographic environment, but they had also abandoned their ideas about natural phenomena from legends, myths, and stories (Fursova, Citation2006, p. 218). These still exist in the present time. When Russian immigrants of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries settled at the residences of Turkic and Ugric peoples, they became closer to local nature, primarily landscapes, by adjusting the obscure names with which they were associated and using appropriate Russian phrases, distributing well-known Russian names in the ethnoecological system in unfamiliar areas. The world around the immigrants had its original design but incorporated a familiar name for the geographical environment and created links to mythological images.
Rapid River in folklore is associated with the embodiment of passion and confrontational elements. The Altai legend about the origin of the great Siberian river Ob, made by the Creator as a result of a dispute regarding the primacy of the rivers Biya and Katun, is widespread. “Then the LORD said: ‘So beboth!'” (“both” in Russian). Incomprehensible transcriptions interpreted in the Russian language (as “both”, i.e. together), connected with observations of the restless nature of one or the other of the rivers. The name of the Ob River, occurring in the Novgorod chronicles and Sofia in 1364, in the Proceedings of the campaign of Novgorod on Ugra, currently has no reliable etymology. Knowledge about the process of the thinking behind Siberian names in the native Russian tradition is especially interesting data.
During the construction of the Novosibirsk water reservoir, two villages on the river were in the flood zone: Upper and Lower Chuyomy (Chyomy – Turkism). Among the surrounding population there still remained the funny story about the hapless male migrants who came to this place and sat sadly, inquiring of themselves: “And Chyou [‘Chyo' means ‘what', ‘my' means ‘we’], are we going to do?” Siberian “Chyo” (“what”) enhances the “authenticity” of events. Often these stories convey the atmosphere of the insecurity of life, the weight of lost ties with the homeland and with native people.
Russian immigrants from the plains in European Russia were not familiar with mountain landscapes. In addition, they did not have experience of ground consisting of different heights. When explorers penetrated to the Altai Mountains, they were confronted by the various outlines of mountains and valleys, the berries and nuts of the forests, the birds, wild fowl, animals, grazing herds of wild goats and red deer. If we analyze the vernacular names of the mountains, it turns out that their appearance was relevant to their name, starting with the following prerequisites:
The shape of the mountain. For example, mountain peaks are known as “Ostruha”, “Ostrushka” (“Acute” – in English). One of the vertices of Bishpek is called “Cross”, because from a “bird's-eye view, it resembles a cross”.
The characteristics of the surface. Forested (Mountain “Mohnatka”), treeless (Mountain “Bald”), partially treeless (Mountain “Bald patch”), covered with snow (Mountain “Belukha” – in English “White”), and so on.
The growth of wild plants (Mountain “Oreshnaya”, in English “Nuts”).
The functions – performed by or attributed to the sound. Mountain “Budachiha” collects or “budachit”, that is, wakes up clouds for rain in Russian (Siberian). The mountain is called “Guard” because, having a small area, it can be seen far from the neighborhood.
The historical or domestic events. Mountain “Kurichya” is named in connection with an incident, which happened many years ago, when one of the traders was carrying a cart with chickens and overturned it. Since then, according to local farmers, they are often there, “clucking”. One of the mountains near the village of Chemal is called “Devil” and is also associated with an event of trade and Altai caravan life. According to the stories of peasants, a merchant, who had large herds of horses, once lost them. He looked and looked for them, and suddenly saw the horses, standing near the edge of a precipice. The merchant took a step toward them, however, there appeared a terrible monster that scared the horses and they rushed into the abyss. Then the merchant said bitterly: “The devil took them.”
Many aboriginal place names in Southern Siberia still survive at present thanks to the careful attitude of the Russian people who adopted them from the locals, giving new names only to the newly formed settlements or unknown natural objects; for example, the inhabitants of the village. Bektas Kuibyshev district of the Novosibirsk region, set down by the Tatars near Lake “Chumodan” (in English Suitcase; Tatar Chishmedan) still keeps the memory of the first inhabitants and renamed their place of residence, even though the Tatars had already left.
Harmonization of the interaction between man and nature contributes to a combination in a single unit of rational and irrational knowledge of astronomical phenomena, flora and fauna, weather, and other elements of the environment, which the settlers brought with them from Russia and have found application in a new environment. Everyday life forced people to conduct astronomical observations, because farmers were continuously faced with annual and diurnal motions of the sun and moon, solar eclipses, and so on in their practices.
Siberian peasants had knowledge of social processes, historical cataclysms in solar activity, and unusual phenomena (auroras in local latitudes observed before a war). Living in constant communion with nature, they capture the changes of the moon, the sun, the stars, the effect of the atmosphere on the development of plants, as well as the behavior of animals, birds, and insects. These natural phenomena are perceived as “divine signs” intended for people.
Native weather prediction existed. It has been handed down from generation to generation and was a prerequisite for agricultural practices. Many signs with European ancestral homes “worked” in the new environment, facilitating the adaptation of ethnic groups. Astronomical knowledge was in demand: the elderly informants received information from their grandfathers about the constellations Volosazharah or Visozharah, Ladles, Sacred road (the Milky Way), distinguished morning, evening, and the North Star. Many types of agricultural work were begun according to the situation, the state, and the brightness of celestial bodies.
Farmers constantly met with all sorts of local birds – cranes, quails, hoopoe, larks, swans, and so on in the area of Kulunda, where there are many salt and freshwater lakes, in the Baraba forest and other places. Each of these birds had, as represented by the villagers, their migration periods confined to certain seasons and types of agricultural work. Birds sound meaningful cries for humans that carried specific information (Fursova, Citation2009, p. 50). Even though some birds, such as gulls, wild ducks, and geese, as well as their eggs, were eaten, stringent bans existed with respect to starlings, quail, swans, and swallows. Traces of honoring the bear as a particularly revered forest creature can be seen in wooded areas of Baraba, Vasyugan'e, and other places. Nature has helped farmers in the treatment of various diseases: in the field of practice we have recorded a lot of medical techniques, which involved trees, grass, and flowers, either applied directly as drugs or indirectly by reference to them in spells (Fursova, Citation2003, p. 546).
The lack of waste in the form of trash around the villages (favorable difference from the old town) contributed to the protection of nature. Nothing was unnecessary in the ethnoecological system: waste was minimized. It was not only rational, but also consistent with the divine essence of the individual elements, which is reflected in the belief in the sinfulness of polluting land, water, air, and fire.
Apocalyptic notions about the end of the world as a grand environmental and spiritual catastrophe for mankind existed among the Siberian peasantry at the turn of the past century. Similar recollections of some of our elderly informants were prompted by the harsh reality of today: unbearable urban pollution of air and water in rivers, blatant immorality, and greed in exploiting the natural resources.
One of our informants (Fyokla M. Novikova, born in 1904) remembered her grandfather and events related to 1912–14:
They [grandfather and grandmother] came from the church, sat down on pripechek [part of the furnace], crossed their legs. Grandfather said to his wife: “Grandma, soon this world will not be.” Grandmother: “You're lying? And what kind of world will there be?” Grandfather again, “A white world enmeshed in a net.” “Where is the gain?” “It will be a different world. In Moscow, they will talk, and our grandchildren will listen. The river will flow, but you cannot be full. And before the end of the century, their children will be sold.” Grandmother: “Grandfather, grandfather! You're lying! Who will sell the children?” “In a year we will not be, and then this will be.” Well, really, I had to see. (Author's record, 1999, RomanovoPankrushikhinsky District, Altai Mountains)
Among the inhabitants of the Altai Mountains one can also hear such stories with apocalyptic content: evidence of the end of the world seen in a battle between the rivers Biya and Katun. This information is an interpretation of the knowledge that all the inhabitants of the earth's nations will quarrel among themselves. The spiritual experience of the people was aimed toward predicting global changes in people's lives, warning their descendants of the possible consequences of a predatory attitude towards nature.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.
Funding
This work was supported by the Russian Science Foundation, [grant number 14-50-00036].
References
- This paper was written based on my own field materials, some of which were published in the following articles:
- Fursova, E. (2003). Phytotherapy in traditional medicine of West Siberian peasants at the beginning of XXth century. In Humankind/Nature Interaction: Past, Present and future. XV ICAES 2K3. Vol. 1 (p. 546). Florence, Italy.
- Fursova, E. F. (2006). Фурсова Е.Ф. Традиционное природознание. Представления крестьян Западной Сибири о природных явлениях в конце XIX – начале ХХ в. (по полевым материалам) // Сибирь в XIX – ХХ веках: демографические процессы и общественно-политическая жизнь. – Новосибирск: Изд-во Ин-та археологии и этнографии СО РАН, 2006. С. 218–228 (Traditional knowledge about nature. Representation of the peasants of Western Siberia of natural phenomena in the late XIX - early XX century. (on field data) // Siberia in XIX - XX centuries: the demographic processes and social and political life. - Novosibirsk: Publishing House of the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Academy of Sciences, 2006, pp. 218–228 ).
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