Customs of the Siberian Dolgan people

The Dolgans are a people living in northern Siberia - western Yakutia and the Taimyr Peninsula. Today they number about 7,000 people. As an independent nation, the Dolgans have been treated relatively recently, since the 18th-19th centuries. They were formed as a result of the merger of individual Yakut and Evonian families, as well as the incumbent inhabitants of Taimyr of Russian origin, the so-called "zatundra peasants."

The Dolgans are engaged in reindeer husbandry, hunting wild deer, harvesting furs and fishing. They have highly developed artistic folk art: singing, dancing, playing a musical instrument - the wargan. The women embroider beautifully, while the men cultivate the ancient art of mammoth bone carving.

"There is such a custom in Dolgan..."

Acclaimed Dolgan poet Ogdo Aksyenova wrote such a line: "There is such a custom in Dolgan - to share the first prey. Remember, boy!". In the old days, Dolgans always gave some of the meat of a hunted deer or caught fish to relatives and neighbors. Only furs were not shared. They were a valuable commodity that could be exchanged with visiting traders for guns, gunpowder, tea, flour, sugar.

Arctic fox traps, also called fleeces, were the personal property of each hunter. Only the person who set them could check the farts and take game from them. There was another important rule related to fox hunting. If a hunter decided to set his traps south of those that someone else had previously set, he did not have to ask anyone's permission. But if he tried to move his traps north of those already set, he necessarily had to get permission from their owner to do so. Where did a similar custom come from? The explanation is simple: songbirds come to the Dolgan lands from the north, and therefore the hunter whose traps stand more to the north has a better chance of success.

The tiny hostess of the great chum

The Dolgans retained remnants of matriarchy for a very long time. At their place, women kept the fire going and "fed" it; they also watched over all the household sacredness. In winter, several Dolgan families would join together and all would build a large tent - a chum, draped with sod for warmth. The residents of the winter house chose their general housekeeper. Most often it was an elderly woman, hunched over from hard work. The word of this little housekeeper was a law for everyone, including the proud and warlike Doğan men.

Iczczi, sajtaans and other spirits

The Dolgans consider themselves Christians. They perform various Orthodox rituals, but have retained virtually all of their age-old beliefs in the process.

Gods and spirits - according to the Dolgans - fall into three categories. The first group is made up of "Iczczi" - incorporeal, invisible beings, "souls," able to penetrate unspiritual things and bring them to life. The second group - "Ajyy", spirits that help people. Finally, the third category is harmful, bringing disease and misfortune to "Abaasy." Abaasy inhabit the earth and the underworld. They try to hijack a person's soul and body, lift him underground and penetrate him. The man into whom the Abaas incarnated was becoming seriously ill. Only a shaman could help him. The Dolgans also believed in "Sajtaans." A Sajtaan, according to their ideas, could become a stone of a strange shape, an unnaturally bent antler of a wild deer - any object into which a shaman introduced a soul - Iczczi. Sajtaans possessed magical power and were a kind of amulets, bringing good luck in hunting and household chores.

Just in case...

Unlike other Taimyr nations, the Dolgans bury their dead in the ground. However, they pile a tree on the grave (in the west) or erect a wooden wall (in the east) decorated with carvings. They place a cross on each grave, but next to it, as a precaution, they leave clothing belonging to the deceased and a sled cut in half. Reindeer herders dig a pole with a deer's head next to the cross.

Siberia is home to many peoples with rich, unique cultures - the Dolgans are one of them.

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Customs of the Siberian Dolgan people

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