The
Nganasans are one of the indigenous peoples of
SiberiaSiberia , is the vast region constituting almost all of Northern Asia and for the most part currently serving as the massive central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, having served in the same capacity previously for the USSR from its beginning, and the Russian Empire beginning in the...
. They are the northernmost of the
SamoyedSamoyed may refer to:* the Samoyedic peoples in Siberia who speak the Samoyedic languages: the Enets, the Nenets, the Nganasans, and the Selkups* the Samoyedic languages they speak* Samoyed , a dog breedLiam is cool!!...
ic peoples, living on the
Taymyr PeninsulaTaymyr Peninsula is a peninsula in Siberia that forms the most northern part of mainland Asia. It lies between the Yenisei Gulf of the Kara Sea and the Khatanga Gulf of the Laptev Sea in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia....
by the
Arctic OceanThe Arctic Ocean, located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the smallest, and shallowest of the world's five major oceanic divisions.
The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although some...
. Their territory is part of
Krasnoyarsk KraiKrasnoyarsk Krai is a federal subject of Russia . It is the second largest federal subject after the Sakha Republic, occupying an area of , which is 13% of the country's total territory...
. Their "capital" is the settlement of Ust-Avam. They speak
Nganasan languageNganasan language is a language of the Nganasan people. It was spoken by 1,063 and by 750 people in the southwestern and central parts of the Taymyr Peninsula. The Nganasan language belongs to the northern Samoyedic group of the Uralic language family...
.
The Avam Nganasans live in the western part of the Taymyr Peninsula, in the valleys of the rivers Pyasina, Dudypta, and Boganida. The speakers of the Vadeyev dialect live in the
tundraIn physical geography, tundra is a biome where the tree growth is hindered by low temperatures and short growing seasons. The term tundra comes from Kildin Sami tūndâr, which means "uplands, treeless mountain tract." There are two types of tundra: Arctic tundra and alpine tundra...
and in the eastern parts of Taymyr, in Khatangsky District by the
Kheta RiverKheta River is a river in Krasnoyarsk Krai in Russia, left composite of the Khatanga River. The length of the river is 604 km. The area of its drainage basin is 100,000 km². The Kheta is formed by the confluence of the Ayan and Ayakli Rivers, both of which originate in the Putoran plateau...
,
Lake TaymyrLake Taymyr is a lake of the central regions of the Taymyr Peninsula in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russian Federation. It is located south of the Byrranga Mountains....
, and the Khatanga Bay.
The Nganasans are few in number - 834 (
2002 CensusRussian Census of 2002 was the first census of the Russian Federation carried out on October 9 through October 16, 2002. It was carried out by the Russian Federal Service of State Statistics .-Resident population:...
). Throughout most of their history they have been nomadic hunters, fishers, and herders of
reindeerThe reindeer , also known as the caribou when wild in North America, is an Arctic and Subarctic-dwelling deer, widespread and numerous across the Arctic and Subarctic.- Distribution and habitat :...
. They successfully resisted attempts at conversion to foreign religions until the Soviets. The biggest change in their history occurred in the 1940s, when the Soviet authorities decided to end their
shamanistShamanism comprises a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. It is a prominent term in anthropological research. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun...
beliefs. Shamans were imprisoned and their holy artifacts confiscated. Since the 1960s, the nomadic life of the Nganasans has ended and they have been settled in villages, where they live alongside
RussiansThe Russian people are an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....
and
DolgansDolgans are a Turkic-speaking people, who mostly inhabit Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia. The 2002 Census counted 7,261 Dolgans. This number includes 5,517 in former Taymyr Autonomous Okrug. There are 26 Dolgans in Ukraine, four of whom speak Dolgan .Dolgans speak Dolgan language...
. These sudden changes caused depression for many Nganasans and
alcoholismAlcoholism is a term with multiple and sometimes conflicting definitions. In common and historic usage, alcoholism is any condition that results in the continued consumption of alcoholic beverages, despite health problems and negative social consequences...
is a big problem among them.
Shamanism
The isolated location of Nganasan people enabled
shamanismShamanism comprises a range of traditional beliefs and practices concerned with communication with the spirit world. It is a prominent term in anthropological research. A practitioner of shamanism is known as a shaman, , noun...
as a living phenomenon among them even in the beginning of 20
th century; the last notable Nganasan shaman's seances could be recorded on film in the 1970s.
One of the occasions in which the shaman partook was the
clean tent rite held after the
polar nightThe polar night occurs when the night lasts for more than 24 hours. This only occurs inside the polar circles. The opposite phenomenon, when the sun stays above the horizon for a long time is called the polar day, or midnight sun....
, including
sacrificeSacrifice is commonly known as the practice of offering food, objects , or the lives of animals or people to the gods as an act of propitiation or worship...
. The Nganasan name for clean tent rite was “
mɑδuśɑ”.