The Nganasans. Spiritual Culture (Mythologies, Traditional Beliefs, Holidays, and Rituals)

In addition to pan-Siberian and strictly Arctic concepts of the world and the human being, Nganasans’ cosmogony reflects three large cultural strata: an indigenous one, a Samoyed one, and a Tungus one. The latter two could have morphed significantly among Nganasans and in some ways merged before coming to Nganasans. A strictly Nganasan cultural stratum that has no analogs among their neighbors is attributable to the lack of indigenous cultures to the east and west of Nganasans. In the west, they were completely assimilated by the Enets, and in the east (tundra Yukarigs) they were wiped out by smallpox epidemics.

The Pan-Siberian Stratum

These are common features of rituals and worldviews reflected in everyday routines and are typical to some degree for most peoples of Northern Siberia.

·       Traditionally, idols and similar sacred objects were periodically smeared with fat that was kept as regular food. General human sacred objects included the hearth, and fat was smeared on the two logs that supported the slab and the wooden hearth hook.

·       Some creation myths tell of land being lifted from the bottom of the ocean by a duck.

·       Sacred places were worshipped on land, and land has its invisible master. Those were solitary trees on higher grounds, buttes of whimsical shapes, and other stark landscape landmarks. People passing by sacrificed a reindeer for them or left gifts such as bright pieces of fabric, cigarettes, candy, etc.

·       Since women can give birth to children and menstruate, they are considered to be magically dangerous beings particularly because of their periods that desecrate “pure” (male) areas of life, including those connected with hunting. Therefore, women are prohibited from stepping on or over hunting implements (guns, traps, snares, etc.) and from entering the part of the chum behind the hearth where sacred objects are held and even passing by that part of the chum outside since, as oral histories report, that is the location of strictly male exit men would use when going out hunting. Smoke holes are believed to be a remnant of that egress. All female shoes were considered unclean and were moved together with floorboards. Nganasans prohibited young men from letting women sit on their lap.

·       Nganasans’ traditional life prohibits hunting bears and wolves for meat (neighboring Dolgans and old-time Russian residents did not have such a prohibition; other Siberian tribes would conclude a bear hunt with complicated rituals for burying the bear’s remains or with a special “bear feast”). However, shaman practices do feature sacred objects pelts from the snout of a bear (both brown and polar). Nganasans believe that the wolf is connected to spirits hostile to humans and consequently, there are no sacred wolf-related objects.

·       The dog was used as a sacrificial animal.

·       The funeral of an adult person who died in their chum started with disassembling the part of the chum next to the dead body: nyuks (reindeer pelt covers) were removed and poles were shifted aside to take the body away.

The Arctic Stratum

These are beliefs and ritual behaviors with parallels in the traditional culture of the Chukchi and the Inuit (or even with a wider range of affinities).

·       The Clean Chum holiday is the main holiday of the calendar cycle; it has been strongly modified by shamanic involvement. It was linked with the sun reappearing after the polar night.

·       Animals have a life that is similar to that of human beings (they have camping areas, chum, a human shape, etc.): they transition from one aspect to another by putting a hood on.

·       Death determined a human being’s future existence. The deceased person would go to the deity that caused the person’s death (gods of hunger, diseases, bloodshed, etc.)

·       The afterlife was a continuous holiday, so people were buried in their festive clothes.

The Indigenous Stratum

The Nganasan worldview was characterized by a belief in Mothers of the world that had given birth to what is considered to be the world around humanity (Mother Earth, Mother Sun, Mother Water, Mother Fire, etc.). These principal Mothers are visible to human beings, but they are too great for humans to be able to communicate with them safely. From time to time, people offered sacrifices to these Mothers asking for prosperity. Hunters and fishermen set aside some of their spoils for such a sacrifice saying “Take your share.” Shamans were strictly prohibited from talking to the Mothers because, owing to such a huge difference in size, a dialog with a human being could have disastrous consequences. To avoid problems with size, Nganasans' shamanic practices evolved invisible husbands of the Mothers – the Fathers, children, etc. There were also smaller Mothers (daughters of Mother Earth) such as the Mother of Trees, Mother of Wild Reindeer, Mother of Geese, Mother of Polar Foxes, Mother of Fishes (daughter of Mother of Water, etc.).

Mother Earth is believed to give people their bodies. Consequently, when a wild reindeer is killed, its eyes are removed and left on the ground. This goddess put eyes in a mother’s womb, and the eyes would grow human flesh around them. Mother Sun gave life energy to living beings, and Mother Moon was in charge of pregnancy and allowed living things to be born.

The only male in the Nganasans' ancient mythology is Dyoyba-ngo (the Orphan god), a patron of humans and a cultural hero.

The Big Day holiday reflected the Mothers’ worship. It was held in summer at a lake coast when the snow and ice would melt and water would appear, and when night and day would give way to a polar day. The oldest woman at a camping area organized and directed the celebrations. Sacrifices were made to all the principal Mothers; there were no shamanic rituals, and youth games looked like initiation rituals.

Mothers’ worship determined people’s attitude to fire: fire and hearth were seen as strictly female affairs and men were prohibited from making fire.

When a shaman was not around to handle a difficult and unclear situation, people would turn to a koyka shaman, a small wooden doll dressed in shaman clothes. The doll would send a prophetic dream.

The Samoyed Stratum

The Samoyed stratum is primarily related to large-herd tundra reindeer breeding. The domestic reindeer proved to be a universal sacrifice in rituals. This is the latest stratum in Nganasan beliefs. In the 1930s, when Nganasans were rich in reindeer, they still retained memories of the times when they had very few reindeer. A reindeer was sacrificed (to Mother Moon) when a woman was giving birth, in case of an illness, or when passing by a holy place; at general calendar holidays, reindeer were sacrificed to Mothers of nature. If hunting and fishing did not go well, sacrifices were made to specific Mothers – Mother of Fishes, Mother of Wild Reindeer, Mother of Polar Foxes, etc.

Prosperity could also be obtained from supernatural beings by consecrating reindeer to them. Such a reindeer was given to a deity as a gift; a special tamga (brand) was shaven on the reindeer’s side marking it as belonging to a Mother (for example, a Mother of Earth, Water, Sun, Moon, Wild Reindeer, Polar Foxes, etc). Subsequently, people could only graze such reindeer. If wolves killed such a reindeer, another was consecrated in its stead. When the reindeer grew old, it was sacrificed to its deity, and its meat was eaten.

The Samoyed stratum is part of a larger Altai-Sayan stratum that also features round one-sided drums with a wide obechaika (frame) and resonators; such drums are also used by Kets, the Enets, and Selkups.

The Tungus Stratum

The Tungus stratum is known forshamanism. They use metal pendants representing guardian spirits. Some wear crowns with metal antlers. Nganasans’ shamanic songs have the Tungus sound system that is radically different from the Nganasan one.

The Stone Gate ritual among Nganasans and the Enets constitutes a peculiar transformation of the Tungus shamanic magic. This ritual was performed in wooded tundra in the spring, before moving north. Slab stones and other rocks were used to build a gateway a little over 1.5 meters high, up to 2.5 meters long, and about a meter wide so that a person dressed in winter clothes could get through. The purpose of the ritual of passing through the gate was to shake off diseases and all kinds of uncleanliness that stood in the way of basic prosperity. When the ritual was over, the northern entry to the gateway was covered with a reindeer pelt and a stone slab. People never again returned to that gateway. The ritual of passing through a magical opening that could cleanse a person of diseases and uncleanliness was typical for Evenks and is performed with the spread legs of a wooden idol. After the ritual, the legs are tied together and the idol is thrown away. Nganasans believe that magic-wise, stone is better than wood.