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| 1 | The article examines one of the frequent phenomena of the past of the northern Selkups — famine; the frequency of hunger strikes is examined, the groups of the Selkup society most susceptible to regular malnutrition are identified, and the causes of hunger are revealed. As a result of the research, the author comes to the following conclusions. The Selkups experienced famine annually, in the winter-spring period, then all the reserves made for the winter were consumed. In summer and autumn, the Selkups stored food in insufficient quantities. This is due to the Selkup national character, which was not characterized by such qualities as thrifty and prudent. The Selkups also did not make a large number of procurements because of the nomadic way of life. The seasonal famine ended with the arrival of spring migratory birds. After a collective hunt for them, a holiday and a general feast were arranged, at which the Selkups ate their fill for the first time in a year. After the ducks, fish returned — the main summer-autumn food of the Selkups. During the hungry winter-spring period, the Selkups lived by hunting, but full-fledged hunting was impossible for the deerless Selkups, since they required going to places where fur-bearing animals lived, or wild reindeer migrated. Hunting success often did not meet the expectations of the Selkups, since it depended on the whims of nature — migrations of fishing objects, severe frosts, the «yield» of the current year for the animal, etc. In addition to the nomadic way of life, peculiarities of national character and unsuccessful hunting, the Selkup famine had another socio-economic reason. The Selkups were exploited, drunk and deceived in commercial transactions by Russian officials, representatives of the Orthodox Church, merchants and traders, as well as their own clan nobility. Bakeries established by the state, designed to prevent hunger among the population of the Turukhansk region, only exacerbated the situation of the Selkups, making them eternal debtors to the treasury. The overwhelming part of the Selkup society was exposed to hunger. The Selkups did not fight hunger, but humbly endured it, for which they had several passive methods, which included «waiting for spring», a special hungry "diet", kindred and non-kindred mutual assistance. Hunger in the form in which it was experienced by the Selkups can be considered one of the Selkup traditional economic practices. Keywords: northern Selkups, hunger, causes of hunger, national character, social relations, economic practices | 850 | ||||
| 2 | The traditional toy of the northern Selkups, today almost forgotten by them, has not yet been studied by anyone. Meanwhile, it is a vivid fragment of the traditional Selkup culture. The research aimed to return this element of their culture to the Selkup people in the form of a scientific description. Based mainly on museum materials and partly from the author's field materials, five types of toys of the northern Selkups were identified and considered, including six types of dolls. Due to the lack of Selkup material, the method of scientific reconstruction was actively used in the study. Descriptions of the types and types of toys recorded by the Selkups were recreated based on the materials of toys of neighboring peoples. Along the way, it was established which traditions — West Siberian and East Siberian — influenced the formation of the appearance of a particular type / type of toy among the Selkups. The question of the connection between the North Selkup toy — a thing of utilitarian meaning — with the sacred, or, in other words, the question of its symbolic meanings, was considered. The author came to the conclusion that all types and types of Selkup toys in the past were sacred ritual objects, and that in the semiotic status of a toy, the ratio of “sign” and “thing” over time shifted towards the “thing”. The study was completed by the materials included in it on the current state of the traditional North Selkup toy. Keywords: Northern Selkups, Nenets, Khanty, Evenki, Keto, traditional culture, traditional toy, semiotic status of a thing | 1021 | ||||
| 3 | As a result of the semantic analysis of the materials of Selkup folklore, beliefs, rituals, the study of food preferences and prohibitions, several ancient religious ideas were revealed that made food the most effective magical means in the Selkup mythological field. Among them, the idea of eating a deceased person, crossing the border of the earthly and otherworldly worlds, by an ancestor animal, later grew into ideas about the connection between eating and crossing the border, as well as death; a view of food as a benefit sent to a person by spirits, and a view of spirits as material beings who eat and drink, and who need to be fed, appeasing; the idea of similarity, according to which a person who has eaten meat or some part of the spirit acquires the same properties that the spirit or this part of it has, etc. Each of the ideas is universal and characteristic of all peoples of the world at the early stages of the development of culture and religion. This is the first time such a study is carried out on the basis of Selkup religious beliefs, which is its novelty and scientific significance. The relevance of the study is given by the process of the formation of a new ethnicity among the modern Selkups and the resulting demand for any developments on the issues of Selkup history and culture. Keywords: Selkups, mythological concepts, rituals, food prohibitions and preferences, magical properties of food | 710 | ||||
| 4 | The article describes the results of the author's trip to Selkup Porg - the image of the spirit on the tree, located on the fishing grounds on the river. Sailing, the right tributary of the middle Taz. The results of the trip include the scientific fixation of the monument and the ritual of feeding the spirit, as well as a number of conclusions drawn from the analysis of the collected material. The most important discovery of the study was the identification of a female spirit carved in a porg with the main Selkup deity, the Old Woman Ilyntyl Kota, described in detail in the works of E.D. Prokofieva, after which the Porg received a detailed characterization and a visualization of the divine Old Woman in a sculptural image. Moreover, the Porg of the Parusovs is her only verified image to date. The trip to the Porg confirmed that the belief in spirits and their magical power is still alive among the Selkups. However, changes were noted in relation to this spirit. Since the Old Woman depicted on the Porg is the mistress of all the Earth, all people living on Earth can look at her, make offerings to her, and ask her for protection and help, according to the Guardian. In the Selkup tradition, there was no such broad interpretation of the group of people who have access to the Porg, so this phenomenon is due to an innovation. The study has revealed the fact, still unknown to science, that the burial of the house spirits of three Selkup clans under a Porg tree provides a probable explanation. Keywords: Selkups, traditional worldview, images of spirits on a tree, the ritual of feeding spirits, transformations of traditional culture, innovations | 552 | ||||
| 5 | This article examines the harvesting strategies and methods of firewood utilization developed by the lowpopulation indigenous peoples of the Arctic – the Northern Selkups – as they adapted to local climatic conditions and the socio-economic and technological changes that time brought to their lives. The Selkups' traditional life support system did not involve the procurement of large quantities of firewood each season; firewood was stored for a short period of time. Selkups’ fishing camps were built where firewood was available. The Selkups of the Middle Taz who lived in the forest-tundra, unlike their relatives of the Upper Taz who lived in the taiga zone, often had a shortage of quality fuel and had to make greater efforts to procure firewood. The strategy of regularly replenishing the small supply of firewood obtained near the house is still used by the Selkups, who run a traditional economy, during the summer. However, the strategies for obtaining firewood in winter have changed among all northern Selkups: From the Russians, Selkups adopted the principle of amassing a large winter supply of firewood. In the procurement of firewood, the Selkups developed new relationships with the state, which supported them in the form of social organizations. There were major changes for all Selkups in the technical part of fuel procurement strategies: chainsaws, which are now used to prepare firewood, and snowmobiles, motorcycles, motorboats, trucks, caracats (ATVs) on which they are delivered, entered everyday life. Among the Selkups, firewood is not only used for heating and cooking. It is involved in a variety of economic activities, each of which uses its own technology and method of combustion. Keywords: Northern Selkups, fuel procurement strategies, firewood, heating, cooking, traditions, innovations | 549 | ||||