FUNERARY PRACTICES IN MODERN CHUKCHI CULTURE
DOI: 10.23951/2307-6119-2020-1-126-136
This article examines the funeral Chukchi traditions that have survived to the present time. Many scientists believed that archaic forms of funerals would give way to a modern unified ritual. However, in some national villages of Chukotka people are still buried by burning or leaving the dead body on a hill or in an open area; modern funeral rites are also often associated with some elements of traditional culture. The authors consider the worldview associated with death, the attitude to death in the Chukchi and neighboring ethnic groups. For a comparative analysis of the rites occurring in different years, the authors give descriptions of the funeral rites by scientists and travelers of the XVIII–XX centuries. Existing ritual practices in modern Chukchi culture are represented by the following methods of burial of the dead: burning, leaving the body in the open air, laying the body with stones, burial "in Russian". Among the traditional burial practices, the most common is the ritual of burning. Moreover, in the village of Vaegi of Anadyr districts the funeral "in Chukchi" is the most preferable for residents. The exceptions are the cases when the spouses and close relatives of the representatives of other nationalities can not do the will of the dead in the ceremony of burning. Other traditional methods of burial are few but still occur in the village of Ilirney (Iultinsky district), Rytkuchi village (Chaunsky district), in some villages of Anadyr and Chukotka district. Surveys of residents showed that most often "in Chukchi" they bury the old people, who voiced their will during his lifetime, or "tundra-people" engaged in traditional farming away from the villages. It should be noted that nowadays few informants could describe the ritual as a whole, many people know the order of ritual acts, but cannot disclose their meaning. The funeral rites are frequently held in a "truncated" version (once the mandatory manipulations with the dead are no longer produced, for example, tendons cut, "open" chest, etc.). In rural areas, there are still experts who own traditional burial practices. They participate in the preparation and conduct of the rite, teach the younger generation to conduct rituals.
Keywords: Chukchi, traditional culture, traditional funeral rites, rite of burning, elements of funeral rite
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Issue: 1, 2020
Series of issue: Issue 1
Rubric: ANTHROPOLOGY
Pages: 126 — 136
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