A fading culture adapts to the changing times in this Arctic town
With each new border and political shift, the indigenous women of Chukotka, Russia adjust to maintain their heritage and survive.
.
Photograph by Eric Guth
9 Minute Read
By Jennifer Kingsley
PUBLISHED January 25, 2019
We were eating more than I thought possible, including jellied whale casserole and fresh apricot buns, while Elizaveta Dobrieva’s family explained that their ancestors descended from the polar bear and the killer whale. Then Elizaveta disappeared into the back room of her apartment in Lavrentiya, Chukotka, and came back cradling a dark wooden carving. Its eyes slanted down to a long nose, and many thin vertical lines extended below the chin. Elizaveta told me that the lines represent tattoos and indicate that this figure is a woman.
Picture of a woman holding a wooden figure
“This is the keeper of our clan,†she said, “her name is Yiakunneun.†(иÑкунеун) She held the figure like it was a baby, resting it in the crook of her arm, so it seemed to look up at her face. She showed me how she would talk to it, consulting it during difficult times in her life. Then she put her fingers to its mouth and showed how she feeds it with choice morsels from her own table on special occasions. Elizaveta’s ancestors have lived with Yiakunneun for four or five generations, back when life was very different. This cultural figure could be transported into a new life when so many other things had to be left behind.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/2019/01/women-of-chukotka-arctic-russian-culture/
