Koryaks
From NativeWiki
Koryaks, a people of the Koryak Autonomous Okrug in the Russian Far East, inhabit the coastlands of the Bering Sea to the south of the Anadyr basin and the country to the immediate north of the Kamchatka Peninsula, the southernmost limit of their range being Tigilsk. They are akin to the Chukchis, whom they closely resemble in physique and manner of life. Also, they are distantly related to the Kamchadal (Itelmens) on the Kamchatka Peninsula.
The Koryak language and its relative, Alutor, are linguistically very close to Chukchi. They are members of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan language family.
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Life in the early 1900s
In the early 1900s, Koryak people were divided into settled fishing tribes and nomadic reindeer breeders and hunters. The former were described as being hopelessly poor. The Koryaks of the interior, on the other hand, owned enormous reindeer herds, to which they were so attached that they refused to part with an animal to a stranger at any price. They resisted Russian aggression, and in their fights with the Cossacks proved themselves recklessly brave. When outnumbered they would kill their women and children, set fire to their homes, and die fighting. Families usually gathered into groups of six or seven, forming miniature states, in which the nominal chief had no predominating authority, but all were equal. The male Koryaks were polygamous, earning their wives by working for their fathers-in-law. The women and children were treated well, and Koryak courtesy and hospitality was proverbial. The chief wedding ceremony was a forcible abduction of the bride. They killed the aged and infirm, in the belief that to save them thus from protracted suffering was the highest proof of affection. The victims chose their mode of death, and young Koryaks practised the art of giving a fatal blow quickly and mercifully. Infanticide was formerly common, and one of a set of twins was always sacrificed. They burned their dead. The prevailing religion was Shamanism; sacrifices were made to evil spirits, the heads of victims being placed on stones facing east.
Life today
Population
According to the 2002 census, there were 8743 Koryaks in Russia.
References
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- Template:1911
- G. Kennan, Tent Life in Siberia (1871); "Über die Koriaken u. ihnen nähe verwandten Tchouktchen," in But. Acad. Sc. St. Petersburg, xii. 99.
