FolkCostume&Embroidery

Hello all,

Today I will be talking about the peoples who inhabit the northeasternmost part of Siberia. This region is the homeland of the Luorawetlan language family. All the languages in the area are in decline, under severe pressure from Russian. Several are already extinct. This is the homeland of the Chukchi, Koryak, Itelmen and smaller, related peoples, as well as the Yupik and Sirenikski.

Chukchi

The Chukchi call themselves Luoravetlan, the name Chukchi means 'rich in reindeer', and originally referred only to the nomadic members of this people. There are about 16000 Chukchi alive today. They were very warlike, and held off the Russian Colonials until they finally gave up on conquest. The Russians then opened trading posts, and peaceful relations culminated in the absorption of Chukotka into the Soviet Union in the 20th cent.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chukchi_people

Traditional attire for men consisted of pants, boots, and a parka. Women dressed in a 'onesie', a single garment that included pants and top in one. These were large on top, in order to accommodate a child as well. Boots, of course, were added.

Men would wear armor when going to war. This was also used by their neighbors, the Yupik and Koryak.

The womens clothing, while warm, was somewhat impractical, so the women would wear long overshirts with pants in the summer, or Koryak like fur dresses at times.

This can be seen today in performances like this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GneEooWypS4&list=RDGneEooWypS4&start_radio=1

Warm boots are very important here, as in all of Siberia. Chukchi boots tend to not be as ornamented, however.

Waterproof coats made of sea mammal intestines were worn, likely borrowed from the Yupik.

Here is a video of Chukchi young people dancing and performing throat singing, similar to that of the Yupik. They are attired in Koryak style dresses.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jApzkLUtaNQ

Koryak

The Koryak live south of the Chukchi, and speak a related language. Their original name for themselves was Nymylan, but this is rarely used today. The Koryak today number some 7,900 people. Their culture and costume is copied by many of their neighbors.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koryaks

The women wear long dress like parkas made of fur. The fur is worn on the inside, and the leather is colored a chestnut color with alder. Rosettes with bead chains and embroidery are applied for ornament.

Men wear shorter parkas of a similar shape. If they are worn fur side in, they are not colored by alder, at most they have stamped ornament of alder dye.

Most commonly, these are worn fur side out, and have patches of ornament consisting of patchwork and reindeer fur held in place by strips of seal esophagus.

Traditional outer Koryak parkas, both mens and womens, always had a square bib below the face opening. This was raised to protect the face while sledding, and to sleep.

Boots are also highly ornamented with fur patchwork and beads.

Clothing for cremations are completely different, being made primarily of white reindeer hide with elaborate fur patchwork. There are many taboos concerning these, primarily that they not be finished until needed, and none should see you working on them. This makes for many sleepless nights when a death occurs. These are artistic treasures, and some are found in museum collections.

A few more images of the Koryak people.

Young members of the Koryak National Ensemble Mengo performing at the Moscow Art Museum for the opening of an exhibition of Kamchatka Artists.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaW0NwcApXU

Itelmen

The Itelmen inhabit Kamchatka proper, and were formerly divided into several peoples, speaking various languages of the Kamchatkan branch of the Chukotko-Kamchatkan Language family. These languages are distantly related to Chukchi and Koryak, but are mostly extinct or moribund. About 3000 Itelmen are alive today.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Itelmens

I have not found any explanation of Itelmen costume, but the photos which I have found seem to fall into three groups.

Garments ornamented with bands of animal tails, this is also recorded in an old sketch.

The second is very similar to the dress of the Even people, with apron and jacket.

The third resembles that of the Koryak, with long swirly parkas.

A few more images of these people.

Video of an exhibition devoted to the Itelmen, with photos, costumes and dancers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrkLr04jjU0

Video of an Itelmen dance performance, about a Shaman who is visited by female spirits after eating shrooms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XfOiCQVV5_s

Sireniksky and Yupik

These are part of the larger ethnic group commonly called Eskimo. This is a rather unfortunate term, but there is no endonym which covers the entire group, which ranges from here to Greenland, and speaks several different languages.

The Eskimo of Siberia belong to three different groups with distinct languages. Naukan, shown on the map in fuchsia, Yuit, shown on the map in red, and Sirenikski, shown on the map in red circled with yellow.

The first two belong to the Yupik branch of the Eskimo Language family, and are related to languages spoken in western and southwestern Alaska.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naukan_Yupik_language

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Siberian_Yupik_language

Sireniki is an extremely ancient settlement, and traditionally spoke an Eskimo Language which was extremely divergent from all the rest, forming its own branch of the Eskimo Language Tree. This language has unfortunately very recently become extinct. The inhabitants now speaking Yuit.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sirenik_language

The material culture of these three peoples is very similar.

Both men and women wear similar clothing, boots, pants, parka and underclothes. These garments were often layered.

Womens parkas were sewn with tails front and back, mens were cut straight across the hem.

This drawing shows some Chukchi, on the left, haggling with some Yupik, on the right.

The Yupik did not raise reindeer, instead the men hunted sea mammals and fish, and the women gathered and hunted small game and fish on land.

When the women wished to make a dress outfit, they would often combine the fur of many different animals. Here are a couple of examples.

Here we see the outfit on a mannequin, complete with dance fans which have lost most of their feathers.

Likewise mens parkas were made of various animal skins, like ground squirrel

or seabird skins.

Yupik women were excellent sewers, having mastered the art of making seams not only impervious to cold, but also waterproof. Parkas sewed of seal intestines kept out the water, and also included tufts of decorative animal fur.

Here is an extraordinary Yupik garment from Alaska, with detail.

When tradecloth became available, they made coats to cover the skin parkas to keep the snow from sticking. These then developed into summer garments in their own right.

Briefs of leather and nothing else were often worn inside, as the homes often became quite hot.

Boots were sewn with great care to keep out the cold and wet. Yupik women are masters of this.

Jewelry was made from trade beads and local materials. Here we see earrings, a necklace, and body jewelry that was inserted into piercings in the lip or cheek.

Yupik dances involve mostly staying in place while moving the hands. These are always done with dance fans, mens have stiff feathers, while womens have flowy hair or long soft feathers. If dance fans are not available, then gloves must be worn. To dance with bare hands would shred the space-time continuum.