Siberian Yupik

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(Redirected from Yuit)

Siberian Yupik are an indigenous people who reside along the coast of the Chukchi Peninsula in the far northeast of the Russian Federation and the St. Lawrence Island of Alaska. They speak Central Siberian Yupik, a Yupik language related to the other Yupik in Russia and Alaska.

They were also known as Siberian Eskimo or Yupiks. The name Yuit (Юит, plural: Юиты) was officially assigned to them in 1931, at the brief time of the campaign of support of indigenous cultures in the Soviet Union.

1 Traditional crafts
2 Concepts about the animal world around them
- 2.1 Orca and wolf
- 2.2 Whale
3 External links
4 Bibliography
5 Notes
6 See also

[edit] Traditional crafts

The Siberian Yupik on St. Lawrence Island live in the villages of Savoonga and Gambell, and are widely known for their skillful carvings of walrus ivory and whale bone, as well as the baleen of bowhead whales. These even include some “moving sculptures” with complicated pulleys animating scenes such as walrus hunting or traditional dances.

[edit] Concepts about the animal world around them

The largest Siberian Yupik language spoken in Russia is named after village Ungazik (Chaplino). The pople is called ungazigmik (plural ungazigmit, IPA: as phonemic /uˈŋaziɢmiːt/, as phonetic [uˈŋaʑiʁmʲiːt]; cyrillic: ун'азиг'мит, see tales on pp. 220, 238, 370 of <ref name=rubmat>Rubcova, E.S.: Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1954. Original data: Е.С. Рубцова: Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Академия Наук СССР. Москва • Ленинград, 1954.</ref>, and also p. 1 of <ref name=mengram1>Menovshchikov, G.A.: Grammar of the language of Asian Eskimos. Vol. I. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1962. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Грамматиκа языка азиатских эскимосов. Часть первая. Академия Наук СССР. Москва • Ленинград, 1962</ref>).

[edit] Orca and wolf

In the tales and beliefs of this people, wolf and orca are thought to be identical: orca can become a wolf or vice versa. In winter, they appear in the form of wolf, in summer, in the form of orca (see tale The orphan boy with his sister, <ref name=rubmat/> p. 156, note 21).

Orca was believed to help people in hunting on the sea — thus the boat represented the image of this animal, and the orca's wooden representation hang also from the hunter's belt (see subsection Духовная культура (Spirit culture) of <ref name=ssipr>Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights (Поддержка прав коренных народов Сибири) — see the section on Eskimos</ref>).

The materials cited above (<ref name=rubmat/> <ref name=mengram1/> <ref name=ssipr/>) mention also the spider, whale, raven as revered animals, referring to folklore (e.g. tale) examples.

[edit] Whale

It is thought that only those people could kill the whale during the hunt who have been selected by the spirit of the sea. The hunter has to please the killed whale: it must be treated as a guest. Just like a polite host does not leave a recently arrived dear guest alone, thus similarly, the killed whale should not be left alone by the host (i.e. by the hunter who has killed it). Like a guest, it should not get hurt or feel sad. It must be entertained (e.g. by drum music, good foods). On the next whale migration (whales migrate twice a year, in spring to the north and in the autumn back), the previously killed whale is sent off back to the sea in the course of a farewell ritual. If the killed whale was pleased to (during its being a guest for a half year), then it can be hoped that it will return later, too: thus, also the future whale hunts will succeed <ref name=whale>Rituals for the whale: p. 218 of Rub:Mat</ref>.

[edit] External links

Г.А. Меновщиков: Азиатских эскимосов язык is a summary of the Chaplino dialect. It can be read among other articles, collected under name Языки мира — Палеоазиатские языки (Languages of the world — Paleoasian languages).
The Asiatic (Siberian) Eskimos
Chukotka regional office of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference
Asian Eskimo Language page of Endangered Languages of Indigenous Peoples of Siberia
Ethnologue report

[edit] Bibliography

Campbell, Lyle. (1997). American Indian languages: The historical linguistics of Native America. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-509427-1.
Menovshchikov, G.A.: Grammar of the language of Asian Eskimos. Vol. I. Academy of Sciences of the USSR, Moscow • Leningrad, 1962. Original data: Г.А. Меновщиков: Грамматиκа языка азиатских эскимосов. Часть первая. Академия Наук СССР. Москва • Ленинград, 1962.
Menoščikov, G.A. (the same author as above!): Popular Conceptions, Religious Beliefs and Rites of the Asiatic Eskimoes. Published in Diószegi, Vilmos et Hoppál, Mihály: Folk Beliefs and Shamanistic Traditions in Siberia. Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1968, 1996.
de Reuse, Willem J. (1994). Siberian Yupik Eskimo: The language and its contacts with Chukchi. Studies in indigenous languages of the Americas. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. ISBN 0-87480-397-7.
Rubcova, E.S.: Materials on the Language and Folklore of the Eskimoes, Vol. I, Chaplino Dialect. Academy of Sciences of the USSR * Leningrad, 1954. Original data: Е.С. Рубцова: Материалы по языку и фольклору эскимосов (чаплинский диалект). Академия Наук СССР. Москва * Ленинград, 1954.
Support for Siberian Indigenous Peoples Rights (Поддержка прав коренных народов Сибири) -- see the section on Eskimos