Samoyed

By TEFERI ABATE ADEM

Nenets (Yurak-Samoyeds, Yurak), Nganasan (Tarvgi-Samoyeds, Tavgi, Avam, Nya), Selkup (Ostyaks, Ostyak-Samoyeds, Cumul'-kup, Süsse-kum), Kamas (Kamassian Samoyads), Enets (Yenisey Samoyeds)

The Samoyed are indigenous peoples living in the tundra belt of Russia along the coast of the Barents and Kara Seas, extending from the White Sea on the west to the Taymyr Peninsula on the east. The southern limit of their territory extends to the forest-tundra belt to the forest area of the Sayan Mountain. They also occupy the Arctic Islands of Kolguev Vaygach and Novaya Zemlya.

The Samoyed are internally divided into five major groups, namely the Nenets (Yurak), Enets (Yenisey), Nganasan (Tavgi), Selkup (Ostyak), and Kamas. Each of these sub-groups is associated with particular regions of Samoyed territory which also shaped its major subsistence type. The Ngansan, for example, lived in the Tundra region and were traditionally referred as “Tundra Samoyeds.” Likewise, the Selkup and the Kamas represented what were traditionally referred as “Forest” and “Mountain” Samoyeds, respectively. The remaining two groups (i.e., the Nenets and the Enets) constituted both “Tundra” and “Forest” dwelling groups as their traditional homeland extended throughout the eastern, western and central regions of the Samoyed territory.

According to a 1959 Soviet census, the Samoyed were 30,000 strong, out of which 25,000 were Nenets, 300 Enets, 700 Nganasan, and 400 Selkup (there was no data for the Kamas as the language of this sub-group was almost extinct). By 2002, the Nenets alone numbered more than 41,000. The Selkup increased to 4,249 and the Nganasan to 834. As an exception, the number of Enets-speakers reportedly decreased to about 200 individuals.

Each of the five Samoyed groups speaks a distinct language. In most cases, subgroups within each group are also separated linguistically from other members of the subgroup. For this reason, reports show that there are over forty Samoyed dialects. All of them belong to the Samoyed Branch of the Uralic Language Family. The languages of the Nenets, Enet and Nganasan are often classified together as the Northern branches of the Samoyed language, while the Selkup and Kamas comprised the Southern branch. Some of the groups have increasingly adopted Russian as a first language. By the mid-1990s, 86% of the Nenet and 90% of the Nganasan spoke their native tongue, while only 51% of the Selkup did so.

From archaeological and folkloric evidence it is assumed that the northward expansion of the Samoyed people began after the second century A.D. and the differentiation into the subgroups dates back to this period. It is further assumed that the northward migration and settlement caused conflicts with other ethnic groups (notably the Tungus, Ostyaks and Tatars) over fishing and hunting territories. It is not well known when the Samoyeds reached their present location, but it is suggested that they already lived in the tundra east and west of the Urals by 1000 A.D. The migration continued within historic times with the westward movement in the European North which proceeded even at the beginning of the 20th century.

Russian royal chronicles show that the Samoyeds traded with neighboring groups beginning from the eleventh century. The Samoyeds of Mezen and Pechora rivers, for example, maintained relations with the Novgorod from whom they obtained iron.

Russian expansion into Samoyed territory started in the middle of the fifteenth century and continued to modern times. With the consolidation of Russian power and subsequent resettlement of ethnic Russians in the region, the Samoyed were forced to pay taxes and convert to Christianity. By the beginning of the 20th century, they had become greatly dependent on Russian trade goods for their daily subsistence. These included clothing, flour, tea, butter, guns, ammunition, and fishing nets. Many of them had been considerably acculturated, adopting Russian housing, dress, and language.

For much of the past until the turn of the twentieth century, the Samoyed lacked permanent settlement. Instead, most of them lived in small conical tents, the use of which was also necessitated by the nomadic mode of life connected with reindeer breeding. Their traditional tent consisted of a framework built from twenty-five to sixty poles, which were carried along in a sledge during migrations on the treeless tundra. The tent cover was made of reindeer hides that were sewn together and, in summer, specially prepared pieces of birch bark were used. The interior was planned to house the whole household, up to several families, but if several households migrated together a corresponding number of tents were erected close to each other to form a camp. A sheet of iron for the hearth was placed in the middle of the tent, and a movable plank floor was built on either side of it. The rest of the floor was covered with grass mats and hides. Cooking on the hearth was facilitated by a central vertical pole that was considered sacred.

Permanent Samoyed settlements started in the late 1930s because of the Russian government’s collectivization program. By mid-1990s, many Samoyed lived in Russian-style log buildings. They were also engaged in industrial and intellectual professions which allowed them to interact intensively with the dominant Russian society in all aspects of life.

Traditional Samoyed subsistence combined hunting, fishing, and reindeer herding. By the mid-1990s, hunting wild reindeer was largely replaced by systematic reindeer breeding, except among the Nganasan where it continued to be important. The reindeer herd had declined over the years beginning with the implementation of the forced collectivization policy in the 1930s.

The Samoyed had a highly developed house-building and tool-making culture. They also built dugout canoes and sledges for transportation. The Samoyed sledge is especially known, elegantly constructed with flexible joints, very long and narrow runners, and high backward-leaning stakes. For specialized purposes, a number of sophisticated variant types are used, such as the women's sledge and the household sledge.

In pre-Soviet Samoyed society, men had entire charge of reindeer, of fishing and hunting. The women did the housework and took care of the processing of produce, such as tanning, sewing, cooking. Women were also responsible for setting up and pulling down the house in the course of nomadic movement. By mid-1990s, the economic roles of the sexes had overlapped. The men did some of the housework, such as collecting of firewood, while the women did some fishing. This change was especially pronounced among Samoyed individuals who were Communist Party members and war veterans.

Traditionally, each Samoyed clan had its own territory with pasturelands as well as hunting and fishing grounds, a cemetery, and places of worship. Clan leaders made important decisions relating to the timing and routes of herd migration and pasture use. With the transformation to intensive reindeer herding beginning from the turn of the 20th century, this rule led to the emergence of a set of rights to grazing lands, campsites, and fishing grounds. The new rules included the right to exclude intruders, transfer reindeer and land, and dispose of the rights with the permission of local agents of the new Soviet government.

Pre-Soviet Samoyed society was organized into patrilineal exogamous clans characterized by common descent, shared name and mutual help among members. The clan system has subsequently declined since the 1930s because of Soviet collectivization policy. The effect seems to vary across groups. Among the Nenets, for example, some 100 clans, each possessing a more or less well-preserved tradition concerning its origin, survived to the mid-1990s. Clan members continued to use distinctively non-Russian (and even non-Russianized) surnames to ensure the continuity of their ethnic identity as Nenets.

The Samoyed system of basic kinship terms distinguishes between three senior (grandparent, parent, and elder sibling) and two junior (younger sibling, child) age categories. The terminology is slightly more differentiated for males than for females, but several important categories (sibling, younger sibling, child, parent-in-law of husband, younger sibling-in-law of husband) are expressed by sexually undifferentiated terms.

For much of the past, marriage in Samoyed was a matter decided by clan leaders. For men the marrying age was as early as sixteen, for women twelve to sixteen. There were occasional cases of polygyny and levirate especially prior to the advent of Christianity.

A Samoyed family consisted of several generations of close relatives living together and forming a more or less autonomous economic unit. The group usually contained a married couple with their children, the husband’s old parents, and unmarried brothers and sisters living together.

Traditional skills pertaining to the hunt, reindeer breeding, fishing, and knowledge of the kinship system and the management of the economy took place in the family or nomadic group.

Under Russian rule, the Samoyed were organized into local groups often consisting of members of the same clan. Each of these groups elected a “chief” or “prince” whose actual power varied from region to region. Among the Selkup, for example, the chief enjoyed somewhat greater authority because of the group’s greater proximity to Russian settlements. Among the Nganasan, on the other hand, the coercive power of the chief was much weaker as members of the group lived in considerable isolation.

The post-1917 Soviet state had instituted a new political structure in which the Samoyed and other minority ethnic groups were to enjoy rights to govern themselves with minimal intervention from the central government. With the establishment of effective Soviet control in the area beginning from 1926, however, this was replaced by a centrally directed administrative structure. The new structure was pyramidal in shape, consisting of “Tribal Meetings and Councils” at the lowest level and “Regional Native Congresses” and “Regional Native Executive Committees” in the middle. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, the Samoyed established political alliance with other minority groups to defend their rights.

The traditional religious conceptions and customs of the Samoyed fall within the general definition of Siberian shamanism. They recognized a close relationship between this world and the spirit-world, which required manipulation and control to keep it to human’s advantage. This mediation between humans and spirits was provided by several categories of shamans. With increasing pressure from Russia over the centuries, the traditional religious conceptions had incorporated new elements of Christianity, including adopting figures from the Orthodox pantheon, such as Nikolai Chudotvorets, as patrons.

In the pre-Soviet period, major ceremonials include shamanistic rituals directed at ensuring the success of the hunt, preparing the herd for seasonal migration, and for improving the health of the community. There were also rituals relating to birth and death. For example, during birth, a sacrifice was made together with purification of the tent by sprinkling it with water from a bunch of marsh tea.

An important aspect of traditional Samoyed artistic expression is revealed in the ornamentation of clothing (both regular clothing and ritual costumes), ivory and wood works. They also have a rich tradition of oral literature and music, including personal songs and melodies that were exchanged as gifts or transmitted by inheritance.

The dead were buried in a special log construction on the ground. The deceased man’s broken sled and several slaughtered reindeer were placed beside the grave. The soul of the deceased is believed to cause harm to the living. For this reason, the dead are accorded with every kind of respect including periodic offerings and pilgrimages to the grave.

Hajdú, Péter, 1962. The Samoyed Peoples and Languages. Bloomington: Indiana University Press; The Hague: Mouton.

Khomich, L. V., 1976. Problemy etnogeneza i etnicheskoi istorii Nencev (Study of the ethnogenesis and ethnohistory of the Nenets). Leningrad: Nauka.

Lewis, M. Paul (ed.), 2009. Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Sixteenth edition. Dallas, Tex.: SIL International. Online version: http://www.ethnologue.com/. Accessed July 16, 2012.

Prokof'yeva, E. D., 1964. “The Nentsy.” In The People of Siberia, edited by M. G. Levin and L. P. Potapov, 547-570. Translated by Stephen P. Dunn and Ethel Dunn. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Originally published in Russian in 1956.

Teferi Abate Adem wrote this culture summary in January 2012 based on information from documents in Samoyed Collection (RU04) of eHRAF World Cultures. He also wrote the synopsis and indexing notes in January 2012. The population information was updated in July 2012.