Traditional fishing of the Enets
Wild reindeer hunting, furbearers, meat food, and fishing are the main traditional activities of the Forest Enets, while the Tundra Enets are characterized by reindeer herding in large herds. Forest Ents adhere to taiga fishery due to geographical location and they kept reindeer, but mainly as transportation, their number was up to 15.
The economic complex of the Enets is most expressively demonstrated by the traditional fishing calendar, the names of the months of which reflect one or another occupation. The calendar specifies in detail the time of hunting wild reindeer. Thus, March for the forest Enets is Soydadyung uladiri, i.e. the month of “good hunting for wild deer”. April in the tundra Enets is nadiiro, i.e. “the first calves are born”. May in the forest Enets - nadidiri “birth of reindeer calves”. The names of summer months are connected with fishing: June in the forest Enets - naardiri - “fishing”. Hunting for waterfowl during the molting period in August is kanuirio “chicks month” among tundra Enets, and dedyudiri “swan month” among forest Enets. September - otudaydiri “reindeer race”. October - mogodiirio “the month when the stag drops its antlers” or korairio “male deer month” (October - mogodidiri “the end of the deer race”). November - kederoirio - for tundra Enets, kederkoradiri - for forest Enets - “wild reindeer rut”, the period of hunting with a maned reindeer [3], [10].
As researchers of Enets folklore have noticed, there are a number of legends about hunters of wild reindeer morrede. The word from the Enets means “hunter of wild reindeer, fishing, moving from place to place, in a small defined territory”. According to the researchers' hypothesis, the Morrede are the indigenous population of the tundra strip of Western Siberia, with whom the Samoyeds, who came to the North, encountered. The era of the hunters-morrede, who fished with the help of the reindeer-man, is, to all appearances, the earliest stage in the development of the economy of the population of this region, which preceded the emergence of reindeer breeding proper.
The training of the bait reindeer was long and difficult. As Tikhonova Maria Valeryevna writes in her work “Peoples of Western Siberia”: “In summer, the deer was taught to ‘walk’ on a special belt (length 30-50 meters) with a special headpiece. This belt was flexible and almost silent when it hit the snow, the material was tendons, which were woven in the form of a rope as thick as a pencil. The headgear consisted of a belt loop under the deer's lower jaw and above the eyebrows, and a ribbed plate behind the antlers connected to the loop. The training of the manchish deer consisted in teaching it to obey the hunter controlling it with a belt and not to step on the “manchish” belt, which was of great importance (the training technique was to kick its legs whenever the deer stepped on the belt). Training started on a short belt - 3-4 meters away from the hunter. The deer was trained to move at different speeds, stop, return, etc.” [12]. Hunting with a bait deer and a bow is reflected in the Enets' tales - Dyurechu: “My older brother had a bait deer. He, of course, took it with him. The elder brother with this bait reindeer could easily sneak up to a herd of wild deer and then, when the bait deer would clash antlers with some male deer, he would run up to the wild deer and stab it with a knife. Well, the younger brothers did not have bait deers, they just with bow and arrows in their hands crept up to wild deer and killed the one they could. That's how the brothers hunted” [1]. Sneaking also had to be skillful.
When hunting wild deer alone, a hunter used a special shield for camouflage. The shield had a hole in the center, and there were notches on the outside of the shield to make the snow stick better - an important element of camouflage. The shield was used for hunting at the end of winter. The landscape of the forest zone is favorable for sneaking, and in the taiga the deer herds were kept tightly together. Researchers assume that the forest Enets, displaced by the Selkups from the Taz and Turukhan regions during the 17th century, borrowed from them the winter-spring chasing on the ice.
Wild reindeer was more of a supplementary fishery to fishing for the Forest Enets, while for the Tundra Enets reindeer were the basis of life. Collective hunting methods were most effective and convenient in the tundra landscape, where space is open and the number of reindeer is larger. The collective way of hunting wild reindeer is described in detail by researchers: “The regularity of wild reindeer movement caused favorable opportunities for collective hunting methods. The most widespread were “pokolki” (spearing) and corral hunting. Pokolki were practiced in those places where the traditional ways of seasonal migrations of wild reindeer crossed rivers, among the Enets - on the Agape River and its tributaries. When crossing them, the swimming animals were helpless. The first herds of reindeer crossed the river on ice. The rear herds of bulls crossed the rivers by swimming, at this time the Enets came to the main places of pokolki. Chums were set at some distance from the places where fishing usually took place. A part of hunters went on reconnaissance to determine the exact direction of herd movement. Usually a hunting team consisted of 8-10 men, from which 5-6 men, the strongest and the most dexterous, had to make a pokolki. Each of them had a boat and a spear. The rest picked up the prey animals on the water and towed them to the shore. The leader of the pokolki was chosen spontaneously from among the most experienced ones. The hunters swam out in boats when most of the herd entered the water. They swam into the thick of the animals and pursued them, spearing them in the body, behind the line of ribs. Another technique of collective fishing was hunting with an enclosure. In spring, light temporary pens were built on traditional paths along which herds of wild reindeer migrated from the south to the north, deep into the tundra. The favorite place for such hunting in the Potapov forest tundra was the narrow isthmus between Pokolka and Sigovoye lakes on the right bank of the Yenisei” [4], [11]. [4], [11].
The general trends of the 19th and early 20th centuries had a noticeable impact on hunting techniques, for example, white cloth was stretched instead of snow for a camouflage shield and a cape was sewn for the hunter for sneaking. At the beginning of the XX century the Enets began to use firearms in hunting wild reindeer. According to ethnographer Dolgikh B.O.: “In the late 1940s, collective farmers of the Kirov collective farm harvested 300-400 wild reindeer a year. They consumed part of this extraction themselves, and part of it was delivered to procurement organizations”. Along with the innovations, “pokolki” at river crossings and hunting with a bait deer became rare phenomena. But with rifles, deer were hunted at a distance without long sneaking and at choice, mostly males, female deers and calves were left alive.
Arctic fox, squirrel, sable, ermine, wolverine and hare are furbearers. The Arctic fox lives in the tundra, the others in forest areas. The skin of these animals is one of the means of paying yasak (tax) for both forest and tundra Enets. Therefore, the condition of fur at the time of hunting had a significant impact. In this case, fur was not extracted during the molting period of the animal, which began in the first half of spring and lasted all summer, at this time the pelts of squirrel, ermine, sable were much lower in value than in winter.
Peter Bolin, an Enets from the Mogadi family, told about the details of fox and partridge hunting: “Arctic fox hunting is the most important. Arctic fox is a currency, if my father got one, we lived for a month. Checking traps could last for a day. We used to set the jaws in open places, for example, on hillocks where Arctic foxes run. The mechanism of the jaws worked as follows: the fox went to the bait, hit the snare and the weight of the jaws crushed the prey. Fur extracted by the jaws is more valuable, because the fur remains intact. The partridge was also extracted with a snare made of a reindeer vein. In order to get an elastic snare the deer vein was rolled on the furs of the bakari (Enets shoe from doeskin), and in a hurry the hunter rolled the vein on his cheek and got a snare. The twisting is better and tougher on the furs than with hands. It is more difficult to get a hare than a partridge. Wolverine is a frequent problem for a hunter. This predator can torment a fox caught in its mouth and at the same time break the whole mouth” [10].
Arctic fox hunting is described in detail by Tikhonova M.V.: “Intensive fox hunting began in November and ended in March on the eve of the animal's molt. The passable Arctic Fox (sedara), which in the Yenisei North was usually called “coastal”, appeared in late fall, just before the ice age. It moved from north to south along the shore, following the curves of the coastline. Until the 1920s, wooden homemade traps with iron teeth were widely used in the Arctic Fox fishery. The fishing technique remains generally traditional. Traps are more often set on natural bumps, artificial hills, on hare trails and near hare cages. As a rule, they are covered with grass and lightly covered with snow, on top of which bait (nakroha) is scattered - pieces of deer meat and fish, grouse carcasses, seal and beluga fat. Traps are located mainly along frozen river valleys from the Yenisei to the tundra, with the farthest trap sometimes set at a distance of 50-80 km from the nearest trap. Inspection is made after about 5-7 days. This very complicated operation (requiring in each individual case from three to five days in the dark and up to two days in the light) is repeated 20-25 times during the season. Hunters use deer or dogs to travel to the location of traps.” [13] The number of traps in one family was on average 5 units. “Mouth” (fadyuko) - a homemade trap of the pressure type, the mouth is a stab of logs in the form of an angular wall, a bait was placed behind the suspended log. The animal, trying to get it, fell into the trap. The Enets fisherman had more than 10 traps at his disposal.
The hare fishery was no less important; hare meat was eaten and the skin was used for clothing or sold. To catch hares, the Enets made loops of reindeer veins reinforced with talniki. These loops were placed over hare trails at the level of the animal's head. The stories of the Enets reflect a number of ways of hare hunting: “...ushkans (hares) are hunted with their mouths on the edge of the lake, and also talins are cut and made of them, and the hare is caught. They rake snow with a shovel, make a gate from talin and put a noose there. Loops made of reindeer veins. Then they have a third way to get ushkan. There are ushkan trails, and they have a kleptza. They put it on the trails. So they (Yuchi clan) began to fish with these traps. They extract quite a lot...”. [2] “Klyapets, klyaptsa, klyapsy, klepets - a trap used in the North of Russia and Siberia to catch hares, foxes, lynxes, wolves, and sometimes deer. The distinctive features of the trap are a massive flag (wooden lever) armed with iron teeth, which is activated by a twisted rope. Klyapets is placed on the animal's path, through which stretches attached to klyapets cord - simka; hitting his chest on this cord, the beast pulls down the horn and thereby releases the flag, which with a swing and kills him.” [15] Significantly inferior to all other species of fur-bearing animals with regard to the value of the pelt, the hare at the same time is the only one of the objects of fur hunting, which is suitable for consumption as food.
“Fur hunting of taiga population differs from fur hunting in the tundra, first of all, by the fact that in the taiga zone its main object is squirrel. The hunting season for it was two stages of the winter half-year: autumn (from November to mid-December) and winter (from mid-January to mid- to late March). Traditionally, the main tools of hunting were bows, and since the XIX century - guns. Within the forest-tundra territorial group up to 30, and in some farms - 100 skins per season were extracted”. [4]
Meat hunting is mainly focused on partridge, which is hunted during the entire winter period, except for the “dark season” (December-January), especially in large numbers in the osier-bed zone of the right bank and left bank, where it is hunted with loops. Children could also hunt ptarmigan using loops. Nets were also used in large numbers in ptarmigan hunting, usually in the tundra zone on the right bank of the Yenisei. According to the research of Tikhonova M.V., earlier such nets were made of large size and set up on the windward side in the direction to the north, then one hunter on a reindeer sled used to trap up to 20-30 birds at once. Nowadays, the size of the net usually does not exceed 5 m, and the hunter usually drives the birds on foot, so that the trap rarely catches more than 4-5 partridges ("aba").
Another direction was the hunting of waterfowl (goose, swan, duck) and hog game (capercaillie, black grouse, hazel grouse) in the fall-winter-spring period. The traditional way of waterfowl hunting was as follows: geese were hunted during spring migration by means of camouflaged traps set on sandbanks. Nets were set on the banks, where diving ducks were caught along with fish. Fishing, which was interrupted during the nesting and brooding period, was resumed in August-September, when pens of moulting birds were conducted. They were based on the fact that during the molting period the birds were unable to fly and gathered in herds of thousands on lakes, where they became a sure prey for hunters.
Traditionally, the bow (ido) served as a weapon in hunting before the firearm. Until the middle of the 19th century, the Enets made bows themselves. The process of their manufacture is recorded in Enets folklore [2]. From the second half of the XIX century it is noticed that Enets began to use mainly imported bows, among which Ket and Selkup bows were especially valued, complex in their construction (2-3-layered, made of several kinds of wood species: birch on top, cedar, larch inside; bone plates as layers; the layers were glued with fish glue). The arrow shaft could be made of larch and cedar, the plumage was made of hard eagle feathers. The arrowheads were functional: forked (ea) was used for hunting birds, tetrahedral (tetto-chudozo) - for hunting wild deer. Folklore also mentions an arrow with a slingshot tip, referred to by the term burrow. Hunting with bow and arrow survived until the mid-1930s, although some old men used these weapons until the 1960s. If in the tundra with the flight of birds the fishery was mostly stopped until winter, the forest Enets hunted hog game from September to November, using passive fishing tools (for example, sloptsy - traps consisting of several logs, one end of which rests on the ground and the other is propped so that when the game comes under the logs, they fall and crush it [15] ).
Fishing occupies one of the most important places in the Enets' economy. However, its importance differs between tundra and forest populations. Tundra Enets, having a lot of heads in their household, were engaged in fishing sporadically, while forest Enets, having a limited number of reindeer, timed their summer-autumn migrations to the areas of rich fish grounds, i.e. were more engaged in fishing. Fishing was carried out with the use of nets and seines, the Enets harvested herring, omul, nelma, whitefish, teal, and sturgeon. For fishing, talnik fences were built, and on lakes they used net traps-fishpots nets and seine nets.
According to V.I. Vasiliev: “The main fishing grounds in the pre-revolutionary years were non-water sands. Within the territories of the central group the most convenient fishing grounds were: on the right bank - the Muksunikha river basin; in the Yenisei delta - Lebyazhaya, Rybnaya, Kamennaya channels and Nasonovsky island in the Brekhovsky archipelago, further upstream - the whole coast from Karaul station to Selyakinskaya spit; on the left bank - sands near the mouth of the Malaya Kheta river. Within the forest-tundra territorial group the main areas of fishing were fishing sands on the left bank of the Yenisei near the stations Luzino and Lipatnikovo, and on the right bank - the mouth of the Uboynaya River and the area of Gribanov Cape.”. [5]
Small “puschalni” - fishing nets, often 120-150 meters long, were common. But not all of them had a seine of special 100-meter length, it happened that some of them had a seine 50 or 25 meters long. Sizes of seines varied in length from 50 to 470 meters. The spread of nets is associated with Russian colonization. The net was sewn and repaired with a special tool - a needle ("karra"). A landing thread was wound on the needle and the net was tied from it. Earlier before kapron and fishing lines, the net was knitted from simple thread. Before threads, reindeer veins were used. To make a long net, the veins were joined together. The reindeer vein net is disposable. Also the Enets population bought sacking from Russians, which was torn into threads and received material for weaving nets: “...Then it was like this: if a kul, the kul was unraveled into a net, if hemp was caught, hemp was used for spinning...” [1]. The threads were knotted, twisted to the necessary length and started making fishing gear. Among other fishing tools can be named sweeps (mainly 60-65 hooks), and in some farms and samolovs (100 hooks).
According to the story of Peter Nikolayevich Bolin, sturgeon were caught with a reel, sometimes the number of hooks in the reels reached up to 250. The hooks were baited with finches (small worm-shaped fish - the sturgeon's favorite delicacy). The finches appeared when the river receded and sand islands were formed during the recession. The finches were harvested on these sands with cage nets or sieves; the nets were spread in the sand and trampled, i.e. the sand was pressed, and after some time the finches hatched from there. One finch was fastened on 3-4 hooks. The Enets and Nenets of the forest-tundra group built barriers made of talus twigs ("yu") when fishing on small rivers, and used reel net traps (fishpots) for fishing on lakes.
It is assumed that such boats were borrowed from Khanty or Russians and displaced traditional types of boats - frame boats with leather covering (kuba-oddo). The log canoe is described by Bolin P.N. in the video:
There were two methods of fishing in the lower reaches of the Yenisei: open water fishing and ice fishing. According to M.V. Tikhonova's research, open water fishing was preceded by the so-called shore fishing, which usually began in late May - first half of June and lasted on average from ten days to two weeks, and in early spring - up to a month, when shores of the Yenisei formed "zaberegi". Fishing at this time was conducted by nets, usually from paddle boats. This method is most productive in the south of the tundra zone. In more northern areas, in particular, in the Kirov collective farm, it is practically impossible, as it is not possible to catch fish in the south of the tundra zone. In more northern areas, in particular, in the Kirov collective farm, it is practically impossible, because the coastal ice is so strong that there are almost no “banks”. With the end of the ice drift on the Yenisei (mid-June - early July), the season, usually called open-water fishing, began, which lasted throughout the summer until deep autumn, when the first drift ice appeared on the river. During this period, fishing is carried out on the Yenisei and its major tributaries (Bolshaya and Malaya Kheta, Solenaya and Tanama Rivers). The objects of fishing are whitefish and herring, the main run of which begins in August, as well as red fish (sturgeons). Nets and seines serve as the main tools during the fishing season.
From mid-October, when the Yenisei is already firmly bound by ice, the next stage begins - the period of ice fishing, which lasts until the end of May, i.e. the usual time of appearance of “banks”. The main object of fishing during the winter period is white fish (muksun, chir, whitefish) in November-December, and smelt in February-March. The fishing gear used during winter is the same net gear as during the poutine season.
This is how the tundra and forest Enets fished and hunted.
References:
1. Bolina Z.N. Ezzuui - Trace of the narta. - Dudinka, 2014. - 155 p.: il. Reference: https://www.tdnt.org/pdf_poli.php?id=25&t=publ
2. Household stories of the Enets [From the words of R.A. Silkin] / Notes, introduction and commentary. B.O. Dolgikh. Moscow, 1962 (TIE. N.s. T. 75).
3. Vasiliev V.I., Golovnev A.V. Folk calendar as a source of research of the economic way of life of the peoples of North-Western Siberia // Spiritual culture of the peoples of Siberia. Tomsk, 1980. С. 33-41.
4. Vasiliev V.I. Forest Enets (sketch of the history of economy and culture) // SES. М., 1963. № 5. С. 33-70
5. Vasiliev V.I. Nenets and Enets of the Taimyr National District // Transformations in the economy and culture of the peoples of the North. M., 1970a. С. 106-164.
6. Vasiliev V.I. Social organization of the Asian Nenets, Enets and Nganasans // Social structure of the peoples of Northern Siberia. M., 1970c. С. 174-213.
7. Golovnev A.V. Historical typology of the economy of the peoples of North-Western Siberia. Novosibirsk, 1993.
8. Dolgikh B.O. Essays on the ethnic history of the Nenets and Enets. М., 19706.
9. Dolgikh B.O. Kolkhoz named after Kirov of the Taimyr National District // SE. M., 1949a. № 4. С. 75-93.
10. Informant - Bolin Peter Nikolayevich, an Enets from the ancient Mogadi family.
11. Krivoshapkin M. F., “Yenisei district and its life” (St. Petersburg, 1865);
12. Mythological tales and historical legends of the Enets / Notes, introduction and commentary. B.O. Dolgikh // TIE. N.s. M., 1961. Т. 66
13. Peoples of Western Siberia : Khanty. Mansi. Selkups. Nenets. Enets. Nganasans. Kets (ed. by I.N. Gemuev), V.I. Molodin, Z.P. Sokolova ; Miklukho-Maclay Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences ; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences. N.N. Miklukho-Maclay RAS ; Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography SB RAS. - Moscow: Nauka, 2005. - 805 с. - (Peoples and cultures). - ISBN 5-02-010297-0 (in per.). - С. 523. Source: https://vk.com/doc169710964_674614450
14. Journey through the different provinces of the Russian Empire / [op. cit.] P. S. Pallas, Dr. of Medicine, Professor of Natural History and a member of the Ros. Imperial Acad. of Sciences and the St. Petersburg Free Economic Society, as well as the Roman Imperial Acad. of Natural History and the Royal English Scientific Assembly. - St. Petersburg. : Imperial Acad. of Sciences, 1809
15. Encyclopedic Dictionary / Brockhaus F.A. Efron I.A.
Contributor: Asya Konstantinova, Leading Specialist of the UNESCO Chair at M.K. Ammosov North-Eastern Federal University
