Nanai
Nanai - the largest indigenous people of the southern Far East. They belong to the Tungus-Manchurian language group.
Self-name - Nanai, Nani, (“local, local man”). Some territorial groups had such self-names as Kile, Akani, Hedenai, etc. The old name of the Nanai is Goldy. The old name of the Nanai was Goldi. According to the 2020-2021 All-Russian Population Census, the number of Nanai people in Khabarovsk Krai is as follows. 1081 чел.
Historical referenceA number of researchers (L. Shrenk, I. Lopatin, etc.) believed that the homeland of the Nanai was in Manchuria, at the foot of the Changbai ridge, from where they descended to the Ussuri valley and reached the Lower Amur.
Another point of view on the origin of the Nanai was held by L.Y. Sternberg, who considered the Nanai to be a conglomerate of clans of various origins. Small groups of Tungus, Turks, Mongols, and Manchus came to the territory of the Lower Amur, which was already inhabited in the Neolithic period. When they mixed with the local autochthonous population, they formed various ethnic communities, one of which became the modern Nanai people.
The Nanai clans Kile, Samar, Digor, Guyer, and Haitanin are of Evenki (Tungus) origin. There are Ainu subdivisions of the Beldy clan of the Nanai, who call themselves Sebyakuys and consider their original habitat to be the islands from where they migrated to the mainland. Other Nanai clans include the Chinese, Manchurians, Solons, Duchers and other peoples. In turn, peripheral groups assimilated by neighboring peoples - Ulchis, Nivkhs, and others - broke away from the emerging Nanai ethnic community.
Historical reference
A number of researchers (L. Shrenk, I. Lopatin, etc.) believed that the homeland of the Nanai was in Manchuria, at the foot of the Changbai ridge, from where they descended to the Ussuri valley and reached the Lower Amur.
Другой точки зрения на происхождение нанайцев придерживался Л. Я. Штернберг, считавший нанайцев конгломератом родов различного происхождения. На территорию Нижнего Амура, населенную уже в период неолита, в разные исторические периоды приходили небольшие группы тунгусов, тюрок, монголов, маньчжуров. Смешиваясь с местным автохтонным населением, они формировали различные этнические общности, одной из которых и стали современные нанайцы.
The Nanai clans Kile, Samar, Digor, Guyer, and Haitanin are of Evenki (Tungus) origin. There are Ainu subdivisions of the Beldy clan of the Nanai, who call themselves Sebyakuys and consider their original habitat to be the islands from where they migrated to the mainland. Other Nanai clans include the Chinese, Manchurians, Solons, Duchers and other peoples. In turn, peripheral groups assimilated by neighboring peoples - Ulchis, Nivkhs, and others - broke away from the emerging Nanai ethnic community.
Way of life
Fishing has been of primary importance to the Nanai since ancient times. In the economic calendar of the Nanai, the names of five months mention different kinds of fish, which shows the importance of fishing for them.
A characteristic feature of Nanai fisheries is the high specialization of fishing gear. In the field of ichthyofauna, knowledge of fish habitats and migration routes, the Nanai have always been considered unrivaled experts.
Нанайские орудия рыбной ловли различаются в зависимости от вида рыб, места их обитания и приемов лова.
The simplest ones include fishing hooks - umu, umeken. The hook gear-peremets were widely used in fishery - kaluga kiutel orgi.
The Nanai had various types of spearheads: chakpan - a two-toothed spearhead for small and medium-sized fish; khosoli - a spearhead with an arrowhead from a self-shooter for especially large fish; the length of the spearhead reached 20-30 meters; dyogbo - a sharpshank whose trident tip easily slipped off the shaft and hung on a long strap; the Nanai used such a sharpshank to catch large carp, sturgeon, taimen and char; elgu - a sharpshank with a hook-shaped tip, the sting of which was directed toward the shaft; the sharpshank was lowered into the water and, after looking for a fish coming in, the fish was hooked.
The most widespread of the trapping implements was a venter trap - uki. The trap was made of talus twigs and was a basket with a narrow conical neck.
The Nanai fishery was a widespread method of fishing. On the Amur River, they built - mengen -runs in the form of two angled barriers, one up to 300 meters long running from the shore into the depths of the river, the other parallel to the shore.
The most advanced fishing tools on the Amur were gill nets and raft nets. They were used to catch the main catch.
Hunting once also played a significant role in the life of the Nanai. In numerous Nanai tales and heroic tales, the heroes are mainly engaged in hunting. Hunting was also reflected in the economic calendar of the Nanai. September was called Potkanko Bia, i.e. the month when animals were caught with loops. Hunting provided the Nanai with meat and furs.
Interesting fact
The Nanai settlements were of two types: permanent and seasonal. Seasonal settlements were called irga. They were often built on islands, which were particularly rich in the Amur River. Permanent ones existed for many centuries and even millennia. The most ancient are the Kondon, Sikachi-Alyan, Dolin, Sargu, Mai and other settlements. Permanent settlements were located at the mouths of small rivers, on tributaries of the Amur, on islands and around lakes. This location was explained by the importance of fishing in the life of the Nanai.
Geography of residence
Nanai people live mainly in Khabarovsk Krai: in Amursky, Nanaysky, Komsomolsky, Solnechny, Khabarovsky districts, in the cities of Khabarovsk and Komsomolsk-on-Amur, as well as in Primorsky Krai and Sakhalin Oblast, Heilongjiang Province in the People's Republic of China. In China, the Nanai people are called the Hedjae (Heje) people.
Preservation of the socio-cultural environment
There are more than a dozen national ensembles in Nanai villages: “Givana”, “Silakta”, “Siun”, “Tasima”, “Ilga Dyarini”, “Keku”, and others. The work of Nanai masters of arts and crafts is known far beyond the borders of Russia. The work of Nanai writers and poets, such as G. P. Hodger, A. A. Passar, P. A. Kile, artist A. Geiker, etc., has gained nationwide fame.
Efforts are being made to solve the main ethno-cultural problem of the Nanai people - the preservation and revitalization of the language, which is currently spoken only by the older generation of Nanai people.
The Nanai language is taught in elementary schools and in some preschool institutions. Teachers are trained at the Nikolaev-on-Amur Pedagogical School, the Pedagogical University of the Pacific National University and the Herzen Russian State Pedagogical University in St. Petersburg. District newspapers publish Nanai pages and children's and fiction literature. In 2021, the Institute of Bible Translation, a Russian scientific organization, published the third printed edition of the Gospel of Luke in the Nanai language and its audio version.
Since 1990, a public movement of indigenous minorities, the Association of Indigenous Minorities of the North of Khabarovsk Krai, which has its territorial and ethnic subdivisions in the districts, has spread widely.
Materials and photos provided by the portal “Many Faces of Khabarovsk Krai” compiler:
Kulesh Elena Vasiliyevna,Candidate of Psychological Sciences, Associate Professor of the Department of Psychology,
Head of the Resource Center of the Pacific State University.
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