Negidals
The Negidals (self-name “ilken bey” or “amgun baeyengin”) are a people of the Tungus-Manchurian language group.
According to the All-Russian census in 2020-2021, the number of Negidals is 467 people.
In the 17th century, the Negidals were known as Amgun Tungus. Their majority used to live in the lower reaches of the Amgun River and on the Amur River a few kilometers from the mouth of the Amgun. At present, the Nizovsky Negidals live in the villages of Beloglinka, Tyr, Kalma and Bogorodskoye in the Ulch District. The Verkhovsky Negidals still live in the Polina Osipenko district. The place of compact residence of the Negidals today is the village of Vladimirovka.
In the past, the Negidals were united into clan groups, the largest Negidal clans being Chukchagil, Nyaskhagil, Aimukan and others. The clan boundaries or tracts, fishing grounds and hunting grounds were strictly assigned to each clan group.
Traditionally, the Negidal people are mostly engaged in hunting, in particular furbearer hunting. Fishing for the Negidal people was not a determining factor in their economic activity. Nevertheless, the Negidals have adopted many features of the traditional economy of sedentary fishermen.
Clothes were differentiated by purpose. For men they made silk robes on sable or fox fur, decorated with multicolored silk threads and deer hair. Women's clothing resembled men's in many respects. They were longer than men's, more ornate and brightly colored. The wrists of the sleeves and the lower edge of the robe were decorated with embroidery and large metal pendants.
The ornamental traditions of the Negidal people have not been lost and are preserved today by the masters of decorative and applied arts, who have kept the secrets of artistic processing of bird skins, fur, doeskin. Traditional Negidal embroidery with colored threads is in wide demand.
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.
