Dolgan Religion

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DOLGAN RELIGION

DOLGAN RELIGION . The Dolgans are a small, Turkic-speaking nationality living on the Taimyr Peninsula in northern Siberia. Their primary occupations are hunting and fishing; they also breed a small number of domesticated reindeer, which are utilized as means of transport during nomadic migration. During the winter season the Dolgans live in the forest-tundra zone, and toward summer they migrate northward into the tundra in pursuit of wild reindeer herds. In 1989 there were seven thousand Dolgans, 80 percent of whom spoke their native tongue, which is derived from the Yakut language. The Dolgans appeared as a distinct nationality during the last three hundred years and are largely descended from the Tunguz and the Yakuts; their religion had its origin in the culture area of their formation.

The Dolgans are converts to Christianity, and they bear Russian names. Their calendar—a six-sided small stick carved from mammoth bone—is known as the paskaal (from Russian paskhalʾnyi, "relating to Easter"); the basic Russian Orthodox holidays are marked on the sides of the paskaal. The old men who can calculate time by this calendar are called paskaalcit and are deemed to be sages. Icons are found in each Dolgan dwelling, but the Russian Orthodox saints represented on them are no more revered than are the other spirits of the Dolgan pantheon.

In their mobile dwellings (urasa ), special sanctity is attached to the four foundation poles (suona ) in which the spirits who protect the people living in the urasa dwell. After a successful hunt, these poles are smeared with the blood of a wild reindeer and purified by the smoke of burning fat. When a dwelling's owner dies, the weeping of the suona is heard. The cover of the urasa is sewn out of reindeer chamois, on which are drawn the sun, moon, reindeer, or urasa, according to a shaman's instructions. The urasa functions as a barrier impenetrable to evil spirits. In building a permanent dwelling, the Dolgans leave two tall trees by the side of the entrance, so that the souls of the dwellers may live in their branches. The trees are termed serge ("post") in Yakut.

The Dolgans call all supernatural beings saĭtaan, a word of Arabic origin brought to the Dolgans by the Russians, who borrowed it from Turkic-speaking Muslims. In practice, small stones and anthropomorphic and zoomorphic images carved from wood or reindeer antler, as well as certain household objects, figure as saĭtaan s.

All these objects are revered because they are bearers of spirits, either independently or by means of the shaman. A saĭtaan may be a personal helper of its owner or the protector of an entire family or nomadic group; it may, for example, be the hook used to hang the caldron in the urasa. Facing the hook, the Dolgans smear it with the blood or fat of a slaughtered animal and address it, saying, "May the caldron hung on thee be full lifelong!" One type of saĭtaan, with human form, is called the baĭanaĭ. The idea of the baĭanaĭ and the term itself are borrowed from the Yakuts, among whom Bai-baianai is master of the forest. But among the Dolgans a baĭanaĭ becomes the personal helper of the hunter who made its image. However, the baĭanaĭ acquires power only after the shaman animates the figurine by placing his breath within it. Before going on a hunt, the hunter smears his baĭanaĭ with the fat of a wild reindeer and tosses it into the air in order to divine his chances of catching game. If the figurine falls on its back, there will be success; if it falls on its belly, there will be failure. Wooden images of birds and animals, called singken, also belong to the category of saĭtaan s that assist hunters. Hunters carry them along on the hunt, together with the baĭanaĭ.

At the beginning of each winter month, the hunter purifies his baĭanaĭ with the smoke of burning fat. Upon killing a wild reindeer, he cuts the fat from the animal's knee and suspends it from the figurine. After a particularly successful hunt, the Dolgans feed not only the baĭanaĭ but all their saĭtaan s. They hang them on poles over the hearth, into which they throw small pieces of fatty food. Then they arrange a low table near the hearth and place on it pieces of the heart and lungs of slain animals. Afterward, the saĭtaan s are smeared with blood and placed in a box, where they remain.

During nomadic treks, white or piebald reindeer carry the boxes containing saĭtaan s and icons in cases. Such a reindeer is decorated with a beaded, embroidered headband and a bell is hung on its neck. This reindeer is always placed just before the end of the animal train; the reindeer transporting the dwelling poles is tied to it. When they arrive at a new place, the Dolgans avoid setting up their urasa where another stood earlier, since strange saĭtaan s might prove powerful and feel wrathful toward the newcomers.

The activities of the Dolgans are accompanied by many religious rites. After killing a reindeer, the hunter smears his rifle with its blood. The bones of a reindeer that has been eaten are buried in the ground, and a tripod of poles is placed above them so that other reindeer will not go near that place. Upon killing an arctic fox, the hunter cuts off its nose so as not to give away his luck with its skin. The Dolgans rarely hunt bears, which they fear and which they regard as women transformed into beasts. The hunter who has killed a bear lies on its back imitating sexual intercourse. Then the participants in the hunt take out the bear's heart, eat it, and caw like ravens. While fishing, the Dolgans present to the Master of the River or Lake beads or scraps of red wool tied to nets. Near the body of water they hang a fox skin from a rope attached to the ends of two sticks thrust into the ground. Some Dolgans throw small, flat pieces of dough into the water; impressions of crosses worn on the body are made on these.

Shamans play such a large role among the Dolgans that the emergence of each new shaman is met by his kinsmen with great joy. According to Dolgan tradition, a shaman owns one to three Tuuruu trees, the term designating the "world tree" among the Tunguz, and he sets the souls of the persons under his protection on their branches. Signs of a shaman's power are the number, height, and extent of branching of his trees. A weak shaman's tree will be sickly, and the people in his charge may die. On the second day after death, the shaman must accompany the dead person's soul into the netherworld.

Among the Dolgans, as among the Yakuts, shamans are called oĭun ; a female shaman is called udaghan, as among the Yakuts, Buriats, and Mongols. The Dolgans divide shamans into several categories according to their ability. The strongest shamans, ulakan oĭun, can cure diseases, divine events, and generally know all that happens on earth. In the past, the frequent wars between groups of Dolgans were decided by shamanic duels, with each shaman trying to increase the ilbis or power of the war spirit of his group. He sheltered the kut, or soul, of his leader on a cloud and killed the soul of the opposing leader. The shamanic séance, which in some cases continued for several days and nights, is called kyyryy by the Dolgans, from the Yakut word kyyr, "to hop."

In the spring, when the first grass appeared, the shaman performed the annual shamanic ritual Djilga Kyyryy, by which he would divine what awaited his nomadic group. This ritual, the greatest religious festival of the year, is also called Dʾyly Oduuluur. To conduct this rite a new urasa was made, and seven or nine images of birds with heads turned toward the sun were fastened on top of the poles making up the urasa 's frame. The shaman departed on these birds to meet the chief of the upper world in order to secure his support for the forthcoming year. During this festival, the Dolgans and their shaman performed the ritual dance Kisi Kaamy Gynan ("people's step-by-step procession"). They circled the hearth three times clockwise, then exited from the tent and continued the same movement around it. This festival probably came to the Dolgans from their neighbors the Nganasani, who called it Anyʾo Dialy ("big day") and conducted it on the summer solstice. However, the dance is Yakut in origin.