Kutchas Children by Nicholas Breeze Wood and Sacred Hoop Magazine

7/30/2019 Kutchas Children by Nicholas Breeze Wood and Sacred Hoop Magazine

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The Koryakpeople are atribal group

living in Kamchatka, alarge volcanic peninsula, jutting outin roughly a southerly direction,from north eastern Siberia, endingin the North Pacific Ocean.

The north of Kamchatka isroughly on the same latitude asNorway, and the southern-most tipof the peninsula is roughly at thesame latitude as South Wales inthe UK. Despite being quite a longway south of the Arctic circlehowever, Kamchatka does notbenefit from the warming waters of

the Gulf Stream, and so it is farcolder than both the UK andNorway, being mostly covered intundra, under which lies a deeplayer of perma-frost.

THE WEST MEETS THE EAST

The Koryak people first came intocontact with Europeans (Russians)

in the late C17th, during the time ofthe Russian invasion andcolonisation of Siberia, and they canbe thought of as being made up oftwo groups, the coastal people(nemelan or nymylan: villagedwellers) and the inland nomadicreindeer herders (chauchenorchauchven: rich in reindeer).

Like the rest of the indigenousSiberian people, the Koryakshistorically are animists, with adeep shamanic culture. Generallythey did not have professional

shamans, rather each family hadits own shaman (eiieiialan) andeach family owned its own drumand other ritual objects.

As a culture they had closeconnections to their neighbours tothe north, the Chukchi, who livearound the Bering Straits thatseparate Siberia from North America- and to the West the Evenk peopleof the Siberian mainland.

In the C18th and C19th, afterdiscovery by Russians, thepeninsula gained an international

reputation for the rich quantity ofavailable furs, fish and meat, withan influx of Russians, Japanese,Americans, Koreans, Norwegians,

and other nationalitiesstarting to live and trade there.Because of its location, it was

not too hard to reach by manynations around the Pacific: oneAmerican fur trader operating out ofSeattle made regular visits and hada permanent post there; Japanesefishermen, after salmon and caviar,built canning factories up and downthe coast; American whalers andother traders regularly participatedin annual native fairs, tradingWinchester rifles and other things

for furs, meat, and marine ivory.But in the C20th this all

changed; the Soviet Union drewthe iron curtain around its bordersand Kamchatka became closed toall, including Soviet citizens. Anuclear submarine base wasestablished, and the central part ofthe peninsula became the targetarea for missile tests.

Since the fall of the Soviet Unionhowever, Kamchatka has openedup. It is now a popular destinationfor those interested in wildlife and

hunting and adventure holidays.Like tribal people everywhere

the Koryak contact with Europeanculture has been a mixed blessingat the very best. Alcohol abuse isa major problem and the Koryakare often treated as second classcitizens. One Koryak joke sums uptheir plight.

A Koryak man was sitting outin the tundra guarding the reindeerherd when he heard a voice faraway calling, People! People!

So he stood up and ran toward

the sound, over the tundra, overthe hills, until finally he saw aRussian man stuck in deep snow.The Russian called out People!People! Help me! Help me!

The Koryak looked at theRussian and said, Oh? So in thetundra we are people but in thetown we are just Koryaks.

THE LIVING LANDSCAPE

The wild beauty of theKamchatkan landscape is animportant aspect in Koryak

shamanism. The landscape of thetundra - especially certain featuresregarded as special power places -is seen as being alive and sentient.

KutchasChildren

Siberia

KamchatkaPeninsula

NorthAmerica

Marine ivoryKoryak carvings

Above: smokingpipe. Early C20th

Inset: two shamanswith their spirithelpers.EarlyC20th

The Koryak People of Kamchatka


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The anthropologist Dr AlexanderKing, writing about his travels inKamchatka, describes the reactionof his Koryak travel guide - areindeer brigade leader (herder) -when they came across a sacredrock while out in the tundra.

When we returned to camp, he

mentioned to the rest that we hadspied the sacred rock. The brigadeleader asked me if I had prayed. Itold him, No, it was a little faroff. He scolded me, It doesntmatter if you are far away, youmust always pray. Sacred sitesdemand to be honoured even ifthey are only barely within sight.

Sacred rocks are seen as beingmore like people than placesbecause they have a will andpersonality. The Koryak say that

the will of a sacred rock is oftendemonstrated by it.

One story concerns a hill with aflat top. The Soviets tried severaltimes to erect a radio relay toweron it, but the tower always felldown after a short time. Russianstrying to photograph or video thehill also failed in their attempts, thenative people said the failure oftechnology to record or build onthe hill was a result of the hills will.

Another story recounts theSoviet authorities desire to move

a sacred rock from its originallocation. They wanted to erect amonument to local war heroes,and the local party chief organiseda team of workmen to drag therock into the centre of town with alarge tractor. There it was set upona concrete platform and a plaquewas f ixed on to i t.

According to the story, the partyboss and all the workmenassociated with the sacred rocksdesecration and removal to towndied or suffered some other

tragedy soon afterwards. Russiantownspeople lay wreaths, andflowers at the rock on special daysremembering the war, but Koryakoften leave their normal offeringsof tobacco or perhaps chewinggum, or maybe a coin.

Many Russians think that is theKoryak way of honouring wardead, but they are actuallyhonouring the rock itself.

Another story tells of a similarsacred rock, which Russiangeologists wanted to drag off to

study back in the town. When theyreturned with a tractor to move therock, it had moved and hiddenitself away from the Russians.

Sacred rocks and hills aredeeply integral with traditionalKoryak life, and are kept sacredbecause of the regular giving ofsmall ritual offerings to them.

Jon Turk, in his book TheRavens Gift - which we feature inthis issue of Hoop - describes how

the Koryaks he is with interact withtheir local sacred rock.When you visit the Holy Stone,

you must not take any pictures.The last person who took picturesof the Holy Stone, he fell in theriver and drowned three days later.

When you pass the Holy Stoneyou must to left a special thing.Not a big thing, maybe just a smallthing of big love. One time, when Iwas a little girl, I passed the HolyStone. I had some special sweet,but I did not want to put it to the

stone. I was riding a horse. Anhour after we were crossing a river,the horse jumped into the air. Justjump, no why. I fell and broke myleg. This way you must all timesput a gift on the Holy Stone.

While talking to the mayor of alocal town its explained to Jon thattheir local sacred rock is dying.

Energy flows from the magma-filled bowels of the earth to theHoly Stone and also feeds it to thestone... People give energy to thestone, but they also take energy. If

I concentrate a little power from thelandscape, modulate it through mybody, and deliver it to the stone,then a friend, a stranger, or evenan enemy can assimilate some ofthat goodwill, amplified by thereceipt of additional energy fromthe deep earth.

Human beings have learned torely so much on their technologicalpower that they no longer feel theneed to seek energy from theearth. As a result, we take from theHoly Stone without counting whatwe take and without giving back.Without reciprocity the Holy Stonewill eventually lose its power.

These powerfully chargedsacred sites punctuate the Koryak

cultural map, and the native peopleinteract with them by makingprayers (thoughts or words ofrespect, as well as positive wishesfor the future) and leave offeringsof cloth, money, tobacco, fat andeven bullets. Reindeer herders,who move through a sacred

Above: the sacredKutkhiny Baty

(Kutchas Boats)rocks. Ancient

legends recount thatKutcha the ravenlived on the lake

where these rocksare found, and

when he left, heturned his boatsupside down tokeep them safe

and they turnedto stone

Below:Koryak shaman

and villagers.Early C20th


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space-time on their journeys with

the reindeer, especially connect tosacred stones in order to bringbiological and spiritual health toboth the people and deer.

Aspects of the Koryak landscapehave genders as well aspersonalities. Sacred rockformations as well as other sites,such as ritual posts erected alongthe seashore to encourage fish-bringing winds, are referred to bythe Koryak word apapel, which is aword for grandfather.

A word for grandmother,anyapel, is used for sacred rockamulets (small or medium-sizedrocks sewn into special reindeer-skin bags and often decorated withbeadwork) which are kept insidethe house or tent.

Traditionally the tent ownersmost powerful anyapelwas kept

inside the interiorsleeping area. This isconsidered a feminine

space, and iswhere a nuclear

family sleeptogether. Whenone side of theskin tent is raisedup during theday, it is theplace wherepeople(especially men)like to eatmeals. Thetent then is

seen as afeminine

area, balancedby the masculine

area of theoutside tundra.

KUTCHA THE RAVEN

The most important spirit of theKoryak is the - often trickster - spiritKutcha or Kujkynnjaku the Raven,often helped by members of hisfamily: his wife Miti, his sons anddaughters, nephews and nieces.

Kutcha is generally invested withthe characteristics of an ancestoror patriarch. He is sometimescalled the Old Man or Grandfather,and sometimes Creator. In theKoryak world view Kutcha is ahelper spirit, an ancestor and alsoa creator all rolled up in one;

although the Koryak also have amaster spirit who lives in the sky,sometimes identified with the sunor the moon, and sometimes withthe dawn, or with the universe.

The children of this master spiritare the People of the Clouds, andfamily life and romance are in theircare - lovers often ask for help fromthe People of the Clouds.

But Koryak stories say that along time ago the Master ofMasters sent Kutcha the raven toearth to establish and maintain

order, which is why in shamanismhis role can also be as amessenger between the shamansand the master spirits.

Kutcha can bring all things intosubmission; all humans, allanimals, all objects in the naturalworld, and all the phenomena ofnature. He can calm storms, as heis said to cut the hair of theMistress of the Weather andremoves her clothes.

In stories Kutcha often marrieshis children to the Mistress of theWeather, or to the North and SouthWinds, or the People of the Clouds.In this way he plays the role of acosmic organiser of the spirits.

Kutcha is also the protector ofthe tribe and the family group. Heknows where to find food for hisown family, and human families willcall upon his services to help themfind food for theirs. In many mythsKutcha - thanks to his trickstercunning - achieves a successful

hunt, or a good catch of fish, andso hunters often call upon his help.It is also Kutcha who is called

upon in caring for the sick,especially those who arethreatened by harmful spirits.

THE SPIRIT HOSTS

The Koryak see the world as beinginhabited by a great host of spirits,some harmful and othersbenevolent. Amongst the reindeer-breeders the spirits are known asninvits, and among the village

Koryaks as kalasor kblbs.The spirits are said to be able

to make their bodies grow large orsmall at will, and they can shape-shift into other beings such ashumans or animals.

These spirits are in some waysimilar to the fairies of Europeanculture, and are said to have livesvery similar to those of humans.There are village living spirits who arehunters of marine animals and fish(only using bears instead of dogs)and nomadic herder spirits who herd

wild sheep instead of reindeer.They are said to be mortal, and

some are said to live in asubterranean world, visiting humanhomes at night - a time which intheir subterranean world is day,making the spirits feel morecourageous. Other spirits are saidto live on the earth, much aspeople do, but in a sort of parallelmythical world to this one, in theland where the sun sets - which isa little like the end of a rainbow,always out of reach.

Harmful spirits attack humansfor several reasons, the most basicbeing that they eat humans andrequire them as food. Sometimesthey are believed to have beensent by the master spirit, and theirrole is to seek out people whohave to be punished for refusing tomake offerings at sacred places orwho have violated cultural taboos.

The result of one of thesespirit visitations is of course,sickness and possibly death. A

Koryak says of a sick person thatthe spirits are eating them. Thespirits eat the persons body, eitherfrom the outside - in the case of

Kutcha can bring all things

into submission; all humans,

all animals, all objects in

the natural world, and all

the phenomena of nature.He can calm storms as

he is said to cut the hair of

the Mistress of the Weather

and removes her clothes

Below: Koryakanayapelgrandmothersacred rock,protector ofthe familyamulet.Stone,reindeer skin,wolverine fur,glass beads,pearls,cloth.EarlyC20th


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illnesses such as scabies, ulcers,and sores - or from the inside inthe case of illnesses that affectthe organs.

Some spirits create illnesssimply with their poisoned breath,but other spirits use spirit weaponssuch as hammers, axes, or knivesto create pain, swelling and death.

THE DEAD AND THE ANCESTORS

The human dead can, on occasion,

become part of the harmful spirithost, and in this way present agreat danger for the living, a littlelike a ghost or a vampire. This ledto many precautions being takenby the Koryaks historically toprotect themselves against anydead infected with harmful spirits,including giving knife-blows to adead body to kill it a second timebefore burning it, and sometimescutting the entire body into pieces.

As a protective measure, someonealways watched over a body until the

cremation ceremony, after havingcarefully tied the corpses feettogether and covered the face.

After the funeral r ites,precautions were taken to preventthe dead person from finding hisway back, and recognising his nextof kin. For this reason the relativesof the deceased coated their faceswith soot, put their clothes oninside-out, made their way homeby a roundabout route, includingnumerous diversions, and finallypassed over glowing embers.

These traditions have manyparallels to the European customof wearing black clothes at afuneral which, although now is asign of respect, was historicallydone to prevent the souls of thedead recognising the living andcausing them harm.

The part of the house where thebody lay was guarded for ten daysafter the ceremony by a relative orby a simple wooden guard figure,an ongonspirit fetish set up toprotect the space - also perhaps

acting a little like a scarecrow forany passing harmful spirits.

But as much as the dead maybe feared, the ancestors are

revered. Ancestors are animportant aspect of traditionalKoryak spirituality, not only therecent or primordial ancestor spiritsof humans, but also the physicallocations the ancestors areconnected with.

Special sacred sites devoted todifferent ancestors are found acrossKamchatka, where heaps of huntingweapons and tools, such as boneand stone arrowheads, as well as

the horns of wild reindeer and wildsheep, and skulls of walruses andbrown bears, have been found.

Each site was the symboliclocation of the primordial founderof a family or a community, andeach had its own spirit ongoninthe form of a column of wood,sometimes with anthropomorphicdesigns carved at the top.

PROTECTION FROM THE SPIRITS

Traditionally the Koryaks are soaware of, and haunted by harmful

spirits that they strive to protectthemselves from them at all times.

In his book The Ravens GiftJon Turk encounters one woman,Lydia, who each time uponmeeting him pulls a few threadsfrom his clothes and burns them toincinerate any harmful spirits thatare clinging to them (and soclinging to him).

In October, when the Koryakreindeer herders return to theirwinter quarters they traditionallywore ritual wooden masks

representing Kutcha, either as araven or as an old man. Thesemasks are designed to frighten awayany harmful spirits who have takenup residence during their absence.

Tattooing with special protectivepatterns was a permanent meansof magical defense against attack,but a more temporary method wasthe sacrifice of dogs. Once killed,a dog was placed on a stake, itsmuzzle pointing upwards, andbeside it arrows decorated withscraps of cloth were driven into the

ground. The howls of thesacrificed dogs were said toawaken protective spirits, whowould then use the arrows

Top: carved woodenKoryak ritual Kutcha

mask. C1930

Above: reindeerherders on a sledge.

Hand colouredphoto, Early C20th

Right: Koryak dogsacrifice completewith ritual arrows

planted next to thedogs. Early C20th

when the Koryak reindeer herders return to

their winter quarters, they traditionally

wore wooden masks representing Kutcha, to

frighten away any harmful spirits who had

taken up residence during their absence


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provided to kill any harmful spiritswho might be close by.

A simple charm often used forprotection was to take a piece ofmeat from a sacrificed animal,while the animals blood wasspread around the area asprotective prayers were said.

But the main protective methodused, especially if sickness hadresulted from a spirit attack, wasto employ the skills of a shaman,who would, with Kutchas help,

drive away or destroy the harmfulspirits and restore health andbalance to a person, a family or acommunity.

Shamanism was not aprofessional occupation amongst theKoryak, unlike many other tribalgroups in Siberia. Instead of a sickperson going to a local expert, eachfamily had a shaman and eachperson in the family was able - tosome degree or another - to practicethe tradition.

Saying that however, some

shamans were renowned for theirhealing skill and would be soughtout by others who were notmembers of the shamans family.

THE USE OF THE FLY AGARIC

One aspect of Koryak - as well asother Siberian shamanism - is the useof the mushroomAmanita muscaria,commonly known as fly agaric.

There is a separate article inthis issue of Sacred Hoop aboutthe use of the mushroom in

Kamchatka, so there is no need togo into this subject with muchdepth here, other than to share abrief Koryak story about themushrooms origin.

Raven and Whale were friends.One day, so goes the tale, Whaleswam too close to shore andbecame stuck in the mud. Hecalled on Raven to lift him up andescort him back to deep water; buttry as Raven tried, he was notstrong enough. He told Whale towait while he asked advice from

the Great Sky Master Spirit.The Sky Master told Raven to

go to a certain place where hewould find earth spirits cal ledwapaq. If he ate some wapaqtheywould give him the strength tohelp his brother Whale.

The Sky Master spat upon theearth, and wherever his spittle fell,there sprang up little white spiritbeings with big red hats shapedlike umbrellas and spotted withwhite flecks.

Raven ate some and soon felt

so exhilarated and powerful that hewas able to l ift Whale and returnhim to the open sea.

He told the wapaqspirits togrow forever on this earth. To hischildren, the Koryak people, Ravensaid that when anyone who wassick ate a wapaqit would tell himwhat ailed him, or explain themeaning of a dream, show him theUpperworld, or the world beneaththe ground, or foretell the future.

KORYAK SHAMANISM TODAY

Like many tribal cultures across theworld now, shamanism inKamchatka went through a time ofgreat upheaval during the C20th.

In Soviet times it was outlawed,the government intended to form anew, socialist Kamchatka, which intheir own words, was to be made bycombatting the state of ignoranceof these people with their unhealthybeliefs, and the pernicious influenceof their shamans.

Christian missionaries have pickedup where the Soviets left off, labeling

nearly all indigenous traditions asshamanism.

The sects (sektyin Russian)prohibit their members from anything

remotely looking like shamanism,including dancing, singing, or playingthe traditional Koryak drum, whichwas a social instrument as well as aritual shamanic object.

Many Koryak dislike the termsshaman and shamanism, or are

uncomfortable talking about theirtraditions in those terms. Obviouslysome of this discomfort isconnected to the Soviet repressionsof shamans last century, which hasleft a stigma much like persecutionof the witches has in the West.

In the C20th the Soviet systemtook children away from theirfamilies at a young age, puttingthem in state boarding schools,often hundreds of miles away fromhome, and dis-educated themabout their culture - much like

many Native Americans were dis-encultured at the mission schools.

This has lead to a collapse ofthe cultural world view associatedwith shamanism, and in manycases left empty people robbed oftheir spirit, who try to find it againin a vodka bottle.

The old shamans are mostlygone now, especially those whowere born before the Sovietssystem was forced on those livingin Kamchatka, and as in manyshamanic cultures the world over,

the young shamans practicingnowadays say they are notpowerful like the old shamans; theold shamans, now sadly gone, hadthe real power.

There is however in recentyears a re-emergence of folktraditions, seen especially introups of professional or semi-professional dancers.

Although not shamanic in theirown right, these are in some wayhelping to keep the culture alive,and some of the leaders of these

troups do their best to battleagainst the missionaries and imbuethe youth with a sense of thesacred that provides them withmoral grounding and a sense ofself-respect. In subtle ways, theyproselytise the indigenousspirituality, in a quiet religious battle,fought over the souls of the youngpeople, between the old ways andthe evangelising Christians.

Further reading: See the review of TheRavens Gift by Jon Turk in this issue ofSacred Hoop. There are many Kutchastories on the internet - just Google the

words Kutcha raven to find them.

Above:contemporarydrummers anddancers aim to keepKoryak culture alive

Below: modern,chainsaw carved,Kutcha the ravenongon withoffering clothsin thebackground

Kutchas Children by Nicholas Breeze Wood and Sacred Hoop Magazine

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