Day of the reindeer breeder: how the national holiday is celebrated in Yamal

The Russian north is an unusual, charming place. For hundreds of kilometers around at least 9 months of the year – only snow and rare pine trees sticking out from under it. Despite the seeming inhospitability of the local nature, many peoples live here. In our country, they are called the term “indigenous peoples of the North.” Preservation of their national culture, traditional way of life and improvement of living conditions is an important area of ​​Rosneft’s social policy. “MK” went to the ethnic village of Kharampur in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, restored with the support of oil workers, to participate in the celebration of the anniversary of the settlement, and also to find out why local nomads travel tens of kilometers once a year to get together.

Not a pattern – but a secret meaning

On the improvised square on the bank of the Kharampur river of the same name with the village, it was crowded that day. Children in national costumes scurried back and forth with puppies in their hands, adults looked at the goods at the fair that arrived, and the participants in the competition prepared deer. Artists and local women performed from a stage behind private houses, demonstrating elaborately embroidered costumes.

On one such it turns out, offhand, a couple of kilograms of beads. As the head of the Kharampur village administration Maria Klimova said, the patterns on the yagushkas (women’s national costume) have an important meaning. Each curl or line carries a lot of information – this is the status of the wearer, and his occupation, and his nationality. And some drawings can tell a whole story about the life of the indigenous northerners.

“I myself am the daughter of hereditary reindeer herders. Like other residents, I honor the traditions of my people. For example, my blue frog says that I am a birch. We make baby diapers out of it! Believe me, for kids this is the best antibiotic and antiseptic. And that’s not it. Birch always helps. If it’s bad, then hug this tree and it will get better,” says Klimova.

Bright outfits are needed not only for the story, but also in order to attract attention. Representatives of five nationalities arrived in Kharampur: Forest and Tundra Nenets, Selkups, Khanty and Komi-Zyryans, for all of them this holiday is an opportunity to meet and discuss the news. And for young people – to meet and even get married!

“Reindeer Herder Day is about maintaining traditions. Holidays are held in turn in different municipalities. It so happened that today is another event – the 90th anniversary of the unique village of Kharampur. Two decades ago, only a few houses stood here, and today, thanks to the support of Rosneft, the village is a modern settlement with a developed social infrastructure, – says the head of the Purovsky district Anton Kolodin .

Indeed, no matter what teenage girl you look at (and local girls, by the way, look the same from 15 to 30), they are all as one – beauties. Her hair is tied up in a colorful scarf, her eyelashes are tinted – it is immediately clear that they were preparing for the bride.

“I myself met my husband on the Day of the Reindeer Breeder. And I bring my daughters every year. Of course, young people have the Internet, and they communicate there, but they can’t do without meetings like this,” local resident Tatyana says.

How to win the deer race?

Families come to the Day of the Reindeer Herder and to participate in competitions for which the most valuable prizes for the northern resident are awarded – snowmobiles or motor sleds. This is both wrestling and throwing a tynzyan on a trochee – throwing a lasso on a special long stick to control deer. But deer racing is considered to be the most interesting and spectacular competition.

“Women participate in starts one by one, and men all at once. Deer are essentially wild animals. They can jump at each other, not obey. Men have the strength to curb them, but women do not. Therefore, to be safe, women are launched with teams one at a time. Then the judges will compare their time and name the winner,” explains Aleksey, a participant in the men’s race.

The race for the beautiful half of the northerners was accompanied by squeals and screams. The drivers come to the finish line flushed, disheveled, with hands shaking from tension. It can be seen that managing four deer is not an easy task.

“I competed at the age of 13 for the first time. Now I have won 5-6 races. It’s good for us, because the men prepare the teams, they also train the reindeer. But I know the approach to animals, before the arrival I talk with them, call them by name. Although it is not possible without the use of force. But, to be honest, there is no favorite deer in my four. He is in the camp, because he is a quitter, and plump. I called him Morozko, because he is snow-white, and, apparently, spoiled him, ”the driver Yulia said, barely catching her breath and smiling.

Toward the end of the holiday, a men’s mass start takes place nearby on Lebyazhye Lake. Here the emotions are no longer from the drivers, but from the audience. The race goes on for about 5-7 minutes, but at this time the audience literally goes crazy. Shouts, hooting, and after the appearance of the leader – sincere rejoicing! The deer come to the end of the track so tired that they almost fall, pillars of steam coming out of their mouths. Here is the heat!

Kharampur village

Walking through the Kharampur village itself, it is hard to believe that even at the beginning of the 2000s it was in complete decline. Then oil workers came to this land and firmly decided to save this historical settlement.

Nineteen years ago, a subsidiary of Rosneft, RN-Purneftegaz, took over the patronage of the national village. During this time, oil workers have implemented many social and charitable programs aimed at developing the ethnic settlement. Kharampur became the cultural center of the Forest Nenets. Rosneft rebuilt the communal and social infrastructure of the settlement: an access road, treatment facilities, engineering and communication networks, a cultural and leisure center, a library and 20 capital cottages stylized as a traditional dwelling – a chum. A boarding school was also built in the village, where children of reindeer herders and fishermen, in addition to the general education program, study their native language and traditional crafts.

“Now we have a lot of children. There are about 800 inhabitants in total. A lot has been built here lately. At the dawn of the 2000s, the village was practically rebuilt. Good warm houses made of red bricks have appeared that resemble plagues. They glow in the evening. We plan to develop ethnotourism. Renovated tourist houses. People from Gubkinsky and Tarko-Sale will be able to come here for the weekend, enjoy the beauty of the village, go to the camps, plunge into the full-fledged life of the Forest Nenets. Social conditions are also evolving. There is a kindergarten, a boarding school, a museum, a house of culture – that is, everything is there. For young people, all these conditions are important, the same Internet should not differ in speed from the urban one, ”said Kolodin.

RN-Purneftegaz annually allocates funds to public organizations and the administration of the Purovsky District to support the agro-industrial complex, the enterprises of which employ the majority of Kharampur residents. Since 2019, the company has been implementing the Northern Friendship project aimed at preserving the culture and traditions of the Forest Nenets. Last year, a joint project was launched by RN-Purneftegaz, the regional association of indigenous peoples of the North Yamal-Potomkam! and the Administration of the Purovsky District to clarify the places of residence and worship of indigenous people in the territory of the enterprise.

Up-to-date data is needed, among other things, in order to preserve the territories of the original residence of the Forest Nenets and reduce the impact of production on their traditional forms of economic activity. The collected information is taken into account when planning new industrial and infrastructure projects. But the main thing is that this information is invaluable from an ethnographic and cultural point of view.