Day two of the Sayanskoe Kaltso festival

After my adventurous night in the chum, I decided that good risk management meant not staying a second night at the festival. This was sad in some ways because there really was so much that could be taken in. I also decided that I would need to get away mid afternoon, needing to get to Abakan by early evening in time to buy a ticket on the eight o'clock train.

I awoke at about 9 am after getting to sleep at 4 am. Admittedly, I woke  a few times in between because I was sleeping on the ground with just a rubber mat beneath me. I had hoped that my Evenki friends may arrive at 10 am or so. But they did not get there until just on 12:30! (Evenki like to make you wait.) I felt some responsibility to not leave the chum as they had valuable furs in there and a computer too.

I was wondering about getting some breakfast for myself. I had one apple and a muesli bar with me. Then around 10:30 the ladies in the chum next door turned up. They were from the Taymir peninsula in the far, far north of the Krasnoyarsk Krai, well above the arctic circle. The ladies were Nenets. I wrote recently about meeting my first Nenets down here in the city recently. I mentioned this man Gregorii to the ladies, they were excited that I knew him, he is a relative. Name dropping goes a long way amongst minority peoples.

The ladies invited me in for breakfast. This was a blessing as I couldn't really leave the Evenki chum. I went back and forth to check occasionally. We had coffee, dried fish and sweet bread rolls. I had a lovely time chatting with Larissa and Galina, who are from a village 16 hours north by boat from Dudinka. We chatted about how important the reindeer are to them. "To be without reindeer is to be without life", they said. And at another time they said "the reindeer is the wellspring of life." What does this mean for people who have lost the reindeer? Invariably, such people are depressed and alcoholic.

Larissa sadly told me that her husband died six years ago at the age of 46. Sadly those kinds of stories are very common. I tried to show her compassion. Worth noting is that there were no men in their group. In the Evenki group there were just two men, one of them Yura (a believer) and another Sergei (actually a Russian man). I even gave them hugs when I said goodbye, a natural affection for their people welling up within me.

At around 12:30 my Evenki friends turned up to our chum. This was just in time, because the Nenets presentation was beginning on the small stage. It included some songs, stories, cultural description and some dances. There were also a couple of games. I'll let the pictures tell some of the story.

I loved the art inside the Nenets chum. Their presentation was a lot more minimalistic than the Evenki chum. This art piece is mostly done with reindeer skin and fur.

Larissa is on the left. Galina is on the right. They come from way up north on the Taymir peninsula. I have their contact details if we ever choose to visit there. They even gave me a couple of traditional little gifts.

Galya, me, Larissa.

Galya and Larissa presenting on stage.

The Nenets dance group "Harp" presented two dances.

This is a traditional Nenets game. Does it look similar to anything else you have seen on this blog? (Interesting cultural comparisons begin, which lead to the origin and ownership of the game.)

The dance group and Nenets ladies in front of their chum. All of the girls in the dance group are Nenets. The lady in the blue on the right is Russian, but related to some Nenets people.

Saturday turned out to be my "Nenets day." I had to leave around 3pm. I did something very non-Evenki and said goodbye to my hosts before leaving. I had a great time, it was a shame it could not have gone on longer, but I didn't feel very safe at night. Perhaps I can take the family next time and we can find accommodation in town.