Some tidbits about Evenki culture and Baikit

An all terrain vehicle that PJ and I saw driving up the street when going to the shop.

Evenki bread called /kolobo/ is essentially the same as bannock in Canada or damper in Australia, with some mild variations.

The Evenki emblem has a bird called /gagara/ in Russian. This translates as loon, and the pictures I have looked up look pretty much the same. No local person has been able to show us a picture, nor confirm for us what song it sings. Perhaps the reindeer people know.

Dogs in Baykit do not bark at you when you walk around town, as they roam the streets. There was one exception to this. In many ways they are tame, in that regard. But I get the impression they are a lot more wild. If a stranger gets too close they will almost certainly bite. I was warned not to touch the dog in Yura and Alona's yard. Likewise we have had to keep PJ away from the "puppy" which he really wants to see. The dog recently attacked a child.

There is very little established industry here. There are three sawmills, but they are not operational all the time, and have not been so while we have been in town. There is an oil well that has been established on the edge of town, which provides 40 jobs. (Many of those may not be local though.)

My anecdotal research has turned up the information that no train line is planned to be built as far as Baykit. (A draw back for me ever considering residence here.) But the paved road to here is apparently under construction. There is however no word on when such a project would be completed. Its completion would certainly make life more affordable her, as the current road is only operational in the Winter, dependent on weather.

The helicopter to Osharovo goes once a week and costs $80, each way.

Melody just pointed out an important observation. 

Melody: The family we visited today are at the top of the food chain aren't they?

Paul: Yeah, I guess so, and your point?

Melody: Well they were back in the 70s too, their brother was in that movie.

Paul: True. But at the top of Evenkiya, even in that little village of 150 people?

Melody: Well some body has to be.

Paul: Remember that Evenki prince we met last year. (Unknown to most people.) He had all the opportunities and he was wealthy too.

Maybe this family is connected to the royal line too!

We of course don't know, but it is a hypothesis.

Sunday- A little follow up on this tidbit today....

Paul: Alona, is Ziniada's family important in Evenkiya? They have a big house, their brother was in the movie. (Not to mention their brand new Nissan four wheel drive.)

Alona: They received money for oil drilling on their land. 

Melody: Why did they get the money though?

Alona: They are the leaders of their tribe.

The map that Ziniada showed me from the 1600s had all the various Evenki tribes on it. There are three main dialect groups, with 51 sub dialects in total. I think this number and the number of tribes corresponds.

So I think our hypothesis is more or less proven. To be a professional Evenki, you kind of have to be in the "royal line". 

Melody was chatting with Ziniada about the word /mulgil/ that the Evenki use for money. Before Russians came, the Evenki had their own trading system. Two parties from different clans or tribes could travel from some distance. Each party with something to trade. Sometimes one of the loads would have perished. But the trade still went ahead on good faith. The perished items were referred to as /mulgil/.

Later when Russians began trading with them, sometimes they gave the Evenki money as opposed to hard goods. On such occasions the Evenki still completed the trade in good faith as was their custom. But they thought of the money they had received as worthless and referred to it as /mulgil/.  Today mulgil is still the word used in the Evenki language to refer to money/.

Baba Anya explained to Melody that it as an accepted Evenki rule of old that you should never move away from your community once you are 40 or older. If someone does this then bad things will happen in the community they leave and in the community they go to.

A nurse turned up to live in a community. She was over 40. People started dying. This was attributed to her arrival. Many older Evenki people still live in fear over this. It is a spiritual trap for people.