2165 RUSSIA (Tyva Republic) - A shaman woman from Tuva

The Tuvans are historically known as one of the Uriankhai, from the Mongolian designation. The Tuvans' recent ethnic history is rooted in Mongol, Turkic, and Samoyedic groups of peoples. They have been cattle-herding nomads, tending to their herds of goats, sheep, camels, reindeer, cattle and yaks for the past thousands of years. In spite the fact that Tuva was ruled by different empires and influenced by their cultures, the tuvans managed to preserve its unique peculiarities, traditions and customs till present days.

1888 RUSSIA (Republic of Buryatia) - A little Buryat dancer

With a population of about 500,000, the Buryats, the major northern subgroup of the Mongols, are the largest indigenous group in Siberia, mainly concentrated in their homeland, the Buryat Republic, but also in Mongolia, and in China. They share many customs with other Mongols, including nomadic herding, and erecting gers for shelter. After the Russian Revolution the Buryat’s open-pasture pastoralism was replaced by collective-farm cattle breeding.

0944 RUSSIA (Republic of Buryatia) - Ivolginsky datsan

In Buryatia, a republic located in the south-central region of Siberia, along the eastern shore of Lake Baikal, ethnic Russians make up two thirds of the population in nowadays, while the ethnic Buryats are 30%. Because many Slavs are Russian Orthodox, and most urban Buryats are either Buddhist or Orthodox, these two are the most widespread religions in the republic. The historical evidences give reason to believe that, from the 2nd century BCE, proto-Mongol peoples were familiar with Buddhism. Anyway, at the beginning of the 17th century, Tibetan Buddhism penetrated from Mongolia to reach the Buryat population of the area just east of Lake Baikal, and over a century it spread throughout the region. A second branch came directly from Tibet, from the Labrang Monastery in Amdo, so the Buddhism in Buryatia is the northernmost extension of Mahayana Buddhism in Central Asia, primarily the Gelug tradition from Tibet.

0694, 0695 RUSSIA (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug) - A Nenet reindeer herder and Nenets' chooms

 

For those who don't know Russian, these postcards are part of a series called Nadym - Seasons, and shows two images of spring: a Nenet reindeer herder with his herd, and Nenets' chooms at the outskirts of Nadym. Nadym is a town located on the river with the same name, at 100km south of the Arctic Circle, mentioned in Russian chronicles for the first time in 1598. In the second half of the 19th century the settlement was deserted, and was reestablished only in 1968, after that the gas deposit Medvezhye was discovered nearby.

The Nenets are the most numerous branch of the Samoyedic peoples, which forms a linguistic group, not an ethnic or cultural one. There are almost 42.000 Nenets in the Russian Federation (most of them living in two autonomous okrugs: Yamalo-Nenets, and Nenets), and are divided into two distinct groups based on their economy: the Tundra Nenets (living far to the north) and the Khandeyar or Forest Nenets.

They are the guardians of a style of reindeer herding that is the last of its kind. Through a yearly migration of over a 1.000km, these people move gigantic herds of reindeer from summer pastures in the north to winter pastures just south of the Arctic Circle. No-one knows for certain whether it is the reindeer that lead the people or vice versa. What is certain is that fewer places on earth are home to a more challenging environment, with temperatures of -50C. Such a environment unites the people physically through a regimented work ethic, but they are also united by a robust and vibrant culture, which survived to a turbulent history, from early Russian colonisation, to Stalin’s terror regime, and to the modern day dangers of a rapacious oil and gas development programme.

The Nenets still rely on traditional clothing sewn by the women. A Nenets man wears a Malitsa which is a coat made of around 4 reindeer skins, the fur being closest to the skin on the inside and the leather on the outside. The Malitsa has an integrated hood and gloves and is similar to a poncho with no zips or buttons. In extreme cold conditions men wear yet another layer of reindeer fur, known as a Gus, which has leather on the inside and fur on the outside. The women wear a Yagushka which has a double layer of around 8 reindeer skins and which is buttoned at the front. Both men and women wear hip-high reindeer skin boots which consist of an inner (tobaki) and outer boot (kisy) that are worn together and tied up with a belt.

0359 RUSSIA (Altai Republic) - A horse-rider dressed in Altaic traditional clothes

The Altaians are a group of six related tribes (Altai Kiji, Telengit, Teleut, Tubalar, Kumandi, and Chalkandu), living beside the Altai Mountains and also closely related to Tuvan, Shors, Khakas, and other Siberian Turkic peoples. They formed a part of the ancient Turkic kingdoms of Central and East Asia, among them the Kök-Türk and Uigur, then later the Kara-Kitay and the Kitan, who ruled briefly in China at the end of the 12th century. The region was part of the Mongol Empire between 13th and 15th centuries, being incorporated into the Russian Empire in the mid-18th century.