Handi kollektiivne põdraohverdus: Usk, olemasolu ja kultuuriline püsimajäämine tänapäeva Siberis
The Khanty Communal Reindeer Sacrifice: Belief, Subsistence and Cultural Persistence in Contemporary Siberia

Summary/Abstract: The article provides a detailed description of the structure of communal reindeer sacrifice (myr) among the eastern Khanty of the Surgut region, Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, as witnessed by the authors in March 1992. The paper demonstrates how the event structure of myr articulates with the Khanty belief system in order to enact its general function of ensuring food and prosperity. The authors interpret several features of the sacrifice they witnessed as illustrative of the adaptive nature of Khanty religious practices, especially in the role-definition and activities of cultural specialists. Finally, the authors conclude that, despite a variety of pressures, Khanty communal reindeer sacrifice persists because it continues to dramatize the core relationships, which obtain in the Khanty world, and to solicit from participants a recommitment to those beliefs and the practices they entail. In March 1992, the co-authors led an international expedition to western Siberia to prepare for extended field research among the eastern Khanty, planned for subsequent years, and to develop a preliminary assessment of the impact of oil development on the eastern Khanty. O. Balalaeva, relying on her four previous expeditions in the area, organized the expedition. On the initiative of her local Khanty host from the village of Russkinskiye, the authors were transported by helicopter to a reindeer camp near the upper Trom-Agan River, at the northernmost limit of the eastern Khanty territory. Several families were gathered together at this location, and more arrived during the afternoon. The authors soon learned that the occasion of this gathering was a communal reindeer sacrifice (Kh., myr) to be held the following day at a sacred site at approximately 6 km distance from the campsite. They were readily invited to participate. However, the circumstance, which made them privileged witnesses to an extraordinarily complex event, also limited the amount of information that could be gathered directly from the host. The authors have returned to the eastern Khanty region for fieldwork every summer since 1994, and have incorporated into the present article information gathered from interviews that directly address the issues of description and interpretation surrounding eastern Khanty reindeer sacrifice.

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