User:Akkanat

Akkanat Maneshev is a Shaman and an elder from the Sibirga Nation known for his travels throughout Siberia and keeping traditional culture alive. He is also a traditional Native Siberian artist. He prefers working with natural materials rather than working with paper and paint, though he does graphics and paintings as well. He is the keeper of traditions and holder of a great amount of mythological material passed down to him through centuries by his ancestors. He lives in the forest, 100 kilometers from the city Novokuznetsk. He lives a traditional lifestyle connected to nature proving him truly indigenous. His shaman amulets and his items made of birch bark, as well as his paintings, are well known in the surrounding cities. Art historians say that his work possesses unique aboriginal beauty. During the Soviet era he was persecuted for being a Shaman. In 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union Shaman Akkanat was once again free to practice his culture. Now in the post-Soviet era his artwork is in private collections of people from Russia, Netherlands, Germany,Canada, Great Britain, Finland, and in the Novokuzntesk Art Museum.

Shaman Akkanat speaks about his Nation, the Sibirga Natives
Siberian Natives are divided into three big language groups, which are Ugry, Samodijtsy and Turks. Separately stand tribal Natives of the Far East. There are also Nations, which languages are absolutely isolated. Sibirga (Sibirs or Sypyrs) is a self-name name. In different times different Nations called the Sibirga different names. Siberia has been named Siberia after the Sibirga Native Nation. (Ref: G.Kostachakov, Shor historian and professor of Shor language in the University in Novokuzntesk).

The Sibirga were defined as a Nation on the banks of river Enisei.The Sibirga call this river Ene-sai, what can be translated as a mother’s bosom. Historically it occurred that the Sibirga acquired a warrior culture early. Ancestors of the Yakuts moved from the Sibirga territory to the place of contemporary Saha. Kyrgyz people did not like the Sibirga as neighbors and moved to Issyk Kul. Afterwards for about two thousands years the Sibirga lived as nomads traveling around Siberia; the Sibirga came through Minusinskaya hollow, Altai, Kazakistan and Irtysh river. At the time the Russians showed up the Sibirga lived in a bank of the river Chulym. At first the Sibirga supported Russian Kozzacs (who can be defined as a sort of army department at that times) in their war against Chingizit (Chingizhan descendant) Kuchum Han. Because the enemy of their enemy was their ally. After the defeat of Kuchum Siberia happened to have the moving of Nations. The Sibirga moved to the bank of river Tom. Soon Russian Kozzacs turned hostile. With the foundation of Tomsk city it turned to be a center for Siberian slavery. The Sibirga did not agree with that; and burned the city twice in a union with a relative Nation the Teleuts. After that Russians set the Sibirga free. The Sibirga were assigned to the lands and were given full self-government. The situation remained like that till the arrival of communists. Apart from that in a period from the 3rd till the 6th century (again in a union with related to us Teleuts) the Sibirga formed the Great Turkic Kaganat and about 300 years the Sibirga fought with the expansion of Chinese to Siberia. Finally the Chinese stated a peace with the Sibirga and forgot their intentions about Siberia. Besides this the Sibirga are mentioned in Byzantinian chronicles, again as the cruelest Nation, which cannot be paid off neither with slaves, nor with gold. In 1932 Stalin and his fellows simply prohibited the Sibirga from being a Nation and went through with physical destroying them. Several settlements officially existed in the documents, which were official before the communist revolution; after the revolution the settlements officially simply disappeared. This does not seem surprising. Why would communists report genocide they made? The 1930es brought an awful decay to the Natives because at that time shamans were physically killed being the first people in the death lists. And Shamans were natural holders of the mind opposite to totalitarian regime, and also they were holders of deep traditions and culture of their Nations.

The Sibirga had shifts during the development of their ethnicity; there were mixes with Ugry, Samodijtsy and Turks. This entire heritage now shows itself in handprints, which are almost identical with Selkups. The language has many Ugry words (Hunnu heritage). The base for the language is formed by pro-Turkic language, which is older than the inscriptions of the third century made in Turkic runes on stones. After the break of Kaganat the written language was lost. Because of the fact that Kaganat was not a state, but a war union, the Sibirga are named possibly the most ‘out of state’ Nation in Siberia. For the Ethnography specialists the Sibirga were and historically remained the least researched Siberian Nation. Actually for the very majority of Russians Siberian Natives don’t exist at all. This myth was carefully supported as in times before soviets, so in soviet times. Taking into the consideration a total information control in soviet society, this was an easy task; that is why Russians who were born and grew up in Western Siberia even being the first generation consider themselves Siberia natives, however anecdote-like it may sound. The so-called Siberian art is as a rule made by Russians. Russian as well as jewish artists frequently while being abroad use the term Siberian art for their own art style.

Nations of the arctic zone are closer to Inuit, especially Chukchis. There are Nations of fishermen cultures: Khants, Mansi. Actually such approaches are not quite correct; it is better to have some sort of classification about household activities. There are Nations who practice as fishing, so hunting, and also have domestic animals. There are Nations who specialize in some activities; it depends on the place of living. The only thing is typical for all Siberian Natives: a complete absence of agriculture. By this the Sibirga are very much different from Niijiis (Natives in Turtle Island/N.America). Nganasans is a nomadic Nation, ‘People of the white dogs’; the main occupation is in the sphere of reindeers. Shors is a Nation whose main occupation is hunting. For Sibirga the main occupation has always been war and all the social structure including language and system of relationship are built according to the principles of warrior organization. Sibirga and Shors are close in language, but completely different Nations. Shors themselves are Samodijtsy who acquired Turkic language.cradle, the very point of which can be symbolically considered to be

The Kulaj culture, which existed in Siberia about 2500 years ago, and served as a cradle almost for all the Siberian Nations. Tunes of the songs, which were sung to Siberian Natives in that cradle still sound in their legends and wisdoms by which historians recreate the essence of images and understandings of the Kulaj culture, which traditionally orally transmitted not in written words. Similarly the European culture came out from the Greek Parthenon. It means that Europeans have always been trying to change the world for themselves, and the fight with the Beast was on the first position what also includes the defeat of the Beast as a solemnity of the human mind. Kulaj culture is absolutely opposite. In that culture a human lives according to the laws of nature having Beasts as cooperating creatures, and the cathedral for the human is Nature. That’s in brief.

About ceremonies. According to Native Siberian understanding all the four parts of the world have their colors: the South is white or yellow; the North is black or blue-black; the East is blue-green; and the West is red. One of the ceremonies takes place during the floating of ice. However the ceremony during the floating of ice is not closed; this is a tribal ceremony, which is typical for all the Western Siberia Nations. According to Native beliefs, the bear, who has the status of the strongest shaman being a creature, who lives in a full agreement with the laws of Nature sleeping in winter and waking up in spring – the bear is trying to break the ice, and it is not successful in that. This is why it calls up for a wagtail, and it breaks the ice with its tail. There happen sacrifices during the ice floating. Besides all the ceremony participants who gather on a riverbank send to the North along with the ice all of their misfortunes and all of their diseases that stored during the winter time. Also during the ceremony everybody is asking everyone to forgive for the offenses and grieves. All of this along with the ice floats away to the black North. Besides a plaster cast of pike-mammoth is sent to the North; according to the Siberian beliefs old pikes don’t die, but turn into horned monsters, which are dangerous for the humans, and actually are mammoths. However this is a double-side creature because mammoth is one of the most powerful Shamanic beasts-helpers. Translated by Akhat son of Akkanat Maneshev