Sirenik Eskimos facts for kids

The Sirenik people are a group of Eskimo people from Siberia. They used to speak a special language called Sirenik Eskimo. Sadly, this language is now extinct, meaning no one speaks it anymore. Even though their language is gone, the Sirenik people keep their cultural identity in other ways. They have a slightly different way of speaking the Siberian Yupik language, which they now use. They also feel a strong connection to their old village, Sirenik, which has been around for a very long time.

Where the Sirenik People Lived

At the start of the 1900s, the Sirenik Eskimo language was spoken in a few places. These included the villages of Sirenik and Imtuk. There were also some smaller villages to the west of Sirenik, along the southeastern coast of the Chukchi Peninsula. By 1895, Imtuk was already a mixed village. Both Sirenik Eskimos and Ungazigmit people lived there. The Ungazigmit people speak a type of Siberian Yupik language.

The Sirenik Language

The Eskimo people in the village of Sireniki once spoke a unique language. It was different from other Eskimo languages. For example, most Eskimo languages have a way to talk about two things (called "dual number"). But the Sirenik Eskimo language did not have this. These differences meant that people speaking Sirenik Eskimo could not understand those speaking Siberian Yupik. The languages were very different.

Because their language was so unique, Sirenik Eskimos had to learn other languages. They learned either Siberian Yupik or Chukchi to talk with their neighbors. Chukchi is a language not related to Eskimo languages at all.

Scientists still discuss how the Sirenik Eskimo language fits into the language family tree. Some think it was a third main branch of Eskimo languages. The other two branches are Inuit and Yupik. Others believe it was a type of Yupik language.

The last person who spoke Sirenik Eskimo as their first language was Vyie (Valentina Wye). She passed away in January 1997. This means the language is now extinct. Today, Sirenik Eskimos speak Siberian Yupik and/or Russian.

History of the Sirenik People

We do not know much about the early history of the Sirenik people. Most ideas come from studying their language. The Sirenik Eskimo culture has been influenced by the Chukchi people. You can see this in their folktales, which share similar story ideas.

An Ancient Home

The village of Sireniki is very old. It has been around for at least 2,500 years. It is the only Eskimo village in Siberia that has never been moved. This is true even when the government tried to make different groups of people live together. This long history is a big part of what makes the Sirenik people feel connected to their culture today.

How Their Language Changed

The Sirenik Eskimo language was very special. It might have become so unique because the Sirenik people lived separately from other Eskimo groups for a long time. They also had contact with people who spoke unrelated languages for many centuries. The Chukchi language clearly had an impact on Sirenik Eskimo.

Even though there were very few speakers by the late 1800s, this small language likely had at least two different ways of speaking (dialects) in the past.

Keeping Their Culture Alive

Since the Sirenik Eskimo language is completely gone, the Sirenik people keep their culture alive in other ways.

• Speaking a New Way: They now speak a dialect of the Siberian Yupik language. This is the language of the Ungazigmit people. But the Sirenik people speak it with some differences, making it their own dialect.
• Younger Generations: Many younger Sirenik people do not speak any Eskimo language. They speak Russian. However, their cultural identity is not just about language. It is also about their strong connection to their village. Sirenik is the only Eskimo village in Siberia that has never been moved. This means it has kept its 2,500-year-old history.

People have also studied how other groups living in Sirenik village keep their cultures alive.

Spiritual Beliefs and Stories

In the past, the government did not allow traditional spiritual practices. But some knowledge about these ways still survived. The last shaman (a spiritual healer) in Sireniki died around 1990. There has been no shaman in the village since then. Scholars saw shamans practicing in Sireniki in the early 1900s. One old story even mentions a special celebration that might have included shamanic rituals.

Folklore and Tales

Animal Stories

In Sirenik folklore, the spider is often a helpful character.

• In many stories, the spider saves the hero from danger. It uses its cobweb to lift the hero up to the sky. This same idea is also found in Siberian Yupik stories.
• The spider is also kind in another Sirenik Eskimo tale. In this story, the spider (shown as an old woman) wants people to live forever. She wants them to grow old and then become young again. The spider argues with a beetle about this. The beetle thinks human life should end in death.

Other animals can also help people in folklore. These include the loon, fox, wolf, mouse, and deer. Bad spirits, called tunʁaki, are also in their stories. They can look like humans, animals, or strange creatures. As mentioned, the beetle can be seen as bad for people. Some stories also feature a person fighting a large worm.

Sky and Magic

Some Sirenik tales show beliefs about the sky. One story tells of the sky as an upper world. People can travel there and back. They have adventures, talk to sky people, and even kill a big worm. They can also look down at Earth through a hole and then return home.

Magic and Charms

Many Eskimo peoples believed in using amulets and magic words (spells or charms). The Sirenik Eskimos also had these beliefs. In one of their tales, a woman uses magic words to call for help from nature. An eagle is chasing people on the ice. The woman starts talking about calling the wind and frost. Suddenly, the river freezes, and the eagle freezes onto the ice.

Examples of Tales

Here are short summaries of some Sirenik tales.

Cormorants and Ravens

This is an animal story that takes place on a cliff. It is about a fight between a cormorant and a raven family. The raven tries to trick the cormorant parents to steal their baby. But one cormorant sees the trick. It turns the trick back on the raven. The raven ends up eating its own baby without knowing it.

Yari and the Reindeer

This story shows the influence of the Chukchi people. It might even be a story borrowed from them. It is about conflicts between groups trying to take reindeer herds. The tale also includes magical animal helpers: a wolf and a diver (a type of bird).

A man lived with his daughter, Yari, and her little brother. They had many reindeer, and Yari took care of them. One day, strangers took all the reindeer and Yari. The father and son were left alone and became very poor. The boy grew up to be a hunter. One day, a wolf met him and told him to ask his father if they ever owned reindeer. The boy asked, but his father said they never had any domestic animals and always hunted wild deer. Soon after, the boy met a diver bird while hunting. The bird gave him the same advice as the wolf, but his father again denied the truth. Both animals then told the boy the real story. They promised to help him get the reindeer back. They traveled a long way. First, the boy rode the running wolf, then he rode the flying diver. They found the strangers who had their reindeer herd and his sister, Yari. The diver made it rain, and the wolf gathered the reindeer. The boy talked to Yari, and they all started to go home with the herd. The strangers realized they had been defeated. The boy and girl returned home with the two helper animals and the herd. The boy's family and the wolf's family became connected through marriage. The boy's father was happy when they returned, but he died later. The wolf regularly helped herd the reindeer, and the family helped the diver hatch her eggs safely.

The Man with Two Wives

This story has a special idea: someone stays young while others age. This idea is found in several old Asian cultures. In this tale, the main character stays young. This seems to be a blessing from an old man he saved.

A man lived with two wives. He left home and went to sea. He came to the land of ringed seals and stayed there for a night. The next day, he left and came to the land of other sea animals. Finally, he came to a land where an old man's family welcomed him. The guest saved the old man's family from their enemies. The old man said aloud, "From now on, the boy be young and strong and remain strong!" The man finally returned home. Indeed, he found that his own son had become an old man while he was away. Even more, his old son died the very moment his father returned.

Rules and Taboos

Like other Eskimo groups, the Sirenik people had rules about what they should not do. These were called taboos. They believed breaking these rules would bring bad luck or magical harm. For example, carrying an uncovered drum on the street was thought to cause stormy weather. Burning seaweed on a campfire was also believed to bring bad weather. Many taboos helped ensure survival and food. They were thought to keep game animals plentiful. Some rules limited how many resources, like game, people could take.

Shamans and Spiritual Leaders

Shamanism among Eskimo peoples can be very different from group to group.

During certain periods, the government did not allow shamanism. Still, some knowledge about these practices survived. The last shaman in Sirenik died before the year 2000. Since then, there has been no shaman in the village. Earlier in the 1900s, scholars saw shamans practicing in Sirenik. Also, an old story mentions a celebration that might have included shamanic rituals.

Sirenik Life Today

The Sirenik Eskimo people still use traditional skills to live. They build large skin boats, similar to the angyapik used by Siberian Yupik and the umiak used by many other Eskimo peoples.

However, the community faces challenges like poverty and unemployment. Medical care and supplies for the village can also be difficult to get.