Stretching from the southern region of the Sikhote-Alin mountains to the mystical greens of the forest lies the “tiger country”— Vladivostok —- where indigenous Asians hunt, fish, and gather fruits and berries. They are known as the Udege People: the People of the Tiger.
The Tiger symbolizes every aspect of the Udege lifestyle: culture to name the least. It’s believed that these wildcats on Earth originated in China, and spread to Northern Russia. Unfortunately, Siberian tigers have been struggling to stay alive since the 1930s, when Russian hunters exported millions of cubs to international zoos. In 1947, the numbers drastically decreased to about 30, and it was only years later that this endangered species label would be recognized on their Siberian stripes. Yet they continued to be shot, sold, and exploited for their fur until 1956. Today, only about 500 Siberian tigers exist in Eastern Russia, and along their territorial lines.
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The Udeges are one of the Tungus-Manchurian peoples. According to the 2010 census, the number in Russia is 1.5 thousand people, and in Primorsky Krai—793 people. The Udege language belongs to the Amur group of the Tungus-Manchu branch of the Altaic language family. In the 1930s, a script based on the Latin alphabet was developed for the Udege language. Now, the Udege mostly speaks Russian. In the Primorsky Territory, the Udege live compactly in the villages of Krasny Yar and Olon in the Pozharsky District, Agzu in the Ternisky District, Roshchino, and other settlements in the Krasnoarmeisk District.
The Udege culture has rich folklore, music, and arts and crafts. Historical stories, legends, myths, fairy tales, and other genres represent folklore. Historical, tribal, and other informative stories reflect the actual events in the history of the Udege.
The Udege musical instruments are diverse: tambourines, flutes, pipes, whistles, tweeters, one-string violins, rattles, kunkai, etc. Musical instruments are used in everyday life depending on the life situation or ritual actions. Rituals and everyday dances are held to the sounds of flutes and pipes of various designs. Women dance around the fire, and a special dance is organized by the shaman, where dancers imitate the movement of animals. Collective game dances are arranged not only during shamanic rituals (in honor of successful crafts) but also serve the purposes of educating the youth and uniting the tribal team. Additionally, these dances are arranged on the occasion of a successful hunt. Each hunter, after getting a bear, arranges the so-called bear festival (talasani), where only men participate in the ceremony.
The Udege fine arts are known in the forms of patterns, ornaments, wooden sculptures, and plot drawings. Household items, tools, and cult accessories are decorated with patterns and ornaments. Women's art is widely developed—embroidering patterns and ornaments on colored fabrics (fun fact: these designs on Udege national clothing highlight the culture of their animals), fish skin, and suede, embossed on birch bark. Male art is associated with the processing of hard materials—wood, bone, and metal. Udege masters create ritual sculptures of large and small forms (figures of a tiger, dog, man, bird, etc.), decorated with carvings of objects of material life (tables for eating and cutting meat and fish, ladles, cutting boards, sticks for mosquito nets), and tool handles labor (awls, lintels in frills, oars, etc.).
The basis of the traditional worldview of the Udege is animism, which divides the world into three levels: the sky, the earth, and the underworld. Each of these worlds has its own masters and assistants—good and evil spirits. The master of the universe is the heavenly ruler (god) Enduri and his closest assistants, Tagu Mama (the keeper of the souls of people and animals), the old man Chinihe (the weather manager), Ganihi (the owner of the sea and rivers), and Onku (the owner of forests and mountains). The most independent and strongest is the owner of the fire Pudja, who supplies a person with warmth and good luck in crafts. The category of evil beings includes the humanoid creature Amba with his assistant Ogjo—a bird with iron plumage, flying around the world with the speed of thought.
Along with animism, the Udege have totemic views. The Udege believe that the ancient ancestor of man is a bear, and the tiger is an honorary relative, therefore these animals are inscribed in the pantheon of sacred animals. Rites of worship are performed in their honor and various honors are given. The cult of the tiger is characteristic of the peoples of South Asia, and the cult of the bear is widespread among the peoples living in Siberia, the Amur Region, and Primorye. The simultaneous deification of these animals testifies to the complex processes of ethnogenesis (origin) of the Udege ethnos.
The shaman acts as an intermediary between people and the masters of Nature. Not every person could become a shaman, but only those who had hypnotic abilities. Udege shamans are of three categories: a beginner or weak shaman (nicha samani), an ordinary shaman (samani), and a big or strong shaman (sagdi samani). The novice shaman treats mild colds and headaches, the average shaman treats diseases associated with a violation of the human psyche, and the most popular is the sagdi Samani, who has supernatural powers.
Household rituals and customs of the Udege are divided into trade and family rituals. Of these, fishing funerals and memorial rituals continue to be preserved in life. At present, traditional forms of marriage have completely disappeared from family rituals—the exchange of children, the ransom of a woman for a tori (kalym), levirate marriage (the marriage of a widow with the brother of the deceased), polygamy, etc. Since the 2nd half of the 20th century, a family has been created only monogamous (marriage to one person at a time) and by mutual agreement (between man and woman).
According to the custom of the Udege, it’s forbidden to talk about the upcoming birth of a child, so that the evil spirit Ogjo would not know about it. To prevent the child from dying, it’s forbidden to give birth in a common dwelling. For a woman in labor, a week before the birth, a special hut (yatau kava) is built a hundred meters from the dwelling, in which the woman gives birth and lives with the child for 10 to 30 days. During this quarantine, the woman moves into a common dwelling and occupies a separate place closer to the fire.
Funeral rites (bugasa), depending on the cause of death, have their own characteristics, which are strictly observed during the funeral. The Udege has underground, above-ground, and above-ground ("air") burials. The Udege believed that the violation of the funeral rite could lead to new deaths.
The Udege are unsurpassed hunters, engaging in hunting from the age of 12 until old age. The hunter's equipment consists of a bow (bei), arrows (tada bei), a spear (guide), a large long-handled knife (hokdo), and a stretcher (son or hanami) for carrying weights, as well as skis and sleds. The Udege hunts almost all year round, but it’s forbidden to kill the beast more than necessary for the family in the near future. The Udege mastered various hunting techniques to perfection (pursuing in deep snow, using traps, setting loops, etc.). From the middle of the 19th century, the Udege began to hunt with the help of matchlock guns (meus), which they exchanged with Manchurian merchants. The Udege, preparing for the beginning of the fishery, weave nets, make arrows, repair sleds, perform shamanism, and ask the owner of the taiga for good luck. Hunting for a fur-bearing animal (sable, squirrel) has been widely practiced since the 70-80s of the 19th century with the advent of fur buyers. In Soviet times, starting in 1939, the best hunters took part in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibitions (VSHV) and the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy (VDNKh) held in Moscow, where they were awarded orders and medals for their work.
Fishing is of greater importance for the Samarga and Primorye Udeges. The Udege fish for chum salmon (dava), and taimen. An important time for fishing is September and October when chum comes to spawn in rivers.
Agriculture for the Udege is a new activity— a great difficulty. Significant results in the development of agriculture are among the Iman Udege who successfully engage in animal husbandry and crop production. For the annual high yields of soybeans, the collective farmers of the Krasny Udegeets artel repeatedly take part in the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. The Soviet period saw significant socio-economic and cultural changes.
All national collective farms in the 1960s were reorganized into state industrial farms, and cadres of national intelligentsia appeared everywhere: teachers, doctors, accountants, and scientists.
The traditional settlements of the Udege consist of several residential buildings and piled barns. Specifically, the traditional summer and winter dwellings of the Udege in appearance resemble gable huts built of light poles and birch bark. Such a dwelling is heated by a hearth (fire) located in the center. The smoke from the fire escapes through a smoke hole left in the roof. Next to the residential building, outbuildings are placed—barns hung for yukola and other household appliances. The simplicity of the arrangement of residential and commercial huts of the Udege corresponds to their semi-nomadic life. The settlements of the Udege are small and scattered for tens of kilometers. Ritual buildings (jokers, maternity huts, burial houses) exist among the Udeges of all territorial groups. At the end of the 19th century, Chinese fanzes and semi-dugouts began to appear among the Udege, and in the 20th century, log houses of the Russian type.
The nutrition of the Udege is determined by the season: from the end of spring to autumn—fish and vegetable food prevailed, and from the beginning of September—the meat of wild animals, birds, and fish. In October, meat is almost completely replaced by red fish. From the middle of summer, the Bikin and Bollypeussurk Udeges, along with fish and meat, consume vegetables. The Udege gathered wild garlic (soda), wild onions (dasukhta), wild garlic (zyzokto), and various roots, herbs, and berries. From December to spring inclusive, the meat of wild animals again becomes the staple food. During the years of Soviet power and the post-Soviet period, the composition of nutrition has changed significantly. The basis of modern food is both purchased products and from subsidiary farms.
The traditional means of transportation—morochki and baty (dugout boats)---are characteristic of all territorial groups of the Udege. Boats move with the help of poles and oars. Starting from the 1960s, traditional boats were gradually replaced by motor boats of the Kazanka type and others. In winter, skis and sleds are used by hunters and fishermen when walking in deep snow and transporting goods instead of boats. At present, motorized sleds prevail in the everyday life of hunters, and of the traditional means of transportation, only muddles, sleds, and skis continue to be preserved.
On the territory of Primorsky Krai, 23 non-profit organizations are registered that unite the indigenous peoples of Primorye, including the Udege. Among them are 15 communities, 7 public organizations, and 1 union. The activities of the organizations are aimed at preserving and developing the culture of indigenous peoples, traditional types of management (hunting, fishing, collecting wild plants), and ecological and hunting tourism. In the village of Krasny Yar, Pozharsky district, an ethnocultural center has been created and operated. Its structure includes an open-air museum, which comprises the Udege camp, an ethnographic museum, a souvenir sewing and carpentry workshop, an ecological circle, and a Udege dance ensemble "Agdaimi" ("Joy").
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About 20% of the Udege population took part in the battles with the enemies of the Soviet Union. The Udege fought not only on the western front but also defended the socialist fatherland from the Japanese on the eastern one. During the hostilities with the Japanese, the Udege scouts from the reconnaissance battalion of the 88th separate Far Eastern brigade, who obtained important information for the Soviet command, especially distinguished themselves. For their ingenuity and courage behind enemy lines, many Udege were awarded orders and medals by the Soviet state.
Despite this, the Udege were neglected and tricked, like the Indians who fought for the British and believed that the rewards would mean something greater—independence. I spoke with Udege human rights activist Pavel Sulyandziga, who fights for his people’s rights through organizations such as the Batani Foundation and SIRGE Coalition.
“The Batani Foundation was established in 2004, when business stormed into our land, and exploited Udege resources. It was a few years later that political activism really erupted,” Pavel said.
Currently, Pavel and his team are working on fixing a climactic issue that has deeply affected their pristine Bikin River.
“2020 brought the biggest catastrophe: an oil spillage. I emailed Elon Musk, who bought Nornickel, the largest mining company in Russia. We offered three solutions, one of which he only accepted, which was to help clean up the mess through ecological organization communication. Meanwhile, the minerals from the oil spilled into other areas like a virus. Long story short, this event remains an issue to this day,” Pavel added.
A delegation from the Nornickel coalition met up with Switzerland, where its “daughter” is registered and buys products from Nornickel. Investors of Switzerland banks had sponsors, which halted to a stop when they collaborated with German companies. Unfortunately, the meeting between the outraged indigenous people and companies didn’t add many resolutions to the table. That’s when the SIRGE Coalition came about, but had to be closed due to extremism in Russia. Aside from political issues though, Pavel Sulyandziga’s son Pasha continues to fight for his people’s rights in unique ways.
Pasha Sulyandziga is a Udege opera singer who made his vocal debut at Carnegie Hall in 2015. His approach to the underrepresentation of his culture is giving back to his community with music.
“I created an album that encapsulates both Udege and Russian culture, which I have sung to my people this summer. With the help of the Udege, I added my vocal accompaniment to the Udege poetry and songs that had been written in both of our languages. It truly was an amazing experience, to see my community’s smiles and joy as they sang and danced to my music,” Pasha told me.
Culture thrives through diverse modes of expression, and the echoes of Pasha’s lyrics will hopefully continue to encourage the Udege people to celebrate their culture and speak up for their independence.
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