(Redirected from Nanais)
The 'Nanai' people (self name нани; tr. "nani";
Russian: нанайцы, tr. "nanaitsy";
Chinese: 赫哲族, tr. "Hèzhézú"; formerly also known as ''Golds'' and ''Samagir'') are a
Tungusic people of the
Far East, who have traditionally lived along Heilongjiang (
Amur),
Songhuajiang (Sunggari) and
Ussuri rivers on the Middle Amur
Basin. The ancestors of the Nanais were the Wild
Jurchens of northernmost
Manchuria.
The
Nanai/Hezhe language belongs to the
Manchu-Tungusic branch of the Altai languages.
Culture
The traditional clothing was made out of fish skins. These skins were left to dry. Once dry, they were struck repeatedly with a mallet to leave them completely smooth. Finally they were sewn together. The fish chosen to be used were those weighing more than 50 kilograms.
Nanais in Russia
In Russia the Nanais live on the
Sea of Okhotsk, on the
Amur River, downstream from
Khabarovsk, on both sides of
Komsomolsk-on-Amur, as well as on the banks of the
Ussuri and the
Girin rivers (the
Samagirs). The Russians formerly called them Goldi, after a Nanai clan name. According to the
2002 census, there were 12,160 Nanais in
Russia.
In the
Soviet Union, a written standard of the
Nanai language (based on
Cyrillic alphabet) was created by
Valentin Avrorin and others. It is still taught today in 13 schools in
Khabarovsk.
Nanais in China
The Nanais are one of the
56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the
People's Republic of China where they are known as "Hezhe." During the
Manchukuo period, the Nanais were practically wiped out in China by the Japanese. They had been confined to prisoner camps and in
1949 they numbered about 300 in China. According to the last census of 2004, they numbered 4,640 in China (mostly in
Heilongjiang province). Chinese Nanais speak the Hezhen dialect of
Nanai. They also have a rich oral literature known as the Yimakan.
[1] The dialect does not have a written system in China and Nanais usually write in Chinese. (Second language literacy is 84%.) However as of
2005 teachers have recently finished compiling probably the first Hezhe language textbook.
[2]
Religion
The Nanais are mainly shamanist, with a great reverence for the bear. They consider that the shamans have the power to expel to the bad spirits by means of the prayers to the gods. During the centuries they have been worshipers of the spirits of the sun, the moon, the mountains, the water and the trees. According to their beliefs, the land was once flat until great serpents gouged out the river valleys. They consider that all the things of the universe to possess their own spirit and that these spirits wandered independently throughout the world. In the Nanai religion, inanimate objects were often personified. Fire, for example, was personalified as an elderly woman whom the Nanai referred to as Fadzya Mama. Young children were not allowed to run up to the fire, since they might startle Fadzya Mama, and men always were courteous in the presence of a fire.
Nanai shamans, like of all the other Tungusic peoples of the region, had characteristic clothing, consisting of a skirt and jacket; a leather belt with conical metal pendants; mittens with figures of serpents, lizards or frogs; and hats with branching horns or bear, wolf, or fox fur attached to it. Bits of Chinese mirrors were also sometimes incorporated into the costume.
The deceased were normally buired in the ground with the exception of children who died prior to the first birthday; in this case the child's body was wrapped in a cloth or birchbark covering and buried in the tree branches as a "wind burial".
Famous Nanais
★ Japanese director
Akira Kurosawa's
1975 film
Dersu Uzala, based on a book by Russian explorer
Vladimir Arsenyev, describes the friendship of a pre-revolution Russian military officer and a Nanai man named Dersu Uzala.
★ Nanai female
shaman Tchotghtguerele Chalchin performed an
incantation recorded in
Siberia for the song "The Lighthouse" (an adaptation of the poem "Flannan Isle" by English poet
Wilfred Wilson Gibson) on French producer
Hector Zazou's
1994 album ''
Chansons des mers froides'' (''Songs from the Cold Seas''). Lead vocals were performed by
Siouxsie Sioux and background music included performances by the
Sakharine Percussion Group and the Sissimut Dance Drummers.
★
Kola Beldy () (1929-1993) was a popular singer in Soviet Union and Russia, particularly known for his rendition of "Увезу тебя я в тундру" (''I will take you to the tundra'').
★
Han Geng is a member of Korean boy band
Super Junior.
Endonyms
Own names in
IPA: [xədən], [nanio] and [kilən]. (An 1986, p1)
Encyclopedia Britannica (1911) on ''Golds''
:In physique they are typically Mongolic. Like the
Chinese they wear a
pigtail, and from them, too, have learnt the art of
silk embroidery. The Golds live almost entirely on
fish, and are excellent boatmen. They keep large herds of
swine and
dogs, which live, like themselves, on fish.
Geese,
wild duck,
eagles,
bears,
wolves and
foxes are also kept in
menageries. There is much reverence paid to the eagles, and hence the
Manchus call the Golds "Eaglets". Their
religion is
Shamanism.
Autonomous Areas designated for Nanai
References
★
Ethnolog on Nanai
★ Ān Jùn 安俊: 'Hèzhéyǔ jiǎnzhì' 赫哲语简志 (''Introduction to the Hezhen language''; Běijīng 北京, Mínzú chūbǎnshè 民族出版社 1986).
★
Notes on the Nanai
★
Народы России: Нанайцы
★
[3]
★
External links
★
The Nanai National Mentality and World Model by Tatyana Sem
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