No.48 September 2006 |
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During recent times, the indigenous population of Siberia have been
trying to revive old traditions of physical training, including original
techniques and methods of adapting to low temperatures, national games,
competitions, and original methods and techniques of physical preparation
for trade activity (i.e. fishing, reindeer breeding, hunting and collecting).
Various techniques and methods of children adapting to low temperatures
have a special place in the educational experience of these peoples,
in particular the Khanty.
Khanty, as well as other peoples of Siberia, have created an original
and specific "school" of adaptation for the younger generation,
which allowed them not only to survive, but also to develop successful
physical form in the inhospitable northern climate and to keep a fine
physical form in advanced age.
We can say that acclimatization of Siberian children actually starts
in embryonic, pre-natal and natal periods. The tradition of bearing
a child in a separate hut, despite the icy cold of winter, was customary
for Khanty women. (Abramov, 1857; Elniski, 1895; Popov, 1926; Startsev,
1928; Turovsky, 1898; Hondajevskiy, 1879; Schavrov V, 1871). Sometimes,
there were cases when the mother and/or newborn died. But those children
who survived (Finsh O. and Brem A., 1882) were “marked”
to possess good health and lived to an extreme old age. Often there
were even more severe conditions for child bearing, because of the nomadic
way of life. According to some authors, Khanty women sometimes gave
birth in the winter as they were roaming from place to place, in spite
of the hard frost. (Novizki, 1884; Plotnikov, 1901; Schavrov V. 1871).
The child, after birth, was rubbed down with snow
and sometimes even laid on the snow. (Kondratovicsh, 1897; Novizki, 1884)
But, probably, it is probable that this was not a standard custom as,
for example, obdorsky Khanty did not wash newborns with snow or water
at all. (Belyavsky, 1833).
After such tests, the child was placed in berestyanaya zibka (birch
cradle) where they would lay on wood sawdust or birch shavings and were
shrouded with hare skins and surrounded with special things.
While roaming from place to place those babies being nursed had to test cold, jolting and other inconveniences. A cradle with the child was usually placed in a bag made from deer skins and put on a sledge. The child’s face was left exposed and was frequently warmed by the mothers’ breath. (Belyavsky, 1833). Mothers nursed children in the same conditions in the frosty air. From our data, we have learned that Khanty, living
in the settlement of Kishik, even swaddled their infants in frost while
roaming from place to place and weren’t afraid to let them catch
a cold. (Krasilnikov, 2002).
Mothers transferred their children to day time cradles
fixed by belts (in which children were in a semi sitting position) on
their back during transitions and working in the woods (e.g. gathering
berries, mushrooms, grasses, bark birch, etc.). Children, at this time,
felt a number of inconveniences (pushing, rain, bright sun shine, etc.)
that, undoubtedly, promoted both their physical and mental abilities of
adapating to low temperatures Krasilnikov V, 2002).
The process of adapting to low temperatures continued in other forms
during children’s growth and development. For those who started
to travel by foot, parents sewed fur coats (maliza) from thin hare skins
to put on the child’s naked body. Doctor Bartenev (1886) considers
that these clothes were very convenient for Khanty children, because
they did not constrain their movements during games and at the same
time represented an impenetrable cover for wind and cold (Bartenev,
1886). However, there are a number of facts, which speak that the parents
of Khanty children dressed them in bad clothes so they would adapt to
low temperatures. So, for example, it was possible to frequently see
Khanty children and teenagers playing and even sitting on snow with
naked knees, in light weight clothes and, despite of it, not getting
frost-bitten (Nosilov, 1931; Finsh, Brem, 1882; Hondajevskiy, 1879).
During wintertime, children up to five years' age
frequently played nude in yurts and plagues. In summertime, the same situation
was observed in the street (Krasilnikov, 2002).
Khanty used different natural factors and techniques for acclimatising
to low temperatures. Sokolov remarks, that Khanty also closely cropped
the hair of their children. He wrote: “As such, children's heads
are exposed in summer to the sun’s rays and in winter to cold,
in spring and in autumn they are exposed to rain and snow” (Sokolov,
1867).
Some researchers note that children, almost at any time of year, go
barefoot and even in the strongest frost, run along the street completely
naked (Elniski, 1895; Nosilov, 1931). Lukina N. confirms that children
of Khanty living in Surgut territory frequently continued to go barefoot
even after the first snow had fallen (Lukina, 1985).
In addition to these facts, it is possible to see this occurring during
field ethno pedagogical research. For example, Khanty children were
seen roving in an area of the river Trom-Agan, even during winter time,
leaving barefoot from a dwelling to take products by sledge (narty)
(?rasilnikov, 2002).
The acclimatisation to low temperatures of children and adults was also
encouraged by the circumstances in which Khanty lived. A majority of
dwellings (yurts, plagues) didn’t protect from cold weather. It
habituated the body to low temperatures. According to some authors,
the temperature in plagues and yurts frequently did not exceed the temperature
outdoors. Khanty from the Surgut region frequently left naked children
on small skins with iced handles and legs in these low temperature conditions.
(Gubarev K., 1863; ?bertaller, 1935; Popov, 1926; Skalosubov, 1940;
Turovsky, 1898).
The acclimatisation to low temperatures of the Khanty continued throughout
life. Some researchers have remarked, that adult Khanty do not even
carry in the inclement weather (Zuev, 1947; ?rasilnikov, 2002; Hondajevskiy,
1879).
Ides I. and Brand A. who traveled across Siberia during the 17th century
described an unusual ability of Khanty. They wrote: “Sometimes
it happens so, that when they (Khanty) are sleeping naked around the
fire and outside the snow-storm is starting, those who are not turned
to the fire become covered by a layer of a snow in two fingers wide”
(Ides, Brand, 1967).
Some researchers of the North note that they have frequently seen Khanty
men and women going barefoot, even into late autumn, when the rivers
were frozen (Elniski, 1895; Lukina, 1985).
Similar facts relating to acclimatisation to low
temperatures of Khanty have been written down by Berezovsky's informants
and those who live in Surgut areas. For example, Khanty, wandering in
the Trom-Agan river area, go into a plague without footwear, in spite
of a cold floor. Berezovsks’ Khanty transported a boat barefooted
though water, on twine, in the river that already had frozen at the edges
(Krasilnikov, 1897).
A high degree of training was required from Khanty during the conduct
of trade. Hunters in uninhabited places made shelters from a snow, which
had been raked up in a heap. Inside a heap, they dug out a burrow, melted
the walls with the help of a small fire and then allowed it to freeze
slightly. Khanty could spend a night even on snow or a spreading of
coniferous branches, or on the ground between logs left to burn all
night long. In case of bad weather, Khanty could spend several days
buried in snow until the expected improvement of the weather. According
to Professor Jakoby A.I., Khanty, who live through the river Vakh region,
could also spend nights in a wood, buried in snow, after hunting for
squirrel (Yakoby, 1854).
All these numerous facts confirm our assumption of the existence of
a special tradition or ‘school’ to acclimatising to low
temperatures. There are a number of purposes for this. First of all,
it is preparation for the younger generation to extreme climatic conditions
and household difficulties in taiga and forest-tundra. Secondly (on
the basis of the first), it was realized that further physical training
of the younger generation was aimed at forming a body with mental steadiness
for cold weather.
The phenomenon of early physical and intellectual
development of northern peoples’ children is the special interest
for our research. The data of many scientists confirms this idea (Beketov,
1957; Arkin, 1935). For example, Hoffmann E. familiar with Nentzy (Northern
peoples) observed the following: children who were not able to speak and
go yet, independently crept up to plates with water and ladled it out.
Such early children’s development is explained by a severe way of
life and the process of acclimatizing to low temperatures, which starts
right after a birth.
Our research has shown peculiarities and even some aspects of systematic
techniques and methods of acclimatising to low temperatures in the Khanty
training process:
The ability to not getting frost-bitten, even in the strongest frosts
(correctly putting on clothes and footwear and so forth). Use of progressive experience of acclimatisation to low temperatures of children, teenagers and youth of indigenous population of Siberia will allow us to considerably enrich the theory and practice of contemporary physical training.
References
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Krasilnikov Valery Pavlovich
Russia, 623704. Berezovsky, Sverdlovsk region. Tolbukhin Street, 2, sq. 3. 620051. Ekaterinburg, Letter box 308. Ph ++7(343) 3348212 Fax ++7(343)3350832 E-mail finta@intess.ru
I am currently the Dean of the Faculty of Physical Training at the Russian
State Vocational Pedagogical University (Ekaterinburg, Russia). I have
a senior lecturer's degree and want to gain support for 2 monographs
and a training aid that I have written on the culture of the indigenous
population of Siberia.
The materials are:
"Games and competitions in traditional physical upbringing of Khanty" 115 pages; "Games and competitions in instructional process of finno-ugorski and samodiski nations" 86 pages; "Ethno-pedagogical bases of the traditional physical upbringing of indigenous population of Siberia" 165 pages. As a result of work carried out between 1990 and
2005, I have described more than 200 traditional games and competitions
of indigenous population of Siberia. The indigenous population of Siberia
suffers calamity in connection to the powerful invasion ethnos, petroleum
production and forests felling. They lose places of traditional trade
and unique culture. Traditional games and competitions of Siberia have
been the main facility of upbringing of young generations, of their all-round
development, of career education and the opportunity to survive in the
extreme climatic conditions of Siberia. The publishing of my abstract
will help to show peculiarities of indigenous population of Siberia. All
my works, mentioned above are deigned by Medal of Yanusha Korchaka and
Diploma of 1st Degree by Competition Commission "Pedagogical Innovations'-2005"
in Moscow.
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