#hws Yakutia

[irithnova]

Sakha: I uh... totally converted to Christianity *shaman paraphernalia falls out of his stuffed closet* Jesus and everything 🙌

Russia: 🤨

Sakha: So I'm not getting taxed right?

Russia: ...

Sakha: Trust 🙏

[meliissa-art]

I just wanted to draw them with their height differences. I ended up drawing them as superstars lol

[irithnova]

Sakha headcanon post - courtesy of my conversations with @topipaku !! Thank you 🙏

Huge huge film bro he loves discussing films and makes his own

I headcanon that he is very much like a lawyer when it comes to business stuff but this somewhat "strong headed/argumentative" mentality also extends to how he critiques certain films or goes about explaining them

His favorite type of film is comedy/horror and a lot of his own projects involves someone dying in some shape or form

You can blame his love of everything morbid on Even, Evenk and Yukaghir, who often (when he was younger) tell him some pretty spooky stories (such as the Even folk tale of a mother turning into a cuckoo because her children would not give her a helping hand)

In all honesty they probably told him those stories to try and scare him into behaving - well now he's just a huge horror fan

Sakha has told many of these same spooky stories to Dolgan when she was younger

Speaking of Dolgan - whilst she's grateful for the hand Sakha had in raising her, she wants her own identity outside of him. Often Dolgan people are just labelled as being Sakha

Really good friends with Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan because they are #Turkic but also because they like sharing their films/writing together - they screen each other's films in cinemas and in Kazakhstan, operas based on the Sakha "Olonkho" myth are being held.

Writers from Kazakhstan and Sakha signed a co operation agreement, and in Kyrgyzstan there is a monument dedicated to the Sakha politician and writer Maxim Kirovich

However - despite their love of sharing each other's writing, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan are quite surprised at how often Sakha's stories end in death !

Kazakhstan often jokes to Sakha that he should become independent

I definitely think these three share a groupchat together

He has an inside joke with Buryatia about the both of them being Japanese or secretly being Japanese. This is because both Sakha and Buryat intelligentsia were accused of being spies for the Japanese Empire (by Russia) at the time

Needless to say, Japan is definitely shooting them questionable looks when he overhears them make that joke

I think these days he has a bit of friendly competition with Buryatia over who is the most popular/more relevant group in Siberia

Really likes rap music !!

His relationship with Mongolia is very funny - in Sakha there is something of a myth that the most powerful faction of Genghis Khan's army was comprised of Sakha soldiers.

In reality, Sakha was most likely a child during this time and the Sakha people were most definitely not a part of the Mongol army

I think Sakha and Mongolia are friendly but Sakha has a little bit of a fascination with Mongolia. There are Sakha artists such as Afanasy Osipov who paints scenes of Mongols, and there is a film called "The secret of Genghis Khan", and apparently the Republic of Sakha was the initiator of the filming process ?

Very big into wrestling - in fact he enjoys challenging Mongolia even if Mongolia doesn't really reciprocate. He doesn't care that Mongolia is technically an elder to him, he'll do it regardless !

He is good friends with Chechnya because of their shared love of wrestling

Good relationship with both North and South Korea, though these days he's closer to South Korea

A lot of North Koreans were sent to Sakha under the USSR and mined gold , with some staying to teach farming to the Sakha

There is a Sakha-Korean school in Sakha and there are people in Sakha who refer to themselves as being "Sakha-Koreans" - presumably from the North Koreans who were sent to Sakha

South Korea indulges Sakha on his love for films. There was an exhibition of Sakha films that were held in South Korea, and South Korea was the first to make an article about Sakha films

For a while, there were even direct flights from Yakutsk to a city in South Korea !

Sad that his films aren't really taken seriously on a more global scale :(

I'd say he's also good friends with Tuva as similar to Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan - both are Turkic and Sakha likes talking to people he relates to, especially as Siberia doesn't really have many Turkic groups

[irithnova]

So bored I made an absolute mess of a moodboard for my OC of Sakha (Erchim Basygasov)

Explaining some choices:

Yes he's an artist, I put the Sakha art museum here :3 (at least that's what I hope it is) I think he likes sketching people's faces he's seen that day or maybe people he just remembers

I think he's a bit of a workaholic so yes papers and whatnot...

Horses because Sakha people traditionally kept horses. The fact that they do so unlike their Even and Evenk counterparts is actually one of the things which points to Sakha people originally coming from Southern Siberia nearer to the likes of the Buryats who also kept horses, but then were displaced and moved Northwards

Bad habit number 1: smoking. Listen there's worse out there

Bottom right Traditional Sakha food

[meliissa-art]

Femslash February Hetalia

Day 6 - Snowstorm

This is an old drawing of mine, but it fits perfectly the theme!

It’s Sakha, the coldest nation on Earth, and General Winter ❄️

By the way, her eyes are no longer that purple, they would be more brown. But still I'm happy how this drawing turned up. I will probably revamp it in the future.

Thank you @femslashetalia for hosting!

[irithnova]

Sakha and Evenkia's relationship

In this post I’m going to be talking about Sakha and Evenkia's mentor-student relationship. In my master post about Sakha I talked about how we can see how the Sakha people assimilated certain peoples into their own through observing certain traditions of theirs, the most prominent being their shamanic traditions which were greatly influenced by the Evenks and Evens.

The Evenks have had a profound influence on Sakha culture in particular though, which is why I headcanon Sakha and Evenkia to have a mentor-student relationship, or more like, they used to have a mentor student relationship. The Sakha’s people genesis began when they migrated from the area of Lake Baikal/Southern Siberia up Northwards, most likely because of pressure from the expanding Mongol Empire.

When Sakha first migrated, he came into contact with a number of different people, such as the Yukaghir, Even, and Evenks, who he considers all his mentors to an extent, however Evenkia was the most prominent one and had the most impact on his culture.

Sakha was young, bright eyed, eager and somewhat annoying, especially to his older neighbours who were pressured to move upwards because of him. Evenkia was also kind of irked by him, but was much more willing to guide him than the others were. Close contact and intermarriage between the Sakha and Evenk people

Let’s first compare both Sakha and Evenkia folk epics about the universe and see how similar they are, and then talk about Evenks influence on the Sakha language.

Sakha Folk Epic Olonkho:

- Sakha epic poetry envisions the universe with three levels: Earth (middle), Heaven (upper), and Hell (lower).

- The universe is symbolised as a giant tree, Aal Luuk Mas, housing these levels.

- Lower level: Devil (abaahy), Middle level: ajyy people, Upper level: deities and some evil spirits.

- Earth and Heaven are interconnected, with Heaven representing spirituality and Earth as a material entity.

- Animism features gods (ajyy), demons (abaahy), spirits (itchi), ancestors, and animals (üör) across the three levels.

- Different regions in the upper world are designated for creators, good spirits, ancestors, and evil spirits ruled by Uluu Toyon.

- Heavenly bodies influence life on Earth; the Sun is associated with Yurung Aar Toyon, the god who rules destinies.

- Olonkho describes Heaven with 7 (sometimes 8 or 9) layers and 4 parts (East, West, North, South).

- Yurung Aar Toyon (upper God, the white master, white creator) is the Master of 9 heavens, Tsar of 8 heavens, and prince of 7 heavens.

- Heaven writers record each person’s destiny, and shamans, transforming into clouds, encounter different cloud types.

- Cloud characteristics (all clouds have their own characteristics): ‘aahar bylyt’ (passing), ‘kuotar bylyt’ (escaping), ‘jetineh bylyttar’ (thunderstorm clouds).

Now let’s compare to Evenki tradition about the universe:

- Evenk epic envisions the universe, which they call Buga, with three levels: upper (Ugu Buga), middle (Dulin Buga), and lower (Hergu Buga).

- Ugu Buga (heaven) has parts like Juri Jultjen Turinyn (place of the rising sun), Jenin Nadar Bomchar (mother of the seven canyons), and Nadan Buldjar (land of seven seas)

- Earth, referred to as Sivir, is described as the “mane of our Earth,” the middle green world.

- Ugu Buga, the upper world, is portrayed as a place of eternal summer and well-being. God Seveki resides there, creating the middle world.

- Warriors from the middle world journey to the upper world to seek brides – daughters of the sun Dylacha Khunadin, moon, and stars Bega Khunadin.

- Buga represents the upper entity governing nature, taiga life, and human-animal spirits, with Buga Musin (mistress of the universe) depicted as a moose cow, reindeer, or an old woman in charge of spirits.

- Humans are associated with heavenly entities like Dylacha (sun), Gevan (dawn), Nyangnya (heaven), and sky. Humans are living things that are a subject to these entities.

- Tribes like ai, aji, agbea, aji ajmak, ai tegel have names reflecting qualities of help, rescue, goodness, and beauty.

- Their purpose is to create good in the middle and upper worlds, opposing the Avakhi tribe from the lower world, engaged in constant conflict without intermarriage.

As we can see, they both share the same HEAVEN – MAN – EARTH triad. However there are some differences along with the similarities. In the epic worldview of both the Sakha and Evenk, the structure of the heavens is remarkably alike. However, the Sakha cultural narrative doesn’t distinctly portray heaven and earth as realms of good and evil. The Sakha envision heaven as not only inhabited by gods but also by evil spirits and ancestors, while for the Evenk, heaven resembles a paradise. According to Evenk epics, devils and enemies are only confined to the lower world, whereas Sakha epics depict evil spirits across all three worlds.

The sky god, recognised as the Creator of the Middle World, is referred to as “Yurung Aar Toyon” in Sakha and “Seveki” in Evenk. The Sakha term the middle world as “ajyy land” and its inhabitants as “ajyy ajmaga,” whereas the Evenk collectively call the residents of all three levels as “aji.”

The Sakha and Evenk people also share the concept of the Serge as being the model of the universe:

- A Serge is like a pillar used to tie horses in Sakha culture.

- In Sakha, it's important for shaman traditions and used in rituals during celebrations, weddings, and the summer holiday Yhyakh.

- In Evenk culture, Serge is a special object representing the world's structure. It has three parts: the upper dome for the upper world, the disc-shaped part for the middle world, and the rounded part for the lower world.

- A sacred reindeer tied to the pillar serves as a connection between humans and God, specifically the Master of the upper world, named Seveki.

So Sakha and Evenkia do have a number of similarities when it comes to their religious practices from their time living together. The Sakha people adapted aspects of Evenk belief into their own.

When Sakha first arrived, as I said before, Evenkia was initially irked by him, as the migrations pressured his own people to move further Northwards. However this did not last long. Evenkia certainly took a liking to Sakha. In Evenk culture, many of the children’s activities mimicked adult duties, and so it was almost natural that Evenkia would want to teach a (younger) Sakha and take him under his wing, especially considering how keen Sakha was to learn because of the fact that he only just recently moved there and needed to help around. Evenkia was a huge relief for him.

A lot of the words Sakha borrowed from Evenkia was a result of him trying to adapt to new living conditions:

- In phonetics, some changes occurred in Sakha due to Evenk influence, like certain sounds not occurring at the beginning of words (g, h and p) and changes in intonation.

- Morphologically, Sakha borrowed affixes like -chaan and -ndja, -ndaa from Evenki.

- Vocabulary-wise, Sakha borrowed words related to landscape, flora, fauna, clothing, reindeer breeding, and dwelling from Evenk.

- Polish scholar S. Kaluzhinsky found around 400 Tungusic words in Sakha and listed more words related to various aspects of life.

- Evenk words were likely borrowed during the Sakha adaptation to new living conditions, with a focus on clothes, bird names, geographical features, animals, plants, and reindeer breeding terminology.

So in this sense Evenkia truly was Sakha’s teacher/mentor, and was one of the reasons why Sakha was able to adapt to and make sense of the new living conditions he found himself in. They got comfortable with each other pretty quickly, and Evenkia tried to instill in him certain values that he thought were important – such as not gossiping or rumour spreading. In Evenk culture, gossiping/rumour spreading is greatly frowned upon, and most likely had something to do with not screwing up the accuracy of the location of an animal during a hunt. I’ll refer back to this later, but all in all, Sakha learned a lot from Evenkia, and Evenkia was more than pleased to teach him.

They certainly got comfortable with each other quite quickly, and Sakha definitely found Evenkia’s more bawdy jokes in particular to be quite funny, but was careful not to make them back (in Evenk culture, bawdy jokes are acceptable but elders are allowed to make them in front of younger people and men in front of women, but not the other way around)

Now onto Sakha and Evenkias relationship with Dolgan. I talked about Sakha’s relationship with Dolgan and how he’s like a father to her in a previous post:

“Quick sidenote on the Dolgan: I see Sakha as being quite close with Dolgan. Dolgan culture incorporates aspects from different groups, including reindeer herding from the Evenki, herd dogs from the Nentsy, and women's fur coats from the Sakha.

In fact, the Dolgan people originated from a few Evenk clans that later adopted a dialect of the Turkic-speaking Sakha (Yakut).

So Sakha does try to look out for Dolgan and imagining him like. Dressing her up/giving her clothes and jewellery is so cutee. He's a lot more involved with her than Evenkia is, much to his annoyance.”

I also see Dolgan taking after Sakha personality wise, as I see Sakha as someone who is quite hard headed/outspoken (I jokingly called him the Saul Goodman of Siberia) and I see Dolgan being that way too, as the Dolgan people wield a lot of influence in Siberia despite their small numbers,

“The 2002 Russian census recorded 7,261 Dolgans in the whole Russian Federation. The Dolgan people today are one of the most politically powerful groups in their territory, and many senior officials of the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug are Dolgans.”

“The Dolgans and other indigenous peoples in the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug have created an Association of the Indigenous Peoples of the Taimyr Autonomous Okrug through which they are demanding the rights to control their own destinies. The Association has declared that indigenous peoples in Taimyr have priority rights to the land and its subsurface resources and hopes to be able to use revenues from mineral exploitation and economic development to fund programs addressing the many social and economic problems facing indigenous peoples today.”

So Dolgan really is like Sakha’s protégé/junior (and yes he’s very proud of her).

This is more of a crack headcanon of mine but seeing as the Dolgan originated from Evenk clans that took on a dialect of the Sakha language, I see Dolgan as almost being their child. Though I believe that Sakha had a much greater hand in her upbringing considering they, again, took on a dialect of the Sakha language, took on Sakha attire and personality wise, she’s also very much like Sakha. However she physically looks more similar to Evenkia. Due to the fact that Sakha had a greater role in her upbringing he uhh holds some resentment towards Evenkia for dumping her on him for not having a bigger part in it, he was his mentor after all. Evenkia dismisses his complaints as silly rumours (“didn’t I teach you the importance of not gossiping?), which only annoys Sakha further.

It’s okay though, Sakha is now bigger and stronger than his previous mentor and can make him pay him back in his own way ;)

But in all seriousness, Sakha does credit Evenkia with helping him adapt and survive when he first moved and won’t ever deny that, though he sometimes finds Evenkia irksome to deal with these days. Yukaghir defends Evenkia because she’s also an oldie and so she uses his age to defend him most of the time.

[meliissa-art]

Sakha's ancestors

Before I start this post, I want to recomend you this video. Perhaps you can watch it as you read this, as I think it could make it easier for you to understand Sakha's history:

Ok, now lets begin!

Even though Sakha/Yakutia has been considered as an outsider by the other Siberian tribes for a long time, she actually does have her roots around the Lena River.

Sakha herself was born after the Yakuts, as we know them today, started living in the Lena Basin, but they originated in the Baikal and that's why she was called an "outsider". The name "Yakutia" is, in fact, the name that Evenki gave to her, which means "outsider" in her language.

That's why Sakha hates being called "Yakutia".

But that is not all. Actually, her first ancestors were already living around the Lena Basin, even before the arrival of Evenki herself!

Sakha has many ancestors, including:

Syalakh (4500 BC) : Coexisted with Yukaghir, the oldest among the Paleo-siberians

Ymyyakhtakh (1700 BC): This culture wasn't around for that much time, compared to others.

Ust-Mil (1300 BC): This was a culture that was spread across the Lena and other areas of Siberia. I must say Yukaghirs were also around, so perhaps Yukaghir influenced Sakha's ancestors as well.

Kurykan (600 AC approx.): This would be Sakha's "dad", her closest ancestor. This was a tribal society that was living in the Baikal. During this time, the First Turkic Khaganate was on its peak.

Kulun-Atakh: This was a culture that coexisted with the Sakha in the Lena Basin, but eventually was absorbed by them.

Once the Mongol Empire started to expand, some tribes, including the Kurykans, were pushed towards what we call today Siberia. The Sakha started to originate and migrate towards the Lena, where they would finally "settle", and Sakha, my OC, was born.

[meliissa-art]

Khomus

My OC, Lena, playing the Khomus (Jews haarp)

If you don't know how it sounds like, I really recommend you to listen to it! There are tons of youtube videos <3

[irithnova]

Sakha and Russia fanfic set in 1906 following the disbandment of the Yakut Union. Don't be fooled by the title lol this is not a romantic fanfiction. Please read the historical notes at the beginning for more context

[meliissa-art]

Interesting...

[irithnova]

Wahh so I finally got down to writing a Sakha/Evenkia fanfic!! You can read on AO3:

[irithnova]

So I was doing more research on the Sakha language and

Sakha really was impressionable wide eyed and eager to learn huh (seeing how influenced Sakha was by Evenkia already when it comes to his language...)

More language similarities:

"Долуур"/Doluur is Sakha language. Compared to different Mongolic languages

This one I found very interesting:

Mentions of the Kurykans/Sakha's mother (?)

I want to make a separate post on the Kurykans seeing as she was Sakha's mother/ancestor to say the least (it won't be extensively long I don't think. More research is to be done though). From what I've read so far I think, like Sakha, she was quite the social butterfly!

Oh and I checked that "dalu/dala" actually meant shoulder bone in Mongolian just for peace of mind lol (first paragraph is Mongolian, second is the English translation)

[meliissa-art]

[meliissa-art]

Sakha and polar bears

Sakha seems to be getting more and more interested in polar bears. In fact, there are around 150 "bear islands" in Yakutia's nature reserve. In those "islands", polar bears can give birth and take care of their cubs safely.

Here is a short video that talks about that!

I imagine her worried for the polar bears and trying to be updated about their wellbeing, almost "motherlike" and watching documentaries and everything to know more about them.

[irithnova]

Not to go insane over Sakha and Evenkia on main again but 🤤

From what I've read there's some differences in when researchers believe the Evenk came in and began making language contributions to the Sakha language, (though I am learning towards the school of thought that the influence began at the earliest formation of the Sakha people. Wow Sakha looks so young and lost Evenkia you need to help him-) but it's really interesting to know that it wasn't just a one way exchange as there is a "presence of archaic forms of the Yakut language in Evenk vocabulary."

I know I've posted about their relationship before but I love mentor/student relationships so bear with me. I think it's quite cute that Evenkia also adopted certain things from Sakha, kind of like a "I can still teach you a few things, old man" type of situation. All of this going on whilst Evenkia was helping him piece together and be able to make sense of the world around him and most importantly, how to articulate it. Not just with how to understand practical things like different types of flowers or whatnot but also to understand the essence of life itself through the spreading of the Olonkho epic of the different levels of the world and the Gods etc etc.

Of course Evenkia wasn't the only person to influence Sakha but from what I've been reading he was a major one. Nowadays I think Sakha is moreso helping Evenkia out with things ("Evenkia if you want this done you need to stop being so blunt-") LMAO and even if he finds it somewhat annoying at times there's still that part of him that is reminded of those days.

[meliissa-art]

Sakha's weapons

Lena is a skilled warrior, as she was trained since her childhood by the Toyon Usa himself, since physical training was considered as important as diplomacy, languages, culture and refined arts.

Even though she uses more modern weapons now, she still trains hard, as she wants to preserve all the lessons she learned during her childhood training. She even gets inspiration from different martial arts, so she can refine her skills as well.

Batyya (1, 4) and batas (2, 3).

[ID: Black and white picture of 4 traditional yakut weapons. They are numbered below. The 1st and 4th knives are called batyya, as they are more curved. The 2nd and 3rd are called batas, and they differ from the batyya as they are more pointy and less curved. End ID]

This is how she would carry a batas:

[ID: Picture of a man carrying a batas on his back, covered in a yellow leather scabbald. His tshirt is bright blue. End ID]

And this is a better picture of a batyya:

[ID: Batyaa placed in a stone floor. The handle is made of wood, and covered in the center by black leather. The blade is silver, large and curved, with some carvings on the center. End ID]

She also has a big set of yakut knives that she has forged herself over the years. Each one of her knives has a purpose, even though she could use one of them for everything. Some are used only in the kitchen, others for cutting wood, etc. Also, each one of them has an unique design.

In this picture, you can see how yakut knives look like:

[ID: Yakut knife placed on top of some rocks. The handle and scabbard is made of wood, and has carvings that look like mountains with some trees. The finishes on the handle are gold, and the blade is small, silver and with other carvings as well. End ID]

Lena sometimes forges a yakut knife as a gift for someone she really appreciates, keeping in mind the details that a person would like to have carved on the wooden handle.

For Garpancha (Evenki), she carved some traditional evenki patterns.

Dolgan and Even had some reindeers carved on the handle as well.

For Umqi (Chukchi), she carved a polar bear and some fishes.

And of course, Baatar (Mongolia) was gifted a knife with horse decorations.

Lena (Sakha/Yakutia), as I said, has a lot of knives. One has the Lena Pillars carved on it, another has a yakut horse, another has a heart-shaped traditional pattern, another has a bear... And the list goes on and on.

She enjoys crafting them and gives them as a gift to those she trusts the most, however she does not give them completely sharpened. Giving sharp objects as a gift in Russia is considered as a taboo, so she does not sharpen them before gifting them.

Having a knife crafted by her is an honor, as she dedicates all her love and care to create an unique piece that you wont find anywhere else.

Note: If you need image descriptions and those I have given are not enough, please comment below and I will describe the pictures more.