Sibirica

Food is central to human societies, and local ecologies shape how food is named and valued. Among the Evenki, however, dairy products remain marginal and historically contingent within traditional subsistence food practices. This study analyzes fourteen dairy-related terms recorded in Tsintsius’ Comparative Dictionary of Tunguso-Manchu Languages (1975–1977) to determine whether they reflect indigenous developments or contact-induced borrowings. Using a comparative-historical and contact-linguistic approach, the article examines their etymology, semantics, and dialectal distribution, with particular attention to Turkic and Mongolic influence. The analysis shows that most dairy terms entered Evenki through language contact and were later adapted to reindeer-based subsistence practices. Rather than indicating a developed dairy tradition, the Evenki dairy lexicon reflects historical interaction, ecological adaptation, and semantic reinterpretation within a reindeer-centered cultural system.

This article examines inauguration ceremonies in the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic between 1991 and 2023 as political events reflecting transformations in post-Soviet regional statehood, ethnopolitics, and relations between federal and regional authority in the Russian Federation. Drawing on theories of political ritual and symbolic power, the article demonstrates that inauguration ceremonies in Sakha (Yakutia) function as mechanisms of dual legitimation. On the one hand, they formalize the constitutional transfer of political authority within the framework of the Russian state; on the other, they symbolically embed political leadership within Sakha cultural memory, ethnocultural symbolism, and regional narratives of sovereignty and continuity. Three interconnected dimensions mark the evolution of these ceremonies: a stable ceremonial core; variable elements shaped by changing political conditions; and innovations reflecting new ideological and technological contexts.

A commonplace in the literature on traditional Siberian uses of Amanita muscaria is the belief that reindeer become intoxicated by eating this mushroom, a belief enriched by misunderstandings in the Western culture literature. Ethnographers have reported contradictory data concerning the attraction of reindeer for any mushrooms or specifically for fly agaric, and the attraction of reindeer for any human urine or specifically for that of humans who have ingested the fly agaric. Siberian reindeer herders consider the meat of reindeer intoxicated by fly agaric to be intoxicating for humans, and they use the attraction of reindeer for fly agaric for the purpose of its capture or domestication. The preferential or accidental relationship of reindeer with fly agaric has been neither confirmed nor denied, due to the lack of specific studies on the subject.

This photo essay explores the changing role of the Megino-Bogorodskaia Church, located in the village of Byuteydyakh in Megino-Kangalasskii Ulus of the Sakha Republic (Yakutia), over the past two centuries. Recognized not only as a monument of wooden architecture but also as a historical and cultural center, the church has played an important role in the life of the local community. Through historical and contemporary photographs, this photo essay highlights the church's religious, educational, and social functions, as well as its unique wall paintings, which reflect both Orthodox and European artistic influences and are not found elsewhere in the region. The essay also considers how the use of the church building for social and economic purposes during the Soviet period contributed to its preservation and protected it from destruction.

This photo essay examines public celebrations in Verkhoianskii District of Soviet Yakutia (Sakha Republic) during the second half of the twentieth century. It explores the influence of Soviet festive culture on local communities and the ways in which public celebrations shaped everyday life in Arctic settlements. During the Soviet period, the district was inhabited by Indigenous populations engaged in reindeer husbandry as well as an increasing number of newcomers employed in mining. The influence of one tradition on another contributed to the acculturation and transformation of the festive culture elements. Drawing on archival and family photographs, the essay highlights the key features of public celebrations in Verkhoianskii District. Public festivities not only brought color and excitement to life in remote settlements but also fostered a sense of community and belonging.

Facing the Fire, Taking the Stage: Ritual, Performance, and Belonging in Buryat Communities of Siberia Joseph J. Long (Indiana University Press, 2025), 280 pp. ISBN: 978-0-25307119-4.

Narrative Objects: Museums, the Sakha Summer Festival, and Cultural Revival in Siberia Tatiana Argounova-Low and Alison K. Brown (Routledge, 2025), 226 pp. ISBN: 978-1-13831-533-4.

Bear Tales in Minority Languages: Beliefs and Visions Tatiana B. Agranat and Leyli R. Dodykhudoeva, eds. (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2025), 291 pp. ISBN: 9781036418915.