Three Crucial Crises in the Development of the Khanty and Mansi Unique Culture

Abstract

This paper deals with crucial crises in the development of the unique culture of the Khanty and Mansi. The peoples, who had resided the territory of Western Siberia long before Russian settlements were established, were the Tatar, Chulym Turkic, Khakass, Shor, Teleut, Selkup, Nganasan, Enets, Nenets, Kamasin, Ket, Yugh, Kott, Assan, Khanty and Mansi. They had gained valuable and enormous experience of the climate, nature, wild and animal life of their environment. They had a very complex religious system that was closely connected both with the nature and with their life activities. All this – the unique valuable knowledge gained for thousands of years - has been degrading and degenerating. It is being researched due to major reasons of degradation and extinction of unique cultures of the Siberian indigenous peoples. They include: a) collection of the “yasak” and attempts of forced Christianization of indigenous peoples during the Russian Empire times; b) compulsory boarding education in the Soviet times; c) intensive oil and gas exploration in the 20th century.