Ket people
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Oldekop
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[[Image:Ket shaman 1914.png|300px|right|thumb|Ket shaman, [[1914]].]]
[[Image:Ket house boats 1914.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[Houseboats]] of the Ket, [[1914]].]]
[[Image:Ket campfire 1914 cropped.jpg|300px|right|thumb|[[1914]] photograph by the Norwegian explorer [[Fridtjof Nansen]] of a group of Ket around a campfire. The people in the background wearing fur hats are Russians.]]
'''Kets''' (''Кеты'' in [[Russian language|Russian]]) are a [[Siberia]]n people who speak the [[Ket language]]. In [[Imperial Russia]] they were called ''[[Ostyaks]]'', without differentiating them from several other Siberian peoples. Later they became known as ''Yenisey ostyaks'', because they lived in the middle and lower [[Drainage basin|basin]] of the [[Yenisei River]] in the [[Krasnoyarsk Krai]] district of [[Russia]].<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.tooyoo.l.u-tokyo.ac.jp/Russia/bibl/Ket.html
|title=Ket: Bibliographical guide
|publisher=Institute of Linguistics (Russian Academy of Sciences) & Kazuto Matsumura (Univ. of Tokyo)
|accessdate=2006-10-20
}}</ref> The modern Kets lived in the eastern middle areas of the river before being assimilated politically into the Russia or Siberia during the 17th through 19th centuries.<ref name="vajda">{{cite web
|last=Vajda
|first=Edward G.
|url=http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/ket.htm
|title=The Ket and Other Yeniseian Peoples
|publisher=
|accessdate=2007-06-29
}}</ref>
==History==
The Ket are thought to be the only survivors of an ancient [[nomad|nomadic]] people believed to have originally lived throughout central southern Siberia. In the 1960s the [[Yugh people]] were distinguished as a separate though similar group. Today's Kets are the descendants of the [[tribe]]s of fishermen and hunters of the Yenisey [[taiga]], who adopted some of the cultural ways of those original Ket-speaking tribes of South Siberia. The earlier tribes engaged in [[hunting]], [[fishing]], and even [[reindeer]] [[Animal husbandry|breeding]] in the northern areas.<ref name="vajda"/>
The Ket were incorporated into the Russian state in the 17th century. Their efforts to resist were futile as the Russians deported them to different places to break up their resistance. This also broke up their strictly organized [[Patriarchy|patriarchal]] social system and their way of life disintegrated. The Ket people ran up huge debts with the Russians. Some died of [[famine]], other of [[disease]]s imported from [[Europe]]. By the 19th century the Kets could no longer survive without food support from the Russian state.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/kets.shtml
|title=THE KETS
|publisher=The Peoples of the Red Book
|accessdate=2006-08-05
}}</ref>
In the 20th century, the [[Soviet Union|Soviets]] forced [[Collective farming|collectivization]] upon the Ket. They were officially recognized as Kets in 1930s when the [[Soviet Union]] started to implement the self-definition policy with respect to [[indigenous peoples]]. However, Ket traditions continued to be suppressed and self-initiative was discouraged. Collectivization was completed by the 1950s and the Russian lifestyle and language forced upon the Ket people.
The population of Kets has been relatively stable since 1923. According to the 2002 [[census]], there were 1494 Kets in [[Russia]]. This compares with 1200 in the 1970 census. Today the Ket live in small [[village]]s along riversides and are no longer nomadic.
==Language==
The [[Ket language]] has been securely linked to the [[Na-Dené languages]] of North America in the [[Dené-Yeniseian]] language family. ''Ket'' means "man" (plural ''deng'' "men, people"). The Kets of the Kas, Sym and Dubches rivers use ''jugun'' as a self-designation. In 1788 P.S. Pallas published the earliest observations about the Ket language in a travel diary.<ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.startsurfing.com/encyclopedia/k/e/t/Ket_language.html
|title=Ket language
|publisher=
|accessdate=2006-10-27
}}</ref>
In 1926, there were 1,428 Kets, of which 1225 (85.8%) were native speakers of the Ket language. The 1989 census counted 1,113 ethnic Kets with only 537 (48.3%) native speakers left.
Today the Ket language is still spoken by about 600 of the Ket. It is entirely different from any other language in Siberia.<ref name="vajda"/>
==Culture==
The Ket traditional culture was researched by [[Matthias Castrén]], Vasiliy Ivanovich Anuchin, [[Kai Donner]], [[:de:Hans Findeisen|Hans Findeisen]], and Yevgeniya Alekseyevna Alekseyenko.<ref>Hoppál 2005: 170–171</ref> [[Shamanism]] was a living practice into the 1930s, but by the 1960s almost no authentic shamans could be found. Shamanism is not a homogeneous phenomenon, nor is [[shamanism in Siberia]]. As for shamanism among Kets, it shared characteristics with those of [[Turkic peoples|Turkic]] and [[Mongols|Mongolic]] peoples.<ref name=ketsym>Hoppál 2005: 172</ref> Additionally, there were several types of Ket shamans,<ref>Alekseyenko 1978</ref><ref name=strat>Hoppál 2005: 171</ref> differing in function (sacral rites, curing), power and associated animals (deer, bear).<ref name=strat/> Also, among Kets (as with several other Siberian peoples such as the [[Karagas]],<ref>Diószegi 1960: 128, 188, 243</ref><ref>Diószegi 1960: 130</ref><ref>Hoppál 1994: 75</ref>) there are examples of the use of skeleton symbolics.<ref name=ketsym/> Hoppál interprets this as a symbol of shamanic rebirth,<ref name=ketskel>Hoppál 1994: 65</ref> although it may symbolize also the bones of the [[loon]] (the helper animal of the shaman, joining air and underwater world, just like the shaman who travelled both to the sky and the underworld as well).<ref>Hoppál 2005: 198</ref> The skeleton-like overlay reresented shamanic rebirth also among some other Siberian cultures.<ref>Hoppál 2005: 199</ref>
[[Image:Ket boy 1914.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Ket boy, 1914]]
[[Image:Ket older woman 1914.jpg|150px|left|thumb|Ket woman, 1914]]
Some authors hypothesize that the Kets may descend from the ancient [[Dingling]] of the [[Tashtyk culture]]. According to Leonid Kyzlasov, the Kets were described by Chinese imperial historians as blue-eyed and fair-haired people of Siberia, but Kyzlasov does not mention to which particular Chinese source he was referring, and thus this statement is unsubstantiated.<ref>Leonid Kyzlasov. ''Tashtyk Era'' (Таштыкская эпоха). Moscow, 1953. Page 13.</ref>
[[Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov]] and [[Vladimir Toporov]] compared the [[mythology]] of Kets with that of Uralic peoples, assuming in the studies that they are modelling [[Semiotics|semiotic]] systems in the compared mythologies. They have made also typological comparisons.<ref>Ivanov & Toporov 1973</ref><ref>Ivanov 1984:390, in editorial afterword by Hoppál</ref> Among other comparisons, possibly from Uralic mythological analogies, the mythologies of [[Ob-Ugric languages|Ob-Ugric]] peoples<ref>Ivanov 1984: 225, 227, 229</ref> and [[Samoyedic peoples]]<ref>Ivanov 1984: 229, 230</ref> are mentioned. Other authors have discussed analogies (similar folklore [[Motif (narrative)|motif]]s, purely typological considerations, and certain binary pairs in symbolics) may be related to a dualistic organization of society—some [[Dualism|dualistic]] features can be found in comparisons with these peoples.<ref>Ivanov 1984: 229–231</ref> However, for Kets, neither dualistic organization of society<ref name=noket2org>Zolotaryov 1980: 39</ref> nor [[Dualistic cosmology|cosmological dualism]]<ref name=ket2cosm>Zolotaryov 1980: 48</ref> has been researched thoroughly. If such features existed at all, they have either weakened or remained largely undiscovered.<ref name=noket2org/> There are some reports on a division into two exogamous patrilinear moieties,<ref>Zolotaryov 1980: 37</ref> folklore on conflicts of mythological figures, and also on cooperation of two beings in the creation of the land,<ref name=ket2cosm/> the motif of earth-diver.<ref>Ivanov 1984: 229</ref> This motif is present in several cultures in different variants. In one example, the creator of the world is helped by a water fowl as the bird dives under the water and fetches earth so that the creator can make land out of it. In some cultures, the creator and the earth-fetching being (sometimes named as [[devil]], or taking shape of a [[loon]]) compete with one another; in other cultures (including the Ket variant), they do not compete at all but rather collaborate.<ref>Paulson 1975 :295</ref>
However, if dualistic cosmologies are defined in broad sense, and not restricted to certain concrete motifs, then their existence is more widespread; they exist not only among some Uralic peoples, but there are examples in each inhabited continent.<ref>Zolotarjov 1980: 56</ref>
==See also==
*[[Ket language]]
*[[Yugh people]]
*[[Yeniseian languages]]
*[[List of indigenous peoples of Russia]]
==Notes==
{{reflist}}
==References==
* {{cite book |last=Alekseyenko |first=E. A. |chapter=Categories of Ket Shamans |editor Diószegi, Vilmos & Hoppál, Mihály |title=Shamanism in Siberia |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |year=1978 |location=Budapest}}
* {{cite book |last=Diószegi |first=Vilmos |title=Sámánok nyomában Szibéria földjén. Egy néprajzi kutatóút története |publisher=Magvető Könyvkiadó |location=Budapest |year=1960 |language=Hungarian |url=http://mek.oszk.hu/02100/02181}} The book has been translated to English: {{cite book |last=Diószegi |first=Vilmos |title=Tracing shamans in Siberia. The story of an ethnographical research expedition |others=Translated from Hungarian by Anita Rajkay Babó |publisher=Anthropological Publications |location=Oosterhout |year=1968}}
* {{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title=Sámánok, lelkek és jelképek |publisher=Helikon Kiadó |location= Budapest |year=1994 |language=Hungarian |isbn=963 208 298 2}} The title means “Shamans, souls and symbols”.
* {{cite book |last=Hoppál |first=Mihály |title=Sámánok Eurázsiában |year=2005 |month= |publisher=Akadémiai Kiadó |location=Budapest |language=Hungarian |isbn=963-05-8295-3 2}} The title means “Shamans in Eurasia”, the book is written in Hungarian, but it is published also in German, Estonian and Finnish. [http://www.akkrt.hu/main.php?folderID=906&pn=2&cnt=31&catID=&prodID=17202&pdetails=1 Site of publisher with short description on the book (in Hungarian)]
* {{cite journal |last=Ivanov |first=Vyacheslav |authorlink=Vyacheslav Vsevolodovich Ivanov |coauthors=[[Vladimir Toporov]] |title=Towards the Description of Ket Semiotic Systems |journal=[[Semiotica]] |publisher=Mouton |location=The Hague • Prague • New York |year=1973 |volume=IX |issue=4 |pages=318–346}}
* {{cite book |others=Collected, appendix, editorial afterword by Hoppál, Mihály |last=Ivanov |first=Vjacseszlav (=Vyacheslav) |title=Nyelv, mítosz, kultúra |chapter=Nyelvek és mitológiák |publisher=Gondolat |location=Budapest |year=1984 |language=Hungarian |isbn=963 281 186 0}} The title means: “Language, myth, culture”, the editorial afterword means: “Languages and mythologies”.
* {{cite book |others=Collected, appendix, editorial afterword by Hoppál, Mihály |last=Ivanov |first=Vyacheslav (=Vyacheslav) |title=Nyelv, mítosz, kultúra |chapter=Obi-ugor és ket folklórkapcsolatok |pages=215–233 |publisher=Gondolat |location=Budapest |year=1984 |language=Hungarian |isbn=963 281 186 0}} The title means: “Language, myth, culture”, the chapter means: “Obi-Ugric and Ket folklore contacts”.
* {{cite book |last=Middendorff |first=A. Th., von |title=Reis Taimхrile |location=Tallinn |year=1987}}
* {{cite book |last=Paulson |first=Ivar |chapter=A világkép és a természet az észak-szibériai népek vallásában |pages=283–298 |editor=Gulya, János |title=A vízimadarak népe. Tanulmányok a finnugor rokon népek élete és műveltsége köréből |publisher=Európa Könyvkiadó |location=Budapest |year=1975 |language=Hungarian |isbn=963 07 04145}} Chapter means: “The world view and the nature in the religion of the North-Siberian peoples”; title means: “The people of water fowls. Studies on lifes and cultures of the Finno-Ugric relative peoples”.
* {{cite book |last=Zolotarjov |first=A.M. |chapter=Társadalomszervezet és dualisztikus teremtésmítoszok Szibériában |editor=Hoppál, Mihály |title=A Tejút fiai. Tanulmányok a finnugor népek hitvilágáról |pages=29–58 |publisher=Európa Könyvkiadó |location=Budapest |year=1980 |language=Hungarian |isbn=963 07 2187 2}} Chapter means: “Social structure and dualistic creation myths in Siberia”; title means: “The sons of Milky Way. Studies on the belief systems of Finno-Ugric peoples”.
==External links==
{{commonscat}}
*{{cite web |title=The Kets |publisher=The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire |url=http://www.eki.ee/books/redbook/kets.shtml}}
*{{cite web |last=Edward J |first=Vajda |title=The Ket and Other Yeniseian Peoples |url=http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ea210/ket.htm}}
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=ket Ethnologue on Ket]
*[http://www.owlnet.rice.edu/~andreif/project/ket%20language.htm Ket Language]
*[http://lingsib.unesco.ru/en/languages/ket.shtml.htm Endangered Languages of the Indigenious Peoples of Siberia - The Ket Language]
*[http://bookweb.kinokuniya.co.jp/guest/cgi-bin/booksea.cgi?ISBN=0700712909 Yeniseian Peoples and Languages]
*[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6050673836854498204 The Ket People - Google Video]
*[http://www.altaica.ru/personalia/e_starostin.htm Starostin S.A.]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Russia]]
[[Category:Eurasian nomads]]
[[Category:Indigenous peoples of North Asia]]
[[ca:Kets]]
[[de:Keten]]
[[es:Ket]]
[[hr:Keti]]
[[it:Ket (popolo)]]
[[ja:ケット人]]
[[nl:Ketten]]
[[pl:Ketowie]]
[[ru:Кеты]]
[[sr:Кети]]
[[sh:Keti]]
[[uk:Кети]]