Vladimir Podmaskin, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: podmaskin@yandex.ru.
The paper examines the folk knowledge of the Yukaghirs as a cumulative set of achievements for life support and improvement of mentality in the conditions of the North-East of Russia. The relevance of the topic is that despite the significant number of materials on the traditional culture of the Yukaghirs, certain aspects of the folk knowledge are still under-researched. Today, the country is faced with the task of the development of the Arctic, so the study of the folk knowledge of the Yukaghirs becomes scientifically and practically important. In the modern world, the scope of use of folk knowledge is steadily decreasing, which is determined not so much by its "primitivism" as by the desire to bring it into the faceless information space. The aim of the paper is to describe the traditional folk knowledge of the Yukaghirs based on linguistic, folklore, regional toponymic and ethnographic materials in the stadial, ethnocultural and ethnogenetic aspects. Accordingly, the main objectives are to demonstrate the unity and interdependence of rational knowledge and irrational beliefs, to provide a detailed ethnic characterization of folk knowledge and to substantiate the fundamental principles of its formation. The scientific novelty is in summarizing historical experience to develop principles for an ecologically oriented model of the development of society and introducing new data on the ethnogenesis and ethnic history of the ethnic group into the academic discourse. The paper emphasizes the importance of folk knowledge about space and time in the development of the territory of nature management. It is noted that the rhythmic repeatability of celestial bodies provided not only real landmarks but also consolidated experience-based observations that underlined the economic cycle. It is concluded that the folk knowledge of the Yukaghirs becomes an integral component of the strategy for the development of material and spiritual culture. The study showed that based on the dominant rational principles of traditional folk knowledge, the original life support system was created with the aim of developing human adaptation and adaptation activities in the Arctic.
Keywords: Yukaghirs, space markers, folk calendar, metrology, pictographic writing, traditional knowledge about fauna and flora, North-East of Russia.

Mikhail Kamenskikh, Institute of Humanitarian Research - Branch of the Perm Federal Research Center, UB RAS, Perm, Russia. E-mail: mkamenskih27@gmail.com.
The paper deals with the history and development of pine nut harvesting, the technologies of its collection and processing as well as current practices among the Semeiskie Old Believers of Transbaikalia. The craft presumably emerged in the nineteenth century when the Semeiskie adopted certain traditions of the local population during their resettlement. The author's research provides a detailed description of the economic practices related to pine nut collection and answers theoretical questions concerning the concept of intangible heritage and the relationship between the ethnic culture and traditional crafts. The paper explores the methods of pine nut gathering, processing, storage and highlights the ritual practices of these activities. During the pre-Soviet period, pine nut products were widely used in the food, especially during fasting periods, when the practice of "whitening" dishes with pine nut milk developed. Pine nut oil cake was also used to prepare some memorial dishes. The social and economic transformations of the twentieth century significantly affected the daily life of the Semeiskie Old Believers and their traditional practices, leading to mechanization of harvesting and processing while displacing manual labor. Today, these traditions are preserved mainly in collective memory and oral narratives, certain practices exist among the elder generation. According to the author, a case study of pine nut harvesting demonstrates how a traditional craft can take on the characteristics of an object of intangible ethnocultural heritage within the framework of the ethnic culture.
Keywords: pine nut, Transbaikalia, Old Believers, Semeiskie Old Believers, intangible ethnocultural heritage, heritage object.

Tatyana Golovaneva, Institute of Philology, SB RAS, Novosibirsk, Russia. E-mail: gta-77@mail.ru.
The lexicon associated with the traditional grass weaving technology is on the periphery of the Alutor language vocabulary due to the loss of the craft. Imported rugs, runners, carpets and sacks have replaced handwoven mats and baskets. The Alutor lexemes ajitkЗќratЗќk 'to weave from grass', taЕ‹tikwЗќn 'a grass floor mat', and isase 'a grass wall mat' are no longer found in the everyday speech of the Koryaks-Nymylans. The names of traditional types of baskets are more stable: some are more common - jЗќrrusЙЈЗќn, man'iЙЈ (man'iw), others are less known - l'apЙЈan, nono. Today, the understanding of distinctions between these items has largely been lost. The baskets differed in their function, construction, materials and production technique. The terminology relating to the Nymylan tradition of basket weaving is not attested in the core vocabulary shared by the closely related Koryak and Alutor languages. Linguistic evidence suggests that the tradition of weaving developed among the Koryaks-Nymylans after the divergence from the Chavchuveny-Koryaks. Certain roots, originally shared by both the Koryak and Alutor languages and used in forming the lexicon of this semantic group, took on new meanings during the relatively independent development of the Nymylan and Chavchuven Koryak subethnic groups. For example, the Alutor term jЗќrrusЙЈЗќn 'a small basket woven from grass' corresponds to the Koryak lexeme ДЌejuДЌЙЈЗќn 'a bag sewn from reindeer hide'. The grass-weaving tradition of the Koryak-Nymylan people was also under the influence of the Itelmens. The Koryaks- Nymylans borrowed from the Itelmen language such words as tuwaju (Itelmen tuvejk) 'wild rye, elymus' (grass used for weaving) and l'apgan (Itelmen l'epheК”n) 'a grass shoulder basket-bag for carrying heavy loads supported by a forehead strap'. It is therefore unsurprising that these lexemes are absent in the Chavchuven-Koryak vocabulary.
Keywords: northeastern Paleoasiatics, Koryaks, Nymylans, Chukotko- Kamchatkan languages, Alutor language, archaisms, archaic vocabulary, trade vocabulary, traditional culture, grass weaving.

Zhanna Yusha, Museum of Anthropology and Ethnography RAN, Saint-Petersburg, Russia. E-mail: zhanna-yusha@yandex.ru.
The paper, based on published runic texts, analyzes the mythologem kГјn aj 'the sun-the moon' in the Yeniseian epitaphs of the 8th-11th centuries, which was both a fixed formula and an artistic device symbolizing the untimely death of the epitaph's hero and the final departure of a man from the Middle World. Its use in epitaphs was dictated by mythological ideas, funeral and burial traditions and mourning etiquette of the ancient Turks, while its use in runic texts is a short, condensed formula with many cultural symbols in a brief and succinct form. In the religious beliefs of the creators of the Yeniseian epitaphs, the celestial bodies were consistently associated with the life cycle of a person from birth to death, and they were obligatory attributes not only of the Upper World (for deities) but also of the Middle World (for living people). The mythologem kГјn aj 'the sun-the moon' as a pair reflects a system of binary oppositions: day-night (the sun is the celestial body of the day, the moon is of the night); male-female (the sun has masculine symbolism, the moon has feminine symbolism); self-other (in contrast to everything alien, the sun and the moon have the semantics of "their own"); life-death (the sun and the moon as the symbols of life and death); developed-undeveloped (the native land is perceived as a symbol of a developed territory in contrast to the otherworld); native-foreign land (the border of one's homeland is opposed to the unexplored foreign land). The work also analyzes the complete and stable structures of the kun aj 'the sun-the moon' mythologem used in runic texts.
Keywords: ancient Turkic runic monuments, Yenisei epitaphs, the mythologem kun aj 'the sun-the moon', semantics and structure, the Turkic peoples of Southern Siberia.

Tatiana Sem, Russian Ethnographic Museum, Saint Peterburg, Russia. E-mail: semturem@mail.ru.
The paper is devoted to the analysis of contemporary variants of the myth of the three suns of the Nanai people from the perspective of preserving both tangible and intangible cultural heritage, closely linked to the sense of ethnic identity and ethnicity. The spiritual cultural heritage includes oral folklore traditions and narratives which are transmitted to new generations through printed, educational and public activities. The traditional myth of the three suns of the Nanai features archetypal characters and a cyclical structure of motifs. The same tradition can be traced in contemporary variants of the myths recorded during the expedition to the Khabarovsk Territory in 2021. The myth contains cosmic, natural, personal and social plots related to the creation of the world, the first death, the transformation of giants into humans, and the archetypal images of Mameldi and Hado as symbols of the maternal and paternal family and the transition to the latter as a result of the hero's activity. In the second myth, the first creation is carried out by two supreme spirits who kept order and sent Hado to kill the extra luminaries during the period of the three suns. It is concluded that the contemporary myth of the three suns contributes to the preservation of the Nanai culture: there is a tradition of storytelling at the site of petroglyphs, and the myth is reflected in decorative and applied art, dance and theatrical performance. These practices indicate the preservation of cultural heritage and ethnicity as markers of ancient archetypes of worldview.
Keywords: myth, cultural heritage, ethnicity, Nanai people, Khabarovsk Territory.

Victoria Dzholdosheva, Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: fatima2009_99@mail.ru.
Tatiana Krayushkina, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: kvtbp@mail.ru.
The paper, based on Evenk fairy tales close to the plot of 707 Wonderful Children, examines the family and family relationships as a significant component of the complex of spiritual and moral values. The fairy tale "Mongun" presents polygyny as a form of marital relations. The cause of the conflict between the wives is envy: the husband gives preference to the first wife, who claims the ability to give birth to a golden son. The second and third wives try to kill the child. The wife, expelled by her husband, reunites with her son, and evil is punished by death. The fairy tale "The Power of Mother's Milk" is about three sisters who dream of getting married. The one who promises to give birth to three sons becomes the wife. Her envious sisters steal the first and second babies, the husband gets rid of his wife and the youngest, allegedly born weak child. The mother and her children are reunited, and evil is punished by loneliness. It is concluded that these tales can be regarded as a source that artistically recorded the family realities of the Evenks, which is confirmed by ethnographic data on the family and family life of this people from the first half of the 18th until the early 20th centuries. At the same time, each fairy tale text is a kind of an imprint reflecting certain stages of the evolution of the Evenk family relations and ways of resolving family conflicts.
Keywords: family, family relations, polygamy, marital relations, Evenk folklore, Evenk fairy tales, wonderful children.

Anna Pankina, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: pankina1995b@mail.ru.
The question of the ethnogenesis of the Yukaghirs is one of the controversial scientific issues which implementation proceeds within the framework of several disciplines: linguistics, genetics, ethnology and archaeology. This study provides an overview of the main hypotheses of the formation of the Yukaghir ethnic group based on archaeological materials and presented in the works of Soviet and post-Soviet archaeologists. These hypotheses can be divided into two methodological approaches: 1) the search for the ancestors of the Yukaghirs in the materials of the oldest cultures of the region (Sumnaginsk, Syalakh, Ymyjakhtakh, Ust-Milsky) based on glottochronological reconstructions and paleogenetic data; 2) the search for cultural continuity between the Yukaghirs known from written sources of the 17th-19th centuries and late archaeological cultures (Late Iron Age, Middle Ages). The hypothesis that gained the most support is the one proposing a direct connection between the Yukaghirs and the Ymyjakhtakh Neolithic culture. Based on this, several ethnogenetic reconstructions were proposed encompassing the period from the Stone Age to ethnographic modernity. This study analyses both strong and weak points of this hypothesis, particularly the lack of continuous succession between the Ymyjakhtakh and Yukaghir cultures. Particular attention is paid to few ethnoarchaeological studies conducted in the areas inhabited by the Yukaghirs between the 17th and 19th centuries as these data can solve the problem of the cultural and chronological gap.
Keywords: "Yukaghir problem", ethnogenesis of Yukaghirs, ethnoarchaeology, Ymyjakhtakh cultural community, Northeast Asia.

Galina Popovkina, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: galina.popovkina@gmail.com.
Researchers have paid little attention to the baptism of the once numerous Yukaghirs. This is primarily due to the fact that the Yukaghirs accepted baptism earlier than many northern peoples without any significant resistance. Systematic materials on the activities of the Church in the northeast began to appear only in the 19th century. At that time, the clergy were primarily focused on converting the Chukchi, and as a result, the available sources largely concentrate on that issue. Nevertheless, the analysis and comparison of even scattered materials allows us to reconstruct the main stages and ethnic character of the Christianization of the Yukaghirs. The most interesting information about this process can be found in the works of missionaries and the reports of missionary committees as well as in the works of V.I. Jochelson, Y.I. Lindenau, V.M. Zenzinov, G.N. Kurilov, V.A. Tugolukov, and others. The population of Yakutia and Chukotka wore cross pendants and kept icons in their homes, which during migrations were stored in special leather pouches or cases. The influence of Christianity on the life of the Yukaghirs was reflected in everyday life, marital relations, choosing a name for a child, tracking natural phenomena on Christian holidays, observing kinship in Baptism venerating icons and holidays, some methods of healing, the appearance of prayers in the Yukaghir language and the Church's fight against shamanism. Many modern surnames of the Yukaghirs were taken from Russian pioneers, usually priests or godparents at baptism. Alongside the missionary activity, medical and educational work was carried out. Apparently, the Christianization among the Yukaghirs proceeded generally in the same way as among other peoples encountered by pioneers and missionaries. Despite some individual violations, the Church sought to convert people to Christianity non-violently relying on state support, whose measures to assist the "pagans" were aimed at creating a favorable environment for baptism and interaction.
Keywords: Yukaghirs, Christianization, traditional culture, peoples of the northeast.

Irina Strel'tsova, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: i-strel@mail.ru.
The paper explores the current issues concerning the dynamics of ethnocultural traditions in the Far Eastern Region analyzing the calendar rituals of the Belarusians of Primorye. Based on folklore and ethnographic sources, the paper examines the main ritual plots of the winter, springsummer and summer-autumn calendar cycles brought by Belarusian settlers from the Bryansk-Gomel borderlands and common in the south of the Far East between the late 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries. The analysis focuses on the key components of the Christmastide ritual complex including the preparation of ceremonial food, house-to-house visits "with the star", ritual caroling, mumming and divinations. Attention is given to the rituals of the Pancake Week and the popular rural tradition of tying the "kolodka" (a symbolic wooden block tied to unmarried men and women during Pancake Week festivities). Among the spring-summer ritual traditions that gained popularity in Primorye particular attention is given to the archaic rite of "Guiding the arrow". The study describes summer calendar rituals associated with Trinity Sunday, Ivan Kupala Night and Rusalka Week. Especially significant among the harvestrelated customs are the rituals involving the first and the last sheaf. The paper highlights regional features in the ritual traditions including the representatives of the new ethnocultural environment of the settlers (Chinese, Koreans, indigenous peoples of Primorye) in the mummery ritual. It is shown that certain agricultural rituals preserved their archaic origin under the influence of a secondary cultural environment until the mid-20th century. In the second half of the 20th century, the calendar rituals of the Belarusian settlers underwent significant transformations due to large-scale changes in the economic and everyday life and worldview. Currently, transformations in the ritual system are associated with predominance of borrowed inauthentic traditions, strengthening of playful and aesthetic elements accompanied by the loss of sacral and symbolic meanings of rituals. Some elements of folk calendar rituals are fragmentarily preserved in the context of urban or rural festive events supported by national cultural associations and personal initiatives of interested individuals.
Keywords: Primorye, Belarusians, calendar rituals, evolution, ethnocultural traditions.

Elena Kirillova, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: sevia@rambler.ru.
The paper represents part of the author's research dedicated to the history of Civil War poetry in the Far East of Russia between 1917 and 1922. The focus is on lost to history, forgotten or little-known works by the poet and military commander Konstantin Leontyevich Rosly (1897 or 1898, the Village of Peretino, the Suchansky Volost, the South Ussuri District, the Primorye Region, the Russian Empire - 1926, the Bering Sea, the Karaginsky District, the Kamchatka Region, the Far Eastern Territory, RSFSR). The study was carried out to explore the inheritance of deeprooted folk-poetic traditions within the Rosly family through the analysis of such significant genre for the Far Eastern author as military-historical songs (including soldiers' and recruit songs). The paper presents folkloric texts that were preserved in the large Rosly family, whose members had moved to the Russian Far East at the end of the nineteenth century. The work is based on the materials of the funds of Russian regional archives and museums located in Vladivostok and Khabarovsk: the State Archive of the Primorye Region, the Russian State Historical Archive of the Far East, the Khabarovsk Regional Museum Named after N.I. Grodekov. Besides, the variety of materials from the early 1920s were used, which are in the author's personal archive: poetry collections, fragments of publications from Far Eastern periodicals (newspapers, magazines, almanacs), critical reviews of writers, recollections of eyewitnesses from that time.
Keywords: poetry of the period of the Civil War in the Far East, folk poetry genres, military-historical songs, partisan poets, K. Rosly.

Elena Rudnikova, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: elena.rudnikova@mail.ru.
Over the past century, New Zealand has welcomed representatives of all waves of emigration from Russia and the Soviet Union. Russians in this country have come a long way from a colony as a simple aggregate number of Russian settlers to a diaspora as an ethnic organization with its leaders, goals and sustained ties to the homeland. Milestones in this evolution have included various associations of Russian emigrants, especially the ones that primary goals were to create the environment for the use of the Russian language and to preserve Russian cultural heritage. The focus of the study is on such associations that can be named as "a cultural and national organization". The research is framed chronologically between two key dates: 1909 and 2013. In 1909, the Russianspeaking emigrants united for the first joint Orthodox service conducted by a Russian priest in the Russian language. A similar service occurred again forty years later. A hundred years later, the Coordinating Council of Russian Compatriots in New Zealand was established initially comprising five Russian public organizations while others joined later. The paper briefly describes the history of public associations of Russian emigrants in New Zealand. It defines the various forms of these organizations and their activities as well as emphasizes the contributions of certain individuals. Attention is paid to the efforts of leaders and members of such associations on the issue of overcoming the disunity of Russians in New Zealand. The paper concludes that the level of consolidation in the Russian community in New Zealand is influenced by such factors as the population size, the socio-educational level of the emigrants and strong connections with their homeland.
Keywords: Russian diaspora, emigration from Russia, Russians in New Zealand, cultural and national organization, compatriots.

Zhanna Bazhenova, Institute of History, Archaeology and Ethnology of the Peoples of the Far East, FEB RAS, Vladivostok, Russia. E-mail: bjannam@mail.ru.
This paper analyzes the preparation for the final land battle between the American and Japanese armies during World War II, known in history as the Battle of Okinawa (April 1 - June 23, 1945). The Ryukyu Archipelago, which main island is Okinawa, was of strategic importance to the United States as a staging area for the invasion of the Japanese islands. For Japan, Okinawa represented the last defensive bastion before its homeland. It is revealed that the American command undertook highly detailed planning for the seizure of the Ryukyu Islands in the operation codenamed "Iceberg". The lessons learned from earlier protracted battles with the Japanese army were thoroughly incorporated. The operation mobilized all accumulated combat experience, particularly in the coordinated use of air, naval and ground forces as a combined strike capability. The "Iceberg" operation also included logistics, post-capture development of the occupied territories and measures regarding the local civilian population. The Japanese 32nd Army, tasked with defending Okinawa, was ordered to tie down and exhaust the significantly superior enemy forces. To achieve this, the military strategy underwent a major tactical shift resulting in the construction of a powerful, deeply echeloned defense system in the southern part of the island. The Japanese effectively used the terrain characterized by hills and mountain ranges transforming both natural and man-made obstacles into a network of mutually supporting positions connected by an extensive tunnel system.
Keywords: United States, Japan, Battle of Okinawa, Ryukyu Archipelago, Operation Iceberg, assault force, Japanese 32nd Army, deeply echeloned defense.