Who are the Nenets people? | Life in Russia beyond the Arctic Circle

Most of this region is an endless tundra, snow, glaciers and small villages. In fact, there is only one city in the whole region, but so far this is the richest federal subject of Russia. But it's not the only curious thing about this region. They say that there could be cannibals Well, let's see what life here is like and try to survive the arctic summer. Once again, I'm in my beloved north. Meet the Nenetsky region and its capital Naryanmar. This is Naryanmar, this is Naryanmar, this is Naryanmar, this is Naryanmar. Our sport is deer running. It's even snowing here in the summer. Naryanmar is a very young city, it hasn't even turned 100 years. It was founded in 1931 as a port city on the Pechora river for ships headed to the north seas. There is no railway which connects Naryanmar with the mainland and buses also don't go this way. So, how do you get here? If you have a car, you can drive here using a barge in summer or a road on the frozen river in winter. But there are also airplanes and it's only two and a half hours flight from Moscow. I just landed in the city and I couldn't believe my eyes. Well, first of all, I couldn't believe snow drifts in mid-June. Secondly, I wanted to see the Nenets culture and to show it in this video, but I didn't even know where I could find such opportunity. But right in the main square of the city there was a big festival and people in the Nenets costumes. And how do you say hello in Nenets language? Hello will be Anytarova. Anytarova. How do you say how are you? We don't know. What do you mean? You don't ask each other how are you? No. I know how, for example, How much does it cost? Only a practical dictionary. Do you speak Nenets? No, only if I sing songs. We are young people who don't speak Nenets very well. We just didn't accept our parents somewhere at home. My sister offered me to learn Nenets language. She said that it would be useful for me. It is, in theory, your native language in which you should be able to speak. You should know it. I refused. Why? I think that this language can be forgotten in a few years. So you should learn it. Maybe I will start to learn. I love learning languages. It can be any language. Nenets, Tatar. By the way, now I'm also trying to practice more my native language. It's also a language of an ethnic minority, Tatar. Because the situation in the Nenets region made me so conscious that we forget languages if we don't practice very fast. That's why I'm trying to practice all the languages that I know. English, French, Italian. For instance, to practice Italian I'm watching shows and movies on Lingopi. Currently I'm watching Arte Esplorando. Lingopi is an innovative language learning platform that allows to learn a language by watching films and series. It offers international content in 8 languages. While you watch a show you see scripts of the videos. You can click on the words and get their instant translation and add words to your personalized vocabulary. Then you can review these words through flashcards and take interactive quizzes to reinforce learning. You can even listen to songs, translate the lyrics and practice these words right on the platform. Isn't it cool? To start your language journey click the link in the description to get 55% discount and 7 days free trial for Lingopi. And also let me know in the comments what language you're currently learning. Do try Lingopi and let me know about your experience with the platform. And share your favorite shows in your target language. Fun fact. Locals give names to all the houses in the city. They're pretty funny. Like Three Pigs, Burger, Titanic, Orange, Yolk. Why do you do this? Why do you give names to the houses? To make it easier to understand. So usually you don't use street names like let's meet on the street, but let's meet in yellow. Yes. Or in dollar. Why dollar? Dollar because during World War II Americans brought their planes to Nuremberg. They had a tradition, let's say, to put a one-dollar bill on the plane. And when our pilot flew over Nuremberg, he saw this bill. And this bill fell on the feet of the workers when they started building the house. And that's how the name dollar came from. What do you like most about life in Nuremberg? Peace and people. The city is small, it's cozy here. Everyone knows each other. If you need help, you can ask one person. He immediately answered a few questions and already got acquainted. If anything, you can immediately turn to them for help. Here you can leave the city, rest from all the problems, without a phone. Go to the tundra for fishing, swim there. When they wanted to unite the Arkhangelsk region and the Nenets district, the residents here rebelled against it. Yes, they rebelled. There were signs on the cars, everyone was against it. So we're looking at the menu and they have different rolls and sushi. And there is a roll for 1,000,000 rubles. Exclusive, precious roll according to the branded recipe. For the first time, gold will be in you. Every woman should experience this at least once in her life. Do you really have a gold roll? Yes, I've been preparing it for two weeks. I'm just ordering it for two weeks. Do they pay you here? Yes, on the spot. And can you pay in cash? You can. On credit. I can't even afford a roll for you. You have the richest region, you're crazy here. You have a gold roll. You dip it in salt and spices and just eat it like this. I just love fish. I'm a fan of fish and frozen salmon is amazing. It is so fresh. And this fish, nalma, let's try. So good. You need to eat it while it's frozen. I've been to the Arctic many times and straganina is like their vital food. And especially when it's super cold in winter, this is a very fast source of energy and calories. And they say that frozen meat like this gives you a better nutrition and calories to stay warm during cold weather. And reindeer meat. I don't know what to feel about this. Usually I always avoided eating reindeer but now I need to try because this dish is already here and if I don't eat it, it will be just wasted. Poor reindeer. It's good but it's a reindeer. No, I can't. I will stick to fish. And also here, right at the restaurant they have their own Arctic brewery. They make their beer, Arctic beer, and nastoykas. Nastoykas is like vodka with different berries. Like here we have Brusnika. Smells like berries. It's very sweet. I guess it's very easy to get drunk with this because it's so sweet. Next one. It's a lot of nastoykas and I have so much beer here. It's crazy. And I don't even drink beer. Okay, I will try this one for example. Well, I'm not a beer connoisseur so I can't say if it's good or not. It's just a beer for me. Tastes like beer. The next dish is named Shulum. It's made with reindeer meat and it's a traditional food of Nenets from Tundra. Usually they make a broth only with meat but this is like a city adapted version and they added a bit of vegetables and Shulum is cooked from 6 to 8 hours. This one was cooked for 6 hours. I think this is a perfect dish for the Arctic winter. Overall, Arctic food is about a lot of meat, especially reindeer meat. Reindeer for them is everything. Reindeer is life. Reindeer for people from Tundra is transportation. It's money when they bring tourists for reindeer sledge rides. It's cloth, reindeer fur and it's food. Roasted meat with village potatoes as they call it. This meat is what? Of course, reindeer meat. I was just told that this meat is more popular here than chicken. This is their main food. That's how they survive here. Reindeer meat. As I said, reindeer for them is life. Actually, it's very soft and I do love it. It's much better than the frozen one but still I can't get used to the fact that it's a reindeer. For people who live here, it's absolutely normal and usual. It's like a daily dish. Reindeer throughout the whole year for me it's something very very not usual. It was super good and I guess it's so perfect in cold winter and you get all this comfort food with these potatoes and meat and straganina and it should warm you up so much in winter. If you watch my channel for a while then you know that I have a tradition to leave Russian matryoshka dolls in places that I visit. There is a note from me and 500 rubles inside the doll. In Naryanmar, I gave it to the restaurant Timman that saved me from hunger. It's a restaurant museum where you can learn more about the northern culture and try its taste. The first person to visit the restaurant and to claim my doll will get it. Do you know why in the north people tend to build very colorful buildings and entertain themselves by giving names to these buildings? That is to avoid grey color and depression. Especially when summer is over. Understand them in some point. But for me the north is never oppressive or boring. It's all about eternal exploration and journey. And to learn more about the Nenets culture I arrived at the local handcraft center. I made my own toy, the Nenets traditional doll Nuhuko. So kids play with this toy in tundra. Here is mom. Dad. And the kids. This is the kids. And they even have decoration, like jewelry for girls. And even you can put hair like this. Braids. Man is geese beak and woman is duck's beak. Hello! This is how reindeer herders that live in tundra use natural things that they can find around, like beaks to make toys for their kids. In this episode I'm not going to tundra. Spoiler! I will go to a remote island in the Arctic in the next video. But I did meet Olga in Naryanmar. Olga is Nenets who comes from reindeer herders family and she grew up in tundra. Are there a lot of people who want to learn the language? Are there a lot of people who speak it? There was a question. About 700 people said that they speak Nenets. In fact, now less. I think so. What is the motivation of people to learn this language? A dying language that you can't use with anyone. People at a certain age realize that they are Nenets. They don't know their language. Many people blame themselves that when they studied at school they treated Nenets language as a priority. At the age of 40 they came to the conclusion that they want to become a language. That's why they start some elementary phrases to support conversation with their elders. Where can you speak Nenets? How often do you speak it? I'm from a traditional Nenets family. All my ancestors are reindeer herders. I was born in the tundra and grew up there. That's why I use it to communicate with my relatives. Do you always speak Nenets with your family? Not always, but sometimes it's a mixed speech. What did we say in Russian? What did we say in Nenets? If we sit in a family and want to say something to our children, we speak Nenets. It's a stimulus for our children to learn the language and understand what they said. Most people say that they understand, but they can't speak. Unfortunately, it's a tendency. All my childhood I spent in the tundra. Then I went to school. Did you have a shock when you came to the city from the tundra for the first time? I came to the city for the first time when I was about 10 years old. The first thing that shocked me was not the presence of buses and cars, because I knew they were there. I was shocked by the trees. We don't have trees in the tundra. We only have shrubs that grow up to a meter and a half. The first thing I said to my mom was, look at the tall bushes. I was ready for life in the city, because we read about it in the book. There is only a school from the 5th to the 4th grade. Then they take us to the nursing home Is it true? No, in fact, most likely someone saw that reindeer herders eat raw meat. And let's just say they didn't go into what kind of meat. Yes, we eat raw reindeer meat. It is believed that the Nenets district is the richest region in Russia. Is it somehow felt here in terms of living standards or salaries? If you go to our stores, you can compare the cost here with the cost in the big city. All our salary is spent on food and utilities. And here everything is so expensive because it is difficult to get everything? Yes, we have difficult logistics. Oil and gas feed this place and every year it takes the first or the second place as the richest region of Russia. I haven't seen any luxuries here. Luxuries in a common sense. But what I noticed is that locals here sincerely love their region and take care of the cleanliness of the city. And they really express themselves. From the design of bus stops and buildings to the protest against the union with another region. And one more thing I promised to you. Let's listen how the Nenets language sounds. Here we have a fairy tale which is called in Nenets dialect In Nenets dialect