MOSCOW, November 3. /TASS Correspondent Kirill Verigo/. First impressions from Khatanga, which is almost 400 years old, is you notice that unlike elsewhere dogs in the streets are not mongrels - they are sled dogs. There are practically no subcompact cars. Houses are upholstered with metal, not wood. The Russian culture is closely intertwined with customs and traditions of indigenous peoples. Khatanga has always been important for development of Russia's North. It has seen first explorers, scientists, geologists. This location has had its ups and downs and now it is on the threshold of a new historic stage.
Intertwined cultures
"The iconostasis here demonstrates intertwined ancient patterns of the Russian, Orthodox culture, and cultures of the Northern peoples," said Hieromonk Father Euthymius, rector of the Holy Epiphany Church in Khatanga - a northernmost Orthodox church in the world. The iconostasis was brought there in 2006, though the cathedral's history goes back to the 18th century. The building has been repeatedly destroyed and rebuilt.
Father Euthymius seemed to have at fingertips a ready answer to the question how the indigenous peoples are related to Orthodoxy and how the Russian culture gets along with cultures of the Dolgans and other Northern peoples: "How can you learn what religion a person really is? Visit the cemetery. In such a place, nobody can force people to have something they do not accept. The Dolgans have crosses in cemeteries. And those crosses are very interesting..."
The evening was coming, and I decided to walk to the churchyard to check, if possible, whether Father Euthymius was correct.
As I left the church territory, local dogs circled me - they were bid and shaggy sled dogs. They waved tails affably and sweetly - the centuries-long breeding has made them resistant to the harsh Arctic climate, and also safe for humans. Interestingly, over four days in Khatanga, I managed to see only one cat - it was sitting behind a tightly closed window and, as soon as it could spot me, immediately disappeared behind the curtains.
Khatanga's population is 5,600 people in nine settlements: Khatanga is the biggest village where 2,700 people live, plus villages Zhdanikha, Katyryk, Kresty, Novaya, Novorybnaya, Popigai, Syndassko and Kheta - some 200-500 people live in each of them.
Village or city?
The weather in Khatanga is changeable: icy drizzles are not rare even in summer, and the wind can blow through two windproof jackets worn one on top of the other. Today the weather favors the traveler, and I, having talked long enough with the dogs, decide to go along the "city" streets to the cemetery.
Locals often say Khatanga is a city, and besides, Father Euthymius says that during the church service they refer to it as a city. Generally speaking, the pastoral village scenes with log houses and small courtyards, wandering cows, that are so typical for the Central Russian Upland, have nothing in common with Khatanga. Trees here are low - they are no good for construction (by the way, quite nearby is the northernmost larch forest - a local natural attraction).
To bring wood "from the mainland," as they say here, is expensive, thus most buildings are low-rise, upholstered with metal. Cargo containers, used to ship supplies here, are not subject to return and the locals use them as sheds. Vegetable gardens are very rare - I was lucky to to see only one greenhouse - on the roof of a house.
Next to houses you won't see parked cars or tractors. The people have boats and snowmobiles. Getting to other villages is possible either by an off-road vehicle or in a boat along the river, or by a snowmobile in winter.
They get to the "mainland" only by air. Flights are rare, and tickets are expensive. Food here is also expensive. For example, a dozen eggs may cost more than 250 rubles ($2.7). At the airport here, I was shocked to see people receiving luggage that consisted of huge boxes full of chicken eggs. Now, I can understand why. At times, the local people may have problems with fuel.
"Once, they sold 30 liters of gas per person," Bella Kirgizova, living in Novorybnaya, told me. "My brother went to Yakutia to buy there some for the summer time."
In winter she lives in Khatanga, works as a cleaner at a local hospital, and in summer she grazes herds of deer together with brothers wandering in the tundra. Very few reindeer herders have remained there - only one farm is operating now, the Dolgan-Nenets District's administration said.
"Young people grow up and they don't want to live in the tundra. Especially in summer it is very difficult to graze - deer need to be grazed day and night, and young people can't stand hard work," the woman laughs, though notes quite seriously that jobs in Khatanga have been shrinking. "My children, however, won't have any problems when they graduate and return. Even if they don't find jobs, at any time they can go to the tundra and graze deer."
17th century wintering
Khatanga appeared on maps as a wintering location (for those involved in fur trading) in 1626. It has always been an important location in the North's development. Expeditions of famous explorers crossed Khatanga. Historical records report Strelets Commander Vasily Sychev (he traveled the Khatanga Bay) and Cossack Ataman Semyon Dezhnev in the 17th century, researchers and naval officers Khariton Laptev and Semyon Chelyuskin in the 18th century, nature scientist Alexander Middendorf in the 19th century, and many others.
Near the seaport building still remains a modestly looking squat structure - one of the four "conciliation and protective crosses," installed as ordered by Nicholas II in 1913 in honor of the 300th anniversary of the Romanov Imperial House. The crosses were installed in the Russian Empire's outer points.
With these thoughts, I reached the cemetery. The tall crosses really differ from the crosses we know. On some graves, they are with a special cover, a "towel," on others a bow and arrow carved from wood are attached to crossbars. On some graves, sled runners are placed on either side. On the permafrost, the burial mounds do not sink, and often special stepped wooden structures are built on them.
This is how they bury the Dolgans - the most numerous (3,900) Northern indigenous people living in Khatanga.
"The Dolgans are the youngest ethnic group on the Taymyr. It comes from a few bloodlines: Evenks, Nenets, Yakuts, and Russian fur producers who came here," said Anastasia Chardu of the Taymyr Nature Reserve's Museum of Nature and Ethnography, a Dolgan by origin.
Specialists say the Dolgan ethnicity was recognized independent when the ethnic group gained writing. It happened in the 1970s, thanks to the first Dolgan poetess Ogdo (Evdokia) Aksenova.
Another ethnic group represented in Khatanga is the Nganasans. They are about 600 people in total, and 83 live in Khatanga (most of them in the village of Novaya). Historically, the Nganasans' funeral rites are very different from those of the Dolgans. The deceased, wrapped in animal skins, is taken to special places, where the body should be eaten up by animals and birds - the sooner that happens, the better, they believed. Nowadays most Nganasans prefer to bury the dead in the ground.
"The Nganasans are considered the Taymyr's most ancient people, who lived in the mammoths' times. The Nganasans are getting fewer, because they have never accepted inbreeding in any way - they used to live in own clans, communities," Anastasia said.
Shamanism and mystical connections with the forces of nature have persisted in their culture for a very long time - the last shaman passed away in 2001. The folk costume is dominated by red, black and white colors, referring to the colors of red-throated loon, and shoe shapes resemble mammoth feet. In the old times, the Nganasans were known for a severe conservative disposition, including in relation to women, but this changed with the Soviet power.
Unfortunately, there is not much data on the Taymyr's indigenous ethnic groups. In 1642, almost entire Mangazeya burned down. It was the first Russian polar city. That fire destroyed all records about local peoples.
Present and future
On the way back from the cemetery, I decide to take a short route crossing the beach - it's rather late. Khatanga is located on the bank of the river with the same name. It flows into the Laptev Sea. In the Evenk the name means "big water." The landscape is ascetic and breathtaking: on either side of the river flow is the green summer tundra - it may be gloomy in bad weather and modestly joyful in the rare northern sun. The scenic view is spoiled by a huge amount of rusty metal and half-ruined buildings along the banks and nearby.
The development of Taymyr's natural resources began in Soviet times. Khatanga, despite its rich natural resources, has always remained less accessible logistically, unlike its neighbors like Norilsk or Dudinka. Yet, its importance in the North's development has been undoubted.
"In the Stalin time, Khatanga was viewed as an outpost for the development of the Northern Sea Route's eastern part, as an optional mining and processing center along with Norilsk," a Krasnoyarsk historian, Alexey Eliseenko, said. "The term Khatanga-Nordvik Prospective Economic Area became widely used. Back in the 1930s, oil, coal, and metals were explored there. Projects were to lay a railway line to Khatanga from the Salekhard - Igarka line, which was being built then."
Khatanga's booming period was in the 1980s - it was the time of active development of the North's natural resources. The population exceeded 12,000 people. There appeared a military unit and important strategic facilities - the country's northern border was nearby.
The seaport, which is still an important hub to connect Khatanga with the "mainland", was busy, like a fish factory. Herders grazed reindeer near the village, and 1,500 square meters' fish and meat storages were cut inside the permafrost. The air connection with the "mainland" was at a high level.
"In Soviet times, the Arctic zone was developing very actively, the resources were simply unlimited," said Igor Spiridenko, leader of the Russian Geographical Society's Krasnoyarsk Branch. "Fuel barrels, various metal structures, concrete were only growing. However, in the 90s, this process, like many others, stopped. And in the Arctic, due to the climate, anything left without support, declines very quickly. Everything was only brought in, since it was too expensive and far to ship anything back."
The Russian Geographical Society (RGS) has been cleaning the Arctic for quite a time. After 2022, all related projects were merged under the brand "Arctic. General Cleanup." From the Kildin and Wrangel Islands on the Chukotka, specialists have removed 300 tons of scrap metal and completed a full cycle of cleaning. During the past summer, RGS had the first stage of the expedition in Khatanga, where 70 specialists and volunteers studied the surroundings, took samples for scientific research and, together with the Defense Ministry and local residents, cleaned the coastline. They will do a big preparatory work to start cleaning in summer - the expedition's main stage is scheduled for 2024.
"Environmental disasters, such as oil spills, may happen suddenly. Gradually, people come to understanding that the Arctic cleanup is an urgent preventive measure. Or it will pay back," said Natalia Belyakova, RGS's head of the expedition and tourism department. Khatanga is also a testing ground for approaches to be used in all the polar cleanup missions, she added.
The removal of man-made waste is not the only task RGS is facing. Experts have found that by processing scrap into metal structures, it is possible not only to optimize heat supply and create new jobs, but also to enforce coast lines suffering washouts. For this purpose, an advanced metallurgy workshop will be delivered to Khatanga.
The tourism sector is developing. Routes to surrounding attractions cross Khatanga. These routes follow the footsteps of Russia's great explorers: a trip with fishing to the Anabar Plateau, tours to learn the culture of indigenous peoples and to join a photo safari session, plus a route along the Kotui River.
Yet, the most important tourist project of the Russian Geographical Society is routes through Khatanga to the North Pole, to where previously visitors could get via the Spitsbergen Archipelago in Norway. From 2024, flights to the restored Barneo camp will go by a more convenient route via Khatanga. This year, the route has been tested successfully. Khatanga now restores the mammoth museum and the ice hotel cut in the permafrost. These directions are on the master plan to develop tourism, a scientific and educational cluster and infrastructures.
The day is over. I sat down on the shore to relax and to take another look at the "big water." The left shore is still littered with scrap and waste - volunteers and locals have not been there yet, and the right shore is already a clean sandy beach. I have a positive feeling the future of this polar village with almost 400 years of history is emerging, right before my eyes. A promising future lies ahead of Khatanga.