Description
In this presentation I shall discuss the Eveny concept of djuluchen ('spirit that travels ahead') among a nomadic group of Eveny reindeer herders and hunters in Northeastern Siberia. The Eveny, or Lamuts, are one of the Tungus speaking group in the Russian North. About half of the Eveny population is scattered around Arctic districts of the Russian North. Eveny economy relies mostly on the subsistence activities of reindeer herding and hunting. These economic activities, which involve human and reindeer movement along an annual route of seasonal pastures, contribute to and still play a crucial role in the Eveny cosmology, rituals, oral tradition and their perception of human and animal personhood. The Eveny concept of djuluchen productively lends itself to illuminate human potential to foreshadow one's own future and reveals cultural patterns of prediction and fulfilment in nomadic cosmology.