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This celebration takes place in the first half of May in many deer herding settlements, in the Tavayvaam settlement (adjacent to the City of Anadyr) - on the second or third Sunday of May. It celebrates the birth of first baby deer that begins at the end of April. When newly born deer gets stronger the celebration can begin.
Preparation for the holiday must be arranged in advance: people saw new clothes, build the hearth of stones and cook ceremonial dishes (always make bacon, various deer mince dishes, fat, fish and larch leaves cereal. They also prepare a place for the ritual behind the yaranga: its owner digs a whole for the bonfire, and lays down sorrel branches that he stocked last summer and kept it in a special sealskin sack, at the place where reindeer antlers must be laid. Sometimes the sactuaty is sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificial deer.The the owner of the yaranga piles the antlers on the blanket of bushes, and the ceremonial fireboard is brought from the yaranga and laid on the antlers. Fawn skins provided for by the owner are also laid onto the antlers along with the family «protectors» of the yaranga. A steel trap (or sometimes a rifle) is placed on the north side. The place of the ritual is usually ringed with a leather strap.
The ceremony begins with the mistress of the yaranga taking out burning coal and a bundle of dry twigs. She makes her way to the heap of deer antlers. At the same time women from other yarangas started small fires in especially prepared places between the antlers and the yaranga. Then the women throw pieces of meat or their ritual amulets into the fire. They had special wooden cups to treat the spirits to their contents. The motions of the Master and Mistress of the yaranga repeat the movement of the sun - from east to west. The larger part of the actual ceremony is taken from the Thansgiving Ritual (Mnegyrgyn): the mistress of the yaranga starts a fire, the master’s son comes up to the figures depicting reindeer made from grass and fat and displayed on wooden plates, and mimics the motions of slaughtering a deer.
Then the master starts to move the pile of antlers closer to the yaranga, which symbolizes the approach of the deer herd. The women «treat» the guests to the food with incantations and wishing them that the baby fawns gain strenght and give birth to even a stronger offspring.
The celebration is accompanied by songs and dances (men invite women to the dance carrying deer skins and laying them to the women’s legs). The celebration finishes in deer-sledge races.
Preparation for the holiday must be arranged in advance: people saw new clothes, build the hearth of stones and cook ceremonial dishes (always make bacon, various deer mince dishes, fat, fish and larch leaves cereal. They also prepare a place for the ritual behind the yaranga: its owner digs a whole for the bonfire, and lays down sorrel branches that he stocked last summer and kept it in a special sealskin sack, at the place where reindeer antlers must be laid. Sometimes the sactuaty is sprinkled with the blood of a sacrificial deer.The the owner of the yaranga piles the antlers on the blanket of bushes, and the ceremonial fireboard is brought from the yaranga and laid on the antlers. Fawn skins provided for by the owner are also laid onto the antlers along with the family «protectors» of the yaranga. A steel trap (or sometimes a rifle) is placed on the north side. The place of the ritual is usually ringed with a leather strap.
The ceremony begins with the mistress of the yaranga taking out burning coal and a bundle of dry twigs. She makes her way to the heap of deer antlers. At the same time women from other yarangas started small fires in especially prepared places between the antlers and the yaranga. Then the women throw pieces of meat or their ritual amulets into the fire. They had special wooden cups to treat the spirits to their contents. The motions of the Master and Mistress of the yaranga repeat the movement of the sun - from east to west. The larger part of the actual ceremony is taken from the Thansgiving Ritual (Mnegyrgyn): the mistress of the yaranga starts a fire, the master’s son comes up to the figures depicting reindeer made from grass and fat and displayed on wooden plates, and mimics the motions of slaughtering a deer.
Then the master starts to move the pile of antlers closer to the yaranga, which symbolizes the approach of the deer herd. The women «treat» the guests to the food with incantations and wishing them that the baby fawns gain strenght and give birth to even a stronger offspring.
The celebration is accompanied by songs and dances (men invite women to the dance carrying deer skins and laying them to the women’s legs). The celebration finishes in deer-sledge races.
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