Why do northern peoples drink the blood of deer? Reindeer and northern peoples

Habecha Yaungad, Chief Editor Nenets newspaper "Nyarna Ngerm" ("Red North") is no longer offended when at photo exhibitions he hears expressions like: "Horror!" as evaluations of his work. and "Savages!" He understands that not everyone is familiar with the realities of life in the tundra. Before you get scared and judge, let’s figure out whether the “bloody” feast in the photo is so different from the menu of an ordinary Russian.

Many of us, obedient to our parents, in childhood ate fruits - a source of vitamins - and Hematogen - a delicacy that was healthy in all respects. Its name, by the way, is translated from Greek as “giving birth to blood.” And it consists of defibrinated blood of large cattle with the addition of condensed milk. And doctors often advise adults to buy a couple of Hematogen bars at the pharmacy to increase hemoglobin. But let’s return to the Yamal Peninsula to the supposedly “bloodthirsty” Nenets, many of whom still lead a nomadic lifestyle. Where is the pharmacy with vitamins in the tundra? Where do you get the strength to manage a herd of deer? Moreover, in 50-degree frost with wind...

To compensate for the lack of vitamins, which are very scarce in the tundra, and to increase hemoglobin, the Nenets have long been drinking the fresh blood of young deer, explains doctor from Salekhard Vera Khorotetto . - They talk to the animal for a long time, calm it down. They affectionately explain that it’s time for him to join the heavenly fold, and his body is needed by people. It is believed that the blood of a deer that is very frightened has beneficial properties to a much lesser extent.

Everything comes into play: fresh liver and the meat is cut into pieces and placed in the blood for about 10 minutes. Such a liver, according to the Nenets, helps even cancer patients. Those who eat this dish since childhood rarely get cancer. Blood is stored for future use in bags made from the peritoneum of deer. Sometimes the blood is salted and meat or fish is dipped into it. In other words, they use sauce instead.

It turns out that the Nenets love blood no less than other Russians love mayonnaise. What happens to mayonnaise only in our country? Obesity. And their blood increases their hemoglobin!

It’s hard in the North without such a “sauce,” continues Vera Khorotetto. - Old people say: “Without blood, a person will lose weight, walk pale, exhausted, physical strength there won’t be and there won’t be a man.” I wonder what the city men would choose in place of the Nenets, drink blood or?.. So it turns out that my people are right when they dip stroganina in blood and eat it!

Recent studies confirm that the tundra population is much healthier than the urban population. Under normal conditions, it simply does not get sick. These people start getting sick when they come to the city. On Reindeer Herder Day, for example. There the sores of civilization cling to them. But in the tundra, as the Nenets themselves say, there are only burns and sometimes appendicitis.

In other words, northerners live as the harsh northern nature tells them. So maybe we should look at the photographs differently?

Petr Egorshev

The Nenets, Khanty, Evenks, Chukchi, Koryaks, as well as representatives of some other peoples of Siberia and the Far East drink the blood of deer. Moreover, it should still be warm. Therefore, entire families often gather around the carcass of a freshly slaughtered animal to begin a shared meal. Why are they doing that?

Vitamins and microelements

Needless to say, how difficult human life is in the Far North. In addition to 50-degree frosts, the polar night and the lack of civilization benefits, many generations of reindeer herders faced a deficiency of microelements essential for health. Especially, we're talking about about vitamins C and A, as well as about iron, the deficiency of which can cause anemia in humans.

At the same time, the diet of deer in winter time year consists mainly of reindeer moss, and in the summer these ungulates feed on herbs, berries and rare shrubs. The vitamins and minerals that the tundra can provide are deposited in the deer’s body and saturate their blood. Practically the only way obtain the microelements necessary for health to withstand the long polar night, for representatives of northern peoples for a long time It was the blood of deer. This is how a national tradition, unusual for Europeans, developed.

As a result of numerous studies, scientists have found that a person who eats this product, the level of hemoglobin in the blood increases, more oxygen begins to flow into the muscles and tissues, and this, in turn, increases the performance and endurance of reindeer herders. In the harsh conditions of the Arctic, reindeer blood increases people's chances of survival.

ethnoscience

It's no secret that the lack of essential vitamins and trace elements can lead to the development of numerous diseases. These include metabolic disorders, anemia, hypertension, asthma, osteochondrosis, and cardiovascular dystonia. Residents of the Far North have had to make do with such cases for centuries folk remedies. And one of them was the blood of deer.

The essence of the treatment is clear: an illness caused by a deficiency of vitamins should weaken if the human body receives these substances. In addition, deer blood has a general strengthening effect, promotes fast healing various injuries, wounds and pustules.

It is noteworthy that to treat a sick family member, reindeer herders of the Far North did not always slaughter the reindeer. It happened that they simply made an incision on his neck and collected required amount blood into some vessel. Then the animal's wound was covered with clay. And the man recovered, and the deer remained alive.

Another of the ailments that the inhabitants of the tundra were treated with the help of such traditional medicine, there was impotence. The northerners noticed that eating blood naturally increases sexual activity people, saving them from various problems in the pelvic area.

So jokes about the loving nature of the inhabitants of the Arctic may not have arisen out of nowhere.

Not just deer

Representatives of the northern peoples drink not only deer blood; other animals also serve as a source of nourishing and life-giving liquid for them. For example, hunters are forced to track game for a long time, spending a lot of time and effort on catching walruses or fur-bearing animal. And they need to somehow replenish the body’s energy costs in the cold.

IN old times the hunt was successful a necessary condition the survival of these people. For example, not a single family could survive the long polar night without walrus fat, which was used not only for food, but also for many household purposes. Sometimes all the men of the village went to hunt sea animals.

After completing the hunt, people cut the animal's throat and drank the still warm blood to keep warm and satiated.

Shamans version

Well, what about the Far North without shamans? They not only allowed the reindeer herders to eat this way, but also strongly recommended such a diet.

According to pagan cultists, the soul of any living creature is in its blood. And by drinking it, a person symbolically takes away the power that a particular animal possessed. In other words, by drinking the blood of a bear you can become powerful. If you want to become cunning, kill a fox and eat its red liquid; a wolf can give a person courage, and a wolverine can give a person aggressiveness.

These beliefs are rooted in ancient totemism and animism, when people had not yet completely separated themselves from nature.

Probably the perception of blood as a source vitality led to the emergence scary stories about vampires. After all, some criminals, believing in the immortality that this red liquid could supposedly bestow on a person, could actually kill people in order to prolong their own lives.

Fuel economy

Another reason why residents of the Far North have been eating the warm blood of reindeer since ancient times is the pragmatic desire to save firewood and other fuel.

Starting a fire and maintaining it for a long time requires a lot of logs and branches. This is an irreplaceable supply, very necessary throughout the polar night. Warm blood quickly satisfies hunger and saturates the body. useful substances, and people don’t have to waste firewood.

Therefore, the Nenets, Khanty, Evenks, Chukchi, Koryaks and other northern peoples do not blood sausage- one of the favorite dishes of residents of some European countries. In addition, cooled blood loses many of its beneficial features, it no longer saturates the body with life-giving energy.

Vitamins and microelements

Needless to say, how difficult human life is in the Far North. In addition to 50-degree frosts, the polar night and the lack of benefits of civilization, reindeer herders experience a deficiency of microelements that are essential for health. Especially vitamins C and A, as well as iron, the lack of which can cause anemia in humans.

The diet of deer in the winter consists mainly of reindeer moss, and in the summer these animals feed on herbs, berries and rare shrubs. The vitamins and minerals that the tundra provides enter the deer’s body and saturate their blood. And for a long time, for representatives of the northern peoples, practically the only way to obtain the microelements necessary for health in order to withstand the polar night was to consume reindeer blood. This is how a national tradition, unusual for Europeans, developed.

As a result of numerous studies, scientists have found that a person who eats this product increases the level of hemoglobin in the blood, more oxygen begins to flow into the muscles and tissues, and this, in turn, increases the person’s performance and endurance. In the harsh conditions of the Arctic, reindeer blood increases people's chances of survival.

ethnoscience

It is no secret that the lack of essential vitamins and microelements in a person’s diet can lead to the development of numerous diseases. These include metabolic disorders, anemia, hypertension, asthma, osteochondrosis, and cardiovascular dystonia. Residents of the Far North have had to make do with folk remedies for centuries. One of them was deer blood, which has a general strengthening effect and promotes rapid healing. various wounds and pustules, recovery from injuries.

Interestingly, to treat a sick person, reindeer herders in the Far North did not always slaughter reindeer. Sometimes they simply made an incision on his neck and collected the required amount of blood into some vessel. Then the animal's wound was covered with clay. And the man recovered, and the deer remained alive.

Another ailment that the inhabitants of the tundra treated with the help of a similar traditional medicine was impotence. The northerners noticed that eating blood naturally increases the sexual activity of people, relieving them of various problems in the pelvic area.

So jokes about the loving nature of the inhabitants of the Arctic may not have arisen out of nowhere.

Not just deer

Representatives of the northern peoples drink not only deer blood, other animals also serve as a source of nourishing and life-giving liquid for them.

Previously, successful hunting was a necessary condition for the survival of these people. Not a single family could survive the long polar night, for example, without walrus fat, which was not only used as food, but was also used for many household needs. Sometimes all the men of the village went to hunt sea and fur-bearing animals. Hunters hunted down their prey, often spending a lot of time and effort. And they needed to somehow replenish the body’s energy costs in the cold. After completing the hunt, people cut the animal's throat and drank the still warm blood to keep warm and satiated.

Well, what about the Far North without shamans? They not only allowed the reindeer herders to eat this way, but also strongly recommended such a diet.

According to the beliefs of pagan cults, the soul of any living creature is in its blood. Thus, a person, drinking the blood of the beast, symbolically takes its power for himself. In other words, the blood of a bear will help you become powerful, the blood of a wolf will help you become brave. If you want to be cunning, kill a fox, if you want to be aggressive, kill a wolverine.

These ideas are rooted in ancient totemism and animism, when people had not yet separated themselves from nature.

Perhaps the perception of blood as a source of vitality led to the emergence of vampirism. After all, some criminals, believing in the immortality that this red liquid could supposedly bestow on a person, could actually kill people in order to prolong their own lives.

Fuel economy

Another reason why residents of the Far North have been eating the warm blood of reindeer since ancient times is the pragmatic desire to save firewood and other fuel.

Starting a fire and maintaining it for a long time requires a considerable amount of wood, and it is not possible to stock up on it for the entire period of the polar night. Warm blood quickly satisfies hunger and provides energy, and people do not have to use a lot of firewood.

Therefore, the Nenets, Khanty, Evenki, Chukchi, Koryaks and other northern peoples do not make blood sausage - one of the favorite dishes of residents of some European countries. In addition, cooled blood loses many of its beneficial properties.

Iraida Fedorova
own correspondent (Novosibirsk)

The first enterprise in Yamal - so far the only certified supplier of venison to the EU countries in Russia - has entered the international market with highly processed products. Other local producers will soon follow. Reindeer herds are now not just a sign of the North - they are becoming a national treasure of Russia.

Today, only six Russian regions can boast of venison processing enterprises: Arkhangelsk and Murmansk regions, Chukotka, Yakutia, Komi and Yamal (Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug). And everywhere, reindeer husbandry is subsidized by local authorities at a level of approximately 40 rubles per kilogram. And venison processing plants are still mostly just workshops for cutting up carcasses and preparing simple semi-finished products, including best case scenario- sausages

Meanwhile, reindeer husbandry itself - if you catch the development trend and organize the production of high-tech products - can not only subsidize, but literally support reindeer herding communities. And the northern regions in general.

The authorities and business representatives of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, which is the largest reindeer herding “center” on the planet, were among the first to understand this: today a third of the world’s reindeer herd grazes on the Yamal and Tazovsky peninsulas.

The most “horned” of the regions

Map of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug.

If we talk about the all-Russian reindeer population, then more than 50% of it is from Yamal. The district here has surpassed all its neighbors. This means that it has significant economic potential, taking into account the fact that the number of deer should increase in accordance with the regional development strategy until 2020, and breeding work should be carried out constantly.

Reindeer meat is environmentally friendly dietary products With low content cholesterol and high - vitamins and minerals. Fans are fueling interest in the delicacy healthy image life around the world.

The first innovative enterprise in Yamal took advantage of this, taking venison into circulation - in the literal, production and commercial sense.

There have been similar attempts before. For example, at the beginning of the 2000s, with the participation of Swedish specialists Newest technologies processing of deer meat appeared in Chukotka and Murmansk. And yet, things didn’t go beyond seasonal work - two months a year. And the processing itself consisted only of cutting up carcasses, albeit in a high-quality way. No biotechnologies then to register the entire deer, including the blood and so valuable for medical and pharmaceutical industry a product such as antlers was not provided.

“Yamal Deer” also started small - with deliveries to Russian shelves and abroad dietary meat(now 40% of the company’s total production goes abroad). The well-proven product went to the markets of Finland and Germany this summer, and contracts with other countries are on the way. Belgium and Greece have already become interested in northern delicacies and highly processed products, expecting to receive up to 400 tons of products...

In Europe, reindeer meat has gained enormous popularity over the past 20 years. Due to the limited Scandinavian population, which is due to natural conditions, demand for venison in the West consistently exceeds supply. And the main buyers and consumers of venison in the world are the already mentioned Germany and Finland, as well as South Korea, Canada, UK, Japan, Norway, Sweden.

Consumers line up

Having started with food products and “accelerated”, “Yamal Reindeer” began to overtake global suppliers.

“Two years ago, we thought and decided that we were not processing everything,” admitted the director of the enterprise, Evgeniy Maltsev, “there was a lack of high-quality raw materials for pharmaceuticals, which are in demand on the market—preparations made from deer blood.”

...And the company’s employees sent a test batch of blood to the Moscow enterprise “Enzyme”, which made the drug “Hemolen” from it.

Almost simultaneously with this, it became clear that China was interested in importing preserved deer blood and had shown its readiness to become the main consumer of drugs containing biostimulants without further ado.

Thus, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, which is also called “Russia’s outpost in the Arctic,” thanks to “Yamal Deer,” became the first Russian region to present its capabilities at the world universal exhibition EXPO in Shanghai.

Events developed quickly: last summer, Oleni had already built a new workshop with an area of about one thousand square meters; by the end of the year, they installed equipment for preservation (blood is dried by freezing) and from the beginning of 2012 they began producing freeze-dried blood, dried blood for antler baths and other high-tech products, making a qualitative breakthrough not only for themselves but for the entire North.

An innovative enterprise that used traditional crafts reached a different level of processing: modern complex provides for a closed technological cycle: from the civilized slaughter of animals and the production of many types of products - to its sale.

Scarlet on white

Deer herd.

The indigenous peoples of the North - the Nenets, Khanty and Mansi - have always valued the meat and blood of reindeer and preferred these products to other sources of animal protein.

A wild animal, as everyone who grew up in the North claims, has a noble taste of game. It is considered “cleaner” than homemade, but despite this, it is rarely eaten raw, and then mainly in the fishery.

But reindeer herders in the Gulf of Ob region regularly consumed domestic reindeer meat freshly skinned. Both the Khanty, the Mansi, and the Nenets organized and still organize a real feast from the slaughter of domestic reindeer. They are in a hurry to cut up the deer carcass so that it does not have time to cool down.

Raw food eating is a habit that can plunge uninitiated residents of other, warmer places into amazement, if not shock. However, it is widespread in the Ob Bay region and throughout the North quite widely.

Here is how a 19th century traveler wrote about the Khanty living today on the territory of the Khanty-Mansi and Yamalo-Nenets districts: “The time when a deer is killed is in the Ostyak family ( Ostyaks are the former name of the Khanty. - I.F.) holiday and excites special pleasure in all members. Here a bloody feast really opens up. Around the deer, slaughtered so that all its blood remains in the inside, skinned and opened, the whole family, old and small, crowds; with knives in their hands, everyone greedily carves and eats the warm meat, dipping it in the steaming blood or washing it down with it. Moreover, one must be surprised with what incomprehensible skill they cut off with a knife near their mouths up to the nose pieces of meat captured by their teeth; and so quickly and deftly that from the outside it seems that it will certainly hit you on the nose. They swallow the meat in pieces, hardly chewing, and it is difficult to imagine how much each of them can eat.”

It must be said that venison is much lower in calories than beef, so to be full, especially in the North, you need to eat more of it than the same beef.

Cooled reindeer meat is no longer eaten raw - it is boiled or fried. It’s another matter if parts of the cut carcass immediately freeze in severe frost. Then all the beneficial properties of fresh meat are preserved and it is eaten sliced.

Reindeer herders also use the animal's blood: sometimes they drink it hot - straight from the jugular vein of a living deer, from an incision.

Various treats are prepared from blood mixed with flour and berries - again, frying them in deer fat.

In theory, you can also get milk from a deer. Sometimes the aborigines milk reindeer, although it would be a stretch to call northern “cows” milking animals. The female gives no more than a cup of milk per day, and even then only for the first time after calving. Reindeer milk for reindeer herders is a seasonal delicacy, but not part of the food system.

One of the recipes for national cuisine, very unusual for Europeans: the inhabitants of the North take the stomach of a deer, wash it, pour the blood of the same animal into it, throw in pieces of liver, kidneys, lips, various small joints - and keep it in a warm place for several weeks. As a result, a liquid called “acid blood” is formed. It is rich in microelements, enzymes and is a strong immunomodulator. The Khanty and Nenets use it to strengthen protective forces body. Until recently, only old people used such a drug. Now young people have also tasted “sour blood”.

Glue made from horns and hooves has long been used in the North for pulmonary, stomach bleeding. A deer lung was tied to the wounds - it played the role of a large sponge. Suede made from deer skin replaced the dressing material, and threads from deer tendons were used to tie the umbilical cord of a newborn and stitch up wounds...

Deer are a donor for humans. He remains so today. During its life, one animal can “give” up to 50 liters of blood.

Branched... fruits of pharmacology

Deer blood, both antler and vascular, is used today for cooking various medications because it has high biological activity. Preparations from it are both a psychostimulant and a means of treating anemia and the consequences of various infectious diseases. Not to mention the use of such drugs in restoring the sexual sphere, both for men and women - such treatment is especially widespread in the Far North itself, in Far East, in China and South Korea.

Well, there is nothing more surprising in northern nature than deer antlers: their exceptional medicinal properties are explained by the fact that during the period of appearance of young horns, the animal’s body produces up to 25 kilograms of bone tissue. The body of no other animal knows such growth rates!

Anything can be prepared from the blood of deer and their antlers - antlers (blood is taken from adult animals with syringes during the rutting period, when it contains a lot of endorphins). Whey and enzymes are used to grow antiviral drugs new generation. They are produced by only a few laboratories in the country, including in the Novosibirsk Academgorodok - at the Research Institute of Lymphology of the SB RAS.

In addition, they also make dietary supplements - “Pantogemion” (based on dried deer blood) and “Pantocrine” (extract from deer antlers). They can be taken internally, made into baths, barrels and foot baths, wraps...

According to doctors and pharmacists, this greatly invigorates the immune system and helps general recovery body and improves health musculoskeletal system. And therefore, it can serve as an excellent basis for the development of a special type of tourism in Yamal - the creation of “reindeer” resorts with all types of spas. Our neighbors, in the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug, are already making the first attempts of this kind and presenting them as a finished tourism product. One of these presentations took place recently at a working meeting of tour operators in Omsk.

Blood Interest

The territory of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug is almost 77 million hectares; the total area of land suitable for use as reindeer pastures is 49 million hectares. That is, more than half of the Yamal tundra is suitable for grazing.

Reindeer can be processed by 95% in accordance with modern technologies. The market value of venison today on the world market is from 15 to 50 euros per kilogram.

The total volume of the primary production of reindeer husbandry alone should in the future be up to four and a half billion rubles annually, taking into account the fact that the number of deer in the region is now 660 thousand heads and will grow.

Taking into account recycling (and the use of valuable biological raw materials in pharmacology and cosmetology), the volume of products will increase by an order of magnitude.

But in general - a production organization system based on modern technologies, can give the Russian Arctic a new impetus for sustainable economic development. And what is also important is that this will happen at the expense of the traditional industries of the indigenous peoples of the North.

The plans of the same enterprise “Yamal Deer” include expansion technological production on waste-free processing of venison: skins (they are already supplied to Sweden), endocrine raw materials, blood. Factories will start operating at the Yuribey complex and in Salekhard, a project begins in the village of Aksarka...

And there are funds for the right thing in the district budget. Following the example of “Yamal Deer”, other complexes are developing “in-depth” production. There are five of them being created on the territory of the Yamal and Tazovsky peninsulas in the Yamal-Nenets Autonomous Okrug!

Governor of Yamal Dmitry Kobylkin is a candidate of economic sciences who defended his dissertation on the topic of life, everyday life and interests of the indigenous peoples of the North “at the peak of its industrial development.” As they say, the cards are in his hands.

Not long ago, the “chief of Yamal” visited scientists from the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences in the Novosibirsk Akademgorodok to discuss joint activities to implement promising scientific developments. They also discussed the possibility of using Siberian know-how in the field of high medicine- in particular, the results of research by the Research Institute of Lymphology of the SB RAS.

With an eye on the future

At the beginning of this summer, the Yamal delegation returned from Germany, where the annual exhibition “Green Week 2012” was held (the District participated in it for the ninth time). The first result is a total contract value of two and a half million euros.

And yet, deer blood, unique in composition and quality, will be a discovery, an expensive export and currency commodity of the future for Yamal.

On its basis, they also plan to launch the production of drugs such as aldosterone and testosterone (not to mention those listed above - those that are already coming off the Yamal Olensky assembly line). Or produce nutrient media, as Siberian scientists suggest: peptone, sterile dried blood serum - their price is significantly higher than the price of meat.

Whey - 40 thousand rubles per kilogram. Price 1 gram steroid drug aldosterone on the world market - more than five thousand US dollars.

The Yamal residents can only multiply all this and... multiply it!

On the azure field of the heraldic shield of the coat of arms of the district there rightfully flaunts a silver reindeer. One of the largest animals of the tundra, which lives side by side with humans in the harsh conditions of the Far North for hundreds of years. And it helps him survive now, in the new economic realities.

According to modern data, about 80% of people constantly do not get enough iron, which over time leads to iron deficiency ( Iron-deficiency anemia) in organism. Symptoms of this disease are: fatigue, problems with concentration, apathy, depression, dry skin and much more. Women, due to their physiology, suffer from iron deficiency 2 times more often than men. The solution to the problem may be to take natural product- pantohematogen. Pantohematogen is deer blood suitable for consumption.

Deer blood is one of the most healthy products V natural medicine. The effectiveness of deer blood has been scientifically proven (modern clinical researches worldwide) and practicality (more than 2000 years of use in traditional medicine China and other countries). Currently therapeutic effectiveness Deer blood is approved and evaluated not only in Asian countries, but also in Europe, America, and New Zealand. Pantohematogen is more than 94% proteins and sufficient quantity amino acids, iron, selenium and natural tocopherol as the best food additives to improve health and well-being.

Deer blood (liquid pantohematogen): indications for use and health benefits

If you have low level iron, your body cannot produce enough hemoglobin, which supplies oxygen to the cells of the body and brain. Iron deficiency is most common among women and children preschool age. Iron is vital important For normal height child and his intellectual development.
It is recommended to take it in courses for increased mental and physical activity.
Recommended for those recovering from illness.
Improves functioning immune system body.
Improves athletic performance and physical endurance.
Accelerates muscle recovery after training.
Anti-aging properties (especially important for older people).
Improvement intimate life men and women.

It is not a medicine!