The Supreme Being

Though occupying the most important place in the religious life of the Koryak, the concept of the Supreme Being is vague. It is quite materialistic, although some names of the deity suggest abstract ideas: Universe, World, Outer One, Supervisor, Something Existing, Existence, Strength, The One High Above, The Master Above, Master, Dawn, and Thunder Man. Some identified the sun with him. It is possible that all names applied by the Koryak to one deity may have formerly been applied to various beings or phenomena of nature, and that, owing to their interaction with the Russians, a monotheistic tendency of uniting all names of the various deities into one may have developed.

Nothing is known of His origin or His world creating activity, except that He sent the Big Raven down to our earth to establish order; but He is the personification of the vital principle in nature taken in its entirety. On the other hand, He is an anthropomorphic being, an old man living in a settlement in heaven, and having a wife and children. He is benevolent being, well disposed toward men, but displaying little activity. The course of events takes place under His supervision. If He wills, He can give abundant and plenty, or put an end to prosperity, and send a visitation of famine and other calamities upon mankind. But He seldom makes use of His power to do evil to men.

What are the relations of the people to this deity? They are based rather on a sense of gratitude and the desire to secure His good will than on fear. Gratitude was expressed in the offering of sacrifices; but the latter are also offered in advance to secure future prosperity, or as atonement for transgression of taboos. All thoughts of the Koryak are concentrated upon procuring of food, the hunting of sea and land mammals, picking berries and roots, and the safekeeping of the herds. All these things are in abundance as long as The One High Above looks upon earth; but no sooner does He turn away than disorder reigns. Failure to offer customary sacrifices may lead to disaster.

The notions as to the direct interference of the Supreme Being with worldly affairs are very vague. Men seem to be left to their own resources in their struggle with evil spirits, diseases, and death; they appeal for help to Big Raven, to protecting spirits, and to amulets.

Besides His general function as supervisor of the course of things on earth, The One High Above is particularly concerned in birth. He sends the souls of the newborn into wombs of their mothers. The souls are hung up in the house of the deity on posts and beams. The duration of the earthly life of each soul is marked beforehand on thongs tied to them. A long strap indicates longevity; a short one - the early death of the child to be born. After death the human soul returns to The One High Above, who after some time sends it into a relative of its former owner to be reborn.

The abode of the Supreme Being is identified with the world beyond the clouds, the sky, “the heaven village” inhabited by the people of the sky, who possess reindeer, and resemble the people in our world, of the earth.
The wife of the Supreme Being is called Supervisor Woman. According to other notes, the sea itself figures as the wife of The One High Above, and her name is Sea Woman.

Two children of the Supreme Being are mentioned by name, the Cloud Man or Cloud Maker, and his daughter Cloud Woman. Cloud Man figures as the protector of young couples. Young men beat the drum, and appeal to him to turn to them the “mind” or heart of the girl, and vice versa. The sounds of the drum reach the ears of Cloud Man, who draws a line connecting the affection of the two young people. For his meditation in love matters Cloud Man gets a sacrificial reindeer from the bridegroom after the marriage had taken place.

The Supreme Being plays no active part in mythology, but there are numerous tales relating to Cloud Man and Cloud Woman.

Malevolent Beings

The first place among beings that are ill disposed to mankind is occupied by the so-called kalau (singular kala). Other names are: kalak or kamak, ni´nvit, and others. The views of the Koryak of the dual nature of these beings finds expression in their myths and appears clearly in their conversations. The kala appears sometimes as an invisible being that kills people by supernatural or rather invisible means; and sometimes he appears as a common cannibal. His material and spiritual features are often intermingled. According to some sources, at one time the kalau lived with The Master High Above in the upper world; but He quarreled with them and sent them down to our world. This resembles somewhat the biblical conception of the fallen angels. Others said that The Master High Above sends the kalau to people when they do wrong, just as the Czar sent Cossacks against those that are disobedient, or to give the people a chance to test the power of their incantations against diseases and death, which He had bequeathed to them.

According to Koryak ideas, the kalau constitute families, just like human beings, with an old man as the head of the family, his children, their wives, etc. Several groups of the kalau are distinguished according to their residence. Some live in the world under us. They have daytime when it is night here. They sleep when we are awake. When visiting the houses to cause diseases and to kill people, they enter from the underground through the hearth fire, and return the same way. It happens at times that they steal people and carry them away. They are invisible to human beings, and are capable of changing their size. They are sometimes so numerous in houses that they sit on the people, and fill all the corners. With hammers and axes they knock people over their heads, thus causing headaches. They bite and cause swelling, etc.

Other kalau live on earth, toward the west, where the sun sets, on the border of the Koryak country. They are thus identified with the darkness. Their mere approach to a settlement is enough to cause people to get ill, for their breath is as poisonous as nux vomica. “Sometimes these kalau appear in visible form, as animals. They appear frequently in the guise of human beings with pointed heads. Big Raven and his children wage a constant war against the kalau. According to the mythology, the kalau are coarse, stupid beings, whom Big Raven often vanquishes by means of cunning devices.

These are Maritime and Reindeer kalau. Instead of dogs, the Maritime kalau keep bears, which tear up their human victims. The Reindeer kalau have reindeer herds; but according to some myths, mountain sheep constitute their herds. There are kalau also in the tundra and in the woods, where they waylay man, and whence they invade human settlements to procure human flesh. They hunt human beings just as men hunt reindeer and seals.

At the time when Big Raven lived, the kalau were visible beings; but since the time he took away their herds and waged war against them, they became invisible; and after Big Raven disappeared, they assailed man, and death became his lot.
Some kalau had proper names, for instance, Able-to-do-Everything, Big-Kamak-Who-Turns-Himself-Inside-Out, Gormandizer, and others. Although on the whole, the word “kala” denotes all powers harmful to man, and all that is evil in nature, there are number of objects and beings known under the name of “kalak” or “kamak” that do not belong to the class of evil spirits. Thus, the guardian spirits of the Koryak shamans and some varieties of guardians of the village, of the family, or of individuals, are called by this name.

The Transformer of the World and the Ancestor of the Koryak

Big Raven is viewed by the Koryak as the Founder of the world. The Koryak name is Quikinn·a´qu or Kutkinn·a´qu. The Kamchadal call him Kutq. Krasheninnikoff writes this word Kutk´hu, and Steller - Ku´tka or Kutga. The Chukchee call him K´urkil. The Big Raven is also called Big Grandfather (the Maritime Koryak), Creator (the Reindeer Koryak). Sometimes the two names can be met in the same tale.

All the tales about Big Raven belong to the cycle of raven myths which are popular on the American as well as on the Asiatic shores of the North Pacific Ocean. But while the Ku’ rkil of the Chukchee, and the Raven of the North American Indians, play a part only in their mythology, particularly in the myths relating to the creation of the world, Big Raven plays an important part in the religious observances of the Koryak. Like the heroes of the other raven myths, Big Raven of the Koryak appears merely as the transformer of the world. Everything in the world had existed before he appeared. His creative activity consisted in revealing things heretofore concealed, and turning some things into others; and since everything in nature is regarded by the Koryak as animated, he only changed the form of the animated substance. Some things he brought down ready-made to our earth from the Supreme Being in heaven. Big Raven appears as First Man, the father and protector of the Koryak; but at the same time he is a powerful shaman and a supernatural being. His name figures in all incantations. His presence is presupposed in pronouncing the incantation, and sick people are treated by means of his name. He is supposed to be present at every shamanistic ceremony.

In some of the myths together with Big Raven, who turns into a raven only when putting on a raven’s coat, the real raven, as a representative of birds of that species, is a witty and contemptible character, who feeds on dog carcasses and excrement, and has nothing in common with the deity. The Koryak did not consider it a sin to kill a raven.

Big Raven lived in an underground house, like the maritime Koryak, but he had a herd of reindeer at the same time, and his sons used to roam about it just as the reindeer Koryak do. Tales describing this way of life seem to reconcile the antagonism between the Maritime and Reindeer Koryak.

Big Raven had a family. His wife appears under the name only, Miti´. Her name is also connected with incantations. In myths Miti´ is represented as being brighter than Big Raven. They had many sons and daughters. Of all the children, the son Eme´mqut (Big Light) and the daughter Yune´a-ne´ut play the most important part in myths. Also, many other relatives of Big Raven and Miti´ are mentioned in myths. All the tales relating to Big Raven and his relatives are just as contradictory as those which treat his appearance on earth.

There are many contradictory accounts of the origin of Big Raven. Some Koryak said, the Supreme Being was once sharpening his knife in heaven, and a piece of dust from the grindstone fell down to earth and turned into a man, and that man was Big Raven. Others thought that the Supreme Being created him and sent him down to establish order on earth. Big Raven taught people how to catch sea animals and fish; he gave them the drum and the fire drill; he gave them protection from evil spirits and incantations against diseases; but he also introduced death among mankind.

It is unknown why Big Raven disappeared. He directed his descendants to burn their dead, but ordered that after death his own body should be placed in a separate house, which should be closed up. The house and Big Raven himself turned into stone after his death. According to other traditions, Big Raven wandered away from the Koryak country, no one knows where. Some said, that Big Raven departed because he was displeased with men, since they ceased to heed is advice.

“Owners” and Other Supernatural Beings

A group of Supernatural beings known as Owners or Masters represent the idea of more or less powerful being who is the owner of an object and resides in the object. Among the Koryak this concept is not well developed. It seems that this view belongs to a stage of religious beliefs more advanced than that of the Koryak, among whom it was not yet differentiated from an animistic view of nature. According to the idea prevalent among all these tribes, every object – or at least every important natural object – has a spirit owner residing within it. Some Koryak said that ‘sea’ and the ‘owner of the sea’ was just the same. The Koryak of some places said that the owner of the sea was a woman, while others considered the sea itself as a woman. The same vague ideas existed about the so-called apa´pel (from a´pa “father” or “grandfather” in different dialects). Certain hills, capes, and cliffs are called by this name. They protect hunters and travelers, and sacrifices are offered to them; but it is not clear whether apa´pel is applied to the hill itself, or to the spirit residing in it. It would rather seem that the hill proper is the guardian.

The sun, the moon, the stars also figure as animated beings. The sun is somewhat identified with The Master High Above. Special sacrifices were offered to the sun. In some tales Sun Man has a wife and children and his own country, which is inhabited by Sun People.

In one tale the moon figures as a man, Moon Man, while in another she is a woman, who is trying hard to tempt Big Raven’s son Eme´mqut to marry her.
A Star Man is also mentioned. The sky is regarded as a country inhabited by stellar people.