#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The double holiday – Village Day and Fisherman’s Day – is traditionally one of the most significant events that people wait for and prepare for. Potapovo residents love and cherish their small homeland and say about it: “The corner closest to their heart”.
The village of Potapovo is the southernmost settlement of the Taimyr municipal district. Here they say that it is located on the southern borders of Taimyr. Since ancient times, representatives of the most ancient people of the North, the Enets, lived, traded and roamed in this place.
“Let the village always be a support and a source of strength for its residents, and for us it is a source of admiration. Its beauty looks picturesque at any time of the year – if it were not for the mosquitoes and midges, it would be a resort, a real sanatorium for a city dweller! During the summer navigation, Potapovo turns into a lively Taimyr corner, where each motor ship becomes like a suburban train: as soon as it appears on the horizon, dozens of passengers on numerous motorboats line up to board. This is a truly fascinating view. Residents and guests of Potapovo fall in love with the village and experience its hospitality”, Zoya Bolina, author of the Enets picture dictionary, and Anna Saktobergernova, a representative of the ancient Enets clan, a linguist and philologist, congratulated their fellow countrymen.
At the holiday grand opening, guests of the village were invited to participate in the national ritual of worshiping fire, a piece of which was taken by the hostesses of several guest tents to light the fire. The totem animals of the Enets – a bear and an owl, carved from wood, greeted visitors to the ethnic camp Ussu, the birch at the entrance served for the purification ritual – hanging idols and amulets on the branches, the role of which this time was played by a bear claw, carved from a deer horn. Decorating the birch in this way, guests and residents of the village could make wishes and ask the Enets spirits for the most secret.
Potapovo has another peculiarity – for decades, German families lived side by side with the locals. Therefore, inviting people to a guest tent for a festive meal, a representative of a well-known German family in Taimyr, Roman Shmal, said that in fact this is a German-Enets-Nenets feast, where the Nenets Matryona Yar cooks and greets the guests, Roman himself helps, and Anatoly Gavrilets in a Cossack papaha controls the products.
The residents of Potapovo are grateful to Roman Shmal for the appearance of the church in the village – in this good deed his brother from Dudinka, Anatoly Gavrilets, helped him, having returned after serving in one of the hot spots he, as the Orthodox say, saw the light in his heart. Anatoly brought from the holy Mount Athos, with the blessing of the elder, an ancient icon of the Mother of God Iverskaya and donated it to the church.
Many years have passed, now fishermen, hunters and reindeer herders remain in these place. Today the village lives and prospers thanks to fishing and trade.
“Friends, the results of the Best Fisherman competition have been summed up. According to the results, Ilya Silkin is awarded an autonomous diesel heater for third place, Vyacheslav Silkin has got a winter four-person tent for second place, and Alexey Pikunov gets a boat motor for first place”, the head of Taimyr Alexey Chlenov awarded and congratulated the best fishermen.
“On behalf of the Nornickel’s Polar Division managers, I would like to congratulate everyone on Fisherman’s Day and the Village Day. Selfless, strong-willed people live in Potapovo, who ensure food security of the territory with their difficult but very important work. Together with the Taimyr administration, a number of measures are being implemented in the territory to develop and preserve traditional types of farming, support fishermen and create comfortable conditions for Taimyr residents. As a token of gratitude and respect, the Fisherman’s Family certificate for 150 thousand rubles is presented to Anatoly and Alevtina Silkin”, Anfisa Nikiforova, the Nornickel’s Polar Division’s department for work with indigenous peoples of the North’s head, congratulated the fishermen.
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Text: Denis Kozhevnikov, Photo: author
