“Our Elders did not pray, they just talked with nature. I can do the same.”

Jan 8

Dmitri Nikolayevich Begunov

(duh-me-tree nick-oh-lie-ah-vitch beg-oo-nov)

reindeer herder

IMAGE SOURCE: Photo from the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897-1902.  Institute of the Indigenous Peoples, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. | QUOTE SOURCE: Tero and Kaisu Mustonen. “Life in the Cyclic World: A Compendium of Traditional Kno… — IMAGE SOURCE: Photo from the Jesup North Pacific Expedition, 1897-1902. Institute of the Indigenous Peoples, Russian Academy of Sciences, 2015. | QUOTE SOURCE: Tero and Kaisu Mustonen. “Life in the Cyclic World: A Compendium of Traditional Knowledge from the Eurasian North.” Snowchange Cooperative, 2016.

QUOTE CONTEXT: “Nature feeds me. It helps me. I can speak with the grass, bushes and water – I can speak with all things. This is a life for me. It is inborn.“

QUOTE QUESTION: How do you communicate with nature?

IMAGE CONTEXT: Camps of the Chukchi and Yukaghir peoples in Kolyma region, NE Siberia, late 1800s.

IMAGE QUESTION: Where can you go to stand with elders in nature?

MEDIA LITERACY CONTEXT: The quote is from a blog post by a cooperative organization devoted to the advancement of traditions and culture of Arctic peoples. The photo is from an academic archive.

MEDIA LITERACY QUESTION: What might your great grandparents have said about your people’s lives becoming visible to people all over the earth via Internet technology?

“Our Elders did not pray, they just talked with nature. I can do the same.”

Dmitri Nikolayevich Begunov

(duh-me-tree nick-oh-lie-ah-vitch beg-oo-nov)

“Reindeer herding makes this world richer. One day the mining of gold and other minerals will come to an end here. Reindeer herding will always be able to go on.”

“When our families conduct their rituals, we always give offerings to sun. It is the source of light in our lives.”