Editing Yukaghir people (section)

==Culture==
[[File:Yukaghir man with dogs.jpg|left|thumb|Photo of Yukaghir man with his [[Laika (dog type)|laika]] taken by [[Vladimir Jochelson]] during the [[Jesup North Pacific Expedition]] in 1901]]
[[File:Irina Duskulova.png|thumb|Modern Yukaghir singer [[Irina Duskulova]]]]
The main traditional activity is nomadic and semi-nomadic hunting of deer, moose, wild sheep, and sable, as well as fishing. Reindeer are bred mostly for transportation. [[Horse]]s are known among the Yukaghir as "domestic reindeer of [[Yakuts]]" (''Yoqod ile'' in [[Tundra Yukaghir language|Tundra Yukaghir]] or ''Yaqad āçə'' in [[Southern Yukaghir language|Kolyma Yukaghir]]). A Yukaghir house is called a ''chum''.

The decline of traditional economic activities, the unfavorable environmental situation of the Yukaghir's traditional lands and waters, and the absence of local and federal laws and executive mechanisms protecting indigenous peoples in Russia, have not aided the welfare and continuation of traditional Yukaghir communities. The average life span for men is 45 years, and 54 years for women. Child mortality is the highest in the Yakut-Sakha Republic. In addition, one expedition made to the Yukaghir found that most had no knowledge of traditional Yukaghir culture.

===Language===
The [[Yukaghir languages]] are a small language family of two closely related languages, Tundra Yukaghir and Kolyma Yukaghir, although there used to be more. They are unclassified languages: their origin and relation to other languages are unknown; some scholars consider them distantly related to the [[Uralic languages]],<ref name=UralicYukaghir>{{harvnb|Nikolaeva|Mayer|2004|loc=ch. “[http://www.sgr.fi/yukaghir/start1.html About the Yukaghirs]”}}</ref> but this classification is not accepted by the majority of specialists in Uralic linguistics. The languages are regarded as moribund, since less than 370 people can speak either Yukaghir language. Most Yukaghirs today speak [[Yakut language|Yakut]] and [[Russian language|Russian]].

===Religion===
Alongside Russian Orthodox beliefs, Yukaghirs practice [[shamanism]]. The dominant cults are ancestral spirits, the spirits of Fire, [[Pugu (deity)|Sun (Pugu)]], Hunting, Earth, and Water, which can act as protectors or as enemies of people. The most important is the cult of ''Pugu'', the Sun, who is the highest judge in all disputes. The spirits of the dead go to a place called ''Aibidzi''. Every clan had a shaman called an ''alma''. After death every ''alma'' was treated as a deity, and the body of the dead ''alma'' was dismembered and kept by the clan as relics. The Yukaghir still continue traditions stemming from their origins as nomadic reindeer-hunters: they practice dog sacrifice and have an epic poem based around crows. The animal cult was especially strong in the elk cult. There was a number of rituals and taboos connected with elk and deer hunting.<ref>[https://www.insidethenewrussia.com/yukagir/ Inside the New Russia (1994): Yukagirs]</ref>