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THE ARCTIC CIRCLE
The Frozen North

Arctic America
Inuit, Aleutiq, Inupiat, Yupik, Gwich'in, etc.

Siberia
Khanty, Evenk, Nivkh, Chukchi, etc.

Siberia became part of Russia during the Early Modern period.
Conquest was complete while the American Revolutionary War was happening.

Siberian shamans were often associated with a particular tribe and protected that tribe's territory to ensure reincarnation of their souls.

Intertribal warring led to incredible magic battles between rival shamans.

After the U.S.S.R. was formed following the Russian Civil War
(1917-1922), shamans were persecuted by the godless Communists.
In these new circumstances, tales of magic fighting were recast into conflicts between a shaman and the commissar who arrests him.

Since the fall of the U.S.S.R. in 1991 (just 3 years before I was born), there have been shamanistic revival movements in Siberia.

If and when Siberia breaks off from Russia, and becomes either one or more independent states, then expect even greater shaman revival movements.

The Ainu

The Ainu are the indigenous people of Japan who were forced off their lands by the ancestors of the Japanese from Korea, Siberia, and Southeast Asia.
Since then, their traditional homeland has been Hokkaido, the cold northern island of Japan

They have cultural affinities with the Inuit, the Chukchi, and other northern forager groups...so they are represented on this webpage.

Hokkaido was conquered by the Japanese in 1869.

The Sami

The Sami are the indigenous people of northern Scandinavia.

Sadly, I have not yet learned anything about Sami mythology or traditional beliefs...but I hope someday to find a mythology book with a Sami folktale in it.

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