Four indigenous peoples live in Kamchatka: Itelmens, Koryaks, Evens and Aleuts. Each culture grew in its own ecological niche and preserved a language, rites and crafts — many of them thousands of years old.
Itelmens
The oldest people of Kamchatka, descendants of the Paleo-Asiatic population. They lived sedentary lives along the rivers, caught salmon and built pit houses and summer stilt balagans. Their rich oral tradition centres on Kutkh — the Raven Creator.
The Alkhalalalai festival
The main Itelmen festival marking the end of the working year. It includes ritual purification and a dance marathon — the modern record for unbroken dancing tops 16 hours.
Koryaks
Divided into sedentary Nymylans — fishers of the coast — and nomadic Chavchuvens — reindeer herders of the inland tundra. Nomadic Koryaks still run traditional herds of thousands of animals and portable yarangas.
Evens
A Tungusic people who reached Kamchatka from the west in the 17th–18th centuries. Classic taiga hunters and reindeer herders. Even craftswomen are famous for beadwork on rovduga — reindeer suede.
Aleuts of the Commander Islands
Resettled to the Commanders in the 1820s. Marine hunters. Today the Aleut community lives mostly in the village of Nikolskoye on Bering Island — around 300 people.
«He who hears the Raven hears Kamchatka.»