09/16/2025
E'ven Indigenous woman from Kamchatka Peninsula, Siberia ❤️ The portrait was never published before
Let me introduce Mandyatova Matryona Ilinichna (83). She was born in a remote part of Kamchatka Peninsula in a family of E'ven reindeer herders. At her early age, like all other kids of nomadic reindeer herders, Matryona got enrolled to a government boarding school, visiting parents only for school holidays and during the summer months. After graduating the school she worked in a village of a few different jobs, but she was missing the vast open spaces of tundra and reindeer with whom she was growing up. Following her family way of living she got married to a young man, who was from another reindeer herders family. Ever since they lived a nomadic lifestyle with a few other E'ven families looking after a herd of a few thousand of reindeer. Matryona and her husband raised four children, two of them unfortunately passed away. When her husband passed away, she decided to settle down in the village and now lives with one of her daughters. The daughter's family lives in a house, but Matryona herself has her own traditional conical tent right next to the house, where she spends most of her time making traditional reindeer fur clothing, such as boots and hats. This knowledge she learned as a child from her mom. Matryona was making traditional E'ven clothing throughout all her life. Today she is one of a few last remaining people making traditional Even clothing in Kamchatka...
