SOVEREIGN PEOPLE: A UNIQUE HERITAGE LENA COACHMEN IN THE CONTEXT OF HISTORICAL MEMORY
In the field season of 2018 in the framework of the Summer ecological and geographical school of the North-Eastern Federal University with the support of the Russian geographical society, we conducted ethnographic studies in the Khangalassky ulus of Yakutia. The article analyzes and describes the unique historical and cultural heritage of the coachmen in the Middle Lena basin, Yakutia, continuing the original tradition of the descendants of the sovereign's coachmen, which is especially important in connection with the 275 anniversary of the founding of the Irkutsk-Yakutsk post road in 2018. Despite the fact that the history of the Russian population has always been one of the key topics in the historiography of Yakutia, this topic was not the subject of a special ethnographic study. The region of the Middle Lena, where the Russian old-resident population lives, was studied quite fully from the point of view of only folklore and musicological tradition. Collected in the expedition field materials show that the material and spiritual culture of Russian old-timers of Pilenga there are elements of the surrounding culture and peoples: the Yakuts and Tungus. It is revealed that in the course of historical adaptation, the culture of the Russian population of the Prilensky region not only acquired new elements, but also suffered some losses, as some types of economic activities, crafts and Handicrafts, and related objects, ideas and traditions were lost. In General, at present, according to the preliminary results obtained during the expedition, we can talk about the Ethnography of the stability of Russian folk traditions, about the original tradition of the descendants of the sovereign coachmen in the context of historical memory.