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On Presence
their ancestral teachings, their myths. Forgot the rituals. Forgot giving
thanks to the spirits. Began to forget to protect themselves from the
evil ones. Began to forget, and had already forgotten much. In Tym-
lat, elders of her kind rarely condemned the government, or as peo-
ple called it, “the power” (vlast’), but seemed to imply that the safe-
guarding of particular ways of life was their responsibility. As Nina
Uvarova, an elder and a friend of Shura Shishkin, said so poignantly:
“Today it makes me sad that I cannot talk with some of my children
and grandchildren. They don’t understand our language anymore, and
they tell me things I don’t understand. Today people say it’s the gov-
ernment’s fault, but I am not sure. I believe it is up to the parents, my
daughters, to tell their children about our way of life.”
To whomever it was who should convey the myths, practices, and
stories, and there were and are many discussions around this in Tymlat
and beyond—Shura Shishkin was a person of high spiritual standing.
This was made most clear by the way people visited her. Most of the
time, Shura Shishkin simply sat on the floor in the one room that she
shared with her granddaughter and three great-grandchildren, ranging
in age from nine months to six years. When her granddaughter had to
leave the house, Shura Shishkin took care of the children, in particu-
lar the youngest. She did not speak Russian, and like so many other
elders in northern Kamchatka was almost blind. This was because of
the reflections of the sunrays on the snow, people said. At her house,
the door was always open, and people would drop in just to sit with
her for a while. It made them feel better, they said. And it was true. I,
too, used to sit with her. It made me feel better as well.
Shura Shishkin was often called when somebody had died. She was
in charge of the proper process of rituals. Koriak spirituality involves
the existence of “another world” (drugoi svet). In essence, that world
is a replica of the world that can and is directly experienced, and it
exists in the here and now. When people—or animals—die, the liv-
ing have to make sure that the dead person reaches the other world.
Reaching the other world involves a ten-day-long hike along a treach-
erous path. Animals and other kinds of beings can attack, and one
needs at least a stick and a drum to make it to the other world. Men
also often take spears with them, and women are given needles and
