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Peoples of Russia
Kumandy
The Kumandy are a people living in the Altai territory, the Republic of Altai and the Kemerovo region of Russia. The majority call themselves Kumandins, more rarely they use the self-designation of Kumandy; the names Kubandy, Ore Kumandy, Tubere Kumandy, Tadar are used even more rarely. They are inlcuded in the List of native small-numbered people of the North, Siberia and Far East of the Russian Federation.
Language
The Kumandy language is one of the Turkic languages of the Altai language family. Currently people belonging to the middle and older generations of the Kumandys use their native speech as a vernacular, and the youth prefers the Russian language. Almost all the Kumandy people speak Russian, for some of them it is their native language.
Dispersion
The majority of the Kumandy live in the Altai territory (Biysk, Solton and Krasnogorsk districts, Rubtsovsk); in the Republic of Altai (Gorno-Altaisk, Turochak district); in the Kemerovo region (Tashtagol district, Tashtagol, Novokuznetsk, Osinniki).
Ethnic groups
Usually the Kumandy people are divided into the Upper (Ore Kumandy) and Lower (Altyna Kumandy) Kumandy that live correspondingly in the upper and lower reaches of the river Biya. These particular groups are distinguished on the basis of some particularities of their culture.
Traditional occupations
The Kumandy economy was based on the seasonal (winter) collective foot hunt for large and furry animals. The main means of transport through the snowy taiga were the skis (shana) soled with kamus reindeer leg skin. Hoe farming was a significant addition.
Dwellings
The traditional settlements of the Kumandy are small, with a lack of clear planning, located in a long strip along the rivers. The Kumandy dwellings are of several types: temporary hunting huts; semi-dugouts with wickerwork or log walls and gabled roofs; small four-wall log izbas; adobe four-wall houses.
Food
The food of the Kumandy is mostly meat- and plant-based. It includes meat soups (urge, kocho), flour made from roasted barley grains (talkan), dishes made from the entrails of domestic and wild animals, etc. The drinks used were teas brewed with the leaves of wild plants, milk, low-alcohol drinks of the home brew type, milk vodka (araka).
