Nanai, Gold

The ancestors of the Nanai have inhabited the middle Amur since very ancient times, living from fishing in clan communities bound together by kinship. For centuries they kept relations of trade and tribute with the Manchu and Chinese governments, which left deep marks on their culture, including their clothing and hairstyle.

From the nineteenth century onward, with Russian expansion into the region and the drawing of new political boundaries, the people were divided between two states. Since then, each community has lived through its own changes: schooling in the dominant language, the abandonment of traditional trades, and the gradual loss of everyday use of the Nanai language.

Traditionally the Nanai lived from fishing, hunting, and gathering, and fish, above all salmon, is at the center of the table and of the culture. For a long time they sewed clothing and footwear from tanned fish skin, a custom that gave them renown among their neighbors. The clan and the extended family organize social life, and respect for elders and ancestors shapes relationships.

Today many work in cities and in modern occupations, but they remain tied to the river through fishing, festivals, and handicrafts. Embroidery, ornaments, and stories passed down orally are ways of keeping the heritage alive, and there are efforts to teach the language and traditions to children.

The traditional religion of the Nanai is shamanism. In this worldview, rivers, forests, animals, and mountains have a spirit, and the shaman is the intermediary who heals, accompanies the dead, and restores balance between people and the unseen forces. Ancestors are honored, and the bear and the tiger receive special reverence.

Over the centuries this faith has received influences from Chinese neighbors and, to a lesser degree, from Orthodox Christianity, and among many Nanai today ancestral tradition, Soviet heritage, and mixed practices live side by side. For a large part of the people, spiritual customs are part of identity and of loyalty to family and clan.

Scripture in the Nanai language is still very small. In the nineteenth century a translation of the Gospel of Matthew was made, but its language is not suited to the reader of today. In recent times the Gospel of Luke was published in Nanai, then reissued in a bilingual edition with the Russian text and revised again, with the intention of also producing an audio version and translating other books. Because few speak the language fluently, audio and bilingual editions are especially valuable paths.

For many Nanai, the spiritual customs inherited from their ancestors are tied to clan identity, and leaving them can seem like turning away from family and people. Added to this are the dispersion across distant villages and cities, the weakening of the language, the near absence of Scripture in Nanai, and the small number of Christian communities formed by members of the people themselves, which makes contact with the gospel in an understandable way rare.

The people need room to value their language and culture without that meaning being left behind, and opportunities for education, work, and care for the villages that have lost their young people to the cities. Spiritually, there is a need for understandable Scripture, for people who will live among them with genuine friendship, and for communities of faith born from the people themselves, able to teach and walk alongside those who wish to know Jesus.

One concrete sign is the recent work with the Word in the Nanai language: the Gospel of Luke has been published, reissued in a bilingual edition, and revised with the help of native speakers, with plans for audio recording and the translation of other books. This effort, tied to the preservation of the language, opens the way for the message of Jesus to be heard at the heart of the culture.