orang Even

The Evens ( ə-VENZ; Even: эвэн; pl. эвэсэл; Russian: эвены; formerly called Lamuts) are a people in Siberia and the Russian Far East. They live in regions of the Magadan Oblast and Kamchatka Krai and northern parts of Sakha east of the Lena River, although they are a nomadic people. According to the 2002 census, there were 19,071 Evens in Russia. According to the 2010 census, there were 22,383 Evens in Russia. They speak their own language called Even, one of the Tungusic languages; it is heavily influenced by their lifestyle and reindeer herding. It is also closely related to the language of their neighbors, the Evenks. The Evens are close to the Evenks by their origins and culture, having migrated with them from central China over 10,000 years ago. Officially, they have been considered to be of Orthodox faith since the 19th century, though the Evens have retained some pre-Christian practices, such as shamanism.

The Even people are part of the Eastern Siberians that migrated out of central China around 10,000 years ago. They are located in extreme northeast Siberia, and they are somewhat isolated from the rest of the indigenous groups in Siberia, with the closest groups being the Yakuts and the Evenks who are over 1,000 kilometers away.

Before the beginning of the Soviet reign the Evens were referred to as the Lamut by other groups, originally coined by the Yakut people, a nearby Siberian indigenous group. The word Lamu refers to the Okhotsk Sea in the languages spoken in eastern Siberia, thus it is reasonable to assume that this is where the name Lamut originates. The name Even came from the Evens people themselves. The Evens had yet to distinguish themselves as a separate group from the Evenk even up until the 1800s. As such, Evenk culture and language heavily influenced that of the Evens. However, there are some key differences in language that made the two separate. In the Even language the last vowel and consonant of each word is dropped, while in the Evenk language the last vowel and consonant are spoken.

The Even language has a multitude of words relating to their nomadic lifestyle and reindeer herding, and a good portion of words in the Even language have to do with actions relating to these things. For example, "oralchid'ak", "nulgän", "nulgänmäj", and "nulgädäj", are their words for the concept of a nomadic lifestyle and moving from one place to another. All of these words come from the word "nulgä", which can be a measure of distance - in this case the distance one can travel in a single night - or it can also describe a group of reindeer herders. There are fourteen words in the Even language that describe very similar actions and people relating to herding and grazing, including daytime grazing and herdsmen, as well as reindeer drivers; reindeer are economically and culturally crucial to the Evens people.