Welcome to my World!

I'm very happy to see you in my little, frosty world about my life in Yakutia ❄️

I was born and grew up in the coldest town on Earth - Yakutsk, located in the Russian Far East, about 450 km south of the Arctic Circle.

 

Our winter usually lasts 7 months a year with winter temperatures routinely reaching below minus 50 degrees Celsius. The extreme low temperatures are cold enough to freeze car batteries and the fish sold in open-air markets.

Many people were asking me how do we survive and about our lifestyle. So, let me tell you some interesting facts about out daily life in Yakutia.

What we wear in Yakutia?

It is an absolute must to wear several layers of clothing underneath, such as woolen leggings since the knees are particularly prone to freezing in such extreme cold. We also wear fleece sweater and wadded pants, although it is difficult to look very feminine in them.

For the boots, We wear warm socks along with fur boots made of reindeer skin.

Women in Yakutia usually have 2 looks, one is more feminine with fur coats made of mink or fox.

Another one is more casual with a down jacket which keep you very warm and they are cheaper than a fur coat.

At the same time, we still wear fur hat since knitted ones are just not warm enough for local winter. The fur hat is made of arctic fox. In addition to covering our head, we also wear mittens with beaded Yakutian patterns and fully cover our face otherwise the exposed parts can get frostbite.

Yakutian traditional food

The traditional Yakutian cuisine is influenced by our northern climate, so we have a lot of frozen dishes. One of the most well-known Sakha dishes is stroganina, thin slices of raw, frozen fish. I love stroganina a lot, I love to eat it with salt and pepper. Another, one of my favourite dish is indigirka, consisting of frozen fish cubes seasoned with onions, salt, pepper, and more!

Also, we have frozen raw horse meat, frozen raw horse liver, which is eaten raw with salt and pepper. It has to be frozen and you have to eat it immeddiatly.

The dessert is keycheh, Yakutia ice cream made by cream and berries.

Water supplies in Yakutia

Digging wells is too expensive in this part of the world, due to a thick layer of hard permafrost.

Most Yakut villages have no water treatment facilities, so it makes ice the cleanest available drinking source. Its a really hard physical labour, when the temperature outside is -50 C, you need to cut ice blocks for hours. I tried the ice water myself and It doesn’t have any taste, on the contrary, it tasted much better than from the tap.

Thanks for reading!

I want to wish you all a beautiful day, stay warm and see you soon!

Love,

Kiun B.