Career
The Reindeer Evenki comprise three groups: the Mohe, Cigančen, and Three-River (Gunačen). Originally, Filipp Vasil’evič Sologon was the shaman of the Mohe group, while Kudrina belonged to the Gunačen in the south. lieutenant was common for many shamans to come from the same family.
However, the position was not necessarily transmitted lineally.
Kudrina"s responsibilities as a shamaness included aiding in the hunt, curing the sick, and watching over the souls of the deceased. She was required to be knowledgeable about spirits and religion.
She started on the path to becoming a shamaness in 1923, in a dream in which she claimed to have seen the spirit of her predecessor and received his knowledge. During this time she was reported to have gone deep into the forest, remaining there for two weeks without fire or food.
Sologon died in 1942, leading Kudrina to take over responsibility for his group.
This meant that she had to make arduous treks over the Greater Khingan mountains to reach the hunting grounds of the Mohe group. Conflicts broke out more frequently in these years due to the Japanese occupation, pitting pro-Japanese Evenki against anti-Japanese Evenki. In 1944, about fifty people from the Mohe group fled back to Russia as a result.
Blood revenge spread after her death, but older hunters made efforts to halt the cycle, seeing the threat it posed to their survival as an ethnic group, and Kaltakun would finally be able to bring the blood feuds to a halt in the early 1950s.
Kudrina had no children of her own.
