From Circumpolar Musings at Yukon College, an excellent source of nordicite news.
Yakutia is an important province for Russian America and Alaska. The Evenks are an important EurAsian-American cultural influence. See for example, http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1220/p14s02-bogn.html “It’s no accident, Vitebsky explains, that we associate reindeer with flying.”
[Seems to me that there ought to be a separate term for those in their second decade of centenarianism. Any suggestions? My Latin isn't good.]
Friday, October 5 2007, 04 PM
Woman from Yakutia Is Believed to Be the Oldest Person of Earth
Varvara SEMENNIKOVA, who is 117 years old, received a letter from the upper House of the Russian ParliamentVLADIVOSTOK, October 4, vladivostoktimes.com On Wednesday the 117-year old native of the Sakha (Yakutia) Republic Ms. Varvara SEMENNIKOVA, who is thought to be the oldest person on the Earth, received a certificate of honour from the Federation Council of Russia, the Yakutia Republic Committee for family and children reports.
Ms. SEMENNIKOVA (nee DYAKONOVA) is an Evenk. Her age has been verified by the National archive of Yakutia.
Employees of the National archive found a record in a church book of the Bulun Spassk Church (on the shore of the Laptev Sea) on Varvara’s birth on May 10, 1890 to “a native of the second Haltyn Nasleg of the Zhigan Ulus of the Vilyuisk District Konstantin Stefanov DYAKONOVA, lawful wife Maria Konstantinovna, both of Orthodox confession.”
http://www.vladivostoktimes.ru/show.php?id=15337&p=
Site Search Tags: supercentenarian, Russian America, Evenk, Yakutia, Siberia, Orthodox, reindeer, Santa Claus
okay, at the risk of being very politically incorrect, i’ll suggest there is an important difference between a mellow attitude toward advanced old age (for me probably over 85)in a non-urban setting contrasted with aging in modern cities.
personally, living forever is not appealing. difficult enough experiencing the invisibility foisted on the elderly beginning when they retire–some as early as late fifties. until western culture develops respectful roles for the young elderly and beyond, “advanced old age,” seems questionable.
So, would aging in a big city be better than aging in a town (under 10,000 pop) or in a rural or frontier area?
I suppose if one had unlimited money, aging well could be chosen almost anywhere with a minimum population density. Actually, some folks move overseas to get eldercare.