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Writer's pictureTribes Team

Refueling our souls with a tribal dacha

Updated: Mar 11, 2019


The author's own dacha home

As an honorable tribal person searching for a strong foundation of family, we value a home in the community where we grew up. This enables us to maintain ties to the earth and family. In this search, we all have encountered questions about why we go home on weekends and inner conversations with ourselves on whether to go all in on a garden, raising livestock and other cultural commitments such as being responsible for a ceremony or learning a song/dance/prayer. Its sometimes daunting what our people, young to old who aspire to go to their tribal home, have to do. But all should understand that living this way is actually a source of vital energy, harmony in your soul, and will lead to longer life and happiness. Tribal people are not the only ones in the world that have figured out the importance of such a lifestyle.


In my search on ways that today's tribal people can gain sustenance, I recently became aware of the notoriety of the summer and weekend dacha or cottage of the Russians. Almost half the country's population has a dacha. Dacha means "it is given" and is a term that originated in the 17th century. Dachas became important during the world wars as a self sustaining strategy to have almost all families create and grow a garden. Thus dachas were given to much of the populace. To this day most Russians are expert gardeners. I recently saw a documentary that showed how on a typical weekend, more than half of the population the city of Moscow leaves for the weekend to re energize at their country Dacha. Many dachas are small cabins and some are also very large. They all have Some form of garden. What's impressive is that many city dwellers are in touch with Mother Earth because they go to the country and garden, get together with neighbors and hike and enjoy nature. Some Dachas have hot saunas. Many Russians understand medicinal plants for healing. In a way, they have been able to merge the old way with the new modem living of the fast paced world. Gardening, being in nature, social time with friends and family, good drink of course as the country is also known for good Vodka, all have been shown to lead to happier and longer life. As tribal peoples, we have our own form of dachas. Many tribal people have a home in the country. The home types depend on the tribe, such as a hogan or pueblo in the southwest. Some have a garden, others a sheep camp or livestock ranches. Many in the world have farms. Some are just out in nature as that particular tribe knows much about medicines and hunting lifestyle. This rural life merged with the modem is very important for happy life. We have our own form of saunas, such as the sweat house. As tribes, we still have elders that know the healing plants, prayers, songs. As our societies grow and we move to urban areas, we need to maintain our ties with the land, soil, garden, plants, farming, eating from the nature and the animals.

The article below shares a bit of background on the unique dacha:

https://www.rbth.com/arts/2015/06/15/the_dacha_uniquely_russian_country_homes_43663



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