ABSTRACT
This chapter explore how the conduct of their procurement activities, the Udeges used the resources of the landscape for the practical tasks of hunting, fishing and gathering, but also, how use of landscape included a powerful spiritual element. It focuses on the general land-use practices and sacred places of the Bikin River Udeges, who were able to maintain to a greater extent than many other groups more traditional aspects of social organisation, cultural practices and group identity through the turbulent years of Socialism. The chapter examines the traditional land-use and subsistence practices of the Udeges, and gone on to explore the role of sacred places in local spirituality. It reviews not only how the Udeges witnessed massive changes during the Soviet period, but also examine how traditions of venerating certain sacred places could survive and is now even spreading beyond the Udeges to include Russians and other incomers.
