Black Brothers

“Black Brothers” is the name used for wolves in the herding communities around Ohma’s settlement. The expression holds together two facts that might otherwise seem opposed: wolves threaten the animals on which families depend, yet they are sacred and cannot be hunted like ordinary game. The term belongs to a practical vocabulary of winter survival, but it also marks a religious boundary around how people may respond to danger.

Meaning and Use

In the settlement, the name appears in the context of preparing to protect reindeer from predators. Winter makes reindeer especially vulnerable when game is scarce, so herders build a strong corral with a fence high enough to keep wolves out. The phrase is not merely a label for an animal: it enters everyday work and conversation as families anticipate the danger of the season.

The name also gives the threat a familiar, communal form. While the men sharpen fence posts, Ohma jokes that someone should go into the forest and tie wood around the necks of the “Black Brothers,” echoing the precaution used to keep trained hunting dogs from entering the corral. His wife responds with a tolerant smile, suggesting that the joke is well worn. Its humor rests on the contrast between an ordinary household task and the impossible suggestion that wolves could be managed like dogs.

Winter Threat and Herding Practices

The concern behind the expression is concrete. Reindeer provide the household’s livelihood, and hungry wolves can prey on them during winter. A sturdy corral is therefore part of the work of keeping a small herd safe when animals and people alike face a lean season. The wolves’ presence also affects expectations for spring: if the herd grows when the animals calve, the family may have to stay awake through the night to guard it.

The threat is discussed alongside evidence that predators may be increasing. Tohma reports Yoki’s suggestion that there are more Black Brothers, and Ohma agrees that their numbers seem to have risen. He notes that the household’s herd is small enough to keep enclosed for the winter, but worries about the coming calving season. The name thus recurs at a point when a manageable winter precaution could become a more demanding, collective problem.

Reverence and the Sendoff Rite

Van explains why wolves cannot simply be killed as predators. In his people’s beliefs, wolves were created by the same god as humans, but are closer to that god and are considered sacred beasts. They run along the border of the Land of the Dead and can enter its darkness at will. To speak of them casually as “wolves,” as farmers do, is regarded as blasphemous; “Black Brothers” reflects a more reverent way of referring to them.

That respect governs the response to attacks. When wolves threaten pyuika, people are to drive them away with fire or shouting, making clear that their presence is causing suffering and discouraging further attacks. The sendoff rite is reserved for a more extreme condition: the wolves must have proliferated until they no longer listen even when treated respectfully. Protection of the herd is necessary, but it does not automatically license killing the animal that threatens it.

Local Context and Significance

Van’s account places the term within an altered mountain ecology. The Toga Mountains once had handsome wolves with glossy black fur, but most were eradicated long ago because they were believed to carry a dreaded disease. Wild mountain dogs called ossam later became widespread; some gray wolves nevertheless remained, and elders said they helped keep the ossam population in check. Wolves are therefore both a danger to livestock and part of the balance that limits another animal’s spread.

Ohma does not decide alone whether the sendoff rite should be used. He says the possibility may be raised at the next clan gathering if other families are facing the same increase in wolves. That prospective discussion turns the Black Brothers from a private household concern into a matter for communal judgment. The expression captures the terms of that judgment: the animals must be kept from the herd, yet their sacred status sets limits on how far people may go in resisting them.