Each people has its own peculiar features, which are considered a business card of its original culture. From the history of the northern indigenous peoples (Khanty and Mansi), Khanty patterns and ornaments are known. Pictures of our article will give you some idea of ​​the features and symbolism of such motives. After all, these are not just drawings, they encoded information about the culture of the people, their development. Northern people used these patterns for embroidery, woodcarving and bone, and beadwork. Pictures of Khanty ornaments and patterns enliven any thing, make it noticeable, beautiful and original. The Siberian land is rich in hardworking craftsmen who, with the help of patterns, were able to convey the colorful nature of their land, the rich spiritual world of its inhabitants. We invite you to get acquainted with the Khanty ornaments and their meanings.
A bit of the history of the indigenous peoples of the North
The Novgorod annals, created long before the annexation of Siberian lands to Russia, tell of the tribes of North Asia who were the ancestors of the present peoples of Siberia - the Khanty, Mansi, and Nenets. Khanty became an ethnic community in 1 thousand. e., when the southern Ugric tribes and tribes of fishermen and hunters of the taiga Zauralie merged. The literature speaks about some features of the culture and language of different Khanty groups. Southern and northern Khanty - so their experts shared.
In the north, the main occupation of Khanty residents is fishing, reindeer husbandry, and hunting. They build wooden houses and plague. Fishermen and hunters can have several dwellings in different places. Reindeer herders have a habit of placing a plague where they stop. Any building they have is called hot. They are birch bark, earthy, boardwalk.
Khanty men and women share everyday life. Men are engaged in wood, bone and leather products, and women make fur clothes, weave cloth, decorate dresses with beads. The original elements of pagan culture — patterns and Khanty ornaments — have survived to our days. Pictures of these motifs prove a peculiar vision of the world of the northern peoples. These ornamental compositions have their own artistic principles. The Khanty people expressed their moral and aesthetic ideals. After all, you need to be courageous to live on this earth, you need to have a generous heart to love the harsh north. Indigenous people like its soft colors, mean spring and white summer.
What was the ornament for the Khanty and Mansi peoples?
The artistic language of the Khanty people is diverse. The word "ornament" itself has the meaning - "decoration". The ornament was an element of the artistic style for architecture, sculpture, painting, graphics. Patterns for the peoples of the North were not an end in themselves, they created them to decorate something. They used them quite widely - from drawings on the outer and inner walls of buildings - to dishes. They were used to decorate fabrics, embroideries, lace, metal products, and clothing. Ornaments gave new life to everyday objects, expressed their attitude to everything around them, and created a special art world.
Khanty patterns and their names confirm that they were used in applique, fringing things. With their help, parallel rows, vertical and inclined strips were made. Contour motifs add weight and completeness to these drawings. It is important to note that, like all ornaments, Khanty motifs also consist of rapports, constantly repeating parts.
The basis of the Khanty ornamental system
The main elements of the ornament of the indigenous peoples of the North were a triangle, square, rhombus, zigzag, cross. All these elements were connected as a result of a long observation of the surrounding world. Many are interested in Khanty ornaments with names that were given in similarity and likeness to objects, plants, animals, and natural phenomena. Such patterns enlivened things, made them more visible, added beauty and originality.
Most often, ornamentation included a symbolic image of representatives of fauna and flora. Shades were characterized by brightness and contrast of colors.
The main theme of the patterns is the sun, because in those parts every ray of it is worth its weight in gold. The second most important is the image of a deer or its horns. Indeed, for the northern peoples, deer is considered the best friend, breadwinner, cabman, savior. Bones are taken from it for the manufacture of weapons and veins for sewing.
The most common hunt patterns
A strict order is inherent in the geometric Khanty ornament. It is based on strict geometric alternation. After the geometric pattern follows a floral motif. It is most often used in wood carving.
And now in more detail about the geometric pattern. Very often the Khanty used a cross. With his help, they tried to protect themselves from pain and hide from the disease. The cross has a protective function, it is the border between the worlds. There is an oblique cross called the “dog’s paw”, restricting people from hostile creatures in this world.
The Khanty was given a special place by the rhombus, it was called the "deepening of the heart." You can no longer apply a pattern on top of it, so as not to spoil the fate of man. There is a rhombus with a void inside or in the form of a frog, which was revered by the northern people. She was associated with a “jumping woman," capable of giving happiness.
Often in strips of ornaments there are straight lines and zigzags. A straight line is considered the simplest geometric ornament, but a fairly common element of clothing decoration among Khanty people. For birch bark products, as well as fabric appliqués on fabric, zigzags were used. The winding line in the center of the ornament was considered the personification of life and the living creature. With the zigzag is connected all living things, animate. Often it was they who were decorated with birch bark cradles for children or the back and sides of the cradles.
Some motifs of patterns are connected with a triangle. The ax is similar to him, with which the Khanty has a lot to do. The ax was used in many wedding, funeral rites, and bear games. The ax has a cleaning function. To clear herself, every woman had to step over an ax. Also, the triangle was used for ornaments "duck brood", "pike teeth", "cedar cone".
Khanty ornaments and their meaning
Patterns for the Khanty people are a whole system that replaced writing and accompanied a person from his first steps to death. Khanty patterns are also interesting, and their names, which have all the motives. These names say where the owner came from, whether he has wealth, about the suit of his deer, about the needlewoman-wife. The craftswomen, using a birch bark stencil, cut out patterns from the kamus (the skin that was removed from the deer's foot). Camus was selected according to the shade and length of the pile. Then, with the help of deer tendons, the parts were sewn together, and the seams were trimmed with inserts of colored cloth. We invite you to get acquainted with some patterns:
- "Hare ears." It is used to decorate children's things and is associated with fertility.
- Capercaillie. This bird is considered the custodian of the child’s sleep and his health.
- "A brood of ducklings."
- "The paw of the fox."
- "Small ripples of water."
- "Goose Wing."
- "Hare ears."
- "Squirrel trail."
- "Otter".
- "The man on the horse."
- "Cedar cone."
- "Frog".
- "Bug".
- "Antler".
- "Birch branch."
- Bear Track.
- "Flowering bush."
- "Waves".
The Khanty’s rhombus is associated with the patterns “bug”, “man half”, woodpile, “spruce”, “mouse.” The peoples of the North have a special relationship with beetles, they see their grandparents in them. They believe that after death souls turn into small bugs. Spruce is considered a sacred tree. In the spruce itself and its roots, the Khanty saw the connection of the upper and lower worlds. The destruction of all hostile creatures of the lower world is connected with the mouse. As you have already noticed, the names were given to the patterns in similarity and likeness to the subject.
In addition to the above symbols, on the ornaments one could see the mythical mammoth, sable, cedar. The victory of good over evil is connected with the deer, industriousness with the bee, and movement with the wings.
Of the animals in the patterns there is a snake, a creeping snake, sable. On the theme of birds you can see the tail of the grouse, the wings of a seagull, the neck of a duck. The theme of plants is cones, tops of spruce branches, broken branches of birch. Waves and ripples of water remind of natural phenomena. All these patterns are either linear or rosette type.
And now we will present you the names of the ornaments in the language of the northern people:
- strip (tun pant);
- triangle (pav);
- rhombus (tun pant);
- cross (perna);
- wave (zigzag);
- Khanty ornament "head" (whale pis pukhopi).
The use of patterns for embroidery
There are three ways of Khanty embroidery: “Kerem Khanch”, Ektem Khanch, “Sevem Khanch.” The first two are similar to Russian two-sided embroidery. And the last, borrowed by the indigenous population from the settlers, is done with a cross and is considered one of the last techniques of the south Khanty embroidery with the help of restored patterns and embroidery techniques, and now craftswomen create national costumes decorated with colorful ornaments. Such embroidery is decorated by modern craftswomen with bags, wallets, hats, belts.
The main special embroidery of such patterns is that they are strictly geometric and consist of rectangles, corners, rhombuses, zigzags. In these embroidered stripes information of the Khanty peoples is encoded.
Beaded work
The decorative art of the Khanty peoples is permeated by the great role of women in it. One of the most interesting types of female creativity is the production of bead jewelry according to local patterns. Once upon a time, beads were delivered to the north by the British in exchange for furs. Merchants bought beads and sold his Khanty. In Tobolsk there was a whole warehouse of beads. In the northern Khanty, the beads had the name "sak" and "sec", which meant "stone". In the 20th century, porcelain beads were popular.
Women decorate the sleeves, hem, floors and chest of summer dresses with bead ornaments. For young girls and girls, products use orange, green, blue, red. Practiced not only embroidery with beads, but also weaving openwork chains, mosaic products. Very often, beadworks with Khanty ornaments are presented at various exhibitions of arts and crafts. Pendants made from beads to headdresses, napkins, belts, bracelets and purses look very impressive.
Woolen products with patterns
One of the few female occupations of Khanty that have survived to this day is patterned knitting on wool. Basically, only warm mittens are knitted. Khanty ornaments are very suitable for them. Since childhood, every craftswoman is familiar with the basic patterns, which she herself corrects during knitting. Motifs on mittens have as many meanings as in other types of needlework.
Sometimes patterns are also used for knitting socks. Craftswomen know that it is important when knitting not to leave the ornament unfinished. Sometimes the pattern of one mittens continues on the second or on the palm. For many years, the patterned knitting of the Khanty almost did not change, only the composition of the yarn and the palette of shades changed. Once only black, white and gray colors were used for knitting, then blue and green were connected. Khanty bought wool, but then they dyed it themselves.
Decoration with clothes ornaments
Northern peoples in their own way represented beauty. A truly beautiful woman should be a needlewoman, because she is considered to be the bearer of ornamental traditions. With the help of patterns on clothes, Khanty reflected tribal features. On women's fur coats, ornaments are located on the edges of the products. Mittens often depicted a bear footprint, which predicted success for the future hunter.
Patterned appliqués were often made on demi-season women's clothing. Fur mosaics were made on children's fur coats. Khanty patterns adorn various sahas, cloaks, dresses.
The main material for the Khanty’s warm clothes was reindeer skins. Such a women's coat is called "sah". She has ties in front, the inner lining is also fur. Sometimes the top can be made of bright durable cloth. In those areas where few deer lived, the craftswomen sewed many small paws and skins into one large cloth. Such sahas were embroidered with various ornaments along the edges.
The Khanty women had a special device - the Tutans, who were passed from mother to daughter. This is a special birch bark box for storing handicraft accessories. Needles were stored in special needle beds. Women worked all day, spared neither eyes nor hands. Some complex work has been done for years. Scarves, scarves, trousers, mittens were decorated with northern patterns. Also, patterns were used for appliques on men's shirts, bathrobes, pillows, deer covers, bags.
Today, curly motifs can be made of wood, plastic, cardboard, leather. The highest accuracy is needed for cutting down the Khanty ornament from plywood. This can be used to make photo frames. In educational institutions today, at the labor lessons, the implementation of crafts for elementary school students with a Khanty ornament is thought out.
The sacred properties of patterns, protective and totemic functions
Khanty patterns were not only decoration of clothes, but were also considered sacred symbols. Such sacred ornaments were used for the manufacture of ritual belts, mittens, hats. Items with their image were intended for guardian spirits. In the sacred patterns there is a certain power, a charge of energy to cleanse the object on which they are depicted. Among the sacred patterns, a bear theme is considered a favorite. Khanty attributed to the bear of heavenly origin and considered him the son of Torum. There is a belief that the bear has several souls that can see, understand and feel everything. The pattern "bear footprint" was used to become a successful hunter.
Often there are patterns associated with a deer. They are also sacred, symbolizing the land where the herds of these animals live. The Khanty ornament “sun” is associated with a donor of strength, energy to support earthly life, which was called “renter” (sun). Strokes near the sun symbolize the seeds of life, from which not only people will be born, but also animals, plants.
It is important to note that the blue color in the Khanty ornaments symbolizes rivers and lakes of the region, white color is associated with snow, green - with taiga. But the "deer horns" are considered the national ornaments of the northern people, a kind of amulet. Often these patterns flaunt on the pendants of the medallions.