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The Material
Heritage

was especially strong outside the home protection, the fireplace, and nose is small, upturned. Yabtone Junior is really beautiful” (Legends.
penates. It was considered to be blameworthy for a Nenets woman to Four Nyyvay) [1:157].
leave an igloo without a belt. There were behaviour norms prohibiting In my view, in the mythical song about five Tongo, the feeling of
the Nenets’ unbelting on hunting and fishing. fear is passed down precisely: “She has looked more attentively and
In the Nenets epic legends, a knife itself had a special meaning. It her back has chilled. This person is deprived of a head, only two strong
was made of iron and it means that the knife is vested with the upper shoulders mount as two ears. In the middle of the chest, two big eyes
world power; it belongs to the only one owner and it implies that the are glimmering. A mouth is located lower. Teeth are squeaking as if a
knife has his energy and corresponds to his social status. knife is scraping ivory. The girl’s heart has started beating like a mashed
The sign of the highest dignity was a hero’s ownership of seven bird” [3:243]. The knife “work” transmits the sound effect of the
knives. “We have been struggling for seven days. We cannot knock frightening atmosphere.
him down at all. Finally, we did it. Isid Lakha had got seven sheaths. Carrying out sacral and magic manipulations with knives one can
He spiked his chest with the seventh knife. Blood flooded. Isid Lakha transit from one world into another one and make transformations.
cut down his head” (The Orphan Pyasya). In “The Parable about From the legend about the woman Nyyavu: “An elder brother tells
Brothers”, hero Limbya from the kin Vay has got seven knives on the me: ‘If you feel pity for your husband and his brother, you will come to
belt: 1) for the food in an ordinary sheath; 2) a working knife from an them’. He has pulled out a belt with seven golden knives, where seven
antler of the reindeer leader 3) a hunting knife in a sheath from an hafts from a mammoth bone are sticking out. He says: ‘Hang this belt
antler; 4) from ivory to make sledges; 5) for a sacrifice in the copper above their heads and stand nearby’ [1:180]. Thanks to simple actions,
sheath; 6) “The Moon Knife” in the silver sheath (the symbol of the her men returned to the people’s world. The means that are more
marriage union); 7) a fighting knife in the golden sheath [1:155]. decisive were undertaken in another legend about kin heroes: “And
The Nenets establish the pearl of beauty very precisely where Yembo tells a person with a dog’s ass: ‘I must kill you’. He has grabbed
a knife image does not play the second fiddle. “A girl has pulled this person for a collar and thrown him on the land. He drew a knife
out a mirror and looked at it. She sees a beautiful young man there. and spiked him. Then he cut a skin into two parts. The skin fell apart,
His face looks like the sun and the eyes look like two thin blades of a a young beautiful man came out” [3:274]. In the epic plot of the rich
man’s knife. A deerskin overcoat hood is sewn round with a white fox man Nyvay, it is narrated: “Syudbya’s daughter says: ‘We will never go
pelt. The girl Yar has never seen such a beautiful man” (A Mythical away on these reindeer in this way. Do you have a knife?’ Salako gave
Sing. A Beauty from the Yar Kin) [3:225]; “The sons of the old man her the knife. She told him: ‘Close your eyes’. He did and bent his head.
Syanko were as beautiful as the sun rays. The bodies were as slim In a second, he lifted up his head and saw that Syudbya’s daughter
as a knifepoint. A sister was ugly… ” “How beautiful my brothers became more beautiful than an old man’s one having cut out herself. She
are! Clothes fit them well. Beaver hats are shining like a washed tells him: ‘Look, here is a shell that I put off (from a narrator ‘cut from
saucepan. Faces are shimmering as the blades of seven knives in the the forefront to feet’)” [1:197]. “To cut him into pieces” with knives
sun” (The Legends about the Kin Heroes. The Old Man Syanko) was more often shamans’ or heroes-demiurges’ actions.
[3:264]; “His eyes are as narrow as if cut out with a thin knife, a One can encounter folklore subjects narrating about women’s

The knife with the scabbard. The first third of XX century. From the funds of the SBI “MEC”.

28 Arctic Art & Culture • №1 (3) • 2018 Arctic Art & Culture • №1 (3) • 2018 29