#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. The ancient tradition of making Samoyed belts is being revived in Taimyr. The Yamal ethnographer, member of the Union of Artists of Russia Sergey Alyaba visited the peninsula within the framework of the Traditional Belt is the Pride of Samoyed Men project.
For two days, the artist told and showed the representatives of the indigenous peoples the process of making belts, which have been considered a talisman since ancient times. At the master class, Sergey Alyaba recalled that leather belts were characteristic of Samoyed men, to which various objects were hung: wolf and bear fangs and other amulets.
“The master class lasted nine hours. Young people learned about the importance of amulets in the belt, for example, if a person goes fishing, he needs to hang a special amulet that will bring a good catch. Also, the belt can tell about a man’s marital and social status, and so on. Today it is important to return the lost knowledge, because we have three Samoyed ethnic groups: the Enets, Nenets and Nganasans”, Natalya Sidorova, the project manager, artistic director of the Taimyr House of Folk Art (the Main chum of Taimyr), told.
In total, 17 people were invited to the master class, there were students and teachers of the Norilsk College of Arts.
In the near future, the project curators will publish a book on the traditional Samoyed belts creation, and with the melting of the snow, the masters trained by Sergey Alyaba will go to the Tuhard tundra and the village of Potapovo, where they will share their knowledge.
“We will distribute the books to educational institutions in Taimyr. We will also publish the video from the ethnographer’s master class on the YouTube channel”, the interlocutor summed up.
Earlier, we told that the employee of the Taimyr’s main chum Sevostyan Yar won a grant in the amount of 300 thousand rubles for the implementation of the Traditional Belt is the Pride of Samoyed Men project. He became the only winner from the Krasnoyarsk region at the Russian North – youth forum of the indigenous small-numbered peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East, which was held from 11 to 15 December in the Moscow region.
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Text: Ekaterina Elkanova, Photo: Roman Perov
