#ARCTIC. #SIBERIA. THIS IS TAIMYR. It is no secret that people of the Far North need to be well-insulated in order to live and work fully in the cold season. For this, indigenous peoples have learned to create clothes and shoes for themselves from what is around them. Reindeer give them well-being, food and materials from which people create wardrobe items.
Anastasia Porotova lives in the village of Hatanga and for about fifteen years, she has been engaged in the art of creating amazingly beautiful snow boots – unty – which she personally decorates with traditional beading.
“I have been doing this since childhood, I learned to sew myself, interested in how the older relatives do it. I watched my mother, aunt, grandmother sewing, and that is how I learned. The Dolgans do not teach children on purpose, but say “look how I do it”, and pass on the skill to the younger ones. Because there is no time to devote to this specifically”, shared Anastasia.
The process of creating shoes includes several stages. First, the reindeer skin (kamus) is dried, then dressed, then sewn according to a template, and then the most interesting part begins – creating a unique pattern.
“We decorate all the high fur boots using traditional Dolgan ornaments. For example, there are the following: the tanalai ornament – a ribbed ornament in the form of a herringbone. It is embroidered on shoes, parkas, belts. A gross mistake is embroidering this ornament on a headdress, headbands. The tumus (cusp) is a simple arched ornament in the form of identical semicircles connected to each other. Tynyrak (nail) is a nail-shaped complex pattern, when embroidering it, the oval of the thumb nail is taken as a sample. In the old days, this ornament was embroidered with small beads, deer neck hair or colored threads. The harbannyak ornament (hand, fringe, deer antler blade) consists of peak-shaped or cross- connected by rounded or straight bases. The eriyen ornament is an alternation of black and white colors”, said Anastasia.
As in any nation, each craft has its own characteristics, as well as signs and beliefs. So, when embroidering unty, it is important to follow the rule – bead embroidery ends should not meet, just as the circle of the Heyro dance should not close.
For Anastasia, making unty is a favorite hobby, doing which she takes a break from everyday affairs and worries. The entire process from start to finish takes about two weeks.
“We prepare the kamus in advance, so the material is always at hand. And the shoemakers sew the soles”, the craftswoman added.
What Anastasia likes about this activity is that she creates beauty with her own hands and at the same time preserves all the subtle rules of sewing traditional shoes and applying Dolgan ornaments to them. Moreover, the northerner admitts that each pair is of great value to her and she cannot single out any specific pair of boots.
Anastasia has a husband – he is a fisherman and a hunter – and two children. According to her, she will not specifically teach them how to make boots and believes that over time they themselves will acquire this important skill for the North.
Looking at the Taimyr craftswoman’s unique work, you understand how much diligence and respect for the traditions of her people, love for the northern region, for the people who live here, and for her work is invested in the unty creation.
Follow us on Telegram, VKontakte.
Text: Polina Bardik, Photo: from Anastasia Porotova’s archive
