Urikapun, a curtain covering entrance to the chum.

Evenki

Yakut Okrug

Late 19th century – early 20th century

interior decoration

Leather: natural leather: suede: skin suede; cloth: cloth; fibers: animal: wool: reindeer hair under neck; paint: ochre; paint

РЭМ 857-7

It was used in autumn, replacing a door in the chum. It is made of deer skin suede, and designed as a trapeze. Sewn on in the center is a sign of black cloth shaped as the letter Ш upside down, indicating that the chum’s dweller is a man of family and having children. Such sew-on patches on the curtain were not applied if the dweller was a widow, unless the sign was sewn on in her husband’s lifetime, or an unmarried woman. Abstract by M.V. Fedorova