Photograph: Images of patron spirits: three anthropomorphic wooden figures in women's clothing and a birch bark body in which they were kept.

Selkup

river Vasyugan River, Tomsk province, Narym Krai

1888

17,8 x 23,8

РЭМ 3954-28/1

Each territorial group of the Khanty (the compact population of a separate river) had its own patrons, with whom many legends and legends are associated. The Khanty settlement (the so-called "yurts") had its own local patron spirit, its image (or several images) was kept in a special sacred place, where, before the start of the trade (hunting or fishing), sacrifices were regularly made in the form of coins, pieces of cloth, arrows and etc. in order to ensure good luck in the extraction of an animal or fish. These images were kept in a sacred barn on the island of Tokh-Sigat on the Vasyugan River, which was considered a sacred place and was especially revered: it was impossible to slaughter an animal, cut down trees, or build a dwelling on it.