NKM KP OF-9
GK No. 7346773
Shamanic idol from the Kara river - Syadei
Place: Russia, the Nenets Autonomous District, the Bolshezemelskaya tundra, the Kara river
Date: late 19th-early 20th centuries
Material: wood
Technics: handmade
Dimensions: 33.0 x 5.0 x 5.0 cm
Each Nenets clan had its sacred place and kept the memory of it. There were quite a few sanctuaries in the European tundra. The sanctuary place was determined by a shaman and it had to be associated with some special events.
Sacrifices to a syadei were made (blood and bloodless) at the sacred places to feed the spirit, which in return could send good luck in fishing and hunting or the recovery of a sick person.
Sacrifices are performed four times a year: in summer when the grass appears, in autumn when the grass withers, in winter when the sun rises above the tundra forest and with the appearance of the first snow. Sacrifices are also made at the birth of a child.