Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 46 (1) 2018   DOI: 10.17746/1563-0110.2018.46.1.123-132

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Celestial Bodies on the Ob Ugrian Ritual Artifacts
(Based on Archaeological and Ethnographic Sources
of the 2nd Millennium AD)

A.V. Baulo

Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography, Siberian Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Pr. Akademika Lavrentieva 17, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia

This study explores the religious role of celestial bodies depicted on Ob Ugrian ritual artifacts from several Russian museums, with reference to ethnographic, folkloric, and artistic sources. While neither the sun nor the moon play a major role in the Ugrian religion, they are personified and feature in legends and myths. Khanty and Mansi rites refer to lunar phases (new moon) and the position of the sun. Solar signs are present mostly on ritual artifacts relating to the Celestial Horseman cult, possibly derived from early cosmogonic ideas. In Western Siberia, the symbols of the sun and the moon appear no earlier than AD 800. In the 10th–12th centuries, such artifacts were cast in the eastern Urals. The 13th to 14th century silver plaques from Western Siberia showing a falconer testify to the Vogul (Mansi) migration from the Western Urals to their current place of residence. The scene featuring a falconer surrounded by animals, the sun, and the moon is still represented on cloth paraphernalia of Mir-Susne-Khum, the Ob Ugrian cultural hero. Solar signs have been used by the Mansi and Khanty to decorate the sacrificial offerings to the goddess Kaltas, the gables of ritual barns, and burial structures. Also, they were used for signatures on documents.

Keywords: Sun, moon, solar signs, Mansi, Khanty, ritual art