Birch-bark artefacts of the Mansi
In 1901–1906, linguist Artturi Kannisto (1874–1943) went on an expedition to Siberia to stay with the indigenous Khanty and Mansi people. The primary purpose of the trip was the study of languages, but at the same time Kannisto also collected different kinds of material and objects, especially in relation to the culture and daily life of the Mansi. Kannisto compiled a total of three collections from Siberia; two for the National Museum and one for the Häme Museum from where the artifacts were deposited in the National Museum in 1979.
The Finno-Ugric collections compiled from Siberia can be interpreted as representing the recording of the slowly disappearing language and culture of the indigenous people. At the same time, however, they reflect the nationalist and colonialist practices and attitudes typical of the ethnological research of the era when they were collected, as Finno-Ugric ethnology at that time relied on a development theory based on a comparison of peoples and their stages of development. When studying such objects and their associated texts, attention must be paid to this multi-faceted and difficult history, which in this material has manifested itself, for example, as outdated language. In this Researcher’s Choice collection, the old colonialist expression “Vogul” has been replaced by the word “Mansi”, which derives from the name “maańśi” used by the Mansi people to refer to themselves in their own language.
These collections, compiled by Artturi Kannisto, include birch-bark ladles and containers onto which intricate decorations have been created by scratching. The containers were primarily used to store food such as meat, fish, berries, salt and fat. The items also include water buckets and birch-bark knapsack models.
The making of a birch bark object was started by boiling the birch bark, which had been collected during the sap season, to make it soft and easy to handle. Next, patterns were scratched onto the birch bark, after which the item was moulded into its final form and reinforced with root hoops and stitches. According to ethnologist U. T. Sirelius (1872–1929), the birch-bark patterns were made only by women who made the patterns completely by visual observation. The National Museum’s collections also include items made and decorated with a similar technique, but these were made by the Khanty people.
At first glance, the small squares, triangles and lines on the birch-bark items may look like random geometric scribbles, but many of them have names and meanings that are connected to the living environment and culture of the Mansi people. Some patterns also indicate the family of the person who created them.
When Kannisto made his trip, the main livelihoods of the Siberian Mansi people were hunting, fishing and reindeer husbandry. The most common patterns have animal and plant motifs. The patterns on the items in the Researcher’s Choice collection contain elements such as sables, reindeer antlers, birch branches and rabbit ears. In addition to information about family and living environment, the names of some patterns also have meanings related to the beliefs of the Mansi people. For instance, one birch-bark water bucket (SU4810:72) boasts patterns that represent Nixies.
U. T. Sirelius’ development theoretical interest focused on finding out the origin and meaning of the patterns on the birch-bark objects through the names that they have in their creators’ languages. He also asked Artturi Kannisto to carefully record the names that the patterns had in their original language. However, a challenge for this examination of the connection between names and origins was the fact that there was no way to know whether a pattern had been named after what it resembles or whether the artist intended to abstractly depict a particular shape, character or object. Anthropologists Berthold Laufer and Georg Thilenius, among others, considered it more likely that the patterns had only been named afterwards. Although Sirelius himself later came to a similar conclusion, he still believed that ornamentation research should pay attention to the names. However, he urged caution in inferring the connections between the names and origins of the patterns.
Thus, the patterns and names of the objects cannot be used to interpret or construe a systematic network of meanings of the Mansi worldview, but they still give a wide range of indications about the living environment, livelihoods, culture and daily life of the Mansi people.
Karoliina Valalehto
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Literature:
Lehtinen, Ildikó 2010: Kalastuksesta kansanpukuihin – kansatieteilijät kentällä. Kenttäretkistä tutkimustiedoksi. 179–211. Uralica Helsingiensia 4. Helsinki 2010
Lehtonen, Juhani 1972. U.T. Sirelius ja kansatiede. Suomen Muinaismuistoyhdistys. Kansatieteellinen Arkisto 23. Helsinki.
Siperia. Taigan ja Tundran kansoja. Ildikó Lehtinen (toim.) Helsinki 2002.
Sirelius, U.T. 1904. Ostjakkien ja wogulien tuohi- ja nahkakoristeita. Helsinki.
Vahter, Tyyni 1953. Obinugrilaisten kansojen koristekuosit. Helsinki.
Vogulien (mansien) kansankulttuuri. Artturi Kanniston kansatieteellisiä muistiinpanoja 1901–1906. Ildikó Lehtinen ja Jenni Sourama (toim.). Suomalais-Ugrilaisen Seuran kansatieteellisiä julkaisuja 17. Helsinki 2007.