Northern Khanty preferred to dress their patron spirits in uniforms of the 18th – 19th centuries. Researchers from the Tyumen Scientific Center of the SB RAS believe that this was done in order to emphasize the high social status of spirits. An article dedicated to this was published in the journal "Bulletin of Archeology, Anthropology and Ethnography".
In the minds of many peoples of the North, patron spirits live next to a person, influence his life, therefore, they must be treated with appropriate respect and dressed well. The authors of the study note that the clothes that the northern Khanty wear on their spirits differ in cut and decoration from the traditional one. “It is presented in two types,” says Aksana Bogordaeva, researcher at the Institute for Problems of Northern Development of the SB RAS. - The first includes uniforms, the second - the one that imitates it.
The historian attributes the general features of the first type of clothing to the fact that it was sewn mostly from cloth, and metal buttons and gold embroidery served as decoration, the article notes. Clothes of the second type appeared due to the fact that the clothes that had decayed on the idol had to be replaced. Since it was problematic to get the same uniform, the Khanty resorted to imitation.
Particularly important distinguishing features of such clothing were metal hemispherical buttons, which were sewn in a row on each side. Often these buttons bore a professional or government emblem. “If this sign correlated with the traditional symbolism of the Khanty, then such buttons were given a higher status; whenever possible, they were exchanged, bought and used to decorate the garments of figures of patron spirits,”notes Aksana Bogordaeva.
The main feature that determines the high social status of clothing was the type and location of jewelry, in this case - metal buttons sewn in a row along the edge of the "uniforms". It was this kind of clothing that the Khanty associated with power and was its attribute, the researcher concludes.